Guidefitter Spotlight: Corey Daniels, Founder & CEO of Deadnuts

Transcript

Bryan Koontz (00:00), Following is a conversation with Corey Daniels. Corey is the founder and CEO of a really cool archery target company called Deadnuts, Deadnuts Outdoors. And really fascinating story about what happened when COVID made it impossible for him to go to work back in the 2020 era. And he ended up spending a lot of time outside with his sons. He's got four sons, and ultimately that led them to create

Bryan Koontz (00:29), another business. they own several businesses together as a family. And it's a pretty neat story about an entrepreneur turning a great idea into a business. So join me in this conversation with Corey and Deadnuts.

Bryan Koontz (00:42), Welcome to the Guidefitter Spotlight.

Bryan Koontz (00:44), but

Corey Daniels (00:44), Yeah.

Bryan Koontz (00:45), anyway, no, it's all good. Well, it's good to talk to you, man. appreciate

Corey Daniels (00:48), Yeah, good to talk to you. Thanks for having me.

Bryan Koontz (00:50), yeah, appreciate you taking the time to sit down and talk. always love hearing the stories behind all the the companies out there and it's kind of a neat one. Now you you you I want to hear all the whole startup story, but you also sounds like you're pretty busy guy, like with a full time job in the trucking industry. Is that right?

Corey Daniels (01:11), yeah, so I'm a general sales manager for a a Kenworth truck dealership and I manage

Bryan Koontz (01:16), Okay.

Corey Daniels (01:17), Washing Washington and Alaska. So it's been a very, very busy run and this idea actually came from when we were sent home during COVID and weren't we

Corey Daniels (01:28), weren't allowed in the office. So not a lot of trucks to be sold when nobody can go to work.

Bryan Koontz (01:34), no. Yeah, that's true. So it was a lot of just like hanging out, shooting the bow, and then that's when the the idea came.

Corey Daniels (01:41), Yeah, so I have four sons and I've been bow hunting since two thousand five. I was a rifle hunter growing up in in 05. I picked up I used to guide bow hunters, but I but I'd never bow hunted myself. And so I decided to start doing that because I loved it. And then I I have four sons and my experiences through bow hunting were and guiding hunters was was you know, shot placement being key to all things.

Corey Daniels (02:10), Poundage, obviously, making sure your bows are legal, but shot placement being the most important thing that we can do and understanding every angle. And so my boys and I, were shooting and my wife and I own a company that I had the ability to make these targets and I cut the first one out by hand. I had zero intentions of making it into a business. It was just something for me to create as many backyard scenarios as I could for my kids because they were getting into bow hunting and

Corey Daniels (02:39), starting with deer and eventually they were able to pull enough weight to to go after elk. So again it was about just creating s enough scenarios that I could teach them the angle and and where you're looking to place the arrow in order to to have a quick humane kill.

Bryan Koontz (02:57), Right. Yeah. Well, I think I think some of

Corey Daniels (02:59), And then it just evolved.

Bryan Koontz (03:01), well some of the best businesses come from just something you want to fix for yourself, right? And then you and then you realize, well, that worked. I bet I bet I'm not alone. Bet tons of other people have the same idea.

Corey Daniels (03:12), Yeah.

Bryan Koontz (03:12), And it's and I and I like, you know, I was reading a little bit about your your story and from some of the info that Mark had sent over. And it's so true how many bow hunters just shoot at the red circle or whatever, right? The shoot at the circle.

Bryan Koontz (03:26), And it's it's extremely different the geometry of the vital region depending on the angle and up and downhill and left and right and all of that stuff. So it's it's pretty neat. And then

Corey Daniels (03:38), Yeah.

Bryan Koontz (03:39), how go ahead.

Corey Daniels (03:41), Well, just about two on on front leg back, front leg forward, you know, frontal, we get a lot of let's just call it input from the from the world on some of the targets that we produce. that that they think we're promoting specific shots. Frontal is always a a point of contention. People don't

Bryan Koontz (04:02), Sure.

Corey Daniels (04:03), necessarily think you should be taking that shot and but if you watch YouTube today

Corey Daniels (04:08), Almost every shot you see is frontal because when you're hunting by yourself, that's the way they come in. And so

Bryan Koontz (04:13), Right.

Corey Daniels (04:14), guys are taking what some view as inhumane shots. And my goal was to create a target that if they're going to take that shot, at least practice it and know where you're supposed to hit it and fine-tune your craft so that we're not maiming animals. We become better hunters and at least check the box on eliminating that as as a reason for the anti-hunters to get after us.

Bryan Koontz (04:33), Yeah, right. Right. That's good. Well when what so how long did it take and w kind of what was the process, most likely over multiple dinner table conversations or something from cutting out your first target to wow, maybe we should you know, create a business around this thing.

Corey Daniels (04:53), Yeah, so the first one was just a cutout and we shot it and tore it apart. I mean, we there weren't it wasn't packable. It was huge. And I I took it to our Oregon hunting camp and it was kind of a pain in the tail because it was so big. And when I got back, we had shot it out and it was it was wasted. But we'd shot out a section of it where our arrows were hitting because we were shooting pretty well. And it's like, gosh, wouldn't it be nice if we could make that little area replaceable? And then wouldn't

Bryan Koontz (05:20), Right.

Corey Daniels (05:20), it be nice if we could make it packable?

Corey Daniels (05:23), and so we were able to put folds in it and then it just began to evolve. Replaceable kill zones, keep the price down. and you know, then my buddies wanted one and so we'd make one for them and we started to get into it and my buddies were mentioned, you know, maybe you should try and and sell these. I was like, I've got enough to do, but I did one we named it after my uncle. my uncle's past, but

Corey Daniels (05:50), When he'd take me out shooting as a kid, he'd always say you hit it dead nuts, boy. So we

Bryan Koontz (05:54), I I was wondering

Bryan Koontz (05:55), I was gonna ask you about the the the name and I figured it was because I watched I was on your website and I watched one of the setup videos and at the end you know I I assume it's your son, was shooting he shot the arrow and was like, There it is, dead nuts, you know. And I'm like, Yep, I've heard that term before. Should I hit it dead nuts, yeah. That's funny.

Corey Daniels (06:10), Yeah, hit a dead nuts. Yeah. So

Corey Daniels (06:13), that's where it came from. And and so we named it and I did one Facebook ad, four years ago, three years ago. Didn't know what I was doing, still don't know what I'm doing on social media because we hire people that are

Bryan Koontz (06:24), Yeah.

Corey Daniels (06:25), way smarter than me. But yeah, I did one ad and got enough orders to go, my gosh, we should probably hit pause on this. dot our I's cross our Ts, because there's there's probably something here. And

Corey Daniels (06:39), partnered with some really some guys that have been in the industry a long time. the Holder family has really helped me along the way with raised hunting and they gave some great input and then also Warren the oldest son began a marketing company he started marketing it for me and it just again started to go and we started to partner with some influencers

Bryan Koontz (07:01), That's pretty cool.

Corey Daniels (07:02), and and making targets for them that they of animals that they have

Corey Daniels (07:09), harvested over the years at specific angles that they want to teach. so it's become it's it's really evolved into a teaching tool, which is what I created it for in the first place and and the main driver for me as I become a grandfather now and and teaching my granddaughter, you know, first learn to shoot and then let's let's dial in and learn why we shoot, where we shoot. And so it's been great.

Bryan Koontz (07:33), Right, right, yeah.

Bryan Koontz (07:35), And you have the version, what's the version where you can I think you can see the actual vitals? quiver. Yeah, that's that's yeah.

Corey Daniels (07:41), Yes, called QuivAR. We we we partnered

Corey Daniels (07:44), with the app QuivAR, and it's it's been a game changer. you know, you still have those out there that say, I really don't need to see the internal anatomy. I've shot enough deer or elk in my life, I know where to hit it. But especially for beginners or those that are questioning, it's a fantastic app.

Bryan Koontz (08:00), I think it's great.

Corey Daniels (08:01), it it shows everything and and and now they have new tools that they actually can score your arrow. They've they've put a new numeric value to

Corey Daniels (08:09), to the shot placement. And so you can you can compete with your buddies now from your cell phone. They can shoot at their house, you can shoot at your house and and have a competition on who's shooting a better arrow and and a and a and a more humane shot.

Bryan Koontz (08:24), Yeah. So when you look back, you know, when you did the first kind of manual cutout as you're not able to go to work and all that, you look back to that time to now. I mean, that that's has to be a a really fun thought process and quite a journey, you know. It's 'cause it's I think I think tons of people come up with great ideas every day, but it's the real work is when you

Bryan Koontz (08:48), actually think through all of the logistics. How do I turn this into a business? How do I fulfill? How do I you know, how do I get some sort of scale out of it? And that's a lot, right?

Corey Daniels (08:59), Yeah, it becomes way more about the people that you associate yourself with than it is about you and your idea because I'm not smart enough to do the things that we're doing right now. I've got a gentleman, Mike, that is he's the he's kind of the brains behind the operation. I have the idea, he can he can make it all happen. I tell him what I want, he designs and engineers it for me. It's fantastic. meeting Aaron Stonehawker was a huge play for me, and he was already in the industry.

Corey Daniels (09:29), and I was literally calling in a bull when he called me, was he kept calling me a f a couple years ago. So I finally answered and says, What's going on, man? I'm I'm in the middle of a hunt. And he goes, gosh, just call me when you're done. I didn't realize it at that time that it was the start of a conversation about us working together and through his experiences through Tacticam and whatnot, that he's been able to use to help us grow along with the Holder family.

Corey Daniels (09:56), And help us grow and learn more about how to get our brand and our product in front of more people in the industry. So it's it's definitely a slow burn, this industry. I've learned a ton in the last few years. it

Bryan Koontz (10:09), Sure, yeah. Yeah.

Corey Daniels (10:12), there's nothing quick about it. But we we're having I I like the growth that does this. Whatever does this, does this. So I I I like steady growth.

Bryan Koontz (10:21), Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Slow and

Bryan Koontz (10:23), steady wins the race. Yeah.

Corey Daniels (10:24), Manageable.

Corey Daniels (10:24), Yeah. Manageable growth. We don't have to get too crazy. It's not that we don't want to be in Cabela's, of course we do. But, you know, until this year we probably couldn't handle it and would have got a bad reputation. And and no matter what we do, we will not overpromise and underdeliver. We've we've got to make sure that we're growing at a steady pace, to where we can be sustainable for years to come.

Bryan Koontz (10:46), I the target seem to me to be one of those I haven't used one yet. now I'm I want one. I'm gonna gonna try out a couple. But it's it's kinda I think once you once you get used to that sort of a target, I I think I'd always wanna know where did that arrow actually go. Like, you know, like it's just different than shooting at a at a bag. Again, nothing wrong with all the other types of targets. They're great when you're just kinda getting your muscle memory back at the beginning of the season or whatnot. We're starting out like you said, but

Bryan Koontz (11:16), When you really can start to see the impact, literally the impact at those different angles and hitting, you know, the di the different areas of the vitals. I think it might surprise some people, you know, like exactly where is the heart and exactly where are the lungs and you got ribs there and like that's always a reminder, right? So it's I think it's kinda neat. I think it could become addictive.

Corey Daniels (11:37), It's a lot of fun. I mean, it c a deer to a bear, for example, the bear vital zone sits in a completely different place than than a deer vital zone. And so they sit much higher in the animal. And so knowing that, knowing the species that you're you're hunting and knowing where to place it so that we can do our job the right way. there's nothing worse. Nobody everybody feels horrible when they when they maim or or wound

Bryan Koontz (12:00), Yep.

Corey Daniels (12:00), or lose an animal. Nobody's out there to do that. it's about shot placement, it's about

Corey Daniels (12:06), Making sure that if you're going to take that shot, we have a target with Dan Staten right now and a target with with Corey Jacobson right now, part of our signature series. And Dan specifically wanted his. It's a bull that he harvested, and it's quartering two with the front leg back. It's an incredibly difficult shot. And

Bryan Koontz (12:24), Wow.

Corey Daniels (12:25), but he wanted that because there's so many people taking that shot. He wanted he wants his people, his followers to understand that if you aren't able to pin.

Corey Daniels (12:37), A four-inch circle, you're gonna wound it. You're gonna hit a bone because ever

Bryan Koontz (12:41), Don't attempt, yeah.

Corey Daniels (12:42), everything is wrong. And so, but a lot of people see that it's broadside, and they I'm just gonna put it behind the shoulder, and they're not gonna hit it. It's very difficult. So, same with Corey. He's been such a great help to us on teaching the frontal shot and where the vitals are and and and the area that you penetrate in order to make sure you get in the pocket. and it's a bull that he shot at on a frontal, it's his. And so

Corey Daniels (13:06), Having great partners like that in the industry that kind of believe in the mission that we're trying to put out there, which is to educate our customers and their followers that we're all doing the right thing has been fantastic.

Bryan Koontz (13:18), That's really cool. So so he took a bull that that they had on camera, what one of his hunts, and then that's what the model modeled the the target. That's that's pretty cool. It's like a specific scenario. Yeah. Yeah.

Corey Daniels (13:28), Yeah, we we create so we have yes, specific. So Chris B

Corey Daniels (13:32), has a target with us that was a deer of his. Dan Staten has an elk and Corey Jacobson has an elk so far. We call it our signature series. We're just launching it and it's off to a great start. the point is educating. So

Bryan Koontz (13:47), Yeah, right.

Corey Daniels (13:49), the people that see the shot once they go and watch that hunt on YouTube can then shoot the same animal that they shot at that angle and then see if they can actually do it too. And

Corey Daniels (13:57), All of them are quiver enabled so they can pull up the app and see exactly where they hit with their arrow.

Bryan Koontz (14:03), That's awesome. That's really cool. Have you s being a bow hunter, have you guys gotten you and your family into saddle hunting? Have you guys do any of that up in Washington?

Corey Daniels (14:13), So it's funny you mentioned that. we would like to try that. Washington is a I hunt Roosevelts. I'm I'm I hunt really brushy, brushy country.

Bryan Koontz (14:20), Yeah. Yep.

Corey Daniels (14:23), but we also have drawn this year, I have three tags. I have Oregon, Washington, and Montana for for archery. And so I could see me doing it in Montana and I could see me doing it in Oregon, but in Washington, it is really, really brushy. So

Bryan Koontz (14:39), Yeah, yeah.

Corey Daniels (14:40), pretty difficult to to find a spot.

Corey Daniels (14:43), with where I hunt elk and it's very, very steep country. So it'd be difficult to not saying I couldn't find a scenario, but the what the Montana and Oregon scenarios are much easier. My son Cole, who's kind of been the he's our face. He's he's really driving this business. he's super eager about it. All my sons are involved, but Cole more so he's on a hunt in Utah right now for Mule Deer where he's considering using it with where he's at right now.

Bryan Koontz (15:11), That's cool. I'm gonna try it this year. I have a place in Pennsylvania. My family's all back there. It's where I grew up and family farm and all this kind of stuff. And the folks at Tethered are partner of ours. And when we were first this is multiple years ago now, I had never heard of saddle hunting and and we were started to talk to this company. I'm like, what is this? Yeah, like get up get up in a tree, like an electrical lineman. Like that's kind of weird. But boy, has it really taken off as a

Bryan Koontz (15:41), as a method of hunting. And so I've got all the tethered gear. I'm going to try it out this year at in Pennsylvania to see how it is. But it I think

Corey Daniels (15:48), That's great.

Bryan Koontz (15:49), you know, from what I can tell, once you get into it, like it's it gets pretty addictive with what you can do to maneuver around the tree and all that kind of stuff. But to your point, yeah, you got to have the right environment for it. But I've just never tried it and wondered if you did because more and more people I'm talking to are really curious about it, you know. And it seems like it's got an an intense following. So it might be something to check out. I'll get you I introduce you to the

Bryan Koontz (16:11), to the tethered guys, I think. you'd

Corey Daniels (16:13), That'd be great.

Bryan Koontz (16:13), get along with those guys. Yeah, they're in in the Nashville area, Tennessee. So

Corey Daniels (16:18), Okay.

Bryan Koontz (16:18), yeah, Dan Chumbler is their CEO. Dan used to be the CEO of of Meat Eater and and then he went over there to to Tethered. So doing some really cool stuff with bow hunting.

Corey Daniels (16:30), That's awesome.

Bryan Koontz (16:31), yeah, yeah, it is neat. It's it's neat to see just new things like that in the sport. To your point, you know, like bow hunting is has I think

Bryan Koontz (16:40), you know, struggled with participation and it partly because it it is difficult, right? I mean, you you have to get the reps, you gotta do all the stuff that you're doing is perfect to try to educate people. And I know I know quite a few people, in just my friend groups and all of that that, you know, they love hunting and all that, but they just they don't want to put in the time and they don't feel to to their credit, they don't feel like they have the you know, that they can place that ethical shot. And so they don't go.

Bryan Koontz (17:07), But I but I think that you you really miss out on a really beautiful time of the year and you know all that good stuff. But it it's just you've got to know what you're doing and you gotta put in the time and all that kind of stuff. So it would be it would be it it's great to see that companies like you guys helping to put some more an energy back into the sport, you know. So and same with the like the saddle hunting guys. What's so what what are you what are you thinking about next? Like are you are you are there different kinds of products it that around the targets or are you gonna stick with

Bryan Koontz (17:37), The targets for now, or what's the what's the future look like for you guys?

Corey Daniels (17:40), we're always, I mean, with my son, you're always thinking of something new, man. My boys,

Bryan Koontz (17:44), Yeah, yeah.

Corey Daniels (17:47), they have lots of ideas. so for the rest of this year, I've just told everybody let's let's let's be good at what we do and be the best at what we do before we go start another project. Let's make sure we've got this dialed. And I think at this point it's mission accomplished. We've we've got the two D system down. we we continuously make improvements by listening to our customers.

Corey Daniels (18:10), I we we truly want to know if you've had any kind of an experience that if you could change one thing, what would it be? And if it makes sense, we'll implement it. So in the beginning, we had problems with our antlers in the wind. In Washington, we don't get the wind that Texas and Oklahoma do. And so

Bryan Koontz (18:28), Mm-hmm.

Corey Daniels (18:28), whatever changes we make, we implement it on all of our targets immediately. So now all of our antlers are reinforced and that is now n it doesn't happen any longer.

Corey Daniels (18:39), So we've now changed all of our stabilizer strips so that they're not velcro. They're they're pinned with a steel with with metal stakes that you you slide through now and they come attached and they're awesome. It's perfect. So just little improvement. So we're gonna continue to improve the the product. at the end of the day, we also are now working on a backstop. we know that we need to have a backstop and try to sell a system that people can throw in their trailer or the back of their pickup when they're going to hunting camp.

Corey Daniels (19:08), and be able set up our system so they can practice. so that

Bryan Koontz (19:11), I was I was wondering

Bryan Koontz (19:12), about that when I was I was looking at the installation, the the setup video and it and it's you know, you currently rely on another another target, right, to attach yours to. So that I think that makes a ton of sense to have the full system.

Corey Daniels (19:25), That that's what we're hoping to have out by first of the years, another system. And then we we want to become a more well-rounded target company, not necessarily just archery. And so

Bryan Koontz (19:33), Hmm.

Corey Daniels (19:34), we're working on becoming and and diving into the rifle market. that market is incredibly saturated. And so you know, before we dive into that, we want to make sure that we can actually enhance that a little bit and and and not just be a part of the market, but make a difference in the market, similar to what we've done with the archery side.

Corey Daniels (19:55), So we're working on some projects right now and then we're working on some decoy silhouette ideas as well, which that is really picking up some steam. So diving into the waterfowl side, yes sir.

Bryan Koontz (20:07), That's cool.

Bryan Koontz (20:10), okay. I think it would be neat to have, you know, speaking of the the the guide in the outfitting industry, I think it would be awesome to have some of your targets at, you know, any anybody taking anyone out on a guided archery hunt. Just to, you know, if they don't one, it would be a great way for folks to get to know you guys, but just back to that role of the guide and the outfitter as an as an educator, right? To have every single client who's coming through just

Bryan Koontz (20:37), at least a couple quivers full, you know, on on one of your targets just to really see that vital area. That would be an interesting idea. you know, I think.

Corey Daniels (20:46), Yeah, it's a it's a great idea. We some

Corey Daniels (20:47), of the outfitters are diving in on that. where we've sold, especially like you go to Western Hunt Expo, for example, a

Bryan Koontz (20:54), Yep.

Corey Daniels (20:54), lot of the outfitters will come and we'll get set up with them. We have a program for guides and outfitters through Guidefitter as well that we try to enhance and then and then through our dealer networks. So working with those guys, my one of my sons is a guide in Montana out of Dillon. And so he

Bryan Koontz (21:10), Yeah. cool. Okay.

Corey Daniels (21:12), works with an outfitter there and and he guides and they have all of our targets as well.

Corey Daniels (21:16), So and they're actually testing one of our rifle targets now to see how it works out. So to be continued on that. But yeah, so that we we

Bryan Koontz (21:22), That's pretty cool. Is he

Corey Daniels (21:25), agree completely.

Bryan Koontz (21:27), has he encountered any grizz over there near Dillon? Any grizzlies? Yeah, yeah. It's it's getting crazy. I've been seeing some

Corey Daniels (21:31), yeah. Yeah. unfortunately, yeah, there there's some grizz around. Yeah.

Bryan Koontz (21:37), v you know videos on these trail cams. Now I always used to joke to my family about how how terrifying it would be to see a herd of grizzly bears and then

Bryan Koontz (21:46), I've seen more than one trail camp video now of like nine grizzlies just walking through and I'm like, Okay, that might be one of the most terrifying things I've seen around in a long time.

Corey Daniels (21:54), Yeah, and they're

Corey Daniels (21:55), everywhere now. I have a home in Lewistown, Montana, and they

Bryan Koontz (21:57), Crazy the numbers. Okay.

Corey Daniels (21:59), I've never had to worry about grizzly bears, but they're there now. I mean, they are. They are there. So we

Bryan Koontz (22:05), Well.

Corey Daniels (22:06), see I don't know, one last year my son Cole, who's driving dead nuts, he has sound and two cubs under him while calling ilk. And you know, he's

Bryan Koontz (22:17), Oof.

Corey Daniels (22:17), we're we're prepared. we're all

Bryan Koontz (22:19), Sure.

Corey Daniels (22:20), prepared, but still it's

Corey Daniels (22:23), little unnerving that they're there now. That we have to be aware of it. So

Bryan Koontz (22:26), Yeah.

Bryan Koontz (22:27), Yeah, that is that is crazy. Especially just I it's so crazy seeing these videos of them. How many together? It's you know, sow and cubs, terrifying. But when it's a sow and cubs and then another sow and cubs and then two more adults, it's like what is going on? That's

Corey Daniels (22:41), Yeah.

Bryan Koontz (22:41), that is wild. That is wild. So how long's he been guiding?

Corey Daniels (22:47), this is his third year. So he he went to college in

Bryan Koontz (22:48), That's cool.

Corey Daniels (22:49), Dillon at Montana Western and went to school for guiding and outfitting and got his bachelor's degree

Corey Daniels (22:55), last year. And he was on the rodeo team there. So he got to guide and outfit and rodeo and do his thing. And so the outfitter hired him full time now, so he's full time guide with him, which means he'll be busy through January. I think I think the waterfowl season ends in January. So he'll

Bryan Koontz (23:13), Okay.

Corey Daniels (23:14), be big game starting

Corey Daniels (23:16), Well he's he's doing antelope now. He's got an antelope hunt next week. and so he's getting those guys going for archery and then he'll be into elk season and d it's supposed to they bought an elk deer combo with the with the client purchased. But yeah, he's with Bucks and Ducks

Bryan Koontz (23:27), Sure, right. That's cool. What's the what

Corey Daniels (23:29), out of Dillon, Montana.

Bryan Koontz (23:31), Bucks and Duc I was gonna ask what the name of the outfit is, Bucks and Ducks. That's pretty cool. So if he's if he's hasn't quit yet after three years, he must be must be loving it.

Corey Daniels (23:39), he loves it. Yeah, he's

Corey Daniels (23:41), it's what he lives for since he's a little kid.

Bryan Koontz (23:44), That's awesome. That's really cool. And then what what do your other kids do?

Corey Daniels (23:49), So my oldest is a financial advisor with Edward Jones. His name's Cameron. and

Bryan Koontz (23:54), Okay.

Corey Daniels (23:54), then Cole. It he does Cole does real estate between Montana and Arizona, but also pushes dead nuts very hard. He's the one you'll see all the time on the socials. Carson is

Bryan Koontz (24:01), Mm-hmm. Okay.

Corey Daniels (24:04), my guide, out of Dillon, Montana. And my youngest just graduated high school and is on his way to college in Arizona at Grand Canyon. next week he leaves. So I've

Bryan Koontz (24:14), Super cool.

Corey Daniels (24:15), had boys in my home for thirty four years and it'll be the first time in thirty four years that I'll I'll be an anti gesture so

Bryan Koontz (24:23), I'm almost an empty I get I have two daughters. I never had the sons. I have two daughters. I tried to get them into hunting and you know it just it never went anywhere. Fishing, they like to fish, but you know, I I have videos somewhere of my oldest daughter going turkey hunting with me and all dressed in camo. She lasted until the hot chocolate ran out, and then she fell asleep, you know, on the floor of the floor of the turkey blind. But but anyway, but never never had the sun experience. But yeah, but same. My wife and I are

Bryan Koontz (24:50), about empty nesters. My youngest is gonna be a junior in college and still lives at home. But I think this will probably be the last last semester for that. So and they both went to Montana State here in in Bozeman. So yeah, yeah.

Corey Daniels (25:03), Outstanding. Yep, that's where

Corey Daniels (25:06), so Carson down there in Dillon was offered to come up to get his masters in rodeo this year. And he just after meeting with his outfitter, his outfitter made him his number one. And so he's gonna stay stay with him and not go and get his masters, which my my my wife and I are kinda I I understand where you're coming from. You're ready to go to work. But yeah, in fact he's won that rodeo in Bozeman the last two years, team ropen. So

Bryan Koontz (25:32), Really?

Bryan Koontz (25:33), That's cool. Huh. Yeah, that now does he

Corey Daniels (25:33), Yeah, yeah. It's been really cool. So really cool.

Bryan Koontz (25:37), d does he work round like all year round with that outfit? Do they have a ranch or something there as well? Or is it just for the s yeah, okay. Full full ranchers. Okay. Gotcha. Gotcha. Okay.

Corey Daniels (25:43), yeah, yeah, they're they're huge ranchers. Huge ranchers in doing that. Yeah. Yeah.

Bryan Koontz (25:49), Wow, what a neat experience. Yeah, there's a lot of

Corey Daniels (25:51), They're great. My niece

Corey Daniels (25:52), is going to Montana State. She has a freshman. She moves in next week. And and then my house

Bryan Koontz (25:56), Okay. Yep, that's right.

Corey Daniels (25:57), is in Lewistown.

Bryan Koontz (25:59), Yeah, that's cool. Very, very cool. And you guys, you're out you're pretty close to the coast, right? Up in in Washington right now.

Corey Daniels (26:07), Yeah. Yeah.

Bryan Koontz (26:08), Yeah.

Corey Daniels (26:09), Yeah. We'd love to relocate to Lewistown or to or to Dillon, to relocate the business in general. it's really hard to pick up and roll. So we're working on some things now because

Bryan Koontz (26:19), Sure.

Corey Daniels (26:19), we manufacture everything in house. everything's made in house. And so to grab

Bryan Koontz (26:24), wow.

Corey Daniels (26:24), your team and and move everyone to Montana is is not the easiest thing. We would love to be in Bozeman, but it's not financially feasible anymore. It's just become too

Bryan Koontz (26:35), Yeah.

Corey Daniels (26:36), insane.

Bryan Koontz (26:37), yeah,

Corey Daniels (26:37), So

Bryan Koontz (26:38), we all know that here. You know, we had the

Corey Daniels (26:41), Yeah.

Bryan Koontz (26:41), you know, we yeah, I moved the company here in late twenty nineteen. And then of course, you know, all the stuff hit the fan with COVID and a couple of months after that. And then everyone else had the bright idea to move to Bozeman, Montana. Well, to not just Bozeman, all these other mountain towns, you know, but yeah, of course price of real estate went crazy and all that good stuff. So but it's

Corey Daniels (27:01), Yeah. We looked at

Corey Daniels (27:03), it. We can't find a building that we could afford to lease. We're not at that point yet. We'd love to be, 'cause that's where I want to be, but it's it's not there yet.

Bryan Koontz (27:11), That's that's really amazing

Bryan Koontz (27:12), though, that you're building everything here. That, you know, that's have you been tempted to, you know, make stuff outside the United States because of the costs or anything like that? Yeah. Mm-hmm. It's tough.

Corey Daniels (27:20), very. Yeah, very. and

Corey Daniels (27:24), it is. b I'm I'm big on made in the USA. The part of my I I want to keep it that way. But the hard part is currently is the bodies that you can afford to build the targets at a rate in which you can afford if we want to grow, we're gonna have to do some exploring. and it can stay in the US. We probably have to do some exploring outside the state of Washington.

Bryan Koontz (27:50), Mm.

Corey Daniels (27:50), Because not

Corey Daniels (27:51), all states are as expensive as the state of Washington is for people. It's just a very, very expensive state to do business in, which is why there's a mass exodus to Idaho and Montana and everybody's leaving. So if we could find a

Bryan Koontz (28:02), Yeah. Sure. Right.

Corey Daniels (28:04), place outside of Washington that could manufacture, say, our top four, top five selling products, it would really help us from a body perspective.

Corey Daniels (28:19), Because you can only the

Bryan Koontz (28:19), Sure.

Corey Daniels (28:20), building's only so big and and people in in today's world, they want to everybody wants to work day shift. So finding people that are more competent or multiple people that are competent to to work a swing or or a graveyard shift is very, very difficult nowadays. So

Bryan Koontz (28:37), Sure. Yeah.

Corey Daniels (28:38), again, we're trying to figure out what the best way forward is for us, but most importantly is this steady growth. we can handle it the way we're doing it today.

Corey Daniels (28:48), with steady growth. And we'll have a meeting here end of October. Once the the true buying season is over and everybody's hunting already and we're getting ready for a a Black Friday type of Christmas season. And then we'll take a breath and we'll try to figure out okay, what could we have done better? How can we be more efficient? How many more can we actually produce? Is it time to step up and and get real dive in

Corey Daniels (29:15), into probably some debt and and update equipment or add equipment or and figure out, you know, what our next steps are, what is what is the path and the future of this company and and and where does it need to be located in order to have that success. And so we'll

Bryan Koontz (29:29), That sounds like

Bryan Koontz (29:29), some big decisions coming up. That's a big like strategic plan discussion about the future.

Corey Daniels (29:35), Yeah, I think we're there now. We've we've hit I put a I put a dollar amount, a top line dollar amount on that. And we've we've been able here recently, Aaron's just done a fantastic job for us at at getting us in. So we're we're in with Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation now, Mule Deer Foundation now, Whitetails

Bryan Koontz (29:51), Awesome.

Corey Daniels (29:51), Unlimited now, you know, the Black Tear, the the the Bear American Bear Association, the the the goat like all the foundations we are with. And it it took to some doing to get in.

Corey Daniels (30:05), Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Corey Jacobson had a huge play in that for us and helped us help kick that door in for us. We've been trying and it, you know, they just needed to hear from those that have used it and and and hear from people that they trust that have used it, that it's a viable product. And now we're in.

Bryan Koontz (30:22), Yeah.

Corey Daniels (30:22), So that this growth is you know, I think it it its potential is big. This is our I call it's our fourth year, but it's really

Corey Daniels (30:32), our third year because I ran it the first year and had no idea what I was doing. It's just, you know, from a advertising perspective

Bryan Koontz (30:36), Sometimes it is

Corey Daniels (30:40), and trying to do sales and no time. So

Bryan Koontz (30:42), Yeah,

Bryan Koontz (30:42), I I I sometimes you just gotta do what our our our lead investor calls move dirt. Just I just jump in and start moving dirt, you know, and and that's then stuff happens, but yeah.

Corey Daniels (30:52), Well, that's where we are today. We're we're moving dirt and and and my son is really driving it. Cole and Aaron is Cole and Aaron are a great team. And so they're they're really

Bryan Koontz (31:01), That's awesome.

Corey Daniels (31:02), pushing it to this next level.

Bryan Koontz (31:05), Super cool. Well, I'm excited to grab a couple. I'm gonna take some with me when I go back to Pennsylvania and and practice and and I'll I'll I'll have to let you know how my saddle hunting adventures go back there. Hopefully I don't fall out of the tree. but no. but I I I do look forward to that. And it's been great talking to you. I I just I think it's really cool. You know, there there's obviously at that time.

Bryan Koontz (31:32), Which it's hard to believe. It's been, you know, six years ago already, whatever, with with the COVID situation, but it just forced all of us to completely live completely differently, right, for a while. And I it's it's neat. I've I've heard a number of stories that are similar to yours in various industries about like, well, you know, I

Bryan Koontz (31:53), You it wasn't wasn't doing the normal routine and it really I had an opportunity to stop and think about something cool, like, you know, you guys coming at you coming up with this whole new product and turning a business into it. And then the fact that you get to do it with your family. I mean, that's that's pretty awesome. you know, not not not too

Corey Daniels (32:08), Yeah, it's the best part.

Bryan Koontz (32:09), many people get that get that opportunity to do that. Yeah, I I I know from your bio you're a family man and it's how blessed are you to be able to work with, you know, some of your family on this thing. That's that's really cool.

Corey Daniels (32:21), Yeah, I I'd say blessed most days. There are days we don't agree, but Yeah. Yeah. I didn't realize I

Bryan Koontz (32:26), Working with a yeah, yeah. I I yep. Yeah, right. That's true.

Corey Daniels (32:30), wasn't very smart until I was told enough time, so

Bryan Koontz (32:35), Yeah, there's there's that. That's true. That's true. Well listen, man, I've appreciated talking to you and and and it's you know, we're super stoked to have you guys on Guidefitter now and anyone who's interested in the in the Guidefitter audience here, interested in learning more, go check out Deadnuts on Guidefitter and go to go to the Deadnuts website. And it's a great product if you really want to get educated and make sure that your confidence goes up about those ethical shots. I think it's a terrific

Bryan Koontz (33:05), Terrific set of products and and now I'm super eager about what else you guys are working on with with the rifle stuff. That's that sounds pretty intriguing. I can't wait to find out more.

Corey Daniels (33:13), thanks. It we're excited to get it out there and and and we we truly appreciate the relationship we have with you guys and and all that you guys do to help us drive it as well. So thank you.