Does filming reduce shot opportunity?

[NavyDeerHunter]

I have been thinking about getting into filming my own hunts and looking into gear. Looking at another thread about the camera arms that are for sale, it seems that having the camera strapped to the tree beside you would cut your shot opportunities by half...eliminating the side of the tree where the camera is...if that makes any sense.
I like the idea of filming, but not willing to cut my shot opportunity by half and in many situations you simply can't be certain which way a deer will walk.

[Pope94/IA]

Camera arms are made so they can move into differant. If you can see the deer coming from a little ways out then move your camera stand into a position where you have a good shot. I try setting up my camera stand up in a spot where I cant shoot then I just move the arms around into the spots that I can shoot. If that makes any sense... Sometimes its better to have a camera stand with longer arms but if thats the case then you might want to have a smaller camera because you might get too much weight on the end if you stretch it out all the way. This is only my second year filming so im still learning too.
Good luck filming, it can get tough if your by yourself.

[lungbuster12point06]

Depends if you are self videoing or have a dedicated camera person, also depends on how committed to capturing the shot you are. In my early years of video I would forgo the kill shot in order to kill the deer,in the past few years I have passed a number of shot opportunities because the animal was not in the camera frame. As for cutting your chances in half, I would say no, if you're talking about just the camera arm blocking your shot then i would say about 20% of your opportunities are lost because the arm is in the way, but in most cases proper planning of your set up will cut this percentage down even further. I can one think of one time in the past 4 years that the camera arm cost me a shot op.