It started with a Navy base firefighter’s boredom on his day off.

Todd Eldridge has been a firefighter for 16 years, but a few years ago he wanted more to do.

“I needed to find something to do on my days off, and I always wanted to buy a welder,” Eldridge said. “I bought that, and a John Deere Gator at the same time. And I built myself a hitch, and I got on Ebay and put them on there, and they started to sell.”

The hitches Eldridge built sold so well that he began making other items. Those too began to sell — to the point that he had to work with a company in Laurel who could mass produce the products he originally built himself.

That’s when his business, Hunterworks, was born.

Hunterworks specializes in custom made accessories for UTV’s, like the Yamaha Rhino, Kawasaki Mule, Artic Cat, etc.

Eldridge explained that things progressed so fast that he needed extra help.

“The orders started getting fouled up, and everything, so I decided to get an office and hire someone,” Eldridge said.

Eldridge has an office building, but he doesn’t rely solely on local business.

“We don’t have a storefront; it’s Internet based,” he said. “We’ve shipped all over the world — places like Mexico, Canada, Puerto Rico, Spain, Germany, England, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Kuwait and many other places.”

It’s also hard to find a good group of people to work with, but Eldridge explains that he trusts his employees fully. The team consists of three people: Amber Drake and Scotty Barnes, who is also Todd’s nephew, and Sacheen Morgan.

The name — Hunterworks — comes from his son, Hunter.

“Yeah, sometimes he feels he owns the business because his name is on the sign,” Eldridge said with a laugh.

Hunterworks does business all over the world, but Todd has also done work for a celebrity as well. Rocker Ted Nugent had Todd custom design his UTV for the television show, “Wanted, Ted or Alive.”

You can see Nugent’s UTV and all of the products Hunterworks sells on their Web site: www.hunterworks.com.