The Let Down Podcast

Dein Higgins is back.

You met Dein back on EP.24 "Grinding it Out" — sixty purposeful arrows a day, chasing the 50-yard game, trying to beat Bruno on Bruno's best day. A season later, the grind has paid off: Dein finished second in Senior Known 50 at the ASA level and went into Michigan and took a state championship buckle — after telling Jason Warner to his face it was going to be the first time he got beat by a Canadian.

But this one's not really about the results. Somewhere along the way, somebody pulled Dein aside and told him he had to learn how to become a winner — not by shooting more arrows, but by getting out of his own head. And in true After Dark fashion, we go everywhere: the Triple Crown heartbreak at Porcupine, the "asshole of the group" origin story from Foley, Alabama, the hungover morning that broke up a shoot-off, and Dein's crossbow confession (he stole my thunder on that one).

The best moment? Dein says it wasn't any of his own wins — it was watching his buddy Dave Kennedy take third in his first-ever shoot-down. Because as Dein puts it: everybody's gonna forget who you were on Monday. It's the people you surround yourself with. That's where the memories come from.

New episodes every Monday morning.

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David Hartlin of David Hartlin Guiding has spent 20 seasons guiding moose and caribou in Newfoundland — and we recorded this one from camp, in the middle of a 100% success week.

David got hooked on Atlantic salmon at eight years old, started hunting at fourteen in Nova Scotia, and was guiding moose by twenty. His mother told him he'd never make a living in the woods. He raised a family on it, was semi-retired by forty-four, and now spends half the year guiding and the other half in Mexico and South America. "You'll never get rich being a guide, but you'll live a wealthy life."

This isn't a how-to on booking a hunt. It's what happens behind the scenes: the characters who walk into camp, the trips that went perfectly, the ones that went sideways (including a bull that got up and charged after three shots), and what two decades of guiding teaches you about hunting, fishing, and people.

We get into reading clients, why the number-one thing to pack is a positive attitude, the difference between hunters and fishermen, how social media and YouTube changed the industry, and the story of a champion turkey caller from North Carolina who traded David his first turkey for his first moose.

Plus a surprise cameo: fellow guide Jason walks in two hours after putting his hunter on his first-ever moose.

Find everything David does — his Newfoundland salmon and Nova Scotia striper businesses, the Nunavik lodge he manages, his booking agency, and the Guide Shack Chronicles — at davidhartlinguiding.com.

Ex-pro Canadian Superbike racer. 20-year nurse. 3rd at Nationals in his first full season of 3D archery. Tony Stufko on pressure, performance, and staying calm when the shot actually matters.

Hunting for the Working Man — Kevin Toye

Kevin Toye joins The Letdown for a conversation about hunting, family, work and finding a way to make all of it fit.

Kevin runs Toye Masonry in British Columbia, has a family at home, and still manages to spend a hell of a lot of time chasing animals across the West.

We talk about the realities of being a working hunter, building a business, making the most of limited time in the woods, elk hunting, mountain goats, the animals still on his list, and a frightening black bear encounter while hunting with his son.

But this one goes beyond hunting stories.

It’s about the people waiting at home, the support that makes these adventures possible, and figuring out how hunting fits into a life where you still have to punch the clock.

A down-to-earth conversation with a guy who works hard, hunts hard, and hasn’t forgotten what matters outside the mountains.

The first-ever Bowhunter Games brought archers from across North America to Clarksville, Tennessee—but there was more than one way to experience it.

Josh and Daniela Webb took on the competitive side, battling difficult terrain, long shots, brutal heat and some of the best archers in the world. Chris and Valerie experienced the fun side—exploring the courses, meeting people and taking in everything the event had to offer.

Around the fire, the four discuss tournament pressure, equipment, professional archers, shooting with your spouse and why the people we meet often matter more than the podiums we chase.

Competition. Community. The fun side—and a camera that tapped out before the conversation did.

Welcome to The Letdown After Dark.

Evan Kooy didn’t grow up in a hunting family — he found his own way into it.

From building a homemade bow as a kid and convincing his dad to take Hunter Ed with him, to learning public-land hunting through years of trial and error, Evan has built a life around the outdoors. Now he’s passing that experience on to his five-year-old son and helping others find their own way into hunting.

Evan joins Chris, Justin and Misha to talk about first-generation hunting, public land, saddle and ground hunting, bowhunting ethics, his 10 Arrows a Day challenge and why the first arrow matters most.

We also get into the story behind Pivot Outdoors — how solving his own problem with Ontario’s bow-encasement requirements eventually became a Canadian outdoor business — and the realities of trying to build that business with the support of his wife and family.

This one ultimately isn't about a bow cover.

It's about access, opportunity, and building hunting traditions.

🎙️ The Letdown Podcast — Real People. Real Conversations. Outdoors.

The Grump ’n’ Sock Connection | Marty & Curtis Draeger

What happens when a father builds something from nothing — and his son decides to do the same?

This week on The LETdown, Chris and Justin sit down with Marty and Curtis Draeger.

Marty is the man behind Grumpy Baits, a Waterloo-based fishing bait company that started with a handmade plasticine goby and grew into a business with dealers across Canada and the U.S.

His son Curtis grew up watching that process and eventually took the leap himself, creating The Bow Sock after seeing a problem in the bowhunting community he thought he could solve.

But this conversation quickly becomes about a lot more than business.

We get into failure, rejection, hunting obsession, the archery community, learning from the people around you, starting something when you have no idea where it might lead — and the relationship between a father and son who genuinely enjoy doing this stuff together.

We also discover that Curtis can make an absolutely perfect shot on an Avian-X turkey decoy.

The turkey was apparently a little more difficult.

The Grump ’n’ Sock Connection.

This one was fun.

Fresh home from the Southern Canadian Classic, Chris reflects on the friendships, familiar faces and conversations that make archery tournaments about far more than the final score.

Then we open the vault for the first Letdown After Dark: Campfire Edition.

Recorded in the old shed at Royal City while preparing for Provincials, Chris and Justin sit down without a guest or an agenda and let the conversation go wherever it wants.

They talk tournaments, turkey hunting, bear baiting, bowfishing, tuning bows, creating The Letdown and how Royal City became a second home for so many people.

There wasn’t a campfire—just two friends, a couple of microphones, an old shed and a Thermacell fighting for its life.

Pull up a chair and join us.

Archery is a solitary sport. One archer. One bow. One arrow.

So why does it seem to create some of the strongest friendships?

Warren Robertson of Scope Digital and Marcel Bourque of JMZ Archery join Chris for a LETdown After Dark conversation about the friendships built between the targets.

From twelve-hour road trips and the infamous "F-150 vault" to tournaments, hunting, careers, slowing down in the outdoors and the communities that keep bringing us back, this one goes well beyond archery.

Because years from now, you probably won't remember your score.

But you'll remember who was there.

The Miles Between Us — Episode 46 of The LETdown Podcast.

#TheLETdown #LETdownAfterDark #TheMilesBetweenUs #JMZArchery #ScopeDigital #Archery #Bowhunting

Twenty-five years in the Royal Canadian Navy changed Sab Rose forever.

Like many veterans, some of the experiences he carried home weren't visible. It wasn't until years later that he realized he needed help. Then one unexpected trip to the Invictus Games introduced him to a sport he thought would be "as exciting as watching paint dry."

That sport was archery.

In this episode, Sab shares his journey through military service, deployments, PTSD, recovery, and how archery helped him rediscover purpose. We also explore the stories behind XLimits Archery, X Precision Strings, and NOKTA Outdoors, and why giving back has become the common thread running through everything he builds.

This isn't just an episode about archery.

It's a conversation about resilience, identity, and finding peace after service.

Enjoy the conversation.