Open Season - Next-Level Outdoors
Open Season streamlines the complex process of planning and booking hunting trips nationwide, offering hunters and outdoor enthusiasts a centralized platform to find verified providers, navigate regulations, and manage reservations efficiently.
Background
For hunters and other outdoor-enthusiasts, planning a hunting trip or outdoor activity can be complex and time-consuming, often involving extensive research, coordination, and communication with service providers. Plus, finding reputable providers and scheduling hunts across the nation can present significant challenges, especially for individuals who are unfamiliar with local regulations, seasons, and terrain.
Problem
Many hunters and outdoor enthusiasts face difficulties in efficiently scheduling hunting trips and outdoor activities with reliable providers. The process often involves navigating through fragmented information sources, making multiple inquiries, and dealing with varying booking procedures, which can lead to confusion, delays, and missed opportunities for desired hunts or experiences.
Need
There is a need for a centralized platform that simplifies the process of scheduling hunting trips and outdoor activities nationwide. The solution should provide easy access to reputable service providers, streamline booking procedures, and offer comprehensive information on hunting seasons, regulations, and available services.
Solution
The Open Season app allows hunters and outdoor enthusiasts to easily schedule hunting trips and outdoor activities with providers across the nation. The app is a centralized platform where users can browse verified providers, check availability, book hunts, and manage their reservations efficiently. By integrating information on hunting seasons, regulations, and local providers, Open Season aims to enhance the planning and booking experience for hunters and outdoor enthusiasts alike.
Market research
A study conducted by the U.S. of Fish & Wildlife Service showed an increase in the number of hunters and anglers over the last five years.
The survey, conducted every five years since 1955, showed that almost 38 percent of Americans participated in some wildlife-related activity in 2011; that's 2.6 million more people than the last survey conducted in 2006. In addition, that fraction of the population spent $145 billion on gear, trips, tags, licenses, and land leasing and ownership, accounting for about 1 percent of the United States’ gross domestic product.
In addition, a reported 13.7 million people, about 6 percent of the total population over the age of 16, went hunting, and spent a total of $34 billion. That is an average of $2,484 per hunter.
A 2016 demographic profile from the National Sporting Goods Association in its report, “Sports Participation in 2016, Shooting Sports” prepared for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, reveals that in 82.2% of rifle hunters are male, with an average age of 43.2 years old. Females, who make up the remaining 17.8% of rifle hunters, have an average age of 36.9 years old.
Americans who went hunting in the last 12 months, by age (18–64 years)
Information hunters need to know when planning a hunting trip:
- Hunting license fees/hunting tags (in state/out of state)
- Length of stay (how many days of hunting does the fees cover)
- What to expect in a typical day of hunting, type of accommodations
- What can you expect for meals, your hunting guides background
- What to expect during the day of hunting (physical requirements)
- What to bring (clothing, equipment, etc. appropriate firearm for the type of game being hunted
- Location (how to get to the lodge/hunting camp driving/flying etc.
- Success rate of previous hunter, photos of previous hunters harvested game
- How long is the average shot on the game being harvested testimonials of previous hunters
- Processing the harvested game (how will the hunter make arrangements to have the meat processed and shipped to him/her if the location is remote.
- Arrangements for getting taxidermy through the facility for the animal harvested
- Shower, sink and cooking facilities. Whether a hunter could clean game on site (especially birds or fish), whether a hunter could bring dog.
- Weather forecast
- Other activities while in the hunting camp (fishing, horseback riding, etc.
Competitive analysis
Regular B&Bs do not provide hunting related information. Most hunting B&Bs do not have mobile apps for booking.
| Next-Level Outdoors | BookYourHunt | Hunters B&B Book by email/phone |
B&B Hunting Services Book by email/phone |
AirB&B | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Create new acct | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| Log in/out | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| Chat | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Payment | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| Search by: | |||||
| Location | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Date range | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Price range | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Amenities | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Facilities | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| House rules | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Neighborhood | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Host language | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| Species | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Comb hunt | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Hunters count | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Guest count | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Trips with discount | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Package hunts | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Cancellation hunts | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| New hunts | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Outfitter | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Game classification | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Hunting method | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Guiding preference | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Hunt difficulty | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Territory | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Trip duration | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Entertainment | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Personas
Journey map
Style tiles
Design system
Hunter app prototype
Outfitter app prototype
In addition to the app for hunters, the outfitters themselves needed an admin tool to manage bookings, hunts, and ratings. This backend interface allowed outfitters to create new hunts, upload images, review ratings, and connect with the hunters about their bookings.
Admin app prototype
Beyond the outfitter backend, Open Season - Next Level Outdoors also needed an admin interface in order to add the outfitters themselves to enable them to add hunts and details about their services. This interface allowed Open Season - Next Level Outdoors the same access to all of the outfitters data.
Conclusion
The Open Season - Next-Level Outdoors app revolutionizes the planning and booking experience for hunters and outdoor enthusiasts by providing a centralized, user-friendly platform. With seamless access to verified providers, comprehensive information on hunting seasons and regulations, and streamlined booking procedures, users can now efficiently schedule their trips and focus on enjoying their outdoor adventures. Open Season transforms complex trip planning into a hassle-free, enjoyable process.