By Gord Follett
I’ve been asked numerous times over the past three years why I gave up my YouTube channel. Well, three reasons, actually.
First, I lost all my camera gear in mid-June of 2023 while picking up a friend in Corner Brook on the way to Codroy and Robinsons, to – what else but – film a salmon fishing trip.
Second, the number of younger outdoorsmen across the province with their own YouTube channels has been growing in leaps and bounds.
Third, it was taking away from the full enjoyment of fishing and hunting for me. I did enough of that “for work” at the Newfoundland Sportsman magazine and television show over the years: Don’t shoot till we have the moose on camera. Keep filming till we get the salmon rising to the fly. Gotta stay another few days because we didn’t get enough rabbits on film for a show. Billy’s got a fish on, so reel in quickly, wade back to shore and grab the camera. It was too wet and windy to film anything today… and on it went.
These days, in my late 60s, I spend considerably more time in the woods than ever before and enjoy it a helluva lot more.
Shortly after the closure of the Sportsman in 2021, friends and family members convinced me to start a YouTube channel, which we called Gord Follett-Outoors and More.
I can say in complete honesty that I was never in it to make a few bucks, which, incidentally, I never did, not even enough to pay for my camera equipment and travel expenses. I did it because at that point, I believed there was a void in local outdoor-related videos, primarily hunting and fishing. Trying to attract kids to the great outdoors was another goal of my channel, as it had been with the Sportsman TV program and most of my three-plus decades as editor of the magazine.
Among the earlier videos I posted – thanks to friend Peter Barfoot’s editing skills – were Torrent River Salmon Fishing in 2023 and Salmon Fishing on the Humber the previous year. Each had between 6,800 and 7,300 views within the first few weeks. The highest-viewed video, however, was my unsuccessful Southern Shore Moose Hunt in 2022, with over 12,000. And sharing on other sites wasn’t as common back then as it is today.
Those numbers may not be up there with some of today’s top channels, such as Chuck Porter’s amazing Everything Outdoors program, but I was generally pleased.
While the response to the first couple of years of my limited number of videos was quite favourable, the loss of my equipment gave me time to ponder my own “relaxing” future in the outdoors, however many years that may be.
New young fellas in their 20s and 30s, and some even younger, were bangin’ out fishing and hunting videos hand over fist. I figured if they were of credible content and didn’t show or suggest any bad habits, then perhaps today’s kids could get hooked on them and, together with encouragement from older and more experienced friends and family members, acquire a real taste for the outdoors in all its glory.
Ok, I sold myself on that idea/excuse, though I am not ruling out the occasional, no-pressure, completely informal YouTube video in the coming years.
Another thing I did not want to make a habit of – call it reason #4 if you will – was posting videos I wasn’t satisfied with just to have consistency, as in a schedule. Being less than satisfied with half my shows, or even 10 percent, was not something I was prepared to accept.
It takes tremendous effort and sacrifice to make it all come together, and at this stage of my life, I just wanna enjoy every minute I can. Having said that, as long as I am still writing columns and in everyday life in general, I will continue, whether directly or indirectly, trying to get kids involved in the outdoors.
These days, most of my outdoor time is spent with good buddy Tony Vinnicombe, salmon and trout fishing, moose and rabbit hunting, running the beagles or sometimes just out for a good ol’ boilup. When available, friends John Dyke and Sean Kearsey are part of our excursions, and when we all get together for a few days, man oh man, what a time we have! The four of us still meet for coffee regularly and often spend a night or two at Johnny’s cabin, just to “keep together,” as he puts it. And because we’re such an easy-going crew, we constantly meet and often keep in contact with new friends on our travels.
Now THIS is what makes the Newfoundland and Labrador outdoors so special. A 20-point bull moose, 450-pound black bear, 25-pound Atlantic salmon… all good, sure. But nothing compares to long-time friends and those we meet along the way.
