Justin

Oh man, I'm a hunting video/tv show junkie so there's a lot of them.

When I was but a wee lad I grew up on the Wensel videos - I can't even tell you how many times I watched Bowhunting October Whitetails I and II. Anyone else remember Rick Blase shooting an Oneida Eagle? Or the first time they illustrated a deer ducking an arrow and getting hit in the spine? Or the cornfield stalking tips?

Back in the day I used to watch Monarchs of Albertaa lot too. It was all gun hunts but there were some monsters shot in that video. I used to watch a lot of Roger Raglin's stuff too - back when I didnt' know any better.

Nowadays I'm really partial to the Drury Outdoors stuff. It's been amazing to watch their transition from good hunters to great hunters and land managers. Go back and watch Monster Bucks 1 and see how genuinely excited Mark was to shoot his biggest buck to date - about a 140" 10 pointer with a couple stickers. Then watch through the years as they hunt all over IL,WI, and Iowa and slowly but surely start gravitating away from the areas that weren't producing quality deer on a consitant basis. Now they're rarely if ever hunt in IL and concentrate on their own farms in Iowa and Missouri. To me its an impressive testament to their desire to succeed and their evolution of becoming true trophy deer hunters. The same goes for the Kisky's and Jay Gregory as well. They all got their start with the Drury boys and now are doing much the same.

I'm also a fan of the Primos vids purely because they make me laugh. Those guys have a good time when they go hunting and you can see it. Realtree puts out some good stuff as well. Roadtrips is a solid show that's entertaining. Gettin' Close is another favorite - not just because Tiffany is hot but because they have some great hunting experiences and have fun doing it. One of the coolest things I've seen lately is the crossing over of people between shows. Its no longer uncommon to see Waddel in an Archer's Choice show when they're sharing a camp or see Nick Mundt from Roadtrips doing camera work on Gettin' Close.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - the one thing that really irks me in a lot of these shows is shot placement. Last year's HS Primetime Bucks 9 had some of the worst shot angles and placement I have ever seen on video and it disgusted me. Shooting deer in the neck, head on, quartering into, severely quartering away - you name it. We all make bad decisions but if I was dumb enough to make one on film I surely wouldn't want to show the rest of the world and then try to pass it off as a good shot.