August/September 08

Waterfowling North America
No Lights… but Cameras and Action
by Doug Larsen

y last day in Mexico, we got to the blind about 40 minutes later than we would have gotten there had I been in charge, as I like to be set up and ready the minute shooting light becomes legal. But the dark sky was already beginning to glow flamingo pink in the east, and teal and shovelers and wigeon were strafing over in tight bunches, while a single landed in the decoys with a hiss. We could have killed a limit of ducks in a couple of minutes, but nobody was interested in shooting because there wasn’t enough light to film. And if it didn’t happen on film, it didn’t happen. Welcome to the world of outdoor television programming.

I was lucky enough to have been invited to Mexico earlier this year, where I was a guest of Benelli firearms for their Benelli, On Assignment television show. While I have appeared on some outdoor television episodes in the past, I’m not a regular, because unlike the handsome Steve Smith, editor of this fine magazine and co-host of Beretta’s Bird Hunter’s Journal, I believe my face is far better suited for print or radio. (Forget it, Larsen – no raise, but nice try. —SS)

But I digress. While I have been a guest on some other hunting shows, this past trip served as a reminder of just how difficult it is to put together a compelling outdoor television show, and even given good bird numbers and weather conditions, it takes a lot of work to make a half-hour waterfowl (or upland hunting) show worth watching.

Frankly, there is little or no acting involved, there are no rehearsals, you just go out and hunt for a day or several days, and do everything you normally do to get ducks into your decoys, but in the process you have to accommodate all of the needs of the video production. This often includes hiding two camera operators and their two huge cameras (think about how tough this is in a field-hunting situation or in a typical duck-blind situation, where another blind must often be built behind the shooting blind), to making sure the microphone you are wearing is working, and most of all making sure that you are able to kill some ducks when the opportunity presents itself.

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