Hi Product Hunt, founder of Outpost here. As some background, I'm a web developer living in NYC and grew up about as far from hunting as you can. I'd always eaten meat though, and had always been nagged by guilt at having no connection to where that meat was coming from.
I got into hunting as a way to get in touch with (and take ownership of) the sources of the meat I ate. That was with a lot of help from a friend who's an avid hunter, and I quickly discovered how hard it is to learn! If a beginner didn't grow up hunting and doesn't have a mentor, there's basically no realistic way to get started. And surprisingly, experts have huge problems finding hunting opportunities too.
So Outpost is about solving those problems. And it's really important to us to approach hunting from the right perspective. There are obviously a lot of negative stereotypes, and the industry itself is actually responsible for many of them. So it's at the core of what we're doing to promote hunting responsibly, ethically, and with a spirit of connection to nature. It's still not going to be for everybody, but we do aim at the very least for an interesting conversation!
Looking forward to talking with you here about it!
@kareems this is really great! If you ever need some help when/if you expand I live here in Iowa with tons of connections with individuals involved with hunting. Waterfowl, deer, pheasant, etc with lots working for companies directly tied to the industry.
Being from rural Iowa it is a safe bet to assume I grew up hunting. First with my family where I learned the value that nature provides and that hunting is about respecting that. (of course there are always those bad apples in every group and I knew some that got arrested). When I became old enough and in high school we would frequently hunt prior to school starting and dress the game and that is what we would eat for lunch (School lunches sucked). In the winter months we would trap using money from the fur to go towards various things.
Also being involved with production agriculture I want more people to be aware about their food.
The disconnect between the meat you eat and how it came to be on your plate is startling. It's very easy to distance ourselves from killing when all we see is a delicious rib eye. I've never really thought about it. Raising awareness and access to hunting causes us all to consider our place in the food chain. Perhaps it will cause more people to hunt? Perhaps it will cause more people to become vegetarian/vegan. That's their perogative. By causing more more people to consider their choice to eat meat I think Outpost is shedding light on an important topic. Kudos. P.s. Salad for me tonight ;)
@stephentracy thanks! Makes a lot of sense. And interesting point about vegetarianism. I think hunters and vegetarians actually have a lot more in common with each other than most people realize. Two groups who've thought critically about their food and go to a lot of trouble to act on those thoughts. Lots of common ground there.
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Great idea and very well executed. Where do you find the hunts? Will land owners have the ability to list their own hunts (kind of like a marketplace)? Or will it strictly be curated hunts from the team at Outpost?
@parkeragee thanks! For the launch group, I narrowed down a list of some of the top-rated outfitters in California. Aimed for a good variety of prices, locations, animals, and difficulty levels.
Don't want to spill any beans too early, so I'll just say that your idea sounds interesting and there's some great stuff in the pipeline 😉
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Wow. I live in a really small country without the possibility it of self sustaining by hunting the meat I eat, but this is really one of my most important life goals. It's a perfect world view to build a community around - hunting as a way to respectfully connect to your food, nature, and role in the food chain.
I would have no idea where to start hunting , and this could really be a great way to do it, but if I were you, I would really try to build a community using a forum or message board, where you, hunting guides, hunters, and potential users can communicate and continue to develop their skills, ask questions, post guides, meet ups and such.
I'm sure there are already communities like this, but if you can sell the 'complete package' from starting point of actually going hunting, to becoming an expert by integrating into the hunting community, I see a great future.
P.S
Is bow hunting possible on the platform? I would much rather learn to hunt with a bow than a gun, and I tend to think it fits this world view in most peoples' mind.
@danr_4 thanks Dan. Those communities already exist to some extent, but they're kind of scattered across the web and we could definitely do some good stuff in that area in the future.
No bow hunts yet, but that won't be the case for long. We soft-launched a few weeks ago with a really small group of hunts, and that group is going to grow pretty quickly.
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