Every young hunter with a smartphone wants to be like Josh Dahlke.
Dahlke, 33, of Rosemount, Minn., is the rare hunting enthusiast who has parlayed his passion into a career.
A former drummer for an up-and-coming death metal band in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Dahlke stashed his sticks after a tour to concentrate on outdoors writing.
He became an editor for North American Hunter, the official publication for the North American Hunting Club. From there, he advanced from a successful freelance writing career to outdoor entrepreneur. He is vice president of operations and content for ScoutLook, a fascinating mobile application for hunters.
"It's a combination of really detailed weather forecasting and interactive mapping, location management and game logging," Dahlke said. "We also produce a significant volume of content, with heavy emphasis on video."
One popular video project is a series called "The Hunger." Entering its fifth season, "The Hunger" emphasizes the consumptive aspects of hunting.
The soft-spoken Dahlke is the antithesis of the stereotypical motormouth outdoor video personality. However, his quiet demeanor belies an intense, uncompromising dedication to artistic and technical precision. His objective is always to project respect to the game, and to the hunt.
Dahlke said his parents do not hunt, but he fell in love with the lifestyle at his family's farm in central Minnesota.
"Growing up in the city I felt trapped, like I was in a cage," Dahlke said. "My family homesteaded the farm when they emigrated from Sweden 125 years ago. That's where I cut my teeth on hunting."
Dahlke's relatives hunted for food, so Dahlke was steeped in the culinary aspect of hunting.
"The way I grew up, the major focal point of hunting was always based on the meat," Dahlke said. "It was never targeting animals for antlers. The pinnacle for all our hunts was always at the meat pole, butchering the animals, breaking them down and eating them."
Outdoor media generally neglect the value of venison, the term for all game meat. During his five-year tenure at North American Hunter, Dahlke recognized a void for meat hunters.
"There is a major emphasis in media on hunting for antlers or hunting for horns," Dahlke said. "There is something magical about that, going back to prehistoric cave paintings. I understand trying to target older age class animals too, but I wanted to go back to my roots and what made me so excited about hunting in the beginning."
Over the past 30 years, I have interviewed scores of hunters that killed Boone- and Crockett-class bucks. Almost all said they would never again kill a smaller buck or even does. It ruined deer hunting for them because of their impossible self-expectations.
"It dejects new and existing hunters," Dahlke said. "It makes them feel inadequate if they are not able to kill a big buck or bull. There is so much more to the experience."
In its own way, producing a video series has caused a variation of the same affliction. Dahlke said he is trying to rediscover his personal balance.
"Lately, I've been calling it a bad drug," Dahlke said. "The highs are super high, but the lows are super low. It has inherent stresses that affect the mind, body and emotions. You come back from a hunt and try to share your story, but it takes away from the experience to one degree or another."
A video personality is a hostage to the camera. The camera commands every scene, and it discourages spontaneity.
"It's hard to pull away from that," Dahlke said. "Now I cherish the hunts and experiences where I go with friends and family."
Even on prime private ranches, game does not always cooperate. Unscrupulous guides also have sabotaged hunts on occasion. Dahlke shrugs them off as learning experiences.
"I've been on some hunts where I hunted a full week and never got an opportunity," Dahlke said. "I view hunting as a cumulative experience. I worked for every animal I've taken, even if it wasn't on this hunt.
"What's rewarding to me is to enjoy the fruits and gain the knowledge of the people around me."
Sports on 01/13/2019