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Consultant’s Corner with Eric Pawlak:  Always Carry a Camera Afield

Eric Pawlak
|  
  • Eric Pawlak

WTA’s TAGS Manager, Eric Pawlak, passed along some insights on why you need to take a camera with you to the field and how you can ensure you don’t lose those photos later. Preserving your trophy with a quality photograph is so very important. A good snapshot is often better than a taxidermy display in many ways. A good picture, or series of pictures, can encapsulate the exact moment in time that can never be revisited other than through those photographs. Tell me you are not more entertained than going back through your old photos and seeing how you’ve changed, seeing how your kids have changed and bringing back to memory the exact location of the hunt and then playing in reverse everything that occurred before you pulled the trigger.

1. Photograph all your Memories

I encourage all of you to take pictures while afield, and it doesn’t always have to be a trophy shot either. Snap a photo of the truck you were driving at the time, of your child lacing up his boots, of your lab in full retrieve. There are so many memorable things happening during each and every hunt. In twenty or thirty years, memories fade and bringing along a good camera can keep those memories alive for your grandchildren and your grandchildren’s grandchildren, long after you’re gone.

2. Preserving the Memories

Just recently a dear friend of mine, Billy Katsigannius, lost his father. Billy’s dad was a huge outdoorsman and the two of them hunted and fished all over the world together capturing much of it on video, and in the early days, still camera. Recently Billy decided to pay tribute to his father and has built a documentary of their times together in the field. I’ve had the privilege of viewing an early release of Billy’s work titled – A Season to Remember –  and I can tell you that it’s the old still photos that makes this film a smashing success.

3. Picking a Camera

You don’t have to be Ansel Adams with the camera and you don’t have to run out and buy the latest and greatest. While the new top of the line Nikon is ideal, it’s far too complex, expensive and bulky for most outdoorsmen. I often use a my cell phone to capture these memories. It’s not ideal, but it’s convenient as I typically carry it wherever I go. 

4. Take a Lot Now and Review Later

I cheat; I take lots of photos and I mean lots. Then, when I have time, I review each photo deleting the bad and only keeping the most epic. I almost always use the flash and, most importantly, I take my time when I have the chance. If it’s a trophy shot, I first prep and then position the subjects so I’m not shooting directly into the sun. I then remove any brush obstructing the subjects. Again, I typically always use the flash, and finally I snap away. Different angles, different poses and different distances. I find the best trophy shot is often the close-up where I’m lying on my side, and where the flash is close enough to properly bounce off the subject.

5. Safe Storage

Finally, once you take your photos and decide on the keepers, always remember to store them is a safe place. During this past spring’s walleye bite, I fell into the lake with my cell phone camera in my pocket. Embarrassing – yes – devastating – no. Had I not had my pictures backed-up to my computer it sure would have been, as so many awesome memories would have been forever lost.   

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More than a Mount: A Bull Elk I’ll Never Forget

More than a Mount: A Bull Elk I’ll Never Forget

It’s one thing to chase a bull through the Nevada mountains…it’s another to relive that moment every day in your own home.

When I got the call that my elk mount was finished, I knew it would be special. But seeing it in person and having it in my home brings it full circle in a way I didn’t anticipate.

That Nevada hunt was already unforgettable. The climb in the dark still stands out. So does the moment everything came together on that rock ledge with the team behind the glass. It was hard earned and intense. Then suddenly, it was over. Like most hunts, it left me wishing I could hold onto the moment just a little longer.

Now I can. This mount is more than a display of an incredible bull elk. It takes me right back to that hunt and everything that came with it.

More than Just Antlers

When I look at this bull now, I don’t just see antlers. I see that canyon again. I remember the cold wind and the nerves settling in as I got prone for the shot.

I remember Richie behind me talking me through it. I remember the team working together like a machine. And I remember walking up on that bull for the first time, realizing just how big he really was.

That’s what a great mount does. It holds the memory, not just the animal.

Read the Full Hunt Story The Details Matter

New Mexico’s draw system is a 100% random lottery, which means you could draw the tag of a lifetime your first year in, or you could wait a decade. You either get lucky or you don’t. I’ve been applying in New Mexico for years, and honestly, this wasn’t the year I expected to get the call. I’d hoped to draw a Montana archery elk tag, so I applied for one of New Mexico’s most coveted rifle elk units, fully expecting to come up empty. But instead, I drew the New Mexico tag and didn’t draw in Montana. That’s how it goes sometimes, and I wouldn’t trade the way it played out for anything.

The unit I drew is a rare place with both the genetics and the age structure to produce truly exceptional bulls. But it’s not a high-volume elk area. You don’t see elk on every hillside. You go with the understanding that you might only lay eyes on a handful of animals, but they could be the bull of a lifetime. That tradeoff is something every hunter needs to consider before applying. Are you willing to grind it out for a chance at something special, taking the risk that it might be a boring hunt? For me, the answer was simple.

The Outfitter Made the Difference

When I drew this tag, I didn’t need to scramble to find an outfitter. WTA already had a relationship with a guide who routinely operates in this unit. Despite the extremely limited number of tags issued each year, this outfitter spends time in the area every season. That kind of consistency is invaluable. He sees the trends year after year. He knows where the bulls tend to hang out during the rut, where they go after it winds down, and how they move through the country as conditions change. That accumulated knowledge gave us a significant head start.

In fact, our outfitter had been in the unit the week prior with one of our clients on the second archery hunt, so he already had fresh intel on where two big bulls had been hanging out. That’s a huge advantage you can’t replicate on your own.

Getting There and Setting Up: A Day and a…
Croatia’s Highland Hunt

Croatia’s Highland Hunt

The roar cuts through morning mist like nothing you’ve heard before. Not the bugle of an elk or the grunt of a whitetail, but something primal and commanding that echoes off canyon walls and freezes you in place. It’s a sound you’ll never forget. Welcome to Croatia’s mountain hunting, where red stags rule kingdoms of stone and forest that stretch beyond horizons.

From Zagreb’s contrasts, where Habsburg elegance meets Yugoslavia’s concrete legacy, it’s a 1½-hour drive through rolling hills into the mountains. The road climbs past villages of a few hundred into country that feels genuinely wild. This is one of Europe’s last uninhabited places, where brown bears and wolves still roam freely and red stags grow huge.

Our mountain lodge sits in a valley that time seems to have forgotten. Built from local stone and timber, it serves as base camp for adventures across 100,000 acres of contiguous hunting ground. The setting alone justifies the trip. Peaks rising beyond peaks, morning fog filling valleys like lakes, and silence broken only by wind through pines and the distant roar of stags announcing their presence.

The accommodations may surprise anyone expecting rustic mountain camps. This is European mountain hunting, which means serious comfort after serious days afield. Our hosts bring genuine culinary experience to meals featuring local game, including brown bear sausage. This delicacy would shock American sensibilities, but it proves delicious when prepared by people who’ve perfected the art. The wine cellar doesn’t hurt either.

Late September puts us at the peak of the rut, when mature stags lose all caution in pursuit of genetic immortality. Their roars begin before dawn, rolling across valleys with an air of primal authority. Following those sounds leads to encounters that redefine what big game means. These Croatian red stags rival anything North America produces, but with an Old World majesty that feels almost royal.

Hunting varies with your ambitions. Valleys offer evening opportunities, where stags emerge to claim meadows and announce their dominance. For the adventurous, mountain hunting means serious climbs across terrain that would challenge sheep hunters, chasing roars that echo from ridge to ridge. Our guide Marco reads these mountains with a familiarity that only comes with time and calls stags with skills that border on art. His ability to bring a monarch within range through pure vocal mimicry must be witnessed to be believed.

The country itself tells stories. The clearing where we found fresh sign? Former Olympic training grounds from Yugoslavia’s era, now reclaimed by forest and wildlife. The abandoned ski runs make natural travel corridors for game while creating openings where morning encounters unfold like theater. History layers beneath every step, but the hunting remains timelessly authentic.

Brown bears add another dimension. Spring offers the largest specimens, but Fall hunting means frequent encounters while pursuing other species. From elevated blinds, we watch these giant predators emerge from shadows. The opportunity to add a European brown bear to a red stag hunt creates combinations unavailable anywhere else.

Success rates approach certainty when seasons align with your schedule. European game management focuses on ensuring animals are in the right area when seasons open, and the package system provides clear, transparent pricing. Pay for what you take rather than gambling on opportunity. It’s a model that brings world-class hunting within reach of normal budgets.

The fallow deer and mouflon add variety to days when stags prove elusive. During the rut, fallow bucks respond to calls with aggressive charges that create heart-stopping encounters. Their spotted coats and palmated antlers provide a striking contrast to the red stag’s noble bearing, while mouflon offer mountain hunting that rivals anything North America produces.

The predator exclusion areas deserve mention. Not high-fence hunting as most know it. It’s 4,000 acres of natural habitat protected from increasing wolf populations. Six-foot fences keep predators out while allowing stags to jump freely in and out. It’s game management focused on balance, ensuring healthy populations for generations.

Beyond hunting, the mountains offer sightseeing that rivals any European destination. Plitvice Lakes National Park, a day trip from our lodge, presents waterfalls and lakes so pristine that they seem otherworldly. Sixteen terraced lakes connected by waterfalls create one of Europe’s most photographed natural wonders, though photos fail to capture the reality.

What makes Croatian mountain hunting special isn’t just the game or the country, though both exceed expectations. It’s the complete immersion in hunting culture that dates to medieval times, where the experience matters as much as the outcome.

Standing on a ridge at sunrise, listening to stags roar across valleys that stretch to the horizon, you understand why this hunting creates addictions. The combination of Old World game management, stunning country, and genuine mountain hunting delivers experiences rarely matched by other locations.

These mountains hold more than game. They hold traditions worth preserving and experiences worth crossing oceans to pursue.

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