No Plan B
Some hunting films just suck you right in, making you feel like you’re there on the adventure with them. Even if the cinematography is sub-par, a well told hunting story will inspire you to get your butt off YouTube and out shooting you bow, practicing for next Fall. As you watch, you live vicariously through the lucky son-of-a-gun who drew the tag a thousand others would have loved to have drawn!
With a Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep tag in my pocket and the skillset to produce a hunting film at my fingertips, it’s my turn. I’m now that lucky son-of-a-gun feeling obligated to share my experience. I mean, I produce video content for a living, so why wouldn’t I film this hunt? Well, let me ask you this: Would YOU like to take your job with you into the woods on a once-in-a-lifetime tag? Not many would, I assume. I LOVE archery hunting! I don’t always love my job. My primary concern was that by bringing a camera I’d lose the joy of the hunt. I don’t even bring a DSLR on most of my family vacations for this same reason.
In the 2013 movie “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” Sean Penn delivers two of my favorite movie quotes of all time: #1 In reference to Walter’s mom he says, “Cool lady, knows how to bake.” This is how I’ve described my wife ever since. #2 “If I like a moment, I mean me, personally, I don’t like to have the distraction of the camera. I just want to stay in it.” I couldn’t relate more! That’s why I wrestled so hard with the decision to film this hunt. Nonetheless, my wife and brother’s encouragement to do so won me over, so I did and had a lot of fun capturing it. I hope you enjoy my film “No Plan B”, a Colorado Bighorn Sheep archery hunt.
FILMMAKER BIO
Matt Short is a Colorado-based filmmaker with over 15 years of experience and a deep love for the outdoors. He picked up a camera in 2009 and built his career telling real stories—cutting his teeth in Christian ministry documentaries, freelance filmmaking, and eventually co-founding Whole Brand Agency. While his work has taken him across the country and around the world, his focus has always been on capturing moments as they happen—honest, unpolished, and earned.
In 2016, at the age of 28, he picked hunting, and it quickly became more than a pastime. The steep learning curve, close encounters with game, blown stalks, and hard-earned harvests drew him in. In 2019, he harvested his first archery big game animal—an experience that deepened his understanding of the responsibility and respect that comes with the pursuit.
Matt approaches filmmaking the same way he approaches hunting: with patience, wonder, and attention to detail. He’s comfortable working in tough conditions—whether that means long days behind the camera or binoculars, packing gear into the backcountry, or adapting when things don’t go as planned. His goal is simple: tell stories that feel true to the experience and resonate with those who live them. Through his work, he hopes to reflect the challenge, humility, and drive that keeps hunters coming back year after year.