Not all, but a great many young "new" hunters hang upon the words and "wisdom" of those hosting such shows and I have, time and time again, seen evidence OF such shows within the hunting expectations of these young hunters.
IMHO.........it is indeed, robbing them of the true pleasures of hunting by, purposely or not, casting a shadow over the pride of the taking of what most would consider a "normal size" deer........and does indeed effect hunting and the future thereof.
Does are more and more being considered "something that needs thinned out" by a great many......not the superb game animal worthy of a hunter's efforts that they are and always have been.
HEAVENS........there are no "inches' to measure or hang on the wall.
Hunting techniques and various other factors as well as the larger herds DO make the availability of shots a "non trophy" animals much more common and utilizing all the "advantages" one can today in a well populated area has (IMHO) turned the hunter to a different kind of challenge.........antler size of such and such or bigger.
It is an odd phenomenon to me and a few of my friends. Nothing wrong with hunting bigger bucks.......most of us do. To what extent we will go TO do so........varies.
Where the confusion comes from (again to me) is that technology and the marketers of such are SELLING.......... greater advantages, more ways to defeat the "natural defenses" of our game...........to make it..................ready for this?
EASIER.
"Satisfaction is directly proportional to the effort expended in any endeavor."
The fly fisherman in hip boots vs the high speed bass boat crackbait fisherman with all the gadgets.
The flintlock hunter stalking the hills and valleys vs the centerfire rifle hunter sitting high on top the hill with a rangefinder and high power range calibrated optics on his magnum.
The bowhunter hunting with homemade arrows and bow on his bucket vs the 3D shooter, rangefinder, and 350fps arrows 25 feet up a tree.
In which scenario we fit ( or in between which) to find what we seek......each decides themselves.
Each of us decides where "success" comes from.......yet more and more, a great many are "buying it" and the only way to "measure it" is with a tape measure.
What is being lost...........is the passing on of woodsmanship.... the ability to embrace a challenge instead of erasing it..... the desire to go "one on one" with wild game ON THEIR TERMS.
Win, Lose or Draw.
The TV shows are simply long advertisements.......and unfortunatley they do exactly what they were meant to do............SELL "success", or at least make most feel they will GAIN more "success" with such gadgets, methods, etc.......(and probably true as far as "numbers" go).
They cannot sell anyone hunting skills, they can only sell ways to compensate for not learning them and items to lesson the game animal's natural defenses.
They also can't sell the satisfaction of an "almost got a shot" stalk, or that gained by successfully sitting a few feet from several feeding deer, sans camo, blind or treestand.
Ability, Pride, Satisfaction...........don't have a dollar figure.
Hunting has always been "big business" comparitively, but when thousands of companies made hunting the MAIN business, hunting as we have known it rapidly became a bird of another color. The barred feathers of this bird became buzzard black, IMO.
"Hunting the Hard Way" is no longer a quest or goal sought after by many. It's something to buy your way out of.
Regardless of weapon choice the quest now is to find any and all things in techology or methods to make "success" more likely.
The TV shows are there TO SELL those products to make the buyer "more successful".....period.
Sadly, IMHO.........nothing could be further from the truth if your success is measured in satisfaction, as it is for me.
Take away
any of their defenses and I've "succeeded" in doing nothing.......except diminish the pride I feel taking one.
I don't want to make the challenge of hunting "easier". WORK? like mowing the yard? Sure! Hunting?.....uh....no, thank you.
Maybe that's just me.
Food for thought.
God Bless for allowing an old deer hunter this space. No offense to anyone.
Steve
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