Evolution of a Hunting Self-Promoter: A Case Study of Dan Stanton, Elkshape
Hunting Self-Promoter, Dan Staton, with the required “animal draped over the shoulder” shot.
Summary. The opportunity to engage in Legal hunting in America is subject to the approval of the electorate. Should American attitudes toward hunting shift, its legal status will increasingly be challenged. In so far as many hunting opportunities can be curtailed through simple agency rule-making or executive order, especially on public lands, maintaining positive perceptions of lawful hunting is crucial.
A 2019 study showed that 80% of Americans approve of legal hunting. That approval, however, is contingent on hunting activities being consistent with fair chase principles and declines sharply (only 39% approve) when hunting is for a trophy.
The rise of hunting self-promoters is a direct political threat to legal hunting. These self-promoters use social media to publicize, glorify, and ultimately monetize their experiences with wildlife in wild places. Kill shots, dead animals, blood, gore, and trophies are prominent features of their content.
Year Day’s Between Staton Youtube Posts
2014 79
2015 24
2016 13
2017 16
2018 9
2019 6
2020 4
On social media, self-promoters increases exposure of hunting content to non- and anti-hunters and risk inflaming negative perceptions of hunting among those majority groups. Self-promoters also reduce western hunting opportunities by increasing competition for tags and degrading the hunting experience by enabling overcrowding of the public places featured in their content.
Dan Staton has been self-promoting since 2007 and became a hunting self-promoter in 2013 when he founded ElkShape. He has published more than 350 YouTube videos and has more than 35K subscribers to his channel. Additionally, he has a complementary Instagram account and has hosted the ElkShape Podcast since 2017.
This case study examines the evolution of ElkShape to call attention to how hunting self-promoters use public resources—wildlife and lands—to make money for themselves while simultaneously endangering the future of legal hunting for the public and degrading hunting opportunities and experiences in western states.
Key Findings:
• ElkShape has 35K YouTube subscribers, 30K Instagram followers, and is #84 among Self Improvement Podcasts (source: Podbay.fm). Given their non-western-resident audience, ElkShape has potential to attract at least 30-35K non-resident hunters to the West each season, reducing aggregate likelihood of obtaining tags and increasing pressure on public lands.
• ElkShape makes money from wildlife and wild places by using social media to funnel customers to Staton’s businesses, Elk Shape Camp and Elk Collective, and by generating commissions through links to sponsors and affiliates.
• Staton generates an estimated $56K-$80K in gross revenue from ElkShape Camps, where he trains aspiring DIY hunters in fitness, nutrition, archery proficiency, license strategy, and
elk/western hunting tactics.
• Elk Collective (virtual ElkShape training) generates $89 per membership.
• In the 2020-21 hunting season, Staton killed one (1) antelope, one (1) mule deer, one whitetail deer, and three (3) bull elk for an estimated 815lbs of boneless meat; twice the average yield on a whole beef (400lbs) and enough for 0.5 lbs. of game meat per day, per person, for his family of four.
Evolution of ElkShape.
Dan Staton founded ElkShape in 2013. ElkShape was not Staton’s first foray into YouTube and monetized self-promotion. In 2007, Staton founded the YouTube channel “Dan the Fitness Man” which he discontinued and deleted when he launched his co-owned “Train to Hunt” brand and its YouTube channel. In 2013, Staton sold his stake in Train to Hunt and launched ElkShape.
Staton began by self-filming and producing his western big game hunting and hunt preparation exploits, posting them to his YouTube channel and Instagram, and attempting to slowly monetize his efforts through sponsorships and affiliations. In this early stage, he was inconsistent with content delivery, ranging from one to 336 days between video posts in 2014-15. As time progressed, his content delivery became more consistent, averaging two or three posts per week in 2020-21.
In November 2017, Staton launched the ElkShape podcast which offered another opportunity to engage and expand his audience, a new means to direct his audience into his sales funnel, and new opportunities to attract sponsors and generate revenue through sponsor and affiliate mentions and links. Importantly, Podcasts are a key venue for self-promoters to promote one another. For example, Staton and Beau Martonik, of the EastMeetsWest Podcast, have hosted each other twice on their shows.
Staton launched ElkShape Camp in fall 2018, offering a three day in-person workshop to train 20+ attendees in fitness, nutrition, archery, bow maintenance, scouting, license strategies and elk hunting skills. Presently, it is estimated that Staton generates a gross revenue of $56-80K per year from ElkShape Camps.
Until 2019, Staton had attempted several strategies to maximize his engagement on YouTube. Close examination reveals stages where video-types are trialed: hunting footage, workout videos, gear reviews, manufacturer interviews/tours, how to videos, et. al. For example, in February 2016 a series of gear reviews including Mystery Ranch and EXO resulted in a temporary increase in views. That strategy was redeployed in February 2017, when seven consecutive videos were devoted to particular brands or gear, though the strategy generated a more muted response among viewers at that time.
At the beginning of 2020, ElkShape hired Tim Connors to assist with content production. Staton and Connors wanted to increase subscribership from less than 10K to 30K in one year. By refining production, focusing on the most-wanted content, and being consistent and predictable with content, ElkShape hit 30K subscribers in March 2021.
Self-Promoter Tactics.
To date there are a myriad of “how-to” guides to become a successful social media influencer or self-promoter. Staton appears, wittingly or otherwise, to have followed a common playbook with ElkShape:
Staton Chose a niche: Western state, public land, DIY, archery elk hunting with a special focus on fitness.
Staton Chose a Platform: Staton chose YouTube. In 2007, Facebook was three years old, YouTube two years old, Twitter one year old, and Instagram was three years from existence. YouTube was the primary video content delivery service, so Staton chose that for his first channel, “Dan the Fitness Man.” In 2013, his comfortability with YouTube, and the fact that his audience was on YouTube looking at hunting shows, likely made his choice simple. As time went on, Staton would use Instragram and his Podcast to widen his potential audience and help direct customers into his sales funnel: ElkShape Camp, Elk Collective, and to sponsors and affiliates for commissions.
Staton Defined the Audience:
Demographics – 30- to 50-year-old, eastern or midwestern, archery enthusiast, deer hunter
Challenges – his audience faced the financial hurdle of hiring western outfitters, and the risk of wasting time/money “figuring out how to hunt elk” on their own
Motivators – his audience (1) likes hunting shows and appreciates the “regular guy” or “blue collar” perspective over the pro-hunters, (2) would welcome tools to be DIY hunt-ready on day one of a western hunt
Pain Points – his audience will be reluctant to travel to ElkShape Camp, spending time/money when many are limited on time/money for the actual hunt (eventually addresses by offering multiple locations each year)
What’s In It for Them – Authentic, blue-collar, experience, information, and advice to be successful on a DIY, western, archery hunt for elk et al.
Staton Develop a Content Calendar. Staton didn’t do this early on, as evidenced by his erratic posting schedule. With the Arrival of Tim Connors in 2020, Elk Shape began being very organized about how often and when content was dropped.
Staton Strategically Generated Traffic. The ElkShape video from August 26, 2017 appears to be the first video to feature logos of sponsor/affiliate brands in the intro. Around that same time is when Staton begins consistently hash-tagging photos of gear on Instagram. When Connors comes on in 2020, YouTube video descriptions begin to feature a formal, recurring set of links to the sales funnel (ElkShape Camp/Collective), ElkShape social media, and affiliates. Lastly, in 2017 the ElkShape Podcast launches and is used to push customers to the sales funnel, social media, and sponsors/affiliates. This expansion, linking of content, and linked associations with other well known, often searched brands, helped increase traffic to ElkShape YouTube and all other sites.
Staton Collaborated with Other Hunting Self-Promoters. Staton frequently hosted peer self-promoters on his Podcast and YouTube Channel. His multiple host/guest swaps with EastMeetsWest Podcaster Beau Martonik is a prime example. Additionally, Staton hosts influencers like Dirk Durham, “The Bugler,” or Jeff Bynum from Financial Outfitters Group more than five times on his PodCast. In turn, those influencers promote ElkShape to their customers. Tapping into a self-promoter network seems to be a critical step to the influence of individuals, and the culture seems to acknowledge a “rising tide raises all boats” mentality, rather than having a zero-sum outlook.
Staton Engaged his Audience. Especially after Connors came on in 2020, Staton and Connors begin to ask viewers for their input often and respond with content promptly. For example, after Connors came on in February 2020, ElkShape polled their audience about content preferences. On February 21, 2020, the video, Elk Shape 365 Prep | "The Beginning" begins with Staton and Connors acknowledging the results of the poll—viewers wanted more behind the scenes content and more 365 prep content—and then delivering the requested content in that same video.
Staton Made it Easy for Brands to Contact Him. With good search engine optimization and consistent cross-linking from one platform to another, brands looking for a representative could easily find Staton and contact him.
Staton Over-delivers on Brand Partnerships. In an Instagram post from October 23, 2020, Staton gives his basic strategy and philosophy on sponsorships. Staton’s approach is to offer authentic quality content that attracts customers whose values should resonate with his sponsors’ products and services. In theory, this should provide a consistent, committed value stream to Staton’s sponsors, and in-turn, make Staton competitive for more or more-lucrative sponsorship arrangements as he becomes more prominent.
Implications for Western Hunting.
Dan Staton and ElkShape make money from their exploits hunting wildlife on public land. Staton’s implicit goal as a self-promoter and sponsored hunter is to generate more followers to, in-turn, generate more sales and revenue.
Staton consistently suggests in his media that he represents “blue collar” hunters. Yet, blue collar hunters do not make money from wildlife. In the western places that Staton hunts to make money, most western resident hunters do not make any money from wildlife.
Moreover, Staton and other self-promoters make money from wildlife by publicizing content that risks fomenting negative perceptions of hunting among non- and anti-hunters—the overwhelming American majority. That risk in turn threatens the future of hunting for all hunters in the places which he exploits.
Kills shots, dead animal photos, blood and gore, and trophy shots are a direct threat to the future of hunting as these are seized upon by anti-hunting groups and marketed to the non-hunting public as evidence that hunters don’t respect wildlife.
Particularly in western states, where most hunting takes place on the plethora of federal or state lands, simple agency rule-making or executive orders—not a legislative vote—can effectively end hunting opportunities.
An example agency rule that effectively stop hunting based on public pressure can be found in a 2016 Federal Fish and Wildlife Service rule, “Non-Subsistence Take of Wildlife, and Public Participation and Closure Procedures, on National Wildlife Refuges in Alaska.” Political pressure and the stroke of an agency’s pen were all that were required to end hunting opportunities on those Alaskan federal lands.
A more recent example, under the Biden administration, is evidenced by the “Temporary Wildlife Special Action Request WSA21-01 regarding caribou and moose in Units 23 and 26A.” Depending on the outcome of a hearing, the Fish and Wildlife Service or President have authority to close other federal lands in Alaska to hunting. Threats like these are real, not imagined, and are the result of simple political pressure from constituents, in this case the Northwest Arctic Subsistence Regional Advisory Council.
Finally, Hunting Self Promoters like Stanton gobble up tags the need to make content, and often post/publish hunting spots or general areas which directly leads to overcrowding and a decreased hunting experience for local, western-state hunters.
Recommendations.
Based on this case study, Mountain Pursuit recommends the following for self-promoters, and the wider hunting industry.
De-publicize, De-glorify, and Demonetize hunting (DDD) - An idea originally authored by Matt Rinella. De-publicize – stop posting content that risks inflaming anti-hunting sentiment. De-glorify – stop posting idealistic content that attracts new hunters on idealist premises, increases competition for tags and increases hunting pressure. Demonetize – opportunities for profit should play no role in inspiring nonhunters to hunt.
Follow Mountain Pursuit’s Social Media Guidelines.
Post no "gore" images or videos.
Avoid all imagery that shows blood
Minimize or eliminate typical "Trophy" shots
Replace typical "trophy" shots with images showing hunter admiration of the animal
Encourage imagery displaying hunt preparation
Encourage imagery displaying the non-killing experience of the hunt
Post & advertise guidelines; Sponsors are responsible for sponsored hunters' media
3. Hunting Industry - Take and Honor Mountain Pursuit’s “Protect the Hunt” Pledge
“Hunting at its core is about seeing, not about being seen. Cameras, microphones and film crews violate this true spirit of hunting, increase hunting pressure, and bring hunting unneeded attention and scrutiny from anti-hunters and non-hunters.”
-Mountain Pursuit