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Steve Clothier and Tim Roehrig Founders of Crosswinds Brand

Welcome to another edition of “Whitetail Rendezvous.” This is your host, Bruce Hutcheon. Folks, I’m really excited to connect you with a couple of guys that got some products coming out of Wisconsin. It’s Crosswinds Brand, and they’re launching a scented soap and lotion line for hunters today. The two men are Steve Clothier and Tim Roehrig, from Sherwood, Wisconsin. Steve and Tim, welcome to the show.

Steve: Thanks for having us, Bruce. Really appreciate it.

Tim: Hey, Bruce. Thanks.

Bruce: You’re welcome. So let’s jump into it. We’re gonna talk about a lot of different things in the next half-hour, guys. Let’s talk about why did Crosswinds Brand start. And where’s it going?

Steve: Well, Crosswinds started, oh, about three or four years ago. Tim and I have been avid bow hunters the last 20 years and using some of the products that were out there and just not happy with some of the sold products, causing . . . especially during the rut. We were hunting several days in a row, and you jump in the shower, and your fingers start to crack and bleed, and your skin starts to chafe and itch. So we decided that there’s got to be a better way. There’s got to be a solution. So we started developing or trying to develop a better product. It took about eight months to try and formulate a better product that had moisturizing properties and scent-masking properties.

Bruce: So just tell me, guys. What’s so special about the brand? You can go to Bass Pro Shop or Cabela’s or any retailers, any place on the web, and everybody seems to get a better lotion or potion. Here you are, saying, “Wait a minute. Our stuff is different.” Let’s share with the listeners why your stuff is different.

Tim: You know, in our minds, [inaudible:00:02:03] right now. Products that are out there say they’re gonna take away your odor, but the thing we’re gonna say is that you cannot eliminate all human odor. That’s why so many hunters now are going to [inaudible:00:02:16] and they’re going to other things, trying to cut down on the odor that is coming off the human body as you’re hunting. With our products, we have four different scent-masking soaps that can make you smell like a pine tree, can make you smell like dirt or earth if you’re hunting agricultural land, can make you smell like a cedar swamp, or it can just take the scent away if that’s what you really choose. I know a lot of hunters prefer that.

What we want to say is that, number one, our products have been very, very successful in the field. When you’re looking at the products that are out there, I think that their products are designed for the hunters who want to go out and harvest deer. We think our products are better because, A, we have moisturizer in ours. So your skin feels good when you walk out in the field. B, any odor that is leading you, and a deer is smelling it, it’s gonna smell like the natural environment you’re hunting in. If we can do that, and we’re saying that we can, you’re gonna be pretty successful in the field. That’s ultimately our goal, is to help hunters be as successful as possible when they’re sitting in the stand.

Bruce: Guys, the name of our show is “Whitetail Rendezvous.” So we want to have a lot of rendezvous with whitetails in the field every fall. Give us a couple examples of where you know . . . You might have a video, but you know firsthand the product made a difference. Steve or Tim, share one or two of those experiences with us.

Tim: The past year, I was sitting in a stand, coming off of a marsh, coming up into a hay field on the corner of a fence line, where the fence line ran into the marsh. I was not expecting the deer to come from behind me, and behind me was a bean field. There was a small island in the middle of it, probably about an acre big. My wind was blowing that way. I thought, “Man, the deer are gonna come out of this marsh, and they’re gonna come walking into this field.” I was set up perfect.

I heard something behind me, and I turned, and there stood six does that were standing out in that field, and my wind was blowing directly at them. I had just put . . . I showered up before I went out [inaudible:00:04:42], and I just put some dirt lotion on my hands. They are standing directly downwind of me. At that point, I didn’t know if there was a buck along or not. This was earlier in the season. So I wasn’t really expecting a buck along with them for the ride. They stood out in that field for probably 20 to 25 minutes.

As they stood there, every now and then, one would perk up, and they’d try getting a good whiff of what was going on around them. My wind was blowing directly at them. You could not get any more direct than what it was. Those deer walked directly underneath my stand, every single one of them, and walked out in the field and sat in front of me for about 15 to 20 minutes. Not a single one moved. Not a single one blew. Not a single one stomped. Nothing. Right there and then, I was saying we have a great product on the market.

Another great story about deer hunting this year, sitting in my stand, and a beauty buck came in downwind of me and got into about 40 yards.

Another great story about deer hunting this year, sitting in my stand, and a beauty buck came in downwind of me and got into about 40 yards. I ended up turning my stand to my right. Any hunter knows if you’re a right-y, turning to your right is a tough shot. That deer never moved. I ended up harvesting that buck, the nicest buck I’ve ever shot, with the gun. He was only about 40 yards away, but a beautiful animal, four-and-a-half-year-old buck. He never budged, and he was downwind of me for over 20 minutes, as I turned in my stand and tried to get the shot off. Again, product sold me. Product should sell everybody else too because it’s good stuff.

Bruce: Thanks for that because you guys know that marketing dollars . . . People spend not thousands, but millions of dollars in marketing products. They’re all out there. It’s time in the field that I think either makes a product or doesn’t. That’s been in my experience for over 50 years of hunting whitetails. I heard about your product when I was up in Wisconsin and talked to some guys. They were gracious enough to give me a sample of it. My hunt was over when I got the sample, but I’ll be certainly trying it next year and be able to give you testimonials. Do you have, on your website, testimonials where people can go and say, “Wait a minute. This is Joe or Mary, and here’s what they said about it.”

is if you go to Crosswindsbrand.com, and you go and click on the gallery tab

Steve: Yes, definitely, Bruce. We may be kind of bias because we’re the owners, and it’s our product, but the proof is in the feedback we’re getting from people around the country that are using our products. That proof is if you go to Crosswindsbrand.com, and you go and click on the gallery tab. There’s all kinds of testimonials there with pictures of some of the awesome bucks, as well as doe and a lot of nice deer that were shot the last couple years, by people using our products, and wide range of ages too. So it’s fun to see the kids, young girls, getting their first deer, as well as the young boys out on their youth hunts and using our products and also being successful.

Bruce: During the warm-up, Steve and Tim, you both mentioned family and friends and the importance of getting youth outdoors. Let’s take a couple minutes here and talk about that aspect of not only your business but just of your family and friends.

Tim: Bruce, I don’t know. Over the years, I’ve shot a lot of nice deer with a bow and with a gun. My wall is full of memories of hunts with Steve and with my dad and my grandfather. I’m gonna tell you what. I took my daughter out this year for the first time and going through hunters safety with her and getting her out in the field. I truly, truly believe that if you can get your son or daughter involved in hunting and get them out in the field, there is no greater feeling in the world when they have a chance to harvest a deer or harvest a deer. The time I spent with my daughter this year in the field, I would give . . . If somebody said, “I’ll give you $1 million or that time with your daughter,” I’d take the time with my daughter. I honestly mean that.

Any time you can get a young child out in the field and get them outdoors, the conversations that we have while we’re sitting on the ground, lying, whispering back and forth, or even just on the way out to the stand or the way back or even the truck ride home. One of the best conversations I had with my daughter was we were putting the stand up, and we got the stand all put up. We were talking about why we put the stand there. We started talking just about her life. I’m telling you. [inaudible:00:09:56] my daughter in a long time. I would say that it’s brought us closer together. I love my daughter, and I just think that we, as a group of men and women who enjoy the outdoors, I don’t know if there’s any greater pleasure we can take than getting our kids involved in that and getting them outdoors and experiencing what we all love to do.

Bruce: How do we do that? How do we get the youth of today to get away from their devices and spend time just outdoors? Maybe not hunting, but just taking a walk, throwing a worm under a bobber, or taking pictures of deer or just critters. How do we do that?

Tim: Bruce, I just saw a study. I think it was 67% of all middle to high-schoolers, what they wanted for Christmas . . . What was the one thing they wanted for Christmas, more than anything? I was blown away by this, but the one thing they wanted was more time with their parents. I think we underestimate how important and how much time they want to spend with us. We have to want to spend time with them and include them in what we’re doing. You know what? There may be times when they blow a big buck for us, or even they blow an opportunity at a deer, but those are the memories you’ll never forget, and that’s the beautiful part of hunting. I think you just tell them, “This is what we’re gonna do.” Once they’re out there, I think they enjoy the moment. I think they’ll . . . They might let you know that this is not the cool thing to do, but deep down, I think it’s what they want. I think, as a generation of people with kids, we just have to take them outdoors and let them know the beauty of the outdoors, the fun of the outdoors, and then the special moments that you can share with them in the outdoors.

Steve: I think also, that first time you take them out, you don’t want to go and have them make them sit for four hours. I think you just gradually get them exposed to that experience. Maybe that first time, you just go out and have some fun and have some laughs and not worry too much about hunting. Maybe just go out for an hour and sit and look at nature and explore and show them some things.

Bruce: Earlier, you said something about your grandfather and fathers. To me, that rang the bell called “the hunting tradition.” So let’s spend a couple minutes, guys, just talking about the hunting tradition in each of your lives.

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