Outdoor Ruhls

Mike opens by thanking Caitlin’s parents, who watched the boys through five nights and six days in the backcountry, a reminder that this kind of hunt takes a village. From there the group picks up the story with elk everywhere, bulls bugling constantly, and a week of getting winded, blowing stalks, and making what felt like the wrong call every time. As Mike puts it, it only has to work once.

By Wednesday, Caitlin needed a reset and missed the kids, so the plan was to hunt their way out Thursday. That night brought backcountry charcuterie and the worst thunderstorm any of them had seen, with rain splashing up through the tent and lightning close enough to blind and deafen. The crew also breaks down how they pack for a multi-day hunt: the shelter, food, and water trio, bagels as the energy-dense backpacker’s friend, rationing calories you can never fully replace, and the garden hose rigged into a cascade that filled a three-liter bag in a minute or so.

Thursday morning started with a soaked camp, wet rain gear, and a hard fall over a rock that left Caitlin bruised and the whole crew mentally halfway home. They blew one more bull, then settled into a patch of old-growth timber to wait out the bugles. Mike cow-called, Caitlin and Hunter ate lunch crouched behind trees, and about eight to ten cows filed in at 20 to 40 yards while a bull thrashed a pine tree for fifteen minutes just beyond them.

When the bull finally stepped out at 30 yards, Caitlin held high on her 25-yard pin and made the shot. He went down within fifty yards, and the first words Mike said when they walked up were the title of the episode. The bull is a heavy six-by-six with a 19-inch third point, roughly ten inches bigger than last year’s 318-inch gross bull, and Caitlin’s goal of topping last year’s elk was met on what was nearly the last morning.

Then came the work. Jeremy hiked in with breakfast burritos and water, the group shuttled six heavy loads of meat, head, and camp gear down a steep, rocky slope, and they made it to the truck by three o’clock, ahead of the rain and in front of a van of unsuspecting kindergartners. Hunter shares his best and worst moments of his first Western elk hunt, and everyone reflects on perseverance, giving up hope, and why this hunt is worth the effort.

The episode closes with a few thank-yous, a new bow for Caitlin, and a plan for a Euro mount, plus a reminder that photos of the bull are on social and the website.

Topics covered:

Picking up the hunt midweek and the frustration of blowing elk out

Thanking the community that helps make a backcountry hunt possible

A lightning storm in the backcountry and the Wednesday night camp

Backpack hunting prep: shelter, food, water, bagels, and a garden hose

The final morning and the encounter that finally worked

Caitlin’s six-by-six bull and beating last year’s score

Packing out six heavy loads with help from friends

Hunter’s first Western elk hunt, perseverance, and lessons learned

Links

Outdoor Ruhls Podcast: www.outdoorruhls.com

Connect with Outdoor Ruhls

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @outdoorruhls

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This week’s episode replays the second half of Caitlin’s 2025 elk hunt.

Mike opens with some hard news: the Ruhls said goodbye to their beloved lab, Scout, this week. He keeps it brief for now, promising a full episode dedicated to her down the road, but for the moment things are still a little raw around the house.

Looking for a change of scenery, Mike is headed up to the San Juan River this weekend with Caitlin’s dad and her cousin Neil, who listeners will remember from the Norway episodes. But with fall setting in and the elk bugling, Mike decided it was the perfect time to bring back Caitlin’s elk hunt episodes from last year, so this week’s feed is a replay of that series.

Topics covered:

Saying goodbye to Scout, the family lab

A fall fishing trip to the San Juan River with Caitlin’s dad and cousin Neil

Why this is the right week to replay Caitlin’s elk hunt episodes from last season

Links

Outdoor Ruhls Podcast: www.outdoorruhls.com

Connect with Outdoor Ruhls

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @outdoorruhls

YouTube: Outdoor Ruhls

This week’s episode replays Caitlin’s elk hunt series from last season.

Mike opens episode 100 with the long-awaited air horn, finally cashed in after ninety-nine episodes of restraint, and hands the mic to Caitlin, who steps in as guest host with a list of questions for Mike and Mark about the podcast’s first hundred episodes.

They agree the biggest advancement has been the equipment, now recording multi-channel through a soundboard, and their own comfort on mic after two years. The worst mistake was the lost Women Ruhls episode, an hour-plus recording wiped out when two studio sessions opened at once, forcing a full re-record.

Mike’s biggest regret is missing the deer camp episode Mark recorded with their dad, Uncle Dick, and Uncle Sim, the one time in a hundred episodes he wasn’t in the room. Both brothers agree the real dream guest slot is Sim and Dick together, which kicks off a running wish list: a tribute episode for their grandfather Pop Grant, “the Sage,” a long-overdue one with Uncle Casey and Aunt Patty, and one built around family friend Dave Arnold’s old boat.

A tangent from Caitlin’s “dead horses” question leads to the real story behind it, a young cowboy they once found on the Montana prairie after his horse broke a leg, before the three debate which podcast topics are genuinely overdone.

Mike admits he’s wrestling with the podcast’s future, roughly six hundred hours of work over two years, but both brothers agree it’s worth continuing for the family stories CJ, Robert, and Emmit will want to hear someday. They run through future guest ideas, Ben Goldfarb, Nate Rott, Eric Rominger, Steven Rinella, and Tovar Cerulli, plus literary inspirations like Hemingway, Steinbeck, and Ivan Doig.

Closing out, they share real life: Scout the family lab gave everyone a health scare this week, Mark and Rachel are getting a German shorthair pointer puppy in October, and Mike previews what’s coming next, a Wyoming bighorn sheep hunt, the Dave Arnold boat episode, Balloon Fiesta, a Florida Keys and Disney trip, an Illinois deer hunt, and a tease of an “Outdoor Ruhls After Dark” bonus episode.

Topics covered:

Celebrating episode 100 with the long-awaited air horn

The podcast’s biggest advancement (equipment) and worst mistake (the lost Women Ruhls episode)

The one regret and the dream guest slot: Uncle Sim and Uncle Dick

A future episode wish list: Pop Grant, Casey and Patty, Dave Arnold

The “dead horses” question and which topics might be overdone

Wrestling with the podcast’s future and why it’s worth continuing

Future guest and topic ideas, from wildlife biologists to outdoor literature

Scout’s health scare and the family’s incoming puppy

What’s coming next: Balloon Fiesta, Florida Keys and Disney, and an Illinois deer hunt

Links

Outdoor Ruhls Podcast: www.outdoorruhls.com

Connect with Outdoor Ruhls

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @outdoorruhls

YouTube: Outdoor Ruhls

Episode 100 title inspired by James Michener’s Centennial, a multi-generational saga tied to one patch of land, a fitting frame for a podcast built on family stories.

Show Notes

Mike opens by explaining the format twist: after hearing Ira Glass speak twice locally about the craft of podcasting, including his blunt admission that recording with kids is hard, Mike decided to just sit down with Robert and, halfway through, Emmit, and let them recap the family’s spontaneous Labor Day weekend trip. Caitlin hears the recording for the first time live alongside listeners, with Mike pausing periodically to add context.

The weekend came together after a planned trip to drive the family boat to Louisiana got rained out, so the Ruhls pivoted to Las Cruces, New Mexico instead. Robert walks through the family’s dove hunting routine there, near the Rio Grande, early mornings, decoys, watching for birds, and learning to identify doves in flight by their wingbeat (a skill Mike notes Robert has gotten remarkably sharp at for his age). The conversation turns candid when Mike asks Robert why he loves hunting so much while Emmit, still five, is much more hit-or-miss on it; both parents agree it’s roughly fifty-fifty right now and they’re intentionally not forcing it. Emmit’s own segment is a highlight: he admits he mostly just likes fetching the doves, misses their older dog Newt for retrieving duty, and delivers a distracted, wandering account of the weekend that includes the water park, restaurant food, and a tangent about a “beware of dogs” sign.

Between clips, Mike and Caitlin fill in the rest of the weekend: a family trip to a Wet ‘n’ Wild water park just over the Texas line, including Emmit accidentally breaking a life-vest rule on a diving platform and Mike white-knuckling his way down a double-tube water slide with Emmit; two rounds of dove hunting split across different family groupings; dinners at Tacos & Shell-ah’s and Chala’s Wood Fire Grill in Old Mesilla; and a stop at the Hatch Chili Festival on the drive home, complete with Emmit’s confident “nine out of ten” rating and his new luchador wrestling mask. They also untangle, at some length, the story of why nobody actually knows Newt the dog’s real birthday: Scout’s ten-puppy litter was born eight on September 6th and two on September 7th, with no way of knowing which day Newt arrived, a story Robert retells almost word for word from family lore.

The episode closes with Mike previewing next week’s 100th episode and a reminder that hitting new milestones like this one is a good excuse to try something different, and maybe not perfectly polished, in the name of capturing family life as it actually happens.

Topics covered:

The Ira Glass/This American Life inspiration behind the episode’s format

Recapping a spontaneous Labor Day weekend trip to Las Cruces, New Mexico

Dove hunting technique and identifying birds in flight

Robert’s growing passion for hunting vs. Emmit’s fifty-fifty interest

A Wet ‘n’ Wild water park adventure, including a life-vest mishap

Family restaurant recommendations in Las Cruces and Old Mesilla

The unsolved mystery of Newt the dog’s real birthday

A stop at the Hatch Chili Festival on the drive home

Starting the boys in a hockey learn-to-play program alongside soccer

Looking ahead to the podcast’s 100th episode

Links

Outdoor Ruhls Podcast: www.outdoorruhls.com

Connect with Outdoor Ruhls

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @outdoorruhls

YouTube: Outdoor Ruhls

Episode 99 title inspired by Robert’s own accidental introduction: “Welcome to the Outdoor Wolves Podcast.”

Show Notes

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Mike opens by explaining why he wanted Derrick on to talk Africa specifically: it's a subject most people reduce to a single mental image, when in reality it's as varied as hunting across all of North America. Derrick traces his interest back to childhood Ranger Rick books and, later, classic hunting literature, Hemingway's Green Hills of Africa, Robert Ruark's Horn of the Hunter, and Theodore Roosevelt's African Game Trails, followed by more modern writers like Craig Boddington once he discovered, via dial-up internet, that African hunting was still very much alive. He booked his first hunt at a sporting expo years before he could really afford it, on the advice of a Namibian professional hunter who told him to book now and figure out the money later, which he did, working second and third jobs to save for it.

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From there, the conversation becomes a genuine masterclass in African hunting terminology and structure. Derrick lays out the spectrum: small high-fence "stocker" operations at the low end, large low-fence cattle and sheep ranches (50,000 to 100,000-plus acres) with genuinely wild, migrating game in the middle, and true wilderness concessions, like the Niassa Reserve in northern Mozambique where he hunted Cape buffalo, at the top, complete with tracking safaris that still resemble the hunts Ruark and Hemingway wrote about. He flags how regional terminology can mislead first-timers (a "camp" in South Africa often just means a fenced paddock) and draws a direct comparison to high-fence versus free-range whitetail hunting in Texas. He's done ten hunts across Namibia, South Africa, and Mozambique with six different outfitters, found mostly through independent research, a writing contest win, and a $500 conservation-banquet auction hunt, with a strong caution to vet any outfitter in person before buying an auction hunt sight unseen.

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The back half covers the practical realities: how costs step up from high-fence, to free-range ranch, to wilderness concession hunts (partly driven by charter flights and cross-border trophy export logistics), how trophy fees are typically structured as a flat price per mature animal rather than scaled to size, and how thoroughly African operations use the meat, right down to distributing organs and stomach lining to local villages near reserves like Niassa, both as a protein source and as an incentive against bushmeat poaching. Derrick names the greater kudu as Africa's essential first-hunt species, effectively "elk for Africa" in behavior and status, and describes the continent's surprisingly mountainous terrain in Namibia, South Africa, and Mozambique. He and Mike also talk through African wingshooting, guinea fowl, doves, and pigeons, especially abundant around South African agricultural areas, which Derrick says alone would be worth a trip.

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The episode closes with concrete advice for a first-time Africa hunter: pick one or two priority species, decide on a hunting style, research countries and vaccination/travel requirements, and meet outfitters in person when possible. Derrick offers two specific recommendations he trusts and has hunted with more than once: Hawkeye Safaris in north-central Namibia and Aloe Africa Safaris in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal, both run by hunters who also travel to hunt in North America themselves. He teases a future conversation on sable hunting, a species he's had some experience with and that Mike's been curious about since reading about it years ago.

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Topics covered:

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The literature that shaped Derrick's interest in Africa (Hemingway, Ruark, Theodore Roosevelt, Craig Boddington)

Booking a first African hunt years in advance and saving for it

High-fence "stocker" operations vs. free-range ranch hunts vs. true wilderness concessions

Confusing regional terminology and vetting outfitters, including auction hunts

Ten hunts, three countries, six outfitters: Derrick's African hunting résumé

Lodging and hunting style differences between ranch hunts and tented wilderness camps

Why dangerous game (the "Big Five") hunting is tied to government-managed concessions and quotas

How African hunt costs scale with logistics, travel, and wilderness value

Trophy fee structure and cull hunts

Full utilization of game meat and its role in anti-poaching efforts

Greater kudu as Africa's must-hunt species for a first-timer

Africa's mountain habitats in Namibia, South Africa, and Mozambique

Wingshooting for guinea fowl, doves, and pigeons in South Africa

Outfitter recommendations: Hawkeye Safaris (Namibia) and Aloe Africa Safaris (South Africa)

A tease of sable hunting for a future episode

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Links

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Outdoor Ruhls Podcast: www.outdoorruhls.com

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Connect with Outdoor Ruhls

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Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @outdoorruhls

YouTube: Outdoor Ruhls

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This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Catch up on Episode 97: Alaska to Africa (Part 1) for Joe's health update and his Wyoming bighorn sheep tag.

Mike opens by re-introducing Joe and welcoming Derrick Miller, the friend whose thrown-out back nearly derailed the 2023 Alaska float hunt detailed in episodes 40 and 41. With both hunters in the room, Derrick offers his side of that story, including a few corrections. They also compare notes on lessons learned for next year's repeat trip: bringing an oar frame and life jackets this time, and camping longer in the most productive stretch of river rather than splitting time across multiple camps.

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Joe then gives a full health update, a year and change past his May 2025 liver transplant. He's back to full-time fieldwork, hiking 25-30 miles a week for his job, and harvested the biggest bull elk of his life last fall with his son on his first hunt. In an almost unbelievable twist, Joe learned he'd drawn a coveted Wyoming bighorn sheep tag in one of the state's best units on May 21st this year, nearly the exact anniversary of the day he learned a donor liver had become available. He walks through his scouting so far (including two humbling day trips that put the physical difficulty of Absaroka sheep country in perspective), his general hunt plan with Derrick, Bryan Ferguson, and his brother, and his goal of finding rams in drainages most hunters and even local outfitters can't reach. Derrick, who's also scouted mountain goats in Montana this summer, admits his own biggest worry for the sheep hunt isn't the animals, it's the exposure on narrow, high mountain terrain.

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Next week we’ll hear much more from Derrick about the oft misunderstood and sometimes confusing world of African big game hunting.

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Topics covered:

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Recapping and correcting the 2023 Alaska caribou and moose hunt

Lessons learned for next year's repeat Alaska trip

Joe's health, one year-plus post liver transplant

Drawing a Wyoming bighorn sheep tag on the anniversary of his transplant call

Scouting and planning a backpack sheep hunt in the Absarokas

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Links

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Outdoor Ruhls Podcast: www.outdoorruhls.com

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Connect with Outdoor Ruhls

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Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @outdoorruhls

YouTube: Outdoor Ruhls

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Next week: Derrick Miller takes over to talk African hunting, from high-fence operations to true wilderness safaris, the writers who inspired him, and where he'd send a first-timer.

The episode opens with Robert & Emmit singing happy birthday to Uncle Mark before Mike sits down one-on-one with him the day before his 40th. What starts as some good-natured ribbing (Mike asking Mark what he needs to apologize for after 40 years) turns into a genuinely reflective conversation about milestone birthdays, mortality, and what the first half of life has taught them. Mark talks about learning to manage anger and negativity, especially amid recent health challenges, and leans on their grandfather Pop Grant's motto to "live each day like the best is yet to come." The conversation moves into legacy, with Mark reflecting on the idea that a life well spent might mean planting trees you'll never see the shade of, and both brothers crediting their uncles, grandparents, and parents as living examples of the legacy they hope to pass on themselves.

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From there the conversation shifts outdoors, tracing how their relationship to hunting and fishing has matured. Both agree they've moved away from caring about numbers or comparing themselves to others and toward valuing shared time and other people's success as much as, or more than, their own. They revisit this summer's cobia catch together as a highlight, along with older stories of regret, including Mike's blown stalk on a bedded bull elk and Mark's missed New Jersey buck after forgetting his release. They also compare notes on hunts and species they've outgrown (snow geese, carp, catfish, mackerel used more as dog food than dinner) versus ones they still chase eagerly, like the Chesapeake Bay's cobia and sheepshead fishery that's become central to Mark's outdoor identity since getting his own bay boat.

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Looking ahead, the brothers lay out a wish list for the next decade together: Mark drawing his own elk tag, a Cabo trip with both families to fish for yellowfin tuna, wahoo, and striped marlin out of a small panga, a Miriam's turkey hunt, and eventually some Florida-style fishing for triple tail and hogfish. The core conversation wraps with mutual gratitude and a return to the "apology" bit they opened with.

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As a surprise for Mark, the episode closes with a compilation Mike secretly recorded: short birthday messages about what each family member loves about Mark, including Caitlin, sister Kate, mom, dad, brother Matt, his wife Rachel, and daughter CJ (who compares Mark to a cantaloupe, sweet on the inside). Caitlin also retells the story of Mark furiously spiking and then kicking his hat straight up into his own face after a frustrating oryx stalk in New Mexico.

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Topics covered:

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Reflections on turning 40 and mortality

Pop Grant's "the best is yet to come" philosophy

Legacy, faith, and what it means to leave a positive impression

How comparison and "bloodlust" in hunting fade with age

The cobia catch that became a highlight of the year

Regret stories: a blown elk stalk and a missed New Jersey buck

Species and pursuits they've outgrown: snow geese, carp, catfish, mackerel

The Chesapeake Bay bay-boat lifestyle and sheepshead/cobia obsession

Future trip wish list: Cabo, a Miriam's turkey hunt, Mark's first elk tag

A surprise family birthday message compilation for Mark

The oryx hunt hat-kicking story

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Links

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Outdoor Ruhls Podcast: www.outdoorruhls.com

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Connect with Outdoor Ruhls

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Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @outdoorruhls

YouTube: Outdoor Ruhls

Episode 95: Summer Ruhls

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Show Notes

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Picking up the thread from the "Winter on the Farm" and "Spring on the Farm" episodes, Mike and Uncle Sim start with local fairs, tying back into last week's tribute to Catherine Schott and the Lebanon Area Fair. Sim recalls the Schott and Ruhl families being close friends going back generations through the farm women's association, and describes a full summer fair circuit: the South Annville Fair, the Myerstown Fair, and eventually a week at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg, where farm kids competed in tractor-driving and cattle-judging contests, slept in the pig pens, and Sim once won first prize with a rooster that wasn't supposed to crow (but did, right as the judge turned away).

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From there, Sim gives a detailed, almost step-by-step account of haying by horse-drawn equipment: mowing with a sickle bar, raking hay into windrows, loading it with a horse-drawn hay loader, and hauling it into the barn with a hay fork and pulley system, all timed carefully around the weather and finished before the Fourth of July. He explains the real danger of barn fires from improperly dried hay, including a fire at a neighboring farm where he tried, and failed, to drive panicked cattle out of a burning barn, since cattle instinctively run back toward the barn rather than away from it.

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The conversation moves into wheat and oat threshing (a shared, rotating job among neighboring farms every July), then into what Sim calls the most hated job on the farm: apple production. He describes spraying orchards with lead-based pesticides that likely contributed to several orchardists dying young, hauling apples in an old repurposed funeral car to a neighbor's cider press, and multi-day apple butter production involving a massive copper kettle, all-day stirring, and storage in crocks that developed a protective mold layer. Corn husking gets similar treatment: with 15-18 acres husked entirely by hand, it became the family's built-in incentive system, since Sim and his brothers weren't allowed to hunt small game until the corn was in, often not until close to Thanksgiving.

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The episode closes on lighter, reflective notes: the improvised, low-cost family entertainment of Saturday night church picnics (with a once-a-week backyard bathtub to match), the crank telephone party line, one-room schoolhouses, and how rare travel was for his parents' generation, punctuated by Sim's own memory of being the family's "black sheep" who left Pennsylvania for college in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Mike and Sim also reminisce briefly about the family's shared Montana elk hunting trips and the creekside cabin with its resident "ugly" rodents.

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Topics covered:

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County and township fairs, the Pennsylvania Farm Show, and 4-H style competitions

The Schott family connection and the Lebanon Area Fair

Horse-drawn haying: mowing, raking, hay loaders, and barn storage

The real danger of spontaneous-combustion barn fires

Wheat and oat threshing on a shared neighborhood rotation

Lead-based orchard spraying and multi-day apple butter production

Hand-husking 15+ acres of corn as a hunting-season incentive

Farmhouse life without air conditioning, indoor plumbing, or central heat

Saturday night church picnics as the family's version of vacation

One-room schoolhouses and how rarely his parents' generation traveled

Family reflections on staying close to home vs. scattering across the country

Shared memories of past Montana elk hunting trips

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Links

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Outdoor Ruhls Podcast: www.outdoorruhls.com

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Connect with Outdoor Ruhls

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Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @outdoorruhls

YouTube: Outdoor Ruhls

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Catch up on the earlier farm-life conversations with Uncle Sim, "Winter Ruhls" and "Spring Ruhls," for more on growing up in Rexmont, Pennsylvania.

The episode opens with Mike and Caitlin publicly correcting a mistake from the Argentina two-parter: the first episode was briefly titled "El Truchador de Patagonia" as a play on words meaning "trout guy," but in Argentina the word actually reads as something closer to con man or untrustworthy person. Julian Cabral, their guest from the last two episodes, gently flagged it, and they pulled the title within a day and renamed it "Massive Trout of Patagonia." They apologize again on air and note they hope to have Julian back for a future episode walking through a full Patagonia fishing season.

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From there, the conversation turns personal. Mike shares that he's prepping for a colonoscopy after turning 45, framing it as a serious plug for screening rather than just a punchline, and tells the story of an acquaintance whose early diagnosis was caught in time versus a friend of his doctor's who put it off too long. Caitlin then previews her 40th birthday trip: several days in the Florida Keys for reef and wreck fishing, snorkeling, and night "bully netting" for spiny lobster, staying at Hawk's Cay Resort, followed by a trip to Disney World and Universal Studios that doubles as Robert's 8th birthday celebration.

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Mike and Caitlin also talk up the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, which Caitlin's cousin Kate is flying in for, including practical tips for first-timers (plan for 3-5 days to guarantee a good-weather "mass ascension," and consider staying in Santa Fe rather than fighting Balloon Fiesta traffic in Albuquerque every day). They pay tribute to Catherine Schott, a family friend who ran the kitchen at the Lebanon Area Fair for over 40 years and passed away last year, whose fair kitchen was recently dedicated in her honor.

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A big piece of news: they're selling their 1976/77 21-foot aluminum center console StarCraft, a boat with 50 years of family history, to friends James and Amanda Pitman in Pearl River, Louisiana. Mike and Caitlin plan to drive it down over Labor Day weekend, fish for a couple of days, and drive back, with hopes of returning to fish it again on future trips. They also tease an upcoming episode with the boat's original owner, family friend Dave Arnold, covering both the boat's history and unrelated Dave Arnold stories.

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The episode wraps with a look ahead at a packed fall: a Louisiana boat trip in early September, Kate's visit and Balloon Fiesta in late September/early October, the Florida trip in mid-October, whitetail hunting in southern Illinois with Caitlin's aunt and uncle in mid-November, and New Mexico big game hunting in mid-December, where Mike drew both a highly coveted McGregor Range Barbary sheep tag and a hard-to-draw Coos deer tag in Unit 23's Burro Mountains.

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Topics covered:

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Public apology and correction: "El Truchador de Patagonia" title mix-up

Colonoscopy prep and a case for early screening

Caitlin's 40th birthday trip: Florida Keys fishing, snorkeling, and lobster netting

Disney World, Universal Studios, and Robert's 8th birthday

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta tips for first-time visitors

Remembering Catherine Schott and the Lebanon Area Fair kitchen dedication

Selling the family StarCraft boat to friends in Louisiana

A planned Labor Day boat delivery and fishing trip to Pearl River

Fall hunting plans: Illinois whitetail and New Mexico Barbary sheep and Coos deer

Illinois's straight-walled rifle case regulations for youth deer hunting

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Links

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Outdoor Ruhls Podcast: www.outdoorruhls.com

Massive Trout Fly Fishing (Julian Cabral): www.massivetroutflyfishing.com

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Connect with Outdoor Ruhls

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Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @outdoorruhls

YouTube: Outdoor Ruhls

Episode 93: Massive Trout of Patagonia (Part 2)

Picking up where Part 1 left off, Mike and Julian recap Mendoza, Argentina's wine country, and the outsized role Malbec plays in Argentine identity and export. Julian explains the growing conditions that make Mendoza and neighboring San Juan so good for wine, breaks down the lesser-known Torrontés grape, and the group relives a multi-course winery lunch that left them too drunk to visit any other vineyards that day. Julian also shares his own go-to bottle for good value, Trumpeter, and talks about drinking Malbec (and increasingly, craft beer) back home with his family.

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From there the conversation shifts to Cordoba, a very different part of the country known more for dove hunting than trout. Mike, Caitlin, and GT tell the story of their four-day dove hunt, including getting rerouted straight from the airport to the hunting grounds because the Dakar Rally had shut down the road to their lodge, and Mike's mother's very reasonable panic about being handed a shotgun instead of driven to a spa lodge. They reflect on dove hunting as more volume-shooting than traditional hunting, and Mike floats other Argentine wingshooting and waterfowl options he'd try instead of another multi-day dove trip.

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Julian talks about his own time off the water, including his growing interest in saltwater fly fishing (tarpon, permit, bonefish) and a trip Tim took to Campeche, Mexico for baby tarpon. That leads into an extended breakdown of Golden Dorado, the aggressive, hard-fighting freshwater fish found in the Paraná and Corrientes river systems and further north in Salta province. Mike and Julian revisit Mike and Caitlin's own 24-hour Golden Dorado detour to a river town called La Paz (as told in an earlier episode, "For Better or Worse"), and Julian describes the far more extreme version of that fishing on the remote Rio Dorado, ticks and all.

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The episode wraps with Julian's take on Argentina's other underrated regions, including family road trips south on Ruta 40, why Buenos Aires deserves its own visit as a world capital city, and Mike and Caitlin's memory of taking a home cooking class to learn to make empanadas. They close with practical travel notes (easy, affordable domestic flights and a manageable time difference from the U.S.) and how listeners can book a trip with Julian, either in Patagonia or during his summer guiding season on the North Platte in Casper, Wyoming.

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Topics covered:

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Mendoza wine country, Malbec, and Torrontés

A multi-course winery lunch gone sideways

Cordoba's dove hunting culture and agricultural landscape

The Dakar Rally road closure and a mid-trip family crisis

Dove hunting as volume shooting vs. traditional upland hunting

Julian's off-season life, family time, and interest in saltwater fly fishing

Golden Dorado fishing on the Paraná and Corrientes rivers

The remote, tick-heavy Rio Dorado in Salta province

Road-tripping Ruta 40 and Argentina's underrated regions

Buenos Aires as a must-visit capital city

A home cooking class and making empanadas

Domestic travel logistics and time zone differences

How to book a trip with Julian in Argentina or Wyoming

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Guest

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Julian Cabral — Owner and head guide, Massive Trout Fly Fishing, based in Bariloche, Argentina, and Casper, Wyoming. 🌐 www.massivetroutflyfishing.com

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Links

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Massive Trout Fly Fishing: www.massivetroutflyfishing.com

Outdoor Ruhls Podcast: www.outdoorruhls.com

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Connect with Outdoor Ruhls

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Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @outdoorruhls

YouTube: Outdoor Ruhls

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This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation with Julian Cabral. Catch up on Episode 92: Massive Trout of Patagonia for the World Cup chat, Julian's background, and the Bariloche/Rio Limay portion of the trip.