00:00:02 Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, your home for deer hunting news, stories and strategies, and now your host, Mark Kenyon. Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Podcast. I'm your host, Mark Kenyon, and this episode number one one tennis show, we're joined by Jeff Sposito to discuss the newly launched and very exciting new organization to Percent for Conservation. All right, So before we kick off the show, I do need to ask you a favor. Please bear with us for the first ten minutes of this episode, as we had some serious technical difficulties trying to record our intra segment and literally red ord at three or four times over the past two days. In every single time we had these issues with sound quality. We're still trying to figure out what's going on, but for this week, I had to decide either to scrap this whole intrasegment or leave it in with some poor audio sections scattered throughout. So I decided to do that as I thought you'd probably still enjoy getting to hear these stories despite the few glitches. So thanks for your understanding, and now to the show. All right. Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Podcast, brought to you by Sick gear, and today we've got a great show for you as we're joined by Jeff Sposito, the founder of the brand new and very exciting two Percent for Conservation, a conservation organization that I think has the potential to make a very big difference in the hunting and fishing world. And I'm stoked that Jeff's going to be joining us today to talk about this new organization, What inspired him to dive into this project, what all goes into starting a conservation organization, and how all of us hunters can get more involved in taking up this type of cause in our own lives. But before we get to all of that, Dan and I do have some exciting updates from the field to share. We have been doing a little turkey hunting right then. That's a fat jack, and we've actually done a half decent job of it. Hey, I can't complain, I uh, you killed what? Did you get? One? Or two? I got one? You can only kill one here in Michigan. But I can very I can very briefly quickly give you my overview. I had five really tough days of hunting in Michigan where the birds weren't talking or I was really bad at calling or something went wrong in the first five days and just couldn't quite make it happen. I was out there with a bow trying, you know, like we talked about a couple of weeks ago. I thought I'd tried to up the challenge factor. So I took my bow out and was waiting for a big, mature bird, and things just didn't quite go all the way to once. So then Saturday came around, and I was getting a little nervous because my Dad's coming in a couple of days to hunt, and I was only gonna have a few more days to hunt after that. So I figured if I don't get something a freezer now, I might not get a bird at all. So I took the gun out Saturday morning, I changed up my strategy, went to a different spot on the farm, and UM, long story short, I end up killing a really nice gobbler a couple hours after daylight. So it was one of those hunts where it was one of those days really where the everything was going right. The two days before, the birds were silent, nothing was going but this day everything was talking, they were responding to the calls, and UH put one on the ground. So that was my that was my turkey hunt. I got a Michigan bird. Now in a week week and a half, them going to Ohio. But you, my friend, you laid or we're part of land too. Two down right right right, let's see. So typically what happens is, I've been hunting with my wife for five years. Uh we did. We did this thing. We call it turkey camp. And it's where me and my wife and my stepdad go hunting. And my mom kind of gets through all the end of the deal. She gets watched the kids so um, which she loves. She does her grandma thing, but she watched the kids while Sarah and I went hunting. And and my stepdad might okay, tell my stepdad hunts. He goes into the blind before light and he sits in the blind all day long. That's that's how I can't do that. There would be impossible. There would have to be like a flat screen TV in there for me to do that. But me and my wife do a little bit more running gun and although luckily this year we really didn't have to. Um. So Thursday, I head out of work and I leave early, set up a blind in a pasture, starts raining. I drive around the section, I see like twenty five to thirty birds. Um, I just tall about seven to ten shutting tom's and the rest were hens. So I knew that there were turkeys in the area, and that made me really excited. Um. Fast forward to Friday morning. We get into the standards a little bit early, so we had to fight some cattle getting in, and we thought the cattle had left, and they were responding like every time I touched my call, they were gobbling, and even when I there was a period of time where I was just not even calling and they were going bananas in the timber. So my blind was set up in the middle of a cattle pasture under a big old oak tree, and the birds were in the timber line about fifty yards away. They started gobblin. I was calling. They came in, they saw my decoys. This is the abbreviated version, and uh they they held up. Well. I looked behind me, and the cattle had to work their way back into the area, and they were pretty spooked or pretty hesitant of coming closer to the decoys, and they headed down this valley and up the other side and went into a different part of the pasture. Well, they were gobbling the whole time, so I knew where they're at. My wife and me made a stock on him. I got busted by a hen. They flew away. Fast forward. Then instead of going of going back out, I don't know this year, I was just kind of it up to do for my life. I was ready to do new. We were going to have great weather the entire morning would mean or the entire weekend, which means there they were responding, and they were going to respond. So I didn't go back out. Uh. We we went and tried another little piece of property back at the house eleven and then we did what my wife wanted to do, which was Govid winery, and I tasted some local wines which were delicious. And uh, fast forward to Saturday morning, and I'm not joking that this is exactly how it went. Walk the blind wait twenty minutes, heard the first gobbles at about quarter to six. Birds flew down at about six and between six and so five, my wife shot the turkey. So it was the Tom, three Jake's and a hen all flew out of the tree within twenty yards. Uh, the Jake's and the Tom started strutting towards the decoys. They stepped out behind this little thorn bush and my wife just dropped it right in your tracks. Boom. It barely even flopped. So uh, that was a pretty fast hunt. And the rest of the day. UM, I could have probably went out and tried to uh get another bird, but I was happy for her. I knew that I had to clean it and you know, package it and get it in the freezer. So I took care of that kind of business and uh and you know what, did some mushroom hunting, went on a four wheeler ride with the kids, spent a lot of time with family. That day. My stepdad comes back and he was struggling with the farm that he was on with uh, with a guy riding a dirt bike up and down the road and on the farm and there's other hunter who was He said it was calling for one hour straight. So yeah, so not a lot of activity on on the farm. My stepdad was hunting. So I was like, hey, man, I gotta I got a spot if you want to come with me. I don't have a blind, I don't have anything. You're gonna have to sit underneath a tree and uh, I'll back up behind you and uh call, I mean, that's that's how I that's how I cut my teeth on turkey hunting. And he's like, yeah, okay, let's do it. So we park our truck, sons starting to come up, and we walked to the field the where the CRP met the timber and started doing a little calling. HERD heard some distant gobbles. So we walked down this cut two track and uh I set him underneath of a tree that my wife killed a turkey out of what would have been two years ago, and I put decoys out in front of him, probably twenty yards. I backed up behind him about twenty heard a call in and I pulled in a tom from a long wase away. He was gobbling every time every time I, uh I called, And then I started hearing the you know, the um the noise that they make when they strut. And two more tims come on a show I couldn't see. According to my close a whole bunch bushes to kinda, so I had a little bit of movement. The one time came into our right and he busted my stepdad turning his head to look. Because he shut up. He stopped gobbling when he located our position, and then he came in. My stepdad turned his head ever so slightly that Tom took off running, and the Tom's that were strutting to the left of us. I called one end because it was and I broke. I broke the one time off and uh my stepdad shot him or six thirty the morning. So that was a long story for a very period of time. You've you've perfected that to two short hunts too long stories, Dan, That's pretty good, I know. I but it was fun. I mean, although I didn't I didn't get a bird or chance at a bird. I was just happy that the people. I mean I I the thing I like about turkey hunting, and I think we talked about this in uh at the one of the last episodes was it's just it's less pressure, it's more about fun and enjoying nature. And for me it's a it's about spending time with the family. And I got to do all those things. And even though I didn't get a bird, I got an archery tag, so I would hunt until May four or four, I think, so I have plenty of time left to try to get one with a bow. Other than that, my season's a success. Based off of what's already happened. Yeah, I'd say so that's pretty that's pretty cool to be to do that with a couple of family members and have a good, a good fun weekend like that. That's sounds like you get a good couple days. My friend, when are you heading to Ohio? Uh, well, my dad is coming down to turkey hunt with me this coming weekend in Michigan. Song guide him for a couple of days, and then the following weekend I'm going to Ohio. So I'll be the guide this weekend than hunting just about a week and a half from now. So hopefully it'll be some more good turkey hunting stories to come from me here soon. But uh, it's I think I think it'll be pretty good from what I was we had. Um. I talked with a legendary turkey hunter, Ray I. He was on our Wild podcast today and he's been staying across the country. It's been a lot different than most years because of this later spring. In a lot of places, a lot of the toms are hend up already. UM and so he he said that you know, the later you get into the season, the better it's going to the better it's going to be. Supposedly, he knows a lot more than I do, so I couldn't tell you why, um, but he seemed to think that the best is yet to come. So I'm hoping that will be the case here and that uh, you know, my rough first five days will be gone and things will continue to be like they were on SATA. Well, good luck, Mark Kenyon, thank you Dan Johnson. And with that we are we are needing now to get our guests on the line. We've got to give Jeff a colls. So let's take a quick break for words from our partners at SICCA, and then we'll talk to Jeff about two percent for conservation. So last week we began our new segment with Sick of Gear, in which we're sharing incredible sick stories, and today we've got just such a story, in fact, a turkey story from Jason Mears. We're going to kick this one off at a point in Jason's hunt where he was about to call it quits and head back to work as it seemed like the birds he was hunting were hand up and heading away. But just when he thought the hunt was over, he spotted the birds much closer than he thought, and set up in a less than ideal situation. I'm in the middle of the field. I haven't nothing to hide behind other than delay in this three foot tall high grass. So basically I laid there on my back with my gun barrel between my knee. He's hoping that as these birds worked around the side of the hill that they would be, you know, twenty thirty yards out in front of me, and I would basically pop up like I was in a goose blind and shoot one of them. So Jason waited there, laying in the grass for fifteen minutes until finally a redhead popped up heading his way. As they came down, they actually came up within six feet of the end of my gun burrow, and basically, I either knew that I was either gonna miss this turkey because the pattern was so tight, or I was gonna drop him right where he was. And as he stepped in front of my barrel, I squeezed the trigger and Donny went. The other one flew off. And it's extremely exciting hunt because I mean, I've never had the opportunity to actually shoot a turkey at that range. Six ft is just ridiculous. In my opinion. So, um, you talk about the heart ready to bust out of your chest because either at one option and you can get the turkey, or you're gonna you're gonna make him a heck of a lot smarter for the subceson. Luckily for Jason, this bird would not have a chance to get any smarter. What a hunt. And on this hunt, Jason was wearing sick because early season white tail pants and core lightweight top. If you'd like to learn more about SIKA, you can visit sick gear dot com. And now back to the show. All right, Well, due to unforeseen circumstances and technical difficulties, we have lost Dan Johnson, but we have added Jeff to the line. So welcome to the show. Jeff, thank you, Mark. Glad to be here. Yeah, we apologize for the lengthy technical issues we've had today trying to make this happen, but I'm glad at least you and me are finally here chatting. Um. I briefly introduced to you at the beginning in two percent for conservation, but really high level. I'd love to kick things off just hearing a little bit more about who you are. For those that aren't familiar you know, what are you doing today? What's your background? A little bit? Sure? Yeah, so I I currently work for for Sick of Gear out of Bosi in Montana. I've been with SKA for going on seven years now. I started back in two thousand and nine. With them, I do sales and marketing. They're um focused on on our guiding outfitter paro deal programs and our e commerce and online sales. Uh and and then yeah, my nights and weekends and and kind of a pet project side job have have started two percent for conservation. Um. So it's been it's been a fun process. Yeah, I bet, And that's going to be our main The main gist of our conversation is gonna be all about that process. But I also create me if I'm wrong. But I think you are a hunter too, right, Yeah? Heck, yeah, I am. No, you know, hunter, hunter and fishermen, more so a hunter than a fisherman. But but I enjoy all things outdoors. But but I am truly a passionate bow hunter more than anything. You know. I've been hunting my whole life and kind of progressed through hunting cycle and yeah, I loved bow hunt. Now Bohunt anything from you know, elk, deer bears, anything really And word on the street is that you're going to Alaska, soume? Is that true? I do? I leave in uh in less than forty eight hours for Alaska for for a brown bear hunt. That uh, that's actually a really cool story. I won the brown bear hunt last fall in a raffle um, so totally not only once in a lifetime bucket list hunt, but but one of those situations where where it was a complete surprise on how it came to happen. So yeah, I'm pretty pumped. Man. I got a lot of packing you have to do still, but but we'll get bet. So what so are you going with a with a firearm or both? First off, my question, I am I am bringing I'm doing the classic bring both weapons. Yep, I'm gonna give it good. Yeah, I'm gonna give it the good college. Try to kill one with the bow. I really, I really would like to uh to get an opportunity to shoot one of the bow and give it my damnedest. But you never know how that goes, and I don't want to pass up the opportunity. So if if we just can't get the right situation. I'm not opposed to to lay in some lead to and this is a coastal brown bear, right it is? Yeah, it's it's brown bear out of It's a boat hunt out of sick Alaska, and we'll be hunting primary of the ABC Island. So it's a part of the country I've never been. Um, so there's a whole there's a many layers of excitement there for me to see a new part of the country and obviously hunt an animal that that is uh, that is you know, truly once in a lifetime type type hunt. Plus the potential of being twenty yards away from a eight hundred or thousand pounds brown bear, that sounds like an experience too. There's that too. Yeah, I'd be lying to you if if I didn't tell you that. I just got a little bit nervous just thinking about it. So I'm sure I'll be shaking a little bit when when that scenario presents itself. But that's all the fun, right. What's the wife think about this or your family? Um, that's a good question. She is My wife is very supportive of everything I do. She is, uh, she doesn't quite understand bear hunting with a bow in general. Nonetheless a brown bear. She's she thinks that you should h not you should run away from bear. She she has this picture in her mind that I'm gonna shoot the bear with a bow and it's gonna stand up and look at me and pull the arrow out and get revenge. I've tried to reassure that that's not exactly how it happens. I'll tell you what, though, I gotta give you credit. That takes a certain amount of intestinal fortitude to even go on a trip like that. It is it's a dream of mine too. Um but wow to Actually, well, I haven't done it yet, so we should. We should talk again in ten days and and see how it went. But yeah, I'm pretty pumping on the last. Now, have you done other Alaskan hunts before I have? I was fortunate enough to go um two years ago to Kodiak mountain goat hunting UM, and that was that was my first hunting trip to Alaska. And that was with a good friend of mine who is who is a sick of athlete, Col Kramer and Uh and we did a mountain go hunt together and it was a blast, man. It was It was all uh that I expected it to be in more it was. It was awesome and that was Kodiak. So you've had at least a little experience with really big bears. I guess probably right. Yeah, Yeah, that's that's where the big bears. That's the world of the big bears. We on our mountain got hunt. We didn't have any encounters with bears. We saw a few, but but yeah, I've I've been I guess you could say I have been in brown bear country before. Well, I I'm excited to talk to you when you get back to hear how this adventure went. I uh, man, that that puts us white tail hunters to shame. I'll tell you what. From the from the work required and the uh the adrenaline and the nerves you've got to spend there. Well maybe on that, but I want to go that far. I love white tail hunting too, and it's one of those things. We're growing up in the Western United States haven't had a ton of opportunity white tails, and and every time I do, I love it. Man. Something there's something about white tail hunting that that obviously you you know more than I do. But it's awesome. Yeah, it is a lot of fun. And I'm actually going to be combining my love for white tails and my love for your state of Montana this coming fall. I'm actually gonna I'm doing white tail hunting and outside of Boseeman this year. All right on, man, Yeah, Montana's kind of a sleeper white tails state. Uh, we we got you know, We're so fortunate that so many animals to hunt, and elk are obviously the the prized possession, that white tails kind of go under the radar, and we actually have some really, really awesome white tail hunting out here, so that'll be sweet. Yeah, that's what I keep hearing. And I love that part of the country so much, and I was like, you know what I keep hearing. You know, there's some white tails out there, why not why not give it a try? So I'm gonna go out there. I'm actually living out there for a month this summer with my wife so and doing a little scouting out there and then um hopefully find some public land or get permission on something, and give it a shot in September with a bow. So that's my game. Are you are you gonna hunt elk too? I hope I am gonna hunt elk? Well, I think I'm gonna be hunting elk Um. It's a little bit up in the air, but if I do, it may not be in Montana, it might be an Idaho, got it um, So those plans are still up in the air. But but it looks like I'm gonna have a long chunk of time away from home out in the mountains one way or the other. So I'm looking forward to that. Yeah, I've been hunting out the past few years in Idaho and and have definitely gotten that in my blood. So I imagine if I grew up out there, I would be a complete elk nut, no doubt about it. Yeah. Well, I hope the white tail hunt goes good out here. We'll have to connect definitely out here for sure, because uh, because that'll be that'll be awesome. Yeah, Yeah, I'm stoked. I'm I'm already I've got serious. Well, like I mentioned, we're going out there for the summer, so I already have summer ritis in about a month, we're moving out west, so I'm just like itching to get out there and start hiking and fishing and scouting for the hunts. And oh, it's gonna be good. But I guess kind of related to that, Jeff, It's kind of funny. Um. One of the reasons why I've got such summer rights and why I'm thinking about going out west so much is because I've been doing a bunch of reading about kind of conservation history and about you know, the wildlife and what it used to be like in different parts of the country back you know, hundred fifty two hundred years ago. I read a really really great book called I think it's called The American Serengetti. Oh. Man, I just listened to uh podcast with Stephen Ronnella in the net year and he had what's the author's name of that I'm spacing it now, Yes, Dan Flores. Yeah, that podcast was amazing, man, And uh, it was so interesting to me. Yes exactly. I heard that podcast and I was fascinated, and I immediately went on Amazon bought his book and I read it in the last like two or three days, and it was terrific. I mean, one of my favorite books I've read, like both from it just purely interesting and fascinating thing just to hear about the wildlife, but also from like as a hunter understanding what was here, you know, before we arrived and then kind of what some of our our ancestors actions led to um too, And then I guess also then what some of our ancestors did after that too to return us to a time of relatively plenty when it comes to wildlife and wild places. So it's really interesting, fascinating book. Highly recommend anyone read it. But the point of me bringing it up is that it has just got me re jazzed and re pumped up and excited about trying to make a difference from a conservation standpoint moving forward. I think we talked once, I don't know when this was Jeff Um, but just talked about kind of like I think both of ours our journeys as a hunter. Right, You become a hunter, and you go through this journey as a hunter. But then I think at some point a lot of us end up realizing how much this means to us, how much wildlife, wild places, the opportunity to hunt, how much that means to us, And eventually it leads us to want to give back in some way. And so I'm definitely at that place us in my life where I'm trying to find ways to do that. And you know, from the previous conversations we've had. It sounds like you have recently been in a place like that too, which has led to this organization two percent for conservations. So I guess, I guess I'm curious, Jeff, before we actually go into what this organization is and what you actually did, I kind of want to hear about your journey that I kind of highly glossed over my case. But what how did you end up being inspired to try to do more or to do something like this? Yeah, you know, it's a great question, and I as as all your life experiences kind of create who you are, I haven't spent a whole lot of time thinking about it, so it's it's really an interesting exercise to do. But but I grew up um. I grew up in northern California and my in a in a family that was sustained from commercial cattle ranching, um which it gave us the benefit of having access to hunt on private land, and and everybody in my family it was just kind of a tradition, right. My grandfather loved to hunt and he's a hunter, and all my uncles and cousins, so so it was just kind of what we did. So from a young age, I was I had opportunities to hunt. Um. Where we were in northern California, we have blacktailed deer uh and a lot of wild pigs, So I really grew up deer hunting. But but really pig hunting became such an awesome opportunity. That's what kind of got me into bow hunting, because it's a year round season and uh and and there's just tons of them and and through that then, uh, you know from circumstances that that we're just nothing other than lucky. I ended up getting a job out of college working at Sitka when it was still a very small company, uh and just getting off the ground. And through through my role at SITA, I really got connections and started to learn more about conservation organizations. And I'd always I'd always known of you know, the of RMYF and generally through my family and experiences hunting, I knew what conservation organizations did, but but didn't have a deep understanding of the impact they had. And and through my work at STICK, I really started to learn more about what that was and how important they were, uh and the challenges that that they had from a fundraising standpoint, and and really how much work it went in and the passion and the time that that the organization has depended on to be successful. And and I think through that journey, that's that's kind of you know, high level, real quick story really where my mind has has evolved into thinking about what we can do more as an industry, as individuals, as businesses too to support these conservation groups. Yeah, and so so you got to a place where you maybe you knew you want to do something more. I think, if if I remember correctly, there was a specific event or time that actually then sparked an idea for a specific type of organization. Is that right? Yeah, Yeah, totally there was. So I think it was too that I could get this wrong, but I think it was two thousand and thirteen. Uh q d m A, the Quality Deer Management Association, which which I'm sure you're familiar with, had had what they called, I think they called it at the time, the White Tailed Deer Summit, or maybe it was just the Deer Summit, but it was in uh it was in Missouri. And what they did with the summit it was really cool. They brought in a whole bunch of different key stakeholders from the hunting industry, They had a big conference generally about the state of the hunting industry, the state of conservation, and then obviously focused a bit on whitetail deer and the challenges we have UH and and current events and issues. And then they broke what was cool, they broke all these different stakeholders out the groups with objectives and we had these I think it was two days worth of meetings in these stakeholder groups which were made up of you know, one stakeholder group was biologists. They had one that is like media. They had one which was a group I sat in that was industry and I was the representing sick at the time. So it was a bunch of manufacturers and brands and retailers UH. And then they had a breakout group of hunters that they invited. So the theme was that what they wanted to do was have these different stakeholder groups brainstorm together and prioritize UH. They're they're you know, top concerns or priorities that need to be addressed as an industry as a whole, and with a big learning What kind of came out of our group as as the industry group was was there were a couple of things, But one of the top ones that stuck with me was what can we do as as an industry, as profitable businesses relying on hunting and fishing as a consumer base, what can we do more to support conservation groups and UH? And through that we brainstorm some ideas and kicked it around, but that really stuck with me, and so much of that on my flight home and I travel home, I really couldn't stop thinking about it. We're just hit home that the shoot man has got to be there's gotta be away, or there's gotta be a mechanism or something that we could do collectively as a huge industry. I mean you look at all the businesses and hunting and fishing across I mean it's it's it's a huge industry, tons of jobs, tons of revenue. What can we do underneath one umbrella as an industry to do more to support conservation Because the reality is if hunting and fishing were to disappear, all of our businesses UH wouldn't exist, and we wouldn't have customers. If we're selling a hunting and fishing product, we wouldn't have customers. If hunting and fishing that exists anymore, so so that was kind of that one event where that started that was really kind of the birth of two percent for conservation. I went down this journey from then on of of trying to figure out what the heck we could do? Is there something we could do? And where we've landed today is is with with this organization to conservation. Yeah, it's interesting. Also coming out of that dear summit you mentioned, the National Deer Alliance was started, and I actually work with the National Deer Line, so both of us had something that came out of that summit. Interestingly enough, it turns out that was a profitable event that he didn't make put in successful. Yeah, that that you're exactly right. They spawned from that. I think was shortly after that event that that they were going to form the NDA and this was going to be be kind of the organization for all that represent all deer species. Yeah, and I can tell you from a behind the scenes standpoint, it has been a a long and interesting road of trying to get that organization up off the ground. And there's I only work kind of in an ancillary type of way. I kind of consult and help with some digital things. But it's been interesting to see all that goes into building the foundation of a group like that that's working with so many different stakeholders and trying to do some really big, exciting things. But I think we're now at a point that some really good exciting stuff is coming. So I'm excited that it will be some things happening here in the coming weeks and months. Just for those of you who have heard me talk about the NBA before, keep your eyes out. There's gonna be some stuff coming that I think will be really positive for all deer and all deer hunters. So that said, I digress. Jeff, you mentioned coming out of that event, this that kind of helped catalyze this idea. Tell me about the idea. Tell me about where it went from that. You're on the airplane, you're inspired, you have this idea. What happens next when you're trying to start an organization like that. Yeah, Well, at that point I didn't really even know what the idea was. I kind of knew conceptually what what the objective would be and what the problem that that I thought there was an opportunity to address was. Um, but I kind of really just started, you know, doing a lot of a lot of Google research right of where there were parallels and other industries of of certain concepts or certain ideas that that that have tried to address and approach the similar problems. Uh. And I you know research some of the ones that stand up that I remember looking at were were some check off programs so that our culture and just right coming from my background in and cattle ranching, the beef checkoff program was was one that that I was like, oh, that's an interesting concept where where industry businesses have come together and funded and pulled together money to launch a marketing campaign per se. Right. And that's where if you're not from the beef checkof program, but that's kind of that's what created the beef It's What's for dinner campaign? Right, And there's they're similar ones with with milk, the got Milk commercials that were so popular for a while, with you know, with the milk mustaches and all this on all the different celebrities or public figures. That was a check off program from the dairy industry. So I did a little bit of research on those and and there were some parallels there. I also looked at, you know, kind of the recycling campaign which has become such a standard now and people are so used to seeing the recycling symbol on products. Um. There's another organization called the Rainforest Alliance that that I learned about, and they their focus was was around I'm probably gonna screw this up, but a lot of where you see their campaigns around coffee and coffee producers and making sure that the manufacturers and producers to coffee are not destroying rainforests. Um. But then the one the one organization that came across that then ended up being kind of our our driver and relearned a lot from was one Percent for the Planet and one Percent for the Planet is is an organization that still exists today and it is very successful and was started by Van Nard, who's the founder of Patagonia, along with a guy named Craig Matthews who owns a fly shop here in Montana and West Yellowstone. And the concept of their organization was was that businesses would would essentially do a self imposed tax where they would give back one percent of sales to UH two environmental causes back to the planet, right, which is where the naming came from. And UH and I and when I first came across one percent to planet and started learning more about it. The more and more I asked questions and read and researched, it made a lot of sense for the hunting and fishing community, and it was kind of that light bulb moment of of holy crap, this this is this is good. This makes a lot of sense, and I think this could have a huge impact on hunting and fishing. Um. So that that that's really when I got kind of got a kick start and some motivation. I'm going down a specific path rather than just kind of you know, having a big idea cloud. Yeah. That that's that's the big leap to when you go from the idea cloud to actually the real thing and now you can take action. Yeah exactly, So did you? I don't know. It just seems like such a crazy idea to think of an idea like this and then actually be able to put an action and do it. Was that like, did you really think you could do it? Or was it kind of this crazy idea and you thought maybe I'll tell somebod about this and they could do it. Or did you just know from the get go yeah I can do this. Uh No, I didn't. I didn't know that And I don't think I ever had a not like I speak of I've ever had I like yep, this is we're gonna you know, this is it, I'm gonna do it tighten moment. What I guess what really happened was I started uh, asking questions right with with people that knew more than I did, people that had more knowledge of the industry than I did. And and one of the guys that that's helped me a ton down the road that one of the first people I went to was was Randy Newburgh Um. For a couple of reasons, I've known Randy Um. He lives here in Bozeman, We've developed a relationship over the years, and he's, uh, he's involved and knowledgeable in the world of conservation in a way that that I am not. So that's he was one of the first people I just was like, Hey, Mandy, I got a crazy idea. I want to run this off you. What do you think you know? And and that and uh and I did that with a handful of people, and generally the response from everybody was super positive and yeah, this is this makes a lot of sense. Let's this this needs to happen, right And I think after collectively hearing hearing that enthusiasm, uh, you know, from from people who I respective and I thought had had a good perspective on on the industry and the need that was kind of what what kept my motivation going of Okay, so now what's what's the next step? Look like? What do we have to do to to move this down the path? If if generally I feel confident that that people smart people are are on board and see an opportunity for this, then how do we keep it going? Yea, So how do you keep it going? What happened next? I'm loving I'm loving this like it's like a nonprofit entrepreneurs journey. I'm fascinated by it right Yeah, which, which I'll aggress for a minute. Which is interesting because I've always I've always had a desire to own my own business or start my own business, and you know, I've always assumed it would be something that would be profitable. So to have put so much time and passion into something that will make me no money has been interesting mental conflict in itself. But I know there's a better cause there. It'll it'll it'll pay dividends in the future in different ways. It'll come back to. But but yeah, so next, I mean, what was cool was one of the questions I had, or what Randy came back for was, was was, well, Craig Matthews, this guy that started one percent for the Planet with the Vachnard, lives in West Yellowstone, which is only a hour and a half drive from Bozeman. And I was like, does anybody I know know him? And Randy was like, I know some people that know him, and and we, uh, it was kind of cool. We we kind of we pretty much cold called him and said, hey, hey, Craig, you don't know us, but what you people want to have lunch with us? And we picked brain and run something by you and uh, and we did just that. So Randy and I drove down and and met Craig and Nis Montana, which is about halfway between and and at that point we didn't even really have a really formalized concept yet. It then then this is what we think we could do. Um. And we sat down and had lunch with Craig and he was super nice, helpful dude. Um typical Montana. Loved to fish. You owned sup fly shops, so obviously love to fish, appreciate, respects, hunting and hunters, and he was and he was more than willing to share information with us, a very philanthropic guy, UM that that generally is passionate, wants to make the world a better place, wants to help wildlife and uh. And that was really refreshing. And that opened Randy and eyes eyes to a lot of things about one percent for the Planet and the organization that we didn't we didn't realize that we didn't know UM. And it turns out in hindsight looking back, that that was a very helpful conversation and that got us down down a path where where we truly started working our organization and framing it around the same kind of template and business model at one percent for the Planet has and we actually started with the working name of the organization as one percent for Conservation, which which we can get into two because as you noticed now our name is different twice as good, twice as good, right, and that and that and that became that came out of a lot of feedback that we had, so we we've really started building the organization one percent for Conservation. You know, worked with a good buddy of mine, Brent, who is on on the board. UM he's a c p A here in town. I you know, I started doing my normal Google research. I feel like I'm a Google expert. Right, you can learn a lot from Google, but I don't know if it's always the best resource. But but we needed to get five one C three status from my RS to start a nonprofit. Right that that's kind of like, you know, if you're doing a profitable business, you have to incorporate it. You're starting nonprofit, you gotta do. You have to get a termination from IRS that you're a legitimate five one C three and and uh and I was like, I could do this, you know, it's probably just a form that you had to fill out. Well, it turns out it's a lot more work than that. Uh So I recruited my buddy Brent, who who I met from sitting on the local board of a Mule Deer Foundation chapter here in Bozeman. He's the treasurer for that. And I said, hey, man, any chance you want to help me figure out how to do this? And there's my idea. And and I looked at the five O one C three form and it's it's giant, and it's daunting, and I have no clue or to start and uh, and he said yeah, and he essentially did the you know, help volunteers time to go through the process and do that. And so that was a big step. And then after then, after that, it's an eight hundred dollar fee to file that. I was kind of committed and they'll do it right, And so I took, you know, eight hundred dollars out of my savings, which which my wife wasn't super stoked on, but she had faith in me. And then you know, from then on I had skin in the game at least to keep it going. Yeah. Bet, so maybe we should we should. I've been kind of building the suspense here. We haven't really said too much in detail about what two percent for Conservation is is exactly doing You've we've kind of alluded to a little bit talking about one percent for the planet. But but now you've got this new name two percent for Conservation, which if you want to elaborate again, why you change the name, you can, But I also would be curious just to start hearing a little bit more. Okay, so what what did you end up finally finally settling on as to what this group is going to do? Yeah? So, um so, to twofold, right, So the problems and the issues that came out of that white tail someone at qt m A were we're kind of twofold. In my mind it was it was one, how do we help fund in geos? NGOs is an acronym for non governmental organizations, which which are all your kind of five one C three C four conservation groups. So, um, they're not your state. So there's there's kind of two different avenues and wildlife conservation. Right. There's your state and federal agencies, right, the department official game for each state, and then there's the Elk Foundations of the world and the New Oldier Foundations and q d A s and the world who are who are non governmental organizations? Right? And so what we came out of that was, Okay, how do we help get more money to those organizations? Um? And then in my mind secondary it was, and this kind of comes from my experience at SICCA and also my affinity as a consumer for certain hunting brands, is how do we provide recognition for businesses who are committed to giving back to conservation? Right? Um? Because I truly believe there's value there, there's value for brand to market that and there's there's consumers who do appreciate that like I would. I would totally rather buy products from companies who are philosophically aligned with with my beliefs and supporting conservation than ones who are. UM. So that was kind of the big takeaways of what we're gonna do. And and you know, one percent for the planet. Their model did that very well. Um. And when I started talking about how this would fit into the hunting and fishing world, um, it made a lot of sense. And that a business would be certified by our organization two percent of a conservation that they do meet certain criteria. Uh. And with with that certification, then they could use the logo the two percent of the conservational logo on their products to promote their commitment to conservation to two consumers. So at the highest level, that's kind of what we do as an organization is certify that businesses do meet criteria that we define of giving back to conservation. Okay, and so taking a step back your your template, your inspiration for this was one percent for the planet, and you might have mentioned this If I missed, I apologize, but just to clarify what they do the way that they qualify the brands that are part of one percent for the planet, is that that company is to donate. Increpit my if I'm wrong, but it's one percent of revenue or rump center that it's one percent of sales or gross revenue, however you want to define it. But it's your top line revenue, you know, so as your as your businesses tax or turn you gotta report revenue income. It's one percent of that. So it's gross gross sales. Okay. So a company donates one percent of gross sales to certified NGOs that support the environment of the planet or whatever, and then they can get stamped with a one percent for the Planet kind of brand and and they qualify and hey, these you know that organization is qualified as yes, they really are doing positive things for for the Earth, et cetera. So then exactly, so then you guys, you took this idea and so that makes less sense. But you know, how can we make it better? How can we apply it to the hunting and fishing world? So how did you do that? Jeff? Yeah, So so that's right. So one of the through my conversations and learnings with with a bunch of different people organizations. The thing that came up beyond money, right, so you're one person of sales is essentially money that's going to go help fund these these conservation groups. UM. I heard feedback that arguably time was more valuable for conservation groups than money. Right Now, some people might debate that, but the fact is time and money are the two most important things that conservation groups need to be successful in achieving their mission work. Right, they need volunteers. Conservation isn't just a concept, right, Conservation is is actually doing on the groundwork, be it with wildlife and poor habitat or or both. Right. So, so yes, you need you need money to help fund that work, but you need volunteers to to actually do the work. Um. And that is where our second one percent comes from, and kind of the slow aget that with branded our name, our naming convention as as we mentioned, is two percent for conservation, and that is defined by committing to give back one percent of your time plus one percent of your money. Is it equals two percent for conservation. So that's that's kind of how we've evolved that model and that foundation that one percent for the planet built, and we believe that makes the model even more impactful and stronger for fish and wildlife conservation groups. Yeah. Absolutely, And I love the idea. When I first heard about this, I I like, I genuinely got like physically excited, Like I was like, Yes, I was like, this is a great idea. This makes all the sense in the world because because there are you know, there are so many hunters and anglers out there who care about this type of thing. And I think that there are many companies that care about this type of thing. But to your point, I'm not sure all those companies that are actually doing good things are being recognized. And I'm not sure if maybe there are some companies out there that aren't doing things that need a little bit of additional incentive maybe to push them in the right direction. This seems to do both of those things, UM in a really positive way. So can you can we start diving into the details here? Can you tell me for businesses? First off, how exactly do they get involved and what does this mean for them? Yeah? Of course, so so businesses, Uh, they have to meet the minimum criteria, right, and that criteria is is defined by UM. What I think we've done a pretty good job of saying is one percent of your sales. So if you give back one person of your sales to conservation groups, that's one half of the criteria. Now there's a lot of questions I've arisen from that, So what do you What is defines giving back and what defines conservation groups are the two the two most needed clarification points. So giving back is is we define it as if your business is foregoing proceeds for that conservation group's mission work. Right, and it is the easiest way to look at at the highest level, so that could be product donations. Right. So a lot of these groups, their traditional funding mechanism is is the banquets that we are all familiar with of going to to the local or regional uh Mulear Foundation banquet and they have a bunch of products for sale. Well, that product comes from somewhere, right, It comes from these businesses that either donated or sell it at a lower costs so the conservation group can resell it and raise funds. So those proceeds for gone from that for your business, that that counts as a contribution and conservation those are hugely important and critical to the fundraising of conservation groups. Um. Other things that count are are obviously direct donations. But but things that are often overlooked or our sponsorships and advertisements with conservation groups. So so how conservation groups have evolved over the years to raise funds or to offer corporate sponsorships. So so x business wants to work with with this etain with q d M A. Well, q d M A will say, hey, yeah, this is great you. We'll do a sponsorship package with you where we will give you a print at in our magazine, We'll do an email blast, We'll we'll try to help promote your brand as much as we can. Well that that's a contribution to conservation too. Even though it's a marketing investment for your brand, that's important for conservation groups and necessary funds for them to achieve their mission. Other things are exhibiting at a at a conservation groups trade show. Right trade shows are consumers shows for some conservation groups or are some of the biggest fundraising events. Um. One that comes to mind that that we have stick exhibit out every year as the wild Sheet Foundation. They have a show and reno every year and they have everything you know, businesses, brands, outfitters, but a bunch of vendors, but that is a huge fundraising mechanism for them, so committing to go to that show as a business to work with them as a contribution to help them raise funds. So so collectively, when you start to look at all the different things you do as a business, it's it becomes, uh, it's an interesting exercise and there's a lot of opportunity for you to promote your brand through your contributions, which is a huge advantage that that I think we as hunting and fishing industry have over over you know, one percent for the planet and they're try to get demographic. So so that's one one. That's the first part of it. You have to prove that your company gives back one percent of sales. And then the second part of it is one percent of time. And we based that off of uh, you know, there's there's roughly two thousand and eighty work hours in the year, so one percent of that is it is approximately twenty one hours. And it's collectively as a business, whether you have one employee or whether you have a hundred employees, collectively does year does year business give back twenty one hours of volunteer time? And why this is so important outside of outside of the need of of conservation group to have more volunteers and more man hours, but it gets those businesses involved, right. So I don't think it's appropriate to say it's easy to write a check, but arguably any business can just write a check, and that isn't as impactful as saying, hey, not only do we write a check, but we're going out and we're getting involved and we're doing a river cleanup project, or we're you know, we're doing a finch removal project, or we're doing whatever that is. We're doing more than just writing a check, and we're showing our commitment is deeper than that and we're passionate enough to go out and get our hands dirty for for the conservation cause as well. What I love about this is that, yeah, let's say twenty one hours, that can make a big difference. But let's say you get someone out there maybe in the past hasn't been willing to get their their hands dirty or do something like that. I think just by getting giving people a little incentive to get out and do some of these things a little bit more, there seems to be like an exponential factor of growth beyond them, like a ripple effect where that person realized, hey, this didn't make an impact, this is a great thing I can get involved in, and that person influences their network, who influences their network. And I feel like, if you know, more and more companies get involved in things like this, the effect that can have is is pretty profound, I feel like, and it's something that again, like you said, money is of course important, but it takes boots on the ground, it takes action, it takes time and energy, and this is a pretty cool way of helping people get that extra nudge that yes, this is a great thing and it can it can benefit all of us the wildlife habitat and then also your business in a way too. Yeah, exactly, And I think I think you can make a good point there. I hope that and time will tell us as we get this organization going and we learned. But I hope that twenty one hours, once businesses commit to that, I think, and I hope what they'll find is they're good, They're actually volunteered much more than that, um uh, not even just the ripple effect, but but just beyond that, you know, yeah, I kind of wish you could have a higher our count just because twenty one hour seems so achievable, but at the same time it's it makes a lot of sense. It helps people, It feels achievable so that people want to get involved. And I think once you get that foot in the door, I think I'm guessing that you will have a lot of organizations and people involved in those organizations who get started and then who just want to do more. So I think that'll be that'll be great. And I guess I want to I want to emphasize again, in order for this, at least this is my assumption. You tell me if I'm wrong, But in order for this to work right, if if we say, if we tell explain to a business, hey, if you do this and this, you know we're going to help you better demonstrate to your consumers into people out there that you are giving back to conservation, that you do care about these greater things. But the most important onus really is on us as the consumers, because we need to prove. We need to prove this out right by saying we the buyers of products, we do care if X company is actually working to a larger positive, a larger good. We do care if WHY company is given back their time and money. And the way we do that is by telling them but then also most importantly telling them whether our wallets right, we actually need to use this as a part of our consumer choice. Yeah, that that's exactly right. That this model is completely reliant on us as sportsmen and women demanding that that businesses are involved. Right. And we do that by by getting active on social media, by talking about conservation, by showing our appreciation for it. But but yes, by then purchasing products from companies who do give back to conservation. And that's that's the that's what makes the circle go go around. Um. And you can feel good as a consumer by doing that because you go out and buy a new bow next year. If if you buy a boat from a company that's a member of two percent for conservation, you know, you know that that a portion of that sale of what that check you're right into the boat shop is is going back um to a conservation costs. Yeah. I almost feel like, you know, once it's and I hope and I feel confident that a will once it gains steam and more and more companies you know, get involved, I hope this becomes just a plan out pre wreck. Like if you want to be involved in the outdoor hunting and fishing industry, you just have to be part of two percent for Conservation because hunters and anglers demand that the companies that produce their gear also are doing larger positive things to make sure that we can hunt and fish and have wildlife and wild places in the future. I think us as individuals we need to be doing that too, and I think we should we should expect the same thing from the companies that are that are profiting from it too. And and and then by saying that, I'm including myself in that too, Right, I run a business in the hunting and fishing world. I too feel like my business and myself should be held to those kinds of standards. And I love the fact that two percent for Conservation is a way to do that in a positive way. Yeah, And I think, yeah, I totally agree, and I think that's a great and I do want to point out um to that point, and especially because I used an archery company as an example, is is we have a history of doing this as as sportsman right. The Pittman Robertson Act, which was voted in by Sportsman and written up by Sportsman seven is is exactly that, and on a much higher scale where I think now it's eleven percent of guns, ammunition, archery and archery equipment sales go back to funding state fish and wildlife agencies. So so that model exists, that model is successful, and it's already embraced by consumers, sportsman and by by businesses. So you know, to give archery companies credit even if they're not members of two percent for Conservation, they are already the ones responsible uh for for funding our state and fish and wildlife agencies. Right, um, so so that's really important. I think what's cool about the two percent for Conservation model is is it takes that same him uh standard and stay in philosophy and it helps us raise money for the ngeos. So whereas the Pittman Robertson Act is strictly focused on on state and federal wildlife management, this is this is a way for businesses one to to do a similar thing but help ngeos. And then to the cool thing about this model is, as a business, do you have the choice to invest and contribute your money to whoever you want? Where the Pittman Robertson Act goes into a fund that is then dispersed by the government and you, as you know Matthew's archery when you write that Pittman Robertson check, you don't necessarily have a say and where it goes. Um, nor does it necessarily help you build your brand through through two percent from conservation. You can invest it in marketing opportunities with specifically conservation groups that you are passionate about. So so there's some cool, cool spinds on it from that spit standpoint. Yeah, definitely. Now, if I own a business right now and I'm listening to this, what do I do to get my business involved? So? Uh So, our our website is Fish and Wildlife dot org. So the easiest way to get in contact with us is to go to our website. We have a lot of information that that you know is specifically about the things we've been discussing on this on this podcast. Um, but you need to get a hold of us and we uh, we need to go through the certification process. And the certification process is so important to to our model because uploads upholds the integrity of what we're doing. UM, that we need to we need to have a serious conversation and I'll look at who you've contributed to what those contributions are, what they add up to to make sure they truly are one percent of your sales. And then and then look at your volunteer time and what you're doing. Uh, and it makes sure that there's twenty one hours there. And then I guess the caveat that we obviously have mentioned we as an organization need funding as well. That's how that's how it works and uh. And so then there's a there's a membership fee, right, so you get certified and then you pay an annual membership feed. The membership fee is what we run the overhead for a two per cent conservation and that that's essentially your licensing fee to then be a certified member, and then you're able to use the two percent of conservation will ago to help promote your commitment back. Awesome. Now as I understand it, there's actually a component to this those relevant not just to businesses but also individuals, which is a pretty unique thing. Can you can you tell us more about that? Yeah, for sure, so that there definitely is exactly correct and it's it was one h This component of what we've built into organization came from direct feedback from from Craig Matthews with one percent for the plant. This is one of those little nuggets and information that we got that was I was super helpful and informative. And the question I asked him, one of the questions I asked him was okay, this I mean, you know, at the time, my mind was blowing. I was like, this is amazing. But if you could have done something different, what would it have been? And he said that we would have built in our structured a way for individuals to be involved. And what they had learned UM from hearsay right, So obviously hearsay, But what I understand they learned is that as they built this brand, consumers and individuals who weren't necessarily affiliated with with any business were so passionate about what they were trying to do as an organization about one percent of the planet that they just wanted to be involved. They wanted to help, they wanted to know what they can do, and they didn't really have a mechanism for him to do that. UM. So so I took that to heart and we brainstormed a bunch of different ideas in ways that we felt UM would be relevant to hunting and fishing conservation. What we were trying to do and and what kept coming up to the surface was well, there's a ton of people out there that meet our criteria that that volunteer time and contribute money to conservation causes, just the way we are asking businesses to do. Uh. And then likewise, there are a ton of people who don't. So how how can we one do the same thing, recognize the people that do, and to encourage other people who aren't necessarily involved, who are at that stage in a hunting fishing career where they aren't where you and I are, like we discussed too ready to give back? How do we encourage them and give them an opportunity to do so. So, so what we've done is kind of created this individual certification process where if you are if you are an individual who gives back one percent of your time saying twenty one hours and one person your income whether you make you know, twenty grand year or a hundred and fifty grand year or whatever it is, if you're if you meet those criteria, then in our mind, you are a true conservationist and you deserve recognition for that, and we want we want to help remote uh you for what you've done and and help you know, leverage that to get more people involved. So similar process than two if you do those things that there's a way on the website to start a certification process is yeah. So so we're doing. The certification process for individuals is a little a little different. It's not as as stricter as stringent. It's more on the honor system of of yes I do do this, or or no I don't do this, or yes I I want to and we'll commit to doing this. Um and it's free. It's not a membership thing. It doesn't necessarily you're not You don't become a member per se to presently conservation. But it's a way for you, uh, to to certify that. Yeah. Yeah, I am. I do give back. I am you know, certified conservationist. I'm doing more than just buying my tags and licenses every year. I'm volunteering for the local chapter of d you and I am renewing my memberships to all these different organizations every year. And uh and I'm supporting conservation personally. Um so, so there's no cost, it's free to get certified. We send you a free sticker that that I hope is something that people will be proud to put on their their trucks and their coolers or whatever. Uh. And then you know, as we evolve and get more business members, um, I really hope and envision an opportunity to to do you know, giveaways and promotions and discounts and incentives for these people as as a thank you for for what they've done and they're given back. So one of them that I'm working with sick right now, is can we give away a set of sick of year or two all of our individually certified members, you know, as as a hey, thank you for doing what you do. Here's a cool there's a cool little promotion. So I think we have a lot of opportunity and things we could do with it as we evolve and grow and learn. Um. But but just since we turned the website on live and we kind of launched less than a month ago, now, I've been super excited with how many how many people have come to our website and gotten certified as as true conservations. That's awesome. Well, I would definitely encourage anyone listening right now to go do that. If you if you think you already do qualify, go ahead and make sure submit and and do that. But if if you don't quite qualify yet, here's your little nudge to to make it happen. I personally need to do a little better job on my time, So I'm going to make sure I get that full twenty one hours. And I'm excited to be certified from a two percent for conservation standpoint. And uh yeah, I think it's I think it's a super cool idea to have this individual option, um, just to get both businesses and individuals involved and thinking about this kind of thing. It just has a lot of a lot of positive ramifications. Now, this is something I was thinking about as you mentioned, it's going back to the business side. How you know what happens? Now? How do you get businesses involved in this? I mean, is it a point where you guys are reaching out and trying to talk to a lot of companies saying, hey, is something you should be involved in? Or is this something that's kind of dependent on us as consumers going out and talking to our company, to our favorite brands and saying, hey, you gotta do this. You know, how does this happen? Yeah? You know that's this is where the rubber meets the road, right, all the work, all the work is now we Um, we're doing a little bit of all that so but but primarily yes, proactively reaching out to two businesses and showing them and explaining to them to what the model is and and our strategy and our standpoint out of the gate is. Okay, Let's let's look at all the companies who are who we believe are already meeting this criteria. And there's a lot of them, right, There are a lot of companies who give back probably more than one percent of their time and their money. Um. So let's let's approach those companies first and have a conversation about Hey, man, I think this will help you get get recognition for what you're doing. And you you don't really have to change. You don't have to do anything different. You're not to rage or realign your investment strategy and your marketing strategy. You're already meeting the criteria. This is just a multiplier effect to help leverage that commitment more so, I'm hoping we can knock down some dominoes quickly with that. But um, and that's gonna be very valuable. But the real win then, I think will come when companies who aren't necessarily meeting the criteria, who aren't giving back. When now start to see that value build with those brands, that's that's when we will get you know, incremental dollars to conservation once those companies start having those conversations internally of of hey, look at look at what you know, such and such brand is done with becoming a member of two percent for conservation. You know, we we really want to be involved. We want to be part of that. You know, we need to step up and give more to conservation and get more involved. That's what That's what excites me and when our model will really be impacting conservation, because then then you're getting increminal dollars in you know and growing the pie um. So yeah, so that's kind of what we're doing. We're reaching out the businesses. We've had some awesome conversations already out of the gate um. Personally for me because because I work at SIA and and because SICK has been so helpful and getting this thing off the ground, I really want to get a clothing company on board right away because I want I want to show the world that and I think it will make a strong message to two hunters everywhere and two fishermen everywhere. That that, yeah, businesses compete in the marketplace for the products they sell, but but there's certain issues like conservation where we aren't competitors, where we're on the same team and we work together on things. So so for me, um, it's it's going to be really important. I think that it will make a strong statement to the whole industry that yes, you know, these two brands compete and healthily, and they should try to compete with selling the products and market but hey, look we're on the same team for this. We're both members of two percent for Conservation. We both believe in this cause and are given back. Yeah. Well, I can think of some companies like that that I sure would think would want to and I would hope would want to be involved in something like this. In addition to what's what sounds like some terrific support from SIKA, which I'm excited to hear about. Um, so, what what can we do us listening right now? What can we do to help move this cause forward? Well, um, it's a great question. I have so many different ideas. That is, I'm trying to quickly prioritize you thinking in my mind what would be most impactful. But you know, we're going to leverage part of our campaign as supercent for Conservation. What what we use are the money that we get for overhead for outside of administration stuff is is to build value and to to get to reach customers consumers. Um we as you used it, uh, to understand more about our model what we're doing, because we need customers to value value this and that in turn is what it's going to build the value for business members. If no, if no consumers recognize our logo, then it doesn't necessarily do a business any good to put it on their packaging and their hand tag. If if customers don't, you don't understand the philosophy of what we're trying to achieve and impact that that being a member of super Central Conservation has, then then the value is not there for businesses. So so we need help. We're gonna leverage social media a lot because of the low investments and we are a pretty lean and frugal organization at this point, so we could use some help, uh, you know, sharing our mission on social media and getting the word out there. The more impressions, the more eyes we can get on our mission and our logo that that's gonna be really important in the next twelve months. Uh and then and then we could use encouragement of the businesses that that you support and appreciate that you think things should be members. We want you to to tell if your favorite gun company is Kimber, or your favorite clothing company is First Light, or your favorite bow companies Matthews, whatever it is, it doesn't matter. If we want you to tell your your brands how important conservation is to you as a customer and that you value their commitment and you want them to be involved. Yeah, I want to I want to make a I want to make a request. I don't ask a whole lot, but I'm gonna ask something of everybody listening right now. And I say this, and I don't take this lightly because I don't want to bother people with requests like this too often, but because I think this is so important, I want to ask every single one of you. There's thousands and thousands and thousands of you out there listening right now. I want each of you please think of at least one of your favorite companies. Just pick one to start. At least one of your favorite companies and email them within the next two days about two percent for conservation. And if every one of the you know, fifteen thousand of US emails one company today or tomorrow and says hey, I think you should be involved to present for observation, that could make a huge difference. Can you imagine if even just a hundred companies out of that of the fifteen emails or whatever, if just a hundred of those companies actually decide to take action on this and give back one percent of the revenue in time, what kind of difference that can make for deer and elk and sheep and ducks in wild places and public plans. I mean, that can make a huge difference. So this is my my request, my call to action. All of you you right now, you're listening, make one email today or tomorrow. Please do that. And I think you could make a big difference just with a simple email. Jeff, don't you think that'd be a pretty good thing for each one of these people to do. I love it, man, I love it. I think that. Uh, that's awesome. That's what That's what we need. We need. We need companies to start hearing from consumers demanding that they get back and get involved. Yeah, well, I can tell you. I'm going to email every one of our Wired hunt partners tomorrow and give them a little information about two percent and encourage them to get involved. And hopefully we can start there and keep on spreading the good word because I think this is a very positive, positive thing for for the future of hunting fishing, to be honest. So I'm curious, Jeff, what's what's your vision for this five years, ten years down the road from today. What's it look like? Oh? Man, Um, that's that's fun for me to think about. And uh, you know, I hope so for a benchmark, um, And don't quote me on these numbers, but they're gonna be close. But one percent for the planet as a benchmark has over two thousand member businesses, and through those businesses and their ten years or twelve years of existence, their claim is that they've funneled over a hundred million dollars to environmental causes, which which think about that for a minute. That's that's awesome, staggering, that's huge. Um, Now, what can we do? I think I think and this may be it may sound a little pompous of me, but I think as sportsmen and sportswomen. What I've learned working on the hunting industry for for the last seven years is there there isn't very any many more niche demo graphics that are more passionate than than hunters and fishermen. Uh. And that makes me really excited to think about because I feel like we we can make we can achieve those similar metrics. Right. Um I think there's there's a huge opportunity for for what we can do in hunting and fishing. We have a history hunter and fishermen have a history of of taking things next level, owning them and really making a huge impact. Um. So, So I think you know, when not too long ago, maybe Sick said man, I'd be stoked to get out of the first twelve months, uh, twenty member businesses in the first year and uh and I think I said, a hundred and fifty individual certifications or something and uh and I think we've blow that out of water now, just after having having launched for for three weeks now in the response we've dot so I'd like to achieve that first. If we can get twenty member businesses in the first year, I'd be stoked. But but I'm I think we could kill that and throw and blow that out of water, and in five years, hopefully, five ten years, hopefully we're having conversations like like one percent of the planets having now where where we've just had a major impact on conservation. Yeah, that's that's awesome. How do you feel? How does this make you feel? You had this idea, you actually took action on it, and now you're sitting here talking about this organization that's launched and that's actually starting to do something that could be really huge and impactful. While what does it feel like to be saying these words now that it's actually real. Well, I'm stoked for the opportunity and to be in the place where we can be talking about it because there's been there's been two years of just behind the scenes work and so the fun you know, this is the fun part to me now to to actually get it out and get the word out there and promote it. But be completely honest, I don't have a lot of confidence yet, just because that's my nature. I know we have a strong model, I know there's everything, all the pieces that are there to make it successful, but but there's a lot of work to do. Man, we got we have a lot of work to do to make it so we can actually say this has been this has been successful. But but I feel super excited and to be at this point now, uh, talking to to you and getting the word out to the world about what we're trying to do, because it's it's been a long road coming of of just kind of behind the scenes stuff getting our ducks in a row. Yeah, I cannot imagine all the work that's taken to get to this point and and how much more there is to go too. But it's, uh, it's inspiring to me to hear someone like you um to go out and do something like this. It's it's encouraging, and it's it's great to know that there are people out there who care as much as you do and who are willing to invest with so much of their time and energy into And I know there's a lot of people other than you're doing doing similar things. And I think the more we can grow that that family people that care enough to give back, I think it's just going to continue to be continue to be incredibly important and fruitful. So for people out there that have have wanted to get involved in one way, or another with some kind of organization that want to get back or want maybe they've had an idea for their own organization, or they wanted to get involved with their whatever another organization out there. Do you have any advice for people out there that I feel like they have this calling to give back because of how much hunting or fishing is given to them. What what would you tell people out there? Yeah? I mean, just do it, um, don't. Don't be afraid to fail, don't be afraid to try things. Um. Uh. You know, if if you truly specifically like this situation, have an idea of an organization or a cause or an event or anything that you think to make an impact, you know, consult with with people you respect and that are knowledgeable and and and try it make it happen. Um. You know, don't don't, don't be afraid just to get your toes in the water and dive in and do it. Um. When it comes to specific volunteerism, you know, one thing that has been a surprise to me over the last the last couple of weeks of getting this thing off the ground is how many people have emailed about our individual certifications saying uh man I am a member of all these different organizations super passionate conservation. But in my particular area, I just don't necessarily I don't know of any volunteer opportunities UM and a lot. And most of these people have come from there there they live in the Midwest or the East Coast. I think we're fortunate. We take it for granted out west, where there's so much public land and so much wildlife that that's just more abundant to have volunteer opportunities. So I guess where I'm going with that is is if you live in one of those areas and you do know of volunteer opportunities, UM, spread the word and get the word out there. Because I don't have an answer to that. That's been one of the surprises to me. The questions have come up. People have emailed saying, how do you know what can I do to get involved? And I'm like, shoot, man, I I don't know if anything in Wisconsin any volunteer oportunities. Let me, I mean ask my resources to try to figure out or find out what I can do. But but UM, but try to network with with people that are like minded like you and and help help facilitate, you know, getting people involved that are ready to do it but don't know how awesome advice. And I think you make a great point. There probably are a lot of people out there who who want to do something but don't necessarily know where the options are. So to your point, you know, work with your network, ask around. There probably are a lot more opportunities than we know about. They're just not well marketed I suppose and put out there. So if you do know, yeah, that's that's a great point. Great point. So, man, this is uh, this is exciting stuff, Jeff. And as excited as I am, I know you are probably equally excited and terrified for your coming trip to Alaska chasing coastal brown bears, and I should let you go and prepare for that. So so, Jeff, thank you so much for for a you know, putting your time, energy and money into into doing something like this, and then secondly, thank you for taking the time to chat with us about it and UH and spread the word. Yeah, thank thank you very much for for the opportunity to UH to get the word out there through your platforms. Man, I really appreciate it. I appreciate your sport. I think. Uh, I think your idea and and your call out to get people to email the companies that that they care about. I think that's awesome. I hope, I hope all you listening do do that. Yes, absolutely, again, every one of you please email at least one company, just one with a link to two percent for Conservation and tell them that you think this is something they should get involved in and why it matters to you. And Jeff, what's that you are all again? Uh? It is Fish and Wildlife dot org. Perfect and they can find you, I imagine on Facebook as well. Up Facebook is uh yeah, this two percent for conservation. Instagram is we don't have a lot on there yet, but we're gonna get moving on an Instagram strategy and that will be two percent for conservation as well. But yeah, the website is the best resource now and that's Fish and Wildlife dot org awesome. We will have a link to that on weird hunt as well. And Jeff, I guess until next time. We'll check back in a few years and hopefully we'll have some great success stories to tell us about the great things that the organizations participating in two Percent for Conservation have been able to do. And hopefully I'll have a great bear hunting story to share too. Heck yeah, man, I hope so. I appreciate Mark. Thank you very much. All Right, you're welcome. Have a good one, Jeff, talk to you later. So awesome stuff there, don't you think. As you could probably tell, I'm very excited about two percent and the impact I think it can have in the future, and I hope you are too. That said, a few things before we wrap things up. First off, last week we announced a special giveaway in celebration of our one hundred episode, and today, right now, we're going to announce the winners. So our first prize coming from sick Gear, who was giving away a full early season system that includes an Equinox jack and pant, their core lightweight longsleeve and bottom, and their hangar gloves and a ball cap. I believe the winner of the sick of Gear early season system is Brian Do Close. Brian Do Close, you are the big winner. Congrats man. Next, we have a prize package from Osonics, who's giving away one of their new dry washbags and their kinetic backpack. Too awesome accessors there for your ozonics machine. The winner of that is Dan Spano, Dan Spano or Spano you are the winner of the Ozonics prize package. Next, we've got a fifty dollar gift card and T shirt from Huntera Maps. The winner of that is West Cisco. West Cisco, You've won the Hunter A gift card and T shirt. And finally, Carbon Express is giving away a package of their Maxima Red Arrows and the winner of that is Greg Chris Chris Staffel, Greg Kristoffel, you are the winner of the Carbon Express Maxima Red Arrows. I will reach out to all of you guys via Facebook and connect with you to make sure you can get those prizes right away. Thanks for participating, and thank you to all of you who went out there and commented and shared on our one hundred episode on Facebook. I hope you enjoyed that episode and we certainly appreciate you tuning in for it. So without taking care of we do now also need to thank our partners who helped make this podcast possible so big thanks to sick A Gear, Trophy, Ridge Bear Archery, Redneck Blinds On, Tara Maps, Osonics, Carbon Express, Maven Optics, and the White Tail Institute of North America. And finally, thank you all for joining US. I hope you were inspired by today's conversation and don't forget to send that email to your favorite company. About two percent for conservation, and finally, until next time, stay wired to hunt m

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