Whitetail Frenzy introduces West Virginia hunting to prime-time TV.
There’s a reason Whitetail Frenzy is the only nationally televised show where bowhunters bag trophy bucks in the hills of West Virginia. “It’s difficult,” says Kenny Davis, who started the show with his brother Aharon.
Other shows might fill airtime with outfitter-run hunting trips, where prey has already been scouted and the tree stands are already set. But the Davis brothers and their crew do their own homework. “Typically we’ll run 20 trail cams apiece all over the state,” Kenny says. They invest dozens of hours of work long before they’re ready to start filming.
That level of commitment speaks to the show’s other secret weapon, the Davis brothers. They started the show with consumer-grade cameras and no experience of videography, production, or editing. But they learned through trial and error, and it was soon clear they had something special. Their sibling rivalry made for great on-screen chemistry. “And we started killing some really good bucks, on film,” Kenny says.
They launched the show without any sponsors, paying for airtime by selling commercial spots to local businesses. But within just a few months, Winchester Archery was so impressed with the show it signed on as a title sponsor. Later, when Winchester Archery sold out to another company, the brothers went independent again. Whitetail Frenzy is now a completely West Virginia–run company.
Currently in its fourth season, the show now has a nationwide audience on the Pursuit Channel. Locally, Suddenlink cable customers can catch the show on Suddenlink TV. Although they’re the stars of the show, the Davis brothers have kept their day jobs—Kenny is a pharmaceutical rep and Aharon is a police officer in South Charleston. But they’re happy to spend their spare time making TV shows that change viewers’ perceptions of West Virginia and West Virginians. “We’re probably the first national show from this state that has represented the people well,” Kenny says. “I think our show can do a lot for the state.”
They are already making a difference in that regard—the show receives dozens of emails each year from viewers who want to come to West Virginia and hunt. whitetailfrenzy.tv, @whitetailfrenzy on Facebook
Photographed by Zack Harold
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