Hunters going national

By MARK J. MILLER, Staff writer
TORONTO — A group of local hunters, including several from the Gem City, are taking their love of the sport to a new level as they plan for their new hunting show on the Pursuit outdoor channel.

The group of 12 young hunters, which has formed the Outdoor Insights Television Co., soon will have a satellite television program known as “That’s Huntin’” broadcast at 4 p.m. every Friday on channel 611 on the DirecTV satellite provider. The group has signed a contract to film 13 episodes of the 30-minute show to be broadcast on the network from July 4 through the end of December.

The show is the culmination of the group’s dream to be able to turn their love of hunting into a permanent vocation, according to Nate Cline, Outdoor Insights president.

“We’ve been videotaping our turkey and deer hunts for the past five years,” said Cline, adding the group of hunting friends decided to form a company and sell DVDs of their hunts at hunting trade shows. “In March we went to a Columbus (hunting trade show). A representative from the Pursuit channel said he wanted us to take our show to the channel.

“It’s a brand new (sports network),” continued Cline. “It’s channel 611 on DirecTV. Our video series is called ‘That’s Huntin,’ so that’s what we decided to call our television show.”

Cline said the company organized after he decided to film the hunts of the tight-knit group. Cline, who worked for WTOV-TV as a sports and news reporter for four years until 2005, said he learned enough about video editing and shooting to record the friend’s hunting excursions.

“Everywhere we hunted for the first four years was in Jefferson County,” said Cline, adding the group stepped out of the area after it began selling its DVDs at trade shows. “We thought, let’s give it a shot (to sell DVDs of our hunts). It took off really fast. We’ve also branched out into hunting in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky. Everything we’ve done until now has been local, although we are going on a turkey hunt in Tennessee. That’s going to be with Deer Ridge Innovations.

“We’ve also got hunts booked all over the Midwest,” continued Cline.

Cline said the company of 12 pro-staff members, including Josh McLaren, vice president of Outdoor Insights and Toronto resident; Cline and his brother Jesse Cline, secretary and Toronto resident; and Nick Krivoniak, marketing manager, is getting ready to do some serious traveling for the show.

When the group is booked for a hunt they have to juggle schedules to see who is available, as all the group members have families and full-time jobs, said Nate Cline. The members act as their own film crew, while he later edits the film and adds graphics for the show.

He also said so far the families of the group have been patient with them traveling and devotion to their dream because they realize how much it means to them.

“Our families see what we are doing, and they see we have a chance to do what we’ve been working for all these years,” he said, adding the goal is to be able to quit their day jobs and make a living through hunting. “They realize you can’t just ‘sign up’ to be on the Pursuit Channel.”



(Miller can be contacted at mmiller@heraldstaronline.com'>mmiller@heraldstaronline.com.)