Recording a bowhunt with an iPhone?

[Hawkeye]

When I was in business, a cell phone was a necessary companion.  After I was "retired" by medical problems, my old flip phone was fine, and little more than a safety device in my pack.

When grandkids came along, I was missing out on so many pictures and videos that I came kicking into the smart phone world.  Then, last Cyber Monday, a promotional deal came along that actually lowered my bill by trading up to an iPhone (I got the 7 Plus).

I still have explored little of what it can do, but I have begun wondering if it could be used to shoot bowhunting videos without lots of gear and fuss.  The reputation is that this model has an outstanding camera.

I have some mobility trouble due to the medical "stuff," so I never wanted to haul the camera, tripod, etc. to try to document a hunt.

There are lots of "with it" people here who are fellow trad bowhunters, and I wondered if any of you had tried this.

Does anyone know of a mount that could be attached to a tree to hold an iPhone 7 Plus?    :confused:  

Maybe I am barking up the wrong tree, but I thought this might be the place to ask...

Thanks!

Daryl

[rastaman]

Check out the ones used to mount on motorcycles.  I have a buddy that films his hunts with an I-phone attached to his bow, but it's a compound. I'm sure as innovative as some of the guys and girls are on tradgang someone has come up with a solution that would work

[RAGHORN 3]

I will be using this, this year with my iPhone +6...

 https://www.amazon.com/Hawk-FlexArm-Phone-Mount/dp/B014JTXGRG/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1481299305&sr=8-11&keywords=hawk+tree+stands

[achigan]

The first step might be to take you phone/camera to your shooting range and have someone record your shooting a target at what would be an average distance. View the vid and see if that is what you want. The very wide angle lens on phone cameras make things just a few yards away look pretty  small. When I get more comfortable with trad hunting( I just took my 1st deer) I plan to set my GoPro out beyond the path my quarry will(hopefully) use and record from the far side, triggering the camera with my phone, with me in my ground blind in the background. I THINK that even with my Gopro at 12 yards looking back at me past a turkey decoy I'm gonna appear pretty small. YMMV

[BlacktailBowhunter]

My sister in law recorded her hunt with an iPhone selfie stick taped to a stick that we poked in the ground and it worked like a Tri pod.

It will work just fine. Here are a few videos I took with my iPhone5 while in Africa:

   

   

If you look on Amazon, there are a bunch of camera holder/mini flexible leg tripods to hold the phone.

Bisch

[Hawkeye]

Thanks for the thoughts, everyone!

The new phone has a built in telephoto lens (only 2x, though... and even records in 4K) so while I don't expect to get the professional result I enjoy from Mike Mitten, the Wensels, and Bill Langer, I am hoping at least it may be good for fun and memory's sake, and perhaps to verify if an arrow hit where I t-h-o-u-g-h-t it did in that fraction of a second before the scene is suddenly clear again and everything's gone.  After the fact, I often spend a lot of time second guessing whether the shot placement was as good as I "saw" it in the heat of the moment until I find the animal.

Thanks again.

Daryl

[BenBow]

Bisch that just makes me want to go to a safari company my friend's dad has part ownership in. Just too much money.  :(

[Crittergetter]

Here's what I use. Not sure where my wife got it though.    

[BlacktailBowhunter]

You might consider a cam corder and tree arm.

I'm using a canon vixia hf m500 in 1080 hd and. $28.00 tree arm. It's well worth the few hundred dollars to have high quality film of your hunts.

[Hawkeye]

Originally posted by BlacktailBowhunter:
You might consider a cam corder and tree arm.

I'm using a canon vixia hf m500 in 1080 hd and. $28.00 tree arm. It's well worth the few hundred dollars to have high quality film of your hunts.

I agree this would give the best results. In this case, it's not the investment but the additional equipment I am trying to avoid.  I walk with a cane because of medical problems, and every piece of extra gear adds a problem.  I am hoping to fit something into the Asbell haversack that accompanies me on every hunt, and still get some type of record of the hunt.

I see a couple good possibilities on Amazon, and at under $20, it looks like these could be worth a try, anyway...

[Trond]

Check out the GorillaPod from Joby. Incredible tripod that can be attached to almost anything. Got one myself, and recommend trying it out.

[Steve Kendrot]

Here's a few memories all recorded with my iPhone 6

 

 

 

[Hawkeye]

Very nice, Steve!  That is along the lines of what I am looking to do.

Trond, I will check those out.

I looked enough last night to realize that along with the 2x telephoto lens, the phone has up to a 6x digital telephoto on top of that.  That may be enough to do what I want at 10-20 yards...