A teacher at Mahomet-Seymour High School has a unique way that combines a class on digital editing with a Web cast devoted to deer hunting in Illinois.
Nic DiSilippo has 13 juniors and seniors working on Midwestwhitetail.com, a Web site started a year ago by Bill Winke.
Winke’s site includes states from Iowa to Ohio and Missouri to Minnesota. DiSilippo convinced Winke to let the kids have a chance to produce the Illinois portion. The school was supportive. After all, as DiSilippo pointed out, an unlimited number of companies are hiring people for big bucks to post video on their sites.
“The school, they see it as a great job opportunity. It is a huge market,” he said.
Better yet, the project didn’t cost the district any additional money. Whitetails Unlimited provided the funding needed to buy couple of computers and a professional level editing program. Winke covered other start-up costs.
“This is kind of different. We think it’s the first (high school digital editing class) in the nation actually doing a show. A lot do morning (school) announcements, but we do a real show with a real company,” DiSilippo said.
The centerpiece of their efforts is a weekly Web cast updated online every Sunday. Unlike hunting shows on television, the students produce a timely show featuring deer hunts filmed just days earlier.
As a result, viewers not only get tips on how and where to hunt for deer in the state, but they get real-time information about deer activity from across Illinois they can apply to their next hunts. Are they in the corn, in the woods eating acorns? How far along is harvest?
“It’s amazing. We turn these around in seven to 10 days,” said DiSilippo, a longtime hunter and alum of the high school where he also teaches United States history and economics. He’s currently finishing up a master’s degree program in technology at the University of Illinois.
The Web shows are about 15 minutes in length so viewers can easily watch them during lunch hour at work or at home. Each show also is archived when a new one is posted. The Web site also includes helpful articles written by Winke’s staff.
DiSilippo helps keep the product real by pairing kids who hunt with kids who don’t hunt, but who grasp the editing process no matter what the subject matter. The result is a professional looking show that transmits the excitement of hunting along with good hunting tips.
Efforts like this one are a great way to teach kids useful, marketable skills and interest their age group in outdoor sports.
Archery deer
The latest report available shows preliminary archery deer harvest was 49,546 through Nov. 15. That compares with 45,844 in 2008, 50,462 in 2007, 50,396 in 2006 and 52,075 in 2005.
Scott Richardson is Pantagraph outdoor editor. Contact him at (309) 820-3227 or email srichardson@pantagraph.com. Share stories and read past outdoor and fishing columns at www.pantagraph.com/blog
