Written by Justin Park|
Last updated
Stephen McNeil moved to Georgia after more than 50 years living, working, and hunting in Colorado. Seeking land, he found himself on HLRBO.com looking for a place to hunt.
Four years later, he’s now working for the company in a leadership role. The job as Field Representative Manager puts McNeil in charge of a fleet of reps vetting properties around the U.S.
McNeil spent a career in the grocery industry while hunting waterfowl and upland birds in his free time. The HLRBO role blends that passion into an encore career where he connects daily with landowners and a team of regional reps bringing more properties online.
We spoke to McNeil about his journey from Colorado to Georgia, and from a corporate job to one where he spends his time outdoors and in the field.
From Western Waterfowl to Swamp Bucks
McNeil spent 38 years working for grocery giant Kroger in the Greater Denver area. In the COVID years, he was ready for change, sold his house in Colorado, and took a transfer to Atlanta where his in-laws are based.
McNeil grew up hunting mostly upland birds and small game but ultimately became a waterfowl nut. “I went duck hunting once, got hooked on quack in a major way and I started chasing ducks and geese,” says McNeil.
Moving to the South as a born-and-raised Colorado lifer also meant leaving behind his bird hunting club memberships. McNeil quickly discovered the Georgia waterfowl hunting wasn’t on-par with what he knew from Eastern Colorado, Nebraska, and Kansas and so he pivoted to chasing whitetail deer in Georgia.
“I kind of see what I've been missing this whole time,” he says. “It's been neat learning about hunting whitetail in the South. And turkey hunting, too, but not so much ducks and geese anymore.”
While looking for hunting land for his new hobby on HLRBO, he saw an opening for the Field Rep program and started working for the platform. A Gen X former Marine, he’s hardly the stereotypical content creator, but his ability to capture media and tell stories about HLRBO listings (plus his background as a high-level manager) elevated him to his current role as HLRBO Field Representative Manager for the U.S. and Canada.
How Field Reps Help Landowners and Hunters
The Field Rep program at HLRBO was only started in 2024 but quickly made an impact for both hunters and landowners. As a rep for the Southeast, McNeil walked properties in South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, and Florida and helped landowners create listings that did their properties justice, adding photos, videos, and the “Field Rep Notes” you can read on HLRBO listings.
“We’ve started to see good success for landowners getting their properties leased {after a Field Rep visit},” McNeil says. “Because let’s be honest, if you’re a hunter and you see a listing with no photos and a basic description, that’s not enough to give someone thousands of dollars.”
HLRBO now has a network of dozens of Field Reps overseen by McNeil that’s helping grow the pool of available leases across the country and showing landowners how to attract qualified lessees. While he's in a more managerial role now, McNeil still regularly visits HLRBO properties across the country, including back in Colorado which gave him an opportunity to reconnect with hunting buddies in a goose pit.
McNeil says many landowners don’t even realize that leasing their land to hunters is an option and appreciate how HLRBO provides a simple pathway to reach that audience to make passive income from their land.
Many also don’t realize that HLRBO Field Reps will come walk their property and create content for their listing — for free. If you're a landowner and want to improve your listing to attract more interest from hunters and to command the best possible fee, reach out to [email protected] to get in touch with a Field Rep in your area.
Justin Park is a Colorado-based writer, editor, and avid hunter with a passion for the outdoors. He contributes to leading publications such as GearJunkie, Popular Mechanics, Powder, and Men's Journal, and serves as Editor of Wild Snow. Park is deeply involved in conservation and recreation advocacy, serving as Chapter Chair of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (RMEF) in Summit County. He also represents RMEF on a state recreation committee focused on proactively addressing land use conflicts.