The Outdoor Life Podcast: Recent Episodes
Outdoor Life
Outdoor Life has been publishing hunting, fishing, and conservation stories since 1898. Its flagship podcast brings deep-dive journalism to the issues that are most important to sportsmen and women. Hosted and produced by the editors with field reporting from our best contributors, the show airs weekly.
We assembled more than a dozen shotguns that are new for 2023, which we tested over the course of an intense week of trigger pulling. Read the full story at outdoorlife.com/shotguntest Testing facility: Minnesota Horse and Hunt Club Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The OL gun team takes over the podcast to discuss staff writer Tyler Freel's M1 Garand project. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The drop in public support for legal field sports comes after nearly 30 years of increasingly favorable attitudes. What gives? Read the full story at outdoorlife.com/huntingsurvey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Who was Townsend Whelen? The soldier and backcountry big game hunter was one of OL's earliest shooting editors.
Read the full story on Outdoor Life
Related stories: Two Rifles for the Ages, Chambered in .35 Whelen The Story of Carmichel’s Benchrest World Record Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Outdoor Life staff writer Tyler Freel knew how his hunt would turn out, but he did it anyway. Read the full story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
We asked our gear staff writer and resident thru-hiker Laura Lancaster what hunters can learn from ultralight backpackers. Then we compared notes with staff writer and expert sheep hunter Tyler Freel. Gear tests and reviews mentioned in this episode: The Best Ultralight Tents The Best Ultralight Backpacks The Best Backpacking Quilts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In part six of our Masters of the Rut series, shooting editor John B. Snow busts the most common myths deer hunters believe about rifles, cartridges, shot placement, and more. Masters of the Rut is brought to you by Moultrie Mobile Edge. Read the full story on OutdoorLife.com.
In part five of our Masters of the Rut series, year-round bowhunter Billy Phillips explains all the pros (and very few cons) of switching to a tree saddle to hunt deer. Masters of the Rut is brought to you by Moultrie Mobile Edge. Read the full story on OutdoorLife.com. Find more from Billy Phillips at hunturban.co or the Hang and Hunt podcast.
In part four of our Masters of the Rut series, Kip Adams of the National Deer Association talks about how hunters can age deer, and why we might want to. Masters of the Rut is brought to you by Moultrie Mobile Edge. Read the full story on OutdoorLife.com. Find more from Kip Adams at DeerAssociation.com Show notes: How to age deer (NDA video)
In part three of our Masters of the Rut series, Grant Woods talks about how hunters can use their trail cameras a little more scientifically and become a better deer hunter. Masters of the Rut is brought to you by Moultrie Mobile Edge. Read the full story on OutdoorLife.com. Find more from Grant Woods at GrowingDeer.tv
In part two of our Masters of the Rut series, Dan Infalt talks about his approach to consistently tagging big public-land bucks by hunting their bedding areas. Masters of the Rut is brought to you by Moultrie Mobile Edge. Read the full story on OutdoorLife.com. Watch Dan Infalt's videos on YouTube. You can learn more about Infalt's treestands and climbing sticks at HuntingBeastGear.com.
In part one of our Masters of the Rut series, Shane Simpson talks about what he’s learned as a tracking dog handler, and how that intel can help more hunters recover their deer. Masters of the Rut is brought to you by Moultrie Mobile Edge.
“There is no half way. After his first exposure, a man is either a sheep hunter or he isn’t.” —Jack O’Connor
Read Tyler Freel's essay yourself, right here.
Sheep Hunting in Alaska by Tony Russ
Michael Hirschi just might be the best public-land trophy mule deer hunter on the face of the earth. And he’s ready to share (some of) his secrets.
Rue Mapp’s calling is to get more Black people involved in the outdoors. Her newest personal challenge? Learning how to hunt.
Free-roaming horses and burros are dying hard deaths on Western rangeland that’s already taxed by drought, wildfire, and habitat loss. So why don’t we do something different?
Kristine Fischer risked it all just to make it as a pro kayak tournament angler. Now she just might be the rising star the sport needs.
...and why you might want to enter your buck in the record books anyway.
See photos of McKean's Missouri whitetail here.
Read the full story about scoring and the record books here.
Season 3 of the Outdoor Life Podcast is dedicated to the diehards: hunters and anglers whose borderline insane passions have led them to develop some pretty interesting perspectives and, often, uncommon skill. Tune in every Wednesday for new episodes.
Bushcraft doesn't just have a place in the 21st century—it might be more important than ever.
A kid walks out of the night and into your hunting camp—lost, scared, and half-frozen. Would you know what to do?
Rising grizzly populations, mountain town sprawl, and more tourists mean we’re seeing a surge in deadly bear attacks. It’s a good theory. The only problem? It isn’t true.
Jessie Krebs is on a crusade to make the backcountry, and the skills required to thrive there, accessible to everyone—especially the people who need it most.
What happens when a backcountry hunt turns into an unexpected survival situation? We talk with Alaska sheep hunter and OL staff writer Tyler Freel about suffering through the hungry side of a fly-in hunt.
And if it can’t, who's going to pay to conserve the state’s wildlife and habitat?
The list of obstacles looming before Golden State hunters reads like a doomsday letter: Megafires close millions of acres of forest during deer season and consume precious quail habitat; urban sprawl eats up increasingly large sections of wild land; drought turns reservoirs to puddles and puddles to cracked earth; duck populations struggle and deer numbers plummet; predator populations expand; ammunition becomes harder to find and much more complicated to purchase; and the possibility of a ballot initiative banning hunting lingers in a state with 63 percent fewer hunters than it had 50 years ago.
But don't worry—there's good news in this episode, too.
This episode is based on the story Can Hunting Survive in California? by Christine Peterson, which appeared in the No. 1, 2022 Issue of Outdoor Life. You can read more stories from this issue on Apple News, and subscribers can access them our iOS, Android, and Outdoor Life apps.
Hosted by Editor-in-Chief Alex Robinson.
Edited and produced by Senior Deputy Editor Natalie Krebs.
Theme song by Harrison Black, Zep Jameson, and Emerson Lee.
News clips in this episode include excerpts from The Sacramento Bee, ABC 7 News, ABC10, 23ABC News, with sound effects from the National Park Service and FreeSound.org.
Season 2, Episode 1: When a caribou hunter sets out from his small village in Nunavut, a snowstorm turns his day trip into a five-day ordeal.
This episode is based on the story Dreaming on the Tundra by Dac Collins, which appeared in the No. 1, 2022 Issue of Outdoor Life. You can read more stories from this issue on Apple News, and subscribers can access them our iOS, Android, or Outdoor Life apps. Hosted by Editor-in-Chief Alex Robinson.
Edited and produced by Senior Deputy Editor Natalie Krebs.
Theme song by Harrison Black, Zep Jameson, and Emerson Lee.
For Season 2 of The Outdoor Life Podcast, we're going to try something a little different. We're still bringing you the storytelling, adventure, and reporting you love, but this time our writers and editors will be telling hunting and survival stories that are, in some way, dedicated to our single greatest survival tool: The one between our ears. We have six new episodes about the survivor's mindset coming your way, and we'll be releasing one each week on Wednesday.
Hosted by Editor-in-Chief Alex Robinson.
Edited and produced by Senior Deputy Editor Natalie Krebs.
Theme song by Harrison Black, Zep Jameson, and Emerson Lee.
There’s plenty of debate around crippling rates in waterfowl hunting, but the best duck hunters agree that we can reduce them and put more birds in the bag. Because if the numbers we do have are close to accurate, we duck hunters are losing way, way too many birds. We talked to two veteran duck hunters about how to improve our waterfowl recovery rates. Lee Kjos, a renowned wildlife photographer and the marketing guru behind Boss Shotshells, stresses the importance of identifying the right choke and load combination by pattering your gun. We also talked to legendary bird dog trainer Tom Dokken about how trained retrievers can help us recover more birds, and how to set yours up for success.
Hosted by Editor-in-Chief Alex Robinson.
Produced and edited by Senior Deputy Editor Natalie Krebs.
It took Jace Bauserman 19 years to draw an archery bighorn sheep tag in Colorado. So when he did finally draw, he got to training with his bow, meticulously. He tuned his gear, he perfected his form, and he kept a careful shooting log. But the most important thing Jace did was work on his mental game. Jace knew that he'd feel a wave of anxiousness as soon as the ram of his dreams offered him a shot. But he also knew that with careful training and the right attitude, he could execute a perfect shot—even if he was absolutely terrified in the moment. Here's how he did it.
Edited and produced by Senior Deputy Editor Natalie Krebs.
Hosted by Editor-in-Chief Alex Robinson.
Music composed and performed by Tandis Jenhudson, Federico Coderoni, Lorenzo Bergamino, Stefano Bergamaschi, Luigi Magnozzi.
The megadrought in the West and High Plains is hurting big game like mule deer and cold-water fish species like trout and salmon. Scorching temps are evaporating moisture from browse and creating dry tinder for the wildfires that are growing bigger and more frequent. Meanwhile, drought is hitting the Dakotas hard and causing problems in the prairie pothole region. The real question: Is this the new normal?
Produced and edited by Senior Deputy Editor Natalie Krebs.
Reporting by contributor Christine Peterson and Hunting & Conservation Editor Andrew McKean.
Wisconsin wolf hunters nearly doubled last winter’s harvest quota. In the West, bounties are being paid for dead wolves. Meanwhile, the wild canines are increasing their range and redistributing big-game populations. Prodded by a celebrity-voiced campaign, the Interior Department is being pressured to return America’s wolves to the Endangered Species List. What will we do about wolves? Read the full story here:
Produced and edited by Senior Deputy Editor Natalie Krebs.
Reporting by Hunting and Conservation Editor Andrew McKean.
What does it take to compete at the highest levels of shooting? We discuss this with Vincent Hancock, who just took Olympic gold for the third time in International Skeet in Tokyo.
Hancock is the only shooter in Olympic history to win multiple golds in skeet and he did it in dramatic fashion this summer. First, he staged a long-term comeback to Olympic excellence after a disappointing finish in Rio in 2016. (He won gold in both the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.) Next, he fought his way back into medal contention in Tokyo after dropping three targets in the last qualifying round before heading into the finals.
Produced and edited by Senior Deputy Editor Natalie Krebs.
Hosted by Shooting Editor John B. Snow
As the ammunition shortage drags on, there’s one bright spot for hunters and shooters: The Remington ammunition plant in Lonoke, Arkansas, is up and running, almost at full capacity. While Remington went bankrupt last summer and sold off its properties in the fall, the factory had all but gone dark. But last week, Remington opened its doors to a handful of outdoor media and we got to the chance to see how ammo was being manufactured, plus interview Remington employees.
Remington ammunition is pushing hard to tell the story of its comeback. Afterall, it’s a more than 200-year-old American company that’s regaining its footing at time when there’s never been more demand for ammunition. But it’s also because they’ve got a bit of an uphill battle. The pervious Remington owners, Cerberus Capital Management (and then eventually its creditors), made year’s worth of bad financial and ethical decisions that hurt Remington’s quality and reputation. Overall, the “Big Green” brand story is still partly tangled up with questions around Remington firearms and lingering lawsuits from previous ownership. Read the full story here.
Produced and edited by Senior Deputy Editor Natalie Krebs.
Reporting by Editor-in-Chief Alex Robinson.
The National Wild Turkey Federation has been at the center of nearly every trend affecting wild turkey dynamics since its inception in 1973. Over its 48 years, it’s grown to about 250,000 members and has raised tens of millions of dollars to help state agencies increase the nation’s wild turkey flock to between 6 and 7 million birds.
Now, however, the national turkey population has been slipping away from its high-water mark, set in the early 2000s after decades of translocations that established flocks in new or historic habitats. In some parts of the country, hunters and wildlife managers now worry that turkey numbers could once again slide so far that hunting seasons might close and aggressive restoration efforts would be required to sustain flocks.
Ron Jolly is the co-founder of an upstart turkey conservation organization, Turkeys For Tomorrow that aims to help state agencies research and respond to turkey declines, specifically in the southeast. The group was formed just this year and already has several thousand “partners,” who contribute funds in exchange for a window decal and inclusion in the group’s communications and outreach.
In this episode, Hunting Editor Andrew McKean talks to both organizations about the future of turkey conservation. Read the full story (and see the new NWTF logo) here. Find McKean’s series on changing citizen conservation here.
Produced and edited by Senior Deputy Editor Natalie Krebs.
Hosted by Editor-in-Chief Alex Robinson.
Reporting by Hunting Editor Andrew McKean.
Despite the predictions that overpopulated snow geese would destroy the tundra (and thus themselves), it seems snows aren't actually eating themselves into extinction. They've adapted to find different wintering grounds. They migrate around the most pressured hunting areas, and they are even cropping up in new nesting areas where they've never been seen before.
It turns out, there was plenty that hunters, researchers, and wildlife managers didn't know about greater snow geese, lesser snows, and Ross's geese—and still don't. In fact, we're just starting to ask the right questions, like: Why are snow geese expanding their range? Is the continued growth going to hurt other waterfowl species? Is the conservation season failing? And what does the future hold for snows and snow goose hunting? Here’s Associate Editor Joe Genzel on what we know so far. Read his full story here.
Produced and edited by Senior Deputy Editor Natalie Krebs.
Hosted by Editor-in-Chief Alex Robinson.
Reporting by Associate Editor Joe Genzel.
Special thanks to Tony Vandemore and Habitat Flats.
Desmund Manaba was born and raised on Molokai, Hawaii’s fifth largest island and home to a staggering population of axis deer. He started hunting the non-native animals when he was eight, and has been watching their numbers explode ever since. Axis deer are destructive to the island’s terrain, vegetation, crops, and ranchland. But where there are indisputable problems, Manaba has also found opportunity. Senior Deputy Editor Natalie Krebs road around with Manaba during a nighttime cull. Read her full story here.
Produced and edited by Senior Deputy Editor Natalie Krebs.
Hosted by Editor-in-Chief Alex Robinson.
Supported by Camp Chef, Leupold and Nosler.
Music in this episode by Harrison Black, Zep Jameson, and Emerson Lee via APM Music.
Why are so many outdoorsmen and women coming down with long-lasting cases of Lyme disease? Lyme has been around for decades and it's very common, especially in the Northeast. It turns out that there are conflicting opinions within the medical community over what it takes to detect and treat Lyme disease. Plus, there's a serious knowledge gap in areas where Lyme disease is relatively new. This week, tech and fitness journalist Tom Gerencer explains why this common disease is still such a mystery, and such a nightmare, for so many people. Tom's been researching and reporting on Lyme disease for years, in no small part because of his own chronic case of Lyme. Read his full report here.
Produced and edited by Senior Deputy Editor Natalie Krebs.
Hosted by Editor-in-Chief Alex Robinson.
Reporting by Tom Gerencer, an ASJA content writer and editor for science, tech, business, and the outdoors. He's a regular contributor to HP Tech Takes and Boys' Life, with articles in The Boston Globe Magazine, Fast Company, Outdoor Life, and Costco Connection, and editing clients like Groupon, Poker.org, and Adorama. His book, "Think Like Google - Build SEO With Empathy" is now available on Amazon.
Music by Rebecca Harris and Franklin Mocket (APM)
Hunting regulations vary widely, and seemingly illogically, from state to state. This is partly because states have different habitats, species, and hunting traditions. But, it’s also because hunters (and the general public) can't seem to agree on ethical hunting practices. This week, contributor Christine Peterson explains how she recently got into reporting on hunting ethics and regulations while writing a story about a persistence antelope hunter. The hunter, Mike Wolfe, was attempting to run down an antelope and shoot it with a traditional bow. Read that feature story here. And find Christine's report on differing hunting regulations here.
Produced and edited by Senior Deputy Editor Natalie Krebs.
Reporting by Christine Peterson.
Music is by Loren Shane Humphrey (APM music).
Clarification: Rifle hunters in Idaho are allowed to use scopes containing battery powered or tritium lighted reticles.
We are in the heart of an unprecedentedammo shortage.But what’s causing it? Are ammo companies stockpiling supplies to intentionally increase demand (and prices)? Is the military buying up all the civilian ammo? Are ammo scalpers driving the price increases? And, when should you buy your next box of hunting ammo? We answer all those questions and more in this week’s episode.For more reporting on these topics, check out the following stories:
Federal Premium's President Has Some Answers
Is the Military Buying All the Civilian Ammo?
The President of Black Hills Ammunition on Making Ammo for the Military, Price Gouging, Shortage Conspiracies, and More
How to Buy Ammunition Online (Without Getting Totally Ripped Off)
Scalpers Are Driving Up Ammunition Costs and Contributing to the Shortage
Produced and edited by Senior Deputy Editor Natalie Krebs.
Reporting by Alex Robinson, Andrew McKean, and David Maccar.
Music composed and performed by Tyler Schwartz and Nicholas Fernandez.
An Alberta bowhunter named Shawn O’Shea killed an incredible 449 4/8-inch non-typical bull in September 2020. Even though that bull is an all-time world record, the story of the hunt went mostly untold until the Pope & Young Club unceremoniously posted about it in late March. In this episode, Hunting Editor Andrew McKean tells the story of O’Shea’s hunt and explains why the modest bowhunter ultimately decided to get the bull scored and entered into the record books. Read McKean's full story and see photos of the bull here.
Edited and produced by Senior Deputy Editor Natalie Krebs.
Hosted by Editor-in-Chief Alex Robinson.
Reporting by Hunting Editor Andrew McKean.
Music by Matt Koskenmaki through APM Music.
In late January, a small-town crime made national news and shook the waterfowl hunting world to its core. During the final week of Tennessee’s duck season, two hunters were shot and killed on Reelfoot Lake. A third hunter—suspected of killing both young men—was missing for nearly a week before his body was discovered. One witness survived.
All four men involved in the incident were loved and highly regarded by their friends and families. None of them had a criminal record. This week, we take an in-depth look at what the investigation has uncovered about this tragic shooting, discuss the survivor's side of the story, and examine the elements of the case that remain a mystery. Find the direct quotes from the survivor and read the full report here.
Edited and produced by Senior Deputy Editor Natalie Krebs.
Hosted by Editor-in-Chief Alex Robinson.
Music composed and performed by Tyler Schwartz.
Coming soon, the Outdoor Life Podcast is a brand-new series that brings in-depth journalism to the issues and controversies that are most important to sportsmen and women. It covers hunting, fishing, conservation, and more.
Hosted by Editor-in-Chief Alex Robinson and the editors of Outdoor Life.
Edited and produced by Senior Deputy Editor Natalie Krebs.