Shaw (Open Season)

"They can't tell me what I see 'cause only I know what I see!"

- Shaw

Shaw is the main antagonist of Open Season. He is Boog and Elliot's arch-nemesis, Beth's arch-rival, and the hunters' former leader and boss.

In Open Season
Shaw is first seen arriving into town with his truck, which has the seemingly dead deer Elliot tied to it. Shaw then walks into the nearby city hall building of Timberline and has a brief argument with Beth. He looks through the window and discovers Boog freeing Elliot, who promptly flees and destroys one of the lights in Shaw's truck, making him grow very angry and resentful of the duo.

At the nature show, Elliot who is being chased by Shaw, meets Boog who attacks him, making the whole audience in the show panic before Boog threatens to hurt Elliot. Shaw tries to assassinate Boog, but Beth sedates them with a tranquilizer gun before he could, thanks to Sheriff Gordy. Shaw flees before he can arrest him for shooting a gun in the town.

As Boog and Elliot tries their hardest to adapt to life in the wilderness after being released, Shaw grows increasingly paranoid as time passes on, planning his revenge and believing that animals are planning a rebellion to overthrow the human race and be the dominating species on Earth.

Shaw encounters Boog and Elliot again in the river after they have accidentally destroyed a beaver dam, making the river freely flow, flooding many things and washing away the animals with it, taking them to hunt grounds. In the ensuing chaos, Shaw tries to kill Boog and Elliot, but he loses the opportunity and gets lost in the flooding.

After discovering Elliot's lie, a betrayed Boog leaves him and unwittingly finds Shaw's log cabin. Shaw discovers him and pursues him to the city road where Boog happens upon the glowing lights of Timberline. Instead of deserting his companions, Boog helps the other animals defend themselves using supplies taken from Bob and Bobbie's RV while Mr. Weenie joins the wilds.

The next day, Boog leads a rampage against the hunters, sending them running after McSquizzy blows up their trucks with a propane tank named "Mr. Happy". Shaw returns for a final battle and shoots Elliot in the process, which enrages Boog to tie up Shaw with his own gun. Boog rushes over to Elliot's unconscious body but soon finds that Elliot survived the shot, only losing his second antler in the fight. The animals then begin beating up Shaw, until a helicopter flies in and lands, frightening Shaw and causing him to run away into the forest. Beth is revealed to be the one in the helicopter and has returned to take Boog back home where he will be safe, but instead he stays with his friends. They both realize that the bear is at home in the forest.

During the credits, Shaw is seen tarred and feathered after being beat up the other animals. He is then hit by Bob and Bobbie's RV while trying to cross the road and tied on the top of it. Bob and Bobbie laugh about this, believing Shaw to be Bigfoot. Scared out of his wits, Shaw screams out in defeat.

Personality
Throughout the first film, Shaw is revealed to be a paranoid, violent sociopath. He shows no regard for any life other than his own and is thus, a selfish, vain, evil person. This has been proven by the sadistic and heartless way in which mounted many animals in the forest on his cabin wall and how he drove his truck recklessly to try and kill Elliot, nearly hitting several people along the way.

He also shows no regards for the law, hunting in a national park and firing his gun into a crowd, despite being told by Gordy not to. This resulted in him almost getting arrested by Gordy, but he managed to make a clean escape.

Shaw has a bizarre love for his hunting gun called "Lorraine", talking to it and even offering it a blanket so it wouldn't be cold. This proves that Shaw is mentally ill as he believes his own rifle to be a living thing.

After a series of incidences, Shaw seems to develop the paranoid belief that animals are becoming as smart as humans and are plotting a rebellion to overthrow mankind and take over the world.

Trivia

 * Shaw is similar to Amos Slade: Both are hunters who are enemies with the protagonist's owner. As well, they are both the main antagonists of their films.
 * He is also similar to Victor Quartermaine: Both villains are hunters, have no respect for animals or the law, and want to kill the heroes. However, Victor has a much friendlier and likeable personality compared to that of Shaw's.
 * Shaw is the reason for the war between the wilds and hunters.