Nicole Qualtieri

Title: Reporter

Email: nqualtieri@gearjunkie.com

Location: Montana/South Carolina

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nkqualtieri/

Expertise

Topics of Expertise: Hunting, Fishing, Hiking, Backpacking, Travel, Outdoor Cooking, Animals

Years in This Expertise: 8 yrs in outdoor media, 4 years as GearJunkie’s Hunt Fish Editor (2018-2022)

Number Of Products & Number Of Hours Expert Has Tested: 500+ products, 8,300+ hours testing

Education & Certifications

Education: Bachelor’s of Sociology, Colorado State University

Years of Writing: 14+

Club or Association Memberships: Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, Board Director of Orion the Hunters Institute

Previous Publications: USA Today, MeatEater, Modern Huntsman, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Backcountry Journal, Mens Journal, Outside Bozeman, TripThirty

A Word from Nicole

When I started writing for GearJunkie in 2018, it opened up a whole new universe of curiosities. A thrifty minimalist, gear was a means to an end rather than an obsession. To be frank, I was more of a gear skeptic than a gear junkie.

But as the site’s Hunt Fish Editor, testing brand after brand and item after item forced me to pare down to the gear that made the cut. And that’s really what I love to write about. When it comes to a review, a suggestion, a collection of gear, or simply the experience of using gear to get the job done, it better be damned useful and worth its weight in financial commitment.

I value gear differently than I did when I first began writing about it. Us gearheads get so wrapped in the idea of stuff, but it can also weigh us down.

Ultimately, I’m still a thrifty minimalist, but the gear I write about and the brands I talk about have a place in my gear closet because of that these days, rather than in spite of it. And I hope you hear that theme echo across this collection of many years of writing.