a long rant

[scotsman]

Here is something that has bothered me for sometime and I thought maybe a good rant would make me feel better. Hunting Shows, I am sure most of us have seen them. Why is it that something that should be good, and could be good, is just so markedly sorry? In the typical 30 minute show there is about 12 minutes of "hunting" 15 minutes of commercials followed by helpful tips that are really just more commercials. The hunting is mostly never more than some canned whispering in a blind and edited shots of game at whatever distance and a kill shot. Then high fives, fist pumping, whoops, and victory dances worthy of some NFL player. I have killed a good many animals and have been with people when they have killed some really trophy animals and I have never seen anyone behave like that.Every hunter I have ever known has a great deal of respect for game and even sometimes there is a little sadness that such a great animal has been killed. I believe that these shows probably do alot of harm with people that never have been hunting and harm our sport. We have to remember strange as it seems sometimes most people don't hunt and know little about what hunting actually entails. The work it takes to be successful, the time spent to get things right, and a whole lot of time just being outdoors enjoying the good earth because unlike TV every hunt doesn't end with a trophy and a celebration. I won't even go into the amount of equipment now required to outfit one hunter except to say looking over my stuff I am lucky to bag a mouse at close range.I don't mean to bash the people that make them, I grew up with one of the most widely known turkey hunters on TV. He is a good guy I just wish it were better, and it could be.

[LONGTOM]

I agree and will add just two things.

1-Why do they always show them shooting the really nice bucks.
I am a meat hunter and as such I shoot nothing but does.
Preferably the little young ones and let the mature deer go and reproduce.
I already have a wall full of bucks.
He better be an awful big one or hurt before I will shoot him.
 
2-Where do they find all those monster bucks.
I never see them shoot a small buck unless it is a salvage deer which to me means they are hunting on a preserve of some sort!
You take what you get around here if you want to eat!
I  don't even bother to watch the shows anymore and could care less for the advertisement.
 
 
LONGTOM

[Conan The Librarian]

I don't like those shows and quit watching them for the reasons you gave. I'm also a little ashamed of them because I try to be a good ethical hunter and would like people to have a positive view of hunting as a human activity. I've taken quite a few animals, and have been with others that did too, and we have have always been glad for the kill and relieved when it was a clean and quick kill. There is usually some handshaking and a lot of awe, like "That's a big beautiful doe" and the like.
 
I'm not against trophy hunting, but just don't do it. I hunt for meat, and really don't want trophy animals. I like good representative specimens.
 
In fishing, I do catch trophies pretty regularly, but don't specifically target them. I like to leave the big old fish alone. In the case of, say, northern pike, it takes so long for them to get big that ten point bucks are a dime a dozen compared to big northerns. A big fish can easily be 20 or more years old, and just killing them takes an important resource away from the population of spawning animals. Same with sharks. I used to enjoy shark fishing until I found out how long it takes for them to grow to say six feet long. Some specie like dolphin (mahi) grow really fast and there are no old fish, and I have no problem fishing for the big bulls because I know the population is healthy and big fish are soon replaced.
 
About those dolphin (mahi), a 50 pounder may only be four years old.  That is amazing growth for a fish! A northern pike that old may weigh barely 2 pounds, at its typical latitudes.
 
 

[powderman]

SCOTSMA. I rarely watch them because of what you said. Too many times they say, WOW, what a trophy rack, or some such stuff. ME?? When I kill a deer it's generally a nice doe or spike. Even a buck I say the same as I do with a doe, thank you Lord for the meat. POWDERMAN. 

[Dee]

I never watch these shows. After calling coyotes for almost 50 years, I found deer huntin really kinda uneventful. You kill the deer, field dress him, take him home and eat him. And camouflage. My gosh the money spent on that stuff. I learned years ago, that most animals pick up on movement rather than color.
I seldom hunt anymore, but callin coyotes I sit IN FRONT of the bush, rather than behind it.
These shows are all about marketing and the sale.JMO

[oldandslow]

I found a solution sometime ago. Like a lot of the other junk on TV I simply don't watch them.

[kynardsj]

I don't watch them anymore for all the reasons stated above. Don't watch a lot of TV anymore anyway. As far as celebrating I'll do a fist bump with a friend for a nice animal or fish. A dear friend of mine and I went deer hunting about 8 years ago. We sat in a big box stand on a powerline. Wasn't really worried about hunting, we just wanted to get out. Both of us were talking and smoking when I looked about 150 yards downhill from my side and a huge buck walked out. I only had a pistol so I told my buddy to shoot him. Long story short, he did and upon a closer look it was a 15 pt non typical that ended up dressing out at 240 lbs. Reason for all this is the celebrating part, my friend was so excited that he lay down on the ground and hugged this deer. Was an interesting afternoon.

[Doublebass73]

I don't care for these shows either. A couple hunting show cliche's that I can't stand are:

1. "This T/C really put the smack down on that buck!" (said with cheesy heavy metal guitar playing in the background).
2. "I smoked him!!!!"

I also can't stand when they're hunting over a corn field with dozens of deer in shooting range and they pass because the antlers aren't big enough. Where I live everyone I know is a meat hunter and if it has legal antlers (I live in a buck only area) it gets shot at. Where I live you almost never hear people bragging about antler size, they brag about the weight it dressed out at because that means more meat.

I have noticed an occasional new hunting show where the focus is more on the meat, they will show things that the other shows won't show - the animal getting field dressed and cooked afterwards plus friends sitting together eating and having a good time. That has much more appeal than watching some idiot do an end zone dance after shooting a corn fed buck at 200 yards.

I agree that a lot of these shows don't portray hunters in a good light.

[BBF]

I used to watch( pay) for theWild TV channel. Got rid of it for the same reason as above and more then half are archery which I don't do or particularly like.