Do these producers not look at the proposed footage and "search" for the kind of things that we are talking about? Example, being a resident of NC and close to a large Bass fishery, it's fair to say that I have seen, spoken to Mr. Hank Parker a dozen or so times. He's even visited our Church while fishing a local tournament and signed Tyler's Bible. I've Alway thought of Mr Parker as a good Christian man and true, ethical outdoorsman until: I watched an episode where his archery hunt was ruined by weather and he was forced to hunt with a muzzleloader. Well the only muzzleloader within a hundred miles was an old one with a cheap scope that he paid $50.00 for at a pawn shop. They tried sighting in the weapon but there was a problem with either the optics, mounts or the rifle itself, causing it to hit exactly 5' to the right
. Hank, actually took this unsafe weapon weapon to the woods and when the opportunity presented itself at a trophy whitetail, he took the shot and missed as he saw his bullet hit the show 3' to the right of the deer. Instead of accepting defeat and calling it a hunt, he poured out some more C'mere Deer and of course that was what caused the "fired at" buck to return the following day. Hank had figured out a way to judge where to aim 5' from the deer's vitals from either direction and when the buck came in he counted, 1,2,3,4,5 yards,BOOM and his buck went down shortly thereafter.
Some of you may criticize me for watching the shows to begin with, there's not much more to do when you're laid up in the house with nothing productive to do but I'll tell you this, I lost any and all respect for Hank Parker that day and will watch "Soaps" before I'll watch Hank Parker 3-D again. I once thought of him as a leader that I could trust but was really hurt to see that the whole "Do what it takes to get the harvest on film" had afflicted my once idol.
After reading some of your replies to Jays post it made me realize that I too have gotten off track in putting faith in these TV hero's instead of putting it where it belongs. To our fathers, grandfather, uncle's and other elders that taught us in "Real life" what good and ethical sportsmanship was all about and disciplined us for crossing the line, like when my dad tore my hind parts up for aiming my Red Ryder BB gun at my sister when I was 5. That still hurts but ya know what? I never did it again. Tyler makes mistakes and he knows that there will be consequences when he crosses the line. I don't know what I'm trying to say y'all, I just remember a better time when Dad bought me a 5 pack of 0 Buckshot for my Ithica single barrel 20 ga. shotgun and a can of bug spray. We'd climb an old live oak without the aid of a climbing devise and instead of setting out cans of spray and hanging cotton balls soaked with Tink's69, we just prayed that we had picked the right tree that morning and when a buck as small as a cow horn fell at the crack of the gun. We knew that just as soon as we reached one another a celebration was to be had at the fallen deer followed by even more when we got home. That was hunting, the way I was taught. As kids, we were put on stand in places that we never knew existed and we had no clue where we were as we were dropped off before day in an old willys jeep, given a deer salad sandwich that grandma made, a moon pie and a 10ounce coke that you learned to open with a shotgun shell. Once out of the jeep, pa would grab us by the collar and bellow " don't leave, don't shoot no doe and DON"T let mt 2 hounds get passed you! As Pa left, we prayed that the dogs would never come our way in fear that we would break on of his rules. But, we had fun, we killed deer ( some that Pa never knew about ) and we loved every minute of it. Now here it is 35 years later, Pa and Dad are gone and we have nice 4x4 trucks with high rise dog boxes on the back and 2 different radios and high tech tracking devices so that we can just look at a screen mounted in the truck and see where every one of the 50 or so supped up, fox pen raised, hounds that we released that morning and tell you exactly where they are. However, we have learned to stay away from the highway hunting crowds that plague the Southeast giving the rest of us a bad name.
Jay, I'm glad that you started this thread. It's made me take a look back to where I came from and what it is that I need to pass down to my children and to respect the game that we hunt. I apologize for stealing your thread but I hope that you'll understand that it unlocked something that has been lost inside my heart for a long time. Lord willing, I'll pick Tyler up from school and one of us will get "lucky" this afternoon. I gotta stop by Wal-Mart and pick up a Buck Bomb first though.
. Realtree Roadtrips played a show on the outdoor channel today that broke my heart. Michael Waddell was bowhunting Elk when the blunder occured. As the bull was closing, Michael launched a 50+ yard "arra" and hit the bull in the liver/gut area. He kept stating he was sick and felt "as low as a snakes belly" about the shot and lack of blood. He and 4 other hunters spent most of the next day looking for "his Bull" 
. Luckily they did find the bull nearly a mile away.
....maybe it got shot by rifle off camera to save the hunters hide, ya never know.............bob