A majestical white-tailed buck’s life has just been taken, and the deer hunter is carrying on like he has just scored a touchdown in the closing seconds of the Super Bowl®. These silly antics used to be reserved for TV hunters, but it seems like the bad acting has filtered its way onto our daily Facebook, YouTube and Instagram video feeds.
It’s enough to leave the sane person scratching their head and saying, “Really?”
Editor’s note: It’s been more than 13 years since we published the following controversial essay on the pages of Deer & Deer Hunting. We bring this back today in honor of the man who penned this no-apologies op/ed: Dr. Craig Dougherty. A bowhunting industry pioneer, Craig left us for a better place yesterday. He was 70 years old. We will miss you, our dear friend, but your words of wisdom will always be here to remind us of all the important life lessons you taught us.
by Dr. Craig Dougherty
I like watching hunting shows on TV, and I like watching kill shots. Without them the hunt seems somehow incomplete. What I don’t like watching is the nonsense that hunting programs show after the shot.
By nonsense I mean the fist pumping, high-fiving, voice quivering showboating that occurs in the stand after the shot. It goes something like this:
The deer approaches the stand, the music starts, the tension builds, the hunter releases the arrow or pulls the trigger, the arrow or bullet makes contact, and the hunter turns to his cameraman and starts acting like a total fool in an attempt to somehow show his audience that he’s excited. Some of these Academy Award-winning (we wish) performances appear to be spontaneous, while others are clearly recreated for the camera.
Both are incredibly bad examples of poor acting.
The scene is played out again at the kill recovery site — only this time it seems to go on forever. The dead animal is now in the frame along with the hunter, and the made-for-TV histrionics really get cranking. It’s high drama at its worst; poor acting at its best. It’s as if I nodded off, rolled over on the remote and woke up staring at the Super Bowl winner’s end-zone celebration. Tears flow, points are counted, chests are pounded and backs are slapped.

So what’s wrong with a little celebration? Nothing really. Just as long as the celebration suits the event and it’s well done. A party hat on New Year’s Eve, a congratulatory handshake or hug at graduation, a high-five or two for a home run or even a game- winning RBI. But a vein-popping, fist-pumping, “YES! YES! YES!” victory celebration 20 feet in the air is a little much — no, it’s a whole bunch much.
The legendary Bear Bryant, after witnessing one of his players’ overexuberant end-zone antics, remarked, “Son, act like you’ve been there before.” Not that Bear had something against spirit and raw emotion … he just didn’t want his young charges making fools of themselves in front of a national audience. It wasn’t good for them, it wasn’t good for Alabama and it wasn’t good for the image of college football.
Therein lies the point. A beautiful, noble wild-game animal’s life has just been taken, and our TV hunter is carrying on like he has just landed in the end zone in front of 100,000 hysterical fans. It’s as if our TV hunter is trying to make the weekend ESPN highlights reel. It bothers me as a hunter, and, frankly, it bothers most of the people who have watched outdoor programs with me over the years. It’s a lame attempt at capturing the emotions that we have all experienced as hunters.
It doesn’t work. It doesn’t even get close.
Why It Matters
Bad acting on hunting programs really seems to bother the “half-watchers” who occasionally show up in the TV room and have no choice but to grin and bear it. These are people like my wife, who’s reading her book; or my son-in- law, who doesn’t hunt but thinks he might like to take it up “next year.”
You get the picture. These are nonhunters without an opinion, pro or con, about hunting. The “undecideds” who don’t know enough about hunting to have an informed opinion … until now.
“This is what you do when you go hunting?” they ask with questioning eyes and wrinkled brows.
We shouldn’t have to explain to our nonhunting friends that what they have just witnessed on TV isn’t the real deal. “That’s not how it goes; that’s just bad acting,” we say. “The real deal is so much better and so unlike an end-zone celebration.”

I hate having to explain (politicians call this “spinning”) hunting to nonhunters. Hunting can stand on its own merits when accurately and honestly depicted. Make no mistake: We’re not talking about political correctness here. I’ve never been an apologist for hunting and never will.
We shouldn’t have to explain to a 12-year-old first-time hunter who just experienced his first kill that the high-fives and fist-pumps are “made for TV.” We should explain that it’s OK to be a little bit upset, excited and confused (child psychologists call this cognitive dissonance) about how you are feeling. And, no, there isn’t something wrong with you if you don’t feel like doing back flips or pumping fists.
Going Overboard
The tree-stand scenes often border on the absurd. Don’t the celebs know what a hunter actually feels and does after the arrow has flown its flight? The 60 seconds following a perfectly placed shot. The thrill, the doubt, the shot replay in his mind. It looked good, perfect! I think? What if? Doubt again. Note where you last saw him. Mark the spot. How long till dark? How long have I waited? See any blood? Is that the arrow? So much to think about … so long to wait … so long to hope and doubt.
Of course they know. Most of these guys are very experienced hunters. They just don’t know how to pull it off on camera, so they turn to the camera and start pretending they are in the NFL.
Kill recoveries aren’t much better. The camera tries to capture the exact instant the hunter’s eyes catch the glint of an antler at the end of a blood trail. The enormous relief that comes with knowing that the hunt has ended in a recovered animal. Trouble is, the hunter and crew have been hanging around the kill for the last hour. Bad acting again, only this time it seemingly goes on forever.
Jack Nicholson or Clint Eastwood could probably get it right. Anthony Hopkins for sure. But a TV hunting hero? Not a chance. How could you expect a camo-clad celeb hunter to capture the thrill, relief, remorse (if you don’t feel remorse, you aren’t getting it) of having taken the life of a magnificent animal? How do you convey the pride, satisfaction, humility and dozen other emotions at once? Some things are best left untried and definitely unfilmed.
Normally when I see bad TV I hit the remote and move on. But I like hunting shows and what they stand for. I like them even when they offend me. I’ve been there and done that and don’t envy them at all. I also like the guys who appear on them. I think they can be very effective at getting the hunting/conservation message out to kids, nonhunters and would-be hunters. Only a few (well slightly more than a few) are sending the wrong messages by overdoing the silliness, bad acting and NFL-like antics. They are turning off nonhunters and confusing our kids without knowing it.
I know a lot of these guys, and believe me, their hearts are in the right places. They have the guts to start a business, go on camera and give it their best shot. It’s not their fault they can’t act.
Conclusion
Instead of just sounding off, I think we could fix this thing. Let’s give them some help … kind of like buying your wife or husband a bottle of dandruff shampoo (“It just happened to be on sale, honey.”) or a diet book (ouch!).
If you agree, print this article and mail it to the TV show or celebrity of your choice. If you don’t agree, I hope you’re wearing a safety harness the next time you arrow an animal from 20 feet up and start dancing.
Postscript: The Legend of Bear Bryant
It has been more than 23 years since college football coach Paul Bear Bryant died, yet his legendary influences continue to grow.
Although Bryant was considered a football genius, he is also credited for being a great motivator. One of his most famous quotes, which spawned the idea for Craig Dougherty’s D&DH article, dates back to an early season game in 1969 when Bryant’s team took on the University of Virginia.
According to a UV newspaper reporter who covered the game from the Alabama bench, the incident occurred after Alabama’s starting running back was injured. He was replaced by a sophomore who had never played a down in a regular-season game.
“This young guy was really charged up,” the reporter noted. “He ran out on the field, I’d say at about the 20-yard line of Alabama, got in the huddle, and you could tell that this was his life’s dream come true.
“The huddle broke, the teams lined up, and the ball was snapped. The quarterback did a pump fake, turned to his left and handed the ball off to the running back.
“The back did a head-fake and got around Virginia’s right guard. He then slanted toward the center, spun and eluded several linemen. After breaking free from a linebacker, the back scampered 80 yards for a touchdown. Screaming fans rocked the stadium, and when the back got into the end zone, he was so excited that he started doing cartwheels, jumping all around and rolling on the ground.
“He was so excited that his teammates had to drag him off the field,” the reporter noted.
“I was standing next to Bear Bryant when the young man came up to the legend. The old coach put his arm around the young man and said, ‘Son, next time you get into the end zone, try to act like you’ve been there before, OK?’”
— Craig Dougherty was a pioneer in the hunting industry, helping propel brands such as Satellite Archery, Jennings Archery, Bear Archery and the North American Archery Group to prominence in the 1980s and beyond. Later, he served as the executive director of the Whitetail Alliance and was chairman of the board for the Quality Deer Management Association. Along with his son, Neil, he also founded North Country Whitetails, a land-management company based out of Belmont, N.Y.
Closing Note from Dan Schmidt:
I’ve lost many deer hunting industry friends over these past few years, and Craig Dougherty is among the closest of those people who not only helped me get my start but also mentored me all along the way. My last correspondence with Craig was just a few weeks ago when I shared this cellphone video with him. I was in the attic of my home, cleaning out a lot of what I thought was “junk” when I came across this old answering machine my wife, Tracy, and I had hung to for reasons unknown.
Instead of pitching it in the trash, I decided to plug it in and see if there were any messages still on it. There were. This was one of them, and it was from longtime Deer & Deer Hunting contributor Charles Alsheimer. The date of this message was Dec. 25, 1999. After listening to the message — and then regaining my composure — I filmed this clip and sent it to Craig.
I hadn’t heard back from Craig for a few days, so I decided to email him and ask if he indeed received the video file. This was his response:
“OMG, did I ever appreciate it! So glad you shared it, especially after unexpectedly losing another one of my hunting partners of 49 years two weeks ago. The good ones all die young I guess.”
Yes, they do Craig. Yes, they do. Rest in peace, my friend. I know you and Charlie are looking down on us right now.
CRAIG DOUGHERTY OBITUARY
Craig Dougherty, age 70, of Belmont, New York passed away on October 29, 2019 at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York after a brief illness.
Craig was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania and lived in Fulton, New York for many years until his retirement and move to the Belmont area.
His immediate survivors include his wife Janet O’Neil Dougherty; his daughter and son-in-law Laura and Christopher Willkens of Cato, New York; and his son and daughter-in-law Neil and Marie Dougherty and their children Regina and Steven of Belmont, New York.
Craig received his Master’s and Doctoral degrees at Syracuse University. During his time at the University, he was also associated with the Syracuse University Reading Clinic. Craig was employed as a teacher in the Phoenix, New York Central School District prior to opening a consulting business in the area of marketing and sales for the outdoor industries. Craig’s background in reading education gave him an especial interest in his daughter Laura’s teaching career. During his career, Craig held executive positions at Crossman Corporation, Golden Eagle/Satellite Archery, and Bear. His interests in land management practices for wild game led to the founding of NorthCountry Whitetails LLC. Craig and his son Neil co-authored several books on this subject.
Craig was passionate about the outdoors and was an avid hunter and fisherman. He and Neil worked to make family acreage in Steuben County a model for good game management. Craig named his land Kindred Spirits, and it was truly a place with special meaning to Craig. The highlight of the hunting year was the turkey dinner enjoyed by all. We will hold many fond memories of hunting trips with family and friends, especially those who predeceased Craig: his father Robert Dougherty and his friends Charles Alsheimer and Stephen Storie.
For over 35 years, Craig has been a presence on the national scene of the hunting industry. He was Chairman of the Board and a lifetime member of the Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA) and instrumental in the formation of the National Deer Alliance. He served on the Board of Directors of the National Bowhunters Education Foundation and the Archery Trade Association.
In addition to his books and online blogs, Craig was a frequent contributor to written and online publications such as “The Hunting Page,” “Deer and Deer Hunting,” “Outdoor Life,” and “Whitetail News.” Much of Craig’s writing concerned deer and aspects of deer hunting.
With the arrival of his beloved grandchildren, Craig became convinced of the importance of exposing youth to the outdoor game pursuits. He looked forward to a future of introducing the wonders of the outdoors to Regina and Steven and to the children of friends.
In respect of his wishes, his immediate family will gather at Kindred Spirits to say good-bye to this wonderful and multi-faceted man. There will be no public services, but Craig would ask his friends to take time in their favorite outdoor spot to remember him. Contributions may be made in his name to the National Archery In Schools Program, W4285 Lake Drive, Waldo, WI 53093, Roy@naspschools.org or to the Field to Fork Program, Quality Deer Management Association, P.O. Box 160, Bogan, GA 30622, www.qdma/com/recruit/field-to-fork.