What is the most tasteless, brainless and obscene outdoor show on television?

By Ted Williams
by Ted Williams Special thanks to Outdoor Life Network and Versus Network and to host Steve Scott of “Outdoor Guide” for at last settling a question that has nagged me for years. What is the most tasteless, brainless and obscene outdoor show on television? God knows, there is a rich assortment to select from. I admit to watching many, albeit with the volume turned off so I can see the fish and animals and avoid the foolish banter. “Outdoor Guide” wins hands down. On October 28, 2006 the show—an “infomercial”—was hawking “Performance Ballistic Alloy” pellets for “Gamo Adult Air Rifles.” When I first tuned in at 8:30 a.m. EST I honestly thought it was an anti-hunting clip sponsored by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals or its ilk. There are repeated shots of “backyard pests,” as Scott later identifies them, exploding, twitching, contorting, bleeding, collapsing and dying as Performance Ballistic Alloy pellets from Gamo Adult Air Rifles tear into them. I immediately turned the volume back on. Whenever Scott knocks off a “backyard pest” he cackles like a hunchback delivering body parts to Frankenstein. The “backyard pests” include: prairie dogs (a keystone species that fuels prairie ecosystems and is in serious trouble), armadillos, squirrels (protected game species), bobcats (protected furbearers), and basking turtles (Yes, TURTLES). Shooting basking turtles is, of course, illegal in virtually all states, but apparently that’s what you do with Gamo Adult Air Rifles. “It’s like being a kid again,” effuses Scott. “Like when you hunted sparrows.” Shooting sparrows (unless they’re “English sparrows,” which aren’t sparrows at all but Old-World finches) is, of course, illegal. But to Scott, who doesn’t bother with such superfluities as species names, a sparrow is apparently a sparrow. Throughout the show Scott periodically addresses a phony classroom of phony students in which buxom girls proclaim: “I think shooting [substitute the critter that just expired] is an abomination.” They have a point, especially when you do it the way Scott does it—with a Gamo Adult Air Rifle, leaving the animal to rot where it fell. – 30 –

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Oct 29, 2006 08:29 pm
 Posted by  Anonymous

Like many other towns in states east of the Missouri, mine is battling over what to do about whitetail deer overpopulation. And a modest proposal for bowhunting in city parks is meeting with well-funded opposition. I'm currently drafting a letter that gently tries to point out that letting deer nosh vulnerable wildflowers in our parks into extirpation is not a good idea, and that carefully-screened bowhunters in carefully-restricted areas are not a threat to Aunt Sally as she walks her dog.

I am NOT happy to read about brainless tasteless lawbreaking bozos who are doing their best, on TV, to make hunters look horrible. Legit hunters ought to rise out of the woodwork and demand that this show be taken off the air. I don't have cable or satellite so I can't see it -- just as well for my blood pressure.

Nov 1, 2006 10:09 am
 Posted by  Anonymous

WOW, I didn't think anything could top the ever tasteless Tred Barta but you may have found a new Champion!! I used to watch that network but since they decided that all outdoor pursuits should be a competition and changed their name to "VERSUS" I have stopped watching all together. In fact I just recieved an email about their upcoming programming to which I replied with a sincere email of disgust with their name change. I see this change as continued progress toward the lowest common denominator and I am not impressed. I was disturbed to see such usually fine organizations as Ducks Unlimited and others continue their association with the network. It is a shame and I worry how my children will be able to fight the rising tide of knuckleheaded behavior among outdoor enthusiasts. It seems I have my work cut out for me...

James

Nov 5, 2006 05:46 pm
 Posted by  Anonymous

Why they even try to make this stuff palatable is beyond comprehension. Why not just be blunt about it. Mount a vidocam on the dashboard of a slob hunter's pickup truck and have at it.

Apr 21, 2007 08:58 am
 Posted by  Anonymous

And this morning (April 21, 2007) Steve Scott was on an African safari--shooting BABOONS! No. I am not making this up.

May 7, 2007 06:36 pm
 Posted by  Anonymous

These kinds of shows do attract an audience, believe me. There are "sportsmen" like this all across this country. You can see them on many of the outdoor forums around the web.

This kind of behaviour originates from lack of self awareness, lack of basic common sense and lack of respect for the outdoors.

May 21, 2007 08:05 am
 Posted by  Anonymous

Well, "Nature" had a great show last night on baboons. Traced a troupe through a year, not much fakery and some terrific shots, inc. one getting nailed by a croc. I also caught Steve Scott's show the day before. His weekly pitch is this: "Twenty percent of the public approves of hunting; 20 percent disapproves of hunting; and eighty percent is undecided. The battle for our outdoor heritage is the 80 percent."

If Scott is really serious about wanting a larger percentage of the public to approve of hunting, it strikes me that an excellent first step would be to voluntarily take himself off the air. He is definitely not cut out for this type of PR.

Scott lowers a noble sport to mere assassination. He degrades wildlife from game to mere targets. Basking turtles are certainly not "game" by anyone's definition. In fact, I don't know of a single state in which shooting basking turtles is legal. But on Scott's show basking turtles become targets for "Gamo Adult Air Rifles." What adult would shoot a turtle?

I have never heard of anyone going baboon hunting. And Scott didn't go either. But his first reaction when he encountered a baboon while big-game hunting was: Can I kill it? "Sure," said the guide. Scott had no interest in the baboon as wildlife or as a functioning part of a native ecosystem. For him, it was merely a target to be whacked Tony-Soprano style. He shot, and it tumbled out of the tree. And he wonders why hunters are unpopular with 20 percent of the population.

May 21, 2007 02:52 pm
 Posted by  Anonymous

That Steve Scott sounds like a complete idiot. If turtle plinking isn’t illegal in all states, it should be. Turtles can’t take that kind of loss of breeding stock. They make up with longevity what they lose in having massive predation on eggs and hatchlings, and slow growth to maturity. With habitat degradation, road mortality, and (often illegal) harvest, to be used for “target practice” could be the “final straw” for a population.

This guy gives legitimate sportsmen/women a bad name. Turtle plinking isn’t sport– it’s pure resource vandalism.

By the way, shooting reptiles is specifically prohibited in Michigan, where I reside.

May 21, 2007 06:15 pm
 Posted by  Anonymous

Thanks Jim.

Blog readers: Dr. Harding is, in my opinion, THE leading authority on and strongest voice for herp conservation in the U.S.

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