Ben Thomson Interview: How it all began

In my neck of the woods, the name Ben Thomson is synonymous with trophy deer hunting. The guy has had unbelievable success hunting monster whitetails. He's killed at least one 150"+ deer every year since 2003. His biggest is a ridiculously massive 239 5/8" double drop tined brute he called "Hoss" that he shot with a muzzleloader in 2012.

Recently I picked up a "5 Tips for Bowhunting Big Bucks" writing assignment for American Outdoors Magazine. Immediately, Ben came to mind as someone who would have some great insight into the subject and since I had been wanting to kick off an interview series for this site, I hit him up on Facebook. Even though he barely knew who I was, he was quick to invite me to his home for a couple hour chat about all things hunting. That's just the kind of guy he is...a regular, blue-collar hunting dad of five with a passion for deer hunting that's more than willing to share his knowledge with the world. 

In other words, an Outdoor Executive Dad type of guy. 

Ben was kind enough to let me video tape the interview. We chatted for a couple hours so I have quite a bit of footage to edit down. So bear with me, this is my first foray into interviewing anyone outside of job applicants. This is also my first attempt (obviously) at making videos from such interviews. 

Nevertheless, Ben shared some real gems of knowledge and I'm happy to share them here. This is the first of several video segments from our discussion. I'll post others as I get them finished. In this segment we discuss some of his successes and how he got started hunting. He shares some of his favorite hunting memories from his past as well as some of his favorite memories now that he's a dad himself.

In future posts, I'll share our discussions on things like:

• Scouting routines 
• Using trail cameras
• Stand placement
• When to hunt
• Mock scrapes
• Gear, apparel, etc.

...and probably some other stuff too. Like I said, we talked for a while. 

So stay tuned for this and future interviews. If you like what you see, if you have something insight to add, or if you have a suggestion for someone else to talk to on camera in the future, leave me a comment. 

And good luck this season!