Hunting Shows

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xm21

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I used to love to watch hunting shows on tv but don't watch them much anymore.Too much emphasis on the size or numbers of critters killed,too much emphasis on the actual arrow or bullet strike.Too many times I watched an arrow strike a deer in the butt or gut and when the nimrod goes up to claim his animal there is an arrow sticking out of the heart lung area where it magically traveled from the original spot the critter was hit.I was flipping through the channels the other night and on VS there was a deer flopping around after the shot and I wondered what a non hunter who was channel surfing and came across this would think.


One last thing is the whispering as the hunter "sneaks" up on the game with the camera crew in tow.I really think that these shows are detrimental to the future of hunting and provide fodder for the anti's out there.
 
I'm with you, mainstream big game hunting has gotten way too commercial. Not to say that this is the case with everyone or even most hunters; but some places are almost like cattle operations. Also, does anyone think Tred Barta is a goofball? My dad thinks he is some kind of master hunter, but I have a hard time understanding how he even has a hunting show.
 
I will admit I watch the hunting channel quite a bit. I will be the first one to agree that some of them are bogus. I like how the guys put out bait, sit in a stand 30yds away, shoot a buck, and say "man that was a tough hunt." What a joke. Put 90 percent of those guys on public land and they're a joke. Some of the shows are quality though.
 
Can't watch them.................for a number of reasons.

Pet peeve is that they put almost ZERO emphasis on the end use of the meat. All about the KILL and the TROPHY. That's all fine and good but in my world a BIG part of hunting happens later when we share what we've been fortunate enough to harvest with a group of friends.

In some ways that sharing is a connection with what happens in traditional societies. It's part of our human heratage.
 
Can't watch them.................for a number of reasons.
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I agree, I think they provide the anti's with more ammunition than they do the true hunter with entertainment. I also detest the word "Harvest" used in conjunction with the taking of game. In my minds eye you "harvest" wheat, you "kill" game. Also the quality of the shows has degraded so much over the years. It seems any dummy with a video camera can have a hunting show. Whatever happened to the quality that went into shows like "The American Sportsman" with Kurt Gowdy or "The Lone Star Sportsman" with Jim Thomas?
 
I'm going to kill a deer with my assault weapon
or
I'm going to harvest a deer with my sporting rifle (just rifle sounds best)
 
Well, I'm a fan of the new show on Outdoor Channel, "Duck Commander". I love those guys, good ol' Louisiana redneck duckaholics. I identify with those guys except that I just can't get my old butt out of bed EVERY morning during duck season like that. If I had those guys relying on me to wake up, I could, but I'm usually hunting alone. They're great, though, and that bayou hunting looks fantastic. I'm used to hunting salt marsh, not so much wooded swamp. We don't have many green heads down here.

I watched it last night. They had guests from Pennsylvania, won some contest to hunt with the crew and drove 1000 miles to do it. They're shooting birds left and right and the guy says they've already beat the best day they've ever done in Pennsylvania, 5 birds for the blind, not sure how many people in the blind. Phil Robertson looks at him and says, "Now I understand why you drove a thousand miles to hunt ducks." ROFL I gotta say, Phil was telling the guy how to call and I didn't agree with his technique, but there's more'n one way to skin the cat I reckon and who am I to tell the Duck Commander, the guy that builds my favorite line of duck calls, how to call? LOL I do know my way works, though, and it's how I was taught. I've not won any call contests, but I have called a lot of birds.

I don't really get into the deer from the tree stand with the bow thing. I mean, it's kinda like bass fishin', seen one, you've seen 'em all. It's better to be there than to watch it. I haven't gotten burned out on the duck commander, though. :D I love those guys. :D They remind me of me, but with beards.

In fact, I guess I like the wing shooting shows on TV best. That probably reflects my bias as to what kind of hunting I prefer the most. I mean, I'd probably get into deer and such more, but it's stand hunting down here by necessity. Ducks is more action, more strategy, more fun.
 
SFAIK, all that whispering is most likely voice-over in the studio as they edit the film from the field.

Some of the shows I've seen were pretty good, although I no longer watch with enough frequency to know which ones are and which ones are not. The levels of film-making competency and of knowledge of hunting certainly vary all over the place, ranging from stoopid to pretty good.
 
Main reason I'll watch is that the other channels, all 300 and whatever, don't interest me. If I still had just 3 channels, I'd just get rid of the TV. I channel scan a lot. I cannot recall the last time I watched one of the major network's prime time sit coms or dramas. :rolleyes:
 
I hunt for a living, and I make ends meet, and I know very well theres better hunters than I around.

Around here we say we "Catch" or "caught" an animal, as we utilize the animal and respect what we have from it, food, skins, arts/crafts materials.With proper respect, the animlas will always be there if Natures course decides.without respect, its the way of the Passenger Pidgions.....
Indeed, "killed" to Eskimo referrs to an absolute end, waste, or as in dead and of no use........Just a cultural thing.


I saw a couple of those shows, and Im glad I dont have TV.
 
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Hunting shows are strange, to me.

My dog got me into hunting, and not my hunting dog, either. My first dog. She showed me what a raw predatory instinct looks like in action. I wanted to know what it feels like to be a wolf.

I don't hunt for a living, but I eat what I hunt. When my dog is on a bird, and then it flushes, or when a deer appears suddenly, whenever quarry comes into view, or there's a hint that it might be there, I feel, for a brief moment, the purity of that predatory nature.

It's not "fun", it's something else, something deeper. I surfed ocean waves for many years; recently, I've kayaked river rapids a little bit. That's fun, and it does focus one's mind completely. Hunting is still different. It taps the very heart of our existence. It's not that my goal is to catch an animal; I just do, because that's what I'm made to do. I'm not sure if there's anything else like that.

On TV, all of that is lost on me. It's just a guy blasting away at an animal.

Maybe I'm not a good spectator (I'm not, really, and have always preferred to participate than to watch). But really, TV doesn't capture the experience of the hunt, to me.

For that reason, I have to think it doesn't leave a good impression on those who have never experienced a hunt in their lives.
 
Indeed, "killed" to Eskimo referrs to an absolute end, waste, or as in dead and of no use........Just a cultural thing.
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An interesing insight that for some reason, I completely undestand. "Killed" Is the term I was taught by ancestors.
It's not "fun", it's something else, something deeper.
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Well said AB
 
Also, does anyone think Tred Barta is a goofball?
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I like Tred Barta. By the way, he had a stroke and is not doing very well healthwise. I wish him the best.
 
What ArmedBear said. I did catch an episode of Predator Nation that was pretty good. A 10 day backpacking trip in the Yukon. Host killed a Caribou for food and actually utilized the meat right there. Hunted the carcass and missed a broadside shot at a black wolf. Finally ended up doing a stalk on a grizzly and dropped it in its tracks with a .30-06.
 
There's a show now on Outdoor Channel on hunting WMAs and other public areas across the country, forgot the name of it. It's a little more interesting because they go to different states and discuss the trials and tribulations of public hunting there and all the ups and downs.

Many of us can't afford a $10,000 outfitted hunt every year, fun to see how the beautiful people live, but sort of like, well, I'll never get to do that unless I ht the lotto.
 
Most of the hunting shows today are just infomercials pimping a product(s). I think T/C must have given anyone and everyone with a show an Encore to use. You see logos of products in most scenes kinda like nascar.Seems you have to have the latest camo, a Encore and scentkiller gizmo's before heading into the woods.

Try watching "Monster Trohpy Whitetails" on chn 608 direct tv and you'll get the point.
 
I love to see the shows where they are 300 yards away from a feeder in a fully enclosed "hunting house" and they move slow and whisper as if the deer can see through walls and has "bionic" ears. I was pleasantly surprised the other day when they had a traditional bow hunt and flintlock turkey hunt. If I live to be 90 and want to hunt, I might try a hunting house, until then I'll go into the woods after them.
 
I enjoy watching Buckmasters Classics in spite of the silliness. I also like to watch Roger Raglin because of..well..Roger Raglin. My favorite is Spirit of the Wild with Uncle Ted. I get good game cooking tips from Babe Winkelman's show. I don't watch shows where the first thing they do is dump out a bag of bait. I don't have anything against using an enclosed shooting house since I can no longer take bitter cold myself and don't like getting drenched in a downpour. All shows have sponsors but some are just infomercials and those are the ones that I avoid most.
 
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I love to see the shows where they are 300 yards away from a feeder in a fully enclosed "hunting house" and they move slow and whisper as if the deer can see through walls and has "bionic" ears. I was pleasantly surprised the other day when they had a traditional bow hunt and flintlock turkey hunt. If I live to be 90 and want to hunt, I might try a hunting house, until then I'll go into the woods after them.
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Suit yourself. Personally, I'm wanting to build an elevated box blind (what we call 'em down here), insulate it, sliding plexiglass windows, heat it with a propane heater, keep a can of bug spray in it, have a nice adjustable office chair I can lay back and snooze in. I can sit out there all night and hunt hogs or all day and hunt deer. :D Yep, that's me, lazy, don't care, do what you want. I'm not Rambo. I'll wade in the marsh at 30 degrees and chase ducks, though, love that! Deer hunting is so damned boring, I just wanna be comfortable when I do it, be able to catch up on sleep while I wait on hogs at night or catch up on my reading when deer hunting, that sort of thing. I'm going to build me that box blind before next season, get it about 8' off the ground at least.

You give ME the choice, ducks or deer, I'll be duck hunting every time! Oh, well, then there's goose hunting, the big game of shotgunners. :D I guess that's why I like "Duck Commander" so much. :D It's just something that got into my blood at an early age and I cannot shake it, this maniacal urge to hunt ducks. Maybe it's a disease. Most ANY deer hunting shows are as boring as bass fishing shows to me. I do like the stuff like Shockey does, African stuff, stuff I've not done nor ever will get to. But, I'm a sucker for wing shooting.
 
I'm with you MCgunner when it comes to my own hunting(no feeders though) but when it comes to living vicariously through TV nimrods I want to see Jim Shockey trudging through the Alaskan Tundra after moose or caribou or climbing a snow covered mountain for sheep and goats. I don't care how someone else harvests their game as long as it's legal but give me adventure on my TV!
 
Well, when I get more time and money in about 5 years (SSI), and if I ain't too stove up and out of shape, I'm going to make another trip or two to New Mexico to spot and stalk mulies. That's actually not boring. LOL! It ain't ducks and geese, though, my first love. Heck, I might run out to the panhandle and shoot some cranes, too, maybe take some pheasants. Ahh, back to reality, must go check my hog trap. LOL!
 
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