Tom Rowland Podcast Episode 513 is my conversation with Matt Smythe, a writer for Free Range American, a lifelong bowhunter, and one of the more thoughtful voices in outdoor storytelling. Matt and I talk about poetry and place, a short film he was part of that played five festivals, the families who watch a trailer every morning as a daily affirmation before changing their lives, and where outdoor writing goes from here. It is a slower, deeper conversation than most.
▶ Watch on YouTube · 🎧 Listen now
Matt Smythe is a writer for Free Range American and a lifelong bowhunter who has thought and written extensively about poetry, place, and the craft of outdoor storytelling. He started bowhunting at age 14, returned to it seriously after graduate school, and approaches the outdoors as both a writer and a hunter interested in the deeper meaning of time spent in wild places.
Matt writes about the outdoors with an emphasis on poetry, place, and meaning rather than just how-to tactics. As a contributor to Free Range American, he explores why people are drawn to wild country, how the land shapes identity, and what hunting and fishing reveal about a person. His work treats outdoor writing as a literary craft, not just content.
Matt was part of a short film that was selected for five different film festivals and played in many places. He describes how its trailer resonated with people on the edge of major life changes — including a couple who had both beaten cancer and watched the trailer every morning as a daily affirmation. The film tapped into the theme of people deciding to reorient their lives around what matters.
Matt started bowhunting at age 14, learning from his father, who had the good sense to keep his early tree stands only five to eight feet off the ground. He drifted away from it in high school as sports and other priorities took over, then returned to hunting seriously after graduate school, spending a full year scouting before he got back into it. He did not kill a deer until he was 30.
Matt cares about preserving depth and craft in outdoor writing at a time when fast, disposable content dominates. He treats writing about the outdoors as a literary pursuit rooted in poetry and place, and the conversation explores how that kind of slower, more meaningful storytelling can survive and matter in the modern outdoor media landscape.
Tom Rowland Podcast Episode 513 with Matt Smythe is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you get your podcasts. The video version is embedded at the top of this page.
Most of my conversations are about how to do something — catch the fish, make the shot, build the business. Matt is a different kind of guest. He thinks about why we do these things, and he writes about the outdoors the way a poet would. I wanted to slow down and have that conversation: about place, about patience, about a film that moved people to change their lives, and about whether real craft in outdoor writing can survive in a world that rewards speed over depth.
Matt told me about a couple — both cancer survivors — who watched the trailer for his film every morning as a daily affirmation before deciding to change their lives. The film that hit five festivals clearly touched something. He explains what that response taught him about why people are drawn to the outdoors. Press play to hear the story.
Matt started bowhunting at 14 and did not kill a deer until 30, and he is honest that he spent plenty of early years asleep in a tree stand. He talks about what those long, fishless and gameless years built in him. It is a quiet argument for patience that goes well beyond hunting. Watch the YouTube player above for it.
For Matt, the outdoors is not a backdrop — it is a character. He explains how place shapes identity and why he writes about land and water with the attention a poet gives a subject. The way he thinks about this is different from almost any guest I have had. Hear it in the episode.
▶ Watch the full conversation on YouTube · 🎧 Listen now
We get into the big question: in a world of fast, disposable content, is there still room for slow, literary outdoor writing? Matt makes the case for depth and craft and what it costs to keep them alive. If you care about writing or about the outdoors, this is the section to listen to. Watch the player above.
The day after talking to Matt, the image that stayed with me was the couple watching that trailer every morning. A piece of outdoor storytelling became the thing that pushed two people to live differently. That is what good work can do.
Matt reminded me that the outdoors is not only about the catch or the kill — it is about meaning, patience, and place. We need the people who write it that way, especially now.
▶ Watch the full conversation on YouTube · 🎧 Listen now
The Tom Rowland Podcast brings you long-form conversations with the most accomplished anglers, hunters, conservationists, and outdoor professionals in the game. Listen to every full-length Tom Rowland Podcast interview.
Matt Smythe is a writer for Free Range American and a lifelong bowhunter known for treating outdoor writing as a literary craft rooted in poetry and place. He began bowhunting at 14, returned to it seriously after graduate school, and has been part of a short film that played five festivals. His work explores why people are drawn to wild country and what hunting and fishing reveal about who we are.
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