chrowski

I have a JVC normal consumer's digitalmovie camera, I'm just looking for the ability to make short segments to share with friends.

Overall.....from this thread I'm starting to think I might just get the cheap camera arm, and pick a lane mostlikely to encounter action....if it actually happens, and I remember to turn on the camera then maybe I'll get a video. But I would never risk the hunt for the sake of filming it, unless I was in a ground blind and I felt my movements were well hidden and the deer weren't spooked.

muzzyman88

I've been looking at the bow mounted cams and was wondering what type of quality they were. It would be for ME only and primarily to evaluate my shots on game. So, with that in mind, I don't really need top end, HD quality here.

Like Matt/PA, I carry a small Canon camcorder that works very well and packs nicely. I don't use an arm, I just use it now to film what I can't shoot. I have some pretty nice buck footage so far.

Matt / PA

Pretty much forget it.......I've tried.
Unless you are zoomed way out, using lighted nocks AND strangling the grip to death to keep the bow on target at the shot........you won't see anything.

Even with todays super low recoil bows bow mounted cams are basically worthless at the shot. And there's the dilemna vs a tree mounted one!:
GO with a tree mounted camera and possibly only get limited pre shot footage and MAYBE the shot? if you turn it on at all?
VS
A BOW mounted camera where you should get decent approach footage, crappy/ if any actual shot footage and maybe the animal running off?

LOL

muzzyman88

Ha, thats what I figured. I have a little gadget that mounts a camera to my treestand with a quick release. I'll probably just stick with that and as you said...."hope I turn it on". I know I'm never in a "good frame of mind" when Mr. Big is within 20 steps of me.

Predator19

I am part of a bowhunting filming team and going solo is something i have yet to see anybody do and get great footage.(at least from a treestand)I guess it just depends on what you want out of it. We make DVDs and sell them locally. Nothing special but we keep it real and bad/shaky footage is usually unuseable. If you are doing it for personal use then give it a shot and see how it goes. Like MATT/PA said above, once that deer gets close you go into panic mode and usually will have to choose between filming and hunting. Ask RobPA/Bowyer if he got hiscontest buck on camera. THe guyobviously has mad skills but nobdoy wants toscrew up a hunt trying to film themself.One other thing, you get what you payfor when it comes to camera, arm and equipment. A cheap arm may not go all the way around a tree or a cheaper camera may not take good video in the last hour of daylight. I suggest getting a partner to film with and go from there. It has its pro and cons havng a second guy in the tree. I think its a blast getting to share quality time in the woods with a friend that shares the same passion.

Rob/PA Bowyer

Thank you and your exactly right. I wish I had turned the camera on at least as the buck would have walked into the camera frame without me moving the camera. I'm pretty sure however had I tried to film all of it, I would have busted him. He came to 8 yards and was staring at the camera as he was uphill and although I was probably 25' high, he was only about 15' from the camera. It wouldn't have worked out.

Holding a bow and trying to film is very difficult. Perhaps an arm with controls would make this easier but it's always best to have a buddy in the tree with you doing the camera work. I've taken many, many animals on film but none ever by myself although I had the camera with me on all my hunts but a few this year.

buttonbuckmaster

I often wonder how the guys on Whitetail Addictions get footage of those beasts w/o spooking them. If I had a 150+ deer in front of me the camera would be the last thing on my mind.[8D]

130woodman

I bought a Sony Hndy-cam and made a mount to go on where my stabalizer goes. It worked pretty good I got alot of nice footage. I hit the wrong botton on the camera when my buck came in and didn't get the footage I wanted. I'll try it again next year.

Ben / PA

I was about as close as you can get to getting my York, PA doe on film this year. You can see her take off with the shot, in my editing mode, not on a TV. I was just trying to get her on film. To actually film and zoom for the shot, that takes some mad skills. I just bumped my camera to the left hoping to shoot her in frame. Darn near did it, but thats what is fun.

HNI_Christine

I've been trying a bit this year. I have aCanon hv20 camera. It's small and light and gets decent video.

I'm using a Pine Ridge camera arm that I've modified so it works better for me. (bolt w/wingnut to apply pressure to the tree and a bunch of camo tape.)

It has been fun but extremely frustrating. About a third of the time I've taken the camera, rain and sleet has kept me from setting it up. I did set it up one timeand it got sleet all over it and then the next time I took it out, I had a 140" buck come up and the camera errored out with a condensation detected warning. Oops. Wouldn't you know it... I took the tape out and opened up the camera to dry out and then a 160" buck came up at 37 yards and I wasn't able to get any footage of him. [:@][:@]

So far the only footage I have is of an owl, a possum and a few glimpses of bucks passing in the distance.

Things I've learned so far:

*My camera arm needed that wingnut/bolt thingy added to it to work like I wanted. (I'll post a picture if any one wants to know what I'm talking about.)

*Trying to locate a deer in the thick woods through the lcd screen is very challenging. I havea bunch of footage of me focusing on the wrong things. [>:]

*Deer will almost always come from which ever direction it's hardest to film them. They will also show up when you are half-way set up with the camera armand while your bow is still on the ground.

*Being a left-handed shooter makes the video camera really in your way and harder to use.

*People are not nearly as excited about the two seconds of shaky footage of a buckas you are. [&o]