The outdoors has so much to offer including great lessons that we can learn for life. Author and hunting enthusiast Blake Alma shares reveals why he was inspired to write his book, An Outdoorsman’s Heart. Giving us an exclusive sneak peek, he explains its different chapters and what made him write about each one of them. Moreover, Blake also talks about convincing your kids to go outdoors instead of playing video games regularly because raising them with logic in the outdoors offers positivity in their outlook in life.
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Premier Exclusive – An Outdoorsman’s Heart – Blake Alma
We’re heading out to Ohio and visiting with a good friend of mine, Blake Alma. Blake has written a book called An Outdoorsman’s Heart, the outdoors through his eyes. Blake Alma introduced he’s writing a book about his faith, conservation and the outdoors. Blake, why did you write another book? You’ve got some books out there already and here’s another one. You’re an author. You’ve got a TV show. You’ve got a radio show you’re handing off. You’ve got a podcast. At your age, almost eighteen years old, he’s accomplished more than some people accomplished in ten years, in a whole decade in the outdoors. Kudos to Blake for that, but let’s get to the heart of the matter. Let’s talk about the upcoming book.
I was on your show a few years ago with the Hunter’s War. I wrote that a few years ago. The first time I was on your show, I hadn’t had the TV show yet. I’d only had the radio show for a few months. While beginning I saw that there were these vegans and anti-hunters trolling the crap out of me calling me these not pleasant names. I wrote a book about that. I haven’t written a book in a few years. Since then I have started a TV show, it’s on the Hunt Channel and CarbonTV.
What’s the name of the TV show?
It’s The Outdoor Experience. It’s on the Hunt Channel. The prime time is 10:00 PM on Mondays. We interview guests, from the Duck Dynasty guys to Ted Nugent to Jim Shockey. We’ve interviewed a fair amount of people on the show. It’s fun stuff. People have always asked me, like, “How did I do this or that?” My book isn’t necessarily focused on how I did it but why I did it. I don’t go into great detail about the technical and the administrative work that I put into the outdoors and how I came to the place that I am now, but I tell you why I come to this outdoor lifestyle. It’s not doing what my fellow teenagers do but be the oddball of the bunch. Allowing people to come and hate me for it, and yet still pursue this and love it with all my heart, soul and mind. I spent seven chapters on why I love the outdoors.
The first one is focused on my story. I talk about my birth and some of the events that took place from my birth to where I am now. I don’t go into deep detail about it because I want to save an autobiography for another day. I’m seventeen. There are a lot more experiences coming in the future. I do cover my childhood briefly. I talk about how I was socially awkward. I was like he-man, woman-hater, thought girls had cooties and stuff. I talk about that in the book. I talk about my teen life. I went to one church and went to another. Being homeschooled, that was my only social life. That transitioned from being the youngest from leaving one church, going to another, and being the youngest in the teen group and being picked on. We’re founding members of that church. I was the first kid from start to beginning to finish that teen group. I talk about that and my experiences there. I talk about my first fishing experience with Bryan May, who took me fishing when I was twelve and a half. I cried when I wrote it because it’s such an emotional story to me that my parents may not be sportsmen, but this guy took me at teen camp and took me fishing.
Because of that, it changed my life. I didn’t see him for a few years. When I saw him, I was like, “I’ve got some stories to tell you, what that fishing experience did to my life.” I tell that. I close out that chapter by explaining how I became a TV, radio host and all that fun stuff. I close that chapter and that’s the first chapter, it’s called An Outdoorsman’s Story. The second chapter is called An Outdoorsman’s Doctrine. I go into the spirituality, what I think of the outdoors, God and being in the outdoors keeps you from the things of the world, keeps you from the sins that we can avoid by being in the outdoors. I talk about some examples in the Bible there. I talk about Romans 1:20 which says the outdoors was given so that we are without excuse to believe in God.
Getting kids outdoors builds good character. Share on XWhen I see a building, there’s a builder. When I see the creation, I know there’s a creator. If I told you my house is poof there by chance one day, you’d laugh at me and think I’m a nut job. The outdoors is the same way. I explain that and I go into the deep spiritual doctrine of the outdoors. I call it the Doctrines of Creation. That’s what that chapter is about. Chapter Three is called An Outdoorsman’s Sin. I get controversial in that chapter. I know I’m going to step on a lot of toes. I talk about the grand debate between crossbows, compounds and the pointlessness of that debate. I won’t debate it here because that’s what the book is for. I talk about baiting corn piles, food plots, and different things there and how that is also, in my opinion, a somewhat pointless debate. I talk about diseases and stuff quickly there, prove my point about corn baiting and food plots being fairly identical.
They’re different, but I won’t go into that here, it’s not the time or place. That’s why I wrote the book so that I could put my opinion on it. This is the one where I step on the most toes. There is big debate among hunters and they get into F-bomb type of conversations about, “You’re wrong and I’m right.” That’s absolutely unnecessary. I explain why that is. I don’t go into great detail, but I go into a little bit of detail about why it’s pointless. Food plotting and corn baiting are fairly similar. I’m seventeen, I don’t have a whole lot of experience with this topic, but it’s my opinion. An Outdoorsman’s Heart, it’s my heart and why I see the outdoors the way I do. I’m going to bring it up because I talk about it in the book. It’s a worthy issue to bring up. I don’t like it. You’d agree with me, Bruce. I don’t like it when people use women as an advertising thing to sell products. I hate that to its core. Where they wear bikinis and whatever trying to promote this individual product. I find it unbiblical. I find it ungodly. I find it plain out retarded. Put away my spiritual, religious views aside. PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals aka the retard company, they do the same thing. They use sex to promote their agenda.
We hunters are much better than that. In order to be better than that we must not act like them. I hammer it. It’s controversial, I know. This book is focused on my opinion. That’s Chapter Three. It’s called An Outdoorsman’s Sin where I tackle the harassment among hunters and some of the issues we have in this industry. It’s one of the shorter chapters of the book. There’s not a lot of negative for me to say about the outdoor industry. The outdoor industry is one of the most perfect industries as far as getting along. Us, hunters, we have this brotherhood that I love so much. I admire that throughout the entire book. I start off the book, I have an introduction and I say how the outdoor industry is the best industry in the world. I love it like nothing else. That chapter is only four or five pages long. It’s not that long.
Also, my next chapter is Chapter Four, An Outdoorsman’s Heritage, where I talk about getting kids back in the outdoors, also a reasonably short chapter because it’s pretty simple. I’ll tell you the overview of what the chapter is about. It’s that using technology is the key way to get kids back in the outdoors in the 21st century. The past 100 years, we’ve seen a dramatic shift in humanity and our lifestyle. We went from books, literature and education, one-on-one education, to this mass internet where everybody can go on the World Wide Web and learn about whatever they want to learn about. I’m absolutely convinced that you have to use that, what your child loves, aka technology, devices, video games and stuff, to get them back in the outdoors. Whether that’s you playing a hunting video game, use that. I played hunting video games before I ever went hunting, and I love hunting.
Playing hunting video games made me want to go outside and enjoy the outdoors more to experience what hunting is. It’s not like you shoot twenty deer at once and you get a bunch of gold coins. You go out there and you obey the laws. The fruit of your harvest is much more than coins on a video game. You have back straps. You have the antler. You have the tenderloin. You have the jerky. You have the brisket. You have the ground beef, the ground venison burgers that taste amazing. It’s much more than gold coins in a video game. It’s absolutely awesome. Using technology, whether you could buy them a video game when they’re young or let’s say they’re twelve, thirteen years old and they’ve never gone out hunting and never shown any interest, buy them a hunting video game and maybe they will. You’ve got to start it when they’re young.
If they’re too old, if they’re twelve or thirteen years old and they’ve led their life without going outdoors, they won’t have this natural urgency to go outside. When they are first born and they grow up seeing you going hunting and coming in with a bag full of meat, it is a God-given courtesy for them to want to go outside, as long as you nurture that courtesy. If you don’t and you let it die, they won’t want to. You can bring that back using technology, whether that’s you doing YouTube videos, do funny, be funny. If you’re not funny, they’re not going to watch it. I do a lot of funny ones. They sometimes get political, stupidity. I put a gun in the live cage trap. I caught Tide Pods. It’s a joke. I talked about how you can use a live cage trap in a survival situation or I’ll be goofy talking about a knife, maybe like, “This knife is good,” or bad. I’ll be super goofy about it and stuff like that. Try to be funny if you do a YouTube video or do a blog. Some kids don’t like reading so that one is either/or. YouTube videos and videos games are a great way to get kids who are older back in the outdoors. I encourage you as an outdoorsman who has young children to raise your kids in the outdoors because if you don’t, you’re going to regret that.
The fruit of your harvest is much more than coins on a video game. Share on XThey’re going to grow up with a lifestyle you may not like. Getting them outdoors builds good character and keeps them from a lot of sin that they may come to in teenage or college years that you want them to avoid. I speak with experience from that me being a teenager I can truly attest that the outdoors has kept me from a lot of issues. I’ve seen other teenagers in my life who have gone down a path that I mourn for them. You see on the news these seventeen-year-old punks that go around saying, “The only way to end violence is to ban guns.” That’s obviously far from the truth because a good guy with a gun is going to stop a bad guy with a gun. The only way to do that is to have more guns with good people like you, Bruce, or me. When I turned eighteen, my dad bought a gun. Guns are great usefulness.
Raising them in logic in the outdoors is a great way to raise them. That’s a reasonably short chapter because it’s so basic and blunt. There’s not a lot that goes into it. It’s a natural God-given courtesy for kids to want to go back outdoors. If you don’t raise them that way, you can get them back to the outdoors using technology. It’s as simple and straightforward as that. My next chapter is called An Outdoorsman’s Conservatism. As I said in the Facebook Live video when they see that, they will think that I’m talking about conservation like how hunters provide a huge income for public lands and keeping wildlife habitats. That’s not what that chapter is about. I talk about it a little bit in the following chapter after that, but the chapter is about political conservatism, how I see this nation, where it’s at now and how the outdoors has a role with politics. In my case, I’ve never been able to avoid politics in my career, for whatever reason it’s always gone with what I do. Maybe it has to do with the vegans getting a hold of me at fourteen, fifteen years old, calling me this or that.
It created me getting political in situations. I did, it happened. The outdoors and quite frankly conservatism goes hand in hand, that’s my opinion. You’ll find that 98%-plus of outdoorsmen have conservative, moral views, religious views, too. I tackle that quite a bit. I talk about Donald Trump. I have six pages of his accomplishments. I’m pro-Trump. I talk about gun rights. I don’t tackle it from a hunting perspective. I tackle it from a commonsense perspective of, “Guns keep people alive and here’s how.” From my research, guns kill about 8,000 people through murders and suicides or something like that. Among that 8,000, there are three million-plus guns. If guns were the issue, you and I would be dead right now because there are about three billion-plus people in the United States.
The three million-plus guns that we have, it’s a lot more than that. We’d be dead if it was a gun issue. It’s a people issue, the people who get a hold of a gun. We ban guns. They could use another weapon, whether that’s knives, even bows or a hammer. Hammers kill more people than guns do and so do knives. It’s not logical. People drown in the pool all the time. Let’s blame pools or let’s blame cars because of how many drunk drivers and people getting hit by cars in collisions. Let’s ban cars while we’re at it. I tackle it from a common sense of knowledge. I talk about freedom of speech, how that seems to be stripped away from us Conservatives. Liberals can say whatever they want with no repercussions whatsoever. I tackle that. I made a post on my Facebook page that went viral. I had 50,000-plus shares about Colin Kaepernick and his kneeling and stuff. I talk about that experience. All the Liberals came and started trolling me because of that post. That was fun.
I tackle abortion. I’m strongly against abortion. I don’t see why people kill unborn babies. I’m not going to go into that too deep here, but I talk about the biblical reasons why the Bible does say abortion is wrong. Not so bluntly, but it does. It tells you how life starts in the womb and how murder is wrong in the Ten Commandments, obviously, everybody knows that. I go into depth there. I tackle LGBT issues. I’m not going to go into that here because it’s another sin. We all sin. I’m not going to go into that quick. I talked about all kinds of different conservative issues. I don’t want to go into some of this here because I know it’s a hunting podcast, but I tackle that in my book. The theme of my book is faith, conservationism, outdoors. You’ll see that on the front cover. It’s controversial. I don’t want to step on anybody’s toes, but I do that well. That’s what that chapter is focused on. An Outdoorsman’s Heart, it’s my heart, the way I’ve seen the outdoors and why the outdoors has a huge role in politics. If this outdoors stuff doesn’t work, I would not mind going into politics.
You’ve got a lot of years to get into that.
The fruit of your harvest is much more than coins on a video game. Share on XI know. I don’t know why I do. I’m fascinated by how government works and how checks, balances and all these different roles from congressmen and to the president to local government, mayors, governors, lieutenant governors and general assemblies of states. I find it all interesting. Outdoor is my favorite thing. I love country music. I love God. I love politics. That’s the four things that I love. Outdoors, God is the first. Outdoors is probably second, country music and politics. I couldn’t get into country music because I can’t sing. Otherwise, if I could sing I’d be a country singer. I love country music. I’ve always been also fascinated with that industry as well. You’ll find that country music and the outdoors goes hand in hand. I tackle that in my book as well.
I talk about the Boy Scouts thing that’s going on, too. That unpleasant surprise that they’re changing their name for political correctness reasons. I tackle that. It’s only two or three paragraphs. I talk about different conservative issues. It’s a fun chapter. I poured my heart into that chapter there. The next chapter, also it’s still conservative-related. It’s An Outdoorsman’s Harassment is the name of that chapter. It’s about vegans, anti-hunters, how hunters should respond to the hate that we get and why the hate is false. Whether that’s conversational issues, I tackle that briefly, I use the common straight up sense of like veganism doesn’t make any sense because there’s no such thing as a real vegan. Your very existence as a human being kills animals. The house you live in used to belong to animals and you took their habitat. When you go to a grocery store and buy produce when I say “produce” I mean vegetables, vegetables as a vegan. Those vegetables were grown on grounds of which thousands and thousands of acres of property that used to belong to animals and we took that from them. As we know, habitat loss is the number one killer of animals. Veganism is a mental thing. It doesn’t exist. It’s this cult group that’s weird.
Some people call themselves vegan. They’re not that type of vegan. They don’t like meat. They don’t like the taste of it. I have no issues with that, more meat for me. I’m talking about the vegans who troll my page and call me this or that or these horrible, awful names. I’m sure you’ve seen that. I’m sure you’ve gotten that too, Bruce. It’s horrible stuff. Anti-hunters, I tackle them, as well. I talk about the hypocrisy of anti-hunters, veganism and how there’s no way to be a real vegan. You threatening my life doesn’t make any sense because your goal is to protect a life. Are you threatening mine? Are you putting the animal over the human being? What backsliding liberal crap is that? It’s like it doesn’t make any sense. It is the longest chapter. It’s about 30 pages. I can’t say that for sure. The conservative chapter is long as well. An Outdoorsman’s Story, the first chapter, is also a longer chapter. It’s the longest one. That’s Chapter Six.
Chapter Seven is An Outdoorsman’s Faith where I talk about how I came to know Christ and my testimony of becoming Christian at a young age and dedicating my life to the Lord. I talk about how one can do that. I talk about why it has driven my career. I cried when I wrote that chapter because if I was not raised in a Christian home and I didn’t go to a Christian camp, I wouldn’t have become an outdoorsman. I went to a Christian camp in 2013, as I brought up. I was twelve and a half and this guy took me fishing. That would have never happened and I would not be here right now. It’s a pretty emotional story that I enjoyed writing. That’s the last chapter. The foreword of the book will be written by Al and Phil Robertson. I’m sure they’ll share their two cents’ worth. They haven’t sent it to me yet. I’m not sure exactly what they’re going to say, but I’m looking forward to reading it. My cohost, Jackson Hartley, who’s a few years younger than me, even though our faith is different, he’s a Mormon and I’m a Baptist.
The only reason I’m a Baptist is because I believe what the Bible says and the Baptist religion seems to be the closest to that title. Catholics believe what the Bible says being Catholics. I don’t like to claim onto any denomination. We have different faith views. We do believe in getting to heaven the same way, and that’s through putting your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. He’s writing the afterword to it because he will be inheriting my radio show because I can’t balance both the TV show and the radio show. He’s going to be taking over that. If something happens to me, if I get in a car wreck and die, he will take over what I’ve started. I wanted him to do the afterword because he has the same passion that I do for the outdoors and God. I’m looking forward to his company. We’ll be talking about it. He’ll be writing his afterword. It’s fun stuff. That’s the book. I know that was a lot of detail. I’ll go into even deeper detail in the book. I loved writing it. I finished writing it.
How do they get it?
The fruit of your harvest is much more than coins on a video game. Share on XIt’s on BlakeAlmaBook.com. It’s on preorder. It’s $12.99 and free shipping. The book is about 160 pages plus whatever Jackson, Phil and Al Robertson adds onto it. I don’t know if you can put the cover-up, but the cover looks amazing in my opinion. I was so excited it’s me standing in front of an American flag wearing my iconic camo hat. Me wearing like camo jacket holding a bow in my hand. Having the American flag behind me is it paints a cool picture of what the book is about. You see I’m sad and distraught with what America is up to these days. I tell you in the book how you can make it right with the Lord and being a conservative outdoorsman. There’s nothing better than a Christian conservative outdoorsman, in my opinion. It was such a fun book to write. It’s $12.99, BlakeAlmaBook.com. It’s an awesome cover, content. Foreword by Phil and Al Robertson, stars of Duck Dynasty. Afterword by my cohost, Jackson Hartley. I’m looking forward to it. Free shipping, like I said. If you preorder, you get a signed copy.
Apparently, people find that super exciting, when the other signs something. I’m like, “It isn’t ever going to be worth anything unless I’m running for president,” which I wouldn’t mind doing. I like politics. That won’t be any time soon. You have to be 35. It’s a great deal at $12.99, free shipping. I know the book is a little bit shorter, but $12.99, costs for shipping. I have to ship the books to me. I have to pay for the actual books so $12.99. I’m not making much of a profit off of it, but it sure does help me out since I’m turning eighteen. I have to make financial decisions. Go to BlakeAlmaBook.com. I always appreciate what Bruce and his Whitetail Rendezvous have done for me and all the things he does for everybody else. He interviews so many people and gets the word out there for so many other outdoorsmen who are trying to make a difference in this industry. I appreciate that. Check out at BlakeAlmaBook.com for An Outdoorsman’s Heart. I’m excited about it. I appreciate what you do, Bruce.
I’m excited to be your friend and to watch this journey. We’ve commented enough on that. With that, on behalf of over 250,000 audiences across North America. I’m excited to see where you go. I would not be surprised at some time you’re in the capital.
It’s like the ultimate dream.
Blake, how do they order your book?
Get the book at BlakeAlmaBook.com. I’d appreciate if you did that. It’s awesome stuff. I’m looking forward to seeing everybody’s reaction to the book. It’s fun. I appreciate you, Bruce.
important links:
- An Outdoorsman’s Heart
- Facebook – Blake Alma
- BlakeAlmaBook.com
About Blake Alma
It was September 24th of 2000 and it was a beautiful autumn day. The sun was shining and the birds were singing. My mother and father were both outside hunting on that opening day of the deer season. My mother, who was over 9 months pregnant, felt a kick within her womb. BAM! Her water broke. My parents were out in the heart of the woods with no cell phone signal and the car was many miles away. Henceforth, my dad used his wilderness survival skills and found a way to have his wife give birth to a child right then and there, in the awe of the creation. My dad simply used his survival knife and cut the umbilical cord. Out came the baby. For all mother’s give birth to a child, but not this mom, she gave birth to an outdoor legend. His name was BLAKE.
Boy, do I wish that was how my birth actually happened. It didn’t though, but…yeah, I have no idea how it happened. However, it probably in the hospital bed and out came me, for the first thing I saw was my father with a deer’s blood all over his camo outfit. Nope, that didn’t happen either. Honestly, I was born just like everyone else.
Time quickly flew by and when 2013 had rolled around, I began to find a small interest within the pursuits of the outdoors. At teen camp that year, an outdoor role model in my life, named Bryan May, had taken me fishing. Because of that one fishing moment, it lead me to many opportunities and a burning passion for the skills in the outdoors. I began pursuing every outdoor activity from that point on. From fishing to trapping, I began to learn. I built so much outdoor knowledge in my head that my school knowledge didn’t even compare.
My passion for the outdoors only began to grow and grow. In May of 2014, I began writing a book called The Outdoorsmen Bible. Little did I know that the book I was writing would change everything. I began to pursue the art of writing and the outdoors. I loved it! Later that year, I had my book published and from that point on, I knew I wanted to be an outdoorsman ad build a career from it. I even made a blog about the outdoors called The Art of an Outdoorsman, which still is growing day by day.
I wrote more books throughout the following year and I found an outdoor writing contest at Outdoor News. I quickly told my mom about it and she told me to go for it. I wrote a story about how a fox, that I had trapped, was camouflaged with the red leaves and how it had almost taken a chunk out of my leg. It was a breath-taking story. I sent it into Ohio Outdoor News and months later I receive a letter in the mail saying that I won! I was so excited.
In March of 2016, I received an email from the editor of Survival Life asking me, a 15-year-old boy, to write for their huge website and e-magazine. I didn’t believe it at first, but it was legit! My first article for them was called “Trap for Your Life” which turned into a 10-part series. Writing for Survival Life gave me many more writing opportunities. I later ended up finding myself writing for over 15 different companies. God surely did bless me.
While writing for Survival Life, an international radio station called WRVO Radio Network 1, contacted me asking me if I wanted my own RADIO SHOW!!! I really thought it was a scam, at first. Once I found out it was real, I freaked out. I accepted their offer and established The Outdoorsman’s Art Media which was my blog, my articles, and my radio show. I named the show after my media group, The Outdoorsman’s Art Radio Show. It was a dream come true.
Today, I continue pursuing the wonder of the outdoors; having many opportunities to talk to several outdoor celebrities, writing for magazines, being interviewed often, and just growing my own outdoor work. As of recently, I have been asked to be the Editor-in-Chief at Survivalist Daily and, of course, I accepted the opportunity. Starting May of 2017, I got the privilege outdoor TV’s very first talk show and airs on Hunt Channel!
Someone once told me I was lucky, but you know, luck is only when hard work meets opportunity. Simply, anyone could have done what I have done. They would just have to spend the time to do it and get their priorities straight. As a 17-year-old and being homeschooled, I had tons of time to waste, but I decided that I would not waste my teenage years playing videos games or scrolling through my social media all day. I knew that if I started young, it would benefit me for the future. I only wish that every child had the same passion and zeal toward the outdoors as I do, but modern technology has stood in the way of the Master’s creation. Hence, it is my goal to bring back the creation of God back into the hearts of children and teenagers, to revive that dying art of an outdoorsman. That is my outdoorsman’s calling!