The outdoors can lead to many "firsts" -- first fish or first deer for example. Thursday night I had the pleasure of attending my first film premier. It wasn't in some Hollywood theater, though. It was in a modest church, tucked into Western Pennsylvania woodlands.

The invited audience were friends and family of Dave Fisher, a Fayette County native, and the show was Fisher's latest video on the great passion of his life -- next to wife and assistant producer Linda -- hunting rabbits with top-notch beagle packs.

The video is titled Rabbit Hunting 04; it will be released later this year and is Fisher's fourth in a series of rabbit hunting tapes. He also has written three books on the subject and more than 500 magazine articles, and has produced a squirrel hunting video.

Fisher, known as "The Rabbit Man," is the kind of person I would like to introduce to those who have a negative stereotype about outdoorsmen. He is modest and soft-spoken, yet carries a greater store of knowledge about rabbits and rabbit dogs than any man alive today. He has no formal training in film-making but is a diligent perfectionist with lighting, sound, script and equipment. The only thing Fisher doesn't try to craft and control in his films is the in-the-field action.

As anyone who has ever followed a bellowing beagle through a blackberry patch will recognize, the filmed hunts are authentic in every way. Fisher's eye for his native landscape (his videos are mostly filmed in Fayette, Greene and Washington counties) finds a way to compose shots that place the hunters and dogs in classic Western Pennsylvania settings. In Rabbit Hunting 04, a hunter bends to pick up a rabbit from a snowy sloping field, framed by crabapple thickets. Looming above and behind is the dark bulk of Chestnut Ridge beneath gray clouds.

It is a scene that makes you think, "Yes, that is my home."

In another scene, Fisher rolls a rabbit just before six bawling beagles enter the frame in single file over his shoulder. He called the crowd's attention to this scene during the viewing, as if it somehow embodied the very reason he has trained dogs and hunted rabbits for almost 40 years.

All Fisher's videos depict rabbit hunting accurately but with an innate respect for the quarry and its habitat. He explains proper field care to ensure rabbits make excellent table fare, and he bends down to pick up his empty shotgun hulls. "We never leave anything in the woods," he says.

The true stars of Fisher's tapes are his beagles, two of which, sadly, died during the taping of Rabbit Hunting 04. Having visited Fisher's home many times, I can tell you the dogs did not die from lack of care. Their quarters are comfortable, clean and spacious, and Fisher doles out a blend of discipline and affection that brings out a beagle's loyalty. All his tapes, and especially Rabbit Hunting 04, emphasize good dog work above all else.

"None of these hunts would be possible without the tireless efforts of these hard-working hounds," the narrator injects at one point. Later, Fisher remarks: "We're not into those talkative how-to videos. We make videos for people who like to watch good dogs hunt rabbits."

An injury and the weight and bulk of early video equipment nearly forced Fisher to give up making videos after his third rabbit hunting endeavor, "Cottontails Again." When a friend introduced him to newer cameras that were lighter and more streamlined, Fisher decided to resume his film making. Armchair and active rabbit hunters can both be glad he did.