There are way too many poorly-done outdoor shows, mostly 30-minute TV spots filling the popular cable and satellite outdoor channel schedules.
By poorly done, I mean amateurish, repetitive, unimaginative, and, well, just poorly done.
Someone must have told producers that what makes a hunting show a good flick is a rush to the main event, that of flinging a bullet or arrow in the direction of a “good one,” a “shooter” or a “booner,” which means a big specimen, generally a deer, that would certainly make the Boone and Crocket record book.
Skipping ahead
On the way to the main event, most shows skip the rest of the hunt, the scenery, the comradery and the adventure of it all.
The reason is simple enough. With the onslaught of affordable digital cameras and commercial editing software, building the imagery is easily done. Add that, one script after another, all sounding the same, then add several endorsements and blatant product endorsements and you’ve got a show.
Attractive offer
Better yet, it will get airtime somewhere and sometime because most are offered to station managers free of charge. So it gets thirty minutes. Actually, about 15 minutes of show, maybe less, and 15 minutes of commercials, often more.
But thanks to a few outdoor film makers, there is a response to current poor quality hunting shows. But those who want to watch something better will have to hoist themselves out of the recliner to participate.
On Sept. 29, the fourth annual showing of the widely travelled Hunting Film Tour will take place in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, at the Chagrin Valley Little Theater. The tour, very much like the well-known and highly acclaimed film festivals that appear in attractive destinations around the world to show case-independent short films, the Hunting Film Tours does indeed show the best of the best.
These films are a world away from the kill-shot TV shows. Each is centered on adventure, discovery, and wonderment — primary ingredients of what hunting is really all about — or should be.
The cost is $10 for advance tickets, available at Fin Feather Fur stores as well as the Chagrin Pet and Garden shop. There is a reception beginning at 6 p.m. at the nearby Gamekeepers Taverne and tour films begin at 7:15 p.m.
Learn more about the tour and view some trailers from past tours online at huntingfilmtour.com.
