week 4


Bowhunting North America's Weekly Tip, Week 4 PICTURES OF YOUR TROPHY
You’ve taken a nice trophy with your bow. One you’ll cherish and be proud of. Now, do the trophy justice and preserve your memories with a quality picture that you’ll be proud to display. Here are a few tips. Please take the time to clean your trophy of blood, dirt, leaves, grass, etc. Use a damp rag and clean blood from the mouth and nose and entry and exit wounds. Place the animal’s tongue back in the mouth or cut it off. Wipe the eyes with a wet rag to give them a more natural look. Pose the animal. On a deer or hog, lay the animal on its stomach and fold the front legs underneath the animal as in a kneeling position. Fold the back legs underneath the animal as if it were sitting on them. Hold the head erect and if a buck deer - facing the camera. Does and hogs should have the head facing to the side as if the animal were looking in the direction it is laying. For a turkey, spread the wings and fan as wide and full as possible and lay the beard of a gobbler on a light colored surface to show it off.	Sit flat on the ground or with your legs folded underneath you to make yourself approximately at the same height of the animal. Sit slightly off to the side of the animal, not directly behind it. Never straddle the animal. Get a low camera angle. Lay on your stomach if you must, but try to get the camera as low as possible to the ground and skylight the antlers on a buck to make them more visible. Avoid sitting behind the buck wearing camo clothing or having brush or trees directly behind the buck’s antlers. These things camouflage the antlers and make them difficult to see. Tailgate pictures are an absolute no-no! Check your own pose. Head up, hat slightly back, hands and clothing clean of blood. No sunglasses, face paint, or face masks. And for Pete’s sake – SMILE! You’re supposed to be happy about this!	Use a flash. Even in daylight pictures, set your camera to fire the flash to remove shadows from your face. If taking night pictures, do not use headlights to illuminate your picture. It causes the camera to not be able to provide the proper amount of flash and often makes “ghost” effects on the surrounding background. Take LOTS of pictures! You can always discard those you don’t want, but it’s hard to take more once your trophy has been butchered. When using a digital camera, set the resolution to the highest quality setting if you plan to print your photos at a size any larger than snapshot size. If using a digital camera – check your photos before you’re finished. And this is your Bowhunting North America Tip of the Week! John Shelley Pro Staff Bowhunting North America, LLC