The quality of your camo gear can make or break your hunting season. Therefore, it’s essential for hunters to acquire their gear from the camo company with the best design pattern ideal for stalking prey – and Treezyn camo offers exactly that! Tina Kane, Executive Director of Treezyn, talks about how their brand represents a new era for camo designs: ones that are affordable, cost-effective on our hard-won paychecks, and yet boasts superior quality at the same time.
Treezyn is a camo company, but it’s so much more than that. Their revolutionary camo designs have arguably surpassed those of Walmart, Kryptek, and the Sitka, whose original designs inspired Treezyn to get in the woods of hunting success. When you use Treezyn camo, you become the predator.
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We’re going to head to the cabin of Tina Kane. Tina Kane comes to us by way of Treezyn where she’s the Executive Director. Treezyn, the new camo pattern on the scene and it’s getting a lot of reviews. The Treezyn Tribe is a great bunch of guys and girls. Tina does all the things that Cobb Sanders doesn’t want to do. They’re both busy driving the company forward. Sit back, relax and enjoy Tina Kane with Treezyn.
Listen to the podcast here:
Treezyn “Don’t Just Blend…Become” Tina Kane
We’re heading up to Northern Minnesota and Tina Kane in for me. She’s at the cabin. We’re going to talk about the cabin in Minnesota. Tina Kane is the Executive Director of Treezyn. Tina, welcome to the show.
Thank you, Bruce. I’m glad to be here.
You’ve lived in Pacific Beach or PB near San Diego, Newport Beach for about fifteen years and then Minnesota called your name again. How did that happen?
I was turning 30, that’s the bottom line. I had been away from my family since I was eighteen. I have a very fun, very dynamite family to be around, cousins, mom and dad, and brothers. I never did anything with them in my hometown as an adult and it was calling me, the woods, the fishing, the hunting. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I had to get back.
What could you see through your cabin?
On the east wall is a nine-foot window door that face the lake. I have fun all day. The eastern sun comes up over there. It’s beautiful. There’s woods all around me. Where I’m at is about 45 minutes south of Canada and it’s an hour and a half from my home, which is again, Northern Minnesota. I come up here because it’s crazy busy in my life in my hometown or when I travel I’m always in cities. There’s nothing but me and my dog and a neighbor dog who thinks she’s mine. It’s wonderful to get up here and get away. It’s still an hour and a half away from home. Family, friends, everyone will still come up here because it’s easy.
We’re going to talk about something that’s happening in the outdoor industry. It’s called Treezyn and Cobb Sanders is going to be on the show in just a little bit also. Tell me what makes Treezyn. It’s a camo company, but it’s something more than that. Help me articulate that.
The attraction to Treezyn is obviously the design and the pattern of this camo. With all due respect, you will always hear from the heart of all of us that the Mossy Oaks, the Realtrees on one level, the Krypteks and the Sitkas on another level. I don’t know how any of us can be thankful that they existed. Even a Walmart camo, not trying to disrespect, that is what got us in the woods and had allowed us to have many successful stories in our stand during our blind. When that happened 30 years later, it was like everything evolved and you needed a new look. That’s what Treezyn stands for, the new era, the new designs of camo. Let’s update it. There’s room for all of us and obviously our goal would be to be in the top three, to have something that’s affordable, cost effective on our hardworking paychecks and yet has quality at the same time.
That’s tough to balance because we’ve all had camo on we got off a rack someplace. We went out and the zipper’s pulled out or the button’s pulled out or the Velcro didn’t work. All of a sudden, we spent X amount of dollars and we didn’t get what we paid for. I was beneficial of the benefit of getting some Treezyn camo for my 22 days in the wilderness. The buttons are still there, the zippers are still there and the velcro’s still there. Plus, it worked. It kept me warm, it kept me blended in. As I say, Treezyn is a reason for the season because without a good camo today, most of us aren’t going to be as good as hunters as we should be. There are some guys out there who will still go out with wool pants and a wool jacket and they’ll kill a deer. Most of us aren’t that good. Your thoughts, Tina?
I agree. Technology has hunting so different then. My family is on their fourth generation of a deer camp right up here where my cabin is. It’s the purpose of my cabin being up here. With Treezyn in mind, they wore plaid shirts, they had their cigarettes, their coffee. They went out and sat in that tree in Northern Minnesota, it’s very easy to be sitting in minus 30 degrees. You sat out there. That’s still our tradition. We go out there at 5:00 AM and we leave an hour past or 40 minutes past dark. You’re walking and then we’re surrounded with wolves. I can’t say it’s not still eerie, Bruce, but I’m very accustomed to walking into the woods in the dark with those wolves right next to my ear. Many scenarios with wolves.
I had a couple that didn’t work out good for wolves.
Probably become on the endangered species list it seems like right around hunting season. I’m sure there’s a purpose there but lots of wolves, lots of bears, there’s both here. It’s a beautiful country. With Treezyn, what has been released since the ATA Show, it was in Kentucky which is the home state of the owner and several of the officers. It was a perfect place. Cobb planned it well not to rush this release to do a soft sale of it on social media and through word of mouth in the south. It was grabbed onto. At the ATA it was a dynamite hit. We got so much good feedback, so many orders. I keep thinking that ten months later, everyone has seen Treezyn, it feels like that. I’m feeling so blessed on social media and through social network.
It hasn’t been even begun. We have just hit few of the Southern States. It’s knocking to the East Coast somehow. It’s just hitting the Midwest. There are still many states that haven’t even heard of Treezyn and we recognize that. You want to move onto the next pattern. The patterns that Cobb Sanders has created and are in that Treezyn vault will make any of us that’s part of Treezyn stick around for 50 years because they’re incredible patterns and beautiful, and makes me proud to be part of Treezyn. Knowing his vision and using his graphic designer to be able to take it from his mind and put it into a visual for all of us to see and then put it onto fabric, it’s fascinating and I’m excited.
You should be because you guys haven’t got started yet. The phone calls and Cobb’s busy and all the rest in your whole support team. Let’s talk about the support team because it was a tough go, but right now in the Treezyn Tribe you get 100 some people?
Matt Murphy has been unbelievable in helping keep that going and up to date. The Treezyn Tribe is a beautiful concept of Treezyn. The concept of how we want to see Treezyn grow is why rush something? You’ve heard a few people already say something that I love, it’s like dating with social media nowadays. You see the younger generation, they’re swiping to the left or to the right and they’re picking their date. The divorce rate is tremendous out there and there’s good and bad in the evolution of humans and mankind. In Treezyn, we thought, “Why are we rushing?” This pattern is wonderful. The quality is wonderful. We’ve all worked hard. Who are the officers and the pro staff?
It’s a two or three year situation before we came out at the ATA and there’s a lot of hard work. We all are still working day jobs and really believe in this camo. We thought, “How do we do this? The industry shows field staff, the industry shows pro staff, elite staff, how is Treezyn going to mold their supporters? How are we going to handle them?” I would constantly hear the word, “our fans,” and there’s nothing wrong with that. Fans, that’s a whole new word in the hunting world in many ways. When I like something of yours, Bruce, or I like something of someone else’s on Facebook or Instagram, I’m not saying I’m a fan, I’m saying whatever you wrote or whatever you did, I liked. It made me laugh. It warms my heart. It made me cry. Whatever the emotion, it’s something that I felt it was worth the effort of pushing.
With Treezyn, we feel that it’s a partnership. You also have to like how we run Treezyn and our beliefs have to be something that are similar to your belief yet never ever losing our individuality. It has worked wonderful. We are looking for what you hope for in a person, some intelligence, no matter whether they’re educated or not. Everyone comes from different walks of life. Everyone comes from different types of paycheck. We want hardworking, we want honest, we want confidence, and yet we want modest and no drama, no egos. Set all that aside and that, I believe, is what’s made an incredible Treezyn Tribe. We love our teams and our individuals that we have hand selected. They approached us, they wrote files, we’ve interviewed them. There are usually one, two or three people on the Austin team interviewing them. We have the pro staff help us with that so everyone’s earned their way into Treezyn, and yet it has helped us have incredible people around us.
Here’s Tina’s motto from her bio, “It’s simple, you live and then you die,” but she quickly adds, “Live well, work hard, and learn from all your mistakes. Enjoy your blessings and stay humble in all you do.” My relationship with Treezyn, I’ve had a number of the people that are behind the scenes and running it, Mike Pearce, Matt Murphy, Joe Willis, Matt Moore down in Texas and Tina. All you guys are humble. It’s like, “This is what we do. We’re good at it. We get the confidence that we’re doing it, but we’re moving forward. We’re going to be successful but it’s all expected.” Everybody is good at self-awareness but it’s different. Help me with that different thing.
The different part is truly the partnership. Another huge scenario, I’ve heard it two different ways. I always say we’re looking for the best baseball team we can put together. That could mean that we need three pitchers, two catchers, and one right fielder, but there is no one more important than the other. That is truly a team. When we talk about the Treezyn Tribe or the pro staff or the future field staff, those players that are in the tribe are the ones that are on our radar. Who do we feel compliments Treezyn to where the next level should be that they become a field staffer or an ambassador or pro staff for someday? That is like scouting for the best that fits our personality. We want them to be individual. We want to know that single dad who’s doing everything he can.
One of our stories, he says, “I’m not a part of a big team,” “You don’t have to be part of a big team. We want to hear your story.”It was really working. He was literally training other pilots for an airline down in Florida. An amazing job and his eleven-year-old son said, “Dad, I wish that we could be back in Wisconsin and have mom, you and I all in the same state,” and he did. His family has a printing business. His brother and father were nice enough to make room for him. You can imagine the paycheck that he went through, but that was someone that said, “I want my son to grow happy.” He got his son into archery. His son has done amazing. Just shot his first year with bowhunting. That’s a story that is part of the Treezyn book, I guess you’d say a book of great people who put others in front of them and they lead from example. They don’t need to say I’m this or I’m that. It’s truly like you said, they’re humble, confident.
Everyone comes from different walks of life. Everyone comes from different types of paycheck. Share on XCobb said once to me, I said, “We’re all passionate people. We’re all like alphas, bunch of alphas trying to agree.” He goes, “No, not everyone. Not everyone is an alpha.” He said, “There’s alphas then there’s people who are led by alphas and are as important as the alpha personality,” and that’s true. You can take the picture of the one that’s running the show, but he’s not. If everyone on that team or someone on the tribe said, “It’s like a food plot.” All the things that you put into that soil, you take your soil samples and you keep thinking, “I need so much more fertilizer, that’ll do it.” It’s the lime. It’s all the other things and minerals that go into that that make an excellent food plot.”That’s our MO.
How do people get in touch with Treezyn and where do they find them? If somebody is interested, “Those sound like the people I want to hang with in going in this journey,” how do they get with whomever is in charge of that?
Treezyn.com is always the easiest because there’s six of us who babysit that page and we need all six of us to babysit it. The one thing that I’ve learned is that in this world of hunting, pro staff has been sometimes shown a while around very lightly. I’m new to the social media hunting world. I’m almost five years into it and it’s something that I remember thinking, “People haven’t even seen me hunt. How can I be invited to a pro staff quickly? How do they even know? I don’t put a lot of hunting pictures out there for different reasons.” We just get educated. You realize where it used to be the day when Pro Staff was earned. I feel like that’s what we’re trying to bring back. It’s earning it and learning from the others around you and what makes you a better hunter.
It sometimes adds to your own character and we don’t reward drama. We don’t reward bragging or egos. Those things aren’t what we hope to be. We don’t believe that you should be knocking competition. Competition in America and anywhere is what makes us better. That’s the type of person we’re looking for. They can get on Treezyn.com and they can tell us what are their thoughts? What are they hoping for? How would they find themselves or see themselves as part of Treezyn? Usually one of us are either responding to them quickly or calling them.
Spend some time on at Treezyn.com. There’s a lot off information. You start off with about why Cobb started this whole journey and then some of the people, and it’s pretty insightful. Every person I’ve met is somebody that I go hunting with, and I can’t say that about everybody that I meet. Some people they’re great guest and I’ll probably go hunting with them.
When you think about you and I meeting because you’re amazing at what you do and amazing at networking, I can’t thank you enough for the people you’ve introduced me to. Jeana and I talked, super great lady. About Scott and the fact that him and Ferguson were starting their store and it was our first Colorado door, which to the audience, we’re always looking for wonderful stories, stories to carry Treezyn because it will sell itself. Them opening the store and you just by chance, tend to go right where they are to do your hunt. Think about how you and Scott, he can’t thank me enough for you being in his life as one of his newest and greatest friends. I love that part of helping of others that Treezyn definitely stands behind. Let’s all help each other and get rid of the jealousy, help each other be better and yet individual.
Let’s stay right there on that theme and talk about bringing back old school ways. Why is that important to Treezyn?
We feel like we’ve earned it. You stand taller when you’ve earned something. There’s such easy ways to earn things. People think there are some amazing photographers that are part of Treezyn. There are some people that have amazing words of wisdom that are part of Treezyn. Then there are other people that have terrific humor and terrific Christian ways and bringing up kids and letting us and allowing us into their personal life to see that happening. That is old school hard work, good humor, allowing mistakes to be out in the open. Not look at, “I missed that deer and I know better,” to not hide that. That’s hunting. Hunting is still a fantastic way that still makes me and many others be part of this heritage that was way before stores. You hunted and you learnt to be one with nature and to be quiet, to take it all in and to appreciate our surroundings. That’s the way we feel Treezyn should be. Appreciate each other and you work hard. You’re all after the same goal, bringing good food to your table, whether it’s a trophy deer, whether it’s this beautiful doe that provides amazing meat. Those are things that we feel is old school.
You’re sitting in a fourth generation hunting cabin where everybody has hunted for so many years. Share some of the early stories that you remember spending time in that camp.
My story is different in spending time in that camp. What makes it hilarious is the fact that many girls that I know will understand this and that is real simple. My brothers and all my cousins would pack up with my dad and my uncles. My dad was very involved in sports as well. Many mutual softball players or guys that are buddies like that. You’d have about seven of them heading to a camp and I’d be like, “Dad, can I go?” “No honey, you go to those craft shows with your mom.” “Dad, I don’t want to go to craft shows.” “No, this is for boys and for guys, this isn’t for the girl.” That broke my heart the whole time they were gone, I imagined what they were doing, being in the woods, being in the tree and seeing their harvest and the pictures. I never understood why can’t a girl go? I appreciate that in that generation. That’s the way it was done in our family and it was all guys. It never and still has not changed.
They still have those rules and they’re eight miles down the road. With me being a realtor, I obviously did much searching for around camp. That camp is eight miles down the road, a twenty-minute ATV ride. I took over my dad’s Stan and have been here ever since. Now brothers and some cousins are in this camp. Nieces hunt and fiancés and wives hunt, and it’s called The Rack Shack. That’s the story. My mom always laughed saying, “I put you in ballet classes, dance classes, baton classes. I taught you to do craft and all you want to do is go kill.” That’s my story.
That’s good that you can articulate that because women represent the fastest growing segment of the outdoor industry. Jeana Mitchell is a perfect person to point out and Dawn Freeland and Mia Anstine, it just goes on and on. Kirstie Pike started Prois on a whim and a prayer. I know Kirstie really well. I spent time with the family a number of years, and she got sick and tired of wearing Steve’s camo said, “I’m going to do this,” and right there in Gunnison. She was a trauma nurse, smart lady and knew what to do. She loved hunting so she began Prois Hunting Apparel and has done very well in the face of everything. Her family are successful entrepreneurs but she wasn’t. She had to learn and grow a business, grow her brand, and she’s kicking it. Ladies, there’s plenty of room for you. If you want to get a hold of Tina, how best to get a hold of you for the ladies listening to the show?
Get on my Facebook page which is just Tina Kane or Treezyn.com and those are great ways. They can address it to me or to any of us. It’ll get to me. We’re still a small growing company. We’re not big corporate offices. We listen to your story. We help any way we can. We have many people that we are in touch with that weren’t ready in our mind for whatever reason. Not bad, just weren’t ready yet for what we were hoping for in a Treezyn Tribe member. You have some four to seven a day that don’t even say hi to you. We’re looking for a sponsor and you feel like you’re part of 100 letters that go out and that’s what I mean by maybe we’re all part of creating that. There’s no warmth sometimes in the way people ask for things and people are used to receiving things free. There’s so much that different.
The other day, a negative turned into a positive, which is the best result of anything and we all can agree. This younger gentleman had said, “How do I delete my bad review? I did a bad review on your Facebook.” I love Cobb’s thinking because he’s never ever kicked down a bad review. That’s what makes us better. The world needs to know the truth. We are not perfect. We’re human and we’re going to do something great and another thing we need to learn from. It’s a lot of things. None of us had even seen this bad review yet and he was trying to delete it already. I had heard from one of our pro staff he had gotten one of his friends saying, “My buddy’s really unhappy. He ordered his camo last week and just today they asked for his physical address.”
Our shipping manager is part of UPS. They always try and go through UPS. Make a long story short, it was either six, seven or eight days that they got there. He swore that he was going to return the camo because he was upset with the company. He took it out of the box and put it on and fell madly in love with it, is what he says. “I’m not going to return it but I was going to.”He was wonderful to try and take that down and not let us see that review. Yet obviously, I still want to know what we could have done better. I called him and he was so great saying, “It took five days and they were just asking for my physical address,” and I said, “I need to learn from you. What are you used to? Are you not used to company taking seven to ten days to get your stuff out?” He said, “No, I’ve never waited that long to get my stuff.”
The story behind this is when you look at Treezyn, there’s every generation. We’re starting to hit Instagram. I know we’ve got to hit Snapchat. We’re starting to learn though those markets. We have 60-year-olds, we’ve got groups and your generation. The general population seems to be 30 and 40, but we have a lot of twenty year olds. It was interesting for me to hear that this generation is not used to seven to ten days. They’re used to things immediate and in three days. I told them, “It’s great for me to hear that.”It’s great for me and this company to know that we need to communicate, “Are you okay with seven to ten days? Does that work for your hunting or does that work for your patience level?”without mocking them. It’s what we’re used to today. Probably a lot of negatives that turn into a positive so far.
As far as Treezyn concern, it’s about relationships. Tina and I do have a great relationship. We’ve never met but we’ve gone through some stuff together already in the six months that we’ve known each other. We’ve shared and it’s that sharing. I’m on the Treezyn Tribe but I’m not in their business, but I’m helping their business. One, because I believe in who they are. I’ve developed a relationship with a lot of the people that are part of the company. If you want to excel in anything, build a relationship with those people that you’re trying to be like or become like. If those people don’t fit who you are, forget it, stop. Go a different way because you are so special, you are unique and you bring unique talents to the table. Go find where they fit. With that, Tina, give a shout out and let’s wrap the show up.
Bruce, thank you for everything that you do to help us and that’s my first shout out it’s to you. Your story, your things you shared with me and that I’ve shared with you. It’s like what you’re saying, it’s like sitting on your porch and having a talk with a very good friend. I love that about you. The people I have to thank is our Pro Staff Jai Utley. My peers Joe Willis, Matt Murphy, Brad Thomas, Matt Mitchell, Cobb Sanders. I can’t say enough of the people that surround me in this staff because we are all constantly talking, constantly listening to each other, trying to be better. It’s humbling when we talk about humbling.
There's still many amazing people on this planet that work hard and believe in what they're doing. Share on XI forgot Todd Duff. Todd, you know I love you. You bring in the whole behind the scenes of putting shows together, to partnering up with wonderful companies out there that are doing the same thing and have the same goals that we do. You’re going, “Wow,” I would’ve never known that there’d be some day that I’m going to be part of a camo company. It’s the most fun job on earth. It does not seem like we are working ever. I learned a lot about how there’s still many amazing people on this planet that work hard and believe in what they’re doing. That’s a story that you can never get tired of. No matter how many stories I hear a day, I don’t know how you could ever get tired of the ups and downs of this roller coaster that we call life.
Tina Kane and the rest of the crew at the Treezyn Camo, I’m happy that I can play a silly small role in your journey, but it fits for me. On behalf of thousands people across North America that are our audience to Whitetail Rendezvous, thank you. I can’t wait till we get that back on after ATA, which Bob, my partner, he runs the back office. Bob and I are going to be there and Minneapolis. I look forward to spending some time with the crew at Treezyn at ATA. Thank you so much for being part of the success of Whitetail Rendezvous.
You are a wonderful show. Everyone needs to get on with Bruce here.
Make sure you listen to the next episode of Whitetail Rendezvous. We’re going to follow up Tina Kane with Cobb Sanders. Cobb is the Founder, President, CEO, Chief Sweeper Upper of Treezyn. Treezyn a new camo manufacturer in Kentucky and they’re bringing forth a great new pattern that everybody should take a look at.
Thanks for joining us. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for another episode of Whitetail Rendezvous, where you can listen and learn from the experts so you can be more successful on your next hunt. Until next time, listen, learn and succeed.