‘Brotherhood Outdoors’ Voted Top Hunting/Fishing Show
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“Brotherhood Outdoors,” the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance’s (USA‘s) union-dedicated hunting and fishing TV show, was honored with the 2011 Sportsman Choice Award as best combination (hunting and fishing) show. More than 140,000 viewers of the Sportsman Channel cast ballots for the network’s best outdoors shows.
Hosted by noted outdoorsman Tom Ackerman and produced by Warm Springs Productions, “Brotherhood Outdoors” is a unique outdoor TV series that pairs union workers’ commitment to their communities with their love for the great outdoors. Union members can win a guided hunting or fishing trip in North America or the opportunity to show off their skills by taking Ackerman to their own favorite hunting or fishing sites.
USA Executive Director Fred Myers says the show has:
the potential to help shape the American public’s understanding and positive impression of unions. This was a very competitive category and winning clearly demonstrates that America’s sportsmen and women are engaged and respect the dedicated volunteers and conservation heroes prevalent in the union community.
Currently in its second season, “Brotherhood Outdoors” airs in 31 million homes at 8 p.m. EST and PST Read the rest of this entry »
‘Brotherhood Outdoors’ Goes on Louisiana Gator Hunt
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Mention Louisiana swamps and likely the first thing that comes to mind is alligators—big alligators and lots of them. Wayne “Kip” Benoit, a United Steelworkers (USW) Local 750 member from Boutte, La., knows his way around swamps and gators and, in the latest episode of “Brotherhood Outdoors,” guides show host Tom Ackerman on an airboat alligator hunt.
The Union Sportsmen’s Alliance’s (USA‘s) hunting and fishing series airs Thursday, Jan. 12, at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. EST on the Sportsman Channel.
While the lifelong Louisianan uses his airboat for hunting adventures, when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, he used it to help rescue and transfer patients from the intensive care unit of a New Orleans hospital to the ambulances waiting on high ground.
Heading down streets in a city covered by the flood with people wading by up to their necks in water was like being in one of those doomsday movies, something Spielberg might make; it was just unreal. People were stunned and, for the most part, very quiet and very cooperative.
Read more about Benoit and the gator hunt from USA’s Ken Barrett here, and click here for photos.
Wild Hog Hunt Launches New Season for ‘Brotherhood Outdoors’
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“Brotherhood Outdoors,” the unique hunting and fishing television series of the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA), kicks off its second season Thursday night on the Sportsman Channel, with Indiana Ironworkers member Jessica Reagor on a California wild hog hunt.
Hosted by noted outdoorsman Tom Ackerman, “Brotherhood Outdoors” puts union workers in the spotlight, taking viewers into their homes and communities, on their job sites and into the wilderness for exciting hunting and fishing adventures across North America. Guests on the series have the opportunity to join Ackerman for an outfitted North American adventure or to act as his guide, taking him to their favorite hunting or fishing locations.
The series airs on Thursday at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. EST and this season’s guests include a mix of pipe fitters, boilermakers, electrical workers, bricklayers and others who pursue a variety of fish and game throughout the United States and Canada.
Reagor, who began hunting as young girl, hadn’t been in the field for the past two years because she and her husband adopted a special needs 14-day-old boy in 2009. For more on Reagor by USA’s Ken Barrett, click here. For a video preview and photos from the hunt, click here and here.
Union Volunteers Open Outdoors to Special Needs Youth
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More than 30 young people with varying physical and intellectual disabilities had the opportunity to take part in Ohio’s Youth Deer Gun Season earlier this month, thanks to the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance’s (USA) Boots on the Ground program and 50 volunteers from Bricklayers (BAC) locals 7 and 39 in southeastern Ohio.
Participants, ranging in age from 12 to 17 years, are students at two Lawrence and Scioto county schools. Each youth and their family received a practice round and instruction at a local shooting range, a guided whitetail hunt, food and lodging for two nights at Shawnee State Park and an invitation to a kids-style banquet. The hunts took place on public lands—specifically designated by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources—in the Wayne National Forest as well as on select, private lands.
The project originated from a desire to provide kids with something they rarely or never get—access to the great outdoors, BAC Local 7 member David Tibbetts says.
I feel blessed to have been able to attend and help by being a guide at this event. My hunting partner and his father are now my friends and the bond formed in the blind and at the banquet and dinner will last a lifetime.
For more information on the hunt and the Boots on the Ground program, click here.
Cast Your Vote ‘Brotherhood Outdoors’ in Sportsman Choice Awards
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“Brotherhood Outdoors,” the unique hunting and fishing television series of the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA) that showcases hard-working union members on hunting and fishing adventures has chosen a finalist in the 2011 Sportsman Choice Awards—the equivalent of the outdoors Emmys.
The Sportsman Choice Awards are the only exclusively viewer-decided awards program in the outdoor television industry. Brotherhood Outdoors is up in two categories: Best Fish Show and Best Combination (hunting and fishing).
You can vote through Dec. 11 by going to the Sportsman Channel’s Facebook page here. By voting, you could win a trip for two to the Sportsman Choice Awards party, held annually in Las Vegas during the SHOT (Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade) Show in January. You also will have the chance to win the first-place prize of a Zeiss Conquest riflescope or one of 25 complimentary, one-year subscriptions to any magazine produced by InterMedia Outdoors. Read the rest of this entry »
Sheet Metal Worker Hunts Mississippi Flyway for Waterfowl
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Tonight’s episode of “Brotherhood Outdoors,” the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance’s (USA‘s) hunting and fishing television series, features Philadelphia Sheet Metal Workers (SMWIA) Local 19 member Doug Bachman. The show airs at 8 p.m. EDT on the Sportsman Channel.
Tonight, Bachman and show host Tom Ackerman embark on a waterfowl hunt in the northwest Missouri portion of the Mississippi Flyway between Missouri’s Squaw Creek Wildlife Area and Smithville Lake.
Bachman says he heard about “Brotherhood Outdoors,” which gives union members the opportunity to join Ackerman for a quality outfitted North American trip of their choosing through the SMWIA’s magazine The Journal.
Bachman has been hunting and fishing since he was four years old when his grandfather began taking him on outdoor adventures.
Machinist Guides Goose Hunt on Next ‘Brotherhood Outdoors’
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The next episode of “Brotherhood Outdoors,” the unique hunting and fishing series of the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA), features Machinists (IAM) Local 839 member Brett Graham, who takes show host Tom Ackerman on a two-day goose hunt near the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge in Kansas.
The show, which airs July 14 at 8 p.m. EDT on the Sportsman Channel, puts union members in the spotlight, giving them the opportunity to join Ackerman for a quality outfitted North American trip of their choosing or, as Graham does, act as his guide, taking him to their favorite hunting or fishing location.
Graham is longtime member of Ducks Unlimited (DU) and a huge advocate for waterfowl habitat and especially National Wildlife Refuges. Every year he donates a father-son/daughter hunt to a different chapter of DU in Kansas to help raise necessary conservation funding.
An avid outdoors adventurer since he was a child, and now a part-time hunting guide, he tells USA’s Ken Barrett:
I remember watching the old American Sportsmen TV show one Sunday afternoon, when I was 10 years old, I saw host Curt Gowdy hunting ducks and thought ‘that really looks cool. I’m going to do that someday.
Click here for more on Graham, here for a video preview of the show and here for more photos.
Union Sportsmen’s Alliance Debuts New Outdoors TV Series
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The Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA) will debut “Brotherhood Outdoors,” a unique hunting and fishing series that showcases the talents and passions of union members at 8 p.m. EDT on Thursdays, starting June 30, exclusively on the Sportsman Channel.
Hosted by noted outdoorsman Tom Ackerman, “Brotherhood Outdoors” puts union members in the spotlight, giving them the opportunity to join Ackerman for a quality outfitted North American trip of their choosing or to act as his guide, taking him to their favorite hunting or fishing location.
Each week, viewers will get an intimate glimpse into the lives of these union members, their passion for the outdoors and their desire to make a difference by volunteering for a cause, serving as a leader in their community or helping to carry on America’s outdoor legacy.
Win an Elk Hunt from Union Sportsmen’s Alliance
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Laura Morris of the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA) sends this report on a great contest for USA union members.
A Western backcountry elk hunt complete with wall tents and mountain savvy mules is the ultimate North American hunting adventure and the dream of many big game hunters.
The Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA) and the Elevator Constructors (IUEC) have joined forces to give AFL-CIO-affiliated union members the opportunity to win a Nevada trophy elk hunt while raising funds for the USA’s new Boots on the Ground (BOTG) conservation program.
The lucky union winner will join noted guide and outfitter Shad Leeder of Leeder Hunting for a seven-day, pack train hunt in Nevada’s Schell Creek and Snake Range areas, where bulls typically score 330-350 and can exceed 400 Boone & Crockett points. In addition to the guided hunt, the $18,000 prize package includes a highly coveted landowner elk permit, licenses, roundtrip airfare to Las Vegas, ground transportation, meals and lodging.
Give the Gift of the Outdoors with a Union Sportsmen’s Membership
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Union Sportsmen’s Alliance’s (USA’s) Kate Cywinski sends us this great suggestion for a last minute gift idea for the sportsman or sportswoman on your holiday list.
Whether you’re ready or not, it comes every year toward the end of big game season—the holidays. And if you’re like many sportsmen, you’d rather sit in the woods until your fingers and face go numb than set foot in a shopping mall as holiday crunch time approaches.
So forget big crowds and the hassle of figuring out what to get the hunter or fisherman on your list—give the gift that keeps giving through every fish and game season—the gift of a Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA) membership.
