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Jeff Smith and Carson Odegard sit down with Casey Hartwell, founder of Hunt Bums, to talk about how a passion for waterfowl hunting turned into a growing platform built around gear reviews, field experience, and helping everyday hunters make better decisions. Casey shares his path back into hunting, why he started Hunt Bums, and how his marketing and research background shaped a more data-driven approach to reviewing products and understanding the hunting community.
Episode highlights
- How Hunt Bums started — Casey talks about getting back into hunting as an adult and eventually building a platform around the lifestyle, gear, and experiences that came with it.
- Honest gear reviews — why Hunt Bums tries to evaluate products on their own merits, call out failure points, and avoid sugarcoating a review just because a company sent the gear.
- What hunters are actually spending — Casey breaks down findings from Hunt Bums’ hunter survey, including the Pacific Flyway’s high average annual spend and the rising cost of shotguns, shells, decoys, waders, and other essentials.
- Lowering the barrier to entry — his biggest advice to new hunters: find a mentor, borrow gear first, learn what actually works for you, and then invest in quality equipment.
- Keeping waterfowl culture alive — Casey makes the case that experienced hunters need to be more willing to bring newcomers along and show them that duck hunting is about far more than just pulling the trigger.
- California hunting challenges — rising costs, access to quality public ground, and overcrowding are some of the biggest issues he sees facing hunters in the state.
- Why California rice still hits different — even after hunting clubs and other setups, Casey explains why there’s still something special about spending a morning in a California rice blind.
- What gear has his attention this season — new shotshell technology, waders, decoys, and other products Casey is looking forward to putting through real-world testing.
From gear and access to mentorship and the future of hunting culture, this episode is a solid conversation about making waterfowling more approachable while keeping the traditions and community that make it special.
