Just when I was about to change my mind....

[Hooksfan]

I had a little down time this morning. I was extremely bored. I decided to do something I hadn't done in at least 6 months. I flipped to the Outdoor Channel. All I could stand was about 10 minutes, but here's what I saw on a show called "Struttin bucks"
Dude was walkin down the side of a field lookin for something he had shot with his bow--no tracking--just randomly looking. He had a black shirt on so I figured he had shot a thunderchicken.
After covering considerable ground he spots what he is looking for. After posing and mentioning every manufacturer that he couldn't have killed the chicken without, he mentions he had taken a poke at one at 40 yards earlier but good thing he had a clean miss. They show a quick clip of the "miss" and I see feathers fly everywhere and the bird runnin off. Unbelievable.
Next hunt, mebbe same dude, mebbe different dude is talkin to the camera about how the morning was a cluster--forgot his tripod and didn't get to setup till after daylight--I'm scratchin my head wondering how he was planning to kill one with a tripod, when a tom goes diagonal across the field totally ignoring his strutting tom decoy and pizz poor calling so he lets an arrow fly at what he says was 35 yards---Another lie-- and misses the bird. Then he comments he had "littered" the field with 3 carbon arrows and said something about the farmers flat tires and laughs and then complains about a lack of action.
So...if my sum total knowledge of hunting was based on TV shows then I guess I would believe all turkeys shot with either guns or bows were either clean kills or clean misses. Why can't these goofs be honest and actually show all the birds they are crippling?
This past season I called in 14 birds that died. I called in three that were clean misses (One for each kid and one myself in South Dakota that I am still having nightmares over), and one bird that my neighbor friend crippled and we did not recover.

That's a pretty good representation of how I would bet the kill, miss, and cripple ratio would break down for most folks with shotguns. No amount of arguing will ever convince me the wound ratio isn't exponentially larger for archery.
What bugs me is I believe these hunting shows are dishonest and these are the so called "professionals" taking 40 yard pokes on camera and pushing for early archery seasons in Missouri.
If watching the "pros" bowhunt turkeys on TV is a train wreck, I can only imagine when MDC turns the masses loose on em.

I'm done for now...

[neal]

Funny I turned it on the other day for the first time in close to a year 15 min enough for me!

[barry]

Why can't these goofs be honest and actually show all the birds they are crippling?
This past season I called in 14 birds that died. I called in three that were clean misses (One for each kid and one myself in South Dakota that I am still having nightmares over), and one bird that my neighbor friend crippled and we did not recover.

That's a pretty good representation of how I would bet the kill, miss, and cripple ratio would break down for most folks with shotguns.

I'd say the miss/cripple ratio is way higher for these shows. It's all about the kill no matter what extreme measures they need to take to get it. Plus some of the so called "hunters" on these shows look like they need to attend a Hunter Ed class!!!

[redarrow]

Sad thing is ,misses and crippled game don't sell videos.Its all about the money to those guys.

[longspur]

used to pay 5 bucks for outdoor channel. don't even have it anymore. Watched them shoot a tom in the back couple years ago then try  to cover it up and lie about it. I'm afraid most people in the woods are not hunters anyway. How many people you think would walk by your camera and not steal it?

[Eric Gregg]

I am not a fan of hunting shows much either.....they do not accurately depict real hunting situations and most hunters that I know

[stone road turkey calls]

When bill dance quits my outdoor tv watching will be over.

[surehuntsalot]

I quit watching a long time ago
nothing but junk

[ccleroy]

Haven't watched in 4-5 years....it's is an absurd joke.

[tomstopper]

Don't care to watch. I would rather spend my time watching a sport or sportscenter first.