Is Hunting Television Dead?

A great deal of my time as a youngster was spent in front of a TV watching hunting and fishing shows. I just couldn’t get enough of them. On Saturday mornings, I would get up way before the sun came up just so I could start watching outdoor television all morning long. Saturday cartoons? Nope. Immersing myself in these adventures lit a fire in me from a young age. For hours on end I would live vicariously through various hunters and anglers in my TV screen. They inspired me to learn more about this stuff and to be out in the field as much as possible. Almost to the point of me getting bad grades, because it was all I could think about. That fire inside would soon turn into an explosion once I hit my mid twenties.

So, you might say that a fella like myself might owe a bit of something to outdoor television right? I would agree with you. However, once I did reach my mid twenties it became extremely apparent to me that something just wasn’t adding up. How in the world were these folks as successful as they were in so little time? Meanwhile, I am over here just salivating on HOPEFULLY getting my first deer as a young man. Watching these shows actually started to make me feel like I just couldn’t succeed. They made it look so easy. Why couldn’t I do that? What was once an inspiration turned into something that made me feel like what I was seeking was unattainable for myself.

What You See

A lone hunter sits in a treestand just before the sun is about to present itself to them. They whisper to the camera to inform us of a certain buck they have been watching via trail camera and how they hope he comes walking by. All of a sudden a doe emerges. We can hear her hooves moving through the leaf litter. The peaking sun glistens off her back. She is on high alert as she makes her way into bow range of the hunter. Then it happens. Off in the distance, through the dense forest we see branches upon branches. Soon, those branches move though and we realize that we are in fact looking at the antlers of the buck that was mentioned earlier. Little by little the old buck makes his way through the thick timber and into view. He is concerned about his well being, but his urge to breed takes over. The buck can’t resist the doe out in front of him. So, he walks out broadside to the hunter. They come to full draw, stop the deer with a “meh” and it’s all over. Dead deer. All the while, the time that has passed by sits around a few minutes. You might see this happen 3 times during a 30 minute hunting show. Lots of action for sure!

What You Don’t See

Typically, a 30 min hunting show contains about 23 minutes of actual hunting footage. Because of this time constraint on the content creators, you are seeing only a fraction of the hunt. This can be very misleading to folks, especially new hunters and the youth. I myself fell victim to this as a young lad. Seeing these hunters be so successful, in what seemed like so little time, made me feel incredibly inadequate as a youngster. It can tend to give off the impression that this hunting stuff is easy, which is far and away from the truth. What you aren’t seeing in that 23 minutes of footage is the struggle and down time they may have experienced during the hunt. The hunter might have hunted for 8 days with little action, but then on the last day…..BOOM. There it is. We are getting a highlight reel, not the whole story. It makes sense. 23 minutes is not a long time at all.

Personally, what I would rather see in that 23 minutes is more of the experience. I’d rather see a show that focused on the hunt as a whole, with 1 tag filled or none for that matter, at the end of the show, over seeing 3-4 animals get killed. Pulling a trigger only lasts a second of the hunt. Everything that happened before that is the real story. Take that away and all you’ve got is a kill shot reel.

A New Generation

I am happy to say that media in the hunting world has come a long way since I was a kid. So much so that some of them are more like films than shows or videos. Films filled with compelling story lines, absolutely epic footage, and an honest look at what we experience out there. From glory to heartbreak, it’s all part of it. I appreciate shows like this much more because they resonate with me on a whole different level than those of the past. Oftentimes, I can see myself in the boots of the hunter behind the camera. There have been many,”been there,” moments while watching these. Some of them even exist on an actual TV network, which as of late is seeming to get a run for it’s money from the internet shows out there. Shows like MeatEater and Uncharted offer viewers a different look and experience over the typical hunting shows of the past. They are refreshing and inspirational.

Internet Craze

Aside from a small sect of shows on TV, the online hunting film game is alive and well. More and more folks are buying cameras and documenting their stories to post online somewhere for the world to see. No more do you need to get a slot on a television network. Now, all you need to do is have ambition, a camera, and hit PUBLISH. BAM! It’s out there. These DIY filmed hunts have inspired a whole new generation of hunters and are giving what I would call a very honest look into the life of a hunter. Tears are shed, a tag isn’t always filled, and they are showing the real and raw story of their hunts. Film tours even exist in the name of these works of art to showcase them to hunters around the country. Full Draw Film Tour and The Hunting Film Tour do just that. If you’ve never been to one of these, I highly suggest you go and check one out. Great films, great folks, and a great time.

Closing Thoughts

As I reflect back on my youth and watching old Primos videos in my Dad’s camper on our annual deer hunt, it just makes me smile. It was a time in my life when everything was exciting and new. I wanted so badly to soak up every drop of hunting info that I could. These shows made me dream about hunts I would love to do in the future and those that I felt like I would never get to do. Window shopping at it’s finest. Just like anything, progression is imminent though. Hunting films/shows have moved in a different direction than those that came before. I feel like more and more hunters are OK with that. I know I am. These new adventure films/shows are incredibly refreshing to what was becoming a very stale plethora of productions. In my eyes, this is what we need to be putting out there to inspire new hunters. Showing them what’s underneath the surface, rather than a bunch of kill shots, is what ultimately will pull them in and make them understand better why we do what we do. Because, as we all know, there is so much more to hunting than taking an animal home. A move in the right direction if you ask me.