It's no secret that Western states rely on non resident applications, tags, licenses, permits etc to fund their state wildlife agencies fiscal budgets each year. Meanwhile residents of those states get to hunt and fish for pennies on the dollar. Do I personally take issue with the way things are structured? No, but at what [...]

SCI Foundation Large Carnivore Program Leader Maria Davidson has spent her career working with bears. After retiring from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the SCI Foundation brought her on to head up their large carnivore team. Maria and I taped this one while at the recent SCI Convention in Nashville. The conversation was [...]

When did night vision and thermal technology come about? Hell, I have no idea - but our longtime friend Darren Jones of Armasight is well versed on the topic. We try not to get to technical, but still explain how these technologies function. Some other highlights include: How Darren used Night Vision/Thermal during his deployments [...]

While they might look like your neighbor's mutt, truly wild (feral) dogs have no place on the landscape. Often void of human fear and quite aggressive, they're also hell on wildlife and livestock. One Houston area listener recently sent me some images of the aftermath when a pack of 5 large wild dogs dug under [...]

Mark Boardman and I have had some great conversations over the years. This Campfire Conversation is no exception. The longtime Vortex Optics higher up and I discuss a wide array of topics including: Highlights from the past hunting season Spaghetti Shootouts Ring height when mounting a new scope Spring bear and turkey plans Anti 2A [...]

Sportsmen’s Alliances VP Brian Lynn makes his return this week. We discuss his home state of Washington and the new anti hunting management plan attempted to be implemented by their hunting/fishing commission. A plan void of predator management that would ultimately affect hunter opportunity for ungulates. Then we move to New Mexico where a couple [...]

Jason Conn is no stranger to giant largemouth bass. He guides professionally on Lake Fork. His recent run of good fortune however was something nobody could have predicted. He first caught a 14 plus lb lunker on O.H. Ivie back in December. This week however, he bested that with a 17.03 lb whopper, the 2nd [...]

Ben Cassidy - SCI's Director of Government Affairs makes his return this week. We discuss some pressing trophy importation legislation that's been proposed in New York. The people responsible for such proposals claim to do it from a place of protecting wildlife. However, the reality is these types of bills only devalue wildlife's existence. Ben [...]

Jeremy Harrison, Todd Schwartz and Quinten Holik had no idea how successful the West Texas Big Bobcat Contest would become. But here we are some 15 years later and it's the gold standard for predator hunting contests. The tournament has paid out over $3 million in prize money since it's inception. The three co founders [...]

Dalton Smith came from Kentucky to Texas' Lake O.H. Ivie with the goal of catching a share lunker largemouth in mind (13 plus lb largemouth bass). Not only did he succeed but he's done it three times! The first two both went over 14 lbs and were caught on December 30th making Dalton the only [...]

This might be the most important Campfire Conversations installment thus far. Congressman Andrew Clyde, R-GA joins me to discuss President Biden's blatant attempt to skip the legislative process in order to advance his anti 2nd Amendment agenda. Thankfully, Representative Clyde and many of his constituents have taken legal action to thwart recent intrusions on law [...]

If I was a resident of Wyoming, I'd prefer for the majority of big game tags be allocated for Wyoming residents. I think it's realistic to feel that way. However, when non resident licenses/tags fund the majority of most Western states entire fiscal budgets, well there has to be a happy medium somewhere. It seems [...]

In Episode 338 of District of Conservation, Gabriella welcomes Lone Star Outdoor Show host Cable Smith and outdoor storyteller Ryan Bassham onto the podcast to discuss trending topics, crazy wildlife stories, and the forthcoming Safari Club International Convention in Nashville, TN next month. Tune in! Be sure to subscribe to the District of Conservation Podcast [...]

Colorado voted to reintroduce wolves. That ship has sailed, it's happening. So now what? The obvious answer is to focus on Colorado's Wolf Management Plan going forward. On this episode of Campfire Conversations I'm joined by Howl For Wildlife's Charles Whitwam and Lifelong Coloradoan and Minturn Angler Founder Justin Nolan. The current proposal does call [...]

I've hunted Mule deer in 4 states with modest success. Sure, I've killed a few bucks, but eaten tag soup more often than not. The grey ghost and I consequently have developed a love/hate relationship as a result. So when my good friend and international hunting buddy Arturo Villegas starting telling me about hunting giant [...]

Is there anything more exciting for the duck hunter than when the retriever brings back an unexpected rare specimen, or perhaps a banded bird? While I have seen thousands of ducks brought back to the blind personally, I'd never seen a hybrid or a banded bird until this November when JoJo brought back a weird [...]

Tom Kubiniec has lived a fascinating life. I honestly didn't know what to expect leading up to this conversation, but it was one of my favorites in recent memory. Tom talks about his time pursuing a career as a guitarist in California to founding a laptop storage company and ultimately becoming the largest armament storage [...]

If you're family is anything like mine, you probably spent a good portion of the holiday season with family and friends. The rest however was likely spent in a deer or duck blind. I recap some of the hunting highs and lows over the past few weeks (Much of that time spent tent camping at [...]

15 pet dogs killed by mountain lions in 30 days? That's the reality in Nederland, Colorado. A quiet little ski town outside of Boulder. I recently posted about the topic on my Instagram page and Cody Neill sent me a message that he lives in the community. I immediately knew we needed to sit down [...]

If you haven't suppressed your rifle, why is that? Is it the cost, the arduous process or something else? On Episode 658, Silencer Central founder Brandon Maddox joins the conversation to discuss how his company has simplified the process to the point where the suppresser shows up on your doorstep once the ATF has approved [...]