Significance of Photography in Hunting

[WyoDoug]

Here is an interesting topic, photographs of your experiences hunting?

I myself have only owned four cameras in my lifetime. Until this last year, I never took my cameras hunting. I was always worried about damaging them. I never got excited about taking pictures either.

This all goes back to the way I was brought up. Very few pictures exist of my dad's side of the family and that is frustrating when I do my genealogy research. My dad and paternal grandfather did a lot of hunting and so did nearly all of my dad's side of the family, but no pictures exist including my first elk that died right on the road and I got plenty of help loading it so other hunters could get around me. Never got pictures of my only bear I shot in my lifetime and not of the mountain lion I shot by Meeker in Colorado. Definitely no pictures of the number of coyotes I shot over my lifetime living on the farm. None of my snake hunts with my Marine Corps buddy in Arizona and New Mexico. I do have some of wildlife I saw while hunting but none of the ones I killed especially when I hunted solo. I have hunted right at if not over 50 years in my lifetime so that represents a lot of deer and antelope. I have been hunting elk since late 1990s, and not so successful there, considering myself a novice, but I have shot two bulls, and probably a dozen cows (note I prefer cows and does to bucks and bulls). But no pictures. No pictures of my hog hunt if you can call it that in Texas or Arkansas either.

Only the last two years have I even owned a phone with camera capabilities and not into selfies. Now I use it for GPS capabilities, not for the picture taking and bought a notepad so I can do the same thing on a bigger screen.

I know a lot of people here can post thousands of pictures of their hunting experiences. I imagine Randy definitely can. That's cool and I enjoy seeing them and hearing their stories.

Just curious, how many people go hunting without a thought of taking pictures? This is not an indictment of those who do, so please don't take it personal. Only picture I had intended to post was if I managed to shoot big grand daddy on base this year and would of been when I got it home as I hunt antelope solo. I am just not into photography much.

 

[The Count]

I never go hunting without a camera of some sort, but I enjoy photography and documenting my hunts and the bush just as much as I enjoy hunting. I often enjoy hunting with a few other people so I can take a break from the hunt and just take photos of them hunting.

At the same time, hunting by myself is beautiful as well and taking pictures and video in these situations is always a pain, but it's worth it when I get home and have some good stuff to look over. Since I've started making more of an effort to take video and work on YouTube stuff, this becomes more apparent.

 

[Trial153]

My only regret is that I didn’t take more pictures. I have so many bowhunting memories, fish memories ect from years pre digital era that I skipped pictures of and wish I had some.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

Depends on the circumstances, there are a lot of hunts that I don't take my camera on... ducks, grouse, hunting deer on my wife's ranch, etc. but I really enjoy hunts that are adventures in themselves and on those I always take a good camera with a large telephoto lens.

In many ways I think great cameras are much more valuable than spotting scopes.

These elk are 687 yards away, I took this picture free hand as there was so much brush in the way. Getting a spotter setup on a tripod would have been a chore also difficult to do quickly. Further even with a spotter it can be hard, especially for a beginner like me, to assess an animal. There's some wind and the spotter shakes, the animals are moving around, etc etc.

It's pretty damn easy to count tines on a still image.



I don't measure success purely on killing something, photos are great souvenirs and I enjoy getting to look back on every trip I've done. For me a camera is a necessity.

 

[Bowhuntrben]

Pictures are a must for me and are probably the most important part of the hunt for me. My dad won't be around forever, and I want the pictures from the hunts to remember all the good times we had together. I especially like our trips "out west" where we do more than take a picture of the animal we get. I get pictures of everything from hiking out, to pumping water, to glassing, and so on. I think these "little things" are sometimes the best pictures of all. Personally, I don't have a desire to be in a picture by myself with an animal (unless I am the only one there). I like having the pictures of me and my dad and whoever else is there to share in the hunt. I am just now starting to take more videos too. I'm certainly a novice in this department. I do wish I had done more of this earlier on.

 

[BuzzH]

I take lots of pictures and also have kept a detailed hunting/fishing/trapping journal since 1980. I also have a pretty good map collection where I mark where I've found things of significance, wallows, springs, bedding areas, pinch points all that stuff. I also mark on those maps where I've shot most all of my big-game animals over the years.

I think the more a person is detail oriented, the more you tend to learn. Doesn't take too many years to start seeing significant trends in the when, why, where, and how if you pay attention.

Its helped me become a better and more efficient hunter I believe.

 

[tarheel]

I've had a few pictures taken of me with kills but it's not something I go out of my way for. Killing an animal is more of a personal thing between the two of us. I do take a camera along when hunting with others but just to take pics around camp or of scenery.

One of my favorite quotes: "The business of life is the acquisition of memories, and in the end that's all there is." Author unknown

 

[Hunting Wife]

I love taking photos, mostly for the memories of a certain place, experience, feeling. The animal is only one piece of the whole thing.

One of my favorite quotes is also photography-related, and pretty much sums it up for me (no idea who gets credit for it):

“A photograph is a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone”.

 

[Deleted member 20812]

I love taking photos, mostly for the memories of a certain place, experience, feeling. The animal is only one piece of the whole thing.

One of my favorite quotes is also photography-related, and pretty much sums it up for me (no idea who gets credit for it):

“A photograph is a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone”.

This. I’d rather have photos that capture an adventure than photos that merely document a big animal.

 

[gouch]

Most of my life I never took pictures while hunting but I don't know how many times I said to myself "Damn, I wish I had a camera right now." Now I am never in the woods without a camera of some kind. Not so much for grip and grin photos (I do take those, just not very good most of the time.) but more for all the really cool stuff you see out there.

 

[mtmuley]

I take quite a few. I have moved to the mindset of not sharing on social media. The guys I want to see my pics, I have phone numbers for. mtmuley

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

I take lots of pictures and also have kept a detailed hunting/fishing/trapping journal since 1980. I also have a pretty good map collection where I mark where I've found things of significance, wallows, springs, bedding areas, pinch points all that stuff. I also mark on those maps where I've shot most all of my big-game animals over the years.

I think the more a person is detail oriented, the more you tend to learn. Doesn't take too many years to start seeing significant trends in the when, why, where, and how if you pay attention.

Its helped me become a better and more efficient hunter I believe.

Love the physical map idea. I do a journal and it is a tremendous help and fun to read through. Plus I have a $hit memory so I need to write stuff down.

 

[daltrix99]

I'm an avid wildlife photographer in the off-season and I've lost count of the number of incredible photography opportunities I've had while hunting. Landscapes, critters, all the best morning and evening light, changing of weather, etc. I've watched two Great Gray Owls doing their own hunting this year, and while enjoying the moment beyond words, I still would kill to have a camera!

I've never brought myself to bring the real camera out; too much weight, and requires too much focus and hands-on (for me).

The phone has sufficed, and with the newer camera technology in modern smart phones, I've been really happy with the landscape photos I get. Doesn't do the critters justice, though. I have family all over the country and they enjoy seeing photos of wild country they otherwise don't often experience.

 

[Deleted member 20812]

Love the physical map idea. I do a journal and it is a tremendous help and fun to read through. Plus I have a $hit memory so I need to write stuff down.

It doesn’t get any better, trust me.

 

[mtmiller]

This. I’d rather have photos that capture an adventure than photos that merely document a big animal.

Agreed. This was not a limit day, but that wasn't the point of the memory. Glad I captured this moment.

 

[antlerradar]

Back when I first started looking for antlers good cameras were big and heavy so I didn't pack one. Now I wish I had taken an as it lay picture of all the big antlers I have found. Too late for that now.
My goal is to die an old man having never taken a selfie.

 

[kansasdad]

Reading and telling stories on HuntTalk made me realize how much I could improve my camera game. I use a sophisticated point and shoot (is that really a "thing"?) which fits into my secondary binocular pouch for ease of reach. If it's not readily available and put to use, taking a camera is just dead weight. I intentionally purchased this Nikon as it has macro mode, a strong zoom and decent video. One thing that I curse at least once a season is a lack of manual zoom. Taking an in-focus photo of a far off animal while I am in ninja mode hiding behind bushes, and I can't force the camera to focus on anything other than the foreground.

 

[Guy]

I treasure the photos from 50 years ago, of Dad and I hunting pheasants!

And later, hunting with my sons.

Yes, I like to take photos of my hunts. Bit of a shutterbug I'll admit.

 

[devon deer]

Agreed. This was not a limit day, but that wasn't the point of the memory. Glad I captured this moment.

You don't take photo's, they are an art form!

How times have changed though, like many of us I used to have a 35mm film camera, factor in the cost of film and processing I was always careful what I took photo's of, send them off, get the pics back, and if you're lucky you might get one good one back!
But these days, even a basic phone will take a decent photo, and with no cost just keep taking them until you get one you like.

As already said, it tells a story, one photo (I will try and find it) of when I first visited Montana on a winter hunt, the weather was brutal, I took a photo when I was up a mountain -23c, that still brings memories, not the deer I shot.

I see quite often on here 'no photo it didn't happen'

Cheers

Richard

 

[The Hedgehog]

Just curious, how many people go hunting without a thought of taking pictures?

Just yesterday, a very good friend of mine shot a nice bull elk, so nice that he kept the cape. He's still packing the animal out of the mtns. I was disappointed in the fact he did not take a camera, or have a single picture of the elk to show me. The funny thing is he's a professional photographer. I heard about the hunt last night, but have to wait until later to see the bull's antlers.

My daughter on the other hand - she'd be snapchattin selfies all over the place..