Ben Long

There is a dire misconception these days that hunting and angling are somehow the birthright of Americans – and that these life pursuits and passions of ours belong to us by dint of benevolent magic or extraordinary good luck. American hunting and fishing do not exist because of magic or luck. We have what we have because our forebears raised relentless hell to restore our wildlife and protect our lands, waters and air. Ben Long, hardcore hunter, angler, conservationist, writer and longtime BHA leader, has produced The Hunter &amp; Angler Field Guide to Raising Hell to re-awaken that spirit right now…when the need has never been greater. In the tradition of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, the epic of oppression that launched the American Revolution, Ben’s Field Guide is a concise user’s guide to the institutions – from federal agencies to the courts – that help us protect that which we refuse to relinquish, and that which we will pass on to the generations that follow us. To whom much has been given, much is expected. Join us, in the fight, and for this conversation.   

There is a dire misconception these days that hunting and angling are somehow the birthright of Americans – and that these life pursuits and passions of ours belong to us by dint of benevolent magic or extraordinary good luck. American hunting and fishing do not exist because of magic or luck. We have what we have because our forebears raised relentless hell to restore our wildlife and protect our lands, waters and air. Ben Long, hardcore hunter, angler, conservationist, writer and longtime BHA leader, has produced <a href="https://shop.backcountryhunters.org/collections/accessories/products/hunter-angler-field-guide-to-raising-hell" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">The Hunter &amp; Angler Field Guide to Raising Hell</a> to re-awaken that spirit right now…when the need has never been greater. In the tradition of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, the epic of oppression that launched the American Revolution, Ben’s Field Guide is a concise user’s guide to the institutions – from federal agencies to the courts – that help us protect that which we refuse to relinquish, and that which we will pass on to the generations that follow us. To whom much has been given, much is expected. Join us, in the fight, and for this conversation.

BHA Podcast & Blast, Ep. 162: Ben Long, The Hunter & Angler Field Guide to Raising Hell

Jesse Griffiths

Texas hunter and fisherman Jesse Griffiths is the author of Afield: A Chef’s Guide to Preparing and Cooking Wild Game and Fish and The Hog Book, the definitive text – artwork is closer to the reality  - on hunting, butchering and cooking feral hogs. The Hog Book won the prestigious James Beard Award in 2022, a fitting tribute to a man on the cutting edge of wild game and fish cookery. Jesse is co-owner of the Austin, Texas, New School of Traditional Cookery and the restaurant Dai Due, whose name is drawn from the Italian proverb, Dai due regni di natura, piglia il cibo con misura: “From the two kingdoms of nature, choose food with care.” Join us for a conversation with one of the most visionary chefs in North America, talking hogs, turkeys, panfish, hunting and fishing and foraging for food, and a life defined by the earth and her seasons.

Texas hunter and fisherman Jesse Griffiths is the author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Afield-Chefs-Guide-Preparing-Cooking/dp/1599621142" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Afield: A Chef’s Guide to Preparing and Cooking Wild Game and Fish</a> and <a href="https://thehogbook.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">The Hog Book</a>, the definitive text – artwork is closer to the reality  - on hunting, butchering and cooking feral hogs. The Hog Book won the prestigious James Beard Award in 2022, a fitting tribute to a man on the cutting edge of wild game and fish cookery. Jesse is co-owner of the Austin, Texas, <a href="https://www.newschooloftraditionalcookery.com/home" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">New School of Traditional Cookery</a> and the restaurant <a href="https://www.daidue.com/home" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Dai Due,</a> whose name is drawn from the Italian proverb, Dai due regni di natura, piglia il cibo con misura: “From the two kingdoms of nature, choose food with care.” Join us for a conversation with one of the most visionary chefs in North America, talking hogs, turkeys, panfish, hunting and fishing and foraging for food, and a life defined by the earth and her seasons.

BHA Podcast & Blast, Ep. 161: Texas Chef & Sportsman Jesse Griffiths

Mitch Reid

Mitch Reid is a native son of the Alabama Wiregrass, where he grew up fishing and hunting his home country in the headwaters of the Choctawhatchee River. After a military career with the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne, he came home to raise his family and continue to serve his nation by working with The Nature Conservancy to protect and restore the lands and waters of the place he loves the most in the world. Alabama is No. 1 in aquatic species diversity, with more than 4,000 known species. It is also No. 2 in the nation for species extinction. The time for action is right now. Huge projects are underway in Alabama, from restoration of coastal estuaries and marshes to protecting some of the most diverse hardwood forests and most biologically rich and intact rivers left on Earth. One of the most important watershed restorations in the U.S. is underway right here – reconnecting the mighty Alabama River and its thousands of miles of tributaries to the Gulf of Mexico – Gulf walleye, sturgeon, vast runs of mullet and other catadromous fish … they were all here, all the way up the Cahaba, the Coosa, the Tallapoosa. And they can be again.     

Mitch Reid is a native son of the Alabama Wiregrass, where he grew up fishing and hunting his home country in the headwaters of the Choctawhatchee River. After a military career with the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne, he came home to raise his family and continue to serve his nation by working with <a href="https://www.nature.org/en-us/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">The Nature Conservancy</a> to protect and restore the lands and waters of the place he loves the most in the world. Alabama is No. 1 in aquatic species diversity, with more than 4,000 known species. It is also No. 2 in the nation for species extinction. The time for action is right now. Huge projects are underway in Alabama, from restoration of coastal estuaries and marshes to protecting some of the most diverse hardwood forests and most biologically rich and intact rivers left on Earth. One of the most important watershed restorations in the U.S. is underway right here – reconnecting the mighty Alabama River and its thousands of miles of tributaries to the Gulf of Mexico – Gulf walleye, sturgeon, vast runs of mullet and other catadromous fish … they were all here, all the way up the Cahaba, the Coosa, the Tallapoosa. And they can be again.

BHA Podcast & Blast, Ep. 160: Mitch Reid with The Nature Conservancy

Arizona game warden and author Sam Lawry is retiring from his second career as the executive director of the Teller Wildlife Refuge on the Bitterroot River of Montana. This BHA podcast is being released to honor Sam and in appreciation of his life as one of America’s premier conservation leaders. Sam served 23 years as a game warden in Arizona (the subject of his excellent and funny book, Stories of the Past: An Arizona Game Ranger Remembering the Outlaws), was chairman of staff for the North American Wetlands Conservation Council and the Pacific Flyway Council, western director of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, and has devoted most of his life to teaching young people about wildlife and conservation. Join Hal and Sam as they talk about outlaws, waterfowl hunting, Arizona, the Bitterroot, active habitat restoration, and a life spent completely immersed in hunting and fishing. If you have not heard of Sam’s Warden Wisdom on Instagram, now is the time to check it out.

Arizona game warden and author Sam Lawry is retiring from his second career as the executive director of the Teller Wildlife Refuge on the Bitterroot River of Montana. This BHA podcast is being released to honor Sam and in appreciation of his life as one of America’s premier conservation leaders. Sam served 23 years as a game warden in Arizona (the subject of his excellent and funny book, Stories of the Past: An Arizona Game Ranger Remembering the Outlaws), was chairman of staff for the North American Wetlands Conservation Council and the Pacific Flyway Council, western director of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, and has devoted most of his life to teaching young people about wildlife and conservation. Join Hal and Sam as they talk about outlaws, waterfowl hunting, Arizona, the Bitterroot, active habitat restoration, and a life spent completely immersed in hunting and fishing. If you have not heard of <a href="https://www.instagram.com/sam.lawry/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Sam’s Warden Wisdom on Instagram</a>, now is the time to check it out.

BHA Podcast & Blast, Ep. 159: Game Warden, Author and Conservationist Sam Lawry

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 158: Hunting at American Prairie    American Prairie is 455,840 sprawling acres of Montana grasslands and breaks that represents one of the largest expansions of publicly accessible hunting opportunities in the West— and one of America’s largest public/private land conservation projects. A longer story deserves to be told about American Prairie – how their work began and also what their plans for the future hold. This discussion features AP’s Director of Public Access &amp; Recreation Mike Quist Kautz and Director of Bison Restoration Scott Heidebrink, who are here to talk history, bison, cattle, grasslands, watersheds, and hunting and the logistics of getting 1000 pounds of meat and 150 pounds of hide out of the field. Listeners who want to apply for a bison permit on AP lands, or who might be interested in the Block Management Program hunting access opportunities on AP lands, won’t want to miss this conversation, recorded at AP headquarters in Montana.

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 158: Hunting at American Prairie <a href="https://americanprairie.org/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank"> American Prairie is 455,840 sprawling acres of Montana grasslands and breaks</a> that represents one of the largest expansions of publicly accessible hunting opportunities in the West— and one of America’s largest public/private land conservation projects. A longer story deserves to be told about American Prairie – how their work began and also what their plans for the future hold. This discussion features AP’s Director of Public Access &amp; Recreation Mike Quist Kautz and Director of Bison Restoration Scott Heidebrink, who are here to talk history, bison, cattle, grasslands, watersheds, and hunting and the logistics of getting 1000 pounds of meat and 150 pounds of hide out of the field. Listeners who want to apply for a bison permit on AP lands, or who might be interested in the Block Management Program hunting access opportunities on AP lands, won’t want to miss this conversation, recorded at AP headquarters in Montana.

Ep. 158: Hunting at American Prairie

Kevin Garrad

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 157: Kevin Garrad, Founder of Wild Response Growing up in rural England, Kevin Garrad was a child of the wild moors, a ferreter and a trainer of lurchers, a hunter of invasive minks, and destined to be a soldier. Fast forward to an early-in to the U.S. military just out of high school and eight deployments in 18 years, including a decade in the U.S. Army Special Forces during America’s longest wars. Now “retired” to the bush in South Africa’s Kruger National Park, Kevin is the point man for Wild Response, an organization that equips and trains the roaming, high-risk game rangers who are protecting the bitterly imperiled wildlife of these last iconic wild landscapes, often at the risk of their own lives. Internationally recognized man-tracker, soldier, medic, teacher and passionate conservationist of wildlife and wild places, Kevin has an utterly unique tale to tell. Join us!

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 157: Kevin Garrad, Founder of Wild Response Growing up in rural England, Kevin Garrad was a child of the wild moors, a ferreter and a trainer of lurchers, a hunter of invasive minks, and destined to be a soldier. Fast forward to an early-in to the U.S. military just out of high school and eight deployments in 18 years, including a decade in the U.S. Army Special Forces during America’s longest wars. Now “retired” to the bush in South Africa’s Kruger National Park, Kevin is the point man for <a href="https://wildresponse.org/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Wild Response</a>, an organization that equips and trains the roaming, high-risk game rangers who are protecting the bitterly imperiled wildlife of these last iconic wild landscapes, often at the risk of their own lives. Internationally recognized man-tracker, soldier, medic, teacher and passionate conservationist of wildlife and wild places, Kevin has an utterly unique tale to tell. Join us!

Ep. 157: Kevin Garrad, Founder of Wild Response

Bob Lee

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 156: Florida Backcountry Lawman Bob Lee You may remember Bob Lee from  Free the Ocklawaha River!, where he and Hal first met. Bob is one of the leading voices for the removal of Rodman Dam and the reconnection of the Ocklawaha River to the St. Johns and the Atlantic Ocean. He knows of what he speaks: Bob Lee was the game warden for this part of the American backcountry – the oldest of Old Florida – for over 30 years. He wrote about his adventures in his excellent first book Backcountry Lawman and expanded on that success by gathering other Florida warden tales in Bad Guys, Bullets, and Boat Chases. Artifact hunter, historian, fisherman and hunter of both man and beast, Bob Lee is a master storyteller with a lifetime of rollicking adventures to draw from. Join us for the ride.    

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 156: Florida Backcountry Lawman Bob Lee You may remember Bob Lee from <a href="https://www.backcountryhunters.org/bha_podcast_blast_ep_150_free_the_ocklawaha_river" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank"> Free the Ocklawaha River!</a>, where he and Hal first met. Bob is one of the leading voices for the removal of Rodman Dam and the reconnection of the Ocklawaha River to the St. Johns and the Atlantic Ocean. He knows of what he speaks: Bob Lee was the game warden for this part of the American backcountry – the oldest of Old Florida – for over 30 years. He wrote about his adventures in his excellent first book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Backcountry-Lawman-Stories-Florida-History/dp/0813061288" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Backcountry Lawman</a> and expanded on that success by gathering other Florida warden tales in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Bad-Guys-Bullets-Boat-Chases/dp/0813062446" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Bad Guys, Bullets, and Boat Chases</a>. Artifact hunter, historian, fisherman and hunter of both man and beast, Bob Lee is a master storyteller with a lifetime of rollicking adventures to draw from. Join us for the ride.

Ep. 156: Bob Lee, Florida Backcountry Lawman

Chris Dombrowski

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 155: Montana Fishing Guide and Writer Chris Dombrowski   Chris Dombrowski is a professional fishing guide of over two decades on the rivers of Montana, an acclaimed poet and the author of Body of Water: A Sage, A Seeker, and the World’s Most Alluring Fish, which is about, among many other things, the pursuit of bonefish in the Bahamas. Chris’ latest book is The River You Touch: Making a Life on Moving Water, which manages to be a deeply honest memoir, a celebration of the joys and terrors of family, and a love letter to the landscape and rivers of the American West, all at the same time. Join Hal and Chris for an intense conversation about fishing, life and literature, recorded live at the 2023 BHA North American Rendezvous.

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 155: Montana Fishing Guide and Writer Chris Dombrowski Chris Dombrowski is a professional fishing guide of over two decades on the rivers of Montana, an acclaimed poet and the author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Body-Water-Seeker-Worlds-Elusive/dp/1571313648" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Body of Water: A Sage, A Seeker, and the World’s Most Alluring Fish</a>, which is about, among many other things, the pursuit of bonefish in the Bahamas. Chris’ latest book is <a href="https://www.amazon.com/River-You-Touch-Making-Moving/dp/1639550631/ref=pd_lpo_sccl_1/130-4999122-8587361?pd_rd_w=CxroT&amp;content-id=amzn1.sym.116f529c-aa4d-4763-b2b6-4d614ec7dc00&amp;pf_rd_p=116f529c-aa4d-4763-b2b6-4d614ec7dc00&amp;pf_rd_r=K5BMRT6FTEM3ZQ1S602V&amp;pd_rd_wg=mDHXf&amp;pd_rd_r=e9009667-701e-4e99-9637-3e942292f16d&amp;pd_rd_i=1639550631&amp;psc=1" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">The River You Touch: Making a Life on Moving Water</a>, which manages to be a deeply honest memoir, a celebration of the joys and terrors of family, and a love letter to the landscape and rivers of the American West, all at the same time. Join Hal and Chris for an intense conversation about fishing, life and literature, recorded live at the 2023 BHA North American Rendezvous.

Ep. 155: Chris Dombrowski, Montana Fishing Guide and Writer

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 154: The Legal Fight Over Corner Crossing Comes to a Head The future of public access to public lands access is being decided in Wyoming with the ongoing saga of the corner-crossing hunters and their legal travails. We all have a dog in this fight – and never more so than right now, given the accelerating trend of huge expanses of private land being consolidated, with public lands enclosed or access blocked to members of the hunting and angling public. Join us at the 2023 BHA North American Rendezvous as Hal discusses the implications of the Wyoming battle with Eric Hanson, an attorney who has assisted BHA in its support of the four hunters, and Sawyer Connelly, a former BHA staffer and legal scholar: Learn the latest on the legal case and also, for the hardworking optimists, a possible solution from Sawyer to the dilemma of access to the checkerboarded public lands in the West. You heard it here first!

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 154: The Legal Fight Over Corner Crossing Comes to a Head The future of public access to public lands access is being decided in Wyoming with the ongoing saga of <a href="https://www.backcountryhunters.org/sportsmen_s_corner_crossing_pledge" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">the corner-crossing hunters and their legal travails</a>. We all have a dog in this fight – and never more so than right now, given the accelerating trend of huge expanses of private land being consolidated, with public lands enclosed or access blocked to members of the hunting and angling public. Join us at the 2023 BHA North American Rendezvous as Hal discusses the implications of the Wyoming battle with Eric Hanson, <a href="https://www.backcountryhunters.org/bha_files_legal_brief_in_federal_court_supporting_corner_crossing" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">an attorney who has assisted BHA</a> in its support of the four hunters, and Sawyer Connelly, a former BHA staffer and legal scholar: Learn the latest on the legal case and also, for the hardworking optimists, a possible solution from Sawyer to the dilemma of access to the checkerboarded public lands in the West. You heard it here first!

Ep. 154: The Legal Fight Over Corner Crossing Comes to a Head

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 153: The MT Legislature, The Weed Tax, and The Conservationists Montana's legislature meets for only 90 days every two years, but the amount of work that goes into a single abbreviated session is mind-blowing. In just a few short months during its 2023 session, more than 200 bills dealing with fish and wildlife management, public access, conservation funding, and fair chase hunting and fishing opportunities will have been introduced and considered in Helena. On this week's Podcast &amp; Blast, we sit down with Jake Schwaller and John Sullivan of the Montana BHA board and Kevin Farron, BHA regional policy manager, to discuss a few of these bills, how best to make your voice heard, and why BHA members from across the country need to stay vigilant and engaged when the sausage is being made in their own state. Join us as we explore what Costco has to do with Montana's new pheasant stocking program, how nonresidents who own land in Montana will be given up to five deer and elk tags, and  how recreational marijuana is funding - or was funding - the state's best conservation tool: Habitat Montana.

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 153: The MT Legislature, The Weed Tax, and The Conservationists Montana's legislature meets for only 90 days every two years, but the amount of work that goes into a single abbreviated session is mind-blowing. In just a few short months during its 2023 session, more than 200 bills dealing with fish and wildlife management, public access, conservation funding, and fair chase hunting and fishing opportunities will have been introduced and considered in Helena. On this week's Podcast &amp; Blast, we sit down with Jake Schwaller and John Sullivan of the Montana BHA board and Kevin Farron, BHA regional policy manager, to discuss a few of these bills, how best to make your voice heard, and why BHA members from across the country need to stay vigilant and engaged when the sausage is being made in their own state. Join us as we explore what Costco has to do with Montana's new pheasant stocking program, how nonresidents who own land in Montana will be given up to five deer and elk tags, and <a href="https://www.backcountryhunters.org/protect_funding_for_habitat_montana_2023#/321/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> how recreational marijuana is funding - or was funding - the state's best conservation tool: Habitat Montana.</a>

Ep. 153 - The MT Legislature, The Weed Tax, and The Conservationists

Hunting. Angling. Public Lands. That's the meat of what BHA's Podcast &amp; Blast with Hal Herring is about, and we cover the gamut. With guests that range from outdoor writers to backcountry hunters to legendary anglers, we seek to uncover the stories, the truths, the controversies, and the epic conversations that our public land heritage provides.

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 152: Murder of the Grand Kankakee Marsh “I have never yet found a place that equaled the Kankakee swamps for the variety of game to be found there.” – J. Lorenzo Werich, 1920. Few know the history now. None who experienced it are still alive to tell us the tale. But it was once known as The Everglades of the North, a million acres of marsh and swamp in Indiana and Illinois, with thousands of people living on the wealth of its fish and game, flocks of waterfowl darkening the skies, passenger pigeons, deer and black bear, beaver and muskrat and otter. For decades it was the so-called “pantry of Chicago,” providing wild game to markets and restaurants, furs to the garment and hat industries, tons of cut reeds for packing materials, and millions of board feet for lumber for houses, including fueling reconstruction after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Then the huge steam-powered dredges came, and the murder of the Grand Kankakee Marsh began. Can we ever put to rights what we once so thoughtlessly sundered? Join us for a conversation with Hal and two of Indiana’s finest storytellers and conservationists: Jeff Manes, a former steelworker turned columnist for the Chicago Tribune who grew up fishing and hunting the swamp, and Jim Sweeney, of the Porter County Chapter of the Izaak Walton League and Friends of the Kankakee.

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 152: Murder of the Grand Kankakee Marsh “I have never yet found a place that equaled the Kankakee swamps for the variety of game to be found there.” – J. Lorenzo Werich, 1920. Few know the history now. None who experienced it are still alive to tell us the tale. But it was once known as The Everglades of the North, a million acres of marsh and swamp in Indiana and Illinois, with thousands of people living on the wealth of its fish and game, flocks of waterfowl darkening the skies, passenger pigeons, deer and black bear, beaver and muskrat and otter. For decades it was the so-called “pantry of Chicago,” providing wild game to markets and restaurants, furs to the garment and hat industries, tons of cut reeds for packing materials, and millions of board feet for lumber for houses, including fueling reconstruction after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Then the huge steam-powered dredges came, and the murder of the Grand Kankakee Marsh began. Can we ever put to rights what we once so thoughtlessly sundered? Join us for a conversation with Hal and two of Indiana’s finest storytellers and conservationists: Jeff Manes, a former steelworker turned columnist for the Chicago Tribune who grew up fishing and hunting the swamp, and Jim Sweeney, of the Porter County Chapter of the Izaak Walton League and Friends of the Kankakee.

Ep. 152 - Murder of the Grand Kankakee Marsh

Bill Avey

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 151: Bill Avey, 40 Years in the Forest Service Retired Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest Supervisor Bill Avey is here to give us a clear view into the workings of the U.S. Forest Service – and what is arguably, for a public lands hunter or angler, the most important agency in America. Hal and Bill became friends on a snow survey ski trip through the Bob Marshall Wilderness in 2015, lost touch, then met again on a jury duty call-up last summer. It was a lucky meeting for Hal and for this podcast: Bill Avey has given his life to America’s public forests, and he knows the strengths and weaknesses, the joys and tribulations, of his agency and the work it does, from the roots to the crown.

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 151: Bill Avey, 40 Years in the Forest Service Retired Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest Supervisor Bill Avey is here to give us a clear view into the workings of the U.S. Forest Service – and what is arguably, for a public lands hunter or angler, the most important agency in America. Hal and Bill became friends on a snow survey ski trip through the Bob Marshall Wilderness in 2015, lost touch, then met again on a jury duty call-up last summer. It was a lucky meeting for Hal and for this podcast: Bill Avey has given his life to America’s public forests, and he knows the strengths and weaknesses, the joys and tribulations, of his agency and the work it does, from the roots to the crown.

Ep. 151 - Bill Avey, 40 Years in the Forest Service

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 150: Free the Ocklawaha River! Almost 60 years ago, the U.S. government, blinded by hubris, began work on the Cross Florida Barge Canal. Never heard of it? That’s because President Richard Nixon, seeing it for the financial and ecological monstrosity that it was, halted the project in 1971 before it was halfway completed. All that remains of the bad idea is Rodman Dam, completed in 1968 to raise water levels enough to make the canal usable. The Rodman Dam blocked the free flow of the incredible Ocklawaha River, inundated 20 mighty freshwater springs, flooded miles of timber and bottomland wildlife habitat and, most importantly, cut the Ocklawaha and its tributaries off from the St. Johns River and the Atlantic Ocean, causing a cascade of losses to wildlife, water, fisheries and human beings. Now the time has come to remove Rodman Dam and restore these connections. Hal talks about the dam – its history and potential future – with Lisa Rinaman of the St. Johns’ Riverkeeper and retired game warden and author Bob Lee, who has spent his professional life protecting the game and fish of the Ocklawaha. Join us to consider one of the major restoration projects of our time. 

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 150: Free the Ocklawaha River! Almost 60 years ago, the U.S. government, blinded by hubris, began work on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjorie_Harris_Carr_Cross_Florida_Greenway" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Cross Florida Barge Canal</a>. Never heard of it? That’s because President Richard Nixon, seeing it for the financial and ecological monstrosity that it was, halted the project in 1971 before it was halfway completed. All that remains of the bad idea is Rodman Dam, completed in 1968 to raise water levels enough to make the canal usable. The Rodman Dam blocked the free flow of the incredible Ocklawaha River, inundated 20 mighty freshwater springs, flooded miles of timber and bottomland wildlife habitat and, most importantly, cut the Ocklawaha and its tributaries off from the St. Johns River and the Atlantic Ocean, causing a cascade of losses to wildlife, water, fisheries and human beings. Now the time has come to remove Rodman Dam and restore these connections. Hal talks about the dam – its history and potential future – with Lisa Rinaman of the St. Johns’ Riverkeeper and retired game warden and author Bob Lee, who has spent his professional life protecting the game and fish of the Ocklawaha. Join us to consider one of the major restoration projects of our time.

Ep. 150 - Free the Ocklawaha River!

Podcast &amp; Blast: Episode 149, Conservation in the 118th Congress with the BHA Policy Crew As a wise man once said, You may not be interested in war, but when the times comes, war will certainly be interested in you. The same can be said about Congress. This week's episode with BHA's John Gale and Kaden McArthur takes us to Washington, D.C., with an exploration of the 118th Congress, where the hottest issues pertaining to our hunting and fishing and the conservation that makes it possible will be on the floor, in the offices, buried in reams of obscure paperwork and clouded by political shenanigans….John and Kaden clear the smoke, slash the fat, and let us all know what is going on, what is at stake, and who the players are as we make our way through 2023. We Americans consent to be governed, and this is a must-listen conversation about what we are consenting to, what we support and what we must resist.  

Podcast &amp; Blast: Episode 149, Conservation in the 118th Congress with the BHA Policy Crew As a wise man once said, You may not be interested in war, but when the times comes, war will certainly be interested in you. The same can be said about Congress. This week's episode with BHA's John Gale and Kaden McArthur takes us to Washington, D.C., with an exploration of the 118th Congress, where the hottest issues pertaining to our hunting and fishing and the conservation that makes it possible will be on the floor, in the offices, buried in reams of obscure paperwork and clouded by political shenanigans….John and Kaden clear the smoke, slash the fat, and let us all know what is going on, what is at stake, and who the players are as we make our way through 2023. We Americans consent to be governed, and this is a must-listen conversation about what we are consenting to, what we support and what we must resist.

Ep. 149 - Conservation in the 118th Congress with the BHA Policy Crew

Drew Phipps

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 148: Drew Phipps and the Restoration of the Candy Darter America’s Midwestern rivers – the Elk, the Kanawha, the Ohio and all their vast systems of arterial tributaries – are home to a mind-boggling array of some of the most bizarre creatures on this planet. Among them, the candy darter, a tiny fish of such astounding beauty that its very existence begs questions about human perception, evolution and aesthetics: Why would a fish look like this? Why is it so beautiful? Join us for the return of one of the Podcast &amp; Blast’s most popular guests, Drew Phipps of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Fish Hatchery in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, where a successful program to restore the candy darter to its original riverine habitats is bearing fruit. Listen to the end for a bonus tale of a junk store “swan gun” brought back to life and into the turkey woods…a mammoth 10-gauge black powder market hunting relic, best test fired with duct-tape, prayers and a 20-foot piece of paracord while hiding behind a block wall. Do not try this at home or anywhere else.   Learn more about Backcountry Hunters and Anglers: www.backcountryhunters.org/

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 148: Drew Phipps and the Restoration of the Candy Darter America’s Midwestern rivers – the Elk, the Kanawha, the Ohio and all their vast systems of arterial tributaries – are home to a mind-boggling array of some of the most bizarre creatures on this planet. Among them, the candy darter, a tiny fish of such astounding beauty that its very existence begs questions about human perception, evolution and aesthetics: Why would a fish look like this? Why is it so beautiful? Join us for the return of one of the Podcast &amp; Blast’s most popular guests, Drew Phipps of the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WhiteSulphurSpringsNFH" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Fish Hatchery in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia</a>, where a successful program to restore the candy darter to its original riverine habitats is bearing fruit. Listen to the end for a bonus tale of a junk store “swan gun” brought back to life and into the turkey woods…a mammoth 10-gauge black powder market hunting relic, best test fired with duct-tape, prayers and a 20-foot piece of paracord while hiding behind a block wall. Do not try this at home or anywhere else. Learn more about Backcountry Hunters and Anglers: <a href="http://www.backcountryhunters.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.backcountryhunters.org/</a>

Ep. 148 - Drew Phipps and the Restoration of the Candy Darter

Ted Koch

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 147: Ted Koch on the Lesser Prairie Chicken and Grasslands Conservation Will we act now to save America’s iconic grasslands? The southern population of the lesser prairie chicken has been listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as endangered, a listing that will come as no surprise to anyone who has been following the fate of this gamebird and its habitat on the southern Great Plains. But this conversation with Ted Koch, a former endangered species biologist, executive director of the North American Grouse Partnership, and chair of BHA’s North American board of directors, is not just about lesser prairie chickens; it is about a resounding failure in conservation and an opportunity to forge a new path to honor and protect America’s grasslands and all their attendant species. As goes the lesser prairie chicken so goes the American grassland ecosystem, and there is absolutely no reason to accept the loss of either one.   Learn more about Backcountry Hunters and Anglers: www.backcountryhunters.org/

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 147: Ted Koch on the Lesser Prairie Chicken and Grasslands Conservation Will we act now to save America’s iconic grasslands? The southern population of the lesser prairie chicken has been listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as endangered, a listing that will come as no surprise to anyone who has been following the fate of this gamebird and its habitat on the southern Great Plains. But this conversation with Ted Koch, a former endangered species biologist, executive director of the <a href="http://www.grousepartners.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">North American Grouse Partnership</a>, and chair of BHA’s North American board of directors, is not just about lesser prairie chickens; it is about a resounding failure in conservation and an opportunity to forge a new path to honor and protect America’s grasslands and all their attendant species. As goes the lesser prairie chicken so goes the American grassland ecosystem, and there is absolutely no reason to accept the loss of either one. Learn more about Backcountry Hunters and Anglers: <a href="http://www.backcountryhunters.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.backcountryhunters.org/</a>

Ep. 147 - Ted Koch on the Lesser Prairie Chicken and Grasslands Conservation

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 146: Lyndsie Bourgon, Author of Tree Thieves Lyndsie Bourgon is a writer, oral historian, National Geographic Fellow and author of Tree Thieves: Crime and Survival in North America’s Woods. Join Hal and Lyndsie as they explore the many paths that led to her book on the booming trade in stolen timber and other forest products from America’s public and private lands. You will never look at a beautiful violin or guitar quite the same (“music wood’ is among the most poached and the most valuable), and you will be left pondering a very unsettling question: What is outlawry, really? From Robin Hood and Little John poaching the king’s deer in Sherwood Forest to a lone man illegally cutting shakes in shadowy Northern California redwood groves, through roadside burl merchants in dying towns surrounded by mountains laid bare by clearcutting for an insatiable global market, how exactly does one define a natural resources crime? Tree Thieves is not a simple true crime book with simple villains. It’s an exploration of humankind’s relationship to the natural world that sustains us.

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 146: Lyndsie Bourgon, Author of Tree Thieves <a href="http://www.lyndsiebourgon.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Lyndsie Bourgon</a> is a writer, oral historian, National Geographic Fellow and author of <a href="http://www.lyndsiebourgon.com/tree-thieves" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Tree Thieves: Crime and Survival in North America’s Woods</a>. Join Hal and Lyndsie as they explore the many paths that led to her book on the booming trade in stolen timber and other forest products from America’s public and private lands. You will never look at a beautiful violin or guitar quite the same (“music wood’ is among the most poached and the most valuable), and you will be left pondering a very unsettling question: What is outlawry, really? From Robin Hood and Little John poaching the king’s deer in Sherwood Forest to a lone man illegally cutting shakes in shadowy Northern California redwood groves, through roadside burl merchants in dying towns surrounded by mountains laid bare by clearcutting for an insatiable global market, how exactly does one define a natural resources crime? Tree Thieves is not a simple true crime book with simple villains. It’s an exploration of humankind’s relationship to the natural world that sustains us.

Ep. 146 - Lyndsie Bourgon, Author of Tree Thieves

Susan Leopold

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 145: Ethnobotanist Dr. Susan Leopold Dr. Susan Leopold is an ethnobotanist who spent the early years of her career in the jungles of the Peruvian Amazon and Central America. An epiphany led her home, to Virginia and to the American heartland of the Ohio River, to study native plants, medicinal herbs and the natural and human history of this wild, diverse and beleaguered corner of our world. Leopold is the executive director of the United Plant Savers, a group dedicated to protecting imperiled native plants like ginseng and goldenseal – and to establishing new and sustainable economies where these and other plants can bolster rural economies and make peoples’ lives healthier and more prosperous. Come with us to meet and learn from a leader in herbalism, native plant restoration, forest farming, and, maybe, a new way of living in the heartland: one that draws its strength from the land itself.      

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 145: Ethnobotanist Dr. Susan Leopold Dr. Susan Leopold is an ethnobotanist who spent the early years of her career in the jungles of the Peruvian Amazon and Central America. An epiphany led her home, to Virginia and to the American heartland of the Ohio River, to study native plants, medicinal herbs and the natural and human history of this wild, diverse and beleaguered corner of our world. Leopold is the executive director of the United Plant Savers, a group dedicated to protecting imperiled native plants like ginseng and goldenseal – and to establishing new and sustainable economies where these and other plants can bolster rural economies and make peoples’ lives healthier and more prosperous. Come with us to meet and learn from a leader in herbalism, native plant restoration, forest farming, and, maybe, a new way of living in the heartland: one that draws its strength from the land itself.

Ep. 145 - Dr. Susan Leopold, Ethnobotanist

Douglas Brinkley

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 144: Author and Historian Douglas Brinkley   Douglas Brinkley is the preeminent scholar and writer on the history of America’s public lands and conservation movement. Among his seven bestselling books of history are Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America (2010) and Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America (2016). His new book in this series, Silent Spring Revolution: John F. Kennedy, Rachel Carson, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and the Great Environmental Awakening, will be available before Dec. 1, 2022. Brinkley, who is a professor at Rice University in Texas, is also the author of numerous books on the American presidency, the editor of Ronald Reagan’s papers, a Jack Kerouac scholar, and the literary executor for gonzo journalist and writer Hunter F. Thompson. Listen and enjoy as Hal takes a deep dive with Mr. Brinkley as together they consider the past, present and future of “the public estate of the American people.”

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 144: Author and Historian Douglas Brinkley <a href="http://douglasbrinkley.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Douglas Brinkley</a> is the preeminent scholar and writer on the history of America’s public lands and conservation movement. Among his seven bestselling books of history are Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America (2010) and Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America (2016). His new book in this series, Silent Spring Revolution: John F. Kennedy, Rachel Carson, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and the Great Environmental Awakening, will be available before Dec. 1, 2022. Brinkley, who is a professor at Rice University in Texas, is also the author of numerous books on the American presidency, the editor of Ronald Reagan’s papers, a Jack Kerouac scholar, and the literary executor for gonzo journalist and writer Hunter F. Thompson. Listen and enjoy as Hal takes a deep dive with Mr. Brinkley as together they consider the past, present and future of “the public estate of the American people.”

Ep. 144 - Douglas Brinkley, Author and Historian

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 143: Feral Horses on Public Lands in Nevada More than 82,000 feral horses roam U.S. public lands, about four times as many as the land and water can sustain. Almost all of them live in Nevada, the most arid state in the union, where their impacts are almost unimaginable: desertification and massive loss of wildlife, ranging from pollinators and other insects to sage grouse, elk, mule deer and pronghorn. The Bureau of Land Management is doing what it can to address this crisis, but the agency finds itself in an impossible position with an entirely misguided but powerful feral horse advocacy movement. However, a growing coalition of biologists and natural resource scientists, hunters and anglers, wildlife advocates and people who love the Nevada public lands (and the horses) are in a desperate race to solve this problem in a humane way – before it’s too late. Hal traveled to Nevada to talk with some of these experts: Mike Cox, state bighorn sheep and mountain goat biologist for the Nevada Department of Wildlife; Tina Bundy Nappe, an Eastern Sierra landowner and public lands advocate; Jim Sedinger, sage grouse biologist and retired University of Nevada wildlife ecology professor; and Bryce Pollock, a conservationist and hunter with the Nevada chapter of BHA.

BHA Podcast &amp; Blast, Ep. 143: Feral Horses on Public Lands in Nevada More than 82,000 feral horses roam U.S. public lands, about four times as many as the land and water can sustain. Almost all of them live in Nevada, the most arid state in the union, where their impacts are almost unimaginable: desertification and massive loss of wildlife, ranging from pollinators and other insects to sage grouse, elk, mule deer and pronghorn. The Bureau of Land Management is doing what it can to address this crisis, but the agency finds itself in an impossible position with an entirely misguided but powerful feral horse advocacy movement. However, a growing coalition of biologists and natural resource scientists, hunters and anglers, wildlife advocates and people who love the Nevada public lands (and the horses) are in a desperate race to solve this problem in a humane way – before it’s too late. Hal traveled to Nevada to talk with some of these experts: Mike Cox, state bighorn sheep and mountain goat biologist for the Nevada Department of Wildlife; Tina Bundy Nappe, an Eastern Sierra landowner and public lands advocate; Jim Sedinger, sage grouse biologist and retired University of Nevada wildlife ecology professor; and Bryce Pollock, a conservationist and hunter with the <a href="https://www.backcountryhunters.org/nevada" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Nevada chapter of BHA</a>.

Ep. 143 - Feral Horses on Public Lands in Nevada

Love the show. Hal speaks about nature, hunting, and conservation in a way that nobody else can

Love the show

What a great episode! Can’t wait to read Mark’s new book

Perfect public land podcast

BHA Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring

Mark Kenyon

We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in. For it can be a means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures, a part of the geography of hope.” –Wallace Stegner. This week’s podcast is an in-depth conversation with Mark Kenyon, Michigan-based hunter and fisherman, founder of Wired To Hunt, leading contributor at MeatEater Inc. and author of the new blockbuster public lands book  That Wild Country. Mark and Hal talk hunting and fishing, reading and wanderlust, freedom, fatherhood, and Mark’s epic journey of writing a book that combines the best of everyman’s adventures with a powerful dose of history, conservation, and the nuts and bolts of our public lands.

We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in. For it can be a means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures, a part of the geography of hope.” –Wallace Stegner. This week’s podcast is an in-depth conversation with Mark Kenyon, Michigan-based hunter and fisherman, founder of Wired To Hunt, leading contributor at MeatEater Inc. and author of the new blockbuster public lands book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1542043042/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_LFnaEbZKBNTHN" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> That Wild Country</a>. Mark and Hal talk hunting and fishing, reading and wanderlust, freedom, fatherhood, and Mark’s epic journey of writing a book that combines the best of everyman’s adventures with a powerful dose of history, conservation, and the nuts and bolts of our public lands.

BHA Podcast & Blast, Ep. 67: Mark Kenyon,  Founder of Wired to Hunt and Contributor at MeatEater

“Photosynthesis puts things together. Fire takes them apart.” – Dr. Stephen J. Pyne. While many people talk of the “Anthropocene” – the age of humankind, when nearly every natural process seems to be affected by the actions of billions of individual people – Stephen Pyne reminds us that we also are living in the Pyrocene, the age of fire, and that the history of humankind is inextricable from the history of fire, the most elemental and implacable force on this planet. Join Hal in Queen Creek, Arizona, for a conversation with Dr. Pyne, 15 years a firefighter on the crew of Grand Canyon National Park; a renowned writer, speaker and teacher; author of 35 books; and the world’s foremost scholar and historian of fire, about the Pyrocene, about forests and public lands, and about the future of life on this Earth.

“Photosynthesis puts things together. Fire takes them apart.” – Dr. Stephen J. Pyne. While many people talk of the “Anthropocene” – the age of humankind, when nearly every natural process seems to be affected by the actions of billions of individual people – Stephen Pyne reminds us that we also are living in the Pyrocene, the age of fire, and that the history of humankind is inextricable from the history of fire, the most elemental and implacable force on this planet. Join Hal in Queen Creek, Arizona, for a conversation with Dr. Pyne, 15 years a firefighter on the crew of Grand Canyon National Park; a renowned writer, speaker and teacher; author of 35 books; and the world’s foremost scholar and historian of fire, about the Pyrocene, about forests and public lands, and about the future of life on this Earth.

BHA Podcast & Blast, Ep. 66: Wildfire expert, Dr. Stephen J. Pyne

Dan Frasier

Imagine an undiscovered Eden in the heart of South Dakota, a major river lying untouched and forgotten for decades – with epic fishing amidst thunderous solitude. It exists, and Dan Frasier, a pioneer of fly fishing for big carp and author of an Orvis guide to carp flies, found it: 39 miles of the Missouri River, almost inaccessible to the public, almost unknown. He was sorely tempted to keep his discovery to himself. Why he did not is a message for all American conservationists.

Imagine an undiscovered Eden in the heart of South Dakota, a major river lying untouched and forgotten for decades – with epic fishing amidst thunderous solitude. It exists, and Dan Frasier, a pioneer of fly fishing for big carp and author of an Orvis guide to carp flies, found it: 39 miles of the Missouri River, almost inaccessible to the public, almost unknown. He was sorely tempted to keep his discovery to himself. Why he did not is a message for all American conservationists.

BHA Podcast & Blast, Ep. 65: Carp Expert and Public Access Proponent Dan Frasier

This episode of BHA’s Podcast &amp; Blast was recorded at New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins, Colorado! We’re talking wildlife migration corridors, wildlife crossings and the future of Western wildlife with Colorado’s best and brightest. The numbers are sobering: 3,000 wildlife and vehicle collisions per year in Colorado, 600 collisions in one stretch of Highway 9 between Kremmling and Silverthorne alone, human lives lost, life-changing injuries sustained, millions of dollars in damages to vehicles, and thousands of wildlife slaughtered. Join Hal as he interviews Dan Prenzlow, director of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Jessica Myklebust of Colorado Department of Transportation, and Luke Schafer, wildlife warrior of the West Slope from Conservation Colorado, about problem-solving for wildlife and human beings on an epic scale.

This episode of BHA’s Podcast &amp; Blast was recorded at New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins, Colorado! We’re talking wildlife migration corridors, wildlife crossings and the future of Western wildlife with Colorado’s best and brightest. The numbers are sobering: 3,000 wildlife and vehicle collisions per year in Colorado, 600 collisions in one stretch of Highway 9 between Kremmling and Silverthorne alone, human lives lost, life-changing injuries sustained, millions of dollars in damages to vehicles, and thousands of wildlife slaughtered. Join Hal as he interviews Dan Prenzlow, director of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Jessica Myklebust of Colorado Department of Transportation, and Luke Schafer, wildlife warrior of the West Slope from Conservation Colorado, about problem-solving for wildlife and human beings on an epic scale.

BHA Podcast & Blast, Ep 68: Wildlife Migration Corridors and the Future of Western Wildlife

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