Transcription
00:00:00:03 – 00:00:18:08
Speaker 1
All righty. Well, welcome back to the American Hunting Podcast. From a bitter, cold, snowy Midwest hunting season was pretty much wrapped up. And trade show season has started going pretty much one right after the other. So we got some trade show talk today, we got some social media talk.
00:00:18:08 – 00:00:39:28
Speaker 1
We’ve got a little bit discussion on what we’re doing wrong as an industry and maybe some thoughts on how we can kind of right the ship. Let me introduce my co-host here, Mr. Joe Smith. Amy. Hello. I am Sean Ferguson.
00:00:39:28 – 00:00:51:17
Speaker 1
We are with the American Hunting Leagues Association and the American Hunting Podcast, let me remind you, is brought to you by the HLA. Everything you need to enjoy a safe, successful and affordable hunting lease all in one place.
00:00:51:24 – 00:01:06:11
Speaker 1
Resources like the Secret to Hunting Private Land Free e-book and the front porch kit both free to download on our website. Soon to be on our home page to time tested lease agreements and of course, the most affordable hunting lease liability insurance policy you will find.
00:01:06:11 – 00:01:17:16
Speaker 1
Protect your landowner and yourself and every member in your hunt club with the HLA complete risk management package. The American Hunting Lease Association. Your Hunting Lease Resource.
00:01:18:22 – 00:01:36:12
Speaker 2
This is exciting news. The American Honey Podcast is also brought to you by Hunt’s stand up com and the Hunt Stand app. Build sophisticated and detailed maps of your hunting areas. View and share your hunting area maps with the revolutionary online mapping technology and use advanced tools that let you examine and understand your hunting area like never
00:01:36:12 – 00:01:51:17
Speaker 2
before. Then take it all off line by printing your high quality, high resolution, fully customizable map on paper, vinyl, or even better durable tear resistant waterproof canvas. We saw a little bit on their website that looks so cool and we would definitely get one for every single that for sure.
00:01:52:23 – 00:02:06:27
Speaker 2
With access to parcel data for 97% of the country, it’s never been easier to have to purchase affordable and highly detailed maps for your hunting properties. So download the Hunts Down app and or print a map visit hunts Hunt’s Incom Start Mapping.
00:02:06:27 – 00:02:19:07
Speaker 2
Now we will have a discount code for all members. We’re still working out the details with Hunt Stand Out, but I’m just so excited that those guys have been able to see what we’re doing here and and they want to jump on board and and, you know, start working with us.
00:02:19:07 – 00:02:20:16
Speaker 2
So I’m excited for the future of that.
00:02:20:20 – 00:02:33:01
Speaker 1
I’m real excited about not only the hunters and partnerships, but some of the other partnerships we’ve got. Yeah. So as I say in the works, it’s been very I mentioned tradeshows and we’re gonna get into the show that I was at last week.
00:02:33:23 – 00:02:45:25
Speaker 1
There’s a one obvious difference this year to the others, and that is people are coming to us. Yeah, other companies are finding us in numbers and they’re saying, hey, what are, you know, we know what you’re doing. We won’t be part of it.
00:02:46:04 – 00:02:51:03
Speaker 1
Let’s let’s figure out how we can work together. And that’s that’s exciting. It’s validation me. It’s confirmation.
00:02:51:03 – 00:02:59:01
Speaker 2
It is. I wouldn’t do it, you know. Right. And it’s sitting here today. I wish we could pull back the curtain a little bit and to some of the conversations we’ve been having with some some other companies in the industry.
00:02:59:01 – 00:03:10:05
Speaker 2
But, you know, even three weeks into 2019, the momentum that I thought we had coming into 2019 is just blown away. My expectations of what’s possible this year for.
00:03:10:05 – 00:03:23:21
Speaker 1
Us it is. And it’s it’s it. I feel the weight of it. I still, you know, it’s it’s we gave you the tools. We’ve built it. Yeah. Now we’ve got to, we’ve got to push it forward and yeah, we’re going do everything we can and I’m not worried about that.
00:03:23:21 – 00:03:28:06
Speaker 2
And so you mentioned you mentioned data. You sounded like it was fruitful. It sounded like it was productive.
00:03:28:07 – 00:03:45:05
Speaker 1
It’s a good show, man. So here, here’s the deal. If you don’t know what the show is and it’s the Archery Trade Association trade show, and frankly, what it is, is and it’s a private trade show, you have to be in the industry, so to speak, to get in, to buy a badge, to get in.
00:03:45:28 – 00:04:03:22
Speaker 1
And we go every year. This year it was in Louisville. Every company in the hunting industry, minus some firearms manufacturers, are there. And the reason the firearms aren’t there, it’s the Archery Trade Association. The firearm show is the shot show, which is in Las Vegas the following week.
00:04:03:22 – 00:04:05:13
Speaker 1
Right now, that’s this week or yeah.
00:04:05:13 – 00:04:05:23
Speaker 2
It’s happening.
00:04:05:29 – 00:04:17:14
Speaker 1
Right now. So the archery trade shows down in Louisville. We go every year. Couple of things about the show in and of itself. First of all, they’re all the way. I didn’t know there was an ad show. I had no idea this.
00:04:17:14 – 00:04:29:01
Speaker 1
And I found out like I should have been about 15 years ago, of course, well before I had this job. Still a firehouse. And a guy comes in and he goes, Hey, did you know there’s a great big hunting trade show downtown?
00:04:29:23 – 00:04:39:28
Speaker 1
That’s another town that you did. I would. No, I mean, if if I would if it was here, I would know. And he’s like, oh, I goes, I set up that’s just part time jobs. And I set up for conventions and I just got done.
00:04:39:28 – 00:04:54:15
Speaker 1
It’s huge to big show, all the hunting stuff. They’re like, I don’t buy it. So I look into it. Sure enough, I’m like, Holy cow. So the very next day, I put on my dress fire uniform with a badge and.
00:04:54:15 – 00:04:55:14
Speaker 2
Act like you’re inspected.
00:04:55:14 – 00:05:06:27
Speaker 1
Oh, yeah. So 100%. That’s exactly how I got in. And I just walked right by him and right in. And I mean, yeah, literally everything I’d ever is like it was literally like Willy Wonka. It was like being in a candy or the chocolate room.
00:05:06:27 – 00:05:08:03
Speaker 1
I’m like, Holy cow.
00:05:08:09 – 00:05:11:21
Speaker 2
How does it how has the show evolved in the last 15 years since you’ve seen it?
00:05:12:15 – 00:05:26:23
Speaker 1
It’s grown a little bit. I think it’s more important for companies to be there now. We don’t have a booth, we just go as attendees and we walk around. We’ve kind of felt that that was our best way to to honestly see everything.
00:05:28:02 – 00:05:40:18
Speaker 1
I don’t think that’s going to be the case much longer. I think we need to have a booth. If people are looking for us, then I need to be or we need to be somewhere stationary and have a nice welcoming booth and and say, hey, come on in, let’s, let’s talk about working together, partnerships, whatever it is
00:05:40:18 – 00:05:41:19
Speaker 1
. Or maybe you just want to talk.
00:05:41:20 – 00:05:55:07
Speaker 2
You know, and it alternates from Louisville to to here in Indianapolis. And I’m a little biased. I always think the Indy shows a little bit better just because of the layout of the city and where it’s located. I’ve been to the Louisville one a couple of times and it’s just it’s a little disconnected.
00:05:55:07 – 00:05:58:21
Speaker 2
It’s not bad. I’m just, like I said, a little biased to the Indianapolis.
00:05:58:21 – 00:06:15:24
Speaker 1
Or the Louisville. So, listen, I like Louisville and I like the 88, right? So I hate them together. Yeah. You know, you’re you’re at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville. You’re 15 miles, 15 minutes, anyway, from downtown. When you’re in that exposition center, that’s you can’t leave.
00:06:15:24 – 00:06:25:06
Speaker 1
You’re there. You can’t leave to drive to. It’s something. Eat it for lunch or you’re going to pay $10 to get back in for parking. I know that seems trivial, but you walk around a trade show four or 5 hours.
00:06:25:13 – 00:06:37:04
Speaker 1
I kind of want to leave. Let’s. Let’s go get some fresh air and go grab a bite to eat. So I don’t love it being in there. You have to stay if you want to stay downtown, which is where, you know, some of the nightlife is 20 minutes from the show in Indianapolis.
00:06:37:27 – 00:06:43:25
Speaker 1
Not only is it everything is here, is connected. Yeah, but within a five minute walk, you can be at 25 different restaurants.
00:06:43:26 – 00:06:54:18
Speaker 2
Look, they hosted the Super Bowl here not too long ago, and the feedback from everybody was, this is this is great. This is this is how a city should be laid out if you want to host a Super Bowl.
00:06:54:18 – 00:06:58:18
Speaker 2
So I feel like if it’s good enough for the NFL, it’s got to be good enough for an 80. We got lucky.
00:06:58:18 – 00:07:00:02
Speaker 1
Two is about 55 degrees.
00:07:00:02 – 00:07:00:28
Speaker 2
It was a great week.
00:07:00:28 – 00:07:16:18
Speaker 1
Yeah, Super Bowl week. And it’s five this morning. Yes. So more brutal. But yeah, I get it. Yeah, it’s a it’s a great place to meet you if you go to the show. Like I said, we get to meet the guys from the Sportsmen’s Alliance, which, you know, we see them a couple of times a year.
00:07:16:18 – 00:07:37:10
Speaker 1
It’s always at the show. But we sat down, talked about what they’re doing, what we’re doing. We’ve even got some plans for next year’s show with Sportsman’s Alliance. So, you know, all that kind of stuff. We come and later had a tree and safety awareness meeting that was really nice guys from Hunter Safety Systems and now we’ve
00:07:37:10 – 00:07:50:23
Speaker 1
got the money from Bone Collector. We’ve got Tom Gallagher is on the board now from Cabela’s. So we just got a great mix of folks and they’re all there. So that’s why we have the there it is perfect.
00:07:51:13 – 00:08:10:09
Speaker 1
And we, we made a difference last year, it would appear. And of course we can’t claim credit for this, but we’ve been working hard to promote Tristan’s safety awareness, and we’ve mentioned that our first two or three podcast and we did have another fall, I believe right before to not a death, but guy was injured in Iowa
00:08:11:24 – 00:08:27:16
Speaker 1
but we are at standing right now it’s six fatalities for the season six. Again, you know, six hunters died falling out of Tristan compared to 15, I think, last year. So it’s cut in half. Again, who’s to say where the credit lies?
00:08:27:22 – 00:08:35:07
Speaker 1
Hopefully it’s just in the fact that, you know, I think a lifeline itself, just the introduction of that tool, I think, has made a world of difference.
00:08:35:15 – 00:08:48:21
Speaker 2
You know, I don’t know if it’s realistic to have an expectation to eliminate fatalities from Tristan Balls just because I think there’s a lot of guys, maybe some older generations that are just kind of stuck in their ways.
00:08:49:15 – 00:09:07:12
Speaker 2
Younger guys like me, like I’ve said before on this podcast, I don’t know, hunting without a harness and a lifeline, I just don’t know any different. So I’ll never not have those things. When I go out, I try to do the best I can when my friends and family who do it to to pass that message to
00:09:07:12 – 00:09:19:17
Speaker 2
them. Just because I feel like I’ve seen the weight of, you know, the the the stories that come in. And we’ve talked to several family members and we’ve read stories. And, you know, we know people who know people.
00:09:19:17 – 00:09:31:23
Speaker 2
And it it it really can alter not just your life, but your family’s life. So I feel like it’s my responsibility, my brother, my cousins and, you know, I want to buy them as dumb as it sounds. I want to buy them a lifeline for Christmas.
00:09:32:02 – 00:09:36:09
Speaker 2
I know it’s not the coolest gift ever, but it’s practical and it helps.
00:09:36:09 – 00:09:36:28
Speaker 1
Practical.
00:09:36:28 – 00:09:48:07
Speaker 2
And it’s, you know, hunting is their passion, too. So it’s like, you know, if I can give something like that and promote that message, even in my inner circle, you know, I feel good about it. So what you guys are doing, the TSA is is important.
00:09:48:19 – 00:10:00:22
Speaker 2
And seeing the decline and falls is great. Six deaths not acceptable, but we’re trending in the right direction. I think the message is spreading and and it’s becoming more accepted and I think that’s positive.
00:10:00:27 – 00:10:11:11
Speaker 1
I think so. I agree. And we’re not going to stop while we’re keep pushing that message forward. And if you take anything away from it, it’s it’s, you know, the ABCs. I have to cover them one more time.
00:10:11:11 – 00:10:29:26
Speaker 1
It’s, you know, always wear your harness, buckle up and stay connected. And it’s just that important. And that lifeline, like I said, the lifeline itself is just that tool, I think is is been the difference, I’m sure. We also met with Nick Panozzo from the National Deer Alliance when we were there.
00:10:31:08 – 00:10:49:14
Speaker 1
Anything formal to announce with the NDA but we want to be involved with them? Absolutely. You know, their mission is this to really just protect the deer herd, deer hunting, very specific to white tailed deer. Most people listening to this, you know, I know there are some duck hunters and some some turkey hunters, but as everybody knows
00:10:49:14 – 00:11:03:02
Speaker 1
, white tailed deer drive this industry. Sure. So we’ve got to protect that resource. I think one of the things that one of their tenants or one of their their main topics is hunter access that they want to address.
00:11:03:11 – 00:11:14:07
Speaker 1
And that’s where we come in. That’s where I think we can lend a real hand. We can save the deer. But if the deer don’t have a place to live, or if they don’t have the habitat to thrive, then we’re wasting our time.
00:11:14:12 – 00:11:23:00
Speaker 2
Yeah. And you were telling me about some of the conversations you were having with him over the. Weekend and I’d love to get them on the podcast and get their message out here. And I’m sure I’m sure we will soon enough.
00:11:23:00 – 00:11:24:11
Speaker 1
So yeah, he’s real open to that.
00:11:24:11 – 00:11:26:24
Speaker 2
Like you said, nothing formal to announce but yeah, we’re working on.
00:11:26:24 – 00:11:42:00
Speaker 1
Some it’s trade show season so you know he’s had all the trade shows and so his his schedule’s real busy but we will have him on soon enough. We’re going to the Columbus, Ohio trade show. If he is there, we’ll see if maybe we can’t take this remote and do a podcast, take.
00:11:42:00 – 00:11:43:01
Speaker 2
The show on the road. Yeah.
00:11:43:09 – 00:11:55:14
Speaker 1
So then the Huddleston partnership that you talked about here a second ago that actually came from a TSA meeting, you know, yeah. The president of the TSA was happened to be actually eating in the airport, sitting next to a guy.
00:11:55:14 – 00:12:07:00
Speaker 1
And they kind of it’s obvious, you know, if you’re a hunter or if you’re in the industry, probably wearing some sort of logo shirt and they just struck up a conversation. And then that led to yeah, one of the guys on the board is with the American Hunting Lease Association.
00:12:07:00 – 00:12:18:27
Speaker 1
Oh, yeah, I’ve seen what they’re doing. You know, I’d love to work with them. And then an email that night actually was a phone call during the Colts game to begin with. And I said, call me back in about 2 hours to busy.
00:12:18:27 – 00:12:32:09
Speaker 1
Yeah. So yeah. Glen called me back and he said, Hey, met a guy in the airport, I’ll send you an email tomorrow, introduce each other. And that’s we’ve taken it from there. And so you know, Hunt stands one of those things I was just looking at my phone and I don’t know if everybody does this or if
00:12:32:09 – 00:12:37:11
Speaker 1
you do this at all. I’ve got a hunting file folder on my phone.
00:12:37:11 – 00:12:38:09
Speaker 2
All you’ve got in there.
00:12:38:09 – 00:12:51:29
Speaker 1
I’ve got nine hunting apps. I, I use the Indiana DNR app and that’s and the deer cast that I started using that this year that’s two of nine the rest of and Hunt Stevens one of them I’ve had hunt stand for probably three.
00:12:51:29 – 00:13:03:21
Speaker 2
Years yeah it’s exciting just kind of the preliminary conversations we’ve had with those guys. They, like I said, they believe in our brand and they obviously have a strong track record, millions of users of their app.
00:13:03:21 – 00:13:04:27
Speaker 1
3 million downloads.
00:13:04:27 – 00:13:05:10
Speaker 2
You know, that’s.
00:13:05:10 – 00:13:05:26
Speaker 1
What I’ve found.
00:13:05:26 – 00:13:13:29
Speaker 2
Out. That’s that’s those are real numbers. And those guys are doing something right. And we’re just so excited that they see what we’re trying to do and they want to they want to be in on it.
00:13:13:29 – 00:13:25:16
Speaker 1
Yeah. And here’s the thing. And, you know, we talk a lot about adding value bring value hunt stand app is free. It’s a free download. And then for free, what you get is, is you get the ability to draw a map of your property.
00:13:25:27 – 00:13:46:22
Speaker 1
You get to drop pens, pencils, camera, deer, stand, scrape, rub, found, shed, all kinds of things. I mean, you can it’s it’s impressive. And then not only with that mapping you get, they integrate the weather. So they have what’s called you know, you can look it’s like I want to have this particular stand.
00:13:46:22 – 00:13:54:01
Speaker 1
And on that stand it will tell you the wind today is out of the northwest and it kind of shows you a scent cone of where your will blow.
00:13:54:01 – 00:13:55:20
Speaker 2
It’s everything you need in and out.
00:13:55:20 – 00:14:09:18
Speaker 1
Is and I’ve downloaded it and then just kind of forgot about it. And then after I talked with with the CEO of Understand, like, I got to revisit that thing. And sure enough, I mean, I’m carrying this around with me all the time and it’s like, why am I not using this purpose to use it more?
00:14:09:29 – 00:14:24:22
Speaker 1
And then this map, the new mapping service they have, we try that before too. In the past year where we had we had found a company that was making maps at trade shows. Nice couple, super nice couple, working really hard.
00:14:24:22 – 00:14:31:09
Speaker 2
They were just thrown into the back of the truck, though, and traveling around the trade shows and try to sell them on the spot. We thought it was a great and we loved the idea when we saw it.
00:14:31:10 – 00:14:32:10
Speaker 2
What was it three years ago?
00:14:32:10 – 00:14:41:13
Speaker 1
Yeah, we shot our own little commercial. Yeah. Because again, when, when we’re, when I’m trying to show you on my phone where I saw, you know, I shot even the last blood is right here. And you’re like.
00:14:41:13 – 00:14:42:14
Speaker 2
We got to zoom in.
00:14:42:14 – 00:14:46:08
Speaker 1
And zoom in. It’s so, yeah, we end up buying all those maps, put it on the front of our truck.
00:14:46:08 – 00:14:46:22
Speaker 2
Loved it.
00:14:46:24 – 00:14:57:02
Speaker 1
It’s fantastic. So now Hudson offers that service. And like you said earlier, it’s it’s just a piece of cake to put your property on it. And you can zoom in and you can have conversation.
00:14:57:10 – 00:15:09:07
Speaker 2
Yeah it hunt stand standout com you’ll be able to see all their all of their map materials you can get vinyl you get paper you know I think the the printed out on the vinyl it’s like tear resistant it’s spill proof.
00:15:09:07 – 00:15:12:28
Speaker 2
So I mean, you can really be in any weather condition to pull that thing off the truck and you’re good to go. I never.
00:15:12:28 – 00:15:31:19
Speaker 1
Spill anything. Yeah. The coolest thing I saw an when we went for this is this is something, again, in my feeble mind, I didn’t I never made the connection between those two things. Sig Sauer has what they call BD exits, ballistics data exchange.
00:15:31:28 – 00:15:58:04
Speaker 1
Okay. Okay. So basically they have a rangefinder and a rifle scope that talk with Bluetooth, communicate through Bluetooth so I can put a rangefinder on a an animal 400 yards away. Okay. You said it. Now you pick up your rifle, which is zeroed in at 200 yards, let’s say, and then it the dot actually goes down to
00:15:58:04 – 00:15:58:17
Speaker 1
where you need.
00:15:58:17 – 00:15:59:12
Speaker 2
To adjust accordingly.
00:15:59:12 – 00:16:03:26
Speaker 1
Adjust accordingly, and right where your that animal was. And you’re right on it. Now, that’s.
00:16:04:01 – 00:16:05:14
Speaker 2
That’s pretty that’s pretty slick.
00:16:05:24 – 00:16:06:11
Speaker 1
That’s next.
00:16:06:11 – 00:16:07:21
Speaker 2
Level. It is next level.
00:16:08:02 – 00:16:11:26
Speaker 1
What do you think that would cost? Well, that’s set up. Just take a wild guess.
00:16:13:03 – 00:16:14:07
Speaker 2
Two, 299.
00:16:14:16 – 00:16:26:16
Speaker 1
299. Yeah, I was 599. Really? And I thought that was extremely affordable. I thought for sure it’s going to be a grand at a minimum, but, man, that’s pretty sharp. That’s that’s just. That’s cool stuff.
00:16:26:17 – 00:16:35:09
Speaker 2
Yeah. Baby’s pulled it up here on our on our computer. We’re taking a look at it now. That that is pretty neat. Do you feel like that makes. Does that take because you like to, Bohun? You prefer both?
00:16:35:10 – 00:16:35:23
Speaker 1
I do.
00:16:35:23 – 00:16:51:23
Speaker 2
And we’ve had conversations in the past where I’ve asked you specifically if you could kill a wall hanger, a trophy deer, would it mean less to you if you did it with a gun and. Short answer, you said yes, you were discrediting a gun, right.
00:16:51:23 – 00:16:59:05
Speaker 2
Or anything like that. Just your own personal preferences. You get more satisfaction out of the effort. It takes you to bow out and kill a deer hunter.
00:16:59:17 – 00:17:11:01
Speaker 1
That’s just my but but again mean I’m not gonna throw shade at anybody who wants to shoot a deer at 400 yards. I’ve not done a lot of that, but very little of that out west in particular. Yeah.
00:17:12:28 – 00:17:26:11
Speaker 1
I’ve been I mean, I think it’s kind of funny when I watch the TV shows and these two guys are whispering behind a rock and they’re in camo and they’re it’s 750 yards from me. Like, dude, you could tell you could watch TV right there.
00:17:26:11 – 00:17:38:16
Speaker 1
And the guy, the animal doesn’t know you’re there. I don’t think I don’t believe that. Not at that distance. But yeah, by and large, I’m going to use a bow. Do I think that makes it less of an accomplishment?
00:17:40:05 – 00:17:51:29
Speaker 1
No, I just don’t say that. I don’t say that. I say I don’t have the experience to do that. You know, if if you climbed a literal mountain to get to there to the top and then you use that, no, that’s not less of an accomplishment.
00:17:51:29 – 00:18:03:15
Speaker 1
And I’m a journey guy. I’m all about the journey. That technology is pretty cool, that technology stuff, man. I like it. I like it a lot. Yeah, that was the that was just it stood out. I saw some of the things that I wasn’t as excited about.
00:18:03:25 – 00:18:05:25
Speaker 1
Some sunglasses that help you track blood.
00:18:06:02 – 00:18:08:28
Speaker 2
I saw those. Those actually got pretty good reviews for what I did.
00:18:09:03 – 00:18:09:13
Speaker 1
Yeah.
00:18:09:22 – 00:18:14:21
Speaker 2
Apparently, colorblind guys can track blood with those. I don’t know how that technology works.
00:18:14:21 – 00:18:17:26
Speaker 1
Even stopped to look at them. I just. I saw them. I just kind of saw.
00:18:17:26 – 00:18:21:12
Speaker 2
Was that okay? So I don’t want to say the worst, but what was the worst thing you saw that day?
00:18:22:11 – 00:18:44:12
Speaker 1
The worst thing I saw data is probably the new style. The new hunting style. Okay. It would seem it would appear now a few years ago, the hunting style was bedazzled jeans for men, cowboy boots and American fighter slash affliction shirts.
00:18:44:12 – 00:18:57:09
Speaker 1
Yeah, they were everywhere. Yeah. Now it would appear they it is long beards, sleeves, tattooed sleeves and shirts that are at least a size too small. Yeah.
00:18:57:09 – 00:18:59:19
Speaker 2
And yeah. Okay. So did.
00:19:00:29 – 00:19:07:13
Speaker 1
You not. Yes. Might. Listen, let me hold on where we can get into it. I’m pro tattoo, pro fitness and I am pro because.
00:19:07:15 – 00:19:20:12
Speaker 2
I was going to say you and I are, but you and I are both about four or 5 hours of work away from having full sleeves ourselves right now. I can’t say if I was in better shape that I wouldn’t, you know, show it off a little bit and wear a shirt that was maybe a size too
00:19:20:12 – 00:19:22:16
Speaker 2
small. Would you disagree with that?
00:19:22:27 – 00:19:24:06
Speaker 1
Would I do it? Yeah. No.
00:19:24:07 – 00:19:25:25
Speaker 2
You don’t think so? No, I think you would.
00:19:25:27 – 00:19:29:23
Speaker 1
Absolutely not. You don’t need to. They get it. They see it.
00:19:30:16 – 00:19:40:03
Speaker 2
Do you think so? Do you think that’s as as a hunting industry? Do you do you think guys dress like that because that’s just naturally their style? Or do you think there’s they they want to give off some appeal?
00:19:40:08 – 00:19:50:02
Speaker 1
I boy, I don’t I can’t tell you what’s in everybody’s mind. I’m just saying, as I walked around the show, I noticed a lot more of that guy, you know, in person.
00:19:50:02 – 00:20:02:15
Speaker 2
You know what’s funny about that, too, is when we go to other, you know, hunting events or things like that, not necessarily trade show stuff, that’s not really the style we see. So I don’t know if that style’s indicative of of who we are as a group of hunters.
00:20:03:05 – 00:20:04:11
Speaker 2
Well, it might be, but.
00:20:04:11 – 00:20:18:02
Speaker 1
I don’t either. I know it. I mean, and I watch people. I it’s just kind of one of my things. I just I like to watch people. And I noticed those particular guys typically with their either, you know, they’re carrying a gallon of water or a shaker bottle or whatever.
00:20:19:12 – 00:20:38:20
Speaker 1
They’re often times by themselves, which tells me, in fact, there was one company, small company that didn’t recognize the name, don’t even remember the name. But as I walked by, glance over and there’s five of these, these guys, and they’re all sitting in director’s chairs and they’re all on their phones, probably Instagram.
00:20:39:12 – 00:20:46:08
Speaker 1
And I’m like, There’s nobody in your booth. Nobody wants to approach you. Is that an approachable look?
00:20:46:08 – 00:20:55:12
Speaker 2
You don’t yeah. You don’t want to judge a book by its cover, but but at the same time, you know, you want to feel welcomed walking into someone’s shoes at a trade show and they’re for networking.
00:20:55:12 – 00:21:07:27
Speaker 1
Yeah. For doing business. Yeah. And, and again, I’m not casting so I didn’t at the you know that I’m saying all those guys don’t know. Not at all. Sure. Some of them are much better business people than than I am than we are.
00:21:08:19 – 00:21:21:18
Speaker 1
But I just it just seems to me to stand out and I’m like, I caught it, you know, caught on myself kind of chuckling a couple of times. Like, My gosh, I mean, I guess I just don’t know where it came from.
00:21:21:19 – 00:21:26:11
Speaker 1
Yeah, I don’t know. Maybe it’s just a masculine thing. I don’t know. You’re an image guy, so, I.
00:21:26:12 – 00:21:27:03
Speaker 2
Mean, maybe.
00:21:27:03 – 00:21:29:18
Speaker 1
There is a there maybe. Is there some weak.
00:21:29:27 – 00:21:42:01
Speaker 2
Yeah, I don’t know. We come it’s it’s funny because you now I’m not going to sit here and play with you or see, but as an me fan either. Yeah, they don’t they don’t need it as an MMO fan.
00:21:42:01 – 00:21:58:20
Speaker 2
It’s fun to see UFC taking a bigger stage on ESPN, but we’re not that far removed from like the Spike TV days and the Tap Out and affliction shirts, right? And just the completely cringeworthy style that whatever that whatever that was, we’re not that far removed from it.
00:21:58:20 – 00:22:08:09
Speaker 2
So, you know, when you’re walking around trade show, you’re kind of seeing, you know, some guys exhibit the same sense of style that 15 years ago might have been cool. I just go, Yeah.
00:22:08:09 – 00:22:22:02
Speaker 1
And I just feel like hunting lends itself to masculinity to. To that. It’s the same kind of, I don’t know, demographic. Maybe it just lends itself well, you know, I mentioned Instagram and most of these guys are on Instagram.
00:22:22:08 – 00:22:30:23
Speaker 1
Here’s what my question is for you is Instagram, social media in particular. But but but Instagram specifically is is it doing this any favors? Is it good for hunting or is it bad for hunting?
00:22:31:21 – 00:22:48:05
Speaker 2
I’m always going to side with the more exposure that our industry, our sport, our passion can get. I don’t it there are going to be negatives to it. But overall, by and large, I think it’s always going to be a positive thing just because it’s going to have the opportunity to introduce more people.
00:22:48:14 – 00:23:08:06
Speaker 2
That being said, social media isn’t obviously is in the most healthy place for anything. Right. You know. You know Jake we had Jake deal in here from JT calls and and he basically built his business on Instagram and he’s an example of a guy if you do it the right way, if you believe in your brand, you
00:23:08:06 – 00:23:28:13
Speaker 2
stand behind it and you’re doing things for the right reasons. You can build businesses with social media. Some guys just want likes. Some guys just want to be noticed. And there’s no substance there. You know, Joe Rogan talked about I forgot who he was talking with, but they were talking about basically Instagram models is how much the
00:23:28:13 – 00:23:43:12
Speaker 2
women who hunt. Huntress, is that the word Huntress? Is that it? Yeah. Okay. That’s the word. And he basically said, how many of these women actually live this lifestyle and how many are putting on a front, putting on the clothes, holding the bow, just just for likes.
00:23:43:18 – 00:23:55:09
Speaker 2
So I think there’s a line there that you got to try to, you know, what’s real, what’s not. I don’t know if you can ever find it, but by large, I don’t think social media is a bad thing for growing an industry.
00:23:56:05 – 00:24:04:16
Speaker 1
I guess my concern is that the image is everything is a mentality that doesn’t necessarily push us forward.
00:24:04:24 – 00:24:22:05
Speaker 2
Image is everything, though, and it’s but it’s always been everything in the sense of marketing that’s, you know. Image is everything. That’s why marketing firm exists. That’s why PR firms exist. It’s always been everything. The perception is you want to be successful, you want to be happy, you want to you want to be able to build a
00:24:22:05 – 00:24:23:18
Speaker 2
brand that can sell a product.
00:24:23:21 – 00:24:34:23
Speaker 1
What makes you successful or happy that’s different? I think that’s yeah, that’s different. I think perception and image is everything. By the way, that was coined by a brilliant man in the nineties, Andre Agassi.
00:24:36:00 – 00:24:38:21
Speaker 2
You got to get off this tennis thing, man. I can’t do it anymore.
00:24:38:22 – 00:24:54:07
Speaker 1
I just don’t think I don’t think it’s a good thing when if you were to kill a big buck. No, no. An average buck by by most standards, an average buck. CALLER one 2125 And you look at that, you’re like, oh, I can’t put that on Instagram because it’s not big enough.
00:24:54:24 – 00:25:11:08
Speaker 1
That is a shame. And that is a that is not the right direction for the sport to go because that doesn’t entice more people into it. Look, that’s shaming people, whether it’s intentional or not to not you know, I got to kill a big buck, you know, at least at least property this year.
00:25:11:12 – 00:25:13:26
Speaker 1
I have to kill Monster. I have to. Yeah. No, you don’t.
00:25:14:05 – 00:25:16:10
Speaker 2
You don’t say no. You know what I killed this year?
00:25:17:12 – 00:25:17:28
Speaker 1
Bupkis.
00:25:18:04 – 00:25:35:01
Speaker 2
Nothing, right? I got nothing. But going back to the social media discussion, I just think fundamentally, people have to understand that if you don’t, this is what I love about social media. I get to modify and change my input as I see fit.
00:25:35:17 – 00:25:50:04
Speaker 2
If I don’t want to see this this person’s timeline, I don’t follow them. If I don’t what I’m talking to me, I block them. If I don’t like what he has to say, I don’t follow him. But people, for whatever reason, feel like they need to follow certain brands or follow certain people that they may not agree
00:25:50:04 – 00:26:00:06
Speaker 2
with or they may, you know, just flat out hate. And then they get all worked up when they see someone killing a bigger audience. Like, what do you what are you doing? What are you trying to accomplish here?
00:26:00:18 – 00:26:17:27
Speaker 2
You should be able to tailor your social media experience to be the most enjoyable thing possible, because if you’re doing it for any other reason, frankly, you’re just wasting time. So this whole you know, I can’t post this online because I didn’t kill a big buck or, you know, I have reservations about posting this picture.
00:26:17:27 – 00:26:20:27
Speaker 2
I just that doesn’t register with me. I don’t get it.
00:26:21:16 – 00:26:37:11
Speaker 1
A deal here. That’s a great this is a great point. And I think this is one of the problems and I can’t tell you who, but I had two friends recently arguing about whose Dau was bigger than Del Mundo.
00:26:38:00 – 00:26:45:24
Speaker 1
They reminded me Allen Iverson Iverson’s like a dog, man. We’re talking about. We’re talking about. No, not a bug. No, not about a doe. We’re talking about a doe.
00:26:45:24 – 00:26:46:15
Speaker 2
That’s crazy.
00:26:46:16 – 00:26:48:01
Speaker 1
It’s. It’s ridiculous.
00:26:48:01 – 00:26:54:14
Speaker 2
What’s. What’s the end game there? Who? What? What do you think? They were here? Yeah, but what do you do? What do you win?
00:26:54:21 – 00:27:09:12
Speaker 1
Nothing. Nothing. You killed a dog. Congratulations, first of all. You know, it. It tastes great. It was an adventure. It was hard work. I’m sure all that goes into it. Congratulations. Who cares who’s bigger? It doesn’t matter. And it goes the same for Bucks, too.
00:27:09:24 – 00:27:21:26
Speaker 1
It just doesn’t matter. You should be proud of it. And I just think sometimes the social media accounts that are out there maybe put the bar. The bar a little too high. Your job? Sure. If you’re an influencer, your job is to kill.
00:27:22:03 – 00:27:37:25
Speaker 1
You know, elk out west. Yeah. And then, you know, I got to I don’t have to, but I see pictures of you running and lifting and shirtless and tatted up and. Wow. I mean, some 25 year old kid in the Midwest just wanted to go deer hunting like I.
00:27:37:26 – 00:27:40:21
Speaker 1
Look, I wasn’t going to do that. Is that who I have to be?
00:27:40:22 – 00:27:57:00
Speaker 2
They’re not they’re not the same, you know, they’re not the same person. There are some people who who love being in the social media spotlight. It gives them a sense of self-worth that, you know, sometimes they need and sometimes they just I’m sure sometimes people just kind of hit this viral fame and they feel like they need
00:27:57:00 – 00:28:10:20
Speaker 2
to keep up with whatever that persona is. And then it kind of snowballs from there. But, you know, again, I don’t think social media, by and large, is a negative thing for industry, because ultimately social media is still in its infancy stages.
00:28:10:21 – 00:28:30:24
Speaker 2
We as a society, we don’t have this thing figured out yet. We don’t know. You know, it’s if you think about media over the course of history, social media is such a small part and it’s blown up so fast, has become such a significant part of, you know, having discussions even outside of the hunting industry, just people
00:28:30:24 – 00:28:41:11
Speaker 2
with different political ideologies or religious ideologies or whatever. The cases and our industry just kind of falls into that because, you know, you have to be on social media to grow your brand. You have to be.
00:28:41:11 – 00:28:54:29
Speaker 1
You do. I agree. And, you know, you and I both know somebody very close to me who is on Instagram. Yeah. Has over 50,000 followers. She is very clear to me, though, that dad. And now.
00:28:55:10 – 00:28:56:05
Speaker 2
There you go. Yeah.
00:28:56:23 – 00:29:11:20
Speaker 1
Instagram is just a tool. It’s a tool. I used to drive traffic to my website, to my blog for, you know, for other reasons. Yeah. And I’m always on her about her Instagram and I shouldn’t be. And I mean, I’m literally is it just as I prepare for doing this today, I’m like, yeah, what am I thinking
00:29:11:20 – 00:29:23:18
Speaker 1
? Well, you’re a she. It’s a tool. And that’s how we use it. That’s how we need to use it. Yeah. And going forward, that’s what we’ll do is we’ll just those are just tools to drive you to the value of our services.
00:29:23:18 – 00:29:39:08
Speaker 2
Exactly. And you mentioned that you were on or about and I think it’s mostly you just want her to post more consistently and things like that. And I think you do that because you see an opportunity for her to be able to grow her brand and and have a successful living using Instagram as a tool.
00:29:39:08 – 00:29:51:23
Speaker 2
And it’s no different from from us and in our business, you know, we have a team of marketing guys in the office here and we try to leverage those social media as much as possible to grow our brand, get our message out there.
00:29:52:02 – 00:30:04:02
Speaker 2
And, you know, are we the best at it? No. Ah, I think we’re doing pretty good though. I mean, just based on your feedback from the show and the conversations you had, we’re doing something right. We can always do it better.
00:30:04:11 – 00:30:24:21
Speaker 2
But I just if you can tune out the negative stuff in social media and and not I know that’s cliche but not really care what people think about whatever deer you kill or whatever whatever it is and you can really just use this thing as a platform to grow whatever your ambition is, if it’s your business, if
00:30:24:21 – 00:30:38:08
Speaker 2
it’s your personal brand, whatever it is, if you can just take that approach and which we do because we do get some negative comments and I’m sure we do. That’s why I let Bobby deal with us, because he has a longer Fuze than I do.
00:30:38:12 – 00:30:52:04
Speaker 1
A little more even tempered. Yeah, I would just challenge people in the industry and I’m talking to influencers who are whether you want to be or not, you’re. You’re pushing the ball forward. You’re moving the needle for the industry, not just yourself.
00:30:52:05 – 00:31:02:18
Speaker 1
Right. I would just challenge you to tell a story, tell a sincere story with your Instagram account or your social media platforms. Take a look at your Instagram. How many of the pictures on a ratio are of you?
00:31:03:10 – 00:31:18:07
Speaker 1
How many how many times are you taking a selfie of yourself? Yeah, that doesn’t to me, that’s just self-serving, self-indulgent crap. And to be fair, I looked at my Instagram this morning. First of all, I have 32 posts over three years, so I’m not abusing it.
00:31:18:07 – 00:31:29:00
Speaker 1
Yeah, as I say, I had one of one picture where I thought That’s crap was the very first one, the very first one I ever posted. I’m like, Boy, if I could delete that, by the way.
00:31:29:12 – 00:31:31:13
Speaker 2
You can archive it or delete it if you like it.
00:31:31:19 – 00:31:40:03
Speaker 1
I probably leave it up just for that sake. But you know the rest of it. I’m just trying to tell a story. I mean, that’s that’s all I think that’s what people are interested in is what’s happening. Not so much.
00:31:40:14 – 00:31:41:16
Speaker 1
How do you look today?
00:31:41:16 – 00:31:42:16
Speaker 2
Yeah, not who’s happy.
00:31:42:17 – 00:31:43:07
Speaker 1
It’s just me, though.
00:31:43:16 – 00:31:59:18
Speaker 2
You know, I think it all comes back to conversations we’ve had before about trying to grow the number of of hunters across the country. And you had talked about the. The vibe that some of those guys gave off, it just didn’t seem very inviting.
00:32:00:03 – 00:32:14:26
Speaker 2
So to that end, if that’s if that’s the perception and perception is reality, how likely is it that someone with no hunting experience that maybe has an interest is willing to approach you and ask because they maybe they feel like they’re not going to get the response that they want.
00:32:14:26 – 00:32:30:06
Speaker 2
They’re going to get shut down and they don’t want to have to deal with that. So they just they just don’t. And there’s an opportunity that we’ve lost as hunters, as an industry, to bring someone else in and then show them this thing that we love and include them on our passion and allow them to pursue it
00:32:30:06 – 00:32:40:16
Speaker 2
on their own. So I think it’s kind of a cyclical. I mean, everything kind of ties into we go together in that in that way, but just kind of be aware of what you’re putting out there.
00:32:40:24 – 00:32:57:01
Speaker 1
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, can you think of an industry other than the hunting industry, any other industry that comes under a coordinated, well-funded attack more than the hunting industry? And then within our own industry, we’re fractured. Yeah.
00:32:57:01 – 00:32:58:00
Speaker 2
We go after each other.
00:32:58:01 – 00:33:16:28
Speaker 1
It’s ridic, it’s crazy. And, you know, that’s that’s where our weakness lies. And until we can unite, it’s not going to get fixed. Yeah. And, you know, fair competition within an industry is one thing. Sure. But when you’re shaming other people for a buck rodeo that they killed or, you know, you’re just not inviting and you’re not
00:33:16:28 – 00:33:24:13
Speaker 1
willing to share what, you know, sincerely, it’s it’s not good for us. And the other side, you know, they’re going to they’ll win.
00:33:24:19 – 00:33:35:25
Speaker 2
You know, there’s a lot of. There are several groups on Facebook, hunting groups that I’m a part of. And I’m I’m more of a an onlooker. More than anything, I don’t really participate.
00:33:35:25 – 00:33:38:04
Speaker 1
It was not the same thing as a creeper or a troll.
00:33:38:13 – 00:33:53:28
Speaker 2
Uh, yeah. I lurk a little bit. I’m not ashamed to say that. Um, but what I do, I do notice that and I believe this, especially in specific groups there an overwhelming majority of the responses guys get when they post a picture or smile back is.
00:33:54:07 – 00:34:10:20
Speaker 2
Is congratulations. Mm hmm. It really is. The problem is, when there’s a nugget, maybe someone just woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I don’t know. But when the when there is a negative comment or two, it’s just like those outshined the literally hundreds of congratulations that they get and they just stick out like a
00:34:10:20 – 00:34:27:23
Speaker 2
sore thumb. And it just kind of ruins the whole it just ruins the whole thing. And I just I’m sitting there going, Oh, what did you gain by taking a shot at this guy who is happy he killed his first or whatever, whatever the cases, you know, or I don’t know.
00:34:27:23 – 00:34:40:08
Speaker 2
It’s just it’s weird how we highlight the negative stuff so much more than the supportive stuff because I, I don’t feel like we’re tearing each other apart. You know, there is some of that and not everybody’s going to get along and I get that.
00:34:40:19 – 00:34:53:00
Speaker 2
But, you know, I don’t think I don’t think we’re that far off from, you know, a united front. You mentioned the money behind like a Peter or whoever, you know, Sean Curran talked about like death by a thousand cuts.
00:34:53:01 – 00:35:07:09
Speaker 2
Right. They’re going to let them do that. We don’t need to be, you know, cutting ourselves and it happens. But I also don’t think it happens as frequently as as sometimes we might think, because I think you get a skewed perspective from from social media at times.
00:35:07:09 – 00:35:19:15
Speaker 1
I just you know, I and we can we’ll leave this alone. But, you know, in this industry, I think for in the sport, I should say, I think you should humanely kill whatever you want. Yeah, it’s up to you.
00:35:19:15 – 00:35:33:05
Speaker 1
I don’t need any group telling me what’s big enough or too big or, you know, if you lost your ground or you did, you invested in this equipment and this time you make yourself happy. Yep. Humanely and within the law in a percent.
00:35:33:27 – 00:35:51:23
Speaker 1
So there’s another situation that’s kind of come up here. Actually, we were just made aware of it by Bobby yesterday, and it’s the the Steven Rinella situation, you know, apparently to touch on it, if you didn’t know and again, I just learned this yesterday, the Meat Eater Inc Meat Eater TV company, you know, it’s not just a
00:35:51:23 – 00:36:08:23
Speaker 1
show, it’s a company was purchased by the Chernin Group or Peter Chernin, who is a an investor in media and entertainment outlets. Yes. He is also a pretty staunch liberal anti-gun supporter. Yeah, an uncontrolled supporter, I should say.
00:36:08:24 – 00:36:11:17
Speaker 2
And immediately, you know what the response is going to be to that and.
00:36:11:17 – 00:36:12:23
Speaker 1
To hell with Meat Eater.
00:36:12:23 – 00:36:15:26
Speaker 2
And the world. Yeah, we weren’t surprised, but how dare you?
00:36:16:11 – 00:36:21:03
Speaker 1
And you know, to Ramallah’s credit and I’m and I’m I’m a fan of his have been for a long time.
00:36:21:03 – 00:36:21:18
Speaker 2
Oh I am too.
00:36:21:26 – 00:36:38:23
Speaker 1
Great author great show the real deal you know no B.S. So in fact, I just got his new book for Christmas. But, you know, the anti-gun folks come out of the woodwork and he pretty much said, hey, listen, first of all, I have control over this.
00:36:38:24 – 00:36:52:22
Speaker 1
I didn’t sell any kind of control. Yeah, there’s five board seats are still controlled, three of them. And I’m going to do what I need to do. And he also assured everybody, his fans, I should say, that his content will not be affected.
00:36:53:08 – 00:37:00:00
Speaker 1
His attorney group has a track record of purchasing outlets like this or companies and staying out of the way. And he’s Fox News.
00:37:00:00 – 00:37:02:10
Speaker 2
Is strictly strict. Yeah, Fox News is a great example.
00:37:02:10 – 00:37:03:17
Speaker 1
Barstool Sports is another one.
00:37:03:17 – 00:37:18:01
Speaker 2
Barstool Sports, absolutely. I mean, it’s they have a track record of being an investment group like any that likes to make money and they see a brand in Steven Rinella branded meat eater where they can invest and, you know, get a return on their investment.
00:37:18:01 – 00:37:33:18
Speaker 2
And I really think that’s the extent of this relationship. I don’t think Chernin has any, you know. These grandiose ideas that he’s going to turn Steven Rinella into a puppet for, you know, left wing antique? You know, I don’t think it I don’t think it goes that deep.
00:37:33:18 – 00:37:42:29
Speaker 2
I’m not I’m not on the conspiracy theory level yet. I just think this guy is is wealthy. He owns an investment firm. And he saw an opportunity to make some money. And that’s what he’s doing.
00:37:43:01 – 00:38:02:08
Speaker 1
Yeah, no, I agree. And again, I’m a I like Rinella, um, and I was encouraged by his, his response and well thought up. Yeah. Yeah. It brings up kind of a good point though, or an interesting topic, and that is the backcountry hunters and anglers, which is an organized group out West for the most part, I shouldn’t
00:38:02:08 – 00:38:18:11
Speaker 1
say Al West because I looked at their they have chapters in my gosh, 35, 40 states and they clearly out out east they are. Advocates of public ground. They want public ground to stay public. They want the government to buy more public ground.
00:38:18:19 – 00:38:38:04
Speaker 1
And they want to take care broadly of the environment, which goes back to the habitat that we just talked about. By and large, the hunting groups are pro-gun and not quite environment friendly all the time. So there is kind of this a little bit of a collision course of, hey, what side are you going to come down
00:38:38:04 – 00:38:47:12
Speaker 1
on the environment, which includes public lands or the hunting industry, which includes the rights, you know, to the Second Amendment. It’s just interesting.
00:38:48:17 – 00:39:05:21
Speaker 2
A conflict naturally is going to be created there. And it kind of hits home for us because we try to advocate for leasing private land and keeping that habitat available for groups of hunters or individuals or whatever the case is on any level available to you anytime you want to access it, if you have permission to access
00:39:05:21 – 00:39:15:07
Speaker 2
that private land. Right. A lot of the a lot of the response we see online is, well, I’m just going to hop public. I’m going to hunt public, which you and I have talked about before. We do. Mm hmm.
00:39:15:10 – 00:39:30:20
Speaker 2
It’s not it’s not our go to. But we absolutely do it. And we think people should have the right to do that. So when you have a group that kind of says, yeah, we’re pro gun. But we’re not 100% on board with the public land thing.
00:39:30:21 – 00:39:41:02
Speaker 2
There’s naturally going to be conflict there. So it just comes down to what, you know, what is more important to you? What do you believe in? And just take a stance on it and be okay with ever with whatever decision you make.
00:39:41:06 – 00:39:53:07
Speaker 1
Right. You know, what Ronell said in his response is like, you know, you’re going to be in this echo chamber if you’re always just talking to your base, which has become a hot topic term now. Yeah. Then you’re just going to tell each other what you just a bunch are going to.
00:39:53:07 – 00:39:54:00
Speaker 2
Help each other up.
00:39:54:04 – 00:40:09:12
Speaker 1
Yeah. You’re not going to meet in the middle. And there does need to be some sort of under, at least at a minimum, an understanding of the other side. You know, and I’ve told people, you know, on gun control, that debate can it can it’ll go on for a long time sort of the rest.
00:40:09:12 – 00:40:09:26
Speaker 2
Of my life.
00:40:10:02 – 00:40:21:27
Speaker 1
Absolutely. But the all or nothing mentality and I just I just for people or anybody, be ready for nothing. I mean, if you draw a line in the sand and you say it’s all or nothing. Yeah, it might be.
00:40:21:29 – 00:40:41:15
Speaker 2
It might be nothing. And you’re not going to like that. I just think I think it’s hard. You mentioned the echo chamber thing. And if you if you have an ideology, if you have a belief and you want that belief to be shared by other people, you’re going to have to convince people at times why your belief
00:40:41:15 – 00:40:53:27
Speaker 2
is right or I don’t want he’s right or wrong, but why you think this is the right the right mindset, the right ideology. Problem is, if you’re in an echo chamber and you don’t understand anything on the other side of that argument.
00:40:53:29 – 00:41:04:06
Speaker 2
Right. You’re never going to be prepared to have a conversation and potentially persuade somebody or show somebody what your truth is. Because you don’t you just don’t know what’s going to be thrown at you from the other side.
00:41:04:14 – 00:41:15:01
Speaker 2
So it’s important just from a from an understanding, basic fundamental understanding perspective. If you want to be involved in a conversation, you kind of know what the other side is. You’ve got to know what they’re going to say.
00:41:15:15 – 00:41:24:26
Speaker 1
Yeah. You know, not only do you have to know, you have to what you said it, you have to understand it. You do have to feel their pain a little bit. Why is it so passionate for you? Yeah.
00:41:25:03 – 00:41:38:08
Speaker 1
To, you know, not want to. All right. Y you know, try and understand that because there is no solution in anything we’re talking about. If I don’t at least understand whether it was your kids, whether it’s the government, whether it’s hunting, it doesn’t matter.
00:41:38:13 – 00:41:45:07
Speaker 1
I have to understand your side, because if you make you understand my side, yeah, it just it’s hand in hand.
00:41:45:14 – 00:41:58:20
Speaker 2
Because all that’s going to happen, if there’s not an understanding and I’m not saying agree with the other side, I’m saying understand it. Know what you’re dealing with. Right. If you don’t at least do that, it’s just going to turn into a shouting match and who can yell louder?
00:41:59:05 – 00:42:03:01
Speaker 2
At that point in time. And then nothing happens. Nothing gets done. And you’re right back where you started.
00:42:03:01 – 00:42:04:29
Speaker 1
And when you can’t, you’re louder. What do you do?
00:42:05:00 – 00:42:07:28
Speaker 2
You start to resort to other things.
00:42:07:29 – 00:42:21:15
Speaker 1
Fake news. Yeah. You know, fake posts, fake all that kind of stuff. You start reading stuff on social media that’s just like that’s, you know, it’d be Covington, the high school boys. Yep. Just happened. And, yeah, it was just it was it was wrong.
00:42:21:22 – 00:42:27:25
Speaker 1
But there are still people who have watched the video. They know it was wrong and they still. Post it, they still it.
00:42:27:25 – 00:42:43:25
Speaker 2
Just if you try to yell louder and it doesn’t work, you just resort to attacks on credibility. And that’s all we’re seeing now. And right. And I think the Rinella tying them back into the Rinella thing. It’s it’s I don’t know if people were looking for specific outrage, maybe, maybe not, but it came to light.
00:42:44:06 – 00:42:54:09
Speaker 2
And, you know, the facts are out there. You can look up the history of the Chernin group. You can look up Steven Rinella is history on a lot of different topics. He’s but he’s been in this for over a decade and he’s been in the public eye.
00:42:54:09 – 00:43:10:18
Speaker 2
And he talks about all these things and, you know, find all of the resources, read everything, listen to his response, and then make up your own mind. Don’t. Just because one group is yell louder, say, well, that sounds better because they’re louder, you know, make up your mind, right?
00:43:10:19 – 00:43:11:10
Speaker 2
That’s all we’re saying.
00:43:12:05 – 00:43:26:08
Speaker 1
So what do we do to make it better? How do we fix it? Well, let’s bring it back to us here before we wrap up. How can we? The American Hunting Lease Association, what can we do? What is our part in uniting the hunting industry?
00:43:28:07 – 00:43:45:21
Speaker 2
You know, we want to be I want us to be perceived in a way to where people are willing to have a conversation with us. I don’t want to be the guy sitting in a booth with my hiding behind my big beard and my hat down and not welcoming to a Joel Mulvaney.
00:43:45:22 – 00:43:53:01
Speaker 2
Yeah, we’re not welcoming to a conversation. So I think that’s the that’s the first step. Okay.
00:43:54:04 – 00:43:54:17
Speaker 1
Agreed.
00:43:55:28 – 00:44:09:00
Speaker 2
You know, beyond that, I don’t know what what else I can do right now. I know as a brand we’re we’re going to do we have all sorts of different things that we try to do day in and day out to try to promote the hunting lease industry.
00:44:09:00 – 00:44:20:07
Speaker 2
And we will continue to do those things, whether it’s this podcast or writing content and making it available for free to new hunters. And, you know, whatever the case is.
00:44:20:11 – 00:44:31:17
Speaker 1
Well, to me and, you know, honestly, I want to include Bobby and Connor here, you know, together with you, this is our marketing team. What we need to do is we need to bring value share to our service.
00:44:31:26 – 00:44:45:04
Speaker 1
We need for people to understand that we are not just here to sell insurance or to provide insurance. Right? We’re not just here to make a buck. Okay? We’re here to bring real, tangible value to your passion of hunting.
00:44:45:04 – 00:44:56:15
Speaker 1
Yep. We want to make it easy for you. We want to make it affordable for you to. To find whatever solution it is you want to. To hunt on private ground, whether that’s a lease, whether it’s just an agreement.
00:44:56:16 – 00:45:07:13
Speaker 1
But you need an agreement with the landowner, but you need a contract whether you do want the terms, whatever, maybe you just need guidance. I’ve probably talked to ten people in the last five days. Yeah. Like, how does this work?
00:45:07:20 – 00:45:19:22
Speaker 1
I’m a landowner, so what should I expect? How much should I charge? And, you know, I just kind of give them my opinion and then I give them resources and here, go, go find, you know, call this person, look on this Web site, and that’ll give you a good idea.
00:45:19:29 – 00:45:21:02
Speaker 1
That’s all we’re trying to do.
00:45:21:05 – 00:45:38:13
Speaker 2
I think at the end of the day, though, also, we offer all these resources that are available to people. Some are free summer, some are paid, you know. But at the end of the day, if someone calls you and they have a conversation with you and they use none of our products, but they’ve taken another step to
00:45:38:14 – 00:45:52:04
Speaker 2
do hunting or fishing or whatever the case has been in this industry, being a consumer in this industry, and help us bolster our numbers and grow this thing, I feel like that’s a win for us as a brand, whether whether they use our products or not.
00:45:52:04 – 00:45:57:03
Speaker 2
We we’ve done we’ve taken a small step. We’ve helped that person take a step in the right direction.
00:45:57:11 – 00:46:10:08
Speaker 1
I agree. I agree. But I think we just need to feel and again, with Connor and Bobby, they’re there new to to hunting. You know, they’ve shown some interest. You only have to be world class hunters to work here.
00:46:11:09 – 00:46:27:02
Speaker 1
But you do need to understand the other side and you do need to feel the impact that we can have on hunters across the country because it’s real. It really is. And when I you know, I left a job that I had an impact on people’s lives, that was what made it special.
00:46:27:12 – 00:46:45:11
Speaker 1
And I wouldn’t do that just for any job. I feel like I did then and now. Even more so, we’re impacting the hunting industry. We can help it grow if we do it right. And that’s just adding value, you know, a friendly voice, a professional service to help guide or counsel or whatever, whatever it is you need
00:46:45:19 – 00:46:52:15
Speaker 1
. We are absolutely here. We want to work with anybody else that wants to work with us. And together we can honestly make a difference. You know.
00:46:52:29 – 00:47:14:13
Speaker 2
In the last two weeks, that’s my biggest takeaway is, you know, you and I have. Countless conversations about where we think we sit in the industry and what we’re responsible for and what we can do. And the the response you got from pretty major players in this industry at 80 kind of made me go, okay, we, we
00:47:14:13 – 00:47:28:04
Speaker 2
legitimately I knew we had something here, but I think it was even stronger than, you know, even maybe I anticipated. And that’s just I mean, there’s a responsibility that comes with that. And and I know everybody in this office welcomes that and we get excited by it.
00:47:28:04 – 00:47:46:09
Speaker 1
So we sure do. I’m going to be at the Great American Show in Harrisburg on Super Bowl Sunday now, because, you know, the two teams left in the Super Bowl I could care less about. So I’ll be there in the third or fourth and then leaving on the fifth, just kind of walking around.
00:47:46:09 – 00:47:59:11
Speaker 1
Have you shoot me an email? Is Sean at the hunting list dot org. You know, tell me you want to meet, you want to talk, let’s we can grab lunch or anything. I’ll be walking around then I’m heading up to Portland to the Northwest Pacific Sportsman Show in Portland, Oregon for a few days.
00:48:00:17 – 00:48:12:03
Speaker 1
I stop by and see a family member over there. See my brother? Cool. Always nice. Then when we come back, we’ve got the indie trade show, The Deer Turkey Expo. We got Columbus, mid-March. We’ll be at all those love to meet you up.
00:48:12:04 – 00:48:20:13
Speaker 1
It’s just to say hello. Stop and talk for a second. Please send us an email. Even if you send it to info at a hunting resort.
00:48:20:21 – 00:48:21:04
Speaker 2
We’ll get it.
00:48:21:10 – 00:48:26:11
Speaker 1
Yeah, it’ll find me. So that’s all I got. Big boys. I am. I’m headed to Florida.
00:48:26:15 – 00:48:37:20
Speaker 2
Yeah, I’ll be at the white tail limit is unlimited banquet here in Indiana this weekend. Sounds all right, Connersville. Correct. So if you’re there, stop by and say hi. I’ll be there with my wife. She’s more charming than I am.
00:48:37:20 – 00:48:52:08
Speaker 2
So, you know, again, I got to plug this at the end of every episode, we’re trying to create this content like Sean’s talked about and build things that are useful to, you know, hunters who are maybe just starting or are looking for information.
00:48:52:08 – 00:49:12:05
Speaker 2
So all of our social media has has resources available. Facebook slash, American Hunting Lease Association, Twitter and Instagram at HLA underscore org and then on YouTube slash American Hunting lease, find everything there. If you have any questions like Sean said, email us and we’re happy to have a conversation.
00:49:12:08 – 00:49:14:27
Speaker 1
I got one more thing. Yep. Almost forgot the photo contest.
00:49:14:27 – 00:49:15:15
Speaker 2
Yeah, we’ll wrap up.
00:49:15:22 – 00:49:26:03
Speaker 1
Yeah, we’re a couple of weeks from from starting that again and we had a conversation about images, everything. And then I tell you, we have a photo contest, but we address that this is not about big deer. It’s not about shame.
00:49:26:03 – 00:49:38:18
Speaker 1
Anything. Man, we wanna see your pictures of you and your family and your buddies. Whatever you’ve got that just makes a good photograph and maybe tells a great story about how you hunted this year. We would love to see it.
00:49:38:18 – 00:49:48:27
Speaker 1
So we got four divisions white tailed deer critters, feathers and kids. Run it like March Madness. We’re gonna put all the pictures, we get in it, and we’ll let the people decide. So perfect. Yeah, we’ll do it. Right.
00:49:49:13 – 00:49:52:10
Speaker 1
All right, man. That’s all I got, as we said. So you.
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