How to Film Your Own Deer Hunt | Main Camera Suggestions and Basics for Filming Deer Hunts

JEREMY FLINN

06/23/2016

Are you looking for a detailed video on how to film your own deer hunt? Here are the basics of filming deer hunts, including which camera to buy for filming whitetails.

Filming hunts, whether you are filming another hunter, or filming your own deer hunt and self-filming a deer hunt, is a challenge, but a rewarding and satisfying hobby and passion. Now a big question out there and a good piece of content that a lot of us would like to see is more information on is, how to film your own deer hunt, what camera gear to use for filming whitetails, what camera arm to use for filming deer hunting, and how to set up for filming in a tree stand. So a lot of things, it’s a big topic with a lot of information.  This series and first segment will help out those of you who are trying to start filming your own deer hunts, just recently became prostaff, or want to start their own show.

How to Film Your Own Deer Hunt: Which Camera to Buy For Filming Deer Hunts

Now first let’s cover the actual main camera itself that you need to use, and you have a ton of options here, and really I want to focus on first timers, or just the TV quality, or web show quality entry level cameras. The very first one to cover, the basic camera that a lot of people turn to and I have some experience with is the Cannon Vixia HF series, 10, 20, or 30 are about 600 used or $1,000-1,200 new. These cameras are very easy to run, you can get a Varizoom remote on it, and it makes self-filming your deer hunt that much easier. It is one camera that does relatively good video for the price that is the easiest route you can go, that’s one aspect to think about when determining what you want for filming hunts, the ease of doing it, that Varizoom remotes compatibility with camcorders makes it and keeps it enjoyable.

Now the other aspect to filming your own hunt especially trying to start your own show or being a prostaff member to a show or brand or product is what I specialize in, and that’s digital content creation, production and marketing, if your filming your own hunt one thing that you might want consider is picking up a cheap DSLR I run a tiny DSLR Nikon 5200 a $600 package with 2 lenses, I need to upgrade for what I am doing now, but it is a basic level camera like a DSLR, going to give you control and far more options to help you out in general, that’s the way you need to think of it. You can knock out a video camera and actual camera with one purchase. A DSLR while it’s hard to self-film, it can be done, it has its disadvantages when self-filming with the lenses the manual focus, but for the money it is going to give you the best footage and clarity, also providing a cinematic look, and the option to snap high quality photos. You want to get lenses that cover 18mm- 200 or 300mm at least!  While the camera use might ring well in your ears for hero shots, the more important thing is a feature or title picture for your YouTube video, the blog you are writing, or any digital content for that matter you are putting online. So there is two advantages in getting a DSLR, not to mention what you are striving for when looking for a camera to film your own hunt, is performance in low light. This is the whole game when it comes to deciding whitetail hunting film gear, a $600 dollar DSLR does far better than the cannons camcorders that are by far more expensive for low light conditions.

How to Film Your Own Deer Hunt: Second Camera Angle

Another purchase that you in my opinion definitely need is a GoPro or secondary camera angle, tiny action cameras pull the hunt together, especially when you are self-filming. Like I said I mostly take up my DSLR when I film so I can cut away to that go pro footage every time I’m focusing or moving, or I bump the camera arm. Um so you definitely need to think about that. I have got a simple GoPro session it’s got wireless hookup, I can hook it up to my phone and turn it on so I don’t have to move up in the tree and worry about it, and the nice thing about it is I can also preview and get the angle perfect before recording.

How to Film Your Own Deer Hunt: Audio

The next important thing is audio, the camera audio system built in is not enough for filming your own deer hunt, especially when it comes to interviews, so you need to pick up a mic, the obvious route is a shotgun mic, if you have the cannon or DLSR d–, really any shotgun mic is going to put you at or around 1-200 dollars

I have got a Rode mic that I picked up for $150, and you might have to buy a hot shoe adapter for your camera but it does pretty good. When setting up a mic you really have to play with it, you have to play with the settings on what is going to sound the best during the hunt. I also have a basic lapel mic for interviews, but really a shotgun mic is cheaper to get that can do a better job for hunting and many times audio as well  just because a good lapel mic is so expensive compared to what a shotgun mic can do. Also when purchasing a shotgun microphone, it is obviously a good idea to get a wind screen or wind shield for the mic.

So those are the basics of how to film your own deer hunt, that takes care of the main part of the hunt, what you need to concern yourself with, after the initial purchase of the actual camera, secondary camera, and audio system is you’re going to have to start investing in a tripod, a camera arm, fluid head, and when your filming, there always extra costs. These extra costs come in the form of fixes, remotes, extra batteries, lenses, editing software for deer hunts, or whatever the case may be…expect extra costs. So in this segment I wanted to cover the camera and the actual gear you need for filming itself, in the next segment I’ll talk about actually filming of the deer hunt and how to set it up and which camera arm you need to get that is the best for your money, and some other things you should think about when preparing to start filming your own deer hunts and/or editing your deer hunts.