Explore every episode of the podcast Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Podcasts and Blasts
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Backcountry Report - Ep. 10 The Cutoff, the Forest Service & Getting It Done | 29 Oct 2026 | 00:16:50 | |
From the fight to keep Texas's Cutoff open to the public to Forest Service changes and shoreline access in Washington, this episode covers the issues shaping access to public lands and waters. Plus: Massachusetts ballot questions, Indiana's waterfowl-hunting mentorship, and hands-on fence work for wildlife in Wyoming. Show Notes: Washington Shoreline Access: https://www.backcountryhunters.org/news/details/shoreline-access-and-management BHA Events Calendar: https://www.backcountryhunters.org/Events
Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists.
BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE.
Follow us: Web: www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters
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| Backcountry Conversations - Ep. 4: Stewardship, Music, Hunting, and Aldo Leopold with Bard Edrington V | 22 Oct 2026 | 01:04:25 | |
BHA Senior Habitat Stewardship Manager Bard Edrington V joins Backcountry Conversations to talk fence removal, wildlife migration, and the music that comes from time spent on public land. Bard shares what BHA's stewardship team has accomplished across the West, previews the upcoming BHA documentary Tangled Country, tells the story of Aldo Leopold's cabin in northern New Mexico, and plays an original song written on Leopold's front porch. Don't miss this Backcountry Conversation with a guy who represents the heart and soul of the BHA community. | |||
| Backcountry Report - Ep.9 New Public Lands in Ohio, Big Decisions Across the West | 17 Oct 2026 | 00:22:29 | |
This week on the Backcountry Report: updates on public-land access, clean water, wildlife habitat, and conservation policy—from the Chesapeake Bay and Colorado's Roaring Fork Valley to the Brooks Range and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Plus, hear how BHA members and partners are adding public land in Ohio and getting hands-on in Illinois, Idaho, and Minnesota. Show Notes: Backcountry Conversations Episode 3 https://www.backcountryhunters.org/news/details/whats-at-stake-with-the-arctic-mine-project What's at Stake with the Arctic Mine Project/Ambler Action Alert: https://www.backcountryhunters.org/news/details/whats-at-stake-with-the-arctic-mine-project Trick Your Basecamp Sweepstakes: https://go.bhafundraising.org/trickyourbasecamp/Campaign/Details Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters
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| Conservation Cooperative: Episode 8, Part II - CWD Preparedness in the Northeast | 09 Oct 2026 | 00:27:45 | |
This is Part II of or our two part look at Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) preparedness and prevention in the Northeast. In this episode we will hear from the leading experts on how a number of different states, New York, Vermont, Rhode Island, Maine, and Massachusetts, to be precise, are positioning the state wildlife agencies to be prepared for Chronic Wasting Disease. Guests Include Krysten Schuler, PhD. Department of Public & Ecosystem Health. Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine Martin Feehan, PhD. Deer & Moose Project Leader. Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife Dylan Ferreira. Principal Wildlife Biologist, Deer & NE Cottontail Rabbits. Rhode Island Fish & Wildlife Nathan Bieber. Wildlife Biologist, White-tailed Deer. Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Nick Fortin. Wildlife Biologist - Deer & Moose Project Leader. Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department Show Related Links | |||
| Backcountry Report - Ep. 8 Data Centers, Hunting Heritage & Public Lands | 02 Oct 2026 | 00:21:18 | |
In this episode of the Backcountry Report, we cover proposed data centers on federal lands, a new hunting-and-fishing executive order, the final push to defend the Roadless Rule, and a collaborative public-lands bill in Montana. Plus, hear how BHA chapters celebrated Public Lands Day with habitat education, cleanup and wildlife-friendly fencing projects, and a rally for public water access. Show Notes: Help Us Get to 1 Million Signatures and Save Our Public Lands - https://www.savepubliclands.us/ Roadless Rule: A Closer Look at the Record: https://www.backcountryhunters.org/news/details/roadless-rule-a-closer-look-at-the-record Roadless Rule: Take Action - https://takeaction.io/bha/maintain-national-forest-roadless-areas/ Reinvigorating America's Hunting Heritage Executive Order Breakdwon: https://www.backcountryhunters.org/Portals/0/Documents/BHA_Explainer_ExecutiveOrder14429.pdf Trick Your Basecamp Sweepstakes: https://go.bhafundraising.org/trickyourbasecamp/Campaign/Details Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters | |||
| Backcountry Conversations - Ep. 3: Floating the Koyukuk Before the Ambler Road | 24 Sep 2026 | 00:55:53 | |
This week on Backcountry Conversations, host Trey Curtiss is joined by two BHA staffers: Mary Glaves, BHA's Alaska Program Manager, and Jack Polentes, who works on federal policy out of Washington, D.C. They recently joined members of BHA's Alaska chapter on a five-day, roughly 53-mile float down the Middle Fork of the Koyukuk River to document a landscape at the center of one of Alaska's biggest conservation fights: the proposed Ambler Industrial Road. The 211-mile, gated industrial road would run west from the Dalton Highway to the Ambler mining district, crossing 11 major rivers and requiring more than 2,900 culverts across permafrost. Mary and Jack describe the drive north from Fairbanks, a moving launch ceremony on the river, finding safe gravel-bar camps during a a 24-hour rainstorm that flooded the river, and the signs of development they saw along the way, including 37 helicopters in five days, freshly cut landing zones near a proposed bridge site, and a reactivated mining camp. The conversation also covers what they heard from the people who live, work, and hunt in the region, including trappers and residents in Bettles and Evansville, a longtime big-game guide, and even a career mining surveyor who called the project "in the wrong place." Their concerns range from disrupted moose hunting and risks to bush-plane traffic to the road's lack of public access and a proposed hunting and trapping ban along the corridor. Jack contrasts these on-the-ground views with the conversation in Washington, D.C., where he sees a wide disconnect. Both guests explain why this corner of the Brooks Range deserves national attention and how listeners can stay informed and speak up, including through the Hunters & Anglers for the Brooks Range coalition and by taking action today at BHA's Safeguard the Brooks Range campaign. | |||
| Backcountry Report - Ep. 7 Public Lands, Fisheries & Conservation News from the Road | 17 Sep 2026 | 00:20:15 | |
In Episode 7 of the Backcountry Report, Chris reports from the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies Annual Meeting and covers major conservation news, including Minnesota's Boundary Waters mining debate, NOAA's revised recreational fishing data, proposed Clean Water Act changes, and the future of the Roadless Rule and Forest Service travel management. The episode also features updates from Colorado, Massachusetts, Maine, and Texas, plus ways to support public lands during Public Lands Month. Show Notes: Help Us Get to 1 Million Signatures and Save Our Public Lands - https://www.savepubliclands.us/ Roadless Rule: A Closer Look at the Record: https://www.backcountryhunters.org/news/details/roadless-rule-a-closer-look-at-the-record Roadless Rule: Take Action - https://takeaction.io/bha/maintain-national-forest-roadless-areas/ Travel Management: Take Action - https://takeaction.io/bha/speak-up-for-responsible-travel-management-on-our-national-forests/ Outdoor Life - EPA to Reopen Comment on Clean Water Act Rewrite That Could Leave 80 Percent of U.S. Wetlands Unprotected https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/epa-wotus-public-comment/ Colorado's Ammendment 83 - https://www.backcountryhunters.org/news/details/amendment-83-colorados-right-to-hunt-and-fish Texas BHA Adopt-An-Access Initiative: https://www.backcountryhunters.org/news/details/texas-bha-chapter-and-tpwd-enter-agreement-for-adopt-an-access-initiative Forged & Found Online Auction - https://go.bhafundraising.org/forgedandfound26/Campaign/Details Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters | |||
| Conservation Cooperative: Episode 7, Part I - CWD Preparedness in the Northeast | 10 Sep 2026 | 00:21:25 | |
In this episode we are going to explore Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) preparedness and prevention in the Northeast. As you might know, the Northeast is currently the last CWD free region in the country. We'll hear from experts in zoonotic disease and learn some of the ways that state agencies and BHA are working to protect our wild deer herds and quite possibly the future of deer hunting and conservation as we know it in the Northeast Guests Include Krysten Schuler, PhD. Department of Public & Ecosystem Health. Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine Mike Woods. New England BHA Chapter Chair. Show Related Links
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| Backcountry Report - Ep. 6 A Farmer's Death, a Park for Sale, and a Billion-Dollar Barricade | 04 Sep 2026 | 00:28:17 | |
Chris kicks the show off with a tribute to Wendell Berry, who died this week at 92, and the language he gave hunters for understanding their place in the food chain. In conservation news, Governor Walz signs an executive order blocking mining near the Boundary Waters, juvenile silver carp are found closer than ever to Lake Michigan while the Brandon Road barrier sits idle under administrative review, and the Trump administration pressures the Park Service toward an unprecedented land exchange inside Yosemite. Policy Watch covers the Roadless Rule DEIS, the Travel Management rewrite, and a questionable 20,000-acre land transfer in Alaska. Plus: Minnesota BHA wins the Outdoor Leaders Award, voices from the Kankakee Jamboree, and a roundup of Public Lands Month events and giveaways. Show Notes: Help Us Get to 1 Million Signatures and Save Our Public Lands - https://www.savepubliclands.us/ Roadless Rule: A Closer Look at the Record: https://www.backcountryhunters.org/news/details/roadless-rule-a-closer-look-at-the-record Roadless Rule: Take Action - https://takeaction.io/bha/maintain-national-forest-roadless-areas/ Travel Management: Take Action - https://takeaction.io/bha/speak-up-for-responsible-travel-management-on-our-national-forests/ Proposed Alaskan Land Transfer - https://www.backcountryhunters.org/news/details/opportunity-to-comment-on-the-proposed-land-transfer-in-houston-ak Minnesota Chapter Wins Outdoor Leaders Award - https://www.backcountryhunters.org/news/details/minnesota-bha-chapter-wins-2026-outdoor-leaders-award-for-public-lands-stewardship Forged & Found Online Auction - https://go.bhafundraising.org/forgedandfound26/Campaign/Details Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters | |||
| Backcountry Conversations - Ep. 2: Debunking the Case to Rescind the Roadless Rule with TU's Chris Wood | 27 Aug 2026 | 00:52:13 | |
Twenty-five years ago, the Forest Service made one of the most consequential land management decisions in its history: protecting nearly 60 million acres of national forest from new roads and logging. That protection — the Roadless Rule — is now on the chopping block, with the USDA formally proposing to rescind it and a public comment period open through September 21. In this episode, we sit down with Chris Wood, president and CEO of Trout Unlimited, who helped write the rule from inside the Forest Service back in 2001 and has spent the decades since defending it. Chris breaks down the real economic, ecological, and cultural reasons the rule exists in the first place — from a $8.5 billion road maintenance backlog to jaw-dropping habitat numbers (75% of Idaho's Chinook and steelhead habitat, for example, sits in roadless country) — and then dismantles the arguments being used to justify tearing it down, including the Forest Service's own data showing roadless areas actually see more wildfire fuel treatment, not less. It's a clear-eyed, fact-first breakdown of what's really at stake for hunters and anglers, and a case for why showing up with data — not just outrage — is how this fight gets won. Comment on the Roadless Rule before September 21! | |||
| Backcountry Report - Ep. 5 Roadless Rule, Refuge Access and Big Bend Under Pressure | 20 Aug 2026 | 00:17:26 | |
This week on The Backcountry Report, Chris covers major developments affecting public lands, waters and wildlife—from a massive expansion of hunting and fishing opportunities on national wildlife refuges to proposed changes involving tribal water rights and the future of NOAA's Arctic Report Card. The episode also examines the proposed repeal of the 2001 Roadless Rule, Vermont's primitive-camping updates, and border infrastructure construction in and around Big Bend National Park. Plus, hear how BHA volunteers removed a mile of obsolete fencing in Wyoming and learn how you can get involved in stewardship projects nationwide. Show Notes
Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters | |||
| Conservation Cooperative, Ep. 6: The Field of Human Dimensions | 13 Aug 2026 | 00:20:46 | |
In this episode, we delve into the fascinating field of Human Dimensions in wildlife and natural resources management. Discover how this discipline is shaping informed decision-making among state and federal agencies, as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Whether you're already familiar with the Human Dimensions or hearing about it for the first time, you'll learn how it's helping to address some of our most pressing conservation challenges. Guests Include Josh Morse, PhD. University of Vermont Jody Simoes, Ph.D. Human Dimensions Project Coordinator. Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife Shelby Perry. Wildlands Ecology Director. Northeast Wilderness Trust. Show Links:
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| Backcountry Report - Ep. 4: Scent, Setbacks, and Stewardship | 06 Aug 2026 | 00:16:52 | |
In this episode of the Backcountry Report, Chris dives into the latest conservation news and boots-on-the-ground action from across the BHA community. We explore a surprising connection between air pollution and wildlife behavior, looking at how pollutants are degrading the natural "smellscape" that animals rely on to survive. Then, we break down urgent policy updates, including a critical public comment period on wetland drain tile setbacks and a major review of Wilderness Study Area management. Finally, we highlight inspiring volunteer efforts from Minnesota to California, featuring a partnership with the U.S. Marine Corps to deliver water to endangered desert bighorn sheep. Plus, get the details on upcoming chapter events you won't want to miss. Show Notes
Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters | |||
| Backcountry Conversations - Ep. 1: 12 Bulls in a Row? BHA's Trey Curtiss | 30 Jul 2026 | 00:52:33 | |
In this first installment of our new Backcountry Conversations podcast series, we sit down with BHA Director of Development Trey Curtiss for a follow-up to Trey's popular April 2025 episode with Hal Herring — the one where he described killing an over-the-counter bull elk eleven years running on public land. A year later, the obvious question: did he find number twelve? Or did we jinx him with that episode? Trey walks through a general Montana season from archery to rifle. Along the way he gets into the things that actually make the difference back there — glassing timber, deciding where other hunters won't go, the karma he thinks he owes the elk woods, and the nervousness that never quite goes away no matter how many seasons stack up behind you. Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters
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| Backcountry Report – Ep. 3: Monuments, Management, and Membership Opportunities | 23 Jul 2026 | 00:20:18 | |
Summer is in full swing, but fall is on the horizon. In this episode, we dive into major headlines impacting our public lands, from the reduction of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments to a new lease sales in Ohio's only national forest. We break down what these policy shifts really mean for habitat, access, and long-term stewardship. Then, we share some hard-won conservation victories, preview upcoming BHA events, and hear from volunteers doing the essential on-the-ground work. Show Notes: Wayne National Forest Oil/Gas Leases: https://eplanning.blm.gov/Project-Home/?id=798d6bf4-a7f2-f011-8407-001dd80bcf93&_gl=1*18w6a6b*_ga*OTU0NTk0MzA0LjE3ODQ1ODk2MzI.*_ga_GQKKTMMT8V*czE3ODQ1ODk2MzIkbzEkZzEkdDE3ODQ1OTA0MzAkajYwJGwwJGgw MassWildlife Goals for Upland Habitat on WMAs: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/goals-for-upland-habitat-on-masswildlife-lands onX Roadless Rule - By the Numbers: https://www.onxmaps.com/onx-access-initiatives/roadless-rule Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters
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| Conservation Cooperative, Ep. 5, Part II: Brook Trout & Climate Change | 16 Jul 2026 | 00:30:09 | |
In Part II of our look at brook trout we are going to hear from fisheries managers and state officials from around the Northeast and learn how climate change is influencing brook trout management and fishing regulations. Guests Include Adam Kautza. Coldwater Fishery Resource Project Leader. MassWildlife. John MaGee. Program Supervisor for the Inland Fisheries Division. NH Fish & Game Mason Trumble. Deputy Commissioner - Environmental Conservation. CT Department of Energy & Environmental Protection Brian Eltz. Senior Fisheries Biologist. CT Department of Energy & Environmental Protection Fred Henson. Cold Water Fisheries Unit Leader. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Nate Camp. BHA Volunteer/Tenkara Wizard Show Related Links | |||
| Backcountry Report - Ep. 2: CWD Research, Roan Plateau Threats, and Policy Roundup | 10 Jul 2026 | 00:24:22 | |
A major CWD study reveals new transmission risks. The Forest Service proposes a rule that weakens public input. We track urgent conservation funding in Congress, new grazing directives, and state-level fights in PA, OR, and CO—where the Roan Plateau is under threat. Plus, boots-on-the-ground updates from Idaho and New Mexico. Show Notes: Forest Service Directive Overhaul: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/07/01/2026-13281/organization-functions-and-procedures-public-notice-and-comment-for-standards-criteria-and-guidance CWD Study: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aeb7613
Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists.
BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE.
Follow us: Web: www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters | |||
| Backcountry Report - Ep. 1: Kicking it Off | 19 Jun 2026 | 00:20:59 | |
In this launch episode of the Backcountry Report, BHA introduces its new Podcasts & Blasts feed, covers major conservation headlines — from a federal order loosening motorized access and attacks on the Roadless Rule to wetlands funding, the America the Beautiful/Legacy Restoration Fund, Potential for Sunday hunting in Massachusetts, California MPA petitions, and a Montana corner‑crossing lawsuit — highlights grassroots stewardship wins and upcoming BHA events, and more. Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters
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| Conservation Cooperative, Ep. 4, Part I: Brook Trout & Climate Change | 15 Jun 2026 | 00:22:06 | |
Today, we're diving into the world of brook trout -- how they're being affected by our changing climate, and what that means for the future. We are also going to take some time to appreciate this incredible species. Ongoing research here in the Northeast is revealing some amazing insights into the resilience and adaptability of these beloved fish. Guests Include: Adam Kautza. Coldwater Fishery Resource Project Leader. MassWildlife. Stephen Jane, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Research Fellow. University of Notre Dame Benjamin Letcher, Ph.D. Ecologist. USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center. Show Related Links | |||
| Conservation Cooperative, Ep. 3: Wildlife Crossings | 02 Jun 2026 | 00:19:22 | |
It's MEMBER APPRECIATION WEEK at Backcountry Hunters & Anglers. And for our podcast listeners who aren't already members, we're giving you a special chance to become one. For the month of June, use discount code BLAST10 at checkout for 10% off all Individual & Family Memberships*. Join today, fuel BHA's conservation work and enjoy the many other perks of being part of our community. Thanks for being a BHA member! *does not apply to Gift Memberships Today's episode: In this episode of the Conservation Cooperative, we're looking at how roads impact wildlife and the role that wildlife crossings can play on the landscape.
Guests Include: Ben Goldfarb. Award Winning Journalist and Author of Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet Kate Cleary, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies. SUNY Potsdam. Acting President of Algonquin to Adirondacks Collaborative. Erin Sito. U.S. Public Policy Director. Wildlands Network. Brian Bird, Ph.D. New England, New York, New Jersey Chapter Coordinator. Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.
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| The Real Cost of Public Land Transfer | 26 May 2026 | 00:32:13 | |
Inside a new economic assessment of federal public lands For a lot of us, public lands are deeply personal. They're where we learned to hunt, where we camp with our families, where we go to breathe a little easier and remember what matters. But increasingly, the future of those lands is being debated in terms of economics, efficiency and ownership — and those conversations are getting louder across the West. On this episode of the Backcountry Hunters & Anglers podcast, we sit down with BHA's Regional Stewardship and Habitat Connectivity Manager, Dre Arman, to unpack a new economic assessment put out by BHA's Idaho chapter and partners examining what a large-scale transfer of federal public lands to the state could actually cost. We break down the numbers behind land transfer proposals, the jobs and communities tied to public lands, and why these conversations matter not just for Idaho, but for every public land owner in America. It's a thoughtful discussion about stewardship, economics and the long-term future of the places we all care about.
Podcast reminder: BHA is still planning next steps for our podcast. Thanks for listening to this new and important conversation, and we'll be sure to update everyone as soon more information is available on what's to come. Thanks for bearing with us. | |||
| Conservation Cooperative, Ep. 2: Striped Bass | 28 Apr 2026 | 00:27:09 | |
Today, the Backcountry Hunters & Anglers podcast is sharing the second episode of the Conservation Collective, where they're talking striped bass, the most sought after fish on the eastern seaboard. Often described as "everyman's fish" it's pursued by an extraordinarily wide range of anglers. Those anglers could be shorebound, or they could be on a million dollar center console. A lot of people also fish for stripers, NOAA estimates over 20 million trips a season, and so, the fishery has a significant cultural and economic impact up and down the coast. Once hailed as a conservation success story, now, the future of the stock is in question. In this episode we'll dive into the latest science that will inform future management decisions and look at the different factors that fishery managers are considering. In addition, we'll discuss how New England and New York BHA are working to restore future abundance of this fish we love. Huge thank you to our guests: Charles Witek. Conservationist and Fisheries Policy Expert. NY BHA Policy Team Member. Mike Woods. New England BHA Chapter Chair. Ben Gahagan, PhD. Recreational Fisheries Program Leader. Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries Kimberly Fine. Fisheries Biologist. Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries Will Poston. Policy Associate. American Saltwater Guides Association Nichola Meserve. Fishery Policy Analyst, Interstate Management. Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. Striped Bass Citizen Scientist Project Sportfish Angler Data Collection Team - MA Division of Marine Fisheries Charles Witek's Blog - One Angler's Voyage
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| Conservation Cooperative, Ep. 1: Trails | 24 Apr 2026 | 00:24:47 | |
While BHA's Podcast & Blast takes a moment to plan its next steps, we're sharing the first episode of our Conservation Cooperative podcast (recorded previously), which looks at a scenario playing out across North America -- one that the New England Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA) has been grappling with for a few years: the rapid development of recreation trails and their encroachment on wild places. We'll explore some of the factors that are driving trail development in the state of Vermont and how it impacts the conservation of our wildlands and wildlife. While we explore the issue in the Northeast, it's a discussion sure to resonate with public-lands advocates across the continent. Big thank you to everyone who came to the table to discuss this topic. Ethan Dreisigacker. New England BHA Board Member Meredith Naughton. Wildlife Biologist Allison Adams. Director. Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative (FEMC) Dave Furman. New England BHA Member Andrea Shortsleeve. Private Lands Habitat Biologist. Vermont Fish & Wildlife Nick Bennette. Executive Director. Vermont Mountain Bike Association (VMBA) RJ Thompson. Executive Director. Vermont Huts Association | |||
| Wearing Out a Pair of Boots | 18 Mar 2026 | 02:00:44 | |
After nearly a decade behind the mic and more than 225 episodes digging into the people, places and fights that define our public lands and waters, Hal Herring is stepping away from BHA's Podcast & Blast and onto his next adventure. For this final episode, we turn the microphone around. Hal joins former BHA Vice President of Communications and longtime Podcast & Blast producer Katie McKalip, along with BHA Brand and Editorial Manager Zack Williams, for a conversation about how the show came together, what made it matter and a few of the moments they'll carry forward. What emerges is more than a look back at a podcast. It's a reflection on the kind of storytelling that has always powered BHA: grounded, firsthand and rooted in real places and real people. Over the years, Hal sought out voices with deep experience on the land — people who knew a watershed, a forest, a migration route or a community intimately, and who could explain what was at stake in plain, honest terms. Episode after episode, the show reminded us that conservation is not an abstraction. It lives in boots, horses, boats, gravel roads, campfires and long miles — and in the people willing to show up for the future of public lands and waters. We're sad to see Hal go, but grateful for everything he helped build and excited to see what happens as he wears out his next pair of boots. Listen to his final episode wherever you get your podcasts, and stay tuned as we chart what's next for BHA's podcast.
The views and opinions expressed in the Podcast & Blast are those of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.
The Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is brought you by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and presented by Silencer Central, with additional support from Decked, Dometic, and Filson. Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: https://www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters
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| Public Water, Private Land: Utah's Stream Access Fight | 18 Feb 2026 | 01:37:51 | |
In this episode of the Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Podcast, host Hal Herring speaks with investigative journalist Andrew Becker about the complex and increasingly contentious issue of stream access in Utah. Centered around Becker's deep-dive reporting for The Drake, the conversation explores how a state that is roughly 75% public land can still have most of its fishable water flowing through private property. Becker traces the issue back to Western settlement, including the belief that water is a shared public resource. From the Equal Footing Doctrine and questions of navigability to Utah's modern walk-in access program, the episode unpacks how legal history, culture, water scarcity, and population growth collide. Unlike Montana's high-water mark standard, Utah's approach is fragmented and heavily shaped by private ownership of streambeds — a critical distinction in a state where most water runs through deeded land claimed under early homestead laws. The discussion also wrestles with harder questions: What does sustainable access look like in the second-driest state in the country? How do stocking programs, public funding, and private landownership intersect? And how do conservation ethics balance with expanding recreation pressure amid climate change and rapid development? Ultimately, the episode frames Utah as a microcosm of the broader Western struggle over public trust, private property, and the future of access — where law, history, culture, and conservation all meet at the water's edge. | |||
| Songs from the Saddle with Jackson Holte | 03 Feb 2026 | 01:51:11 | |
On this episode of the Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Podcast & Blast, Hal Herring sits down at his home in Augusta, Montana, with singer-songwriter and wilderness mule packer Jackson Holte. Jackson talks about how long days in the wilderness shape his music, how silence and hard work inform art, and why public lands and access matter so deeply to who we are and how we live. From packing strings in the Bob Marshall to writing songs that carry that landscape forward, this is a conversation about craft, heritage, and the freedom worth sustaining.
https://www.instagram.com/jackson_holte_
The views and opinions expressed in the Podcast & Blast are those of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers. The Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is brought you by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and presented by Silencer Central, with additional support from Decked, Dometic, and Filson. Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: https://www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters | |||
| Mining the Margins of Wilderness: an Update from the Boundary Waters | 14 Jan 2026 | 01:45:52 | |
BREAKING: Since this interview was recorded, a new attempt to permit a copper-nickel mine upstream of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is underway. On Monday, Jan. 12, Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn) introduced HJ Res. 140, which would lift the federal moratorium on mining in the Rainy River Watershed, just upstream from the wilderness border. Tell your elected officials to vote NO on HJ Res. 140 and any similar actions taken in the Senate, and call your elected officials directly on the Congressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Today, that ethic is being tested. Proposed sulfide-ore mining at the doorstep of the Boundary Waters—backed by foreign mining interests and enabled by shifting federal policy—poses serious risks to a water-rich ecosystem that cannot absorb failure. This isn't just a Minnesota issue. It's a national question about how America balances resource extraction, public lands, and long-term economic reality against short-term gain. As administrations change, protections have ping-ponged, leaving this place—and others like it—perpetually on defense. In this episode of the Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Podcast & Blast, host Hal Herring is joined by Lukas Leaf and Matthew Schultz of Sportsmen for the Boundary Waters to unpack what's really at stake. From the personal experiences that bind people to the Boundary Waters to the complex web of policy, permits, and public process governing its future, this conversation makes one thing clear: after today, none of us can say we didn't know.
Tell your elected officials to vote NO on HJ Res. 140 and any similar actions taken in the Senate, and call your elected officials directly on the Congressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
The views and opinions expressed in the Podcast & Blast are those of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers. The Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is brought you by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and presented by Silencer Central, with additional support from Decked, Dometic, and Filson. Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: https://www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters | |||
| 92 years in the Selway Wilderness with Jim Renshaw | 30 Dec 2025 | 02:17:35 | |
It was the late spring of 1932 when Idaho outfitter Jim Renshaw first saw the upper Selway River from the back of a horse. The packstring was led by his father, Alvin, who had been working for the U.S. Forest Service since he was 13 and had bought the Pettibone Ranch, deep in the wilderness, where Bear Creek drops into the Selway River. Jim Renshaw was two months old at that time. For the next 16 years, he, his mother and father, and two sisters lived at the Pettibone Ranch, guiding hunters in the fall and fishermen and wilderness wanderers in the summer. Jim would become one of the most famed and skilled horsemen and wilderness mule packers in the history of the Selway country, as well as an elk and mule deer guide with few equals. Today, at age 93, he remains actively engaged with his horses and mules and in his home wilderness country. This interview was recorded live at Jim's home near Kooskia, Idaho, during a visit in June 2025. The stories kept coming, the maps stayed on the table, and the coffee remained on the stove for the better part of two days. Hal was able to capture much of it in this podcast episode—nine decades of weather and work, triumph and tragedy, wildlife and even wilder people, family, camps, crashed planes, and horse wrecks—a life writ large in some of the finest and most remote country left on Earth.
The views and opinions expressed in the Podcast & Blast are those of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers. The Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is brought you by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and presented by Silencer Central, with additional support from Decked, Dometic, and Filson. Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: https://www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters | |||
| The Forgotten Lands with Josh Jackson | 18 Dec 2025 | 01:59:15 | |
On this episode of the Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Podcast and Blast, host Hal Herring sits down with Josh Jackson, author of The Enduring Wild and founder of The Forgotten Lands Project. Jackson's journey into California's Bureau of Land Management landscapes reveals the forgotten backbone of conservation — the so-called leftover lands that belong to all of us, yet are loved by too few. Through photography, storytelling and hard-earned curiosity, this conversation explores why these places matter, why they're vulnerable, and why building a broader coalition of people who know and care about them may be one of the most important conservation challenges of our time. To learn more: https://www.instagram.com/forgottenlandsproject BOOK: https://www.forgottenlandsproject.com/the-book SUBSTACK: https://forgottenlands.substack.com/The views and opinions expressed in the Podcast & Blast are those of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers. The Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is brought you by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and presented by Silencer Central, with additional support from Decked, Dometic, and Filson. Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: https://www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters | |||
| The Congressional Review Act and Central Yukon RMP with Dr. Kevin Fraley | 02 Dec 2025 | 01:39:12 | |
Hunters and anglers across the country may never set foot on Alaska's Dalton Highway—but what's unfolding there affects every American who cares about public land. In this episode, Hal Herring sits down with fisheries ecologist and writer Dr. Kevin Fraley to unpack a sweeping threat to some of the most accessible caribou and fishing country in the entire state. A new push in Congress aims to throw out the Central Yukon Resource Management Plan—a plan built over a decade with input from hunters, anglers and local stakeholders—and potentially reopen millions of acres around the Dalton to industrial leasing, restricted access and the kind of locked-up landscapes already seen on the North Slope. Fraley brings deep on-the-ground knowledge of the Brooks Range, the Dalton corridor and the fish and wildlife that depend on it, explaining in clear terms what's at stake and why this unprecedented use of the Congressional Review Act matters for anyone who values public access, wild fish and fair-chase hunting. Whether you've dreamed of a DIY caribou hunt, care about responsible management of America's lands or just want to understand the real story behind a fast-moving political fight, this episode lays out exactly why this moment demands attention.
The views and opinions expressed in the Podcast & Blast are those of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.
The Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is brought you by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and presented by Silencer Central, with additional support from Decked, Dometic, and Filson. Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: https://www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters | |||
| BHA's NEW President & CEO Ryan Callaghan | 12 Nov 2025 | 01:59:55 | |
BHA's new President & CEO Ryan Callaghan probably needs doesn't need an introduction. But you may be wondering what he and BHA are planning for the future, why now is such a critical moment in the history of public lands and waters, and how and why you should get involved with BHA. Here's your chance to learn the answers to those questions and a whole lot more as Cal sits down with Podcast & Blast host Hal Herring for a conversation you don't want to miss. | |||
| Patriotism and Conservation with Braxton McCoy | 28 Oct 2025 | 01:48:26 | |
During the 2025 fight against the mass sell-off of America's public lands, Utah-born cowboy, big game guide, and U.S. Army veteran Braxton McCoy seemed to be everywhere, from his barrage of fiery commentary on X to the Tucker Carlson and Shawn Ryan podcasts, to addressing public meetings across the West. He was the most powerful and tenacious conservative voice of the pro-public lands movement. He hasn't let up, and he never will. Join us for the story of a true American original, a soldier who suffered catastrophic injuries in a suicide bomb attack in Ramadi, Iraq, in 2006, and fought successfully to rebuild his body, mind and life. It was a process that took years and the kind of resilience and discipline that few human beings possess. Through it all, from war to hospital bed to hunting elk in the Lost River Range of Idaho, raising four kids with his wife, and writing his harrowing memoir The Glass Factory, Braxton has drawn solace and power from the vast American public lands that he calls his natural home.
--- The views and opinions expressed in the Podcast & Blast are those of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.
The Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is brought you by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and presented by Silencer Central, with additional support from Decked, Dometic, and Filson. Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: https://www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters | |||
| Controversy over Midwest Forest Management | 14 Oct 2025 | 01:54:10 | |
A controversy over public lands' management in Indiana's 204,000-acre Hoosier National Forest turns out to be a microcosm of a burning (pun intended) national debate over using fire and targeted logging operations to create habitat for wildlife and a healthier, more diverse and more resilient forest. From the 1960s to 80s, The U.S. Forest Service, in the grip of the so-called "timber beast" style of management, clear-cut millions of acres of publicly owned forestland, leading to widespread loss of wildlife, sediment-filled streams, and a furious backlash from conservationists. A barrage of successful lawsuits from environmental and conservation groups radically changed public land management, often for the good of the land, water and wildlife. But that same backlash, and the habit of filing lawsuits to block or guide public lands management, have posed extreme challenges in the decades since—critically-needed projects to restore native ecosystems and wildlife habitats have been blocked, management has in some cases been brought to a standstill, and a growing body of evidence shows that we have gone too far on certain parts of our public lands in simply "letting nature take its course." It's not a debate over "wilderness versus logging and roads" as it is sometimes framed. It's not about the fallibility of human-directed land management versus the eternal wisdom of nature. It's about a lot more than that, and it has national implications. Join us for a conversation with three Hoosier hunters and conservation leaders who've found themselves on the frontline of this controversy—BHA Chapter Coordinator Jameson Hibbs, BHA Indiana chapter board member Brian Stone, and Michael Spalding, of the Conservation Law Center, a professional forester from a multi-generation Indiana farming family who has worked in 55 of Indiana's 92 counties over the course of his career.
--- The Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is brought you by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and presented by Silencer Central, with additional support from Decked and Dometic. Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: https://www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters | |||
| The North American Pronghorn Foundation | 30 Sep 2025 | 02:04:48 | |
The American pronghorn is North America's most unique big game animal, a Great Plains living relic from the end of the Ice Age—a creature of speed, agility and beauty that once shared the landscape with the American cheetah, lions, dire wolves, steppe bison. The pronghorn has outlasted them all to become an icon of the wide open spaces and a species honored and beloved (if sometimes cursed in frustration) by anyone who has ever hunted them. But now, the pronghorn, like the American Great Plains ecosystem, needs our help. Beset by the disruption of migration corridors, the conversion of prairie to farmland, development of every kind, loss of sagebrush steppe to fire and invasive plants, ill-considered fences, and the list of challenges goes on. Each challenge has a solution. Join us for a conversation with hunter-conservationists Erik Dippold of Washington state, and Brock Wahl of North Dakota, and learn about the newly launched American Pronghorn Foundation, a BHA partner-org dedicated to making sure this ancient and noble species thrives in our fast-changing world. | |||
| Understanding the Roadless Rule. Take Action Today! | 17 Sep 2025 | 01:04:53 | |
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is taking public comments on the proposal to rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule, which affects 45 million acres of our national forests. Why is this such a big deal? Why are we throwing this baby out with the bathwater? Join Hal and Trout Unlimited President and CEO Chris Wood, who knows this subject inside and out and was working for the U.S. Forest Service in the late 1990s--when the Roadless Rule was created after decades of study, conflict, watershed failures, and the quest for both balance and fiscal responsibility in public lands' management. You'll learn why the Roadless Rule is not only essential to conserving the backcountry experiences we cherish but also the fiscally responsible way to manage these intact landscapes. And then join BHA in opposition to rescinding the Roadless Rule and ask your member of Congress to instead support the Roadless Area Conservation Act, legislation that would codify the Roadless Rule as law by visiting BHA's Take Action center. Comments are only open until Midnight, September 19th. So don't delay! | |||
| Suppressors: Hearing Protection for Hunters with Silencer Central CEO Brandon Maddox | 09 Sep 2025 | 01:19:22 | |
BHA's Podcast and Blast is proud to be sponsored by Silencer Central, the nation's largest clearinghouse for silencers. Motto: "Silencers Made Simple since 2005." This episode features Brandon Maddox of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, who founded Silencer Central 20 years ago from his home. He saw both the growing demand for silencers and the difficulty of navigating federal regulations. Today, Silencer Central handles it all—from expert guidance on the right fit to a step-by-step process (simple enough for even Hal, a self-proclaimed Luddite) that delivers a silencer directly to your door. Brandon is a long-range precision rifle shooter and an advocate for conservation, public lands and America's hunting and shooting heritage. Join us to hear from a businessman and conservationist, and get your questions answered about suppressors—and how they can improve your shooting and make it easier to introduce newcomers to hunting. And our deepest thanks to Silencer Central for supporting this podcast and all of BHA's work on behalf of our wild public lands, waters and wildlife. | |||
| Home Range: Research, Resilience, and the Future of Wildlife | 26 Aug 2025 | 01:23:12 | |
Join us for a conversation with Carmen Vanbianchi, Research Director and Co-founder of Home Range Wildlife Research, based in Winthrop, Washington, in the Methow Valley. Home Range's mission is "to advance wildlife conservation by conducting high-quality research, educating aspiring biologists, and engaging local communities." Carmen is a field biologist dedicated to the study of lynx and other carnivores, living a life as a tracker, skier, deep observer, and a student of winter weather and tough terrain. Part of her personal mission is to make sure that more people like herself, who love wildlife and wild places, can find their way to careers as field biologists and researchers and help provide the understanding to make sure it all goes on into a challenging and uncertain future. ---- The Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is brought you by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and presented by Silencer Central, with additional support from Decked, Dometic, and Filson. Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: https://www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters | |||
| Safeguarding the Northeast's Hunting and Fishing Heritage | 13 Aug 2025 | 02:17:22 | |
The Northeast is the most densely populated part of our country, and is rich in opportunities for hunting, fishing, hiking and camping, due to an extensive network of public lands and the massively successful wildlife restorations and legislation to clean up rivers and reclaim the industrial and mining mishaps of the past. None of our outdoor pursuits exist here by accident or by luck. The hunting and fishing, the habitat, the access that they depend upon, is the result of work inspired by a passion for making sure that something wonderful can go on and on, in the face of ever increasing challenges. Join us for a conversation with two BHA guys on the front lines, Lake Champlain's Brian Bird, rural New York-state native, PhD in geology, hunter, angler, and professional meatcutter, and Chris Borgatti, Eastern Policy and Conservation director, based in coastal Massachusetts on the Great Marsh, teacher, hunter, fisherman, surfer and endurance athlete. Let's talk brook trout, biodiversity, public lands and state agencies, family, hunting, and making sure that it goes on. ---- The Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is brought you by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and presented by Silencer Central, with additional support from Decked, Dometic, and Filson. Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: https://www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters | |||
| The Native Habitat Project with Kyle Lybarger | 30 Jul 2025 | 01:45:59 | |
Kyle Lybarger, a native of Hartselle, Alabama, is a botanist and restoration ecologist and the founder of the Native Habitat Project. He's also a father, a conservationist, a lifelong whitetail and turkey hunter, sauger and bass fisherman. Kyle is a man on a mission: to save or restore as much of the South's native plants, grasslands, savannahs, limestone glades and open woodlands as he possibly can, and to start a movement of motivated Southerners to do the same, anywhere possible and on any scale, from a tiny corner in a suburban front yard or replacing the sterile turf around a new factory, to reintroducing controlled burns to thousands of acres. He's racing against time, indifference and outright opposition, working tirelessly as a sprawling development boom overwhelms one of the most biodiverse and rare ecosystems in the world, demolishing not only the wildlife and plants but the history of Native peoples and a whole Southern culture built upon a relationship with wildlife, land, and water. Follow Kyle's highly informative and brilliant Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/nativehabitatproject/ and enjoy this interview, recorded at Hal's homeplace in Alabama, after some adventures identifying rare plants, and a 14 hour day with a controlled burn that got a little, well, over enthusiastic.
The Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is brought you by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and presented by Silencer Central, with additional support from Decked, Dometic, and Filson. Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: https://www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters | |||
| Southern Folk Medicine with Phyllis Light | 15 Jul 2025 | 01:41:31 | |
Come with us to Arab, Alabama, to meet Phyllis Light, herbalist, responsible forager, native plant conservation advocate, founder of the Appalachian Center for Natural Health, and author of Southern Folk Medicine: Healing Traditions from the Appalachian Fields and Forests. Phyliss Light was born on Brindlee Mountain, in this southwest extension of the Appalachian Mountains, into a family with Creek and Cherokee Indian roots. She learned herbalism from her grandmother, and spent long days of her childhood "gleaning" – harvesting wild foods and medicines, fishing and hunting, with her father. "It was a very practical kind of herbalism," Phyliss explains, "if it didn't work, we didn't use it. We didn't have the money to go to the doctor unless it was something drastic." As an adult she was an apprentice of the late Tommie Bass, the world-renowned healer known as "the Herb Doctor of Shinbone Ridge." Although she has taught herbal medicine across the US, she has lived her whole life, and raised her family, on Brindlee Mountain. "There are over four thousand species of plants in this state," she says, "and this is the place I know best-I've never needed to live anywhere else." Her book, Traditional Southern Folk Medicine, combines her unmatched knowledge of native plant medicine with deeply researched history into how this uniquely American healing tradition evolved, and how it has never been more relevant or needed than it is today. | |||
| Saving Coldwater Fisheries with Chris Jordan, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Northwest Fisheries Science Center | 01 Jul 2025 | 02:05:20 | |
Chris Jordan has some unwelcome news for the watershed and fisheries restoration movement. Restoring robust populations of salmonids and other fish species in degraded rivers and wetlands is much more complex than we could have ever imagined, and we've been doing it wrong for decades. Most of us, even those of us who view our fishing and our rivers as a kind of religion, don't even know what a truly healthy river looks like. But Chris also has some welcome news, though, and it's the subject of today's podcast: we know how to restore functioning watersheds for coldwater fisheries now, and it's imminently achievable. Real watershed restoration that can last and bring back healthy cold water fisheries – it's called "process-based restoration" – is the future. It's not just about removing archaic dams and putting curves and woody debris back into broken and degraded creeks. It's about beavers, muck and mire and willow thickets, floodplains and aquifers, wildfire and wetlands, gravity and shade. It is, as Chris has studied and implemented successfully for the past few decades, about "helping rivers do their jobs with a lighter hand and a larger scope" and recognizing that the messiest natural systems are the very best at producing the strongest and healthiest fisheries. Join us- 100% guaranteed, you'll see your favorite rivers and creeks in an entirely new light.
The Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is brought you by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and presented by Silencer Central, with additional support from Decked, Dometic, and Filson. Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: https://www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters | |||
| Special Guest Ryan Callaghan: Public Lands Under Fire | 20 Jun 2025 | 01:26:41 | |
The news keeps getting worse: over 250 million acres of our public lands potentially up for sale and 3 million or more likely carved out. While this has been a goal, and a dream, of many radical politicians for the past fifty years, until now it has only been whispered, dog-whistled, lied about, and obscured. Now, their plan is out in the open. The line is drawn in the sand. The gauntlet has been thrown down. The land grabbers have made their play. How will we respond? How do we, the Americans who know and love and depend upon these lands, stop this utterly shameless theft of our national assets? MeatEater Director of Conservation and Backcountry Hunters & Anglers North American Board Chair Ryan Callaghan joins Hal as they discuss what is happening, what's at stake, and how we – all of us American patriots together -- are going to stop this vandalism and theft of the treasures of our nation. Listen. Learn. Then Take Action. And Fuel the Fight with our United We Stand for Public Lands campaign This episode is a special Dual Release with MeatEater for Cal's Week In Review. The Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is brought you by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and presented by Silencer Central, with additional support from Decked, Dometic, and Filson. Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: https://www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters | |||
| Iowa: Agriculture and the Tallgrass Prairie | 17 Jun 2025 | 01:19:52 | |
"At first the Euroamerican settlers could not fathom the tallgrass prairie.
--- The Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is brought you by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and presented by Silencer Central, with additional support from Decked, Dometic, and Filson. Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: https://www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters | |||
| The Future of OUR Public Lands with Walt Dabney | 03 Jun 2025 | 01:48:53 | |
Everything you will ever need to know to win any argument about the future of our American public lands--special and crucial episode with Walt Dabney. Understanding the background and history of our public lands is critical to safeguarding them for the future. Texas-born Walt Dabney started his National Park Service career in Yellowstone in 1969, worked as a ranger from the Everglades to Alaska, and was the Superintendent of the National Parks in Southeast Utah from 1991-99, completing a 30-year Parks Service career. Then he served as the Director of State Parks for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for 14 more years. Walt is now the leading voice for America's system of public lands. His 45-minute presentation, The History and Future of Our Public Lands, took him over seven years to develop. It is the product of a lifetime of experience, and years of assiduous research. Join us for a talk with America's foremost advocate for our public lands, and later watch the presentation here
--- The Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is brought you by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and presented by Silencer Central, with additional support from Decked, Dometic, and Filson. Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: https://www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters
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| Turkeys, Novels and Wild Appalachia with David Joy | 20 May 2025 | 02:26:10 | |
"[David Joy]is a man who sees his homeplace clearly and who writes like his hand was touched by God." — The New York Times Novelist and essayist David Joy is a tall, lean and red-bearded denizen of the hollers, mountain tops and ridges of Jackson County, North Carolina. He is an obsessive turkey, deer and squirrel hunter, a fisherman who wrote his first published book on fly fishing but who is equally at home running live baits for big flathead catfish on Piedmont rivers. He is on the very short list of great American fiction writers and essayists who hunt and fish and speak for public lands and conservation as naturally as they breathe or write. This podcast was recorded at David's cabin near Little Canada, North Carolina, after a long hike in the Pisgah National Forest to scout new hunting country, in the good company of David's little feist dog, Edie Munster. Listeners who love David's stark and hyper-realistic style of writing, and his oft-times harrowing and unsettling novels, will love when Hal and David talk writing and story after a deep dive on turkey calls and turkey hunting. More at https://david-joy.com/ and be sure to read the profile of David in the spring 2025 issue of BHA's Backcountry Journal.
--- The Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is brought you by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and presented by Silencer Central, with additional support from Decked, Dometic, and Filson. Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: https://www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters
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| An Assault on Public Lands with BHA's Patrick Berry and Kaden McArthur | 06 May 2025 | 01:49:06 | |
Public lands and waters have risen to the forefront of hunter-angler issues in 2025, from Utah's attempted steal of 18.5 million acres of land owned by us all and managed by the Bureau of Land Management to divestment and sale of public lands being floated in Congress and the shrinking of the Federal workforce charged with overseeing the health of our shared resources. The daily flow of information has been a constant -- one that's hard to keep up with. In this special episode of the Podcast & Blast, Hal sits down with BHA President and CEO Patrick Berry and Director of Government Relations Kaden McArthur to sort through the maze and learn what's really going on. And most importantly, we learn of BHA's critical work in advocating for our shared lands and waters and the role we all play as citizens of the United States in deciding the future of our public lands. This is an episode not to be missed for any hunter, angler or outdoor recreationalist. Thanks for tuning in. Tell your elected officials that you value your public lands and waters.
-- The Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is brought you by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and presented by Silencer Central, with additional support from Decked, Dometic, and Filson. Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: https://www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters
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| Worldwide Conservation with Mandela Leola Van Eeden | 22 Apr 2025 | 01:50:53 | |
When Mandela Leola Van Eeden was a child roaming the South African outback, her father would run a flag up a tall pole above their cabin so that she and her dog would be able to find their way back home. Her mother is from Valier, on Montana's Hi-Line, and Mandela grew up mostly in Billings, steeped as much in the Montana outdoors culture as she was in her father's native South African farming and ranching world. She is a hunter and an angler, an international whitewater rafting guide and explorer, musician, Ashtanga yoga teacher, and host and producer of the hugely popular podcast The Trail Less Travelled. The foundation of her life and her work is the beauty and power of the natural world, conserving it, honoring it, being a part of it. Mandela serves on the board of the Montana Wildlife Federation, and is a critical voice in African conservation efforts, from the Zambezi River to watersheds in the Atlas Mountains. Join us for a conversation that is almost- but not quite- as wide-ranging as our guest. -- The Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is brought you by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and presented by Silencer Central, with additional support from Decked, Dometic, and Filson. Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: https://www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters
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| 11 Bulls in a Row with BHA's Trey Curtiss | 08 Apr 2025 | 01:51:36 | |
Trey Curtiss, a native son of Montana, is BHA's Strategic Partnerships and Conservation Programs Manager. Trey is also among a very small group of public lands' elk hunters who have successfully filled a bull tag now for over ten years in a row. Ponder that, for a moment: for any of us who have hunted bulls in the backcountry and think we know exactly what that entails. Do we know, really? What are we missing? What does it take, really, in time, gear, commitment, preparation? Join us for one of the most in-depth talks on public lands elk hunting that you will ever encounter. Before the diving into the nitty gritty from one of the best elk hunters you're yet to hear of, Trey and Hal ponder the future of hunting, conservation, and the wild places we rely on for sustenance and spirit – and BHA's critical role in it all – in this not-to-be-missed episode of BHA's Podcast & Blast. -- The Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is brought you by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and presented by Silencer Central, with additional support from Decked, Dometic, and Filson. Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: https://www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters | |||
| It's More Than Fishing: A Conversation with CCA's Pat Murray | 25 Mar 2025 | 01:42:58 | |
Come with us to Houston, Texas, to talk saltwater fishing, conservation, philosophy and life with Pat Murray, former light tackle fishing guide and President of the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA). Pat is the author of Pat Murray's No-Nonsense Guide to Coastal Fishing and the just-published It's More than Fishing, from Texas A&M University Press. He's also the publisher of TIDES magazine, and an award-winning outdoor writer and reporter. CCA was founded in 1977 to address the drastic commercial overfishing of redfish and speckled trout along the Texas Gulf Coast. The battles were fought on the water, in the statehouse, and wherever fishermen gathered to demand change before the fisheries were lost forever. That battle was won. New challenges, and new successes, abound. The CCA now has over 125,000 members, with 224 local chapters across all three US coasts. "We work to protect not only the health, habitat and sustainability of our marine resources, but also the interests of recreational anglers and their access to the resources they cherish."
--- The Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is brought you by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and presented by Silencer Central, with additional support from Decked, Dometic, and Filson. Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: https://www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters | |||
| Fly Fishing Film Culture with RA Beattie | 04 Mar 2025 | 01:41:52 | |
RA Beattie was the man behind the camera for many of the most influential fly-fishing films of the past several decades. It's no exaggeration to say his work changed the culture of fly fishing. Beattie's work has always told the story behind the story – transcending just a sport about catching fish, and allowing us to connect with the why. From giant Arctic char to dorado in the Bolivian jungle, to steelhead on the Deschutes and milkfish in Dubai, RA has set the standard for fly-fishing films and inspired countless others to expand their work beyond "fish porn." Watch two of his latest- The Hard Way and The Silent Spotter to see what we're talking about, and then explore more of RA's work through his Off the Grid Studios/RA Beattie Productions. Join us for a conversation with RA about his work, his passions, and a life behind the camera in some of the most exotic flyfishing destinations on earth. And if he ever gets tried of traveling for filmmaking, he travels some more, to places like Suriname and Cameroon, to verify sustainable wood sources for a guitar maker. As RA says, every fly-fishing filmmaker needs a second job at times.
--- The Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring is brought you by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and presented by Silencer Central, with additional support from Decked, Dometic, and Filson. Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists. BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE. Follow us: Web: https://www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters Facebook: @backcountryhunters
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