Title:
Elk Hunting in Los Padres National Forest, California 1957
REEL ID:
L064R019
RUN TIME:
0:05:28
FORMAT:
16mm motion picture film
FILM TYPE:
Color Kodak Kodachrome
SOUND:
Silent (no synchronized sound)
PRODUCTION:
Amateur / personal home movie footage
Description:
This home movie documents a journey that moves from everyday domestic life into remote backcountry travel and hunting in Los Padres National Forest. Shot on color 16mm film without synchronized sound, the reel blends family routines, aviation travel, horseback packing, and an elk hunting expedition into a single, cohesive visual record.
The film opens with men preparing to board a small aircraft, followed by aerial views of mountains filmed from inside the plane. The setting then shifts briefly to home life, where children walk around their house in pajamas and a family works together in the yard. A girl mows the lawn, and scenes of a backyard swimming pool ground the footage in familiar suburban routines.
Backcountry travel resumes with signage marking hunting and trail areas within Los Padres National Forest. Visible signs identify Grass Mountain Trail, Root Knob, Grass Mountain, and Mouth of Disappointment, situating the expedition within a mapped and named wilderness landscape. In open mountain meadows, a herd of horses runs freely as a man rides horseback behind them. One sequence shows a man attempting to break a horse for riding, capturing the challenge and physical effort of working with untrained animals.
Wildlife and hunting imagery follows. Elk antlers appear in close-up before a small aircraft lands at the base of nearby foothills, indicating remote access by air. Men ride horses through foothill terrain as part of an elk hunting expedition. The harvest is documented candidly: a gutted deer, a man holding a section of partially butchered elk, and finally a hunter holding up the head of an elk.
Together, these scenes preserve a vivid midcentury home-movie record of California backcountry life—where aviation, horseback travel, hunting, and family routines intersect within the landscape of Los Padres National Forest.
Tags:
Los Padres National Forest, California, Home movies, 16mm film, Color home movies, Silent film, Aviation, Small aircraft, Aerial mountain views, Family life, Yard work, Lawn mowing, Backyard swimming pool, Trail signage, Grass Mountain Trail, Root Knob, Backcountry travel, Horses, Horse breaking, Mountain meadow, Elk hunting, Hunting expedition, Elk antlers, Game processing, Butchering, Deer, Foothills, Wilderness travel, Americana, Analog film, Nostalgic footage, Archival home movie
