The Wish List Hit List
Dr. John Woods 02.08.19
It seems detestable for hunting television hosts to actually attach names to the bucks they put on a seasonal hunting hit list. When they come on air and progress through their “tough” outfitted hunts, they mention this buck or that buck by name targeted for dispatching for the camera. It’s all about the camera running on the right deer at the right time, every time.
In most instances these hosts’ wish hit lists have so many names, that the audience begins to think just how real could this be? I mean most average deer hunters have never seen a 150+ inch B&C buck, much less had a list with a dozen buck names on it just waiting for the camera to focus. And some viewers are beginning to ask just how many bucks are enough? For them, business is just business, and that is their business. Are there no limits?
Just this month, TV hunting personality Michael Waddell posted a scathing video on Facebook criticizing where the hunting television show business is headed. He suggests it has gotten out of hand and out of balance with the average folks that work hard all week long in the hopes to hunt one or two weekends a month. He believes the audiences are beginning to turn them off.
Waddell eludes to the fact that the hunting show viewership is down and sliding. This has been coming on for years. Sponsors are beginning to get negative feedback, too. Every day hunters are tired of being pressured into having to have this product or that product with some cute I.D. logo on it in order to harvest a record book buck. They know that is bunk.
That and knowing that many of the programmed trophy harvests filmed for TV are in fact just programmed. Even if you bother to name a buck or two on your property “Big Ten” or “Screwball” or whatever, what are the realistic chances of seeing all of those bucks during a single hunting season to put them all on the wall, much less make all those shots on camera? We’d all love to buy that lottery ticket.
So, fellow every day average hunters with limited time and resources to deer hunt, you have to adopt a “grain of salt” strategy when watching hunting TV shows. That guy that virtually has a heart attack every week on his show, has to be faking it. He’s just as fake in real life, too. So folks, just keep hunting to enjoy the sport and learn to be your best at it. Once in a while, just turn the TV off or watch a good Sci-Fi movie for the same effect.
