What happened to the "REAL" hunting shows?

Most of the hunting shows are not fit for human consumption. I will say though that the Sports Afield show with Arron Neilson is pretty good. The other one that I like is Jim Shockey's new show "Uncharted" where he travels the world.

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I will watch the occasional show I come across that's in a distant land I'll never be able to afford to see, let alone hunt. It's different. I guess I just get tired of the same old tree stands and whitetails. But, I like watching stuff I know I'll never do.

One of the few things I remember about any early TV hunting show was Fred Bear making a perfect shot on a running Caribou . I'm thinking 60's .

MCgunner said:

I just get tired of the same old tree stands and whitetails.

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You'd have to pay me pretty well to watch whitetail hunting.

The "hunting shows" I generally find the most interesting rarely have much hunting content, especially not boring ambush hunting (aka stand/blind stationary hunting). "I found **** and tracks before season, I hung a stand, I sat in said stand, I shot XX game from said stand..." Stand hunting's really just not that exciting. Spot and stalk, and still hunting really aren't much better after you watch a few... "I saw XX game over there, I stalked them to over here, I shot said game animal..." Or "I walked around quietly until I saw XX game animal, and I shot said game animal..." Hunting really isn't a spectator sport, and even if a guy is hunting 3 different species in 5 different states, it's really not easy to produce enough quality content to fill two dozen episodes a season without running the risk of showing the same footage, just in a different state, over and over... Storyboarding and episode sequence planning for hunting content as a career requires someone with the same mentality as that guy who pays big bucks at the dominatrix dungeon to get tied up and flogged.

And then you run into the logistical challenges of hunting as an economy. You need to produce quality content, containing high quality game animals, but that often leaves you victim to EITHER criticism by hunting "any time" options like game ranches, OR logistical nightmares of drawing tags AND finding quality game animals... And of course, none of it happens in a static film studio, and game nor weather follow production schedules. If it happens to rain and hail during the one week you have booked for your out of state elk hunt and the trophy bulls you scouted are bedded down tight, you have very low odds of having a successful hunt and even LOWER odds of capturing quality footage during the hunt - so now that week was effectively wasted, along with the time spent accumulating preference points to draw the tag... It always sucks to have a failed hunt which requires that much build-up, but it REALLY sucks if it also means losing your investment and potential to create revenue for that year.

Every season when I get deeper into "go time" for producing content, I'm reminded how grateful I am that I'm not trying to make my living through said content full time - it's a highly competitive market, with extreme production challenges and limitations.

I really miss the "American Sportsman". A couple of years back I went looking for the back episodes online. IIRC, they weren't available for release. Now that would be a good DVD series to have!

Here's another vote for the old "American Sportsman" show back in the sixties before they started going down the drain in the late sixties. Some of the stuff nowadays isn't good enough to get me to watch it. Too commercial, too trendy, too phony, etc. I'd love to have some of those old "American Sportsman" episodes on DVD.

We got old, that's what happened. We are our parents and grandparents wishing for the "good old days". My dad and I watched Bill Dance on rainy or snowy Saturdays when we couldn't fish, and hunting shows like the American Sportsman when we couldn't hunt. Yes, the new shows are annoying with the Mission Impossible music playing as they take a whole show to bag a coyote, hog or deer. But that's the generation that has the money now and I just yell at them to get off my lawn.

I watched some woman hunting from a box blind shoot a doe for meat today. That's a little too close to my reality to be that interesting on TV. But, hey, at least it was reality.

I tend to watch stuff like that when I run into it channel surfing because there's "57 Channels and Nothing On" as Springsteen sings.

Watching TV bowhunters pass on "young" 10 pointers, and watching 12 year olds bagging P&Y bucks does nothing for me.

Hunting shows went the way of the buffalo. Yes, they are in Wyoming.

If you have netflix I suggest checking out "meateater". It is hands down my favorite hunting show. There are two seasons on netflix. Episodes are short and sweet. The show takes a very different take than current hunting shows. Steve Rinella focus on more of what hunting is about rather than a bunch clips of different critters getting blasted. For instance in one episode he took to city fans( two women in there 20's) who never had hunted before,let alone shot a gun.. He taught them to shoot and helped them take their first animals.it completely changed their perspectives on it. Theres also cooking episodes,butchering episodes, ,you can learn alot from the show. Worth a look!
http://www.themeateater.com

There used to be an older guy who travels around bird hunting with his dog but I can't remember the show's name. He was fun to watch and seemed like a nice fellow. I've caught it again in the early AM but don't know if those were re-runs or not.

Yes if one searches around on the internet decent shows may be found but on broadcast and cable/satellite TV most are the same old kill the critters in the petting zoo.

Shanghai McCoy said:

There used to be an older guy who travels around bird hunting with his dog but I can't remember the show's name. He was fun to watch and seemed like a nice fellow.

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I'm wondering if you are talking about Tom Knapp. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9jUkOAvP9g

Tom Knapp's show on Outdoor Channel was interesting. May he rest in peace.

Meateater and Fresh Tracks with Randy Newberg

I grew up watching Frank White, the Southern Sportsman with his zebra striped little plane.

I can still hum his theme music that played over all of his field videos, since they didn't record sound in the field.

Always cooked up something every episode, fried in House Autry breading mix.

brasscollector said:

I'm wondering if you are talking about Tom Knapp. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9jUkOAvP9g

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No it wasn't Tom Knapp but I did use to enjoy watching him shoot. He was one of the Great Ones.

As a HUNTER, I've typically enjoyed watching "nature shows" moreso than hunting shows. More diverse species, less BS, less advertising. Marty Stouffer's "Wild America" was a favorite of mine growing up. Netflix has content from a lot of different houses which do really nice work, PBS, BBC, NatGeo, Discovery, etc.

"Gone Fishin'" with Harold Ensley, The Sportsman's Friend. The show was syndicated out of Kansas City, and ran for 48 years, starting in 1953. Lots of good hunting and fishing episodes.

Gone fishin', instead of just a' wishin'.

Varminterror said:

As a HUNTER, I've typically enjoyed watching "nature shows" moreso than hunting shows. More diverse species, less BS, less advertising. Marty Stouffer's "Wild America" was a favorite of mine growing up. Netflix has content from a lot of different houses which do really nice work, PBS, BBC, NatGeo, Discovery, etc.

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Same here... Fondly recall Mutual of Omaha's "Wild Kingdom". On a side note I personally met Marlin Perkins in the early1970's when he was in our area lookin' for wolves or bear (do not recall) seemed to be a very mellow man.