It felt like a birthday present every day. After the arrival and installation of the trail camera, checking it for images felt like a treasure hunt. And the capture of an animal on camera, like a gift.

It was no surprise to see a smattering of doe and yearlings, as well as the occasional tantalizing shot of a buck. What surprised me was the timing of the deer activities. Of course, the deer were moving at dawn and dusk; but surprisingly, they were also moving at midday.Another surprise was the angle of the images, which proved the deer were coming from a certain direction. I'd been sure I knew where the deer commonly bedded, and where they headed when they rose to feed.But I'd been wrong. In fact, I'd probably been alerting deer to my travels, as the trails I used to get to and from certain stands intersected their trails.How can archers get the edge on a whitetail?1. Use trail camerasTrail cameras are loads of fun, true, and invaluable scouting tools. They let hunters know what's in the area and what time the animals are coming through that area. Although the arrival of breeding season will change the times that deer move, it doesn't change the paths they use.2. Vary your timesIt doesn't take long for deer to "pattern" us, and learn our schedules and routes. Think about it - if you're hunting an urban area, don't you soon notice what time your neighbors come and go, and what time the school bus goes through? If you always go to and from stands at the same time, deer will easily learn your schedule.When I lived in Maine, I remember learning a surprising statistic about the big bucks there - the majority of bucks which field dressed at over 200 pounds were taken between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Those are hours when most of us take a midday break, grouching that the deer have become nocturnal. In fact, they weren't nocturnal, they'd just learned to feed and move while we were gone.My trail camera at a particular stand showed that nearly every day, around midday, a doe fed on acorns in the area. Yes, it felt odd to head for the stand at 11 a.m. But after a short wait, almost exactly at noon, the old reliable doe strolled through the area for the last time.3. Change your routes, move standsA few years ago, while scouting during the season, I found deer beds in an area which surprised me, because they were close to an area where there was lots of activity and noise. But as I stood there, near their beds, I realized that they could lay there and see the seat of a tree stand that I had thought was one of my favorites. I'll bet they laid there snickering most of the time. I moved that stand.I had another favorite stand near an area that was choked thick with autumn olive, Hawthorne trees and multiflora rose. We all joked that if you weren't wearing leafy camouflage when you went in there, you would be when you came out - clothing would be torn to shreds. One day, walking home from that favorite stand, I saw a nice buck bedded in that area.It was a rainy day, and I considered trying to stalk him. But I was afraid that if I bumped him, he'd be gone for good. I also realized that from his bed, he could see me going to and from that stand. The next time I used that stand, I went way out of the way, making a big circle, and sneaking into the stand as if I were stalking a herd of elk. I picked a path that kept my approach screened by thick foliage and terrain. That afternoon, early, that same buck came walking slowly, feeding on acorns. I got buck fever so badly it took me several attempts to get my bow drawn. All it took was a change in my approach, and he was caught off guard.