I think it could be that activities like hunting and fishing just don't translate very well into TV shows. A 30 min TV show, less commercials is less than 20 min in length. During that time period, you have to describe and start the hunt, introduce guests, plug the guide/lodge, show some of the leg work, and finish it all up with you killing something interesting. What's missing are all the hours and days in between. The sitting in the rain, the missed shots, the lack of animals, etc. To fit this format, it almost has to be a canned hunt.
By condensing it down like that, I think it also cuts out some of the best parts of the sport. I can enjoy a hunting or fishing trip and not catch a fish or pull a trigger. I enjoy it mostly because of the people that I've met over the years that I hunt and fish with. You can't really show that aspect of it on a TV show. Sometimes its those days that you come back empty that make you better appreciate the days that everything goes right.
These shows also tend to make people believe that hunting and fishing are a lot easier than they really are. When I see someone catch a 120# + tarpon on the fly in the Keys, I know that it probably took a week, maybe two, of fishing everyday to pull that off.
