Traditional bowhunter television

[Longbowz]

Bowwild,

You make some very valid points sir.  In my state much of this also applies.

[mulie]

Why not work as a collective group to create a logo and then post your own personal hunts on You Tube.  That is free and each individual can see how difficult the process is. It would be fun to watch.

[kill shot]

I'm surprized that Bear Archery has not endorsed such a show. They offer a great line of trad bows. There is power in such a primal way. Just the movie "Hunger Games" has inspired many of the compound shooters that know me to come over to my house and hang out in my archery shop and talk about trad archery. A few of them have crossed over.

[KentuckyTJ]

Youtube is a wonderful thing for sharing video

[Bowwild]

I agree with TJ.  I am amazed at the cool trad hunts one can watch on youtube!

[Mojostick]

I believe the recent incarnation of the televised hunting show is jumping the shark. Everything changes. The variety show and daytime soaps are other victims of changing TV tastes.

With the ever changing TV world, from fast forwarding DVR recordings past ad's to live streaming everything to on demand, etc, we may well come full circle back where a single company brings you a hunting show, where there are no "ad breaks", but instead there's a square "ring" around the screen with the company name and the show is titled after the product. Companies like Realtree and Winchester are getting closer to this type of thing.

And this isn't just happening in hunting shows. All of TV advertising is changing.

If any of you have younger daughters, I bet you watched The Sound of Music Live! this past December. It was a live TV event brought to you by one sponsor, Walmart. What's novel about it is, it's a throwback to many of the shows from the 1950's in that it was live and brought to you by one sponsor, in both an "ad" form and a "branding" form. If hunting company sponsors can figure out how to do this, it would go a long way for those hunters soured on the current format of hucksterism.

[bowzonly]

Ditto what Mojostick said about the money. I know someone who had an internet and local cable show that I contributed to several times. I remember him saying the cost was about 150k a year.  It was all trad and he had a lot of trouble even just getting a bow from one of the big names.

[LimBender]

I agree Mojostick, but the way they are now, not only do you have to watch 50% commercials for the products, then the hunters talk about the products constantly and use overly heavy-handed product placement.

I don't think I'd mind one or the other (understanding sponsors and outfitters foot the bill), but both is just too much.  Most just seems like an infomercial.  Might as well have a Billy Mays look-a-like hawking hunting products.

[jkm97]

Originally posted by Mojostick:
I believe the recent incarnation of the televised hunting show is jumping the shark. Everything changes. The variety show and daytime soaps are other victims of changing TV tastes.

With the ever changing TV world, from fast forwarding DVR recordings past ad's to live streaming everything to on demand, etc, we may well come full circle back where a single company brings you a hunting show, where there are no "ad breaks", but instead there's a square "ring" around the screen with the company name and the show is titled after the product. Companies like Realtree and Winchester are getting closer to this type of thing.

And this isn't just happening in hunting shows. All of TV advertising is changing.

If any of you have younger daughters, I bet you watched The Sound of Music Live! this past December. It was a live TV event brought to you by one sponsor, Walmart. What's novel about it is, it's a throwback to many of the shows from the 1950's in that it was live and brought to you by one sponsor, in both an "ad" form and a "branding" form. If hunting company sponsors can figure out how to do this, it would go a long way for those hunters soured on the current format of hucksterism.

Remember Ronald Reagan and GE TV? Might work, but I wonder what trad outfit has deep enough pockets to pull it off?

[Mojostick]

Limbender,
I hear ya. I rarely tune in on those shows anymore. I don't care for any infomercials.

[kill shot]

Limbender, I hear you too. It goes beyond infomercials with me. I grow tired of the lingo they use on those shows. He's down he's down, laughter after the kill, high fives with the camera man, or when they're at some high doller hunting ranch and say they were "invited" by thier "good friend" so and so that owns the place. I'd rather watch some kid shoot frogs by a pond.

[jrchambers]

You could try by following a group of hunters in several states to keep tag costs down.  For example i have a hunt this spring for bbear that is in my back yard.  Costs would be nothing but travel.  Maybe the hunters could host you for a while so you could build some footage.  Once you have a good stock you might be able to find some intrest.  I would be glad to house and feed someone for a week or two trying this

[maineac]

Would love to see it also.  wold love to be a part.  But it might make what I love "work", though I doubt I would mind (my wife is another story). finding the amount of sponsors required to pull off a full season (lots of the cable channels will put on your show, but you have to pay for your spot).
I watched the video posted by Dragonheart, saw at least 4 product placements (could have linked a few more if pushed).  It could be possible if you could get enough sponsors on board.

[Uncle Buck]

I don't think we will see one anytime soon, we just aren't that big a factor in the market yet. I would not look to Bear Archery as some have suggested. Bears sells a lot of high tech gadget laden compounds.Even when Papa Bear was still with us his inexpensive Whitetail hunter compound was a major factor in the compound craze in the 80's

[kill shot]

When I started this post I was just wishing out loud. Actually the more I think about it the better it sounds. If I had the cash it would happen. (wishing out loud again) There could be a lot of shows that wouldn't require high doller hunts. Small game hunts, preditor hunts, varmint hunts, back yard deer hunts, picking hunting partners, gear care and maintnence, how to's like making arrows, splicing feathers, all the way to making a quiver out of a dead cat you found in the road. If any of this was on T.V. my eyes would be glued to it.

[Wiley Coyote]

Sound real good!!!          

[RedStag5728]

I am definitely all for it! I am having to search youtube for my traditional hunting entertainment! My channel is going (from now on) to be strictly traditional hunts, and trad related topics. I'd love to see some of Tradgang's top heroes make a tv show on their hunts

[rick7]

absolutely

[Gene R]

Count me in would subscribe immediately!

[Sidmand]

I used to work in the radio world, and it isn't much different than TV, matter of fact, Neilson just bought the company I worked for because the want to control ratings and advertising across radio as well as TV.  I learned while working there that TV (and radio) makes money from ADVERTISING, and nothing else.  For ANY show to make it, you have to have a large percentage of certain target markets that can be fed advertisement after advertisement in hopes that you get said viewer to visit a store and buy your product(s).  And, I have to admit, most of the crowd that are interested in hunting with stick and string and making our own gear, well, we don't fall into one of the target markets.

The two biggest targets are 12-25 year old girls/women, and 18/35 year old man.  I'd hazard a guess that most of the people on this forum don't fall into that category, but I could be wrong.  However, I bet I am not wrong in regards to what amount of money we would spend on gear - I know I have a personal goal of not spending ANY and making all my own stuff.  I doubt that Tandy Leather or Craftsman tools are going to want to pay a network upwards of 50K for 30 seconds of airtime in hopes that I might buy a cowhide for a quiver or an ax to fell that Hickory tree I've been eyeing up.

I personally would be all over a trad archery show.  Might I suggest a quality YouTube channel to start, with people subscribing to watch the episodes.  That way, you get good videos, without commercials, and you can have submissions from all over.  Get a few like-minded folks together, have a couple of people edit and screen out crap videos, get the word out on some of the bigger forums like this one, and see how it goes.  Maybe I'm wrong and that YouTube channel will get 500k/1 million subscribers.  That would be something that the networks would start getting interested in for sure.  If not, then at least we get good quality videos from like minded folks.