Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire ESPN Outdoor Programs.. dissapointment!!!

Ever watch the ESPN outdoor stuff on Sat. and Sunday.. what a joke.. talk about way off base on reality...
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<br>Here is a post I made to the hunting website. I go no response there and then I e-mailed them directly and I'll copy that at the end of this post...
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<br>I live and work in Wyo. I am a professional guide and Guest Ranch Owner. I have watched ESPN outdoors on and off over the years and have become very dissapointed in the way they portray the Big Game hunting in the west. I will give an example. This morning watching the Hunters Almanac with Wayne Pearson: They show a multi-million dollar ranch with Elk sparing next to a pond on a perfect lawn. The show Wayne a guide and a hunter walking through a picture prefect stand of aspens to happen near two majestic trophy class bulls. Wayne stands in the back ground ( notice I said stands ) with a camera man and talks ( yes I said talks to the viewers ) Meanwhile, the guide calls a few times ( while STANDING there with the bull nearby ) and gets a nice bull to come within range of the hunter. While Wayne is standing there talking, never taking any responsibility to conceal himself from the bull. Wayne also blows on his cow call, which actually they show alerts the bull. The hunter comes to full draw while the bull is looking right at him. The hunter then arrows the bull which they find shortly thereafter.
<br>Great program? .... Hardly.
<br>I have been guiding for a number of years.. never have I been in any situation like that. The situation/expextation I do not appreciate is that the average "Joe Sportsman" watches this program and thinks that all hunting in the west is or should be like that.
<br>What I would like to see is a REAL western Elk hunt the way it REALLY is. No million dollar lodges with clients that make $500,000 dollars a year.
<br>The average "Joe Sportsman" saves for a couple of years to afford the hunt.
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<br>The way it should be portrayed is this.
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<br>Show the guy coming to a typical or above average place. Maybe even an outfitters camp. Show him getting up at 4:00 a.m. riding a horse a couple miles to get to the high country where most Elk live. Show him walking and hiking on steep terrain and stalking the Bull. Make sure to show the attention to detail the guide has when it comes to calling and concealing himself in the cover available. Show some of the HARD work after the bull is harvested.
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<br>I guess I am venting here and I have singled out Wayne Pearson who I know is a very responsible sportsman and also very knowledgable as well. But seriously lets see shows that tell it like it is. Not a fantasy, picture perfect hunt. If you spend any time outdoors you know that it very rarely happens they way you have it planned.
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<br>I guess my point is with all the reality TV out there show a hunting program the way it REALLY is...
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<br>Here is the link...
<br>http://boards.go.com/cgi/hunting/request.dll?MESSAGE&room=hunting&id=525
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<br>I e-mail ESPN directly and and said that I realize they need to keep the audience in terested and all the programs hosts are very knowledgable yadda yadda yadda... I would appreciate a reply to my comments .. here is what I got....
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<br>We appreciate your feedback. You can rest assured that your comments will be passed on to the people to whom they'd matter the most. Your opinion will be reflected in our audience response report.
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<br>Thanks for taking the time to write and for visiting ESPN.com!
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<br>Boy oh boy I can sleep easy now......
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<br>I guess Iam venting but..... man the people who watch alot of those programs expect their hunts to be like htat and .. well they just arn't......

WYW,
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<br>The WORST sporting show, if you could call it that, that I have ever seen stars a moron named Buck McNeely. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, about this show is bad. When I raised Buck's name here at the campfire a while back, some of the AK member said that he had been cited for illegal hunting in AK a few years ago. What a nice thing for a "spokesperson" whose show may represent what hunting is to those who don't hunt!
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<br>Hunting gets a bad enough rap from the bambi lovers without having shows like Buck McMoron on the air. As I recall, Buck is sponsered by Savage, which suggests that whoever signed that contract didn't know what they were doing. Probably the same guy who doesn't think that rotory magazine Models 99 would sell in 2003.
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<br>Sincerely,
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<br>Bearrr264

Bearrrr
<br>I have not seen Buck McMoron lately, but will be standing by when I do to take down a list of every sponsor and will do anything I can to limit his airtime...
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<br>Mossberg was his sponsor before... If you can stand to sit through an episode sometime I would sure appreciate a list of those sonsors, especially if I could get it without having to sit through a show! LOL
<br>art

Buck McNeely is a real piece of work. I believe that he paid an assistant guide to spot moose from the air and then land and shoot for his program. Shooting schedules don't you know.
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<br>When they were caught by Fish and Game he rolled over and testified, along with the assistant guide against the OUTFITTER, Jim Fejes, who wasn't even there!! Fejes lost at least one plane, his business and was facing jail time at one time but I don't know whatever happened in the end.
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<br>It is the ultimate responsibility of the Outfitter for what his people do.
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<br>Why POS Buck didn't get cited is a mystery. Maybe an autograph did the trick.

Mickey
<br>Buck did get cited and plea-bargained with the feds, but never made it right with AK. I doubt he will return because of that, and I find that a good thing. He did give up his caribou, his rifle and a fine and agreed not to hunt in the US for 2 years. He also agreed to devote a certain amount of time on his shows to messages about obeying laws and being responsible... not the guy anybody needs to have talking ethics!
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<br>Fejes was there for the shooting according to the video. He also was available to the State of AK and so got whacked by both sides, state and federal. The guiding business is a tough one and I am sorry Fejes got nailed that way, but sorrier that he felt the need to go there.
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<br>I seem to remember there was a wanton waste issue with the caribou hunt also...
<br>art

Wayne Pearson is an idiot.A lucky one at that-at last count he had four (4) seperate hunting/outdoors shows on two different networks.
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<br>He knows NOTHING about hunting,fishing or firearms in general.He's also the WORST host I've ever seen.How he got all those shows I'll never know-must be married to the producer's daughter.
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<br>WB.

That sounds a lot like the "elk hunt" I saw on a popular hunting show here in Texas. This "hunt" took place in North Texas! Some where around Gainesville. That ought to tell you a lot already. These Idots were wearing white t-shirts and talking to the camera as they walked up to a good looking bull elk which was just standing there in the pasture looking at them. Then the "hunter" shot the poor old pasture bull with his new fangled inline muzzle loader rifle the program was advertising. It was enough to make you sick.
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<br>And that's what the average joe thinks an elk hunt is? Walk out into someones high fenced pasture and shoot an animial that someone raised? I guess if a person has more money than brains and that's the only way he thinks he can kill game some one with a pasture and the same lack of brains will be happy to let him do it for a fee.

I used to occasionally watch some of those shows, if it was a rainy day and I wasn't out hunting. That is, before I kicked my TV out the door!
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<br>The thing that tickled me the most were some of the turkey/coyote calling hunts. They would go into great detail explaining how wary turkeys or coyotes (or whatever else they were trying to call) were. Then they would show a couple of guys on a stand TALKING while they were calling the turkey/coyote in.