An Art Director’s Hunt for More Than a Freezer Full of Wild Game

There’s No Season Like Hunting Season

Some outdoor passions are even more special because they happen during a specific time of year. For example, the hunters of Swanson Russell spend months counting down to fall when most hunting seasons begin. Each has endless campfire-worthy stories to tell — and each is a perfect fit for our Passion Profile series. Specifically, Senior Art Director Ryan Holt, who has a long history of both hunting Nebraska’s prairies and applying that expertise for outdoor brands. But for Ryan, hunting isn’t just a pastime, it’s an integral part of his life.

Swanson Russell: Can you talk a little bit about your job at Swanson Russell?

Ryan Holt: I started here as a Designer in 2010, and I wasn't really working on any of the outdoor recreation accounts. I got kicked a project or two for Leupold and Weatherby until I was assigned to work specifically on Otis. At the time, Otis was making military supplies and trying to expand into the hunting space. My background in the Marine Corps made me a good fit to work for that client because I had worked in the armory with firearms and cleaning equipment. I knew this stuff intimately because I had to inventory it, replace it and order it. So it was really cool to work for the brand and interface with some products I was already familiar with.

SR: When and how did you get into hunting?

RH: As a kid growing up in Nevada, I hunted some but not very successfully. My stepdad and mom would always go to deer camp up in the mountains. When I was 11, we moved to Nebraska, but my stepdad stopped hunting for a few years. We didn’t pick it up again until I was about 15. He only knew mule deer, so we'd go out to Chadron, NE but were never successful.

Fast-forward to 2020 and the pandemic. There was a time early on when I became a bit of a doomsday-prepper when it came to food. We got chickens. We planted a garden. I started scouting for deer and decided to pick up deer hunting again as another source of meat. During that time, I really rediscovered just how much I loved hunting.

SR: What’s your favorite type of hunt?

RH: I really love turkey, deer and upland bird hunting mostly. I actually got started upland hunting because I kept seeing birds when I would go scout before deer season. I had a little bit of luck, mostly shooting quail. If I had to pick an animal I like hunting most, it would be sharp-tailed grouse. I flushed some grouse in western Nebraska while antelope hunting and got hooked. I eventually bagged a couple of them, and they might have been the best-tasting birds I’ve ever eaten.

SR: Tell us about your favorite tools of the trade when it comes to hunting.

RH: I love mastering new tools and crafts, whether it’s artistic mediums or weapons and gear. There are a lot of similarities. With art, you might have a pencil in your hand and want what's in your brain to happen on paper, but first, you must master the tool, the fundamentals and the process. It's the same with bows, rifles and shotguns, just different utensils. When I got back into hunting, I started bow hunting initially because I wanted to have more access to longer hunting seasons. But when it comes to weapons, I'm actually a gun guy. I grew up shooting before hunting was on my radar. And when I was in the Marine Corps, firearms became second nature.

“I love mastering new tools & crafts, whether it’s artistic mediums or weapons & gear.”

SR: Are there any hunting memories or stories that stand out to you?

RH: All of my most important hunting memories are with my son. He got his first deer last year, but the best part of that story is the preface — all the previous years he hunted hard, made some mistakes and had to learn from them. I got to be there with him for so many learning experiences — forgetting his rifle’s safety was on, being nervous and missing a shot, stuff like that. But the next year he got himself a deer on opening morning.

SR: You do a lot of hunting on public land — what's that like?

RH: First and foremost, I appreciate that there even is public land in Nebraska, because we have some of the fewest public land acres of any state. And as a hunter, it’s tough because your only other options are to know someone who owns private land, to pay someone or to knock on doors and ask permission to hunt on private land. But if you’re someone like me who likes to get out there on land that's accessible to anyone, it's cool to just have that public space. It’s land that we all already own and pay for as taxpayers. The downside is that public land gets crowded, which is frustrating. In Nebraska, there’s a very limited amount and a growing number of people trying to hunt the same places at the same times.

But even though hunting public land can be frustrating, it can also be rewarding in other ways. It forces you to scout harder and know each piece of ground like the back of your hand, so you can maximize your chances when the season starts.

SR: Can you talk about processing your own wild game? And do you have a favorite recipe?

RH: I'm super cheap which is why during the pandemic I got into butchering meat myself instead of taking it to a processor. I found a bunch of YouTube videos walking through the entire process step-by-step. So, with my first doe, I strung it up in my garage with a tarp underneath so my wife wouldn’t complain about the mess. Even with my laptop set up with how-to videos, I think the whole deer took two full eight-hour days to skin, quarter and butcher. It’s a lot of work for your first time.

As far as recipes go, I really love making Osso Buco with venison shanks. It's so good. Even my wife was over the moon for it, and she doesn't love venison. I also have a wild turkey tamale recipe I love. A lot of people just breast out wild turkeys and don’t do much with the legs and thighs. Instead, I took those quarters and threw them in the crockpot for eight hours with chicken broth and hatch green chilies, and it just peeled off the bone perfectly. Then I moved that to the side and used the broth and juice to make my tamale mixture. The wild turkey tamales with hatch green chilies is probably one of the best wild game recipes I’ve tried.

SR: What advice would you give to someone who's interested in getting into hunting?

RH: Build your knowledge base. We live in an era where there's so much great hunting content on social media, podcasts and YouTube — all of it can help you learn the basics if you didn’t grow up learning them from friends or family. You want to know what a turkey call should sound like? Guess what? There are hundreds of how-to videos on that and pretty much everything else.

For others, the expense is a hangup because hunting requires a lot of gear in addition to tags, licenses and so on. Get to know people who hunt, and see if they will loan you gear. I keep a bin of gear for people who want to try hunting for the first time or who want to join me. Hunters accumulate a lot, so they'll probably help you out. And those same people can be great mentors. With all the resources out there, you can figure out hunting on your own, but finding a mentor is a great way to learn and connect with others. If you ask for help, most hunters are more than happy to give it.

SR: Beyond actual hunting, what have you come to love about your experiences?

RH: I love getting into my hunting spot before sunrise. You walk in when it's pitch black, and you look up and see nothing but stars. And because you're miles from the city, you see endless amounts...it's gorgeous. Then you sit down in your blind or tree stand and let the woods settle down around you. You start to hear things shuffling and moving — at first, it can be a little unsettling, but you come to appreciate it. You always hear the roosters on nearby farms crowing, and then you get to hear the owls hooting. How often do you get to hear an owl hooting in real life? And then you hear all the other birds. They forget you're there and start acting like birds again, flying and feeding and chasing each other. It's just fun to watch nature be nature with minimal human interruption. It’s such an emotional and mental benefit just being out there and disconnecting.

Our passion for the outdoors helps us Make Belief™ for brands. Learn about our approach, explore our work and sign up for our newsletter to see all the reasons why we're the Nation's Leading Agency for Brands That Work and Play Outdoors.