Now THAT'S cool, Jayson! Never had a moose watch me smoke BBQ!
Bypassing the stock controller is good. I don't like anything in between my Auber and element, except wire. Easy to do. And yes, middle of the back, about 1 - 1 1 1/4" from the top is great. Any lower, and it will interfere with your meat...trust me on this one (learned the hard way, following the Auber instructions for the Bradley!).