Outdoor Channel hunting star Michael Waddell is the real deal

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Waddell was at the state fair Wednesday, meeting with fans and signing autographs. "I'm country as a chicken coop," said he said. "I grew up in the south. I'm a redneck and I love to hunt."

Mike Greenlar/The Post-StandardMichael Waddell , at center, poses with L to R, Dominick Milliron 13 and Andrew Gillette 17, both from Marathon, at the Time Warner exhibit at the fair. Both kids were first in a long line waiting for the famed hunter. TV hunting personality Michael Waddell doesn’t mince woods when describing his roots and what he does for a living.

“I’m country as a chicken coop,” he said. “I grew up in the south. I’m a redneck and I love to hunt.”

Waddell, 38, was born in Booger Bottom, Ga., where he grew up hunting and fishing with his father, Edwin. His big break came when he won the Realtree Grand American Turkey Calling Contest and he joined Team Realtree in 1994.

“The next thing I knew I had a camera in hand and a check coming from Realtree. And that was cool,” he said.

During the past 17 years, Waddell has gone from a cameraman to producer to host of “Realtree Road Trips.” In 2007, he became co-host/owner of “Bone Collector.” Both these shows that can viewed year-round on the Outdoor Channel. He also has a book : “Hunting Booger Bottom, Life Lessons From the Field.”

Waddell was at the state fair Wednesday afternoon at the Time Warner Cable exhibit, meeting with fans and signing autographs. Beforehand, he answered questions about his TV shows and hunting.

Michael Greenlar/The Post-StandardMichael Waddell shakes hands with Beau Wilson age 10 of Massena. At far left is his mother, Julie. Is Michael Waddell, the easy-going, Michael Waddell on the outdoor TV hunting shows, the real deal? Is it a case of what you see is what you get – or is the Michael Waddell we see on TV a crafted image?

That’s funny. The one thing about these TV shows is that what you see is what you get. They’re all straight documentaries (of trips). I guess early on in my hunting career on national TV, I had this thought process that I didn’t want to offend anyone – particularly hunters. (The format enables) viewers to see, though, who you really are and your true enthusiasm. You have to be secure in your own skin or it’s not going to work out.

In your book, you talk about how your dad helped instill a love of hunting in you as a teenage boy. How’s he doing? Do you still get out in the woods together?

Daddy and I still hunt as much as possible. He’s in Alaska right hunting bear, helping to host a “Bone Collector” show. I just got word in from a satellite phone. He killed on and I’ll bet he’s on Cloud 9. It’s interesting. Our roles have been reversed. He introduced me to hunting, but through my good fortune I’ve been able to invite and send him to places he only dreamed of hunting.

Given a choice, which do you prefer to hunt with, a bow or a firearm? Why?

I prefer to hunt with a bow. It gives you more of a challenge. You have to get the animal that much closer before taking a shot. And you get to see things, hear things you don’t see at long range. But I still do love to hunt with a rifle as well.

What happens to the deer or other animals that you kill on your shows? Do you eat them, donate them to a food pantry?

A variety of things. My family will go through four to five deer a year, eating sausage, ground meat, steak medallions. When we’re traveling, we’ll donate the meat to the needy. There’s a “Hunters Helping the Hungry” organization. Believe me, if we got an extra deer, we never let it go to waste. Somebody is always willing to enjoy it on their dinner table.

On the average, how many times does it take for you to go out and get a deer or other trophy-sized animals for your shows — and what happens when you don’t make a clean shot? It seems that every outdoors TV show ends with a kill, accompanied by high fives and back slapping.

The reality is not every hunt turns out to be a success. Most of our hunts are 6 to 10 days long. We have been real fortunate on a lot of them. Guys we hunt with are capable of making a high percentage of good, successful shots with the TV cameras on them. I take pride in my ability to close the coffin. It’s part of my job.

However, we have a policy ... We can’t show a shot that had an unsuccessful recovery (of the animal).

When you go after monster bucks, do you make arrangements to keep people out of the area until after you film?

No, we don’t ask people to stay off the land when we’re filming. Some of the land we hunt on is private land, some is on land with personal leases that the company has and sometimes it’s on land that the company (Realtree) actually owns. On the shows, it breaks down to about 50-50 as far as hunting on private versus public land. Most of our elk hunting is on public land. Everything in Alaska is on public land. Most of our Midwest hunting for whitetails is on private land.

What’s the one thing people would be surprised to learn about you?

I truly am a huge fan of 80s rock — Guns N’ Roses, Van Halen, Motley Crue. Not only do I love to listen to their music, I’ve read all the books on these old bands. I play guitar and I keep Guns N’ Roses cranked in my truck.

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