Keep the big bucks coming back with The Mix, a secret blend deer attractant. The ingredients may seem simple at a glance but just wait till the deer hit it. Robbie Knickman, founder of Camo Thug Outdoors and creator of “The Mix”, says that when people call him to order more, they don’t call and say, “Robbie, I need more of The Mix.” They go, “Robbie, I need more of your deer crack.” Robbie Knickman is part of the American Veteran Outdoors Team, and will be Pro Staffing in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware. He is dedicated to giving back to the veterans of this country by taking veterans hunting and fishing. As a veteran of the United States Army, Robbie has proven himself a true patriot with the heart of gold. If you haven’t already, get yourself some of The Mix – aside from great packaging and cheap price, The Mix is clearly the best stuff on the planet.
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Robbie Knickman Produces The Mix
We’re going to have a fun time. We’re heading over to Pennsylvania and hooking up with Robbie Knickman. Robbie is the owner of Camo Thug Outdoors and he produces The Mix. Robbie, welcome to the show.
Thank you, Bruce.
Let’s just jump right in to it. Camo Thug, that’s an interesting name. Camo Thug Outdoors, deer attractants and the mix. Let’s tell our listeners what the heck you’re all about.
I know Camo Thug sounds weird to a lot of people, but the way I got the name is I grew up in Baltimore City in the ghetto. I was only one of two other people that hunt in the area. I used to wear a camouflage, bows, go hunting all the time. Everybody in the neighborhood with us growing up in the ghetto of Baltimore, that’s how I got the main Camo Thug basically because if they say, “Here comes Robbie, here comes the Camo Thug,” all because I wore camouflage clothes and I do a lot of deer hunting. That’s how it got named Camo Thug and it stuck with you over the years. It’s weird, “Here comes the Camo Thug.”
Let’s chalk it up, put it on the board. That’s unique thing. Good for you. You told me you live in New York, Pennsylvania now. How long have you lived there?
Over eight years now. My daughter just turned eight.
We’ve met on Facebook. Tell the people of your Facebook page and how to get in touch with you there.
Basically, if you want to get in-touch with me, you can go to my Facebook page. Send me a friend request, Robbie Knickman or you can go to www.facebook.com/themixdeerattractant. When they go into the site, you’ll be able to see all the feedback on The Mix, how many people using it, all the different TV shows that I’m sponsoring. It tells you more about where I came from and how The Mix was created and stuff like that. It’s a very good website and I invite people all the time. I have also a Facebook group called Camo Thug Outdoors so people can feel free to request me on my group if you’ve got a business, you go in there and post away on it, advertise your stuff on either page. I’m here for everybody so if you need any help, just pipe up and let me know and we’ll go from there. That’s what I’m all about, helping.
Hunting is not a sport, hunting to is where you find family. Share on XI talked to people all over North America and the hunting community where we’re large, there are seventeen million plus or minus deer hunters in the country. We’re like neighbors. We’re like friends. I just think it’s amazing how people just want to help other people. Some people make a buck along the way and that’s okay. That’s what we do. Thank you, Robbie. Thank you for just being who you are. By the way, thanks for your service in the US army. That’s important and sometimes we don’t say thank you enough, so thank you.
Thank you for your support.
Let’s talk about The Mix. How the heck did that start?
My daughter is my little hunting partner. I used to go hunting a lot. I tried every attractant on the market. I used to take a lot of corn down in my spot. I have a spot down and running that hunt. She goes, “Daddy, I got some stuff I didn’t need. I want to take that and put it out and let’s put one of your cameras on it.” We’ve took it on a hot spot. We put a camera on it and I see the reaction where the deer headed, which amaze me how they were just tearing it up because basically what I did was her pile was next to a pile of corn. My video cameras, you see some pictures on my Facebook page, you’re going to see a deer eating what she put out compared to the corn. They did not cross the corn. Everything in that power that she put out was gone. I saw the feedback. I said, “Let me try something.” All that 2014, I tried different formulas. The Mix is not your ordinary deer attractant basically when you see it, you’d be like, “Are you serious?” Because a little seven-year-old came up with the idea of it. It was just amazing how the deer react. The first two weeks I had to patent it because it’s simple when people see the ingredients, but way the deer hit it, a lot of people that are using it now when they call, they go order more. They don’t call say, “Robbie, I need more of your mix.” They say, “Robbie, I need more of your deer crack.”
My friend, Billy Knievel, in North Carolina pointed out he put two bags out, the deer killed it. It was gone. He did a test where he took a pile of corn, put it in the same spot. He’s got video and pictures of deer coming in and sniffing the corn and walking away from it. Won’t even touch it. He had to clean up twenty pounds of corn because the deer won’t touch it anymore. Then he put out a bag and put The Mix out, the deer came back and killed The Mix. It’s like what the deer get a taste of it, they get addicted to it and got to have more and more and more. I got positive feedback on The Mix. The only negative thing I bet is people said no matter how much they put out, you can’t keep it on the ground because once the deer find it, they kill it. I had guy call me. He was real skeptical about it, he’s a good friend of mine now. He was telling me, “Why should I buy your product when I go to the store and buy a 20-pound bag of corn and put it up?” I said “I’ll send you four bags of my mix for free.” I said, “Put The Mix out, put your corn next to it and let me know how it works out.” He calls me two weeks later and says, “Robbie, you’re right.” He actually had bucks chasing those little bucks away from it so they can eat it.” Once they’re able to find it, they stay until it’s gone. They’ll destroy it. That’s why buyers called it deer crack. One guy goes, “Robbie, you’ve already changed your name to deer crack.” They all think it’s good marketing thing because I’m going to do a commercial. “Try my deer crack.” We can’t do that.
Basically, it’s a mixture of things. When people get it, when I ship the bags out, I vacuum seal it so that way they stay fresher and you keep the smell in them because when you dump it out, you’re going to smell it. If you could smell it, you know the deer’s nose is a hundred times more powerful than ours and once they find it, they destroy it. They kill it and that’s how The Mix started. Four months, I did my first show and I sold 200 bags in one day that had to over 400 cars and they were stuffed and they were gone all that day. There are a couple of guys down in the ATA Show that I talked to. They said, “Robbie, I’ve got people coming up with you down here and asking me who are you and what’s The Mix about?” It’s a hot new attractant and it works. The deer tastes it and it’s something different to them because as you all know, they get used to corn. They get used to clover, they get used to soybeans, they get used to alfalfa. When you give them something that they’re not used to, it’s like me and you. If you don’t eat a cheeseburger for a long time and then you go eat a cheeseburger, what’s your preferred thing? “That was a good cheeseburger.” Same thing with The Mix. Once they find it, they just destroy it and they keep coming back and coming back for more. I can’t leave out Ronnie Turner because this man, he processes the stuff, he locks it for me. I owe that man so much that I could never repay him and that’s one thing I like about everybody I meet.
To me hunting is not a sport, hunting to me is where I find family. You’ve got brothers and sisters here, North Dakota, Arizona. Everybody we all got to stick together in this industry. I am a white activist myself, you’ve got coaches out there messing up hunting and off being a hunting community. We’ve got to stick together and watch each other’s back and take care of each other. That’s what it’s all about. Family is very important to me. My daughter, even though she’s eight years old, it’s important to get the kids into hunting because the kids are the future of hunting.
Robbie, take a break because we’re segued through all my talking points. I’m just cracking up here. The most important thing, do you have a patent on The Mix?
It’s already patented.
Because if it’s as smoking hot as it is, then people are going to try to rip you off. I’m being honest and everybody in hunting land knows that somebody will take an advantage if they see something and they’re not the same kind as we are. I just get to say it straight up. This people that will take. You grew up in a pretty rough place. You saw takers all the time. As a business person, I’m just saying, protect yourself, and make sure you have trademarks and everything. Just protect yourself. Go talk to whoever you get to talk to and protect what you have because I’m going to get some of your stuff and so I’m going to put it out in the field. I’m going to put it in a couple of places and it will be the test. Your business could blow up that quick.
What made me get the patent was I got a phone call that said, “I just saw your mixes.” Right after that phone call, I had my sister, Michelle, she’s an attorney, she went ahead and patented it.
You’ve got to protect your backside because unfortunately in the world there are takers. We fight people all the time. We just liked to hunt and hang out and people don’t want us to do that. What’s up with that? I’m getting a little off the chart here, but I do get burned about that. You’re screaming at me because you are X and Y and Z. Be X, Y and Z. I don’t care. I don’t want you around my house, but other than that, hang out, do what you want to do. This is the United States of America, you and I both served so people could do what they want to do.
That’s why they don’t understand too. I get out there and people say, “Why do you kill something that beautiful?” If you don’t control the population, we’re not going to have them. The deer right now in Maryland are overrun in Maryland. You buy a buck that you shoot for $5 and it’s unlimited does in Maryland for a day. You’d find unlimited does. If you don’t control them, then we’re not going to have them. There’s not going to be enough food, they will start dying off. They’re going to get sick. Look at the chronic wasting disease and other stuff that’s going on. We’ve got to protect our resources with poachers and all that.
Suburban deer is a problem. QDMA, Whitetails Unlimited, a lot of people working on that. It is a problem. If you have anybody that lives in suburbia, I’d love to have them on the show. I had one guy, Jason Kesting from The Bunk House Crew. That’s my crew. He talked about it, he lived just outside. Literally he could see downtown Milwaukee and he’s got bucks. He kills a buck every year in his apple orchard.
It’s what we call backdoor hunting because I hunted my buddy’s backyard. One of the main highways, I could probably sling and arrow and hit it if I had to. It’s a problem too to see off the bat. That’s why some of the bigger deer we killed last year was killed in people’s backyards because deer are running out of room to grow because we keep knocking down their habitat. That’s something we’ve got to try to control. We hunted my buddy Rob’s back yard. I had five acres to myself. I don’t have public land anymore because it’s too dangerous. You’ve got too many careless people out there. I don’t want to say not trained properly, but they go out there and you hear a bush movement and they’re pulling the trigger. I don’t like that.
I can appreciate that. Let’s take a breath. What’s your daughter’s name?
Kylie.
Kylie came up with the mix, she threw it on the ground, deer like it, word of mouth, and that’s the best marketing you can do. Viral marketing, guerrilla marketing, where it just takes off. I call it the tipping point. You’re going to push your business up the hill then all of a sudden, it’s going to hit the top and it’s going to go crazy. Hang with people that you trust and when it gets going, then they’ll help you be successful. You’ve already got this Ronnie Turner Guy who’s your best bud. Talk to me about let’s say David and Dohn Outdoor Vision TV show. How do they get hold of the stuff? How did you get a hold of them?
When I first started, I just sent friend requests to people on Facebook and what happened was David was one of the guys who responded to me and he wanted to try it out because they were looking for something different. I mailed him a bunch of stuff and I know he gave the grand and he called me and he pulled it out and it was just amazing how the deer came right into it. He said he just ran in so I got a hold of him and a couple other people like I’ve got Simon Knotts from Scooter Outdoors Adventures. He was skeptical about it. I met him at the hunting show in Harrisburg. When he put it out, he says it wasn’t 45 minutes later and he put it out in his backyard, he looked out the window and there was deer all over it. David is a cool guy. We’ve got to take him for his service. I believe he has a sniper and he just got out of the military and he put off everything for service and when he got out he started his family. I want to thank him for his service also.
I meet up with some more veteran, a guy named David from American Veteran Outdoors. I started out with Ben because he told me how he takes off on hunting trips and their families and these are all out of pocket. I’m asking on spot train this year also, but the thing is I’m not charging them for my part, whatever they want for us, for the veterans, I mailed it out to them for free. That way I’m doing my part and I’m getting back to the vets so I’ll be one of their sponsors for deer attracting. He made me one of his pro-staffers, so I want to see what he’s doing because they’re located in Arkansas. Basically what he’ll be doing in the Arkansas I’m going to be doing in Pennsylvania and Maryland by taking veterans, going hunting and fishing trips. The good part is with the fishing trip, my sister Michelle has a big fishing boat and they’re big time fishermen and she’s already willing to let us stay at her place down there and use her boat for the fishing trip. We’ve got that all set up also. I met so many good people on here. I can’t say enough about a way everything’s going. Actually, I’m overwhelmed in a way. I can let it go to my head too much because when that stuff goes to your head then you get all cocky and that’s not me. Everybody tells me I’ve got too big of a heart but I don’t know. I just like helping people. That’s all. That’s what I’m all about, helping.
Hunting is like therapy for some people because you sit down with Mother Nature and relaxing. Share on XI’m just sitting here and I’m writing as fast as I can. You had a hunting story in the warm-up. You were telling me the story. I said save that. What we were talking about.
I’m talking about the high rise. We call it ghetto shoes in Baltimore. I don’t have the deer feeders. I had big six-inch PVC pipes blended in the trees they use, that’s what we call better feeders in Baltimore. Basically, the first time I saw him was the first-year hunting in my property in Maryland, which is my buddy Rob’s house and he came in. I got into it and I was amazed as well. You can tell he’s an old deer because as we all know with hunting, the older the deer get, the smarter they get. He was nocturnal for the first year I hunted there. I only got him in the evening. He will come in in the morning when it’s dark. I’ll see him walking beneath my stand. He’ll woke up in the thickets and I wouldn’t see him. He’s pretty big. Then last year I got a picture of him. He grew. I’m not an expert on scope and width but my figures are about five-and-a-half-foot high. He had his head down, hitting the feeders, his rack up above the top of the pipe of the feeders. That’s how big he is. That’s why I call them high-rise because he’s so high and wide. If I had to guess a score, I’m thinking maybe he’s 150, 160 and he’s got a double drop tine. He’s getting older. He’s smart, he’s not nocturnal but he comes in early in the morning and late in the evening during the rut. He’ll be running for it. I can’t stop him no matter what I tried. Grunting, snort wheezing, doe grunt. As far as I know, I’m the only one who’s allowed to hunt back there.
I tell you another good story after this one about hunting there, he’s just smart because I was hunting there, and I do have houses around me way back in the woods. I had this doe come in and everybody’s been there. She’s not a trophy doe but she had a broken leg and they were just swinging as we all know that deer’s suffering. I’ll put it over winter break. I might have my Lego. I hit a little bit further back than anticipated and about twenty seconds later I hear two kids scream. Long story short, come to find that this bow went to the back of this guy’s yard out of the woods. He had two kids on the swing swinging, the doe dropped dead right there. I went up and the guy came out and I said, “I’m very sorry.” He goes, “Are you Robbie?” I’m like, “Yes.” “I know you hunt back there. I know you didn’t shoot a deer on my property. I know where it came from.” We’re sitting there talking and the kids actually come over and like, are there little boy, little girl is talking about the doe that’s out there dead. The guy goes, “Can I ask you a question?” I thought, “Here it goes.” “What are you going to do with it?” I’m like, “Do you want it?” He goes, “Yes, man. I can’t hunt anymore.” On top of that his money was tight. He couldn’t afford to get the stuff for hunting but he loves deer meat. I say, “Go with the kids inside, I’ll drive it in the woods, I’ll go ahead and dress it.”
He goes, “Can you hang it in my garage for me when you’re done?” I’m like, “Sure.” I took it in his garage If put the top down and hung up it he goes, “I hate to bug you, but can you skin it for me?” I’m like, “Before I do what I do, as we did when we walk up on a deer, the first thing to do with the tag on it.” I tagged it. I’m skinning it I said, “If you want a butcher, it’s four blocks down the street. We’ll drop it in your truck, wrap it up in plastic, we’ll take her down to the butcher, and then I’ll go ahead and pay the butchering for you.” That dude was on crying point. He actually got the deer. He said, “I want to thank you. You’re awesome.” I just feel bad because the dude came a deer came in your backyard and dropped dead in front of your kids. My heart was pounding because I never thought that would happen to me. I think because I’ve jumped the shot and I hit a little bit further back but the good part is it turned out good. I’ve got a doe. I have somebody who needed some deer meat and his kids wasn’t all traumatized because that’s why I was worried about, “There’s a dead deer in the yard.”
Let’s talk about Ronnie Turner turning a little bit. This has been awesome. I’m just laughing to myself and I love who you are, Robbie, because I grew up in Long island, New York. I didn’t live in the tough part of town at all, but I knew some guys that did. For you to come out of that like you are man, that’s a testament to who you are. I’m blown away.
That’s one thing I learned growing up in the city. I went through a lot of crap in my younger days. I think it stuff where they weren’t any different as far as my upbringing. I don’t think I’ll be the person actually, because I was a bad kid, I’m not going to lie. I did some stupid stuff. I did drugs. I’m not going to sit here and lie about it, but I learned from it. Getting out of the city and hunting helped me up. Hunting to me is like therapy for some people because you sit down with Mother Nature and relaxing. It’s much like you’re in a freaking massage chair but hunting in the military and just being around positive people saved my life. Most of my friends I grew up with, they’re all drugs and crack heads, junkie dead or in jail. I’m glad I took the path. I had a big, big part of that for making me the person I am. As far as Ronnie Turner, that’s my buddy. I talk to him a lot. I call him once, twice a week or he’s calling me or calling saying, “Robbie, I needs some more Mix.” He’s testing my new attractant coming out called the Deer Pop. The Mix you basically put in the ground with the Deer Pop it will be able to hang up in a tree because it’s more of a molasses-based attractant with my stuff mixed in with it. He’s tested them and so far he’s even trying to get turkeys on it and now he just puts it off. Ronnie Turner, that dude, I can’t say enough about that guy. He’s just plain out awesome. I say that because I’m trying to get him AVO. If anybody wants to help the AVO contact me, PM me to make a donation to help us out.
How can they get a hold of Dave?
You go on his Facebook page or you PM me or you can call him with his phone number. If you guys contact the American Veteran Outdoors. His name is Dave. His phone number is 501-743-5550. Just tell him Robbie from PA sent you, Robbie from Camo Thugs sent you because I’m getting stuff in the mail every day from people making donations because I’m trying to get Dave help with the fundraiser and also he’s having a shooting tournament with archery and stuff like that because David does a lot in contests. They are just awesome. If I was a Vet man, I’d be grateful helping those guys out. It’s a great organization.
Where are they out of Robbie?
Cabot, Arkansas.
We’re coming to the end of the show. Robbie, it’s just amazing. You’ve touched on so many things and I want you back on the show one to follow up and see how The Mix is doing. It’s just amazing what hunting was able to do for you. You beat the odds, let’s just face it. You already attested to that fact. Most of the guys that you knew grew up went down another path. Here you are, we’re talking about hunting. I’ve never met you, never met me, but we’re talking about something that we’re passionate about and love about. And that’s what makes Whitetail Rendezvous just an awesome, awesome platform for people all over North America. It doesn’t matter where you come from, that has no bearing because when you sit down in the campfire that, that circle around that campfire, we’re all equal and we all love hunting.
Everybody’s equal in the hunting industry. We all got to stick together because we are one big family. That’s how I look at it. You don’t know me, I don’t know you but I see you as a brother. We’re all brothers and sisters.
Robbie, we’re right up at the end of the show. Thank you so much for your service to our country and for the testament for the story that you overcame. There’s somebody listening to this show says, “I’m up against it.” Well, here’s two guys, Bruce, your host at Whitetail Rendezvous and Robbie Knickman from The Mix and from Camo Thug, we’re there for you. Just reach out to us. That’s a simple as I can say it. Robbie, on behalf of Whitetail Rendezvous, our audience throughout North America, thank you so much for being on the show. It’s just been wild.
Thank you, Bruce. I’ve enjoyed it. I can’t wait to do it again. I’ve got some more stories. Hopefully by then I’ll have some more stories for you too.