Legend Biography

Jim Scoutten’s work, hosting and producing Shooting USA and, before that, American Shooter, is classified as Special Interest Broadcast Journalism. He says reporting on America’s sports shooting scene, gun history, and events, requires the same journalistic techniques he developed during his 15 years in Television News.

He’s been a Reporter, Anchor, Producer and News Director; while working for stations in Minneapolis, Honolulu, Phoenix, Seattle, Greater Houston, and Savannah, GA. All of that was before switching to Special Interest Journalism, first in automotive reporting with Motor Trend Television and Car and Driver Television, then in 1993 adding the duties of producer and host of American Shooter.

Scoutten says the change from TV News was like a print reporter switching from a newspaper to a magazine, “I get to report on what interests me, instead of covering the City Council.”

In the 10 years Scoutten reported on the shooting sports and hosted American Shooter, the series became the nation’s highest rated outdoor category show, gathering an audience of more than a million fans each weekend.

Scoutten formed his own production company in 2002 to continue the gun show series under the new brand, Shooting USA. The one-hour show has consistently been one of the top rated shows on Outdoor Channel, anchoring the Wednesday night block of firearms programming year-round.

Under Jim’s direction, every Shooting USA show is produced with a subtle message: “Doesn’t this look like fun? Don’t these seem to be nice people? And don’t you want to get involved? And editorial includes minorities and women enjoying the shooting sports, to encourage participation by all members of the audience.

Scoutten has also helped expand NRA membership with his discounted offer appearing in every show. He’s been named the number one NRA Independent Recruiter in each of the past ten years.

In those few weekends a year, when he’s not flying to report on a shooting event, Jim enjoys target shooting and back road Harley runs. He’s married and lives on 5 acres of woods outside Franklin, Tennessee, where the neighbors are used to hearing gunfire, just after the UPS man delivers the newest test guns.