Restless Native

“How you carry yourself, how you interact with anti-hunters, how you present your harvested animals, how you follow the law even when no one is looking—it all matters. We are stewards of this lifestyle just like we are with our public lands. The debate is not about hunter versus anti-hunter. When you don’t carry the flame with honor and respect, you lose the people on the fence.”— Brad Luttrell, Hunter's Horn article Today, I’m going to tell you a story.  There is no guest. It’s just me, and a tale of how I got to be sitting at this mic today. Last year, I wrote an article for Houston Safari Club Foundation’s publication, Hunter’s Horn, about how we can flip social media from anti-hunter to hunter recruitment. I talked about the founding of GoWild, but even deeper than that, I talked about my story as a hunter.I’m in the process of submitting another story to Hunter’s Horn, and have been thinking about this one and the statement it makes. With permission of Houston Safari Club Foundation, I’m going to re

“I immersed my life in it. I took jobs that didn’t pay as much. But I was flexible. Being flexible and being willing to take a jump (got me to Vortex).”— Mark Boardman on his path to Vortex All websites have an "About Us," right? Not this one. Here is what I found in the Vortex Optics “About YOU” section. "Normally this is the section where it’s “About Us”. But at Vortex, it’s All About You.Rather than go on about “Us” and how long we’ve been in business and how great we are, we focus on you, what you need, what you want, what’s important to you—because that’s what makes us tick."It goes on to say it’s people, products and promises. I think that’s cool. You’re going to see that same passion come through when Mark Boardman talks about how the company operates, how it serves its customers and how it makes some of the best optics on the market. Many of you will know Mark Boardman, maybe not by name, but as the guy who went Sitka hunting with Rinella on MeatEater. I think he’s been on the podc

“We wouldn’t have as many anti-hunters if we approached that reason ‘why’ better. We’re so good at explaining why we do it to one another, but we’ve failed at explaining it to someone who hasn’t experienced it or is an anti-hunter.”— Sarah BruneNo matter what you do, working with good people matters. Today's guest is just that. Sarah is one of my favorite people I've met in the hunting industry. She's the Director of Marketing with ALPS Mountaineering and ALPS OutdoorZ. You all have likely seen the promotions GoWild has done with ALPS. That's because I love working with Sarah. What I've learned, and not only in this industry but all industries, is that there is no silver bullet in marketing or business. There will always be bigger accounts to be won, but it's the people you partner and work with who make it special. Enjoy this show with Sarah. It's real conversation, with barely any guidance. This is what it's all about. ALPS Mountaineering ALPS OutdoorZBrad's Bag,

“That blood goes right back into the soil that nourished them. It’s a really profound moment for us. It’s sad, but it’s incredibly beautiful, too. The amount of gratitude that we have for that animal, and being there as it’s dying, it’s a beautiful thing. But it’s not an easy thing. We live in a culture of ease. Our emotions should not dictate our actions.”— Tara CoutureTara Couture farms her own food, utilizes the entirety of the animal, lives as green as possible, and she cares about this planet. If you’ve listened to any amount of Restless Natives, you know that could not be more up my alley.Tara’s blowing up right now on social media. She’s fighting the good fight, discussing her lifestyle and her diet, which is certainly not mainstream. She gets challenged and she pushes back. It’s great to see her stand up for what she believes. I do have a fear for Tara, though. As she continues into this journey as an unintended social media influencer, the battles she’s fighting today may be won, but the war won’t st

“My wife had my daughter and 7 days later I went on tour for 56 days before coming home. We were gone a lot. Yeah, it’s tough. But my wife’s awesome and we dealt with it. It’s my livelihood and it’s what I’ve always wanted to do. I signed up for this. Everything comes to an end."— Jimmy HermanToday, we have a fur trapper and hunter who’s performed at the Grammys, on Jay Leno and Good Morning America, and stood alongside Steven Tyler, Keith Urban, Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood. And again, he knows how to run a trap line. That’s pretty cool. We’re chatting with Jimmy Herman, a fiddle player who’s seen tons of success over the last decade. He toured with Carrie Underwood for years, and was beyond the guy in the background. He was very much a star in the show.Jimmy probably looks more like what you’d envision your typical fiddler to look like versus a standard trapper. In fact, in the show I’ll share my story about the first time I saw him and thought, “Who’s the guy with the long hair, lip ring and bell

"I made the Olympic trials and finals, but you pick a bad day to have a bad day, and you're like, 'crap, I just wasted four years.'"— Bert SorinIn 1980, a school teacher named Richard Sorin spent his days teaching, and in the evenings he’d drive his 1974 Land Cruiser across town to load the roof with steel, all so he could bring it home and hack away at it in his garage.And that’s what it takes. Richard was building the foundation of a company, Sorin Exercise Equipment. For many, this is what success looks like. It’s not overnight. It’s not even over a year. It’s trial and error. It’s failure, real tears, heartache, sacrifice, and burning the midnight oil. Today’s guest knows that well. It’s Richard Sorin’s son, who went on to run Richard’s company Sorinex. That’s Sorin Exercise Equipment for those of you who aren’t properly caffeinated yet. Bert is a bit of a freak. He’s a total beast in the gym, an extreme adventurer and hunter in the woods, and he’s a great business mind. He and I

"As we see the traditional storytellers retire, it's about bringing up the next generation. We have a lot of young people, but I don't want to lose the baby boomer's knowledge. Some of these people have been doing this for 35 yers and they've made the mistakes we don't want to make ourselves."— Kevin OrthmanI met Kevin Orthman just a few days before GoWild launched. And he's been one of our best supporters ever since. I joined POMA for the connections, thinking it could help us pickup some good advertisers as we grow. What I got was so much more. I've made friends, found teammates, met thought leaders, and founded many businesses relationships. The Professional Outdoor Media Association is the best program we work with. I can’t wait for the convention this summer and highly recommend you check it out. If you like this show and are interested in POMA, remember, memberships are cheap. And as I point out in the show. Nobody is paying me to say this. In fact I pay POMA

"We're so high up, the people look like ants. A solo climber started to fall. You could tell he was unconscious. As he was falling he was taking out other climbers. The guide was a first responder and he had to go. He said, 'if anyone wants to leave, you have to come now.' I didn't want to be the person who made us come down before the summit..." – Jenn CallahanThe Ironman race is known as the ultimate feet among distance athletes. People have died trying this race. Seriously.Today’s guest is among those few people to even dare this feat. The triathlon consists of a 2.4-mile swim in open water, a 112-mile bike ride and a marathon, which is 26.2 miles. There are no breaks. It is widely considered the most difficult single-day sporting event in the world. Today’s guest is one of the few people I know who have attempted at Ironman. We’ll hear about that story today, but I want you to know the sacrifice that it takes to even train for these things. Anytime I’ve ever talked to someone

“It’s a meaningful process. It’s so rewarding to go out and see people who want to harvest their own food, have a low carbon footprint and know where that food comes from."- Becky Humphries, CEO National Wild Turkey FederationBecky Humphries has four decades of experience in wildlife management and conservation. Who is Becky? She’s the Chief Executive Officer of the National Wild Turkey Federation. She’s been a critical leader in NWTF's Save the Habitat. Save the Hunt. initiative. And she’s a tremendous advocate for R3, that’s the recruitment, retention and reactivation of hunters.  Becky has also worked with Ducks Unlimited where she focused on conservation delivery, policy and science. She served the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment for 32 years, including seven years as department director. As many of you know, GoWild recently partnered with the National Wild Turkey Federation. We're kicking this effort off with a turkey hunting sweepstakes, open to any NWTF members.

"I came up with this idea—I want to do a podcast to help people find adventure through hunting in places from East to West. But I was afraid to do it." — Beau MartonikI get a lot of questions about how to start a podcast. Today, we have answers. This show is a podcast with a guy who started a podcast. Over the last few weeks, we’ve heard from some pretty large brands like Garmin and First Lite. We heard about those stories years down the road from when that first person, the founder, took that leap of faith to say “I want to do this.” All great companies at some point had someone who said I believe.Today we’re going to her from someone who is in that pivotal moment of trying to figure out when to jump. We’ll get to hear about what it takes to build a brand. And just how do you start that outdoors industry podcast.Beau’s story on Journal of Mountain HuntingBeau's WebsiteRestless Native is sponsored by GoWild. GoWild is the fastest growing social media and activity tracking platform for outdoors

"There is not a single person on our team who has an ego. We seek out opinions from so many people. We want feedback from the community. We want people to have a voice. I know I'm not an expert. We seek out the people in their respective fields—cooking, deer hunting, or whatever because we want to do it right. We want to do it, from a technology perspective, to do it 10 times better than anyone's ever done it before."— Zack GrimesI’ve known Zack Grimes for a long time. And we’ve been through a lot together. I mean heck, about six years ago, Zack got me fired. Just kidding, Zack. OK, well not really, I did get fired, and Zack was involved, but the company’s paranoia and ignorance isn’t Zack’s fault. We’ll get into this story a little bit.But he and I started off just a couple of young guys trying to make their way into advertising. When I first met him, I thought he had it all figured out. He’s incredibly bright. I mean, he’s seriously one of the smartest people I know. We had a lot of fun

"There are all of these intangibles that accumulate around this experience of hunting, fishing or being outside. If you apply a number to whatever it is that you harvested, then that's the only thing you think about. Some of those intangibles become lost in the memory of the experience." — Capt. James NashWhen I first met James Nash last year at ATA, I just thought he was a cool guy who liked to hunt. He was a mutual friend of my buddy Cody. I had no clue I was talking to such an intelligent outdoorsman, and a recipient of two purple hearts.I’ve gotten to know James over the last year, mostly through GoWild, and on one of his appearances on Cody’s podcast, The Rich Outdoors. I’ve learned a ton just from following along with his content, and the conversations that spiral out from the threads he creates.I’m not sure if I’d call James outspoken, or if it’s more that he just calls it like he sees it. I like that about him. And I think you will, too.Show Links:Book - Wild OnesInstagram GoWild: Searc

“It’s been some luck. Some fate. But we have a really awesome crew and that’s been the most rewarding thing of this whole thing.”— Scott Robinson, First Lite Co-FounderYou may not know Scott Robinson by name, but I’ll bet you know his product. He’s the Co-Founder of the outdoor clothing company, First Lite. Through hard work, previous business experience and maybe, a little bit of luck, First Lite has really staked out its own piece of land within the hunting sector as a premier camo. Even if you’ve heard the founding story of First Lite before, we’re going to tackle this from a fresh and less discussed angle. For example, have you ever thought about how markets impact the price of what you’re buying? If the price of merino wool increases in New Zealand one year and drops the next, how should that impact your hunting clothing? We chat through the creation of the product, as well as the brand. Scott gives some insight into some new products, and then we get some basic advice from him, such as how to best layer

"Influencer marketing is relatively new... One of the things I look for first in ever single influencer we work with, is do they have ..." — Josh Claflin, Digital Marketer. To hear his No. 1 thing, listen to this showOver the last few weeks we’ve unveiled a lot of behind the scenes content from GoWild. Today I have one of the better looks under the hood of outdoors marketing that you’ll hear.Brand content doesn’t happen like your personal content. It’s not spur of the moment. Brands have content calendars, copywriters, photographers, designers, strategists, account managers and, maybe most importantly, thousands and thousands of dollars at play here.There is no one philosophy on how to build a brand or spend a budget. Some people live and die by print ads and trade shows. Other brand managers may invest heavily in video content. But lately, there’s been a huge trend to push for influencers.What is an influencer? A lot of people would generically say it’s someone with a lot of followers. But my guest

“That’s what’s so exciting. Now, GoWild is legitimately a tool for telling your story and sharing information and awesome content. We can’t even dream of all the things they’re going to post.”— Chris Gleim, Co-Founder of GoWildToday has never-before-heard backstories, strategy and future plans for GoWild. The GoWild team just launched its biggest product update in the history of the company. On a drive to Kansas to meet with Garmin to present this product, my Co-Founder Chris and I talk through a lot of things, including our friendship, the product, my accent, hunting motives, food acquisition, the future of GoWild and much more.Normally I start off the show description with a quote, but here’s one to end it, too:“It’s awesome to think about the hunts you’ll have, and you’re going to be able to go back 10 years later and relive your heart rate with your GoWild account.”— Chris GleimTry Out the New GoWild AppYou can do all of the things we talk about, plus log time for this podcast. Share your thoughts, suppor

“Part of our vision is to build up a product line of products that can enhance the outdoor experience for the sportsman, but not take away from it.”— Chad VanCamp, Product Manager with GarminToday, January 9, GoWild launches a product with Garmin. This week, I'll be at the 2019 Archery Trade Association’s trade show in Garmin's booth to talk about this integration with the Garmin Connect IQ system. I'm sure over the next few weeks you’ll hear more about the product that we landed on. This interview is to bring you the people behind it, how we even got this relationship rolling and what’s so damn cool about it.Some of you probably know of Chad VanCamp. He’s become a frequent flyer on the Gritty podcast since the Xero bow sight came out last year. Chad and I got to be buddies once this whole thing got started, which is key to any good working relationship.I have to say thank you to Chad, as well as Nick, Audra and Jennifer for all of their help this last year. I know we came into this being smal

"I said, ‘So you don’t know for 100% certainty that this bear is dead?’ He said no, and I told him we have a problem. All of the sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I see alders move, and out comes this wounded brown bear on a dead run, right for us."— Lyn Hoffman, Alaskan big game hunting guideThis show is crazy. We have bear charges. Golden eagle attacks. Tales of successful hunts, including moose, sheep, goats, bears, deer, pigs, coyotes, rabbits and god knows what else I’m forgetting. We hear about of hunting accidents, being stranded on a mountain for days after a bear attack, how Lacey motivated a gentlemen to seize the day in what would be his last mountain hunt ever. And we hear about Lyn and Lacey’s newest business, which gives you a chance to go experience Alaska and get these experiences first hand. Lyn and his wife, Lacey, stopped by the GoWild office recently, and we hit the studio with no particular plans or direction for the conversation. What unfolded is a series of tales mostly fro

“Those relationships are key. You might have to sort through a bunch of people to find those relationships, but that’s where the time should be spent, because then it doesn’t matter what the market does, because you have quality relationships with people through social media.” — Huntz Colburn, Backcountry Digital FounderToday’s guest specializes in SEO, PPC, CPM, ROI and a whole bunch of other things that would probably make some of you say WTF. We’re talking high level. But we’re also talking how to get a brand off the ground, how to start selling a product with limited knowledge. Huntz is an analytical angler and hunter who recently started his own marketing agency to tackle the gaps found in the industry. But it all started with a Facebook group called Monkey Pickles. Huntz Colburn is sharp. This guy envisioned a digital landscape that would empower local fly fishing or archery shops to take their expertise beyond their hometown, which is certainly a seasonal opportunity, and expand that to the Internet an

“You would think in 2018, people from magazines and television networks would show up to R3. But they didn’t. To me, that just further shows the disconnect of where all of this has failed.”— AJ DeRosa, Creative Director, Northwoods CollectiveWhen we started Restless Native, we wanted people who never stayed idle. Never settled for status quo. And who are ever Restless. Today’s guest epitomizes that. A.J. DeRosa has become well known for his work with Project Upland, the incredible content series about chasing upland birds. From their podcast to their website, their magazine to their videos, Project Upland is one of the most, if not the most, downloaded and digested content on upland hunting in the history of pheasants, chukars and grouse.Plot twist: AJ is also an author on the incredible coveted book, the Urban Deer Complex. If you try to pick one of these up on Amazon or eBay, you’ll set yourself back about $200. AJ’s book outlines his tactics to hunt urban deer, such as applying pressure in their comfort zo

If you haven't listened to my interview with paranormal storyteller Dark Waters, go listen to that first. He tells horror stories from the backwoods that will run chills up your spine and raise the hairs on your neck. The first show with Dark Waters was one of our most popular over the last few months, so I am excited to bring him back with what he does best—telling first-person paranormal tales.Dark Waters’ WebsiteDark Waters’ YouTubeEnter to Win a Dark Waters Subscription — Log Time for this Episode on GoWildLog time and tag Brad Luttrell and Restless Native on GoWild for a chance to win a subscription pass to Dark Waters' content. Tell me which of these three stories was your favorite and why. Restless Native is Sponsored by Houston Safari Club FoundationRestless Native is brought to you by Houston Safari Club Foundation. This organization is a great supporter of hunters and conservation, and I am proud to partner with them.Hunting and conservation, what’s not to like, right? If you agree, great.