In my younger days I worked for a large company. One day I was preparing to go before an audience of business professionals and make a presentation on our company’s products. I was standing with the president of the company just before I was to make my way to the podium, and after a few words of encouragement he paused, purposefully looked me in the eyes, and said, “Remember, the most effective way to get your message across is to tell ‘em what you’re gonna tell ‘em, tell ‘em, then tell ‘em what you told ‘em.”

            That expression has remained with me to this day and I’ve used it as a foundation for many appearances since. I believe it is one of the simplest yet most effective ways to communicate information to others. “Tell’em what you’re gonna tell’em” (overview) gives the audience a general idea as to what will be covered in the actual presentation. This exposure to the “big picture” helps people with their comprehension of the details as they are discussed in the “Tell’em” phase (actual presentation). The “Tell’em what you told’em” phase (summary) brings a cohesiveness to all of the elements of the presentation and reinforces the main message. Since I’m not one to tamper with success I’ll also use this format in The New Age Hunter.

            In my opinion, The New Age Hunter is a timely book. There is a lot of confusion about why people need to hunt in the twenty-first century; after all, it’s not as though most of the world depends on hunting for survival. People with anti-hunting agendas attempt to capitalize on this confusion with emotional appeals to support their position and recruit members to their cause. While this may be an effective approach for enlisting membership in the anti-hunting movement, it only hastens the downfall of conservation practices around the world. The New Age Hunter will bring clarity to this paradox and provide an understanding for why it exists.

            At this point, there may be a good many readers asking, “What in the world is a ‘new age hunter’ anyway?” Let’s begin with what the new age hunter is not. This huntsman does not own a space-age gizmo with which he or she can harvest animals, nor are they skilled in the art of using new age music to call their quarry. As a matter of fact, in many ways there is nothing really “new” at all about the new age hunter, but then again, he or she can be considered an emerging phenomenon.

            The new age hunter is actually an educated huntsman, one who is armed with the knowledge of what hunting is today and what it can be in the future. He or she is also a historian, a link to a past filled with the names and efforts of those who have created hunting’s legacy.  The new age hunter is a visionary too, a confident leader entrusted with securing the future of the sport.

            The new age hunter is an individual who wisely examines times past in order to understand how hunting and conservation have combined to benefit humans and wildlife and passes on this knowledge to be used as a roadmap by the next generation.

            The new age hunter is one that employs the latest technologies and cutting-edge science to better the lot of wildlife and natural resources, but he or she also appreciates their role in the complex workings of nature. The new age hunter is a new inspiration for society’s fascination with the outdoors but is also an old, reliable workhorse of time-tested conservation practices.  

            The new age hunter is the enlightened spiritual being and an all encompassing beacon for others to follow, but at the same time he or she is a mere reflection of early man in our appreciation for wildlife. The new age hunter is a scientist, archeologist, biologist, theologian, sociologist, hunting expert, and educator of wildlife-management practices, all rolled up into one.

On the one hand, the new age hunter is an anarchist who advocates change for the benefit of our precious natural resources and wildlife; on the other hand, he or she is a bureaucrat whose inertia helps preserve our rich hunting traditions. The new age hunter is a progressive of sorts, someone who understands the timeless mission of hunting and who infuses it with vitality, fills it with purpose, and makes use of this to raise the awareness of others.

            I hope The New Age Hunter helps the huntsman to understand the central importance of his or her role and helps them realize that time is of the essence regarding this endeavor. The world is changing rapidly and we must secure hunting’s place as the sentinel of a sound ecology and the fulcrum to its future.

              What follows is the blueprint for the new age hunter.