The Wild Initiative

Dan Staton of ElkShape joins Sam on The Wild Initiative to talk about what drives him as a man who prides himself on the development of what he calls “sweat equity.” In this episode, Dan goes into detail about his first encounter with a successful elk harvest, how time in the woods makes us more effective and present at home and how he leverages elk hunting to create the best possible versions of his ElkShape camp attendees. They also go into how important ridding negativity in your life is and why pushing through the little negative voice in your head will benefit you.

See more on the show notes page at thewildinitiative.com/201.

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Sam brings back Clayton Marxer, the Adventure Cowboy, to introduce The Wild Initiative’s 200th episode. In this episode, Sam and Clayton reminisce about the trials and tribulations of Sam’s 2017 elk hunt. Sam then shares the audio files he recorded at the end of each day, sharing the raw details of what’s going on in his mind throughout the whole process. This episode reminds us of how challenging it is to chase elk every September and how you should always hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

See more on the show notes page at thewildinitiative.com/200.

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Guy Duplantier, host of the Western Contours podcast, joins Sam on The Wild Initiative to talk about developing grit in life. In this episode, they discuss the benefits and drawbacks of solo vs group hunting, the growth that comes from doing difficult sh*t (even if it’s solely for the sake of doing difficult sh*t), how to become a more productive beast of a human and why elk hunting is better than all else.

See more on the show notes page at thewildinitiative.com/199.

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Chef Joshua Schwencke of Gastronomy joins Sam on The Wild Initiative to talk about an integral part of honoring the game we hunt; how we prepare it in the kitchen. Joshua goes into how our presentation of food, particularly wild game, can be an art form. He later debunks what “gamey” actually means and how to reach that apex of flavor with various recipes and techniques to use for Western Game.

See more on the show notes page at thewildinitiative.com/198.

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Greg McHale, host of Greg McHale’s Wild Yukon joins Sam on The Wild Initiative to talk about his philosophies surrounding physical fitness in the outdoors and life. In this episode, they talk about Greg’s origins in the Yukon, how to create Atomic Habits that increase your freedom throughout the day and the foundations of creating a healthy life. Later, they discuss how to start getting active and start utilizing the thing you cannot make more of; time.

See more on the show notes page at thewildinitiative.com/197.

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The StHealthy Hunter, Ryan Lampers joins Sam on The Wild Initiative to dig into the details of Spring Bear Season. In this episode, Ryan shares his daughter’s first successful deer harvest and how to get children into hunting. The episode wouldn’t be complete without chatting about the imminent approach of Spring Bear Season. Ryan and Sam discuss best practices for processing and storing bear meat, bear’s unique personality and the importance of situational awareness when predator calling during Bear Season.

If you’re interested in learning from Ryan and some of the most knowledgeable and consistently successful western hunters, be sure to check out Western Hunting Summit. Two summits are already sold out and only a few passes are left. You don’t want to miss this unbeatable experience that will cut your learning curve by years.

See more on the show notes page at thewildinitiative.com/196.

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Jim Shockey joins Sam on The Wild Initiative to break down why we hunt. In this episode, Jim goes into detail on how his mentality on hunting motivations has changed over the years, how hunting in -100 degree temps breaks humans but also creates incredible character and what the perfect hunt looks like. Jim and Sam later go on to discuss how meat is not typically a wholly honest motivator for hunting and how tofu has killed just as many animals as hunters.

See more on the show notes page at thewildinitiative.com/195.

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Douglas Boze, author of The Ultimate Guide to Black Bear Hunting joins Sam on The Wild Initiative to dig into all the basics of Spring bear hunting. In this episode, they discuss the allure of predator hunting, what you need to look for when initially scouting and how to tell the difference between rub and bear-stripping on trees. They also go on to talk about shot placement, why observing bear habits is crucial to your success and a bunch of little tactics that will help you immensely in the field.

See more on the show notes page at thewildinitiative.com/194.

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The Honorable Steve Daines, United States Senator for Montana joins Sam on The Wild Initiative to share his vision for wildlife and public lands management in Montana and across the nation. Senator Daines reminisces about his childhood memories of growing up in Montana and fishing with his grandfather and goes on to recap the 2020 election and confront the attacks made against him by the opposition. Sam and Senator Daines go on to discuss his questioning of Representative Haaland, Biden’s nominee for Secretary of the Interior and his confrontation of her inconsistent statements over science-based wildlife management and the delisting of the grizzly bear.

See more on the show notes page at thewildinitiative.com/193.

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Brian Barney of Eastmans’ Elevated joins Sam on The Wild Initiative to talk about the life-changing benefits of immersing yourself in the backcountry. In this episode, they discuss bowhunting and the upcoming spring bear season, beer and burgers as a hunting power-meal, flaws with the pro-wolf agenda and how our “difficult” daily-life decisions are made much less intimidating by the backcountry. Brian and Sam go on to discuss a little bit of everything from CWD to hunting legislation and why public land hunting is such a unique equalizer of people.

See more on the show notes page at thewildinitiative.com/192.

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