Tough questions for the Pros


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What affect has hunting for TV had on you as it directly relates to your hunting both good and bad?

Like do you feel pressure to take a deer for the camera that you might not take if not on film?

What's the biggest deer you have or would let walk when the camera isn't on him?

Have you had your cameraman directly blow an opportunity for you?

Since filming, is hunting more or less enjoyable than when you hunted without the camera?

Just looking for some honest answers as I have a buddy that used to own and film for a show and I've seen the effects on him personally and just wondering how it has affected others.

Hoosier

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Well , I can tell you last year the camera saved a few bucks due to low camera light.

I feel the pressure to get a buck on film and make a good shot, but I wont take a sub par buck to save the day...look at my sason last year lol and i passed on a 130 plus 8pt on first night hoping for one of the bucks that we had trail cam pics of. Ended up with tag soup .

This year I did hunts in Newfoundland, Montana , Texas, Kansas all filmed tagged out 3 outa 4 hunts. lost a good buck due to me peeking at shot looked like liver , no stomach matter on arrow still we looked 4 hours before we had to go to catch flight home. That hurt pretty good but again were all human.

And I do like huntig with out the camera , no openers ,cutaways always a nice break , but I love the challenge of the filmed hunt as well

hope that helps

Tim

Nope no cameraman mishaps yet but they happen , were all human

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What affect has hunting for TV had on you as it directly relates to your hunting both good and bad?

Wow! You know how to hit close to home now don't you! I haven't mentioned this on here before but I actually resigned from my job at Archer's Choice just over a month ago. I still respect Ralph & Vicki and consider them my friends, I just had some personal issues come up and decided it was time to move on and I wish them all the best.

To your question THE GOOD... I've been able to meet a lot of great and wonderful people over the last several years from the hunting industry, manufacturer's, guides and outfitters of which many I consider friends. I've been able to travel to places I never expected to travel and hunt some vary amazing properties. Along the way I've been able to do some very fun and creative things within the work aspect and pass some of my knowledge along to others as well as learn many things from my co-workers. I've been able to see many things first hand as opposed to just opinions on a forum and been able to make more valid determinations on my own views concerning various hunting topics. I find more satisfaction and would actually rather watch a hunt that I filmed as opposed to watching myself hunt.

The BAD... I've seen ego's swell, I've seen friendships broken. The time away from family is much harder IMO than when hunting on your own.

Like do you feel pressure to take a deer for the camera that you might not take if not on film?

The pressure hasn't been so much to take an animal I wouldn't normally shoot, the pressure has been more along the lines of making sure that you represent an outfitter in an accurate manor so that it shows the possible end client what they can expect if they choose to go there. Don't get me wrong there is pressure to take an animal (because without it there isn't a show for the one side or advertising for the other) but it also doesn't do the outfitter any good to shoot animals that are not representative of what he has to offer.

What's the biggest deer you have or would let walk when the camera isn't on him?

Our basic rule was it was on camera (and quality footage) or it wasn't shot... I filmed Chris Griffin from Realtree last year in Iowa and we had a Booner 12 point come in and I had to make the call of if he doesn't make it into range in the next few minutes we are going to have to let him go. That is the biggest deer I have had in front of me while filming/hunting that I had to make that kind of decision on (and hopefully Chris still likes me lol) Chris ended up with a great buck that is on this last years Monster Bucks that I'm proud to say I filmed. :)

Have you had your cameraman directly blow an opportunity for you?

I have been in a situation as the hunter where the camera couldn't get on the animal and I have been the cameraman that couldn't get on the animal as well. Just have to realize that your a team and stuff happens and keep the swollen ego's out of it ;)

Since filming, is hunting more or less enjoyable than when you hunted without the camera?

I still love to hunt, I still love to film as well. The enjoyment that I find between hunting by myself and hunting with a camera differs because of the reasons I'm out there but not the enjoyment of the hunt.

P.S. One of my goals is still to get to meet Tim Andrus, I'ld even be willing to film him LOL

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Wow letting a booner go is pushing insanity unless you have knocked down several booners already. I've been fortunate enough to film and hunt both for fun and tv and I must say that I have a great deal more fun hunting/filming for fun. No doing two hour cut away shoots and hours of all the other things that go into TV.

I don't think I've ever seen a show that didn't plug the outfitter if they killed a good deer. My guess is because I know most of those hunts are discounted or free in exchange for the marketing from the shows.

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What affect has hunting for TV had on you as it directly relates to your hunting both good and bad?

Like do you feel pressure to take a deer for the camera that you might not take if not on film?

What's the biggest deer you have or would let walk when the camera isn't on him?

Have you had your cameraman directly blow an opportunity for you?

Since filming, is hunting more or less enjoyable than when you hunted without the camera?

Just looking for some honest answers as I have a buddy that used to own and film for a show and I've seen the effects on him personally and just wondering how it has affected others.

Hoosier

1) i've done 37 t.v. shows so far. it's always more work, but lots of fun, too. since i was an outfitter, these shows gave me great exposure and filled up my calander of hunters. i gave free hunts but never gave selected animals just for the camera. we always had a good supply of excellent animals and shot just average in most cases. if we got lucky, we got lucky and killed a monster. my average antelope was 15 plus, average deer 25", and in all my years never killed less than a 6 x 6 bull elk.

2 )nope. never. we'd typically see hundreds of antelope, dozens of deer, and maybe 1000 elk each day. (i was licensed to hunt inside grand teton national park and on the jackson hole elk refuge. go figgurre :D)

3) i had a 30" plus deer we never got on because the camerman couldn't get him focused right. that was a tough one.

4) of course. in the '80's, the tube cameras were big & bulky, took warmup time, had poor battery life, the tripods weighed 30 pounds, etc. often, by time the camera was ready the game was alerted and gone. such is life at times.

5) the fun of hunting, to me, is hunting. the kill signifies the start of the work and the end of the hunt. so, with the camera hunting was just the same, lots of fun and a great way to spend the day. i love watching animals and studying where to find them. i've never been a cameraman, but i can see the hard work they do for little recognition. i always let the cameraman shoot an animal after the "star" had filled, and most loved it. in fact, most said they never had anyone offer that before. so, the cameraman is away from home, working MUCH harder that the guy paying him, and has all the pressures yet gets little recognition. i can see where the cameraman would burn out, and felt for them.

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