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I don't think anyone tries to make horrible videos. Some just don't think outside the box.

When there's a group I don't care for, I don't watch their stuff. I use the remote and move on.

The only show I care to see now is Deer & Deer Hunting. BUT now that they went to the Sportmans Channel I don't get it.

They show one minute of hunting footage and then cut to the studio and do a three minute narrative describing what you just saw. Then after the narrative they show you at least half of that same footage again!! How freaking bad do you think the average viewers comprehension and memory is!?!? Cheap filler if you really don't have enough for a real show.

I was watching a new [to me] show a little while ago. Typical treestand deer hunt. At the moment of truth they show the shooter drawing, from about eight different angles [then cut to studio for narrative] then the same multiple cameras capture the release, [again, cut to studio]. Then that's it!! No arrow impact!! Then the show repeats the same scenario with another hunter and deer. They intentionally DON"T show the kill shot. They are obviously making a conscious decision not to show "killing" on TV.

The commercials are a necessary part of business, but the anemic, bland filler is nauseating. and even insulting.

I'm done! :)

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When I started, it had just went from 23 minutes of content with 7 minutes of commercials, which I thought was too commercialized, to 22 minutes of content with 8 minutes of commercials. And as of last year you have to reserve the final 15 seconds of your content for the network to do "tune ins" for the next show.

Networks give producers guidelines that have to be followed without exception. You are forced to submit your episode with the appropriate breaks for commercial insertion. You have no choice in the matter. If you don't follow those guidelines, your episode gets rejected.

Outdoor TV producers pay to get their shows aired by the network, rather than other genres where the network licenses the content from the producer. In outdoor TV, you buy "X" number of the commercial slots from the network, known as an "airtime buy." The network inserts the commercials, some of what you have control over via your purchase of those commercial slots, some of which the network has control over, some of which the carrier (Cox, Comcast, DirectTV, etc) has control over.

With this trend that results in less content and more commercials, along with many shows employing an editing style that uses the same segments multiple times within an episode, it comes as no surprise that viewers provide comments like those in this post. Hell, I produce TV and I feel the same way most of you have written.

It is this reason why we are moving so much of our content to YouTube and Amazon. No commercials, no cuts in the story, just how it happened, good or bad.

I remember a few years someone posted a bear hunt video where not a word was spoken. It took you through the entire process. Very enjoyable video.

I have this thing called a remote. When I scan to an outdoor sports channel and see fishing.... click. When I hear the "chirp, chirp, chirp" of a turkey..... click. I see a rifle..... click. But I like to watch a good many of the bowhunts. Most aren't too bad. But then I even like a couple of the shows on the Food Channel. Alton Brown is pretty cool, like watching a cooking physics class......

After surfing a bit though I usually just go to amazon and watch a movie.......

Hunting...REAL hunting, not edited/produced garbage...is like sex; something I'd FAR rather DO than WATCH!

I watch as much to be educated as entertained (e.g Bowhunter & Nock On Tech Tips). I actually prefer it when some of the more adventure-type hunts are shown over multiple episodes, or if at the end of the show they choose to end up with tag soup rather than take an animal smaller than others they've already passed on just to have a kill on camera.

Randy, love your shows and your input here. Is this timing of commercials on purpose so you're forced to watch? I can't watch the 2 channels anymore and have to DVR them.

Just curious, was that TV Channel surfing, or the real thing?

Thanks for all the great work you do regarding public lands and for the education and guidance you provide for the rest of us on the history and current issues facing public lands!

Keep up the great work!

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Outdoors with John L. Sloan Oct. 5, 2016 A Poor View of Hunters. I don’t watch much outdoor programming. I don’t get most of the channels that show it. Before I start teeing off on this subject, let me first admit to some things. Yes, I have been a professional hunter. I have been compensated to hunt. I have been a professional guide, compensated to put other hunters on game. I have been on television and I have made hunting videos and I have promoted products and been compensated for it.

I was, for about 20-years, a trophy hunter. I admit to all those things. What I won’t admit to and don’t think I have ever done, is put the antlers or whatever above fair play and complete disrespect for the animals we kill. I am not ashamed of one single piece of footage in which I appeared. Nor am I ashamed of any article I have written regarding hunting.

A few days ago, on someone else’s television, I watch as a doofus, (maybe one of your heroes,), made an archery, gut shot on a 130-inch whitetail. He then, all in whispers, although the deer is long gone, does an end zone style, victory dance complete with whispered exclamations explaining how he “smoked him”, gave him a “dirt nap” and is so excited about the “swamp donkey” he just shot. He is face-painted worse than any hooker I have ever come across-as if that mattered. It gets worse. He climbs down in the dark. Somehow, it went from morning to night. After talking about how hard they “worked” the blood trail, he finds the deer and lo and behold, it is bright daylight again. But wait. This deer is a much larger deer and the shot appears to be perfect, right behind the shoulder and the blood is still fresh???

And I have seen worse. It is not just one program. It is almost, all of them. There are a few good ones.

Now to the heart of this discourse. It is several days into our archery hunting season and hunting seasons across the land either are open or are about to open. Thousands of bow hunters will be heading out, some of the youngsters on their entry level hunts. Hopefully, most of these hunters will understand what hunting really is. What it isn’t is a competition between humans! Write that down. There is nothing about hunting that requires a victory dance, high-fiving, fist bumping exuberance. You just killed something, a living, breathing animal. Show a little respect. Act like you have kin folk. You don’t have to act like the bulk of the television idiots. They are trying to be stars and sell products.

Okay. What is hunting to me? The last and often least enjoyable part of hunting, to me, is the kill. The true enjoyment I get from hunting is unravelling the puzzle. The scouting, determining where the animals travel. The placement of the stand or blind. The sitting, watching learning what is happening in their world-the animals. When the time comes, if the opportunity is presented, yes, I kill. I do not harvest. I am not going to insult anyone by trying to make what I do more palatable to the squeamish. I don’t’ bag, I don’t harvest. I kill. That is what I am doing in the woods with a bow or firearm. I am there to kill. I am trying to culminate all the time I spent learning. When I do, I do have a feeling of satisfaction. Not because I killed something but because I did something right.

However, when I do, I do not celebrate and I do not whisper. I am usually quiet, still, listening, watching. I am not sad, I don’t shed a tear unless I have stuck a broadhead in my hand. I quietly say “thank you” and get on about the business of getting that animal ready for the table as quickly as possible. I follow the blood trail, usually within three minutes of the shot, (I’ll explain why I don’t wait in another column.). I get to that animal as quickly as possible and I gut it. I don’t field dress it, I gut it. You may, if you wish, substitute eviscerate.

But the actual shot and kill is anti-climactic for me. Yes, it is the successful culmination of all the rest. But it is not cause for an end zone celebration. It is a time for respect, reflection, thanking God and going to work.

Yes. I have made bad shots. Yes. I have failed to find animals and some of them surely, later died and fed the scavengers of the woods. Yes, I have found animals long hours later that were still alive and required a finishing shot. My guess is, I have killed close to 500 game animals in my 62-years of hunting life and probably will kill a few more. Not all were killed with quick, clean, instantly fatal shots. But never, not once, have I jumped up and down in glee.

To date, best I can tell, I have killed 19-animals that qualify for various record books. Not one of them has ever been sent in for recording or officially scored. One of my most memorable trophies is a doe that had lived for at least nine years. I hunted her for a solid three years and for all but one minute of that time, she beat me. She made one mistake and I killed her. I was regretful the minute she hit the ground because the game was over and she should have won.

If that sounds silly to you, you do not understand hunting. Hunting, in a true sense, is not paying someone to put you in a shooting house you have never seen and killing whatever walks out. Think about it. You did no hunting. You just killed. Now, if that is what you want to do, fine. I have no problem with that. It is a needed part of this business. You do realize, of course, it is a business. That is why we have televised hunting shows-to sell a product.

Hunting is walking new land, exploring, reading “sign”, and making guesses and assumptions. Hunting is learning all you can about the game you hunt. Hunting is enjoying the days you don’t see a single animal you are after. Hunting is respecting the animals and the land, remembering, maybe making notes, adding to your knowledge of the woods and fields, knowing food sources and breeding patterns, trails and crossings and proper stand or blind placement. That is hunting. The rest is just killing. Nothing about hunting requires acting like a complete idiot.

That is for television…so you can sell a product and make a name for yourself. True hunters find it distasteful. As technology progressed to the point any idiot could do his own taping and production and some woman with expensive implants joined him to become an outdoor “star”, outdoor programming went down the chute. Just my opinion, of course.

So hunters, respect the game you hunt. Act like your family is watching and use all the meat. If you can’t, give it to someone who can. Then, if you want to preserve the memory, visit a taxidermist. Nothing wrong with well-mounted head or whatever. Just be careful you don’t have so many done you have to build a new room, (inside joke.). And that is my diatribe for this season…until something else comes along.

Enjoy the game, the hunt and the memory. Above all, be safe.

Maybe they should give some lessons!

YouTube has a ton of awesome content...and a ton of crappy content too. I really enjoy Bowhunt or Die...it's mostly a bunch of real guys filming themselves. They include everything from food plots and shed hunting in the off season to recovery footage. No frills...although the later seasons have gotten a bit more "sponsory"...

Do they worry that young girls just getting married are going to believe that what they see is how they should behave?

Would anyone watch a hunting show where the hunter sits in a tree and watches squirrels for half an hour?

Why is it that the only TV content that we expect to be portrayed accurately is TV hunting?

It's entertainment, pretty poor entertainment at times, and not reality. If your worried about it being a bad influence on your children, the television isn't the problem.

-Joe