Your trophy may be a once in a lifetime experience. By remembering a few details, you will end up with a photo that may be a photo of a lifetime as well.

Bucking buck- Never “ride” your animal- Save that for the rodeo. Sitting on an animal shows the utmost of disrespect.

Remove the evidence- Get rid of the blood- We all share a common interest in the harvest. There are some who may find it offensive, a clean animal sends a better message . Take the time to clean the animal up.

Don’t stick your tongue out at me- Make sure that you tuck the animals tongue back in, cut it off if need be. Take the extra time to make sure that the tongue is not sticking out. That's a huge picture killer in my books.

It's not an ornamint- Your animal did not grow up in your garage or in the back of your pickup. Nor does that trophy buck plan on using the lawnmower in the background. Quality photos are ones that are taken in the animal’s environment. Be sure to bring your camera with you and also make sure that it has new batteries.

Be a grass or treeguy- Pull the weeds in front of the animal. Sometimes the most perfect of shots can be ruined by grass or a twig, check before you shoot!

Lay it to rest- Position your animal in a manner so that it appears to be at rest. For hoofed animals, try tucking the legs under as the body, as it would lay down. For bears, lay them on a log and drape the head off to the side, try giving it a more natural look.

Leave the props on the stage- Though objects can be used to prop the animals. Stay away from building a woodpile or stone wall under the animals head. Do what it takes to make the animal look as it is resting with a limited use of props.

Focus on the star- Though you are the one that put the event together, the animal is what you want to focus on. Have the photographer get down low and up close to the animal. This will put emphasis on the animal and not the hunter. You don't need to sit 6 feet behind your animal, especially in an attempt to increase the size.

Scenery is important – It may take some work to get exactly what you want, but as with anything else, hard work pays off, and back drop can be the icing on the cake! Especially sheep hunting!

100 to 1 odds- Even though you think that you may have the perfect shot, make sure of it by taking a whole lot of photos. Try different variations and angles. You never know which one of the 100 will be wall worthy.

Mug shots - Remember you just had a great day, and great expirence, so SMILE, show your happiness, and your accomplishment, no one wants to see your tough guy look or your Inmate mug shot!


Good luck this fall, can't wait to see some pics!

Its fairly important to take the time to take the above advice but the main factor is that you get pics. Take lots of all angles, heights and sides of animal. Dont just take staged pics.  My biggest regret from when I started hunting was not carrting a camera. The biggest ram(43") I ever guided isnt in my photo album because I wasnt worried about that kind of thing and was to cheap to buy a good one. Id rather have some bad pics than none at all.

But like was stated quality pics are great and a little extra time taking them can make a world of difference.

SG

Good pointers! Just in time too(I hope) opening day of bowseason in just 2days!

I have a lot of the old film pictures and have been too lazy to scan them.  You guys make soem great points in picture taking. 
One thing I like a lot of is taking pics without anybody in them and just of the animal. 
Here is a whitetail were he dropped.  I really like pics like this


Same with one of my rams




Don't be afraid to try something new


Here is one of my favortie photos.  Only thing missing is a smile.  Tought to do when your so tired.  This was a hard pic to get because of the slope as well but I think it turned out well. 

I think one must also keep in perspective that the tips Potty mentioned are for the trophy shot which might be in a magazine someday or shared on a public site.  His tip about taking lots of pics is key.  Most pics we take are for our own personal photo albums and to remind us of how all those old hunts were.  I certainly wouldn't want to start staging and cleaning up anything in most of my pics.  I want to remember it the way it was.  Sometimes, I would prefer to see my old quad draped with all my gear in the background.  It helps bring back memories.  But, with all that said, it is a good idea to take the time to get a few pro-quality shots with these great tips in mind just to share with others or someday be in Big Buck Magazine.  (haha, I said it BBM, BBM, BBM....lol).  It is not like taking extra pics costs us anything with digital cameras these days.

Nube, whats the 3rd pic down?
Nice pics!

Good pointers potty.. For me its been a learning curve on a few things and its getting better over the years. One thing I hate is giving the camera to someone else that doesn't have a clue on how to centre a pic or doesn't remember to fit the whole object in the frame. But like I said its a learning curve.

The blood thing has never bothered me nor is it a concern of mine. We shoot animals, they die because we put holes in them and the blood comes out, they die do to blood loss,, its no mystery nor should we try and hide the fact or pretty it up, it is what it is. The people that it bothers we will never keep them happy anyways so the hell with em I say. Enjoy the hunt anyway you want and take the pics you want,, don't let it get to technical it takes the fun away and makes it a job.. And that is what sucks.