Hunting Celebrities

[Coach]

It seems these days that a lot of guys are really into following the “celebrities” of the hunting community. For example, Michael Waddell has blogs on many of the current social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, where people can keep current on what he’s doing. Nothing against Mr. Waddell, personally, but I just don’t get the obsession with these celeb types. Does anyone care what he’s doing from minute to minute, and can anyone relate their own hunting experiences to guys who are paid to hunt the most exclusive private land in America???

 

I was thumbing through my latest Cabela’s catalog and saw a whole series of knives dedicated to Jim Shockey, with his supposed profile, hat and all, laser etched on the blade. Then I went to buy a bag target, and just about all of them were some kind of Michael Waddell “Bone Collector” series with his lame-butt skull in lime green stuff all over them. I won’t buy one, even though it’s the same Merrell Infinity target I’ve shot for years and worn out.

 

Look at Bass Pro-Shops for a rod and reel, and it’s even worse. Rick Clunn signature this and that, every rod, reel, stick bait has some dude’s name on it taking a chunk of change off MY purchase. It’s getting old, and I just don’t see the logic behind the obsession with “some other dude”. Am I missing something here?

 

[AntlerObsession]

I totally agree! If they want to be the "center" of attention, let them. I would pay a lot for a target that has me zeroing in on Waddell's nose! Or how about someone like Jay Leno's chin? The "center" of attention, aka my target, is exactly where these people should be! But not in a way that insults my intelligence by assuming I would buy a product just because their face is advertising it.

 

DISCLAIMER: THOUGH TEMPTED, I HAVE NEVER, NOR WILL EVER, SHOOT ANYBODY IN THE FACE. I'll leave that to Mr. Cheney. Double-lung shot on the other hand . . .

[bonecollector]

I used to like watching his shows but it got old after a while. Like you said he gets to hunt all these ranches that I could never hunt. I will never pay for something with his name on it because it makes the markup that much more just for that reason. I have met the dude before he seems like a cool dude.

[Broken Wheels]

I think it's called a business folks and whether we like it or not it is nothing more then that. The manufacturer's are the ones soliciting these "teletubbies" to help move their product and be honest, if you were able to hunt for a living tell me you wouldn't do it? It wouldn't matter if it was on private property, leased land, land owner tags or public hunts like the boys from Eastman do, you all would love every minute of it and be flattered if someone asked you if they could put your name on their product! (and pay you to use your name!) Keep it real and take the positives from what they can offer. I'm just sayin...

[JLW]

It seems these days that a lot of guys are really into following the “celebrities” of the hunting community. For example, Michael Waddell has blogs on many of the current social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, where people can keep current on what he’s doing. Nothing against Mr. Waddell, personally, but I just don’t get the obsession with these celeb types. Does anyone care what he’s doing from minute to minute, and can anyone relate their own hunting experiences to guys who are paid to hunt the most exclusive private land in America???

 

I was thumbing through my latest Cabela’s catalog and saw a whole series of knives dedicated to Jim Shockey, with his supposed profile, hat and all, laser etched on the blade. Then I went to buy a bag target, and just about all of them were some kind of Michael Waddell “Bone Collector” series with his lame-butt skull in lime green stuff all over them. I won’t buy one, even though it’s the same Merrell Infinity target I’ve shot for years and worn out.

 

Look at Bass Pro-Shops for a rod and reel, and it’s even worse. Rick Clunn signature this and that, every rod, reel, stick bait has some dude’s name on it taking a chunk of change off MY purchase. It’s getting old, and I just don’t see the logic behind the obsession with “some other dude”. Am I missing something here?

I get what you saying but that is the marketing world.

I don't go out of my way to buy a product just because someone endorses it, I look at product reviews because you guys in the field

are the ones to put it to the test.

like when I was a kid I had a Nolan Ryan baseball glove... had to have it because he was the best in my eyes.

I don't do that now but I'm sure some do.

as you were saying everything is endorsed and has someones name on it from bath towels to gatorade and all in between

if companies can pursuade just a small % of the consumers with a celeb then it is worth it for them and we take the hit in our wallet

alot of stores have "storebrand" products wich are made by the same companies with the stores name on it.

bass pro has a couple of bows made by diamond/bowtech... at a little cheaper cost.

when it is the same product with a fancy logo and it ads 15% or more to the product cost I tend to shy away from that but I think some people still

have the little kid screaming inside saying I gotta have that!

Marketing is a huge business....especially when you look at how much $ in endorsments Tiger Woods lost some $30 mil a year!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

my $.02

james

when it comes to hunting I envy those who are lucky enough to do what we are pationate about for a living!

 

[Garage Logic]

I don't see it that way at all. I doubt that Waddell or anyone else is out to be the "center" of attention of anything. He caught a break and gets to hunt for a living. He is a popular personality, and his shows are successful. Companies pay him good money to endorse products. That's business, and it probably works better at selling product than you think. Not everyone grew up with people teaching them how to hunt since they were small. Some people get into the sport by catching it on TV and then finding out what it is all about. Those people probably would buy a ground blind endorsed by Waddell because he/she is all alone in trying to learn. Who cares what the name is on the product? I only care if it is a good product for the $$. If they pay Waddell to endorse, who cares?

[DesertBull]

I would rather have my kids watching and buying Bone Collector stuff than watching and buying what MTV, E!, and most networks are selling.

[CRB]

I would rather have my kids watching and buying Bone Collector stuff than watching and buying what MTV, E!, and most networks are selling.

+1

[Guest Bandido]

Seems to me that guys like these get to hunt for a living. I wonder how much he gets paid. How many of us would like to have a job like that? I know at least one guy.

[billrquimby]

if it makes you guys feel better, I don't watch outdoor videos and had to Google Rick Clunn and Michael Waddell to learn who they are. If Jim Schockey hadn't been giving seminars at SCI conventions the last few years I wouldn't have known who he is, either.

 

As for getting paid to hunt and fish, outdoor writers were doing it a long time before there were videos.

 

Bill Quimby

[Coach]

Maybe I should clarify this topic a bit. I have absolutely NO problem with guys who are able to make their living hunting and fishing - to me that is a dream I would LOVE to live.

 

The point I was trying to make was that when I go to buy a product, I don't want to buy some "signature this" or "some-celebrity-name series of that". It's one thing when there are only a few of those products, but when Cabelas doesn't offer a Morrell Infinity Target that ISN'T the "bone collector" series it pushes me away.

 

Like I have said, I have nothing agains Michael Waddell or Jim Shockey, or Rick Clunn... I just don't want their name all over the stuff I buy and use. Partially because I know I'm paying extra for something I would rather not have on it in the first place. If you put two products side-by-side, and one has the endorsement of your favorite celeb, and costs $5 more, no problem. When you stop offering the "non-endorsed" versions, then I know I'm shelling money at something I don't give a rip about.

 

It may be marketing, but for some of us, it's negative marketing. Maybe I'm just an old crumudgeon but I like my stuff pretty vanilla. No-nonsense stuff that works. And I don't want to pay extra for some celebrity endorsement.

[JMP]

just because a celebrity endorses a product doesn't necessarily mean you're going to pay more for it. if that celebrity endorsement leads to increased sales and larger scale economies for the producer, that signature may actually mean you pay less for it. it's a propaganda campaign of marketers who aren't paying for endorsements to say that if you buy an endorsed product you're paying more for it. it sometimes is the case, and sometimes isn't. hopefully the company who is offering the endorsed product justified it prior to writing the check.

 

if you like the product, and feel its a superior product to alternatives, and the value of the product is worth the expense, who cares how the producer goes about marketing them. I'm with you though, I think a lot of the marketing and product design in the hunting industry is borderline tacky. just cos you can add a signature to a target's packaging doesn't mean you should. and how many additional companies are going to draw deer skulls to use as logos?

[.270]

turn micheal waddeh (that's how he says it becaue he's too stupid to know his last name has "l's" in it", loose in the woods and tell him to shoot something. he'd probably throw a fit and go home like a 4 year old. he "plays" a hunter on tv like guys play the part of cowboys or soldiers in movies. the don't have a clue what they're doing, they're just actors. all waddel and 99% of the other hunting personallities are is actors. plain and simple. i doubt that they've even gutted a fish, much less an elk or deer. shockey is a hunter. i still like to watch his show, but it's getting to be a little too much about being cute, like all the rest, too. used to like to watch the primos guys too until they lined up with uso and now they're show is total crap. anytime anyone is crawling into the camera, it's fake. 99% of em do it. they're just actors. even eastmans has turned into crap. i'd rather watch an old davy crocket show. at least you know they're just actin'. Lark.

[Str8Shot]

So you trying to say that the Nuge is a sell out for having his signature on products? You must remember that some of these celebrity angling and hunting endorsers also help with product changes and designs as well... If you like a product it should not matter if it is signature this or that and if you you feel that much against a product you like because it is endorsed you have the choice not to buy it. All in all I don't see what the whine is about . It is either a good product or a bad product.

[Coach]

"All in all I don't see what the whine is about". Have you ever written an entire post without being confrontational or insulting? Just askin'.