Gun/Hunting magazines and TV shows are produced and staged for advertisement to promote sponsor products. Just like with NASCAR drivers/teams, they are competing for the sponsor's dollars. A gun/hunting personality who is likeable, has a solid background in the gun/hunting industry, and has a ton of character, is highly marketable as a pitchman/spokesperson for sponsors. It's a job, and if one doesn't get the job done, someone else will come along who the sponsor believes will better promote an increase in sales of their widgets.
This is nothing new, I collect old annual hunting journals, and I like to refer to one I have from 1955 which is comical in how the big name outdoorsman/writers of the day performed backflips to get words in for the sponsor products in about every paragraph from cover to cover. Pitchmen/Spokespersons may have greater skill today at their craft of pitching products, but nothing has changed with the intent to promote these products for the sponsor. It's a job.
Best
Actually, a lot has changed. Today many writers are paid directly to pitch products. When Petersen was alive and published HUNTING mag, that kind of activity would get you blacklisted pretty quickly.
The other big change is the proliferation of PR companies that take writers/outdoor communicators on hunts. That didn't exist back in 1955. When O'Connor first started writing for OL, the magazine paid for his hunts. Been a long time since that happened.
