This topic is very specific, passed the "were all on the same team" viewpoint that i am a huge advocate of. In all honesty, how much talent (woodsmanship, knowledge) do today's celebrity (professional) bowhunters have? And do they deserve the respect/fame that comes with it? Im talking about "Celebrity X" who kills 5 mature bucks over 160" a year on thousand acre private leases. Discuss!
I personally do not believe they have any more "knowledge" or "talent" than you, me or a lot of other people on this very website. They have the access to such lands that you are referring to and a lot of it. I'm not saying they are completely clueless and don't have any ability that makes them succeed. But IMO they are not super human deer hunters with skills that much above and beyond other hunters across the nation.
Personally my feelings are I have no doubt some of the higher named hunters could no doubt run circles around most hunters. HOWEVER, I do without a shadow of a doubt wonder just how effective some of these guys would be if you said, okay fella no more private outfitters or private leases on thousands of acres. You get public land or pre-selected "normal" hunter type spots. I bet we'd be surprised how well some would do, as it is naive to assume all of them got to where they are just by money....but many of them got there due to money or connections or a pretty female face....and without their outfitters or large leases would be a nobody in the hunting world. This is the primary reasons guys like Bill Vale, John Eberhart and the likes impress me more and I research and read anything they put out because they get it done on public land, private small acreage spots and in some of the highest hunting pressured areas around.
I wish somebody prominent would do a show about this...take Mark Drury, Lee Lakowski or whoever else, and tell them they can only hunt 30 acre pressured lands...and see if they tag a 160. It would be boring television, but reality to a T
It seems like many of them have bought there way into being a successful hunter. For sure, theres some out there that haven't. Look at the Benoits, doesn't get much more real than that.
It'd be suicide for them to do this though due to other product sponsorship and such that depends on them having "x" number of trophy shots a year...I'd love this though and who knows perhaps someday it will happen but I doubt it will be the Stan Potts, Mark Drury or Lee Lakosky type guys.
I think that would make for a very interesting show. I have personally met Chad Ritter from Moultrie's The Hit List. I didnt just meet him at a show or anything, He actually called my brother in law up and we went out to dinner with him. He hunts a property here in Ohio where he provies all the trail cams and stands for the owner to set up and keep tabs on the activity around there. The reason we met him was for the same reason, we had property that we might set up for him that he has multiple places to go when he swings through Ohio. He was the nicest guy and really down to earth. We showed him topology maps and he really did impress me with the knowledge he had about hunting in general. His camera man was also a very experienced hunter.
Its a whole lot easier to kill big deer if you have big deer on the property you're hunting on...its a whole lot easier to have big deer on the property you're hunting on if you have deep pockets to get said property. So the math tells me that money=big deer on a consistent basis.
A lot of these guys put in a ton of time hunting before they became famous. Most have had to work their butts off and have sacrificed a lot in life to make it where they are. Even though they get sat in front of deer so to speak by outfitters, the work they have to put in to gain sponsorship's so they can pay for their air time, hunts and other hidden expenses is far more than most of us have to put into our jobs. As for their hunting skills, more than the majority would probably and at one point in time had to be able to hunt circles around the average hunter. You have to be able to put animals down in front of a camera by yourself to prove you can before sponsors will start picking you up. We have had a lot of sponsorship proposals and one of two things happens. Either the footage isn't really all that impressive or they need way more funds than we can put out at this point to sponsor them. I have media kits right now that would blow your minds of how much money they need to put a successful show together just to get put on a network. In MOST situations they have to put out much more than they bring in. There are of course the exceptions with pretty faces and young people with old money and life long connections who just fall right into it all with little effort. Still putting in a lot of time.
Here is the deal. I think some of these folks are very passionate about what they do and in turn, it's lead to great fame. Take the Lakosky's for example. Dropping everything they knew and owned to move to the heart of giant whitetail country to pursue their dream. Are they better hunters? Highly doubt it. They simply worked and put themselves in a position to consistently hunt giant whitetails. In turn, two good looking people got the attention of the marketing giants like Matthews, Scent Lok, etc. You can't consistently kill giant whitetails if they don't live where you hunt. Thats where the money comes in. It takes a ton of it to secure the land these animals live and thrive in. Thats where the huge corporate sponsorship comes in. Now the other part of the equation. Time. These celebs are given the opportunity to basically live with the deer they hunt. They have an entire year to scout, plant food, scout, hang cameras, scout, etc. There are a few people right here on this forum that I know with little doubt could pile up the bone each year if given the same access and just an importantly, time, that these celebs get.
Wow I never thought of this. I would have assumed that the people who are on TV other than a few (Blitz TV) Where great hunters. I thought they must have been hunting for years before they got on a show. I never realy gave it much thought. I knew that most of the land they hunt is private and they make sure the deer are big with QDM. I think a lot of time and effort went into these ranches and the hunters who hunt them. I don't know about all the hunting shows but most I find to be very informative about hunting. I only get NBC sports so I dont see much on hunting shows. From what I see with the guys on that network most seem to be good hunters.
This could be a phenomenal show. Kind of similar to show that Campbell Cameras put on in regards to teams providing best footage. Take hunters from different parts of the country or world. Throw them into new experiences that they aren't used to. Have one extreme to the other of hunters. Example...Cameron Hanes vs Unfit hunters. All public land would make this very interesting. Have enough good hunters and you would get some good footage for a great show. Would many agree to do this? Many have huge egos, but they aren't all idiots either. I think some would get into it. Competitive people would be all about this.
If "this show" would ever happen my money would be on a guy like Greg Miller being one of the most successful.
I'd bet that if you put 99% of the guys that think they can hunt on the Lakosky or Drury's farms they wouldn't produce the same results. Hell, I've seen it first hand this year hunting a fantastic farm in one of the best B&C counties in the country, not everyone is going to produce great results on quality property due to lack of skill set and/or committment level. It just doesn't work that way. For those of you interested, both the Lakosky's and Drury's recently did an interview on the Wired2Hunt podcast where they talked about this specifically. Even before they were famous and had money, and when they were working regular jobs, the Lakosky's had bought their own Kansas farm with their own money while working middle class jobs. If you took everything away from these guys today and made them start over they wouldn't be hunting 30 acre overpressured farms. If you prioritized killing bucks like they do, you wouldn't be hunting these places either. They find a way to put themselves in a spot that has big deer, they work their butts off to learn and manage the property, and they do everything possible to tip the odds in their favor. It seems like most of the people that complain or view these guys negatively just won't do the work or put in the effort required to kill big bucks. Sometimes that means not hunting on your family property. Sometimes that means not hunting with your friends. Sometimes that means 3 hour drives in the middle of the night and no sleep to hunt the next morning. Sometimes that means thousands of dollars in gas money just for the offseason to scout new properties when it's cold and there is a foot of snow on the ground. Also - Nothing that I've said applies to the celebrity hunters that simply hunt with guides or outfitters. There are a lot of them though that own/lease their own places and work their asses off to do everything possible and tip the odds in their favor. If you don't think those guys have learned a ton and work harder than the average joe you're delusional.
Love this post! As I said in my opening comment, many of the "celebrity" guys and some gals were doing as matt points out well before the cameras and will continue to do so well on after the cameras. Yes, many a celebrity hunter exists who would probably quit the sport sooner than have to hunt public or small over pressured areas and not outfitters/large leases....but for every one of them, I bet there is a Greg Miller or a Lee Lakosky or a Mark Drury....
