Lights, camera — hold the deer so I can hit it — action
Posted on Thursday, August 21, 2008
Don’t believe everything shown on TV hunting shows.
I have a video — distributed by an animal-welfare organization — that shows Jimmy Houston, a popular producer of hunting and fishing shows, trying to kill a deer from a tree stand at a game ranch.
The “hunt” took place within a fenced enclosure, and at one point Houston can be heard complaining that some of the video wouldn’t be usable because viewers would see the corn spread on the ground in front of the tree stand.
It’s an example of why hunters should be worrying far less about the activities of animal-welfare groups than about the wretched excesses of our own fraternity.
The problem TV producers have is that it’s far more about “show” than “tell.” Outdoor writers can go to a hunting or fishing area, talk to experts there and write an article even if we don’t do well ourselves.
Most who will visit those places after reading the stories won’t go for weeks, months or even years. So what most writers try to provide is a realistic assessment of what one can expect.
But if the TV guys don’t get good action footage, they don’t have a show. They’re not trying to give an assessment of a wide range of possibilities. They want to grab viewers’ attention with the spectacular, which is why they spend little time on anything but video footage of people shooting animals or catching fish. They also compress days of hunting or fishing into a few minutes of killing and catching.
The need for action pictures results in many hunting shows being made inside fenced compounds, where there are so many big bucks that practically anyone could kill one. And the result is that the shows often are merely infomercials for the game ranches.
The hunting shows shot on deer ranches are ludicrous. How many times does a hunter have five or six trophy bucks piled in front of him ? That sight is common on TV.
But even that apparently isn’t enough of an advantage for some. The video of Houston also shows another “hunter” inside a tiny, fenced compound killing a deer that is so sick or drugged that assistants have to prop it up against a tree to keep it from falling over.
I believe the emphasis these shows place on killing a deer produces unrealistic expectations in many people who don’t get to hunt on ranches and is one reason that some violate game laws.
One good example is those who applied for multiple tags in Michigan’s antlerless deer-permit drawing, even though each hunter is allowed to apply only once. The rules are printed clearly on the application forms and in the hunting regulations.
Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources is warning hunters to void all but one application, either online or by visiting a license dealer. Violators won’t be included in the lottery drawing.
I’d like to see a rule that says anyone who applies for more than one tag is disqualified from the antlerless lottery — not just for this year but for the next two years, as well. And with the computerized license systems we have today, it’s pretty easy to catch the would-be cheaters.
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
