The few I watch are either highly educational as far as scouting/strategy and/or western hunts. There are only so many variations of the mid-west or southern based stand/blind White-Tail hunts before most programming becomes highly repetitive. Shows that offer authenticity about bad shots and long recoveries tend to be better than the repetitive "smoked him" gut shot shows. Insert obligatory and well-deserved complimentary comment about BHOD here. Personally, with the success of web-based shows and a few exceptional youtube channels, I do not see outdoor/hunting tv channels existing in the next 5-10 years. Traditional cable or satellite tv packages are a dying medium; most hunting shows will die with it.
I like to hunt and it has been a passion of mine for a long long time. I also don't mind watching guys bowhunt on YouTube and stuff. I like the scenery. I like learning about shot angles, different parts of the country, different scenarios, etc. If it's boring I turn it off. Heck I'll probably watch 30 minutes of it today. On Thursday and Friday I'll probably scout for 6 to 8 hrs and then watch a video at night over a beer. I don't have much of a life outside of my family. Sue me. If someone gets inspired to hunt then quits bc of the Internet or shows, big deal. It happens in every other part of like and with all hobbies and sports. Long live the hunt. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
If anything posting and reading here makes you think and observe when you read what other hunters are talking about. I think the food plot and habitat section here is top notch as far as feedback and alternatives. But all in all you read posts and your try to relate how it fits what you see in your area and the deer you see. Deer hunting for me is usually abbreviated as possible but there is time spent year round to get to that point.
I think it definitely does. A couple of years ago moved from a rural area to a bigger city to attend dental school so, naturally, I don't get to hunt nearly as much as I like. This past fall I found myself watching all sorts of Youtube hunting shows during class. Mainly Midwest Whitetail. I would get really pumped for new episodes and grew to expect only giant deer being killed. When I killed by buck this year it was a different feeling than in years prior. I dont know if it was due to the unrealistic expectations promoted by that show, if I was more invested in their show than my own hunting, or what exactly it was, but I've since stopped watching shows like that. However, channels like The Hunting Public and Dan Infalt's channel get me excited to hunt and to take pride in my hunt, no matter the amount of bone on the ground
for sure! it gives many guys a false impression that they can go out in the woods and trounce around scare everything in sight and shoot a wall hanger. but I and many others have learned a few tricks on forums like this. so good for some and bad for many.
I will be honest I am a self taught deer hunter and for many years as a gun hunter I sucked. My goal even as a youth was to shoot the proverbial 8 point buck to put on the wall. It kinda changes your perspective once you do that. I still get pissed at myself when I do not even consider shooting at a buck that years ago would have been a trophy to me, sometimes seems like a stupid game. One thing I do know you can not shoot a bigger buck if you shoot a smaller buck we all like to think that some day there will be a return on the investment of passing on bucks.
I don't watch any hunting or fishing either, unless it is instructional, which very little is. Most is trying to sell me crap I don't need. My favorite has to be the shirts those bass fishermen wear. Most ridiculous things I've ever seen!
I think the best example I can give is Duck dynasty, Ive duck hunted my property going on 13 years it wasn't until DD did I have people coming out of the wood work asking to hunt my land, or folks hunting without permission then theirs the oh Im sorry we live in Cary, or Apex didn't know anyone lived here. So yea TV and the internet have impacted our lifestyle dramatically
I've been on most of the hunting forum's since they started, it's a forme of entertainment for me. I've never found myself living vicariously through the net...some times I like to stir the pot, offer a different view just for controversy....and on rare occasions, I might even try to help, lol. I used to be all about teaching people to fish so they eat for life, but everyone just wants to be given a fish so they eat for a day. No one seems to want to talk about hunting anymore, which is sad. I don't watch any YouTube, web shows, TV...or read any blogs, books or magazines. It's mostly the same old stuff that been regurgitated...an endless cycle of talk that seems to arrive at nowhere, with the repeating of arguments and rephrasing of the same idea's.
I love everything about Social Media and Hunting. I started filming regularly in 2009, not to become a professional (I don’t do this to be my job) but because I ENJOY it. It’s kinda a catch 22, but we need more supporters of our sport if we want it to survive. At the same time, a lot of our woods are becoming more crowded with hunters who only have an “internet” knowledge and want to be the next Mark Drury. I feel I have found the happy medium, and I enjoy it immensely. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Boy does that apply to sooo many areas of life ..... people absorbing from social media what they perceive as knowledge and experience. It is an increasingly large problem. One that is creating a generation of ill informed idiots.
I was pretty much self taught. I used to buy hunting magazines then try out what was suggested (Didnt have the internet when I began hunting). I failed over and over and over and over. Isnt that part of the fun of this stuff, dreaming of better days in the woods? Being creative and having fun? So I guess I was an ill informed idiot for many year as well...and I had a blast being one.
Maybe that’s why I enjoy hunting so much, as I was self taught in the art of bowhunting myself. I actually used to gain a lot of knowledge from HNI and Bowhunting.com. Now I’m here to talk about what goes right or wrong for me. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
What a great topic. I've pondered this myself. When I'm hunting, many times I'm checking this forum or facebook etc to see if someone that I don't even know in real life has found there deer or not. I have missed out on probably a few cool things by being immersed In what others are doing. It would seem easy to criticize that, but maybe there's a different perspective there. The community aspect. The internet has changed the game. It's made hunting into a network, an industry even. It's a group of interconnected people who share the same interest. I get so caught up in tv shows and products that I will never buy. Everyone does. It's human nature, that's how these guys make their money. The constant buzz of other hunters, real life or not, is intriguing. Don't be fooled though, if you think "TJ62836" from facebook finding his button buck is going to replace the excitement of me shooting my own, then I was never really a hunter to begin with. I can't speak for the people who only spectate hunting. I wouldn't like to meet them, they're irrelevant. The internet is so destructive yet so elevating for our sport all at the same time. I enjoy hunting. I enjoy it in all forms. I blood trail with other guys not because I don't like creating my own bloodtrail, but because they share the same genuine interest that I do. Sharing in someone's excitement is far better than relying on your own all the time. I get bowhunting is a "lone wolf's sport", but not really in a sense. I love hunters, hunting, internet hunting, the sport in all forms. I get bored in a tree seeing nothing, and if you say that you never do, then you are a liar. Hunting is a great sport. Hunters are social. I'm not antisocial, and I resent antisocial people.
Which brings up another good point. I'm antisocial and the net allows me to connected with people without actually having to be around them...I really dislike people as a whole, lol.
Grizz, Remember when we camped out in the middle of nowhere and it was 30 degrees out and my buddy and me brought our hunnies to stay warm and you dudes cuddled in tents? You weren’t anti social then. Those were the good ol’ days. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I never get bored in a tree. usually I'm seeing plenty of deer or drumming up a game plan to find where the deer are to occupy my time. shane when you get older the time in the stand sometimes becomes more about getting away from life rather than hunting. I was self taught as well and think back to missed opportunities and dumb things I did. all I do is laugh. I think in the past more people didn't know what they were doing as opposed to the people that did. now seems like the tables have turned and a lot more people know whats going on.
