Camera Position

[elksnout]

New at this . Do you place the camera 90 deg from a trail or in line with it to get head on or going away shots ? And how far off the ground is it wise to place it ?

[wapiti hunter2]

I try for some angle to the trails not perpendicular.  When perpendicular  the animals will often trigger the IR sensor and then walk past before the shutter fires.  You get nothing but moving brush. Try an angle of about 30 degrees 15-20 feet off the trail. My D40's work well out to 45 feet. I place mine about eye height off the ground but that is mostly to clear brush.  If there is no brush then I would go lower.  My cameras are camouflaged and I place brush around them to further breakup their outlines.

[selbman5]

I PUT MY CAMERA ABOUT 3 FEET OF THE GROUND SO I AM NOT MISSING THE PIC OF ANIMALS. TRY PUTTING IT AT 3 FEET YOU WILL GET ALOT MORE PIC'S

[NWBREW]

I put mine about 5.5 feet with a bit of a downword angle but it depends on the lay of the area you cover. I agree with going about 45 degrees on the trail. A wide spot next to the trail works very nice for this.

[billythekidrock]

As stated above, it can very depending on location, lay of the land and as well what your target is.

This camera is only 3 feet off the ground and I have gotten pics of bear, coon, elk and deer.



There is a slight depression in the ground in front of the camera so some critters are "overshot" with the cam but it did manage to catch a small coon. This one is set about 50/50 perpendicular/parallel to an old skidder road.

Pics here.
http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,55855.0.html

To get this beaver, the cam was almost two feet off the ground and aimed right down the dam.



This one is set at about 5 feet and is perpendicular to one trail and parallel to another.





I just set this one up last week and it is about 5 ft off the ground and aimed directly up the trail. The land angles uphill as it goes away from the cam location. I know I will overshoot some critters as they pass directly by, but there is a cross trail about 20 feet up the trail that will put the critters in frame. I am a bit nervous as this one is only a couple yards off a mainline.

[Skyvalhunter]

But as you see in the pics you have to remove the brush. This will give unusable pics due to wind moving the brush and triggering the camera thus taking up memory. Also remove branches that might be weighed down by snow, rain, drying out as they can block the camera shot. Check the angle of your camerato make sure you are not pointing to high or low. That is why Moultrie has a advatage with their LED alignment light

[elksnout]

Wow ! Great information from all. Thanks guys. Going to set it up this weekend.