Traditional bowhunter television

[kill shot]

Dan, I think the country singer was Morrison or something like that. That was a great show. We also had Tred Barta, that was a good show too. BJP, we wouldn't need a blooper section. Bloopers are part of the hunt.

[joe ashton]

I would watch.

[Jayrod]

Would love to see a all traditional bow show on tv!! I will support it

[Easykeeper]

That would be great, I would definitely enjoy a show like that.  

Of course I would enjoy any bowhunting show that focused on archery, DIY, friendships, and skipped the war paint, whoops, ridiculous high-fives, generally annoying antics, and hosts that take themselves too seriously, and infomercials even if it wasn't exclusively stickbows.  

Until one of these happens I'll skip the hunting channels.

[Swinestalker]

Originally posted by Sean B:
No money to be made with us, most of us aren't into gadgets!!!!

Would love to see it, but this gentleman is dead on. Most hunting shows are just infomercials peddling gimmicks to tinhorns.

[Dan bree]

It would better than honey boo boo  or big but girls or all the other crap on tv  hell ill  support  it somehow!

[dragonheart]

Here is my take on it.  I would love to see a show I can watch on the outhouse channel.  It would have to be about the story.  About the hunt.  i believe there are a lot of people that are hungry for just that, the story of the hunt.  If duck dynasty can become popular, I mean really, a show about traditional hunting values.  It will need to touch on the difficulty and that involves the predator-prey relationship.  You will have to move people on a level that is a different format than an infomercial.  Watch this clip.  It moves your spirit.  It would need to have class and bring in the traditional values of the hunt and honoring the animal we love to pursue in the purest form of challenge of hunting.  It can be done.  It will have to be outside of the "box" in its presentation.  Does this move you?  bring a smile to your face?

 

[killinstuff]

You would have to be shooting apples off each others heads, feuding with the in-laws, flinging exploding arrows at old cars and crap like that to go along with the hunting part for it to be picked up by any network. Outrageous and dysfunctional sells these days, not boring quiet still hunting of a pretty little deer or a sweet bunny.  For every show on TV, there are 250 others trying to get on TV. Keep that in mind.

[jkm97]

Would love to see....but doubt there's a market. I do watch Fred Eichler's trad episodes, but skip the rest. I wonder how his ratings are?

[RonD]

Why not contact Tred Barta and get his take on the idea. He may be able to help find sponsors and know where to get the monetary support. If you are serious about the endeavor I think his insight and direction would prove extremely helpful.

[Ibow]

Originally posted by Mojostick:

I've read where it's around $150,000 a year for a 1/2 hour slot on the major outdoor networks.

I think it's even more than that. I hunted with an outfitter in 2012 that was producing/editing his own show and was trying to sell it to several potential sponsors. Back then I think he said it cost around $400,000 for a half year of half hour episodes and $250,000 for the Sportsman's Channel. The last I heard he is looking into Wild TV... a Canadian Network that is web based I think???

At any rate, I don't know if there's that many big name trad businesses that would be willing to make that much of an investment for you. It would be great if there was.

[Bowwild]

The price on Sportsman's channel has been increasing very rapidly.  

Another pitfall: Some folks will pledge to provide cash support and then, when it is too late too pull the plug, they don't come through. Not my experience thank goodness, but I have a friend who was treated this way.

There are such infomercials these days. I DVR the ones that are hunting something I have an interest in and then run through them without commercials. I mute the sound on some of them.

[Mojostick]

$400,000 is a pile of cedar shafts and feathers that has to be sold.

If people want to see more traditional shows, the best way to do that is to grow the traditional ranks. And that isn't done by focusing on the children of existing traditional archers, it's done by bringing over some of the currently huge number compound shooters.

Depending on the state, traditional hunters make up some 2% to as high as 8 or 9% of archery hunters. If we grew our ranks to 20% of the archers out there, then business follows. When business follows, dollars follow. When dollars follow, influence follows.

Now, I'm sure many if not most traditional archers don't want that and like the "gang" being a small group. But with size comes power. As long as traditional archers make up less than 10% of archery hunters, DNR's, legislators and advertisers will pay mere lip service to any "traditional" concerns, in the long term. It's for this reason that I've always said that if your east of the Mississippi and your state doesn't yet have crossbows, you inevitably will. Sure, you may have a couple short term wins, but as long as we're a tiny group, we're like the Plains Indian tribes and the other facets of hunting are the settlers and US Army coming from the East. One state here or there may hold off crossbows for a couple more years or even a decade, but it's a losing battle in the long term. The fact that a traditional show can't make it is just an illustration of the lack of "political/economic" clout traditional archery really has. So there's a couple choices, stay small and enjoy the status quo or expand the ranks of traditional archers by recruiting compound shooters in every way. Just a random thought that dovetails with why a traditional show can't make it.

[RonD]

Barta was the most successful trad bow hunting show on tv and would probably still be so had not fallen ill.  If you are serious about such a show you need to speak with people who know the facts about such shows and what it takes to produce such a show on tv.

[Longbowcrowder66]

way to much money being made off those training wheels. And its way to easy for them to shoot training wheels LOL!!  Traditional archery you have to work hard for. Its all about simplicity, no one wants to work hard for anything.  Im just saying that's how I look at it guys.

[aim small...release]

this was probably said already, but easton bowhunting with fred eichler is exciting to watch

[Longbowz]

I think Fred Eichler does a good job.  He's also one of the most perennially popular shows on the network he appears on.

[ichibuns]

Yeah miss the old Fred Bear hunting show that how I got started and my grandfather too the first time I saw Mr. Fred Bear was on wild kingdom I think that's the right show LOL was awesome hunting though    

[Ray Lyon]

Fred Eichler has Easton and Muzzy behind him, so that's a huge help. He also does a great job and has a good personality. We don't have TV in our home, not even local channels. We watch movies via DVD player and large screen, so I can watch hunting DVD's.  That's probably the best way to continue to market/show traditional until we have a bigger piece of the pie.

[Bowwild]

Those who shoot recurves and long bows are on the increase -- 14% now.  More kids are being taught to shoot "barebow" every year than ever before, by their teacher.

Frankly, I wouldn't want my grandchildren watching hunting TV these days unless their dad or I was also watching to filter out the stupidness. I don't want my grandsons to exlaim "great shot" when the arrow is clearly centered in the paunch.

Thanks to science-based wildlife management demanded by and supported by hunters, these are the good ole days of hunting. As bowhunters most of us enjoy the longest seasons and most generous bag limits ever.  I've also found in my career that bowhunters are far more active in providing the FW Agency input at Commission or Board meetings. Something can be said for the recurve and longbow hunter in that they are often the backbone of the state bowhunting organization.

Too many bowhunters don't belong to their state Bowhunter Organizations.  Those who don't belong are leaving the heavy lifting too others. Sort of like buck hunters who refuse to shoot a doe.

As a recurve shooter I have no issues with other bowhunters or my game agency and bow hunting seasons. I would be very much against a separation of so-called traditionalists and compound shooters in hunting seasons. We aren't that special.

It doesn't matter to me at all whether the ranks of those who shoot recurves and longbows is growing as long as overall hunter numbers remain strong and those numbers have grown 9% in the past 5 years.  

A percentage of compound shooters will drift over to recurves or longbows over time, just like many here have and are. They will come for their own reasons. Some will come because of more challenge. Some will come because they love the look and feel of these bows. Unfortunately for some they leave the compound because they have developed severe shooting issues. It is unfortunate because different equipment doesn't fix that problem, it requires a different mind set.