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Hello from Portland, Oregon, everyone!

OutdoORegon

New member
Joined
Jun 8, 2016
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12
Greetings,

I've been a "lurker" as Randy says for a while now. :) Every once in a great while we have something decent to contribute on here that might be of interest to folks, and we're thrilled to share it here when we do.

My wife, Angela Haralson, and I (Mike Haralson) recently started a social media campaign that we call OutdoORegon - Oregon and Beyond. Our mission is to help all people who want to get involved in the outdoor lifestyle overcome whatever barrier to entry that they face, whether perceived or real, and welcome them into the lifestyle that so many of us were fortunate enough to be born and raised into.

We are new Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Hunter Education instructors, and since we live in Portland, Oregon just a few minutes from the concrete and high rises of downtown Portland, and just 15 minutes from Leupold world headquarters :-D, we're in prime position to be accessible to 2.5 million urban folks who would like the experience of the outdoor lifestyle. All of those folks who have started listening to and watching MeatEater, Gritty Bowmen, and Fresh Tracks because they have been into the locavore, farm to table and field to table movement, and now want to take that next step and harvest their own meat are our target audience.

We are committed to at least 6 classes a year (but we'll do more), and each of those Hunter Ed classes has a capacity of 25 students. At that rate we'll help create 150 newly licensed hunters per year at a minimum and help accelerate a trend of rising sales of hunting licenses as the new hunters coming online replace the greybeards (like me) that are on the downhill side of their hunting careers. And more importantly, we'll be reaching an urban crowd who will tell all of their urban friends that guns, hunting, and bringing home their own meat are actually all good things, believe it or not.

Backcountry Hunters and Anglers has a brand new Oregon chapter, and I have the great fortune of being the Co-Chair of the Board of Directors. The Full Draw Film Tour is a strong partner of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, and we have been blessed to build friendships and relationships with good folks like Kody Kellom of Born and Raised in the Outdoors, the Full Draw Full Time podcast and the Full Draw Film Tour, Brian Call of Gritty Bowmen, and Cody Rich of the Rich Outdoors Podcast and Powder River Cartridge Company. Cody Rich is an Oregon BHA board member, as well. Brian Call is a HUGE supporter of BHA and donates deeply to further the cause. So long story short, I'm super proud to tell you that with Brian's support and Kody Kellom really doing a great job of singing the praises of BHA, we signed up 37 new BHA members at this past Saturday's Full Draw Film Tour event in Sherwood, Oregon! (See pictures below).

There are still two more Full Draw Film Tour events to come here in Oregon during the month of July, and I'm hoping to get more than 100 new members on board with Backcountry Hunters and Anglers during this month of July. That's a very important number to me because when we started this new Oregon chapter last month, Oregon had less than 400 BHA members residing within this wonderful state. We are determined to put BHA's growth rate on a parabolic trajectory!

I know I'm preaching to the choir, and the idea that we're all like minded folks working towards successfully passing on our wonderful outdoor heritage to the future generations is the reason that I love this message board. Teddy Roosevelt, Aldo Leupold and John Muir may be gone, but the spark they ignited now burns intensely in every single one of us. Today we are so fortunate to have the Randy Newbergs, Steven Rinellas, Ty Stubblefields, Shane Mahoneys, Kody Kelloms and Brian Calls of the world who use their media platforms to spread the wonderful conservation message, and are our generations Theodore Roosevelt. It's more important now than it ever has been to capitalize on their momentum and support their efforts to ensure that our great, great grandchildren have the same opportunities to live the American outdoor lifestyle that we have. Americans are very receptive to the good message right now. It is imperative that we sway that 80% of the American public that are non hunters our way.

Randy Newberg, thank you so much for the herculean conservation efforts you have mounted over the years. The positive impact your hard work has reaped will be felt by generations to come. It's truly extraordinary.

Our OutdoORegon social media efforts are pretty new, and we don't have a big following yet, but check us out and connect with us online, and we'll enjoy celebrating your conservation successes with all of you.

That's more than enough for now. Thanks for reading through that novel if you were able to finish it. :) I look forward to sharing in your successes as all of you post the stories and pictures of this great outdoor lifestyle that we all cherish so much.

Top Picture, Left to Right, Angela Haralson, Cody Rich's friend Greg, Cody Rich, Mike Haralson, Kody Kellom

Bottom picture, Left to Right, Brian Call, Cody Rich, Mike Haralson

Backcountry Hunters and Anglers booth at the Sherwood, Oregon showing of the Full Draw Film Tour, 07/09/2016

IMG_5316.jpgIMG_5317.jpg
 
Brian Call talks about how important Randy Newberg is to modern conservation efforts here:

https://youtu.be/ho9Jc8G-bQ0

Tag us (OutdoORegon) in your Instagram and Facebook posts so we can celebrate with you as you enjoy your outdoor adventures and successes.
 
Mike,

Welcome to the board. I'm interested in learning more about your organization.

I also support BHA and their efforts, thank you for the work you do to promote them.

Public land access and hunting/fishing opportunity may be the defining issue of our hunting lives, but it's all for naught if public perception swings so far against us that hunting becomes obsolete or illegal. To that end, I think it's incredibly important to make hunting relevant(see Randy and Shane's discussion regarding relevance vs legitimacy) amongst the broadest swath of people possible. That broad swath includes city dwellers like myself. In fact, in an increasingly urban world, recruitment of city folks may be the most important thing we can do to ensure hunting has a future in this country.

It sounds like urban hunter outreach and recruitment is on your agenda. If so, please contact me via PM and start a conversation. I'd like to help if I can.

Regards,
Nate K.
 
Thank you for the wonderful message, Nate! Are you here in Portland?

Through the month of July the Oregon Backcountry Hunters and Anglers board of directors are committed to a strong showing at the remaining four Full Draw Film Tour events. As we enter August and the fall bear season kicks off the fall hunting seasons, we'll transition into a series of pub night events at local pubs around PDX, Bend and several other Oregon cities and towns as we grow the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers membership. I'd love to catch up with you at one of these events, and by all means, please invite your like minded family and friends who should be BHA members, as well! If you'd like an opportunity to volunteer with us at one of these events we'd welcome you aboard. :) PM me here or call me or text me anytime. 503-752-9652
Connect with us on our OutdoORegon Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram, as well. :-D

Thanks again for the kind words. I look forward to talking with you soon. Have a great day!

Best regards,
Mike Haralson

www.backcountryhunters.org/join
 
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Thank you, seankc. This is a great board and I love the way it's ran. It's a pleasure to spend time here.
 
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