Time for us to move on...Thank you for your years of support!

NGI_TOM

New member
Dear Predator Masters Family,

It is with a heavy heart that we formally announce that TNVC and Night Goggles will be leaving Predator Masters. We will no longer be participating in sponsorship of the forums, the Predator Masters, Hunt and Convention, giveaways, or any other capacity.

TNVC and Night Goggles have been a top-tier site sponsor for the past decade. We have donated over $100,000 in sponsorship money and prizes for the convention. We have donated countless hours of our time, knowledge and experience to the forums as
well as conducting seminars at the convention.

Without getting into too much detail, with the recent “changing of the guards” here, we were not given an opportunity to be a top-tier sponsor any longer. In fact, we were not even considered. Without explanation, no less. We cannot dedicate any more time, donate any more prizes or spend any more money with an organization that doesn’t show any loyalty to those that support them.

We want to thank all those individuals who have made Predator Masters such a great place to hang out, and for me personally, a home for the past 20+ years. I have made some incredible friendships that have developed into lifelong relationships. I appreciate all the support and love that you have shown to me personally. I would not be where I am today without Predator Masters and I will never forget that.

To our customers, friends and supporters, we love you and thank you for your business and support.

Tom Austin Director LAWDOG, PredatorStrikeforce, NGI_TOM (recipient of The Will Craig Award 2016)

Victor DiCosola CEO Victor_TNVC (recipient of The Will Craig Award 2017)

Korey Kirschenmann Product Specialist Kirsch

The Will Craig Award, Predator Masters Convention 2016
 
I want to thank Vic, Korey, Tom and TNVC/Night Goggles for all their support over the years.

I wish them all continued success. Hopefully at some point there will be another opportunity for them with PM and I hope to keep that door open.

I welcome them to stay on as members of PM and continue to contribute in any way they see fit.

Mo
 
Originally Posted By: NGI_TOM
Without getting into too much detail, with the recent “changing of the guards” here, we were not given an opportunity to be a top-tier sponsor any longer. In fact, we were not even considered. Without explanation, no less. We cannot dedicate any more time, donate any more prizes or spend any more money with an organization that doesn’t show any loyalty to those that support them.



wow. i guess if the new guard didn't give you an explanation, they sure as heck won't or can't give the membership an explanation. but i would guess a lot would like to know.

this is not a good way to start off with the new and improved predator masters.
 
We have invited Tom and Korey to continue posting. We have no intention of shutting down their memberships.
 
When a 20 year sponsor leaves, "new and improved" isn't getting off to a very good start. Lets hope there aren't many more that follows.
 
Well this really sucks!

Both Tom and Korey have been more than helpful to me in the past. I called once to inquire about a tripod, and ended up talking with Tom. Not only did he talk about tripods, but offered tips on setups particular to night calling vs day calling, and went out of his way to be genuinely helpful to someone just because we had a shared interest. He did the same when my buddy called to get a tripod after I received mine. He didn’t just try to sale his product, but took the time to talk hunting. Korey’s posts and videos are top tier. He’s answered questions I’ve had through PMs and sent links to gear he used that I wanted to try and is also a genuinely nice and helpful guy.

I hope they both stay around!
 
Folks, recently a situation came up regarding sponsorship and advertising, and as the membership you asked for and deserve an explanation.

As you may have seen, in January we lost two of our long-time directors, Jeff Mock and Redfrog, with very little notice. At that time, our first priority was on reforming the board. The first new director we brought on was our long-time webmaster Stu Farish. From that time on, Stu and I have done things by vote. We discussed and decided to ask Troy (DesertRam) to join the board. Once we had the board back to 3 we voted to expand the minimum size of the board to 5 directors. We also voted to expand the board to 7 members total and continued to ask for nominations and we discussed every potential board member. Some of you got pm’s from regarding that opportunity. Some accepted, others did not. We eventually got Dave (DAA), James (Skinney), Mark (Reb8600) and Kerry (carvercalls) to join the board.

When we began reforming the board, we knew that we were going to need income. At that time, we had had NO paying sponsors for over a year. We did not make any decisions about advertising until we had the board reformed. When we got the board reformed, we began figuring out what we wanted/needed to do for PM and what we needed in terms of marketing/advertising/sponsorship.

We began putting out feelers to see what we could/should do and what the market could bear. We got some idea about what we might be able to expect from the market and, while doing this market research, we had a company ask us about coming on as a sponsor. We began to discuss a potential agreement. At that time, we received an email from one of our previous sponsors about the changes at PM and concerns they had. Because we were already talking to a potential sponsor, we did not feel that we could discuss those negotiations with another sponsor.

When we got the details of the agreement ironed out, the board voted to accept the agreement with that new sponsor.

When that agreement was finalized, we did reach out to offer our previous sponsor a marketing opportunity. That sponsor decided that it was not something they wanted to accept.

We believe that the sponsorship level opportunity that we are offering is fair. It was on par with what they have had in the past, and there were some things in the agreement that were beyond what they had in the past. But it was not what they expected nor were willing to agree to.

We have to take ownership of this. We opted to maintain the confidentiality of the negotiations. It was not due to anything nefarious. We would do that for any sponsor/company or PM member. We had an industry partner interested in helping us to iron out things in our forum as well as become a sponsor and we felt that we needed to complete those discussions before we could reach out to another potential sponsor.

Some members may not want to accept our explanation. That's what it is, an explanation. We don't know that it will repair relationships or assuage fears but we as your BOD and mods agreed that you had a right at least to a basic explanation, and we appreciate your concerns and questions.

We are working to be as transparent as we can be with things like this, so I hope this helps you to understand the situation, and we want to let you know we are working to see to it that measures are in place to avoid situations like this in the future.

Mo
 
I guess I will step right in it.

Thank you for the explanation Mo. It is enough for me.

I have worked business turnaround in the past which is basically what you guys are doing here, now. I know the issues with turnaround in general and can appreciate what is having to be done here at PM to try and get it going back the right direction again. Turnaround sucks, period. Most decisions at the bottom line are based on money, which in a turnaround is never there in the quantities it is needed. Many times you are faced with a series of decisions, none of which are what you would prefer to do. Nonetheless, one of those decisions has to be made or nothing moves forward.

You guys are doing it the right way IMO by voting on everything. Whether the decisions are right or wrong will be much debated and discussed, but that is always the way it is. Turnaround nearly always gets worse for a little while, before it gets better. But you just have to keep moving towards the goal and don't stop pushing.

No doubt this post will earn me some detractors. But having been in a similar position in times past I recognize that sometimes on the dark days the people doing the work need to see some support. They need to see not just through hidden PM's, but in public, there is support for the job they do. Thankless though it may seem at times.
 
Thanks for the comments and thoughts. We will keep doing things the best way we know how.

Please feel free to share ideas, etc by pm'ing me or any or your bods or mods
 
There you have it folks.

Some missing info. We reached out to the board a few days ago with some concerns about a competitor, who isn’t a sponsor, advertising on the night calling forum. Which has never been allowed in the past. I was told at that time that they were revamping the sponsorship program. I expressed my excitement for the new board and congratulated them on their new positions. I also expressed interest in helping organize the hunt and convention, then I reminded the board of our support and loyalty and asked them to please consider us for a top-tier sponsorship when they are revamping the program.

We learned yesterday that the new board gave our direct competitor our tier 1 sponsorship spot. A company that has never been a sponsor of or supported this organization. Afterwards, we were offered a tier 2 position at best. Needless to say, we felt submarined after showing our support for so many years. Not sure why it was NEVER offered to us, and they cannot offer us an explanation to that either. We have decided to go somewhere else where the playing field is level and does not give advantage to a direct competitor.

We wish the Predator Masters members the best and we’ll see you in the sage…
 
As someone who has been in the middle of multiple company "shakeups" this feels all too familiar no matter how hard you try someone always ends up feeling sour in the end. I will also express my thanks to the board for at least trying to keep things as transparent as possible. The transparency is a welcoming step in the right direction no matter what the decisions are.
 
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