Ep 17: Brad Brooks on Business, Hunting, & Conservation

Brad Brooks is the owner and General Manager of Argali Outdoors, a backcountry hunting gear, and equipment company. Brad is an adventurer, conservationist, and family man hailing from Boise, ID. 

Topics Discussed: 

• How Brad stumbled into starting an outdoor equipment company
• His background in environmental economics and working in public lands conservation 
• The first backpacking tent bought in high school
• The inner draw to the outdoors 
• How being in wild country helps to recenter life 
• Brad's interest in business and entrepreneurship from an early age
• The origination of Argali 
• Early days of technical clothing 
• Calculating risks
• Storytelling about wild places through film 
• The importance of timing in life and business
• Family bonds in working together
• The daily struggle of work-life balance
• The importance of being a present father
• Spending 75 nights in a tent per year
• The biggest threats to conservation today 
• The effects of westward expansion 
• Brad's reflection on death while rock climbing
• Getting lost while hunting at age 15
• Product development and scratching an itch 

Quote:

• "The loss of the ability to get lost in wild country is a tragedy." 
• "Figure out something that interests you in your life and figure out how to make that your job."

Resources Mentioned:

• Argali
• Argali Instagram
• Wilderness Society 
• North Face
• Patagonia 
• First Lite
• Sitka
• KUIU
• Sportsman Channel 
• Outdoor Channel
• The National Wildlife Federation  
• Backcountry Hunters & Anglers
• Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership 
• EXO MTN Gear
• Vortex Optics 
• Feathered Friends 
• Book: A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold
• Book: Rebel Yell - The Violence, Passion, and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson
• Author: Terry Tempest Williams
• Podcast: Hidden Brain 
• Podcast: The Meateater