A Little Something. 9 things wrong with hunting shows
 

Oh how true this is.
(Excerpts from Deer & Deer Hunting)

1) The music is much louder than before. How do you keep the deer from hearing it? What does Rap, Trance and Heavy Metal have to do with deer hunting?
2) How is it that the camera guy always seems to get to the carcass ahead of everyone else and yet the hunter and his buddy always are surprised to find it? If it were me, I'd just stay behind the camera guy and follow him to the kill-- he's like a bloodhound.
3) Has the whole world thrown away their lever-action and bolt-action rifles and adopted TC single shots?
4) Since when did deer hunting become a team sport? Frankly I would not hunt with guys who wanted to compete at deer hunting. This isn't a fish derby.
5) If they would just shut everybody up and stop all the dang whispering, they'd probably not need all that super-duper camo and all those gadgets.
6) Somebody needs to get the editors of these half-hour masterpieces to a doctor and get them diagnosed with Adult ADD and get them on some Ritalin.
7) Somebody needs to tell the executive producers that the The Kay-Fabe lines they're using were stale in the WWF before Andre the Giant took his big dive. They need to hire writers that never worked for Vince McMahon.
8) Why is it that guys on TV always have to hop on the back of the animal grab it by the antlers and work the neck. It sort of reminds me of those horsey rides at Woolworth's. Put a kid on one, put in a nickel and they pull on those reins like the darn thing is really going to get up and go trotting around the store.
9) It used to be I could keep the kids quiet on Sunday morning by plunking them down with a pile of pancakes and putting on a deer or turkey DVD. Now even the youngest is getting bored and walking off.

One word can answer all those questions.... "Marketing"

For many of the reasons listed above I've grown very picky as to which hunting shows I watch. One of my pet peeves is when they find the deer, act shocked ("holy cow! there he is!" *yelling screaming, high fives*) and then when they get up to the deer there isn't a drop of blood on it and the tongue isn't hanging out - so clearly they found the deer, cleaning it up to make it more tv worthy (which isn't a bad idea per se) and then acted like they were shocked to find it.

I also agree that pushing the products goes a little overboard at times, but i understand that it is a business. It just seems to me they could push the products during the commercials and leave the show focused more on the actual hunting aspect.

Overall I think the Primos guys are far and away the best in the business, although I've watched the first two episodes of this season's Heartland Bowhunter and have been very impressed. Most of the other shows are hit or miss

I quite agree! I can't stand most shows for all of the reasons you listed. One thing that I can't stand is what I call the time warp affect. The hunter gets to the deer and makes hardly a mention that he has been hunting this property for seven days in a row. When was the last time you had a good seven days in a row to hunt a prime piece of property. They barely mention this and act like it was so easy to kill such a large deer.

I digress, the show that I like the most is Deer and Deer Hunting. I like their magazine and I like the information they dispense on the show. They look at all aspects of the hunt, not just the kill. They have even shown youth hunts, which I love to see a kid get excited about taking a forkhorn.

You are absolutely right about every one! Once I would love to hear a guy say " We are hunting a 10,000 acre highly managed piece of property that you would have to $37,000 to hunt on. These deer have hardly seen a person in their lives, so this is really nothing like the hunting you do, in fact its barely hunting its more like a 30 minute commerical. "

I do like Fred Eichler a lot because he doesnt care if you smokes a fork horn or a pope and young, you can tell he loves hunting.

He's said many times that he's a meat hunter, and I truly believe that his excitement is genuine. I like his show a lot.

then teach your kids to be meat hunters instead of trophy hunters. if there were more meat hunters these days we would have to many deer in some areas. i like the guys at primos at least they seem to really enjoy the hunt.

I whole heartly agree with item 9 of the OP.
The marketing is so overboard on most shows that I've stopped watching them except for when I'm really bored.

I might be showing my age a bit but 15 or 20 years ago most hunting shows where actually about hunting. Sure there would be a brief mention to thank the outfitter, promote a gun/bow or a scent and grunt call but most of the show was about the hunt and tips on what made the hunt succesful.

Now, they are more info-mmercial than hunting show. They spend 10 minutes raving about how great the outfitter is, 8 minutes about how great the sponsers are and 2 minutes or less of actual hunting footage. Add to that the normal commercials and it's just entirely too much. I actually timed the amount of hunting footage on 1 show a few months ago..... 1 minute and 15 seconds!!

I'm pretty certain the more solid hunting shows happen to be the more popular and the "others" are just fighting for market share.

And to think I was the only one who thought this. I have to say that imo the best shows are the primos guys, Mike Wadell and the Bone Collectors, and one of my all time favorites is Dan and Guy Fitzgerald. Dan and Guy both hunt instinctively and it don't matter to them what or how big the animal is they take. My hats off to them.

i use to like to watch all the big names. but lately its been a little bit of primos. but mostly i gotta give to the guys at heartland bowhunters. top notch show. only wish i didnt have to wait to watch it online.

This one drives me nuts. Fresh ammo for the anti's. "Why would anyone need a bolt action, a lever action, or a repeating arm of any type to hunt with? It can obviously be done with a single shot, as that's all they ever use on TV hunting shows. Hunters obviously shouldn't object to a ban of repeating arms, since a single shot is perfectly suitable..." It's nice that they sponsor shows, and I'm certainly sympathetic to their desire to advertise their stuff, but, if you ask me, TC is shooting the RKBA in the foot...

Hunting show cliches I cant stand:
1-Husband and wife hunting teams.Especially when the wife looks like a dolled up, hooters girl, in camo. I dont know whats so hot about any woman in baggy camo pants and coats? If I want to look at babes, Ill watch a bikin contest on you tube.
2- Giant, Knight rifle or TC stickers on gunstock, :fighting0007:
3- Hunting in Illinois or Iowa:bash:

When I first discovered the ODC 9 years ago, I thought I died and went to heaven. I couldnt get enough, and watched every show. Now the only ones I TIVO anymore, are the ones where people send in their home videos. Just like everything that starts off good ,eventually some maketing hawrs will try to glitz it up w/ a bunch of hollywood style BS and ruin it.

I Love watchin the shows because of the kills, but in the end when they go to find the deer, it just sucks because its all planned out... the only show i really like that isnt really like that is hunters specialties, and drury brothers!!.... to me those are the best huting dvd's on the market!

It seems like they are all the same. Push the product, not the hunt. I haven't had satellite or cable now for 4yrs. and I honestly haven't missed it either because of all the nonsense. I would actually rather see more of the hunts that didn't pan out and have them try to explain what went wrong, so we can learn from there mistakes.

There used to be a web site that was dedicated to hosting Hunting video's, not those pro hunters crap. It was guys like us videoing our hunts working on our video skillz.
That is the place I went to for hunts on video. Most of them were really good quality too. I can't think of its name though, sorry.

All about the all mighty $$$$$$$$$$$$$.

So you suggest that all shows now implement a Saiga-only rifle rule so as to convey an idea that you need a hi-cap repeating rifle to harvest an animal in order to convey a differnt image to anti gunner/hunters??

being here in korea i am missing my hunting and fishing seasons. but i do not miss the damn whispering after the shot good god just talk into the camera using your man voice.
and i hate the phrase good buck or theres a good management buck but thats not the one were after,so then dont ever preach your qdm.
i just want to see a show with only public land hunting show other hunters walking in on you show you getting busted but in no it wont happen aint no sponsors or cash in it

It seems to happen more and more often. I am watching a hunting show on the Outdoor Channel (for instance), and the hunter shoots an absolute pig. So much so that you think that there is no way that is a free ranging deer. Around the 200" range. So i watch the show long enough to see where they are hunting and check the outfitters website. Almost always i find that this is a high fence operation, or hunting preserve, whatever they want to call it. But they make no mention of it being high fence in the tv show.

Has it always been like this, or has there been alot more of these shows recently?

I like the Eastmans Outdoors show and how they hunt on public lands where most of us have to hunt. I don't have $5000+ to hunt whitetails on some private ground in one of the states these shows are filmed in. Don't get me wrong I like seeing seeing some of these guys taking monster bucks, but I think there should be a different Boone and Crocket / Pope and Young class for animals taken on outfitted properties versus open public ground.

Throw any of them "Pros" in the same woods most of us hunt and they would kill no better deer than we would. Throw us "Common" hunters in their woods and we could kill wall hangers everytime........Its all about showmanship and dollars. Thats why I don't waste my time watching them.

After reading through all of this everyone seems to want more shows about regular hunters hunting on regular land. If this is what everyone wants then why does it not happen? Obviously someone is watching these shows and buying the DVDs.

How do we as a hunting community bring about real change? We aren't just pawns in the industry's game...or are we?

Did you have a fight with Jack Daniels or Jim Beam. Its all marketing and not everyone has a lot of money for editing equipment. Hence the cheesy music ;)

On shows where they are bowhunting, they either make perfect shots or rarely a clean miss. Never any bad hits, which I know is BS. I don't blame them for not wanting to show them, but some of the shots are really not very good hits, but they call them "perfect".

Another thing that drives me up the wall is the number of deer that are left out until morning. This leaves me the impression that they are more concerned about the antlers and hell with the meat. A very bad example. Rarely is it necessary to leave a deer over night.

On Gettin Close, were led to believe that it is very common for a blond babe to climb a tree and kill a monster buck any time she wants. I can't stand it.

This is a good topic,
As mentioned earlier , its marketing so thats where all the excitement comes from with all the loud music and comotion.

The 9 reasons listed are all valid IMO .
Primarly all the music , heck atleast play some blue grass if they're gonna paly anything at all.

I'd like to see just a simple program with out all the production work. Heck ,Tred Barta as crazy as he is has a series of shows were you see him fail which is believe it or refreshing. We dont all have the opportunity nor the luck to sit in a stand and pass up wall hangers.
Hopefully things will change.

I agree 100%

There are very few I care for anymore...they are pretty much all the same...they are just there for marketing purposes only.

It has been said before...Take anyone and lets put them on a tough muley hunt in arizona with a bow...and film running, and then lets see what they can do.
I think they do put in hard work in what they do...but in each case there hunting is under prime conditions, prime land, and so forth.
How about some tough hunts!

Once they turned from instructional to infomercial I stopped watching nearly all of them. Not long ago I was flipping channels when "Gettin' Close" came on, I watched it just long enough to watch Lee try decide which hang on stands to use, they had stacks of them, possibly hundreds. I'm fairly certain that these stands had been given to them by the manufacturer(sponsor) since all had the same name on them, there was also a lot of expensive gear such as Scent Lok clearly visible in the background. Despite Tiffany coming into the picture I abruptly changed channels when Lee said something about hanging 1,000 stands per season at their place, which she coroborated, so that they always had a fresh stand with good wind orientation. I seem to recall that their place in Iowa isn't over 200 acres. Nobody without a corporate sponsor could afford to have that many stands and high tech gear, much less the time to use them. To me those shows no longer represent hunting as most of us know it, all they are is infomercials anymore, rehashing the same old tired info show after show.

A lot of valid points made.

My wife made an observation the other day that was valid. She was watching one show with me and suggested that a lot of the newer shows are marketing to a younger crowd (yeah, I know, well duh). Unfortunately, seeing some of these shows, I hope the younger crowd has more common sense that to buy into some of the antics.

And as far as the music, I'm in my fifties and I don't mind the rock or metal. I'm a head banger from way back. :biggrin:

I do like Fred Eichler and his show and some of the others that are more informational, like Deer and Deer Hunting.

[quote=superstrutter;3387818]I agree 100%[/quote
Love it!!!!

#3 couldn't be more true.

love it!!!

1. Watching someone hunt on TV is not my thing even if it had some merit...I think its dumb axx. Like watching other people have sex.

2. Two guys sneaking around on some private ranch acting like nothing can see them. The cameraman/sound guy/entourage of gopher boys has to look like a marching band around them.

3. They whisper in microphones, are we really stupid enough to think that is actually quiet.

4. The idea that you need brand new camo while you are sitting in an above ground blind that looks like a big plastic box to be able to hide from deer is just about stupid. What camo pattern do you buy to match the inside of a black plastic box ?

5. Watching one of these clowns whispering into the microphone and telling you how far into the wilderness his is, all the while you can clearly see a highway in the background always struck me as DA.

6. They would have you believe that only brand new guns shooting store bought ammo will work for hunting.

7. If the hunter just follows the cameraman (who by the way is walking backwards) he will always find huge deer, make clean kills and find the dead deer on que.

8. Its hard to act excited about a deer you know will stand out in front of you after its been chained to a tree for the previous six months. These guys sound so phony "hot doggies!!!" "gee mineee!!" "by goolie" "he's a dandy" blah blah blah.

9. Don't know about the rest of you all but I have found that in the process of preparing a deer/elk/antelope to be hauled to some place I will hang and cut it up...I tend to get a little bit dirty. Maybe some blood here, mud there, snow crusted pants.....these guys look like they are rehearsing for a soap opera. After the hunt is over.

I hear that.

I have a question though - the shows that consider themselves "fair chase", does that mean they're out there like everyone else and not paying thousands of dollars to hunt on some specific game land?

I forgot to mention a few other things that bugged me watching a bunch of hunting shows.

I think the real kicker for me was when a group of hunters not only set out for big trophy bucks, but were picky enough that they would only shoot trophies with velvet still on the racks. Come on! Give me a break.

And it's great to see women get out to hunt, my girlfriends been hunting since she was 12, but you see these women on TV hunting and they're sitting there with 10lbs of makeup on like they're about ready to have a night on the town....

I can see getting excited about your hunts as well, but they're starting an all new trend of "showboating" in hunting. Like when a football player dances as he runs the ball into the endzone, they hoot and holler as they find their downed animals and, I kid you not, moments before typing this paragraph, a hunter on whatever show this is on the Sportsman Channel just did "the bear dance" and was dancing around his black bear. Bleh.

Not saying it's bad, but it's more often they do it than not anymore. I'm the kind of guy who walks up to his animal, appreciates it, is thankful for what the lord gave me and continue to take pics then harvest it.

You know what else I don't get? How they act surprised with every trophy they get. They get big trophies all the time yet the next one is just as surprising than the last somehow. Unlike most real hunters as we go out and hope to even see something, their dilemma is "which one is bigger" then get disappointed if they didn't get the biggest one and continue to pursue it relentlessly.

Reguardless, I still like watching them because if I can't get out myself, it's nice to watch it and just see the great things nature gives us.

Exactly... the "industry" has stripped the sport and mede it into a money making farce.
There are some shows I do enjoy watching, and others that make me sick.
All in all, i think it is hurting our sport more than anything.
I do get a kick out of how some of our local hunters have turned into "trophy" hunters and try to the same QDMA on our local public lands, only to have the deer shot 1 week later...
Nothing wrong w/ QDMA, but you have to be in the right area. These shows have so many people brainwashed that they are losing sight of why they are really out there...

I admit I still watch most of them, however I enjoy the Drury Boys and D&DH the most.

#1 Get rid of the MUSIC. I want to hear the deer rustling the leaves.

I enjoy watching the DVDs better than the shows since they have more time to show some of the other footage. However, I am too cheap to pay $15 for the current year editions. I am a few years behind and usually will pick them up for $7 or less. Right now there are a few at Gander Mountain for $2.97. I can deal with that.

haha, awesome mini article!