Ben Paige - Fowl Front - The Balance Between Promotion And Exploitation Of Public Lands is a Tom Rowland Podcast conversation with the host of the Fowl Front waterfowl podcast about the tension every outdoor content creator faces: how to document and share a beautiful, hard-earned spot without exploiting it, and what you owe the other hunters and anglers who already fish or hunt it responsibly.
Press play above to watch the full conversation with Ben Paige.
Ben Paige hosts Fowl Front, a waterfowl and duck hunting podcast. He reached out to Tom with the idea for this conversation after they discovered they were dealing with a very similar issue from opposite ends of the hunting and fishing world.
It's the challenge of documenting and sharing a beautiful, hidden natural spot for an audience without exploiting it, telling the story and showing the experience without handing over the exact location to anyone who hasn't put in the work to find it themselves.
Tom uses the example of a spot only two boats knew about, where everyone fishing or hunting it was having a great time and the resource could handle that level of pressure. The moment someone posts the exact coordinates on social media, that same spot can go from two boats to fourteen trucks at the ramp the next day.
Ben and Tom agree the responsibility runs in two directions: to the place itself, and to the other hunters and fishermen who already use that spot responsibly, not just to an audience that wants more specific content.
Ben says an earlier episode of Tom's podcast got him thinking about how outdoor creators can document special places without ruining them, which is what led him to call and pitch this exact conversation.
Ben runs a waterfowl podcast, which puts him in a completely different corner of the outdoors than saltwater fishing, but the moment he called to pitch this topic I realized we were wrestling with the exact same problem from opposite directions. I wanted to talk it through with someone facing it in a world I don't operate in, because it made the conversation sharper than talking to someone who only sees it from the fishing side.
Tom and Ben get into what actually happens the day after a secret spot gets blown up online, using the real difference between two boats quietly working a spot and fourteen trucks showing up at the ramp because someone posted the exact numbers. It is a more nuanced problem than it sounds like at first, and it is worth hearing both of them work through where the line actually is.
The conversation lands on the idea that the responsibility is not just to the resource itself, it is to the other hunters and anglers who were already using that place the right way before any camera showed up. Ben and Tom talk through how they each draw that line in their own content, and it is a more honest answer than either of them gives in passing on social media.
Talking with someone from the waterfowl world made me think harder about a tension I deal with constantly in fishing content, and I came away with a clearer sense of where my own line needs to be. Press play above to hear the whole conversation with Ben Paige.
Ben Paige, Fowl Front, Tom Rowland, April Vokey
Ben Paige hosts Fowl Front, a podcast focused on waterfowl and duck hunting, where he talks with hunters and industry figures about the sport and the issues facing it.
EP 24/71 | Ben Paige - Fowl Front - The Balance Between Promotion And Exploitation Of Public Lands
[Ben Paige]: I can't remember which episode of your podcast it was, but it clicked, it might have been April Vokey, can't remember who it was, but you were talking about how do we document and talk about some of these really natural hidden beautiful areas and tell their story, do right by not only the story but do it without exploiting them and having everybody that hasn't done any work just go find these spots. And that's something that comes up a lot, especially in my listener group, on Facebook and social media, people will really hammer somebody for, why are you telling people that our state's such a good duck hunting state, next thing you know we're going to have a bunch of out-of-staters, but how do you do right by trying to get other people into the sport? I'm Ben Paige from the Fowl Front waterfowl podcast, and you're listening to the Tom Rowland podcast.
[Tom Rowland]: Today's episode is a very interesting one. I got a call from Benjamin Paige, runs a great podcast called Fowl Front, it's a waterfowl duck hunting podcast, and he talks about a lot of interesting things there. He had some ideas about what we could talk about, we had some similar ideas and similar kind of challenges as you, walk the fine line between promoting something and ruining something. When is too much publicity for a secret spot? What is your responsibility to the people around you? If you go out and you're fishing a spot and only two other boats know about it, and everybody's having a great time and catching plenty of fish, or it's a spot that will withstand that much pressure, and you go out and you give the exact coordinates out there on social media, and the next day there are fourteen trucks at the ramp instead of two, what's your responsibility, not only to the place, but what's your responsibility to the other hunters or fishermen that are out there?
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