In 2013 Eric Dinger founded Powderhook, an online resource for helping people find places to hunt and fish.
By 2014 Powderhook was recognized by Outdoor Life magazine as the winner of its Open Country Corporate Award, presented at the SHOT Show in Las Vegas.
How did Powderhook gain such a positive reputation within their first full year of business?
Thanks to our sponsor
“Our team is working very hard to build a tool that truly helps people,” said Dinger. “While we haven’t been around long, I believe this award is a reflection of that work ethic and our heart-felt desire to solve the hardest problems facing the future of the outdoor way of life. We are very grateful to Outdoor Life for the recognition.”
The corporate award is given to one company each year in recognition of their contribution toward creating and preserving access for sporting. According to US Fish and Wildlife, 49% of hunters would go more often if they had better access.
Outdoor Life picked Powderhook because of it’s innovation in solving this problem. Powderhook defines “access” in a broader way, including both public and private lands.
“If you can hunt it or fish it, we want it on Powderhook.com, whether it’s free or paid. But, access comes in many forms, so we’re also aggregating outdoor events, groups and trips,” said Dinger.
That perspective marks a revolution in sporting. Despite hunters and fishers being online, there hasn’t been a single clearinghouse of hunting land information. Outdoor Life thinks Powderhook could be the start of something big.
“The single most precious commodity for America’s sportsmen is a place to hunt and fish. Access is not only at a premium, but it’s perishable. Eric Dinger and his team at Powderhook understand the imperative to connect sportsmen with places and opportunities, and they’ve developed powerful, creative, nimble ways to do that,” said Andrew McKean, Outdoor Life Editor-in-Chief.
“At its current trajectory, we will soon associate access with Powerhook the same way we’ve come to associate the 2nd Amendment with the NRA.”
