Teen builds hunting guide business around passion for hounds

MAYFIELD—Most teenagers spend their time with friends, playing sports or working part-time jobs.

But Braylee Larson, 17, spends her time, 40 hours per week, training 20 hounds, guiding hunters through rugged country and building a business she hopes will become her lifelong career.

Braylee, of Mayfield, owns Battleground Guides and Outfitters, a Sanpete County-based outfitting business specializing in guided bear and mountain lion hunts with hounds. What began as a childhood fascination with hunting dogs now attracts clients from across the United States and beyond.

“I love it because of the dogs,” she said. “I love to watch the puppies grow up and learn their job. It’s amazing to watch a puppy grow into a dog. They learn what they’re doing by doing it, and it’s just amazing to watch. I like to show that to everyone else.”

Braylee got her first hounds in 2020 before deciding a few years later to turn her passion into a business. The company originally focused on breeding and training hounds before expanding into guided big-game hunts with help from her father, J.L. Larson.

Today, Battleground Guides and Outfitters offers multi-day guided hunts, primarily for bears and mountain lions. Braylee and her dogs lead the hunters into the field.

“We’ll cook for them, house them and take them out hunting for five days,” she said. “We’ll give them the best time we can while they hunt.”

When the dogs locate a bear, Braylee said, the group first determines whether the animal is legal and ethical to harvest.

“We’ll size up the animal, make sure it’s not a sow and doesn’t have cubs, and then decide if we want to harvest it,” she said.

Her work has taken her across Utah, as well as into New Mexico and northern Arizona, with southern Utah remaining one of her favorite places to hunt.

Running an outfitting business also means caring for a kennel of canine athletes. She has raised all 20O of her hounds from puppies.

“They’re all athletes, so they have to be treated like athletes,” she said. “The biggest challenge is keeping them healthy, keeping their confidence up and learning all of their different personalities so they can perform at their maximum potential.”

The dogs are fed a high-quality diet and consume nearly twice as much food during the active hunting season as they do during the offseason, she said.

Her father said Braylee’s commitment to the business has always been tied to another priority: education.

From the time she entered middle school, he said, she was expected to maintain at least a 3.8 grade-point average if she wanted to continue growing her kennel and business. She understood that if her grades slipped, family support for expenses such as dog food and veterinary care would stop until they improved.

“There were a lot of goals and a lot of bars set to get here,” her father said. “We told her, ‘If you want to keep doing this, you have to reach those bars.’”

The arrangement has never been tested. Braylee graduated from Gunnison Valley High School a year early while maintaining nearly a 4.0 GPA. She is already completing college general education courses before pursuing a bachelor’s degree in business. She hopes to continue her education while expanding the outfitting business and is also apprenticing as a taxidermist.

Outside the classroom, there has never been much competition for her time.

“Hound dogs,” she said with a laugh when asked about extracurricular activities.

She played volleyball during high school but eventually stepped away from the sport to devote more time to her dogs.

“Hound dogs are a full-time job,” she said. “I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

Her father said the dogs’ bond with Braylee is the result of years of dedication and trust.

“She’s the vet. She’s the trainer. She’s the feeder. She cleans up after them,” J.L. Larson said. “These dogs will work for me, but they respect her. She’s earned all the respect because these dogs hunt out of love, never out of fear.”

He recalled that his daughter’s interest began after she accompanied him on a mountain lion hunt at about 8 years old and immediately gravitated toward the dogs.

“I thought this would wear out quickly,” he said with a chuckle. “I bought a couple of old hounds from a friend of mine, thinking this would be over in a couple of weeks.”

Instead, Braylee faithfully cared for the dogs through the winter, and one dog soon became two, then three. As word spread through Utah’s hound hunting community, experienced hunters began offering support and even puppies to help her build her kennel.

“The hound community has been absolutely amazing with her,” J.L. Larson said. “This went from a hobby to a job to something that has the potential to become a career.”

She hopes Battleground Guides and Outfitters will continue growing while remaining personal.

“I want clients from all over the world,” she said. “Hopefully, I’ve got dogs still running for me, enough clientele to keep me busy, and clients that like my business and that I like hunting with.”

For her father, the business represents more than hunting. It is the product of years spent outdoors as a family and a reminder of the opportunities those experiences can create.

“My hope is that every father, mother, grandfather or somebody takes their children outdoors and gets them involved,” J.L. Larson said. “Don’t go to the outdoors to escape your children. There’s an amazing outcome when families spend that time together, and dreams can come true.”

More information about Battleground Guides and Outfitters is available at battlegroundoutfitters.com or by scanning the QR code accompanying this story.