HOW TO KEEP THE HUNT OF A LIFETIME

HOW TO DECIDE WHO GETS TO HUNT AND WHO GETS TO VIDEO AND MAKE MONEY

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.

Brothers Mark and Terry Drury, the founders of MAD Calls and the owners of Drury Outdoors Video Production Company in Bloomsdale, Missouri, began making hunting videos and selling them in 1989. Today hunters know them as two of the most successful hunting-video producers in America. "Terry and I really got started after I watched the Denny Gulvas series of turkey-hunting videos," Mark Drury recalls. "At that time, I was a competitive turkey caller, and I told my brother Terry that I thought we could produce and sell a commercial hunting video like Denny Gulvas had." The Drury brothers each put up $1100 to buy their first video camera. Even today, their partnership endures as their business grows because they commit themselves to sharing the fun.

"We decided early in our careers that each of us would get to hunt each day we were together," explains Mark Drury. "If Terry hunts an afternoon and I'm videoing, then he'll also hunt the next morning. In the middle of the day, he'll take the camera and become the videographer, and I'll hunt that afternoon and the following morning."
Using this rotation system, each brother gets to hunt ½-day, every day they're in the field. "We've never had a problem as to whose turn it is to hunt," Mark Drury emphasizes. "We teach this same system to the subcontractors who work for us, and it seems to work well for everyone." If you and your hunting buddy want to earn a full-time living as outdoor videographers, Mark Drury recommends you start in television. You can learn your craft by...

*working for a TV station,

*supplying video for a station,

*starting your own TV show and/or

*supplying footage for someone else's show.
"You can gain a lot of experience and knowledge in TV that will help you to become a full-time producer of hunting videos," says Mark Drury.

You also can enter the video business by creating your own video and selling it within your state first and then within your region. However, Mark Drury cautions, "Don't expect to make a profit on your first video effort because you won't have a following of people who like or want your videos. If you're extremely successful, you can expect to make a profit by the third or fourth hunting video you produce." But, notes Drury, extraordinary videos such as having the biggest buck ever taken on film or the harvesting of seven Boone and Crockett bucks on one video will sell large numbers of videos. Drury also suggests you learn the video business and make money from your hunting footage by working with an established company like Mossy Oak, Realtree, Primos Game Calls or Drury Outdoors.

"At the beginning of every year, we host a video school for our subcontractors where we teach the fine points of shooting and producing great footage that can and will be used on television and in commercial videos," Mark Drury explains. "We pay our subcontractors just like salesmen who are paid on commission. The more good footage they shoot, the more money they make." Mark and Terry Drury live the dream of every sportsman who takes a video camera into the woods to film his hunt. They now earn a good portion of their living from the videos they shoot. However, can you and your hunting buddy do what they have already done?
"We entered the market at a very good time," Mark Drury admits. "When we first got into the business, we were just looking for a way to fund our hobby-to pay for our cameras and our hunting trips. In the last two to three years, the hunting-video business has been very good to us. But, to get into the business today and make a profit would be extremely tough. You'd need a very good marketing plan, and you'd have to be able to shoot better video than what's already being shot by the companies producing hunting videos." Mark Drury notes that the odds of a beginner producing a commercial-quality hunting video hover somewhere between zero and five percent. However, he challenges and encourages those who really believe in their abilities and in their willingness to work hard for the craft to give videoing a try. "Terry and I did it, and you can, too. Good quality cameras now sell for as little as $700 to $1500, but be sure to purchase a camera with a mini-DVD format."

TOMORROW: WHAT'S THE TOUGHEST AND EASIEST HUNTS TO VIDEO