“I just got tired of the watching the professionals on TV go on outfitted hunts back-to-back-to-back,” Dave Skinner explained. “Most people cannot connect with somebody who does this, for the simple reason that they can’t do it either!”

Skinner is co-owner of Lost River Game Calls, a local call manufacturer, and might also be recognized as the weekly host of “The Average Outdoorsman TV.” This new program features outings from the immediate area and hunts familiar to everyday folks, but the series is not necessarily what we’re accustomed to seeing on television.

Dave intended the show to be more down-to-earth.

“I am just that regular guy, I hunt on the weekends and every minute that I can get off work,” he said. “(I don’t) have any ambition to go from state to state hunting every fall.”

He has capitalized on a niche in outdoor programming that is often overlooked: a show that celebrates misses, embraces real difficulties and is not exclusively taped on managed properties teeming with game.

In the past two years, Dave has placed an immense amount of effort into getting the show ready to air in this inaugural eight-episode season, and he promises even better entertainment in the near future as kinks are straightened out and new equipment is purchased.

However, he wasn’t planning a show when he first filmed a friend bowhunting in the fall of 2004.

“I had all of this footage to promote Lost River Game Calls that wasn’t being used, and I thought, ‘You know, I’ll just do my own TV show,’ ” Skinner said. “It went from just a little idea to thinking I could maybe even make a business out of it.”

From those humble beginnings, Dave began his education in the industry.

“There’s a lot of expense to get started - a good camera runs at least $3,000. But the biggest barrier was not knowing a thing about television,” he said.

In addition to gaining airtime, accumulating all of the necessary equipment and earning sponsors, Dave must wear many hats.

“I’m the hunter, the cameraman, the producer, the guy who goes for coffee and (does) almost everything (off camera) except for the editing,” he said.

At the same time, Dave admits, “I haven’t done it without help, of course. I have had a lot of people that have pitched in and either given me footage to use, or gone and filmed me or let me video them.”

Recently, I received a humbling taste of on-camera difficulty when Dave arrived at my front door for this interview carrying a spanking new HD camera. After botching several takes, I gained an elevated respect for those who spend a lot of time in front of the camera; it is certainly not quite as simple as it looks.

However, Dave has welcomed the undertaking with open arms.

“I’m to the point now that I don’t even want to go hunting unless I’ve got a camera with me,” he said.

This week marks the halfway point for “The Average Outdoorsman TV” spring edition, which will be succeeded by a fall edition that will focus less on turkeys and more on whitetails. With the spring turkey season only a few short weeks away, it can be guaranteed that Dave will be in the woods accumulating more footage.

“The Average Outdoorsman TV” is shown at 10 p.m. Sunday evenings on WBKO Fox (Insight Cable channel 8).

— Geordon T. Howell is outdoors columnist for the Daily News. He can be reached by e-mailing highbrasshowell@yahoo.com.