MEET THE HUNT 41
TEAM
HUNTS / RESEARCH
TONY SMITH
I started waterfowl hunting at the age of 12, although my first hunt didn’t produce any birds I was hooked to everything and anything waterfowl related. I was lucky enough to have a mentor who took me hunting on a consistent basis in my early years, something I will never forget and always appreciate and encourage others to do. I was strictly a puddle duck hunter until I stumbled upon an area filled with divers the first year I hunted on my own. That season I was called a “diver freak” by my hunting buddies, a name that has stuck with me for the last 25 years. My passion for chasing divers has taken me to all 4 flyways, original owner of Lake Bonneville Layout Boats, writing for Wildfowl Magazine, guiding in Alaska, and lifelong friendships with people who share the same passion. Although I have hunted waterfowl for 33 seasons, there is still a lot to learn, share, teach and birds that need to be crossed off the list. I am Tony Smith and I am a Diverfreak!
BRAND / CONTENT
BEN POTTER
My first duck hunts was at the age of 3 in Northern California. My dad pulled me out in a small sled with the dog walking in the water next to me as we floated into a tulle patch. Not sure why I got bit by the bug. Duck hunting is cold, wet, early, and sometimes flat miserable, but I’ll never forget that foggy day in Nor Cal. Somewhere along the way I have made a bit of living on capturing my greatest passion in the outdoors via Cana outdoors. Capturing films and photos that do creative justice to the incredible beauty of the outdoors is an incredible gift and I look forward to creating in the years to come.
PUBLIC RELATIONS
TYLER HILLS
I’m a Utah native that grew up hunting everything. I’m a true outdoorsman. Any activity that gets my family outside, we are there - whether it’s being on horse back and chasing down elk or slow cruising roads looking for mule deer in the UTV. Six years ago my world got flipped upside down when my best friend Brady Davis introduced me to the chase of waterfowl hunting. Since that day in the marsh and taking a drake pintail I was hooked. The idea of completing the prestigious Slam started as a bucket list for me about 3 years ago. Researching and planning this out has become some what of an obsession since.
MARKETING
LUKE CLARK
I grew up chasing waterfowl in Central Illinois where local Canada Geese and stubborn wintering Mallards were almost always on my radar. I've been fortunate enough to have been able to explore beyond the boundaries of Illinois, guiding snow goose hunts in Missouri, freelancing in Saskatchewan all the way to hunting mallards in lessors in Eastern Washington. One thing I can say about my time spent hunting is that I have developed some of the best relationships out of it. If it wasn't for waterfowling, I wouldn't be friends with, or even know some of my closest buddies. This sport isn't entirely about the ducks... It's about the relationships built in-between.
FILM
DAWSON LEAKE
A lot of people with the same insane itch for waterfowl I have started at a young age. I did not. I didn’t go on my first waterfowl hunt until the age of 16. My buddy Ryan Hisky let me tag along to a WMA in West Tennessee chasing Wood Ducks and Mallards and my life was changed. I spent the next season going as much as buddies would let me, without even having a gun until I saved up for one. Since then Ryan, other buddies and I have spent pretty much all of our winters in Arkansas public lands searching for rafts of Mallards in flooded trees. Even to this day I don’t really have to be holding the gun out there. I spent a lot of mornings filming buddies and taking photos of things I thought were unique and had stories. Somehow it’s turned into my career. It’s been 10 years since that itch started and I don’t see an end to my itch anytime soon.
ABOUT
The passion behind Hunt 41 comes from this team of everyday hunters. There is nothing pro-staff about us. We all hail from different parts of the country, various years of experience, and backgrounds in waterfowl, but we have come together devoted to telling the American waterfowl story.
The Hunt 41 site will be a place for fowlers to come together to further their hunting goals and connect with the greater waterfowl community.
We are here to build a community and need your help to do it.
Partners
We can always do better for the name of hunters. Especially waterfowl hunters. H41 is here to celebrate the rich culture of duck and goose hunters across the nation.
From that goal we are hoping the nations’ waterfowlers will help highlight to us the folks that have a story to contribute to this goal. We invite all of our viewers to help contribute to this project from simply spreading the word, pointing us to a story worth telling, or even hosting us to for an episode.
We are excited to build this movement made up of waterfowlers that are defined by the passion we all share for ducks and geese.
WHY
Because Waterfowlers everywhere deserve better. This is a rich heritage represented in every state and region of this great nation. We are here to celebrate it all. The 41 species are the road map for us to tell this story and unite waterfowlers from across the country .
Thank you for joining us on this journey!
CONTACTS
Let’s have a discussion on how the story of American Waterfowl can be told.
We look forward to continuing this journey with you.
#Hunt41