Camera Shelf

A camera mount and a shelf in one. Drops onto the poles of any pop-up hunting blind, holds a GoPro or any action cam on the standard finger mount, and gives you a ledge for your rangefinder, calls and phone at the same time.

Self-filming a hunt usually means a bulky tripod eating the ground space in the blind, or a flexible arm that slowly droops out of frame over the course of a sit. This does neither. It hangs off the blind's own poles, up out of your way, and it does not move once it is seated.

A real ball joint, not a single pivot. Most blind camera mounts give you one hinge, so you can tilt up and down and that is it. This snaps onto a 16 mm ball: aim it anywhere, in one motion, and let go. No tools, no thumbscrew to reach past the camera to loosen.

Clips in like any action cam mount. The head carries the standard three-prong receiver, so a GoPro or any compatible cam drops straight in. The screw and wing nut are in the box, so you are not hunting for the thumbscrew that came with the camera. The head itself snaps into the socket on the shelf by hand and pulls back out the same way.

Hangs on the upper poles, where the camera wants to be. The brackets hook over the top-facing blind poles, so the shelf sits high on the blind wall and the lens looks out.

Shelf, not just a mount. The competition sells you a mount. This is a shelf with a mount on it, so the rangefinder, the calls and your phone have somewhere to sit instead of the ground. Raised lip on all four sides so nothing walks off when you bump it.

It does not droop. The tall back panel bears against the blind wall below the pole, which is what stops a loaded camera nosing the whole thing forward over the course of a sit. Each bracket is braced back into that panel with a triangular web, so the load spreads across the wall instead of concentrating at the joint. That is the difference between a mount that holds its aim and one you keep re-adjusting.

Fits: pop-up hunting blinds with poles 1/4 in to 3/4 in (6mm to 19mm) in diameter. If our Half Shelf or Bow Hanger fits your blind, this does.

Works in the ice shanty too. Same brackets, same drop-on install. Put the camera over the hole and film the bite the same way you would film a hunt, with the shelf still free for your phone, pliers, a jig box or a spare spool. Hunting season and ice season barely overlap, so the mount earns its keep all winter.

Install

1. Pick the poles where you want the camera.
2. Hook the two brackets over it and let the shelf settle.
3. Clip the camera into the fingers and set the thumbscrew.

Dimensions:

• Shelf: 13.19 in wide x 2.95 in deep
• Back panel: 2.17 in tall, 0.24 in thick, front and side lips 0.55 in
• Overall with brackets: 13.19 in x 4.53 in x 2.17 in
• In the box: the shelf, one snap-in ball head with a standard 3-prong receiver,

one stainless screw and one wing nut

• Aim: 360 degrees of pan, plus tilt
• Weight: about 8 oz
• Fits poles 1/4 in to 3/4 in (6mm to 19mm) in diameter