A thought on hunting videos

Alex

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Golden, BC
Just a thought.

Being bored, I started watching hunting videos on youtube. I was going through them pretty much one by one, following the “related videos”. After a few dozen videos I got this feeling that something wasn’t right. Now before I continue, let me say I love hunting; I live for hunting, it rules my life.

Being mostly ‘‘kills videos’’ all I saw were animals getting killed; not hunting. I don’t want to take anything away from the hunter’s efforts. On the contrary, being a hunter myself, I know how many hours must have bein devoted to obtain these results. It just that it made me realize that the last few seconds of the hunt are such a small part of the whole experience and not the soul reason we hunt. Sure bagging a nice bear is welcomed but when I come back form a days hunt empty handed (deer = 90% of the time) I still feel good about my outing. And yes, I understand that a 5 hour video of a corn field would be pretty boring…

So my point is: maybe this is a part of what fuels the anti-hunters fire. They sit there on youtube and follow videos after videos of kills and don’t see the whole picture; the effort and passion we put into it, the time, the energy and the sacrifices we make. All they see is a guy who by luck found a deer and suddenly shoots it. And from an outsider point of view I can understand it. Usually when the video starts, the pray is already in the shot…

Let me use this little metaphor. They see a guy going for his welfare check in the mail when in reality he spent the whole week working his ass off for that money!

Anyways, what do you guys think? Have I gone nuts or might I have a point?

Alex
 
Vidios of Hunting

My feeling too! A lot of years ago I sat in on a couple of sessions of a guide showing amateur movies of previous hunts, to try and sign up clients. All of the beautiful mountain scenery they worked in was missing from the pictures. Instead, we see a fine billy goat get knocked down from a 300 magnum, then get up and struggle along through two or three more poor hits. And the would-be clients cheering, "He sure busted him that time, he'll get him now." It about made me sick.
 
Hunting I enjoy, watching flicks of animals or people being killed makes me feel like a voyeur, NOT a feeling that I cherish.
 
I'm in total agreement with you. If everyone could see all the work and thought that goes into just getting you and your gear to your hunting area. Some guys spend a ton of time before season scouting. The long, sometimes freezing cold days we spend on a watch, and often still come home empty handed. The gutting, dragging it out of the bush, skinning, hanging, paying for the butcher if you don't do it yourself.....the list goes on. To make it look like a whole hunt lasted 30 seconds or a minute and to make it look like it was just a snap of the fingers simple deal is just a sad thought
 
Even when I kill my "own" animals, I do feel a bit sad for it but revel at a clean kill all the same. Watching someone else kill is of no interest to me. Most hunt vids are marketing tools.
 
You're not alone Alex, I feel the same way. I don't watch those videos, but I do see your point. I don't feel that the people who make these videos have their priorities in the correct order.
 
I'll back you up to. Unfortunatly, everyone who does agree with you here are not the ones those videos are aimed at. It seems to me that there are two very different sides to hunters. Aside from all the other crap about stages they say hunters go through, I find you have your horn hunters, then your plain old hunters.

The difference is great. When I say horn hunters, I'm not talking about trophy hunters. Horn hunters are out there for the sake of killing. They watch videos, buy adveritisers products, and care nothing for the animals that they pursue. These are the guys you see stradling and sitting on the animals in pictures. They have no problem driving up to a deer, shooting it, tossing it into the bed of their truck and have no feeling towards the hunt. They smack each other on the back and hollar war whoops, even if the deer is shot in the guts and wanders off. They have no problem emptying their magazines at an animal 800 yards away. If they connect, they probably don't spend more than 5 minutes searching for it. And to them, the outcome of the hunt is based on the rack that given animal may wear.

The other side of the coin are the hunters who hunt for the sake of the hunt. These are the guys who keep their equipment maintained. especially their camara with the wide angle lens, perfect for scenery shots. They enjoy every moment afield, and the experiance as a whole. To them, they would rather be up that mountain overlooking a beautiful valley with no game to be seen instead of sitting in a tripod stand over a feeder. One way will certainly be more succsesful with a written garuntee, but not their way. It's the overall experiance that makes the hunt for these guys.

The problem is, the latter way is not a good way to make money.

"Follow our hunters as they hike 12 hours uphill and sit with them the remainder of the week as they see not a single legal elk"

And unfortunatly, the first group far outnumbers the second group. And because of that, hunters will always be labled as redneck murderous slobs by those who do not hunt, and view us all as equals.
 
Well put Pharaoh,

Here are some pics that I took while sitting "within" a herd of elk, November 12th this year. I sat within the herd for a good hour. Finally took a bull out of the heard. I did take a still photo of it, but left the animal it's dignity.

CIMG0212.jpg


CIMG0217.jpg


CIMG0219.jpg
 
Well put Pharaoh,

Here are some pics that I took while sitting "within" a herd of elk, November 12th this year. I sat within the herd for a good hour. Finally took a bull out of the heard. I did take a still photo of it, but left the animal it's dignity.

CIMG0212.jpg


CIMG0217.jpg


CIMG0219.jpg

You are indeed fortunate...........lovely photo's.
 
That Nosler television commercial (one shot, one kill) I found to be particularly brutal. Not for the eyes of an anti, that one.
 
Yeah Looch, that nosler one is pretty bad.

The thing is, who is going to watch a video of some guy sitting there for hours on end, freezing his ass off?

No one.
 
I got to agree on this one, at the same time though you can get lucky and find a video of a real hunt every once in a while...
Some of the guys on http://www.huntingfootage.com
Put a lot of thought and work into their videos.... Others, not so much.
 
Good to hear I’m not alone on this one. But I must add that I don’t think these videos are intended to be shocking or that they are mostly made by hillbillies, road rovers or weekend hunters. I think they are simply guys who worked hard and want to share their success, maybe show off a little at worst. By doing that, it unintentionally gives us a bad rep… I mean before realizing this, I might have accepted to post my hunts on youtube…

Well put Pharaoh,
Here are some pics that I took while sitting "within" a herd of elk, November 12th this year. I sat within the herd for a good hour. Finally took a bull out of the heard. I did take a still photo of it, but left the animal it's dignity.

Ahhh, just these pics. and my imagination are more than enough to enjoy. Thanks for sharing


Hehehe, that's going in my favorites!


Alex
 
"The Lost Antler" is a Stoney Wolf Production video. Now there is a show that takes into consideration the "hunt".

Get it if you get the chance.

Would be a great show for anti's to watch too.
 
I've hunted for years and still got queasy watching the "gobbler guillotine" video promoting that arrow head. Just shot after shot of guys lopping the heads off of turkeys with this four bladed arrow head.

Still, I went out and bought one...but for hunting grouse. Seems more humane than bludgeoning them with a small game head (although hit properly, they do get knocked dead instantly from the force)
 
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