LAST UPDATED: May 1st, 2015
A few weeks back as I was in the midst of my nightly Internet browsing before bed when I came upon an article by Mark Kenyon on the proper way to watch a hunting DVD. As someone who owns over 100 hunting DVDs and even a few VHS tapes this peaked my interest so I clicked and began to read. Somewhere in the midst of this light hearted editorial I came to the realization that I hadn’t purchased or watched a hunting DVD in several years. In fact, I couldn’t remember the last time I had the desire to do so.
I began to ponder what had changed since the days when I would eagerly await the release of the next Drury Outdoors or Realtree Monster Bucks DVD…
1. DVDs Are So 10 Years Ago
Let’s be honest with ourselves here. We’re more than halfway through 2014 and most of us have had HD televisions in our homes for the better part of a decade now. I don’t know about you guys but it’s an almost unforgivable offense to watch something in standard definition in my home. Having to deal with “only” 720p resolution is bad enough, but 480? Oh, the humanity!
During my last pilgrimage to the local Cabela’s store I notice the video section was virtually void of any Blu Ray discs which would allow me to enjoy hunting in glorious HD, proving once again that the hunting industry is technologically behind the times.
2. TV Overload!
The past decade has seen a boom in the amount of hunting TV shows that would rival the housing boom of the early 2000’s. The only difference is that the hunting TV industry hasn’t popped (yet). With literally hundreds of hunting television shows to pick from why would I spend my hard earned (and over taxed) money on a hunting video I may watch once, twice if I’m lucky, in my life? If it’s fist-pumping, catch-phrase yelling, decal-covered-truck-driving “hunting” action I’m after there’s a multitude of programs and channels to pick from. In fact there are rock stars, country stars, reality stars, sports stars and other hunting personalities (and their kids) all waiting for me to tune into the next great hunting adventure.
3. Hi, I’m the Internet.
The Internet has changed the way we communicate, the way we shop, the way we work and of course the way we consume videos. Did you know that YouTube’s 1 billion users watch over 6 billion hours of videos each month? Pretty crazy, eh?
With today’s access to broadband Internet from our laptops, tablets, smartphones and just about any device they can cram a wi-fi sginal into it’s easier than ever to consume hunting videos where you want, when you want. A quick YouTube search for the phrase “bow hunting” brings up over 219,000 results. Deer Hunting? 287,000. Oh, and they’re all free.
Of course I haven’t even covered the variety of web-based series out there today including our own Bowhunt or Die or others such as Whitetails Inc, Growing Deer and Midwest Whitetail. I have a feeling even if it was my job to watch hunting videos online all day long I’d never run out of work. So in the few spare moments I have between working or chasing after my 2 year old son I don’t have a hard time finding something to watch.
So, does anyone have any ideas what I should do with my unnecessarily large collection of hunting DVDs?
