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So you want to video your hunts?
by Robert Muncie
More and more I’m hearing “I am going to video my hunts starting this year”. With the onset of affordable quality video equipment and the increasing opportunities to get your hunts on TV or DVD, we will continue to see this occur more and more. The average hunter is now armed with a video camera and the potential to get great footage. There are however, several reasons why hunters fail to get good footage. I’d like to cover a few things I’ve learned in the last few years while self filming and filming for others. It can be done and most everyone out there has the ability to do it.
The first item that we should cover is also the most important, a video camera. In years past that would mean taking out a loan or selling a kidney. Both will put you in hot water with your spouse or loved one. Technology has caught up with the need and now high quality video cameras can be purchased for 500 to 600 dollars. Add a shotgun mic, some extra batteries and a rain jacket for the camera and you will have a really nice set up for less than 900 dollars. This set up will be good enough for most TV shows and DVD’s. There are several good camera’s out there ranging from the always great Sony and Canon to some smaller lesser know camera companies. The cameras themselves go in many different directions from tape to hard drive to memory stick. Most are small enough to fit into a good sized pocket without sacrificing any quality. Let’s start with the memory card cameras. Memory card cameras offer you lots of memory space and extra cards are small and easy to carry. You can pick up extra memory cards for next to nothing so that you have several on hand. What you will need to watch out for with this type of camera is the format in which they record. Make sure the format is one you can download onto your computer and edit. I know first hand how frustrating it is to have great footage that you are unable to work with. Another camera type is the hard drive camera. Several of the more popular cameras offer a hard drive memory. This allows for easy use and no need to buy any extra memory. Just turn on your camera and go. While this is the easiest to use in the woods, there are still the same issues back at your computer that you would have with the memory sticks. Some of the cameras record in a less than friendly format and certain computers don’t like the hard drive cameras. And if you choose to send this footage on to someone else, then you have to make sure you record it to a DVD that is in a format they can view. If not then you end up with footage on your computer that you can only show those you know. The third type of camera is a mini dv camera and is my personal favorite. Mini DV cameras use a small tape that will hold from 30 to 60 minutes of footage. The downside is you only get 30 to 60 minutes of footage before you have to put another tape in. This means you will need to carry extra tapes with you at all times. The plus side is that the format is generic and easy to use and edit. You can also just pack up the tape and send it to another person as the tape will work with any DV video recorder or PC. Most TV and DVD producers are using tapes and are equipped to handle any tapes sent in. No matter which route you go with, in choosing your camera the very next question you should ask is HD or not HD. Many of the new cameras will give you the option to record in digital or HD. This is a good option to have in that you can record in high definition if desired or you can take it down to digital which is the most commonly used format. The big point to consider here is most people have no outlet for HD video. Very few shows run in HD and to my knowledge there are no blu ray hunting DVD’s out either. HD is fun to watch and crystal clear but will give you nightmares when trying to download and edit it. The best thing to do is record in digital or on regular tapes. The footage will still be clearer than you get with other cameras but you will not have to stay up all night trying to figure out how to get your editing software to capture it. And unless you have a Blu Ray burner you will have no way of getting it off your PC. Now you have your video camera. What else could you possible need? There are a few items that will make life in the woods much easier for you. The very first will be a rain jacket for the camera. These can be found online and are usually affordable at less than 50 dollars. What good is having a video camera if you can’t use it during the rain or snow. You should also pick up at least one extra battery or two. One battery might get you through a morning hunt or evening hunt but if action is hot, then you want your battery life to be as well. These are also affordable at around 40 to 60 dollars each online. Sound can be an important element to the filmed hunt and no matter how great they tell you the built in mic on the camera is it’s no where near good enough for hunts. You’ll miss out on a lot of the action that sound provides. A shotgun mic isn’t a must have purchase but it will make a world of difference in your audio quality. Shotgun mics come in all kinds of quality from barely better than the on boards to pro style sound. They also come in difference sizes to match the camera size. What you’ll need to do is look at as many as you can find in stores or online and decide what will give you the best sound option for your budget. Generally speaking 125 dollars is the starting point for a decent mic. Wow, we’ve finally made it to the point where we have all our equipment, now what? Well that’s a good question and one that keeps a lot of great hunters off TV and DVD. Filming your hunts and filming your hunts well are miles apart. There are so many things to consider and watch out for. I don’t claim to be an expert but what I’ve learned filming hunts for several years now has taught me many hard lessons.
What I’d like to cover for the rest of this article is a few of the broader points and to also share some of the lessons I’ve learned along the way. Practice; there is no substitute for practice. The best thing you can do when starting out is to practice. Maybe it’s during a country drive in the evening watching for deer or maybe it’s just filming your house pets or birds in the yard. Animals are animals and will react unpredictably. Do as much filming as you can with them and try out different angles, lighting, and zooms. Knowing how to handle different situations when you do get in stand will save you valuable footage and frustration as you film. Go to the park one day and sit and film for a few hours. You’ll be surprised at what you get and how different it can look through the cameras eye. You spent the summer practicing and now you think you are ready to be the next great videographer in outdoor film. Hopefully that’s true and we’ll be watching you on one of the many wonderful outdoor channels. But more than likely you will make many of the same mistakes I did and still do at times so let’s get down to the filming aspect. You need a good camera arm. If you are hunting from a tree this will be the only way to get high quality footage. A good arm will be easy to carry in and set up but also strong enough to hold your camera at full extension without wobble. It should also have a good fluid head for smooth panning and tilting. Otherwise your footage will be jumpy as you try to move the camera around to get your deer in frame. Make sure the camera arm is set up at the right height so that you can use it sitting or standing. This will keep movement to a minimum when you do have game in front of you. Nothing will spook a deer faster than you trying to adjust your camera when it’s out of reach, also if your camera has a small remote this is a great way to start the camera recording and work the zoom without much movement on your part. There is always plenty of down time while you’re in stand. This time is valuable to you for the sake of your video and story. Use this time to get what is called filler footage. This would be footage to fill in the gaps in your film and complete your story. Anything that flies or moves qualifies. For me it’s raccoons and squirrels and an occasional bird or two. Sometime’s you’ll get lucky with another animal or turkey or just wildlife being silly and these are priceless when it comes time to edit. Non hunting related footage can really save you when you have a hunt that doesn’t last long. Filming your drive to and from the hunt and your prep work at home as well as getting packed up to head out will help tell your story. You will also want to film your summer work such as putting in food plots or mineral sites and hanging trail cameras and tree stands. Remember you are telling a story and your story will need a beginning, middle, and end. Every portion of the hunt is part of the adventure and part of the story. The story has to have a good story line and good flow to it. Like in ever good story the main character doesn’t dominate ever scene. This is why you need the filler footage and why it’s important in telling your story. Now it’s time for the meat and tators so to speak. You’re in stand and the deer is coming in on a string just like in your dream. Okay that never happens but for the sake of this article it’s going happen. This is where most hunters make mistakes. First off, buck fever sets in and makes smart hunters go all crazy and make silly mistakes. It’s always best to have a camera man running the equipment for you but if that’s not the case then you’ll need to do it yourself. You will need to make sure you have your camera on and recording. I’ve heard many stories about the camera being on but not recording. It’s happened to me more than a few times. Once you’ve done that you have to make sure you can find the deer in the frame and then keep him in the frame. If the animal is moving quickly this can be hard but that’s when your practice on the dog or cat over the summer should help. The hard part comes now. You will need to decide where you are going to stop this deer and get your camera in that spot so that you can focus on making the shot. Make sure the animal is not more than 45
to 50 percent of the frame. Less than that and you will not get a good kill shot, more than that and you wont be able to follow the animal if it jumps and runs. Once this is done then you can work on getting your shot. If bow hunting I will draw my bow, get ready, and look at the camera one last time to make sure the deer is still in the frame. Once you’ve made the shot do your best to follow the deer until it’s down or out of sight. At this point turn the camera on yourself and film your natural reaction to what just happened. You’ve taken a great animal and you should be proud of that. Don’t be afraid to show some emotion and get excited. People watching will want to get excited with you. You’ve made a good shot and you are now sitting in your tree stand waiting to go retrieve your deer. This is a perfect time to get the extra footage that will make your film complete. Most hunters that film will use this time to shoot footage of themselves reenacting the kill shot with the camera turned on them this time. You can get the camera all set up and then go through what just happened as if going through it the first time. You can even shoot an arrow into the ground in the same general direction as the deer was in.
A couple important things to remember are that you need to make sure this is done within a few minutes of the kill so that the shadows, sun, and you are the same as in your kill footage. You also need to make sure you don’t change your hat, gloves or something else. If everything doesn’t match then the people watching will notice and it’ll look acted out to them. If this is done correctly then you can add it in during editing and give your hunt a real professional look and feel to it. After you’ve done all your stand shots and are ready to track your animal go ahead a take a minute to point the camera down the ladder and film yourself climbing down. Once on the ground make sure you hold the camera as steady as you can while you track your animal and if at all possible have a tripod with you. Even just a small travel one will be a huge benefit at the recovery site. When you come upon your deer set up your tripod and film yourself walking up to the deer for the first time to check it out. First reactions are always the best and are hard to recapture. You can also take this time to set the deer up for the trophy shot. Cover a little about your hunt and how it came down and go over what you’ve just shot. If it’s been a long hard season then cover that as well. Remember you are still telling a story. You should also leave the camera rolling as you start dragging away your trophy. After you get that shot then you can pack up and go about the business of getting yourself and your deer out of the woods. You should still keep the camera close at hand so you can shoot some footage at the check station and at home. Kids will usually offer great reactions to seeing your trophy and your buddies will have a few comments for you as well. You now have all the footage you need to produce a quality video or DVD of your deer hunt.
Filming a hunt alone is difficult to accomplish and will at times force you to make hard choices. If you are truly set on getting your kill on film then you may have to pass on a great deer because the footage just isn’t there. Most hunters have a hard time with this. A big buck may come in and give you a great shooting lane but not be where you can get him on film. You then will have to either pass and wait for one that does or you’ll have to decide that filming the kill isn’t as important as getting the kill. Either way it’s a personal decision you will have to make. Telling the story of a deer hunt is a time honored event that should never be replaced but filming a hunt will give it a whole new meaning. You will be able to share a great memory with friends and family. You can continue to watch and review the footage over the years and even as the mind forgets, video does not.
