More on Deer Porn

First off, I want to plug Steve Gruber's new show, Deer City USA. I haven't seen it yet, but the following conversation is mostly about Steve and the show.

I orginally posted my blog entry "Deer Porn" as a new thread on the Deer & Deer Hunting Forum:

Deer Porn


Since then it's been one of the more active threads on that forum. I just wanted to invite you all to go and read what's been going on.

Chief among the activities was the visit by Steve Gruber of Wolf Creek Productions and host of Deer City USA, who has taken a stand defending this whole genre of outdoor show. I would invite you to read Dave's comments and the lively responses he has gotten to them. Here is my latest comment:



I have to stand with Steve on the issue of plugging his show. I don't mind Steve being on here, and I don't mind him promoting his show in a proper context. This thread is a proper context. If Steve had gotten on and started at thread that said "WATCH ME!!!" that might have been different. Steve is going to be representing his show. Everyday Hunter is representing his column. I'm representing my stuff.

I'm going to be fascinated about how you hunt Cincinnati. I hunted all over town over the years. The deer were easy pickings. Heck, I've got them in my yard all the time. The problem is getting permission to hunt them and putting up with the neighbors, the cops, the landowners, the dogs and the kids. I get requests all the time to do it. Hamilton County Parks now has a program. Mt. Airy Forest has a deer density of over 800/sq mi. Arlington Cemetery had a program. I've hunted within a mile and a half of Fountain Square.

On the other hand . . .

Steve, it's not that we're bitter. It's just that we're bored. At least I am. The problems is that there is a vast difference between what sells a show to a channel and what sells a show to a consumer. The guys who buy shows, and I'm sure you know this better than I, are looking for something that looks and feels like the other shows so they don't have to take a chance on risky new content. They also want something that doesn't cost a whole lot to produce. As a result, it ends up being the same thing. This was true of the days of the Big-3 network programming controlling things. It is true now in the days of satellite and cable. Nobody wants a package of episodes of something radically different.

Deer City USA may be huge departure from this rut. If so, I applaud it. I haven't seen it, but I see that it's going to be on soon. What worries me in your responses so far is this:


quote:

The fact is i am more than willing to stand up for my colleagues in this industry who strap it on everyday to sit in treestands and groundblinds to do what is far harder than hunting by yourself and that is hunting with a photographer behind you. I can tell you Tom Nelson, myself Tom Knapp and the others who ppear in Wolf Creek shows are doing it in real time. We do not do "set-ups" or recreate any of the hunting action. If you don't believe that it does not matter it is the way it is. We do include cutaway shots like coming to full draw so our editors can make intelligent decisions on finishing the video.

I'm sort of at a loss here. If you're inserting cutaways from a one-camera shoot, isn't that by it's nature a contrivance? I've got a few years of commercial production, news production, and one feature film under my belt. It is just hard for me to understand what you are saying, unless you're putting up more than one camera and cameraman. You've piqued my curiosity, however. The strap-on thing? That's just too weird.

quote:

For those of you complaining that it's all the same i disagree and Deer City USA is by far different than anything out there today. While I'm at it Michael Waddell, Cuz Strickland, Will Primos, Jim Shockey and a host of others are first class in the field and on TV. I doubt there are many that read this post that could keep pace with any of those guys in the woods when it comes to real skill and hunting ability. On the womens team Vicki Cianciarila (sp) and Tiffany among others have opened a world of possibilities to women who want to hunt. I have two daughters and I take my hat off to women in the field making that possible for boys and girls.

A) I'm sorry, but I didn't realize that I was supposed to be "keeping pace" with anyone when I'm hunting. I once read a statistic that people with an IQ over 120 were 300% more sexually active. I wondered if that meant they had 3 times the partners, 3 times the encounters, or if they just got done 3 times faster. My question to you is this: is it a speed thing? A quantity thing? Or is it somehow a quality thing? How do these guys kill deer better than I do? Why have we not seen this quality brought out on TV? Does it have something to do with the whole strap-on thing? I don't need details. A simple yes or no will suffice.

B) I go back to my original question: Since when is deer hunting a team sport?

C) I have 2 boys that hunt. What made that possible was their Dad taking hundreds of hours a year over a decade making it possible. Vicki and Tiffany had nothing to do with it.

D) This sort of pertains to this comment as well as the previous one: Assuming you guys really do strap on something I don't have access to, use powers beyond those I posess, and hunt deer that I only see in pictures, why do I want to watch this? This isn't like the NFL or MLB. This isn't gladiatorial combat or ballet or any other spectator sport. Why do we want to watch other men kill deer? Why do I want to put up with you telling me how small and impotent and bitter I am?


quote:

I appreciate real input and feedback but for those of you who just want to make bitter comments and call us names I don't care if you watch our programs and I am sure I would not want to spend a night in hunting camp with you. Frankly none of like a know it all blow hard who has an opinion on everything. I'd rather golf than listen to you blather on about how the world should be.

You are right. You probably would not want to spend a night at our camp. I really think this comment pretty well sums up the whole issue of why I wrote the original post in this thread. You probably don't want to hear what we have to say.

In closing, I'll leave you with a Youtube clip that kept popping into my head while I was reading what's become of this thread:

"Dead Grotty" from Hard Day's Night.