Here' s the letter I sent to your e-mail. I' m posting it here too because I felt others might like to see or build on my ideas.


Hello,

I have many ideas for what I' d consider the " perfect" hunting show. As of late there are very few shows that I' ll bother waking up early on Sat. morning for. It seems that hunting shows anymore are ads-before-content, money means all, rambo the " expert" hunter/infomercial hosts with more slap-assing than actual hunting. What I DON' T want to see is 3-5 minute clips of canned hunts of captive " trophy" bucks that are practically led out on a leash into the cameras view/field of fire 10 seconds after the camera fades-in. 15 seconds later the guy takes a shot, which is followed by a minute of him high-fiving and slap-assing with his camera man. Then fade to him by the dead buck where he begins talking about how great a hunt it was and thanks a list of 30 sponsors without which there could be no hope of a successful deer hunt. After this we get a 3-5 minute infomercial followed by another 2-3 minutes of " real" commercials. Repeat three or four of these little segments per show.

Here' s what I' d really like to see:

1.) ETHICAL HUNTERS! I can' t stress this enough. Not only ethical in their actions, but hunters who verbally stress the importance of ethical hunting as a means of preserving our hunting rights for our kids. Slob hunters on TV not only offend and drive away knowledgable, ethical hunters, but it also makes their unethical actions seem OK to aspiring hunters. This, in turn, creates more slob hunters who are only in it for the trigger time and don' t know or care about our great hunting tradition and the responsibilities that go with it. Slob hunters on TV also turn people on the " fence" against hunting as well, and fuel the anti-hunting, anti-gun fires. People who were never taught ethical hunting may have no way of knowing that the slob " expert" hunter portrayed on TV, isn' t the way most real hunters are and are despised in the general hunting community.

2.) REAL HUNTS! I know filming a TV show costs a lot of money, and that faster is cheaper is better, but is it too much to ask to have the " expert hunters" pursuing real wild game in a wild setting? I think that a hunting show based on and strictly adhereing to the principles of the Boone & Crocket or Pope & Young " fair pursuit" rules, especially if billed as such to the audience, would go a long way to attract and keep viewers. By stressing fair pursuit and the challenges inherent to those rules, you could capitalize on the idea that the hunter is in competition with the game animal, nature, and himself. The harder the hunt is, the more exciting it is.

3.) Educational, documentary-like, motif to the show. I think that it would be great if the show were structured with much more educational content. Don' t try to cram three or four separate hunts into a half-hour show. Hunting shows shouldn' t be structured for action junkies or ADHD sufferers. Hunters are, by their very nature, patient people who can wait and sit through a few minutes of education content before the shooting starts. I would like to see one hunt per half-hour segment AT MOST. Starting with maybe a brief scene during a preseason scouting trip, where the " expert hunter" explains what to look for in a stand location, or shows the audience what a real rub or scrape looks like, etc.... Then go to a brief segment where he talks about a selected hunting technique, like the how and when to use a certain call, or how to rattle, the proper use of cover scents or pre-hunt scent removal techniques. This could also be the segment where he promos, in a non-infomercial manner, a given advertisers product.

Then the scene could go to the actual hunt where we see the " expert" actually hunting. I would also like to see more scenes that show animals other than the one he' s going to shoot and show and explain different observed behaviors in brief " asides." from the action. Then, at the climax, we' d see a real truly wild animal that doesn' t have to be a mega-bruiser buck, come into the scene, followed by the shot and then, if necessary, showing the hunter blood trailing the animal while explaining tips and techniques for trailing wounded game.

All of these suggestions would apply regardless of the animal hunted. There are many different game animals that could be showcased, along with educational content about hunting the different species or areas of the country. Most hunters are able to only hunt certain species in certain types of terrain because that' s where they live, but would love to learn and possibly someday participate in other hunts that aren' t available to them in their local area. A show like this would allow new hunters, or hunters not familiar with a perticular game animal, to learn as well as whet their appetite (pardon the pun).

Respectfully,

Mike