Question from Realtree


Team Realtree

Recommended Posts

I personaly like articals. When I'm planning a new type of hunt, or going into a different kind of area, I spend hours pouring through books, magazines, Videos, and internet sites. I'm always trying to learn about equipment choices, pros and cons of different tools for different game. I'm always on the lookout for ways to polish up different hunting methods. When I read articals, I'm not just interested in what the writer did, but more on how they did it. What kind of bow/arrows/gun and why? did they use scents or calls or anything and why? Did they sit in a stand, or still hunt? Did they move around, calling from different locations? Why did they choose this method? If they're using a call or scent, what exactly did they use, and how? Not that I don't like just reading a hunting story, but I prefer to learn something from it. Its just more interesting when there is some how to's, and what to do's to read up on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would like to see some more of the behind the scenes action. How and why you decide to hunt in which locations, the processes taken to abtain the necessary tags and licenses. The logistics on scheduling hunters & cameramen to be at the right place at the right time. Determining what the the right time to be at a place during the best time of the season.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe not so related to the website, but I would love to see more non-outfitted hunting where your skills as a hunter are more important than someone having the "lock" on a big buck and wants to save it for the biggest name in outdoor television to come and shoot it on tape. IMHO! I must admit the way the Drury's did some of their team stuff and aired segments that did not involve "the harvest" like foodplotting, shed hunting, and management techniques appealed to me. I do also like the archery competition between the Realtree guys. That is always a hoot to watch. Remember this too, the majority of your audience and patrons are the average joe who still like to see things that are attainable for them. I think that is why the Lakosky's, Kisky's, and a bunch of "small timer, up and comers" are so popular. I bought the Droptine Divas DVD for $5 at the Green Bay show and loved it just as much as the others.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd like to see my ugly mug posed behind a giant whitetail with Michael Waddell at my side on your home page. ;):D Think you can help me?? :D:D:D:D

Geesh ...beat me to it :D:D How about a Blacktail hunt on Vancouver Island :D

I love what you've done with the home-page Scott. There's tons of info on there.

Bloopers sound good :D We all Bloop, from time to time. Just glad mine aren't on tape. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

like above not so much to do with the web page but when shooting footage and gettin ready to release a new videoi wish you'd keep in mind the viewer.You do a great job as always but one thing i was thinking about the other day is a movie that shows the whole bits.A couple days before the hunt the whole trip there and nights at the lodge ect.. the whole thing!!Maybe make one hunt into a movie,i would kill to be able to go to the movie store and rent or by a movie that has to do with hunting other than the ones that just show the kills(harvest).If i had the backin i think i would take the chance and make one!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not a big fan of video that loads as soon as you enter the website. I've visited a lot of "hunting-related" websites and they always seem to take a minute or two to load, and I'm on High Speed Internet. I can just imagine people from the country who are on dial-up still. They would probably be discouraged by the long wait. Maybe a choice of home pages?? Dial-up friendly and dynamic??

Other than that, I love seeing the game activity charts and moon phase charts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nothing really pops into my head rite now as far as improvements. The site is user friendly, even a computer dope like me can use it:D, has good info on it and is fun to visit!

As good of a job as you folks at Realtree have done on this site, a lot of what makes this place so great is the people who use it! Anything from sharing ideas, answering questions, or just talking about daily life, and of course having a good laugh or two.

Keep up the good work yall!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What I look for in a good hunting website:

1. Good uptime on the server's end. Constant downtimes eventually drive me to not visiting sites anymore. A downtime here and there once a month or longer is understandable, but downtimes every couple days, once a week, etc. is unacceptable to me.

2. A fast loading website that is compatible across most browsers, not just Internet Explorer. I personally use FireFox and refuse to use Intenet Explorer. If the website I try to view doesn't work in FireFox I usually don't come back. It's just good web design teaching to build multi-browser compatible websites. Websites that aren't compatible just show the non-professionalism of the web designer.

3. An active forums with a family environment and polite helpful mature staff members. If a hunting website does't have a forums I usually don't stick around and only visit once or twice. If a website wants me coming back they need to have a forums so I have reason to come back. I also feel the forums should be warm and welcoming to new individuals. I've been to a few hunting forums elsewhere that just acted like they had this little "group" in the forums and unless you personally knew a staff member you were shut out right off the bat and treated like your opinions and information was worthless.

4. Contests are also a plus. I enjoy being in contests where I can meet new people with the same hunting passions as myself. I dislike, however, contests for any valuable prizes as it turns people into competitive animals and takes all the fun out of contests. It also brings in the trolls that just sign-up for the prizes and refuse to be part of the team.

5. Good information and articles. I feel to be more than just a hunting forums a good hunting website needs to have a good collection of information and articles for the new and upcoming hunter, or just a veteran who wants to learn more. It's nice when the site allows you to submit articles to add to the database and to see them get the users involved in the website on this level.

6. Good videos. If the hunting website does have videos I like them to be good hunting videos. Mainly looking for videos showing ethical hunting methods, with good information, and a fun attitude. I absolutely hate sites filled with videos of some person standing infront of a camera with a product trying to sales pitch some product and ends up putting me to sleep by the end of the video instead. Instructional videos are fine, but videos only meant to try to sell a product are boring unless I'm already interested in the product beforehand.

7. Trophy records. I find it really nice when a website allows the users to submit their hunting harvests for the year no matter how big or small, as long as legal and their own, to a little album or records on the website where people can see them. I hate websites that do this, but only selectively put up the "trophy bucks" and leave out the small bucks, does, etc. Hunting isn't about the trophies to me, it's about the passion, effort, success, and the outdoors. I hate when I submit my harvest picture to a website and it doesn't get put up because they feel it isn't a worthy trophy. To me anything I harvest is a trophy.

------------------

As far as Realtree improving their website. I think it's pretty good as it is. This is one of the best hunting websites I've been to in a long time. It's why I keep coming back and will continue to keep coming back for years to come. Heck I consider this site's forums my home away from home. :D

The only improvement suggestion I can make is back when we had that annoying splash intro page that loaded up when you first visited the website that thing was painfully slow loading. Even on a 2.8 Mbps internet connection I was lagging to the point where while that was activated I didn't visit the frontpage and bypassed directly to the forums only. I could only imagine how dial-up users felt. I'm glad to see it was removed or at least on my end appears to be removed. The frontpage, however, is still a bit laggy for me. I really dislike when websites put an auto-loading video on the front page. It makes load time on that page slow down considerably and can be annoying. So, my only suggestion is a speed one. I feel if the videos didn't load and auto-play on their own and instead were optional for the user to click play to see that it'd load the frontpage a lot faster. I also feel splash intro pages are a thing of the past and am glad it's been removed and hope it doesn't return, but if it does please allow us the option to skip it permanently on our account settings when logged in. Other than that the site is perfect in my opinion. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rt does a real good job as it is. I enjoy checking out the videos and you keep us up to date with the hunts that are happening to make the upcoming videos. Your site is full of valuable information too from weather to state DNR web sites.

Just please don't bring back that long lasting introduction page that you recently pulled again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.