What has Hunting Become
While watching the Outdoor Channel the other night I begin to think about just how big of a money making racket hunting has become! Now don’t get me wrong, I love hunting shows and videos and am a big fan of a lot of the shows and hunting celebrities out there now, but to be honest some of the newer shows and new comer celebrities just plain suck!
I am smart enough to know that to make good hunting videos they have to produce lots of animal footage and kill scenes which means going where they are at! Seems now days though they are always advertising some big ranch they were hunting on at the end of the show. I also know, (from watching how their shows have progressed over the years), that a lot of those guys have paid their dues and got where they are because of the love and passion they have for their sport.
Some of the newer hunting celebrities that I have seen lately would do better to just keep their hunts to themselves and quit wasting airtime on TV, or shelf space in the video section. I mean they wanna portray themselves as some big hunter who has sweat blood to get a crack at a trophy when in reality the outfitter did all the work all they did was take the dang shot!
Well let me tell ya, me, you, or any other average non-professional hunter, who can shoot half way straight, could do the same thing if we had access to the properties they are hunting. I would love to see some of those pro’s have to hunt places like me or my friends hunt, just to see how long it would take before they decided to take up another hobby instead. See how long they would get up every morning at 4 and 5 am for weeks at a time to see only a handful of deer, compared to the 50 a day they see on the managed places they hunt. And then when they do finally see a shooter buck he would not be a huge Boone and Crockett like the ones they are used to shooting, probably not even as big as the 20 or so that they let walk by, hunting with the outfitters they hunt with!
I looked up some of the ranches that I thought I might be interested in booking a hunt with sometime and I can only say this, if you are an average working stiff like me, then you might as well forget it! Some of those places would require guys like me to take out a second mortgage on their home to go shoot a deer!
Also I noticed that high fenced operations are really taking off now, and if that’s your thing, then more power to you and to each his own, but personally I think it should be outlawed! I have hunted a high fenced ranch before and I can honestly say that the adrenaline rush that I get when I am within bow range of a free ranging animal just wasn’t there while I was inside that fence.
I really like the excuse they use about how they do not use high fences to keep deer in,they use high fences to keep other deer out and manage the herd! Maybe it’s true, but I think it’s bull! I guess using that excuse is how they are getting away with keeping whitetails confined, because unless they have purchased some special breed deer or exotic, I have always been told that whitetails in Texas were property of the state and illegal to confine, and are free to roam where they please. Guess I was wrong and I am glad it is working out for the guys that came up with the idea, and for realizing there are people who are willing to pay 5 grand to get in there and shoot one! Just wish I woulda thought up that idea about 20 years ago when land was cheaper, but with my luck, if I had of thought it up, they would have outlawed it! LOL
Like I said if that’s your thing and you can afford it and get satisfaction out of it, that’s great. I also know that a lot of guys are busy and they do not get very much time to hunt, so naturally when they do get a chance to hunt they wanna go where they are gonna have their best chance of success, and I guess I would too. As for me, if someone told me that if I would give up my little hunting spot, and I would only go hunting one week a year, and that they would guarantee me a shot at a Boone and Crockett buck every year until I died…. I would look at them and say, “No Deal”!
As far as hunting shows and videos go my favorites are Primo’s, Realtree Roadtrips with Michael Waddell, Hunting the Country, Roger Raglin, Drury Brothers videos and a few more. I love these shows and I believe from just watching and listening to those guys that their passion and devotion for the outdoors is what got them where they are. They deserve to represent the hunting community with their own TV shows. I also know just by hearing the way they talk about hunting, and seeing how excited and into it they get, that they would be in the woods even if they were not on camera!