Editor’s Note: Mark Drury started working for Mossy Oak when in college. Then when he and his brother, Terry, started their video-production company, Drury Outdoors that now produces four TV shows and releases three new DVDs every year, their lives became hectic, and their schedules unbelievable. At the same time, Terry Drury’s son, Matt, was attending college. Like all young people, he was trying to decide what he wanted to be when he grew up. He knew he was born with a talent for art and was very creative. Once he took a course in college on video production, he knew what his dream job would be. Matt is a TV producer, but according to Mark and Terry Drury, he’s “The Boss” of Drury Outdoors. So, this week we interviewed “The Boss” to get an inside look at the Drurys’ outdoor lifestyle.
Right now, Drury Outdoors isn’t considering adding any-more team members to our pro staff. We know we have some of the best hunters/videographers in the industry. But about 5-years ago, when we were searching for additional team members, we were looking for two individuals who hunted, had videoed some hunts and had studied enough TV and video production to produce high quality video. Something most TV viewers don’t understand is that the videographers that work with us know how hard it is to get the deer to walk within camera range and stand broadside, and then the hunter get the shot and be able to tell the story of the hunt.
The first thing I always ask for from potential pro staffers for Drury Outdoors is a video resume of hunts they have filmed, because this is the most-important part of what our business is. I’m sure there are great hunters out there who take really-big whitetails every year and turkeys and capture those hunts on video. But remember, to get good video, you have to have two hunters set-up in tree stands with all their equipment. Most of the time this equipment has to be set-up or taken down in the dark. There are many things that can go wrong when you’re trying to video a good hunt. Also, the hunter and the videographer need to have good camera screen presence. You may be a great hunter but possibly freeze-up when you’re talking on camera. If the viewer becomes uncomfortable watching you on TV then that’s probably because you’re uncomfortable being on TV.
Since we think an avid hunter probably takes a really-nice buck in 4 years of hard hunting, we request to see 4 years’ worth of video from anyone wanting to be on our team. For instance, you may have had the best year of deer hunting ever and taken two or three really-big trophy bucks. But the next year, you may not even find a trophy buck. In that 4 years of video submitted as a resume, I’ll look to see that you can take quality deer consistently. Everyone probably will have a down year when he doesn’t take a trophy buck. But if that down year only happens once in 4 or 5 years, then I know that the person is a consistent producer and may be the kind of person we want to consider as a team member for Drury Outdoors.
The outdoor TV industry has a good number of great hunters. If you watch hunting shows, you can see that there are quite a few 4- to 6-year old bucks with Boone and Crockett racks that score 150 or better being harvested every year on TV shows. Most of us never have an opportunity to even see a buck that will score 150 in our lifetimes. Our viewers are accustomed to watching older-age-class bucks being taken on outdoor TV shows. We want our team members to try and harvest an older-age-class buck that is 4-years old or better that will score 140 or more B&C points. To be real honest, I haven’t ever harvested a buck that big in my lifetime. Finding and taking a buck that will score 140 or better isn’t easy and requires many hours of scouting and hunting. Many of our hunting-team members either own or lease property that they can manage to produce bucks this size. They work really hard on the properties they hunt to inventory their deer herd to try and develop bucks over a 4- to 6-year period that will score 140 or better. If you’ve ever managed deer, you know how difficult letting a buck survive that will score 130 is, so you can hunt him the next year. In a good year, our team members will take one or two bucks that will score 140 or more on the B&C scale.
The cast members of our “Dream Season TV” show will hunt almost as hard and as long as Dad and Uncle Mark do to find and take big deer. The Dream Season team may take four or five bucks per season in several different states. So, being a professional hunter, being on TV and producing enough content for 13 weeks of television is really much-harder work than the viewer believes it to be.
Another fact that most viewers don’t realize is that the Drury video/hunter team members have to find their own places to hunt. I know a lot of viewers think that many of the hunts that we show on TV are guided hunts out of lodges. We do go on a few guided hunts, but about 95 percent, if not more, are on properties that our team members either own or lease and manage themselves. Or, maybe they have knocked on doors and asked landowners, if they can hunt a property. The backgrounds of our team members are quite diverse. We may have a construction worker, a pharmacist, a lineman for a power company, a police officer or a factory worker. We like having team members from all walks of life who are just like the people who watch our videos and our TV shows.
To learn more about Drury Outdoors, you can visit www.druryoutdoors.com, https://www.facebook.com/OfficialDruryOutdoors or https://twitter.com/DruryOutdoors. Drury Outdoors is very active on all of these sites, and you can send emails, ask questions and get answers through the website. I read and answer every email I can. Also Uncle Mark, my dad, Taylor, my cousin and Uncle Mark’s daughter, and I try to answer all the questions that we get. We love to interact with the viewers who watch our TV shows and our videos.
Day 1: Matt Drury of Drury Outdoors on Their Strong Relationship with Mossy Oak
Tomorrow: Matt Drury of Drury Outdoors Explains How a Video Gets from the Field to Your TV Set
