ESS Perspectives: It is our pleasure to introduce ESS Sponsored exhibition shooters, the Gould Brothers. Aaron and Steve Gould are originally from Long Prairie, Minnesota, and have been a part of the ESS team since 2011. They were interviewed by ESS in May 2022.

It’s been more than a century since Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show toured the country and depicted dramatized reenactments and thrilling sharpshooting battles from the American frontier. While much has changed in our country since then, the Minnesota-based Gould Brothers are leading a renaissance in exhibition shooting. Outdoor personality Ron Schara said exhibition shooting is “like magic with a shotgun.” Fueled by their appreciation for the outdoors, their faith, and a passion for bringing back the lost art of exhibition shooting, the Gould Brothers – Aaron and Steve Gould – have devoted the past 14 years of their lives to entertaining and educating people about trick shooting. Their videos and live performances show their audience what’s possible with a rifle, a pistol, some clays, basketballs, and a bunch of vegetables. “You can do anything you set your mind to as long as you have enough ammo,” Steve says, aptly setting the tone for their incredible shows.

Their journey into Exhibition Shooting and outdoor activities started at an early age. While their parents were not hunters, they recall every summer going on family camping trips. It was Aaron, Steve’s senior by four years, who was first introduced to hunting by his uncle. As a 10-year-old, he would carry the squirrels they shot and began hunting deer as soon as he legally could. Aaron found a natural connection with hunting and being outside. While Aaron’s journey into the outdoors and shooting was largely self-taught and self-funded, Steve didn’t find the same draw as his brother and pursued other activities and interests. He admits, “I would spend my money on clothes, movies and candy.”

A few years later during college, Aaron had a realization that his life was not heading in the direction that he wanted. He reconnected with his faith – something that was instilled in the Gould Brothers as children by their parents – and chose to live in line with the values he was raised with, instead of the pleasures and perils he was engaging with as a young man. “We pursued life at that time by going after whatever made us happy, but we realized our lives didn’t have much joy or hope in them,” Steve recalls. He’d seen his big brother give his heart to Jesus, and four years later Steve did the same. Steve witnessed his brother’s reckoning and found himself faced with a similar choice of how he wanted to live. “I was in college and gave my heart to the Lord,” he recalls. “All of a sudden, I wanted to go out in creation and experience it all.”

Steve began venturing out hunting and with that, he found a new level of connection with Aaron, who comes across as the more stoic and serious of the two brothers. That intensity lets him concentrate and pour himself into what he does with laser focus. In the summers when there was nothing to hunt, Aaron wanted to keep practicing – so the Gould Brothers shot clay targets. “I was terrible, absolutely terrible,” Steve laughs. “I bought my own shotgun and a box of 25 rounds of ammo, and I hit only two out of the 25. We were using hand thrown clays at the time, so maybe Aaron was just talented at tricky throws, but I was not good at shooting from the start.”

As the summer went on, Aaron had seen a video of exhibition shooter Tom Knapp throwing clays and making trick shots from different positions – over his head, at his hip, behind his back. Aaron recalls thinking, “That’s not real life.” He was into real hunting, not staged shows or fake YouTube videos.

One summer day, they were at Aaron’s in-laws throwing clays and he remembered Tom Knapp’s video. They decided to try those shots to see if they too could make them. “Although we weren’t good at it, we saw that it was possible,” Aaron recalls. They continued to practice and discovered that Knapp was going to be performing 24 miles away from where the brothers grew up the following spring, so they went.

In April 2009, the Gould Brothers saw Tom Knapp perform live when he was 58 years old. They were impressed by the impact Knapp had on his audience. He connected with men, women, young, old, shooters, hunters, and non-hunters. People loved the show he was performing. He entertained through skits, routines, and stories and involved the crowd. Aaron and Steve were both so inspired by Knapp’s performance that they felt a calling to become full-time professional exhibition shooters. With their vision crystallized, and a deep-seeded burning passion fueling the fire, they went after it.

Precise and methodical, Aaron led them to practice more and more, and slowly their tricks started taking shape. So did their live tours. Aaron recalls they were paid two cases of shotgun shells at their first exhibition, now questioning if that was too much payment at the time. However, they put in the work and over the past 14 years they have grown to become leading personalities in exhibition shooting.

Connecting with the audience is an integral part of their work, but live performances come with their own difficulties. Weather, injuries, and mental challenges are part of the daily mix that the Gould Brothers have to adapt to in order to deliver their best performance on any given day. Steve recalls the Minnesota Governor’s Deer Hunting Opener, a show they did in November in exceedingly tough conditions. There were 20-25mph headwinds and it started to snow. Gusts came at 30mph. Steve had to throw three clays from the hip, and the third one went up and over almost into the crowd. “I remember having a poor attitude about it,” Steve recalls. “My hands were cold and it looked like I didn’t know what I was doing. But then I turned around and saw these grade school kids sitting on the frozen ground with smiles on their faces and instantly I remembered that I was here for them.”

Three years after the Gould Brothers saw Tom Knapp as fans, they had the chance to perform as his opening act. They created a skit based on the joke that Knapp’s secret to being an expert shooter was in his mustache. “We went online and bought real English hair handlebar mustaches and glued them to our faces,” Aaron recalls. On the day of the show, he started having second thoughts. “Everyone’s going to laugh at us, we’ll just look like idiots, and worst of all, what if Knapp thinks it’s stupid?” His doubts were put at ease when they got on stage and looked over at Knapp sitting on the bleachers belly laughing. “To see him there enjoying it was pretty special,” Steve says. It was goofy and in good nature, just like the rest of the Gould Brothers’ show.

Focus and practice are what makes the Gould Brothers so good. There’s a trick where Steve throws a basketball up in the air, shoots it mid-air, and then sinks it in the basket. While the video takes under a minute to watch, Steve and Aaron share a behind-the-scenes story that it took days and over 100 basketballs procured as far away as neighboring towns to perfect it. Aaron bought every $5 basketball at three different Walmart’s, but after going through them all twice, Steve still had not made the shot. “I was defeated but determined because I’d gotten close,” Steve says, “So I sent my wife to get more basketballs since she was traveling for work farther out in the county. Aaron went to two more towns to get basketballs.” Eventually, he got the shot. Steve points out that their celebrations are legitimate given the hurdles they’ve had to overcome. “On a shot like the basketball one, I persevered, and it was pretty dang exciting when I made it,” Steve adds.

Another shot they accomplished after much challenge was a 600-yard flying clay shot with a rifle. They paced themselves and started at 200-yards, and eventually worked their way up until they made what seemed like an impossible shot. “There were so many things that came into play on that shot,” Aaron explains. “We had to tweak the clay throwing machine so we got as little drift as possible, but even with a gun shooting sub MOA Steve had to hit a 4.3-inch target flying through the air. With the gun moving, you have to do everything you can as a shooter to pull the trigger at the right time to get the bullet to intersect with the target.” Aaron recalls watching the vapor trail in the spotting scope thinking 40 or 50 of the attempts were close, but it took about 80 tries before they got the shot.

“We set our mind to something, get into a struggle where we start to doubt whether we can do it, and often people give up just before the breakthrough is about to happen,” Steve says. “Wisdom is knowing when to give up at the right time, but not too soon.” They’ve missed shots and had other mishaps on the road, such as when Steve accidentally threw out his contacts in the hotel and didn’t have a backup pair. In fact, prescription eye protection is what led the Gould Brothers to discover ESS. Steve was searching online for glasses that offered the protection he needed that he could get in his prescription. He found ESS 11 years ago and the rest is history.

“I was looking for shooting glasses that I could use with my prescription,” Steve says, recalling that fateful show that he performed without contacts. “I struggled with the shot and the show was a little blurry. I eventually got LASIK, but I just needed to see clearer.” Today, he loves his CrossBlade Eyeshields with LPL-5 Laser Protective Lenses which have a orange/magenta hue or his Rollbar Sunglasses with a polarized blue mirrored lens. “I love the pink lens,” Steve says. “It’s like putting on a pair of rose-colored glasses. The only downside is after you wear them all day when you take them off the world seems a little drab.”

Aaron wears sunglasses all the time. He usually rotates between three different pairs of Crossbows. He loves the Photochromic lenses for shooting on a lit field under a spotlight as well as at night. “Having that photo lens helps when you turn around and couldn’t otherwise see anything,” he explains. He likes yellow lenses when it’s overcast, and copper lenses for sunny days.

Although the Gould Brothers perform for entertainment purposes, safety is top priority. Aaron recounts a recent show where they were closing out their performance by shooting vegetables in a race against each other. They’d toss 10 veggies up in the air at close range – one to five feet away from their barrels. His brother hit a pineapple at about a foot away and it exploded across his face while he was mid-shot himself. His ESS glasses kept his vision clear so the show could go on. “Any impact to the eye could be damaging if you get hit with enough force,” Aaron says. As trick shooters, they employ unorthodox methods that mean clay and debris often are closer than in more traditional settings. “I’ve been hit in the face by a lot of different things,” Steve shares. “Clays, jackets from bullets, one time the extractor of a pistol hit me when the pin that held it in blew off the gun. It’s those moments where you’re glad you have protection over your eyes.”

Aaron shares a story where he went to the range for some last-minute practice without his usual range bag full of protective equipment, including glasses. On his third shot, a part of the shell case broke and flew back and hit him in his right eye. His eye was closed, but he felt like he’d been punched in the face. At that point he admonished himself for rushing and not being properly equipped. He immediately stopped shooting for the day since he didn’t have his glasses. “I knew better, and I should’ve run back to town to get glasses if I really needed to shoot,” Aaron thought after the fact. “I used to do projects around the house and worked construction running a saw without wearing glasses. Looking back, I wonder why anyone would not use safety glasses.”

The Gould Brothers live in the moment and are grateful for their upbringing. “I give gratitude to our parents for raising us in a stable and solid home with good values,” Steve says. “That stability empowered us to take on crazy risks like shooting guns for fun.” Aaron agrees, crediting their support and encouragement for helping them realize their dreams today. “When I went to school to be a pilot, that wasn’t their background, but they were always still interested in what we had to do,” he says. “To this day, they’re not shooters but love coming to our shows.” Steve adds, “For your kids to come to you, especially the kid who’s never shot a shotgun, it’d be pretty natural for a parent to say, ‘You’re crazy.’ We never got that from them. Instead, they gave us that loving support and conviction that if it was our dream, God put special greatness inside of us to bring it to fruition.” 

The Gould Brothers are entertaining, but they also are grounded. Steve has founded an organization called Target Focused Life that is an outlet devoted to all things shotgun related. It has a deeper meaning for Steve – an element of hitting targets is being focused, and Target Focused Life operates on three philosophies: Clear Vision, Laser Focus, and Pulling the Trigger. “There’s an intentionality in knowing what your targets are, eliminating distractions, and taking action to move toward it,” he says.

Aaron has started a community and a YouTube channel called The Common Patriot that focuses on defensive rifles, hunting rifles, and pistols. As someone who is not ex-military or ex-law enforcement, Aaron felt a desire to bring people like himself together who believe in the country, in personal freedoms, and defense of self, family, and community. He says, “I’m a common patriot and this channel brings like-minded people together through the different roles we have in our community as fathers, husbands, and people who protect those around us and who love our country.”

The Gould Brothers hold several personal records but are more interested in bringing exhibition shooting back to the stage in our country the way it was prominent at the turn of the century. They are aware of the impact they have on the sport today and it delights them to be approached by fans who share that they got into shooting because of them. Their work harkens back to a different era full of mystique, showmanship, and the can-do optimism and camaraderie inherent in the American Dream.

Above all, the Gould Brothers are trying to bring their message of wholesome thrills to a new generation of Americans. “We want to entertain and educate, but also be positive examples,” Steve says. “We’re not overtly political, but we try to be family-friendly ambassadors for shooting sports and for Christ. We want people to know where the glory goes.” By the looks of their audience and their tour schedule, they are well on their way to bringing their sport to the next level and spreading their virtuous message along their way.