It would be great to see a program on TV that has something to do with traditional outdoor skills, archery, callmaking, decoy carving, etc... But unfortunately Pat B. is right when he say's that there is no money in it.
As far as archery is concerned all you see on TV is the newest compound or crossbow, because they can be mass produced and garner mass exposure.
We love the traditional and primitive stuff because we recognize the value in knowing our history, in knowing where we came from, what our fore fathers went through, the artestry and hard earned knowledge they had to aquire before they ever strung a bow or flung an arrow.Now a days, plunk down the cash, pull it out of the box and within a few minutes you'll be zipping carbon arrows 40-50 yards.
We see traditional and primitive archery growing every day, there's new members here on PA and other sites all of the time. We travel to Tennessee, Michigan, New York and accross the country and see new people at shoots every year, from all over the USA, from Canada, and even from England and Germany. Our beloved traditional archery hobby/lifestyle is growing all of the time and that is great, but unfortunately, because it is mostly a do it yourself hobby and doe's not lend itself easily to the big money pursuits that drive the modern world, Most of the world doe's not know that we even exist.
At almost every open shoot we hold at Hawkeye Bowmen, someone looks at us with our self bows and comments to thier friend,"look at those guy's with the recurves". I've had people tell me that you can't kill a deer with that thing, and they are either amazed or don't believe me when I tell them that I shoot completely through most of the deer I kill with my self bow.
One time my friends and I went to an open shoot near by, we were the only ones there with primitive equipment, and people were following us and watching us because they had never seen archers that did not shoot compounds.
It's rare to meet another hunter in the woods carrying traditional equipment.
And it's like that with all of the traditional outdoor pursuits, there are a lot of tallented and passionate custom callmakers and collectors out there, but meet any hunter in the woods and they are carrying the latest plastic call massed produced by one of the biggest call companys in the nation.When's the last time you saw someone hunting over wood decoys? Yet there are some great decoy carvers out there.
It's a soulless world that we live in.
It is a shame, but we can take satisfaction in knowing that our sport is growing all of the time, and that we continue to instill and infect others with our passion for primitive and traditional out door pursuits, even though the rest of the world doe's not seem to notice, and then, just maybe, if we talk about it enough amongst ourselves, we might plant a seed that germinates in someones brain and we will get another program like I Caveman!
Let's hope for the best!
And Keep talking amongst ourselves.
Kevin
