Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Personal Best picture thread

T O A D ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Scenarshooter

As busy as you are, thanks for posting your pictures.
By the way, do you have any idea how many bears Bill Byle killed with his 22/250?

My personal best Mule deer I killed was my first, I was with my best friend who is still my best friend, we were hunting the Tonto, he missed a monster the day before with a savage 300 open sights, I killed one the next morning with a savage 99 in 308 with a redfield 4x scope, running full out on a lower ridge about 250 yds on my hind feet, spined him, drt right there. First deer for either of us, his dad showed up in camp when we had got back, we packed it out whole wanting to hang it and show it off, it was a bitch with a canyon between us and the jeep. His dad made a big deal of it, this from a man that killed big bucks in the Kaibab back when tags were bought at the sports store and good for state wide. Back then pictures weren't taken and after butchering the heads were tossed out by the corrals for the dogs to haul off and chew on in the citrus groves. Some of the heads those oldtimers would toss away from the Kaibab would make todays trophy hunting elites cry, they were gnarly and huge. My buck was big, I had bragging rights that year... and it ate well... the memory is enough.

Kent

Spectacular!

There is a good bit that can be learned from the images this thread has collected.

One is, some of the members here have bagged some amazing trophy's over their life times.

A big thing is learning what makes an image a great image and there are some good examples here to take note of.

You only get the chance once to get these photos, seize the moment, take your time and pay close attention to the composure of the images posted here and the ones you take.

There are key things that turn what could have ended up being just another hunting photo into an amazing image.

It can take some time to set the stage for images once an animal is down.

I've never seen blood add quality to a hunting photo, I kick it out, cover it up or whatever it takes to be sure it doesn't show.
I take photos before I gut, a collapsed body makes an animal look smaller and dead...
If a tongue is dangling out of the mouth and I can't stuff it back in before the photos, I cut it off.

Let the animal take center stage.
A hunter positioning himself low and behind a downed animal seems to complement an image well.
Just don't get so far behind them that you are obviously stretching out to hold a horn.

Obviously if there is a awesome scenic view to be had get to where it shows well, anything is fair, you can move and manipulate an animal if you need to in order to show you were on that incredible ridge or mountain top.

Even in thick cover you need to look around and see what makes the best background, the image should tell the story of the hunt, if you were in thick schit, let it show.... I've knocked a little brush outta the way between the camera and the animal so I could back off enough to gather more background.

It'd be nice to hear a few tips from some of you guys...you know who you are, you guys didn't get all those awesome photos by chance...

My best shot on a critter... quartering away, 200 yards, running flat out. (that's the exit)

Yep, Btdt. Grew up without money to waste on cameras or developing for pics- old school. A box of 30-30 was designed to last several years. Cameras were for family gatherings.

I thank God for cell phones now and wish we would have had them back then. In college at UT Austin in the Darrel Royal days there was a little gas station a hunter had with a few old B&W fuzzy picks on the wall of 40 inch bucks which resembled elk. Iirc from Colorado in the good old days.

That was a toad striper, Jaguartx. I believe you've got me beat in the big striper category.

Once went to a deer hunting seminar and one of the classes was how to take quality photos of harvested game. He said to always stuff the tongue back in, try to avoid (or minimize) blood, and he had these little contact lenses for deer eyeballs so they don't look so glazed over.

Clayton has shot a few big game animals over the years.. with all due respect, nobody here can compete with that guy.

Montana Bull, 4 of my best archery long Island bucks and a 612 yd head shot on a woodchuck with my 6mm br.
img]https://i.imgur.com/JCA4XhK.jpg[/img]

Awesome photo!

Pic of my best dog with my only quadruple on pheasants this year.

When I think about Fieldgrade, this is the way I picture his house.

Wife's...

Roger, what'd you find there?

candlefish

or moonpinch,

Roundoak Great pic!