Holly Mauslein

In-person events are of high value to both customers of agencies and have been shown to contribute to positive agency perception. They are also a challenge to scale due to the high level of investment in terms of time and funding required. Additionally, many programs do not create a smooth customer pathway, which can lead to higher churn rates. 

Indiana DNR, in collaboration with DJ Case & Associates, has developed a novel solution. In 2025, the Indiana DNR debuted 6 new in-person courses for use by both internal staff and external partners, including local NGOs. Courses are consistent in content and design, are simple to use, and can be implemented broadly to expand the reach of current R3 initiatives and help unify Indiana’s conservation community.

The lessons included: Basic Fishing - Panfish, Bass Fishing Basics, Catfish Fishing Basics, Firearm Deer Hunting Basics, Squirrel Hunting Basics, and Duck Hunting Basics - Dabbling Ducks.

Recruiting new hunters is a vital component of sustaining conservation funding and participation in America’s outdoor heritage. As interest in hunting evolves and traditional recruitment pathways decline, effective marketing has become an essential tool for reaching today’s prospective adult hunters—especially those without familial ties to the tradition.

Research Project - This report synthesizes insights from a focused analysis of three social media ad campaigns—Hunt for Good, Tennessee Go Hunting, and Become a Hunter—DJ Case & Associates conducted interviews and an online survey with outdoors-oriented new adult hunters or non-hunters interested in trying hunting. The study evaluated how various images and messages influenced willingness to click on an ad and take a next step.

A key finding was the importance of imagery to effectiveness of social media ads. Image composition and quality had a greater impact on ad engagement than slogans or copy. Successful ads featured high-quality, emotionally resonant visuals—often close-up shots, smiling subjects, diverse representation, visible hunting gear, and a sense of action or accomplishment.

Implementation Guide - Based on results from this project and six other recent projects that had similar goals and/or methods, this Implementation Guide offers practical, evidence-based recommendations for R3 practitioners on how to optimize audience targeting, message design, and media placement. By using relatable imagery, tailoring content to specific motivations, and leveraging paid digital media, agencies can more effectively inspire non-hunters to take the first step toward participation.

State fish and wildlife agencies have long voiced a need to raise awareness of their role in delivering natural resources conservation among the general public. Some local efforts have shown promise, but previous national efforts have fallen short. By developing an understanding of how to reach audiences outside of the typical outdoor recreationists, identifying the messages that resonate best with them, and achieving a favorable perception change as a result, state agencies would gain a broader, deeper support base, which would lead to better and more effective conservation efforts. 

The original Making It Last campaign (found here) was a ready-to-use, branded campaign developed for this purpose and provided for states to utilize. However, states were hesitant to use the campaign and asked instead for a “formula” that would allow them to create messages that meshed better with their particular brands and communication efforts. This project set out to discover that formula. 

The recommendations provided below emphasize steps an agency can take in developing a campaign to increase favor and garner new support among the general public. Strategies include selecting topics of interest that attract the public, image selection, content development, vocabulary choices, media platforms for distribution, additional resources to support the public's continued engagement with the agency, and metrics for evaluating campaign success.

Youth shooting sports programs are among the fastest growing youth sports programs in the country, however, little is known about youth motivations and barriers impacting this trend, or how to best maintain and grow participation over time. By understanding the barriers and motivations of youth participants and addressing them though tested outreach strategies, coaches and other practitioners can more effectively increase shooting sports team participation.

In a previous, related project (Phase One), DJ Case & Associates (DJ Case) conducted nineteen focus groups across various shooting disciplines to develop a better understanding of what factors attract participants to clubs and school teams, as well as what factors act as barriers to participation.

Several motivations emerged from the focus groups, indicating elements that act as strong attractants for youth participants across the shooting sports disciplines. These attracting elements include making friends, having fun, participating in an activity that is both a team and individual sport, and enjoying the welcoming atmosphere of an activity that is for everyone. 

This report examines key communication strategies for youth shooting sports recruitment, developed based on these identified motivations and barriers, and assesses their effectiveness in engaging parents, coaches, and youth.

When new hunters are asked where they go to learn new skills, one of the top answers is almost always YouTube. YouTube was mentioned as a preferred source of content and instruction in Effectively Targeting New Adult Hunters (2023, DJ Case & Associates) and New Hunter Journey Map (2024, DJ Case & Associates). Yet, Engaging New Adult Hunters with YouTube Advertising (2024, DJ Case & Associates) showed that paid YouTube advertising was less cost-effective than other paid online media at driving new hunters to a recruitment-oriented landing page. 

Given the importance of YouTube for providing content to new hunters, this follow-on phase of the project sought to determine if paid YouTube ads are an effective way to drive people to YouTube content, specifically “how-to” deer hunting content. To determine this, DJ Case & Associates (DJ Case) employed marketing methods both inside and outside of YouTube to drive viewers to the National Deer Association Deer Hunting 101 playlist, or one of four co-branded pilot state playlists.

Results were analyzed to develop recommendations for state agencies and conservation non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for utilizing YouTube marketing in R3 (recruitment, retention, and reactivation) initiatives. This report discusses results and provides tips on how to best market YouTube how-to content online. Findings indicated that the most cost-effective means of driving traffic to the playlists above were social media advertising and paid search. YouTube advertising strategies were far less cost-effective, with a cost-per-click up to 125 times higher than social media ads and as much as 25 times higher than paid search. 

LearnHunting.org is a website designed for new adult hunters interested in finding experienced hunters who can offer one-on-one guidance and social support. According to previous research (The Missing Link in R3: Making Mentorship Work, August 2020; Wildlife Management Institute with Southwick Associates and DJ Case & Associates), new hunters and mentors alike trust state fish and wildlife agencies to help broker this type of relationship. The LearnHunting website’s roster of mentors was prepopulated in pilot states with state-certified hunter education instructors who were willing to provide guidance and support through this non-traditional medium. The goal of this project was to pilot test methods for recruiting new and potential adult hunters to utilize the platform. 

The International Hunter Education Association-USA (IHEA-USA), eight pilot state agencies, and DJ Case & Associates (DJ Case) provided support for this project by focusing on creating and testing marketing campaigns in the eight pilot states. These campaigns directed new and potential hunters to the LearnHunting.org website and encouraged them to select a hunting mentor through the platform. Parallel campaigns sought to engage additional mentors to further populate the roster of instructors.

Pilot state testing revealed very useful results. In general, social media can provide a higher number of impressions than paid search ads, but often at a higher cost. Paid search ads generate fewer impressions but at a much lower cost per conversion and with a higher conversion rate. Simply stated, social media ads get agencies in front of the largest volume of people, while paid search ads get agencies in front of the right people at the right time in their hunting journey. Some key recommendations from this testing include using state logos in ads, performing social media burst campaigns that run prior to and overlap with an upcoming hunting season, and funding ongoing paid search campaigns to connect with new adult hunters during the right time in their hunting journey.

In 2024, the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) and DJ Case & Associates conducted a mixed-methods evaluation of MDC programs intended to recruit, retain, or reactivate (R3) hunters, anglers, trappers, and recreational shooters. The project was designed to gain insight into current programming and inform future program design, delivery, and evaluation. It was intended, in other words, to begin answering these overarching questions: What are MDC’s R3 efforts currently achieving, and why? What could they achieve, and how?

Based on analyses of agency databases and survey results, as well as interviews conducted during the course of the project, this report shares findings concerning MDC R3 programs and events, as well as participants’ motivations, experiences, and needs. Though some findings are specific to MDC, many suggest patterns which, though inferred from a limited data set, may prove worthy of consideration by other agencies and worthy of further research.

The project team found that participants are motivated to attend R3 events by factors that (1) often emerge out of relationships and/or personal interests in developing specific skills and (2) vary somewhat among new, active, and returning participants. Participants are highly satisfied with individual MDC R3 events, which yield helpful, though limited, boosts in skills, knowledge, and confidence.

Across new, active, and returning participants, the ideal recipe for sustained participation appears to be similar: personal motivation plus connection with others who are also enthusiastic about the activity. Except for those pursuing trapping, most participants reported that R3 events did not significantly increase their sense of connection with other individuals or groups. Based on project findings, this report offers two sets of recommendations: one related to program evaluation, the other to program design and delivery.

Youth shooting sports programs are among the fastest growing youth sports programs in the country, but little is known about participation of underrepresented groups. By understanding the barriers these populations face, coaches and other practitioners can develop strategies to increase their participation and representation in the shooting sports. The goal of this project is to understand how to increase and improve efforts to recruit more diverse participants into youth shooting sports such as archery and trap shooting. This report summarizes Phase One of the project: findings of focus groups conducted by DJ Case & Associates to help inform the development of recruitment tools and efforts in Phase Two.

The DJ Case team conducted focus groups with shooting sports coaches and participants as well as with students who do not participate in shooting sports. Findings include insights into:

• Why students do/don’t participate in high school sports, in general
• Why students do/don’t participate in high school archery teams
• Why students do/don’t participate in high school shooting sports teams

These findings, combined with the findings of past studies, were used to develop recommendations as to how high school shooting sports teams could best attract more diverse participants. These recommendations include the use of:

• Diversified imagery and representation to showcase different genders, ethnicities, and physical abilities
• Strategic messaging and imagery to address perceived barriers
• Specialized new shooter events to bridge first-time to competition-style learning