Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Any photo Regrets?

Have you ever not put the camera down and grabbed the rifle soon enough. Yep I grabbed the wrong Canon this time. Oh well

A shot not taken is as good as a miss!

I look at it as "Counting Coup" and making memories.



ya!

GWB

Yep Yep

600 yds +




500 yds +



closer still



200 yds, +/-




100 yds +/-


The "Big Six"



up close and personal!


ya!

GWB

Thats awesome my friend, great series of snaps. The buck I posted came in well before I had enough light to get a quality photo and was gone in a flash.

Elkhunter49;
Top of the morning to you sir, I hope this finds you and yours well.

Thanks for sharing that cool photo, we don't seem to get drop tine whitetail in this part of BC, though we did occasionally see them in the section of Saskatchewan where I grew up.

If you're okay saying, is that a Louisiana photo?

I ask because of the cactus.

Thanks to my old friend GW for wonderful, crisp photos again too. I always enjoy them.

All the best to you both this weekend.

Dwayne

I enjoyed that

Thank you

Those are both great bucks.

I really only have two photo regrets connected with my hunting.

The first one is that on many of my hunts, and especially my early hunts, I didn't take a camera with me. So now I don't have pictures of, for example, my two largest mule deer bucks, or my first antelope, or my 2nd best 6x6 bull elk, or many of my other deer, antelope and elk. One year in the mid '80s I took a friend in moose hunting. Riding in on my horses before daylight on opening morning, my friend suddenly said, "I forgot my camera." I then realized that I didn't bring my camera either. At first light we saw a bull moose in the meadow in front of us. Larry shot it and it later turned out to be the 4th highest B&C scoring Shiras moose at that time from Montana, and we didn't have any ground pictures of him.

My other regret, and I'm still guilty of it, is that I don't take enough pictures of camp, of the country around us, of packing out the animal, etc, etc.

Good morning Dwayne. The buck in the photo is a deer I photographed in Maverick County in SW Texas. I haven't seen a main frame eight like him since. He came in very early before I had decent camera light which is why the photo is so grainy and over exposed. The buck ran in like a boss sniffing for does and stood long enough for a photo. I dropped my camera and while I was trying to get my rifle up he heard or smelled me and bolted.

My regret is having photography skills not quite to the level of a Kodak Instamatic. As a result, I have very few pictures of my hunts, fishing trips, vacations, and, most regrettably, of my many canoe trips through Ontario, Manitoba, and NWT.

I've never mixed photography and hunting. I'm strictly geared for one or the other.

Killing that one would be more important than the drop to me. I'd have shot as soon as it was good. Or as soon as needed. Which it mostly appears you did.

Years ago I shot a moose midafternoon in a foot of snow. It was getting dark before we finished dressing and skinning it. It was under a mile of flat ground to the pickup and the plan was to come back in the morning with a toboggan to pack it out. We'd only gone 1/4 mile when we crossed fresh bear tracks so it was for sure that we were going to get that moose out that night if it took us all night. We got the toboggan and headed back.
Since it was dark, I didn't take my camera. BIG mistake. When we got back, the moose had been taken over by a pine marten. We watched his antics for an hour as we loaded up. He was going to have that moose or ELSE! The hide was frozen down in the snow. He grabbed it and headed south with it. He was throwing snow with all 4 in reverse. It was hilarious and I didn't have my camera.

Great story sir, thanks for sharing.

I wouldn't even think about taking a picture of a buck until he's on the ground. They can be gone in a flash, or a bigger one may show himself for a few seconds. either way, to much time, effort, money, etc. spent to miss an opportunity that may present itself. Not the time to be fooling around with a camera. To each his own, JMO.

Holy balls!

Doesn't meet the scenario in your OP, but I regret the unintentional crop nonetheless.

There was a shot I'd like to have had this fall. We had cow elk tags. It was way too warm and the elk hadn't moved down yet. Finally on the last afternoon of the season, we spotted 9 of them 1.5 miles away out on a flat. We watched a while and finally they dropped into a shallow ravine under a rock bluff and bedded down. We drove down the road to a point 90 degrees from where we were and started hiking. We had about 1.25 miles to go but we knew exactly where they were in the sagebrush. We walked right into them. Only 2 of the 9 were cows and my partner and I got 1 each. Of the 7 bulls, 6 were spikes. When they got up, all we could see was a sea of spikes. It was hard to sort out the 2 cows. It would have been a fun photo with all those sticks in the air.

I can't say I have ever lost an opportunity on a critter due to wanting a picture of it living before shooting, though I have taken pictures while waiting for critters to stand up or to turn just right to determine legality.

I do sometimes regret having not taken better pictures of hunts when I was younger, taken more time to clean critters up and also to consider the background when taking hero shots.

I took this picture while waiting for this ram to turn his head to confirm he was legal. Once I got that confirmation though, the camera didn't even cross my mind.


I also have been better lately about taking pictures of scenes that I know are unique, when in the past I would have just taken in the sight, and went on my way.




I have a really good, high dollar Canon camera but it is just too heavy to pack in a ways. I would like to start using it more though instead of my cheaper point and shoots.

I killed my best Muley to date in 1983. I'm lucky that a buddy had an old polaroid handy when I stopped by his business on my way home. I'd sure love to have some pics of that hunt!

That’s a great buck. I like your high tech hunting clothes too, first gen scentlok I’m guessing. 😁

Maybe somewhat of a different tack on "any photo regrets"

My oldest son married this boy's mom when the boy was 10.

He had never held a gun, much less hunted.




Here is the boy at 12 with his first deer.

About a week before we took him hunting for the first time, I took him to the range, and set him up with this Kimber Montana in 260 Remington, and 120 Gr. Nosler Ballistic tip

Anywho, I don't do high fence hunting.

I've only done three guided hunts. One in Montana for Elk and Mule Deer. One Bear Hunt with hounds in New Mexico and then a spot and stalk hunt bear hunt in north-eastern New Mexico with Drummond Lindsey (Hunt Sonora) and Ricky Bob.

Everything else I do is DIY on low fenced/no fenced private property trespass leases here in Texas. Some may disagree, but I like to think that I earn my deer and game.

So, about 5 years ago my oldest son and a couple buds contracted for 15 deer on a high fenced south Texas ranch that had not been hunted in years. IIRC it was about 1,500 acres, and there were tons of deer. From what my son told me they could start out on one end of a sendero, on his side x side and spin corn out of a tail gate feeder and by the time they got 200 to 300 yds down that sendero, deer would be out eating the corn.

Consequently, I turned down three opportunities to go there. I did not say hunt there, cause my idea that is shooting, not hunting, and I don't do high fence.

So here my grandson is with his "second buck" just before his 19th birthday, along with a knife I'd given him for his birthday



As I mentioned previously, I had three opportunities to go to this property.

Do I regret that I did not shoot this buck. Not in the least.

Do I regret not being there when he took this buck. Yes.

Best,


GWB

Nice work GW!

Man, put me firmly in this camp too. Up until a few years ago I rarely, if ever, even took pictures hunting or of the kills. Just never occurred to me.

Five or six years ago I was in an elevated stand facing west on the east end of an E-W field about 250 yds by 75 yds. I had a small video camera and was taping a couple of small bucks sparring and some does at the far end of the field. It was a nice day and winds were out of the South so it was a slight L-R crosswind.

I heard some rustling of the brush to my right and it sounded like a deer easing its way through the brush. Eventually, I saw some brush moving out of the corner of my eye to the right and pointed the camera at it. The next thing you know, a nice 8 point buck stuck his nose out of the brush. I got just a few seconds of him on video before I decided to shoot. I put the camera down, (I even remembered to turn it off 😊), picked up the rifle and got my shot with him trotting away at about 50 yards.. He made it another 20 yards and went down.

Checking his tracks afterwards I figured he was scent checking the field, paralleling it W - E along the north side to see “who” was out there causing all the ruckus.

Not intending to hi-jack but......

Do you guys think that in many instances the way we hunt has evolved from the differing geograph/topograpy, flora, fauna,climate and local culture. It would seem, as a circumstance, the instance of including photography in one's "hunting" may be in relation to the aforementioned factors.

For example,

I am afield, year around. That gives a lot of opportunities to "count coup' during the "off season".

Other than for varmints, turkey, and other fowl, I almost never spot and stalk. The temperature much of the year, the terrain and the habits of the game I hunt preclude this. Consequently I spend most of my time "afield" either in pop up blinds on the ground, or elevated "stands". Since I am heading to a destination, I can pack a camera, two long range lenses and a smaller zoom. I usually arrive about an hour before first light and either snooze or listen to an audio book. I may sit till noon. I usually go out in the afternoon at least two to three hours before dark. As I have night vision and thermal I may sit out until the wee hours of the morning. This time, being in one location in a blind allows for plenty of time to take photos of numerous subjects.

I’ve a want to tell folks, I shoot a lot more with a camera than I do a firearm, and the older I get, its not as much about the killing as it is being "afield".























Perhaps you get the picture!

ya!

GWB

I'm the same way buddy. I seem to always reach for my camera these days before my rifle. It's a blessing to get many many days afield each year.

Great pics gents. Thanks for putting them up.

I don't know that I ever took a picture of any game I'd taken until I joined the campfire. I'm never "in" the picture, I don't do enough clean up/background consideration, but at least I have a quick pic or two now. They're just cell phone pics. That said, probably the best result of all the time I've spent on the campfire is just the push to take a picture.

Not really while hunting. Easier to get the things in focus when dead.... I like meat.

Now, there are photo ops that I have missed and have regrets. One is a snowy owl perched on the tripod center struts of a big antennae up in Barrow. That sucker knew how to hunt for lemmings!

The most recent was a Masai herder in Tanzania, waiting to cross his cattle . They were ranked up nearly perfectly about 8 wide and 10 deep. Danged near military. Those bovines were trained!

My only real photo regrets is that I take lots of them and it's still not enough. I'm not good about stopping to take photos w/out a dead critter as the subject.

If I'm hunting, I'm hunting. I don't take pictures of anything I intend to shoot 'til it's horizontal on the ground with the red juice leaking out. I'll take pictures of critters if I've decided not to shoot and I'll take pictures after the shooting is done, but I won't ever risk losing an animal to a fool stunt like trying to take pictures of something before I shoot it. To me that takes a level of arrogance that should bite a guy in the ass now and then. Real hunting isn't hunting for TV. I don't care what the TV "hunters" have to do to sell their show. .. I'm not in that game. The first thing I do is check behind the critter to be sure I'm not going to shoot through it and hit something I don't wish to. Second thing is getting those dang crosshairs lined up just as fast as I can. Every moment you delay is a moment when all opportunity can be lost. Not rushing things, just taking my time very quickly.

Tom

I have more regrets than photos by far. I have hardly any pictures of all the old-timers that I grew up with in hunting camp 60+ years ago. I was blessed to have a grandpa and uncle who loved to hunt and didn't mind dragging me along. My brother videos a lot of the deer he shoots and it's really neat to see. I'm challenged when it comes to electronics.

I try to take time to do some photography while I'm hunting and fishing.

While fly fishing an Alaskan river for silver salmon, a buddy asked me why I was taking a break from the phenomenal fishing to take photos. He chided me a bit.

But when I sent him the photos of his beautiful wife, and of him too, fishing that river... Then he understood.

I thank the fellows who taught me to set up a "trophy photo" with the blood wiped away from the animal's face, the legs arranged right, the head held up, the tongue tucked in or removed... All those things that help make the photo a good reminder of the hunt, even many years later.

Do I have any photo regrets? Yes, of not taking more and better photos during earlier hunts. Some of those guys are dead now, others I'll never see again due to geography & time, but I do wish I'd gotten more photos in the past. My sons put up with me taking "too many" photos now, and fussing with the deer carcass too much as well. But we get pretty good photos.

Regards, Guy

ElkHunter49,

Thank you! Terrific photos!

Guy

EH49, you're very talented with the lens , nice photos.
Yes I have regrets; I wish had a camera handy when I took this big guy. I was 21 years old at the time and a camera didn't seem like a necessity.

Some great photos, thanks for posting them up.

I'd posted earlier about regretting not really taking pics of ANY game I'd killed, much less seen, before joining the campfire. ...thinking on it, not having taken pictures with friends/family while hunting is a bigger regret for me. I've spent a lifetime hunting with my father but I'm not sure we've taken more than a small handful of pictures together....and those were when I was a kid and deer were far less available (both population and kills). My father's main hunting partner passed away a couple of years ago. I tagged along with him and my dad growing up. I wish I had pictures of hunting with him as well. My grandfather was a serious bird hunter with some really good dogs and I only have 1 picture of him hunting that was handed down. You'd think my family was in witness protection or extremely camera shy from the lack of pictures.

I have my share of photos of big game once its down or after the hunt. But I have missed a bunch of opportunities get pics of other game and wildlife that were out of season or I just didn't have a tag for. Ill try to fix that. This thread has been pretty cool.

Thanks for the kind words fellas! I photographed this bull late one evening and when I found him the next morning he was dead. Looked like a puncture wound to his brisket must have got an organ. The rut is tough on bulls.

Bev,

The boys and I spent this past weekend on a ranch on a meat hunt (8 does) and two of us saw our first double drop-tine 10 (+2) and it was neat as could be. Less than a hundred yards away. No camera...

That's a great day Ed, well done buddy!

Good stuff guys!

A few more, all taken while in pursuit of ................. an experience





































ya!

GWB

No photo regrets here...I just don't feel like reading about scope bashing or how some people upstairs are both infectious disease experts and constitutional scholars who have all the answers to the world's problems, but can't figure out how to post pictures on this site.

Are those Lynx tracks?

Yes, and missed my snare. Pushed that one stick out of the way I had used as blocking.

Do luv' me some snares
















and pens










and traps












One of my bud's and I have eliminated +/- 370 in the last three years between snaring, trapping and sniping!

ya!

GWB

Well done GW!

Every time I see a picture of Camalatoe and Biteme Baby Sniffer I have Photo Regret Syndrome .

Back at uy
Back at ya!

ya!

GWB

great pictures thanks to all for posting ,please no camalatoe or sniffy pictures

I managed to put the camera down and get the rifle up in time with this Axis!

Bev,

Two outstanding snaps and a mighty fine stag.

Being cheap, a short range meat hunter and hoglet perforator, I've not taken a trophy Axis. Shot a few as targets of opportunity (as I love the meat) on one of the 5 Texas ranches I"ve hunted during the last 22 years.

Anwho, I hunted the 3,000 acre Rex Kelly ranch from 2002 until 2008. The owner must have been kin to Dr. Doolittle. He did not hunt or shoot. He lived up front in a stone house with no heat or A/C. He had at least 20 dogs and cats, and named all his animals. I'd ride around with him up front where there was no hunting to 'feed" his critters. We'd go a ways, and he would pull over and stop. He kept a 5 gallon bucket in the seat of his old blue Ford pickup between he and I. He'd scoop up a coffee can full of corn and bang it against the side of the driver's door. Within a couple minutes there would be hogs, white-tail Sika, Axis, and Fallow deer. He had names for a bunch. Hartford was a monster Axis stag. Gorgeous and Jimmy Dean were the resident bad-azz boars. He had a juvie black buck he called Junior. One year we painted "NO" in green fluorescent paint on the side of Gorgeous, hoping he would not get shot wandering toward the back of the ranch.

I liked Tom and so I built a pen up front near his house and put out feeders so he could watch his Axis deer of a morning or evening...........


Not the best quality photos, but you get the picture.......
















Over the course of time, I ended up taking several. Couple stags and a doe.













Ya!

GWB

That's my kind of place GW. Thanks for sharing the memories sir.

I've been hunting and photographing Axis on various ranches throughout the Texas hill country for over thirty years. Axis are my favorite venison to eat and I think they are a beautiful animal as well. It's been at least 20 years or longer since I consumed any WT deer meat and I don't miss it at all. Good Times buddy.

Photo regrets??

Not here

This is one of the few remaining places that you can't easily upload a photo directly to the post in seconds so I won't bother with a photo of any kind here

Great pictures! thanks for sharing