Depublicize, Deglorify, Demonitize (anti-self promoting of hunting group)?

[MTLabrador]

Meateater was great the first few seasons as a show. I was disappointed in it the first time in season 8 when they had so many bad shots and misses. That’s when it started to look more about products than skills and became just another hunting show.

I wish I never missed or made a bad hit either, but I’m lucky I didn’t have a camera following me around this fall when I did both. I’d rather not have it swept under the rug and ignored.

 

[rwc101]

Anyone tried to get a shirt? It would be hilarious if they were blank.

 

[mplane72]

Meateater was great the first few seasons as a show. I was disappointed in it the first time in season 8 when they had so many bad shots and misses. That’s when it started to look more about products than skills and became just another hunting show.

I still like the show. It and Randy's are the only ones I can watch. I only watch what's available on netflix or youtube so I have'nt seen every episode but when they've made a bad hit they've always owned it from what I've seen.

What I don't like is they're turning their brand into another bone collector. I mean spices, whisky?

As a self avowed hater I fear I will have to soon distance myself from meateater fandom.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

Meateater was great the first few seasons as a show. I was disappointed in it the first time in season 8 when they had so many bad shots and misses. That’s when it started to look more about products than skills and became just another hunting show.

Isn't authenticity the biggest difference between meateater and "other shows", they show the misses and bad shots. Instead of just showing the same kill shot on loop of a bull with 8 holes in and and a pile of cartridges next to the shooter. "Yep one shot"

I definitely haven't enjoyed the most recent material as much... for me it has become less about adventure the current season is all about glam hunts. The buffalo book recounted some Type 3 hunting trips aka the solo Copper buffalo. The first couple seasons of the show had some great type 2 hunts which I enjoyed. The current season is type 1 with some type 0 style hunts.

(Type 0 fun is when it's so lame you have to put a poker table in the blind because who really cares about hunting at that point)

Guided Wyoming -Type 1
Hunting in texas... who the hell wants to see that? Fish I'm interested, the pig trapping episode, very cool. Getting out of a truck, walking 2 ft and wacking a Nilgai with your guide next to you... then loading it up whole for the processor...
CO elk Felt like the writing was just totally phoned in.

My favorite episode were Desert Solitaire, Moose in BC, Black bear in AK on the Mat, goat with his bro, and the various blacktail and muley episodes.

To each their own, but I'm way more interested in watching and participating in a suffer fest with 10% odds than a cush hunt with 100% success rates.

 

[geetar]

I wish I never missed or made a bad hit either, but I’m lucky I didn’t have a camera following me around this fall when I did both. I’d rather not have it swept under the rug and ignored.

Trust me I’ve missed and I hated it everytime. I debated even making that post because I knew someone would take it this way. Maybe I should have worded it this way. “ when I watched season 8 I felt like for the first time that meateater was becoming more like all other commercial hunting shows and there was more emphasis on getting shots and kills than there was ethics and skills being practiced. It almost started looking they were just flinging arrows and lead a little bit. It seemed half the episodes had a missed or wounded animal and I question whether that’s a good representation of who we are as hunters. “

 

[geetar]

I still like the show. It and Randy's are the only ones I can watch. I only watch what's available on netflix or youtube so I have'nt seen every episode but when they've made a bad hit they've always owned it from what I've seen.

What I don't like is they're turning their brand into another bone collector. I mean spices, whisky?

As a self avowed hater I fear I will have to soon distance myself from meateater fandom.

It started looking to much like Bone Collector to me as well.

 

[geetar]

Isn't authenticity the biggest difference between meateater and "other shows", they show the misses and bad shots. Instead of just showing the same kill shot on loop of a bull with 8 holes in and and a pile of cartridges next to the shooter. "Yep one shot"

I definitely haven't enjoyed the most recent material as much... for me it has become less about adventure the current season is all about glam hunts. The buffalo book recounted some Type 3 hunting trips aka the solo Copper buffalo. The first couple seasons of the show had some great type 2 hunts which I enjoyed. The current season is type 1 with some type 0 style hunts.

(Type 0 fun is when it's so lame you have to put a poker table in the blind because who really cares about hunting at that point)

Guided Wyoming -Type 1
Hunting in texas... who the hell wants to see that? Fish I'm interested, the pig trapping episode, very cool. Getting out of a truck, walking 2 ft and wacking a Nilgai with your guide next to you... then loading it up whole for the processor...
CO elk Felt like the writing was just totally phoned in.

My favorite episode were Desert Solitaire, Moose in BC, Black bear in AK on the Mat, goat with his bro, and the various blacktail and muley episodes.

To each their own, but I'm way more interested in watching and participating in a suffer fest with 10% odds than a cush hunt with 100% success rates.

I love authenticity myself and I love that in earlier seasons Rinella seemed like he was different than those “ other shows “. My issue is and this is strictly personal ethics. I don’t bow hunt much anymore because I don’t have the time to practice like I want to. It seemed like they hadn’t shot bows all year till they started filming. I realize it’s kind of a double edged sword to ask for authenticity and not expect to see misses. My first take on all the newer material when I started watching it was this stuff doesn’t seem as good as it used to and I just felt like they put more emphasis on branding themselves and making whisky and seasonings ect that offseason than they did staying sharp on shooting skills and it showed.

 

[BWALKER77]

Bow, being the only acceptable method of take. This will be my 10th year hunting... in a pile of states and in most seasons, I've never encountered a hunter under 40 in the field with a rifle. Caveat, a few kids with their dads.

Not a knock on archery, but it it's crazy that a bunch of CO units have 800% more archery hunters than they did 10 years ago and 20% less rifle hunters.

Think how much wounded game that equates to.

 

[Irrelevant]

Isn't authenticity the biggest difference between meateater and "other shows", they show the misses and bad shots. Instead of just showing the same kill shot on loop of a bull with 8 holes in and and a pile of cartridges next to the shooter. "Yep one shot"

I definitely haven't enjoyed the most recent material as much... for me it has become less about adventure the current season is all about glam hunts. The buffalo book recounted some Type 3 hunting trips aka the solo Copper buffalo. The first couple seasons of the show had some great type 2 hunts which I enjoyed. The current season is type 1 with some type 0 style hunts.

(Type 0 fun is when it's so lame you have to put a poker table in the blind because who really cares about hunting at that point)

Guided Wyoming -Type 1
Hunting in texas... who the hell wants to see that? Fish I'm interested, the pig trapping episode, very cool. Getting out of a truck, walking 2 ft and wacking a Nilgai with your guide next to you... then loading it up whole for the processor...
CO elk Felt like the writing was just totally phoned in.

My favorite episode were Desert Solitaire, Moose in BC, Black bear in AK on the Mat, goat with his bro, and the various blacktail and muley episodes.

To each their own, but I'm way more interested in watching and participating in a suffer fest with 10% odds than a cush hunt with 100% success rates.

Did you see his Texas whitetail IG post? I hope he has someone that is more than a yes man on his team. Part of the reason I've liked him is that he routinely does stuff he thinks is cool not necessarily his audience, but he seems to have gone off the rails recently. I think he's taken a hard right towards Hanesville in the last couple of years.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

Did you see his Texas whitetail IG post? I hope he has someone that is more than a yes man on his team. Part of the reason I've liked him is that he routinely does stuff he thinks is cool not necessarily his audience, but he seems to have gone off the rails recently. I think he's taken a hard right towards Hanesville in the last couple of years.

The meateater franchise feels very Rocky III currently.

 

[Jape]

It's hard not to agree with Matt on the three D's. Every time I hear hunting numbers are down and the reasoning for tags being hard to draw is because of the multiplicity of non-resident applications, I just don't entirely buy it. That doesn't mean we shouldn't try to mentor new hunters, but it does mean we should be a whole lot more discerning.

I still think Rinella is authentic. Some of his focus has become corporatized but I don't think he has forgotten where he came from. Stars in the Sky is a perfect example. And while Texas nilgai is something I have zero interest in, I think it is interesting and a great food source. Somewhat similar to Jimmy John's Arizona elk hunt. I would not have done it that way, but I'm happy for him.

 

[jlong17]

This thread is so spot on. Crossfit and killing - if you don't post them, they never happened.
Fresh Tracks is literally the only hunting show I can watch. The humility and authenticity of the production is what got me into big game hunting only a few years ago. As I scroll through social media I honestly have pity on the industry. My goal is to never lose sight of what brings me back to the elk woods year after year... bugles, brotherhood, and bonfires (B.B.B.??)

 

[Deleted member 20812]

Did you see his Texas whitetail IG post? I hope he has someone that is more than a yes man on his team. Part of the reason I've liked him is that he routinely does stuff he thinks is cool not necessarily his audience, but he seems to have gone off the rails recently. I think he's taken a hard right towards Hanesville in the last couple of years.

I haven’t seen it.

 

[NR_Hunter]

The meateater franchise feels very Rocky III currently.

Don't even put that into the universe. I really don't want to see a rocky inspired meat eater training montage pop up on any of my social media feeds

 

[Irrelevant]

I haven’t seen it.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

It's hard not to agree with Matt on the three D's. Every time I hear hunting numbers are down and the reasoning for tags being hard to draw is because of the multiplicity of non-resident applications, I just don't entirely buy it. That doesn't mean we shouldn't try to mentor new hunters, but it does mean we should be a whole lot more discerning.

I still think Rinella is authentic. Some of his focus has become corporatized but I don't think he has forgotten where he came from. Stars in the Sky is a perfect example. And while Texas nilgai is something I have zero interest in, I think it is interesting and a great food source. Somewhat similar to Jimmy John's Arizona elk hunt. I would not have done it that way, but I'm happy for him.

I think if meateater approached Texas hunting with the same thoughtfulness as the did Midwest hunting with Doug those episodes could be great. The west Texas hunts have been decent, but the nilgai was almost a caricature of Texas. The hunt was less than 5 min... it was literally everything that people mock Texas hunting for being, only thing missing was the sound of feeders.

There is nothing wrong with that kinda hunting, I just don’t want to watch a tv show about it... yeah if you put a bunch of critters on private with no predators there super easy to kill... cool

 

[TOGIE]

I think if meateater approached Texas hunting with the same thoughtfulness as the did Midwest hunting with Doug those episodes could be great. The west Texas hunts have been decent, but the nilgai was almost a caricature of Texas. The hunt was less than 5 min... it was literally everything that people mock Texas hunting for being, only thing missing was the sound of feeders.

There is nothing wrong with that kinda hunting, I just don’t want to watch a tv show about it... yeah if you put a bunch of critters on private with no predators there super easy to kill... cool

I kinda forget, watched it a while ago... but wasn’t the nilgai episode like 5 minutes of hunting and 17 minutes of butchering an cooking? Wasn’t that the point?

 

[geetar]

I think if meateater approached Texas hunting with the same thoughtfulness as the did Midwest hunting with Doug those episodes could be great. The west Texas hunts have been decent, but the nilgai was almost a caricature of Texas. The hunt was less than 5 min... it was literally everything that people mock Texas hunting for being, only thing missing was the sound of feeders.

There is nothing wrong with that kinda hunting, I just don’t want to watch a tv show about it... yeah if you put a bunch of critters on private with no predators there super easy to kill... cool

Agreed! The hunts with Doug are some of the best in the whole history of Meateater.

 

[MT_Chad]

Isn't authenticity the biggest difference between meateater and "other shows", they show the misses and bad shots. Instead of just showing the same kill shot on loop of a bull with 8 holes in and and a pile of cartridges next to the shooter. "Yep one shot"

I definitely haven't enjoyed the most recent material as much... for me it has become less about adventure the current season is all about glam hunts. The buffalo book recounted some Type 3 hunting trips aka the solo Copper buffalo. The first couple seasons of the show had some great type 2 hunts which I enjoyed. The current season is type 1 with some type 0 style hunts.

(Type 0 fun is when it's so lame you have to put a poker table in the blind because who really cares about hunting at that point)

Guided Wyoming -Type 1
Hunting in texas... who the hell wants to see that? Fish I'm interested, the pig trapping episode, very cool. Getting out of a truck, walking 2 ft and wacking a Nilgai with your guide next to you... then loading it up whole for the processor...
CO elk Felt like the writing was just totally phoned in.

My favorite episode were Desert Solitaire, Moose in BC, Black bear in AK on the Mat, goat with his bro, and the various blacktail and muley episodes.

To each their own, but I'm way more interested in watching and participating in a suffer fest with 10% odds than a cush hunt with 100% success rates.

I agree with this, I enjoy seeing the adventure, not just the kill shots. Randy's day by day series for his dall sheep was probably one of my favorite hunts on any platform for the reasons you list above.
I know everyone is always looking for new content to watch that, I recently found Greg McHales Wild Yukon on youtube. I highly recommend it, Greg does some crazy stuff and he shows a lot of the adventure.

 

[Jape]

I think if meateater approached Texas hunting with the same thoughtfulness as the did Midwest hunting with Doug those episodes could be great. The west Texas hunts have been decent, but the nilgai was almost a caricature of Texas. The hunt was less than 5 min... it was literally everything that people mock Texas hunting for being, only thing missing was the sound of feeders.

There is nothing wrong with that kinda hunting, I just don’t want to watch a tv show about it... yeah if you put a bunch of critters on private with no predators there super easy to kill... cool

That’s what I’m saying. The vast majority of his stuff is nothing like that and it was somewhat interesting for one episode. I would never do it but know those who would.

The bigger complaint, IMO, was that he went guided in the Wyoming deer hunt. I mean, those guys he went with are first class but he’s been hunting MD for years and I expected him to get it done solo. It’s not like there aren’t enough deer there

Honestly, that’s why I think those consistently on this site are drawn to it; authenticity combined with a dislike for the commercialization of hunting.