This summer I decided to try my hand at self-filming my bow hunts. I began this fall with a tree arm type setup.
I learned that this was very difficult to get rutting bucks into frame when hunting alone. I'd mount the arm to one side of the tree, and the bucks would appear on the other. Or countless other issues would arise. As we all know, rutting bucks are on the move. They don't stop for long. This makes it very difficult to film them with a camera arm unless you know exactly where they'll walk, and when.
My solution was to mount a Gopro camera to my bow. Gopro's don't have a zoom function, so they're basically worthless for long range filming. But where they lack zoom, they excel in other areas.
Such as, they're lightweight. You can't really tell when it's attached to the bow.
They're a point and shoot type of camera. As long as it's pointed in the right general area, you'll capture some cool footage. Anything under 30 yards shows up well on a Gopro, as long as you use the "narrow view" setting.
Rutting bucks could no longer escape my video camera! As long as they were reasonably close by of course.
If you've thought about filming your own hunts, this is the way to go in my experience.
Here's a video I put together compiling all of the best clips I gathered this fall while on stand. A few passes, a few shooters, and some other cool stuff that I just happened to catch on film.
