Is anyone else tired of seeing unrealistic hunting shows?

[offshorebear]

The way I hunt wouldn't make for a very good tv show. 3 or 4 days of freezing then a quick shot and its over.

I can't stand the hunting down in Texas, where they sit on top of a feeder and just wait for a big heard of deer to walk below them.

I do like Tred Barta's show. He does the hunt as hard as possible. That means instead of a shotgun for duck, he uses a homemade bow and arrow.

[Tomcat088]

Preach on, Brother Lycanthrope..

They use the top of the line ammo.. The latest laserbeam flat shooting uberloudenboomer ultra super short extra long magnum rifles.. Ride out in some fancy new truck to some fancy new shed or stand.. Act all retarded when they see something with horns, which was probably farm raised and prodded in that direction to a bait pile.


Lets see some real hunting.. ....regular cheapo Walmart/Kmart ammo, a beatup hand-me-down rifle, iron sights or an old 3-9x40 scope, snow on the ground, freezing their fingers/toes/nuts off, stalking their deer through briers. Then dragging it back out for a half mile or more, then walking back another half miles to get a tractor/truck/atv. Then listening to their mom/wife/girlfriend/grandma bitch about the blood stains on the basement floor as you butcher it.

I hate the hunting shows as much or more than ya'll do, but I do have a few questions about your post. Is there something wrong with using the best equipment that you can afford? Is there something wrong with making sure that you make an ethical kill on an animal? I don't ride out in a truck to my stand, I walked several miles to and from my hunting ground (not a stand or blind) this year. It was fairly cold (20's, and with the windchill, single digits), although we didn't have any snow.

I'm just trying to understand what using the cheapest thing money can buy equates to "real hunting". I don't consider baiting an animal, much less a pen raised animal in high fence country, "real hunting"; I still don't see what using the cheapest thing has to do with "real hunting". I take a rifle that costs as much as lots of people's vehicles, and shoot ammunition that I take a LOT of time reloading with quality bullets. I use those bullets because I KNOW they will reliably put an animal down at some of the distances that I shoot, and that they will be consistent at the distances that I shoot. I kill more animals in a year than most people do over several, between feral hogs, coyotes, bobcats, skunks, badgers, deer, etc. (not even including all the birds) Oh, and I do shoot a magnum "flat shooting" loudenboomer, but I can utilize all the range as well. I'm just trying to understand why real hunting has to be done with iron sights, at 50 yards using junk garbage Kmart ammunition. I still freeze my nuts off, and have taken plenty with beaten up hand me down rifles, but I don't quite understand what all the rest has to do with it.

The way I hunt wouldn't make for a very good tv show. 3 or 4 days of freezing then a quick shot and its over.

I can't stand the hunting down in Texas, where they sit on top of a feeder and just wait for a big heard of deer to walk below them.

I do like Tred Barta's show. He does the hunt as hard as possible. That means instead of a shotgun for duck, he uses a homemade bow and arrow.

Have you ever hunted in Texas? Have you hunted in lots of different areas in Texas? (seeing as how the state is as large at 4 other states) I think you're kind of running your mouth about things you don't know too much about. There are plenty of people that sit on deer feeders, but you still can't even come close to calling it the norm. There are LOTS of places in Texas where there's not even a tree to put a stand up in to "wait for a big heard to walk below". Most of the hunting grounds in Texas are FAR different than the high fence "trophy hunts" that you see on tv; most people I know in Texas DETEST high fence hunting. We believe that it's ruining hunting and turning it into a rich man's sport. Unlike lots of other states, we don't have very much public land to hunt animals on, it's all privately owned.

Have you ever tried to hunt in completely open country where you have almost no cover? Anything that is slightly off texture (not necessarily color), reflects, wind conditions wrong, moving too fast, etc. will SCREW you. Deer have VERY keen eyes (better than ours), and when you can see for several hundreds of yards or half a mile, it's not as easy as being in trees. Being in close is an advantage to the human, seeing as how they can see better. Are you confident at CONSISTENTLY making 200-400 yard cold bore shots on deer? Are you even able to just distances accurately to know the difference? If not, do you have a LRF?

Hunting in Texas isn't "easy", although I will give you that it's "different". I also don't understand what making something as difficult as possible has to do with "real hunting". Most people don't have the skills necessary to hunt like Tred Barta. I don't know anything about him, but I dang sure can't shoot ducks with a home made bow and arrow on the fly; I'd honestly be surprised if you could. I know lots of people that can't reliably make shots at 300 yards (1 SHOT, not multiples), so that might be a challenge for you as well; particularly when the wind almost never blows less than 10 mph, and many times it's 15 mph WITH gusts. It gets plenty cold here, as I said earlier, it was in the single digits when I was hunting the other day. So I'm curious, what is it that you don't particularly like about "Texas Hunting", or that you "can't stand"?

[offshorebear]

Sorry to cause so much offense, Tomcat. I didn't mean to categorize all Texas hunting, the state is far too big for that. There is a TV show on the Sportsman Network where the guy gets his big tripod feeder/hide and sits in it, picking out deer to shoot. I should have made that clearer.

I hunt powerlines and old strip mines, and offhand with a scope and sling out to 300 yards isn't much problem. With a rest I can stretch that further. The bigger problem is counting points or seeing spikes at that distance.

I have an open invite from a buddy to go hunt somewhere down around Houston. I'd love to get down there and hunt axis deer.

[Tomcat088]

Sorry to cause so much offense, Tomcat. I didn't mean to categorize all Texas hunting, the state is far too big for that. There is a TV show on the Sportsman Network where the guy gets his big tripod feeder/hide and sits in it, picking out deer to shoot. I should have made that clearer.

I hunt powerlines and old strip mines, and offhand with a scope and sling out to 300 yards isn't much problem. With a rest I can stretch that further. The bigger problem is counting points or seeing spikes at that distance.

I have an open invite from a buddy to go hunt somewhere down around Houston. I'd love to get down there and hunt axis deer.

No worries, and no offense taken, I was just wondering why such a big generality. I wouldn't like that show at all, and don't worry, ALL of us Texans would be pretty pissed too. I don't even watch those shows on Sportsman Network for that very reason. I don't like it when people only hunt feeders, it's not very sporting, and way too easy. You have to keep in mind though that lots of people pay thousands of dollars every year for their lease, and they're city people. Most of them have never had a "true hunter" take them under their wing, so sadly, lots of them are pretty ignorant. I suppose after you pay that much money and don't have much money from your high paying job; most of them don't care how they get a deer, they just want to shoot a deer. Again, I think it has to do with what Lycan said, tv has taught them to hunt. Don't worry my friend, lots of us don't like this hunting either; it's not nearly as fun, satisfying, or ethical in my opinion.

Sounds like you hunt some places where you can see a bit , my kind of hunting. If you can shoot offhand with a sling at 300 yards, then you're quite a shooter. I can shoot offhand, although I'm out of practice as I've gotten lazy and like to shoot off some type of rest. Either way, that's some fine shooting on your part. Yeah, I've heard about ya'lls antler restriction, so I can see how it could get complicated trying to count points, see spikes, etc.

Down in Houston, lots of the hunting they do is similar to what you were talking about. Sadly it's a lot of high fence country, with some feeders in openings watched by stands and blinds. There are some places where this isn't the case, but for the most part, that's what it is. Any open invite is a good one though, and I'd LOVE the chance to get to hunt some axis deer. That's big money hunting those imports, so take the chance if you get it my friend.

[jowi11]

If anyone wants to explore the possibility of producing a "real" hunting show, drop me a line. I have the technology to make it happen.

What? You mean like a "real" hunt where you might sit all day and still not see two or three eight pointers that just aren't quite big enough? That should give plenty of time to keep showing all of the sponsors' products that many people can't afford anyway.

Has there ever been a TV hunting show produced on PA public land? I would have to think not. There are still some big bucks around, but the work and time it would take to get one (i.e. doing your own scouting and finding a good spot that is not already taken)...why, that would be like....I don't know...hunting!!!

[Vortex]

. . . . different areas in Texas? (seeing as how the state is as large at 4 other states)

I actually had a High School biology teacher that was from Texas. He routinely referred to the U.S. war of 1861 as the "War Against Northern Aggression".

He also made the point that there were counties in Texas that by themselves were larger than entire states back east. So for instance, Brewster County (by itself) is larger than Connecticut. Alternatively, Brewster County is larger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined.

My guess is that much land leads to a lot of biological and geographical diversity.

It was also quite an experience for High School students to go on a trip to Gettysburg and have their biology teacher correcting the on-site historians.

[Feddog82]

It was also quite an experience for High School students to go on a trip to Gettysburg and have their biology teacher correcting the on-site historians.

Not to jack, but what business would a highschool biology teacher have taking students on a field trip to Gettysburg? I would sincerely like to know how that relates, just another supporting fact that our public school system has been failing for quite some time.

[knight0334]

I hate the hunting shows as much or more than ya'll do, but I do have a few questions about your post. Is there something wrong with using the best equipment that you can afford? Is there something wrong with making sure that you make an ethical kill on an animal? I don't ride out in a truck to my stand, I walked several miles to and from my hunting ground (not a stand or blind) this year. It was fairly cold (20's, and with the windchill, single digits), although we didn't have any snow.

I'm just trying to understand what using the cheapest thing money can buy equates to "real hunting". I don't consider baiting an animal, much less a pen raised animal in high fence country, "real hunting"; I still don't see what using the cheapest thing has to do with "real hunting". I take a rifle that costs as much as lots of people's vehicles, and shoot ammunition that I take a LOT of time reloading with quality bullets. I use those bullets because I KNOW they will reliably put an animal down at some of the distances that I shoot, and that they will be consistent at the distances that I shoot. I kill more animals in a year than most people do over several, between feral hogs, coyotes, bobcats, skunks, badgers, deer, etc. (not even including all the birds) Oh, and I do shoot a magnum "flat shooting" loudenboomer, but I can utilize all the range as well. I'm just trying to understand why real hunting has to be done with iron sights, at 50 yards using junk garbage Kmart ammunition. I still freeze my nuts off, and have taken plenty with beaten up hand me down rifles, but I don't quite understand what all the rest has to do with it.




Have you ever hunted in Texas? Have you hunted in lots of different areas in Texas? (seeing as how the state is as large at 4 other states) I think you're kind of running your mouth about things you don't know too much about. There are plenty of people that sit on deer feeders, but you still can't even come close to calling it the norm. There are LOTS of places in Texas where there's not even a tree to put a stand up in to "wait for a big heard to walk below". Most of the hunting grounds in Texas are FAR different than the high fence "trophy hunts" that you see on tv; most people I know in Texas DETEST high fence hunting. We believe that it's ruining hunting and turning it into a rich man's sport. Unlike lots of other states, we don't have very much public land to hunt animals on, it's all privately owned.

Have you ever tried to hunt in completely open country where you have almost no cover? Anything that is slightly off texture (not necessarily color), reflects, wind conditions wrong, moving too fast, etc. will SCREW you. Deer have VERY keen eyes (better than ours), and when you can see for several hundreds of yards or half a mile, it's not as easy as being in trees. Being in close is an advantage to the human, seeing as how they can see better. Are you confident at CONSISTENTLY making 200-400 yard cold bore shots on deer? Are you even able to just distances accurately to know the difference? If not, do you have a LRF?

Hunting in Texas isn't "easy", although I will give you that it's "different". I also don't understand what making something as difficult as possible has to do with "real hunting". Most people don't have the skills necessary to hunt like Tred Barta. I don't know anything about him, but I dang sure can't shoot ducks with a home made bow and arrow on the fly; I'd honestly be surprised if you could. I know lots of people that can't reliably make shots at 300 yards (1 SHOT, not multiples), so that might be a challenge for you as well; particularly when the wind almost never blows less than 10 mph, and many times it's 15 mph WITH gusts. It gets plenty cold here, as I said earlier, it was in the single digits when I was hunting the other day. So I'm curious, what is it that you don't particularly like about "Texas Hunting", or that you "can't stand"?

Nothing wrong with using the best that one can afford. But in real life your average Joe/Jill Hunter is a simple guy or gal using not-so top of the line gear, in harsher conditions, and isn't so focused on the "thrill of the hunt". Too many of those shows tend to be aimed towards the elitist rather than some guy working 60hrs a week and fighting to put food on his/her family's table. That typical hunter is using some older gun that got for his 16th B-day, or inherited, got at a yardsale, etc.


Where I've hunted - no, I haven't hunted in TX yet. But I have hunted in Montana, Wyoming, Tennessee, West Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, and Pennsylvania in a number of landscape types from wide open prairies to dense palmetto thickets. Different is a definite.. While The Republic of Texas does have the most hunters in the field, The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania takes 2nd place and not far behind TX in the numbers.. Our conditions rarely reflect what those shows portray, ours of which are nearly the same as WV, upper and western VA, TN, KY, western NC, NY, and the rest of the north east. All but a couple of those shows were in ecologic environmental range much closer to TX conditions.

[Sandcut]

I don't watch shows about hunting on VS. or the other outdoor networks.


Occasionally I'll watch some of the 30 minute long commercials that they have where they shoot animals.

Honestly, I haven't much use for these shows. Much like porn does for a marriage, these shows create unrealistic expectations that can never be achieved in reality. Subsequently, you go away from your real experiences unfulfilled and bitter.

I'll do without the shows and be happy for what I have and enjoy the time that I'm given.

YMMV.

[cameraman]

What? You mean like a "real" hunt where you might sit all day and still not see two or three eight pointers that just aren't quite big enough? That should give plenty of time to keep showing all of the sponsors' products that many people can't afford anyway.

Has there ever been a TV hunting show produced on PA public land? I would have to think not. There are still some big bucks around, but the work and time it would take to get one (i.e. doing your own scouting and finding a good spot that is not already taken)...why, that would be like....I don't know...hunting!!!

There used to be a show called "PA Outback". It started as all Pennsylvania hunting. It got picked up by the Outdoor Channel and changed the name to USA Outback and expanded where they hunt. I shot for them on a handicap deer hunt in Michigan. That show was all public or free range private land hunting.
It has since gone to subscription on the internet.