The Wild Within, Episode Dos.

I wanted to let anyone who took my advice to watch this week's episode of Wild Within that it was pretty different from the first episode, in my opinion, not for the better.  My reasons for thinking so:

• Instead of hunting/fishing for food for his family (which I thought was the complete premise of the show), the host took on a challenge to follow in Lewis & Clark's footsteps, reliving part of their journey with time-accurate equipment.  This is still interesting but the whole "build a raft out of animal parts and sticks" thing has been done.  Also, the host is all about respect towards the animals he hunts but he spends this episode hunting with a flintlock.  Although he is very careful and doesn't take an irresponsible shot, using antiquated equipment puts alot of risk that you miss the vitals on an animal and cause it to suffer.  I probably shouldn't be criticizing this as I've yet to kill anything bigger than a squirrel but it stood out to me.
• They found a dead antelope on the side of a mountain half butchered.  Because the host has such a deep respect for animals, he gets irate and says something along the lines of "If I saw this hunter right now I'd be tempted to shoot him."  That is ridiculous talk any time of the year but right after the AZ shootings?  They couldn't edit that out?  Well whatever I guess, it's his right to say it and Travel Channel's right to air it.  I just wouldn't have said it and it turned me off of the show a little.
• (EXTRA PEEVE EDIT):  Knew I forgot something.  There is a lack of firearm safety a couple times in the first two episodes.  In episode 1, the host shoots at a deer with only it's head and neck sticking out over the edge of a ridge, nothing but blue sky behind it.  If he had missed, the bullet could have hit anything thousands of feet behind the mountain.  Granted, they're in the middle of nowhere but still.  In episode 2, they include a shot of the host on horseback with the muzzle of his gun pointed directly at the camera.  Two of the most basic firearm rules are to not point the gun at anything you aren't ready to destroy and be sure of the what's behind your target.  Everyone makes mistakes (I sure have) but these are potentially dangerous mistakes and I hope there aren't any more like these in future episodes.

That said, I'll still be watching.  Hoping the focus will go back away from era-specific challenges.  Oh well.  I'll probably keep watching even if it doesn't change.  Still one of the few shows that fishing, hunting, and shooting come together without being an infomercial or just the same old footage of big bucks getting shot episode after episode.

Has anybody else seen it?  Do you agree or disagree? 

Lemme know.

The Wild Within

A couple weeks ago I started seeing commercials showing up on a couple of the outdoorsy shows that I DVR for after work.  Seemed to be along the lines of Man vs. Wild and Survivorman, both of which I'm pretty down with so I set it up to record.

Totally not like Man vs. Wild or Survivorman but still pretty awesome.

It follows a guy who is upset that most of Americans have a disconnect with how their food gets into the freezer at Wal-mart.  So he goes into the wild and hunts and fishes for all of his family's food.

It's not really like those survival shows because he's not in immediate danger and has firearms/shelter/etc.  But it's also not like most hunting shows because he's hunting for food and not just for sport.  He also cooks the food but it's not like any cooking show I've ever seen, as Bobby Flay doesn't go out and shoot the cow he turns into steaks. He also seems to have a huge respect for the animals he killed.

It may be a little soon to give the show a full review but it's definitely worth checking out.  It shows on the Travel Channel on Sunday nights.

EDIT: Check out my continuing coverage of Wild Within here.