For most of us up here in New England and New York, our introduction to outdoor sports programming on television coincided with the rapid sales of satellite dishes over the last 10 years. While hunting and fishing shows have been around for decades, their audiences were generally small even among early cable viewers. Not so anymore.

If you actively hunt and fish, then you probably watch at least some outdoor TV. And, like all media with a large and easily defined demographic audience, outdoor programs are raking in huge revenues from advertisers and sponsors. Do you ever wonder about the legitimacy and objectivity of the programming you watch?

There is no question that the growth in popularity of hunting and fishing shows has benefited the entire outdoor industry. In particular there is far greater awareness of the vast array of travel opportunities available to the adventure enthusiast. Most shows are shot on location at an outfitter destination and as a result avid viewers travel the continent and in many cases the world from the comfort of their living room easy chair.

So how do all these outfitters get on TV and if they are on an outdoor channel does that automatically mean they are a good outfit? First let's take a look at how the game is played. While it is true that many outfitter operations write letters, look for networking connections, even hire PR firms to get producers' attention more often they are contacted by a program representative, celebrity or a show's product sponsor. They have an obligation to the channel to provide a specific number of programs a season and that means they need to be out there shooting film. It is pretty obvious that most content revolves around throwing bullets and arrows at all the different species of game animals on the planet and that product manufactures recognize that this provides the perfect advertising environment for showcasing their guns, camo clothing, turkey calls, scents, etc. Have you noticed that over the last couple of years some of the big boys have jumped into the ring? Ford, Polaris, Mercury Motors, and especially Cabela's are very big companies with big ad budgets. Sometimes the program concept originates with the producer but often it comes from the communications guru at a major sponsor. In either case if the show is about mule deer hunting in New Mexico than the next step is to find an outfitter willing to host a video crew and in this context host means Hunt! The outfitter of course is not compensated in dollars but in the exposure benefit of being on TV. Consider that even in tough times, good outfitters book out or nearly so every year. How is it that they can arrange their schedules to meet the needs of a celebrity's travel plans and hunt a bunch of guys for nothing -as in no tangible financial compensation? Let's face it Jimmy Buchman, Roger Ranglin, Jim Shockey and all the others have great jobs. But, just because you see one of them sticking an arrow in a big whatever at Joe's Dead Deer Ranch does not necessarily mean that good old Joe has his act together when it comes to running a quality outfit. He qualified for the job because he had the openings in his schedule at the right time and agreed to hunt a bunch of guys from a TV show for free.

This does not mean that Joe's or any other outfit you see is less than a quality operation. You can rationalize that the better known the celebrity the more likely it is that they are hooked up with a good outfit. But in reality, you just don't know. One thing that is fairly certain is that you do not want to be just a regular guy booked on an expensive hunt and be in camp at the same time a video crew is there. While it may seem exciting to be rubbing shoulders with one of the big names in the professional hunting business, you can be sure that the outfitter is going to be preoccupied.

True story: Two hunters from Massachusetts hunting with a well known caribou outfitter in Quebec got left out on the tundra overnight because there was a video crew filming that week and nobody remembered to pick them.

Outfitters will generally agree that outdoor programming is good for business however it also contributes to the age old problem of clients with over-blown expectations. When someone puts down a deposit on a hunt it is only human nature that the excitement of anticipation is going to fuel exaggerated visions of shooting the biggest elk, whitetail, moose, you name it. While many outfitters will fuel these expectations to get the sale, good ones know that honesty about success and selling the aspects of their operations that they actually control will result in a customer who has a far better chance of having a good trip. But on TV they are all good trips! After all, everybody scores a booner, almost no body ever misses and I don't think I have ever seen an animal wounded and not recovered on an outdoor program. Just think about that for a minute….

It would not be difficult to rant on about the programming we are served up by our satellite or cable provider. For instance, we haven't even touched on the number of ads jammed into a 30 minute show, the fact that even turkey hunters think there is too much turkey hunting, and what's up with gold panning.

For all their flaws, The Outdoor Channel, OLN, The Sportsman Channel and all the others do capture our attention and an increasing amount of our television viewing time. We learn about new places to hunt and fish. We are introduced to new products and undoubtedly, if we pay attention we garner tips that help us hone our hunting and fishing skill and increase the enjoyment we get out of the sport.