Jason Hairston, KUIU Founder, Dead at 47 Years Old

KUIU founder Jason Hairston has been pronounced dead.

The hunting world recently woke up to a surprise with the tragic passing of KUIU founder Jason Hairston. He reportedly passed at 47 years old after he returned home from a remote sheep hunt.

KUIU confirmed the passing of Hairston with a tribute post on their Instagram page this week.

See the post below:

View this post on Instagram

We are shocked and saddened to announce the tragic passing of KUIU founder Jason Hairston. His legacy lives on in KUIU’s spirit of relentless innovation. – The family has requested that donations be made to support CTE-related research at the Boston University Concussion Legacy Foundation in lieu of sending flowers. Link in bio.

A post shared by KUIU (@kuiu_official) on Sep 5, 2018 at 4:56pm PDT

The sad news has circulated the entire hunting community with many sharing their remorse for the loss. Before KUIU, Hairston co-founded Sitka Gear. His previous partner shared his thoughts and kind words regarding Harriston’s character.

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“We are deeply saddened by the news of Jason Hairston’s passing. Twelve years ago, our shared passion led us to co-found SITKA Gear and together we revolutionized hunting apparel. More recently at the helm of @KUIU_official, he’s been a great competitor that pushed all of us at SITKA, and the industry as a whole, to be better. Jason was always larger than life and he will be missed.” -Jonathan Hart

A post shared by SITKA Gear (@sitkagear) on Sep 5, 2018 at 6:33pm PDT

Jason grew up in Southern California and was a former NFL player on the San Francisco 49ers. After his football career, he had a career in commercial real estate before starting his journey of changing how a hunting gear company is operated.

Jason was good friends with Donald Trump Jr., with whom he shared many hunting adventures.

View this post on Instagram

Was able to get out on the water for a bit before we left camp in the Yukon. Caught some great Northern Pike. Just awesome fish who hit hard and fast. Love the look on @jasonmhairston’s face in the second pic. That’s the “I realize I’m about to lose the fishing competition to Don” look… Not that anything with this crew would ever get competetive🤣🇺🇸🤣🇺🇸🤣. @mattforsyth7 @aj.kissel #fishing #outdoors #yukon #kuiu #adventure

A post shared by Donald Trump Jr. (@donaldjtrumpjr) on Aug 19, 2018 at 5:24am PDT