I don't have a problem with video's or TV show showing hunters missing or wounding animals. This is real, no one is perfect. Yes, there are some that do not prepare well, but far and away I would say most errant shots are causing by what is called "buck fever." Novice and experienced hunters both can and do experience this phenomenon. Basically it can be described as nervous excitement causing one to lose the ability to concentrate or perform at the same practiced level. Experience and repetition can help one control the sensation but in many (including myself) it is never cured. Seems the more I want something, the harder it is to concentrate. One of the tricks that has helped me is to talk to myself. If I am guiding someone I whisper instructions calming the hunter. Many have told me this has helped them calm down allowing for a good clean shot. Just don't talk out-loud or you may get a funny look from your PH.
I totally agree that no one is perfect and everybody will wound an animal or more during hunting if you hunt much.
I also have no problems with bad shots shown on TV or videos.
But I have a big problem with it when they lie about it and pretend it was a good shot.
I also have a big problem with it when it happens rather often and even gets trivialized like it is not a big deal when an animal gets wounded.
I have tracked down and killed well over 100 wounded deer. And 6 of them were animals I had wounded myself. Besides the 6 animals I had wounded myself and caught up with successfully, I have also not been able to catch up with 3 more animals(2 Roe deer and 1 Blesbuck) that I have wounded myself.
My wounding percentage with a rifle is very low and I hope to keep it that way.
I hope I can keep it very low with a bow as well.
In about half of the situations I have wounded animals, it happened because something was wrong with the gun/mount/scope.
The rest of them happened because I made a wrong decision and took the shot when I should not have done it.
And hopefully I have learned from that, and I think I have.
But when it comes to the 100+ tracking jobs I have done for other hunters, then I can clearly say that most of the woundings is a result of hunters making a wrong decision and taking shots when they shouldn't or/and because they lack the shooting skills needed. Hail Mary shots have been giving me many tracking jobs.
Nothing wrong in hunters getting buck fever while hunting. What is wrong is when they still make the decision to take the shot even if they are shaking so bad that they hardly have the animal within their sight.
I totally respect the hunter that chooses to not take the shot at an animal even if the PH and whoever else nag them to shoot.
Only the hunter knows how it looks like in his/her scope and how confident he/she feels about the shot.
If a PH would start to nag me to take a shot, I would secure my gun, walk back and demand another PH.
I also think this is a problem for the people in front of the camera in hunting TV shows and videos.
They feel a huge pressure to take the shot on camera and either take low percentage shots or/and make bad shots because of the stress.
When they do, they should either not show it or they should be honest about it.
If they make many crap shots in front of the camera, they should find something else to do.