First off I’d like to take the time to personally thank you for checking out my blog and to welcome out all to check in on a regular basis. I will be posting the links to this blog through Blue Collar Outdoor Media’s Facebook page and I’ll encourage you all to go and join. With this blog I’ll be sharing not only my adventures, but thoughts on conservation, wildlife and much more. But before that I feel the need to provide you all with a little history on how my passion, Blue Collar Outdoor Media came to be.
Ever since I can remember I’ve wanted to have a career in the outdoors. In my youth the dream was being a professional fisherman, teens it was to be a guide, and writing and videoing was the goal of my twenties. There just never seemed to be an easy way to get started though. I tried writing in my mid-twenties………and failed miserably. Shortly after though, 2006 to be exact, my path towards an outdoor career took a major turn. I was going into my second year of bear hunting and had been amazing people with the stories from my first year. There had been a fire smouldering within me to start videoing my hunts in the past, to show my friends and family that I wasn’t full of it and that these things I told them were really happening. That winter I had purchased a point and shoot digital camera….and this camera had a video function. So off I went into the woods with my good friend Trevor Fisher to video his first bear hunt with my little point and shoot Kodak.
The following years were a whirlwind of hunts and learning experiences. I threw myself into filming in 2008 with a serious goal of producing a video product. Blue Collar Outdoors Volume I was released on DVD in the spring of 2009, 14 hunts on a 90 minute DVD. It was a great start and many hunts were filmed for volume II in the next year. But then life got in the way in more ways than one, first a falling out with my partner and friend over creative and personal differences with BCO in 2010, then a major back door type of investigation into my hunting style and success by Manitoba Conservation in 2011 (more on that later). These two life events really put a damper on that flame. But a couple of good hunts and a verbal butt kicking by now "pro staff" Ty Pettyjohn really put things back into perspective for me. In 2012 I re-evaluated, re-focused and rebooted BCO. I took the events of the past two years and learnt from them not only to become a better outdoors man, but a better person as well. I began to take my experiences and write, becoming a featured writer for Manitoba Outdoors soon after. I then secured a 6 episode contract with MTS TV to produce hunting and fishing variety show for their on demand "Stories From Home" channel. So now here I am seven long year after I started working towards a career. I’m taking an extended leave of absence from my job to film this fall, and hopefully lay the foundation for many years of outdoor media work. It’s been a long haul, but one that’s now showing some promise as a way to earn ends meat.
To get to this point in my outdoor media career has been a long journey, one with many ups and downs, supporters and haters. I want to first acknowledge the haters. I know there will always be those who are jealous anytime a person has a higher level success, and those people will always try to knock you down. I want to single out two in particular and thank them. The former wildlife "biologist" and his buddy, thank you. Thank you for showing your true colours, thank you for providing me with the motivation to prove you wrong in more ways than you can ever imagine. Your assumptions of my activities, jealous attitude then the subsequent "investigation" by the Manitoba Department of Conservation brought me more stress and pain then I can tell you. I had made mistakes for sure, and I own them, now the question is are you willing to own yours? During your tenure at Manitoba Conservation wildlife numbers have plummeted to lows that haven't been seen in 40 years. Any time we talked all I ever heard was excuses. To think, all this could have been avoided if someone had just simply talked to me. But I’m kind of glad you didn’t, so thank you.
Finally, I need to genuinely thank those who have been supportive in my life and have helped me become the man I am today.
Trevor Boake, you rode the wave with me for the first five years man. I know our lives have gone in different directions but without you I wouldn’t be writing this. Thanks dude.
Gerry Oliver, man we need to do some hunting together some time soon. Thanks for being that guiding voice when I needed it, and thanks for everything you’ve offered me.
Andrew, Muriel, and the late Jack Boake, thank you for taking me into your family and your lives for those early years. I miss you guys, you still are and will always be my second family and I wish I could visit more often.
Melissa Ericson thanks for being so understanding and supportive. I know that the outdoor lifestyle is all new to you and a little tough to grasp. I love the fact that you’re giving me the time away and leeway to work on my projects. I love you babe and I’ll make it up to you, thank you.
Finally, Bev and Dennis Yaskiw, a huge thank you! It took me a long time to find a direction in life and that whole time you’ve been there for me…..and still are. I know I don’t need to say it, but I love you.
So as I write this final paragraph it’s now 17 days away from formally starting my outdoor career. In time I will go deeply into explaining what BCO stands for, but for now I’ll close by saying this. Being a Blue Collar Outdoorsman isn’t about what gear we use, or how what one person does is better than anything else. It’s about having a positive attitude towards others that share the outdoors with us and a desire to give more back to nature then we take. Nature and thus our lifestyle will thrive if we all make a point of thinking and acting this way.
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