A colossal Boone & Crocket posturing like a strutting
gobbler motions his way toward your decoy, bracing himself for a head-on
collision would make breathtaking video footage, but
the chances of that come slim.
There is hundreds
of hopeful hunter and cameraman teams from the upper Midwest
to the southern part of the country wishing for an incredible season full of in
your face, high octane, whitetail action. Rolling footage on jaw dropping
whitetail video is essential for any television show to gain credibility or
excitement within a viewer. It not only takes a lot of scouting, preparation,
money, and tree stand hours, but also a whole bunch of good ol’ buck-luck.
The vast majority
of Outdoor Channel enthusiasts demand trophy whitetail kills, which is a lot to
ask for when hunting fair chase deer. A baldy getting whacked just doesn’t give
us that adrenaline surge that mature brutes leave us with at the end of a show.
The only surefire way to satisfy the hunter’s urge from not changing the
channel is to roll film on deer that sport ungodly sized racks.
The sheer reality
and probability of putting a broad head through the vitals of a record
whitetail year-after-year is complicated enough, but once there’s a camera
involved, your odds become even that much slimmer. I’ve only been introduced to
the ‘filming side’ of hunting a few years ago, but I’ve learned more about
hunting in the last few years than I have in the previous six! Through the
means of the television show I’m blessed to host, I now understand and am fully
aware of the forgotten details a hunter and cameraman face.
Can I shoot? When producing a
television show, quality animal footage is the number one priority listed on
the cameraman and hunter’s checklist. Without a fair share of pre-roll, there’s
not enough footage or storyline to piece together a genuine hunt. That is why
tree stands are positioned accordingly to maximize the amount of time a buck is
spotted and filmed walking into your setup. It is difficult to hunt extreme
thickets, considering the only thing you’ll see is a brown blob for ten seconds
until the buck steps into the only bare spot in the area and gets shot. It just
doesn’t cut it for making a perfect television show, but would be ideal for any
other individual hunter.
Lighting has
always been an issue with filming hunts and has caused many big bucks to
scamper away untouched. Last fall, I hunted with Ty McCombs of Whitetail
Outfitters Of Ohio
and had the largest whitetail of my life at 50-yards with a muzzleloader in
hand. McCombs had captured several cam-tracker photos of this freak of nature
16-pointer and the stand setup was positioned only a chip shot from his trail. 
As morning light
broke, I heard a deer moving through the brush. I then looked down and spotted
the buck! He stood at 50-yards crunching corn near a Maxgrow Mineral station, as I tapped
the cameraman and asked if he was on him. The cameraman couldn’t see him. It
was too dark. Although, I could see him plain as day in my crosshairs, and it
was legal shooting hours, the camera couldn’t gather enough light to film
anything. I gazed in desperation as the 170’ inch whitetail walked out of my
dreams.
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Some people asked
hastily why I didn’t kill him anyway. Many people will never kill a buck of
that caliper yet alone see one. My answer was simple. I wouldn’t be doing my
job. I’m not out there killing every big buck that walks in, I’m killing deer
that offer the best possible video footage and will make the most interest out
of a viewer when the shows copied, edited, and ready for production. Sure, I
could have had a monster whitetail on my wall if I would’ve made a clean kill,
but what benefits would the outfitter and tv show have gained from the Booner
buck Brandon
killed?
Nothing. There
was no video footage to make a tv show and no footage means no promotional
advertisement for the outfitter. Everything works hand-in-hand. It really
becomes a team effort.
Double Trouble
We as hunters
take every step imaginable to eliminate any variables to improve our odds
versus a whitetail’s keen senses. Whether it’s lathering in scent free soap,
chewing odor free gum, or tossing that charcoal-lined apparel in the dryer in
desperation to beat a buck’s nose, hunting scent free is darn near impossible.
And that is just pertaining to one foul smelling human body in the woods. Add a
cameraman and you’ve got yourself some serious scent control problems. 
Movement is just
as critical in the deer woods as in the turkey woods. A slight motion of trying
to point a cameraman to an oncoming deer can trigger a disaster. Selecting a
tree that hides two hunks of aluminum along with 400-lbs of pure human outline
is like finding a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Good luck.
Noise pollution
is a factor in any scenario, whether having a cameraman or not. When hunting
wise bucks that have heard a bow hit the side of the stand or tree stand creek,
there’s nothing left to chance. I was bow hunting in Buffalo County, WI
two years ago and had a killer setup hung in an acorn garden! It was a sweet
and tasty treat for an early season archery hunting location. I caught a
glimpse of a solid 140-inch bruiser slipping through the tangles en route to
the oaks. As he stepped within twenty-five yards, my cameraman had to adjust
the tree-arm, which held the camera steady. As he swung the arm around the
other side of the tree, he stepped on the edge of his hang-on stand to grab a
firm balance. A shrieking screech echoed from his stand and flagged the trophy
buck back into his cave. That sound still gives me goose bumps today, but it’s
something that you must respect when trying to make solid video kills. There’s
no reason to cast blame or get furious at one another, it’s simply the name of
the game. 
When you watch
your next hunting show, stop and think about all the right variables that came
into play for the hunter and cameraman. As a hunter, you should already realize
the blunders and flaws that occur when an eye-popping buck slumbers his way in,
a dose of buck fever will send him to the next property. I’ve been there and
done that… I should know!
I am so
fortunate to be a part of the ‘behind the scenes’ look at the production side
of hunting. It is something I’ve grown to appreciate and I will always count my
blessings when everything goes right and a buck is grounded on video. 
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