Client Stories: Nina - Arizona Cow Elk
Getting to film hunts like Nina’s always reminds us why we love videography and capturing some of the best (and not best) moments in any outdoor adventure. This hunt was more than a chance to get some meat and stock up for the year. This hunt is a time for Nina and her family to spend time together doing what they love - hunting in the great outdoors and we had the honor to capture that.
What we were hunting
Nina’s hunt took place in an undisclosed location in Arizona (yeah we know, it’s annoying when people gatekeep). This hunt is a pretty unpopular hunt because of the fact that almost nobody knows about it or participates in it. To be more specifically she drew a female elk cow tag. Due to travel and work restrictions she had a short 3 days to get it done. If you have ever elk hunted before you know that 3 days is not enough time! On top of that the best times to hunt were right at sunrise and right at sunset which meant that everyone was exhausted and sleep deprived.
Challenges during the hunt
Like many hunts this one had its fair share of challenges Nina and the family had to overcome. On day 1 Nina took a shot and completely missed. While that isn’t new to a lot of people, Nina doesn’t miss. She has had years of practice with muzzle loaders and is a very confident shooter. Even though the shot felt amazing and she perfectly positioned the scope on the target, it didn’t hit the target.
Day 2 was a similar story. Shot felt amazing, perfectly positioned the scope on the target, and was calm when she took the shot - but a miss. While she could shake off the first miss, the second was devastating. With the realization that she only had hours left to get it done on day 3, panic started to set in. Everyone started to think “even if we see elk again on day 3, is it worth taking a shot if a miss will happen again?” After starting to reload on the 2nd miss something even more heartbreaking happened, they forgot the ram rod. Which meant that, they couldn’t properly reload the gun and couldn’t take another shot at the 50 elk standing right in front of them.
After going to the drawing board the night of the 2nd day and thinking of theories on what could be happening, the only theory that made sense was the plastic tip on the ram rod was grabbing the bullet in the barrel and creating a small separation between the bullet and the powder. So on day 3 we switched out the ram rod to one with a metal tip. Unfortunately, we never figured out what was happening and why she was missing.
Success
Thankfully on day 3 God answered our prayers and Nina made a perfect shot on a massive female cow elk. Not many hunters would have had the grit and patience Nina showed in her hunt. Between two misses and forgetting the ram rod, it was not an easy hunt. But God works in mysterious ways because were it not for those tragedies, Nina wouldn’t have got an elk this large and wouldn’t have made those unforgettable memories with her family.
If you’re interested in seeing the results of our time shooting Nina’s hunt or learning more about our approach to outdoor photography and videography, check out the full project here.
