Montana Whitetails - Hope they cooperate!

both nice looking deer. congrats.

Oak, guessing yours is in the 130-140 range with mass measurements. and definately belongs on the wall with the curled browtines.

BF, adding the broken browtine to yours, come up with the same. maybe a few less. still awesome looking racks with the twists and turns they have. love the color of both of them.
 
Randy and Oak,

Two great bucks for sure. They are each really cool, one with curled browtines and one with crazy big G2's. Congratulations on a great hunt. It looked like a blast.
 
Well, I thought this episode was too good to be true.

Welcome to the world of technical filming issues and the mechanical devices such as cameras, tapes, mics, etc. that are known to fail at the most critical of times.

Seems that the kill shot on my buck is toast, as far as the camera that goes "tight" on the animal. The "wide" view is there, but not what you want for a kill shot.

We always try to have two cameras. One with a big extender lens that will be tight on the animal and get the kill shot, no matter what the distance. The other camera is wide on the hunter(s) and tries to capture the "in the moment" scene as it happens, reducing the need for re-enactments.

The tape in the "tight" camera is bad. So, the impact shot, the buck running off and doing a cartwheel at full speed, is not going to be part of this episode. Damn it.

The wide version shows Oak's arm coming into the screen as he tells me there is a deer out in front. Then, his voice gets much more demanding as he tells me I better get ready, as it is a buck. The wide angle is zooming in and out, trying to find my target point. When he finds it, he is zooming back to me and Oak, just as I fire. You see the powder blast from the rifle and in the far distance, you see the buck run off.

The "in the moment" part is some of the best live stuff we have ever captured, but the kill shot is toast.

Curious if guys think lack of a tight kill shot in an episode with two kills will be a significant compromise to the quality of the episode. I really want to include the second buck, and I am not going to doctor up some BS re-edit of an impact shot on a different buck that wasn't even part of the show. If there is an impact shot in our series, it will be of the animal we shoot. Or, we will just do without the impact shot.

Anyhow, wanted guys to know that when they see this one, the final product will be missing some of what you read on the thread - the tine-breaking cartwheel and the close up of the second kill shot.

Oh well, such is the life of TV production.
 
Although it's sometimes exciting to see the animal getting plugged, I honestly don't think that's the draw of the program for all the viewers. I'm sure it'll be a great episode, regardless.
 
Wouldn't make a difference to me whether or not there's a kill shot, as long as the rest is there.
 
Thanks for the comments. This hunt was a hoot. I contribute a lot of our success to Fin's general knowledge about hunting whitetails out west. We drove and walked past a lot of good looking stuff (to me) to get to the pockets of whitetails that we found. The terrain and habitat was much different than I'm accustomed to hunting.

Let me tell you something: still hunting whitetails in that thick stuff is a challenge, and getting a kill shot on film is even tougher. I think the four of us sounded like a spooked herd of elk moving through the forest.:rolleyes:

The "in the moment" scene when Randy shot his buck is actually pretty cool, despite the lack of a closeup impact. Kind of amusing to me, because for some reason I apparently decided that it was time to "boss" the Boss. ;) Heat of the moment, I guess.:D Lucky I didn't get fired...

Montana deer is definitely going on the list of tags to apply for annually. Hopefully if I get lucky in the draw again, Big Fin will be willing to tag along for good luck.
 
Randy, as was said previously, the kill shots are awesome. But, sometimes you don't always get them and I don't think it would be a negative to not have that on that episode. Show the footage you took and don't doctor anything. This show is real! :D
 
Photos from a Pro

Troy, our lead field producer, who goes by Photofin here on Hunt Talk, sent me these photos to post to the site. He took these photos of Oak and me, while we were packing out Oak's buck. And, a few photos of the kill shots.

Always nice to have a professional along for the duty. Loren, the other cameraman, is also a still photographer, so I am not sure why I need to bring my little point and shoot camera.

Anyhow, if you want to see some amazing images, go to Troy's site, where he posts a lot of his images.

Here is the link to Troy's site - Troy Batzler Photography. Cool stuff there.

If guys have any photo questions, or video questions, he has offered to answer them. Not sure what his fee will be for providing this service on the site, but I suspect I have enough compromising photos of him, to keep his invoice down in the four digit range.

Here they are:

Backpack hunting for whitetails. How often do you see that on other shows?
OYO web NOV 10 (1).jpg

Pretty easy loads, when split between two Mystery Ranch Crew Cabs.
OYO web NOV 11 (1).jpg

Another of Oak's buck. Man, those are cool browtines.
OYO web NOV 6 (1).jpg

Can't wait to do this again.
OYO web NOV 12 (1).jpg

Thanks Troy. Great stuff.
 
Great bucks guys... you did well. Next time go without an outfitter;)
 
I agree, kill shot or lack thereof shouldn't determine the episode. I would run it with both bucks as you have it..........MH
 

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