As the chief engineer of a TV station in Atlanta I do have one question, what cameras are you getting for 20k that are broadcast quality? You don' t have to answer that, it is tongue in cheek. I pay over 35k per camera, and those are the ' Cheap cameras." Believe me, I know what goes into a production, right down to the cost of every single video and audio connector and every single foot of coax cable. I am currently in the process of bulding a TV studio, and no they are not cheap. However, I still do not think the organization needs to be as in your face as they are. I once joined a golf organization that sent stuff to my house for meto later purchase. I happily informed the organization that I truely enjoyed the gifts they had sent since I had never ordered them. Since I did not order them I had no intentions of paying them or paying to send them back, I viewed them as gifts which is what they were. Needless to say I did not receive anymore gifts after that.

Buckmasters may very well be a great organization, but I will never know, too much in your face sales for my tastes. Pluse, until there is a Doemasters I just would not fit in very well!!!!!!!

I dont care about Jackie Bushman one way or another.He has never done anything for me,or against Hunting in General.But for me to publically .Assassinate his Charcter,in a Public Forum,is lacking.Im sure Jackie is a Good Person,and mean' s well,but i also feel,that his show' s are becoming Old Hat to Him.The Lust ,and Desire is Gone,and you can see it,in his Body Action' s.At time' s it looked like he just worked a Double Shift,after kneeling by a Animal,that any one of us would be proud,and excited to have Fallen.Jackie,It does not Hurt to Smile,and let the emotions run wild! When you say,Man,Im Excited!,it shouldn' t look like you just had a Root Cannal,in you emotion' s.Even though,im not a Buckmasters Member,(and have no desire to donate to the Club)i still respect Jackie for what he does,just that i would like to see him do it a little differently! Jackie you need to Be Nugeafied! CHANGE IS GOOD!

Pay the camera man....Heck I would do it for free...If I could shoot one of them lesser bucks he lets walk.....

Very nice Ann - and I understand all of that. I really have no problem with the show or where he hunts - I to want to see big bucks taken.

But.......I am completely turned off by your companies aggressive and underhanded marketing strategy. I don' t like it and I am not alone.

Jackie might be a super great guy - probably is - but, until he shows up at my house, throws down a handful of flour, and proceeds to demonstrate how great his vacuum is.


I DON' T WANT IT!!!!!!!

Ann you are certainly a great paid mouthpiece for Buckmasters. And I certainly understand the difficulties of filming a hunting show. I also admire your willingness to post here amongst a sea of criticism. However nowhere in your page long defense did you mention the money hungry; unscrupulous; over the top; hound you till you go insane; telmarketing; anything for a buck; squeeze em till you get that one last dime; stamp our name on anything we can try to sell joke that Buckmasters has become. I honestly wouldn' t turn my back on a Buckmasters rep at my grandmothers funeral for fear they would be astride the coffin when I looked back trying to pull out her gold fillings.

I must be one of those Buckmasters members without a phone since the only calls I' ve ever received from a Buckmaster telemarketer has been to purchase their most recent hunting videos. Those calls have always been welcome and I' ve responded by purchasing every video ever produced. Look fellows, I love hunting and I can' t ever seem to get enough action. So to me Buckmasters is just as important to fill my craving for hunting action as is any other organization. We can find fault anywhere if we want to. I just would rather be thankful for the positive factors and try not to forget that not to long ago we didn' t have any hunting shows or organizations anywhere near our faces.

Ann, The reason i never joined Buckmasters is because you use the state of PA. as a money tree but do nothing for the membership in return, the last I heard, 68,000 PA. hunters are currently members of your organization, far more members than from any other state even your home state of AL. You would think Buckmasters would have youth field days and the same events your org. puts on down south here in PA. aswell, But the only thing Buckmasters has to do with PA. is when jackie comes and films a canned hunt every couple years, When he comes here why doesnt he do some event' s aswell while he is here ans why is it that every time he comes to PA. to hunt it is a canned hunt? Thanks, Jeff Pike

Ann:

As far as the Project Venision issue, you may be right, they ran out of money. But the next year it wasn' t funded at all by the local chapter. So I gladly put my own money into it, so that some extra protein would go to the local food banks. And you may well separate what a local Buckmasters chapter does from the headquarters, but I don' t. In my view, I don' t care what happened, Buckmasters pulled out, and that' s a negative reflection on Buckmasters, the whole organization.

But that' s not my point at all! My point is simply this... You interest in the show and the Buckmasters organization and keeping it going and all it' s marketing and commercial hype is more important than the interests of promoting the hunter and the hunter' s image in the community via your chapter membership. Doing canned hunts is great for getting footage on the TV and selling commercials, but it doesn' t do anything for the hunter or the communities in which they live.

I personally enjoy seeing footage of quality fair chase hunts and I' m sure that most of your hunts qualify. But if I have to dodge an excessive amount of commercials to see it, I think I' ll turn it elsewhere. Is that what you want?

My next comment is not specifically geared to Buckmasters, but to hunting shows in general. I say no to bucks shot over cornpiles or any other bait, no to fenced ranches, no to heated luxury shooting towers, no to high$ hunts where a guide has lead you by the hand and tell you which deer you can shoot, no to guaranteed 170 class bucks! All of these things are geared towards a group of deer shooters (not hunters) who are eliteist financially and would not know how to find a deer on their own. This is not hunting, it' s capitalism, which is legal, but is it best for our sport? I don' t think so. I would be more proud of a small doe that I did the work for, than a trophy under these conditions

I personally don' t have anything against Jackie...he' s probably a nice guy. IMO, he had a good idea for a business...that has evolved into something that I personally don' t care for.

Ann, in response to your " from buckmasters" post: I think most of us understand how much money it takes to run a multifaceted business like that. However, IMO more and more folks don' t care for " Buckmasters" as a whole, for the various reasons stated in this thread. If buckmasters doesn' t change the way they do things, I don' t think they will have to worry about funding the show that much longer. I used to think Buckmasters was ok, but over the past few years...I will immediately flip the channel when it comes on. I can' t stomach the commercialization...that' s not hunting. I understand that we' re all in this together as hunters....maybe Buckmasters needs to bend a little. Might get them a long way.

The fact of the matter is, Buckmasters is not doing anything for hunters NOW, maybe in the beginning, they were beneficial to hunting, but now, they' re only being beneficial to thereselves. Look, I could really care less either way, My personal opinion and someone elses could be totally different, but it seems like the majority of us want to see a change, and the only way to keep the rating is to conform at least alittle. If you cant even win over the people on this chat board, what does that say about the rest of the world. I personally wouldn' t by ANYTHING else from you guys, especially a vaccum cleaner (although I was weaseled into getting a membership, that I will not be renewing). But for the rest of the world, why not take a more laid back approach to sells. I think us as consumers would be greatly appreciated......And by the way I dont know about everyone else, but the " special effects" that Buckmasters(and there are others) puts in the middle of the hunt just ruins the hunt for me....Trust me, save your money!!! If I' m watching hunting, and a deer walks in, the last thing I want is music to start playing, how corny, I want that classic leaves russling, branches breaking, I really want to FEEL it, If I want music, I will turn on the radio!!