Today we are excited to share a new story in our Beards Behind the Brand series! Our goal with this new series is to feature empowering stories from our community to encourage and inspire each other to be the best we can be.  

This week we have the pleasure of introducing you to one badass dude, Sean Lundy.

When you grow up on the street of hard knocks, you either get knocked around, or you do the knocking. Sean did the knocking. At the age of 9, he had a passion for hockey, but spent more time in the penalty box than on the ice and eventually got kicked out of multiple leagues.

Always having something to prove, confrontation, anger and hostility found him wherever he went until he uncovered his passion for hunting and turned that chip on his shoulder into fuel to become a marine and undercover DEA agent. Sean is a Live Bearded Ambassador and all around incredible dude. This is his story.

Sean was born and raised on the East Coast in Long Island, New York, with his sister and two brothers. His parents were both registered psychiatric nurses for the State of New York. Sean’s father, Dennis Lundy, was a very well decorated combat veteran; to include two purple hearts and retired a Major in the United States Army.

“My parents and I are very tight, I don't go for two or three days without speaking to them even though I live in the Midwest & they’re in NY,” said Sean. “Mom is a Catholic lady who don't take shit from nobody which allowed her to survive and thrive growing up. Dad and I still butt heads a little bit haha. He’s battling agent orange and some other things from Nam and they’re getting up there in age so we probably talk now more than ever.”

Sean’s sister is a special education teacher in Brooklyn, New York ,and his older brother is an NYPD detective, while his younger brother is also another very well decorated U.S Marine. Sean considers himself to be the proverbial “black sheep” of the family. He liked to push the envelope and was ornery to say the least. 

“That Long Island city life is FAR different from the country life I live today,” recalls Sean.

Sean was introduced to the outdoors by his father at an early age. He was far more attached to the outdoors than his siblings. “They would be out there for the opening and closing weekends of hunting season and I would be out there every single day,” Sean said.

Growing up in New York there was limited hunting, mainly just waterfowl. So when they wanted to deer hunt they had to head to the Catskills or the Adirondack mountains about 4 to 6 hours away. “A lot of people think of New York as just a city but the mountains are UNBELIEVABLY gorgeous there” says Sean. “Made some great memories in those mountains.

Sean kept busy in high school when he wasn't outdoors he was involved in sports in school such as; wrestling, football, lacrosse, and hockey. “My favorite sport to play was hockey but I was by far the best at wrestling,” says Sean. I enjoyed the challenge but it took a lot of dedication and I prefer the team aspect of hockey and football.”

Sean wasn’t exactly a strong student in high school academically and knew college wasn’t going to be his next step, so he spoke with a recruiter for the Marine Corp.

“It came to a point where I needed to decide. I wasn’t very academically strong & I didn’t have a clue about what I wanted to do long term & I was partying a lot. I knew there was a likelihood I could end up in jail, or if I did decide to go the college route it would most likely be a giant waste of money.”

Sean ultimately pulled the trigger with an early enlistment in the Marine Corp and a month or so into summer headed straight off to boot camp in Parris, South Carolina, turning 18 during boot camp.

When it was Sean’s younger brother's time to make the decision about his future Sean convinced him to enlist because it was a great opportunity. However, 7 months out of boot camp he ended up overseas in Fallujah. “I felt bad at first but my little brother gained some valuable life lessons by the time he got out and ultimately it shaped his future.”

After serving one relatively quiet enlistment, Sean moved to the Midwest and followed in his Uncle and brother’s footsteps, entering a career in law enforcement starting as a corrections officer.

After several years as a corrections officer Sean was hired on as a patrol officer in the state of Indiana. Over the next several years as a police officer Sean was involved in significant illegal drug seizures, which led to his promotion as an undercover officer with a narcotics unit in his local area.

“I always knew I wanted to be in narcotics or work in the K9 unit.” The force sought him out for the task force and at the end of the day he felt it was the best avenue. "Going undercover felt more natural. I really enjoyed my newfound profession and would later come to find it would take me far in life.”

At the time, crystal meth was on the rise coming across the borders from Mexico and there was a lot of growing cartel activity in the area given Indiana is pretty centrally located to multiple major cities. “It was a hotbed for some downright dirty things and I was right in the thick of it,” Sean said. He wanted to be the one infiltrating gangs, going into crackhouses to buy dope and making a real difference doing the most dangerous things he could. The adrenaline from the danger was Sean's drug of choice.

Sean worked several years in an undercover capacity in Indiana and then worked his way up to a Federal Drug Enforcement Agency, still working in an undercover narcotics position today.

Sean’s main passion has always been the outdoors, with a dream to someday showcase he and his family in the outdoor industry at a national level. In order to pursue that dream Sean started filming hunts. However during these beginning documentaries Sean couldn’t be on film due to the fact he was undercover so he filmed friends or others during the hunts representing the outdoor community.

“Once I started moving away from the undercover unit and stepped into more of a case handler role I was able to film myself as the hunter and had the opportunity to work with a pretty significant hunting group on the Outdoor Channel which is probably the biggest channel in outdoor history as far as hunting goes.” 

After his 2nd and 3rd season he was awarded fan favorite on Critical Mass, a show put on by Drury Outdoors, Mossy Oak and a couple of other big sponsors.

Sean and his wife Amanda have five children, one boy and four girls who are all active in the outdoors, school sports, and school activities. With their busy lifestyle, Sean’s hectic work schedule, and Amanda’s career as a Registered Nurse, they still managed to fulfill the dream and get their foot in the door in the outdoor industry.

Currently Sean and his family are still filming and documenting their hunts and time in the outdoors. They have numerous hunts showcased on outdoor television, and hunts on both digital on mobile apps. Sean and his family take pride in representing the everyday person and the family truly bleeds red, white, and blue and thank God for all the blessings and opportunities they have been given and the relationships they have made so far along the way.

At Live Bearded we believe Brotherhood goes beyond the beard. We believe it is our responsibility, as men, to do better every day, to learn from our mistakes, grow through our failures, and strive to be the best we can be!