After you interview several hundred folks, you gain a sense of when the BS starts. Can I be fooled? Of course! But, I do a lot of background checking to vet the stories, as best I can, before my name goes on a byline. Do folks try to capitalize on killing a big deer? Yep! However, in most cases there is very little to be gained, unless a company is really looking for something to promote, and the deer is a world record. And, even then there is no real money to be made. The hunter generally gets some merchandise, and that fades away fast.
Marketing is nothing like writing. That is someone else's game, and I stay far away from it when I am getting a story, unless the hunter insists that using a certain product was the main reason he killed the deer. I get that on scents fairly regularly.
I also ask the same questions over again later, if I think something seems off, to see if the story changes. There is really not much else that you can do. I might also add that most of these stories are not from folks who called me asking if I would promote them. They are excited that I found them, but more excited about killing a big deer.
TV is what it is. I know because I also worked on several different shows quite a few years back. There, the sponsors push for promoting their products, and since that pays the bills you use them and show them. I never said much like, "I couldn't have killed this deer without my XWZ broadhead". Since it wasn't my show, I didn't have a lot of choice in what equipment we used. But, if we did use the competition's gear, we shot around it to avoid the conflict. Is that deceptive? Somewhat. But does anyone think a brand makes that much difference in the outcome of most hunts? By the way, that was one of the hardest jobs I ever tried. We stayed in the road, spent too much of our own money, and sat out in terrible weather more than i care to recall now!
You certainly have a right to your opinion, and I am sure there are other folks who don't see any value in reading the stories, or watching someone else hunt. But, there are plenty that do, and for that I am very thankful.
There doesn't seem to be much difference, to me, in you meeting someone and accepting their version of a story and what I do. But, you can bet I don't alter them in any way to sell something.
