What is up with these tv cable network hunting programs?

D

Don

New member
I am almost embarrassed to be associated as a gun owner and hunter.

It seems as though near 60 percent of the rifle hunts for big browser game (deer, antelope, sheep, elk, etc.) require multiple shots to bring down the game at 300 yards or less, most of the multiple shots are complete misses, not just poor placement. The majority of these shots are taken on absolutely still game, from tree stands or blinds, or prone and sitting positions usually using bipods or shooting sticks.

The best that I can make out is that most of the misses are caused by extreme angled or elevated shooting angles, where the shooter is not aware of the angle affect and does not compensate thereby invariably shooting over the animal. Still, I am surprised at the complete misses at these relatively short distances, even with the angle miscalculations, I would expect high impacts and not complete misses.

Funny, these programs are always edited to never show the bullet impact areas of the game, so that the audience cannot see how bad the shot placements really are.

This gives me a better appreciation for some of the hunting postings that show up on this messageboard that always claim one shot kills that always drop the animal directly where it was shot. If these tv hunting programs are any representation of what happens in the real world, than there are alot more wounded and maimed animals than I would have thought.

And this just does not only apply to rifle hunters, I noticed the same angular problem with bow hunters firing from tree stands. If a bow hunter from a tree stand missed it was always over the top of the animal.

I think all hunters need to spend some extra time calculating and practicing angular shots, after having sighted in their rifles/bows on flat firing ranges.

Oh, and my other pet pieve about these tv hunting shows, if I see one more hunter sweep his hunting partner, guide, or the camera man with his loaded rifle, I am going to perform a "shoe throwing protest" at my flatscreen.

I dont know how those hunting guides put up with that crap on a daily basis. If I guided for a profession, the number one rule would be if you point a gun at anyone in the hunting party, that is it, the hunt is over, and this mantra would be repeated on an hourly basis to the hunting clients. Of course if these tv hunting programs are any indication, I would be out of business in no time flat due to booted clients.........................Don
 
Don,

One of my all time favourite shows was an English cooking program about a lady cook & male friend roaming around Spain harvesting wild food & cooking it in the local manner with local help & advice. Two favourite scenes were where he shot a wild boar & a chamois. In both cases, you better believe that you saw exactly where his shot hit (in real time) & how quickly previously undisturbed game hits the deck when heart shot with a suitable load.

Come to think of it, I never have seen a US show where a beast is hit or a bird centred with a charge of shot, whereas it's not at all uncommon in British shows.

John
 
i don't like one new show that i won't name but it centers on shooting big game at extreme ranges,they put a gun in a hunters hands & let him shot at 600yds plus! one even admitted he had never shot more than 300yds,to me this is highly unethical & should be removed from tv! i was raised to try to stalk as close to the animal as possible to insure a humane kill shot,this is part of hunting,what they're doing gives hunters and hunting a bad name,just my 2 cents worth
 
John Kielly said:
Don,

One of my all time favourite shows was an English cooking program about a lady cook & male friend roaming around Spain harvesting wild food & cooking it in the local manner with local help & advice. Two favourite scenes were where he shot a wild boar & a chamois. In both cases, you better believe that you saw exactly where his shot hit (in real time) & how quickly previously undisturbed game hits the deck when heart shot with a suitable load.

Come to think of it, I never have seen a US show where a beast is hit or a bird centred with a charge of shot, whereas it's not at all uncommon in British shows.

John
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Hi John,

Another interesting observation, for me, was how the hunters of these tv programs were absolutely exhausted after firing their rifle shots, even those sitting stationary in hunting blinds for hours. So exhausted, many of the hunters had a very difficult time conducting the after shot analysis because they were out of breath.

Just goes to show that things other than physical exertion, like excitement, anticipation, and stress, can leave a person reacting like they just completed a long distance run.....................Don
 
I just love the ads on those TV hunting shows!!

Years ago (about 1960) I was a bow hunter chasing white-tails. My equipment consisted of a recurve bow, quiver, and cedar arrows plus wrist and finger guards. My buddies and I never climbed a tree but we managed to kill a deer from time to time.

The TV show ads these days show how much things have changed. Here's a partial list of what many young hunters now think they MUST have to stand a chance of killing something:

Tree stand, several different camo pattern suits, scent eliminators (several kinds), artificial rattling antlers, grunt tubes and bleating calls, deer decoys, doe-in-heat deer lure, trail camera, etc. Of course, you need a Rambo-like compound bow and the latest carbon fiber arrows with one of about a dozen different broadhead types. Plus, you gotta be a farmer and plant and cultivate several food plots and buy a couple hundred pounds of supplements so the bucks don't end up with dinky little spikes. Oh yeah, I forgot--you need a big four-wheeler to drive into the woods so you don't have to walk.

The sad part is that many hunters today don't believe that you can still be successful the way we did it in the old days.
 
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Don said:
I am almost embarrassed to be associated as a gun owner and hunter.

It seems as though near 60 percent of the rifle hunts for big browser game (deer, antelope, sheep, elk, etc.) require multiple shots to bring down the game at 300 yards or less, most of the multiple shots are complete misses, not just poor placement. The majority of these shots are taken on absolutely still game, from tree stands or blinds, or prone and sitting positions usually using bipods or shooting sticks.

The best that I can make out is that most of the misses are caused by extreme angled or elevated shooting angles, where the shooter is not aware of the angle affect and does not compensate thereby invariably shooting over the animal. Still, I am surprised at the complete misses at these relatively short distances, even with the angle miscalculations, I would expect high impacts and not complete misses.

Funny, these programs are always edited to never show the bullet impact areas of the game, so that the audience cannot see how bad the shot placements really are.

This gives me a better appreciation for some of the hunting postings that show up on this messageboard that always claim one shot kills that always drop the animal directly where it was shot. If these tv hunting programs are any representation of what happens in the real world, than there are alot more wounded and maimed animals than I would have thought.

And this just does not only apply to rifle hunters, I noticed the same angular problem with bow hunters firing from tree stands. If a bow hunter from a tree stand missed it was always over the top of the animal.

I think all hunters need to spend some extra time calculating and practicing angular shots, after having sighted in their rifles/bows on flat firing ranges.

Oh, and my other pet pieve about these tv hunting shows, if I see one more hunter sweep his hunting partner, guide, or the camera man with his loaded rifle, I am going to perform a "shoe throwing protest" at my flatscreen.

I dont know how those hunting guides put up with that crap on a daily basis. If I guided for a profession, the number one rule would be if you point a gun at anyone in the hunting party, that is it, the hunt is over, and this mantra would be repeated on an hourly basis to the hunting clients. Of course if these tv hunting programs are any indication, I would be out of business in no time flat due to booted clients.........................Don
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I haven't seen that on the show's I've watched on the outdoor channel, although admittedly, I don't watch much TV.

The best of the west show is what comes to mind, elk hunting. One boy shot one at 965 yards with a 6,5x284, and it dropped like a rock.

I though that was a pretty good shot "in the field"

There is always channel 263 if the hunting channels have you distressed.

LOL

Ben
 
I think that most true accuracy minded riflemen take for granted just how poor the average hunters shooting ability is. I would not be scared to say that the average hunter can't put ten shots in a 6" circle at 100 yards, but you have to think that most of these people probably don't shoot more than a box of cartridges a year.
 
Hollywood /Blood/acceptible TV?

I think that the KILL shots are edited to SHOW LESS BLOOD to make it more PC. It's a shame that so many of the public can't take REAL LIFE. As far as some of the so called (PRO HUNTERS) are concerned ,I think a few of them walked into the JOB interview with Camo on and the BIG WIGS thought that ment they were PROFESSIONAL HUNTERS :(. I don't think 90% could track a Bulldozer in 2ft. of snow let alone hit it with a rifle under field conditions @ 200yds.
 
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90% of hunting shows are all B-roll....I know this because I have guided many. Everybody misses for time to time but most misses are from buck fever mixed with lack of confidence period..... I love guiding everything about it rocks!!!! I may not be rich but I feel like I am!!!!!



Oh, and my other pet pieve about these tv hunting shows, if I see one more hunter sweep his hunting partner, guide, or the camera man with his loaded rifle, I am going to perform a "shoe throwing protest" at my flatscreen.

(+100,000,000,000,000 on that statement, I have a lot of stories on that one)
 
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Just finished watching a whitetail deer hunt located somewhere in midwest-USA.

Tree stand bow hunter, again, fires high on a 200 plus pound buck just barely clipping the high side of the animal, surprisingly dropping it immediately in its tracks.

After a few moments the buck starts thrashing about and then miraculously bolts off in a belly crawl using its two good front legs, dragging its paralyzed rear legs, with the arrow shaft hanging out its top side, apparantly having severed its spine.

According to the hunter/narrator, they looked for the deer a full 6 hours that night, and returned to the same location the next day and spent another 6 hours, but were unable to locate the wounded animal, although they did find a broken arrow shaft though missing 3-4 inches of its length and the broadhead/tip.

Turns out the story has a happy ending, the same hunter returns a couple months later to the same tree stand, but with a rifle, for that states firearm deer hunt season, having heard of several reports of a large 200 pound buck with a slight limp in the same area.

At days end a similar looking buck shows up and this same hunter whacks it with a single shot but takes awhile to find it in the dark.

Has it dressed at a professional butcher whereby they find the broadhead still inbedded in the deer spine, but apparently not deep enough to have caused permanent paralysis.

Hats off to the show and producers for showing a hunt that did not go as expected, and depicted the realities of real life hunting.............Don
 
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Hunting Shows

Way, way, way, too commercialized, would really like to know how much of that game meat those purdy look'n boys and girls really eat. If you like to see them animals get hit just hang in there and watch that fancy pellet gun commercial they show all the blood and gore! Used to be a couple "gun writers" in the 60's 70's John Wooters was one said when they start showing the animals getting hit it was goin to be over. I dont like the commercialization, and the direction of the programing going toward bass tournaments only here there is no catch and release. Must be the American Indian in me wanting the hunt to be a personnal one on one with your game animal. Just my opinion, probably outdated. STBE
 
STBE Harris said:
Way, way, way, too commercialized, would really like to know how much of that game meat those purdy look'n boys and girls really eat. STBE
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For me, it feels like listening to some of the endless NASCAR promotions.

I am also suspicious when seeing some of those "pack in/out" hunts, and the only animal parts on those pack racks are the trophy racks and skins.......................has the same feel as to what the old time buffalo hunts might have been like.
 
longrange223 said:
i don't like one new show that i won't name but it centers on shooting big game at extreme ranges,they put a gun in a hunters hands & let him shot at 600yds plus! one even admitted he had never shot more than 300yds,to me this is highly unethical & should be removed from tv! i was raised to try to stalk as close to the animal as possible to insure a humane kill shot,this is part of hunting,what they're doing gives hunters and hunting a bad name,just my 2 cents worth
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+1

Right out'a my mouth as well.

Makes me sick...

cale
 
Try being a hunting guide for elk and deer and see how bad some of thease hunters shoot. some times it's very hard work.
 
Asa Yam said:
Non-US readers may not be able to access the information:
http://stinet.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA367672&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf
NOTE: File is 3.47 Megs - might take a while to download for some.

Now, if anyone tells you they can consistently get one shot game kills at 1000 yards, just roll your eyes, reach for the print-out, and say "Righhhhhhht......" :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Asa the link tells me the file is corrupt. is there another link? as i would like to see what the study says
 
I gave up the hunt out here in Oregon in the coastal range for 2 good reasons...blackberry vines and bad hunters!! The woods are full of them, they shoot at sound, movement, trees and trucks. I'm only alive today because their aim is so woefully bad...and I swear on a stack that those vines will move against a heavy wind just to snare you...it down right spooky!!Good shooting, Gary:
 
Have you ever taken note of a shot that the hunter made on TV where the shot was made in the morning or with lots of light and then it seems when they locate the animal it's closer to dusk? This is due to tracking a wounded animal. I also hate to hear about how large of a game the hunter is trying to harvet with the smallest caliber, assuming he will always be presented with the most ideal shot and conditions, and he never minds tracking it. Where's the ethics in that! I think proper calibers, matched with proper bullets for the job at hand, and well-placed shots are the minimum expected critera. Maybe they should have hunting schools where hunters should pass a test before they're given a permit to take any game. I know hunters pour a lot of money into animal preservation, but that doesn't given anyone the right to take a shot without assurance the bullet will hit where intended (and doping the wind, doing the math, using the proper round, etc.).
 
I like the ones...

where the deer follow the grain up to the blind. And then the "hunter" blasts away from the blind from about 40 yards. Wow, what a hunt! You can watch the deer thoughtfully munching the grain piled on the ground as the hunters squirm and zero in for their difficult shot. Pathetic.
 
People who watch those are like the people who watch porno films and think that that is really the way it is LOL!!!!! :eek:

Hunting shows are kind of like professional wrestling except that in professional wrestling they cannot shoot the walk up to the animal scene 5times because they forgot the rant about how great it was to be out hunting!!:eek:
 
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