I guess this could be in any hunting forum but I prefer this one. Basspro has a mount for a video camera on their site. The main part of the mount straps around the tree it seems and then the arm clips onto it. Its supposed to swivel in any direction and has a hook to hang your bow on as well. Does anyone have one of these or know of anyone who does. I'd like to know how well they hold the bow and camera and how easy they are to move into the direction you want to film before you shoot. Any and all info would be great. Any squeaky noises or metal grinding? Does it bounce and wobble around in the wind? Please let me know. Heres the pic I think

Edited by - SafeCracker on 09/28/2002 11:40:02

My hunting partner and I own one similiar. We bought it at the Northeast Outdoor show in Harrisburg, PA. We usually hunt together as a team and one has the camera and the other shooting. What I've found is I'd rather hold the camera because of the lack of mobility with the camera mount. If I were hunting alone and wanted to film my hunt, then yes, it does work very very well. You definately want to position it in the direction you think the animal will be tho. Movement is great except swinging behind quickly while trying to shoot and film.

When I was on my bear hunt in Quebec, another gentleman in camp used one and got beautiful footage of his bear kill.

This type of camera mount is better than a bow mount type. When mounting to a bow, you'll get everything but the shot due to bow jump.

Your adding another element of challenge trying to tape your own hunts but when your successful, it's great to be able to go back and watch them.

My hunting partner and I have over 12 bow killed whitetails, a couple muzzleloader kills and all but a dozen gobblers taken on film. We either film one another, friends or clients.

<font color=blue>Good Luck and Good Shooting</font id=blue>

<font color=red>Rob</font id=red>

Will these tree camera mounts hold the larger size VHS cameras? Or are the primarily designed for the more compact cameras??

Will these tree camera mounts hold the larger size VHS cameras? Or are the primarily designed for the more compact cameras??

Will these tree camera mounts hold the larger size VHS cameras? Or are the primarily designed for the more compact cameras??

Yes they will hold standard VHS Camcorders.

<font color=blue>Good Luck and Good Shooting</font id=blue>

<font color=red>Rob</font id=red>

[Deleted by Admins]

I have the mount that you are talking about, so far it has worked very well for me, I did however modify it a little. I kept noticing that there was no way to get the straps tight enough for the arm not to sag. when the arm sags and u pan from side to side everything to the left and right is shot at an angle. In other words trees look like they are growin at an angle, this drove me nuts. So i drilled a hole in the first arm put a rope through the hole, tied a knot in the bottom so it would not pull back through, and now when i set up my camera the last thing i do is take the rope, wrap it around the tree and use it to pull the arm to level. This works very well and does not take up any room or add much time to the setup.

I have one of those readi-reach bow holders that I have modified to video my own hunts. I took the tilt/pan head off of my tripod and mounted it near the end of the arm. The head that comes with the ProBowCam (pictured) is much lower quality, and not as smooth to operate, but a friend has one and it works okay.

Rob, congrats on all those good videoed hunts. What camera do you use? I bought a Canon GL-2 for this year, but it is noisy when turning it on. Otherwise, it takes very high quality video. My two brothers and I take turns taping each other. In fact, I filmed my brother take a nice 100 pound doe opening afternoon, (9/28). We had her in at 12 yards, he double lunged her and she went about 50 yards. I didn't get much of her escape on film because it is very thick, but the footage is good anyway. Of course, after he shot and lowered his bow (we were getting down quickly to get some more footage of the trailing job before dark), a buck came sauntering in. Then while dragging the doe out I found a pretty big shed from last spring, 40 yards from the stand. It was a good opening day. <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>