Beginning in 2021, thanks to the Bass Pro Shops/Cabela’s Outdoor Fund grant, the Boone and Crockett Club’s Conservation Education programs have continuously and rapidly evolved with the times and technologies in an effort to meet new and existing audiences where they are. Once again, the Club’s application for Outdoor Fund grant support in 2024 was marked successful, and a percentage of those dollars have been dedicated to an all-new endeavor for media outreach and educational purposes—podcasting!

B&C Conservation Education staff Luke Coccoli and Madison Todd spent a portion of their summer pulling guests away from their peer groups or having folks stay at the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch just a little bit longer to sit down and participate in interview-style podcast recordings. The groups that visit the ranch and education center are as unique as the batch of content created up to this point. These interviews include Air Force helicopter pilots, a firearms instructor/NASA scientist, a college student who just completed the Wild Sustenance field course, a Boone and Crockett Ph.D. fellow, summer interns, first-time youth hunters, and more!

All interviews focus on individual and group experiences at the ranch and Rasmuson Wildlife Conservation Center. Questions cover how participants discovered the center, what attracted them, and their favorite aspects. The interviews also explore participants' understanding of conservation before, during, and after their immersive experience in this place-based, outdoor learning laboratory.

The podcast equipment has recently hit the road and was used during the Wild Sheep Foundation's (WSF) Sheep Week. There, we taped two episodes. We interviewed Club members Mike Opitz and Charles Hartford alongside Dustin Diefenderfer, the founder of Mountain Tough Fitness Lab. We also conducted interviews with Cody Sword, a past Outdoor Adventure camper who is now a hunting guide in British Columbia and a father of three, as well as Dr. Ryan Brock, the Director of Education for the WSF.

As of March 1, we will be starting a contract with podcast producer Cody McLaughlin and Trout Stream Studios. Cody produces the well-known Blood Origins podcast as well as the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation podcast. With Cody on board, we will be starting the next phase of planning for a launch that we hope will happen in conjunction with the lead-up to the 32nd Big Game Awards!