# Shooting a hunt



## callemin (Aug 27, 2009)

Hey I've been attempting to figure the best way to shoot some nice video of some hunts, in the field, and come to realize its not an easy task. I've come to respect the field blind videographers. If theres anybody whos had some luck catching some great video of birds coming in, some tips would be awesome! I'm finding difficulties on concealing the camera, focusing and what not. If anybody has any home made vids that would be sweet just to watch too!


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## kingcanada (Sep 19, 2009)

i have not filmed my hunts, but do have a background in art/photography. lighting angle is very important. avoid shooting into the sun. also use any available shadows to conceal the camera and operator. it will take a lot of effort. check out some of the 24-7 dvd's from Zink. you will see some of the work involved in filming waterfowl hunts. it is not easy. it also takes a great amount of footage to make a good video. most footage gets edited out. an individual hunt may only yield 5 min. of "keeper" material.


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## huntingtim08 (Sep 17, 2004)

We film every one of our hunts. What we do is put a camera guy about 15-30 yards behing the spread. It has worked great for us. We have two cannon dcr-42 cameras, one goes behign us and the other is mounted on a gun. You do get alot of footage in the field but alot of it will gwt edited out. I have alot of footage saved on files and it is going to take me awhile to get it into movie form. I cant wait to finish it and share it with you guys, I have some clips i could upload but im not sure how to upload a vid on here, i will look into it


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## callemin (Aug 27, 2009)

Great advice guys thanks! And thanks for the vids, good stuff!


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## cragels (Sep 24, 2009)

well the thing for our group is .....finding someone to shoot our hunts..weve offered paying some of our friends and they decline on that and than when we do have someone taping our hunts it looks like were hunting in a tornado cause there never still haha oh well when we do get to see some of our hunts when the camera is in one spot its pretty cool and is well worth it


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## TL1FAAT (Apr 16, 2009)

We have been trying to film hunts this season however finding someone to film is hard to come by.

Our solution: I made a small box out of wood just big enough to stick the camera in (keeps the camera dry and protection in the event of falling birds) then painted it black. I just put it behind us a ways and turn it on when the birds start flying.

Its not the best cuz the camera sits in one position the whole time and u go thru lots of tape but we get good footage now and then.


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## JeffHuston (Apr 22, 2007)

I purchased a high end video camera a few years ago, a sony VX2000, and spent the entire next season learning how to film hunts, first off, its WAY harder than it looks!!!! Some tips I can give you are....
-try to set up in ways where the sun in no way can reflect off your lens, it will give you a glare, and flare birds!
-next, make a blind especially for the camera man, I used a power hunter. We removed the entire lid, then had a buddys mom sew a veil for the camera and camera man, the veil connected with velcro just behind the lens, and covered my entire head and neck and went all the way to my knees. This set up worked great, I wasnt limited in motion and was very well hidden without having to worry about burlap falling in front of the lens while filming.
-always use MANUAL focus, I realize some cameras make it extremely difficult to use these function , but without it it is impossible to keep the camera in focus 100% of the time.
- another helpful hint is when I would first see the birds, I would find them in the viewfinder and manually focus on them, if you stay on the birds the entire way (even while zooming out as the birds get closer) the camera should never come out of focus, at least mine never did.
-I always set up about 10 yards straight behind the line hunters, unless the sun was rising on my left or right side, then if it was I would move my blind towards the end of the blinds in which the sun was rising on, this allowed me to angle away from the sun and put my back towards it, very helpful! 
Hope this post heps!!! Good luck!


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## greatwhitehunter3 (Sep 15, 2006)

not trying to hijack the thread but once you guys do get some footage, what program do you use to edit and make into movies? Right now im just using windows movie maker but there arent a ton of options really.


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## huntingtim08 (Sep 17, 2004)

Campbelloutdoorchallenge.com sells a editing software made especially for hunting. Ita a lil more expensive but it looks great and it is what were pkannign on using when it becomes available. They also sell pinnacle 12 software for a lil cheaper and it does a great job


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## KerBear (Oct 21, 2009)

I started filming people hunting/fishing over the summer for fun and created a website for my videos. www.bearsolis.com

I have a couple of camcorders I purchased from a big box store. Some tips:
Turn off all the beeps/alarms
Use camo tape to help keep your camera from sticking out
You could use tape on a tripod too, but I just spray painted mine with a dull finish.
If you have more than one camera, have one running nonstop on a tripod set up to catch a wider view.
Get a wireless mic for better audio if one person will be talking about what is going on. Especially with windy conditions. (Be sure your camera has a mic jack)
I use Adobe Premiere Elements to edit
Always take too much footage....you can never have enough. I get rid of a lot when I edit...but it's those times that I think I have enough, so I stop taking shots.....that I get burned.

The goose hunting in Oct corn video on my home page right now was done with mostly with one camera...a couple shots came from a second one.

While the goose hunting in a hayfield with a six man limit was done with three cameras.

I'd be up for a trip west to film something other than Wisconsin hunts next season!


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