Position your cameras for maximum detection!

Positioning your cameras so animals are passing through the "hot zone" of your camera sensor is key!

Knowing where that "hot zone" is in your cameras sensor is important, I mean how else whould you know where to aim it?

In this this article I wanted to give some examples of where the "hot zone" is on my Cuddelink cameras and talk about different setups i have and how to position the cameras. As you can see in the pictures the "hot zone" is horizontially throught the center for the image, I drew a line through it to give a good reference.

On the first image we have a pretty easy camera setup where I positioned my Cuddelink J series at deer height (thigh-hip high) and aim it parallel to the ground across the small food plot so any deer crossing it or entering it from straight on will get caught by the camera. If possible this is how i'd setup every camera for the best detecting range.

In my second picture I have a Cuddelink G series camera positioned over a trail and mock scrape. This camera is actually mounted about 7 feet high and is angled downward using a Genius PTL camera mount (makes this setup super easy). As you can see the center of the image is positioned right on the scrape and down the trail.

On this third image from a Cuddelink J series IR I have the camera positioned about 6' high using another Genius PTL mount to get over some grass alongside this skinny food plot. This is a 3 way intersection which is pinched down by a creek and field, it's also a travel corridor so if makes a great camera location! It may appear that this camera is aimed a bit high but this is exactly where I want it, I don't want to miss deer cutting this corner exactly like this one is doing. It's best to have the "hot zone" positioned to not miss your target and have your secondary target area close or below the target area as the camera is much more likely to pick those close animals up. I ran multiple walk tests to confirm this before arming the camera.

I hope this helps you in your camera setups!

If you want to create a rough reference point on your images you can do so using the "Paint" program on a PC or "Paintbrush" on a MAC, they're free.