Back to the Dark Continent... This episode is raw and unedited, just as we recorded it beside a campfire along the Okavango river late one night, with lions roaring and elephants trumpeting in the background.

On the second half of our fall 2023 safari with Kowas Adventure Safaris in Namibia, my daughter Audrey shot a wonderful old kudu bull and a gnarly-horned impala. Then Austin Brown and I broke out the big-bore dangerous game rifles to hunt cape buffalo. We tracked old bachelor bull groups through the days in heat up to 102 degrees Fahrenheit, in ankle-deep sand, and shot three massive old bulls. This episode is all about the stories, folks!

The episode wraps up with a discussion of African conservation challenges and the future, including a hard, honest look at the cow elephant herds moving into the historic Caprivi Strip region and decimating the habitat.

Experiences like this only happen once in a lifetime, and we hope you enjoy the stories...

If you're interested in following in our tracks and going on safari with a truely exceptional operator in Namibia—family owned, operated, and oriented—check out Kowas Adventure Safaris.

FRIENDS, PLEASE SUPPORT THE PODCAST!

Join the Backcountry Hunting Podcast tribe and get access to all our bonus material on www.patreon.com/backcountry

VISIT OUR SPONSORS HERE:

www.browning.com

www.barnesbullets.com

www.timneytriggers.com

www.leupold.com

www.onxmaps.com

www.silencercentral.com

https://www.portersfirearms.com/

www.gunwerks.com

www.siembidacustomknives.com

https://javelinbipod.com

What cartridge should you take on an African plains game safari? Spotlighted here are three outstanding, versatile cartridges, recommended by our guest Jacques Strauss, my favorite African PH.

This is the sixth of a new podcast element: fast-paced, fact-filled five-minute episodes showcasing three top backcountry hunting tools, tricks or techniques.

We're filming these brief episodes and posting them on Patreon, so if you'd like to put eyes on the products and methods showcased, please sign up at www.patreon.com/backcountry for a membership!

Also soon to come: Boots, packs, knives, elk calls, multitools, tents, bear guns, movies, and more! These "Top 3 In 5" minute episodes will drop as frequently as we have time during this busy hunting season, and by Christmas will be a weekly Tuesday-morning addition to the podcast's regular schedule.

ENJOY!

Recorded live and raw in the field, this episode takes us to Africa. In addition to lots of great hunting stories, we address safari research, logistics, planning, and prep with the help of my long-time hunting partner and world traveler Austin Brown.

Plus, Namibian Professional Hunter Jacques Strauss of Kowas Hunting Safaris talks us through pre-hunt practice and skills crucial to success in the African bush.

My kids Audrey (age 15) and William (age 13, our very own Backcountry Apprentice) get to experience the Dark Continent and hunt plains game for the first time. Plus my hunting pardner Austin Brown and I hunt leopard and for an elusive giant kudu bull.

This is an account of the first half of our safari... including a once-in-many-lifetimes close daylight encounter with a big male leopard.

ENJOY!

FRIENDS, PLEASE SUPPORT THE PODCAST!

Join the Backcountry Hunting Podcast tribe and get access to all our bonus material on www.patreon.com/backcountry

VISIT OUR SPONSORS HERE:

www.browning.com

www.barnesbullets.com

www.timneytriggers.com

www.leupold.com

www.onxmaps.com

www.silencercentral.com

https://www.portersfirearms.com/

www.gunwerks.com

www.siembidacustomknives.com

https://javelinbipod.com

How do we overcome our human (read "weak") eyesight? With good optics! Spotlighted here are the three primary glassing tools every backcountry hunter should have, along with tips and tricks on how to pick the right one and how to use it.

This is the fifth of a new podcast element: fast-paced, fact-filled five-minute episodes showcasing three top backcountry hunting tools, tricks or techniques.

We're filming these brief episodes and posting them on Patreon, so if you'd like to put eyes on the products and methods showcased, please sign up at www.patreon.com/backcountry for a membership!

Also soon to come: Boots, packs, knives, elk calls, multitools, tents, bear guns, movies, and more! These "Top 3 In 5" minute episodes will drop as frequently as we have time during this busy hunting season, and by Christmas will be a weekly Tuesday-morning addition to the podcast's regular schedule.

ENJOY!

Your hunting rifle can be a truckbox tool, or a refined instrument. Either way, you should trust it completely, and it should provide characteristics that help you—the soft tissue behind the system—close the deal at the moment of truth.

This episode discusses essential features of a great hunting rifle:

• Accuracy
• Reliablity
• Ergonomics
• Action type, feel, & function
• Trigger
• Scope features
• Backup sighting systems

Life is too short to hunt with ugly rifles, folks! (Or innaccurate, unreliable, awkward rifles...) This discussion was inspired by several failures and near-failures in the field, and we tell those stories to support our points.

ENJOY!

FRIENDS, PLEASE SUPPORT THE PODCAST!

Join the Backcountry Hunting Podcast tribe and get access to all our bonus material on www.patreon.com/backcountry

VISIT OUR SPONSORS HERE:

https://www.portersfirearms.com/

www.timneytriggers.com

www.onxmaps.com

www.siembidacustomknives.com

www.browning.com

www.barnesbullets.com

www.leupold.com

www.gunwerks.com

www.silencercentral.com

https://javelinbipod.com

Interested in a sleek, lightweight rangefinding binocular? Spotlighted here are the only three available. Thankfully, they're all great. Each provides excellent optical quality, a powerful, reliable laser ranging engine, and cutting-edge technology.

This is the fourth of a new podcast element: fast-paced, fact-filled five-minute episodes showcasing three top backcountry hunting tools, tricks or techniques.

We're filming these brief episodes and posting them on Patreon, so if you'd like to put eyes on the products and methods showcased, please sign up at www.patreon.com/backcountry for a membership!

Also soon to come: Boots, packs, knives, elk calls, multitools, tents, bear guns, movies, and more! These "Top 3 In 5" minute episodes will drop as frequently as we have time during this busy hunting season, and by Christmas will be a weekly Tuesday-morning addition to the podcast's regular schedule.

ENJOY!

After a wildly successful evening of hunting mule deer with Audrey and Sophie von Benedikt, we sit down with friend Rob Gearing, who is a certain contender for Most Interesting Man in the World.

We talk through the girls' hunt, detail the cutting-edge family of shooting support systems at Spartan Precision Equipment, and get Rob's perspective on how mountain climbing and some near-death survival adventures influence his design ethos.

The second half of the podcast our conversation gets pithy and very real, as we discuss the primal drive to hunt and eat wild meat and the psychological and health benefits of doing so. We even discuss the need to maintain our heritage and hunting rights and manage to avoid getting political!

This was a tremendous discussion, folks. ENJOY!

FRIENDS, PLEASE SUPPORT THE PODCAST!

Join the Backcountry Hunting Podcast tribe and get access to all our bonus material on www.patreon.com/backcountry

VISIT OUR SPONSORS HERE:

www.browning.com

www.barnesbullets.com

www.timneytriggers.com

www.leupold.com

www.onxmaps.com

www.silencercentral.com

https://www.portersfirearms.com/

www.gunwerks.com

www.siembidacustomknives.com

https://javelinbipod.com

Success! You've just shot a buck or bull. But should the fun really stop there? Not really. You'll shift gears, sure, but the process of getting great photos in the field, then field processing and breaking down your animal and packing it out can be very rewarding.

This episode, we take an in-depth look at three steps:

PHOTOGRAPHY

• Positioning your animal
• Using the light
• Positioning the hunter
• Setting up the camera
• Framing the photo
• LOOKING and SEEING what's in the viewfinder
• Snapping the shot

Field Dressing & the Gutless Method

• Traditional gutting: Pros, Cons, & How-to
• Gutless Method: skinning, quartering, & lifting off backstraps
• Removing bones

Packing Out

• Cooling meat
• Meat sacks & flies
• Loading your backpack
• Working without injury
• Aging meat on ice

FRIENDS, PLEASE SUPPORT THE PODCAST!

Join the Backcountry Hunting Podcast tribe and get access to all our bonus material on www.patreon.com/backcountry

VISIT OUR SPONSORS HERE:

www.timneytriggers.com

https://javelinbipod.com

www.browning.com

www.barnesbullets.com

www.leupold.com

www.onxmaps.com

www.silencercentral.com

https://www.portersfirearms.com/

www.gunwerks.com

www.siembidacustomknives.com

This is the third of a new podcast element: fast-paced, fact-filled five-minute episodes showcasing three top backcountry hunting tools, tricks or techniques. We're calling them the "Top 3 In 5" bonus episodes.

Spotlighted here are three of our all-time favorite classic elk cartridges. They all provide adequate bullet weight, muzzle velocity, and frontal diameter and are proven, authoritative killers on even big-bodied, mature bulls.

We're filming these brief episodes and posting them on Patreon, so if you'd like to put eyes on the products and methods showcased, please sign up at www.patreon.com/backcountry for a membership!

Also soon to come: Boots, packs, knives, elk cartridges, elk calls, multitools, tents, bear guns, movies, and more! These "Top 3 In 5" minute episodes will drop as frequently as we have time during this busy hunting season, and by Christmas will be a weekly Tuesday-morning addition to the podcast's regular schedule.

ENJOY!