Filming A Turkey Hunt

There are many different camera options on the market that make filming a hunt fun and easy. Below are a few tips to help hunters get started filming their hunt.

When filming a turkey hunt, the key to success is filming a bird that never quits moving without getting caught moving yourself. This can be very difficult because in order to film a moving bird, you need to move a lot. Grant Woods says the key to success boils down to keeping the camera completely concealed. Grant Woods from Growing Deer TV films countless turkey hunts every spring. “One mistake I see many guys make when filming is they don’t have the camera completely concealed. Everything on a camera, including the tripod, needs to be covered,” Woods explained. “Anything that is exposed can potentially shine, which can spook a turkey. Camo netting, burlap, or anything like that can be used to cover a camera if a hunter is hunting without a blind.”

There are many point of view cameras on the market that can be used on a shotgun or a bow to film the action. Hunters just getting started hunting should consider starting with one of these. The problem with a point of view camera is the angle is super wide and often difficult to see the bird in the footage. Another option when filming is to put a second point of view camera in the decoys. Allow the turkey to work the decoys before taking the shot. This will give you great up close footage of the bird. 

When placing a point of view camera in the ground, you will need a stake that attaches to the camera. Fourth Arrow Camera Arms makes all kinds of camera arms for filming hunts and ground stakes for point of view cameras.

When filming a turkey hunt, place two or three turkey decoys in front of your setup and make sure the decoys are placed far enough apart that the gobbler can come in and work in the decoys. This will allow the hunter to get a lot of great footage of the real bird working the decoys with the point of view camera that is in the decoys.

Many years ago, I was filming a hunt for Realtree. The camera man who had a ton of experience told me before the hunt to spread the three decoys 5 yards apart from each other and let the gobbler work into the decoys and dance around for several minutes before I took my shot. Doing this allowed us to get high quality footage. 

When filming a turkey hunt, Grant Woods suggests that the hunter tell the camera man a second before they pull the trigger on a gun or release the arrow when shooting a bow if they are filming the hunt with a traditional camera being held by a camera man. This gives the camera man a second to take his hands off the camera. “One thing I have noticed over the years is that when a weapon is fired the camera man is always startled, regardless if they are ready for the shot or not. When the camera man gets startled, the camera ends up shaking, resulting in poor quality video footage. I always have my camera man remove his hands off the camera seconds before I shoot to eliminate this problem," Woods said.

High quality decoys, a high-quality camera, or multiple cameras and keeping the cameras concealed are key to creating quality turkey hunting footage. The good news is quality cameras are inexpensive now so filming a turkey hunt is extremely affordable. Some hunters even use their smart phone on a tripod to film their hunt. Regardless of what camera is used, one thing is certain: filming a turkey hunt is fun.  Being able to watch the hunt for years after the fact is worth the extra effort.