"Hunting Celebrity" and "I have been in the hunting industry a long time" get thrown around pretty freely. What do you think it takes to be able to say those things?
Hunting is a billion dollar industry... No other way to spin it. I actually don't like referring to it as a sport personally. As for the op, it takes nothing to say that and usually it's an average Joe guy with a video camera trying to inflate his own ego who says it.
There are a lot of people that work in the hunting industry, but to me a celebrity is someone that is recognized by everyone. I would say Ted Nugent, The Robertsons, Bill Jordan (Realtree) & Toxey Haas (Mossy Oak).
I call them TV hunters. The only one I occasionally watch and would be interested in meeting is Jim Shockey. I really enjoy watching his hunts in the Yukon.
In the industry can mean a lot of different things... a writer, a sales rep, someone who pro-staffs and helps market products... it's all a part of the "industry". As for being a celebrity, well, I think that's obvious. When you can't go out in public because folks want your autograph and a photo... then you are a celebrity.
It takes an ego too big to be recognized to spout those phrases out. Someone who wants to appear larger than they are. I have no time for that.
I believe most of the people who deserve the title or can make the statement wouldn't have any part of either one. In my previous life (first wife) I came from a hunting family and married into a "real" hunting family. All my brother-in-laws were extremely gifted sportsmen and very successful hunters. They couldn't find the stuff they needed to go to the next level so they made it. They never hunted with an outfitter, they were some of the first in Alabama to start leasing hunting ground and harvested lots of big bucks from public land. They were in the woods 12 months a year and shot their bows all year long. About 1980 I was still using a Baker knock off climber "aka deathtrap" when these guys hooked up with a local businessman to make a better treestand. One of my wife's brothers cobbled a prototype up out of thin wall steel and welded it together with a torch and some coathanger wire. Then they made some more (with a real welder) with varying tube spacings, platform sizes, blades with teeth, blades without, pipes instead of blades, some of the first seats that worked and were comfortable...and Summit Treestands was born! They traveled around the Southeast with a trailer that had a steel pipe mounted to it like a tree trunk and they would climb it with the new Summit to show its gripping ability. I hunted out of prototype Summit stands for the better part of a decade and still use a production model today. The first Summit factory was in my brother-in-laws back yard and almost the entire family was employed making one part or another for years. You have never seen these guys on TV although they did appear on a brochure at one time. They are not celebrities but they should have been. They would not have allowed a camera anywhere near their hunting spot. They most definitely have been in the hunting industry for a long time but it started out as a way to make what they needed but couldn't find. I'm no longer married into that family and seems like the only time I see them is for a funeral these days but I am proud to have been a small part of what they achieved. I'm not a celebrity but I feel like I've been in the hunting industry for a long time. I'm not worthy enough to carry their water!
I saw a guy bragging on Facebook about being a celebrity judge for a contest because of his hunting show. Dude has a facebook page and a youtube channel. WTF
I would love to be able to make my living by having my own hunting show but without the celebrity part. I will never understand why someone would want to be a celebrity.
Or the guys that have a blog and give a lot of advise but have only shot a couple of deer. People that can market themselves to make money in the hunting industry are just good at marketing not so much at the hunting end of it. These guys go from outfitter to outfitter where the stands are hung the are all scouted for them IMO that doesn't make a great hunter and someone I wouldn't want to follow or get his or her autograph
