The remote Red Desert is a place of dreams, albeit dreams sometimes replete with choking alkali dust, freezing winds, gumbo mud, and the scattered, bleached bones of the unlucky or unfit of all species. But it's a place of elk, toad mule deer, herds of pronghorn and the thunder of flushing sage hens, too – all of which have to be able to move long distances to range and water and shelter from the mighty elements, in the age-old way of desert dwellers, if they are to survive. Join us with Josh Coursey of the Muley Fanatic Foundation and Joy Bannon of the Wyoming Wildlife Federation to learn about the work being done to identify and conserve the most critical migration paths, habitat and heritage of this last, great empty place.   

Recorded in-person at BHA 10th Annual North American Rendezvous in Montana, join us today for an in-depth conversation between two certified gun nerds, Hal Herring and Nephi Cole. Nephi is director of government relations-state affairs of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the firearms industry's primary trade association. Nephi has a serious conservation, shooting and outdoors pedigree – in addition to currently representing America's firearms manufacturers and retailers, he has worked for the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service and spent six years as the senior policy advisor to Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead, where he specialized in natural resources, outdoor recreation, water issues, firearms and energy. Anyone interested or engaged in America's long debate over firearms and the Second Amendment can tune in here to understand the position of the largest firearms industry advocacy group in the United States. 

Based out of Anchorage, Alaska, Heather's Choice is a backpacking food startup company dedicated to making delicious, ultralight, nutrient-dense meals and snacks for adventurers. Heather Kelly is an avid hunter, angler, backpacker and outdoor adventurer. Kelly launched Heather's Choice Meals for Adventuring in 2014 to combine her love of sports nutrition and backcountry pack-rafting. Her emphasis has always been on high-quality, whole foods nutrition. With signature dishes such as smoked sockeye salmon chowder and blueberry buckwheat breakfast, Heather's Choice has gained recognition as a healthy, delicious, portable food option for the backcountry.

Join Hal as he sits down with renowned chef, author and outdoorsman Hank Shaw as they discuss hunting, fishing, foraging and preparing the wildest of wild game. 

Archeologist Dr. Larry Todd came home to Meeteetse, Wyoming, after a long career studying ancient hunting peoples all over the planet. Asked to do a quick archeological survey of some high-elevation public lands in Northwest Wyoming, he took a crew of students and headed out, convinced of lean pickings and a fast return to the comforts of home. After all, how many ancient hunters would choose to live at 11,000 feet, on barren ridges swept by winter snow and bitter wind, blistered by summer sun and relentless lightning storms? A week into the expedition, Dr. Todd and his crew found themselves in an unprecedented high-altitude treasure hall of artifacts, the record of thousands of years of habitation, drivelines and traps for hunting, ambush points, winter camps, kill sites of bison and bighorn sheep.

For more than 20 years, Eddie Nickens, a member of BHA's North American board of directors, has been the premier storyteller and scribe of American hunting, fishing and conservation, writing for Field & Stream, Garden and Gun, Audubon and dozens of other publications. It's a radical understatement to call him an outdoor writer, although the term fits the man who has published the best-selling behemoth of outdoor skills, Field & Stream's Total Outdoorsman. In our conversation today, Hal and Eddie celebrate the publication of Eddie's new book, The Last Wild Road, a collection of his all-time best stories from an unmatched life afield in the American wilds.

On this second podcast focusing on the Eastern forests and upland game birds, Hal catches up to Mike "the Polish Hammer" Neiduski, the regional director of the Ruffed Grouse Society and American Woodcock Society, to talk habitat, public and private lands restoration, small scale timber harvest, and the heart-stopping explosion of wild birds flushing from dense cover, in front of the world's best bird dogs- our own. The talk is public lands bird hunting from the Uwharrie National Forest to the Pisgah and the Nantahala, the Cherokee, and beyond. Join us for a conversation that springs straight from the wild richness of the southern forests, where there is a  path to a better future for these iconic gamebirds.

Jenna Rozelle lives in southern Maine, where she teaches classes on wild foods, forages, hunts, fishes and chronicles an existence spent close to the land. For her, hunting and fishing go hand in hand with foraging and land stewardship. A board member of the New England chapter of BHA and self described late-onset hunter, Rozelle tells Hal the story of her long and winding road to a gratifying relationship with harvesting wild creatures.

Join Hal and Todd Waldron, Northeast region forest conservation director for the Ruffed Grouse Society and American Woodcock Society, for a discussion of the rich history of Todd's home territory, a life of hunting and fishing public lands – from upland birds to whitetails, smelt netting to flyfishing for native brook trout – and what the future brings as we confront and overcome the obstacles to re-establishing the biodiversity and health (not to mention upland birds) of this last great wilderness.

Texas offers a diversity and abundance – of topography, fish and wildlife, and experiences – that few other states can match. Grahame Jones, recently retired as the director of law enforcement with Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife, as well as chairman of BHA's Texas chapter, knows this landscape intimately. Jones, a fifth-generation Texan, is a veteran of over 27 years in the field, starting as a game warden in the wild piney woods of east Texas and working his way up to chief of special operations, targeting big game poaching rings and illegal commercial fishing operations along the coast. Jones is one of Texas' most deeply informed voices for coastal and other conservation. His passion comes from his early years hunting and fishing from Houston's Katy Prairie to the Mexican dove fields in Tamaulipas – and from a lifetime spent in the woods and waters across his native state. Join Hal and Grahame for a discussion of critical conservation challenges, for edge-of-your-seat stories about backcountry Texas lawbreakers, and for an exploration of some of the best of the Lone Star State.