TV HUNTS - STAGED OR REAL ?

[bmorris]

How many hunts do you think are staged or high fence . What kind of percentage ?

I still remember looking up one from Ohio a few years after seeing him get a huge buck walking by. Never a word where he was hunting but it was a 177 acre high fence. I keep hearing stories that lead me to believe there is a lot more then we expect. Whats your feeling. Maybe that would be a good article for D&DH to research. Maybe our so called pro hunters aren't so pro after all ?

[All Talk]

I am skeptical sometimes. I may not be that skilled of a hunter but some times the deer that walk by make me wonder if they walk by so much because they have nowhere else to go. Also we don't know what all ends up on the cutting room floor. Some have to be legit. They can't all be full of it. If you look at it as pure entertainment then I guess it really does not matter what is real and what is not. I like it to be real, I hunt for real so if I am going to try something I see work on a show I would hope it is real. High Fences are crap. Not sure if I am stepping on other forum members toes here but you hunt high fences and you are not a disabled hunter or maybe a kid you are not hunting, period.

[DeerCamp]

Some of it is staged and some of it is real.. Lee and Tiff when hunting on their property I feel is real. As they have shown poachers and what not. I love watching Real Tree Road Trips but while watching one show they are on a ranch in Texas and one can see corn on the ground..My guess is that was pry a high fence but who know's? One thing is for sure, I really doubt that all of them with the exception of a few can go out on state land and bag a monster buck. They are handed everything, from their bows to their gear. They have people set up their stuff and tell them where the deer are all at. It'd be nice if one of these times they would make a few shows where they find the deer and do it all by themselves. Go on state land and shoot a monster there.. To me that would show that they really are a "pro" if they can do that all the time rather than have someone else do it for them. I would also rather them shoot a buck that I "have a chance" at seeing in real life. Lets be real, none of us "non pros" are going to see 20 P&Y and B & C every year. Take a nice 6 or an 8pt that scores somewhere in the low 100's, 90's or even 80's. Id rather see that than these larger than life deer. I've shot 2 bucks that scored over 100 on state land and those deer are BIG deer.. The 170's these guys shoot are just unreal and its not fun to watch anymore.

[bmstaaf]

I'm gonna say some are staged others are fair...the average person can only afford so much land and time...I watched a show once they had over 5000 acres of land with 2000 acres of food plots....that's the difference between the average Joe and a professional.. I'm not saying that its impossible to be successful on small parcels of land, but what I am saying is sit on 5000 acres of well managed low pressured land I bet your success rate increases by at least 80%...hunting videos are a business you either put a fence up buy big trophy animals or put a boat load of $$$ into a boat load of land...

[Woods Walker]

Define "REAL". IMO, if it's edited in any way, or presented in any way where the sequence of events is not in the order they occured, then it's not "real".

That criteria probably eliminates about 98% of the hunting shows/vids.

[gunther89]

I'm sure some are high fence but probably alot are on outfitter land which has hundreds or thousands of acres. Also alot depends on where you are hunting. For instance if you have 80 acres of land in Buffalo county Wisconsin you probably will have a better chance of killing a 150+ class buck then you do if you own 80 acres in Northern Wisconsin. Some areas of the country just have big deer.

[freak nasty 145]

I used to really get into watching these videos. Not anymore. To much acting not enough hunting. Not really fair chase. What ever sells i guess.

[Ohio farms]

I'd imagine that all of them are edited and spliced to some extent. I think the ones that feature the real owners of the property as the hunters are more like real hunting since I would think that they may actually be doing the scouting, yada yada. Who knows? You have to see it more as entertainment than anything else. It would take me years just to see the numbers of deer that they see in one show, let alone the the big bucks.

[bmorris]

By "real" I mean hunting as you and I experience when we go hunting. That's what I called hunting with all that goes with it.

It seems these programs are really commercials for xyz outfitters or xyz ranchers and if you come here the same thing will happen for you.

How long have these deer been protected so that when the cameras roll there will be action Not to be to cynical. I think that some of these deer are hand picked for certain celebrities before they ever arrive for their hunt. Would be nice if they were honest about the details.

This is another reason that I feel that some of the testimonials and endorsements that are from these kind of hunts are useless in telling us how they would work on a real hunt.

[Woods Walker]

"This is another reason that I feel that some of the testimonials and endorsements that are from these kind of hunts are useless in telling us how they would work on a real hunt."

Now THAT'S an understatement!!!!