Since we have decided to let the deer walk this year in an effort to bring the herd numbers back up, I have decided to leave the firearms at home this deer season. Instead, I will hunt with a camera. On Friday, after 7 years and at least 10 thousand pictures, my Cannon A20 2 MP digital camera died.

I went to Best Buy and looked around for another camera that:

A.) Was under $300 (I paid $400 for the 2mp Cannon 7 years ago)

B.) had more telephoto than the old Cannon at 3X zoom.

C.) small enough to fit in a hunting coat pocket.

I ended up buying another Cannon. This time, an SX100 IS. This is no fancy schmancy jumbo camera and it still fits in a coat pocket. It is an 8 MP camera. It cost $249 and I spent another $40 on a 4 GB memory card. I could have paid less online but when I have it in my hand, I am prone to buying on the spot rather than waiting.

On Saturday, I went to the Kenosha Bowmen's Memorial shoot to talk to the President of the club about the WBH and the forum so I tagged along as he shot. I snapped a few pics along the way.

Here he is shooting at a 100 yard novelty shoot at a bear target. (with a longbow) Without zoom.

 

While standing in the same spot. I used the 10X optical zoom and the extra digital zoom for this shot (no tripod needed because of image stabilization built in)

 

Then, in order to make a photo suitable for web forums, I cropped the photo leaving only the area I wanted.

 

Then, today, I took a picture of the neighbors garden owl that was 70 yards away. Without zoom.

 

Then with the 10X zoom.

 

and then cropping the full sized image for web forum posting.

 

Since most of my firearms deer season hunting gives me views of around 100 yards or less, this will be my weapon of choice this season. Catch and release hunting.

Since I take a lot of pictures of work I do in my shop, I also wanted a camera that would do well up close. Here is a picture I took of a dime laying on a $20 bill. The lens was less than an inch from the dime when I took the shot.

 

If your looking for a new camera, This one aint to bad for the price. It also shoots video with sound. The 4 GB card allows for 3 minutes of video. I used Josh as my Guinea Pig. I told him to shot 3 arrows from the new bow I made for him, into the target. I had him stand about 4 yards away because I was burning brush in our backyard fire pit and that was where we had to stand to stay out of the smoke.

I told him to shoot the 3 arrows and not to talk or look in the camera. His first shot was a dead center hit on the bullseye. The second shot cracked the nock of the first arrow and made it glance out. You can tell by the way he shakes his head that he wants to look at the camera and say something.

Here is my first ever video staring Josh and his homemade custom Longbow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsU5S6fwV6g

I gave my wife one for her birthday on Sunday. The hard part was finding them. Everybody on line was recommending them. I went to Walmart and the sales clerk said it was his favorite and he recommended it to most people. They were sold out though. Called three more Walmarts in the area and they were all sold out. Clerk at Target said the same thing but they were also sold out. Went to Best Buy and they were out of them also but the Best Buy 45 miles away had some. Drove up there to pick it up. We have played with it a little the past couple of days and it really is an impressive piece of equipment for the money.

I've got the same camera, and I love it! Highly recommended!  

Just had to throw my 2Cents in.....I just picked up the new version of this camera the sx110 IS from canon also and I love it!.I have not had a chance to go out and go nuts with it but the few snaps around the house were great. It now boasts 9mp with 10x optical zoom and closes up tiny. It can shoot full "auto" or "easy mode" ,numerous pre programmed settings (ie-cloudy,indoors etc) aperture priority,shutter priority,video and lots more.It can be had for under $200 with free shipping from Amazon ! Cheers Dan  

I got sucked in also! You guys have to quite educating me about all this neat stuff! I also bought the SX110IS a few weeks back. It's a great camera.

I used sell cameras at Best Buy. thats one of my favorite models. Im a big canon fan but that one really does it all.  

Thats a great video too. I see Josh has the same anchor as me! Thanks for sharing