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TV- Ruining Deer Hunting?

One of the saddest posts I ever read on a hunting forum was the guy who was sitting at home during prime hunting time because his cameraman was not available. He couldn't risk going hunting and "burning" his tag without it being on video.
 
Yes and no. False advertising of products only to please a sponsor misleads lots of hunters. But when you get guys like Stan Potts who are so passionate about the sport and so willing to feed us with knowledge how can it be bad for us? I can't get enough of learning from him as well as many other experiences hunters
 
JNRBRONC said:
When hunting stops being a pastime for me and becomes an "industry", I'm out.

pastime is a hobby, or, as the Oxford English Dictionary puts it, “a diversion or recreation which serves to pass the time agreeably; an activity done for pleasure rather than work; a hobby; a sport, a game. Also: a practice commonly indulged in.”

Industry is the production of an economic good or service within an economy.
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Well, fortunately or unfortunately (depending on how one looks at it) Whitetail deer and the pursuit of them, fall under both categories. Society has made deer and alot of other wildlife a "economic good" and that has led to conservation practices to ensure that we will have them around for the future. This in turn, creates jobs, generates revenue for states, and businesses, and provides funding for habitat, etc.

All you have to do is look at some of the other countries where hunting isn't a "sport" that generates revenue, and look at some of the animals that are being wiped out, because they have no value besides sustinance for the people. If whitetails had no hunting "value" they would just be considered a nuisance animal that destroys valuable crops and vehicles. There would be no seasons, and no products to use while hunting, and they would most likely just be wiped out or shot on site, regardless of the time of year.

Point is, marketing of hunting is not all bad, and can lead to people taking a interest in them, which leads to some great things.
 
There is a forum that most everyone here knows about, no sense naming it.

The common convention is to have a sig file that lists (boasts) of your archery equipment, as that somehow translates into your hunting prowess.

All it says to me is that PT Barnum was right. ;)

People really need to look at a product on a cost to benefit ratio; not which one is hyped the most or who else shoots said equipment.
 
dedgeez said:
Well, fortunately or unfortunately (depending on how one looks at it) Whitetail deer and the pursuit of them, fall under both categories.
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Agreed, it's a double edge sword.

Can the pastime survive the prostitution of the industry side?
 
Outreach outdoors and Midwest white tails. Those are the 2 I watch. Both are great and keep it too the point of chasing white tails. Plus outreach has a great message.

Other than that, I don't watch many hunting shows. Not that I have anything against them, but I do get kinda tired of them killing the 135 inch deer, calling it a 158, and sittin 20 foot behind it so it looks bigger.
 
I enjoy watching several of the hunting videos. In particular I like to watch the shows that actually have some educational aspect to them such as Midwest Whitetails, Dominant Bucks (say what you want about Stan and his crew being a little over the top but the shows do a pretty good job explaining hunting tactics). I have leared quite a bit about hunting watching these shows.

The one thing I dislike is all the producs and gimicks. I am all for a guy making a buck, I just hate to see people get suckered in to buying crappy products. I know that it is the fault of the people buying the products but there are many people gullable enough to buy anything that is promoted to give them an advantage.

That being said, DVR is a wonderful thing and allows me to watch the hunts without all the crap. Like Dedgeez said, I would much rather sit down and watch a hunting show as compared to 99% of the rest of the crap on TV.
 
I think i would rather watch honey boo boo and sugar bear than any hunting show out there. I just do not get into them.
 
I agree with what a lot of you have already said. I have my favorites, and there are some that I simply won't watch. But in the end I would much rather have plenty of shows on TV than not any at all. I think it does good to recruit new hunters and maybe keep the hunting tradition alive and well. But in the same breath I will be the first to say that I hate the publicity it has brought in regards to leasing and boosting land values for recreational property here in Iowa. Ask again in 10 more years and I bet that I will hate it all together.
 
Can't stand all the advertisements, sounds like a dang nascar driver during these shows having to plug every sponsor they have all throughout the show. Used to watch Grant Woods show every Monday when it showed up in the email, but I got tired of him pushing this overpriced junk just to kill a buck.

I liked Winke's show, but he's slowly becoming more like Grant Woods show. I don't need a $3500 redneck blink to kill a buck like they push.. lol Hopefully my $9 burlap blind will net me a booner this year. :)
 
All these shows have done is create a bunch of out of touch "bone collectors", IMO. From what I've seen, most productions have done very little to support conservation groups or the groups that protect our outdoor heritage. I'd like to see any of the Iowa based "bow hunting pros" produce an IBA membership card. Much is being lost in all this commercial fluff.....
 
There are a lot of nails being hit on the head here, but River1 just hit a winner. How many times have you heard that Iowa is great because of the season structure, and how hard it is to draw a tag, but it is never explained WHY and WHO is responsible for it. Even the Iowa guys, Winke for one, won't man up and give credit where credit is due. Thank you IBA and the IDNR.
 
Boy, for as old as the two of you are, I would have thought you would be able to see the big picture :rolleyes:

The TV shows had nothing to do with creating "Bone Collectors". I'm pretty sure that was done in the late 1800's by one Teddy Roosevelt when he created B&C. Once again giving "value" to animals by recognizing them as "trophies" for the purpose of conservation. Now that guy could see the big picture.

No I'm not comparing Waddell to Roosevelt, but who cares if these guys can produce an IBA card or whatever? That's not their reasoning for doing what they do. Not everyone on TV has to share your views on Iowa seasons or lobbyists. In fact for the most part I have to say that they are probably smart for not getting involved based on the fact they are trying to make a living hunting and opinions on politics are usually not shared well by others. Hell, perfect example, look at Uncle Ted, one of the biggest advocates out there for gun rights and he gets chastized constantly on here about being a tool, or conducting himself poorly with his in your face style, blah blah, So in that regards alone, your argument doesn't hold water. Even if every hunter on TV could produce an IBA card, there would still be haters, because of who they are and what they do. Its a relateability issue, like I said.

Cmon TR, you gotta do better than that for an argument :grin: Your just mad that your homemade TV show got turned down by the networks.
 
And to R1, Looks outside the box. Pure ignorance to think that these productions dont support conservation or hunting freedoms. I don't expect you to understand, but at the same time, I don't see how you can't? The same people that watch these shows and buy those products have taken a level of interest in the outdoors and hunting, and many of them go on to become NRA, IBA, DU, PF, Etc, members.

Like I said, I don't agree with everything on TV, but I surely don't see it as a bad thing, that some of these guys are making it "cool" to be a hunter.

So what if people have false expectations of killing a nice deer? How does that effect you in the least? That is up to the parent or the mentor to control. Our kids see smokin hot actresses on TV all the time with a certain guy in movie or on show, does that make them think that they are going to marry a supermodel when they grow up? Didn't think so. If anything it may light a fire under a kids ass to get out of bed in the morning and get out there.

Just sayin, look at the big picture. It's not all negative outcomes.
 
I wouldn't say that TV has "ruined" hunting necessarily but it hasn't done ton of good for it. I'll start by saying that it has continued the sport and popularized it and I think that it gets younger kids into it because kids idolize what they see on TV. I am afraid it is hurting it; however, because we then see the current mentality of kill the cull buck and let the big 5.5 year old grow another year. I am all for pursuing trophy bucks but I think that TV makes people think that everyone needs this mentality. Even if you kill a cull buck this year I can almost guarantee that he will have spread his genes already and there will be another cull buck or bucks next year, and possibly not even from the same buck. It's a battle that would be incredibly hard to fully win, if ever. I feel like TV has pulled hunting from its roots of spending quality time in nature simply because we can, and because we need to provide and use nature to survive. It has made us focus on putting a huge rack on our wall and caring less about the meat that goes in our freezers. I admit I fall into this mentality at times as well. I try and keep my mind on the reasons that my grand father taught me to hunt for in the beginning: Only kill it if you will eat it, respect the animal, be proud of every harvest, and enjoy and cherish the time in the outdoors.
 
turkeyriver said:
There are a lot of nails being hit on the head here, but River1 just hit a winner. How many times have you heard that Iowa is great because of the season structure, and how hard it is to draw a tag, but it is never explained WHY and WHO is responsible for it. Even the Iowa guys, Winke for one, won't man up and give credit where credit is due. Thank you IBA and the IDNR.
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Winke is very smart, he is in business as well. Think about who his viewers are, they are not all local Iowa IBA members.
 
As I earlier stated, I don't watch hardly any BUT... I don't think you can lump all into one group. Maybe I even did that a little. Out of 10 shows or videos- there's sure some good & bad. Some guys are tasteful, impressive skills and talented. Others are just walking commercials or whatever. Big variance among people as always, like in any walk of life. Outreach has my strong vote as best. And anything with over-the-top amount of commercials and annoyance - I just won't watch.

But I don't think it'll ruin things - did commercialization ruin sports? Ruin fishing? Fishing had more commercialization and far before hunting did. I just beg the hunting folks- chill out on the barf-o-ramma level of constant commercials and super annoyance of them. Kinda like how you get annoyed with seeing 50 million insurance commercials with that stupid lizard, FLO (who as compassionately as I can say- needs a beating), etc.
 
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