Hurt...when it's genuine, fine. That first buck, gobbler, yote or bear you DRT on camera is raw emotion, not to be denied for anyone. But I have a problem with Tiffany and her rehearsed, pathetic "big buck" dialogue and non-genuine body language.

I was raised on Curt Gowdy and the American Sportsman. Lots of over the shoulder camera work and few cut-aways. Celebration consisted of a firm handshake and a pat on the dogs head and nobody was trying to sell me gadgets that no ones needs.

I don't think I have ever danced, high fived incessantly, or pumped the lawn mower, or hooted and hollered. I would hope that if I ever killed a real B&C elk or deer, I would not act like some of the giggling idiots on TV. Gray hair and beards does not wear well with giggling like a giddy school girl. See Stan Potts, Roger Raglin, et al. Good grief!

I'm not sure what I'd do. I've got a face for radio and a voice for print. Hopefully I'd be so focused on the hunt and the moment that I wouldn't think about it and I'd just be myself (unfortunately for any viewers). Otherwise there really wouldn't be a point in me being out there.
I imagine when you're sitting in a tripod blind overlooking a freshly corned service road, like some of our Saturday morning celebs, you have a lot of time to rehearse the moment.

As hunters we can all identify the emotions (real or fake) displayed by the celebrity hunters. Yet it is important they realize we are not the only audience. Our way of life is under attack by forces both from within and out of our circle. When a celebrity "hunter" jjumps for joy and acts a complete fool moments after killing a magnificent animal, what do you think the antis are seeing? Most of us were brought into this fold by our fathers, grandfathers, uncles or brothers. The first rule...always RESPECT the animal, and thank it for its sacrifice. I can't remember the last time I saw ANY of them do that. Keep the crying, jumping, and wise crack sayings for the trailer or the camp.

Walt- How many hours do you spend on stand each year? Or, how much time do you spend in the off season, working to better your hunting area? I doubt nothing even close to what the Drurys, Lee and Tiffany and many other honest TV hosts do every year to get the footage they do. In the midwest we have no national forest and honestly I doubt you could even put a watchable show together under those conditions.If you dont represent a product(sponsors] you dont have a show. Around here all the farms are private, its what you do with yours, is what makes the differance.

The biggest problem I see is the shows like Teds, Kieth Warrens and many others that try to pass off fenced deer hunts as free range hunts, put a bad taste in the average guys mouth.There is something to learn from the shows that showcase what they have been able to do with a farm despite not being fenced and haveing neighbors that may not have the same goals. My question I put to Walt and the others with his opinion, is what would you rather do, if your long lost uncle willed you his 500 acre farm in the midwest. Sell it and run,graze cattle and rape everything you can get off the land with modern farming practices, or turn it into a whitetail paradise and have a place to hunt with your family and friends forever, paying the real estate taxes and expenses with income from some paid hunters and a few video hunts. The days of knocking on doors for a place to hunt are gone. If you dont want to be stuck on over pressured public land forever you better do something about it, and quit putting down the people with enough forethought to make sure they are not on the outside looking in.

i can't say that i ever got overly excited about a kill besides my first deer which happened to be an average 3x3. to me it was the biggest of the herd. i also hate it when these celebs make a kill and the only thing they are focused on is the antlers. makes me wonder how much they would love that rack if it was simply shoved up their a**!

The foolishness of a few can hold large consequences for many. Just like can happen with the general public, we hunters can be quick to pass judgement on an entire group because of the poor judgement/lack of respect that a few members might display. While I agree with many of you in the fact that some outdoor shows lack a certain amount of couth, you cannot honestly say that all shows are alike. There are a few good shows out there that highlight good family values, respect for the hunt, and the comradery among hunting partners, not just the horns. Yes, the horns are talked about and celebrated. That is part of it. Just not ALL of it.

Maybe that's why I am a fan, because they reflect what I hold true to a hunt. Could I do it any better, or even just as well? I doubt it. As our comments have proven here and on the other post, this is a tough audience to please.

The real hunting show would be far more entertaining that the usual huckstering. Imagine the deer hunting camp, with profane old uncle fizzbin and dumb as a post cousin Irkle, doddering grampa phlegm, Jack Nimrod (one of the guys from the plant) and Iggy. The beat up old guns might range from Irkles last ditch Arisaka to Nimrods bubbaized 30-40 Krag. There would be beer, there might not be deer, the raccoons will raid the coolers and Irkle will shoot that skunk upwind of camp, despite desperate pleas to dissist, the pickup will break down, requiring a tow and a head gasket. Fashions will revolve around dirty beerlogo tee shirts, greasy jeans and Thrallmart copies of Carharts. Much of the hunting party will be too hung over to hunt for anything other than the toilet paper (which no one will have brought) in the morning, except for iggy the kid, who may bag the only deer of the event with his ancient Savage Super Single 12 gauge, while the adults are still staggering about looking for cigarettes and trying to make "cowboy coffee" in an old tin Billy. Iggy will of course become violently ill in the course of field dressing his prize which may be utterly bodged by the lack of a sharp knife.
And that would be "hunting show" enough.

I like to see a show with both active and retired Military

The best reaction I've ever seen on TV--and I can't remember the show--was when a young women openly sobbed after shooting her first elk. It was clearly genuine and seemed totally unexpected to her. She cried uncontrollably as she took in the weight of the moment and kept saying, "That's intense; that's intense." And that's right. Killing an animal is an intense, profound, weighty thing. I know guys who have killed dozens of deer yet still often cry after a kill. I know others who jump up and down like cheerleaders. It's highly personal. If you ask me, whatever comes naturally is fine, as long as it's not intentionally crass or disrespectful to the critter. As far as TV reactions go, I don't want to put myself in the position of guessing whether someone's reaction is genuine. But I'll say this. It sometimes doesn't come across well. Typically, all you see on a hunting show is the kill and the reaction, and so naturally it appears as though the reaction is to the kill specifically. Of course experienced hunters know it's much more than that. But that often doesn't come across on TV and can therefore give the wrong impression.

Amen Buckhunter, I did too. Bing Crosby and Phil Harris were some of my favorites on that show. Their banter with each other hit of miss was wonderful. "Excellent shot Mr. Crosby. Why thank you Mr. Harris...", always working in dry humor. Good stuff!

As my old football coach told us with a line borrowed from Vince Lombardi, "Act like you have been there before." "Dignity is never out of fashion..."

I agree with clay cooper where he says that he enjoys shows that don't put the spotlight on the main person of the show but instead dedicate hunts to veterans or disabled people. Both Ted Nugent and Jim Zumbo do a good job of this and let that person experience something they might not have ever had a chance to.

Walt- why must you always cut on anyone who makes a career in the deer hunting industry?Do you have the same opinion of the columnists on this F&S site?I can only imagine what a pain in the ass you would be to share a camp with.

Walt- I dont expect you to ever come around to the real world. Most of us are not content hunting on overpressured public land, and want to make what we do have control of better. If we chose not to be cattle farmers and instead turn our land into a "deer farm" then who are you to look down your nose at us. You seem to think when a guy plants a food plot every deer in the country hits it like clockwork. Thats far from the truth. Alot of the time it gets even harder to kill a good buck when you have 20 different feeding areras but can only hunt one at a time. Deer around here have it to good, 70 percent unhunted sanctuaries and food everywhere. Not shooting fish in a barrel. Whitetail hunting is big business and most guys want to know how to get the most of their land. Get used to it or turn your tv off.

I'm stunned and overwhelmed by the amount of savage jealousy harbored by my fellow hunters. Sounds like the only way to be liked as a hunting TV personality is to:

A. Never kill anything bigger than any of your viewers
B. Not have any sponsors or cool gear
C. Not react when you have a successful hunt
D. Not manage your land if you're blessed enough to have some
E. Don't use food sources to your advantage
F. Don't have a pretty wife
E. Accept no free hunts
F. Use none of your other talents to add entertainment to the show

Crapventures, airing next fall. Be sure to watch.

Someone is taking themselves way too seriously! LOL

Bella, you mean to tell me those McManus stories weren't about real live events? I experienced a lot of similar episodes---so ridiculous and dumb I'd hesitate to tell anybody about them.

Oh, yeah, about the topic. Hunting shows have gone right near the bottom of my watching list, just above Bridezillas. I would like to see a (successful) hunt of my own taped just to see how my memory of it agreed with the actual event.

I am by myself when I make the kill and I thank the Lord above for giving me the health to hunt and to kill the animal and to be in the outdoors. I just sit in silence for quite some time admiring the animal reguardless of the rack it has large or small. After I get my animal back to camp and it is on the pole a handshake is about as crazy as it gets. That night after supper we relive our kills of the day over for all the guys. I get tired of hearing how great the TC guns are when I had $2400.00 of the junk and Jim Shockey says there is no other scope other than a Leopold and I know better and every other " TV Hunter" has to give you the complete list of all of the products that it takes to kill an animal on a high fenced area or a closed area where the average hunter cannot hunt. I guess there are alot of people who like to watch these shows or they would not be on TV. If no one liked them, the advertising dollars would dry up. I used to watch the Outdoor channel but now with the foremat it has and the BS it promotes it gives me more time to watch Fox news. The older I get the more I just appreciate being out in nature and being able to hunt and kill an animal in the wide open spaces. This is truly a gift of God.

My hunting is so unlike the TV shows that I am not sure how I would react. I think it does a disservice in that young people watch these shows and then you take them to the woods and they think they are going to have their choice of huge racks to choose from in a half an hour. Most of my friends have hunted for thirty years or more for a few big deer... I know a lot of people who have hunted years and never killed a deer. The joy is in being in the woods and away from life as we normally know it. TV does not convey that.