What makes a good outdoor show these days? That’s a question I’ve pondered on occasions too numerous to count. I watch as many outdoor television programs as possible, to see which producers are staying on television’s cutting edge, and compare the quality of shows that are making air. There are several cable and satellite channels dedicated to nothing but hunting, fishing and outdoor related programming. And while some shows are very much worth watching, many are nothing more than a half-hour commercial featuring hosts who just couldn’t have killed that big buck or caught that trophy bass without ( fill in the blank with any product ).
I know just how much work goes into producing a television show, since I do it five days a week. But my shows are evening newscasts - not hunting programs. But I also film and edit for Team Hammerdog Outdoors, and have one big game DVD under my belt - which means I have plenty of credibility when I say that producing news is much, much easier than producing an outdoor show (since most game animals are union, they have their own ideas of how a hunt should turn out). Producing an outdoor show is also very expensive. You have travel and outfitter expenses, payments to the camera crew, editing/graphics creation/closed caption costs, not to mention the quarterly rates that outdoor programming channels charge to air the show - which add up to several thousand dollars. There’s so much money involved in creating a quality, top-rated hunting or fishing show that I can see why so many producers dedicate so much time to promoting their sponsors’ products. But many go way over the top, for my tastes. I won’t go into naming the shows that could be better “if”… so I will simply list the things I like and dislike about today’s crop of outdoor shows.
Dislikes:
Cut-aways - Don’t show me a shot of the game animal just a few yards away, and then cut to a shot of the hunter being filmed from the ground. I know, for one thing, there isn’t a cameraman alive who can move that fast. And what deer or turkey in its right mind would stick around while a human was standing there filming a hunter?
Staged walk-ups - Geeze Lou-Freakin-Wheeze! When I see a walking hunter turn, and look overjoyed at his find, and then start shouting “Here he is, here he is…” while the cameraman is framing him through the rack of a buck the whole time, I just want to pull my hair out. I want reality, and true excitement - not acting (poor acting, at that).
Sponsor Overkill: I mentioned this already, but I can’t say it enough. I don’t want to see an infomercial - I want to see a hunt! If I want to know everything there is about one of your sponsors’ products, then I will skip the show, and just watch the commercials. Most of us don’t even use the array of products featured in one show, anyway. We hunters are smart enough to know that we don’t have to have the latest, high-dollar gadget or whatchamacallit to kill an animal. I know there are some products that help, but there was a time when animals were being killed on a regular basis by folks flinging homemade arrows, while wearing nothing more than a loin cloth.
Music: Now don’t get me wrong here. I often find a good music bed, and use it for inspiration when editing video. But that’s moving the story along, and for intros, closes, montages, teases, promos - things that are designed to catch a viewer’s attention long enough to leave them wanting more. If I am hunting with someone, and they were to turn on a boom box, blaring their favorite metal song, that person will never step foot in the woods with me again. So I don’t want music covering up the natural sounds that a good microphone will pick up. I want the whole kit-and-kaboodle to play out, and not an ounce of the hunt should be covered up with music. When was the last time you saw a monster buck walk in to your set up wearing a t-shirt he picked up at a Gwar concert?
“Starts Right Now”: This one is just me nit-picking, but it does make my ears bleed. Gettin’ Close With Lee and Tiffany is the only show I want to see using that phrase - since they pretty much coined it. But now there are several shows that can’t seem to “start,” without telling you that the show is starting. Although, technically, after a lookback to last week’s show, and then a preview of this week’s show, the show has already started.
Shoot-Kill-Wrap: I am seeing way too many hunts where the hunter and his/her guide walk to a “good spot,” see the game animal of choice, pull the trigger, and then spend the next five minutes posing with said animal talking about a hunt that only lasted two minutes. Shenanigans. The hunt lasted much longer than that. If it didn’t, don’t call it a hunt. Call it window shopping, and don’t bother showing it to me. I want to see all that went into taking that trophy of a lifetime because who knows, I might learn a thing or two from your experience.
Outfitters & High-Fences: First off, let me say I have nothing against high-fenced operations, as long as they are legitimate, or high-dollar hunting operations. But what I can’t stand seeing over and over is a “pro hunter” killing a monster buck that most of us will never have a shot at, while hunting on a high-fenced operation or super well-managed land that costs thousands of dollars to hunt - and then trying to pass it off as though he/she worked hard to kill that deer. Puh-lease. If you want to impress me, hit the public lands and put a deer down. Hunt a lease that you are a paying member of, and tell me about your club’s rules, and show me how you guys implement your management strategies. I was on a deer hunt in Texas in December of 2007, and the guys who lease the land needed some culling done. I have never seen so many deer in a weekend of hunting, in my entire life. They were like roaches, all over the place. But - it was not high-fence, and these guys were producing lots of big bucks thanks to a great management plan. The deer were free to come and go as they pleased, onto neighboring land if they desired. But they didn’t. They pretty much stayed within the boundaries of the lease. I learned so much about management in those few days of hunting, and I can’t wait to pass along what I learned to others, through the footage I shot. A young hunter, or a newcomer to the outdoors will have hard time getting valuable knowledge from a show that simply wants to focus on the “pro hunter” and his trophy buck.
Likes:
Over The Shoulder: There is nothing more compelling than seeing a game animal in range for the hunter’s shot, over the shoulder of the hunter. Having them both in frame, seeing them both react to that split-second moment of truth or failure is reality television.
Tips, Facts and Knowledge: I don’t mean a tips segment that is nothing more than a commercial for a sponsor product. I like to see tips and knowledge passed along to me from the field, in the heat of the moment, as the hunter is working toward his/her goal. I also like those shows that pass along interesting facts, and bits of trivia.
Women & Kids: The average age of a licensed hunter in America is getting older and older as each season passes, which means fewer young people are getting involved in the outdoors. I can’t stress enough just how important it is to take a child hunting or fishing. There are so many distractions that keep a kid on the couch, when he or she really should be outdoors. This isn’t propaganda to perpetuate outdoor sports. I have seen first-hand the excitement and change within a young person who finds out that there’s more to the outdoors than just trees. It’s a benefit to a child’s overall wellbeing to get off the couch, and step outside. Seeing more and more women getting involved in hunting and shooting just makes me leap for joy, too. They get, I think, a bigger kick out of a successful hunt than most men. And getting a woman involved in the outdoors can turn into a two-fer, since she will support a child’s interest in hunting or fishing more than a wife who isn’t interested. And guys, since our wives make the money-spending decisions anyway, one who hunts will likely be more apt to let you buy that new rifle you probably don’t really need the next time Bass Pro or Cabela’s is having a sale.
The Whole Story: There are more shows doing this today than there were just a couple of years ago. I like seeing a day’s hunt or fishing trip from start to finish. There are humorous, and not so humorous moments that emerge through the footage that all of us can relate to. You will learn just how difficult, or easy, a hunt turned out - plus you can get a feel for what goes into producing an outdoor show. You see how the hunters interact with their hunting buddies, the outfitters/landowners, even the videographers. With some of the shows that do a good job of telling a story, you might want to keep a pen and paper handy to jot down some notes, since secrets of the pros can often surface. Also, you will see any and all mistakes that are made, which is a good thing to show - young hunters and newcomers will benefit.
Cooking Segments: I love to eat, especially wild game. And the only way to truly honor any animal you kill is to serve it up in a tasty way. You don’t have to be a trained chef, but there are several professional cooks who know their way around the woods as well as a kitchen. Some shows feature recipes, some feature knowledgeable cooks, and a few are even dedicated to hunting and cooking game animals. Most of the recipes that are featured on an outdoor show are simple enough that anyone can pull it off. Sometimes the cooking segments are a bit cheesy (pardon the pun), but I like them all - because I’m always looking for a new way to serve up the game animals I have in my freezer.
Product Reviews: I like an honest product review, and not one of those “This product works because our sponsor’s money says so…” reviews. I wrote a review that will be featured in one Team Hammerdog Outdoors’ upcoming segments, about a fishing lure that I love to use - and it’s not a sponsor. Would I love for the company to be a sponsor? YES!!! But only because I truly love the lure (It’s a Worden’s Rooster Tail, by the way). An honest review of a product within a segment does more than just make the company owner happy. It also helps build a hunter’s confidence. The high prices of gas and groceries aren’t going down any time soon, so many hunters are putting a lot of thought into even the smallest hunting/fishing gear purchase these days. If they go into a sporting goods store with the confidence of an honest, credible review of a product they are going to spend their hard-earned money on, then that confidence will be carried away from the retailer, and into the woods, or on the water with them - and any hunter with a few seasons under his or her belt knows that confidence leads to success.
More Video - Less Host: I love it when there’s plenty of video to match up with what a host or featured hunter is talking about during a show. Too often a person is on camera just babbling on and on, but there’s nothing to keep a viewer’s eyes busy. Often, this is in conjunction with a hunt that is pretty quick, but the videographer failed to capture other elements that led up to the hunt. When there’s plenty of video, a host or featured hunter only needs to say a few lines at a time, to simply set the stage for what a viewer is about to see, or to react to what was just shown. The video and sound should be the main characters in the story telling process, and sadly there are too few shows right now that pull that off well.
Self-Filmed Hunts: This is a tricky thing to pull off, especially for someone who isn’t very comfortable behind a camera. But, I love seeing footage of hunts filmed by the hunter. Often the footage is shaky and rough, but having filmed many, many of my own hunts, I know just how difficult it is to get everything just right. I can relate to certain things that come across through the hunter’s footage, and think back to a similar situations and moments I experienced. Sometimes I chuckle - sometimes I put my face in my hands and groan, saying aloud “Man I know how you feel…”
doodaa
