Scanning the desert-like landscape of Jantura Riverside in eastern Oregon, former Oregon running back Thomas Tyner searched for chukar birds and pheasants to shoot with his borrowed shotgun. Tyner was on his first of many hunting trips in the Oregon wilderness.
Tyner’s superior hand-eye coordination helped him catch on quickly. After killing his first chukar and pheasant on the trip six or seven years ago, Tyner fell in love with all aspects of hunting: the bird dogs, the serenity of the outdoors and the physical fitness required to be successful in the sport.
This trip, which introduced him to hunting while he was still playing college football, changed Tyner’s life. Hunting not only gave him a break from the distracting noise and media storm that comes with playing football at the Division I level, but it also introduced him to a newfound passion.
“I was already dealing with so much stress, all the politics that goes on with being who I was and with football in general it was just like, I kind of found this way out in the outdoors, hunting, fishing, doing stuff like that,” Tyner said. “It was a way for me to make peace with everything.”
Hunting has paved the way for Tyner to make a difference in the communities around him, as he recently launched an organization targeted at increasing the involvement of Black, Indigenous and People of Color in the sport.
The football days
Tyner made a name for himself playing football.
He was heavily recruited, ranking No. 20 in the nation as a senior at Aloha High School in Beaverton, Oregon. He was a star on the football field.
“I wouldn’t have wanted to go anywhere else,” Tyner said about going to Aloha all four years of high school.
However, away from the Friday night lights, the attention as a five-star recruit served more as a distraction.
“It’s kind of hard to focus on school when you’re getting so much attention,” Tyner said.
Getting pulled out of class to talk with college coaches was a normal occurrence during his sophomore year.
Knowing he didn’t want to go far for college, Tyner committed to the University of Oregon later that year.
“Honestly, I’d probably have had an offer from every big D1 school in the country,” Tyner said about committing early to UO. “I had my heart pretty set on staying close to home.”
At Oregon, Tyner found early success, rushing for 1,284 yards and scoring 14 touchdowns in two seasons. During his sophomore year in 2014, the team won the Rose Bowl and reached the National Championship game.
After the National Championship, he got an MRI on his shoulder and found out he had a torn labrum with a bone chip moving around. He elected to have surgery, as his doctor suggested.
At that moment, Tyner began to question his future in football. With injuries adding up over the years and the stress of being a high profile college athlete, Tyner wasn’t sure he harbored that same passion any longer.
Tyner ultimately decided to medically retire from football his junior year.
The outdoors
Tyner was introduced to hunting by his self-described father figure Jeff Barnhart while at Oregon.
Tyner grew up participating in sports camps with Barnhart’s son, Cameron. The two were third graders at the time, and Tyner would join the Barnharts on their family trips in the summer.
“He became kind of like a second son to me,” Barnhart said of Tyner.
Barnhart’s passions in life have always been bird hunting and fishing. He would frequently take family or friends on hunts with him to introduce them to the sport, and he decided it was Tyner’s turn to experience it.
“I specifically went and picked Thomas up because I sensed there were some challenges he was facing, and I knew that it was time to get away and spend some time together,” Barnhart said.
After the trip to Jantura Riverside, Tyner quickly became obsessed with the art of hunting. He expanded quickly, picking up bigger game hunting such as elk and deer as well as trying out bow hunts.
Building relationships
In a new environment, Tyner made important connections.
Despite his displeasure with aspects of the collegiate athletics experience, Tyner came out of retirement a year later, this time opting to play at a new school: Oregon State. While in Corvallis, he continued to use hunting as an outlet and positive distraction.
While at OSU, Tyner met Lydia Parker and Jimmy Flatt, who remain close friends of his today.
Tyner met Parker at the Peacock Bar & Grill. After discovering Tyner was into hunting, she connected him with Flatt who also enjoyed the outdoors. The two bonded over hunting trips, becoming closer friends all the while.
Often, Flatt and Tyner were the only People of Color they’d see out in the woods.
Flatt noticed the problem and talked to Tyner and Parker about making a difference in the hunting sphere.
The mission of diversifying hunting was pushed into motion after Flatt came across a 2019 article entitled “Is Hunting Too White?” In reading it, he discovered that 96% of all hunting licenses in the U.S were owned by White people and decided that it was time to make a difference.
“I already had the idea, I just didn’t know the statistics,” program coordinator Flatt said. “Growing up hunting I always realized that I’m the only Brown face out here. Why is that?”
The lack of diversity in the hunting community wasn’t a surprise to the trio, but seeing the statistics confirmed their observations that the demographics of the sport didn’t accurately match the demographics of the United States.
“It started off as an idea trying to get urban youth or kids out hunting who would never have the opportunity to go hunting, but then we realized that it’s more than just youth that need it,” Flatt said. “There are a lot of adults that need help getting into hunting who didn’t have their dad or grandpa to teach them how to hunt.”
Making a difference
Tyner wants to change the hunting community for the better.
After steaming over ideas for a year, the three started a nonprofit organization called Hunters of Color in August 2020. Tyner describes the organization’s efforts as trying to get more BIPOC into hunting and the outdoors in general.
Parker expressed that the organization wants to see the hunting demographics reflect the diverse demographic of the U.S. To achieve this, Hunters of Color wants to see at least a 10% change in the demographics of hunting when the next study comes out in 2024 and a 5% change every five years after that.
Parker kickstarted the idea into action, buying a website domain and creating social media pages.
From there, the three quickly grew the organization, gaining 8,000 Instagram followers since last August and getting IRS nonprofit approval in April 2021.
Hunters of Color plans to establish a network of hunters throughout the country, acting as mentors for BIPOC interested in hunting. People can sign up as mentors and mentees on the Hunters of Color website. The mentee program is open to BIPOC of all ages.
The organization also plans to sponsor new hunters’ mentorship programs, safety courses and equipment. They’ll raise money by hosting auctions and pursuing public donations.
“The reason we are growing so quickly is because we are kind of situated in a unique position right now within hunting where the demographics of hunting have stayed the same for a while, so creating a place where People of Color can feel welcome in the community is extremely important,” Flatt said.
For Hunters of Color, Tyner’s role is to be the media and marketing director. As a filmmaker, Tyner will promote hunting and the outdoors through cinematic films, sharing people’s stories and experiences. He works a lot with the organization’s website as well, trying to encourage people to get involved.
Now that the organization is IRS approved, Tyner hopes to go full time soon.
“I think the cool thing about us is we say that in the long run, we don’t want to even exist, because the statistics as of now shouldn’t be like that, and I look at it as a lot of people like me, People of Color, never really grew into the lifestyle and never have been really shown the way,” Tyner said.
