Colorado Parks and Wildlife - 2020
Nomination text by Jason Duetsch:
One of the biggest challenges facing CPW and all wildlife agencies for that matter, is sustainable funding. As the popularity of hunting wanes and license sales decrease, how can we, as an agency, continue to thrive and work to conserve the things we love about the outdoors? Simply increasing the price of a license will only work for so long, we need to bring new faces into the world of hunting. But how do we do that? Enter Crystal Egli.
Crystal is a videographer for CPW and typically makes videos about wildlife, our parks, regulations, etc. That is until recently. When she first started at CPW, Crystal had never hunted in her life, she had never even considered hunting yet alone held a firearm. However, Crystal, a self-described liberal millennial, represents a segment of the population that we’d never really targeted with our marketing before, adults with no history of hunting but with a love of the outdoors, and a desire for sustainable, locally sourced, humanely harvested, organic, free range meat. Once my predecessor, Crystal Chick, convinced Egli to try turkey hunting and I hooked her up with a mentor in Matt Dunfee for a deer hunt, Mrs. Egli caught the bug.
It was at this moment that Crystal came up with a brilliant idea, as a videographer, she could chronicle her journey from total novice to big game hunter. She understood that being a liberal millennial, as well as a minority woman, she could reach an entirely different demographic than we usually reach, and meet them where they are. Crystal filmed every step of her journey from taking Hunter Ed, to finding a mentor, getting a license, planning her hunt, going on the hunt, processing her harvest, and finally cooking it. She cut over a year’s worth of footage into a 16 part YouTube series called “My First Big Game Hunt”. Crystal also took great pains to make sure every episode was accessible to all, regardless of knowledge or ability. Each episodes has links to pertinent information, proper subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing community, and visual descriptions for the blind.
Crystal also explains everything in her videos as if she is talking to someone just like her, with no knowledge of hunting what so ever. Meeting true novices at their level and not scaring them away with over simplification of complex ideas, or talking over their heads.
A new episode from the series is being released every Monday, and the response has been amazing! Thousands of people have watched the episodes so far, subscriptions to CPW’s YouTube page shot up by 5% in just 3 weeks, Hunter Outreach has fielded multiple inquiries already regarding our novice hunter program, and Hunter Ed classes are surprisingly full for this time of year. Hunter Education even recruited a native Mandarin speaker into their pool of instructors as a direct result of Crystal’s series, which will only increase the different demographics we can welcome into the hunting community!
Other organizations have also taken notice of Crystal’s idea. The International Hunter Education Association (IHEA) has asked Crystal if they can post her series on their YouTube Channel “Hunters Connect”. The National Wildlife Federation is going to feature the series in its Artemis (NWF’s Sportswoman program) newsletter. And several other niche outdoor recreating organizations (Outdoor-Afro, Latinos Outdoors, among others) have asked to use it or are already sharing it on their social medial platforms.
Crystal’s video series also uses a different tone to connect to new hunters. Presented in a reality show style format, the series is made for the modern audience and modern media platforms like YouTube, and its playful fun tone is a drastic departure from CPW’s previous video marketing efforts. I believe this creativity is exactly what CPW needs to reach new audiences and convince people, who had never even considered the thought before, to give hunting a try.
As an agency we’ve tried the same tactics for a very long time, and I am excited to see someone approach the same issue from a completely different perspective. As the Statewide Hunter Outreach Coordinator I’m tasked with recruiting new people and teaching them how to hunt, and I believe Crystal’s ingenious idea will help keep my program full of diverse, new people eager to learn about the joys of hunting for a long time! I am excited to nominate Crystal Egli for the Best Creative Idea award for her web series; “My First Big Game Hunt”.
Thank you for considering her.
Nomination text by Jason Duetsch:
One of the biggest challenges facing CPW and all wildlife agencies for that matter, is sustainable funding. As the popularity of hunting wanes and license sales decrease, how can we, as an agency, continue to thrive and work to conserve the things we love about the outdoors? Simply increasing the price of a license will only work for so long, we need to bring new faces into the world of hunting. But how do we do that? Enter Crystal Egli.
Crystal is a videographer for CPW and typically makes videos about wildlife, our parks, regulations, etc. That is until recently. When she first started at CPW, Crystal had never hunted in her life, she had never even considered hunting yet alone held a firearm. However, Crystal, a self-described liberal millennial, represents a segment of the population that we’d never really targeted with our marketing before, adults with no history of hunting but with a love of the outdoors, and a desire for sustainable, locally sourced, humanely harvested, organic, free range meat. Once my predecessor, Crystal Chick, convinced Egli to try turkey hunting and I hooked her up with a mentor in Matt Dunfee for a deer hunt, Mrs. Egli caught the bug.
It was at this moment that Crystal came up with a brilliant idea, as a videographer, she could chronicle her journey from total novice to big game hunter. She understood that being a liberal millennial, as well as a minority woman, she could reach an entirely different demographic than we usually reach, and meet them where they are. Crystal filmed every step of her journey from taking Hunter Ed, to finding a mentor, getting a license, planning her hunt, going on the hunt, processing her harvest, and finally cooking it. She cut over a year’s worth of footage into a 16 part YouTube series called “My First Big Game Hunt”. Crystal also took great pains to make sure every episode was accessible to all, regardless of knowledge or ability. Each episodes has links to pertinent information, proper subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing community, and visual descriptions for the blind.
Crystal also explains everything in her videos as if she is talking to someone just like her, with no knowledge of hunting what so ever. Meeting true novices at their level and not scaring them away with over simplification of complex ideas, or talking over their heads.
A new episode from the series is being released every Monday, and the response has been amazing! Thousands of people have watched the episodes so far, subscriptions to CPW’s YouTube page shot up by 5% in just 3 weeks, Hunter Outreach has fielded multiple inquiries already regarding our novice hunter program, and Hunter Ed classes are surprisingly full for this time of year. Hunter Education even recruited a native Mandarin speaker into their pool of instructors as a direct result of Crystal’s series, which will only increase the different demographics we can welcome into the hunting community!
Other organizations have also taken notice of Crystal’s idea. The International Hunter Education Association (IHEA) has asked Crystal if they can post her series on their YouTube Channel “Hunters Connect”. The National Wildlife Federation is going to feature the series in its Artemis (NWF’s Sportswoman program) newsletter. And several other niche outdoor recreating organizations (Outdoor-Afro, Latinos Outdoors, among others) have asked to use it or are already sharing it on their social medial platforms.
Crystal’s video series also uses a different tone to connect to new hunters. Presented in a reality show style format, the series is made for the modern audience and modern media platforms like YouTube, and its playful fun tone is a drastic departure from CPW’s previous video marketing efforts. I believe this creativity is exactly what CPW needs to reach new audiences and convince people, who had never even considered the thought before, to give hunting a try.
As an agency we’ve tried the same tactics for a very long time, and I am excited to see someone approach the same issue from a completely different perspective. As the Statewide Hunter Outreach Coordinator I’m tasked with recruiting new people and teaching them how to hunt, and I believe Crystal’s ingenious idea will help keep my program full of diverse, new people eager to learn about the joys of hunting for a long time! I am excited to nominate Crystal Egli for the Best Creative Idea award for her web series; “My First Big Game Hunt”.
Thank you for considering her.
Sincerely,
Jason Deutsch
Statewide Hunter Outreach Coordinator
Colorado Parks and Wildlife
Jason Deutsch
Statewide Hunter Outreach Coordinator
Colorado Parks and Wildlife