The Complete Angler Podcast: #45-Melanie MacCarthy

Welcome to The Complete Angler, your source of information on the outdoor industry in Central Canada.
With over 35 years in the field, host Don Lamont covers topics and issues with industry leaders and influencers to bring you up to speed on what’s happening in the outdoor world.
And now, here is your host, Don Lamont.
Melanie grew up on a cattle ranch near Edistone, Manitoba.
She left home after graduating from high school to complete six years of university, ultimately becoming an occupational therapist.
After nine years, she decided to switch gears, focusing on her children while pursuing her greater passion to develop a family business.
In 2014, Melanie and her husband started their outfitting business, North Mountain Adventures, and have worked hard to expand the operation to what it is now.
In 2020, they began renting out their four-season cabins, allowing them to share their love of the country and outdoor life with guests from around the world.
In 2021, the dream of filming their outdoor adventures came to life, and they signed on with Wild TV, Canada’s Hunching and Fishing Network, which is currently airing season three.
Hey, Melanie, welcome to the show.
It’s great to have you on.
Hey, Don.
Thanks so much for having me.
I appreciate it.
Well, you were in a bit of a whirlwind tour, and, you know, we’re trying to get you on, but you were down, where were you, Missouri?
Yeah.
The most recent travels was to Missouri, yes.
Now, tell us a little bit about why you were going down there.
So, the initial intention for Missouri was to do some filming for the first few days for our TV show, and then we managed to sneak in a little bit of relaxing with some friends that have been hunting with us for a little while.
So, got to enjoy the Lake of the Ozarks at the end of the trip, so that was good.
Well, that’s one of the reasons I have you on the show, Mel, because you are a content creator.
You have had a show for three years.
This is your fourth season?
Correct, yes.
We are filming right now for season four.
And how’s it going?
So far, so good.
So far, so good.
It’s definitely going to be the most dynamic season that we’ve had to date, which is exciting.
There’ll be a pretty good mix of content and some stateside stuff as well.
So, yeah, it’s going good.
Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but you also involve your family in the show as well, do you not?
Correct.
We do, yes.
And this season will definitely be the most of family content that you’ll see.
It’s been great feedback we’ve had since the beginning was a lot of the viewers really are captivated by that family piece of it and seeing the kids involved and how that kind of changes the content.
And so, as Kirsten gets older, our youngest, it gets easier and easier to have her involved as well.
So, yeah.
So, it’s very much both kids involved and doing what we love.
Are they enjoying the experience?
They most definitely are.
Kirsten was impressive this time.
We had a 17-hour road trip, and she is not a good traveler, typically.
So, this was going to be the ultimate test for her.
So, she did amazing on the travels.
Absolutely loved the whole experience.
And, yeah, they’re having a blast doing it.
Now, you live out in the country, and I understand that you grew up on a cattle ranch.
Tell us a little bit about your background.
Yes, I did.
Yeah, we do currently live in the country on what you’d probably consider a hobby farm.
But I did grow up in the country, spent the first 18 years of my life on a big cattle farm, somewhere between the Narrows and Eddystone.
If you’re familiar with Manitoba, a lot of people call it Wapa Bay or Rickovic, a couple of terms that people call it.
But, yeah, big cattle farm with my two sisters and parents, and it was definitely some of the best years of my life.
Country living is not for everybody, but it was a blast and learned a lot of amazing things growing up on a farm and being incredibly active, to be honest.
It was very much a family-run farm.
We were part of every part of it, right, from calving to, you know, being in the field and running lunches out to field, and every part of a family farm you can imagine, we were in it.
So, it was good.
Where did you end up going to high school?
I went to high school in St. Rose.
Interestingly enough, not the closest school to us, but geographically, we were just a few miles from the Narrows, which has the long bridge that separates, which is why they call it the Narrows, separates Lake Manitoba there.
And the school bus would not cross that bridge.
That was the cutoff.
So, we were geographically closer to Asher in Manitoba, but we went to school in St. Rose and graduated from there.
Is that where you met your husband?
Yes and no.
Interestingly, that’s probably a neat story.
So, in hindsight, we actually knew each other when we were, would have been kindergarten age.
Looking back at pictures, we had been horseback riding together as little ones.
Parents were friends.
We didn’t necessarily know that until years later.
Not something that was kept up for years.
We had just, parents had done some horseback riding together as we were young.
And then, years later, we went to different grade schools.
But then, in high school, my now husband, Craig, joined our high school.
And so, we did actually graduate together and did Dayton high school.
And, you know, one of those high school sweetheart stories and got married a few years later.
And here we are.
Well, you talked about horseback riding.
Now, you also, don’t you have some horses on your ranch?
We do.
We do.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Our horses have been, always been a big part of both of our lives.
Right from the time I was little, horseback riding and my grandparents did chuck wagon and chariot racing.
And so, we, I spent my summers following the rodeo circuit and falls up on horseback in the park, calling elk and, and Craig very much the same from the horseback side of things.
So, we have been fortunate to keep that going for our children and have currently five horses here at our place.
And always something interesting going on with the horses.
So, what happened after high school?
After high school, I went off to university.
I went, did a four-year undergrad degree in Brandon, Brandon, Manitoba.
Got a grad or bachelor of arts degree with a major in psychology.
And then I went to Winnipeg and got my Master of Occupational Therapy degree and worked, yeah.
So, worked for numerous years as an occupational therapist.
And Craig went straight in with Manitoba Hydro.
So, he was working right after, right after school.
And we made that work for some time.
And, and then, yeah, I got a, got a job as an occupational therapist in, which is now called Prairie Mountain Health near, or in Dauphin here in this region.
And, yeah, I did that for nine years.
And then, all of a sudden, things changed.
Oh, man.
I don’t even, you know, it’s such a loaded story, to be honest.
2014 was probably when things really started to shift.
So, I was still working full-time as an occupational therapist.
We had, that’s the year we started North Mountain Adventures, which in its infancy was just a small outfitting business that was running some bare licenses.
And it’s also the same year that I started into network marketing, which is interesting, kind of little side story to that.
But that is the year that, that I also gained that as a bit of a side career and a side income.
And so, I moved into, as I said, the occupational therapy.
And a few years later, I actually started working as a private occupational therapist as well.
So, for a period of about five years, we had me working a full-time job in, as an occupational therapist in the public health region.
Part-time therapist, privately contracted through a company in Winnipeg.
Me doing my network marketing and then, of course, had started our outfitting business and Craig working full-time with Hydro.
So, there was a period of time that most thought we were absolutely insane, how we were juggling all of the things.
And I do look back and wonder how the heck we made it all work.
But it really was, it was an interesting time and it was a catalyst to where we are today.
We both still agree that it was my experience with network marketing that actually really was the entrance point to where we both started to do a lot of leadership training and mindset training and did, attended a lot of events.
So, some of the, honestly, the best in the business got to get to Tony Robbins events, John Maxwell, Mel Robbins, some big, big names that really, really helped shift both of our minds into that entrepreneur mindset.
And it’s where, at that point, it was a couple of years later that I left my occupational therapy career and really went full tilt into entrepreneurship.
Wow.
And so, as we mentioned at the top of the show that you’re going, you’re shooting your fourth season.
And I understand that you just signed with the U.S. Network as well, Mel.
Yeah, yeah.
So, that’s pretty cool.
We are filming, like I said, season four and we will still be with Wild TV.
We have an awesome relationship with them.
So, that won’t change.
But we did launch with Carbon TV on June 11th.
And so, that one is a global streaming platform.
So, that one you can access from around the world.
And we’re pretty excited about that.
It’s something unique.
So, we’re interested to see how that goes and makes it a little bit more accessible for our international viewers.
Well, if you didn’t have enough on your plate already, one of the positions you recently took on was the president of the Manitoba Lodges and the Outfitters.
How long have you been involved with the MLOA?
Yeah, yeah.
That is definitely a recent shift.
So, you know, it’s interesting.
I should have taken the time to look back exactly when I started.
But I believe it was around 2019 that I got involved with the MLOA sitting on the board as just a junior director.
So, really just kind of a backseat to watch what was happening from a, you know, a management standpoint.
And I really, I was intrigued very early on.
I really believe in being involved in your community and involved in the industry, whichever that is for you.
And so, it was an exciting jump into this whole position that I have now.
Now, you also recently were out to Parliament Hill for a series of meetings with the Progressive Conservative Party.
And that must have been an eye-opening experience for you.
Yes, I did get to make the travels to Ottawa.
To say, yeah, it was an interesting experience would be an understatement.
I think any time you can get yourself to what, you know, what would be the capital city of whatever country you may live in,
it just comes with its own aura, so to speak.
And so, it felt interesting stepping into that city and into that atmosphere.
I learned a lot, met a lot of great people, really had no expectations.
So, I think it was probably a good thing, just entered the room and entered the experience with a wide open mind
and willing to meet some people and learn whatever, you know, was there to be learned.
And it was fantastic.
I left there with a very, I mean, I’ll be honest, a lot of the content is, you know, it’s dismal, so to speak, in some ways.
You’re talking about all the issues there are out there, right?
And you’re hoping to get to some solutions.
But, you know, in a bird’s eye view at it, I thought it was fantastic.
It really left me with a feeling of, you know, we can do this and a strong need for collaboration across the industry
and the various different associations and individuals that were there.
It was a very strong tone across the board that, you know, the need is stronger than ever to work together.
Now, a lot of people might know what the Manitoba Lodges and Outfitters does.
So, maybe you could explain what is the role of the organization?
Right, so the MLOA in general is there to be a voice for its members and for the industry, right?
So, as the name or as the title suggests, we represent the various licensed lodges in the province as well as the Outfitters.
And so, interestingly, I mean, there are a number of very different issues for each of those operators.
And so, at times it can be a bit convoluted, all the different pieces there are to represent.
But the intention is very much to be the strongest voice for all the operators and get to the table with the various stakeholders
and make decisions that keep the future in mind and the bigger picture and really speak to all the needs of our members.
I think the real key is that we have a fairly diverse board.
Like, you have Outfitters that deal with fishing and hunting.
You have fishing only.
You have hunting only.
And we even have some ecotourism.
And we just recently formed an ecotourism committee, which is very exciting for me.
Correct, yeah.
And I really see that piece of it as a need to be grown.
I think a lot of folks that even started out as just an outfitter see the value in the ecotourism side of it as well.
And then there’s obviously those that are simply ecotourism and they’re not in the hunt side at all.
But they’re a really important, impactful representation within our province.
So that is definitely an exciting one.
And like you said, we do have operators in various different sectors.
Some are all of the above and some are just one.
And so, again, all of your decisions and all of your conversations, you know, you have to do your best to keep all of those different needs in mind.
And sometimes it’s difficult.
You know, you’ve got everywhere from, you know, the ma and pa businesses that are doing what they love.
And then you have the really, you know, large lodges that decisions are different for all of them.
But our job is to work for everybody.
Well, a two-part question.
First of all, I’m going to ask, what does the future hold for the Manitoba Lodges and Outfitters?
What direction do you think you’re going to take them as president?
And secondly, then we’re going to go back to your TV show and North Mountain Adventures and see what the future holds for that.
But first, maybe let’s deal with the lodges and outfitters.
And what direction do you see for the future?
Okay.
Well, that’s a loaded question.
But I think, you know, coming into this position, I didn’t necessarily, I mean, I knew the direction I think that it needs to go.
But again, there’s always so many different aspects and different moving parts that can stall or completely eliminate what you want to have happen.
But I believe very strongly that success in any association or organization needs solid leadership, for starters, and it needs stable leadership, and as well as a stable and strong team and foundation.
And those are critical to making anything happen.
Communication is top of the list.
And I think we’re getting better and better at that all the time with our newsletter and a new website and, you know, social media, all these pieces that are really critical to communicating with our members.
Ultimately, I really want to see MLOA be a household name in the industry.
I really think that we are and should be a respected seat at the table in any conversation.
And any time MLOA can be one of those first, you know, organizations that stakeholders think of in conversations, I think we’re winning.
And I would like to see the association grow, both in its membership size and the capacity of what we can do.
We have a very dynamic team and the capacity to do a lot more than we are doing.
Obviously, there are barriers to that, and those are things that we need to continue to work on.
But I do think in years to come, MLOA can certainly evolve into a few other things.
So, again, that’s going to take stability and leadership and foundation, and that would be the short-term answer, I suppose, at this point.
Okay, that’s great.
Thanks for that.
So, let’s talk about North Mountain Adventures.
It sounds like things are going well, things are growing, expanding, and so what does the future hold?
Goodness.
Sometimes I don’t even know, Don.
I’m trying to keep up with my own ideas and then Craig’s ideas, and for those that know my husband, he’s a visionary, and somehow he manages to manifest the things that he comes up with in his brain.
And I try to keep him on the reasonable level, but sometimes he’s dreaming a little bigger than I can quite catch up to.
So, I definitely think, you know, yeah, we’ve expanded our outfitting business a couple of times and certainly looking to continue to do that.
Although, having said that, a lot of our clients, they love what we do because we are a family-based business, and it’s a manageable size, and it’s, you know, it’s not grown to that level that just takes away that uniqueness of that family piece.
So, there is that expansion that we’d like to see.
The TV show, for sure, we’re going to continue to work at that.
We started out with a goal in mind, a five-year plan, and we’ve definitely hit that mark.
So, it looks like we’re probably wheels on the ground and going to keep going at it, and I think we’d like to see that be a worldwide offering to viewers across the world and something that we’ve received great feedback on.
And we do pride ourselves in offering authentic stories, authentic experiences.
They’re pretty well uncut.
What you see is what you get, and we believe very strongly in telling the truth of what we do out in the outdoors, whether that’s, you know, a big, exciting hunt where you’ve gone after an animal you’ve been after for a long time, or if that’s a meat hunt, or if that’s fishing, or if that’s, you know, unfortunately a wounded animal.
It’s a reality of what happens out there, and that’s what we tell the story of.
So, I think we’ll, yeah, we’ll continue to work at that, and there’s always things here on the property with our cabin rentals that I like to see happen and, you know, improve experience for guests in that capacity, too.
So, it’s an always evolving story, Don.
Well, it’s great.
So, we can find you at North Mountain Adventures on YouTube.
Where else?
Yes, you can find us on YouTube, for sure, and Facebook, Instagram are a couple of great places.
Again, Wild TV, the show is, it’s a first and second quarter show, so it’s not currently airing on the TV, but you can get it on the Wild TV Plus app any time of the year.
Carbon TV, of course, you can watch the show, and, you know, I’m not on the TikTok thing, but Craig does manage a North Mountain Adventures account on TikTok.
So, if you’re a TikToker, you can find him on there.
I don’t even know what he posts.
I think he roasts me on sometimes on TikTok, but.
You’re also busy on social media with the Manitoba Lodges and Outfitters.
What is, where can you find their website?
Yeah, so Manitoba Lodges and Outfitters, you can find at MLOA.com.
Don does a phenomenal job of trying to keep things up to date on the website, and then social media-wise, you can find MLOA on Instagram and Facebook currently.
Well, you’ve had a long week, Melanie, so I’m going to let you go with your family and relax for a little bit.
Thanks so much for coming on the show.
Awesome.
Well, thanks, Don.
I really appreciate you having me on here.
It’s been fun.
Thanks for tuning in.
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