Big&J ‘s attractants help deer and hog hunters across the country improve their land and improve their hunting success
Story from Big & J
Not too many years ago, Jeremy Atkins was an unknown Nebraska road construction worker who loved to deer hunt. He planned each season’s success meticulously by running his trail cameras and setting his stands up in the summer. In true desire to capture the best intel on his local herd before each season, he began mixing his own attractant using a unique blend that he created.
Today, Atkins is the founder and a partner in Big&J Industries®, which in just a few short years has swept to the lead in creating the most sought-after deer and hog attractants on the market.
It’s hard to believe what is now a multimillion-dollar business began in a two-car garage. Atkins would weigh out select minerals on a bathroom scale and then using a shovel and a rake, mix them in his kids’ plastic swimming pool before scooping the attractant into 55-gallon barrels.
“I was making the product in my garage to give to my deer to put in front of my trail cameras. Point unseen, which was the whole purpose. To sell the product was never a goal; it was never a dream. It wasn’t even an idea,” Atkins explains. But then he gave some to his buddies to try, and the response was overwhelming. All of his friends began seeing more deer, and as a result, they urged him to start selling his special attractant blend. Atkins began to entertain the idea.
Eventually, he sought out a Grand Island, NB feed manufacturer responsible for feeding millions of cattle a day, and the rest is history. Big&J Industries® is now part of the Performance Plus Outdoors family of products, which also includes Swagger Bipods®.
“We bought his first 5,000 bags for him,” says Performance Plus President Casey Macken. “Now that doesn’t even make a day’s production.”
It was after the company management met with Atkins and allowed some of their friends to test his product firsthand in front of their trail cameras that they realized partnering with him and helping him better distribute his unique mix would be a win-win for hunters as well as the company.
Performance Plus CEO Jerry Heidelk stated that before many of the management team’s friends tried Big&J®, they were capturing around 30 pictures a piece on their trail cameras each day. When they tried the Big&J® mix, however, those numbers leaped into the hundreds. It wasn’t only the does that were increasing in numbers, Big&J® brought in the bucks…and lots of them.
“It was like ‘wow!’ It’s not just good, it’s great,” Heidelk says. Under Performance Plus Outdoors ownership, and the company’s history in creating quality, custom feed mixes for livestock, Big&J Industries® has grown market share with mixes that not only attract game but also improve the nutrients available to them. The company has also won over a lot of fans, including a number of celebrity hunters such as Bone Collector’s Michael Waddell and Struttinbuck’s J. Heath Graham.
“I’ve never seen an attractant be a buck magnet like Big&J®,” says Waddell, whose praise doesn’t end there. “Our audience has the best passion of any other culture out there and so many times the hunting companies don’t match that same passion. They’re looking at dollar signs; they’re looking at just another business to get into. Big&J® isn’t about that. They’re about making a good quality product, but also associating themselves with great people who share that passion-whether it’s the pro staff, the TV shows they’re a part of or their customers. They bring that same care to the way they handle each and every relationship.”
Today, Big&J® makes an entire line of mixes and attractants designed to be the best at drawing game in close and providing deer and hogs with nutrition to improve health and to grow them big. Top products include BB2™ (available in a mix, liquid or cube form), Legit™, Pour It On™, Deadly Dust™, Pigs Dig It™, Meltdown™, Headrush™, Liquid Luck™ new aerosols, and others.
