Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Why do hunting shows suck so bad?

I can tolerate most of the hunting shows out there just because I enjoy anything outdoors. One of my favorite shows is Real Adventures. I really enjoy the shows were Bob Foulkrod is hunting. He seems to tell it like it is. But associated with the same show is the hunter I can't stand. Brenda Valentine has got to be the worst person to watch on TV as far as hunting goes. I have no problem with women in the hunting industry, as I encourage women to get out and hunt. But Brenda Valentine is almost unbearable to watch. Every show she misses at least once. Why do you need make up on to kill a mule deer? I dunno that is my little rant. The show would be alot better without her in my view.

For one look at the arseholes in them.Most wouldn't know how to hunt if they weren't being guided to sit in a tree.4 minutes of chitty hunting followed by 20 of pimping products..Sounds about right.

Watched a husband and wife hunting show last night.

The intro to the show looked like something you would see on an episode of reality tv, loud music, crazy graphics going 5 different ways, ect.

I realized that these shows aren't trying to reach folks in their 40's and older, they are aimed at kids.

I think it's a big mistake. Kids don't have the disposable income to buy all the products they push down your throat. They may realize alot of this stuff they push doesn't pass the smell test with older hunters, so they are aiming it at the younger crowd.

The whole thing is becoming too "Over the top" for me.

I appreciate anything that shows hunting in a positive light, but not at the expense of the ethics and morals that are a vital part of our sport.

If I would have behaved after my first buck like they do after killing their 100th Deer, my dad would have knocked me out.

Too much play station generation for me, what a shame.

JM

During my guide duties had lots of sports jump scream and carry on after a kill.Used to just walk away till screaming was over.To me it showed a lack of respect for the animal.I can see being happy but some of these guys were worst than children.

I saw her "miss" an easy shot on a mule deer. It looked like a crawl off and die hit to me in slow mo..... but she was happy with not having wounded an animal. I don't think they even looked for it. I would have not used that footage, a game warden might watch it!

Getting Close with Lee and Tiffany sucks something fierce.So does..

The Choice
Eastons Bow world
Noslers magnum T.V
World of Whitetal
Canada in the Rough

And on and on.

Plus 10 on this show sucking , it is the worst of them all. I switch channels as soon as this show comes on.

I was told by a VERY reputable source in the industry that there are now so many corn freeders in Texas that there is a "deer call" that makes the sound of one of those noxious things spinning and spilling out the corn - and the deer come running. This is destroying our sport becauese this ain't hunting.

Next on my list of "who came up with that idea" is the "Hunting Competition" shows wherein several widely known, and once respected "hunters" draw sections of a Texas ranch and go out to see who can kill the biggest deer. This, also, is NOT hunting, it is a competition that is designed to get good ratings and sell "stuff" - especially the casnned deer hunts that Texas has become famous for creating and nurturing. We all need to remember that hunting was the first grocery store, it was NOT a competition. We hunted, and many, many of us still do, to put food on the table - to retain the bond to our past - and to, God willing, pass on a REAL hunting heritasge to our kids, grand-kids, and their kids.

And last, but not least, are the shows that are so transparently fake that I literally can't watch them. You know what I mean; when the "hunter" and guide kill the game, it runs off and they "track it" until they "find" it on camera. Then there are several minutes of back slapping and congratulatory "nice shot," great shot" or "perfect shot."

It is sad that the producers can't see past a quicki buck and actually add value to the hunt by TEACHING many of the difficult to learn parts of hunting - TRACKING comes to mind - GUTTING an ungulate also comes to mind, over my fifty plus years of hunting I can not remember how many deer I have eviscerated because the guy that5 shot the deer didn't know ONE step in the simple process and would have either left the meat to rot, or destroyed the meat while removing the entrails.

We deserve better.


Terry

After seeing this topic lots of times, I've got to throw in my 2 cents. After being in the woods and having a grouse explode at your toes, making your heart momentarily stop beating. After making a perfect shot on a pheasant, or hearing duck wings coming overhead. After hearing a buck grunt in the dark, or watching him rubbing his antlers or sparring with another buck just out of range and hoping he'll come closer. After spending years chasing a deer that you know by name through trail pics and shed antlers. After feeling the rain and cold when everyone else you know is home in bed and returning with a trophy that is not measured by points or spread, but in hours, seasons maybe and sweat, bug bites, and campfire stories. How can someone who has lived it watch it on television and not think it is a shabby rendition?

To be perfectly honest, these "hunting" shows are one of the main reasons I just can't get into camos. Like, everybody is camos from head to toe, doesn't matter what they're doing! Walk 10 yards to a literal cabin perched in a tree and peer out a slot in the wall all day, camoed to the nines. Give it a freakin' rest already! Is anyone even allowed in these programs without camos???

Just sayin'.

Dan Fitzgerald uses to hunt sans cammo. Was an early guy in the hunting VHS deal. Dunno what happened to him. Last I heard his kid was doing something but haven't watched.

all hunting shows sucks. They go to some ranch were they more or less farm riase deer. They uses a bunch of useless equiptment because they get paid to use it and advertise it while they are hunting stupid farm raised deer.

Had fun reading the many posts here and have to agree with most of them but 1 Minute I agree with you, the shows I saw Luttrell blasting away diminshed who was portrayed in his book, whoever produced the show if they have such a thing on these flicks didnt do anything but to make him an everyday city blaster,

teal:
They still have a show callled Team Fitzgerald, it's pretty good.

Rost and all,
I agree 100% the word managed is abused from time to time..The elk of Wyoming are mangaged, and to a lesser degree also in Idaho..I managed my Mule deer and Coues deer herd on 75,000 acres for a number of years in the Big Bend as does everyone else in that area. In todays world all game is managed and if that were not so then we would have no game..

To the bow hunters and rifle hunters for that matter, the point I make is killing the deer from a stand is not a particularly big deal, I don't know that its hunting persay or just patience and fortatude, the ability to sit for hours in one spot and wait for the shot that may or may not ever come. Don't get me wrong I have shot plenty of Whitetail from a stand, and some Mule deer, elk and whitetail from my pickup, always does or cows or smaller bucks, I'm not that picky if I'm meat hunting and just want to get it over with. I still hunt for meat only sometimes, and I mostly take high neck or head shots. Ont the other hand when trophy hunting I like to get out after them on their terms and cover a lot of ground or slow stalk them in the thick stuff.If I am trophy hunting I want to earn it and I have passed some pretty big bucks because they were standing beside the dirt road and I was in the truck. I usually return later and try to walk them up however.

As to fenced deer being fenced deer, that is just wrong and an assumption..Hunting deer on a fenced 50,000 ac. ranch in the Texas lower Rio Grande Valley is a fair chase hunt and like some have said the big bucks go nocturnal and some of them die of old age and the horns become pickups for decorating the gate.

As to the original posts, I watched a goat hunt yesterdays and the kid shooting shot his goat twice at over 900 yards with a rifle disigned to do that, its also designed to wound and it takes hunting out of the spectrum IMO..I don't care how good a shot you are, or how many animals you kill at long range you will wound them from time to time, too many varibles can come into play..I don't see that as sportsmanship, but it sure is an ego trip and at the expense of a fine game animal that you fail to respect IMO...

Most of the shows I see as unrealistic to the sport of hunting.

All tv shows suck, why would the hunting shows be any different?

I can vouch for that!!

I just got rid of TV all together last year - and it improved my life. I never hear Obama's voice!

As for hunting shows - to PC for one thing, if a guy doesnt have abeer now and then it isnt hunting.

I own an Encore but I agree with most if not all of the posts on this thread. Especially hunting over bait (Texas style?) The other day I was watching a show about hunting whitetails in which the person taking the shot was on a ridge or hillside. You could see the buck winding through the barren trees below. It had a nice WIDE rack, well beyond the ears. The shot seemed to be a little far back on the buck and it ran off. In the next scene (next morning) the hunter was admiring the great trophy he had "recovered". Problem was this deer had a heavy TALL atypical rack which was well within the width of the extended ears. Anyone else notice that often the "recovered" animal doesn't seem to match the animal that was shot?

The problem I see with hunting shows is not really a mystery. A good story well told, is always good. Same with writing. The hunting shows I have seen lack a good story and the story is poorly told. I did see a show where Craig Boddington was in Africa and I enjoyed it. I don't remember the name, though.

So why is it that everyone assumes that all hunting in Texas is done from blinds over feeders? I grew up hunting some big ranches and the standard practice was to use a sling to chunk rocks down in the headers and arroyos and shoot the deer when they ran out.

Our ranch is not high fenced but I have a Dr. neighbor that has a small place fenced. Oddly enough they don't hunt much, but they must have one of the largest herds of Scimtar Horned Oryx in the world. Maybe fifty animals and the bulls are HUGE. I mean old age, dying of old age, grizzled old crooked horn mossy backs. Beautiful animals an almost pure white coat with a golden tint. One of those old guys hunted fairly on his own turf would make one of the best trophies I can imagine. Problem is these are just semi-tame, not huntable at all.

Oh well.

ss