Every Hunt Was a Lesson: Carrying Ted Turner’s Legacy Forward
I was just a 21-year-old kid who loved the outdoors and bird dogs when I first started working for Ted Turner.
The day I met him, he told me he had lost a billion dollars that day. I told him I could help him look for it. I was pretty clueless back then, but I was fortunate to step into something far bigger than I could have understood at the time.
What I witnessed over the years was Ted falling in love with the natural world and these western landscapes in a way that was contagious to everyone around him. His curiosity was endless. His love for the land and every living thing on it was almost tangible.
People knew Ted as a businessman, but out here he was like a kid, soaking up every detail he could find. We spent decades pursuing the birds he loved so much, and every outing became part biology lesson, part ecology lesson, part history lesson, and part leadership lesson.
Behind it all was a philosophy that shaped not only the land, but the culture of our work:
Make it better without detracting from the whole.
Ted believed stewardship showed up in the details. Some days we spent as much time picking up trash as we did hunting birds, especially in those early years. We would fill garbage cans because he always made time to show he cared about the little things.
And he was right.
The little things add up. They become the foundation of the big things.
That same mindset helped shape the experience we offer guests today through Turner Ranch Outfitting and Ted Turner Reserves. Ted loved bringing people to these landscapes to hunt, explore, learn, and connect with something larger than themselves. Long before people talked about experiential travel or conservation tourism, he understood that time spent outdoors could educate people, restore them, and inspire them to care more deeply about the natural world.
That became our brand of hospitality. It was fun, educational, and good for the soul.
Ted was also deeply present. He paid attention. He listened. He cared. He was a man you never wanted to disappoint because he made you feel like you were part of something meaningful and shared.
One piece of advice has stayed with me throughout my career. Years ago, Tom Waddell, longtime manager at Armendaris, told me that if I made every career decision as if Ted were sitting right next to me, I would most likely be making the right decision.
I think about that often.
Ted’s legacy is not only found in the landscapes he helped protect, the wildlife that returned, or the hospitality experiences he shaped. It lives on in the responsibility all of us carry forward today.
As leaders, outdoorsmen, conservationists, and stewards of these places, our obligation to the land comes from the same courage and loyalty Ted showed throughout his life.
That is the legacy we continue to honor every day.
About the Author
Mike Mader is the Hunt Manager of Turner Ranch Outfitting, offering premier hunting with conservation at its core throughout the western and midwestern United States. Mader began his career 25 years ago managing and guiding Ted Turner's western bird hunting operations. Today, he focuses on the organization's New Mexico properties, including the 156,000-acre Ladder and 360,000-acre Armendaris.
A Vision as Vast as the West
One man’s promise to the land and two million acres of wild possibility. Discover the legacy of Ted Turner.