Gritty Bowmen TV

On this episode of Gritty Bowmen we talk with Cam Hanes and Adam Greentree at 2018 ATA Show. 

Today on Gritty I am joined by my good friend Ryan Lampers, aka sthealthy hunter AND owner, host, and cohost of the Hunt Harvest Health Podcast. Ryan is a modest, quiet guy who kills mature old animals on public land hunts across the West. Today on Gritty, Ryan shares some of his tactics for elk hunting. I feel like Ryan is a treasure box of useful information just waiting to be opened. Today on Gritty we pluck a few gold nuggets out of his treasure box and the information is worth its weight in gold. I hope Ryan’s stories and tactics help you on your next elk hunt--I know I’ll be putting a few of his strategies to use next season.

Today on Gritty, my guest is my good friend Phil Mendoza. I’ve been attending a few of his beginner bowhunter and bow tuning classes at his Denver archery shop--No Limits Archery. If you live in the area and you’re new to archery or just want to learn how to work on your own bow or build your own arrows, checkout Phil’s classes--they’re great. On today’s podcast, Phil and I discuss hunting mistakes--primarily, mistakes made in the final moments of a shot opportunity. Cody Eardley wrote a great article in the January 2018, Bugle Magazine (put out by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation--which you should become a member of if you aren’t already) and the article is titled, Situation Ethics. The article is a good one and it got Phil and I talking about ethics, shot selection and closing the deal in the final moments of a hunt. I enjoy talking to Phil because I always learn. Phil is an extremely talented hunter and archer. He’s a Train To Hunt champion. And he’s owner and mastermind of the Alpha Bowhunting Challenge. And as discussed on an earlier podcast, Phil wrote a mini book titled, “Targeting Buck Fever.” Train to Hunt and The Alpha Bowhunting Challenge are competitive events designed to help hunters hone the ability to make good decisions and good shots at the proverbial “moment of truth” while under extreme pressure. So join Phil and I for a frank and open discussion on mistakes we’ve made, things we’ve learned and our Situation Ethics. Big thanks to Cody Eardley and Bugle Magazine for providing relevant, educative, thought provoking articles like the one we discuss today.    

THIS IS AN AUDIO ONLY PODCAST Today on Gritty, I am joined by Adam Janke, Editor in Chief, of the Journal of Mountain Hunting, resident of B.C. and the host of the Beyond the Kill podcast. We discuss the issues surrounding the Grizzly Hunting ban in British Columbia and we go deep on the topic. But before I launch into the conversation with Adam I feel it is important to set the stage for the discussion. The topic is not a sexy one--but it’s extremely important. So please hang on and slog your way through it because this stuff matters.     In August of this year, the left-leaning New Democratic government, propped up by the Green Party, took office in British Columbia in July after ousting the Liberals who had ruled the province for 16 years. A few weeks ago, Doug Donaldson, the province’s minister of forests and lands announced that (quote) “it is abundantly clear that the grizzly hunt is not in line with the public’s values.” Donaldson also said (in an interview with the CBC News) that the level of Grizzly Bear hunting in BC is sustainable. However, Donaldson says the decision to end trophy hunting is “not a matter of numbers, it’s a matter of society has come to the point in B.C. where they are no longer in favour of the grizzly bear trophy hunt.”     I can’t help but feel deeply disturbed by the government’s decision to ban Grizzly bear hunting and the justifications behind it.     Make no mistake about it, the Grizzly Bear Ban makes the following statement: “Hunting is immoral.” “You are an evil, dare I say “un-evolved” person if you hunt Grizzly Bears.” And “Hunting grizzly bears is morally reprehensible… we do not need to do this any longer…”     Please understand that their argument is not based on science or rationale. Their justification for banning Grizzly Bear hunting is solely based on moral reasoning. These people have argued and lost the health, science, and conservation argument. So they changed tactics and made this a debate about right and wrong--about morality. And the truth is, the hunting debate has and always will boil down to one thing… the morality of it. Is hunting moral?       The moral argument against hunting is that hunting kills animals unnecessarily. This claim depends on the existence of alternative activities that accomplish hunting’s effects with less or no animal killing. It is said that nutrition does not justify hunting because we have alternative sources of nutrition, namely agriculture and domestic animal production; which does not kill animals or only kills farm animals.      

Today on Gritty, my guest is my good friend Phil Mendoza and our topic is Targeting Buck Fever. Phil is a stud. Period. Not just because he’s an incredible hunter, archer, Train To Hunt champion, owner of Alpha Bowhunting and the Alpha Bowhunting Challenge and not because he’s the owner of the biggest archery shop in Denver; although that resume pretty sick. No, Phil is a stud because of his character. “The best index to a person's character is how he treats people who can't do him any good, and how he treats people who can't fight back.” ― Abigail Van Buren And that quote about sums up Phil and why I like him so much. He’s been a guest on the podcast before. Early on, when I started the Gritty Bowmen podcast, Phil and Aron Snyder went on an Epic Big Horn Sheep hunt and Aron tells the story on GB EPISODE 24 and 30. More recently, Phil was a guest on episode 255 where he and our friends from Fit 4 The Hunt talked about Physical Conditioning and The Mental Game--those have been popular episodes and if you’ve never listened them, I recommend you check them out. Phil wrote a booklet, not too long ago, that he titles Targeting Buck Fever. Every hunter, every archer has struggled at one time or another with Buck Fever. The urban dictionary defines buck fever as, “nervousness felt by novice hunters when they first sight game.” Which is absolute rubbish because buck fever can affect both new and experienced hunters. When the stakes are high, when you’re on that once-in-a-lifetime hunt, when it’s the last hour of the last day, when the buck of your dreams presents a last second shot, buck fever can wreck you. So how do you rise to occasion, hold your mud, and crush that shot? Well, that’s the discussion that Phil and I have on today’s podcast. It’s good stuff. Take a listen and if you like what you hear, do me a favor and link up with Phil on his Alpha Bowhunting Instagram and Youtube Channels and checkout his book on Amazon. As always, thanks for tuning in to Gritty and making this show possible.

Today on Gritty, I’m on location in Oklahoma with Tim Burnett. We’re on a whitetail hunt in Oklahoma. And I’m trying to self-film my hunt. And… it’s not so easy. Tim shares his philosophy on self-filming. And we stray from the subject of self-filming hunts to the topic of so-called trophy hunting--and the propensity of weak people to fault-find and criticize others to make themselves feel better about their own lives. Because if you can hate on a post about a kid’s first bull elk, you’ve got problems and I’m not afraid to say, “grow-up” and “get a life.” Stop saying things that make you weak. And figure yourself out. Too many people assume the problems of the world are someone else's fault. A true person tries to change him or herself, which is more difficult and less grand. If we all focused on fixing ourselves instead of trying to fix everybody else the world would be a better place. And if you think you don’t have anything to fix--think again. Evil is the force that believes its knowledge is complete.  The reality is this: •Everybody acts out a myth, •but very few people know what their myth is. •And you should know what your myth is, •because it might be a tragedy. • And maybe you don't want it to be.  

Today on Gritty, I’m joined by John Barklow and Chris Derek. John is the Big Game Product Manager at Sitka Gear and Chris is the Whitetail Product Manager at Sitka. AND, I am joined by Sloane Brown from Backbone Media, a public relations, social media and content marketing agency for active lifestyle brands. AND I’m joined by my good friend, Casey Harbertson, partner and owner of MTN OPS.   The group of us were invited to Sloane’s family ranch in Texas to hunt whitetails. And although we talk whitetail hunting on an upcoming episode--this episode is more technical in nature--it’s about survival, it’s about managing moisture within your chosen clothing system. It’s about hunter responsibility. It’s about staying gritty in hostile and sometimes deadly conditions. By the end of this episode you should have a better understanding of clothing layering systems and when and why they matter. And, hopefully, as a result of this episode, you’ll be better prepared for surviving an extreme cold disaster. And after this podcast, if you’d like to learn more about A Navy SEAL Rewarming Drill, go to Sitkagear.com and search “Rewarming Drill.”  

On this episode of Gritty Bowmen I sit down with SOLO HNTR, Tim Burnett. We talk about our Oklahoma Whitetail hunt, Public Lane Hunting vs. Guided Hunts and Tim shares his most meaningful hunt. 

On this episode of Gritty Bowmen we are in Canada at Primitive Outfitting. We talk with guide, Ben Jackson and hunter, Clay Reinarz. Clay was fortunate enough to get one of the last Grizzly hunting tags before they closed Grizzly hunting in Canada. He shares the story of his Longbow Grizzly hunt and how things went a little sideways.  Check it out. To learn more about the Canadian Grizzly Ban check out Episodes 282 and 278. 

Today on Gritty, I am joined by Tim Burnett, aka SOLO HUNTER and we talk about branding, marketing and business. Tim and I are in the business of content creation and so our branding and marketing discussion leans that direction. I really like Tim--he’s got a “what you see is what you get” personality that I find refreshing. And he doesn’t over complicate things--words like, “don’t be a jackass” are pretty easy to comprehend. Nonetheless, in classic fashion, I ask him to elaborate on the “jackass” statement just to be sure I fully understand it.  I ask Tim how Solo started. What’s the biggest mistake people make when creating a brand name. We talk about our objectives when we create content. And we talk about the importance of good business partners and how you know whether you have a good one or not. We agree that media consumption habits differ greatly from platform to platform, for example., from TV to FB to Instagram to Youtube to Twitter--and people have preferred platforms. We discuss the differences between platforms and we share our thoughts on how our messaging differs from platform to platform. This isn’t all we talk about, but this intro gives you a good idea of what this show is about. I hope you find this episode helpful. In today’s world, nearly everyone is a content creator of some sort. So I don’t believe this episode is just for those trying to build a brand per se. This episode can help those who are actively involved in promoting the hunting life, conservation and life values. Finally, please know that Tim and I are by no means experts in marketing or content creation--we just know what has worked for us and we share it on this podcast. For those who want to learn more about these topics, I recommend that you read the following books:  The Thank You Economy, Crush It, and Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk.And for those wanting to start a new career and chase a more meaningful job, check-out the book START, by Jon Acuff. In this book, “Jon Explores the five stages every life goes through on the path to awesome and looks at what it takes to punch fear in the face, escape average and do work that matters.”

On the episode of Gritty Bowmen we talk about missing the shot and reducing the “cone of variables”. Be sure to listen to the previous parts to this episode; Episodes 291 and 292. We are joined by Aron Snyder, Bryan Broderick of Lost Arrow Films, David Brinker of Sitka Gear in Alberta, Canada.

On the episode of Gritty Bowmen we are joined by Aron Snyder, Bryan Broderick of Lost Arrow Films, David Brinker of Sitka Gear in Alberta, Canada. We continue our discussion from the previous episode by talking about David’s recent change from traditional archery to a compound. David has struggled with target panic and since he switched to a hinge release and a compound and followed some of Joel Turner’s advice, he has found success.

On the episode of Gritty Bowmen we talk about our 2017 Mule Deer Hunt in Alberta, Canada. We are joined by Aron Snyder, Bryan Broderick of Lost Arrow Films & David Brinker of Sitka Gear. We begin this discussion by sharing our mule deer stalks and Aron talks Mechanical vs. Fixed Blade Broadheads and Bryan Broderick shares his success with the longbow.

On this episode of Gritty Bowmen I interview my Grandfather, Joe Lane. My Grandfather is nearly 90 years of age and his time on this earth is almost over. Every human being travels the road of life. And in my estimation, the best humans among us are the ones who travel their road with moral fortitude--the best among us are those who love the best they can. I know this might come across as fairytale-ish to some, but I truly believe this to be so.   My Grandpa Joe has never been a perfect man. But I can say with certainty that he has always loved; and although that love maybe imperfect, it’s always been at the heart of who he wants and strives to be and he has modeled well for me how a man should love and cherish his wife.  And what higher endeavor can a man aspire to than to love and reduce suffering in the world? There are those in this world who honestly “TRY” to be a good person. And there are those who make no effort at all to be “good.” My grandfather is the former--and for that I am deeply grateful. My Grandpa has always been a prominent figure in my life. He’s always been a strong man. A man of grit and determination. He’s honestly one of the most physically tough human beings I’ve ever met. Growing up during the Great Depression and in a state of abject poverty he was hardened and forever shaped by the rigors of his youth and on this podcast, myself, my sister, Katie and her husband Bryce talk with my Grandfather about his interesting and diverse life. Things aren’t like they used to be. We’ve traded root cellars for refrigerators and horses for cars. We have smart phones and iPads. And very few of us are in danger of starving to death or dying from Scarlet Fever. So take a listen to this long conversation and then stop complaining about the traffic, or your job, or how things aren’t fair because they could be a whole lot worse. In the words of Jordan B. Peterson, “Pick up your damn suffering and bear it. And try to be a good person so you don’t make it worse.” Because, “Since Auschwitz we know what man is capable of. And since Hiroshima we know what is at stake.”    In other words, man is self-determining AND life has meaning. So act like it. Live a life that is intrinsically good and worth remembering.  

On this episode of Gritty Bowmen, I get to hang out with the one and only Randy Newberg! Randy Newberg identifies himself as a “hunter.” Growing up in a small town in the midwest--Randy spent a lot of time running around on public land hunting and trapping small game. I would say that Randy is the quintessential “Public Land Hunter” and he uses his platforms to advocate for hunters and public access. In addition to representing hunters in Congress and state legislatures, he serves as a volunteer and board member for many hunting and conservation groups. I can honestly say that Randy Newberg is one of my favorite people on the planet. He says what he means and and means what he says. And if you don’t like what he has to say, well then, you’ve mistaken him for someone who gives a damn. Follow Randy on Instagram and facebook and check-out his youtube channel for some good public land hunting films.