ROD AND GUN Apropriate Season For Hunting With Camera

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31249, 22 December 1966, Page 11

ROD AND GUN Apropriate Season For Hunting With Camera

(Specially written for “The Press” by

JAMES SIERS)

Christmas for the outdoor man is a wonderful time. Trout fishermen who favour the fly have the rivers running at about the right level. Trampers, with their shorts and packs, are blazing trails across the country, and hunters have the opportunity of taking a camera for a leisurely investigation of the trophy possibilities of a spot they may want to visit in the roar. My Christmas this year will be spent about the 5000-foot level in the Southern Alps, on the West Coast side, filming thar and chamois. As a confirmed hunter. I find it difficult to leave the rifle when looking at large numbers of animals with a sprinkling of trophies, but when the trip is at an end and I am looking at the results of the filming, I must confess to a much greater satisfaction. It’s not possible to compare hunting with photography. The two involve different aims, even though they call for a similar technique in the stalking of the subject. A hunter who has spent a year planning a trip to a remote valley, and then risks life and limb in the pursuit of an animal, is quite entitled to the hide and horns he wants. The memories involved are easily revived with one look at a fine job by the taxidermist

The photographer, on the other hand, brings back a much better visual record of his trip. He will not necessarily get more satisfction from looking at his films or slides, than the hunter will from looking at his trophy, but where the two differ is in their relation with their friends and associates. It takes a dedicated hunter to appreciate a trophy. Anyone can appreciate a good film, or the collection of a good number of slides. So Christmas, in my mind, should be the time hunters set aside for photography, the period where the preliminary skirmish takes place. Not that this can be done easily these days, when meat hunters, pot hunters and indiscriminate shooters are about during the holiday period. There are other difficulties. A man who spends more than £5O on a good sporting rifle and then lays out a great deal more cash on boots, pack, sleeping bag and accessories can hardly afford to spend another £2OO on a 45mm camera with a good telephoto lens. It may be difficult to get the money for the camera, but with intelligent use it will pay ifor itself many times before ■ boots and rifle are hung up i for ever. ' Just recently there has been a sprinkling of hunting books. Veterans such as Newton Me-

Conachie, of Nelson, among others, have put down tales of many years spent in the bush. The plates featured in those books have a way of suggesting the time and period much more effectively than the most vivid description.

The point is that in another 20 or 30 years’ time, the same will be true of this period. The man who patiently takes his shots for the record and then, in addition, is lucky enough to get some of the more unusual pictures of animals, is the one who’ll pass on pictorially much of the outdoor history of this country. There are virtually thousands of negatives in polythene sleeves in a cabinet in my home which I have never bothered to print, but which I know will one day have their part. Shots of the Desert road, shots of rivers before they were bulldozed; hunting companions, dogs, trophies, live

animals, scenes. I must say I was inspired by the story of a modest tailor in Harlem, in New York, who took pictures of the changes in his neighbourhood for twenty years, and was later discovered to possess one of the finest records of the history at that time of the city. Fishermen and hunters can effectively take a picture in their favourite haunts and fishing spots. The improvement in camera equipment means that it is no longer necessary to carry heavy gear, and if the rifle is left at home, there is no extra weight to carry. For those who may be moved to a resolution to make better use of their camera equipment during these holidays, here is a suggestion. If using black and white film, get a couple of filters, particularly a good red filter for mountain landscapes. It is worth it.