RE: Are they really good???
Very few of the TV guys (there are some) do much, if any actual scouting. I have gotten to see first hand how these shows are put together and I promise you that most of the time, they did not happen like you see it happen on TV. A few examples. I filmed a kill in Kansas, maybe 40 minutes before last light. Only had a few minutes of the deer coming in, great view of the shot, great recovery. However the next day (our last day) it was raining, the condition did look the same as the day before, so we waited until we were back in Illinois and filmed the "shot" some of the tracking job, and even a few bucks that make the show. The shows are mostly pieced together, sometimes two or three hunts are combined to make one airable series. Another example, I filmed a kill in Illinois, we got held up getting to the outfitter due to weather, got to his place, where in a stand 20 minutes after arriving, 30 minutes after arriving we were filming the shot, no more than an hour after arriving we were filming the recovery. We did it all without ever even seeing this property before hand, in fact as I remember correctly we were told just two days before we need to go down as a crew had to back out. I don't want to take anything away from these guys, because it is hard work and a lot of times very unrewarding (the best buck I ever filmed would have flirted with 200" gross but my shooter missed the shot and neither of got paid, but the footage was still used), but I just don't want people to think that they need to compare their hunting skills to those they see on TV. Like I said before, it is apples and oranges, just two very differnt styles of hunting.