I debated the right place to put this… it’s a response from Michelle Scheuremann, Director of Communications at the Sportsman’s Channel, to my earlier post about the Hooked on Utah episode, Antelope Hunt Part II.  After some thought, I decided to create a new post for this because the comments section of a week-old post is a pretty dead place.

Nevertheless, here’s what Michelle had to say to my criticism of the episode… in particular, to what I considered irresponsible long-range shooting and some bad example-setting for the youth hunters in the party:

 Phillip,

Thank you for allowing Sportsman Channel the opportunity to respond to your posting on “Hooked on Utah.” I had the chance to watch the show over the weekend, along with the opportunity to pause and rewind if I needed clarification. Also, Sportsman Channel has production guidelines that speak to ethics in our programming much like the other channels. I’ll send you a copy for your records.

As you wrote, the group said they had 10 tags on a private antelope ranch in Utah, “somewhere around Scipio.” The first shots we saw were of one of the adults in the group taking a 585-yard shot, and missing it, then an “800-plus yard shot” and missing it. But then he takes an 800-yard shot again and hits the animal clean in the heart. That is all the shooting we see from that adult. The rest of the shots were from the kids with the adults coaching and supervising.

Ethically speaking, the network doesn’t have the right to say if that adult does or does not have the ability to shoot an animal at those long distances. Only that person knows.  If they practice at those ranges with that rifle, then yes, they should be able to successfully take that shot. We know everyone has good and bad days on the range and it’s no different in the woods or in the field. We’ve heard from our viewers that they want to see what happens in real life in the woods out hunting. They don’t want to see “hits” all the time as they realize there are certainly many “misses” that happen as well.

Of the shots we saw on film, the kids may miss their first shot, but were able to grab the animal’s attention again to cleanly get a second fatal shot. Most of these I saw were in the range of 250, 300 or 375 yards. I am not an antelope hunter either, but from what I’ve gathered watching other programs on the network, these are pretty standard distances for antelope hunting. Again, we don’t know if these kids practiced on the range at those distances before going out and we don’t know how successful they were in practice. But, judging from what I saw from the show, they were pretty successful filling their 10 tags before 2 pm.

Like you, I was glad to see the adult pull one youth hunter off a “skyline” shot (one of the golden rules in gun safety basics!). And I was glad to see all the youth wearing blaze orange vests/coats and hats.

I am happy to send a copy of this show your way, Phillip, for review once more.  We always welcome opinions and thoughts from our viewers and sportsman enthusiasts. Again, thank you for the opportunity to respond.

Respectfully yours,
Michelle Scheuermann
Director of Communications
Sportsman Channel

I’ve got some thoughts about her comments, but mostly it’s a matter of personal opinion (on my own part).  I don’t like to see long-range hunting portrayed as something any kid can do.  I don’t believe most people can consistently and ethically make those shots.  I think that hunting television programs tend to sell the idea that anyone can do it with a super-duper-whiz-bang magnum and a thousand-dollar scope… and that’s a detriment to the animals out there who have to tote the load and run off wounded and dying unrecovered. 

But that’s still mostly just my opinion.  And Michelle makes a sound argument that, although the program showed a lot of long-range shooting that was obviously outside the comfort zone of the hunters involved, it did not actually show any wounded and lost animals that often occur as a result of that kind of shooting.  Maybe they didn’t wound anything at all in the making of that episode.  But ten tags filled with all that poor shooting really makes me… as an experienced hunter and guide… wonder how many animals wandered off with bullets in their guts and extremities.

But that’s all hypothetical on my part, and I’ll be the first to admit it.  Maybe all of those second (and third) chances were clean kills with nothing in-between that disappeared on the cutting room floor.  It could happen. 

Anyway, I didn’t post this as a vehicle to further my “assault” on the episode or the program.  The more important thing is that I want you folks, the readers of this blog and many others, to know that your voices CAN BE HEARD by the outdoor media.  They’re paying attention to the viewers who take the time to comment.  They want to know what you want to see, and they are responsive to those requests.  Maybe your voice is, after all, in the minority… but at least you are being heard.

So don’t stop now, folks.  Speak up.  It honestly can make an impact.

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