46 Nebraskaland • July 2024
fi shing than him. Some of those people became mentors,
sharing their knowledge and pulling him back in.
Riley bought a used bow on an online marketplace and had
many unsuccessful deer hunts on public land near Lincoln.
Still, he was hooked.
"I think it was how much time I spent in the woods with
nothing happening," Riley said. "There were a lot of times
where it was just anticipation, and every time a squirrel
would bark or run up and down a tree, I'd think it was a deer,
and I would start getting the shakes."
Seeing his passion, an uncle who had quit deer hunting
took Riley under his wing and guided him on a rifl e hunt
that ended in his fi rst deer. "The feeling I had once I was
down on the ground with that deer was the most surreal and
overtaking feeling I think I have ever had," he said.
He has since hunted, fi shed and backcountry camped in
several states, and he even fi shed in Costa Rica. "I would say
the biggest reason I like these things and engage in them is I
get a surreal feeling in myself, just like peace and calmness,
when I'm in nature. It's a good chance to reset and just fi nd
yourself in the world again."
Big Gumdrop Outdoors
One day in high school, Riley and his friends were sitting
in class giving each other goofy nicknames. "Shorter and
fluffier" than he is today, his friends tabbed him with Big
Gumdrop, a name that stuck.
In 2019, Riley began Big Gumdrop Outdoors, posting videos
of his hunting and fishing exploits on YouTube, TikTok and
Riley shows Henry Robert-Innocent and other Malone Center students how to cast during a fi eld trip to a private pond near
Lincoln. "I would say a lot of the populations that I want to work with are the minority kids that don't have a chance to
engage in this type of thing," Riley said. "The big goal down the line is to make this so any kid who wants to engage in this sort
of thing can do it at no cost, because I feel that is going to be the best way to meet them where they are and give them the
opportunities."
Riley and Masiey Ratliff watch Maya James show off a
bluegill she caught.
