Poor Ohio Hunt

Viewer's Comments:

I was watching the hunting channel and Tom Brown, the host, came on for a black powder hunt in your Pennsylvania back country hunt. I found his hunting ethnics very displeasing. To start, he watched and waited out these two small does for a while. Admitting they were small, he still shot and got too worked up. Not saying thats what hunting is all about, but it's not very T.V. oriented. Especially since i am teaching a new hunter the ropes. I dont want him seeing this type of behavior. He ended up shooting this 50-60 pound doe, little small in my eyes, but not my major conern. He then walked up to it and kicked it a few times in the butt, instead of grabbing a stick and testing its eye like most proffesional hunters. He then gives his little yeha speach with a bloody deer mouth showing.Then he proceeds to drag this doe out by its front leg. Come on, ever hear of a dragging rope? Now, i am an avid hunter myself but would like your show to teach better hunting methods for the sake of the young ones still learning. Thanks for hearing me out and hope to see better hunts.

Pennsylvania Back Country Response

I greatly appreciate your comments concerning Pennsylvania Back Country and our show content. We enjoy hearing from our viewers to be able to make our shows better. That is why I have taken this time to write you back and thank you for your comments.

However, I do want to mention that I do not think your concerns deal with hunting ethics, but rather personal opinion. We strive to show clean shots and accurate details within our shows. Does are a commonly harvested animal in Pennsylvania. If you were to speak with any deer processing shop or taxidermist, you would find that does of all sizes are brought in. This doe was a rather small one, however, that is part of hunting in PA and Ohio. We do our best to show the realistic aspects of hunting and fishing in PA and to always show a large buck that most people never see where they hunt would not be realistic to the common hunter. A good rule of thumb is to check the eye of an animal after shooting, however, this deer was shot and sitting for a period of time that our crew felt it was safe to approach it as well as you want to stay on the back end of any deer when walking up on it. There is nothing wrong with how Tom approached the deer. He approached it in a safe and double checked to make sure the deer was dead. When you state most professional hunters would touch the eye, you need to consider that a lot of hunting shows are re-staged and not exactly what happened. A dragging rope is not always needed as well depending on the size deer. If you feel comfortable dragging it out by the legs, you can do so. Just as you can have another buddy help carry it out.

The small amount of blood around the mouth of the deer is common in most deer kills. It was not against any network standards to air that content. As for a new hunter, that is part of hunting. A deer kill is not perfectly clean.

I understand the great need to show good hunting ethics and teach those that are new to hunting the ropes and the correct ways to do things. However, there is a lot of gray area and things not set in stone. We as Pennsylvania Back Country try to provide accurate information to the hunters, but also be realistic. We will not break any laws set by the Pennsylvania Game Commission, and none of your concerns are a violation of the laws. It is important to show and encourage new hunters in this sport, however, the definition of what size deer to kill is up to the hunter. Some hunters only shoot trophy bucks, some hunt just for meat. Some hunters get excited about a kill, and some just take it as “all in a day’s work”. And blood is part of hunting.

I am sorry to respond to you in this manner, however, we as a staff here at Pennsylvania Back Country felt it was important to explain that your concerns seem to be of personal opinion and not ethics. We will try in future episodes of Pennsylvania Back Country to take into consideration your concerns.