After the Kill Shot: How “Should” We Respond?
This is something that’s concerned me for some time. And I never thought about it until the network started receiving negative comments about the hunters having “too much fun” on TV. Mainly, they are showing excitement/passion/joy after making a kill shot.
I shrugged off the comments as an anti-hunter and how they were going to hate no matter what. But then that comment kept resurfacing. I see on almost every outdoor-themed TV series – on our channel or not. People celebrate after getting their animal.
To an outsider, this looks crass – it looks poorly upon the hunter and the hunting community as a whole. To them, you just took an animal’s life and are high-fiving over a job well done.
This became apparant again to me when Randy Newberg on his show “On Your Own Adventures” was quoted in this New York Times article as saying the hunt was “..the funnest thing I’ve done in years…” at the conclusion of the two-part series. Randy didn’t even kill the wolf in the show, his hunting partner did. But his quote was taken as he had the most fun killing a wolf. And boy did we receive the comments on that.
If I could put words into Randy’s mouth, I believe what he was referring to the fact that he spent eight days walking nearly 100 miles and at the end, he won over the wolf. He used all of hunter’s knowledge to defeat a worthy opponent. And when you put THAT much effort into something and you win, or you have something to show for it, you forget the blisters on your feet and the numbness on your fingertips and instead exclaim what fun it was and when are we doing it again?
Unfortunately the layperson doesn’t “get” that part of it. They don’t understand the pain, effort, knowledge and skill that went into the hunt and how, at the end, your shout of joy is a combination of relief and accomplishment. Is our “whoop” as hunters any different than Tiger’s fist jab after a 20 foot putt?
Should we tone it down when it comes to airing the hunt for national TV? How should we react? How do “outsiders” and anti-groups expect us to react?
I know many hunters talk about saying a prayer over their harvest and thanking them for the future meals they’ll have because of them. Tovar Cerilli has talked about that in many of his blog posts. Some folks tell me they are quiet after the shot and reflect on what’s been given them. That they aren’t necessarily being religious, just quieting reflecting on the life taken to keep other life going.
So what happens on TV really doesn’t happen in real life? (Shocker for reality TV)
If we asked our TV hosts to be quiet after a kill shot, I’m pretty sure the audience will change the channel and call the host “weird.”
What do you do after your made your shot and have secured your animal? Do you say a little something quietly over the animal? Do you high-five your hunting partner? Do you immediately take a photo and tweet it out?
There is no “right” or “wrong” answer. And I haven’t come to a conclusion yet myself.
There are hunters and those that hunt. I think hunters are always grateful for the animal they kill. Those that hunt look at a animal as a stat. I guess if you have a job outside the outdoor industry, you probably don’t see “shooters” every day. There isn’t someone driving you to a tree and saying, “at 8 o’clock the deer will come out over there”. A deer is more than a stat you can use to prove your skill to a potential sponsor. When the deer is a stat, I see why you want to do a touch down dance when you shoot one. When a deer is more than a stat, you are grateful for the animal and respect God enough to know he made this possible. Not your sponsor!
Todd – that’s an excellent way of explaning it – thanks for sharing it. I agree that how you perceive the animal is how you will respond to it. Good points.
This is a valid topic, but it’s kind of tricky.
First of all, as hunters we should never be ashamed of what we’re doing, and the fact is that if we weren’t having “fun”, we wouldn’t be out there.
Personally, in my lifetime as a hunter, I’ve expressed all sorts of emotions at the culmination of the hunt… the kill. I’ve knelt quietly, stroking the dead animal and just being thankful for all it represented (meat, the experience of the hunt, the challenge, etc.). And I’ve let out celebratory whoops and even a little shuffle-dance. Killing an animal, especially big game, is a roller-coaster ride of emotion and it makes no sense to bottle it up inside.
On the other hand, I totally get how it looks to a non-hunter, or even to someone new to the sport. Without the context of understanding the hunt, the mingling of trepidation… the conflicts of self-doubt and self-confidence at the moment of pulling the trigger… the absolute knowledge of what is about to happen to that living creature… it just looks like we’re celebrating the death of the animal. We (hunters) know it’s not nearly that simple, but how do you explain something like this?
Most non-hunters can’t even really understand the desire to hunt or kill. It’s an alien concept.
As far as TV, while there are many shows I really enjoy, I do find a lot of the celebration, whether solemn or slaphappy, to be a little disingenous. It sometimes seems awfully scripted. That’s a personal take, though.
I do feel like TV hosts should take into account that their audience may not always include experienced hunters, and that they should hold themselves to a higher level of behavior than we do when we’re alone or with peers in the field. It does matter what we show other people, especially when we remember that they don’t all have the background to put what they see in context.
I’m not saying to hide things. Be honest. Educate.
Great topic for discussion. I know I am turned off by SOME reactions. Not usually because they are excessive, but some can appear staged or unnatural. After having spent some time in front of a camera for amateur hunting footage, I noticed I acted differently when I had a camera on me than when I didn’t. I can’t help but think hunters on TV have the same struggle. I wonder what reaction many of them would have if the camera was not running.
I would like to clarify that I’m not turned off by these reactions in that I find them distasteful, I just find them to be reactions I probably wouldn’t want to exude from my hunting partner. Each person reacts in his or her way – I just have suspicions that many TV hunters are reacting a certain way not because it is natural, but because it gets ratings.
I think Phillip is spot on – most of us have run the gamut of reactions to a kill. Sometimes a kill elicits one response and another time it elicits a different responce. There is so much that happens in leading up to that moment, that each kill will be felt – and thus expressed – differently.
Sorry for the meandering thoughts.
Tom – the one time I was on camera, I acted totally different as well. After I shot my first turkey, I sat by it and stroked his feathers for awhile. That doesn’t make for good TV. I’m guessing they edited that part out. But there is a question – so how do viewers want TV hosts to react?
Phillip – thanks for your comments. I wrote – and rewrote – this post for two weeks b/c I didn’t want to come off as saying hunters were doing anything wrong as well – but to have us ask the questions. And I agree – don’t hide things, whether of joy or of solemn quiet.
I tried to think of an answer to that question by thinking about my favorite hunting shows and how those hunters react…but, the problem was that of my favorite shows, I cannot for the life of me remember how they react upon the kill. So, I need to go home and watch those shows again and see what it is that makes the celebration not get in the way of the show. Most of the videos I truly appreciate aren’t well known videos, so perhaps I’m in the minority and not someone that represents the demographic well.
The initial reaction can never be staged OR censored. When I’ve shot deer, I’m usually still quiet, in the moment, and watching the deer…and who knows, there might be another right around the corner that I might have a tag for. But my first turkey was totally different – I waited, in the rain, for almost 12 hours for him. You bet I let out a loud “YES!” Twelve hours of adrenaline had to come out some how!
But showing this on TV can be tricky, I understand that. Like Tom, I’m turned off by over-excessive celebrations (like Lombardi said, “when you get into the end zone, act like you’ve been there before”) and equally as much by calm, non-reactive responses (“hunting is that common and dull to you that you don’t get excited anymore?”). There’s got to be a middle ground.
Cassie – I never thought about a non-reaction being taken as boredom, but you are right. Perhaps that’s why the over-the-top reactions on TV? To show to the Nth degree that we are proud, happy and enjoying our time outdoors.
Tv hunting has certainly changed the way we view the post hunt celebration….meaning that it used to be a very private emotional moment for the hunter, and possibly partners/ hunting party…even in tribal times after the hunters returned successful, celebrations ensued.
Some guys are over the top, some are very modest, some are raving loons…but the fact is it used to be a private celebration, one that came at the.end of a very emotional, mentally and pysically challenging task.
That being said, there are times when I myself have exploded into a very visceral fist pump and whooped louder than the coyotes..and times when I have taken care of the field dressing, returned home, enjoyed a beer of drink, and occasional tobacco pipe, pleased with the events, and greatful for the experience…
Great topic!!! Good hunting, and feel not ashamed of the excitement that grows inside as you walk up on your quarry, in its final resting place!
THanks, John, for the great reply.
If I’m gun hunting, the first thing I do is watch and make sure the deer is down and not getting back up. This, to me, is crucial in making sure that the shot hit where I wanted it to. I have had it both ways, where one deer stayed down and another deer got up and ran off, but I wasn’t looking at the time so I had to find it. Thanks to snow cover, I did.
Bowhunting, it’s much more of following the deer and seeing where they ran off to so you can pick up the blood trail. I am not a TV hunter, but work at a TV station, and I prefer seeing emotion (unless a deer has been spined) because I find it to be real. Then you have to get down or out of your stand and find the arrow. Wait to look for the deer, but find the arrow as soon as you can while the location is fresh in your mind.