Why no Traditional Archery shows on television?

[bushwood]

I've been around tradgang for a while and really enjoy learning from this genuine group of hunters and archers. I can't understand why the success I see the members of this forum experience doesn't translate into someone creating a television show. It would be wonderful to have something out there that would show the other side of hunting and further the cause that we all so dearly love.
 Quite frankly, I've become numb to what's on outdoor television and truly wish for something more.....or actually less!
 Somebody needs to step up!

[bigbadjon]

To have a tv show you need the big sponsors. The big archery sponsors generally make you use their top end wheel bows. Easton Bowhunting with Fred Eichler is a notable exception but he does occasionally shoot a compound bow top satisfy Hoyt. Lots of shows feature trad bows occasionally but it is unlikely anybody will focus on our niche.

[bigbadjon]

On the flip side there are a number of high quality dvd's available. Bowhunting Reflections comes to mind. The Wensels have several enjoyable films. The content is just more marketable on home video.

[Mike Mecredy]

There was Tred Barta, but most that watched it bitched about it, of course then he fell ill...  I watch one every now and then called "Sasquatch the mountain Man" (or something close to that) and he uses a longbow now and again.

[Jim Wright]

Probably for the same reason that other pastimes with a relatively small number of participants don't get sponsored TV shows. I have commented on a number of similar posts before and it's all recreation but the lure of watching someone else hunt with traditional archery, compounds, modern/primitive firearms, spears, land mines or strangulation is lost on me.

[BOWMARKS]

Marketability.

[nineworlds9]

Follow the money.  Most potential trad sponsors just don't have the budget to float a nationally syndicated trad focused tv show.  Plus the average viewer needs to be able to identify with what's going on on camera and how it relates to the sponsored products...its one thing to watch some guy nail a deer at 50 yds with a wheelie and know you can go buy that bow and within a short period/ less than a day be shooting just like him VS say a trad show where a guy is shooting a fancy custom bow and the viewer realized he could buy said bow and then would need to practice on an almost daily basis for one to several seasons or more to make a bankable shot...situation like that wouldn't help sell a lot of bows to Joe Blow.  You follow?  People like the easy way of doing things.  A national trad show would be a costly niche program that most average Americans would view as a curiosity, hate to say it.  But I am hopeful.

[Tom L]

MONEY !

[Overspined]

TV is fake.  I know a friend of mine who films and a lot is staged. I can't imagine having the pressure of making it up or "recreating". Not cool, not real. I can't watch any hunting shows without a lot of doubt about where they really might be and how much hunting is really done. "Here we are at wonkas deer factory where we cull any deer that won't make X score" or "this ground hasn't been hunted for ten years" etc.

[Pheonixarcher]

I agree with what's already been said, but I too, feel that their needs to be more focus on hunting. Not just with trad bows, but hunting in general! It seems that all of the shows nowadays, only focus on the kill, and none of the preparation or skill that is involved in a successful hunt.

Sure, I like to see nice bucks, and that in some places, you can actually see or get a shot at one. But I don't need to see three booners killed, with less than perfect shots, in one half hour program.

I would like to see a series that follows a season with a traditional bowhunter. Where they go through the finer details of equipment set up, to stand placement. And I would be more than happy to see a days hunt, crammed into a half hour, even if they didn't harvest a "mature buck". There is so much more to a successful hunt than a kill, and that is one aspect that I believe needs to be better conveyed to everyone.

[overbo]

This is what happens when you are in the minority.
Plus, there would be little advertisement and who would want to watch a hunting show w/ 80% the show and 20% advertisements?

[RAGHORN 3]

I would think a person like Clay Hayes would be the perfect representative for a traditional tv show...      Maybe Clay will see this and chime in?

[Bill Carlsen]

Fred Eichler has a show called "Easton's Bowhunting" or sometimes just "Bowhunting". Can't remember which of the hunting channels it is on but many times he uses his recurve.

[Scott E]

It would be cool if Martin or Bear sponsored one for their traditional line of bows.

[Jon Stewart]

I think it is about money.

 We have 4 or 5 really nice and well attended traditional archery shoots in Michigan every summer and I think most would be shocked to learn that about 75% that attend hang their recurves/longbows up October first.

So maybe a lack of interest in watching.  I know I would watch that kind of show but just refused to watch the shows that are on now.

[Don Stokes]

We are not the hunting show demographic. Our people don't tend to jump on the latest bowhunting gadget, which is what the videos are intended to promote. Get the latest and greatest aid that will insure that you get your record-book buck.

When I was making arrow shafts, one famous traditional hunter who is regularly on TV was very interested in my shafts, and I traded him a dozen for one of his books at a show where our booths were adjacent. He told me he couldn't use them in public because Easton is his primary sponsor.

If we want to get on TV, we have to accessorize more. : )

[Charlie3]

I've wondered the same thing with all these shows popping up about outliers if you will. If Discovery, History Channel, Nat Geo ect did a special on a traditional or primitive bowyer I'll wager it wouold get good ratings. Kinda hard to make a series out of it though. My local newspaper (Spokesman-Review) ran a really cool article on Brackenbury bows last week. It's a large enough paper that upward of 100,000 people read it I would imagine. Stay tuned! With the ever-expanding variety of programming it will be a matter of time.

[hvyhitter]

No money to be made.......Most of us use the same bow, arrows, and broadheads year after year. The same goes for our hunting clothes too. The compound guys if they dont buy a new bow tend to buy new rests, sights, releases, broadheads, arrows and scent block camo based on what they see on TV........

[Pheonixarcher]

There are many fine sponsors, many here on trad gang, that could help support a trad show. I'm not talking about giving out hundreds of thousands of dollars here, I mean a few hundred bucks and maybe a dozen arrows, or article of clothing. If you get enough of the little guys support, you could at least cover the cost of making the show.

And let's not forget about some of the bigger companies as well. Sitka gear might be interested in a primary sponsorship. One of the big wigs there, is a traditional bowhunter. One of the scent elimination sprays, tree stand manufacturers, optics, etc. There are many products, that all, or most hunters utilize. Advertising is about getting your name out there, and the more it's seen, the more accepting of a product that people are.

And I don't know about the rest of you guys, but the hunting industry gets its fair share of my money every year. Lol

I really don't think it's that crazy of an idea. Traditional bowhunting is becoming more and more popular every year. It would most certainly need the right personality as a host though.

[kill shot]

I thought about this forever. A real hunting show with real people. The show wouldn't need to focus on successful hunts but hunts in general. Episodes could include bow and equipment set up, trad archery rondevous, small game hunting, hunting spot set ups, still hunting, target competitions, history, shooting fundamentals, choosing the right bow, build alongs, animal behavior, trad archery shops, bow makers, true blue hunting camps etc. Here is a whole series of shows that most real outdoors people would be glued to. As far as sponsers go, there are many that are not even hunting related but regular necessities. I wrote Bear Archery about this topic but got no response. If I had the money, if my ship ever comes in, this is going to happen.