Pro's: Bad Influence...Keep Reading
 

I know everybody will argue this piont, but I dont really respect the guys that pay 3000+ to hunt a preserve that always produced big bucks. I mean I know it is fair chase and everything, but I feel it is not the same as me giong out to my woods.

I also dislike the Pro's that have thier sponsers pay for everything. Thats not the part I hate, its how they present the sponsers DURING THE HUNTS.

What does everybody else think ?

RE: Pro's: Bad Influence...Keep Reading
 

Yeah I'm starting to get sick of watching these guys pass up forkys and six pointers cause they know they'll see a monster buck the next day or two. A few weeks ago I watched this show where one of the hosts takes his kid, he must have been 7 or 8 I guess and puts him on this really nice 8 pointer or so. The kid drops it and they're acting like he's the all new great white hunter. I know you gotta pump up your kid and be proud and all but I was blowing up milk jugs at 75 yards with my dads .308 when I was that age, BFD!! I went to the website of this ranch and the price to go take a trophy buck was 5500.00 and a standard managment buck was over 3000.00!!! I realy see no pride in going out to some high fench ranch and being walked to the blind with my hand being held by a guide.

Metro...

RE: Pro's: Bad Influence...Keep Reading
 

Never done it. Might if I had more money, but proably not. If I did, it would not replace my real hunting.

Just remember, this is all pro-hunting money. Go Go Go, more power to 'em. They're on our side.

RE: Pro's: Bad Influence...Keep Reading
 

Ya I like Micheal Waddel and all them....but it make me mad how they hunt.

RE: Pro's: Bad Influence...Keep Reading
 

Me, too. Love them and hate them.

RE: Pro's: Bad Influence...Keep Reading
 

I am not going to pass judgement on this one. But I can say that they are trying to make sales and advertise for hunting products. I don't think that most would like to sit down and watch a full hour of a guy dropping spikes and does. Why would I buy their product if I am doing that now with what I have? It is all about the $. Guys on the fishing shows do the same thing. I know a guy that used to do hookons for the big names in fishing. They would cast into the boat next to them to have a large bass hooked on and then would pull it in. Same concept. ethical or not, I am not to say, but it does keep the sales going and is a large part of comsumer sales in america. I can see your points about ethics, I can also see their side too and they want to put food on their table just as we do. Part of this money spent goes back into hunting and helps support our interests. Good point though on the opening post, freedom of speech is a great thing....

RE: Pro's: Bad Influence...Keep Reading
 

I went with a guide once with some guys in my family and some friends, and where we went there weren't any monster bucks. One guy we were with shot a good buck, the rest of us that got deer took small ones. The thing that made the hunt so great was the camp that we stayed at and the camaraderie that went along with the whole thing. Next year my father, brother, and I are going to Manitoba to hunt. If you guys think that it is cheating or whatever, then so be it, but sitting dark to dark for a week in subzero temperatures isn't exactly and easy hunt. Especially when you aren't really expected to see more than a couple deer the whole week. But the reason we are going there isn't so we can be hand fed deer, it is because where we hunt in NY, there just simply aren't deer as big as there is up there. I will still hunt NY all season hard as well, but I would hunt everyday of the NY season for 20 years and never see a deer as big as they get up in Canada.
The other thing you have to realize is that when these shows are taped, the outfitter knows a long time in advance that Realtree or whoever is going to be there, so they obviously make sure they pattern a great buck all year and save that stand for the show. They see it as a business opportunity. If they have Jackie Bushman or Bill Jordan saying on TV that this outfitter is awesome, you know their business (and probably prices) double, so it is a little easier for the famous. Also, they have people all over the country hunting every available season. If nobody in camp shots a deer, they just don't feature it in a show. They just use one of the weeks that they did score with.

Just my 2 cents.

RE: Pro's: Bad Influence...Keep Reading
 

I hunt on a low fence peice of land but I have been lucky enough to be invited to visit a 2800 acre high fence ranch in Texas where many different breeds are being grown. Black buck Axis, 5 or 6 African types, water buffalo, American buffalo, Elk, and yes he has even a high dollar white tail breeding program. I have now been to this ranch 5 or 6 times to take my boys motorcycle riding. During these visits I do a lot of scouting, can't help it. This is a well managed place and it costs lots of money to make this work. Working professionals are happy to pay fees for the opportunity to shoot a decent white tail or other such trophy. It is nice to see what can be done when hunters don't shoot at the first little buck to walk into their sights. If you have even roamed around a large peice of land you would find that you never even get close to a fence nore do the game you hunt.

JMO. . .but high fence and money does not always screw things up. I just wish I could afford to hunt such a place.

RE: Pro's: Bad Influence...Keep Reading
 

I'm not sure what the point of the original post is, but I'm going to respond according to my interest and my thoughts -- warning, may not be responsive to the original post.

I object and find distasteful things which tend towards the commercialization of hunting. This does not mean I object to guides or outfitters in themselves. I think the redirection of interest in hunting to obsess about the size of a rack tends to this objectionable commercialization of hunting. What the heck do I mean? If you want big racks, you have to go where the big racks are. Frequently the place where the big racks are is, one way or another, colonized by the outfitters who charge a high fee to hunt for the big racks. If you want a big rack, you better get your checkbook out. If you aren't willing to lay out the money, say goodbye to the big rack. Of course, in particular cases I can be shown to be wrong. On the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised to find a high percentage of record book animals -- maybe 80% -- taken over the last five years fit the scenario I have laid out. I don't object to folks with ample bank accounts spending their money as they see fit. I don't object to guides and outfitters catering to these people. So where is my complaint or objection? My objection is that I feel the purpose of hunting is being redirected to the pursuit of big racks, and hence intrinsically to a commercial activity. If marketeers can get Joe Hunter to believe he isn't really hunting unless he is bagging animals with big racks, Joe Hunter is going to be more liable to lay out the money to hire outfitter, guide, buy products that give an edge to hunting, and so on. The size of the rack is about the only thing you hear about on the TV shows. Also, the challenge of the hunt rarely gets the same "Ooh la la!" value as the bare fact of the rack size. That some guy climbed 4,000 feet, bivouaced wrapped only in rain gear overnight above tree line, and bagged a 3/4 curl ram well out of the Boone and Crockett book isn't going to stand a chance next to shooting a big rack buck on a ranch in front of a feeder from a comfortable elevated stand. This is my feeling, though I quit watching these hunting shows after I started picking up on these issues and so may not be attuned to the different shows that are shown today. Generally, I felt like the TV hunting shows were, one way or another, a friggin' infomercial and I was spending my time soaking up one big advertizement.

If the object of hunting is to bag animals with big racks, then success in the sport is going to be a function of the money one spends hunting. Personally, I think hunting is about substantially other things than the size of the racks of the animals hunted. I won't get into this, as my view will invariably be personal and limited and may not include other's view of the meaning of hunting. What do you all think? Is this obsession with rack sizes a perversion of the spirit of hunting and am I right in my sense that this rack obsession tends towards excessive commercialization of hunting?

RE: Pro's: Bad Influence...Keep Reading
 

And there lies the problem, they just want a trophy animal, not the meat or the enjoyment of being in the outdoors. "Trophy hunting" IMO is ruining deer hunting for everyone