Weekend Mish: From school mates to backcountry storytellers

  Gabe Ross (left) and Riley Meason became full time content creators last year. A turning point was when the pair entered and won the reality show ‘Tracked’. Supplied.

Weekend Mish didn’t start as a business. It started with a group of mates filming their hunting trips for fun - and seeing what happened next.

Today, best friends Gabe Ross and Riley Meason run one of New Zealand’s fastest-growing outdoor content platforms, sharing everything from farming skits to multi-day bush missions with hundreds of thousands of followers.

Their brand, Weekend Mish, blends humour with real outdoor experiences: hunting, fishing, camping, diving and exploring remote parts of the country — all told without filters or polish.

Ross says their content sits across a few simple pillars.

“One would be entertainment, two would be educational, and then three would probably be putting out positive messaging encouraging people to get outdoors and push their comfort zones.”

The pair met at high school and began uploading hunting videos with friends. Things shifted after they entered - and won - the survival reality show Tracked, hosted by Billy Jones.

“We were 19 and we won a hundred grand,” Ross says. “That sort of gave the idea that we could do social media as a career.”

They went full-time last year - but Ross is quick to say it wasn’t an easy road.

“In New Zealand it’s a hard game to get into,” he says. “It took a long time before we could actually make it work full-time.”

What’s helped Weekend Mish connect, particularly with rural audiences, is its honesty. The farming skits take the mickey but never feel mean-spirited.

Ross grew up on farms and says most of their mates still work in agriculture.

“We’ve got a huge amount of respect for farmers,” he says. “It’s not even intentional - I think that just comes across.”

Riley Meason (left) and Gabe Ross have been mates since highschool, turning their passion into a business. Supplied.

Behind the humour is a strong focus on mental health and getting people outside.

Meason says encouraging people to step away from screens is a big driver.

“If we can use social media to get people off it and get outside, that’s huge,” he says. “Being in nature, hunting your own food — that’s primal stuff. You spend a few days in the bush and everything changes.”

Ross says pushing yourself physically helps reset perspective.

“We always talk about how important it is to do hard things, so when you come back to normal life, those problems don’t feel so big.”

Their hunting content is handled carefully, with an emphasis on responsibility and conservation.

Ross says attitudes are shifting, with more people understanding hunting as a sustainable way to connect with food and environment.

“There’s a lot more education now around using animals as a resource,” he says. “We try to show hunting as recreation but also show the positives - especially in New Zealand where all our species are introduced.”

Not all of their adventures are light-hearted.

One of their toughest missions involved a 13-day crossing of the Southern Alps, aiming to reach the most remote point from any road in the country.

On day nine, Meason was struck by a falling boulder, badly injuring his knee and triggering what Ross says was one of New Zealand’s most remote helicopter rescues.

Despite the setback, Ross, his brother and a mate continued the journey, becoming the first people known to reach that point.

“It was a hell of a journey,” Ross says.

   The Weekend Mish blends humour with real outdoor experiences. Supplied.

There have been highlights too:  from winning Tracked, to going full-time, to being trusted to MC at Fieldays alongside major brands, interviewing high-profile Kiwi sports stars in front of large crowds.

“To be given that responsibility at 22, and actually nail it, was pretty cool,” Ross says.

Learning how to make content has been another challenge altogether.

The pair started out with a friend handling much of their editing and filming, but when they went out on their own, they had to learn everything from scratch.

“A lot of trial and error,” Ross says. “Posting stuff, realising it didn’t go well, then figuring out why. Was it the hook? Was the audio bad? Did we ramble too much?”

He says good content isn’t just about having a great story - it’s about learning pacing, sound, framing and how to grab attention in the first few seconds.

“You can have the best content in the world, but if you don’t have a good hook or good audio, it might get a hundred views.”

Closer to home, the boys will also be on the ground at the upcoming Wānaka Show, where they’ll have a stand and be keen for a yarn with anyone wanting to talk hunting, the outdoors, or life in general.

Alongside Weekend Mish, the pair are now also working on a new hunting app called Wild Vision, using AI to help people plan trips based on weather, animal density and experience level.

And their business philosophy is refreshingly straightforward.

“The best advice I ever got was just say yes and figure it out,” Ross says.

For two young blokes who started out filming weekend missions with mates, it’s advice that’s carried them a long way - and judging by their growing audience, plenty of Kiwis are happy to come along for the ride.