A couple of things have been bugging me lately so I figured I'd get them off my chest.

#1 - Poking presumedly dead animals with guns. I swear all the hunting shows on TV and even the video they showed in the Hunter Safety Course I just took, show people poking dead animals with the end of their guns. (a) Do these people think the animal is taking a nap and they just might wake it up? (b) I always learned "don't point a gun at something you don't intend to shoot." Since they poke the animals hind quarter, do they intend to shoot it in the butt if it moves? (c) I basically find this disrespecful to the animals. I don't come up and kick animals I have shot and are laying on the ground motionless in the ass with my foot either.

#2 - Pics of bear hugs on Cougars and Wolves. (a) from looking at a lot of hunting mags, I see the "correct" (?) way to take a picture of the tropy cat or dog is to give it a giant bear hug under the front legs, lift the animal completely off the ground and present the soft underbelly to the viewers. (b) Is this to show how big and strong the hunter is, or to show that it's nearly as big as they are? (c) again, I basically find this disrespectful to the animal to present it in this manner.

Will someone help me get this hair outta my butt!!!!

I have gently kicked a few rabbits to avoid being bitten but Cape Buffalo always get the muzzle in the eye. Here I'm willing to get moisture in the barrel in order to be ready for him if he comes back to life- which they do occasionally.
I agree with you that hugging the critters is goofy but if thats what a guy want to do then good for him.
A while back "African Hunter" magazine ran some editorials condeming "disrespectful" handling of animals like hugging and sitting on them. Since then I have checked all the advertisements in that mag every issue and each time have found several "violations".
To each his own.
Happy hunting, Marshall

When one of those presummably dead critters jumps up you'll be glad the muzzle is already pointed in the right direction

The only critter I have had "come alive" was a deer that I kicked in the rear while I had a handgun in my hand. Surprised the heck out of me. I always aproach fallen critters from behind. Although now I prefer to hit them with a stick or rock from a distance.

I don't sit on my animals though and moose are too big to pick up

Poking the animal with your gun was what I was told to do in my hunters safety. As stated, not everything is as dead as it may appear and I've always noted it as being wrong not to check, thus I found that the TV shows were making lots of mistakes. I'd rather have the animal get up when I poke him with the gun than when I grab his antlers.

As far as the cats, it may be a way to make the cat appear bigger. A cat lying on a branch or on the ground probably doesn't look as big as one with its legs hanging down. Everybody wants a world record.

Al

Good call, I was thinking the same thing, so no, you're not the only one to feel that way about the TV folks!

In addition to "poking" with guns, Jackie Bushman and the rest of 'em will use an arrow to poke as well. This all occurs AFTER the camerman has already located and they act as though they just stumbled on the animal. If they truly did just come upon, then why are they filmed walking into the frame with the dead animal between the hunter and the camerman?? Don't insult me please!!!!

Muskegman,

Your on the money. That is why I don't watch these shows.

Snakeman,

I hear what you are saying. They make it look so cheesy. A moose hunt I guided in NWT was filmed recently. It was a good hunt and we got some good footage. You would not believe some of the shit the Cameraman wanted me to do. I felt like a cheap slut. I'm no actor. They had to do alot of retakes.
I guess they know what gullible people want to see.
Some of the stuff friends of mine tell me about the filmed hunts they have guided, well we get a little chuckle out of it.(Some are honestly)

Daryl

No, Its not just you. I laugh my head off when I see somebody on TV whispering and poking a dead animal in the rear end. I dont think its so much disrespectful as it is stupid. Of course you would have your weapon at the ready when approaching a downed animal. I usually approach slowly and get close enough to see if the chest is rising and falling, all the while holding a bead on the heart or spine. If he aint breathing the gutting can begin. I use that approach for dangerous game. In theory they are right, They just trashed the proper procedure. For downed deer or antelope I usually walk up carefully and then cut their throats if they aren't expired. Good rounds are expensive. Somebody needs to tell Jackie Bushman that it is a cool show with awesome wildlife footage. Although, The poking of the dead animals in the ars has to go.
Respectfully,

Muskegman;Why dont you just stop watching that B.S.its such a waste of time???

"For downed deer or antelope I usually walk up carefully and then cut their throats if they aren't expired. Good rounds are expensive."

Well, a friend of mine desided to "save" the 25 cents or whatever and "just cut the throat" of an antelope doe. $3500 dollars and nearly loosing an eye cured him of that crap in a hurry. A box of Weatherby's is cheap insurance.

Are the "classic" poses of sitting ten feet in back of an animal to make it appear bigger any more "ethical"?

I once saw a buddy of mine poke a downed moose in the rear-moose didn't move-he thought it was dead. Just as he sat his rifle down it jumped up and started running. After he got his heart restarted he eventually got his moose.
I always touch them in the eye with the end of my rifle-if it's still alive it will flich and I'm right there with my rifle pointed in the right direction.

I generally poke a "dead" animal with the muzzle when I approach it..I usually did it in the the back first and if no reaction, then the eye. Although its never happened to me I know people who have had a nasty surprise when the "dead animal" decides its not so dead after all..To do danage it does not even have to get up..a good kick from a rear leg or if it tosses its head around can all be quite painful for the unweary hunter.

With regards trophy pictures of cats and wolves, the one I dislike the most is the one where the Great White Hunter is carry the cat across his shoulders...its quite a traditional pose, but I don't care for it...

Another one which always looks "strange" to me is seeing a buck hanging from a meatpole by a length of rope from its antlers...it looks even more "odd" when there are two or three bucks hanging that way...

regards,

Pete

Well, I like the big cat over-the-shoulder pose! I don't think it is disrespectful at all. It shows the beauty of the cat's body off nicely. They are too slender to really show everything lying on the ground.

If I ever get a leopard or puma I will do my trophy photos that way. Same way with coyotes and holding them by the back legs over your back, I like that pose as well.

I do think standing with a foot on a dead animal is cheesy and disrespectful in most cases. But that is my opinion. Something truly huge like an elephant can be done tastefully with a hunter sitting on it with out looking smug.

I always check that a downed animal is dead before I get near it's legs or head. I don't think the TV shows need to do that so much since we all know that is the best thing to do. Same for them showing the great white hunter flicking the safety off before they shoot. Really, a useless waste of film time, but they ALL do it.

I don't take issue with how the on TV folks handle their kill. I do cringe at just about every
other guided rifle hunting show, where the client holds the rifle in one hand, and follows the
guide, while pointing the rifle at the back of the guide. I saw one genius crawling behind his
guide, with his rifle in his hand, dragging it on the ground, and having it pointed in the
general direction of the guide. I realize many guides require that the gun does not have a
chambered round, but still... There are many safe carry methods for people following
people, but for some reason, not many of them make it onto the Outdoor Channel.

Squeeze

What makes me laugh is when they walk up to a deer like an eight pointer and have to touch each point as they count them. It's a frickin eight pointer! Can't you tell how many points by just looking.

Muskeg, I agree with you 100%. I do sometimes watch the shows but most of them are a bunch of hokey foolishness. Like someone said, the camera folks have been all over the place to get the best position for filming the approach to the dead animal so they know dang well the critter is dead. If I clicked off the safety as loud as some of those characters, the deer I hunt would be out of the place before I could get a shot off.

Plain and simple - these shows are to advertise commercial hunts, camo clothing, and other merchandise. That's what outdoor TV is all about and I understand that. But it would be more watchable without the silly antics you described. Merg

Gosh... If you think it's disrespectful when you hug the animal how would you feel if you actually saw someone hang one by the back legs, skin it, cut out it's guts, and cut it up into pieces???

You better stick to Mister Roger's Neighborhood buddy!

I only had one deer ever get up after I shot it and it was a pretty dangerous situation. I'd shot it just below the spine and above the lungs and it went down like it was poleaxed.

Several friends heard the shot and we all ended up standing around it BS'ing. One of the guys said "I'm gonna cut it's throat". This was about 10 minutes after I'd shot the deer.

He reached down and grabbed it by the antlers and wrenched it's head back while reaching for the throat with his knife. The deer "came to life" and jumped up handily impaling my friend's hand with one of the tines. My friend let out a howl and the deer made a forward lunge as it scrambled to it's feet.

A small kid was standing in front of it and if he hadn't been really quick on his feet he would have probably been severely hurt.

The buck lunged off into a cypress swamp and we played hell getting him out. You can bet he was approached VERY carefully after we found him the second time.

Now I don't think it's so silly poking deer with my rifle barrel and usually approach them from the rear and poke and kick them in the hindquarters. If they don't move I move around (very carefully) and poke them in the eye with my rifle barrel.

Still not being convinced I usually give them about 5 minutes before loading them onto the game cart or into the back of the pickup.

$bob$

I got torqued off today when reading the latest issue of North American Hunter. The article started something like this... I had just harvested a gobbler...

HARVESTED? What does that mean? I have harvested alot of things but never a gobbler. Does he mean shot, bagged, or maybe killed? I stopped reading at that point and browsed through the rest of the magazine where I found two advertisments for sexual inhancing pills and creams. Now I like sex as well as hunting but I wasn't reading a Playboy. Why do they contaminate my reading material with wussy terms like harvesting and advertising supplements that will make me super sex dude.

Harvested? Well, it goes quite a ways back. Elmer Keith killed his game, but Jack O'Connor "gathered the in." Game animals don't die anymore, they expire. No they don't expire people they DIE, like in dead. Just more politcally correct bullshit! This stuff is written by wussie-pussies for wussie pussies.
Damned it I don't feel better for saying that.
Paul B.