Ben Hickok

• Title: Contributing Writer 
• Email: ben.hickok@gobecreative.com
• Location: Lander, Wyo.
• Social Media Links: LinkedIn, @ben_ya_mean

Expertise

• Topics of Expertise: Hunting, Fishing, Rock Climbing, Backpacking, Firearms, Outdoor Gear, Hobby Farming
• Years in This Expertise: 10+
• Number of Products & Number of Hours Expert Has Tested: 200+ products, 2,000+ hours

Experience:

Before becoming a gear reviewer and product tester in both the outdoor industry and consumer product space, Ben attended the University of California Irvine. While attending college, he became passionate about programming and web development, started providing web development services, and successfully grew to a larger clientele of other media groups and even celebrities. While still in college, Ben also taught rock climbing courses, provided guiding and route-setting services to local gyms, worked on ropes courses, and even did rigging jobs. 

When he wasn’t anchored to a computer at the onset of his programming career, Ben spent almost every opportunity backpacking, rock climbing, fishing, and hunting. He then spent time finding ways to share his experiences with others. That sharing developed into a broader career encompassing lots of photo-documenting and writing for various digital publications, including his own.

Almost two decades of outdoor experience later, he lives on a few acres in Central Wyoming with his wife and daughter, enjoying unfettered access to the hunting and fishing opportunities Wyoming has to offer. He continues to share his hunting and fishing adventures and actively tries to inspire and empower others with the knowledge needed to safely pursue their own hunting and fishing experiences.

Career Highlights

• Successful digital media business serving the industry for 20 years
• Ascents of a few of the Eastern Sierra’s finest alpine routes
• Spot and stalk pursuit of backcountry black bear in the Eastern Sierra
• Single-day car-to-car winter ascent of Mt. Whitney
• Landing large trout with a Tenkara rod, and winning over skeptical minds.
• Season after season successfully upland and bird hunting with his Catahoula Leopard, Cora
• Passing on shots to enjoy a little more time getting waterfowl limits

Education & Certifications

• Years of Writing: 10+
• Clubs & Associations: Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, Trout Unlimted
• Previous Publications: GearLab, Sportsmans Magazine, SickyGnar (defunct)

A Word From Ben Hickok

Spending time outdoors has always been a core part of who I am. I was blessed with great access and exposure to open spaces, ranching, and agriculture at a young age. My passion and appreciation for everything outside naturally grew into more backpacking, fishing, hunting, surfing, skiing, rock climbing, mountain biking, farming, and fabrication as an adult hobby farming in Central Wyoming.

My path as a writer and contributor stemmed from my career in web design and development, which involved a lot of overlap in media production and product copywriting. I also wanted to use what skills I had to create digital spaces to share my experiences with others, developing a few digital publications along the way. My contributions have grown beyond my own projects, and I am a contributor, gear reviewer, and product tester for other web publications.

As a self-proclaimed nerd, I admit to loving programming, developing software, building IoT devices, and providing technical services to clients, which I’ve done for multiple decades with my own design and development company. While I love the challenges, both the workloads and business demands are frequently tiresome and stressful.

A few hours of hiking, rock climbing, fishing, hunting, or even some hands-on gardening, tinkering on vintage tractors, or heavy fabrication brings things back into balance for me, and provides mental and physical relief from time spent in front of a computer screen. I actively seek to share that peace of mind that outdoor experiences of all types have to offer with others and encourage others to pursue and enjoy similar experiences.