By Chris Avena
I have met very few people in my lifetime that can honestly say that they absolutely love their job and they cannot imagine doing anything else for a living. Lightning would have to strike for most people to make a living doing something that they are completely passionate about.
For Nate Hosie, lightning struck twice. Nate was born and raised in the mountains of Pennsylvania. He would tag along on bird hunts with his father and grandfather at the tender age of six years old. As Nate grew, so did his reputation as a skilled hunter among the locals. It was not long before he landed a spot field staffing for Hunter Specialties followed by a spot as a co-host on HeadHuntersTV that airs on the Outdoor Channel.
Lightning struck for Nate a second time with his country music career, taking Nashville by storm with such hits as The America I know, The Woods and Rocked All Summer Long.
All of Nate’s success has not been without obstacles and tragedy. But it is those events that fuel his passion and desire. His roots are deeply entrenched in music and the outdoors but, through it all, Nate Hosie has found a way to make it all work. But for now, Nate Hosie is living his best life and living out his dream.
Chris: You know Nate, it's funny, I hunt and guide 20 minutes from where you live.
Nate: I was just looking through my trail cam pictures to see if I have any photos of you on my hunting lease.
Chris: Yeah, I have been sneaking around your treestand.
Nate: It’s crazy what a small world it is. But I’d say that this is a good part of the country to be hunting. There are some very scenic areas to hunt around here in North East, PA.
Chris: I grew up hunting just across the border on the New York side. I've always hunted literally twenty minutes to half-hour from where you live. That’s where I have hunted my whole life.
Nate: It is beautiful over here. It was the same for me. I have spent a lot of my time while growing up going just across the border to New York to hunting as well.
A lot of people in this business ask me, “Hey man, how’s turkey hunting in New York?†And they look at you with that look, “New York??â€
Everybody often thinks of the NY City, they do not have a clue how beautiful most of New York State is. In upstate New York, the hunting can be really good in certain areas.
Chris: New York does offer a little bit of everything. We have the city, we have beautiful beaches, we have picturesque mountains.
But I can't wait to get out of here. I am ready to make a change and leave NY.
Nate: Exactly. New York is a good place to visit and then get out.
Chris: I did a little background research on you. You started hunting at five years old?
Nate: Yes. When I was five years old, my mom and dad had bought me an Orvis cap gun. They used to make a side-by-side cap gun.
My dad owned a printing business. And my grandfather, in his town of Jessup, where he lived, he was called the grouse king. They were all big-time bird hunters and whitetail hunters. Their generation was a huge hunting generation. That was on my mom's side.
My dad didn't really grow up hunting. He had some business partners that would get together on the weekends. They would get bird dogs and go release pheasants and hunt pheasants, grouse and woodcock and just worked with the bird dogs.
When I was five years old, my dad and my grandpa started taking me over there and let me see the dog’s work. Of course, I had my Orvis cap gun. I would be busting caps on anything that took flight.
To this day, my dad would always say to me that there would be 10 to 12 inches of snow back then. We used to get some heavy winters. I can remember looking forward to Saturday morning going to Jordan’s Diner first thing in the morning. Then we would make our way into the woods.
I had to work the bird dogs. I was hooked right from the start at five years old. I would walk with them and be with them every weekend. As I got older, my grandpa started to take me whitetail hunting. Obviously, I was hooked on that. There is a huge tradition of whitetail hunting here in Pennsylvania. So, I was hooked on whitetail.
Chris: It’s like a national holiday.
Nate: That's right. When schools are closed, everything shuts down for deer season. You are brought up in a state that has a strong hunting heritage that I'm proud very of. Then once I got a little bit older around 12 and 13 years old when I could start really hunting legally, I got hooked on turkey hunting. I started out in the fall turkey season. I went with a buddy. And I thought, “Man, that is pretty cool.â€
I’d taken my first turkey. I started going with my neighbors, Bob and Butch. And they are some country-certified hunters and killers. Man, they’re great woodsmen.
Once I was introduced to spring turkey hunting in that conversation that was going on with the turkey, I was hooked right from the start. I couldn’t believe how much I loved that conversation, talking to a turkey. So, it had become really an obsession.
I loved all things hunting, but really yelping to a turkey had become something that I really was just hooked on. So yeah, from a young age, whether it was walking bird dogs, yelping at a turkey, or chasing whitetails, I was hooked.
Chris: There is something about turkey hunting that you either get or you don't. If you do get it, it's in your blood.
Nate: Yes, there's no doubt. I like the idea of being offensive with it. A lot of times with deer hunting, not that you can't make moves and set stands and do things like that to be offensive. But a lot of times you're sitting, you are waiting. You are being on the defense until one rolls up in there.
With turkey hunting, it is more like, “Hey, he’s got one in there. Let's go get him.†You know what I'm saying? I like that offensive move of turkey hunting.
Chris: What is it about hunting that just gets you?
Nate: I think when I was younger, it was the ability to be out there with my dad and my grandpa and to be part of the crew and the camaraderie. I think as I've gotten older, it's even more about that to me.
Hunting to me has never been about killing. You know what I mean? It's been about everything outside of that. Now, killing is part of it. We respectfully hunt animals. And we feed our families and things like that. However, it's always been about the atmosphere for me. When I got into the music scene and I started putting out this Woods album, the first song we ever wrote for it was called Why I Hunt. And it had to do with everything outside of killing anything.
If the only reason you hunt is to kill, I think you're missing the point of what it is to be out there. It is to appreciate those moments. To appreciate God's creation. I respect the animals that we chase and to really just be a conservationist.
That was something that was instilled in me from a young age. Like I said, no doubt when I was young and today, I love to punch a tag. Don't take that the wrong way. I love punching a tag. But it wasn't about that.
I go out in the woods even when the season’s out and just enjoy walking in the woods. I just love the trees and the birds and the smells of being out there, the entire atmosphere that the woods bring. I just think it's an incredible place of peace.
Chris: Watching the woods come alive and then afterwards going back to camp, hanging out with the crew. It's a bonding experience.
Nate: It sure is. There's no doubt.
Chris: If you had a choice between music and hunting, what would it be?
Nate: Well, obviously, the first choice is going to still do both. If I had to choose one or the other, it's always hunting. It is like music found me, in a way. I went through a very difficult time in my life.
I was going deer hunting with some friends. My buddy lost control of his truck, and we hit a tree. I broke my neck, and I was in a halo for months. It was a long recovery time.
In the 10 months following that, we lost one of my younger sisters, Marla, who was killed in a car accident when a guy ran a stop sign in our town. He ran into my mom and my grandma and my sister.
I went through a really difficult time there internally struggling to find peace and struggling to find reason and struggling to find so many different things. The woods were always my peace.
I would go out in the woods, and I would cry it out or I’d pray out there or I would do whatever. That was where I went to get off my chest what I needed to and to get the relief I needed, too.
The day before she was killed, she had played on my guitar that I got when I broke my neck. I was like, “Oh man, I’m going to learn to play guitar because I can’t do anything else right now.â€
I tried that for about 30 seconds. I was like, “Man, this is never going to happen.†The day before she was killed, she played the intro to Down on the Corner, that da, da- da, da, da-da, da. It wasn't good. But it was enough to where I was like, “Man, how do you know how to play that?â€
She’s like, “Oh, my friend Tommy taught me.†Following losing her, I remember one day I was looking at that guitar. Matter of fact, I could see it there. And I could just see her. I could feel her. I could remember that. And I was like, “You know what, I'm going to learn how to play it.â€
I was a roofer in high school. I got into a huge cover band in college and I realized that I’d much rather play music in a cover band in college then be a roofer. So, I played music.
Chris: Can’t say I blame you.
Nate: That’s right. We developed this crazy following and played at all kinds of shows. Since those days, as we sit here today, I've stood on stages and opened for artists and performed at places and put out music and made incredible friendships with artists that I could have never dreamed of in my wildest dreams.
What I've taken from that is sometimes in the worst moments of your life, you find what's supposed to happen. Like I said, if I had to pick, I'm going hunting. But I also have a special place for music because I feel like music found me in a really tough time. It was my outlet that pulled me out a little bit in addition to the woods and the outdoors.
Chris: Nate, you're obviously very spiritual.
Nate: Oh, a hundred percent. Yeah, my faith is strong. I thank Jesus every day for all that I have, just for my life in general and my wife and my boys and the opportunities we have, just to live here in the USA. We're all blessed to live here in the USA.
I know we're in some turbulent times, and there's often chaos. But we are fortunate and blessed to wake up every day in this country and walk to the coffee pot, if you drink coffee, or go grab your water, whatever it is that you do.
We are blessed to do it and live in a country with so many brave men and women that give us that ability and keep us free within our military and law enforcement and first responders, all of that. Yeah, so I'm a spiritual guy.
Chris: I believe in this, but I know the passing of your sister was a very difficult time. Do you feel her guiding your career as far as your hunting career, your music career?
Nate: I do. On the hunting side of things, she never hunted. I grew up with three other sisters. Marla was our sister who we lost. And I have two other sisters, Molly and Emily. I feel like she's guided our lives indirectly in all different ways.
She's there, and she's our inspiration because in such a tragic event, you learn the value of time. No matter what it is that you try to be in your life, whether it's hunting or music or athletics or podcasts, whatever it is that you do, anything, value your time.
Use your time wisely, celebrate the good times, celebrate the good moments, celebrate people's successes, whether it's your own or others. Because the one thing you learn in tragedy is how fast everything can change.
I think that the scariest thing for me was one minute, I'm standing on the porch with my now wife. She was my girlfriend at the time. And she's getting ready to go to Mexico on a mission’s trip. We hear the ambulances roaring through town, and we pray for whoever that is.
Minutes later, my younger sister is screaming and crying and telling me there's been a horrible accident. And in that moment, understanding how fast everything changes and it changed me forever.
It's not that I was a heathen growing up or anything like that or this bad person. It's not anything like that. But I just value time so much differently because I'm horrified at how fast it can be taken. You know what I'm saying?
Chris: Oh, absolutely.
Nate: So, I’ve learned to celebrate positivity. When you wake up, you are positive. You look for the good. It doesn't mean you don't get stressed. Of course not. But it means you choose to beat it.
You choose to say, “Hey, I'm going to look at the glass half full no matter what because I know what the other side of the glass is.†You know what I mean? I've been there.
I often tell people, they're like, “Oh, Hosie's always positive.†Or this or that. It's like, “Well, it's not because I've just walked the road of perfection It is just that I know the darkness. I've been there. I know the heartache. I know it hurts. I know I'll be let down.â€
I chose a long time ago to rise up over all of that. And that's what I try to do. And no easier way to do it than through something you love, music and hunting and my family and friends and all that.
Chris: Through tragedy and adversity, there's two roads you could take.
Nate: That's right. She would want us to bring something good from it, I try every day to do that.
Chris: What have you gotten out of hunting?
Nate: Well, hunting for me like I said, from a young age, it has instilled so much into me. It has helped me understand so much connection to God, connection to the animals we chase, connection to the woods.
It has given me such respect and appreciation for just the outdoors, for just the peace of going out there. My greatest hunts are taking place now. I like being able to share the woods with my little boy, Cruze.
He took his first buck this year, his first doe, his first turkey. And any of the hunts that I've been blessed to be a part of, nothing beats being out there with Cruze or with Tiffany or with Nash, with my family, and being able to share that heritage and being able to see them smiling when they see deer come out.
Again, it's not about punching tags. It’s just watching deer, hearing turkeys gobble, whatever it may be, and seeing the excitement on their face. I don't know where my life would be without hunting in the outdoors. I really don't because it's such a crucial part of every one of my days.
Chris: It's a part of who you are. It's not something we do.
Nate: Yes. In my song, Why I Hunt, the chorus is, “It's the way the good Lord speaks through the breeze and the trees when I'm sitting in the white oak stand. I do it because it's in my blood. It's just a part of who I am.†And that's the truth. It's in my blood. It's just who I am.
Chris: Who are your hunting heroes? Who inspires you?
Nate: I think that a lot of the guys that took time to take me hunting while I was growing up; my dad, my grandpa, Bob, Butch, my buddy, Jeff, a lot of my friends, really.
I pay attention to a lot of the way that my friends hunt -older guys, younger guys. But within the hunting business, there are so many too that have inspired me along the way that I can now call great friends; Jim Shockey, Michael Waddell, David Glenn, Bill Jordan, Eddie Salter, so many of these people.
Keep in mind, there's too many that I couldn’t even name that I look up to in the outdoor space. Those are just a few, but I see the good in everybody. I watch people, and I look for inspiration every day and all. “Man, I like the way he does that.†Or, “I like the way she does that.â€
There's a lot of great women on the Outdoors Channel as well; Melissa Bachman, Eva Shockey, Tiffany Lakosky, and Nicole. So many women who are inspiring. And I take inspiration from a lot that they do, too.
I've got a lot of hunting heroes because I love the sport so much that when I watch somebody hunt who I know loves it like I do, even like my buddies, Hunter Wallace, Phillip Culpepper, I relate to all these people because they love it like I do. My boy, Randy Birdsong, co-host in HeadHunters and scooba.
I look at every one of these people as inspiration in the outdoor space because we all love it. We all grew up doing it. So, I have a lot of heroes. But if I had to pick my number one, I'd have to say my grandpa.
My grandpa took me out with my dad. He took me for my first whitetail, and we spent time sitting there at the tree eating coconut cream pies. I'd eat mine and his by the time it was 9 AM.
I miss him every day that I'm out in the woods, but I know he's watching down from the best seat in the house. So that'd be my number one just because he really instilled it in me from a young age.
Chris: We certainly have an inviting industry where people are always willing to help. Whether you are on the professional side or you are a casual hunter, everybody's always looking to help.
Nate: A hundred percent. Oh, another one that I forgot to mention. I don't know how I forgot, Ted Nugent. Nugent was a hunting hero of mine, an absolute rock and roll legend. I had the opportunity to open up for him years ago in Ohio. And that was one of the coolest moments of my life.
He is such a force for hunters and a voice for the good of conservation and hunting. That dude, I cannot say enough about him. Uncle Ted is a legend.
Chris: I've seen Uncle Ted a number of times in concert, and he's been on the cover of American Outdoor News as well.
Nate: I remember my dad came with me, and I opened up for him. Ted's up there playing. And he gives a shout-out, “Thanks, Nate, for being here.†And all that stuff.
My dad's like, “The craziest part of that for me is that your mom and I went to see him 30 years ago.†And he's like, “And now I'm sitting here listening to him tell my son, ‘Thanks for being a part of the show.’†It’s just wild to him. You know what I mean?
Chris: Yes, absolutely. Your music influences, are they all country?
Nate: No. As a matter of fact, honestly, growing up, I was a lot more rock-based than I was country per se. I grew up listening to a lot of Tom Petty, John Mellencamp, The Black Crowes, Guns N’ Roses, Mötley Crüe, Goo Goo Dolls, Matchbox Twenty. But in the nineties, I really got into nineties country music like Rhett Akins.
Now I got to be really good friends with him and hunting buddies. So that nineties country really connected to me. I still love nineties country music a lot. As I become more into music, Nashville has a really cool connection between rock and country. I still have that rock influence behind a lot of the music that I write. You know what I mean?
With the sprinkler country, I really have a lot of respect for the classic country feel, the music. And I think that's what my favorite thing about music is. Going to Nashville is the grassroots sound of things in creating something.
I wouldn't consider myself a great musician. I think music came in at a good time. Or a great singer. But I have the ability to be out amongst incredible musicians and great singers and artists and producers that can take something that I write that they may think is good and then make it 10 times better because of their insane talent, whether it be through playing or producing or helping vocally as to where I want to go.
I would say I was more rock-based but also obviously, strong country-based. Lyrically, when I'm writing music, my lifestyle is where we live. Montdale is just a small little town in the country, and it's just where I live. But I don't mind having a distorted guitar on there every now and then. You know what I mean?
Chris: Well, country music certainly changed a lot from, “My wife left me, took my truck and my dog.†to where it is today.
Nate: Yeah, exactly. Well, it’s like they really need to do something with the country, how they did with rock. They had soft rock, easy-listening rock. They had all these different genres. And really country's done that. But they just haven't really done country pop per se. It's still considered a country. There's just so many branches to it now.
I'm not one of those guys. I'm not a hater. I could appreciate anybody who gets out there and gives it their best, no matter what it is. If it's something I like, I dig it. If it's not, hey, I still respect you for getting out there and doing your thing. It takes all kinds in the world.
Chris: HeadHunters TV, how'd that happen?
Nate: That's a really cool story. We were actually just talking about this the other day, Randy and I. As I said earlier, he just loves it. He's ate up with hunting, one of the best hunters I've ever been able to share the woods with and just a great person and Scuba and our team who we had for a while and all the freelancers that we work with.
Years ago, I was working for Hunter Specialties. I was working as a producer and cameraman, and Randy was working for Whitetail Freaks at the time. He and I didn't know each other. I knew of him because I had seen a lot of the Whitetail Freaks productions and a big fan of Don and Kandi.
One day at the Pennsylvania sports show, I was just running a hen's wheel. There was a turkey call, and I forgot what he said. But he popped off something, and I popped something back smart to him. And we just became buddies.
Every show that year, we'd run into one another or go out and have dinner somewhere with a bunch of friends and socialize. And he had told me he had this idea for this show, HeadHunters TV. And at the time, I was just going to help out with the production side of things, do some camera work, and things like that.
As we spent more time together and I'd be around him more, he's like, “Man, what do you think about potentially being a personality on the show?†And I was like, “It's your call, man.†You know what I mean? “It's your call. Do what you want to do.â€
Obviously, I had been honored. One thing led to another, and he gave me a shot at it. And here we are 13 years later with an incredible show, a great fan base. I can't think of a better way to make a living promoting hunting in the outdoors in a positive light.
Chris: Well, that seems to be the roadmap to greatness. Lee and Tiffany started the same way. Michael Waddell started the same way running the camera, guest appearances. And now they’re megastars.
Nate: Yeah, and I think the cool thing about running a camera from being on the producer side is whether you're a producer, whether you’re in front of the camera, or an on-camera personality in any way, being a producer and being behind the camera, I think it only helps somebody who gets out in front of the camera understand because as a deer's coming or a turkey or whatever it is that you're hunting, elk, moose, whatever, when I'm communicating, Scooba films me at times.
We've been a part of some amazing hunts. He is my man. He's like my right-hand man in all that we do. And we have such a great connection not only in our friendship. But we're sitting there, and we're working a turkey or have a deer coming or an elk.
Communication is always key, and I can almost visualize what he's seeing to an extent. You know what I mean? Because I've been there, I've been behind that camera.
Now, granted, Scooba is a much, much more advanced producer than I ever was. But I could still understand through the lens if he's saying, “Hey man, no, I don't have him. There's no shot.†It's up to him. He's the boss. You know what I'm saying?
I do think running a camera and being a producer helps in a lot of ways, especially in the television world. If you do become an on-camera personality at some point, knowing how to run a camera is a great thing to know how to do especially now.
I film all my family stuff, my little boys and my wife. And I have just as much fun running a camera as I do when I am in front of it.
Chris: On HeadHunters TV, you have this distinct face paint.
Nate: Yeah. It's funny. The face paint started out and still, to a certain extent, today is a bullseye. It's a bullseye for the haters, but I love it.
When we went through all of that tragedy and stuff, I thought to myself, “How could I give my sister a little love without…†It's obviously a super sad story, so I don't want to be a downer in any way. But, “What's a little tribute I can give to her in what I do, as I go for this dream that I've had?â€
I painted my face, and I started messing around. I came down, and I was like, “What if I mimicked the letter M?†Obviously, it's not an actual M. It's not obvious. But it comes down my face, it comes down my nose, and then it comes down the other side.
People are like, “Oh, who does he think he is, Batman? Who is he? KISS? In the beginning, it was just like, “Oh gosh.†You didn't want to read any comments. But all these years later, man, I'm so thankful for something as simple as face paint because you have kids going as me for Halloween.
You have adults, you have men, women. They're going out hunting. They're tagging me, “I'm painted up like Hosie tonight.†I'm not the first one to do it, by any means. All I did was simply take something that's been done and just make it something that was symbolic to me.
The idea of it not being obvious, well, she's not obviously here either. But I feel her all the time. She's still there. And to see a positive reaction to that, me and my buddy Culpepper, it's still a fight all the time.
I call him Phillips paintless platoon because it's always back and forth, “Man, no, there's no face paint on my show.†It's all in good fun. But it's got a cool little meaning, a simple meaning behind it.
The fact that Culpeper alone doesn't like it, I'll be painting until I'm a hundred. Just because even though now sometimes I'm like, “Oh gosh, I got to paint. It's 95 out in Texas.†But it's really become a pretty cool little positive identity, if you want to call it. People have really taken to it and recognized it. And it's been really fun.
Like I said, “I'm not a villain. I'm a nice guy.†People are like, “ Oh, who does this guy think he is?â€
Chris: It's like putting on a uniform.
Nate: That's right. It's all in good fun, man.
Chris: What can we expect from HeadHunters this year?
Nate: With HeadHunters, we've got a great season coming. It will air on the Outdoor Channel at the end of June Thursday nights, and we air five times a week. I have to look at the new air times but Thursday night. I think either 8:00 or 8:30 is our prime.
We have a great season coming. We were insanely blessed last year with an amazing season. As we move into this season, we are going to hunt hard and try to bring the best, most positive outdoor TV show we can to everybody.
I have a bunch of new music coming this year. I've got a bunch of concerts that I'll be playing throughout the year. So, we are just going to keep on, man. We are going to be out there celebrating the good Lord, all our blessings, and celebrating the USA everywhere we go and thanking God for all the blessings of our families and safety and all the people who support us.
Chris: Is it going to be all North America, or do you have any destination hunts in mind?
Nate: Right now, it is all North America leading into this season. But I definitely have some talks about some bigger things coming down the pipe, not this coming season but the following.
Chris: Do you arrange your touring around hunting season?
Nate: Correct. Yeah, hunting comes first. But if I can play a show here and there, I'm in.
Chris: Where can we find HeadHunter TV, and where can we find you musically?
Nate: HeadHunters TV is on the Outdoor Channel. You can also find us on Facebook, Instagram, or anything like that under HeadHunters TV. We are also on MyOutdoorTV.
As far as myself personally, you can follow my personal accounts, Nate Hosie on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. And my music is available on iTunes, Spotify, all the bigger platforms for music. That's where you can find us, and we look forward to anybody who wants to join the crew and come along for the journey. We would love to have them.
Chris: Do you miss being able to walk into a store and buy an album?
Nate: Oh, I do. I miss the simplicity of a lot of things. There's a lot of good that comes from technology and a lot of bad at the same time, you know what I mean?
Chris: I agree.
Nate: The double-edged sword. It's a double-edged sword.
Chris: Absolutely. Well, I appreciate you coming on.
Nate: Yeah, thank you so much.
Chris: We will follow you on social media, and we look forward to the upcoming season.
