Powderhook.com is a website that wants to make it easier for us to find places to hunt and fish. Their new update attempts to simplify the process through the use of a “card” system that allows a user to create a card for a new hunting or fishing trip.

A user can double-click into a card and invite other users via their email addresses to discuss the hunt, share details about price, location, and dates, and split costs. Additionally, tickets can be sold in a card. It could be a great option for folks selling banquet tickets or other event tickets.

Like a scrappy start-up, Powderhook is manually entering a lot of hunting and fishing data, but there is also an option for outfitters to create their own property on Powder Hook so potential customers can find them. In this regard, Powderhook makes me think of Yelp where you can search for outfitters in your area, rate them, and talk about them with your friends.

Powderhook’s business model is making money off of credit card transactions which occur on the platform. Paying for a hunt, splitting costs amongst your friends and family, and buying tickets for events are part of Powder Hook’s monetization model.

Creating a “card” brings you to this page where you can add details, invite people, pay each other, add locations, add photos, and discuss any trips details.

During a media webinar presentation, Powderhook CEO Eric mentioned that they hope to drive the cost of hunting and fishing down as competition ramps up through increased exposure of hunting and fishing expeditions across the country.

Currently, there is no Facebook or Twitter integration, but they are considering it. Powderhook is intensely private and they have heard from their users that privacy should be respected. Last thing you would want is someone to crash your perfect hunting trip after all the hours you spent researching weather patterns, seasonal trends, and other data. The default for all data is private, so you must explicitly share it. Powderhook isn’t sure that Facebook/Twitter is effective for their current users since most events are private and not public. However, some fishing events, tournaments, etc are public events and the links can be shared.

One big thing Powderhook has going is their partnerships with industry groups who are listing their events on Powderhook.com. The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance, hunter-ed.com, National Wild Turkey Federation, OutdoorLife, and others are all on board as Powderhook partners.

Right now, Powderhook has mapped about 500,000 fishing and hunting spots on their site, with 3,500 private locations. This is a really exciting moment to see technology coming into a traditionally old school realm of our industry. However, more hunters are bringing tablets, phones, wi-fi camera, GoPros, and other electronic devices to enhance the hunting experience and so seeing the continued rise of the web impact hunting and fishing should come as no surprise.

I still feel like the Powderhook site is a bit raw, but I see the potential, and Powderhook’s new update is a step in the right direction.

Have you used Powderhook.com? I would love to hear about your experience in the comments.