I strongly believe that shows like this are important in building the public image of hunting. The average non-hunter is not going to even turn on a show titled "Killing my first Grizzly" or anything like it. The frequent watchers of this type of show will watch it and maybe take away a different opinion of the whole subject due to seeing people like themselves participating and enjoying it. This show I thought was very well done and really put a positive, realistic spin on the subject.
There are more shows like this around the whole public TV system. There are also magazines that are influential and interesting. One of my favorites is Garden & Gun to which I have subscribed almost from it's beginning. It is hard to pin down but very interesting. It is a high quality publication devoted to all things Southern. In it you find articles on Appalachian trout fishing, high end shotguns, opera, quail hunting, Muscle Shoals blues music, custom instrument makers, deer hunting, Hell's Bay flats skiffs, vacations at the beach, bourbon, Nashville, fine restaurants, the Kentucky Derby,handmade bamboo fly rod makers, trends in food and agriculture, decoys, pets, books, artists, wood carvers, duck call makers and some of the best humor around. They also hold yearly events such as a shooting weekend and a fly fishing weekend for women, Secret Dinner events, food festivals, plantation quail hunts and events at the Kentucky Derby and race day at Keeneland here in Lexington. These are partnered with specialty food and spirits vendors who provide and discuss their products.
I read the magazine and have attended several of the events locally. Because everthing is presented as a positive and there are no bashing or derogatory political pieces, I have seen the effect this approach can have. People who are readers and attendees seem to be more respectful of a broad range of opinions they had not been introduced before. I think existence of shows like this and publications like this have a much greater influence than narrow focused hobby platforms on the improvement of tolerance on the issues. A gourmet cooking show
that focuses on hunting and game harvest will in the long run have a much more positive impact on the average voter than anything ever published by the NRA.
