Sometimes I wonder
 

I'm sure a lot of you guys watch some hunting shows on TV. How many of you sit there and talk to yourself? Saying something like "Why isn't he shooting?", or What's he/she waiting for?"
I know I do it all the time.
Now honestly, I have never hunted the farmlands in the mid-west. But I have hunted out in several western states in both the mtns and the flatlands. And cut my teeth hunting here in the east, mostly PA and a couple northern states.
You guys that hunt the laurel thickets of the mid-atlantic states, the guys that hunt the spruce forest of the north and those of you that hunt the swamps and tangles in the south know what I am talking about. Hunting where stealth is a must. Where it is rare to see all of an animal past about 35 or 50 yds. Where sometimes the only shot opportunity is a softball sized hole thru the brush. And we manage to sucessfully and cleanly harvest our game.
So that is why it makes me laugh when these shows have to have the animal perfectly broadside, standing still, AND head up sometimes before they pull the trigger. It may be good for TV. but IMO does not show the true realism of hunting. Now before I get blasted on this I do know there are times, expecially in archery where broadside or qtring away is required. But for rifle or ML, I don't think so.

Yea I do the same thing but then I remember that they dont want to take a shot unless the camera man is able to get good film on the kill!!
But the places most of the shows go to are not public land and the game is plentiful

i think the main reason why shows do that is because they dont want to catch a bad rap for taking an "unethical" shot. We all know how some people are and god forbid you accidentally wound an animal on t.v. I know we all try to take ethical shots, video hunt or joe blow, i believe we all owe it to the critter to wait for the best shot opportunity.

From time to time I have wondered if some of that filming is not done on game farms, some is not but some times if you look close you can see things that indicate the area is used beyond normal woods and a couple of times a glimpse of a high fence in the corner of the picture for just a second.

I'm sure it's not the case all the time but I saw one show awhile back and they addressed the very issue. The guy said there were a lot of reasons for it, but the two biggest were making sure it was ethical and "good for tv" and the other one was that a lot of times when the deer was clear for the camera the shooter still had no shot. He then went on to show footage where the tv shot was great and it looked like he should have shot a long time ago, then he had a camera mounted to his hat or something like that and you could barely see the deer.
I thought that was kind of interesting.

I have often wondered if some of that I watch is not high fence hunting. I am sure most of it is private land, well managed for the purpose of hunting only. One program the other day, the hunter talks about seeing 30 "good" mature bucks that day. Where I hunt, if you see one "good" buck, I will be home very shortly. But then they go on to explain that the bucks are not "shooter bucks" or management deer. So these TV hunters must pretty well know what to expect in that field.

I hardly watch those shows any more. Sometimes at the beginning of a program the landowner describes a particular deer "we've been seeing", and then the shooter goes out and kills that deer the next morning. You can pretty well figure they've been saving that deer for the camera. It's nothing like the hunting I've experienced, especially public land hunting.

I know what you mean Semisane. I only watch one on a rare occasion anymore as they have started to nauseate me because they are so commercialized. Another thing that peeves me is that they NEVER tell the cost of the hunt. Can you imagine how well received it would be if they said at the end of the hunt..."And you can shoot a nice Buck like this for the low, low price of $3800.00"! In reality it would be the same as saying..."If you had the money I do, then you could shoot a really nice Buck like this"!....BPS

I think most are shot on game farm and the reason they wait so long to shoot is they owner of the ranch tells them what they can shoot. The hunt is free so they can advertise for the ranch.
My dad in his senior years went to Ohio to shot a trophy and he had video of massive deer and the guide would tell him that deer will cost you a grand that one will cost your 3.
My dad said the guide told him a rich guy came to the ranch shoot a 8 grand deer and was so excited that as they trailed it another one jumped up and he shoot it thinking it was his and it was a 12 grand deer. Sorry but 20 g's is crazy.