There is no perfect hunting organization out there today; at least in my opinion.  I would like to change that with your help.  I’m looking to create a hunting organization that provides exclusive benefits to its members.  Here is a list of what I was thinking as far as exclusive benefits: member discounts to stores such as Cabela’s, BassPro, etc.  Let’s say 10% discount for each member.  Discounts on all hunting publications such as Petersen’s Hunting & Outdoor Life.  Discounts on TV programming such as Outdoors Channel.  Creating a web community for member only to share hunting information.  Exclusive product testing.  Many other discounts from all hunting suppliers.

What I am thinking is a group of hunters called the Hunting Legion.

We often read in a Cabela’s catalog something “Bone Collector Approved”.  To be honest, that means absolutely nothing to me.  Actually, I am turned off when I see a product with that logo.  Its 2-3 guys that use and put their stamp of approval on a product?  It would be more meaningful to me if I knew a group of real hunters tested and field tested a product marking a stamp of approval, “Hunting Legion Approved”.

Hunting Legion t-shirts, hats, decals, beanie hats, etc would be provided to all members for low costs.  Think of the Legion as sort of a union of hunters.  We partner with groups like the NRA to be sure our voices are heard on Capitol Hill and we continue the privilege to hunt.  We share hunting stories, places to hunt, trade hunts, etc. 

With the combination of exclusive discounts, web, reviews, etc, Hunting Legion could be beneficial to all involved in this great sport.  So pass this along to friends and family, share on Facebook and Twitter, if you are a blogger, feel free to re-post on your blog.  Lets see if this is something we can get moving.  Does something like this interest you or is this a complete waste of time?  Please comment below or email me at fieldjournalsblog@gmail.com.

Over the course of the last few years, we have seen hunting social networks pop almost every day.  Each network consisted of the same features and functionality.  In the early days of hunting social networks, forums and chat rooms dominated the web sphere.  Then we moved into whitelabel social networks like Ning and KickApps.  Everyone was was able to set up a hunting social network in the matter of minutes, with no programming skills required.

The tide is beginning to turn on those social networks as new and emerging technologies are being used by our hunting audience.  When looking at the big 3 , HuntingNet, CamoSpace, and ArcheryTalk all have declined over the past year.  HuntingNet.com is down 39%, CamoSpace.com is down 30%, and ArcheryTalk is down 13%, all from June 2009.

So why are people not going to these social networks?  Is it because of the economy?  Is it because they are old sites?  Are there too many sites like these out there today?

My belief is that social media is directly impacting the hunting industry.  No one wants to be stuck on one site any more.  There are new platforms available to communicate with other hunters.  Hunting blogs are popping up all the time with new talent.  Videos are easy to upload and maintain on Twitter.  What hunting service or website does not have a Facebook page.  Hunters are communicating on Twitter.  Sharing pictures over at Flickr.  The end is near for the dinosaur social networks without a face lift and integration into social media.

What are your thoughts on why hunting social networks are losing record visitors?

Deer & Deer Hunting Magazine was born in 1977, a by-product of the Stump Sitters Whitetail Study Group. It was founded by Jack Brauer and Al Hofacker, two ultra-serious whitetail hunters from the Upper Midwest. The magazine built its reputation on editorial quality and integrity. 

The website provides a lot of useful information and is somewhat easy to navigate.  The multimedia on the homepage drastically slows down the rendering of the homepage, something we all need to stay away from.  The total size of the multimedia is 1472714 bytes, 30k over than a respectable number.  There is no RSS on the homepage, so you may never be “pushed” updates on the homepage.  There is RSS on the blogs, which is powered by blog.com.  We’re not certain why there is splash page when “Blogs” is clicked from the top.  This is a useless click and page.

The major issue we see with the site is none of the website pages utilizes the same template.  “Rub Line” the sites blog, forums, .com, and Resources all utilize different page templates.  The site is filled with great content and the forums are active.  The site received about 40,ooo visitors last month, a 50% increase from June.

Ford Company is a true success for Social Media.  If you run an outdoors social marketing campaign, you need to take a few tips from Ford.   Check out www.thefordstory.com.  This is a slick site that integrates Ford’s social media profiles into one site.  The site also allows users to write blog posts, enter comments, posts videos, etc.  In my opinion, Ford is leading the pack in Social Media for businesses.  Their social media profiles around the web are constantly refreshed and content does not grow old.  Ford will share videos on YouTube, whitepapers on Scribd.com, presentations on SlideShare.com.

Ford has a lot of confidence in jumping into social media, especially since there is potential to receive negative feedback.  Companies such as Cabelas, Remington, and BassPro could benefit from taking a few notes from Ford. All hunting businesses need to follow Ford’s example in Social Media.

Customizing your brand’s channel on YouTube is quick and easy.  You can customize your channel to reflect your logo’s colors and fonts.  Follow these 5 easy steps:

1. Log into your YouTube account. Click the yellow “Edit Channel” button.

2. Set up your channel information – website URL, profile picture (88×88) and description.

3. Within Channel Design scroll down to Advanced Design Customization. Set background, link and border colors. If #ffffff means nothing to you, click on the blue pick link to choose your colors. You can hide features like the video log by unchecking the box.

4. Now the fun part – just under the Advanced Design Customization heading, YouTube allows you to BROWSE to your background image. Just save out one of the free YouTube backgrounds below into a folder on your system, then click browse and locate the file.

5. Click update channel.

Competition

If you run your own hunting website, hunting blog, or hunting business, you need to perform a competitive analysis on a regular basis.  What I mean by a regular basis, you need to look at your competitors’ sites at least once a month, if not more.  You cannot afford to have your competitors launch new services/functionality and steal your users.

Some important things to look at when you analyze your competitors sites:

-Check your competitors features/functionalities (ie widgets, forums, etc).
-Analyze page structure, graphics and language of the site.  Cleanliness is the key on today’s web.
-Check your competitors keywords.
-Research their social media presence (Twitter, Facebook, Flickr,etc).
-Follow their press releases for new launches.
-Keep an eye on their traffic via compete.com for spikes and valleys.  Take advantage of those valleys.
-Keep an eye out for what other hunters are saying in forums or message boards.
-Run searches on your competitors via Google, Bing, and Yahoo to see their page rankings.
-Set up a Google alerts to be notified when your competitors are mentioned on the web.

Monitoring your competitors online is key and will enhance your hunting business.

Remington bolstered its government vertical by acquiring Advanced Armament Corporation.  AAC is a supplier of signature noise reduction and flash reduction devices and combat-related accessories for the military, government and commercial markets.  Full press release here.  Terms of the agreement were not released.

Remington has been on a purchase spree.  Earlier this year, Remington acquired Dakota Arms, a manufacturer of custom and semi-custom rifles for the sporting markets.

If you own your own hunting website, service, store, outfitting service, or anything related to hunting and business, you need to check out this powerful video.  If you are not involved in social media today, I recommend you become involved before your competition puts you out of business.  We can help you leverage social media and take your business to the next level.

An article recently on thestreet.com, Cabelas Director Mark Reuben recently purchased 112,995 shares of Cabelas stock.  The deal value was $1.8 million at the time of purchase.  Not to shabby for a director.

 Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE:RGR), a leading manufacturer of sporting firearms, will hold its quarterly conference call to discuss second quarter 2009 results on Thursday, July 30, 2009, at 9:00 a.m. EDT (8 a.m. Central Time).

This call is being webcast by Thomson Reuters and can be accessed at Sturm, Ruger’s Web site at www.ruger.com/corporate.