Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Stan Potts is on TV

I know it's not constructive to speak negatively towards our own so let me make a positive comment.

Could he possibly improve his presentations if he used a cough silencer.........instead of.....

I find him astounding.

This guy is a perfect example of being a TV star/celebrity or writer of some ilk, doesn't make you knowledgeable or palatable...

Who?

Who is Stan Potts. I never even heard the name before.

I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

Like any other outdoor tv guy he was much better when no one had a clue who he was.

I cant stand any of the hunting shows anymore, from naming the deer on the "hit list" to naming the dam stands. Its all dog chitt now.

I think I saw him on a hunting show once and he seemed rather "intense" and quite loud.

Potts the "PUTZ"

He is a little too enthusiastic for me.

Honestly, I don't watch the "Hunting" shows much anymore, except the Africa-focused ones, and Shockey's stuff occasionally (Mrs. Shockey is just a sweetheart). There's very little there that has any semblence to what I do in the field.

It is a terrible waste as the forum is there to teach, entertain and learn. We never got any of this in Oz and when My Aussie mates come over here and see what we have, they are very wide eyed at seeing all this game, the hunting scenes and terrain which is every educational and can be informative from a hunters stand point.

Then....the star open his mouth and spoils everything.

The other absolute hatred Aussies cannot help themselves in raising, is the complete absence of cartridge bullet and load and, the fast snip edit when the shot is taken.

When I started writing for Australian Gunsports Magazine in the late 80's, the editor was a great guy called John Robinson who was very helpful to me.

His advice was, "No-one gives a shiit how many punctures you had on the way there, or how good the flight or food was it is simply:

1. What did you shoot?
2. What did you shoot it with (Meaning full cartridge details and rifle set up)
3. What happened after the shot. (game reaction)

It was a winning formula with Aussies in that market as they are far in the majority handloaders who kill hundreds and sometimes thousands of animals a year. We has guys in SCI that regularly took a half dozen rifles and 2000 handloaded rounds of ammo away for a weeks hunt. They are very short on BS so I hope that illustrates my thought process on this.
John

PS: I am working hard to adjust.

Outdoor shows here are based on the NASCAR marketing model for the most part.

Is this the guy that used to host Texas Trophy Hunter Magazine show?

That's a good way to put it. I can't stand most of today's TV programming, which is why I cancelled my satellite subscription. I'm no old codger either, only 36.

Met the guy who hosts Extreme Outer Limits tv show last Jan at DSC. He's got to be the biggest dolt ever.

Guess you guys haven't watched Bud McNeely then.......worst ever

"Give me a minute folks"...

That's the guy that cries every time he shoots something, right?

He has a show called North American Whitetail.

He has one eye fishing & the other looking for bait.

Bingo! Gimme a second folks!

Outer limits sucks. Dickhead sponsered by McMillan shooting game at outrageous distances. His hunts are those that most of us could never afford. Pay your own way and show me what can be done with our average optics and maybe , just maybe I'll take notice. Sorry thats not Stan Potts.

I may in the minority, but I have always enjoyed the passion for hunting that Stan Potts seems to have.

You may be alone in that minority...

Pretty sure the Stan Potts Fan Club could hold their yearly convention in a phone booth.

Saves on Christmas cards too?

Dead right AGW, the situation hasn't improved much. There's still pretty much nothing in the way of hunting or shooting shows on the telly here.

Not surprised that your hunting shows have gone downhill there though. TV is becoming such a bizarre, miserable hoax.

I too miss the rifle/cartridge info. The old "me and Joe" stories of the big three from about 50 years ago always mentioned, somewhere, the rifle medel, chambering, and many times the type of ammo. Without that, the story seems incomplete to me. Not a product review, but basic info.

I guess there is at least one advantage to living in Korea.

But the same guys that bitch about the outdoor shows will still watch football games every Sunday where guys run into each other, scratch themselves in private places, stomp around in some sort of display after they accomplish something they get paid million$$ to do and never seem to get the absolute similarities and outcomes.

Neither has made sense to me, but the NFL keeps making billions off of "Joe The Plumber" and millions like him, and they still keep paying and watching. At least the Outdoor shows aren't as corrupted with money and most everyone can engage in those activities, where football is "watch only"...

Stan Potts is one of, if not, the worst.

donsm70

The NFL has some of the best athletes in the world, doing things that 99% of the audience couldn't imagine.

The worst hunting shows have guys who can't shoot as well as I can doing things I wouldn't if you paid me.

Good point Shrap. I get spooled up about the stupidity on the hunting shows but football really escapes me. Cant figure out why I should get excited about a million dollar goon playing good with a ball 2000 miles away.
At least with the hunting shows I can go out myself, choose not to sit in a tree stand and whisper into a camera...and maybe still even kill a deer.

My problem with Stan Potts is after all the whispering from the tree stand, he finally shoots something. Then he gets so excited it almost looks like he is having a sexual climax. You would think that with all the drama, sooner or later he would fall out of his tree stand.

I keep hoping....

Ol' Stan is really getting hammered here. I don't think he's a bad guy or anything, I'm just surprised that his quirky personality has enough marketability to stick. The show is actually pretty informative compared to the usual " Bubbavision" fare.

Maybe that's his secret.

Hunting & fishing are participant sports, basically enjoyed by individuals. TV has a hard time with that, it essentially exists to sell to huge groups of spectators and tries to fit outdoor sports into its paradigm of stars and rabid commercialism. That is not a good fit.

Let me explain it this way.
You cannot know everything.
You cannot know everything you want to know.
Even with a writing and product review background I am hungry to learn.
I have likely already killed more animals in number that every TV pop star combined, which helps form an opinion in some areas but the firearms industry like all industries evolves with new products, mostly no better than existing products, or simply a "me too" variations but it is a fascinating hobby we have, in developing, trialing and challenging our work and equipment in order to improve.

It is very enjoyable to see the game in their natural habitat. That teaches.
It is very informative when I see how the hunters dressed but there are things not explained that could be very helpful.

1. Why are boots and insulation properties never covered?
2. Why is the cartridge chambering rarely mentioned?
3. Why is there never/rarely any mention of tailored handloads and the components used for the hunt?
4. Why are scopes never really tested and I mean tested.
5. And, what the hell is in those pup tent sized back packs I never saw in my life until I turned TV on?

I guess I am astounded by supposed experienced experts who are presented as authorities, enough to have sponsorships who with almost routine get buck fever and look like they shot their first animal, but the final straw if that completely fake and habitual "Phew" before they go take a look at it.

You want a decent informative show?

1. It should be called "Hunting Products".
2. It should review everything taken on a hunt before a hunt to overview any attributes or potential short falling.
3. The non negotiable is to inform. If a product fails during testing, The manufacturer should be contacted to determine if it was a one off failure or and permit the opportunity for replacement product to be supplied. (That is fair to the sponsors as [bleep] happens)
4. It should place emphasis on technical attributes even if they are only supported on a corresponding website to permit brevity in the filming aspect.
5. There cannot be fear or favor to any product provided.
6. Hunt reviews should include everything we want to know, how did the bullet work? What penetration what achieved etc?

There is no and never has been a show like this. This and other website prove the void.

John

Nope, he's the one that sticks his hand in his pocket and winds his watch.

Usually we agree, but only partially this time. The NFL is becoming more a bunch of superb athletes who can't stay on the right side of the law, who think they deserve special treatment because of who they are, and more than a few end up punch drunk down the road. If not, many who last more than a few years end up having a hard time crossing the street in later life.

The fans increasingly remind me of being wino throwbacks in the coliseum.

Good chance you can out shoot Stan.


I do enjoy Steve Rinella and Jim Shockey.

Addition: Is Tiffany still bothering you when you are trying to do push-ups?

All these Alaskan Reality shows we are deluged with make Stan Potts look pretty good.

In fact Old Stan could be compared to John Wayne after you once watch Razor Dobbs.

I had no idea that I had Australian relatives.

Cares?

TV...blech. I gave up on TV altogether almost 2 years ago. I began to loathe the thought that I was being programmed by the programming. Many people that I talk to don't know how perception works to influence the workings of the mind, and there are good reasons why advertisers will pay millions of dollars for 30 seconds of airtime, aired only once, such as during the Super Bowl. People are taught how to think through their TV, plain and simple.

As far as hunting shows go, I tired of them some years ago, and for the reasons that AussieGunWriter points out. It started reminding me of porn. No story line, no information, just somebody else getting some action. I don't have the voyeuristic tendencies that would allow me to enjoy it. I would prefer to know what decisions they are making on these hunts, and what information they are using to make them. Everything from clothing to bullet, including location, quarry, hunting methods, expected results, past proven methods, caliber, gun, optic, load data, etc. I would prefer a documentary to the pseudo-entertainment pseudo-reality show framework that most use. Sometimes it was just personalities that rubbed me the wrong way, too. Always liked Jim Shockey. Alwayed despised the Pigman.

I used to get into football. Played a bit when I was very young. I see the NFL as mass-hypnosis now. I wish all of those involved in the sport well, but I think it is an example of what has gone askew in this society. There are real issues and real problems and real tasks to be done in this country, and too many are stuck watching and talking about football, as if it is the most important thing going on.

6. Why do these TV hunters wear full camo while sitting inside a blind?

And carry full back packs full of stuff into the blind......


Heard them many times bitching after three days in a blind " we been hunting hard.....

Or douching themselves down with some sort of scent eliminator crap, only to have to wait 5 days for the wind to be right to hunt their favorite stand. Good thing Ozonics came along or they'd never kill anything.

And, you don't know what you don't know.

Obviously this doesn't include the numerous 24HCF experts.

Look on the bright side - the industry stimulated by "Pott's-style programming" has brought us the...Cough Silencer, the Ground Grunter, Donkey Butter, the Cornhole(r) (no, seriously!), a virtual ungulate buffet of baits, attractants, deer foods, crops, new bows, crossbows, and probably a lot of stuff I don't know about.

And how many "ways to leave your lover," by Paul Simon - that many kinds of camo including camo underwear and TP.

A black and green checked shirt and a recurve - what did Fred Bear know?

My friend Tony Atwill did a story for Sports Afield maybe 25 years ago, profiling how several huge-antlered whitetails were taken, including the rifle (or bow), ammo, scope, clothing, scents and any other accessories the hunter used.

Tony has a sense of humor, and it showed in what could have been a boring article when he listed the "scent" used by one of the hunters, a woman from Texas, as "Chanel No. 5." She also didn't wear any camo into the blind, in fact the photo of her with her buck looked like she was ready for a hard afternoon of shopping at the mall.

Of course, that sort of flippancy simply wouldn't do in today's hard-sell world, part of the reason Tony doesn't bother writing for today's hunting magazines.

"Hunting hard" is a TV show staple.

And I'll admit that I do spray down with scent killer before I walk into my hunting areas, especially my feet. I also bathe with scent free soap and use scent-free deodorant beforehand. Don't get winded very often and deer don't lock up when they cut my trail.

Just be sure to not indulge in legumes, chili or pea soup the day before..

Not directed at you Jpro 'cause you're a good dude.......but I simply choose to hunt the wind, proceed to spit copenhagen everywhere around where I'm sitting, and have zero trouble killing stuff. Lot's of scent is expelled through your eyes and mouth. Not sure people spray down those parts.

Oh, I gargle with the stuff too. (grin)

I generally find it is more important when hunting up close or when the wind is bad. The boot spraying thing does work, as does not wearing your hunting boots in parking lots and other places where they may pick up motor oil or gasoline.

I've experimented considerably with scent-suppressant sprays and liquids since they started appearing in the 1980's, and found they do work, though obviously animals smell us in other ways as well. But the highest and best use I've found for them is de-skunking dogs.

Believe it or not, I actually spooked a pig last season with a loud fart. It came out a lot louder than I expected and I immediately heard a commotion on the other side of some thick brush about 15 yards away. I then heard some pig grunts and all went quiet. She ventured out about 20-30 minutes later and I popped her. Wind may have been in my favor, but I can't recall.....

Ok, Thanks a ton; I can see it now - the Gas Grabber,..the Methane Mugger! Maybe the F_ _t Fixer.

I enjoy those too, as well as Rinella's writing. And no, I didn't say I admired most football players, but I'd rather watch the best athletes in the world than some bumpkin.

And yes, Tiffany's still objectifying me. Just the other day, she, Amber, and Crystal were standing behind me, gawking. I'm pretty sure they were ogling my butt. Damn 20-somethings.

Makes me feel so cheap.

You may be sitting on a goldmine! Probably a bad pun there somewhere...

That is hilarious along with it could be taken in more than one context.

Haha! Very true.

This ^^^^^^

My first elk was standing against an aspen leaning on it at 3 in the afternoon. Wind blowing over me when as I was facing it when I heard some noise behind me. There was a nice 6x5 bull at about 50 yds.

I waited until he was 40 yds and then hit him with two 338 partitions.

The point I am about to make is this, I had the wind pushing my scent into him, scent of diesel, gas, propane, food, me, my taint (been 4 days) etc. Pushed right up his nose and he didn't care even about the cig I was smoking.

Since then I have been in the middle of herds of elk and deer, moving slow. Had deer come right around me up close and personal. Orange, blue, camo didn't matter. What does matter is movement, and one other thing that will get them into the next county - a long gun or a stick about the same length.

This thread makes me rather glad that the odd one or two hunting shows that we do have here in Oz don't tend to go in for a lot of hype and bs - they wouldn't be taken seriously if they did. There's not much of a market for scent killers, scent enhancers, cough suppressors or all that other myriad of stuff either.

I suspect the second thing goes with the first.

Stan Potts, Michael Waddel, Jackie Bushman, Bill Jordan and many other TV hunting show "Hosts" make me want to puke. Tiffany Big Boobs Lakosky on the other hand I wouldn't mind spending some time in a deer blind with, my mind would be on a couple of other things than deer hunting I'll admit.

A PRIME reason I don't watch that crap on TV. Last time I looked, 99 or 110 percent of hunting shows just are advertising crap and crap shows. Period.

I used to play with all that stuff, and I still adhere if close range hunting, that everything you do can't HURT. It might not help though.

I will say this, I used to wash my rubber boots. They would stay in a bag with cedar limbs and such in it all year, in a closed plastic bag. Then wash em with baking soda and put same in the boots.
Spray them when leaving the house.

You can bet your azz that if the lab got out of the fence he was sitting with me some half a mile away in a few minutes.. wife said didn't matter what route I'd take or try to fool him if he would get out...

I suspect deers noses are about as good as a dog....the certainly are larger.


Some folks claim to be able to do ANYTHING with wind pushing to animals and have no reaction, I've seen the same too. I can't say I've ever seen it ok with an OLD animal though, thats wise by years.

But like the little 6x5 bull elk mentioned, younger animals, sometimes just don't care.

Where I hunt at home, the animals are mostly used to noise and scent, just to many folks out in the country now where there used to be none. I'm madder about that than the deer are evidently.

But let em get a whiff of you at our deer lease where they don't smell folks to speak of, especially in the woods off the roads and such on the place, they smell us Oct/Jan and thats it.... they will bust you by scent.

Yet if you can close up a tight blind, if they get just a small whif, its not so bad. I'm assuming because they think you are far away...

\

It's hard to explain the true Aussie culture over here as it is so similar in some ways and light years away in others.

When an Aussie calls it like it is here, it draws mostly positive comment from Americans who really do think the same way but the culture is much more PC in the US so people are more reserved in their outward commentary.

Aussies call a spade a shovel and are likely to become aggressive if anyone tried to restrict their ingrained freedom of speech. It is not negotiable and a politician is less than a citizen over there, so has no influence and commands no respect from the public generally.

Regarding the outdoor shows, what is here on tv, is terrific in principal but largely removed from the reality of the common man and his resources to hunt.

Most people have no opportunity to put more than a representative whitetail mount on the wall and people who live in better areas of hunting opportunity usually learned the hard way or from relatives prior to the tv generation.

Have you noticed how many 20 and 30 something experts there are? Must be the only industry in the world that has such expertise at such a young age considering the limited hunt days and kills they have accrued.

Remember when your grand father hunted in blue jeans, an old coat, whatever boots he owned which was perhaps his only pair anyway and he got it done.

I've said it before but I'd hunt in a dinner suit rather than not hunt, but I don't think too many of our experts would consider the same folly but then again, they really are pseudo salesmen for their sponsors and not hunting reporters of any imagination or resource.

2 positive thoughts to finish on.

1. I recall a program back in the very early days of hunting tv whereby there was a hunter dressed in blue jeans and a flannel shirt hunting elk.

He mostly hunted the fringes of dark timer and used a model 70 in .270 Ingwe Magnum but what stood out was a length of dental floss hanging from the barrel just ahead of the stock. He used this to watch the wind and adjusted his stalk accordingly. He was successful.

2. The second was a very early Zumbo video back when his hair was black and he stalked an elk by tracking it in snow and covered what was presented as white some miles and as he got within shooting range of the elk foraging through the snow depths, he turned to the camera and said that would make a great shot if he had a tag.

The whole point of the show was to teach you how to stalk in snow and for that, I think he did a great job. The end let you down a little but the main point was made. Information.

John

John the MAIN point in American hunting shows now is not to provide information but to sell product. Most are nothing less than whorish.

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He forgot the Butt-out tool....

That Butt-out tool gives me the creeps!

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They should use an extra large Butt-Out tool on the asshat that decided that playing friggin' piano and guitar music so loud that you can't hear a word anybody is saying, throughout the entire show, is a great thing.

Why do Ralph & Vicki (and others) shudder, shake and sigh like their having their first climax, every week, right after they've shot their 359th deer. Jeebus Christ, get a room.

Why in Gods name do you have to keep whispering so low that nobody can hear a fuggin' thing your saying AFTER you shoot the deer?

The producers of the outdoor shows must have the brains of a box of hammers.

Once while hunting turkeys in the South, some of us stopped into a little sporting goods store. On one wall were a BUNCH of "cover scents," including Tink's Turkey Cover Scent.

Did you buy it? I thought turkeys had sniffers like 8x binoculars.

That is a classic.

JPro,

I was tempted! It would have fit perfectly in the comedy corner of my office.

Now that we know what almost qualifies for your Comedy Corner, I am curious.

I think I've seen Potts a couple times, and he did not bother me too much. John Gillespie I've seen on a couple of shows, and quickly got on my nerves. Might be a heck of a nice guy in person, but loud as heck.

But Razor Dobbs...oh Razor and his frickin poodle. If I ever met him I'd be tempted to ask if he & his dog use the same shampoo... :crazy

I'll have to make a list....

Did the Banjo Minnow make it?

Potts is a dipschitt of the highest order.......

Stan has a good heart, so play nice.


Well, I would hope he does. I doubt he would be this juvenile as some of you have been on this thread.
I wonder, would you say these things to his face.

Carry on.

Rubber boot hunters.....do they go from the deer stand to work in the rice fields, shrimp boats, or what?

George,

Here's a list of some of the items from the comedy corner:

A baseball cap with a boar's head on the front, under "I'm a Swine for Eberle Wine." Bought it in the 80's when I went on my first pig hunt in the central valley of California near Paso Robles. Eileen and i toured some local wineries with a California friend.

A copy of THE BEST OF ED ZERN.

Two books by George Leonard Herter, and a 1974 copy of the Herter's catalog.

A cheesehead hat from Green Bay, Wisconsin, from when Eileen and i went to the last Packers game of the season 10-12 years ago (a friend has season tickets, and has long rented somebody's yard across the street from the stadium for tailgate parties.)

A teddy bear from the North Dakota tourism department, with a Teddy Roosevelt moustache, glasses and Rough Rider hat, given to me when I was on the board of directors of the Outdoor Writers Association and we had our annual conference in Bismarck.

A mounted male prairie chicken from Nebraska, which I got a dozen years ago. Gave it to a local Montana taxidermist for mounting, saying I wanted it strutting. He made it strutting all right, with its head up, sitting on a log.

Probably should lean my Lee Navy Sporter in the corner, because its action was one of the bigger jokes of the early days of smokeless powder.

There are several other baseball caps, but all are pretty common, like the one saying, "Vegetarian: Old Indian Word for Bad Hunter."

I go to a doctor every ten years that has one of those...with a little camera on the end. I don't like him at all.

I'm shocked at the amount of commentary here that I agree with. My hearing is not good (wear hearing aids), probably due to years of shooting with inadequate hearing protection. The whisperers drive me nuts. A lot of what I watch is with the sound muted. Occasionally if the area is not known to me I will put on the closed captioning to find out what they are describing.

One of the shows (I think maybe Nosler Magnum TV) they do have some details of the hunt location, etc. but it is displayed in a way that can not be read. I have even taped the odd show so I could replay and freeze the detail and have still not been able to make it out. Cripes does nobody ever critique their shows for them?

My favourite is Jim Shockey since he seems to have a lot of empathy for the people and lands where he hunts. Also he doesn't have an orgasm when he takes an animal.

Jim

John, I can't believe you passed up the Tink's Turkey Cover Scent.

Let's just say I couldn't bring myself to spend cash money on it!

I remember The Professional Guides Manual and How to Live With a Bitch

Those are both pretty entertaining, but the Bull Cook book actually has some pretty decent recipes. One dove recipe is supposedly from Wyatt Earp, and Eileen tried it when she was doing her upland bird cookbook. It's damn good!

Yep. Stan gained some notoriety for the deer he was slaying back in the day.
Then someone thought it would be a good idea to put him in front of the camera. That person is likely in another profession these days.

Come on now you pretend mountain men Luddites.

You guys are complaining about hunting shows and the fall of society due to the NFL, yet have posts counts on this forum in the thousands exaggerating 100 yard shots on whitetails the size of labs whilst arguing the minutiae of why a 129 grain 260 Rem loaded with 43.0 gr of IMR 4350 is significantly better than a 130 grain 270 loaded with 60.0 gr of H4831sc.

Yes, living vicariously on the internet is infinitely better than watching hunting shows or the NFL.

Let me tell you what the multi-billion dollar hunting industry does, it makes it darn hard to politically damage. Keep the products and money rolling and if Stan Potts helps do it, so be it.

And before you get confused, it's generally horrible viewing, but that's why I have a remote control. To turn to NFL Red Zone. Or off.

Thank goodness for choices, unlike southern hemisphere democracies.