New rules for TVshows on Outdoor Channel
Bears
The Outdoor Channel in U.S.A. will no longer allow TV programs to show bear bait, barrels or other bait containers, man-made cribs, etc. on their network even if the show is filmed in regions where it is the law to use containers. I told Tom Nelson I will put him in a pit blind on approach trail with his back to the barrel so it is not in camera frame. Am betting his cameraman quits.
Outdoor Channel is changing to "broaden" their audience! It may be time for Tom to consider Sportsman's Channel:) This is likely going to expand!
How are things looking in Saskie?
Good C., am happy I got my baits out before yesterday's snowstorm and pouring rain hit. Bush was nice and dry, easy going; gonna be a sloppy mess now for awhile but forecast much improved with warm weather coming. First group May 10, they should be hitting it right.
Charlie, I believe you're right. As we learned (painfully) in CO, the non-hunting voting public isn't against bear hunting, but considers baiting to be "unsportsmanlike".
Borne from ignorance, but unfortunately, perception is reality in the voting booth.
Now if they'd stop showing the slobbering "happy dance" after awful bow shots on all animals......
Outdoor Channel- Who is running the show there anyway,what a joke!
Wider audience...so we can expect to see more shows like that stupid 'Reluctant outdoors' thing?
What they really need is an editor that understands the outdoors!
I couldn't care less what The Outhouse Channel shows now, back then, or in the future. They are huntertainers and very little to none of it represents hunting to me and mine. It's a bunch of guys and their hot girlfriends acting like idiots.......no thanks.
To tell you the truth I miss the old days in SK when it was not a law to use containers. Putting bait under logs and brush made for a way nicer looking site and big bears seem less wary, getting the food "naturally" flipping logs as opposed to noisy drums, pails, etc. It won't be hard to set up for TV without containers visible but I'm sure some people familiar with the laws will be phoning game wardens to complain when they view the shows and assume laws were broken. I notified the local officers here and they were happy for the heads-up.
+1 Beendare and roger.
Wouldn't surprise me if they came up with a naked hunting show featuring NFL cheerleaders and fat guys from the South.
The video production crew here at Bowsite will continue to show bait sites:)
Some hunts will just never translate to TV baited bear elephant and waterfowl and turkey all lose much in the translation
In my opinion, watching someone arrow an animal over a barrel of bait has no appeal anyway.
Bou is 100% right, unless viewers are right there involved in the action you can't explain the appeal just by showing it on TV to someone that has never done it.
Honesty is the best policy. Hiding the fact of how bears are hunted is going to come around and bite the community is the ass. What, are they ashamed of how bears are hunted? Guilt is showing through or at least that will be the translation. Shows on the outdoor channel might want to think about other networks that aren't afraid to show the reality of hunting and to be truthful to it's viewers. PC run amuck.
"U think Tiffany will hump it 2 miles back in the river delta with hip boots on public land and drag out a B&C ?"
No....and likely no one else, either.
Ok let's leave tiffany and humpin' it out of this
LBshooter, there was no hiding how bears were baited here in CO during the election. Every time we turned on the TV there were commercials showing bears eating donuts out of barrels, with guys sitting in trees above. It was as truthful as it gets, honest as Abe, and it totally bit us in the ass.
69% of voters didn't think it was a good deal at all when they walked into that booth.
I guess if I had the outdoor channel I'd have a dog in this fight. But since I don't... I agree with Aaron, watching someone kill a bear over donuts doesn't appeal to me as a viewer or as a hunter.
I think both channels are owned by the same entity same as several of the bowhunting related magazines. Is it Intermedia?
Lou, if that NFL heerleaders and fat guys ever comes to fruition, put my name in the hat would you ?
Bou, you are dead on about lost in translation ! If you've seen one bear hunted over bait, one turkey called in, or one duck shot over decoys, you have pretty much seen 'em all. That doesn't take away from doing it yourself though. I do still like the elephant hunts , but not so much since Ivan Carter is no longer on Trcaks Across Africa. Loved him !
Drycreek, they could call that show, "Hot, Fat and Stupid".
Being PC is just stupid. Can someone post contact info for the right person at Outdoor Channel so those who care could state their opinion?
I for one prefer a bear over bait and a boring turkey hunt to crap like the Reluctant Outdoorsman.
I haven't watched a broadcast TV hunting show in years...I used to drink them up...My perception is that I now fall into the Bowsite majority, but somehow I feel in the minority at large.
I have to go do some homework on a shovel now.
Just saw a preview of the Reluctant Outdoorsman. They could use that show instead of water boarding to extract information from captured terrorists.
I am thankful to Heaven that I do not HAVE to sit thru that.
Next year the second phase of the rule goes into effect. No animals at water holes, in crops or food plots or using decoys.
Just kidding....well...I hope I am.
Hunting isn't the greatest spectator activity in todays world.
"69% of voters didn't think it was a good deal at all when they walked into that booth."
It wouldn't have mattered how things were presented to the granola eating, Subaru driving liberals that are overrunning your state.
Re the Outdoor Channel's decision, really couldn't care less as I rarely watch any of it anymore anyway. But Tom Nelson's show was one that I always did try to catch. Great guy, great show. Especially enjoyed his episodes with spring bear hunting in Saskatchewan with Rob and his episodes from Manitoba.
I hope the outfitters (like Rob) that Tom hunts with can work something out so Tom's show and others can still do bear hunting episodes. It's really the only thing I watch anymore on that channel anyway.
Actually Jaquomo brings up an interesting point. The fact that many think that baiting bear is unsportsmanlike, then goes on to say that thought is borne of ignorance.
That got me to thinking, I have always excepted that bear can be primarily hunted with bait or dogs, and for whatever reason many really are turned off by dogs. But baiting, though I see it as one tactic to hunt bear, I could understand how someone would consider it to be unsportsmanlike. I guess my question is, how is this notion borne of ignorance? Meaning, honestly, the fairest method to me, is, spot and stalk. For the record, I agree with all legal methods and am fully aware that baiting bear can be in some ways more advantageous for the bear as they can come in from downwind and detect human presence before coming in, on the other hand, many bears that have had very few encounters with humans simply equate them with food and could care less about a humans presence.
Whether or not you watch these programs or any outdoor programming, this should bother you. One more hit to legal hunting, and allowing political correctness to take a little more ground from us.
SteveB - you make a good point.
Todd, I guess it's because I have experience with both methods (not dogs, though) and was actively involved in the campaign to preserve spring bear hunting and all baiting back in '92 when it was a ballot issue. I talked with many people, including news reporters.
People think bears just run into a bait site and stand around waiting to be shot. I did all my own baiting for a couple years, and never had a shot at a legal boar on my bait sites, only sows with cubs or juvenile bears I didn't want to shoot. I was hunting wild bears in an area with very low bear density and low human interaction, and they quickly figured out the baiting program and became nocturnal. I have killed bears by calling, however.
But my point (not clearly articulated) was that the people who voted against baiting didn't understand that baiting is selective hunting, where the bear hunting we have now in CO is totally random. The big controversy in our election was not only the ethical side of baiting, but the fact that cubs were occasionally orphaned. But the connection between selective hunting and baiting never resonated.
Today we have more human-bear conflicts in CO than ever before. We have more sows with cubs being killed than ever before, by opportunistic hunters and by CPW personnel. There are myriad reasons for this, including increasing human-bear conflicts caused by humans. But during the election, baiting was portrayed in an unfair light by the antis using our own video clips in the ad campaign.
The fact that many hunters voted to end baiting and spring hunting by any means speaks to my point. Hunters who have never baited or hunted over bait have a different perception than those who have done it.
Jaquomo, Do you mean the bear hunting is totally random like the deer, elk, antelope and all the other hunting that's done without bait? Just not sure I understand. You can still be selective without bait. If it don't look big enough, don't shoot it. Just like every other species you hunt. You don't shoot the first elk you stumble into every year. Not trying to argue I just don't understand why bears are so different or why everybody tries to convince people that bears are impossible to hunt without bait or hounds. They are almost as custom made as pigs for spot and stalk. You are absolutely right about the vote because half the stuff I see on hunting shows turns me off so I can imagine what the general non hunting public thinks. To each there own. My next bear hunt will be a spot and stalk in the bighorns and I'm pretty sure I will be able to be selective.
Ignorance is bliss and runs amuck in the hunting community.
Ignorance IS bliss. I'm blissfully ignorant of what's on t.v. as far as hunting shows go because I've refused to watch a single one for about 20 years... and it's going to stay that way.
thats why they call it the boob tube..Im not against baiting but! IMO it does make ugly TV and I would rather see and DO spot and stock...its all about the stock anyway
MikeC...go play outside
Hey Wayne, come up here to the western UP or N Wisconsin and show me how to spot and stalk bears,,,,,
I would love it, this is not New Mexico up here......
Spot and stalk is a great way to hunt, in some areas, otherwise bait is the key......
Interesting to see people condemn baiting for bear then turn around and hunt whitetail over a food plot planted specifically to attract deer. Nothing wrong with that but it's still baiting IMO vs scouting and hunting natural food sources.
Baiting increases the likelihood of identifying and harvesting mature boars which helps the population by lessening cub mortality.
Knee jerk reactions by the uneducated will doom hunting.
First, bear baiting with barrels makes for UGLY TV. As a diehard I will watch anything but it's not great TV.
Second, TV is still hunting's #1 source to get folks curious/interested in hunting. Like magazines did for me years ago TV does for those today.
Third, baiting bear Jaquomo is very region dependent. If you live in NE baiting is the only real way for most to score and most hunters are very pro-baiting - dense forests and underbrush make it nearly impossible to S&S like you can in the west. Matter a fact many of my hunting buddies in college (Boise State) were anti-baiting. I could never really figure it out.
WRT baiting there are places (New Brunswick comes to mind) you'd never see a bear much less kill one without it, flat country and thick as a carpet. Finding a clearing with access for a set is even hard. I don't even know if a person could follow in places where the bears would hold up using hounds.
Personally doesn't bother me in the least, I'll watch bears over bait with roughly the same enthusiasm as watching deer walk under a treestand or turkeys wandering around. Usually beats much of what may be on TV at the time.
Western hunting with mountains and bowls with patch cut timber and meadows, berries, acorns, etc. s&s is very doable.
WRT Outdoor Channel they are certainly changing. Several shows now with little to no hunting. Slowly turning into the Outdoor Movie channel showing older classic movies now. Several other channels seem to be popping up to take up the slack. Or competing, depending on your point of view.
Kind of common really.... as time goes on the folks that started the project and had the passion for it are no longer involved with it. Many times replaced over time by "managers" rather than "enthusiasts". Things change. Some may call it "thinking outside the box..." Not always bad... but usually always change....
Wayne, in the thick timber in much of CO bear hunting is pretty much happenstance for RIFLE hunters, who kill most of the bears. They see, they shoot. Few are selective, just as only a very small minority are selective about elk. That was my point. Because of this, more sows with cubs are being shot now (along with more bears = problem bears with humans = more sows and cubs being killed by CPW instead of hunters).
Spot-stalk in the fall is possible where there are specific chokecherry or raspberry patches. But where we hunt there aren't any chokecherries and the timber is pretty thick, so the bears are on the move all the time in the fall, turning over logs to eat grubs, finding carcasses (which does allow selective hunting for those lucky enough to have a carcass for "bait".
Some of you seem to think I'm against baiting. I'm not. But the voters in our state sure as hell were. It was a monumental landslide to ban it - and all spring hunting and hounds - once the general public got to watch clips from our bear baiting and hound hunting videos on network TV during prime time.
Yeah, I get that. You are right as usual. I suppose a guy that's deer or elk hunting and just gets a bear tag in case he stumbles on one probably would shoot the first one he saw. I also definitely get that sitting in a tree watching multiple bears work a bait surely does let you be selective. My only argument was that you could also be selective using other methods. Wasn't trying to be an ass, but failed as always. You are the most checked out guy about what's going on there that I know of. Stay on it. And for all the guys up north, yeah, I get it, it's thick and you can't kill them any other way. If you say so. For you guys that are in favor of bait, head Jaquomo's advice. It's an easy target. Maybe the Outdoor Channel realized that.
Perhaps they should take a page from Kurt Cowdy.....for those who don't know he was essentially the first to aire big game hunting in TV.
AkBowhntr, you're absolutely correct. Curt Gowdy was the original host of the old "American Sportsman" show that aired on Sunday afternoons. Was definitely "must see T.V."! Unfortunately, that show went to hell in a hand basket as well. It also fell victim to the PC crowd.
Twenty or more years ago Sports Afield tried to go PC, and attract a different kind of readers with articles on the "non-blood" sports.
The move about sank the magazine.
In fact, the magazine was dead for a while.
Not many articles on bowhunting, but at least Sports Afield is alive, well, and filed with hunting stories again.
Killing a bear pulled in from scraps from the diner, a deer feeding on corn or hay that has been dumped, etc. doesn't appeal to me but if others enjoy it and have fun, who am I to say what they're doing is wrong? I'd rather see a kid out doing that than playing video games, texting everybody under the sun, etc...
The vast majority of hunting shows on tv are just plain horrible...not all, but most. Give someone a video camera and they think they're Clint Eastwood. The criteria for being a hunting video star appears to be being dressed from head to foot in camo, having every gadget known to mankind, and acting like a complete Bozo when an animal is killed.
I enjoy the shows that are filmed where I may never have a chance to hunt, those in true wilderness areas, etc. but quite frankly, if you've seen one turkey hunt, one bear hunt over bait, one deer shot from a tree stand, you've seen them all. I'm not saying these hunts aren't fun for the people hunting....just saying that for me personally, they're very boring to watch..
I keep thinking that the bad shows will be weeded out and that over time the shows will get better, but it seems like they just keep getting worse.....
Maybe they should can the -he is a joke- and as long as I'm using the word can-how about Tends canned hunts in Michigan and Texas-another big joke-AN INSULT TO true sportsman-I refuse to turn the crap on anymore.
The only ones worth watching are the Alaskan and Yukon hunts -the ones that drop the hunters for three weeks-that's interesting-The Pigman and Ted couldn't cut that kind of hunt!
I have guided TV hunts for many years. Tom Nelson has become a very close friend and is a true hunter, he puts his heart and soul into doing the best job he can to portray ethical hunting and is a fantastic ambassador for bowhunting. Like-wise the Bowhunter Magazine folks have always been good camp-mates and ethical hunters. A few lesser-known hosts have been a real disappointment and showed poor ethics in their quest to get a show. I agree that many of the shows and hosts aren't worth watching so I turn the sound off and watch the animals. Obviously the shows that hunt with me help promote my business but I also enjoy the extra challenge of setting up for the camera and helping them get the best footage possible. Most everyone thinks it would be great to be a "TV hunter" but few appreciate how much work is really involved in a quality production - it ain't easy! The ones that last do so for a reason; the people involved in the entire production work very hard to be successful. They can't just go hunting for the fun of it like the rest of us, but this fact is lost on a lot of folks. If the weather is crappy they don't take a pass and sleep in, they have a job to do and if there is even a slight chance of getting footage they gotta go. I for one am glad there is hunting on TV, beats the hell outta Hollywood nonsense.
I agree 100% Rob. I am glad they have hunting shows on...especially the good ones. But I will watch even a crappy hunting show over almost any of the other crap on TV.
I agree, although many are bogus, I'd still rather watch them than the Kardashians.
But to Rob's point about it being "work"...I get that.....but I'd trade their kind of work for mine. Let me hunt with cameras and make it tough if I can do all of these hunts that are mostly dreams for most of us mere mortals.
I'm glad they do the shows, but hope they keep them worth watching and representing our way of life accurately.. Outdoor Channel is going the wrong way - and in time it will be realized. Are Primos and Realtree going to advertise on a network that doesn't promote the real dreams of hunters?
Well shoot, (pun by mistake), I have to comment or I would be drummed out of the ranks of SEOPA. Ninety-eight percent, an accurate, actual census of all television outdoor programming (done by me), sucks. To be honest, it is nothing more than a vehicle to fill one of three criteria. (1) Sell a product(s). (2) Bolster an ego. (3) Make money for someone.
Therefore, in very few cases does quality count. In regard to bear hunting or for that matter, most hunting, the easiest way to get a kill is by using some form of food source. It may be bait or it may be a food plot or something similar. In most cases, without a kill shot, you have no show. That explains baiting.
Now, the reluctance to show it on television is ridiculous. Who are we going to offend? The opponents of hunting have miles of stock footage of animals coming to bait. They don't need any more. The truth of the matter is this: The only people who are appeased by refusing to show bear baiting on television are the people who thought up the idea of not doing it. To them, it is a great idea, thereby, firming their tenuos hold on a job. In all likelyhood, they just graduated from college, have never been hunting and are working for less than minimum wage.
But here is the bottom lion. Who the heck really cares? Nothing in our lives is going to change in any significant way except we have something new to talk about.
Here in Poverty Flats, the crappie and bass are both red hot and my fingers are sore from filleting.
Baited bear hunts,both watching and doing aren't very high on my to do list...just doesn't float my boat. But I am the kind of person that doesn't like to be told what I can and can't do....I see both sides of the TV issue, and I agree that even though it's honest it may not make for the best portrate of our sport, but I am not sure a TV channel should be our judge and jury. I do believe that we have to recognize that we are no longer acting in a vaccume and others perception will like it or not end up impacting out future.
As soon as they box us into thinking we can not honestly portray what and how we hunt......they will paint us as liars and dishonest. We hunt.....they KNOW this......they HATE the act of killing.....not the hunt. We will never sway their misinformed opinions. As for the Outdoor Channel, if it starts with Bears over bait...they will include feeders and bait with deer.....trapping references....on and on. Hunters quite simply need to quit voting with our dollars for those who will not support us.
Who are "they"?
If it's the ARAs, they sure DO hate the fact that we harass animals in any way, never mind killing. But they don't matter so much since they have all the ammo they need already from our own videos.
If "they" are nonhunting voters, they don't care about hunting too much, or killing. Basically ok with it. But they deeply care about hunting methods they view as unfair or nonsporting. We learned that the hard way in our state.
(BTW, when that campaign took place, we had hard-core hunters pounding on the podium in front of the Capitol, insisting "we" would never compromise, never back down. That didn't work out so well...)
Outdoor Channel is owned by a partnership between Intermedia and Kroenke. Intermedia owns Sportsman Channel and a whole bunch of hunting magazines you all read. Kroenke is a staunch conservative.
I'm betting Outdoor Channel has studied their demographics made a business decision to PC-up the programming a bit to attract a different audience. Watch for the programming to go more mainstream, leaving Sportsman Channel as the primary showcase for idiot grip-grin TV hunters.
They aren't stopping any portrayals of baiting or anything else on Sportsman's Channel, nor in Peterson's Bowhunting, Bowhunter, or any of the other magazines.
I will bet that all of the guys who posted on this thread saying how they don't like hunting bears over bait or watching a show about it are the ones who have little experience with it. And the same ones who say how they prefer to spot and stalk bears don't actually go out and do that either!
Avid bear bow hunters hunt bears over bait and it is an exciting, fun and challenging way to hunt them, especially if you are trying to kill mature boars. The only exception to that is in a very remote unhunted area then big boars can be very bold and easy to kill so the main challenge becomes just getting to the area and getting the baits set up. Still a fun, challenge.
Let's hear from the actual avid bear bait hunters who say it is boring, easy, they have stacks of 20 inch bear skulls laying around their house and they prefer not to see bear bait hunting on TV and they would rather do a spot and stalk hunt.
I love hunting bears and bowhunting them over bait is the best way to do it!! Proud of it.
Baited bear hunts are simply fun hunts. They are exciting and intense, especially when you have an angry sow close by! It is my favourite type of hunt, and I can hunt whitetail, elk, caribou, and moose DIY every year.
Mike Ukrainetz x2 !!
When I read someone say how uninterested they are in hunting over bait that hasn't done it, it makes me laugh.
Hunting bear over baits is fun and i do it annually.
that said, it is far from "must watch" viewing on hunting shows. the anticipation jut can't be captured and it looks like a slam dunk proposition which it is not.
would they guys who don't hunt bear over bait have any issue with poking a pig or piglet under a corn feeder in side a fence?
Re Sports Afield magazine, I actually believe that they are biased against bowhunting articles. They seem to cater to a specific segment of the hunting population who only hunt with rifles and high end rifles at that.
So what's the difference between baiting bears and planting food plots to bring deer in ???
"So what's the difference between baiting bears and planting food plots to bring deer in ???"
If you have to ask the question it is not worth the time to type out a response!
would I hunt over bait hell yes! is it legal in my state hell no( the Quinault Indians can on the rez)...do I spot and stock them! hell yes when I come across one while scouting Elk and Deer area`s in the spring..I've got one cinnamon
Like I said Im not against it!and I do think it would be very exciting and cool to pick the bear you want to harvest,,,in fact I got a Email from Mr Ukrainetz and almost called him to book a trip just couldn't swing it this season..wife says not two outta state trips in one season..LOL happy wife happy life.
Im just saying it just looks bad on TV to see the bears eating human food, doughnuts and all the other candy and crap like that, heres this beautiful back drop and a nice large black boar and a freak n pile of pink doughnut ..just keep it out of frame , put it in a hole so you cant see it or something,yeah know try and hide the barrels and man made structures so it dont look like your at the zoo
Seeya next season Mr Ukrainetz...and I've got a cinnamon bear just need a good black one and a brown one
MikeC
Have no problem with baiting bear, haven't done it yet but it's on the list. My problem with the tv hunts is the jumping up and down ,crying and all the other hype when a bear is taken. If they cut that crap out I don't think it would be as offensive, jmo.
