Mostly For Show

[mtns2hunt]

Yep!  Well said, looking back I feel hunting shows gave me a false expectation of what turkey hunting really was when I started.  They leave out all the work that was done by the outfitter patterning the turkeys or the fact that the place is managed for turkey hunting so there are gobblers everywhere.  Not a real life scenario.

Hunting shows do show success otherwise no one would watch them. LOL. Growing up all I had to hunt was public land. I did not know how to call Turkeys or deer. There were a few books that never helped me much as books just cannot talk. Do you know what it is like to hunt Deer and Turkeys year after year with no success? I do! I read people talking on this forum about passing on Jake's, small bucks or not seeing enough game. Let me tell you if you hunt hard for 2 or 3 years with no luck you will shoot anything with hair or feathers if it is legal.

I watched every hunting show I could for pointers (there weren't as many shows back then as now). Edited or not I did pick up a lot of information and was able to watch how real animals behaved even if they were on some kind of preserve. I tried their tactics as explained by the hunters. Most of them did not work but some did and through trial and error I gained experience and I finally started killing both deer and Turkeys. I was successful enough that people started following me to my stands and I would have to take the long way around.

I would not slight the information available on TV shows. Those shows were all I had (besides outdoor life).

[Marc]

It has been my experience that learning to hunt from a TV show would be similar to learning about how to improve your marriage by watching sitcoms...  In both cases, it is a heck of a lot easier on TV....

[mtns2hunt]

When you are struggling you look for any form of information or experience you can obtain. My watching hunting shows was not difficult as I was only looking for information. Had I not watched some of those shows I would not have hunted antelope or mule deer in Wyoming, elk in Montana, bear in Virginia and Canada (fishing was great also), Mountain lion in Wyoming Turkey in New Mexico or deer in Mississippi. Sitcoms? Awful lot of women watch them - LOL might even help your marriage.