Just a quick note before I head out (this evening) to do a little guiding up at Coon Camp Springs.  I wasn’t planning to guide up there this year because most of our clients would be self-guiding, but at the last minute, Dave called to see if I could come up to work with this client for a couple of days.  I jumped at the chance, because I’m really missing what had become an annual retreat.

Anyway, I got a little fed up listening to the morning news (or what they’re selling as “news”), so I flipped the TV over to the Sportsman’s Channel to see what was happening there.  At the worst, it would be some mindless sort of background while I got my work day off the ground.  I didn’t expect what popped up…

A guide and client were slipping along a rocky ridge in the Texas Hill Country.  Below them, a trophy axis buck fed in blissful ignorance of the impending death.  The hunter set up for the shot, but just before he could pull the trigger, the deer moved.  The guide pointed out another vantage point and they picked up to move.

As they snuck along the rugged ledge, guide in front and hunter behind, the hunter stumbled on a rock or something.  As he tried to regain his balance, there was the unmistakeable crack of a rifle shot and a flurry of chaos.  The guide stumbled and fell, one of the helpers rushed forward, and there was a lot of yelling.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.  Keep in mind that I’d dropped right into the middle of this program with no idea what it was about. It was a very real depiction of every guide’s worst nightmare, and it was very realistically filmed.  All I could think was, did that really just happen?

The episode didn’t back off right away.  I recognized Larry Weishuhn as the assistant guide when he rushed in to apply pressure to the guide’s wound, and there was actually a sense of panic in the voices of the others as they used their radios to call for help.  A camp truck rolled in, and they loaded the bleeding man into the back as the hunter broke down off to the side.

I scanned my memory as hard as I could to remember any news report of Weishuhn being involved in an accident like this one.  You’d think it would make news, at least amongst the hook-n-bullet press, but nothing came to mind.

And then there was a commercial.

By this point, I realized I was watching a dramatization, but I was pretty impressed by how well they had played it out.  After the commercial, they stretched it a little more and then gave it away… it had all been a dream.

I hit the Info button on the remote, and saw that I was watching A Hunter’s Life.  I hadn’t seen this one before.  From the show’s description, it sounded like most other programs.

Follow outdoor television legend, author, spokesman and all around good guy Larry “Mr. Whitetail” Weishuhn as he hunts the globe for big game.

There was no indication that they might stage situations like I’d just seen, but I honestly felt like the surprise only made it better.  I was glad to see, not only something different, but a message so powerful and important.  It was totally realistic, at least from where I saw it, which added to the impact.  While I can see how something like this could quickly become over-used in the industry, I would like to see a little bit more of it… particularly if it’s well done as this episode was.

So kudos to Mr. Weishuhn and co.  Nice job!

I’m really not looking to take any new jabs at the foolishness that became the Discovery Channel’s “Hogs Gone Wild”, but I’ve been giving some thought to that sort of thing again.  I got an email from Holly  (NorCal Cazadora)earlier today, and I guess the good people at A&E have been trying to get her to post up some promotional content for their program, “American Hogger” .  Here’s a snip from the show’s website:

Each episode of “American Hoggers” follows legendary hog hunter Jerry Campbell, 64, his level-headed son, Robert, 28, and firecracker daughter, Krystal, 23, as they respond to those threatened by feral hogs. Located in the heart of Texas, the family dedicates itself to the front lines – riding horseback, driving a custom-rigged Jeep, using highly trained dogs with GPS tracking systems and employing good old-fashioned know-how to help those endangered by these destructive beasts. Clad in chaps and cowboy boots, the family sets out in each episode to square off against these extremely intelligent animals that are terrorizing helpless landowners.

I just don’t get it.  Is this really what it takes to get the message about wild hogs across to the American public?  And what message, anyway?  Hyperbolic bullshit.

I remember when producers first started to see that the wild hog explosion might actually equate to viewers.  They began calling around, even to some bloggers like myself, looking for characters and stories. In some foolish, naive dream, I actually had hope that the Hog Bomb might get some valuable press, exposing the problem and exploring solutions… the Real problem, and some Real solutions.  What we got instead was:

As you may know, these ferocious hogs can be deadly to humans and animals alike, and can destroy acres of precious farmland in just one night!

Just a note to the folks who write this crap… the whitetail deer has been responsible for far more human deaths in the US than wild hogs ever dreamed of.  In fact, as far as I know, feral hogs have never killed anyone in the US.

I spent some time last week with some guys who are working on solving the real problem.  The guys at Jager Pro Hog Control are in the front lines of the wild hog invasion, at least in a fair-sized swath of Georgia (and now Florida).  They work hard, with real military precision.  And it looks like they’re making some impacts.

Where are the television cameras for these guys?  It’s not like there isn’t some excitement.  The night shooting with thermal imaging gear is exciting, and carries a pretty high level of “coolness”.  The videos they’re posting on YouTube draw thousands of hits, often from non-hunters, with a surprising number of positive comments.  Even better, one might think, is that the night vision video removes some of the graphic nature of the carnage, and like much of the military news video, makes it more palatable for the average viewer.

What’s more, Jager Pro CEO, Rod Pinktson is one of the most knowledgeable people I’ve ever met when it comes to hogs.  His knowledge isn’t just from books or theory either, but from first-hand observation.  He can talk at great length about everything from habits to effective management strategies.  If you want to know why some strategies work while others don’t, he can probably tell you.  Best of all, he doesn’t rely on legend and myth to tell the story of wild hogs and the very real threat they present to agricultural interests.  He can show you what they’re doing, and what he’s doing to resolve it.

And then there’s the trapping… Pinkston and crew have taken the time to develop a practical strategy for trapping hogs, and have proven that it works.  The approach challenges the status quo of hog management, but when they can show that they are catching entire sounders instead of a handful of juveniles, it’s obvious that the status quo needs to be challenged.  There’s a great conflict there, though, if I were pitching a television show.  Maybe it’s not as dramatic as father and son screaming matches, but it’s real, and the outcome may well determine the future of hog control policies across the country.

There is nothing Real about what’s being sold as “Reality Television.”  Sure, it appears to be selling advertising.  To be honest, I’ve talked to a lot of non-hunters who appear to really enjoy shows like Hogs Gone Wild and The Hog Bomb.  They think they’re learning something… and that’s what probably bothers me more than anything else.  In a recent conversation, a non-hunter defended the programs on the grounds that they are, at least, putting feral hogs in a national spotlight.  Maybe, but if they’re going to shine the light on these animals, I’d prefer that they do so with truth and logic rather than fear-mongering and misinformation.  I would think that most people would prefer that as well.

But then, I may be falling into the trap of over-estimating “most people” once again.

Earlier this summer, I heard that another TV show was coming to Native Hunt to film an episode.  The show is called Dominant Forces, and it airs on the Outdoor Channel.  Of course, with my day job I couldn’t make it out to be part of the fun (and the hard work), but I just now got around to seeing the episode shared on YouTube. 

It’s pretty awesome to see my friends, Sam, Ken, and Colby doing what they do best… and man, that’s one heck of a boar!  Check it out!

On Tuesday, a friend of ours told Kat that she’d just seen me on TV.  I was a little puzzled at first.  Did she see me on the evening traffic report?  But then she told her it was on KQED, the local PBS station.

Back in 2009, I was priviledged, along with Holly (NorCal Cazadora) to be included in an episode of  KQED’s science program.  The episode, titled Hog Wild, was about the wild hog issue in CA, and how hunters are being utilized as part of the solution.  As part of the show, they accompanied Holly and myself on a hunt down in the central coast.  Well, I guess the show is back on in reruns.

You can view the video on the KQED site since I can’t seem to display video on the new format.  http://science.kqed.org/quest/video/hog-wild/

If you’d rather watch it on the TV, the schedule is as follows:

Millie Hughes-Fulford/Hog Wild

•  Sat Jul 30 at 1:30pm, on KQED World
•  Sat Jul 30 at 3:30pm, on KQED Plus
•  Sat Jul 30 at 7:30pm, on KQED World
•  Sun Jul 31 at 1:30am, on KQED World
•  Sun Jul 31 at 7:00am, on KQED World
•  Sun Jul 31 at 12:00pm, on KQED World
•  Sun Jul 31 at 2:30pm, on KQED World

By now, I’m sure that when someone sees me post a topic about an outdoors TV show, they fully expect me to lambaste someone for something.  Maybe I’m going to chew them up and down about long-range hunting, or taking bad shots in the name of getting footage, or maybe I’m just going to call them to the mat for doing something dumb.  But that’s really not the only reason I wanted to start writing about some of the hunting and outdoors programs.  I also want to point out those that I think are particularly good… the exceptional elite, so to speak, that really stand out to me for various reasons.

One of the programs I’ve been watching, on and off, on the Sportsman Channel, is On Your Own Adventures. 

Hosted by Randy Newberg, this program is one of a small cadre of programs that focus on hunting trips that the average guy can probably do.  The hunts I’ve seen so far have all been do-it-yourself hunts on public land.  No guides.  No carefully managed private lands.  No fences.  I’m not sure what percentage of the hunts are draw-only tags, but even so, this program is about as real as it is going to get (and still be on TV). 

Keep in mind that this is still hunting television, and the hunts are generally condensed into half-hour segments.  There’s still a lot of focus on the kill because, well, the fact is that a hunting show that doesn’t show successful hunts isn’t going to have much of a future.  But if you can get past these barriers, the program offers a lot more than your average sponsor-heavy, money-shot after money-shot slaughterfest. 

To begin with, Randy generally spends a fair portion of the program talking about preparation for some of these hunts.  The episodes I’ve seen so far weren’t heavy on the how-to, but there was more than enough there to guide most semi-intelligent hunters in the right direction.  I get the feeling that he figures most hunters have the basic skills to hunt.  What they need to know is the special challenges of a public land hunt outside of their home territory.  This includes things that most other programs don’t have to bother with, like dealing with crowded public land and how to take advantage of other hunters. 

The program also shows some of the pitfalls of this type of hunting.  For example, an episode I watched from the first season showed Randy and his partner (I think it was his uncle) making a move on some elk, only to get cut off by some other hunters.  The frustration is easy to see, and easy to understand for any of us who has ever had a hunt busted by someone else.  He also shows some of the yo-yos out there, and goes on with his hunt as best he can despite the idiots and the clueless.  This is public land hunting, and you won’t see a more honest depiction.

Randy is plenty personable, but the program doesn’t seem to focus on him as the celebrity.  He’s just the hunter, and I can’t help feeling like that could be me out there when I watch him.  To me, that says more about this program than anything else.  It’s real enough that I think the average hunter could put himself in Randy’s boots.  We understand the challenges and frustrations he faces, and we can appreciate the value of success under those conditions.  On these hunts I never feel like the kill is a foregone conclusion, and truly, there are episodes when the hunters come up short.  And when they are successful, it’s not always some monstrous, record-book freak of an animal. 

It’s just good, real hunting that is worlds and away better than the average program out there right now.  If you haven’t seen it (and if you don’t purely hate hunting shows), it’s absolutely worth checking out. 

Oh, and speaking of hunting programs on the Hog Blog, Scott Anderson of Backland Experiences responded to my post (and your comments) about crossbows on his program.  Always nice to know these guys are paying attention to what we’re saying out here in the blogosphere. 

Monday, and I’ve got nothing to write about? 

Honestly, after this weekend I’m wondering if I shouldn’t change the name of this blog to the Recliner Blog.  Seems like all I do anymore when I’m not at work or flying off to Spokane is sit in my recliner and wish I were hunting.  Hmm… I think I’m starting to see the problem here.

OK, so anyway, a blog is a personal journal, right?  So I hope it’s OK to just cut loose from time to time.  If you’re afraid of unabridged, personal opinion, you might want to step back and check in on the next post.  I don’t do this often, but I’m over the top here.

What brings this on? A Friday night, an empty house, a bottle of wine, and nothing worth going out of my way for on TV. 

I’m a masochist.  I’ve said it before, and nights like this remind me of the truth of it.  With nothing better to do, sometimes, I do things that I know are going to suck.  I just can’t help myself.  Like shooting a pig in the bottom of a miserable canyon while hunting solo.

Or.

Like watching Hogs Gone Wild on the Discovery Channel. (No link provided.  You can look it up yourself.)

First things first here.  I know that at least a couple of folks involved with the program have dropped in on the Hog Blog to comment or just to read what we’re saying.  For what it’s worth, I have no doubt in the ability and skill of the contractors who are portrayed on this program.  Nothing personal.

I’ve ragged on this show before, and I can promise that if what I saw Friday night is any indication, I won’t stop ragging on it any time soon.  Not to put too fine a point on it… but I hate this show!

You know… if I were creating a comic book, about these superheroes who battled an invasion of man-killing hogs, I would style it much like the producers of Hogs Gone Wild have done.  The swine would be these bloodthirsty, intelligent monsters.  I’m thinking the velociraptors from Jurassic Park here. 

Not only would they be mankillers (but for goodness’ sake, don’t forget they’re mankillers), but their feet are rototillers and they piss Roundup ™.    In their path they’d leave steaming heaps of e. Coli, brucellosis, and glow-in-the-dark radiation.  They’d become, in my comic, one of those things you really don’t want to show up in your neighborhood on a pretty weekend.

But real life ain’t a comic book, now is it?

Sure, wild hogs are potentially dangerous.  With their tusks, their strength, and their speed, they can be bad news in a tight spot.  I’ve seen it, first hand.  But you know what else can be a deadly adversary in a corner?  A terrified whitetail deer.  Even a doe, with its razor-sharp hooves, can ruin your day if you get between her and safety. 

I’ve faced off with a pissed off ‘possum, which is never something you want to do if you don’t have room to run.  And I don’t need to tell you about the rage of a cornered coon.  Honestly, I’ve seen a semi-tame mallard duck chase a grown man across the driveway and send him diving for his truck… and this is a guy I wouldn’t pick a fight with on my best night.

The thing about wild animals is that they’re Wild.  They have a very strong survival instinct and none of the moral constraints humans tend to exhibit.  They will kick you when you’re down, and they’ll sure kick you when they’re down.  They’ll bite and scratch and anything else they think will get them away from you… the predator. 

But in the real world, wild hogs are not super demons.  We can kill them, quickly, thousands of times beyond the reach of their tusks.  The the simple pull of a trigger and in an instant, we can reduce the biggest, meanest boar to a pile of meat, skin, and bone. 

Too dramatic?  OK.  How’s this… with a few rocks, or maybe a broomstick, we can send them scurrying and squalling back into the shadows.  Even the big ones will quail under a flurry of blows from a broom.  And if they get snappy, all you have to do is offer them a way out… an escape.  Hell, even Sun Tzu warns against cornering an enemy without an avenue of escape.

So there’s the Hogs Gone Wild program… and there’s reality.   I doubt the twain shall ever meet. 

But why does the show gall me so bad?  I mean, I can pretty well ignore most of the other “reality” shows the same way I pretty much ignored professional wrestling.  For that matter, I ignore them for the same reasons… they’re both fake. 

The difference is, I’m a little concerned about the blind vilification of the feral hog.  I’m a little concerned about sending the message that these things are the modern velociraptor, and you better hide the children and put an armed guard over the azaleas at the same time.  People shouldn’t fear the wild hogs.  They should understand them.  They should be aware that these are non-native species, like ourselves, and they’re pretty damned good at getting along under adverse conditions… again, not unlike us.  They should know the facts about wild hogs, just as with any wild animal, and base their opinions on those facts.

Where am I going here?  Well, to be sure I’m not going all, “let’s protect the wild hogs!”  No sir.  I am looking forward to my next opportunity to put the crosshairs on one. 

But I think the Discovery Channel should take responsibility and give us, the viewers, better.  They should have respect for the viewers, and our intelligence, or at least enough respect to present “reality” in a real package, and not the foolish hyperbole of programs like Hogs Gone Wild. 

I can’t help it that I remember when Discovery was like the National Geographic of television.  They showed us stuff that we couldn’t help but learn from.  And it was, mostly, real.  And then the “reality” craze.  Now, the Discovery Channel is a parody of itself… a joke, and this program is exactly that… a joke.  Problem is, it’s a bad one.

I was scrambling for something to write about this morning, when I got an email from Cameron Mackugler, one of the founders of mEat Local video productions.  Here’s the key section of his message to me:

We are a group of ex-professional athletes that raced at Middlebury College together, and share not only a love for our winged adversaries but also a passion for the environment. With the ecosystems and animal habitat in damaging decline, migrations will alter courses and schedules, and the sports that we enjoy so much will cease to exist. Similar to the over-harvesting of canvasbacks in the mid 1900′s, our human impact will negatively affect ALL wildfowl species.

So our videos inspire both hunting and being environmentally aware- we are not tree hugging, prius driving, granola munchers, but are outdoor enthusiasts that care about the future of this sport. Our videos are fast paced and rely on our elite athleticism to get shots that other hunters have never seen. We are hoping that your website could help promote our video by reblogging it on your site, and in doing so promote the future of this great sport.

I checked out their initial video, and it’s not bad at all.  The production quality is pretty good, and unlike many waterfowl-centric hunting vids, the clip is not a barrage of birds dying and falling.  What I like even more is the message these guys are promoting.  I’ll be following their YouTube channel to see how they do. 

In the meantime, here’s their first effort:

A little while back, I posted up a commentary about an episode of Hooked on Utah.  In the post, for those who don’t want to go back and read the original, I took the program to task for portraying a youth hunt in which the kids were being asked to shoot at antelope well beyond their abilities.  I also questioned the practice of leaving all 10 antelope intact for trophy photos at the end of the episode, knowing that antelope generally need to be cooled down pretty quickly or the meat turns gamey.

At any rate, Michelle Scheuermann from the Sportsman Channel took some time to reply to the piece from her perspective, but I never heard anything from the folks at Hooked On Utah… until now. 

Below is the reply from the show’s Gary Winterton, but first, let me lay something right on the table.

This is a blog.  It is not a newspaper.  It is not a television news program.  While I try hard to represent facts as accurately as I possibly can, this is not journalism.  This is, by and large, editorial content.  As such, it represents my opinion, my take on events and issues, and quite often unabashedly advances my own, personal agenda.   I am not constrained by any principles to be fair or unbiased, and in fact I am often very biased, as in the case of long-range hunting.  I am a harsh critic, and for that I make no apology.

That said, here is Mr. Winterton’s message:

To Whom It May Concern:

You recently published a blog that was fairly one sided in it’s depiction of an antelope episode Hooked On Utah recently aired! In the spirit of responsible journalism, and in fairness to the show, and the kids, if you would like to call me to ask questions about what it’s like to hunt antelope, did the kids practice or prepare, what can types of shots can be expected when hunting in the wide open desert, I would love to have this conversion with you.

Having and opinion is a good thing, but sharing it when you have no experience in that area, or don’t have the facts is unfair, and it’s irresponsible journalism!  If you have the experience, or you have all the facts, or you’ve done your research, fire away!

Anyway, I’d love visit you if you’ve got the time or the courage to have the conversion!

For the record, the kids practiced  all summer long!  The firearms and cartridges used were fast, flat shooting and designed for this type of hunting!  Antelope by nature will NOT give you a 50 yard short, particularly on public ground when they have been hunted hard.  Shots of 250 to 500 yards are very common.  There were NO wounded animals left to die, what an unfair irresponsible comment!  All of the antelope killed were processed and enjoyed by the kids and families who harvested them.  

It’s very unfortunate that you missed the most important part of the whole show!  Kids making positive memories with there dads! Youth having a great time hunting with there families, building memories and creating the next generation of hunting conservationists and enthusiast’s!!

I’ve read your blog, it has some great information, I just hope you’ll be more fair and objective next go around!

Sincerely,

Gary

Gary S Winterton
Hooked On Utah
fishing & outdoor adventures
www.hookedonutah.com

I want to thank Gary for responding, belatedly as it may be.  I understand that these guys are busy, and they probably get a fair amount of mail, email, and phone calls about their program, so it’s tough to get around to replying to critics.   I also want to thank him for the kind words about my blog. 

Unfortunately, I think the key thing that Winterton is missing here is not that I didn’t call to learn the background on this hunt, but that for any viewer without that background information, his program failed to convey the intended message.  Viewers shouldn’t have to call the producers to get clarification on questionable behavior. 

That’s the whole point. 

As I mentioned in my original critique, and again in response to Michelle’s email, I don’t know what went on behind the scenes.  All I know is what I saw… what any viewer in the world would have seen… and that was kids shooting beyond their abilities, and one adult using an antelope for long-range target practice.  The rest, such as my speculation about wounded animals left in the field, is purely academic.  Winterton says that didn’t happen, and I can respect that.  But it’s hardly “unfair” or “irresponsible” for me to wonder about it.  I’m no city rube or armchair hunter.  I’ve seen first hand what happens when you get a bunch of hunters shooting too far, as well as when you have guides in a hurry to fill tags. 

The onus is on every one of these programs to clearly get the story across within the confines of the 30 minute time slot.  That’s a tall order, and I can certainly appreciate the challenges that come when you have to present a successful, yet ethical hunt that can play to completion between commercial breaks.  I’m sure it was a challenge made even greater for Hooked On Utah when they chose to try to fill 10 antelope tags on a single episode. 

Nevertheless, producers have implicitly accepted that challenge when they choose to air a program.  If they miss the mark, they should expect to hear about it.

I received the following in my email last night:

Hello there,

I am one of the producers on the Discovery Channel TV Series, Hogs Gone Wild, and I’m currently looking to film a segment in California, in mid-March.  I’m looking for someone, or a company, such a winery, ranch, farm etc that has had a large or giant boar encounter, and who would care to share the experience on camera.  It has to be a dramatic story with something physical or some livelihood at stake.

I thought you might know of someone like that.  Thank you,

Cordially,

G. Caroselli
Producer
Film Garden Entertainment
6727 Odessa Avenue
Van Nuys, CA. 91406
O: 818.783.3456 (Main)
T: 818.475.6429 (direct)
F: 818.752.8186
E: Gcaroselli@filmgarden.net
Www.filmgarden.tv

I had to give a little thought to how I’d respond to this request.  This isn’t the first time I’ve received this kind of request either, both from Discovery and from National Geographic (another channel that blew it with the wild hog story).  I try to be respectful because I understand that everyone has a job to do, regardless of how I feel about the results of their efforts.  When it comes to television programming, I know it has to be a real challenge to come up with content that will capture the jaded imaginations of the American public. 

At the same time, after watching several episodes of Hogs Gone Wild, I have a hard time, in good conscience, promoting that show in any way.  It’s the worst kind of programming.  It doesn’t just perpetuate myth and misunderstanding… it actually creates it.  Here’s part of the program description from the Discovery Channel.

Each episode documents the perilous challenges and dangerous battles of hog removal experts. The feral hog epidemic now extends into 44 states. Left unchecked, it could become one of America’s greatest environmental catastrophes. Wild hogs are an invasive species that not only threaten homes, farmland, forest and native wildlife, they also present a physical threat to humans, and can spread deadly disease.

With no natural predators, wild boars and sows are notoriously aggressive. Often they will charge and attack a person rather than run. The tusks of a boar extend 2 to 4 inches outside of its mouth, are self-honing to a razor sharpness, and are swung like swords. An encounter with a wild boar can leave a victim bleeding to death or infected with a lethal disease. So our featured trappers need to be as cautious as they are crafty. As one of our team members says, “These aren’t little pen piglets we’re dealing with. They’re big, dangerous and deadly hogs.”

Nothing stirs the imagination like a little reality mingled with a lot of fantasy.  These are the components of any good urban myth… just enough truth to make it believable.  To read the show description would leave some people with the idea that hogs are fierce and aggressive beasts with murderous tendencies.  My god, who will save the children?

A couple of things right off the top.  First, yes, I know that feral hogs can and do upset the ecological balance in certain situations.  However, the damage so far doesn’t appear to be quite as extensive as we’re so often led to believe.  Wild hogs have been roaming the Hawaiian islands (arguably one of the most sensitive ecosystems in the US) for generations.  There are millions of them in Texas, Florida, and California, and yet we haven’t seen massive environmental destruction.  Isolated problems, yes, but “America’s greatest environmental catastrophe?”  I don’t think so.  It’s nothing compared to the scale of destruction due to cattle and sheep ranching or industrialized agriculture.  Where’s the outrage there?

On the other hand, I do believe that wild hogs pose two key threats to agriculture… one from direct crop damage, and two by potentially carrying livestock diseases such as pseudorabies and brucellosis.  They need to be controlled, and in certain cases, exterminated.  Depredation hunting is a necessity to protect agricultural interests, as well as private property concerns. 

However… feral hogs are NOT a realistic threat to humans, any more than deer or racoons.  You want to see ferocious?  Corner a ‘coon in the garage at night.  Same goes for pigs.  Corner a wild hog and you may be in a bad spot.  Otherwise, just like any other prey animal, they’re getting the hell out of Dodge when threatened.  They are NOT predators.  They are NOT going to attack our children on the playground, or eat the farm laborers.

So the program focuses on tales from suburban housewives, terrified by the “killing machines” rototilling their rose bushes and sluicing their sod.  They fear for their kids, for their pets, and for their own lives!  My goodness!  What shall we do?  Or else it’s a farmer or rancher complaining about crop and equipment damage, but even then, they have to throw in some foolishness about how the hogs are also “threatening” or “terrifying” the workers. 

Then the narrator, in dramatic tones, takes us to the professionals who are there to save the day… animal control Supermen (and women) who put their own lives on the line to protect the innocents. 

Except, of course, that they’re really just ordinary people who understand pigs (usually), and know how to handle nuisance animals.  I’m not knocking the trappers on the program, by the way.  They appear to all be skilled professionals doing a very real, and occasionally dangerous job.  For the most part they’re just there, doing their thing, and often having a pretty good time in the process.  No matter how hysterical the narrator may get, the fact that catching and/or killing these hogs is exciting fun comes through. 

Of course the trappers’ commentary often borders on the hyperbolic too.  The pre and post hunt interviews focus on worst-case scenarios, and the adrenaline charged banter during a catch or kill certainly ratchet up the excitement.  But it’s hard to get past the feeling that many of the comments are coached by the producers to enhance the reality of each encounter.  The risk is usually real enough, but it’s often so overplayed as to become a parody of itself. 

And then there’s the footage.  How many times can you see the “evil” glow of light reflected from an animal’s eyes and still feel anything?  What’s worse, is how many times can you see it enhanced with red filters, to make the animals look even more evil?  That’s just stupid… stupid and irrelevant. 

Maybe I just expect too much from television and the viewers.  Maybe real reality just doesn’t sell.  Maybe people don’t want to actually learn from programs on a channel that used to be known for solid, educational content. 

But I know I’ve seen shows about wild hogs done right.  The KQED Quest program did an excellent show on wild hogs in California (and maybe I’m biased because I’m in it… I’ll admit that possibility).  The Pickup Load of Pigs series I linked to a couple of weeks back was a really good look at the situation.   And my favorite, Pig Man, does everything the Discovery program attempts with wild hogs, but does it with humor and realism (although the show has spent a lot of time hunting other stuff lately). 

So there… that was a long way around and I don’t think I left much doubt as to my own opinion of the Discovery Channel program.  Obviously, I don’t have any stories to send them, and if I did, I wouldn’t. 

However, in the sense of fairness, I’ve provided the contact information.  If any of my California readers would like to get in touch with the Hogs Gone Wild producers with a story of their own giant wild boar encounters, just shoot Ms. Caroselli a note.  If you do, however, please share the tale with us here too.  I’d love to read it.  Just make sure it’s dramatic and has “something physical or a livelihood at stake”.

I know, I know… I said I’d start doing a regular outdoors television review around here, but obviously it hasn’t happened.  Sure, I squeezed in the post about crossbow hunting last week, but that’s been about it. 

Part of the problem is that I’ve been on the road for nine weeks out of the last three months, and very few hotels carry outdoor programming (which is a drag, because sitting around the room in the evenings is the perfect opportunity to watch).  But I’ve been home most weekends, and a few weekdays, so the recent spate of travel really isn’t the biggest challenge.

So the thing is, it’s a little tougher to do this kind of review given that I really get two outdoor-oriented channels.  I get the Sportsmen’s Channel, of course, and I also get Pursuit.  I’d have to upgrade the Dish in order to get the Outdoor Channel, which is more than I’m willing to do.  Actually, if Kat didn’t pay for the service on her own, I wouldn’t have it at all.  I refuse to pay for television, no matter what’s on it. 

Well, since we have them, I watch them. 

The problem is, I thought there’d be a pretty good supply of content on these two networks.  What I’ve found though, is that there really is a lot of same-old-same-old.  No, really… the programming on these channels consists of a lot of replays, interspersed with updated episodes. I guess that when it comes down to it, even though there appears to be a glut of outdoor tv shows, there really aren’t enough out there to keep three major networks (and a couple of lesser ones) going 24-7 with fresh programming.

Each channel handles it differently.  Here’s what I’ve been seeing… tell me if it matches your own experience.

On Pursuit, the trick is apparently to mix the hunting and fishing programming with infomercials, especially during the weekdays.  I guess that’s one way to keep the bills paid.  But what it’s done is to turn me off to the network altogether.  I still flip over to see what’s on when there’s nothing on regular TV or the movie channels (the normal state of affairs), but it looks to me like the problem is getting worse rather than better.  It seems like it used to be that they’d run a little block of outdoors programs, and then a few infomercials.  But earlier this week when I tuned in, it looks like they’ve changed things up.  I saw one outdoor show, followed by an infomercial, followed by another outdoor show, and so on.   Evening programming is a little better, since I guess this is when they expect to catch most of their viewers, but I seldom watch in the evenings.  That’s when Kat’s home, and she doesn’t care much for my horn porn.

The Sportsman Channel has taken the route of simply replaying episodes to fill the space between new programs.  I certainly prefer this to watching 30 minutes on Prostate Health or the Miracle Saw, but I swear it seems like every time I turn on the TV, it’s one of the same episodes!  Drives me nuts.  Fortunately, just as my mind begins to slip, I’ll catch a new episode of Pig Man or something and all is well again. 

What I remember of watching Versus (used to be the Outdoor Life Channel) is that they had a similar problem.  However, their approach was to expand the content to include stuff like gold panning, bicycle racing, and rodeo.  It got to the point where I’d skim right past Versus without even stopping (unless the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) tour is on… that’s pretty cool).   I have absolutely no interest in watching a bunch of guys ride bicycles, or wade around in mountain streams with gold pans or destroy the hills with sluices and heavy equipment.  And hockey?  What the hell does a southern boy know (or care) about hockey?

I haven’t watched the Outdoor Channel in a while, but they have a pretty strong lineup.  But even that channel, which most folks would argue is the powerhouse in the genre, has filled space with programs about gold mining and metal detecting.  I don’t know if they fill the rest of the day with replays because I don’t see it enough.   The upside there is that the Outdoor Channel has taken over My Outdoor TV, so I’d expect to have access to much of their programming online (which means I can watch it when I’m on the road). 

On that note, many of the bigger hunting programs are also releasing content on their websites, either in affiliation with their host networks or independently.  That’s great if, like me, you don’t really need to watch a whole season in order or catch the newest episode while it’s still fresh.  For the most part, the content is free, although there are a couple of organizations out there setting up fee-based outdoors television and video sites. 

At any rate, I still intend to do some kind of regular critical coverage of hunting TV and video as the opportunity and content come up.  Honest.