In 2005, Ryan “The Buddha” Baudhin returned from his deployment in Iraq and attended college earning a degree in History and Education. After teaching for a year, Ryan settled for a cubicle job with the Federal Government. After losing both his parents within two months of each other to cancer, Ryan finally said to himself, “What am I doing? I don’t want to work behind a desk for the rest of my life.”
Ryan always hunted his entire life and decided to pick up a camera after leaving his cubicle job. After taking photos of ducks and posting on Facebook, the feedback was beyond Baudhin’s expectations. Comments like, “Your pictures are great!”, “Post more”, allowed Ryan to realized it was time to upgrade his camera gear. Through shooting many hunts for different people and gaining all types of experience, he ended up filming hunts as well. Ryan then got picked up by the Pursuit Channel to film “The Den” as well as CarbonTV’s “Backcountry Traditions”. Both of these shows have opened doors of opportunities for Ryan from traveling to hunt across the world
Ryan described lots of different hunts from traveling to Africa twice, to carrying $30,000 worth of camera gear on a crop-duster sized airplane. Ryan says the hunt that shaped him as an individual, a hunter, and as a photographer is the annual Horicon Marsh Veterans Hunt. This will be the tenth year of the hunt and that Ryan has participated in. He is now on the board for the Horicon Marsh Veterans Hunt as well. The first year of the hunt was also the year that both of Ryan’s parents passed away, and another marine had reached out to him to attend the Horicon Marsh Veterans Hunt. He said, “The hunt just made me feel so small and see the bigger picture. It just kinda put me in my place. It was exactly what I needed during that time of my life. I guess that’s why I’m still so passionate about it.”
Now married with two stepdaughters and his first son, Ryan tends to only travel once a month and occasional quick weekend trips compared to his old lifestyle of being on the road for three weeks out of the month. Ryan said, “My wife has shown and taught me more patience than I could ever imagine. I use to have ATVs, four-wheelers, boats, now I’m picking up pink bicycles up in the garage.” He is involved with seven different non-profit hunts typically a year. Ryan wants to spread the feelings he has when he is in the woods, and the experience he gains from the outdoors. He wants to connect different hunts and continue to spread the positivity of the outdoors. After asking Ryan on his opinions on social media in the hunting industry, he said, “Waterfowlers are the worst. No one hates another duck hunter more than another duck hunter. Especially with children. But it can be so good if used right. You have to remember to be present in the world around you. But I have been able to make so many connections within myself and for other people through social media in the outdoor world.”
Ryan says the best part of doing what he gets to do is being able to gain experience and see so many different parts of the world. He said, “We live in a country where most people never leave that little county that they live in.” He believes there are so many things the world has to offer people if they just got out there to see it.
He once made a trip to film a hunt in Arkansas flooded timber with four other men, and after realizing he was not as advanced of a duck caller as the rest, he decided he had to prove himself to the group. Being from the North, he took a ‘bathroom break’ and came back in his swim trunks instead of waders. Laughter exploded through the skinny water and tall cedar trees.
Ryan Baudhin found photography and allowed it to show the world his love for the outdoor world and hunting industry. With all his travels throughout the world, he hopes in the next five years that his kids grow in the hunting culture and become more active in the outdoors through his guidance. He said, “In five years, my son will be five years old, and he may not be shooting, but he will for sure be in the blind. Maybe there will be a ‘MadisonOffTheGrid’.”
Lauren Brady for SPLIT REED
