Unfortunately I don't get many anymore, as my sattelite provider only gets TNN. So my opinion my not be reflective of those that may be recieving more and higher quality shows. However, that fact notwithstanding, I wonder how many people are getting bored of hunting shows on TV?

I enjoyed them at first, but all the commercials and sitting there for 5 or 8 minutes of actual content is really turning me off.

How do you feel?

Canuck

I have to agree most of them are pretty lame. Just one more reason to go to the range on Sat morning.

[ 04-10-2003, 03:42: Message edited by: Mike Smith ]

I can't get them with the programming I have, and wish I could watch a few of them, lame or otherwise.

I like'm, The only thing that bothers me is sometimes I get a little jealous watching people that get to hunt for a living. The commercials don't bother me, that's the price of admission. I remember when my TV only got 4 channels...I would rather watch a bad hunting show than a good soup opera any day. Terry

It all depends on what they are doing. Hunting whitetails in texas (sometimes with bait) is getting a little old. I could shoot huge deer too if all I hunted was large high fenced game ranches.

They never show the kind of hunting I like to watch like traditional bowhunting, flintlock rifle hunting, or shotgunning for big game.

I do like the shows that hunt on public land.

Atlatlhunter,

Here in VA, it would be called shooting not hunting and it is in fact illegal to shoot over "bait" which is exactly what a feeder is. I know that different areas have different traditions (here in VA we can hunt deer with dogs east of the Blue Ridge Mountains). Still, after long years of no bait, I'm inclined to be put off by such shows.

We don't get anything like that in Australia. The closest thing we had was a cooking show where the chef went out and collected/harvested (nice way of saying killed) the things he was to cook.

Bakes

Canned hunts are hard to watch.We need a shooting sports channel with all regimes and types of shooting, gun collecting, smithing, reloading, history, interviews, gunshows, and our own 2nd Amendment oriented news.Johnny Rowland, others and
myself tried to get one going.Ed.

I seldom watch them unless I am curious about the country that the hunt is takingk place in.

Most of them are not really hunts in my own view. I have seen too many where the"hunter" sat in some comfortable structure watching a planted field where game fed. Then a buck comes into the field, and the hunter rests his gun over the sill and shoots. "Good Shot" they cry.I wonder what they think they did? Whatever it was it wasn't hunting.

Many of the guided hunts are little better, but I realize some guides do provide good hunts. It is important for those with limited time, and the desire to hunt for certain game animals.

To me, I kwould rather scout the couyntry and locate the game. Then determine its habits, and when the season comes around I know where to go and how to hunt. There still remains the probability that someone will stumble through your area, and mess you up. Or that the game has changed its timing or even habits, but on balance good scouting greatly increases the odds.

Again, while I do not critize guided hunts if done in a fair chase way, I would rather do it myself. I have a better feeling of accomplishment than if I went along, and was told where to go, which one to shoot, and how far it was.
Then I have to worry about how to get it out. I always wore and used a packboard. But when I finish with it all I am pleased that I did it.

Jerry

I've never cared for permanent blinds, or baiting. As for shooting the deer in fenced in areas, in Texas, this may be twenty thousand acres on a small spread, so it's not like they are herded into a small area. I helped herd some domestic elk a few years ago, and we had a hell of a time just locating them, let alone moving them! And that was on about 600 acres.

I can only get peasant vision (CBC) where I live. The only T.V that I have seen running is in McDonald's when I take my kids there.
I keep track on what's going on from the news on Yahoo or the political forum here. I heard the U.S has invaded Iraq.

No I do not miss any hunting shows. I haven't seen one in several years. Nor do I miss the hunting mags. The only magazine I purchase is Rifles-Handloader magazine.(I don't buy the local paper either.) There are too many things here to keep me occupied so I don't have time for T.V, etc. I only make time to visit Accurate, it is the only exposure I get from the outside world.(Jeez, I got to get a life)


Canuck,
I don't imagine you will have much time yourself,
you have got some new country to scout out.

Daryl

My sattelite only gives me TNN (Sorry- The NEW TNN!) as well, so if I happen to be home when they are on I can watch "Buckmasters" or "Realtree Outdoors" or one of the other big ones.

There are so many commercials, it drives me insane. Even when the show is on we have to see the host pontificating about some "great new products to make YOU a better hunter!"

I'll only watch them these days if they are somethign interestign, like caribou hunting.

I've never hunted whitetails. But to watch these guys the only way to hunt whitetails is on a private ranch, in a tree blind, over bait.

YAWN.

PS The videos that circulate around this forum, like Saeeds and Nick's, are 1000 times better, and no commercials!

I'm especially tired of all the ones from some permanent blind in Texas with some tyro and his Rem Ultra Mag with a scope the size of a truck tailpipe. If that is the only hunting around I'll play golf.

Kinda like watching a show on eating ice cream, the "flavor" doesn't really come through!

One more voice in the choir, I suppose, but the "feel" of the chase just doesn't come through on a big game hunt.

On the other hand, I really enjoy the "hunting with Hank" shows (and similar bird hunting shows). I like watching the dog work, and the different birds and habitats he gets to play in. FWIW, Dutch.

They're about as interesting as watching the paint peel.

When I first got the Outdoor Channel, it was always on. Two and a half years later, it is seldom on. If I catch a show that isn't whitetail or turkey, I'll generally watch a bit of it.

No matter what is on, though, I have fun watching the hosts show their true colors as pure idiots and putzes! I like watching people make fools of themselves by merely talking to hear themselves talk!

Ted Nugent's show is one that I truely enjoy...not for the hunting, but for just the way Uncle Ted is!! I like his "rock and roll" attitude.

As far as I'm concerned these shows are a joke and make hunters look bad.
That damned whispering that no one seems to be able to understand drives me crazy,it makes me wonder if any of these shows have heard of narration.Especially irritating is when the "hunter" kills whatever,it drops feet up dead and he is still whispering.
The only ones I enjoy are when they take a crippled or terminally ill child on a hunt,those touch my heart.

I miss the one the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation used to put on. That was about the only one that could keep my attention.

[ 04-10-2003, 20:39: Message edited by: Curtis_Lemay ]

I grew up watching Crosby, Gowdy, and friends hunting pheasant and such on the "American Sportsman". We need to get some of that type of class back for TV. My wife leaves if I try to watch the news or a hunting show. She says that the people on TV can't hear me yelling but it drives her nuts. Show me just one out of a truckload of dogs that's broke steady to wing and shot on one bird hunt and I'll be happy.
On the positive side (I'm a dog trainer) the shows have done some good in rekindling interest in gun dogs. Even saw a show about turkey dogs the other day and that's not a widely known pursuit.

J

Yes DogWorker, and Phil Harris was a pisser on that show too. Robert Stack was good also, as were others.

But this new crop of TV hunting shows I'LL never grow tired of and for very good reason ... can't watch'em.

I am tired of tree stand whitetail hunting and of turkey hunting, seems like the majority of the shows are about these two segments of hunting.
Please no more gold prospecting shows!?
I get the Outdoor Channel and there are a few good shows on there but the majority of the shows are not worth watching.
Most positive comment is that it is better than having no hunting shows. Every once in a while there is a really good one on.
I agree there are too many ads and the non hunting segments are such a waste of time, stick to showing the hunting.

Yep the old "American Sportsman" was one of the best! You'd see actual kills when posible.
Two shows that I will always remember is when Fred Bear took the Brown Bear "Kodiak" with a bow and when the one fella took the Brown Bear with a .44 Magnum! Awsome!
These canned hunts they show today are nothing short of boring, scripted junk to promote some game ranch or outfitter.

I get all available channels via digital cable at my house and really enjoy some of the Hunting shows. Many are poorly done and poorly edited and poor Hunting etiquette is often stupidly included! Laughing at the death blow to Ducks and Geese is almost universal and sickens me! The richer and the slobbier the Duck and Goose shooter the more profane the laughing! This sickens me and is the epitome of slob Hunting! Open your fucking eyes slob Hunters! You are laughing at the death of one of natures most incredible creatures (they are beautiful and they can fly for instance!) on TV! You fucking slobs if you had an ounce of intelligence you would be ashamed of yourselves and your despicable behavior! Obviously you don't and aren't! The other "all expenses paid", "I only have 2 1/4 days to Hunt all three species", "this is my fifth Hunt for Whitetails in five different states this fall" types sicken me to almost the same extent. I came, I saw, I shot programs are almost are simply fluff and have no social redeeming value. I refuse to watch Hunts of creatures that are fenced in (20,000 acres or not) this is NOT ethical Hunting! and it is rightfully spurned and discredited by real Hunting societies!
Harvesting fenced animals has its place and I do not condemn it but making a TV show of it is pure tripe! I used to enjoy the Elk Country Journal (put on by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation) until that "happy words idiot" Wayne Carlton tried to convince me that Wolves were the best thing to happen to the west since statehood. Fucking idiot! My wrath to the RMEF was delivered by phone and at my first convenience in person. Fuck them also! The photography on that show was first rate and its a shame I will never watch them again!
I do watch certain of the Hunting shows still but the commercials now outnumber the show itself minute wise and I am loosing interest somewhat overall. My favorites are Northwest Hunter, A-Ways Outdoors, Will Primos's Show (I forget the real name of it - The Truth?), and Eastmans Hunting Journal (again this show has its flaws but the photography is first rate and I had met Gordon Eastman when I was a young Hunter).
Again let me emphasize if you ever find yourself in a Duck or Goose blind with me you are welcome to get excited or congratulate yourself on a good shot but if you were to laugh a second time at the harvesting of said creatures you would go home without your front teeth! Clean up your act slobs!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

[ 04-10-2003, 23:30: Message edited by: VarmintGuy ]

with the satelite package I have I get two channels with 90% hunting and fishing on them, and TNN....which I actually forgot about because they only show hunting once in a while...most of the time its racing or old tv shows.....I am getting more and more disenchanted with the hunting shows.....its like 60 % turkey hunting( because the bag limits are high and they are easy to kill....I like the waterfowl hunting shows the most...the main problem is that they have like 20 minutes of comercials......and believe me when you have seen a commercial 200 times, you are willing to turn off the show instead of sit throguh the damn commercial again......its absolutly rediculous the amount of time the commericals take.......then they trow in a tech tip section...and cut down on more hunting video...and they show the guys face up close for 5 nimutes and they show the damn SAFTEY OFF scene......like that is a goverment mandate to show !!!!!!!!!!I will never get over the way they show a turkey walking in and it about 50 yards out then they show a scene looking from the turkeys view back to the hunter!!!!!!!!!!!!come on we know the damn camera wasnt there in the other scene......but they feel they NEED to show us the hunter as he is ready to shoot....so we know its stagged.....WHY??????????....its almost as bad as another BASS FISHING show!!!!!!! argh argh argh!!!!!I really love to watch a guy catch 5 14 " bass while sitting through all those commercials too!!!!!!!!bob

I'd kill to see a hunting show just so I could bitch about it. We don't get them here.

I never missed the early American Sportsman shows. We'll never get to watch shows like that again. When they tried to get "politically correct" later, they lost me.

I get nearly all of the outdoor shows here on the dish. Since I am uindergoing cancer treatment I don't get out much, and set in the house all day.
However, I do not care if I ever see another turkey hunt. When kone comes on, I simply go to another station or watch a rerun of the Iraq war.
George

Sorry to hear you have cancer George. I hope you recover fully.

I have to agree with trapdoor about the Outdoor channel. When it first came out I was glued to it. I still watch it when my direct T.V. is not acting up but it has lost quite a bit of it's glamor.

One thing I never can get enough of is monster mule deer and elk. I'm bored to hell with all the whitetail and turkey hunts though. And the bass fishing shows have to be the most boring of anything on t.v. I'd rather watch a info-mercial then that.

Is it just me or do you notice that hunting shows have the most advertisement time than anything on the tube? There must be less than 10min of hunting in a half hour slot.

Seems every 1/2 hour show has about ten minutes of content broken up amongst 20 minutes of ATV and pick-up truck commercials. Pretty much a waste of my time.

Also seems like about 2/3 of them are on turkey hunting which doesn't do anything for me.

How about that Ted Nugent ? "We will slay the sacred beast and gain nourishment from it's life-giving flesh, then celebrate with our loved ones and thank the great spirt for this gift to us.
Is he a half bubble off plumb or what ?
Do hunters actually talk this way ?

I don't watch them nearly as much as I did when I first got the TV dish. Now I pass on most of the whitetail hunts especially after I watched Bill Jordan arrow a deer in the guts then after the commercial break watched him pose with what was obviously a different deer and brag about what a good shot he'd made that guy ought to be banned - along with Jackie Bushman. Ted Nugent is OK but he is full of shit and himself. Texas Trophy Hunters is OK as they usually have a human interest story line. Turkey hunting shows are the worst. Bass/redfish/speckled trout/fly fishing shows are almost as bad as a root canal. The shows with African stuff are usually OK, big game fishing is OK too. Just my opinions...

Well, the only "real" outdoor channel I get is the Outdoor Life network which really is a POS. I can't stand bicycle races, lumberjack contest and the biggest BS of all, bull riding competitions. About all they have gthat is any good is the American Shooter and a show put on by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
They have some bird hunting stuff, but as I have no interest in that, that's a waste. I did watch one having to do with a turkey hunt, and that TURKEY Larry Wieshun would never hunt with me. I never saw such unsafe gun handling in my life. As a hunter ed instruction, he'd flunk my class in the first five minutes. Seems to me, most of those shows are nothing more than infomecrials for new products and adds for people with private hunting grounds with exhorbitant prices. After all, they have to make up the difference to cover general disaster Boddington's freebie hunt, right?
Paul B.

I have to admit that I'd like to see "The American Sportsman" make a come back - if they did it the way it in the original form. Today's hunting/fishing shows? I'd rather watch grass grow or (heaven forbid), golf. Bear in Fairbanks

I liked ted nugent the first season. Now it's just gotten to where he shows one shot, consert stuff, his kid, his wife and a bunch of commercials. My ears ring after watching some of his stuff.

I liked "hunting with hank", that's just a classy show in my opinion. I don't like upland bird hunting but the show is very relaxing.

In all the years I've been watching hunting shows I've only seen two deer hunts with shotguns. I used to live in a shotgun only area and I really enjoy watching shotgun hunts. It takes me back.

No hunting shows in Australia, out media, government (who ever) have decided "it is not appropriate viewing for Australian citizens. It is howvere fine to watch rubbish with encourages smoking of marijuana etc. Such as those idiotic music show presenters covering events such as the big day out etc.

Paul B,

What's your beef with Boddington? He's a pretty good writer.

He made Brig. Gen. in USMC.

I kind of admire him.

What have you done?

Here in BC we have pretty much lost all of the hunting shows or soon wil as The New TNN is cutting out all outdoor programs. I haven't heard anyone mention my favorite(which I no longer get),Bushnell Secrets of the Hunt. I have seen Jim Shockley but not Ted Nugent and like many others here have little use for the other hunting programs.
I have been trying to get the CRTC to allow The Outdoor Channel in Canuckistan and Directv is working on them as well. Maybe if some of you other Canadian hunters were to send e-mails to or phone the CRTC we could irritate them enough to relent. Well heck,I can hope,can't I? derF

We don't get many "hunting" shows, certainly not in the Amewrican sense. There was a series which is available on video and I am pretty certain was on TV called "Jacks Game" where Jack Charlton, an ex pro footballer/ British household name) sampled a different country sport each week... we now have a programe called "Clarissa and the Countryman" which is kinda similar but the lady star in question, a minor cleb TV chef, is just too damned ugly/eccentric to be on TV in my humble opinion.

Despite the shortfalls of the American TV shows mentioned, i would love the chance to see some of them, even if it is only to view something "different".

And defence of the programe makers, it must be very, very hard to make a hunting show without the use of feeders high fences ect, espcially in the volume you folks get them in.. I would also guess the are aimed at the more casual hunter sort of as a "chewing gum for the eyes" rather than anything too serious..

I like OLN's "Upland Days with Dash and Dez" (as someone said above, it's a really classy show), "Ducks with Billy and Buck", "Ducks Unlimited TV" and "Elk Country Journal". But I also agree that most of what it puts on is boring. Especially the fishing shows.

Occasionally you can find some good shows on ESPN's outdoors: http://espn.go.com/outdoors/general/s/g_tv_desc_complete_listings.html

I second what JLHeard said. "Upland Days with Dash & Dez" is one of my "don't miss favorites."

I am first and foremost, an upland game hunter, so it appeals to me.

PLUS it is refreshing to see a TV hunting show actually mention the word "safety."

It's always troubling to me, as a hunter education instructor, to watch hunting shows on TV and see obvious, blatant, safety mistakes. These guys should know better, and they should remember some of their audience may be youngsters who may see what they do, and emulate it.

Tim

The only show that i care for is "EASTMAN'S HUNTING JOURNAL".Some of the the best photography of WEST on public lands.