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Old 03-03-2011, 06:35 AM
  #30  
cayugad
Dominant Buck
 
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 21,193
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I have to agree with SuperKirby. If some TV show offered me a premo guided hunt where I stood a chance to bag a real monster wall hanger, I would go in a heart beat. If they did this with the understanding that I had to use brand X rifle, and brand X bullets, and brand X scope.. I would still do it. Free is free and I love free stuff.

I suspect a lot of these TV hunters do exactly that. You ever watch these hunting shows? 30 minutes of show has 15 minutes of them selling products. It is just the way it is, and if you want the free hunts and free gear, you have to play the game. But remember, this is to a lot of them their income. Where as I have a separate income. But if putting food on my table and my kids in college hinged on whether or not I hock their product.. it would be a hard choice.

Where I draw the line is if the product was junk, and they demanded I say great things about it. While I might try and be as nice as I could, I don't think I could sell my soul to them. But again remember, this is not my livelihood. When someone wants me to test a product, I always make sure to remind them, if it is junk, then that's the way I will call it. If the thing works, then I will be more then glad to tell my experiences and why I like it.

I can remember one item I tested and it was garbage. I mean a joke. I ended up giving it to a friend's six year old and told him to play with it. (it was a deer call) Needless to say the manufactures were not happy with me, and never posted my comments about the thing. The guy that did get posted must have had a completely different one then I had, because the one I had posed more of a headache then a help.

There actually is a lot of excellent information one can get from the "experts." Face it, these guys have been shooting and using this stuff for many years. They have gained some knowledge. But it is up to us to decide what is knowledge and what is salesmanship.

The funny thing is, I have learned more stuff from forums like this then any TV show or expert could have ever taught me. Even your mistakes that you post about.. that is a learning tool for me. I take your information and then try it for myself. It is what makes these forums such a great tool. Not only for the experienced shooter, but for the person just getting into the sport.
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