It's a tough medium that will never be solved. The meat hunters will never conform to the ways of trophy hunters (or are able to do so) and vice versa to an extent, which is the underlying topic here. A lot of the people watching the hunting shows are a lot of the normal bloaks that dont have the opportunities that the professionals do. What makes them professionals and worthy of tv? mainly being put in the right situation aka 'who you know'. That being said, the issue of passing bucks for bigger bucks is not necessarily an ego thing or a selfish tactic (normally). being a big believer in Quality Deer Management i speak for myself (and many others) when i say that it is about growing a HERD to better your opportunities to grow those mature bucks you see on tv. Can public land hunters do that? unfortunately not, and a lot of people dont care. But for the rest, the main bother of seeing these guys pass and shoot Freaks is the fact that they don't have the opportunity to. There is no hating going on here, just that there are always two sides to the story. Short of inventoried buck farms, whitetail deer, hunted on fair chase shows, are still wild animals! do you know what it takes to even see a 5yr old buck besides luck? MOST of these people still do know their stuff, and are VERY skilled hunters for the most part. Watch Whitetail Properties on the sportsman channel. Lot of commercials but..those guys are legit

what bothers me about most of these shows is the over production. I would rather see a joe shmo that can barely talk to a camera but knows how to hunt, than an over produced hollywood type show with a spoon fed richy rich and his annoying wife all prettied up hunting...wait...no shooting deer which have been food plot fed and domesticated on one of many farms they own. oh wait these deer are " free range deer".

Ok u all are putting down hunting shows bc they are garenteeed a deer..ok but would u rather watch a hunting show tht shows no deer? I mean come on..ya its not completely real but thts entertainment..i watch hunting shows when i cant be out in the stand...its keeps me in the hunting mood..do i agree with high fence hunting? No but for hunting shows its hard not to..their job is to entettain..and entertainment isnt waiting weeks to see deer..they hve maby 5 days to get a deer b4 they are out money

I enojoy watching the shows but I ignore all the hype. For instance all the scents and new gear that people just have to buy to be a successful hunter, all garbage. I have friends that swear by all the crap they see on TV like, buck bombs, tinks this, golden that and they kill less deer than myself and my wife. I do the same as lee and I put my wife on the deer in hopes she shoots a nice one. I take what these shows say with a grain of salt and use my own experience and knowledge to kill mature deer.

My all time favorite show is Ted Nugents just because he tells it like it is and kills the deer for food not the game.

There are a lot of new products out there and its cool to see but myself and my wife use what is tried and true. Another thing I just love seeing is everyone of those shows using these perfect never had a problem Rage broadheads.

I laugh everytime I see these guys shoot deer in the middle of the day and then retrieve them that night when its pitch black out? Seriously tell me other people have picked up on this. The only deer I retreive at night are ones I made a bad shot on or ones that were shot at sunset.

Isn't that what "Dury outdoors" is doing with their "working man" series?

I watch more for the strategy that I learn and different techniques/tips that help kill bigger bucks more consistently. If you're hunting 40 ac there's a dominant animal in that area so if you aren't seeing him you're doing something wrong and he's probably gone.