Fine art had Michelangelo, basketball had Michael Jordan, southern cooking had Paula Dean and hunting television has Heartland Bowhunter Season 2. This season of HB is that good. I’m not talking the kind of good where you have a bite of pie and say, “Mmm, thats tasty.” I’m talking the kind of good where you take a piece of that pie, put in in your mouth, chew a little and then jump out your seat screaming “hallelujah, oh my God” and then run off to tell all your friends.  Thats what kind of good I’m talking about. So now that we have an understanding here, maybe I should elaborate.

Heartland Bowhunter is “hallelujah, oh my God” good for  two main reasons. First, HB knows how to tell a story. A damn good story. And second, HB knows how to tell this story in a beautiful way, thanks to incredible production and attention to detail. There it is, you can stop reading now if you like. In a nut shell, Heartland Bowhunter is knock you off your feet good because they tell the story of the hardcore bowhunter in a compelling and engaging way, while delivering it to your eyeballs and ear drums in such high quality that you swear you were right there with them.

The Story

So lets talk about the stories that are woven throughout Season 2 of Heartland Bowhunter. The season runs relatively chronologically, starting in the summer and early fall. We first follow Jeff Simpson and the rest of the HB crew throughout the deer season to North Dakota, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and Kansas. Along the way the team chases whitetails and mulies, they meet with good friends and travel through some gorgeous terrain. We get to join the boys at bon fires, target practice and BS sessions after the hunts. This is what I really love about Heartland Bowhunter. I don’t just sit in a tree and kill stuff, I actually talk to people and tell stories with friends and have a good time during deer season outside of just being on stand. HB has been able to include all of that in their show. They have essentially been able to capture my season, on-stand and off, and effectively translate that into film.

After the Heartland Bowhunter crew knocked down some monster deer, we get to follow them through some shed hunting, a bunch of great turkey hunts and even a spot and stalk bear hunt in Canada. All along the way we get to know different members of the team and the story of an amazing hunting season continues to develop.

One of my favorite examples of the storytelling is featured in the first episode of the season. (You can actually watch the first episode online). The show begins with all the work that is done before the season for the Heartland crew. We get to see them put in food plots, set up trail cams and put out minerals. Film school is put on for the team and summer scouting and velvet footage is captured. I always enjoy seeing all the behind the scenes work that goes into a successful season and this episode captures that beautifully. Once the first hunt of the season is upon them, the crew heads up to North Dakota to chase early season velvet whitetails. Instead of just seeing a few scenes in a treestand, we actually get to meet some of the staff at the outfitter. We get to see target practice and the checking of trailcams. It’s all great film, that builds up the story of the hunt and helps place us, the viewers, right there riding shotgun with the Heartland Bowhunter crew. Finally, as most Heartland Bowhunter episodes end, we get to see Jeff and Mike Hunsucker with their hands around the racks of a couple monster velvet bucks. Now that’s a storybook ending if I ever saw one.

The Production

As great as the storytelling component of Heartland Bowhunter is, it’s the overall quality of the images, film and sounds that we see that makes this show the best in the business. It’s hard to describe this without someone actually seeing it, but Heartland Bowhunter is at an entirely different level than ANY other hunting show on TV today. The camera work, B-roll footage, narration, interviews and overall quality of film is just spectacular. I can relate it to the first time I saw HD TV. I never thought that watching a football game on my regular tv was bad at all. But one day we got an HD TV and when I switched channels between the regular football game channel and the HD channel, I was floored. The difference was night and day. My eyes had been opened to a new paradigm and standard def would never cut it again. That is the same way I felt when I saw HB for the first time. Other shows looked fine, but once you see how much better Heartland does it, it’s tough to go back to the same old same old. Watching Heartland Bowhunter, filmed in HD, is just an amazing viewing experience. It truly transports you into the tree stand  and thats a place I really like to be.

Like I said earlier, words can’t really describe the production value of HB. Since seeing is believing, anyone who has not seen Heartland Bowhunter Season 2, needs to check out their trailer. Pictures can say a thousand words and I think this video can speak volumes more than I ever could. (Make sure to turn on HD)

HBTV Season 2 Trailer from Fencepost Films (F2) on Vimeo.

Jaw dropping production quality and wonderful story telling has set Heartland Bowhunter Season 2 apart from the crowd by leaps and bounds. In fact I would be confident placing them in a whole nother stratosphere. So if you’ve somehow made it this far without understanding my opinion on this DVD, I would highly recommend you check out Heartland Bowhunter Season 2 and keep your eyes out for more to come from them soon. History tells us that it took nearly four years for Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel, lets hope Heartland Bowhunter will share with us their next masterpiece much sooner than that.

To purchase the Heartland Bowhunter Season 2 DVD or get more info about the HB team, visit HeartlandBowhunter.com

First off, you need to check out the trailer for the third season of Heartland Bowhunter. It looks ridiculous and I can’t wait to watch the new season. I believe the show will begin airing midsummer.

Second piece of news for you all is that Heartland Bowhunter has launched a new website and it looks pretty darn great. Sticking with their reputation for quality, the design and content of the site is A+. You can check it out here.  Heartland Bowhunter Site. Available on the site now, as of last week, is the just released Season 2 DVD!

If you didn’t watch the show when it aired on TV, check out the trailer for Season 2  to get a feel for what you’ll find in this DVD. It’s equally stunning when compared to the new Season 3 trailer and definitely worth a watch or two. I particularly enjoy the music in this one.

In addition to the Season 2 DVD, you can pick up all of their previous DVDs, as well as some great apparel, hats and decals. Make sure you check out the combo options that are available too. When I first visited the store, I wanted to purchase the Arrows Unleashed DVD and the HB Season 1 and Season 2 DVDs. But I decided I didn’t want to spend that much money, so I just bought season 1 and 2. Five minutes after completing my order I looked at the page again and realized that there was a combo deal for all three DVD sets, for 15 dollars less than what I paid for just two! So don’t make the same mistake I did!

Lastly, Heartland Bowhunter has added some new members to their team for next season! This winter HB held a competition to add several new people to the group and the winners were recently announced. Three brothers, Nick, Matt and Scot White from Kansas were selected to join HB for 2010. Congrats to the White Brothers! I’m also excited to announce that I’ll be speaking with Matt in the next day or two and I will be sharing his story and more updates with the Wired To Hunt Nation soon! So stay tuned for more info from the newest members of the Heartland Bowhunter team!