Freddy King has become a name that is very recognizable on social media today, but his roots in the hunting industry go back much further than that. King is from Searcy, Arkansas where he and his family grew up hunting.
“I come from a very strong, hunting oriented family. We spent a lot of time in the outdoors together; my dad, my uncle, my cousins,” King said.
In his early 20’s, King began recording his hunts as a hobby.
“You know, going out there and hunting was one thing. And this was about the time that Ben Rogers Lee first came out with his hunting VHS tapes. I kind of thought ‘Man that’s pretty cool. I think I could do that’. So I saved up a little bit of money, and as a young guy, I grabbed the best camera I could afford, and I started filming hunts,” King said.
From then on, King began practicing recording these hunts more and more, and his love of doing so grew as well. He was able to continue consistently filming good hunts, and from there on his career as an outdoor cameraman began to take off.
“The first real job I got to film was a show that started in Arkansas, about twenty years ago, called ‘Real Hunting Arkansas,’,” King said.
In this show, a few videos of King and his family shooting ducks with bows became very popular which helped give him some recognition.
“Twenty years ago, we were cut down to a 30 day, two duck season. Where we hunted, it wasn’t worth the 3/8 mile walk, setting up all the decoys, and everything. After you had worked an hour and a half getting everything in there, the first group of ducks would come in, and if there was four or five of you, you were pretty much done. So to add to the time and worthiness of going out there, we just started bringing out our bows,” King said.
From there King was given the opportunity to record hunts for other shows as well.
“If they have been in the business for at least 12 or 13 years, I have in some form or fashion, probably shot some of their footage. I’ve shot for Final Approach TV, Waterfowler TV, Hunter’s Journal, and The Super Retriever Series. Everything all the way up to today’s Drake and Realtree and numerous other shows,” King said.
King currently works for Echo Calls where he began close to thirteen years ago. “I used to go in the shop here and there. And then about 12 or 13 years ago, they needed a pretty solid videographer to start doing a lot of their media specs. Rick hollered at me, and we’ve hit it off since day one,” King said. King has had many opportunities with the company over the years and has also acquired lots of knowledge as well. “I’ll tell you, in all honesty. You know, I had guided duck hunts before Echo and had hunted ducks before Echo, but Rick Dunn taught me a lot about the business of duck hunting. He taught me more about wing shooting, or how exactly to call them at the exact right time. But more importantly, he taught me a deeper understanding of the duck’s travel patterns of the area that I call home,” King said.
Freddy King with Rick Dunn and the Echo Crew on a flooded timber hunt
About five years ago King began also to train dogs full time. “I’ve always had retrievers for duck hunting, even growing up. I’ve trained dogs off and on for about twenty years, but really hardcore trained for about the past five years. I’ve had experience filming retriever shows and from that, I learned a lot more about high-end training and advanced training and skills,” King said. King keeps his kennel full, when it is not duck season, and has a waiting list of potential students.
In the past few years, King has also taken off on social media as a Facebook personality with over 14,000 followers. “I believe the reason my social media has taken off is because I really interact with my followers. That’s not a fan page; that’s my personal page. I let everybody into as much of my personal life as I can. I try my absolute best to reply to everyone that messages me,” King said.
Throughout all of the things King has been able to do with his videography, his love of the activity has only grown and he is very open to sharing that love with others. “The main thing that I always tell people who want to be a videographer or editor in the outdoors industry is ‘Listen. If you want to be known for videographer work, you have to tell yourself that’s what I want to be.’ You can’t ever think about ‘When do I get to shoot?’ The main thing is to focus on nothing but filming and getting all the shots you need on a story line basis,” King said.
King’s love of videographer is something that is very apparent and is something that has made an impact on his entire life. “I love being able to put together a story that everyone can relate to, it’s one of the things that make me the happiest about what I do,” King said.
One of my favorite video’s Freddy made and posted to you tube!
