Why cant we all take respectful pictures of our game?

[Nickel]

I have been looking through the photo post and trophy den and I have been seeing a lot of pictures with hunters sitting on a deer or bear or the animal is mostly out of the picture. I have worked hard over the years to try my hardest to take respectful pictures, not to have to much blood laying around or the rib cage wide open or a bloody tongue hanging out. I like to preserve the thought of the game that I take as to how I remembered it when it was still walking and not a bloody mess. What do you fellow hunters think of this?

[Mathews XT Man]

Congratulations on a well done job! As for the rest I would not get too worked up over it..you wont change anybody..as far as some blood..well it comes with the sport, get used to it.

[jesse8953]

I don't worry about blood or a tounge hanging out.Usually someone else is taking the picture and I am to excited to nit pick a picture that someone took.As long as the I get the moment captured a little blood does not bother me.

[Nickel]

I am not afraid of the blood, I have been processing deer and livestock for the past 12 years at the local meat market. Its just that when I want to hang a picture on the wall or show it to someone who is not a hunter I do not want to make them puke.

[NS whitetail]

I will agree with you to a point, a tongue showing isn't all that bad or a hanging buck showing where it's been dressed, but I have seen some nasty pics ( on other forums ) where there is the gut pile lying beside the deer or someone has blood from their ears to their feet while being in the pic, they could at least drag the deer away from it or clean up a bit JMO

[Rhino]

Bottom line is very few hunters ever think about setting up a camera shot to show off a trophy. They are understandably caught up in the thrill of the kill. I'll bet few have ever read anything or thought about setting up the shot either. Hopefully they've seen enough videos to have an idea of what they should consider for the shot when that once in a lifetime trophy comes along that they want to capture some memorable shots of.

Personally I'm one of those that attempts to try to set up a good trophy picture too. Doesn't matter if it's mine or I'm behind the camera taking someone else's trophy shots. I get asked to do that a lot here at home. It's not just the deer's tongue and some blood clean up that goes into it but everything that's going to show up in the picture. Who cares if the deer's tongue is hanging out if the picture is taken in the back of a truck with some empty beer cans and/or trash laying around in the back.

When possible I prefer a natural backdrop setting like the one in your avatar Nickel. Sometimes that means hanging a deer up overnight to take pics in the daylight the next day. That usually requires good, understanding friends to help you take a stiff animal out to set up the shot. That simply would never be considered by most hunters.

I'm not going to chastise anyone for not setting up what I consider a respectable trophy picture though. After all it's their trophy.

[camoman1]

Yeah I agree to a point as well. Blood is part of what we do, but again I do try to make pics as clean as possible. I try to remember to put the tongue back in, lay my bow/gun over the holes, and I definately dont want a gut pile in the pic.

I do laugh at the pics in the magazine with all the 'pro hunters'. Its a funny to me how they prop the deers head up and then sit 5 feet behind it to make the rack look huge....

[Tominator]

Can't say it much better than Alan said it. It's difficult to dictate your tastes to others.

[Rhino]

Thanks Chris...BTW...good picture of your trophy too.

[Tominator]

Thanks Chris...BTW...good picture of your trophy too.

How much did Tom pay you?




Have to admit, he took some great pictures that night. I was lucky to have him come out and help me.

[toddyboman]

I too have to agree with Alan!!

[Nut]

I too have to agree with Alan!!

Ditto.


Sometimes it depends on who takes the picture. LOL

The last scrub buck I took the only person I had around to take the picture was inexperienced with my camera and I am not happy with the pictures. I am thankful for him being there but it was my fault for not helping him or looking at the digital.

[wtnhunt]

Could not have said it any better than Al(Rhino). I did not used to get pictures of every deer, some of the pics I did get were pretty lousy due to conditions not exactly being the best, and have several of the tailgate pics that you seem to be implying to be substandard.

I do try my best now to take good quality pictures though and try to get pics in the field if at all possible whether it be night or day, but I enjoy looking at other hunters deer pics and am not going to put them down, if anything I have an understanding as a hunter that sometimes tailgate pics are for whatever circumstances the only pics possible at the time the animal is recovered.

[billkay]

I don't think it's a matter of being afraid of blood. It's respect for the animal. I think the situations that require you to shoot a deer on the tailgate are very few. Probably is more likely that no one wanted to take the time or make the effort to do a better job, or just didn't care to try. I applaud those that do. Keeping the deer recovered in the evening and hung overnite so as to be able to shoot it in the day light is a big undertaking but will make a huge difference. Congrats to those that do.

[chaseasl]

Alot of people do take respectful pics, but some just don't care what the pic looks like, its just not a priority, I have several friends like that and I can respect it