Taking A Long-Lasting Memory

Taking A Long-Lasting Memory

By Ryan Graden

“A picture is worth a thousand words.” It’s a phrase that we’ve all heard before. However, as a sportsman, I would argue, “A picture is worth a thousand memories.”

As I’m am typing this article in my office, I am surrounded by pictures and memories on my walls of the many different hunts that I have had the privilege to be involved in over a good many years. 8×10 photos of my grandfather, my father, me, and now my daughters sometimes leave me in a dreamful state as I recount the details of the adventures behind those pictures. It’s the pictures that I first begin to admire with my eyes and when that starts the memories come flooding quickly thereafter. The proper picture of your outdoor adventure or trophy will last much longer than the taxidermy on your wall that will, over time, deteriorate into nothing.

For a number of years, the men in my family and I have attempted a hunt of some sort in the fall. For a good streak, our adventure of choice was a Do It Yourself (DIY) Antelope hunt in Wyoming. We’d schedule a week off to drive to Wyoming, set up a camp on public lands, and spend the week scouting, hunting, and processing what we harvested. It was always a great time with the guys and we looked forward to it every year.

One year, as we are making our trip westward, we stopped at a hotel in western Nebraska. It had a very nice outdoor patio with a gas fire pit and lounge seats. As we sat there, my uncle surprised us with a spur of the moment (although I think he had it planned) talk on taking the proper photo of your trophy. He had printed photo examples, writings, and more for us to as he began a lecture on why we should put these tools and advice into action.

Just a few days later, all five of us were able to put it to the test as we filled our antelope tags on opening day. The pictures from that year set a new pace for us in the years to follow. Taking a great photo is more valuable than having a taxidermy bill that puts a dent in your wallet.

Your Harvest
Think of it. You’ve seen the gory photos before and maybe you’ve been guilty of it. It’s a picture you’d expect in some sort of horror book. The hunter holding on to his kill. Blood coming from various parts of its body and him with a sinister grin of accomplishment. Maybe it’s in the back of the truck, or hanging in the garage. And when your non-hunting friends look at it, they are repulsed by the sight of it. Right? Have you seen something like that before?

A good picture begins with the care of your animal. First things first, get rid of the blood! When we prepare for a photo, I usually bring a bag of wipes or a roll of toilet paper that will help me clean up the animal. Take care to clean up the wound site. Clean any blood coming from the mouth or nostrils. Do your best to clean up other parts of the body and even the immediate area of ground that you will be posing in such as the leaves, grass, or snow. I would suggest NOT gutting your harvest until after the photos are done. Nobody wants to see the inner cavity of an animal in a photograph.

Before the joints and ligaments stiffen up, pose your animal in a laying position with all four limbs folded naturally underneath its body. If possible, try to pose the side with the least “damage”. Nobody needs to see the gaping hole that your bullet or arrow caused.

A clean animal and a good pose are a very important first step to a great photo.

Scenery
The next element of a great picture that you should consider is the scenery around you. Whether you’re fishing, hunting, trapping, or doing something else, the surroundings can add to the story of the photo and thus the memory.
If you are posing a fishing photo of an amazing catch, make sure to get a good scene of the lake or river that you caught it on in the background. You’ll want to see the water, maybe a distant shoreline, the hills around the lake or river, and maybe the trees nearby.

When it comes to posing a deer, turkey, coyote, hog, or anything that you would chase on land, be sure to include the timber behind you or a tree line on the end of the field that you harvested in. Maybe a hay bale that is nearby. If you are in the daylight, do what you can to capture the scene around you. It will make for a great memory of your hunt.

If the picture is in the dark (end of the day hunt), worry about your immediate surroundings. Is the snow that is nearby free of blood? Is there a tree or two that you could back up to? Again, maybe a round hay bale that could become a part of the background. With the absence of the sun, a scenic picture will be impossible. However, you will have the couple feet around you show up in your picture. Do what you can to set up your scene.

Perspective is Everything
We’ve probably all seen the pictures of the obvious “hold out” of a trophy in order to make the rack or body look larger than it really is. Truthfully, who wouldn’t want to have that?

There are a couple of angles and perspectives that you should pay some heed to when taking your trophy photo. They will enhance the size of your trophy as well as the scene around you.

First, if possible, shoot from a lower position than the target. For example, when I take pictures of the daughters and their deer harvests, I will usually lay on my belly in front of them and shoot at a low, but slightly upward angle. This makes the scene look eye-level and will usually leave your target looking a bit larger than it was.

The same thing should be done with a fishing picture. If the angler is holding his catch at arms length, take the time to lower your position of shooting to take a slightly upward photograph. Don’t sacrifice any of the surrounding scenery though. You don’t need a shot of the fish and the sky.

Encourage the hunter or angler to sit or stand a good foot or two behind the trophy as they pose for a picture. Extend their arms whether they are holding fish or a set of antlers or horns. Is it cheating? Some might say yes. Others, like me, just say, “that’s just a good picture!”

Another important element to remember is to make sure that the target of your photo is large and centered in your photograph. Fill up most of the frame with the trophy and the hunter or angler. Remember, you still should see the scenery around them, but the purpose of the picture is to celebrate the accomplishment of the hunter and the trophy. They should not be the smaller target set in the middle of the picture.

Whatever angle you decide to shoot from, make sure it is free of grass, small sticks and debris, or even seedling trees. Those are a few things you might not notice in your viewfinder, but they will show up in the result of your photo in a big way.

More is Better
When you are getting ready to take a photo that could last for years and years to come, don’t be afraid to take more than one picture. In fact, when we take pictures of our trophies in the Graden family, we take a ton!

When I get my targets posed and their trophy ready for a photo, I usually hold down that “take a picture” button and keep that camera going. Notoriously, you will have somebody blink, the animal will shift, a weed or limb will blow in the way, a snowflake will create a giant reflection, or something else along those lines will happen. Out of a good dozen shots, you might only get one or two that will make the cut.

Having multiple pictures of multiple poses at multiple camera angles will insure that you will get a few great pictures that you would be proud to hang on the wall.

Try a Filter
Nowadays most of our cell phones have the capability to perform the same quality pictures that a camera would give us in recent years. Multiple pixel cameras in smart phones have made it easy and convenient to capture to great pictures of your trophy without have to take time to walk back to a vehicle or bring the trophy from the field to a home. You can simply pull out your phone and take a picture where things lay.

The advantage is that most of these digital phone cameras also allow some unique filters that will only enhance some of the details in the photograph. Colors, pigments, and other parts of a good picture can be enhanced with a simple flick of a fingertip and you have a professional looking memory!

With all that said, don’t ever miss the opportunity to take a photo of your trophy. Call me sentimental, but those pictures have meant much more to me than the shoulder mounts and skulls that adorn the walls of our house. Someday when I’m dead and gone, those mounts will be given away or thrown away and nobody will think anything more of them.

However, when my great-grand children look at the photo album of Papa’s hunts, those pictures will tell of the stories and memories that will resonate for years to come! Record your hunts, take a good photograph, and treasure the thousands of memories that they will provide to you. Good luck!