Ryan Bassham (igetducks on Instagram) is the guy behind the Waterfowl Marketing program for SITKA. As you know, they are doing very well. Ryan has been all over the world chasing ducks (and big game animals as well) but is an extremely humble guy, a family man, devoted to God, and believes in integrity, hard work, and hunting. We wanted to catch up with Ryan and learn a little more about him, and without any hesitation, he was willing to get on the phone for an hour-long talk. Don’t worry though, it’s not an hour-long read!
SR: Who is Ryan Bassham, what do you do and what have you done to lead you to where you are professionally today?
RB: Before I even started college I was a full-time missionary for two years in South America; I lived in Ecuador for those two years. After college my first job was for a high-end running shoe start-up, but while doing that I was working as a part-time hunt consultant for GetDucks. Shortly after that, I started my own big game booking agency called Trophy Expeditions. With GetDucks I’m a hunt consultant and have hosted trips around the world for different waterfowl species. Trophy expeditions is a similar brand but for big game species all around the world. After doing both sort of part-time, I went full time into the industry working as VP of Marketing for Drake Waterfowl. From there I went to Sitka where I’ve been for 3 years now. My role at Sitka is to manage the marketing strategy for the Whitetail and Waterfowl categories.
SR: What is your education background for marketing?
RB: I went to school at Texas A&M University for an AG Business degree, and I thought I wanted to work in the Agricultural industry which obviously has close ties to a lot of hunting- full of like-minded individuals- but I went in a totally different direction. All my decisions in life have been sort of around hunting.
SR: What is your personal hunting history/background?
RB: I think like a lot of individuals, my dad is who introduced me to the world of hunting. Growing up in Texas a lot of that was centered around whitetail, and when I was 8 years old I shot my first deer. From there the passion started to grow. I’ve always had a fascination with places like Africa and hunting Elk and things like that. When I was 13 I had the chance to go on a duck hunt with a cousin of mine- and I didn’t think it was going to be that cool- but afterward, I was hooked. It took one time and then I started figuring waterfowling out on my own. Most of my early hunting was focused around hunting Texas for deer and ducks. After my mission in Ecuador, I came back and went to college and was guiding part-time for ducks. That’s also about the same time that I started working for Ramsey, the owner of GetDucks. Since I’m bilingual (Spanish/English), with duck hunts in places like Argentina and Mexico being some of the highest volume hunts that he offers, it worked out well to help him and support him. I’ve been places I’ve never thought I’d go.
SR: Waterfowl Species Slam?
RB: It’s kind of an unofficial thing but there’s a small weird group of us that kinda, [chase the slam] yeah- you can define it a lot of ways. More commonly for North American waterfowl hunters its called the North American 41. The reality is when you get into looking at Genus and subspecies worldwide it’s well over 100. I’ve got one more to go for the North American slam (Tundra Swan), but after my recent trip to Africa, I’m at 73 total across the world.
SR: The most recent trip of yours to Africa, what was the bird that stood out for you, the highlight bird?
RB: Good question. There’s easier birds to find and harder one, but my favorite was probably the yellow-billed duck. They’re similar to our mallard, they way to work and come into the decoys. They make you feel like a hero because you hit a few notes on a call and they lock upcoming in. The Egyptian Goose is a special one too, though. I always appreciate being able to hunt different styles, techniques and being able to learn from people all over the world. There are similarities but there’s a lot of differences too. A lot of the times they wish they could do it the way we do but there’s a lot of constraints; from gear and decoys and such- but they adapt.
SR: Does it seem real, getting to do all the things you get to do across the country and the world, all while having your family and home and job?
RB: It is surreal. I remember as a kid my dad taking me to different hunting shows around Texas and walking up and down the aisles as a kid just like, “golly what ARE these things?”. I didn’t know you could hunt so many animals. Coming back to now, and looking at my hunt calendar for the next two years and to look back at the things I’ve been able to do over the past ten, I’ve got to pinch myself and wonder “how on earth?”. I’ve been blessed but it really is surreal. It’s hard to wrap your head around it all but I’m super grateful for what I get to do and I appreciate the fact that there’s a lot of people who would love to be in the same position. With social media, you can paint whatever picture you want and I’ve had a lot of conversations with people about that but I try and keep it as real and authentic as I can and not over-embellish. I think it’s important to be positive and authentic.
SR: When you were a kid did you want to get into the hunting/outdoors industry?
RB: Oh yeah. For sure. I’ve still got all the VHS tapes of Duck Commander, RealTree outdoors, Monster Buck videos from when I was a kid. I didn’t know what type of job opportunities were available but I knew I was obsessed and passionate about hunting. Being opportunistic and living right is hopefully what’s given me that opportunity. I’m friends with a lot of the guys that I watched on TV and idolized when I was growing up and we’re buddies now. I’m very grateful. There was a lot of hard work on the way.
SR: If you only had one more day to hunt, what are you doing?
RB: I think it’s important to remember where you came from and how it all started and where the dreams began, so for me being fortunate to have access to family land in Texas- it would be there. At the back of our property, we had access to world-class duck hunting and if I could shoot one more duck it would be back there in the bottoms. I’ve had some amazing hunts around the world but I would go back there.
SR: What do we do as a hunting culture in America to keep hunting around for your kids, and their kids?
RB: I talked to Waddell about this and he is incredibly passionate about this topic and full-on understands the magnitude of it. We need to figure it out as a community. My viewpoint is that the unfortunate reality of the culture is it can be very egotistical and brand-driven, and a lot of the much more important things about why we love hunting has gotten lost in the mix of it. We’ve created our own barriers of entry into hunting participation within different demographics across the country as well. Lack of access, cost of hunting.. what do we do about all that? My thought is that we spend a lot of time as hunters talking to ourselves and each other about hunting, but it doesn’t do us any good to talk to each other. Where we win is identifying the populations and places where they’re on the fence about hunting. Maybe they can swing one way or the other. Places like Cities where we’ve lost the cultural nuances and heritage of hunting we can look at how we portray hunting and try to effectively communicate about hunting through visuals and how we talk about it.
I’ve seen too many times where someone gets onto Facebook or Instagram or an internet forum and they’re new to hunting whether they’ve been brought up with it around or not, and they’re asking a simple question and looking to understand something- and there’s always that one individual that wants to beat them down.
When that new hunter gets berated, even if by just one person, after spending time and money and effort to learn- the people that are experts or experienced let them down by making them feel bad.. Well, that new hunter might just call it quits then. I don’t want to spend the money for people to give me a hard time; I’m out.
We’ve got to effectively communicate the hunting industry as more than a ‘bloodsport’ or that all we care about is killing. We enjoy getting our gear ready, the scouting, the preparation as well as the hunt. Celebrating and enjoying the success of a hunt is important to but we need to be better about it all.
SR: SITKA Layering – how important is it and are folks overlooking a system?
RB: I think that every pursuit is different. I think about my situation and what I can do to make myself as comfortable as possible. How can I stay out on a hunt longest and stay comfortable? Being able to layer appropriately and manage moisture is critical. A lot of whitetail and duck hunters wonder, “how does this benefit me?”. On the duck hunting side, I look at it from the perspective of what is the most waterproof, durable, visually suppressive (to ducks/geese) outer layer I can have to make sure I have a comfortable hunt. I want gear that works and waterfowl hunters are notorious for being hard on gear. At some point, you need to manage moisture, from the inside or the outside.
This is how I look at the wold of waterfowl through my lens: You’ve got birds coming from way up North to Southern areas to winter and then going back. Throughout a season and migration, you’re going to see a lot of different environmental situations. Take into account temperatures, humidity, wind. If you have a system that you can build into and out-of as the seasons change and the weather (temps, precipitation..) changes too, it gives you the ability to be ready for any situation. If you only have one heavy coat, for example, you’re going to be limited in the early season. Having a GoreTex system is key for waterfowlers obviously as well. Being able to add or remove layers keeps you ready for anything.
SR: Pro’s and Con’s of working in the industry and your favorite part of the job?
RB: Pro’s are that i get to talk about hunting and go hunting a lot. My hobby has become what I get to do and think about all day. Some people might get burnt out on that and call it a con because their hobby becomes work for them but I have never experienced that. I’m fortunate that way. I have way more pros than cons, like getting to go meet and hang out with people, testing products and having input on the development of those products is a pro- it’s fun and exciting. Cons? I’m not getting rich! I can take care of my family and I do alright but you’re not making millions. Another con is being away from the family so much. As soon as I hop on the plane to leave I immediately miss my family wether it’s a two day or three-week trip. I want to be there for them and don’t want to miss things in their lives. There’s a lot of planning between me and my wife to make sure I don’t miss things. My wife hunts as well, and my oldest daughter shot her first deer last year and her first turkey this Spring- she is hell-bent on going to Africa with me next year so luckily they have the bug and I think not only me hunting but my wife as well, I think it’s inevitable that they [his kids] will continue to embrace our heritage and culture of hunting.
SR: What advice would you give to a high-school kid who wants to get into the industry?
RB: My recommendation is a lot of what’s been passed on to me. Whatever you’re most passionate about, go after it. At the end of the day though integrity is the last thing you’ve got to stand on. Being honest, working hard- establishing that as who you are and what people think of you is way way more important than having some amazing reputation of being a ‘straight killer’. The way I hire people is the things I mentioned first are way more important. Work hard, be honest. Then, after that, I look at what sort of business skill set they’ve developed as well as their hunting background and their understanding of what we are trying to do. Networking is a great thing to develop as well. Be humble, work hard and go after what you want. Arrogance ends careers very early on in this industry. It’s a small industry- we hear everything.
SR: What’s the first waterfowl hunt you’re doing this year for the North American season?
RB: Going down to Texas for a September teal hunt which should be awesome because I grew up teal hunting and it’s been a few years since I’ve been back for teal.
Thanks to Ryan for taking the time to talk with us and for allowing us to use photos (many taken by photographer friends of his) from his Instagram.
