Advertise on podcast: Restless Native

LAUNCHING SOON: [UNCENSORED] by GoWild Team GoWild kicks off your week with shameful nonsense, inappropriate convictions, and unfiltered tales from the woods, waters and whatevers. [UNCENSORED] is a behind the scenes look at our adventures, failures, wins, embarrassing moments at trade shows, hilarious tales from the warehouse, and a good rant or three about the most recent tyranny from the Dark Lord of the Sith himself. Join uncensored conversation on GoWild: downloadgowild.com

I lift a glass to each of you. It's been a helluva ride. To stay connected:Find me on GoWildWatch my content on YouTubeSpecial thanks to Donovan Sears for all of his support of the years. See you down the Trail.

Today’s show is salty. Especially salty. Because today we have one of the Salt Strong brothers on to talk about going niche. It’s all going to make sense soon, and I’ll let Joe explain exactly what he’s built, but I wanted to have Joe on because what he’s done is really impressive. So many people have dreams of jumping into the hunting or fishing industry, but don’t know how. Joe and his brother were well established in their careers, but they decided to walk away from it. We’re going to talk about how they made the jump, their upbringing, why they don’t work with advertisers, how they built a paid community of thousands of people, creating content, and more. Joe’s a great dude, and they are a tremendous resource for information. If you’re into what Joe’s talking about, check them out.Salt Strong website

Today, we have another outdoor entrepreneur on the show, and she’s going to highlight just what it’s taken to get her company off the ground. Murielle Gaither is the founder and CEO of Venku. I’m going to leave it to her to talk about what Venku is, but let’s just say she’s building a way for people to engage with the outdoors, and what I like most about Murielle’s company is that it involves lowering the barrier. I’ve talked so much about this over the years of hosting this podcast. I don’t think we need more ways to find expert level information. I think we need more people finding ways to get people involved in fishing and especially hunting for the first time. As they find their passion, they’ll become experts over time.Venku.com

I have the first comedian I’ve ever had on Restless Native. He also happens to be a fly fisherman, wildlife biologist, and an educator. Eeland Stribling is a really great guy. I kept seeing this guy pop up in various content from brands, and someone on my team recommended him for my other show, Gearbox Talk. We did that, and I asked him to sit down for this show as well just to unveil a little bit about his journey into the space.We talk about his comedy, fishing and his grandfather, who actually has been a really important role model for Eeland. I think this show is a fun change of pace, and yet another I’m proud to add to the long lineup of fascinating guests for Restless Native. Watch Eeland on Gearbox Talk

I spent a few days out in Montana with Bergara and CVA's parent company, BPI Outdoors with team GoWild's Jacob Knight. We got to shoot a ton of guns (hey, free ammo!) and see some innovations from both manufacturers. We're in new territory in a post-pandemic world. These types of events may become more of the norm after 2020. We'll talk about that with Damon. Be sure to check out the new products:BergaraCVARestless Native is Brought to You By GoWildJoin the best community for outdoor enthusiasts. Download here.

I’m a sucker for a good entrepreneurial story. Toss in trying to build a company in the outdoor space?Now I’m hooked. Today’s guest is someone I met through the industry when he was first getting his company off the ground. Standing in a loud honky tonk dive bar in Nashville Tennessee, he outlined his plans to build something that would allow people to trade outdoor experiences. It sounded kinda crazy. Which in Startupland, is how you know you’re on the right path. Slade Johnston is the founder of Trips4Trade. Today, he’s going to tell us not only what it is, but the moments and milestones he’s had along the way, the hardest part of his journey, an entrepreneur he looks up to and why he’s so passionate about R3.Trip4Trade

Memorial Day is coming, which will officially kick off summer for most Americans. Millions of people will spend their summer camping and hiking. But today’s guest sees a gap in one audience. Earl B. Hunter, Jr. founded Black Folks Camp Too to focus on opening up the outdoors to more people, specifically, the black community. I saw a news story about Earl and his mission last summer, and he was kind enough to respond to my cold inquiry about his mission.He was recently a guest on my other show, Gearbox Talk, to talk about hiking gear. And on this episode, we’re going to talk about the challenges Earl saw, and how he’s conquering those challenges with Black Folks Camp Too.Website: BlackFolksCampToo.com

Sometimes I feel oversaturated with news about hunter numbers. They’re up, they’re down. And then back up again. Now Outdoor Life says we have no clue what they are. Whatever they are or aren’t, I think we need to do better. Even if hunting spiked last year, we have to realize there is some bubble happening here. Of course people hunted more last year, it was one of the only things you could do. How many times have I said that we were losing hunters to youth sports? And Netflix? Well youth sports were shut down last year, and there’s only so many rounds of your favorite show you can watch before you have to move or become part of the couch. There are some really interesting plays happening in the outdoor space. You have people like AJ De Rosa, Nic De Castro, Slade Johnston, Murielle Gaither, Adam Gifford, and my team at GoWild so many others, who are making strong tech plays to get more people outside. I hope that together, we’re building a strong enough community to avoid losing hunters when this bubble bursts. And just like the ammo and gun shortage, it will burst. We’ll either be prepared for it, and have handled it well. Or it’ll be 2016 over again, when the demand for guns slumped, a time the gun industry calls the Trump Slump due to it coming along with Trump’s win of the election, and then firearms companies started getting their butts handed to them. Today's guest is another guy who deserves to be among that list of people I mentioned. It’s Mahting Putellis, the founder of Hunt to Eat. He’s going to talk about hunter recruitment and retention today. And what he and his team are doing to help more people get outside. HunttoEat.com

Jack Carr was a Navy SEAL for twenty years. He’s led assault and sniper teams through places like Afghanistan and Iraq.And he’s the New York Times best selling author of Savage Son, along with The Terminal List and True Believer. In this interview:His military experiencePreviews of the book, which drops April 13How Jack separates himself from his main characterThe new TV series coming out about Jack’s book seriesI hate picking a favorite, but this might just be my favorite Restless Native ever. I am such a big fan of Jack. He’s one of the most down to earth people I have ever met. And no matter how many times you’ve heard him before, or if you’re totally new to him, I think you’ll find this show fascinating.Jack Carr's Website

Most of you probably know The Hunting Public, but do you know their story? Do you know why they decided to found their business? Do you really understand what they’re trying to do?I’ve really come to respect these guys, because I have first hand seen how they’re running not only their content, but their business. They’re not pay to play, swapping sponsors out nonstop and grossly creating sponsored kills. They are themselves all the time. That’s something to admire. We’re going to talk about all of that and talk about how Aaron feels about the culture of hunting. If you haven’t seen it, Aaron was recently on my other show, Gearbox Talk, too. Don’t miss that one. This podcast is brought to you by GoWild. https://youtu.be/xGkPflY9XWs

Check out the First Gen Hunter podcastRestless Native is brought to you by GoWild. Don't miss our new hat, the Thunder Chicken. Presale only. Limited run.