The Importance of the Camera

Many more hunters are bringing their cameras into the woods for each and every hunt in efforts to get their hunt on film and share with family, friends or the rest of the world.  I have two different outdoor channels that I watch and am amazed with the amount of videos shown each day.

It appears to me that shooting with the camera can be just as challenging and rewarding as shooting with the gun or bow.  Especially if you do not have a camera man and are doing this all yourself- now that’s a challenge, particularly during bow season.

I think every hunter should have a camera with him, not just to record the hunt or snap some after shots, but to capture all the awesome-beautiful things that happen throughout the day while sitting in your stand or patiently still hunting across the forest floor.

Opening week of bow season here in NY was very slow, did not see many deer but wish I had a camera handy.  One morning I was sitting in my stand and as I looked to my left I noticed two large objects come crawling out of the thick brush.  I’m thinking wow those are huge squirrels.  Wait!  Those aren’t squirrels, they are raccoons and they are heading right to my tree.  As I continue to watch in disbelief the two raccoons stop right at the base of the tree I am in.  Tell me they are going to climb my tree!  I am not sure what to do, these raccoons could probably mess me up pretty good if they wanted to, but how often do you get this close to watch raccoons be raccoons in the wild.

Just has I think they are going to start climbing my tree do they turn and begin to climb the tree next to me, which is about 7 – 10 feet over.  I am roughly a little over 30 feet in the air as I watch these guys climb, wish I had this on film.  Finally when the one raccoon gets to the same height I am at, I begin to slowly reach for my cell phone thinking that I might be able to get a decent shot this close, but as I reach for it I get detected and they both climb back down the tree and take off into the brush. 

Though I did not shoot a deer nor even see a deer that morning, those raccoons made my day, and to think how much cooler it would have been to have it all on film to share with all of you.  Also that same week I had a huge hawk land in the tree next to me and same thing- as I reached for my phone to take a picture it flew away.  This hawk had to be 3 foot tall has it perched on the branch next to me and had a wing span of at least 5 feet.  Wish I had got photo.

I currently do not have a great camera set up and plan to invest in some equipment next season, but for now I am going to try to remember to at least bring the digital camera out with me and have it easily accessible for moments like the ones I just shared.