[March 29, 2014]LINCOLN, Neb. — Powderhook, a
free Web and mobile service that connects hunters and anglers with
places to hunt and fish, launched Feb. 12 in all 50 states. Illinois
has 1,559 public places to hunt and fish and over 834,000 acres
currently on the company's website.
"This is all about making it easier for people to experience the
outdoors," says Eric Dinger, Powderhook CEO. "A lot of what we're
doing is going to be a grass-roots effort."
Powderhook will connect sportsmen (and women) with opportunities
including leases, permissions, seats, rentals and charters. Sellers
of hunting and fishing spots will create listings using
Powderhook.com, and buyers
can search or request additional information on a particular spot.
Public data is being collected by working with state wildlife
divisions in combination with other proprietary sourcing methods.
Dinger likens the marketplace concept to Airbnb, Expedia or VRBO,
popular websites that connect people looking for a place to stay
while traveling.
The idea for Powderhook grew out of personal experience, Dinger
says. A native of Redfield, S.D., Dinger grew up hunting and fishing
on his grandfather's land near the Sand Lake Refuge outside of Hecla,
S.D. After leaving to go to high school in Luverne, Minn., and
moving to Lincoln, Neb., for college, Dinger says it's been harder
to find places nearby to hunt and fish.
Even though recreational land exists in nearly every county in
the United States, many of the 14 million hunters and 33 million
anglers nationally face similar hurdles, Dinger says.
"They can ask someone they know, tag along on someone else's
trip, navigate confusing governmental websites, hire an attorney to
negotiate a lease or be willing to approach a farmhouse to ask
permission," he says.
Powderhook will help eliminate these obstacles by aggregating
public and private inventories of places to hunt and fish from coast
to coast. The privately held, Lincoln, Neb.-based company has
proprietary search, mapping and transaction processes that will make
securing an outdoor opportunity quick and easy.
By focusing on their mission of "access for all" and truly being
collaborative with federal, state and local programs, Dinger sees
big opportunities for his new company.
According to U.S. Fish and Wildlife data, Americans have spent
over $90 billion annually in the U.S. on hunting and fishing, taking
over 700 million trips and spending $10.1 billion on fees for
hunting and fishing access.
"Not everyone can pay to hunt or fish, and they shouldn't have
to. Yet commercial hunting is a viable path for some. We simply want
to provide people with all of the options," Dinger says.
Other members of Powderhook's leadership team:
Randy Terbush,
Powderhook's chief technology officer, is one of the eight
original co-founders of the Apache Software Foundation, which
pioneered the server technology that powers about 65 percent of
the Internet. Terbush also served five years as a CTO at ADP.
Heath Roehr, vice
president of product development, worked for NASA and built
flight software for a fighter jet at Cessna before joining
Powderhook.
