Sportsmen's Empire - Western Big Game Hunting

What happens when a professional chef, hunter, and angler sets out to make wild game cooking easier for everyone? This week on Huntavore, Nick welcomes back Jeff Benda of Wild Game and Fish to talk about his journey from professional chef and Uber driver to full-time wild game recipe developer and cookbook author. Jeff shares the story behind his new Wild Game and Fish Cookbook, a resource designed to help hunters and anglers turn ...

Most deer hunters are sitting on years of trail camera intel and never using it. Deer ID turns those scattered photos into buck-specific patterns, weather trends, and hunt-day predictions so you can stop guessing and start hunting with purpose.

Nate Crick breaks down how Deer ID was built from a simple but powerful idea: the deer you chase are often showing up on repeat cycles, and the clues are already in your camera roll. From Hal...

If you care about Western hunting, public-land strategy, or want to understand what makes mule deer so different from whitetails, this conversation is packed with insights.

Dan J. talks with Trevor Hubbs, editor-in-chief of Mule Deer magazine for the Mule Deer and Blacktail Deer Foundation. They discuss deer genetics and hybrid zones, and the challenges of hunting animals that can migrate hundreds of miles and rely on suitable habit...

Training season may be over, but the work doesn’t stop. In this episode, we talk about what comes next—getting young hounds in the woods, building confidence, working on fundamentals, and preparing for the next season. The off-season is where the foundation is built.

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Dan and Ken sit down to tackle the nuances of Alberta antelope hunting, from pre-hunt prep to field execution. After tagging out early this season, Ken shifts his focus to helping his niece harvest a buck. He shares insights from his trip—including setting up his SUV as a mobile base camp, using the iHunter app to scout and secure land permissions, and adjusting his size expectations on the ground. The pair also explore criti...

On this episode of the Hunting Gear Podcast, Dan re-joins Jacob Coons for a candid look at "Made in the USA" hunting gear. Does where your gear is manufactured actually drive your purchasing decisions, or does it all come down to price tag and performance?

The guys unpack price points across major gear categories, test the durability argument, and confront common manufacturing stereotypes head-on. Plus, Dan and Jacob share their own...

How does your hound know you're going hunting before you've even said a word?

In this episode, we dive into the fascinating world of hound intuition and the patterns dogs pick up from us every day. From the moment we turn the light on or not. My hounds recognize a familiar sequence of cues that tells them exactly what's coming next. 

We talk about aggression at the tree. Can it be fixed and trusted when you’re an hour out.

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This week on Huntavore, Nick welcomes back good friend Mitch Shirk of the Pennsylvania Woodsman Podcast to talk about an exciting upcoming adventure: Nick's first-ever black bear hunt. What started as a long-standing invitation from Mitch has finally come together, and the two break down what listeners can expect from a New Jersey bear hunting experience.

The conversation begins with plenty of campfire humor, including stories about...

In this episode of the Pennsylvania Woodsman, Mitch is joined by Josh Craig of Western Hunter 101 to talk about taking the intimidation out of planning a western hunt. Growing up in the Midwest, Josh spent years dreaming about hunting elk and other western game but assumed those adventures required a guide, a pile of money, or knowledge he simply didn't have. Eventually, he realized the biggest thing holding him back was getting st...

Sometimes the lessons that stick with us the longest are the ones we learn without realizing it.

As a kid, I spent weekends rebuilding a crosstie wall that was good enough in my eyes. At the time, it was just extra work that didn't need to be done—lifting, stacking, lining things up, and making sure each tie was where it needed to be. Looking back, though, that wall taught me something that applies just as much to hound traini...

In this episode of the Pennsylvania Woodsman, Mitch sits down with returning guest Jason Miller of JMiller Custom Calls to kick off another New Jersey black bear season. The conversation starts beneath the mount of Jason’s biggest bear yet—a massive bruin estimated around 600 pounds live weight and now in the Boone and Crockett record book. Jason tells the full story of a hunt he almost didn’t go on, from reluctan...

A final hunt with that certain hound can carry a strange weight. You may not realize you're experiencing the last time you'll walk that trail, sit against that tree, hear them strike and tree. At the time, it can feel like just another morning in the woods, just another hunt. But every once in a while, there's a hunt that becomes something bigger than the hunt itself. A good hound may only be with us for a short period of time, but...

Elk hunting is not about luck—it is about putting yourself in the right 200-yard bubble at the right time, with enough days left to make the moment count. Tim Kent breaks down nearly two decades of hard-earned lessons chasing elk from the East, including the mistakes that cost him bulls, the calling mistake that instantly blew up a setup, and why his biggest breakthrough came from learning where elk actually live instead of w...

What actually stays in your pack when it’s time to hunt whitetails? On this episode of the Hunting Gear Podcast, Dan and Bob do a complete gear dump for the fall season. From grunt tubes and scent control to bow ropes and screw-in steps, if it takes up space in their packs, it’s getting talked about.

Join the conversation on the Sportsmen's Empire Facebook and Instagram pages, or connect with Nine Finger Chronicles and H...

Colorado just changed the elk hunting game—and the next round of regulations could reshape how residents and non-residents chase tags, points, and opportunity. If you hunt the West, this is the kind of episode that can save you years of confusion and help you make smarter decisions before the 2028 changes take effect.

Dan Johnson sits down with Colorado hunter Adam Parr to break down what is really happening with the state&rsq...

Every houndsman remembers his first.

Your first dog.

The first time you heard a hound open on a track.
The first time you followed that voice through the dark.
The first time you walked up to a tree with the game in it.
The first dog that really meant something to you.

But some of the best firsts come later.

The first time your son or daughter hears a hound open.
The first time they grab the lead.
The first time they wal...

In this episode of the Pennsylvania Woodsman, Mitchell is joined by Ryan Burnett of Pattern Pros to talk about one of the most overlooked pieces of hunting preparation—actually knowing how your gun and ammunition perform together. Ryan explains how Pattern Pros grew from a frustrating day of shotgun patterning into a way for hunters to test multiple loads without buying full boxes of ammunition that may not work well in their...

Episode DescriptionThe best mobile hunting systems do one thing - they disappear into the hunt. Nested Tree Stand Systems is built around that idea, and Gabe Denzine explains why this brand was designed from the ground up for hunters who pack in, climb once, and want every piece of gear to work together.

Gabe and Dan unpack how Nested grew out of a real problem: the clunky, cobbled-together setup so many hunters have been forced to ...

Mule deer are still the vanishing icon of the West, and if you care about public land hunting, this conversation explains exactly why. Greg Sheehan, CEO of the Mule Deer Foundation, lays out the hard truth behind the decline, what changed after the mule deer heyday, and what hunters and conservation groups are doing right now to turn it around.