GoWild officially released SquatchBot, a mad scientist creation that combines the folklore legend Sasquatch with the power of artificial intelligence. The furry chatbot is live on the <a href="https://downloadgowild.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GoWild social media app</a> and is actively helping thousands of outdoor enthusiasts.
GoWild, a social gear shop for anglers and hunters, has a feature that allows members to ask questions of the community. This feature uses the platform&rsquo;s algorithm to find other members who are knowledgeable with the question topic. With the addition of AI chatbot, members get an immediate answer to their question from SquatchBot. Members can also ask SquatchBot questions via direct message.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kVWgR6LIfeU" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
GoWild quietly launched a beta version of SquatchBot in early December 2022. The company monitored and refined the bot for several months, fine tuning his responses to be more accurate. The product is now live for everyone in the app, and is actively being trained on content he creates, as well as historical content.
SquatchBot&rsquo;s creator and GoWild Cofounder, Chief Development Officer, Chris Gleim, predicts that SquatchBot will make hunting forums and Facebook Groups obsolete when it comes to Q&amp;A.&nbsp;
<blockquote>
&ldquo;When you ask redundant questions in forums or Facebook groups, generally one of two things happen: you&rsquo;re either scolded for asking something that has already been asked, or you are ignored because people grow tired of answering the same questions. SquatchBot never tires of helping, and is constantly digesting historical content to make him smarter.&rdquo; - Chris Gleim
</blockquote>
Gleim and a small team within GoWild built proprietary tools to automate the training of SquatchBot, which consists of both human reviews of content, and building automated feedback loops.
<blockquote>
&ldquo;As the community interacts with his content, such as upvoting his comments, we learn what answers were helpful, and what weren&rsquo;t. This is helping us build an AI mentor who has digested years of outdoor content online and is now learning from our community&rsquo;s experts.&rdquo; - Chris Gleim
</blockquote>
Over the last few weeks, SquatchBot has yielded great advice across hundreds of posts:
<ul>
<li>SquatchBot recommended 5 books on training bird dogs to a member who had a 6 month old puppy.</li>
<li>He broke down the primary differences between fixed broadheads vs. mechanicals for a new archer.</li>
<li>When someone said they had a mink eating their chickens, SquatchBot gave a list of tips for live trapping minks.</li>
<li>He recommended a Jetboil Flash Cooking System for backcountry hunts due to its light weight and efficiency.</li>
<li>SquatchBot helped a member who was tanning a hide and trying to decide if he should pickle his fur or not. The bot provided specific examples of when to pickle.&nbsp;</li>
<li>He gave a list of tips on training a member&rsquo;s dog for shed antlers.</li>
<li>SquatchBot helped someone traveling through Lexington, Ky. find half a dozen lakes for fishing within driving distance.</li>
</ul>
To try out SquatchBot, <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/gowild/id1237419907" target="_blank" rel="noopener">download GoWild for iPhone</a> or <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gowild.gowildandroid" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Android,</a> and create an account. Tap + in the bottom menu, then toggle &ldquo;Mark my post as a question&rdquo; or you can message him directly by searching for his account.&nbsp;

GoWild officially released SquatchBot, a mad scientist creation that combines the folklore legend Sasquatch with the power of artificial intelligence. The furry chatbot is live on the GoWild social media app and is actively helping thousands of outdoor enthusiasts.

GoWild officially released SquatchBot, a mad scientist creation that combines the folklore legend Sasquatch with the power of artificial intelligence. The furry chatbot is live on the GoWild social media app and is actively helping thousands of outdoor enthusiasts.

GoWild, a social gear shop for 

GoWild introduces Sasquatch-inspired AI chatbot to defeat forum trolls for good

Turkey Hunting

Bass Fishing

Hike, Camp, Cook

Whitetail Deer Hunting

Houndsmen

By: Brad Luttrell,&nbsp;Co-Founder &amp; CEO of GoWild
GoWild has given me so much more than I could have ever dreamed. I&rsquo;ve been all over the country hunting and fishing. I&rsquo;ve been to events that people would give their first child&rsquo;s naming rights to just for a few hours to attend. I&rsquo;ve met the industry&rsquo;s highest profile individuals. I don&rsquo;t toss around the word &ldquo;blessed&rdquo; much, but if anyone is blessed, it&rsquo;s me.&nbsp;
One of the recurring and surprising things that&rsquo;s happened with this journey has been the number of people who have invited me to come hunting and fishing with them. This community we&rsquo;ve all built means so much to individuals, it&rsquo;s not uncommon to wake up to a fresh invite on some new adventure. Unfortunately, I&rsquo;ve had to turn most of these offers down simply because priority number one is always running and growing the company.&nbsp;
I recently got an offer that I couldn&rsquo;t turn down, though. Through the community, I&rsquo;ve become very curious about houndsmen. When Chris and Heath from the <a href="https://houndsmanxp.com/">Houndsman XP podcast</a> invited a few GoWild folks to join them for a black bear hunt, I jumped at the chance. Getting to a chance at my first bear while seeing some of the best houndsmen in the country work was too good to pass up.&nbsp;
Derek and I set off to Virginia to see what these houndsmen were all about. What I came back with was much more than a bear&mdash;although I did get to take a trophy bear, which <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/5syrOA4fovUlRbYyNEKl7V?si=a3c830192f2447b2">listeners of the [UNCENSORED] by GoWild podcast know</a>.&nbsp;
I came back with a fresh perspective on hunting with dogs.&nbsp;&nbsp;
First, let&rsquo;s define it
&ldquo;Houndsman&rdquo; is a common term within hunting, but let&rsquo;s just clarify it for anyone wondering. A houndsman is someone who trains hounds specifically for hunting. How most people think of training is getting a dog to do what you want&mdash;sit, heel, fetch, or maybe just stop chewing up your shoes. Comparing that to what these guys do is like comparing a high school quarterback to Tom Brady.&nbsp;
These dogs are in a league of their own&mdash;they&rsquo;re pro athletes.&nbsp;
Houndsmen &ldquo;run&rdquo; their dogs multiple times per week for training. They&rsquo;re calculating their caloric burn and intake down to the calorie. And the body fat on one of these dogs is similar to a professional marathoner. With no exaggeration, they dogs are Olympic-level athletes.&nbsp;
Houndsmen work with dogs for all kinds of hunts. They run hogs, bears, deer, racoons, mountain lions, bobcats, and so on. It amazes me that a dog can have such depth in its training because every single hunt is so different. To add to that, these dogs can fairly easily run 30 miles in a day.&nbsp;
Hunting with hounds is a controversial topic outside of hunting, and it&rsquo;s disappointing to see hunters even tearing into these guys. Having now been around both bird dogs and hunted with houndsmen for bear, I have to say, most of the critics have no grounds for an argument.&nbsp;
My experience with hounds
Derek had a successful bear hunt back in September, which made for one of our most <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/58KUux7kduelF5vPIA1ep1?si=3ae2b00eba2d414c">popular podcasts of the year</a>. That hunt was considerably different, though, as it was Colorado spot and stalk. We were both coming in without any experience with this kind of hunt. We knew it would be different, we just didn&rsquo;t know exactly how it would be different.&nbsp;
We dealt with some weather coming in. It rained us out the day before, then the temps dropped considerably. We were hunting the Appalachian mountains and with the elevation, all of this moisture froze over, creating some pretty gnarly conditions. Thick ice clung to the trees, laurel and rhododendron. That may seem like a nonfactor if you&rsquo;re not familiar with our nation&rsquo;s oldest mountains, but the laurel clings to trails and covers much of the hillside. This comes back around in this story.
On day one, we set off hiking along a trail that was often partially covered by the laurel. The leaves were heavy with the ice blankets as we pushed through. Heath led, breaking through the icy fingers of the trees. Our pace was brisk and much more intense than I anticipated. We were four miles deep when we treed our first bear.&nbsp;
We were 750 yards from the treed bear, and Heath said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry, guys.&rdquo; Little did Derek and I know why Heath was sorry, but we soon found out. We plowed into the thickest brush I have ever been in, and I grew up in Appalachia. 20 minutes later, I was looking up at a 200 pound black bear. After another 10 minutes of what felt like chaos to me, but was actually a perfectly executed plan for the team, I had a dead bear on the ground.&nbsp;
Those in opposition of hound hunting would say the dogs did all of the work. But really, in order to get dogs to execute on this game plan, Heath and the entire team (we had what I think was about six teams running dogs) train and run their dogs all year long to be able to perform this effectively. Heath would be quick to add that my hunt was especially fortunate, given we had a bear down in two hours.&nbsp;
Whitetail hunting takes planning for success, but truthfully, anyone could sit in the family&rsquo;s buddy stand during the rut and get a great passerby buck. It&rsquo;s just the truth&mdash;and I love whitetail hunting. You can&rsquo;t do that with dogs. These guys prep all year for this moment.&nbsp;
Heath coordinated our plan the night before, and the teams came into this valley from four or five different trail heads. We started maybe six miles from one group, which was nearly an hour&rsquo;s drive away. To me and Derek, this performance was anything but easy. In fact, I watched all of this happen and I still don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s something I would ever even aspire to do, simply because it&rsquo;s too much work. These guys and gals are a rare breed of hunters who are the furthest thing from the stereotype of hunters who make hunting too easy.&nbsp;
Day two was quite a bit different and more of what many traditionally think of with hounds. The teams met up at one trail head and &ldquo;rigged&rdquo; their dogs, which means driving with a dog standing on the dogbox, sniffing for a bear scent. Derek and I rode with Chris Powell from Houndsman XP, and were once again in awe of the knowledge. Every now and then the dog would let out a howl, and Chris would grumble something about how she wasn&rsquo;t doing what she needed to do. Then, a few minutes later, the dog would start to yodel out another howl, and Chris would say &ldquo;that&rsquo;s a good one.&rdquo;
It sounded the exact same to me and Derek.
Our dog picked up a scent and the race was on. Chris let her loose to investigate, then another, and another. Trucks were flying by, getting ahead of the race, letting dogs go, monitoring progress on the screens and we were once again in orchestrated chaos.&nbsp; If you&rsquo;ve seen the movie &ldquo;Twister,&rdquo; you know what this looked like. Hound hunting is effectively storm chasing.&nbsp;
More to gain together&nbsp;
I shared a version of this tale on LinkedIn, and someone called me blood thirsty. This is a typical response when talking about bear hunting with anti hunters. We hunters know that&rsquo;s so far from the truth, but when it comes to hunting with dogs, we&rsquo;re too often tearing each other down.&nbsp;
I ask anyone who hasn&rsquo;t hunted with dogs to spare the judgment and especially the constant digs at houndsmen. Our community of hunters is too small and fragile to let it rot with internal toxicity. We need to bond together, and to accept that not everyone hunts like we do. There are levels to all hunting. I grew up squirrel hunting (without dogs), and I have never seen anyone tear into your average squirrel hunting because it&rsquo;s easy&mdash;with or without dogs.&nbsp;
For some reason, many hunters do the exact thing we criticize nonhunters for doing by anthropomorphizing animals. It seems that within hunting, hunters are guilty of thinking killing big game with dogs is different than small. It&rsquo;s demoralizing to our cause of building a conservation-minded and ethical brand of hunting.&nbsp;
I take the time to share these thoughts and my experience because I know there are more people who haven&rsquo;t hunted with dogs than those who have. If you&rsquo;ve never done it, stop criticizing it and go try it. It&rsquo;s far more challenging than it seems and you just can&rsquo;t understand the work that goes into it until you&rsquo;ve seen it in action. Go listen to Chris and Heath&rsquo;s podcast and hear how much work actually goes into it. And most of all, focus your energy on something that&rsquo;s going to help us all&mdash;that is, all hunters&mdash;in our pursuit to share the joy that is being a part of nature.&nbsp;
We&rsquo;re stronger together.
About the Author Brad Luttrell is the Cofounder, CEO of&nbsp;<a href="https://timetogowild.com/download?utm_source=Story&amp;utm_medium=RinellaRebuttal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GoWild,</a> a social commerce platform for hunting, shooting and fishing enthusiasts. The award-winning writer, photographer and creative director quit his advertising career to become an entrepreneur after being disenchanted with Silicon Valley&rsquo;s treatment of hunters. Since 2016, he and three cofounders have built and scaled GoWild, a platform GearJunkie called the best social media app for hunters of 2021. Luttrell has made his fight against Silicon Valley public, having boycotted and deleted his personal social profiles and pulled his company&rsquo;s budget from Facebook and Instagram. Despite all of this, Luttrell&rsquo;s friends mostly just know him for his Double Smoked Venison Chili.

Hunting with hounds is a controversial topic outside of hunting, and it’s disappointing to see hunters even tearing into these guys. Having now been around both bird dogs and hunted with houndsmen for bear, I have to say, most of the critics have no grounds for an argument. 

Hunters: It’s time to stop dogging the houndsmen

Hunters: It’s Time to Stop Dogging the Houndsmen

By: Paul Campbell from <a href="https://www.theo2podcast.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ohio Outdoors Podcast</a>
There are 47 states and 6 Canadian provinces that have an official &ldquo;state fish.&rdquo; These prestigious fish range from the noble Blackspotted Cutthroat Trout of Montana, to the keystone species of the Pacific Northwest, the Chinook salmon. America&rsquo;s most sought-after gamefish, the largemouth bass, holds the title in only a handful of states. Hawaii has the most colorful fish with the official state moniker, the humuhumunukunukuāpuaʻa fish is as pretty as a fish can get. Shad, of all the possible options, holds the title in 3 states across the Country. The three holdout states with no official state title holder are Iowa, Indiana and Ohio. Iowa and Indiana, with all due respect, don&rsquo;t always come to mind when someone mentions elite level fishing destinations. The Hoosiers and Hawkeyes can fight over who has the biggest whitetail bucks and the most acres of corn, while Ohio can rest quietly in the corner and brag about being one of the greatest walleye fishing destinations in the world. While the politicians in Ohio can&rsquo;t seem to agree over the largemouth bass or the walleye as the official fish of the Buckeye state, Ohio anglers have known for generations that the 312 miles of the northern coastline of the state provide the greatest walleye fishery any angler could ask for.
The State of Ohio&rsquo;s greatest natural resource is the scenic shores and the blue waters of Lake Erie. Dotted with rocky islands, shoals and outcroppings formed by the massive glaciers of the last ice age, the waters of Lake Erie support arguably the greatest walleye fishery in North America. The 9,910 square miles of the 4th largest Great Lake touches 4 American states and 1 Canadian province. Ohio is fortunate to have the longest shoreline of Lake Erie within the state border. As with any outdoor experience the true spirit of the adventure is forged by both the wild places you find yourself in and the people and culture that surround you. An appreciation and respect for those wild places must take hold of a person and a culture. If an abandoned disregard for the resource occurs, the demise of wildlife and their home is inevitable. By the mid to late 1950&rsquo;s as waters of Lake Erie literally burned, a native fish only found in Lake Erie, the blue pike, had disappeared from this earth forever.&nbsp; By 1966, Lake Erie, a famed fishery that annually produced millions of pounds of commercially and recreationally caught walleye for generations produced a meager 162,820 pounds that year. The lake and her fish were dead.
The famed conservationist, Aldo Leopold said that: &ldquo;Harmony with land is like harmony with a friend; you cannot cherish his right hand and chop off his left.&rdquo;
On Ohio&rsquo;s north coast the balance of respect and harmony for nature and the desire for Industrial and economic growth had been completely abandoned. Rampant and unregulated commercial fishing in Lake Erie had decimated the walleye population. Ship building, steel production, automobile manufacturing and a myriad of modern industrial businesses viewed prodigious water pollution into Lake Erie not only as a negligible problem, but as a sign of progress. Industry was winning the endless battle between man and nature. History has shown us that when called upon by nature, sportsmen will protect what they love at all costs. Hunters and anglers are the tip of the spear for enforcing the principles of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. As with the wild turkey, deer, elk and a number of threatened and endangered wild animals, sportsmen came to the aid of the walleye and Lake Erie.
<img src="https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/com.gowild.pages/seth-schulte-dwXNOpWs_rc-unsplash.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="333" /> In the 1960s as the walleye numbers dropped the commercial and recreational anglers started to put pressure on government and company officials across the northeast coastline of Lake Erie. That area of Ohio, with Cleveland being the economic heart and soul of the state, had been the main contributor of the water pollution in Lake Erie. Anglers from across the region would gather to clean up the lake and the surrounding tributaries. Muck covered fishing boats full of trash and debris were a common sight in the turbid waters of Lake Erie, but progress was being made. By 1968, Cleveland and surrounding communities were committed to cleaning up the lake. A bond issue was approved by voters in 1968 in Cleveland to improve sewage and water systems into and out of the lake. A small fire on Lake Erie and the Cuyahoga River was the catalyst behind the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington D.C.&nbsp; The only lake deemed a fire hazard had drawn the eyes of the world. The decades that followed would stand as a true testament to the determination of sportsmen and environmentalists. Lake Erie was back!
By the late 1970s, as clean water practices and policies around Lake Erie started to really ramp up, coho, northern pike and muskie populations rebounded. State wildlife agencies from the Lake Erie watershed started aggressive stocking programs for sport fish species. The recovery of the walleye was a little slower to occur. Many consider the mid to late 80s as the golden age of walleye fishing on Lake Erie. The year 1989 saw the largest walleye harvest total at the time. As with any body of water, the ebbs and flows of good walleye fishing remind anglers we must always stay vigilant. The following decade would be slow walleye fishing on Lake Erie with total harvest falling from the peak in 1989. The fishery agencies from the surrounding states and walleye anglers kept a close protective eye on the lake and her treasured fish. By 2003 a new benchmark was set for Lake Erie. The largest walleye hatch ever occurred that year. Spirits were high for walleye anglers. Decades of hard work were starting to come together.
Following the gold standard of walleye hatches in 2003 Lake Erie would see a stable but small walleye hatches for over a decade. Water quality practices were at the forefront of many state agencies. Governors from Ohio made Lake Erie a staple campaign stop. Anglers, as they had done for decades, protected and advocated for Lake Erie tirelessly. Starting in 2018 Lake Erie would see four consecutive years of record walleye hatches. The hatches from 2018-2021 were 30 times higher than the previous average for the prior four decades. The walleye had made a resounding recovery in the Lake Erie basin. <img src="https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/com.gowild.pages/zab-consulting-KhlolQB-Eqk-unsplash.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="375" />
For a Lake Erie walleye to be of legal harvest size, 15 inches, it can take a fish about 3 seasons to reach maturity. A true trophy walleye is considered 30&rdquo; long in Lake Erie. A walleye that size is estimated to be around 20 years old. With the record hatches from 2018 coming into maturity and the 2003 fish reaching trophy size, Lake Erie has officially entered a new golden era of walleye fishing. With the ever-vigilant presence of walleye anglers, charter captains and biologists guarding our Great Lake, anglers from across the country can experience an unprecedented walleye fishing experience for many years to come.
The hard work of concerned sportsmen once again is a shining example of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. A once dead lake and a fish on the verge of extinction are a true success story. We must always respect nature. We must always be willing to answer the call for help. The ebb and flow of the battle between man and nature will undoubtedly occur again in our lifetime. But for now, anglers can enjoy a truly once in a lifetime walleye fishing experience on Lake Erie.
To learn more about walleye fishing and Lake Erie, check out <a href="https://powderhook.com/planning-a-trip-to-lake-erie/?utm_source=gowild&amp;utm_medium=native1&amp;utm_campaign=erie">Powderhook's Lake Erie Planner</a>.

The Hoosiers and Hawkeyes can fight over who has the biggest whitetail bucks and the most acres of corn, while Ohio can rest quietly in the corner and brag about being one of the greatest walleye fishing destinations in the world. While the politicians in Ohio can’t seem to agree over the largemouth bass or the walleye as the official fish of the Buckeye state, Ohio anglers have known for generations that the 312 miles of the northern coastline of the state provide the greatest walleye fishery any angler could ask for. 


The Hoosiers and Hawkeyes can fight over who has the biggest whitetail bucks and the most acres of corn, while Ohio can rest quietly in the corner and brag about being one of the greatest walleye fishing destinations in the world. While the politicians in Ohio can’t seem to agree over the largemouth

The History of Trophy Walleye in Lake Erie | Ohio Is A World Class Walleye Destination - GoWild Walleye Fishing Article

The History of Trophy Walleye in Lake Erie | Ohio Is A World Class Walleye Destination

The final of a series: GoWild Cofounder, CEO, Brad Luttrell is sharing the stories behind how GoWild came to work with each <a href="https://tickets.timetogowild.com/event/send-it-slam">Send It Slam</a> artist. 
In September of 2020, a text with a link showed up that said, &ldquo;You need to check this boy out. Now.&rdquo;
The sender was my friend Blake, whose music recommendations are always solid. In addition to that, I saw the link was to Red Barn Radio. If you don&rsquo;t know, Red Barn has famously found many musicians before their big break. In fact, it was because of Red Barn Radio that I started listening to Tyler Childers a full four years before nearly anyone else had even heard of him.
I dove into Cole Chaney&rsquo;s Red Barn show and it held up&mdash;this boy was good. A few months later, Cole dropped his debut, &ldquo;Mercy.&rdquo; I texted Blake again, &ldquo;shew, this kid is good. If he ever teams up with a band, he&rsquo;s going to be off to the races.&rdquo; Blake told me Cole had been playing a bit with a bluegrass band I was more than familiar with&mdash;Wolfpen Branch. I thought that would be a heckuva show, if I ever got to see it.
Little did I know, I&rsquo;d get to see Cole just a few weeks after &ldquo;Mercy&rdquo; was released. He played by himself&mdash;no band&mdash;at the Laurel Cove Music Festival in Pineville, Kentucky, and I made the five minute hike down through the woods from the main stage to see him. Standing with about a hundred people next to a creek, I watched Cole sing Kentucky lullabies and, in between songs, swat the moths flocking to the single light at his back. Just a young man, his guitar and the crickets, and it was one of my favorite sets I saw that year.
Fast forward to planning Send It Slam, we talked about a lot of possibilities for talent. When we decided to make this event a robust flavoring of Kentucky artists, I knew who I wanted to headline.
Cole Chaney.
Much of the GoWild audience grew up like I did. They may not have grown up playing with Tonka trucks in a coal pile or fishing on an Appalachian strip mine, but their journeys are similar all the same. They&rsquo;ve been through hard times, learned to love in small towns, lean on family, have family members who are preachers, and know more good storytellers than any city folk. Cole Chaney writes songs for people like us.
I recently got my wish of seeing Cole Chaney with a full band, and that band was in fact Wolfpen Branch. They played the 2022 Laurel Cove Festival&mdash;this year on the big stage&mdash;and it was one of my favorites I saw there, <a href="https://www.wideopencountry.com/laurel-cove-music-festival-2022/">as well as the media&rsquo;s</a>.
Cole Chaney and Wolfpen Branch are our closing act for Send It Slam, and having seen Cole a few times now and followed his journey for the last few years, I can promise you, this is indeed a boy you need ot checkout. Although, it&rsquo;s pretty clear, young Cole&rsquo;s come of age as a real songwriter now.
Send It Slam is presented by Black Rifle Coffee Company. <a href="http://senditslam.com">Grab those tickets</a>.
About the Author
Brad Luttrell is the Cofounder, CEO of GoWild. His career has taken him through journalism, advertising, technology and the outdoor industry. All along the way, he&rsquo;s had a guitar in his trunk and a song in his head.&nbsp;
<a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/0zyYuEZf1vFOb1OSCgQ5kT?si=ZG0ogR0zRzmmRQTbZZsroA">Listen to Cole Chaney</a> | <a href="http://senditslam.com">Buy Tickets</a> | <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2cNdxwvmdqGjSIlZ819i73?si=55a3cf9789fa4656">Listen To The Send It Slam Playlist</a>

Final of the series: GoWild Cofounder, CEO, Brad Luttrell is sharing the stories behind how GoWild came to work with each Send It Slam artist. Meet Cole Chaney. 

Send It Slam Artist Feature: Cole Chaney 

Fourth of a series: GoWild Cofounder, CEO, Brad Luttrell is sharing the stories behind how GoWild came to work with each <a href="https://tickets.timetogowild.com/event/send-it-slam">Send It Slam</a> artist.
When I first arrived in Lexington, Ky. for college, I kept seeing marquee signs that said &ldquo;Fifth on the Floor.&rdquo;
I didn&rsquo;t get it.
Most of my life had been spent in Kentucky&rsquo;s dry counties, tucked deep into the Appalachian mountains. Given you couldn&rsquo;t buy or sell booze, we didn&rsquo;t exactly have a happening music scene in Bell County in the 1990s. Bands prefer to play in proper music venues, and the closest thing we had was a roller skate rink that had a disco ball.
Given my lack of life experiences, it took some time to realize that &ldquo;Fifth on the Floor&rdquo; was a <a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/2z9Txoj32jDKvk7nahLmY7?si=bjewgGpvQNaa3VLcOLLupA">band</a>, not a liquor promotion.
It&rsquo;s unfortunate I never went to see that band when I had the chance. They&rsquo;re no longer together, and over the last few years, I&rsquo;ve come to be a fan of Fifth on the Floor&rsquo;s music.
But fear not, there is a second act to this sad story&mdash;and the hero is Justin Wells.
Justin, the frontman for Fifth on the Floor, went on to have a very successful solo career that has taken him all over the country. His album &ldquo;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/2zuUb8veXor7hv3cS2iGY8?si=haBjMVxxS5GwnfVf2GYySw">Dawn in the Distance</a>&rdquo; is an absolute gem, with &ldquo;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/35U939qHPf7dRzzhV6C7SW?si=c9f00a38dd5742fb">Going Down Grinnin</a>&rdquo; and &ldquo;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/1ykIPkk4zyPN0aqQNiDJKd?si=595cf27633d7427b">The Dogs</a>&rdquo; being a few of my personal favorites. In 2020, he dropped another heater with &ldquo;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/6x27DOHv6AWNdtQtQFZmmQ?si=DpcLCpyzRhSA8NtSOLtOAA">The United State</a>,&rdquo; and while they&rsquo;re all great, &ldquo;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/4VB3IPmc2niWsZ5ASjhXfz?si=6c8693672b704719">The Screaming Song</a>&rdquo; is a powerful ballad worth checking out. He turned heads among our GoWild team when he dropped his cover of &ldquo;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/3FH3uydFjXziQu3fO6iJ9z?si=aTNBTx7aTAiwHTzkfUyG6A">Blue Moon of Kentucky</a>,&rdquo; too.
Bell County was at one time a centerpiece for the arts. The tourism director there, Jon Grace, has done a great job of bringing music back into the culture, and I recently attended the Laurel Cove Music Festival. It was the second for me, and the first for my cofounders, Zack and Chris, who made the journey down just for the show.
This was my first time getting to see Justin Wells, as well as Abby Hamilton, another Send It Slam performer. Justin made an impression on not only me, but the <a href="https://www.wideopencountry.com/laurel-cove-music-festival-2022/">media</a> that was in attendance, too. He was among Wide Open Country&rsquo;s top 10, as was Abby and Cole Chaney with Wolfpen Branch.
I got to talk with Justin on Friday. He wasn&rsquo;t playing until Saturday, so I thought it said a lot about his character that he came out to hang out with the other artists and see the show. He&rsquo;s a big guy with a beard and long hair. In fact, if you told a stranger he was cast as a viking in an upcoming Netflix original, they&rsquo;d believe it. But after talking to him for just a few minutes, you could see he was as down to earth as they come, and a real, genuine guy.
We are incredibly honored to be hosting Justin Wells and his full band at Send It Slam. Take it from a guy who knows&mdash;you don&rsquo;t want to miss this one. <a href="http://senditslam.com">Grab those tickets</a>.
About the Author
Brad Luttrell is the Cofounder, CEO of GoWild. His career has taken him through journalism, advertising, technology and the outdoor industry. All along the way, he&rsquo;s had a guitar in his trunk and a song in his head.
<a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/2pTYi9YdyoPeIHMu8VEcXj?si=R13KTJvLS3qOgOv--UiA3Q">Listen to Justin Wells</a> | <a href="http://senditslam.com">Buy Tickets</a> | <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2cNdxwvmdqGjSIlZ819i73?si=55a3cf9789fa4656">Listen To The Send It Slam Playlist</a>

Third of the series: GoWild Cofounder, CEO, Brad Luttrell is sharing the stories behind how GoWild came to work with each Send It Slam artist. Meet Justin Wells. 

Send It Slam Artist Feature: Justin Wells

Third of a series: GoWild Cofounder, CEO, Brad Luttrell is sharing the stories behind how GoWild came to work with each <a href="https://tickets.timetogowild.com/event/send-it-slam">Send It Slam</a> artist.&nbsp;
My Friday mornings start with coffee and checking Spotify to see what albums were released while I was sleeping. This ritual leads me not only to new music from favorite artists, but often I&rsquo;ll stumble onto songwriters I&rsquo;ve never heard of before.&nbsp;
That&rsquo;s how I found Abby Hamilton back in 2020.
Funny enough, I clicked on her song &ldquo;50s&rsquo; Dream&rdquo; because I thought it was a Whitney Rose track, who had become a favorite of mine over the last year. While surprised to hear a different voice, I was far from disappointed.&nbsp;
Abby&rsquo;s presence is big time, which, funny enough, &ldquo;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/5ibzXO4BdeWbbXBz71YNbl?si=61329561f2d54f8d">Big Time&rdquo; is one of my favorite songs of hers</a>. As Justin Wells said in his <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTdvkm1bj/?k=1">cover of the track on TikTok</a>, &ldquo;Abby Hamilton is as monster of a songwriter as we have in Kentucky right now.&rdquo;
After discovering Abby, she became a regular for my speakers. A natural storyteller with a velvet voice, Abby&rsquo;s lyrics have a familiar comfort. Tracks like &ldquo;Fast&rdquo; feel so familiar, in fact, you&rsquo;ll swear you&rsquo;ve heard them before. This song is a great nod to Abby&rsquo;s classic and timeless sound&mdash;the hook, the melody, the bridge&mdash;it&rsquo;s all timeless.&nbsp;
Her track &ldquo;Just Like Me&rdquo; is one of the most raw and real break up songs I have ever heard. I think this song alone&nbsp;could have cured my high school heart breaks, had only I had the antidote in time. The song is unashamed of its spite, which is just perfect for the rage of a lost lover.&nbsp;
Much of the attention for Kentucky&rsquo;s songwriters lately has been on finding the next Tyler Childers. It&rsquo;s a futile search, not because there&rsquo;s only one Tyler Childers (OK, that part is also true) but because what makes Kentucky musicians so great is the unique adversity they&rsquo;ve faced. If you listen well, you&rsquo;ll hear a wise view of the world&rsquo;s challenges in Abby Hamilton.
And if I were a betting man, I&rsquo;d be willing to say in a few years, people will be searching for the next Abby Hamilton. She has everything necessary to put Kentucky once again on the country music map. You won&rsquo;t need a map legend to find her&mdash;just look for the star shining from the middle of the state, or just come on down to Send It Slam to see Abby and her full band. You won&rsquo;t regret it.&nbsp;
About the Author
Brad Luttrell is the Cofounder, CEO of GoWild. His career has taken him through journalism, advertising, technology and the outdoor industry. All along the way, he&rsquo;s had a guitar in his trunk and a song in his head.
<a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/4tw4XGFI9wF5zn4zs6WPv2?si=NgDo5gnfQBufuJUbnAOqyA">Listen to Abby Hamilton</a> | <a href="http://senditslam.com">Buy Tickets</a> | <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2cNdxwvmdqGjSIlZ819i73?si=55a3cf9789fa4656">Listen To The Send It Slam Playlist&nbsp;</a>
Photo by Elizabeth Withers

Third of the series: GoWild Cofounder, CEO, Brad Luttrell is sharing the stories behind how GoWild came to work with each Send It Slam artist. Meet Abby Hamilton. 

Send It Slam Artist Feature: Abby Hamilton

Second of a series: GoWild Cofounder, CEO, Brad Luttrell is sharing the stories behind how GoWild came to work with each <a href="https://tickets.timetogowild.com/event/send-it-slam">Send It Slam</a> artist.
The high tone of my guitar ripped away and through the Appalachian hardwoods and echoed back off the slate cliffs and into its final resting place&mdash;the ears of a few dozen teenage bodies. The guitar solo clunked a bit as my guitar strap came undone. My hand rolled and slid up the neck, awkwardly clinging to my six strings trying to play it cool. I pressed on, and then, felt a hand on my back.
&ldquo;Damn, bubby, I didn&rsquo;t know you had it in you,&rdquo; I heard as I turned to see a cigarette clinging to Dave Shoemaker&rsquo;s lip as he snapped my strap back into place.&nbsp;
Our little garage band, DriveStone, finished our last song &ldquo;Give.&rdquo; Looking back, it was really our only song with a decent vocal melody&mdash;we were not destined for a record deal. Our chord progressions were mediocre southern rock ballad attempts at originals, and we were borderline banal. Still, at that moment, I was proud of our set and even more proud that my guitar playing had gotten the nod of Dave Shoemaker.
Let&rsquo;s be real&mdash;this was just a house party. We were just some punk kids from the hills. Regardless, 20 years later I still remember this show because it had brought us to opening up for Dave Shoemaker. He was the cooler older brother of my friend, Ashley. At that time and funny enough, Dave was the lead singer&mdash;or maybe screamer&mdash;of a heavy metal band&nbsp;that would melt your face and ears into a glass and mix it with a shot of bootlegged whiskey.
Dave and I didn&rsquo;t stay in touch after I moved for college. About 15 years later, through our mutual best friend Blake Carpenter, we started hanging out again here and there, and I realized he had evolved.&nbsp;
Dave traded in his distorted metal power chords for soul wrenching country refrain (Dave does still wear mostly black&mdash;very metal).
I&rsquo;ve seen Dave play several times now at music festivals&mdash;including a show with Dalton Mills and Cole Chaney&mdash;and he always approaches the mic the same. He has a story to tell, and he&rsquo;ll die before he fails to tell it. He seems to transform into his songs&rsquo; heroes and heroines as he closes his eyes and leans into the mic.&nbsp;
<a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/6xLyAewzBUTa8moN5ycYev?si=2b3f89e35d1a4e36">His song &ldquo;Foreverything&rdquo;</a> is about his grandparents, and the first time I saw him play it at a festival, it soaked up my heart and wrang it out like a dirty sponge. And he&rsquo;s not just an emotional lyrical performer&mdash;this dude can play a six string. Dave&rsquo;s guitar licks are classic eastern Kentucky, found among the likes of Tyler Childers and Cole Chaney, as seen in songs like &ldquo;<a href="https://youtu.be/DUPCu9vKL5M">Mountain Song</a>.&rdquo; But while those rolls and hammer ons are familiar, his chord progressions offer something more. Songs like &ldquo;<a href="https://youtu.be/ffIVx3TMm7s">Henrietta Blues</a>&rdquo; have a distinct progression that&rsquo;s as memorable as they are attention-grabbing.
Dave takes the stage after Dalton Mills and before Abby Hamilton. I can promise you a few things about the set:
<ul>
<li dir="ltr">Dave may or may not have shoes on&mdash;that&rsquo;s a Kentucky stereotype we all embrace</li>
<li dir="ltr">He will probably be wearing black, despite the July heat</li>
<li dir="ltr">He&rsquo;s getting a hug from me when he walks off that stage</li>
</ul>
Love ya, bubby.&nbsp;
About the Author
Brad Luttrell is the Cofounder, CEO of GoWild. His career has taken him through journalism, advertising, technology and the outdoor industry. All along the way, he&rsquo;s had a guitar in his trunk and a song in his head.
 <a href="https://youtu.be/Tou5XQkP6Is">Listen to Dave Shoemaker </a>| <a href="http://senditslam.com">Buy Tickets</a> | <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2cNdxwvmdqGjSIlZ819i73?si=55a3cf9789fa4656">Listen To The Send It Slam Playlist</a>

“Dave traded in his distorted metal power chords for soul wrenching country refrain (Dave does still wear mostly black—very metal).” Read the stories of how Dave Shoemaker came to be a part of the Send It Slam artist lineup. 

Dave Shoemaker: Send It Slam Artist Feature

Send It Slam Artist Feature: Dave Shoemaker

First of a series: GoWild Cofounder, CEO, Brad Luttrell is sharing the stories behind how GoWild came to work with each <a href="https://tickets.timetogowild.com/event/send-it-slam">Send It Slam</a> artist.&nbsp;
The first time I met <a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/6tPuyE7dqAnf2FGcylJKPS?si=keItd4C5Sq6RiRdsdOxNKw">Dalton Mills</a>, I knew my guitar was coming out of the trunk.
A few beer cans sat around the room, near casualties waiting for someone to finish them off. My buddy, Dave Shoemaker, had just put on a fresh vinyl. I can&rsquo;t recall what exactly, but it was in the neighborhood of sorrowful and the era of The Band. Blaze Foley seems a likely choice.&nbsp;
As my lifelong best friend, Blake Carpenter, let out one of his trademark belly laughs, in walked a guy wearing a Carharrt tshirt, boots and what looked to me like a fine stetson hat.&nbsp;
This was the moment I met Dalton Mills.
I&rsquo;ve never known much about cowboy hats, as I don&rsquo;t know much about cowboying. But if Dalton had been a guitar picker action figure, you&rsquo;d have sworn that hat was a part of the original package, along with the guitar he had by his side.
Everyone in the room could pick a guitar and sing a little, and I knew Dave was especially talented. After a dose of courage, I decided to grab my guitar and jam with these guys.
The first song we played was &ldquo;Atlantic City&rdquo; because that&rsquo;s what three hillbillies gravitate to when you hand them all guitars. After that, I don&rsquo;t really recall what all we played. We laughed, and I remember thinking, &ldquo;that Dalton guy was something else&rdquo; when I left.
As well as my foggy memory can recollect, that was the first night I heard a Dalton original. He came into his song &ldquo;John on the Run,&rdquo; with a few finger rolls on the strings, and began what I can only describe as nearly yodeling. His voice whirls into cracks like a whip, and comes back into a soft conversational rasp. In some ways, he reminds of a turkey&rsquo;s finesse&mdash;they can lay down the softest clucks and purrs, only to be followed by pure prehistoric fury. While Dalton doesn&rsquo;t quite approach ferocious feathered dinosaur, his voice certainly yelps at you.&nbsp;
Since that day in Dave&rsquo;s living room, Dalton has released an EP and his self titled album and I&rsquo;ve seen him play several times. His songs hold your attention like a fish pondering its appetite for your topwater frog. I love his songs like &ldquo;Tornadoes&rdquo; because in some ways, it&rsquo;s a blue collar anthem any of us can relate to. But it&rsquo;s also introspective. I also just like that the guitar hammer ons and rolls up and down the guitar neck like a tornado. &ldquo;Outta Tune&rdquo; is another that highlights Dalton&rsquo;s talent for beautiful picking, complex concepts and whiplash vocal cracks.
And, if you listen well, you can even hear my buddy Dave singing harmony on "Sometimes Love" and "As Long As You Want Me To."
Some may think I just asked Dalton to perform at Send It Slam because I&rsquo;m an Eastern Kentucky guy, and he is, too. Heck, even further related, we both grew up in Middlesboro, Ky. But that alone isn&rsquo;t it. I&nbsp;asked Dalton to kick off Send It Slam because this guy represents what Kentucky does well. Our state often makes news for the adversity we face, but I tell you what, those hard times create some of the best songwriters in the country.&nbsp;
Show up on time for Send It Slam, and you&rsquo;ll see exactly what I mean.&nbsp;
About the Author
Brad Luttrell is the Cofounder, CEO of GoWild. His career has taken him through journalism, advertising, technology and the outdoor industry. All along the way, he&rsquo;s had a guitar in his trunk and a song in his head.&nbsp;
 <a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/6tPuyE7dqAnf2FGcylJKPS?si=keItd4C5Sq6RiRdsdOxNKw">Listen to Dalton Mills</a> | <a href="http://senditslam.com">Buy Tickets</a> | <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2cNdxwvmdqGjSIlZ819i73?si=55a3cf9789fa4656">Listen To The Send It Slam Playlist</a>

First of a series: GoWild Cofounder, CEO, Brad Luttrell is sharing the stories behind how GoWild came to work with each Send It Slam artist. First up: Dalton Mills.

First of a series: GoWild Cofounder, CEO, Brad Luttrell is sharing the stories behind how GoWild came to work with each Send It Slam artist. 

Send It Slam Artist Feature: Dalton Mills

By: Brad Luttrell, Co-Founder &amp; CEO of GoWild
Mark Zuckerberg doesn&rsquo;t give a rip about you.
Facebook wants you gone.
Instagram doesn&rsquo;t care about your #conservation posts.&nbsp;
Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, doesn&rsquo;t even want our industry&rsquo;s dollars.
I&rsquo;ve said it since we founded GoWild&mdash;the good ol&rsquo; days of mainstream social media are behind us. That stance has been met with eyerolls and shrugged shoulders from industry insiders. For years, shooting and hunting Industry organizations have taught work arounds on how to get traction on Facebook and Instagram.
It&rsquo;s like attempting to save a burning building with nothing but a shot glass to port water.
That fire has reached a point of no return. With Facebook&rsquo;s most recent moves, there is no doubt the heat is too much for any hopes of combating these flames.
In fact, Facebook just put the hunting industry on notice:&nbsp;
&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want you here.&rdquo;
&bull;&bull;&bull;
My friend Glen Reich has an incredible background in product development, marketing and sales within the hunting industry. He&rsquo;s the guy who walks into a room at a conference, and knows everyone&rsquo;s backstory. He&rsquo;s a good guy to know.
Beyond Glen&rsquo;s ability as a networker, he&rsquo;s a very sharp marketer. Glen recently pointed out to me that Facebook has completely removed its audience options for hunters. You can see the screenshots <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/glenreich_fire-and-brimstone-alert-part-activity-6912917905126887424-N0p1?utm_source=linkedin_share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop_web">here</a>.&nbsp;
Or in layman&rsquo;s terms, they&rsquo;ve stopped brands from targeting hunters. They&rsquo;d rather not have the money than to work with the hunting industry.
Now, this may at first not strike you as a big deal, let alone a death blow. Let me explain, though.
Facebook has in fact thrown a hammerfist that, if not the final blow, is the first of a one-two punch that leads to the TKO. They&rsquo;ve long stood on the grounds of &ldquo;we don&rsquo;t allow weapons sales,&rdquo; which while, yes, blackballed an entire legal industry, it got a shrug from most hunting industry professionals. For a long time, hunting was even allowed in content, per their terms of service.
However, now, the gloves are off. Meta (Facebook and Instagram) made it clear they don&rsquo;t want the dollars of blood thirsty hunters, or the brands who sell to us. This, of course, is in addition to years of deleting our Facebook Groups, censoring our content and putting us in Facebook jail.&nbsp;
I have no doubt we&rsquo;re living in the tipping point moment we saw coming in 2016 when we founded <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/gowild/">GoWild</a>.
<a href="https://n1b.goexposoftware.com/events/ss22/goExpo/user/listSpeakers.php">I spoke at SHOT Show</a> recently, and this was central to my position as I pleaded with industry leaders to think through where they spend their money. On October 31, 2021, GoWild cut all budget previously designated for Meta platforms.
Instead, we&rsquo;re putting as much of our marketing budget into companies and platforms that support hunting and fishing as possible.
When I talk about diversifying your marketing efforts, building your own leads, and, quite frankly, not being milk drunk at the teat of Facebook Czar, Mark Zuckerberg, people tend to say, "well yeah, you would say that. You're the guy who founded <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/gowild/">GoWild</a>."
But to that I say, if not us, then who?&nbsp;
Your big box hunting and shooting stores are still flooding Facebook with millions of dollars, building entirely separate websites or, even crazier, technology that hides their hunting content from <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/meta/">Meta</a> (Facebook or Instagram) when potential customers click on their Facebook ads.
They would rather hide who they are to make a buck. Let that simmer for a minute.
They&rsquo;re bending over backwards to fund a company that&rsquo;s against everything they sell and stand for.
I don&rsquo;t think any company should only post on GoWild&mdash;that&rsquo;s silly. But I feel strongly that most brands are building glass houses on sand.&nbsp;
I said that at SHOT.&nbsp;
I said it on most of the hundreds of podcasts I&rsquo;ve done.&nbsp;
I&rsquo;ve said it on <a href="https://timetogowild.com/stories/Uncensored:Dear-big-tech,-I%E2%80%99m-not-going-quietly">our blog</a>.
But I guess I can stop saying it. Because it&rsquo;s all happening. It&rsquo;s all here. You&rsquo;re either saving yourself, or you&rsquo;re consumed at the aw of the power of the sparks like a moth to the flame.
Join a community of hunters, anglers and outdoor enthusiasts. Get $10 to spend on outdoor gear when you sign up. <a style="color: #0063ae;" href="https://timetogowild.com/download" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://gowild-content.imgix.net/pages/JoinGoWild_480x480.png" alt="" width="264" height="55" /></a>
About the Author Brad Luttrell is the Cofounder, CEO of&nbsp;<a href="https://timetogowild.com/download?utm_source=Story&amp;utm_medium=RinellaRebuttal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GoWild,</a>&nbsp;a social commerce platform for hunting, shooting and fishing enthusiasts. The award-winning writer, photographer and creative director quit his advertising career to become an entrepreneur after being disenchanted with Silicon Valley&rsquo;s treatment of hunters. Since 2016, he and three cofounders have built and scaled GoWild, a platform GearJunkie called the best social media app for hunters of 2021. Luttrell has made his fight against Silicon Valley public, having boycotted and deleted his personal social profiles and pulled his company&rsquo;s budget from Facebook and Instagram. Despite all of this, Luttrell&rsquo;s friends mostly just know him for his Double Smoked Venison Chili.

Meta (Facebook and Instagram) made it clear they don’t want the dollars of blood thirsty hunters, or the brands who sell to us. This, of course, is in addition to years of deleting our Facebook Groups, censoring our content and putting us in Facebook jail. 

Facebook Doesn’t Want Your Blood Thirsty Dollars

Outdoor enthusiasts and country music fans, mark your calendars for July 9th because <a title="GoWild" href="http://downloadgowild.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GoWild</a> just announced an event of epic proportions with the introduction of &ldquo;Send It Slam.&rdquo;
<a href="https://tickets.timetogowild.com/event/send-it-slam" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Send It Slam</a> is an outdoor festival, complete with a 3D archery competition, full lineup of Kentucky musicians, local food trucks and breweries, youth entertainment and more. Rising songwriter <a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/0zyYuEZf1vFOb1OSCgQ5kT?si=hiy96_64SjmVKVxjRgnHSA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cole Chaney</a> with Wolfpen Branch headlines the concert, which includes performances from <a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/2pTYi9YdyoPeIHMu8VEcXj?si=PYbdwZ-UTqW31U9bIgC5DQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Justin Wells,</a> <a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/4tw4XGFI9wF5zn4zs6WPv2?si=Xtvkj2aTT4mk7J5uP7osyQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Abby Hamilton,</a> <a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/5pp2emMVTXkz9LJa6lqECY?si=u-XLuH8xQY2njTT7JKyTEg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dave Shoemaker,</a> and <a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/6tPuyE7dqAnf2FGcylJKPS?si=2rrzrwlETF6L9_9JsKehgw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dalton Mills</a>&nbsp;(listen to the official <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2cNdxwvmdqGjSIlZ819i73?si=d70a7038af3b4d21" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Send It Slam playlist).</a>
<blockquote>&ldquo;After the last few years, we have a lot of celebrating to catch up on. We&rsquo;re coming back full force with a must-attend throw down for both our GoWild members and the general public. Send It Slam is going to be a wild celebration of outdoor skills, music, food and drink.&rdquo;&nbsp; - Brad Luttrell, GoWild&rsquo;s Cofounder, CEO.&nbsp;</blockquote>
Send It Slam kicks off at sunrise with an optional 3D archery competition, held at <a href="https://www.thefarmsc.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Sporting Club at the Farm.</a> Archers will compete for fun and prizes. The outdoor nonprofit <a href="https://raiseemoutdoors.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Raise &lsquo;Em Outdoors</a> will teach free archery lessons for youth, and the <a href="https://lhcbsa.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lincoln Heritage Council, Boy Scouts of America</a> will teach marksmanship with a BB gun range. Music will start in the afternoon at Brown-Forman Amphitheater on Waterfront Park in Louisville, Ky. Attendees can get separate tickets for the concert if they are not interested in the archery competition.
<a href="https://tickets.timetogowild.com/event/send-it-slam" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/com.gowild.pages/SendItSlamLineup.png" alt="" width="1200" height="307" /></a>
The waterfront party will host a lineup of Kentucky food trucks and breweries, as well as outdoor brands.
<a href="https://tickets.timetogowild.com/event/send-it-slam" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tickets</a> go on sale Wednesday, April 13 at 11 am EST. GoWild Members will have access to presale starting Friday, April 8 at 11am. They can find their presale codes in their GoWild direct messages.
<a href="https://tickets.timetogowild.com/event/send-it-slam" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/com.gowild.pages/Buy+Tickets+Button.png" alt="Buy Tickets" width="373" height="72" /></a>
Music Ticket Details Ages 12 and under get in for free for the concert. General admission concert tickets will be $30, with $5 of every ticket going to <a href="https://raiseemoutdoors.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Raise &lsquo;Em Outdoors.</a> VIP tickets for the music will be available, which include access to the VIP area, the official Send It Slam poster and more.
Archery Ticket Details Archery tickets will be limited. Archery tickets are $75 and include the concert. $5 of every archery ticket will also go to Raise &lsquo;Em Outdoors.&nbsp;
<a href="https://tickets.timetogowild.com/event/send-it-slam" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/com.gowild.pages/Buy+Tickets+Button.png" alt="Buy Tickets" width="373" height="72" /></a>
Tickets go on sale Wednesday, April 13 at 11 am EST. GoWild Members will have access to presale starting Friday, April 8 at 11am. They can find their presale codes in their GoWild direct messages.
Team GoWild Recommends Things to Do in Louisville Zack Grimes, President &amp; CoFounder &bull;<a href="https://www.gotolouisville.com/directory/angels-envy-distillery/?utm_source=GoWild&amp;utm_medium=SendItSlam" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Angel's Envy Distillery Tour</a> &bull; Eat at <a href="https://www.eatparlourpizza.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Parlour Pizza</a>
Donovan Sears, Chief Product Designer &amp; CoFounder &bull;<a href="https://www.flyingaxes.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Flying Axes</a> &bull; Lunch at <a href="http://www.feastbbq.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Feast in Nulu</a>
Chris Gleim, Chief Development Officer &amp; CoFounder &bull; Drinks at <a href="https://monnikbeer.com/?utm_source=GoWild&amp;utm_medium=SendItSlam" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Monnik Beer Company</a> &bull; Lunch or Dinner at <a href="https://atgbrewery.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Against the Grain</a>
Brad Luttrell, CEO &amp; CoFounder &bull; <a href="https://www.gotolouisville.com/directory/cave-hill-cemetery/?utm_source=GoWild&amp;utm_medium=SendItSlam" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cave Hill Cemetery tour</a> "I know this sounds creepy but there is something special about seeing where the Champ and Colonel rest." &bull; Dinner at <a href="http://louisvillehammerheads.com/?utm_source=GoWild&amp;utm_medium=SendItSlam" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hammerheads</a>
Brayden Ware, Marketing Specialist &bull; Breakfast at <a href="https://biscuitbelly.com/nulu/?utm_source=GoWild&amp;utm_medium=SendItSlam" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Biscuit Belly</a> &bull; <a href="https://www.gotolouisville.com/directory/kentucky-derby-museum/?utm_source=GoWild&amp;utm_medium=SendItSlam" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kentucky Derby Museum</a>
Arica Johnson, Director of Member Experiences <a href="https://www.sluggermuseum.com/?utm_source=GoWild&amp;utm_medium=SendItSlam" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&bull; Louisville Slugger Museum &amp; Factory</a> &bull; Lunch/Dinner at <a href="https://exchangeforfood.com/?utm_source=GoWild&amp;utm_medium=SendItSlam" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Exchange Pub &amp; Kitchen</a>
&nbsp;
<a href="https://tickets.timetogowild.com/event/send-it-slam" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/com.gowild.pages/sis-announcement_lineup2_small.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="891" /></a>

Send It Slam is an outdoor festival, complete with a 3D archery competition, full lineup of Kentucky musicians, local food trucks and breweries, youth entertainment and more. Rising songwriter Cole Chaney with Wolfpen Branch headlines the concert, which includes performances from Justin Wells, Abby Hamilton, Dave Shoemaker, and Dalton Mills.

GoWild Member Presale Code: MEMBER


Send It Slam is an outdoor festival, complete with a 3D archery competition, full lineup of Kentucky musicians, local food trucks and breweries, youth entertainment and more. Rising songwriter Cole Chaney with Wolfpen Branch headlines the concert, which includes performances from Justin Wells, Abby 

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