Filming Your Bird Hunt: A Beginner’s Guide to Videoing a Bird Hunt

I’ve lost several bird hunt videos because I’ve made more filming mistakes than I can remember.

Get a GoPro

To start off with, I’ve used an off-brand action camera and it didn’t go well. But I’m sure there are some other brands that are worthwhile. But a newer GoPro (specifically a GoPro 11 or later) will be your best option to video your bird hunt.

Problems with action cameras overheating

Action cameras were built for a few seconds to a few minutes of filming. But when videoing a bird hunt you’re filming for several minutes to a couple hours.

The problem is that small action cameras have all their processes functioning in a miniature compartment that builds up heat rapidly especially if you have a high resolution combined with a high frame rate. I’ve lost more than one hunting video because my camera overheated. Oof.

GoPro’s problems with overheating have been discussed at length, but I’ve come up with a solution that works for me.

GOPRO HERO 10 - OVERHEATING TEST AND GOPRO'S RESPONSE!

Frame rate vs. Resolution

Because I edit my bird hunting videos to zoom in tight, I chose resolution over frame rate (more pixels for a crisper image). What I lose in the transaction is I don’t get the silky smooth slow motion capabilities when I film my hunts.

As you can imagine I use the highest resolution with the lowest frame rate.

Clip or strap? What is the best camera mount?

There are two ways you can attach your camera to your hat. The first way is to attach your GoPro to a clip and slide the clip onto the bill of your hat. Personally, this isn’t my favorite technique because the weight of the camera is too far out on the bill and it weighs down the bill of my hat too much.

My preferred way to attach the GoPro is to use a head strap.

The trick is getting your battery to last the entire bird hunt

I made a video that will explain this much better. The bottom line, you’re gonna need an external battery.

With that said, I used to film my hunts until my battery died and then just chuck my GoPro. The next evolution to filming hunts was to swap batteries every 45 minutes. Needless to say, both of these techniques lacked any sophistication.

My current iteration, and one that performs spectacularly, is using a pass-through door. A pass-through door is an accessory you buy from GoPro. You simply tug your standard battery door off your GoPro and snap into place your pass-through door.

The pass-through door allows you to connect your external battery directly to the GoPro. Note: You still need a GoPro battery in the camera for it to work.

Then you close the pass-through door to secure your internal GoPro battery and plug in a 3-4 foot USB-C into the pass-through of the door. Next, slip the USB cord around to the back of your hat and through the adjusting hole in the back of the hat.

From there pass the USB under your hunting jacket/vest (otherwise when you take off your vest/jacket you’ll rip off your camera too) to an external battery.

Get the right cord

Make sure you buy a cord that is compatible with the external battery that you are using. I use an Anker and it takes a USB-A cord. So, I have a USB-C to USB-A cord.

Size matters when it comes to memory chips

Now that you have a camera setup that will record all day long, don’t forget to a large enough memory chip that will record for the whole day, or the whole length of the hunting trip if you won’t be able to download your video at the end of the day.

I use a micro 256 GB microchip. But by the time you read this, that probably won’t be enough chip memory because each year cameras come with more resolution, and more resolution requires more memory. This year I’ll probably buy a new chip that is 512 GB or 1T.

Aspect ratio problem

I’ve lost a couple of hunts by using the 16:9 ratio (think wide-screen TV) instead of 4:3, or 8:7 with the GoPro 11. What happens if you don’t have your camera aimed perfectly with the 16:9 ratio you end up filming the sky or the ground and miss filming your hunt.

I hope this helps

I’ve spent years refining my bird-hunting video operation and have lost several hunts because of the problems I’ve come across. If you skip the problems I’ve had hopefully

you won’t lose filmed hunts like I have.

Please leave a comment if you have a technique that improves on these ideas.