The outdoors has never had a visibility problem. But for a long time even the most hardened outdoorsman would admit it has had a perception problem. For decades, hunting and the outdoor lifestyle have often been quietly marginalized within popular culture. But that is beginning to change.
Today, some of the most influential voices shaping how people view the outdoor community aren’t just guides, conservationists or legacy outdoor publications. They’re also celebrities-turned-outdoor-enthusiasts with audiences that stretch into the millions.
These are the seven public figures helping to shape modern outdoor culture in 2026—people for whom the outdoors isn't a brand partnership or a photo opportunity, but a genuine way of life.
Joe Rogan
- Who:
- One of the world’s most influential podcasters, with more than 20 million subscribers.
- What:
- Openly discusses hunting, wild game and outdoor ethics to million of listeners with long-form discussions and lived experience.
- Why it matters:
- Rogan helped shift hunting and outdoor culture from a niche interest into a mainstream cultural conversation.
There’s an argument that no single person has done more to bring hunting into mainstream American conversation in the last 20 years than Joe Rogan.
With over 20 million subscribers and an audience that spans political lines, age groups and continents, the Joe Rogan Experience is arguably the most influential independent media platform in the world right now. And for Rogan, the outdoors is more than just content. He hunts, he eats what he kills, and he talks about it with the same unfiltered directness he brings to every other topic on his show.
By his own admission, Rogan came into hunting later in life.
As Rogan explains: “I felt like my whole life I had eaten meat and I had never taken part in actually killing the animal. If you’re going to be a meat eater it’s the ethical way to do it.”
What makes Rogan genuinely significant to outdoor culture isn't just his reach. It's that he makes the case on first principles. He talks openly about wild game, responsibility, conservation and food provenance.
That argument lands with audiences who've never held a rifle and might never have considered why it matters. Not everyone agrees with him. But everyone's listening.
Chris Pratt
- Who:
- One of the most recognizable actors in Hollywood and a longtime advocate for hunting and self-sufficient living.
- What:
- Uses his platform to normalize hunting, wild game and outdoor living within mainstream entertainment.
- Why it matters:
- Few Hollywood figures have done more to make outdoor culture so unapologetically visible to a mass audience.
Chris Pratt could have kept quiet about hunting. With a $14 billion box office record and one of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood, the cultural incentives to stay neutral are obvious. Yet he never did.
Pratt has been one of the most visible hunting advocates in mainstream entertainment for over a decade—posting hunts on Instagram, speaking candidly in interviews, and brushing off the criticism that has inevitably followed. In an industry where public figures carefully calculate every position, that speaks volumes.
But it isn’t just the visibility that sets Pratt apart. It’s his ability to articulate what draws people outdoors in the first place.
Speaking on the Kevin Pollak Chat Show, Pratt described hunting not as a bloodthirsty pursuit, but as a chance to witness the natural world waking up around him. “It’s not about the kill,” Chris explains. “It’s about the journey of being there, and the work.”
That philosophy runs through his wider lifestyle. At Stillwater Ranch in Washington State, Pratt raises organic lamb, chicken and cattle, and has spoken openly about eating wild game he or his friends have harvested themselves.
Pratt gives hunting and the outdoors something they rarely receive from Hollywood: unapologetic visibility. He brings outdoor culture to a massive mainstream audience while remaining authentically connected to it himself.
Steve Harvey
- Who:
- One of America’s most recognizable television personalities and a lifelong outdoorsman who once relied on fishing to survive.
- What:
- Has turned a personal connection to the outdoors into mentorship programs, land stewardship and initiatives that introduce underserved communities to fishing.
- Why it matters:
- Harvey expands the reach of outdoor culture by showing how access to the outdoors can make a difference to people’s lives.
Steve Harvey’s place on this list might surprise some readers. The Family Feud host is one of the most recognizable faces in America, and not someone commonly associated with outdoor culture.
But long before television fame, Harvey was fishing to survive.
Speaking to Hook & Barrel as our March/April 2026 cover star, Harvey recalled traveling with little more than a rod, reel, skillet and tackle box. If he caught fish, he ate. If he didn’t, he went hungry.
“Fishing wasn’t fun for me,” Harvey explained. “It was about staying alive.”
One experience stayed with him. After a landowner forced him to throw back a catch that was meant to be his dinner, Harvey promised himself one day he would own land where nobody could take that opportunity away from him.
He kept that promise. Today, Harvey is the single largest landowner in Denton County, Texas, with more than 100 acres complete with multiple fishing ponds.
But Harvey’s contribution to outdoor culture isn’t built on recreation alone. It’s built on access, opportunity and community.
Through the Steve Harvey Mentoring Program, he uses fishing to introduce disadvantaged young men to the outdoors, while partnerships with Johnny Morris and Bass Pro Shops are helping create pathways into outdoor careers.
“Fishing is a common place to meet,” Harvey says. “You don’t see many fights out on a lake.”
Tyler Toney
- Who:
- Co-founder of Dude Perfect and one of the most influential digital creators of his generation.
- What:
- Built Dude Perfect Outdoors to encourage young audiences to engage with hunting, fishing and life beyond the screen.
- Why it matters:
- Toney is helping make outdoor participation aspirational for a generation that spends much of its life online.
Tyler Toney might not be a conventional celebrity. But then again, conventional celebrities don't usually have 62 million subscribers.
As a co-founder of Dude Perfect, Toney has spent more than a decade building one of the most successful entertainment brands on the internet. He is also an avid outdoorsman and one of the most influential figures introducing younger audiences to hunting and fishing.
Speaking to Hook & Barrel as part of our May/June 2026 cover story, Toney made a plea few media personalities with his reach would make.
"We like it when you watch Dude Perfect videos," he said. "But we love it when you don't. If you've got a choice between watching our videos and going outside, we say go outside every time."
That message is rooted in experience. Raised in the Texas Hill Country and a wildlife ecology graduate from Texas A&M, Toney grew up hunting and fishing alongside multiple generations of his family.
"I realized what a valuable experience that was for me growing up," he explains. "Things like hard work, being able to deal with adversity and fixing things on the fly, or that nature isn't fair.”
Today, he’s putting those values into practice through Dude Perfect Outdoors, a dedicated channel designed to introduce hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation to an established audience.
With the reach of Dude Perfect behind him, Toney is doing all he can to make the outdoors culturally relevant for a generation that spends so much of its life online.
Eva Shockey
- Who:
- A hunter, author, media personality and one of the most influential female voices in the outdoor industry.
- What:
- Built a platform that made hunting more visible and accessible to women while challenging traditional perceptions of who outdoor culture is for.
- Why it matters:
- As female participation continues to grow, Eva Shockey represents how many women see themselves in the outdoors.
Eva Shockey is a little different from everyone else on this list. And not only because she's female.
Unlike many names here, Shockey isn’t a celebrity who happens to enjoy the outdoors. She is an outdoor celebrity in the truest sense—a hunter, author, media personality and entrepreneur whose career has been built around the outdoor lifestyle.
The daughter of legendary Canadian outdoorsman Jim Shockey, Eva first found an audience co-hosting hunting television alongside her dad. What made her stand out was her willingness to learn in public.
"As soon as I started hunting and filming with my dad, the industry welcomed me in," Eva told Hook & Barrel. "People could relate to me; I showed that everyone has to start somewhere.”
That relatability helped her build a platform of more than 1.5 million followers, publish a bestselling book, and launch her own line of Bowtech compound bows. It also brought criticism. After a legal black bear hunt went viral in 2014, Shockey faced intense backlash but refused to retreat from public life.
Today, she stands at the center of one of the biggest shifts in modern outdoor culture: the rapid growth of female participation.
"I think the biggest shift is that women in the outdoors now are no longer participants in someone else's story,” Eva explains. “We’re telling our own stories in our own voices.”
In many respects, that story has only really just begun.
Cameron Hanes
- Who:
- A bowhunter, ultramarathoner, author and one of the most recognizable figures in modern outdoor culture.
- What:
- Built a following around the idea that success in the outdoors is earned through discipline, preparation and relentless physical and mental training.
- Why it matters:
- Hanes has helped bridge the gap between hunting and mainstream fitness culture, introducing a new audience to the values of the outdoors.
Like Eva Shockey, Cameron Hanes will be most recognizable to people with a vested interest in the outdoors. But that doesn't make him any less influential.
A bowhunter, ultramarathoner, author and personality with over two million followers, Hanes occupies a unique position in modern outdoor culture. He brings together hunting and fitness, fusing the discipline, preparation and mindset of elite athletics with the call of the outdoors.
What separates Hanes from most outdoor figures is the audience he attracts. His followers aren’t just hunters. They’re endurance athletes, gym enthusiasts, UFC fighters, and people drawn to the outdoors through his relentless example of physical and mental preparation.
Cameron’s motivation is simple: "If I was tougher, and more prepared physically and mentally for the challenges, I had the advantage in the mountains.”
That philosophy evolved into Keep Hammering, a message that resonates far beyond hunting. It’s a call to embrace discomfort, pursue excellence and take fitness more seriously than everyone else.
Regularly seen with Joe Rogan and Steve Rinella, Hanes sits at the centre of a network that is reshaping how a new generation thinks about the outdoors.
But he’s uncomfortable with the role model label. "I know all my weaknesses and the mistakes I make," Hanes told Hook & Barrel in 2023. "I'm just a small-town bow hunter."
The two million people watching him every day would disagree.
Steve Rinella
- Who:
- Author, conservationist, and founder of
- MeatEater
- , one of the most influential outdoor media brands in the world.
- What:
- Helped to reimagine outdoor media for the digital age, building a platform that reaches hunters, foodies, conservationists and mainstream audiences alike.
- Why it matters:
- Few people have done more to expand the reach of hunting and outdoor culture beyond its traditional audience.
There is a certain symmetry to ending with Steve Rinella. His influence runs through the entire list.
Rinella shaped Joe Rogan’s hunting philosophy. He sits at the centre of the modern hunting media ecosystem. And by any reasonable measure, he is amongst the most influential figures in outdoor media today.
Starting as a freelance writer and author, Rinella built MeatEater into one of the most significant outdoor media brands in the world. What began with books and long-form journalism evolved into a Netflix series, a flagship podcast and a YouTube channel with millions of followers.
Just as importantly, Rinella helped hunting media navigate the transition from the cable television era to the digital world that replaced it.
But behind the success is a conservationist philosophy that has always set him apart.
"I was a tree hugger without recognizing it," Rinella told Hook & Barrel. "So are many, not all, but many, hunters and anglers.”
Through MeatEater, Steve has built a following that includes foodies, conservationists, environmentalists and people who’ve never even held a firearm. That instinct to reach beyond the traditional hunting audience defines Rinella’s work.
Steve’s mission is simple: "If we're going to protect the future of hunting and the shooting sports, we have to grow them beyond the same base that we currently have."
That’s why, whatever order you read this in, Rinella belongs at the heart of the modern outdoor conversation.
