The First-Time Hunter

“When we get a bird, that’s when I’m going to decide. Am I really a hunter? Or am I a nature photographer?”– Chris GleimThis show’s a little different. I documented my co-founder’s first hunting experience. You’ll hear the excitement in his voice pre-hunt, the self doubt and curiosity of what it will be like to take an anima’s life, and the overall the highs and lows hunters deal with. It’s an honest, first-hand account of what it is like to try hunting for the first time.Chris Gleim is the Chief Development Officer at GoWild. He’s an avid hiker and outdoors enthusiast. And now, he’s a hunter.Since working on GoWild, he had gotten more and more interested in hunting culture, and decided he wanted to go himself. So we decided to make it happen this turkey season and document the experience.I wanted to do this to encourage all of you to take someone hunting for the first time. As I type these show notes, I’m coming out of the R3 Symposium (Recruitment, Retainment, and Reactivation), which was held in Lincoln, Nebraska. I’ve spent three days listening to some of the most experienced people in the hunting industry brainstorm how they can solve the problem to stop the decline in hunters.Here’s the thing: If all of you, and all of your friends, and all of their friends can start to take someone hunting for the first time every year, we can curb this ourselves. We don’t need the industry to figure it out—we can be the answer.Remember, we’re stronger together.