Moose & Caribou
Brian Call: Gritty
2 episodes
Episode 1 - 1:06:40 (47:45 of hunt, the rest is commentary)

I like when films get to it, but I do appreciate at least a little exposition. The first ten minutes are an ad fest but they are subtle and the last thing Ryan Lampers is, is a camera hog who can’t wait to give a company a sound bite. If it was planned like that instead of an introduction with music and sponsors then it’s interesting.

I typically don’t like sponsor plugs in the film and I don’t like fresh new gear on a hunt. Wearing what is clearly your go-to, broken in favorites says a lot more than wearing sponsored gear that showed up a week before the hunt. Marketing is a part of creating content but the more brand-new gear is paraded, the less it is like the hunts most hunters are used to. I really don’t know how to fix this (or if it needs fixing) and certainly wouldn’t turn down funding to go on an epic hunt so I am 100% a hypocrite. My podcast starts with ads and twice during an episode, ads disrupt the conversation. It’s either ads, or content behind a pay wall.  

That said, I do subscribe to a few writers I really enjoy on Substack because it’s otherwise exploitive to get it all for free. Additionally, the entire point of Substack is to eliminate the infiltration of advertisers which might influence journalists. This is, of course, one of the main reasons there is so little trust in the mainstream media, but I’ll get back to the point. Content creators are making something. Their time, effort and product are worth something. They/we/you should be paid for it. Doing it tactfully or seamlessly is an unsolved dynamic of the outdoor content world. Still, I like watching a hunt in which someone happened to have a camera and am curious what gear they use. I like that feel. I like when it’s edited that way too. It’s a slice of life.

Anyway, the cool thing about hunting films is they don’t work on any predicable arc, so there is no need to fast forward. When Lampers lines up his shot just under 15 minutes into the film, he does so with the confident evenness that makes him so good and so popular. He seems like the kind of guy whom people ask to follow around, not the one begging for gear. As is the case with this level of filmmaking the clarity is professional grade but for over two minutes we watch the caribou Lampers will shoot walk right to left which seems a little long. Lampers has all the time he needs and the perfect rest. Twenty seconds is plenty to build suspense. Then it’s Call’s turn at 17:24.

This is a masterfully done, beautifully crafted misrepresentation of how easy hunting is. But it happens. Sometimes it is just that easy. No need to manufacture drama. Row the raft, find a spot, get it done. But that’s not the end. Caribou continue to die, there’s a mention of someone else who probably killed one, we have no idea if there is a camp, where camp is, we just get multiple replays of the kill shot. It takes them only one hour to break down two bulls, then they make it to the other ones, then it’s dark, then it’s time for giveaways at the 47-minute mark. We get trivia and a ton of information about brands being used, but I hardly know much about the hunt.

There is some remarkable footage from a remarkable hunt, but it felt more like a video than a film. That’s a slight distinction, but I like stories that have anticipated elements to provide a necessary setting, even in the ambiguity of hunting content. A clear sense of time and place helps tell a story. It seems like they rowed casually into caribou country and shot five or six caribou and then went home to record the giveaway. I wanted more footage of packing out four caribou in a day – that is something I don’t think I have ever seen in a film, or video. Adding a few shots of camp would also provide depth the setting. This could all have been done without even adding to the overall length.

It took Solo Hntr 8 and a half minutes to tell an absolutely beautiful story without words in their 2021 film No Words, because the story is still clearly told. I use that example not as a comparison of right and wrong, it’s the matter of executing a story. This was an awesome video of a crazy afternoon of killing caribou. Maybe that was the simple purpose. If so, it was perfectly done and I should take my own advice and cut out my wordy overthinking.