The HHAUSA Podcast

While it's bittersweet that our podcast is coming to an end with this episode, it's difficult to put into words how excited we are as an organization for what 2025 has in store. A formal partnership with Centershot Ministries and Centershot Blue will officially kick off our initiative to help plant 1,000 archery outposts across the US. These locations will provide a safe environment for...

Growing up on the family farm out West, Kasey Bruce learned what work ethic was all about at an early age. That mentality would stick with him through high school and decades later as he served our country in the United States Navy. Meeting Aaron Scheer proved to be a divine encounter and would lead him to his new position with Centershot Ministries and Centershot Blue. Now a passionate archer, Br...

Growing up with a father who was a firefighter, young Mike Fox had no idea that he would one day be serving the very men that he looked up to as a child. After a few stops and starts in his teens, the Missouri native received some direction from the elder Fox when he mentioned going into ministry. Having never thought about it up to that point, his destiny was confirmed at a lunch with his own pas...

It's been a while since I hopped on here to chat with my good friend and podcast editor Logan Chartrand. With plenty to discuss since Mission 28 kicked off our event season back in April, this was another great conversation. Logan brought his family up for their annual HHAUSA outing in June to Blackhawk Archers and Mission 30 and had another great experience. It's hard to believe that as...

Now in its third year as a nonprofit organization, the A3G Grant Initiative has skyrocketed from an idea in Aaron Ritter's mind to a life changing gift to amputees across the United States. We pick up just weeks after 2024 recipient Dustin Pruett took ownership of his first compound bow setup and a great assortment of other archery and outdoor gear to get him off and running. A double lower l...

We can only be so successful in our own power and are own strength. For nearly 30 years of his adult life, Aaron Ritter tried life his way and it wasn't working. Failed marriages, financial hardship, and hard living should have put him six feet under a long time ago. But God had other plans. After meeting Aaron virtually through close friend Al Quackenbush in late 2021, something special star...

Social media can be both a blessing and a curse and today's conversation may not have happened without it. After seeing a post on Instagram from ENDEX and Joe McClatchy from Rest and Refit Outdoors, I reached out to both of the groups responsible for providing Veteran and new archer Andrew Denny with his first bow setup. Jason McCoy, cofounder of ENDEX Archery had long been using archery as a...

Joining the Marines after dropping out of college, Tyler Stallings was the old man in the group of recruits that he enlisted with. That wasn't a bad thing though as the Texas native admitted that he had some growing up to do and was forced to do it quickly. It turned into one of the best experiences of his life and helped mold him into the man he is today. One of the things that he missed the...

We are back after a three month sabbatical from the podcast with now three-time guest Joe Rhodes of The Kniestedt Foundation. The bond that Joe and I have has only grown stronger in the now six or seven years we've known each other and this was a great conversation to dust off the mic with! Partnering for a second year in a row with the Oregon Sportsman's Club, Joe and eight Veteran alum...

We have been blessed with some great sponsors in our five year history. Last January at The Archery Trade Association Show, good friend Aaron Ritter came running into our booth, eager to introduce us to the crew at Dead End Game Calls. While owner Mitchell Johnston wasn't able to make it to Indianapolis, we met the rest of his team and became fast friends. Recently retiring after more than tw...

I am a firm believer in divine appointments and six or seven years after our meeting, Seth Baranowski is too. From the first conversation I had with Seth at a fundraising shoot for the Never Forgotten Honor Flight in Weston Wisconsin, I knew that I had a new friend. Now one of the men in my inner circle, thankful is an understatement in describing how I feel about God bringing him and his family i...

Approaching my brother over a decade about about getting a couple of our youth sights for his kids, who knew how close Nathan Mathwig and I would be today? No, that's not a rhetorical question. God did. Now one of the core volunteers of our growing nonprofit, Mathwig has become much more than a friend to me, he's a brother. Seeing each other a half dozen times a year at our events across...

It was a pleasure to have HHAUSA Podcast Alumni Amanda Hoenes back on the show this week. After meeting her at our Vortex Event last April, I had an instant friend and ally for the work that we do here. Reading her book "Digging Deeper" about her solo paddling journey down the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, my level of respect for the GWOT Marine Veteran spiked even higher than the fir...

Thanks to the powers of modern technology, we are able to connect with anyone, anywhere, without leaving our house. Little did I know that a blog review of an archery sight 15 years ago would lead me to one of my best friends on the planet. Al Quackenbush and I communicate every day, through the You Version Bible App and our daily devotionals. We text frequently, hop on Zoom calls when we can work...

I want to thank Adam Miller of Bowhunter Chronicles Podcast for the introduction to our guest on this week's episode. Shortly after meeting Marine Veteran Andrew Comtois, Miller thought he should connect him with me and the work that HHAUSA is doing. While we have yet to meet in person, a handful of conversations later and we have become fast friends. Coming from a long line of service in his...

While I don't like to disappoint our listeners who have been waiting for us to travel outside of Wisconsin, we will be staying home once again in 2024. That said, we have seven 3D shoots on the schedule for archers across the country to attend and help support the cause that is HHAUSA. You really need to listen to this episode to get the full impact of how special the upcoming year is setting...

It's crazy how quickly time passes by the older we get. Closer to 50 than 40, I'm making more of an effort to cherish every conversation, every trip to the field and every sunset as we never know when it will be our last. Speaking of time flying, it's been nearly two years since I was introduced to Aaron Ritter of Limb-Itless Outdoors but the depth of our friendship makes it feel li...

People with a heart to serve never lose it, even when they hang up the uniform. Chris Dunlap is yet another example of a service member that continues to give back to the Veteran community through archery and the outdoors. The Virginia native grew up hunting and fishing so it's a big part of who he is. Also in his DNA, serving our country runs deep in Chris's family, going all the way ba...

HHAUSA continues to be blessed with some amazing additions to our family and this guy fit right in from day one. US Army Veteran Chris Norton was selected as the 2023 A3G Initiative Grant Winner in a story that could only have been written by our Creator. When Aaron Ritter of Limb-Itless Outdoors enthusiastically told me about Norton, it confirmed once again why we do what we do at HHAUSA to impac...

It's safe to say that nearly twenty years ago when Mark and Jane Neumann founded the Hunt4Life Foundation, they had little idea of the impact their Wisconsin based ministry would have. Now working with Operation Heal Our Patriots and seeing marriages resurrected and people making life altering decisions about their faith, Mark and Jane truly are doing the Lord's work. Coupled with servin...

After founding HHAUSA in 2019 our first big fundraising goal was to raise enough money to sponsor an entire Honor Flight to Washington DC for our Veterans here in Central Wisconsin. Thousands of arrows, dozens of archery shoots and $70,000 later, that dream became a reality on October 16th of this year. One of the perks of sponsoring a flight was getting to choose two guardians to fly and accompan...

HHAUSA is not alone in what we are doing to help combat post traumatic stress in the Veteran and First Responder communities. There are many organizations across the country doing great work in this field, including others in the archery space. The Michigan based Shoot For Life is definitely one of them. I was blessed to meet Tom Spisz through the outdoor industry a few years back and we instantly...

2023 has been a big growth year at HHAUSA and we have been blessed to continue crossing paths with some amazing individuals. I met Rick Young at the Archery Trade Association Show in Indianapolis back in January and we instantly hit if off. We would see each other again a month later in Florida at what will now be the venue for our first ever, out of state, HHAUSA shoot in 2024. Travelling for Cen...

It's hard to believe that we are at the end of our 2023 HHAUSA season already but it's a reality and I continue to be humbled at the ever growing support that our mission is receiving. While I will miss seeing the HHAUSA family for a few months, I am excited for some time off to reflect, recharge and prep for what is lining up to be the biggest year in our history in 2024. With return tr...

Little did I know that volunteering for the Never Forgotten Honor Flight seven years ago would lead me to starting HHAUSA. Such are the plans of God that are so much higher than anything we could ever dream up on our own. For those not familiar with the Honor Flight, it is a nonprofit organization that sends World War II, Korea and Vietnam Veterans on an all expense paid trip to Washington DC to v...