Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting Best of the West

Gotta say... I just watched the first one I've ever seen on TV...

Grizzly.... a very POOR last minute representation of a shot. While the bear is moving, and at what i'd consider a bad angle, IMHO, the 630 yard shot is taken. IMHO its lucky the bear stopped again for the next shot. THOUGH the angle of teh first shot and penetration etc... may have been good enough, the bear was moving during the shot and that aggravated me a LOT.

It seemed like they just had to make that shot because they were on TV...... Again, IMHO. It may not have been like it seemed, but that has to be considered as its going public with the footage, and coming out amongst a bunch of our "own" folks that already hate longer shots.

I will add that he had what appeared at a glance to be very good rest, what appeared to be very minimal wind, and corrected his knobs the way I would, going up past and coming back to take care of any tiny bit of play..

Jeff

Jeff

That particular show was 2 part. He killed a black bear on the same hunt, the show before, at I think was 720 yds. I can dig those guys going the other direction with "hunting shows", it seems like every other show is screaming ethics, non moving game, short distances and all that. I love shooting stuff at long distances, and have a couple of rigs to do it with. It is TV, but I think those guys have represented the long range guys well on their show. I do agree with you, I also thought it was at a bad angle, and it didnt look like it would have been a problem getting closer, it seems alot of times on that particular show, they do shoot stuff at long ranges, when it would have been simple to get closer.

Toby Joe

Yep, my thoughts pretty exact....... I'm capable of long shots, but prefer to close distance if I can.... and I'm not about to take a bad shot.. I've no beef with long shots just because, if you are up to it. But the angle and movement... did I mention angle and movement.... I"m thinking it just made it look really bad.

Jeff

For ahunting show, I like BEst of the West. I like thescenery, the type hunts they go on and the long range shots and shooting segments they have. I get a little tired of watching someone in a treestand with a bow or in a tower in TX shoot a "management buck" under a feeder, then whoop and hollar to beat heck when they make the shot. I've also seen all the shaky hands I need. Rant off!

recall I did not say the show was bad, just that particular footage did NO one any good and IMHO was a bit irresponsible in its use.

I'm with ya on all the whooping and thumbs up crp stuff though...

Jeff

Toby, I agree with you. I was watching bushnells show and Dave Watson wouldnt shoot a bedded buck because of too many complaints... i belive there is nothing wrong with shooting a beded animal, just as i think there is nothing wrong with shooting long range if it can be done

I have BIG issues with Best of the West. Mostly in safety and ethics.

TO many issues to even get into.

Last I heard the Long Range guy was given the boot.

I especially like when Mr. Burns was shooting Long Range at targets the were just below skyline... hope no one or no thing was on the next ridges.

That Grizzly in the Best of The West show was taken in the last few minutes of the season, IIRC. Gotta do the show.

Why rush a shot just because season is gonna end? THats exactly like folks taking a longer shot than they would at a doe because its the largest buck they've seen.... Its a setup question I use in hunter education and it still pisses me off how many won't shoot a doe at say 250 yards but would at a good buck at 400....Of course no one can enforce ethics... but if it doesn't work for me, then it doesn't work....

A particular caribou almost walked off before I could shoot, my spotter was rushing me and made the comment now or never.... which was fine by me. Fortunately he stopped again at the right angle. But if he had not, I"d have never shot.... which is my point on the bear....

We don't shoot Doe's period and especially at the end of the season when they have all been bred. We believe that if you shoot a doe you kill 3 deer. If she's healthy she's carrying 2 fawns. We shoot the older bucks out to 450/500 if we have a good shot with good angle and not much wind. Everybody has their own ideas about hunting. I came along years ago when they throwed you out of the camp if you shot a doe or small buck. Times change and management theories do too. Now everyone wants a 50/50 doe buck ratio and shoot the does ,I don't but thats just me. A 20" or larger spread,8 points or better deer is what most here would consider a taker.I have had 4 bucks visible in my scope several times ,the bucks bunch up late in the season and often chase the same doe.Don't take the shot if in doubt about it.

Dave Watson is an AZZ in person, and on his show. I shoot stuff at long ranges, and I also have shot alot of stuff on the run, or on the move. There are alot of folks out there that wont, and cant for that matter, but they dont seem to have any problems ragging the guys that can.

Toby Joe

We HAVE To shoot does here. NO questions. In areas they are so overpopulated! I worked on one ranch where we had to shoot almost 300 antlerless to stay in a management program..... I"ve no problem at all with shooting a doe.

AS to bred does, I see absolutely zero difference early or late. I could care less really. I kill the doe early on and she has no chance at all of having little ones and thats what we are after, of if she has been bred, doesn't matter, she still won't reproduce which, again, is the point. Of course its different in each area. And we have never wanted a 1-1 ratio where I hunted, but sure didn't need the 15 or 20-1 that used to be....

As to bucks, if its not going on the wall I won't shoot it. Unless its a cull.

You can't please everyone on TV. I personally like TBOTW show. They are pretty much no nonesense, and they are there to sell their videos. Letting a bear walk isn't going to sell videos or pad their sponsors pockets. It is a business, plain and simple. If you want bad TV, watch Buckmasters. Sheesh, they switch dead deer all the time. They shoot a deer in broad daylight, then film the hunter with it in the dark. They make bad shots and scream and yell about how perfect they are after they recover "a deer" the next morning stiff as a board. All this "only shoot broad side" crap is such horseshit. If we all hunted under feeders on private ranches with no hunting pressure, that might be an option. Real life and public land is another story.

Most people sit around and talk ethics and other nonesense, then are the first ones to jump out of the truck and shoot at a buck running at 500 yards, "Because it is the biggest thing they have ever seen." I have hunted with guys that bore me to tears listening to how ethical they are, then the do something that completely contradicts everything they have been blabbing about. To each his own, but I refuse to be forced into someone elses "ethical" way of hunting or shooting. One guy wanted me to carry my rifle with the bolt open and magazine empty until I saw an animal to shoot at. All I needed was my bolt falling out and dirt in my action. I hunted with him for about a minute. I wholeheartedly believe in being very safe, but sheesh!!!!

I knocked over a buck at a touch over 400 yards and the guy I was with ripped me a new one for taking such an unethical shot. He insisted that no "true" hunter should ever shoot an animal over 100 yards. For me the shot was a chip shot, no wind, perfect rest, deer feeding. I just looked at him wondering what the problem was. Never hunted with him again....didn't want to.

I like long range hunting and shooting. If you can't do it, don't cry to the ones that can. I can't ride a skate board or fly 10 feet in the air, but I don't rag on the guys that can. Flinch

We don't shoot Doe's period.
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PA had that slant on hunting for as far back as I can remember. Bucks only! What happened; they killed off all the breeding bucks and the gene pools became contaminated by inbreeding. Results; deer that used to average 180-220# when I was a kid in the 50's are a thing of the past. The average one goes more like 80-120# these days. The game commission has finally woke up and opened doe season to take some of the pressure off the bucks. Most hunters in PA are "meat hunters", they have to be, at least in the north central area where I grew up. There is just not enough work for the average family to buy meat at the local supermarket. The winter before my dad moved us down to VA in 1955, we as a family of four, ate 7 deer to survive. I make the trip back home every year or so, and things are much the same, still no work. That being said, if the GC sticks to it's guns and continues doe season, there is a possibility the gene pool will improve. Will PA deer ever rebound to their pre 1960's size without the importation of some big Michigan breeding stock? Who's to say, but I think it's a step in the right direction. JMHO though.

FLinch

I"m one of the guys that can.... BUT that shot was stupid to air. You said it well though and its gonna be the downfall of us.... they are there to sell and don't worry about anything else. I'm not sure why I watched, I guess I was hoping to find at least 1 high caliber hunting show.... having been guiding while they filmed 1-2 shows I know most of it is all BS and its why I can't stand to watch all the fakery...

I was just disappointed one more time.... I don't kill for money or because the end of the season is there. He could have waited a bit longer and made a much better shot IMHO.

He really screwed us long range types by being stupid enough to shoot that bear and show the footage. I never said what you are inferring about broadside on that shot, the bear was moving and bad timing on his part.... I"ll be the first to take a shot from stem to stern or vice versa, but it'll be on a relaxed calm animal. I"ve got more respect than to simply fling one. Public land or not. I"ve walked away from a few on public land due to the circumstances.... one was a HUGE elk in a hell hole, no way to get the meat out before it spoiled... its been years, I still see him in my mind.... but I'm SO happy I didn't do anything ignorant....
Bottom line is I think we have a right and duty to rag on folks, capable or not, if they do something stupid that will hurt us in the long run....

BTW I hear you on the shows... what crap.... deer should be stiff are limp, should be limp and are stiff, daytime and next thing its night or the next morning.... different buck than was shot... what about the ones that show the deer, the sound of the shot and the shooter, ejecting NOTHING out of his rifle?? What a bunch of pansys all doing it for the almighty dollar. Long as they can sleep with themselves I guess its ok with them, cause I can sleep with myself.... its only a wounded deer that makes me rethink and not sleep.....I am out of my young and dumb stage....

Jeff

To me hunting shows are like adult movies, very cheesy, and it's something better experienced peronally than watched on the tube.

Now there is a comparison. I'm with ya, I suspect its also why I tend to hate sports on TV too.... I'd rather be outside doing something or reading inside learning.... if I'm not in the middle of it, doesn't float my boat to watch much, though every now and again there is NOTHING else on etc...

Why would anyone have a problem shooting does?

I did not see it, but if Watson or anybody else, took a 630 yard shot on a grizzly, he should be ridden off the airwaves. I cannot think of anything more blatantly irresponsible. Where, exactly does this crap stop?

I don't, in fact I put in for a doe tag nearly every year. Unless it is a trophy I planned on having mounted I will take the best meat every time. I have shot a spike standing next to a OK rack, because I wanted to eat him and knew durn well he would taste best. Saw 13 bucks one year till a nice forked horn was easy pickins. Laugh all ya want, I hunt meat not horns.

I don't care for the hunting shows for a variety of reasons shots like that are only one of many. They would all go broke if guys watched em as much as I do.

Rost, I wasn't ragging on you, I just started ragging on the BS on TV hunting shows in general and got carried away. I don't watch them often for that reason. I start yelling at the TV and making an ass out of myself

I love it when they "flip" off their safeties with a huge buck 40 yards away. Yup, that's the way to do it. The buck is SLOWLY walking at 80 yards, but it is a "no shoot" situation for fear of wounding a moving aniaml. What the hell?????? What are they shooting, a BB gun?

Oh, and my absolute biggest pet peave. They shoot the animal and it takes off running. They turn the camera on the doofus that did the shooting, only to show some fat guy in camo laughing and high fiving. For hell sakes, stay on the animal and finish what you started. I don't want to see the doofus hunter either. I want to see the animal go down. I don't want a 5 minute commentary on "what just took place". Uggg....idiots!!!!

I cringe when they say, "I just made an excellent shot on that animal. I am going back to camp to tell the guys and we will come back in the morning to recover it. We want to give it plenty of time to expire." The animal is spoiled PERIOD, especially bears and elk! How unethical is that? I have seen animals spoil in 45 degree temps when left over night. You just can't leave animals over night. The fact that they don't even give it any effort makes me crazy. Bunch of worthless turds!! I gotta stop, I am going to blow a gaskette! Flinch

Flinch

My mistake.... I thought I felt heat....

Hey, you and I could get along great, I was pissing and moaning watching the le tour de yellow bellies with my wife last night complaining on all the stupid comments and filming there, and she said go watch hunting but what would be the difference, she doesnt like to hear me chewing those shows out...

I still say some of the best I've seen are Gander Mountains run, one where they caught no fish, another where they shot the only caribou they saw in days at the end of the hunt.... no high five crap etc......

And yep, I often wonder about TV show vitals, the "back of the lungs" is damn near the hindquarter and mostly into the small intestines the way it often looks to me...... stomach for sure..

Jeff

Flinch; I SO agree with you about them leaving animals to spoil overnight, and acting like it's ok to do so! I hate that! No wonder some people don't like to eat wild game meat.

Flitch,

+100

I'm with you - I can't hardly watch any of those shows without my girlfriend looking at me like I'm crazed. I catch myself yelling at the TV every time I watch one of those shows.

"What the hell are you waiting for?" "Pull the m***** f***in' trigger!" - as this huge buck 70 yards away is S L O W L Y making his way across an open field with 6" of grass in it. Meanwhile the guide is whispering "WAIT. WAIT! NOT YET! Let him come to a complete stop."

Guess thats why I've never been on a guided hunt.

Well, I guess for me those shows are a great stress reliever. I can rant and rave at all of the stupidity, sure beats kickin' at the dog after a tough day!

700: I don't laugh at people who hunt meat. I think it's good, and do it myself. I think a lot of deer herds (Vermont and Pennsylvania) have been ruined by not taking enough does.

I do have a REAL problem with 630 yard shots on grizzly bears, regardless of how skilled a guy is with a rifle.

I,very much, agree with you.Another thing that irks me immensely is the laughing and hollering after a shot, by some fat retard.It can only be topped by getting to your animal and the first thing you do,is get the tape measure out and see if you made the book.
A bit of respect goes a long,long way.

I was disturbed by the shot on the grizzley too. Luckily it was in the wide open. However, I do like the show. It is not bubba TV. What I hate most about these so called hunting shows, besides the things already mentioned, is the fake walk up. With the camera behind the animal as the hunter and guide (there always has to be a guide) walk up from the other direction. They have definitly been to the deer already.

I've watched the Best of West show several times because I have two friends that are regularly on it, but I sure agree with all the negative comments about it, and I've passed it on to my friends. One thing I'd like to point out, I recorded several of them and when I went back to watch them I could eliminate all the commercials. Do you have any idea of how much is commercials and how much time is for the show? Try 20 minutes for the hunting part, the rest of the hour is commercials!! Add to that, that when they switch back from the commercials there is a several minute rerun of what they showed in the last segment so you might have at most 10 minutes of actual hunt! Then, add to that, that what you see is worthless pictures of guys getting in position, boosting their egos by detailing their efforts, and other stuff they could film in their back yards or camp.

I've yet to see one that even remotely captured what goes on in a hunt. Pitiful.