HOW TO KEEP THE HUNT OF A LIFETIME

How To Solve Video and Hunting Problems

EDITOR'S NOTE: We don't have to depend on our memories to relive the best hunts of our lifetimes. Modern technology enables us to capture the essence of great hunts, good hunts and even enjoyable, non-productive hunts through video. But how do you film your hunt and try to take game at the same time? Which cameras will serve you best? What's the best technique for getting top-notch footage? Where and how can you get a hunting buddy to shoot footage for you instead of trying to take a deer or a turkey for himself? Can you make a living shooting hunting videos? To learn the answers to these questions and more, we've interviewed some of the best videographers in the outdoor industry. These people use video cameras to tape television shows and to create the best-selling videos in the nation. Follow their advice to make the kind of videos your friends will lean out of their chairs to watch instead of nodding off to sleep when you turn on the VCR.

When Ralph Cianciarulo of Lanark, Illinois, first tried to make videos, he didn't know how to bowhunt and video his hunt at the same time. Initially he planned to ask a hunting buddy to video for him. But, his hunting buddies often proved unreliable, and besides, who would want to video a hunt instead of hunting?

Cianciarulo had taken his wife Vicki on several hunts with him, but she never had wanted to shoot a bow. "I just had a problem mentally with taking game, and I didn't think I could do it," says Vicki Cianciarulo. "But I liked to go on the hunts, and I enjoyed watching Ralph hunt and being a part of his hunt. Hunting gave us quality time together away from our business and family responsibilities."
Ralph asked Vicki to hunt with him, sit in the tree stand and video him hunting. She could enjoy all the aspects of the hunts and shoot the deer with the camera. "I really got into videoing," Vicki explains. "I enjoyed capturing the hunt on film and then coming home and reliving the hunt through the video I'd produced."

Eventually, Vicki decided to try her hand at actual hunting. "After I saw and understood what hunting was really all about, I wanted to become a hunter."
When Vicki made that decision, the Cianciarulo's Archer's Choice video production company became a viable interest. Vicki and Ralph took turns as videographer and hunter. Today they have a highly successful outdoor-video-production company. "If you have a wife, a girlfriend, a buddy or a youngster who likes to be outside but doesn't know whether he wants to harvest game or not, don't try and force that person to hunt," Ralph Cianciarulo advises. "Instead, teach him or her to enjoy the hunt as a videographer."
According to the Cianciarulos, one of two things will happen:
either the person will continue to want to go and video the hunt, or, you'll gain a new hunting buddy with both video and shooting skills.
"I believe that the video camera is the best way to Introduce non-hunters to the sport of hunting," remarks Vicki Cianciarulo.

How To Video Your Own Hunt
According to Ralph Cianciarulo, a good hunting video must have a beginning, a middle and an end. Also, you'll need to recreate some aspects of the hunt from different angles and perspectives.

"If you plan to play both roles-the hunter and the videographer-first mount a treepod below your stand and point the camera at the places you think the deer will come into view," says Ralph Cianciarulo. "A treepod is like a camera tripod, except instead of having three legs for balance and stability, a treepod straps on to the trunk of a tree and still has the same kind of adapter and platform for the camera that a ground tripod has.
"When you see the deer, you can move the camera with your foot, although you may end up with a shaky video. With certain cameras, you can see the deer on the screen at the same time you prepare for the shot. However, you may miss some of the action if you try to video yourself and shoot the deer."

Following the shot, Cianciarulo recommends mounting the camera above and behind you so that the camera films your whole body. Then, recreate seeing the deer, drawing your bow and releasing the arrow while filming the sequence. Finally, after you climb down from your tree stand, locate your deer. Return to your stand, and retrieve your camera from the tree. Then, recreate finding the downed deer. What's Best-Going Alone or Videoing With a Buddy? To get the best quality videos, have someone tape your hunts for you. But remember, the deer will have two people instead of one to see, hear and smell. Ralph Cianciarulo says that a cameraman who's already a hunter will shoot the best video for you. That person can read the body language of the deer, can understand what the animal's about to do before the animal does it and can capture all the action in sequence. "Position the cameraman above and behind you in a separate tree stand to give him your same view," Cianciarulo comments. "Once both of you settle in your stands, have the cameraman look through the viewfinder and tell you where you must take your shot to get the action on tape. If you don't take the shot where the cameraman tells you to, you may bag an animal, but you won't get the video you want. Additionally, you may have to clear shooting lanes for the cameraman to shoot through-just like you clear lanes for the passage of your arrows."

TOMORROW: WHAT'S THE BEST EQUIPMENT FOR BETTER VIDEO?