Meet Stephen Miller

Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephen Miller.

Stephen, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I started archery as a kid back in the 90’s. My mentor and teacher, Ken Sloan took me under his wing and taught me everything he knew. Unfortunately, Ken passed away in 1999. I kind of set archery aside and went through my high school years without much involvement in the outdoors other than the occasional hiking, etc. Fast forward to late 2017 and I came across a video called “time” by Cameron Hanes. Cameron Hanes is the modern day Michael Jordan of Bowhunting. I felt that fire ignites in me again after watching that video. I went and bought an entry level bow, a 2018 PSE Drive X. I started shooting like crazy, practicing as much as I could. Archery is like working out, you have muscle memory. Within the first week, I pulled my first Robin Hood, shooting one arrow into another. I tried my hand at some deer hunts which take place in the winter here in Arizona, unfortunately, I was unsuccessful with a bow at first. I never fully realized or respected how difficult bowhunting is. It is drastically more difficult than any rifle hunt by far. I drew a November rifle tag for the fall of 2018 and harvested my first big game animal a mule deer buck on November 3rd, exactly five days before turning 30. During all this learning and absorbing knowledge, I found the hunting industry to be very divided. Some hunters are extremely friendly like my mentor was. Others, unfortunately, do nothing but damage the outdoor industry. There are always some bad apples in any walk of life, unfortunately, but I knew I had the abilities to help make a difference. I know about marketing, social media, photography, video & drone, so I decided to take those skills and apply them so that others who wanted to learn and grow in the outdoors could find a place free of ridicule.

A lot of new and upcoming hunters are chased off by tenured hunters telling rheum they’re asking stupid questions and such when people simply just don’t know. Many outdoorsmen grow up with a father figure handing down generations of knowledge. I, unfortunately, wasn’t one of those, my dad is amazing don’t get me wrong but he’s not a hunter what so ever. So I created this outlet of knowledge and education via a podcast, short films, blog and social media. It’s been an amazing journey and the thousands of people I’ve reached so far have been so supportive. Many hunters get a bad rap it seems because we’re viewed as heartless killers when in reality Arizona game and fish rely on us to help keep the wildlife populations managed at a healthy level. See, wildlife biologists go out and physically count the herds. Their salaries are paid by hunters investment in hunting licenses, tags, guns, bows, etc. Then those wildlife biologists give out a specific amount of tags to keep the herds at a healthy level. If the herds get too over population rampant disease can wipe out our species that we hold dear. I cherish every animal’s life I take. I’m thankful for that animal and I give thanks over it for the nourishment it provides me and my family. As far as nutrition goes it’s the healthiest meat I can get. It doesn’t get any more organic than that. Not to mention the journey that goes into procuring it. On my 2019 early archery elk hunt my buddy Jake and easily racked up almost 100 miles in just 10 days. You have to be extremely fit and train hard for these types of hunts, not to mention you’re at 8,000+ ft. elevation at times. The work begins when you harvest an animal. Carrying out a single elk quarter can weigh as much as 100lbs. The American wildlife population has risen in strength and numbers ever since our conservation efforts were implanted. Our herds and species are part of what makes America what it is today, no place in the world’s successfully done what we have. I want to help educate people on that as well so we can continue to hold dear this epic resource.

Has it been a smooth road?
Nothing is ever easy, but learning and overcoming lots of obstacles along the way is what makes every part of hunting worth it. You learn so much about yourself and what you’re truly capable of. It’s amazing how many mental barriers hold us back. I’m learning to crush mental barriers in all aspects of life now, hunting was just the catalyst for that education.

Tell us more about your work.
The podcast was designed to interview high level figures in the outdoor industry and to extract decades of knowledge for us to learn from in just a short episode. It’s been extremely successful and podcasting is a huge industry right now.

The blog I’m doing is currently growing. It’s a constant grind to keep producing the article, but I write them as I go along and learn from self educating. I write also write a lot just from trial and error experiences. Hunting a forever fine tuning experience. You never master it. The social media, marketing, photography and content creation are a real.

The joy of mine. I love telling my story through photos and videos. Social media has a great way of connecting like minded people and you can do essential a small form blog too do you want to drop some knowledge with a single photo. I do a ton of culinary posts as well on there so I can show newcomers the end result of hard work which of course is a delicious meal that’s as organic as it gets!

Video and vlogging have been a super fun endeavor and is more of the artistic journey by telling my story in short films. I’ve been super blessed to have several outdoor companies sponsor me and help be a real catalyst in my short films and all aspects really for my content creation.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Not sure really. Hunting numbers always tend to be and flow.. right now we are down. There’s a huge disconnect I’m afraid of the mass urbanization going on right now. Many people forget about where the majority of our meat truly comes from. I hope we incline in those numbers through efforts like these. There something truly admirable and almost chivalrous when hunting is done right. Let me explain, traditions are passed down and hard work ethic taught. Stewards of our public lands in a positive manner. Many of us hunters volunteer time to water the animals in drought, refurbish their habitat so it flourishes and pick up trash wherever we go in deep backcountry or along side the nearest road. We have a high moral value on our public lands and each step I take I treat that piece of ground as if it were my one personal property. I care for it dearly. I know many people disagree with hunting and that’s ok. I’m just doing my part to work on a proven successful method of wildlife management.

Pricing:

• I do sell some merch so I can help support my own gear needs, hats, shirts, decals $5-$20

Contact Info:

• Website: BowhuntingAZ.com
• Instagram: @bowhuntingaz
• Facebook: BowhuntingAZ
• Other: “The BowhuntingAZ Podcast” Anywhere Podcast are found! iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, YouTube, etc

Image Credit:
Stephen Miller, BowhuntingAZ

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