Camera placement determines 80% of your results. Technical settings matter far less than location selection and mounting technique.

For deer and large game:

1.     High-traffic corridors — trails between bedding and feeding areas, fence crossings, and stream crossings concentrate animal movement into predictable paths.

2.     Scrapes and rubs during rut — bucks will visit these locations repeatedly during a narrow window; camera placement here during October–November yields high-value sightings.

3.     Feeding areas and food plots — reliable activity but heavily time-dependent; more useful for pattern analysis than individual animal identification.

Mounting technique:

•        Mount at shoulder height for the target species

•        Clear the foreground of vegetation within the frame to eliminate false triggers and obscure the subject

•        Point slightly downhill if possible — animals photographed at a downward angle appear more naturally and the camera captures more body area for identification

•        Test the trigger zone with a walk-through before deploying: walk the expected animal path through the frame and confirm you appear in the center of the image