Longfire

Captain Will Benson is a Florida Keys fly-fishing guide, filmmaker, conservationist, and founder of World Angling. Raised on Sugarloaf Key, he started cleaning boats at the local marina before building a life guiding anglers for tarpon, permit, and bonefish. He also works with the Lower Keys Guides Association and Bonefish & Tarpon Trust to protect the waters that made that life possible.

We get into the mentors who shaped him, the philosophy degree he still puts to work, and how fishing films pulled him into conservation.

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Show links

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Guest links

• Fish with Will: World Angling
• Follow Will on Instagram
• Watch World Angling’s films
• Watch Silver Lining
• Lower Keys Guides Association
• Bonefish & Tarpon Trust
• Captains for Clean Water

Chapters

• 00:00 Before the Fishing Starts
• 07:50 A Kid on the Docks in the Florida Keys
• 11:21 How His Family Found the Keys
• 15:04 What Philosophy Taught Him About Fishing
• 19:25 Choosing the Water Over Law School
• 21:25 A Camcorder, a Surprise Trophy, and World Angling
• 26:09 When the Guides Got Organized
• 30:57 Conservation Wins and the Cruise-Ship Fight
• 35:35 The Next Fights for a Healthy Fishery
• 42:27 Why Fishermen Belong in Conservation
• 46:08 Why Will Is Hopeful About What Comes Next

Cristina Zenato is a professional diver, shark behaviorist, cave explorer, and founder of People of the Water, a nonprofit focused on exploration, education, and conservation. Raised in the Congo, she has spent more than three decades in the Bahamas. Her work brings together shark encounters, diving education, and the exploration and protection of underwater caves.

In our conversation, we talk about the childhood that shaped her relationship with wildlife, her mentor Ben Rose, and what you notice when you stop swimming past everything.

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• Visit Cristina Zenato’s website
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• Explore dive trips with Cristina
• Diving courses with Cristina
• People of the Water
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• 00:00 Five Languages, Insects, and Favorite Books
• 05:33 Growing Up Alongside Nature in the Congo
• 09:27 The Half-Price Trip That Changed Her Life
• 11:35 Ben Rose and the Value of Paying Attention
• 17:12 The Life Hidden in the Sand
• 20:17 Diving That Supports Local Communities
• 25:52 Different Sharks, Different Personalities
• 29:31 Tiger Sharks and Why Context Matters
• 32:01 Bull Sharks and the Environment
• 36:21 An Unexpected Tiger Shark at Cocos
• 38:15 Predators, Perception, and the Stories We See
• 45:58 People of the Water and Protecting What She Loves

John Langmore is an Austin-based photographer, author, and documentary filmmaker who has also worked as a cowboy and corporate lawyer. His books include Open Range and Fault Lines, and he co-directed Cowboys: A Documentary Portrait with Bud Force.

We talk about going to work on Benny Binion’s Montana ranch at twelve, entering law, and finding his way back to the cowboy world through photography and film. John also shares the story behind his documentary in progress about Angola prison’s working cowboys.

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• John Langmore’s photography
• Open Range: America’s Big-Outfit Cowboy
• Fault Lines: Portraits of East Austin
• Watch Cowboys: A Documentary Portrait
• John Langmore on Instagram
• John Langmore on Facebook

• 00:00 Westerns and a Motorcycle Ride to Alaska
• 03:35 Photography Books and Earning Trust in East Austin
• 07:26 Dinner Guests and Taking on Liam Neeson
• 09:47 Becoming a Cowboy at Twelve
• 14:26 Benny Binion, Tough Horses, and a Lasting Friendship
• 21:18 A Great-Grandfather in Roosevelt’s Rough Riders
• 24:25 From Cowboy Wages to Corporate Life
• 30:36 Finding Photography and Stories Close to Home
• 35:29 A Documentary About Angola’s Working Cowboys
• 38:10 Finding the Range Crew and Getting Access
• 47:41 A Visit Without Cameras and How the Film Took Shape
• 53:39 Film Plans, Books, and Where to Follow John

Jake Hounshell is the founder of Shells Vintage Hat Co., a Charlotte-based business selling vintage sports hats and original, ’90s-inspired designs. A Raleigh native and University of South Carolina graduate, Jake started buying hats to resell with $750 of graduation money in 2019. He later created his own State Snaps and city designs, leaving his sales job in 2021 to run the business full-time.

I’ve followed Jake’s work since college, so it was fun to finally hear how it all came together. We talk about developing an eye for vintage, learning to manufacture his own designs, and getting hats into the hands of professional athletes.

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Use code SHOUTOUTSHELLS21 for 15% off your first order at Shells Vintage.

• Shop Shells Vintage Hat Co.
• Follow Shells Vintage on Instagram
• Follow Shells Vintage on Facebook

• 00:00 A Hundred Hats and One He’ll Never Sell
• 07:16 Starting Shells Vintage with $750
• 11:07 State Snaps and the Leap to Full-Time
• 16:08 Learning Design and Manufacturing from Scratch
• 18:19 Expensive Mistakes with Ads and Inventory
• 20:05 Warehousing, a First Hire, and a Cash Crunch
• 22:35 What Makes a Vintage Hat Worth Buying
• 25:22 A Day Running Shells Vintage
• 27:37 Getting His Hats onto Professional Athletes
• 30:26 New Designs and What Comes Next
• 34:25 The Mystery of Oxford, Ohio
• 36:26 Where to Find Shells Vintage

Sarah Calhoun is the founder of Red Ants Pants, a women’s workwear company based in White Sulphur Springs, Montana. A former outdoor instructor and trail-crew leader, she launched the business in 2006 after years of working in pants that didn’t fit. She also founded the Red Ants Pants Music Festival and leads the Red Ants Pants Foundation, which supports women’s leadership and rural communities.

In this conversation, Sarah traces the path from sewing backpacks to touring the country with an Airstream for pants parties and launching a music festival in a cow pasture. We talk about choosing small-town Montana, learning the business as she went, and why handing over the company’s day-to-day leadership felt like a relief. She also explains the less glamorous side of festival production: buying up toilet paper across three counties. I also learned that a lonely male llama may start pooping in a perfect circle.

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Chapters:

• 00:00 Rapid Fire: Books, Music, and Liam Neeson
• 02:53 A Farm Childhood and a Few Facts About Llamas
• 06:03 From Trail Crews to Women’s Workwear
• 08:20 Learning to Build a Business From Scratch
• 12:01 An Old Saddle Shop in White Sulphur Springs
• 15:27 Loans, Manufacturing, and Mentors
• 19:48 Tour de Pants: Taking the Business on the Road
• 22:13 A Music Festival in a Cow Pasture
• 27:14 Making It Better, Not Bigger
• 28:20 Hiring a CEO and Bringing In Investors
• 32:57 Work Skills, Girls’ Leadership, and the Foundation
• 35:35 Life Behind the Shop

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• Red Ants Pants
• Red Ants Pants Music Festival
• Red Ants Pants Foundation
• Red Ants Pants on Instagram
• The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
• This House of Sky by Ivan Doig

Ron Schara is an outdoor writer, television producer, and the creator of Minnesota Bound. A former Minneapolis Tribune and Star Tribune outdoors columnist, he launched the show in 1995 with his black Lab, Raven, and later hosted ESPN’s Backroads with Ron and Raven. Before any of that, he was a music student who wanted to be the next Andy Williams.

In this conversation, Ron shares how a writing professor changed his direction, why he left a newspaper career for television, and how a red bandana helped turn Raven into the star.

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Chapters:

• 00:00 Minnesota Favorites and Rapid Fire
• 02:55 Duck Hunting with Bud Grant
• 07:26 Growing Up Outdoors in Iowa
• 09:31 Music School, Journalism, and Andy Williams
• 15:47 Why Minnesota Bound Started With People
• 20:40 Raven’s Red Bandana and the Leap to Television
• 26:08 Leaving the Newspaper and Reaching ESPN
• 29:09 Peacock Bass, Tarpon, and Piranhas
• 34:01 Africa, Hunting, and Habitat
• 36:44 Monarchs and Purple Martins
• 40:47 Finding the Next Story
• 42:54 The Fishing Story He Never Forgot

Show links

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Guest links

• Minnesota Bound
• Ron Schara Productions
• Ron’s Books
• Minnesota Bound on Instagram
• Minnesota Bound on YouTube

Mike Perry is a New York Times bestselling author, humorist, speaker, musician, volunteer firefighter, and first responder from rural Wisconsin. Raised on a dairy farm, he worked summers as a Wyoming ranch hand, became a registered nurse, and eventually built a writing career rooted in rural people, places, and work. He has written more than 25 books, including Population: 485, and performs with his band, The Long Beds.

In our conversation, he explains how a farm kid who once thought authors were mysterious capital-A people learned to make a living with words while staying five minutes from his deer stand. We also learn that if he ever fights Liam Neeson, the plan begins and probably ends at the kneecaps.

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• Visit SneezingCow.com
• Browse Mike’s books, recordings, and merchandise
• Subscribe to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail
• Follow Mike on Instagram

• 00:00 Rapid Fire: Books, Deer Stands, and Liam Neeson
• 09:20 The Story Behind Population: 485
• 12:14 Returning Home and Joining the Fire Department
• 16:37 Population: 485 and a Possible Broadway Musical
• 20:22 His Dad, Wyoming, and an Unexpected Opportunity
• 24:46 Becoming “Terminally Unemployable”
• 26:59 How Publishing Changed and Why Mike Keeps Adapting
• 31:02 Writing by Triage and the Blue Volkswagen Effect
• 36:39 Literary Solitaire, Revision, and Fancy Words
• 42:05 Building a Business Around the Writing
• 46:32 Where to Find Mike

Thumbnail photo: Lee Butterworth Photography.

Ed Roberson is the creator and host of Mountain & Prairie, a podcast and platform about the people shaping the future of the American West through its land, communities, and culture. In this conversation, we trace the path that took him from a small town in eastern North Carolina and a conventional career in real estate to conservation work and a creative side project that eventually became his full-time work.

Ed explains how a health scare and the financial crisis forced him to reconsider his direction, why conservation work moves at the speed of trust, and how years of relationship-building helped Mountain & Prairie become such a distinct platform. We also talk about building before anyone is listening, the book project he is developing, Theodore Roosevelt and the strenuous life, and why character matters more than achievement. Most importantly, we determine that Ed might have a chance against Liam Neeson, provided he survives the first punch.

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• Mountain & Prairie
• Listen to the Mountain & Prairie Podcast
• Subscribe to Good News from the American West
• Mountain & Prairie on Instagram

• 00:00 Rapid Fire: North Carolina, Jimmy Buffett, and Favorite Books
• 07:37 A 100-Mile Loophole, Five-Day Fasts, and Liam Neeson
• 12:55 Tarboro, North Carolina, and the Community That Raised Ed
• 16:29 Boarding School, Honor, and Learning to Work
• 18:55 Coasting in College and Following the Conventional Path
• 21:00 A Health Scare, the Financial Crisis, and a Career Reset
• 24:28 Starting Mountain & Prairie as a Side Project
• 26:01 Why Conservation Moves at the Speed of Trust
• 28:13 How the Podcast Opened Unexpected Doors
• 29:42 Playing the Long Game
• 31:05 Building Before Anyone Is Listening
• 33:44 The Book Project and What Comes Next
• 35:37 Theodore Roosevelt and the Strenuous Life
• 38:39 Advice to His 23-Year-Old Self
• 43:04 Where to Find Mountain & Prairie

Will Harris is a fourth-generation cattleman and the owner of White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Georgia, where his family has farmed since 1866. After spending more than 20 years running a conventional monoculture cattle operation, Will began dismantling the industrial model and rebuilding the farm around animal welfare, healthy soil, natural cycles, and a radically traditional approach to agriculture.

In this conversation, Will explains the truckload of calves that forced him to reconsider how he farmed, the hidden cost of chemical fertilizer, and what happened when he stopped looking for things to kill and started protecting everything that belonged in the ecosystem. We also discuss restoring Bluffton, growing from a handful of employees to 170, bringing his daughters into the business, refusing to expand merely for the sake of growth, and measuring decisions in generations instead of quarters. We also learn how a Baptist preacher’s wife saved Will from spelling “Tenac” for the rest of his life.

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• White Oak Pastures
• Shop White Oak Pastures
• Visit and stay at the farm
• A Bold Return to Giving a Damn
• White Oak Pastures on Instagram

• 00:00 Highway 27 and White Oak’s Place in Rural Georgia
• 02:01 Six Generations on the Same Land Since 1866
• 04:21 When a Local Food System Became an Industrial Cattle Farm
• 07:49 The Truckload of Calves That Changed Everything
• 10:49 Cheap Fertilizer and the Cost It Hid
• 16:35 How Water From the Farm Reaches Apalachicola Bay
• 19:41 From Looking for Something to Kill to Keeping Things Alive
• 25:32 How White Oak Pastures Helped Rebuild Bluffton
• 29:00 Bringing His Daughters Into the Family Business
• 34:08 The Spur-of-the-Moment Decision to Rename the Farm
• 37:25 Why Bigger Is Not the Goal
• 42:18 Final Wisdom: Decide What Matters and Serve It

April Vokey has spent 25 years building a life around fishing. She decided to pursue professional fishing at 18, started her first business at 21, guided for steelhead in British Columbia, created the television series Shorelines, launched Anchored with April Vokey, and built Anchored Outdoors into an education platform and community for anglers.

In this conversation, April takes us from landing a 300-pound arapaima in Guyana and having 32 spines pulled from her foot to the winter steelhead obsession that became her career. She also explains how a 2008 head-on collision forced her to rethink life and business, why motherhood changed her relationship with risk, and how discarded television interviews led to Anchored. We also resolve two important questions: whether wet jeans are secretly flattering and how many introductions stand between me and Liam Neeson.

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• Anchored Outdoors
• Try Anchored Premium Insiders
• The World Through Your Eyes
• Anchored with April Vokey
• April Vokey on Instagram

• 00:00 Rapid Fire: Wet Jeans, Campfire Dinner, and Liam Neeson
• 02:37 A 300-Pound Arapaima and 32 Spines in Guyana
• 06:07 Turning a Life in Fishing Into a Business
• 10:40 The Salmon That Started Everything
• 13:36 Why Winter Steelhead Became an Obsession
• 18:31 Learning to Guide Before Google Earth
• 20:46 Surviving a Head-On Collision
• 22:38 The Injury That Forced a Business Pivot
• 25:01 Saving the Stories Television Had to Cut
• 27:31 Canada, Australia, Motherhood, and Risk
• 32:19 The Dean River Run She Should Never Have Attempted
• 36:10 Starting Over and Facing an Uncertain Next Chapter
• 37:45 Anchored Outdoors and The World Through Your Eyes