# Practice pictures of mounts



## swantucky (Dec 21, 2004)

I got a digital camera for x-mas and wanted to see how they looked. This one of my mountian lion mount looks kind of dark. Any advice???


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## swantucky (Dec 21, 2004)

This 10 point also came out pretty dark, on the camera they look o.k. but when I download them they are dark.


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## Fish4Fun (Apr 6, 2004)

I think they look pretty good 

But how much light did ya have when you took the pic and flash or no flash?

But i think they posted on here very nice. If you want any brighter may need more light or flash.


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## misfit (Apr 5, 2004)

i did a little editing on the cat.lightened it a little.not sure how it came out till it shows here though,LOL.
btw,i assume it was a bow kill.awesome.i have an old aquantance who had a pair mounted in his great room,along with many other critters.he and his wife only hunted with bow.
i used nero photo editing program.just a cheapie that came with my cd burner.


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## misfit (Apr 5, 2004)

nice buck.


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## swantucky (Dec 21, 2004)

Thanks alot Rick, I am going to see what kind of program we have to try and do the same job on my other mount photos. The buck is a shotgun kill from 3 years ago and the lion was taken with a 7mm mag, the arrows stacked up there are from deer kills. There is a pretty good story that goes with the lion. I planned on using my bow but things got a little goofy and I had to use the guide's rifle. My wife has to get on the computer for work. I will add the complete lion story later.

By the way I did use the flash and had the lights on, may have to add some more lighting to take the pictures.


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## misfit (Apr 5, 2004)

you're welcomme.i'm sure someone with better skills and programs can do better than me,but i'm not picky,so the cheapies work for me  
photoplus 6.0 is a free one i downloaded from the net,and works pretty good for the basic stuff too.
will be waiting for the story.
i think those aquaintaces of mine have dropped almost every big game critter on the continent with bow.


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## Hetfieldinn (May 17, 2004)

Here's a coyote my buddy just got back. Picture was taken with a cell phone, by the way.


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## misfit (Apr 5, 2004)

nice creative mount


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## Shortdrift (Apr 5, 2004)

Download Picasa............It is free and you can edit with it.


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## swantucky (Dec 21, 2004)

To start at the beginning, I recieved 2 round trip plane tickets from work to anywhere in the U.S. My wife and I decided on Colorado since we had never been there. I booked a guided hunt through Cabelas. Half of the adventure was getting there....
We drove to Detroit to avoid bad weather Friday night with our flight scheduled to leave Saturday morning at 7:30. A heck of a strom blew in and we sat on the runway untill 11:00, when we finally got deiced and in the air. Flew into Dallas/Fortworth, got there around 2pm. We were one of the last flights they allowed to land due to an ice storm. We had to spend the night there but it worked out o.k., we met some friends that live there for dinner and drinks.
The plan was to fly into Denver and take another flight from there into ...I can't remeber where but it was a small airport near Steamboat Springs. Anyway by the time we got out of Dallas and into Denver it was 11 pm Sunday night, we missed the last flight out and were stuck in Denver. The next flight out in the morning was 6am. We decided it was not worth getting a taxi and finding a room as we would have only been able to sleep for 2 hours anyway. We decided to camp out in the airport.
I did not mention we had our 9 month old son with us. My wife said she was afraid to sleep because someone would grab Hunter while we slept. I came up with an alarm system..........I unlaced my boots to the bottom grommets and fed the laces up through the stroller and tied them to his little ankles. If anyone tried anything they would have been surprised to have a very pissed off, tired, 6'4", lion hunter to tangle with!!!
We go to board this small plane and the wife is freaked, it is only a 10 seat plane including the pilot. To top it off it is snowing like a s.o.b. The pilot could tell she was panicked and he said "do you think I want to crash??? I have 3 kids at home, if it was not safe I would not fly." She calmed down after that.

Finally got to Craig and contacted the guide to let him know I was finally there and got set up to start my hunt on Tuesday which was supposed to start on Sunday.

to be continued


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## fugarwi7 (Sep 20, 2006)

What kind of camera do you have? If you are shooting your pics with the camera's auto setting and your pics are coming out a little darker, even with the flash, you may have to kick up the amount of natural light on your subject. If your camera has a manual settings option, try taking some photos that way. Find out what your auto settings are from the owners manual, then set your manual settings with a slower shutter speed or a higher f-Stop setting, which will lighten your pics by allowing more light on the exposure. Then bracket additional photos (change only shutter speed or f-stop setting by one increment for each photo). After taking several brackets, you will then be able to see the effect of each and determine which one works best for your desired results. Write down the settings in the same order you take the pictures and then compare the results. This takes some time but in the end, when you know how your photos will turn out, that once in a lifetime photo will turn out the way you want, without editing. 

By doing this, you will also better understand how to create more exiting photos. Simply by changing the settings to control depth of field (f-stop) you can create a 3-d looking picture, which really makes your subject stand out. That is just one example...the possibilities are endless.

Good Luck!


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## swantucky (Dec 21, 2004)

I am going to have to get online to see if they have the instructions posted or I can order a copy. The ones that came with the camera are........in spanish!!!!

I'll finish the lion story later, wife has put me to work for the New Years party.


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## swantucky (Dec 21, 2004)

O.k. so we get settled into the motel and the guide picks me up at 5:30am and says he has some bad news. The area recieved a record snowfall and we would be hunting on foot rather than the snowmobiles as he had planned. I thought that would be fine as the idea of chasing them with dogs and us following on snowmobiles was not what I would call sporting in the 1st place. We eat breakfast and pick up the dogs and head into his hunting area.

Along the way we meet up with another guide and hios hunters. He let my guide know that there are fresh tracks going into my gude's ranch. There are 4 of us, the head gude, his helper, another hunter who had already taken his cat, and myself.

We pick up the tracks but the snow had blown them in pretty good so the guide turns the dogs loose and sends the other hunter and guide to follow. He wanted me to wait with him to see if the dogs could follow them so I would not get too worn out right off the bat. I took this time to shoot a few arrows and make sure my bow was on. Tom (head guide) asked me how intent I was on using my bow, I told him I did not even bring a firearm so it was bow or nothing, he gave me a funny look. I found out why later.

After an hour or so Rusty (helper guide) calls Tom on the radio and tells him to get me up the mountian, the dogs are running it. I look up the mountian and cannot see them, Tom hands me his binos and says look toward the top at the big pine. I can barely see them through even his 10 power glass!!! He hands me and extra radio and tells me to get moving. I go as fast as I can up the mountian. The snow varies from knee deep to over my waist. The whole time I am huffing and puffing up he is giving me some not so kind words of encourgement on the radio.

I make it to the top about ready to pass out, the temps were in the single digits so I was dressed pretty warm. I was so hot the steam coming off me made it look like I was on fire. I meet up with Rusty and he asks how good I am with my bow, I tell him if I could shove my heart back in my chest and catch my breath I would be good out to 30 yards but would prefer around 20 yards of possible. He gives me a break and we start heading to the baying dogs.

We ge to the lion and dogs and Rusty says get ready, as soon as I leash the dogs take him. He approaches the dogs and I am about 20 yards from the tree. When he gets to about 15 yards he says OH CHIT and turns back toward me at a run drawing hi .50 cal desert eagle in the process. He yells hes gonna jump get your bow in front of you in case he runs at you. I'm ;like what???? He says to use my bow as a shield if need be!!!!

This is taking longer than I thought, I'll finish up later.


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## fugarwi7 (Sep 20, 2006)

Man, this is like watching Lost on TV...just when it gets going, you break for a commercial   

Good stuff so far though, so I'm staying tuned to this channel!


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## jeffmo (Apr 7, 2004)

i'm waiting for the rest of the story and some pics!  
craig is a really great place with great scenery and the people there treated our group like family.i was there in '04 for an elk hunt and had the time of my life!
we took a drive to scout the area we were going to hunt and i was amazed at the amount of game we saw.the elk were herding up for their migration and we saw literally thousands of elk plus ALOT of mule deer and pronghorn.
anyone who hunts really should do themselves a favor and go west to hunt in the rockies.


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## swantucky (Dec 21, 2004)

Fortunately the lion headed away from us and not towards us and the chase was on agian. The cat headed back down the mountian. I knew I was going to have to hustle back down. I was not looking forward to that, my legs were still burning from the trip up the mountian.

The radio crackles and Tom he yelling to get down asap because the cat had circled to the other side of the mountian and there were no trees, just a sage flat. At first it did not register what the problem was untill I realized the cat would tire and with no trees to climb he would stop and fight the dogs. I started back down as fast as my tired legs would carry me. I was near the bottom and had to decend a 30' deep drainage and climb up the other side. I fell twice going down, and was almost to the top on the other side when I began to slip. In my mind I was thinking if I roll down to the bottom I am going to have to rest before I will have the energy to climb up it agian. Just as I thought I was going down the hard way Tom appeared above me and grab my collar and yanked me up over the crest. He had managed to ge the snowmobile to within 100 yards of me and we jumped on and headed down the last 200 yards.

As we are going he is asking if I will use his rifle rather than my bow. He tells me the dogs and lion are into it pretty good right around the corner and if I use my bow there is a good chance that before the lion dies it will kill a dog or two. I told him I would rather use the gun than risk the dogs. We head to the truck and grab his 7mm mag. We run over to where the battle is going and I was glad I did not have to try and use my bow.

The 4 dogs and lion were in a mass of fur and claws with spit flying. I was not sure how I could take a shot without hitting the dogs. Tom tells me to shoot it in the head. I told him no way, I am willing to use the gun but will not damage my mount and bust up the skull. He says where are you gonna shot you have to disable him quick or he will kill the dogs. I told him I'll put the bullet at the base of the neck. He says are you that good of a shot???? I reply its your gun how good do you have the scope dialed in??? He says it is dead on. We kind of just look at each other for a few seconds and he finally says if you think you can make the shot lets do it.

We get into position about 25-30 yards from the mass of dogs and lion, the dogs are going crazy jumping at the lion and the lion is swinging his head and claws holding them back. I get a rest on a scrub tree and tell Tom to tell me when the dogs are clear. He tells me if you have not pulled the trigger by the time you hear the "t" in shoot hold off your too late. 

I am following the base of the neck with scope and waiting for the green light. He hollers shoot and I pull the trigger, the lion flattens out and I rack another shell. Tom says its clear put one in the chest.....boom I fire agian.

The cat is done for. We approach and he tells me great shot and the high fives and handshakes start. Rusty and the other hunter are coming down the mountian. Tom and I get the lion to the truck when Rusty shows up. Hes like holy crap you better hide that thing, when the other hunter sees it hes gonna be sorry he shot the one he did, yours is twice as big!!!!!!!!

They all check it out and head back to the other vehicle to get lunch and stow the gear. This gave me some alone time with my animal to give thanks and just soak up the moment. 

I took some video (the wife had the still camera) and we headed to the check station. It weighed about 160 lbs and was 7'3" from nose to tail. We then headed to Tom's for some post hunt cocktails. I then had a delima, what to do for the rest of the week, I got my lion the 1st morning of my hunt. I decided to spent the #$$$$$ to rent another 4 wd vehicle and spend time with the video camera. I would film mornings and spend the afternoons with my wife and son. I got a golden eagle, mulies, elk, antelope, and tons of other wildlife on tape. It was a great trip. My son is now 10 years old and hopefully when he is 16 we can go back and bioth give it a try with our bows.


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## usamarshal (Aug 28, 2006)

Thats a cute little kitty kat...is its fur still soft? I bet you like petting it when your alone huh...


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## misfit (Apr 5, 2004)

great story  
like fugawri,i couldn't stand the suspense during the comercial breaks  
while reading it,the whole hunt played out in my mind like i was right in the middle of the show.
thanks for sharing the details


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## swantucky (Dec 21, 2004)

Thanks guys. While I have a few minutes I may as well add the buck story, not nearly as exciting but worth the time to type it.

Opening day in NW Ohio 3 years ago started out a bit rainy in the morning. By the afternoon the wind picked up and the rain changed over to snow. We hunted all day, spending the afternoon stillhunting an unpicked cornfield. We did not see anything but a coyote that manged to stay between us and offering no safe shot. Needless to say us and our gear were completely soaked. I put my shotgun in front of the electric heater in the garage to try and dry it out.

The next morning the temps had dropped to about 8 degrees. I woke up late and could not make it to my spot 45 minutes away before 1st light. I decided the best bet would be to climb into my stand in my neighbor's woods. My woods and his are part of a 60 acre chunk that is 1/4 mile from a metropark. We each have only about 3 acres. I get into my stand and it is so cold I can hear the sap in the trees freezing and popping, there is about 3" of snow on the ground.

Around 8am I spot movement in my woods. I see it is a deer heading my way from about 125 yards away. As it gets closer I can see it is a buck and a shooter at that!!!! I turn in my stand and brace my 12 gauge to the tree to get ready to shoot. I follow the buck in my scope until he is about 70 yards away, he enters a clear area and I pull the trigger............nothing.......no click, no boom, nothing. I am not sure what the heck is going on. I slowly work the action and get another shell chambered, line up the crosshairs pull the trigger and ......nothing agian. My mind is just racing, tthe firing pin must be frozen, what am I going to do??????


The buck is now only 45 yards away and walking towards me. I decide to go for broke with the last shell in the gun. I rack the action as hard as I can to try and free up whatever is frozen in there. Luckily the tree sap was doing its thing so the deer just stopped walking and was looking around trying to figure out if it was the trees popping or something he should be worried about. I line up the crosshairs for the third time and drop the trigger.....BOOM!!!!!! The gun finally goes off and the buck driops ion his tracks. Every time I look at the mount I think how lucky I am to have gotten him, he almost got away.


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