Wild Place Adventures - Stories and Lessons from the Outdoors

This episode dives into a real Yukon backcountry experience where nothing went as planned—and that’s exactly where the best lessons came from.

Bryce Bekar reflects on a late winter bison hunt with a group of youth, where deep snow, brutal conditions, and heavy hunting pressure made success uncertain. From stuck machines and changing plans to wolves on the mountainside and a last-minute opportunity, this trip became about far more than harvesting an animal.

At its core, this episode is about mentorship, responsibility, and learning by doing. The youth on this trip didn’t just observe—they worked, adapted, and took part in every step, from trail breaking to processing the animal.

This is a story about resilience, leadership, and why getting kids into the outdoors matters now more than ever.

Gear matters. Preparation matters. But when things start to go sideways in the backcountry, it’s rarely your equipment that makes the call—it’s your headspace. In this episode, Bryce shares hard-earned lessons from sheep hunts, steep terrain, and close calls to explore why presence, calm, and judgment matter more than confidence alone. This is a conversation about decision-making under pressure, training your mind, and learning to stay present when it really counts—in the mountains and in life.

Some people think they know what cold is. Some people actually do. And then there’s Yukon cold.

Yukon cold hits different. ❄️ In this episode, Bryce Bekar shares real-world lessons from frozen feet, gear failures, and winter backcountry mistakes—plus how to test your gear, manage layers, avoid frostbite and hypothermia, and build a system that keeps you safe when it really counts. Winter doesn’t need to be feared, but it does need to be respected.

Hosted by Bryce Bekar

Wild Place Adventures Podcast

Find us at wildplaceadventures.com

Facebook: Wild Place Adventures

Instagram: @brycebekar

“Hunt and fish with your kids. Not for them.”

Why do we keep going back outside?

After years on the land — through cold mornings, hard trips, injuries, and moments of quiet reflection — Bryce shares what the outdoors has really taught him. This episode isn’t about gear, tags, or trophies. It’s about something deeper.

It’s about mentorship.

About responsibility.

About the quiet moments when you realize someone is watching how you move, how you act, and how you treat the land.

From lessons learned on the trapline to raising kids outdoors, Bryce reflects on how time spent outside shapes who we are — and why the way we carry ourselves matters more than anything we say.

This episode sets the tone for Season Two of Wild Place Adventures:

real stories, hard lessons, and the understanding that the land doesn’t belong to us — we borrow it.

Because loving the land means protecting it.

And protecting it starts with respect.

On this special episode of Wild Place Adventures, Bryce reflects on Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. This is a day to pause, remember the children lost to residential schools, honour survivors, and learn from Indigenous teachings. Bryce shares how respect for the land and for all living things is at the heart of outdoor traditions, weaving in family stories, lessons from his daughters’ language classes, and personal reflections on gratitude in hunting. With the guidance of Heather’s York Factory First Nation roots and community wisdom, this episode calls listeners to reflect, listen, and walk together toward reconciliation.

In this episode of the Wild Place Adventures Podcast, Bryce Bekar dives deep into the idea that not everything in life — or in the wild — is created equal. From physical preparation to mental resilience, from gear lessons to personal stories of loss and growth, Bryce explores how small struggles can prepare us for life’s toughest moments.

Drawing from his own experiences — from motocross and bungee jumps to grieving the loss of family at a young age — Bryce emphasizes the importance of pushing yourself, learning from mistakes, and investing wisely in both mindset and equipment. He shares hard-earned lessons about gear (like why cheap binoculars cost him more in the long run), the role of discomfort in building resilience, and why representing hunters and anglers ethically matters more than ever in today’s digital age.

Above all, this episode is about stewardship, preparation, and valuing the most finite resource we all have: time. Bryce closes with encouragement to get out this season — whether it’s geese, ducks, moose, or elk — and to always hunt and fish with your kids, not for them.

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In this episode of Wild Place Adventures, Bryce takes a different approach to hunting season. For the first time in years, he skips the August opener to spend more time on the water before heading into the mountains in September. He shares shoutouts to recent successful hunters, reflections on balancing hunting and fishing, and stories from summer trips—including a surprise boat salvage at the trapping cabin.

From gear maintenance tips to the importance of mentoring new hunters, Bryce explores how the hunting and fishing community in the Yukon is built on preparation, respect, and shared experiences. With moose season just around the corner and the next Wild Place Adventures workshop on August 21, there’s plenty to look forward to this fall.

In this special episode of the Wild Place Adventures podcast, Bryce is joined by his favourite adventure partner—his wife, Heather—on the deck overlooking the Tagish River. Together, they share stories from a recent five-day trip down Tagish Lake, covering everything from boat repairs and stormy weather to fish feasts, bear sightings, and their dog Copper’s excitement every time a fish was on the line. It’s a candid, lighthearted look at life on the lake and why they always come back for more.

In this episode of Wild Place Adventures, Bryce reflects on a recent fishing trip and shares honest, timely thoughts as hunting season creeps closer in the Yukon. From gear maintenance nightmares to lessons in moose hunting preparation, Bryce walks through the value of planning ahead, being conservation-minded, and getting excited for what’s to come.

He shares updates on Yukon hunting opportunities, talks about teaching kids to sit still in the bush, and gives a heartfelt message about supporting local and national conservation organizations. It’s a grounded, practical, and motivating episode to get you thinking—and preparing—for the season ahead.

In this episode of Wild Place Adventures, Bryce takes you on a reflective ride through a memorable Yukon moose hunt that didn’t quite go to plan. A stubborn boat problem that carried over from the year before turns an otherwise beautiful trip on Frances Lake into an unplanned adventure of its own. Bryce shares lessons from a decade of using the same faithful little Legend boat, from DIY repairs on a remote creek bank to learning that sometimes the simplest part is the problem. Along the way, there’s storytelling about old-school moose hunting tactics, good friends who come to the rescue, and reflections on boat maintenance that matter for anyone exploring wild places.