No guides/ranch programs

[shell waster]

I would like to watch a little more frequently hunting programs that have no guides or the host does not go to an expensive ranch. I know some states/provinces require guides, but not all. Does anyone else feel this way too?

[birddog]

shell ... Yeah, I laugh at the fact that these guys are out on guided planted birds, or 'farm hunts' for whitetails and such ... I've been in some crazy situations as far as #'s of birds per acre go but, to see sown sorgum with 'sidewalks' cut out makes me chuckle about what I'm watching. Yes, I belong to a club but, thats out of necessity for the dogs since I don't own 1,000 acres myself.

what I'd love to see is 3 guys out busting brush on their own ... I remember last month or so - one show of Shotgun Journal where they were in the prickers on their FIRST ... yes, the two hosts said, "FIRST", woodcock hunt ... but with a guide.. I could ramble on about this topic. All in all I'd love to see some 'natural' setting hunts as you mentioned where there are no guides/dog handlers -or- farms.

[shell waster]

I just like seeing shows were hosts have to hunt like the average guy, where they don't always limit out, every other duck isn't banded and in the last minute of their week hunt they don't get that 165 B/C whitetail. Why do deer hunting shows do this, "Folks it was the last minute of the last day and I finally got the deer we were after". They are not fooling me, it's called editing for drama. Instead i would wish they would say, "Folks I got this monster buck the first day and now I can go fishing, have a cold one and party with the guys" That would probably help the outfitter more. I am glad I'm not the only one that gets a chuckle.

[John Airala]

I have not seen a single one of those shows that portrays the hunting honestly. I guess TV and reality are incompatible exept the news programs. Luckily I could care less about what those tv hunters say or do, there are enough birds where I hunt that I can go do it instead of watch it.

[birddog]

entertainment purposes only [img]smile.gif[/img] .... such are most news programs too

[fezman]

all most all tv shows are nothing but long commersials with some videos of people shooting things thrown in to keep you watching. i would love to do a nice 3 camera shoot of one of our field trials to show just how much work goes into training a dog. how many get sent home empty handed and how boring it can be. dont forget getting tossed into the mud by some angry hack horse or missing a bird on a retreveing call back. and all the politics and complaining that goes on.

[wolfb4you]

I'd hate to clean all those birds. Probably keep me from shooting them.

[threeshot]

What kind of birds are in the picture?

Was this hunt in Argentina?

Who went home with all the birds?

[John Airala]

Bird boys get the birds. They are dove.
Yup, Argentina. I have lots more pictures and video clips too if you want to see them. Just, please don't anyone start with the criticism of killing on this scale. These birds are a pest here.

[threeshot]

John,

As you may know, here in the USA the doves are food and not just live sporting clays.

Well at least for me. In my youth, my father and the people I hunted with had a strict hunting ethics.

We stayed within the limit by law for the game we were hunting, we always tracked down our injured or killed game (or a least made one heck of an effort by the group), and we used the hunt for food. Of course, safety was number one. Some people did not get invited back to hunt with us if they did not agree or by their actions did not honor our hunting ethics.

We would have a once-a-year picnic and invite a lot of people to enjoy the different game that we hunted. Dove, squirrel, pheasant, rabbit, quail, duck, deer and others I cannot remember.

My Dad and I would dove hunt exclusively. We gave it up due to the farmers were willing to let anyone hunt their property that paid them five or ten dollars back in the early 1980’s.

It was ridiculous. You had hunters 20 – 30 feet apart. A dove would fly down the field and it sounded like a 21-gun salute going off for a military funeral. You had people arguing over who shot the bird as well as people that shot at low birds in a field that is crowded with people.

I have been out of the sport for many years. Just this year, I am starting to learn to shoot sporting clays. This is fun and safe.

Regards, threeshot