Living Country In The City

Rob Gearing (aka Mr. G) of Spartan Precision Equipment/Javelin Bipod joins Sam on The Wild Initiative to discuss differences in hunting across the globe. In this episode, they discuss the North American model of wildlife conservation being the most successful in the world and how COVID has inspired license purchases. They also go on to discuss if that trend has any long-term staying power and how to educate the non-hunter on the truth about hunting. See more on the show notes page at thewildinitiative.com/208. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gabriella Hoffman of District of Conservation invites Sam to her podcast to discuss how Sam got into the outdoor industry. In this bonus episode, they discuss how “Country Sam” came to be and what his path looked like getting into the outdoor industry. See more on the show notes page at thewildinitiative.com/podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin Toye of Focus Hunting invites Sam to his podcast to discuss his hunting journey. In this bonus episode, they talk about Sam’s past LA life, how he was introduced to hunting and some awesome stories from the years of running his podcast. See more on the show notes page at thewildinitiative.com/podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Flip Flop Guy, Andy Moeckel joins Sam on The Wild Initiative to talk about the power of the Flip Flop. ** WARNING: This episode has been shown to increase salivation and hunger drastically. Listen at your own risk. ** In this episode, Andy gets into his lip-smacking recipes, the traditions cooking wild game holds, the integration of people to the process and changing vegans minds though the connection of food. See more on the show notes page at thewildintiative.com/207. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jamey Shirah of the Hunter Recruitment Project joins Sam on The Wild Initiative to talk about ways to increase the new hunting populations. In this episode, they discuss crazy turkey hunters, best practices for introducing novice hunters to the beautiful hobby, charging grizzly stories and prepping tips to make wild game that much better. See more on the show notes page at thewildinitiative.com/206. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Henry Ferguson, a.k.a. Big Chief Whack a Buck, joins Sam on The Wild Initiative to discuss his encounters with monster muleys, both typical and non-typical. In this episode, the chief goes into detail about his family's hunting stories, hard lessons learned about mule deer, and why there is some "tension" in the family on the topic of hunting elk versus muleys. See more on the show notes page at thewildinitiative.com/205. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Baker Leavitt of Black Rifle Coffee Company Outdoors joins Sam on The Wild Initiative to talk about arrow mechanics, health, and more. In this episode, Baker goes into his African hunts, why heavier arrow builds are better and the negatives of casting judgment on others’ legal and ethical hunting tactics. See more on the show notes page at thewildinitiative.com/204. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mia Anstine, outdoor writer, guide and hunting mentor, joins Sam on The Wild Initiative to talk about her advocacy efforts. In this episode, Mia talks about her childhood, how her daughter has become an accomplished outdoorswomen and the biases for women in the hunting world. They later go on to talk about the importance of communication, especially during a Russian Brown Bear hunt, the benefits of hiring guides and the importance of firearms education in preventing fatal incidents. See more on the show notes page at thewildinitiative.com/203. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ted Nugent, legendary outdoorsman, musician, firearms enthusiast and political activist, joins Sam on The Wild Initiative to “pluck some feathers” when it comes to conservation, freedom, truth and common sense. In this episode, Sam and Ted get confrontational on not so “common sense” gun laws, political division, living in fear and so much more. Put on your big-boy panties, ladies and gents… this one isn’t for the easily offended. See more on the show notes page at thewildinitiative.com/202. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan Staton of ElkShape joins Sam on The Wild Initiative to talk about what drives him as a man who prides himself on the development of what he calls “sweat equity.” In this episode, Dan goes into detail about his first encounter with a successful elk harvest, how time in the woods makes us more effective and present at home and how he leverages elk hunting to create the best possible versions of his ElkShape camp attendees. They also go into how important ridding negativity in your life is and why pushing through the little negative voice in your head will benefit you. See more on the show notes page at thewildinitiative.com/201. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sam brings back Clayton Marxer, the Adventure Cowboy, to introduce The Wild Initiative’s 200th episode. In this episode, Sam and Clayton reminisce about the trials and tribulations of Sam’s 2017 elk hunt. Sam then shares the audio files he recorded at the end of each day, sharing the raw details of what’s going on in his mind throughout the whole process. This episode reminds us of how challenging it is to chase elk every September and how you should always hope for the best, but plan for the worst. See more on the show notes page at thewildinitiative.com/200. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guy Duplantier, host of the Western Contours podcast, joins Sam on The Wild Initiative to talk about developing grit in life. In this episode, they discuss the benefits and drawbacks of solo vs group hunting, the growth that comes from doing difficult sh*t (even if it’s solely for the sake of doing difficult sh*t), how to become a more productive beast of a human and why elk hunting is better than all else. See more on the show notes page at thewildinitiative.com/199. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chef Joshua Schwencke of Gastronomy joins Sam on The Wild Initiative to talk about an integral part of honoring the game we hunt; how we prepare it in the kitchen. Joshua goes into how our presentation of food, particularly wild game, can be an art form. He later debunks what “gamey” actually means and how to reach that apex of flavor with various recipes and techniques to use for Western Game. See more on the show notes page at thewildinitiative.com/198. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greg McHale, host of Greg McHale’s Wild Yukon joins Sam on The Wild Initiative to talk about his philosophies surrounding physical fitness in the outdoors and life. In this episode, they talk about Greg’s origins in the Yukon, how to create Atomic Habits that increase your freedom throughout the day and the foundations of creating a healthy life. Later, they discuss how to start getting active and start utilizing the thing you cannot make more of; time. See more on the show notes page at thewildinitiative.com/197. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The StHealthy Hunter, Ryan Lampers joins Sam on The Wild Initiative to dig into the details of Spring Bear Season. In this episode, Ryan shares his daughter’s first successful deer harvest and how to get children into hunting. The episode wouldn’t be complete without chatting about the imminent approach of Spring Bear Season. Ryan and Sam discuss best practices for processing and storing bear meat, bear’s unique personality and the importance of situational awareness when predator calling during Bear Season. If you’re interested in learning from Ryan and some of the most knowledgeable and consistently successful western hunters, be sure to check out Western Hunting Summit. Two summits are already sold out and only a few passes are left. You don’t want to miss this unbeatable experience that will cut your learning curve by years. See more on the show notes page at thewildinitiative.com/196. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jim Shockey joins Sam on The Wild Initiative to break down why we hunt. In this episode, Jim goes into detail on how his mentality on hunting motivations has changed over the years, how hunting in -100 degree temps breaks humans but also creates incredible character and what the perfect hunt looks like. Jim and Sam later go on to discuss how meat is not typically a wholly honest motivator for hunting and how tofu has killed just as many animals as hunters. See more on the show notes page at thewildinitiative.com/195. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Douglas Boze, author of The Ultimate Guide to Black Bear Hunting joins Sam on The Wild Initiative to dig into all the basics of Spring bear hunting. In this episode, they discuss the allure of predator hunting, what you need to look for when initially scouting and how to tell the difference between rub and bear-stripping on trees. They also go on to talk about shot placement, why observing bear habits is crucial to your success and a bunch of little tactics that will help you immensely in the field. See more on the show notes page at thewildinitiative.com/194. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Honorable Steve Daines, United States Senator for Montana joins Sam on The Wild Initiative to share his vision for wildlife and public lands management in Montana and across the nation. Senator Daines reminisces about his childhood memories of growing up in Montana and fishing with his grandfather and goes on to recap the 2020 election and confront the attacks made against him by the opposition. Sam and Senator Daines go on to discuss his questioning of Representative Haaland, Biden’s nominee for Secretary of the Interior and his confrontation of her inconsistent statements over science-based wildlife management and the delisting of the grizzly bear. See more on the show notes page at thewildinitiative.com/193. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brian Barney of Eastmans’ Elevated joins Sam on The Wild Initiative to talk about the life-changing benefits of immersing yourself in the backcountry. In this episode, they discuss bowhunting and the upcoming spring bear season, beer and burgers as a hunting power-meal, flaws with the pro-wolf agenda and how our “difficult” daily-life decisions are made much less intimidating by the backcountry. Brian and Sam go on to discuss a little bit of everything from CWD to hunting legislation and why public land hunting is such a unique equalizer of people. See more on the show notes page at thewildinitiative.com/192. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Josh Smith of Montana Knife Company joins Sam on The Wild Initiative to talk about the results of surrounding yourself with high-performing individuals. In this episode, they talk about a shift in focus from university education to trades, the importance of learning by hands-on experience and understanding the difference between someone looking for feedback versus simply sharing their work. Josh and Sam move on to discuss the difficulties of a life without fingerprints, the reality behind the scenes of Forged in Fire and the incredible things that can happen when you surround yourself with “deep water, thin air” people. See more on the show notes page at thewildinitiative.com/191. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices