In episode 77, we talk with Scott Henslee, Owner of Bowfishing Extreme to discuss how Bowfishing Extreme has grown to become the industry giant it is now.
We also cover:
• The most important aspects of owning a business
• March Madness or May Mayhem?
• List of new BAA records
• Scott’s love of the bowfishing community
Sponsored By:
NDesigns
NDesigns prides itself on attention to detail in every product produced.
https://ndesigns.com/
E-FISH-N-SEE Bowfishing Lights
Experience night bowfishing like never before with the E-FISH-N-SEE® Bowfishing Light
MegaMouth Bowfishing
Proven to be the TOUGHEST bowfishing reel on the market. Built and designed to dominate.
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AMS Bowfishing
Over 40 years of American made innovation. Bowfishing is our way of life, it runs through our veins.
https://www.amsbowfishing.com/
[Applause] Hey everybody H that’s right man welcome back to the bow fishing Buzz episode 77 my name is Matthew I’m here with my good buddy D Schmitty yes sir brought to you by AMS bow fishing and mega mouth bow fishing we’ve got end designs as a sponsor efficiency bow fishing light by
Outdoor Innovations USA we’re getting all sponsored up here getting ready to rock and roll So speaking of uh and Designs yeah uh we just had them come up with some new Pro Staff jges for us that’s right yep we’ve been going back and forth with a couple different uh
Mockups that they had over there yep and uh they’re going to be getting ready to get ready to print out our AMS big 20 t-shirts right yep they make those as well remember you get those if you pre-register by April 22nd yes you do yes you do not only you get a free
T-shirt you also get a little bit of a break as far as registering for that tournament pricewise so it’s always a good idea it helps us it helps you prepare for it it’s just all around if you can pre-register we would very much appreciate that absolutely and then uh
Efficiency bow fishing lights Stephanie came into my office this morning Wheeling a cart with some of the efficiency lights that are going to be swapping out on the am we’ve got the new V2s baby wow V2s I tell you what I I see Chris is doing a a lot of
Work um he’s coming with some different stuff where you can uh stop you know control lights from your phone now phone app uh to say you’re going down a bank and there’s a bunch of houses close to the Shoreline you can just grab your phone and turn those lights off yep he’s
Always just from when we had him on the podcast and what we’ve we’ve met with him we talked to him a little bit at the big 20 last year he’s always innovating always advancing nothing is ever good enough for him which is a sign of a a
Very good company to have their products because they’re constantly wanting to improve thinking always thinking of what can be done what can be changed think I think it was an Instagram post that I saw yesterday he was doing exactly that he had a little remote that he was
Hitting the button a would turn on the right side B the left side C turned them both on or both off I’m not quite sure what it was doing but it looked so easy and so simple looked awesome looked awesome but uh yeah we thing on
Efficiency B we move on they also sent us a nice package as a donation oh somebody’s going to win some efficiency bow fishing lights at the AMS big 20 that’s awesome very cool very cool we have all kinds of donations rolling in here we’re going to have a lot to give
Away this year we got some G5 products I’ve got uh some uh havalon knives some really nice looking knives three different kinds of knives and they’re pretty cool looking that one look like a big Flay knife that looked really cool couple fle option lengths and the blades
And stuff and that one was uh look like a um a multi-tool it was that it was like a Jim shaki Edition shaki or something like that it looked really nice like a a crazy Advanced Leatherman with all kinds of different tools for you to Matthew
Sent us a brand new bow as a as a giveaway yep um so we’ve got some nice stuff rolling in our yeah we do we certainly do we certainly do and just as far as that end designs thing go uh we were back and forth with them all last
Week and the the response time that they had as far as plugging in new little designs and stuff that we had yeah that why we work with end designs they are so quick so prompt everything looks very nicely done you’ll give them an idea they’ll they’ll go with that idea but
Kind of put their own touch on it and all a sudden you got an end product you’re like wow that looks you can tell that they’re that’s what they do so it’s great working with end designs yeah for sure so today is what is it today March 26th March 26th Tuesday March 26th
That’s crazy uh we right in the middle of March Madness here at the shop here and we always get a big work bracket together uh it’s always kind of fun to to talk some trash so who did you pick Matt to go all the way so far this year
My pick this year was the University of Houston oh okay interesting you cougars yeah yeah yeah any uh any reasoning why you picked the uh Houston Cougars I picked them I never saw them play a game this year oh okay I gotta yeah I gotta
Sure uh but before I did my picks I was doing some reading up on stuff and uh one of the things that caught my attention was that they supposedly had a great defense they do that that they do that I think that’s right that could be
Wrong but I think I remember him in a a Tar Hill uniform but when I was a when I was kneehigh to a grasshopper and I was a little kid and I was watching NBA all right yeah my favorite team was the New Jersey Nets Jason kid Vince Carter my
Favorite player on that team Richard Jefferson Richard Jefferson yeah I remember University of Arizona he could really do some good dunks oh yeah absolutely so and now he’s good on the commentary so I’m like you know what I had it narrowed down between you know
Two or three teams I’m like I’m going to go with the two seed I’m picking Arizona to win so we’ll see how that plays out right now the owner of AMS Jeff Brown is sitting high and pretty in first place right now what’s his team name JB MC
Dunkers or something JB Dunk meisters Dunk Meister dunk meisters yes yep yep so yeah we’ll have to see how that all plays out here I didn’t want to go with the fan favorite Yukon yeah we got I think half of our bracket picked Yukon five five people picked Yukon I believe
Yeah so it gets to a point where even if you pick them and they win it all you might not even finishing the money just because your bracket that’s no fun I want to root for a team outright you know right so mhm yeah so I’m sitting
There watching March Madness and and the you know the the cool stuff that goes along with the basketball games and the high intensity lose you’re done man you’re win you’re moving on and it’s just high intensity I thought wow wouldn’t this be something if we had something like May Mayhem May Mayhem
Okay in the bow fishing World okay that that would be awesome you take like 64 teams that either have to qualify somehow or they they get into into this 64 Team Bracket yep okay yeah you pick uh like five different lakes and you compete against you you
Draw names who you’re going to compete against that night that would be pretty cool and then whoever shoots the most weight or the biggest fish or you say like the a big 10 or something like that that just one night that would be cool
Just one night so you you and if you get beat you’re done if you win you’re moving on to the next night that would be cool May Mayhem B fishing tour be awesome that would be very cool just thinking maybe something in the works there that’s a lot of work that would be
Really cool and then they would have off that week and then come back the next weekend in a different area a week to scout you know Scout your opponent what do they do well oh yeah absolutely absolutely we down to the final four we could do like a live broadcast welcome
Back to May Mayhem derck and Matt here on the call here if we look over here we got the peas Brothers over here they’re shooting a lot of big fish here it’s going to be tough for the 16 seed to catch up with them here that would be
Cool that would be kind of funny it’d be like the Bassmaster Classic right yeah yep that would be I just thinking about that yeah yeah what about this goofy goofy goofy weather we having here in Wisconsin I don’t know if anybody else out there was having some crazy weather
But I was just going to was just going to touch on that and the bad part of it is Matt I go through this every spring we get teased with it because you and you and I both we both love to ice fish I love ice fishing with our crazy weird
Winter this year I was done ice fishing by March like it was like the last week in April or excuse me feary yeah last weekend of February was really the last safe ice we had a twoe spell there in March where it was it was like highs in
The upper 50s 60s I remember driving my truck through a field doing some work on the farm in February in February well in and in first week of March too was crazy warm I remember it was like March 3rd and I’m driving through a field on a
Farm and it was like 67 degrees in my truck I’m like this is not right this is weird um so then I my brain goes into spring mode I want to start doing outside stuff I want to start shooting fish uh prepping the farm for deer hunting everything I can do and then
Every year we get slapped back into reality and we get cold weather in the last couple days we’re getting all kinds of snow it’s crazy it’s raining out right now it’s just crummy crappy weather yeah yesterday morning we came to work I had to come in early to plow
Because we had I don’t know we got 10 inches of snow yeah I know just plowed yeah and now this morning when I was coming to work it was pouring rain yep yep it’s crazy it’s crazy and foggy and and everything we had better weather back in February we did absolutely we
Had we did yeah I was sitting on uh I was sitting at home what Sunday night must have been Sunday night maybe Saturday night whenever we got all that snow must have been Sunday night and I’m on Snapchat and I’m looking I’m like man there nothing to do you know I’m just
Sitting on my phone and here I look on Maverick Riley’s Snapchat story and he had a little video of a plastic bag and he goes well I got my snacks it’s time to go shoot some fish and he pans outside it’s a blizzard you can’t see anything I’m like geez this guy’s nuts
He is nuts but he went out and put the smackdown on a bunch of fish in a snowstorm that guy is just as dedicated as they come it’s ridiculous yeah so and it’s just so weird different regions like I was talking to Jeff Nall last week yeah they were out shooting
Spawning Commons oh gosh that’s insane wow wow yeah crazy I’m like oh my gosh that’s jealous yeah yeah in in March that’s wild yeah that’s wild y it’s crazy crazy yep but now it’s time For can you feel the tension in the air right now it’s time for baa records all right so we’ve got some records here obviously and uh there’s before we on did you like the little jingle I love the new jingle to be honest with you when you whipped that up
This morning you came into my office and we listened to Dan Patrick and you were talking about we got to have a jingle like stat of the day stat of the day here comes that what stat of the day so Matt comes in tells me I’m like yeah Co
Be cool 20 minutes later he’s like hey come to my office he’s got a jingle completely done and finished and it was that was the jingle you guys just heard so it’s yeah I thought it’ be something that that way when uh we do our podcast we playar that
Jingle everybody knows oh here comes a ba record yep and we do it almost every podcast if we’ve got some to talk about so uh and we actually have a bunch of them here we do we do uh to start out here we’re going to congratulate Steve
Cobine on his baa Florida state record and world record pompan Pano Pano weighing 2.01 PBS nice shooting Steve y yep and then we also got Steve here on his baa Florida state record and world record oh Barracuda weigh 40.4 PBS that would be that’s on a bucket list Barracuda that’s cool I
Remember years and years ago this is a long time ago Jeremy Lou shot a barracuda okay um from Team Rivers Edge years ago and I was like oh man that is cool huh yeah that’d be awesome those are just wicked fish they’re darting around they so fast oh yeah yeah that’d
Be awesome well Steve must have been busy because we have to congratulate him here on his baa Florida state record houndfish weighing 6.4 PB Steve’s not done yet on his baa Florida state record and world record inshore lizardfish weighing 74 pounds wow wow that’s crazy 74 pounds uh Steve again here congrats
On his baa Florida state record lockdown weighing 1.14 lbs now I need to see a picture of a lockdown what in the world is a lock we had lock in the past we’ve had pomos in the past and I think I don’t think we’ve ever had an inore
Lizard I was going to say yeah all these are are foreign to me yeah that’s cool nice shooting Steve right then we’re going to move on to Troy Vincent on his baa Tennessee state record smallmouth Buffalo weighing 68.8 lbs wow good Lord nice fish Troy that’s a tank a tank 68 lbs congrats to Kyle Arwood on his baa Oklahoma state record River red horse weighing 9.3 PBS that’s a big red horse right there big red horse then we move on to Joshua steer on his baa Ohio state record
Smallmouth Buffalo weighing 32 pounds nice nice John Davis congrats on his baa Florida state record and world record striped moara moara weighing 1.7 pounds nice shooting to John Davis yes then we go on to John wizen on his baa Florida state record and world record mullet weighing 11.60 lb that’s a huge mullet
I remember being out there years ago uh for inore shark and U we were seeing a lot of mullet but man they were tiny like little shad and stuff they were small right this tanker right here at 11.60 pound that’s a giant mullet wow I’m curious how much uh mavi gry’s mullet
Weighs he’s got a luscious blonde mullet on the top GI back that might be a world record congrats to Jee Anderson on his baa Florida state record longnose gar weighing 32.6 lbs nice very nice uh Ethan gilland on his baa North Carolina state record butterfly cart oh sweet weighing
16.30 lb gotcha down there in North Carolina nice job and congratulations to all the new baa record holders absolutely absolutely nice shooting guys nice nice remember if you want to have one of your fish if you happen to be lucky enough to shoot one uh go and join
The bow fishing Association of America become a member because we need you yes we do yes we do so go to the ba website and join so you can get your record fish and you’ll get talked about on the bfish and bu that’s exactly right yes yes yes so
Uh I tell you what Matt I think we’re ready to make a phone call we have a very special guest that will be joining us we haven’t even touched on the guest yet but we have a very special guest joining us today uh his name is Scott Hensley owner of bow fishing extreme
He’s got his fingers tied into all kinds of things in the bow fishing Community very well-known kind of a Pioneer um I was looking on his website yesterday and I believe he started selling bow fishing gear on the internet in 2004 wow yeah he goes way back so we’re going to give
Scott a call and just kind of get some some insight on uh his bow fishing career he’s a dealer for both AMS and mega mouth does a fantastic job for both of us but I think we’re going to go to a quick ad break and after this break we
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For maximum efficiency and versatility and the 130 W efficiency Maximus designed to be an allout Beast of a bow fishing light efficiency designed and built by B fishermen for B fishermen check them out at outdoor Innovations usa.com and welcome back to the bow fishing Buzz let’s give Mr Scott a call
Therey let’s do it sounds good all right how’s that sound sounds clear in my [Laughter] ears good morning good morning Scott and welcome to the bow fishing busz this is Matthew and Derek how are you doing today hey Scott um I’m doing good how about you guys we’re doing doing good
We’re filming a podcast so we are happy campers I don’t know about the weather though we’ve got we got 10 Ines of snow yesterday and this morning it’s pouring raining right now oh my we had the rain yesterday and high of 45 today but uh you know I’m not going to complain guys
We we’ve had a really mild winter with the exception of about a 10day window it’s been it’s been pretty good here yes it’s we’ve been very dry yeah this is good for that not hardly any snow at all this year so so we need this moisture
For spring runoff to fill those floes up because man both fish is here Scott yeah oh absolutely you tell me I’ve been working since six oh yeah well Scott we thank you for joining us um like we said before we called you you’re kind of a a Pioneer in
The in the bow fishing with everything that you’ve done for the sport with your shop down there in Missouri um so we’re just going to go along and ask you a couple questions and um tell some stories all right Scott that sounds good look forward to it all right so first of
All Scott just tell us about yourself uh where you grew up your hobbies and anything else that you’d like the listeners to know about you yeah so you know Bor born and raised in Southwest Missouri been around Springfield my my entire life um so Cindy and I got married 31 years
Ago seems like a couple of weeks but but time has has clicked by pretty fast and and been blessed to to raise three amazing kids and and they grew up in this business right and you know I know you guys both know our son Ryan he’s
Very involved in Bow Fishing and and uh twin daughters that are in college and uh used to be my my my right and my left hand because you know they grew up in this business and that’s were very instrumental and helping me over the years and as they’ve got more involved
In school it’s I don’t see them as frequently as I used to so anyway we we enjoy summer breaks when everybody’s home to help oh yeah that’s awesome sounds like you’ve done a a great job uh raising the kids and um you know passing down that bu fishing uh
Expertise absolutely absolutely yeah app appreciate that we we’ve certainly been blessed Cindy is an amazing mother an amazing wife and and I I couldn’t have done what I’ve done over the years without without her by my side I mean yep there’s there’s many nights at midnight that we’re we’re out in the
Shop working together and you know that’s the things behind the scenes that you know we don’t we don’t post on social media that we do those things that’s just what it takes to do the business and and just what we’ve always done and you know uh you ask about
Hobbies and uh you know Bo bow fishing was my passion right I mean that’s that’s how I got into this but go go ask the taxidermist how much time he sits in a tree and and that’s that’s the unfortunate part of this business is I I
Kind of I kind of had to separate the two and you know then then Here Comes Ryan he’s he’s getting of age and where he’s you know he he wants to go all the time I I carry a lot of guilt because I don’t
Get to go with him as often as I I should and I need to right um but but I know the things that have to be done at the shop so it’s a really tough situation to be in because I I had to kind of give up a true passion right and
Uh so that that’s been difficult uh you know from a personal standpoint sure sure yeah yeah totally understand that that’s that’s kind of the give and take of of what you’ve you know kind of become that’s that’s totally true um so Scott how did you yourself get into both
Fishing yeah so I I really didn’t start till I was probably about 17 got acquainted with uh there there’s some local guys here a lot of the locals recognize the bats and name and and they’ve just been Pioneers within this Southwest Missouri for hosting tournaments through the years and and uh
They they had a real nice little archery shop just west of Springfield and and I I used to run around with those guys a lot and and Marvin and I started fishing the banks really as something to do we we’d hung our hunting bows up and and
There really was that that that null right between turkey th and bow hunting and uh we’ve got a ton of small creeks in this area and we we would just walk the creeks and I can remember many many stories of of sitting on a a bank fixing
A reel and you know fixing gear sitting in the snow right shooting fish and the snow all around us is blood because that that’s how we all got started yep and uh you know one of the local bass fishermen uh in invited us to go out and
And that’s really where it started of you know you guys have spent many hours on Table Rock Lake well you should have you should have shot that Lake in the 90s it was it was pretty pretty good Lake yeah bet it’s beautiful I love the clear water and stuff oh absolutely and
You know you could have walked across the commons back in those days times have changed for sure and and uh you know we didn’t see many grass cart back then which as you know it holds some nice grass cart but man the the commons
I mean it was just crazy I mean we we had those Wisconsin Commons at one time really oh wow yeah that’s Co yeah so so some of the people that know Ryan pretty well know that that that that kid has raced motorcycles since he was old enough to walk and so I
I’ve got a I’ve got a kind of a hidden passion for motorcycle racing and and it’s uh it’s kind of funny I uh you know some of our customers obviously have those interests as well and and I’ve I’ve been at several races across the country where you know there’s a guy
Sporting our hat or sporting our hoodie and and it’s always nice to to see somebody in a different environment that you you know you really wouldn’t correlate both fishing to so right yeah yeah but I I I do like to uh I’m still very engaged and and love love watching
Motorcycle racing that’s cool that’s cool very cool very cool one one thing that I want to ask you Scott that you said that I wanted to just see why this might have happened but you say that you know in the ’90s Table Rock was you know
Big giant carp all over the place what do you think do you think the bow fishing has eliminated a lot of those carp or or just absolutely no kidding nobody nobody was harvesting him back then and you know as as bow fishing grew through the 90s the early 2000s yeah and
Then you know you fast forward and you know big theater right there in the heart of of the lake you know they started running guide trips and you know it just uh the the hunting pressure really changed up wow okay yeah that’s good to know yep
Yep so so bow fishing extreme you know what is it um tell us how it started and how it has turned into the bow fishing giant it is today Scott well I I don’t call it a giant you know always consider ourselves we we’re a small company and doing doing good
Work every day and that’s that’s really what it boils down to I I appreciate the the sentiment there but you know so so Brock and I were’re fishing Partners um we were spending a fortune on gear long story short we decided to do this little mail order catalog so we got our
Business license and we kind of did the thing and and really the goal was just to sell to the local community and and and we started that in 99 yep and okay fast forward as as things it you know we wasn’t selling much right it was just it
Really was just more of a hindrance to be honest with you and Brock had started his new career and and really just wanted to step away he he didn’t want to invest the time and so we we come to terms with okay I’m going to buy you out
That really just consisted of buying the inventory right and we didn’t again it was pretty small backman so so I I dug my heels in and I I went and bought a a book of Microsoft front page for dummies right we’ve all seen the for dummies B
And and and if you’ve never had the the pleasure of working in Microsoft front page it it was a treat and and uh man just it took me a year to build that website and and get it functioning and and the the hours I I can’t even begin
To tell you the hours it took to do that and you know back then I couldn’t afford to pay anybody to do that kind of work so I just kind of had to to figure it out sure so we we launched the website B fishing extreme.com in
2002 and uh and really that’s kind of where it began and we’ve always just worked hard to you know I don’t care if the order comes in and it’s $15 or ,000 do we we work hard to give every order the the attention to detail that it
Needs and make sure that that I’d be willing to put it on my boat when when that customer gets it and and I really think that’s just what’s always se you know separated us of of just how much we care and and the I’m I’m a little bit
OCD so I like things to be a certain way when when a customer gets their stuff so uh you know if if you ask you that she would she’d roll her eyes and and give you a couple of good stories about how picky I am about how I even want the
Tape on a box right sure yeah yep yeah but uh you know I mean uh I know you two guys certainly remember William Corley and and Lance Sol and trop and Y and you know those guys those guys were the real Pioneers right they they they dug their heels in and figured
This deal out and and uh you know I I knew Lance well well I I bought from Corley but I didn’t know him like I knew Lance and so when when we took this to the web and we really just kind of kind of mod modeled their business model
Because it really worked well and okay and I remember you know having a when Lance decided to sell out we we had a lot of good conversations and and really just my goal has always been to to keep coughs down to keep guys on the water
That that’s really what it boils down to and you know there are so many places today that guys can get their gear whether it’s direct to the oems like a like an AMS and a mega mouth y or or some of the other vendors in the market
But but we’ve got eBay we’ve got Amazon we’ve got Academy Sports and we’ve got Shields and and we’ve got you know our friends at Bass Pro and you know so we we don’t we don’t take those orders that we get lightly we appreciate the guys that continue to support us and and you
Know we we try to give back and you know I get people that call me all the time wanting donations and yeah and I mean outside of the bow fishing community and I I just tell them all you know hey I I appreciate you reaching out but you know
The the marketing budget we have goes 100% back to the boat fishing Community you know I I I don’t know that Amazon’s ever sent a Care Pack to a tournament exactly y y you know and and you know I mean you guys I mean obviously you guys
Support all the the tournaments you know Knee Deep right and you have for Our Youth Tournament every year so so that’s the you know we just uh you know I’m not big on social media as you you guys know I just uh when when a customer places an
Order it’s not uncommon that in about 10 minutes they’ve got their tracking number that’s because I’m just back here working that’s that’s very nice that’s really nice and and that’s you know from what you’re saying is all true because I’ll be looking at social media I’ll be looking at bow fishing forums and
Different sites and stuff like that there and people say hey where where where’s the best place to order something from and almost every single one on there says bowfishing extreme yeah word of mouth is very popular for for sure yep y so so that that’s a hats
Off to you Scott for your business and how you treat like you said OCD even the the tape on the on the boxes you’re you’re crazy about because you want it to look nice when they get it and uh that’s right and and it is very important to treat that $15 order just
Like that $800 order because yep that’s what that guy want he he went there to order that specifically from you it’s all about that impression that you give that customer for sure exactly so Scott you’re selling all kinds of bow fishing gear now uh what is your favorite aspect
Of owning and running bow fishing extreme well I I gotta be honest the the friendships I mean you know I I I walk into a a US Open or the Muzzy classic or I haven’t got to come to your shoot but you know most of the guys recognize me
Or a lot of them do and some don’t and and just just being able to shake hands tell stories and and the amazing people that are in this this bow fishing community and you know you you you look back a few weeks and you know two months
Ago we lost a dear friend Travis mccan here in Southwest Missouri uh to a bow fishing accident and the way the the community rallies around him and then our friend down in Texas you know literally the week after and and how how the bow fishing Community just reach out
And grabs each other is is just second to nothing that I’ve ever experienced and and just just being able to walk through the crowds and talk to those guys and you know whether I get a quick text message of you know it’s it’s very common that I’ll send out some gear to a
Guy and you know a week later I I get I get a screenshot of of what he harvested and and the story behind it and and that’s where it’s at for Scott I you know I I don’t need the fame I don’t need the glory I it’s the friendships
And you know I I uh had the opportunity to to to to shoot with guys like you know you know everybody knows him as Pigman but I knew him Brian quka before he became famous and you know we got to hunt the Trinity together years ago
Before anybody knew who he was and and what you know what a fun trip and you know I’ve got to hunt with Michael wadell on a turkey hunt and just just those those things that that you just can’t you know you can’t wrap your head around of the people that you get to
Know and you know John Paul I’ve gotten very close you know to know John Paul over the years sure and you know you talk about an ambassador of our sport people don’t give him the credit that it’s to do with what he’s done for the US Open and and just continuing to grow
Our Sport and get these key vendors involved in our sport um it you know to to have a $30,000 payout you know I think we all would have chuckled you know 25 years ago and now it’s reality right right right yeah so so to answer your question
It it’s just the the people in the community it’s that that’s what I love about it y yep you know I always love what what you said there that handshake mhm I love that handshake when you see somebody you haven’t seen for a while and they and they recognize you and that
Handshake I think a handshake goes a long ways oh yeah I love handshakes I love handshakes I the cool part of it is is that you would not have known that individual if you had not met them and done business with them or whatever you did with them with the sport of bow
Fishing that creates so many uh Avenues of friendship and lifelong memories that you otherwise would not have had without the bull fishing aspect of right right absolutely and just touching Bas on um you know Travis mccan there um I I just got the t-shirt and I’m going to proudly
Put his sticker in the AMS boat there um I just got that stuff in here last week so I’m looking forward to finding a spot in the boat and having him right along with us this year yes absolutely absolutely and you know Jeff Jeff neall
You know he’s the guy that you know the same deal right you know anytime anything like this happens it you know there there were some guys that approached me immediately after and hey let’s let’s do this let’s do this let’s do this and and I said hey that’s great
Let’s do it you know and Chase wilmouth was a big part of that as well and you know we we reached out to Jeff and and all these guys were willing to to gather up some money to send to Jeff and and you know exactly where this story’s
Going right you know I mean Jeff wouldn’t hear of it you know it’s like no I I got you and and you know three days later he overnights me a big stack of of decals to take to a local benefit that we were having here that was going
To also honor Travis and and that’s just the kind of guy that you know we we talk about this community right and Jeff’s he’s one of the he’s one of the heartstrings of it yep yep yep one thing that I always was kind of funny is
Jeff’s a a he’s tall oh yeah he’s a big guy he and it’s so funny when you talk to him he’s got such a nice soft voice taking a shot at evil here it’s not I’m not saying a that type of voice it’s just you would think he would have
You know he’s just kind you know he just it’s just a kind voice and a welcoming voice you know it’s just funny oh that’s awesome he he’ll get a good kick out of that there we go good deal good deal so Scott how many people work for
Bow fishing extreme yeah so it it’s primarily family and then during the peak months we we have several that that help us part-time and and a lot of stuff on the weekends where we’re doing assembly subassembly that kind of stuff because gotcha as you know we do have
Some of our own products as well as you know what we’re buying from AMS and and mega mouth and other vendors sure yep yep yep so I’ve got to ask you Scott how long have you been selling AMS and mega mouth products you know this this is
Interesting and um I enjoyed the segment a couple of weeks ago where you know you had talked about the induction of Jeff and Cindy into the Hall of Fame and congratulations to them good opportunity to say that but the uh you know so I remember when when we first started and
Again we weren’t buying a lot but we were buying but you know uh I I would phone in my order and and guess what you know Jeff and Cindy were at work and and uh all metal stamping was answering the phone for him and taking my order and
And they would say okay you know they’ll get that put together tonight and it’ll ship tomorrow and and guess what it always shipped tomorrow they you know they did same things we were doing working after hours and over through the night and uh so we we were we were
Certainly one of those and I don’t know where we fall in your list of customers but we’ve got a toward the top as far as longevity and tenure with companies partnering and so you know not only have we grown but it’s been really fun to watch what what Jeff and Cindy have done
With AMS and now the mega mouth brand and and uh you know you know true true ambassadors to the sport yeah that’s cool we appreciate you appreciate your business for that long Scott absolutely absolutely yeah you know just just touching on that one thing it was back
In during the co time yep um we were having a hard time getting partson to assemble full products and stuff like that there and we were running around with their heads cut off and it was busier than heck it was crazy uh but yet we had a hard time getting stuff in to
Assemble stuff and um you were ordering uh mega mall and stuff like that there and and uh you were going crazy down there too I’m sure and um oh yeah and I remember you sent us up a gift certificate that’s right yes yeah and and we we got pizzas on you yeah yeah
You sent up to us so yeah I you know so literally I was meeting the UPS guy for for a few weeks there because you guys were obviously the same deal right you were struggling to get stuff out the door and and you know I would call and I
I could easily recognize how busy and stressed you guys were so so I think Wendy answered the phone and I was like Wendy who can I call right there near your shop that will bring you lunch and and she’s like oh well call this guy so
I called him and I said you know here do this this and this and and uh I want I want you guys to deliver lunch over to the AMS crew and and uh you know every one of you guys reached out and thanked me and that that wasn’t why I did it it
Just it was a thank you because without your support I mean to your point uh during the covid that the Sporting Goods industry flew off the chart right right yep so so we uh we were struggling for that inventory so we we just wanted to give our our gratitude and say thank you
And so yeah that’s that’s just the partnership that we have right right y right that was really cool it was that was really neat y yep that was awesome that was awesome so what other business ventures do you currently have going on in your life well I’ve get so uh I I haven’t
Made a public announcement it’s it’s been on my to-do list but this is a good opportunity to do it breaking news breaking news on the B fishing with Scott Hensley first time right so go Ron Ron scin was inducted into the Hall of Fame this year as well as Jeff and Cindy and
For anybody that you know listening to the podcast today that doesn’t know who Ron scarin is Ron designed and developed the sh shot and the penetrator fish points right and and Ron has done that for over 40 years and it’s really been near and dear to his heart and long
Story short I’ve known Ron for you know 26 years that I’ve been doing this and and uh we’ve discussed for several years and this has been in the works for about two and a half years that when when he’s ready to retire we would take over and
So we we uh we we agreed to terms last year and finalized it January 1 of this year so we we officially now own shot and uh you know many many long conversations with Ron and and and just uh the trust that that he give me to
Take this over because it it would be no different than Jeff and Cindy you know the The Blood Sweat and Tears that they through their business and and just like me right I I wouldn’t just hand this off to anybody right and uh so Ron having
The Trust In in us to continue to to move forward with his product and and U honor him in that way was was a huge honor and uh can’t thank Ron enough it was such a pleasure to work through the the transaction with him and we uh we’ve
Got some cool things coming with SH shot that we’ll we’ll talk about later this year but uh the uh but yeah so we’ll we’ll go on record of we we now own shot several people in the industry do know that because they they’ve needed order product but uh that that’s been really
Fun and yeah you know I I’ve been dabbling in the manufacturing side of the business for a few years now so it’s uh it’s really been fun to to learn that side of the business yeah well congrats to you yeah congratulations very cool heck yeah very cool appreciate that so
Um for for anyone that doesn’t know we we had an opportunity to buy Woody wire back in 2017 Casey Woody uh you know one of the guys long long time B fisherman himself and he he helped develop the Woody wire braid and uh we we had the
Opportunity to buy it back in 2017 and you know uh it’s everything we put our hands on we’re we’re proud to say is is made in the USA the same thing same goes for Woody wire it’s it’s a USA product we do have it uh braid overseas but it
Is absolutely a US product that we ship to them to have made to our specification sure yep yeah and then the the f&d pro real seat is also uh we we bought the patent right to that a couple of years ago from Eric and uh been been
A fun project to work on as well and we’re now manufacturing those inhouse and so it’s uh you know those are the little things that that I didn’t think I would enjoy in the beginning but I’ve really enjoyed that that aspect of it of just know sourcing the materials and and
The manufacturing process and so that’s that’s been really fun Endeavor for us absolutely that’s awesome staying busy and staying even busier now busy’s good that’s right and right it’s uh and you guys well know as well as anybody uh you got to find something to do from about
Uh September to January and uh those those are the months that we do those things now so great yep y yep building up stock yeah for sure so you’re so what you’re saying is you’re not sitting in a tree stand in those months don’t get me wrong I still enjoy B
Honey that’s good to hear that’s good that’s my guilty pleasure I didn’t you know when you asked me about my hobbies it crossed my mind but I didn’t say it but I I still love I’m an avid bow hunter love it and you know I’m never
Going to kill a giant where I hunt but uh you know I I I I just love the passion for it and I I get to sit a lot and that’s a good thing and and that’s a great place to go to get away oh clear your head clear your mind when you’re
Busy assembling and and doing all that stuff so the woods is a great place to go to get rid of that stuff yeah oh AB absolutely absolutely so Scott you obviously have experiences in the the bowfishing aspect of things running a business you’ve got all kinds of
Different Ventures going here but if you had to narrow down one memory what would you say your all-time favorite bow fishing memory is oh a loaded question one yes it is I had this I had this ask of me once before on a on a similar podcast and and and I
Ventured back to I I held the the Texas state record for grasscarp for several years oh okay and uh the night we we harvested it would probably go down as as one of the best nights for sure but you know honestly guys the uh the memories are just it’s uh you know
Whether it be watching Ryan come up through the the sport and and the success that he’s had with Darren uh you know winning the BFC I mean you talked about a a tear rolling down your cheek watching your 18-year-old kid roll across the BFC and and knowing that he
Was a part of that and right and the success he’s had and then you know uh Ryan and I have been really heavily involved in a couple of organizations one I I’ll mention is cross trail Outfitters and and CTO is a a National Youth Ministry to put kids in the
Outdoors and and Ryan and I have guided multiple times for these kids and and uh we we’ve been a big part of an organization out of Texas called Halo for Freedom America and it’s you know so we’ve all heard of Wounded Warrior and Halo for Freedom America is a very
Similar organization with one exception Halo really focuses on amputees oh okay I tell I tell a story that you know Ryan was probably 15 or 16 years old we’re in Texas and and uh you know I’m driving the boat and the these guys one one particular in gentleman had really just
Recently gotten two prosthetic legs he wanted to go but his his Mobility was very limited right and and and Ryan literally stood behind that man and had his hands around his waist for about four hours solid so that guy could fish that night and those are the things that
You just never forget and and I you know I’ve talked about that multiple times over the years of just how impactful meeting some of the true heroes of our country have been and and you know literally you get back to the boat ramp and you’re taking pictures
And you’re having fun and and you know these guys are just tears rolling down their cheek hugging your neck saying I didn’t think I’d ever get to do this kind of thing you know and yeah and just uh th those are the those are the things
That stick in my mind you know I I had a good run you know uh won several state championships here in Missouri you know back whenever I was competing and those aren’t even at the top of the list for it’s the other stuff y that’s really cool that’s that’s awesome that’s
Awesome I remember when your son won the that uh bow fishing Championship that they put on that one year for the invites only and stuff and um I remember that was at that shooting range down there is where they had the weighs that morning uh the Bass Pro shooting
Shooting area out there and um I remember when your son won that and uh I came down and talked to you and shook your hand and stuff and it was no different than your son winning a State Basketball Championship uh your daughter winning you know it was no different you were
Proud you were happy I think you did have a couple tear coming down you were so proud of that moment for your son absolutely and it was great to see it was just awesome to see that you know yeah um well and you know a lot of lot
Of guys know Darren freeze and you know Darren’s one of the local guys and and Darren and I fish together a lot prior to him really getting involved in in Bow Fishing and so so Darren and I have been friends for many years and our Twins were born in 2002 twin daughters and
That was the weekend of the Iron Man so needless to say I I didn’t get to attend the Iron Man so Darren filled in for me and went and shot with Brock and and and Darren you know that that guy you know his nickname’s fish head for a reason I
Mean he’s just an incredible mind for finding fish and and uh long story short as as the business grew and I realized I had had to step away from the tournament scene and and Darren and I had a long conversation and and uh Ryan had went
And shot with him a few times and and uh you know Darren he he kind of looked at me and he said uh he said I’ll take care of him and and and that was that was the sign I needed to hear that that’s cool
Ryan can go with Darren be safe have fun learn a lot and and I knew I didn’t have to feel like I had to to burn you know don’t get me wrong I miss not being on the boat with him but I bet no one knowing Darren’s got his back and and
Honestly I think Ryan would tell you that Darren’s been a a second dad to him right I mean Darren’s just Darren’s taught him a lot you know I mean Ryan’s been killing fish since he was old enough to walk but you know Darren’s a whole different level of of
Understanding the water right right and that’s that’s um that’s true friendship right there you know absolutely that’s that’s that’s awesome lots of knowledge passed down there for sure exactly yep and for you to feel no issues whatsoever to let your son you know you’re under the water late at night driving home
Early in the mornings that’s that’s that’s um true friendship right there for him to say I got you man yeah I got you that’s really cool and he did and that that that that made it easier for me for sure right right I I still uh you
Know so the batsman they still have some local tournaments and they have one spring tournament annually everything else is pretty much night tournaments and I I just don’t do the night tournaments anymore but yeah the last last few years i’ I’ve jumped on the boat for that spring tournament and shot
And man what a fun day I mean I I just absolutely love love the I’m old school I like the day tournaments you guys fish all night long you’ve ruin it for me yep I hear you on that so Scott if you could go back in
Time and give a younger scottt Hensley a piece of advice what would it be I’m curious to hear this oh good good question um I I would have to say for me personally it’s it’s got to be focused on the the bigger picture right I I
Again talking about my OCD I I want things to be a certain way and yep you know I uh I go I spend a lot of time and energy over the years on stuff in the hindsight probably didn’t matter right and uh so I think I think for me
Personally it’s got to be uh just to to know when to let go and pick the battles you can win right right yep yep control what you can control exactly y That’s exactly yep so another kind of an in-depth question here for you Scott if you weren’t owning Running Bull fishing
Extreme what do you think you would be doing for a career oh wow uh hard to say I you know I’ve I’ve always had a passion for helping people and and doing those things so I I think it would have to be something similar I’ve always wanted to
Own a business on the side and uh you know even back before I started started this I I’ve always felt like I had the ability and and the the knowhow and the want and the drive to own a business so I I think it would be something uh
Whether whether it be bow fishing or something similar I I I joke all the time and tell people I just wasn’t smart enough to to start a business in a seasonal sport right and you know no I think uh never really thought about that guys but honestly I I don’t
Know if I go back in time you know bow fishing has been good to me and my family and I I wouldn’t change it good that’s awesome yep that’s a good way to look at that exact exactly so we were talking earlier Scott about all the carp
That were in Table Rock years ago and how there’s hardly none there anymore and you think it’s because of the bow fishing that has no doubt removed a lot of those cart from those waterways um so now like where do you see the sport in the next 10
Years yeah so I think there’s there’s several things to be concerned about for the future of bow fishing and and I think the the biggest thing that’s that’s on the Forefront is legislation right I mean I I think uh there’s there’s been many states that have
Attempted to make a run at at putting restrictions on boat fishing and I think we’ve got to continue to to work together as a team to to support our baa and and to support you know there there’s several guys that that step up every time I mean look at look at guys
Like Randy Woodard I mean those those guys are instrumental and and you know we’ve got to continue to get the Next Generation to step up and fill the shoes of guys like Randy that that are fighting those battles and the baa and continue to support the baa um because
That you know I do feel like that’s only going to get worse and you know I I think it’s safe to say that the Young Generation doesn’t have the love for the outdoors that guys like us have and and I think uh we’ve got to do a better job
As adults of getting those youth in the outdoors and and that’s why CTO is you know near and dear to my heart because that’s that’s what their focus is right is getting those not only are they bringing Christ to these kids but they’re they’re bringing the outdoors to
These kids that may never have that opportunity also right y yep yeah good answer um I tell you what Scott what is the best way for our listeners to access you or to access bow fishing extreme yeah so the website’s very straightforward it’s bowfishing extreme.com uh our phone’s always
Available by by phone or text at at 417 838-9200 Facebook but that’s that’s not my source I I need to do better there but that’s just not not how I’m wired but uh yeah so website has all of our contact information my email is very simple scottb fishing
Extreme.com uh happy to happy to address any anybody that wants to reach out cool cool Y and we’ll we’ll be we’ll have your website up there on the video podcast as well with your number and we’ll link we’ll link it in the not to the podcast as well so uh well I tell
You what Scott we uh we just grilled you with all these questions here we’ve never really done this with a guest before but do you have any questions for Matt or myself to wrap up the podcast here you know I uh gosh I I hadn’t thought about that I I was prepared to
Answer questions but I don’t think we we’re flipping it on you yeah so so uh so let let’s start with uh just out of my curiosity I know both you guys really well and we we always get to chat a lot at the trade show and and throughout the
Year at different occasions but uh so how long have you guys both fished and and tell me a little bit about how long you’ve been at at AMS gotcha you start you start us off here man all right I started bow fishing in the late 80s wow
Um I was going order on our local Flowage crappie and wildife fishing and I would see all these common carp spawning in the shallow bays and and when I saw that I would run home you know load the boat up run home get my bow and arrow and stuff and go out and
Shoot cartp for two or three days yeah and when they were done I was done sure that was it that was it for me for that season yeah and you know what Matt that’s ironically you say that that’s how it used to be yeah it was you know
Spring spring turkey season is here the spawn is here and let’s move on to the next thing and and now we we bow fish year round right right you know you got the the invasive Silvers and bige heads where you can shoot them you know a long
Long season there for us you can travel them you can go to warmer States and and people are doing that you got tournaments all over the place you know before like I said the C were done I was done yeah you know until the following
Year yeah and um uh next month I will be here at AMS for 17 years that’s awesome Yep 1 years congratulations thank you thank you y y yep um for myself Scott I tell you what I was I was very good friends with Jeff and Cindy’s oldest
Their son Sawyer we went to school together we were in the same grade um and we’d always you know we’d go over and and play at each other’s houses and whatnot and I always knew that Sawyer’s parents did a really cool they owned a really cool business and I think it was
Like 2009 I’d have been what 11 12 years old yeah they took me out one night on our the local Flowage here and I remember I remember just being like what the hell is this this is crazy I it was just wild and and Jeff and Cindy were shooting
Fish like crazy and I think I got one I got one fish that night and so that was kind of my my introduction to it um but obviously I was young and in school and then when I was I think I was a sophomore in high school I had a little
Bit of a break between Sports Seasons and I I wrote Jeff and Cindy a letter asking if they would ever need any part-time help um that I would I would love to do whatever they needed me to do and um they wrote me a letter back and
The summer of my junior year of high school I started doing part-time stuff here in the summer and I just kind of after after high school I went to to the tech here in in Wasa and I was working with them throughout throughout that time as well so I’ve I’ve been here now
For eight years going on nine years in June so it just kind of started so small as a little part-time deal and it’s just kind of taken off and I’ve Loved loved every second of it so yeah absolutely and obviously it’s it’s your career right you’ve been you know you guys have
Been instrumental and and helping develop some really cool products for them and and uh you know just just look at how they’ve grown in the last eight years right you know and I’m I’m sure you’re not done developing products nope NOP n just like you said always thinking
Always thinking of what what to do next what to come up with ideas you’re always thinking think for sure our favorite our favorite product that we have is the next one that we come up with love it love it yep yep well Scott man we can’t thank you enough for
Joining us on the bow fishing buzz and sitting down and taking time out of your busy day um to chat with us and our listeners to get a little more Intel on you and your business yeah um I’m sure you’ve probably got a bunch of orders
Coming in because like I said B season is here man it’s it’s I mean we’re here there’s there states where carp are spawning right now oh yeah yep oh absolutely you know it’s kind of funny as uh as spring approaches typically in you know late January early February
Orders start coming in from the south and as we progress you know the Northern State start chiming in and you can actually watch that cycle come through and funny so I I I appreciate you guys inviting me it was fun it’s always good to chat with you guys and I absolutely
Just before we disconnect I’d like to just if if you’ve bought from us before I I say it all the time and it’s it’s truly heartfelt that we couldn’t do what we do without the support from our customer base and and just just a true heartfelt thank you to those guys that
Have supported us through the years and and continue to right on Scott that’s right on yep well you get back to putting your tape on the boxes and make sure they’re all nice and straight for your and we’ll make sure that our tape here is straight too when we ship it to
You all right guys will you have a great afternoon you bet thank you Scott thanks Scott see you bye bye oh Mr Hensley yeah that’s good stuff right there that was a good interview that was good that was good he uh he’s got his hands in all kinds of things
There he is a guy who uh he’s bow fishing through and through no doubt about it yep yep and if you ever do see Scott at a tournament somewhere uh um you know go up and talk to him he like you just heard right there he loves to
Talk with you L to shake your hand who are you you know oh you know thanks for foring stuff from us in the pass and stuff go up and give him a give him a thank you because uh he works his butt off yeah Absol his butt off absolutely
And um you can tell he’s very genuine person oh yeah he he truly that that that thank you at the end was as sincere and heartfelt as a person could make it it’s uh he he loves what he does he loves the people that he does business
With yeah yep yep so it’s really cool stuff right there and don’t forget Schmitty okay to go to carbon TV yes yes yes yes absolutely yeah we’ve had our our first uh episode out there for season 3 not show Stingray um let us know what you think
About that and then if you wanted to you can also go over to skull bound TV and check out um the butterfly carp episode y that one cleeks now it’s been out there for a couple weeks y absolutely and we’ll be uploading carbon TV episodes here throughout the season as
We pick up here we started in March was our first month here so we’re going to get you’re going to get all kinds of awesome bow fishing episodes that we’ve got ready to rock and roll and we’re going to hopefully get out and film some more this year so we’re uh things are
Looking up it’s uh it’s snowy and cold out but the B fishing is starting to get hot it is sh well there’s the tune the outro the outro tune for the bow fishing Buzz mhm bow fishing season is here yes it is and with that I want to put a strict warning out
There for all you people that are giving us Bad Apples by leaving your fish on the banks yes yep y throwing them in ditches big no no big no Noy don’t be doing that Community represent us properly yes yes yep cuz the SE is here and we need
You to take care of your fish don’t leave them hanging have have a plan before you go out yes before you go out yep man we got a farmer here that’s a big farm operation yep they love our cart man when our stinky boat comes rolling in there is a smile on his
Face fertilizer baby and don’t forget to thank them with the 30 pack of bush lattes there you go yep yep goes a long way a gift certificate for somewhere because um you know that helps us a ton oh yeah for sure when we come back with a boatload of fish and then
They go spread it on their fields for fertilizer oh it’s a win-win baby it is a winwin it’s a win-win for that Lake it’s a win-win for that farmer it’s a win-win for you you got to go shoot some fish win for me it’s a win-win winow it’s a triple
Winner all righty so from all of us here at AMS boow fishing we wish you the best of luck and remember think big aim low whoa you flipped it on me there I’m going to see if you’re going to catch on to that holy moly good thing I was H aim
Low big big that’s good stuff right there so we’ll see you next time from the both in Buzz
