Continue reading to find out what happened during the hunt surrounding this video frame.

In Part 1 of this article series, we discussed camcorder equipment purchase decisions for filming our own hunts. If there’s anything to take away from that section, it’s that equipment can be expensive and the product lineups are confusing. However, no amount of money can buy you good footage in the end; like hunting, it’s learned from time spent afield and our own mistakes. Although most of the examples I’ll use in in this article relate to filming others, the same principals apply to filming yourself.

Pre-production

Even when filming your own hunts, preproduction is an one of the most critical aspects of telling a compelling story. After all, that’s why we’re recording our hunts anyways—to convey a story to our viewers. When filming for the Bayou Bucks DVDs, I spend a lot of time talking with the people I’m filming before I arrive. Most of it’s small-talk, but it’s important because I’m learning about the personality of the person I’m filming. Everyone has interesting characteristics, and honing in on this, capturing it, and conveying it to others is often difficult.

What can each individual bring to the hunt that the another person didn’t? Perhaps there’s something unique about the property we’re filming on. Maybe the hunter has an interesting life experience, job, or special skill that can be incorporated into the hunt. These things are important in introducing the identity of the hunter and his property to viewers who don’t know him or the place he’s hunting. The goal here is to capture enough footage to make your audience feel like it knows the hunter and has been to his property before. It also helps you visualize the conditions and person you’re filming so that you’ll be equipped to film the hunt when you arrive.

Setting Up

The ideal position to film from is the 3:30 position, relative to the hunter, with your filming stand's platform 1-2 feet above his hunting stand's platform.

Setting up for the hunt is pretty easy once you’re familiar with your equipment. In a two-person setup with a hunter and cameraman, it’s important that the cameraman’s stand platform be to the right and slightly above the hunter’s stand platform. I consider the “3:30 Position” the ideal location for a cameraman’s stand, assuming the hunter is always at the 12:00 position. The hunter’s stand always takes priority in the direction it faces, because after all, he’s there to kill the animal and needs to be comfortable. Sometimes, however, the cameraman can’t setup in the proper area due to large limbs on the tree or visibility issues. In this case, and as a last resort, several times I’ve had to get positioned on the other side of tree (9:00) or directly opposite the hunter (6:00).

There’s a major reason why 3:30 is the best place to be. Unlike bows or rifles, camcorders have no “left-handed” models. They’re designed to be held with the right hand or sit atop one’s right shoulder, while the LCD screen and image controls rest on the left side of the camcorder for left-handed access. When in the 3:30 position, it’s very easy to film the hunter and have access to all of your camera controls.