As the year 2020 is drawing to a close, you can hear many voices that call 2020 the worst year in living memory, and wait impatiently for it to be over. And it’s hard to argue the year was bad, although whether it was worse than, say, 1939 or 1941, is an open question. But there are two things we’re certain of.
The first is that, in spite of all troubles and challenges, deep down inside, it wasn’t all bad. For some of our hunters, there were even silver linings in spite of all the clouds. Like it was for Hagen of British Columibia, Canada. As he wrote in his review:
“I had promised my wife a trip to Italy but under the current situation that did not materialize. I asked her if she would settle for a Moose hunt instead? She turned out to be the lucky charm. We drove up from southern B.C. and arrived before noon on the 15th of October. The three of us headed out that afternoon and incredibly two hours into the hunt we harvested a magnificent and massive 1100 lb. bull!”
We are sure that each of us can look back at 2020 and find not only things that went wrong, but also things to be grateful for. This is surely true enough for the crew of BookYourHunt.com.
To begin with, we celebrated five years of successful operation, with steady growth all the way. Not many startups can boast of this.
What’s more, we have seen an event that was both a close of a project that took five years to materialize, and at the same time marks a beginning of a new and exciting adventure. As we said in the previous blog, the idea “and if things work out well with hunting, we’ll go into fishing, too” crossed the minds of our co-founders as soon as BookYourHunt.com was conceived. Now, after many years in the making, we have launched BaitYourHook.com, our sister website for fishing enthusiasts!
The second is that 2021 will not be all beds of roses. As the German poet and philosopher Goethe said, every solution of a problem will eventually become a problem itself. Everybody is looking to the end of the pandemic now, but it’s important to realize that once restrictions are lifted and “it’s all over”, we’ll be facing a new set of challenges.
But we remain optimistic. We’ve remained optimistic all throughout the year of 2020 – and so have been you. The survey we carried out earlier this year indicated that most of the hunting industry have been looking into the future with optimism. We experienced a record year for booking hunts in 2020 and as the year is drawing to a close, we are seeing an increase in the interest towards future hunts – a lot of outfitters are already booked solid for 2021. The hunting industry may take years to recover from 2020 – but the passion for hunting is still there, and together we shall overcome.
The year 2020 taught us a number of important lessons, such as the value of the essentials. Such as maintaining a connection with nature. Lockdowns were much harder for people from big cities than for those who live way out in the country, and the record growth in numbers of new hunters, observed pretty much worldwide, is totally unsurprising. And, while travelling to far-away lands in pursuit of exotic animals is exciting, having good hunting within a short drive or, better yet, a walk from your home is invaluable.
Another lesson of 2020 taught is how important it is to stick together. Many outfitters wouldn’t be here today were it not for the “reschedule, don’t cancel” trend that many in the outdoor media pushed, and that most hunters wholeheartedly agreed to. Equally important is to appreciate what we have, and what remains with us in times of trouble: our families and friends, our neighbors, local hunters and hunts near home. Let’s make good use of these lessons in the coming year!
We wish you all a merry christmas in the circle of your families, and we wish you all the best in 2021!
