Hunting Shows Making Me Cringe!!

[Doc]

Maybe we need to stop taking them so seriously and see them for what they are. Entertainment. Nothing more, nothing less. Its like "reality tv", its anything but reality. 

The problem is that they have gotten so predictable and identical to the hundreds of programs before them that they aren't really even entertaining any more. I used to be real enthused that finally there were hunting programs on TV. But it didn't take too long before I realized that I was watching the same program over and over and over and over. Just different hunters and different deer. I rarely watch any of them anymore. What's the point?

Doc

[fasteddie]

also think about how hard it is for 1 hunter in the tree or blind or whatever, think about how many times have youve been picked off in a stand. Now add another guy who is filming and the margin for getting picked off or scented or whatever is greater. im sure its not as easy most of the time as these "non reality" shows make it to be...

Yeah , right . I bet the Ranch owner could probably call the deer out by name ......

[WNYBuckHunter]

Maybe we need to stop taking them so seriously and see them for what they are. Entertainment. Nothing more, nothing less. Its like "reality tv", its anything but reality. 

The problem is that they have gotten so predictable and identical to the hundreds of programs before them that they aren't really even entertaining any more. I used to be real enthused that finally there were hunting programs on TV. But it didn't take too long before I realized that I was watching the same program over and over and over and over. Just different hunters and different deer. I rarely watch any of them anymore. What's the point?

Doc

They must be entertaining someone or they wouldnt be on. 

[fasteddie]

I would like to see something more realistic . When the shooter gets a bad hit , admit it and show the results . I have seen some hits back on a deer and the guy is fist pumping like he had hit it in the boiler room . Give me a break .

The most realistic hunter I have seen on TV is Tred Barta . He has shown bad shots over the top of an elks back plus other misses .

[Geno C]

I would like to see something more realistic . When the shooter gets a bad hit , admit it and show the results . I have seen some hits back on a deer and the guy is fist pumping like he had hit it in the boiler room . Give me a break .

The most realistic hunter I have seen on TV is Tred Barta . He has shown bad shots over the top of an elks back plus other misses .

you should watch Drury outdoors... what i like about them is you learn alot and they hide nothing. they show the truth and reality of what can happen woodside... Tred barta and those other guys are so commercialized its crazy, well atleast thats what i believe... Drury outdoors is the only DVDs ill buy and enjoy watching. i have every dvd from season 8 and up. they show the mishaps that are reality to hunters and how to exhaust every avenue to find that animal. i have great respect for what the Drury team does and like  i said in my eyes they are the best. i have been watching these guys for 5 years now and i really look forward to seeing there next production, not to mention its all HD and the filming is great! very motivational guys and true sportsman to the core.

[Doc]

They must be entertaining someone or they wouldnt be on. 

Ha - if that is the criteria for entertainment, those info-mercials must be darned entertaining because there sure are an awful lot of them on these days. :

Yes, I suppose some people are easy to please when it comes to entertainment. It probably comes from the fact that there is so little else on TV to compete. That explains the popularity of all the re-runs on TV that are constantly forced at us and apparently watched by someone. And after all, that's all these hunting shows are. They just change the deer and change the hunters. The rest is the same as it has been for decades. I already know what a deer looks like, and I have spent some time sitting in a treestand so I don't need a TV program to show me that, and the only thing new that these shows depict is exactly what non-lethal part of the deer's body the arrow will wind up in.  :-[  Personally, I wish there was more to them, and I don't watch very many of them anymore. It seems to me that with a little creativity and just a hint of imagination, it wouldn't be all that difficult to branch out into something that might be just a little more informative and fresh and really entertaining. Maybe that's expecting a bit much, and perhaps I'm being a bit picky and demanding. :-\ 

Doc

[WNYBuckHunter]

Doc, have you seen either Duck Commander or Buck Commander? Those two shows are different in that they dont just show the typical scenarios that you describe, they show all of the stuff that goes on in camp, etc as well. Its pretty fun to watch.

Come to think of it, there did used to be a show almost exactly what you are talking about that would be great. It lasted one or two seasons before they basically ran out of stuff to talk about, or maybe not many people watched. It was called QDMA TV and it was on the Outdoor Channel. I had all of the episodes on DVR until my DVR box got switched out. Id love to find that series on DVD.

Also, have you caught any episodes of Jimmy Big Time? All they do on that show is make fun of the very same things that you say you cant stand about hunting shows. Youd probably like watching the show. If you do watch it, make sure to catch the deer hunting episode from season 1. He shoots an arrow right into a tree trunk, missing the deer and starts fist pumping and carrying on, its pretty hilarious.

[fasteddie]

The killer for me is to watch a show and see the kill and then have the guy explain what happened during the episode . Hellllllllllo ! I just watched the show . I know what happened !  ???

Oh yeah , you recovered the deer . Why are you still whispering ?  :

[burmjohn]

Buck and Duck commander are great...  You see that guys "hunting camp", oh my god.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Buck and Duck commander are great...  You see that guys "hunting camp", oh my god.

See what you can get when youre an overpaid baseball player? LOL

[Doc]

Doc, have you seen either Duck Commander or Buck Commander? Those two shows are different in that they dont just show the typical scenarios that you describe, they show all of the stuff that goes on in camp, etc as well. Its pretty fun to watch.

I haven't caught those shows yet. Like I said, I don't watch many of them anymore. I'll see if I can find them.

Come to think of it, there did used to be a show almost exactly what you are talking about that would be great. It lasted one or two seasons before they basically ran out of stuff to talk about, or maybe not many people watched. It was called QDMA TV and it was on the Outdoor Channel. I had all of the episodes on DVR until my DVR box got switched out. Id love to find that series on DVD.

That one I did get to see a couple times, but I think they were pretty much focused on hunters who owned or controlled their own hunting land. That may have been an audience that left out the majority of the hunters.

A few replies ago I listed a few of the kinds of things that I would like to see in hunting shows as alternatives to the standard script. I believe that if they ever tried to do concentrated programs on some of those subjects and others like them, they would be hard-pressed to ever run out of subject matter. I kind of think there is a big market for instructional hunting shows that newcomers and oldtimers alike would just love to see. The closest thing to the kind of instructiional hunting program subject matter that I can ever remember watching was "Bowhunting October Whitetails" produced and sold by the Wentzel brothers. And what they showed in that video was only the tip of the iceberg. When you think of all the things there are to know about all phases and all kinds of hunting, it's hard to imagine anyone with even a basic level of creativity runnng out of topics.

Also, have you caught any episodes of Jimmy Big Time? All they do on that show is make fun of the very same things that you say you cant stand about hunting shows. Youd probably like watching the show. If you do watch it, make sure to catch the deer hunting episode from season 1. He shoots an arrow right into a tree trunk, missing the deer and starts fist pumping and carrying on, its pretty hilarious.

That one I have seen a couple times and each one that I saw was pretty darn funny.

Doc

[Buckstopshere]

Don't you imagine that it is a lot easier and more profitable to film a free hunt from a sponsor, invite a retired major league ball player, a country singer, or a comedian to a game farm, and set them up in a cabin on stilts to shoot a deer coming into a timed feeder, than to go through all the work, effort, sweat, expense, and frustration to actually film a real wild hunt? 

[WNYBuckHunter]

Doc, some of the QDMA TV episodes delt with food plots, etc, but many were about how deer see, hear, smell, where to find good bedding and feeding areas, etc etc. It was a very informative series. They delt alot with stand placement, water holes, all kinds of things that arent just for land owners.

I actually was googling it today and QDMA TV is still on, but its on Pursuit instead of Outdoor Channel and its reruns of the old shows. I think Pursuit is just on Direct TV. I dont get it, so I thought it was gone.

[Doc]

Don't you imagine that it is a lot easier and more profitable to film a free hunt from a sponsor, invite a retired major league ball player, a country singer, or a comedian to a game farm, and set them up in a cabin on stilts to shoot a deer coming into a timed feeder, than to go through all the work, effort, sweat, expense, and frustration to actually film a real wild hunt?

Absolutely. And a long as we sit there and watch that kind of stuff over and over and over and over, I'm sure it will never change. However some of us are starting to tune out, and if that ever becomes mainstream, it will start to take a bit of ingenuity to get viewers back, and might not be so profitable in the long run.

But you're right. Any time you can re-use the same script over and over, and go with mindless cheap repetitive productions, you probably wind up with extra profits in your pocket. And viewers that will sit there and watch repetition, are probably getting what they deserve. So for those lazy hunting show producers, and those that are satisfied with those kinds of time-worn productions, it turns out to be a win-win situation. Personally, there's very few of those programs that I can handle anymore, so here's at least one hunter that the advertiser's money is no longer reaching. If I have the Outdoor Channel or Versus tuned in, I pretty much put something else on if a deer hunting show comes on, because I know exactly what I am going to see before the show even starts. Also, as soon as I see somebody flopping down in a chair inside a box-blind looking out at a herd of semi-domestic corn-fed bucks, that's an immediate signal to switch channels.

What I hope is that someday, someone will experiment with some actual instructional and fact based hunting shows that actually try to be of some value to the viewer instead of this constant parade of hunter-heroes who continue to put on these dramatized, near fictional hunts. Maybe something that actually has a wildlife biologist or two as hosts, or somebody that might want to show some actual tips and techniques regarding the science of hunting and the planning, and execution of some of the various peripheral aspects of hunting. As just one simple example, I wouldn't mind a whole lot if one of the guides actually took over the show occasionally and discussed some of the art of tracking, or how they approach scouting, patterning and setting up on game. Wouldn't that be a lot more interesting (and useful) than watching one more guy in a treestand or box-blind taking another deer? Frankly I get a bit tired of watching these actors pretending to be the brains behind a hunt when in reality, it is their guide that has all the skill and is the one totally responsible for the success or failure of the hunt, but is never heard from. I'll bet some of those guys could give out some real useful info on setting up and outfitting hunting camps. For those that might be planning a hunt out west some day, it would be interesting to have someone explain exactly how to organize such a hunt and how to keep from being ripped off by guides and outfitters, or explaining the most common mistakes that hunters make when planning such an event.

The bottom line is that the content of hunting shows is only limited by the imagination and creativity of those who produce them. I'm simply saying that I would prefer to see some of the other aspects of hunting presented by some people that really know what they're talking about for a change instead of the paid actors that portray hunters.

I don't know, maybe most hunters are happy with just watching an endless parade of deer being taken in the same way week after week, year after year, decade after decade. Maybe I want too much from hunting shows. But the fact is that I am quickly losing complete interest in tuning into these fictional representations of hunting, and I am always looking for something that has a bit more to it. Of course the way hunting TV programming is set up these days, and the way most hunters apparently are so easily satisfied with whatever comes their way, I really don't look for any changes or improvements. So most likely I will simply be watching less and less of it all (which maybe is actually a good thing).

Doc

[Doc]

Doc, some of the QDMA TV episodes delt with food plots, etc, but many were about how deer see, hear, smell, where to find good bedding and feeding areas, etc etc. It was a very informative series. They delt alot with stand placement, water holes, all kinds of things that arent just for land owners.

I actually was googling it today and QDMA TV is still on, but its on Pursuit instead of Outdoor Channel and its reruns of the old shows. I think Pursuit is just on Direct TV. I dont get it, so I thought it was gone.

Now that definitely sounds more like what I would like to see. I mean, I am really getting turned off on these wacky near-fictional portrayals of hunting to the point where I seldom have the Outdoor Channel or Versus on anymore. The deer hunting shows have become only slightly more interesting than the bass tournament shows ...  ;D 

Unfortunately, the couple of episodes of the QDMA show that I did see were strictly about the agricultural aspects of food plotting, and there might have been one episode on prescribed burning which I thought was pretty interesting. The ones I saw were interesting, but still not something that I relate to a whole lot. But apparently I missed the best ones that had content more directly relevant to my interests. Most likely, one of the reasons that I didn't catch more episodes is strictly due to the title of the program. I'm not really in a position to practice QDMA since most of my hunting is done on state land, so I wasn't really trying to catch that particular program. It sounds like I missed some of the better hunting TV programming.  :-\

Doc

[nyslowhand]

There is one other show on Versus you may want to check out, Deer and Deer Hunting.

Lot of info on that show by whitetail biologists, QDM specialists, Manufacture Reps, etc.

If you're a fan, may even get to see Charlie A. Used to be on the show when it was on Outdoor Channel.

They do have one bogus segment within each show, shot placement.

Generally two guys doing an armchair, hind-sight analysis of an actual bow hunting scene for maximum shot placement.

Just 2" this way, that front leg forward, next shooting lane, no shot, grrrrrr... ???

Then the reviewer gets up in a stand set-up in the studio in a controlled environment with his street cloths on and hits a bullseye on the 3D target. That's what the hunter should have done...grrrrrrr :

[fasteddie]

Let's see a show with one of these Famous Hunter's shooting a doe instead of passing up the 2 1/2 year old 10 pointers for "the big one" !

[WNYBuckHunter]

Let's see a show with one of these Famous Hunter's shooting a doe instead of passing up the 2 1/2 year old 10 pointers for "the big one" !

There are quite a few shows where they shoot does. Bone Collector is one that comes to mind.

Jimmy Big Time says that does are like flys on your leg on the 4th of July, they should just go away, they are a nuisance. 

[WNYBuckHunter]

Doc, some of the QDMA TV episodes delt with food plots, etc, but many were about how deer see, hear, smell, where to find good bedding and feeding areas, etc etc. It was a very informative series. They delt alot with stand placement, water holes, all kinds of things that arent just for land owners.

I actually was googling it today and QDMA TV is still on, but its on Pursuit instead of Outdoor Channel and its reruns of the old shows. I think Pursuit is just on Direct TV. I dont get it, so I thought it was gone.

Now that definitely sounds more like what I would like to see. I mean, I am really getting turned off on these wacky near-fictional portrayals of hunting to the point where I seldom have the Outdoor Channel or Versus on anymore. The deer hunting shows have become only slightly more interesting than the bass tournament shows ...  ;D 

Unfortunately, the couple of episodes of the QDMA show that I did see were strictly about the agricultural aspects of food plotting, and there might have been one episode on prescribed burning which I thought was pretty interesting. The ones I saw were interesting, but still not something that I relate to a whole lot. But apparently I missed the best ones that had content more directly relevant to my interests. Most likely, one of the reasons that I didn't catch more episodes is strictly due to the title of the program. I'm not really in a position to practice QDMA since most of my hunting is done on state land, so I wasn't really trying to catch that particular program. It sounds like I missed some of the better hunting TV programming.  :-\

Doc

QDMA is the Quality Deer Management Association, they deal with just about everything to do with deer hunting on that show. If I ever find a source for the shows on DVD, Ill let you know. There were 2 seasons of it I believe.

Deer & Deer Hunting is another good show like someone else said. Its basically the TV version of their magazine.

[fasteddie]

On the D&DH show they will sometimes have Neil Dougherty on explaining how to put food plots in properly and i always enjoy Charles Alsheimer ....

[Cabin Fever]

They do have one bogus segment within each show, shot placement.

Generally two guys doing an armchair, hind-sight analysis of an actual bow hunting scene for maximum shot placement.

Just 2" this way, that front leg forward, next shooting lane, no shot, grrrrrr... ???

Then the reviewer gets up in a stand set-up in the studio in a controlled environment with his street cloths on and hits a bullseye on the 3D target. That's what the hunter should have done...grrrrrrr :

So funny you mention that!!! I H-A-T-E that segment!!! They critque the shot and even if the deer only ran 50 yards before collapsing, they will tell you how it "could have been done better"! Screw them! I usually DVR the show, so I can fast forward through that part and commercials!

[fasteddie]

Could you imagine what one of those shows would be like if it was done by John Madden . He'd be drawing all kinds of crap at to where the hunter was and should have been plus where he should have hit the animal . Madden would sure as heck make it interesting ! http://www.downsouthhuntingforums.com/images/smiles/beer.gif[/img]

[SteveMcD]

I have regretted a few shoots in my lifetime, but I have never regretted not taking the shot. If it's questionable - then don't.

[Geno C]

everything some of you are listing you would see on a show, drury outdoors does and shows it all!!

check it out, either whitetail madness or dream season!

any season!

[erussell]

I just got done watching the sportsman channel and I see what you mean. This goober was bow hunting and this big buck comes in and he shoots him low right in front of the back legs. And this guy is doing a victory dance in his tree stand!!! I wanted to punch him right out of his stand I was so pissed off. He's like, I hit him a little far back but I think it was still a good shot. I'm screaming at the tv NO IT WASN'T YOU BOZO!!! Then its miraculously the next day and there sitting there on the ground with the deer and its all gutted out with leaves over the spot where he shot it. And hes sitting there explaining how it got dark and they couldn't find any blood so they decided to wait till morning to go find it, and how it was a good shot. And I'm like OK lets see the spot where you shot it then and that was the end of the show. And then they scroll through all his sponsors and I'm thinking  do they even watch what they sponsor. And then every other show was with a crossbow behind a fence shooting deer that had huge racks that were not even close to reality. What a waste of 2 hrs, could have been out shooting or scouting. FAKE CRAP TO SUM IT UP.