There are certain topics in this world that are likely the most controversial - wolves, feral cats, and wild horses. Wild Horses for some reason evoke such emotions that there has been little work done on exposing what is actually going on. We are starting to delve into this topic more and more and there is not greater place to talk about this topic than Nevada. Former Federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) employee Jenny Lesieutre is now speaking out around the management of wild horses after being involved in the space for almost two decades. As a horse owner and self-professed horse lover herself, you’ll find that it is not from a place of malice that she advocates for management, rather because they are destroying their own habitat and environment without badly needed management protocols - because leaving them alone isn’t working. This is a MUST LISTEN PODCAST. 

Bupe and Robbie are joined by Dimas Mulyandambo, the Chairperson for the Kasempa Community Association and Mutende Simwanza, a climate specialist to bring forward the Zambian voice for conservation to talk about the integration of climate change mitigation and adaptation, overviewing how climate change has affected Zambia, and more. This podcast is a collaboration between CIC and Blood Origins giving voices to IPLC's all over the world. 

Robbie and Ashlee chop it up about Robbie’s India trip now that he’s back stateside and the human-wildlife conflict the Blood Origins team witnessed during their trip documentary filming in India, including two people being killed within 20 kilometers of their base by tigers, while the team was there. The team then outlines plans for upcoming documentaries focused on sustainable practices and human-wildlife conflict, along with recent bipartisan support stateside for several wildlife conservation bills to address the fiscal challenges wildlife agencies are facing. It's such an action packed Roundup that we completely forgot to connect with our audience via the text message platform - if you want to connect with us text us at 601-790-0607.

Kirsty Redman has many titles but the two she is most proud of are - Emerging Tuskers Project Coordinator, as well as the Elephant Hall Museum Director in Letaba Rest Camp for Kruger National Park in South Africa. Kirsty joined Robbie live from her office (yes and its true, Robbie and Kirsty were surrounded by garbage bags of elephant dung - all in the name of research!) to discuss big tuskers in the park, the history of the museum (which started as a marketing effort and evolved into more conservation and research efforts), and to really give folks an insight into the history of elephants.

Gogo Nomsa Sibeko, a traditional sangoma healer in South Africa, joins Robbie to talk about this rich tradition and - much like hunters - the many times inaccurate perception around them that comes out of Hollywood and movies. Robbie met Gogo back in November at the Custodians conference and was fascinated by her and the fact that she is facing the same stigmas as hunters are - that we pillage the environment for our own good.  Along with her views on sustainability (she needs natural resources for her craft), Gogo discusses the human pressures surrounding them, and more!

Ian Harmer, the foremost walking safari guide for rhinos in Matopos, and owner of African Wanderer Safaris out of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe joins Robbie on the show from his safari in the Matapos Hills - a land full of mystique and magic and rhinos. The Matopos hills are rich with history, stories, and incredible wildlife including Rhinos. What’s so good about Ian is that he has been in Matopos working for 30 years and literally knows Rhinos since their births. Ian isn’t a hunter, he is a walking tour operator and a member of Zimbabwe Professional Guides Association. This is especially important podcast as Rhino poaching incidents start ramping up and asking someone who is on the ground daily with Rhino’s - what is the path forward? 

Luke Care, current Chairman of the New Zealand Tahr Foundation, joins Robbie on the podcast to dive deep into the subject of Himalayan Tahr and educate the public more about these amazing creatures, sustainability of tahr, hunting tahr, and much more. Luke and Robbie release brand new information for the NZ Tahr Foundation, and give you information on how to enter the drawing for a FULLY GUIDED tahr hunt with Snow Hewetson (another former Blood Origins guest!) and help conserve tahr at the same time! If you have ever wanted to hunt New Zealand and wanted to understand Tahr this is a must listen to podcast.

On this week’s Roundup, Ashlee is being joined by co-hosts Chris Borgatti, the Director of Policy for the 36 states in the Eastern Region of North America for Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, as well as Brock Wahl, the North Dakota state chairman for BHA, who will update us on the CWD bills moving through the ND state legislator and how to form a strong BHA chapter. Chris covers a commission restructuring bill in New Hampshire, a bill moving through IL that would potentially increase public access to 85,000 navigable waterways within the state, a SD bill designed to increase the public safety zone and thereby decrease public access, a set of MA bills that would decrease the setback zone and increase public access, and potential bear seasons in FL and CT.

William McKinley, the Director of the Whitetail Deer Program for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks joins Ashlee on this episode in our CWD series. William is a veteran deer biologist and has been with MDWFP for over 24 years. He regularly consults with the deer program directors from the adjacent states as well as deer biologists across the country on best management practices, he works closely with the MS State Deer Research Lab, and stays very up to date on the latest and best CWD research studies and testing methods by attending international forums on the subject and working with experts across the nation. MS is on the front line, geographically speaking, of CWD, and William is doing an amazing job of managing the state and its CWD zones.

Bronson Strickland is arguably one of the leading extension deer biologists in the entire country. Robbie and Bronson used to be in the same Wildlife and Fisheries department at Mississippi State University, and so Bronson was invited onto the show by Robbie for this special second installment of our CWD Series to explore some of the major questions around the management of white-tailed deer with Chronic Wasting Disease. With this series we wanted to explore first the private land owners perspective (Doug Duren) on CWD, and then talk to an extension biologist and their landscape level purview of the issue and management implications around it. 

Ashlee and Robbie chop it up this week on everything from our CWD-focused series release, where listeners can get educated on the threat of Chronic Wasting Disease and proven conservation-focused strategies to mitigate it, to the upcoming Connecticut bear hunt and its part in the greater Northeastern bear wars, to a new bill around Oregon lion hunting with hounds, and more. Don’t forget to catch Ashlee at the NWTF convention this week!

Doug Duren of Blood Origins fame (kidding, but he is a frequent guest of ours and we love him!) joins us for the landowner perspective in Wisconsin - one of the hot beds of the Chronic Wasting Disease crisis affecting our nation, where 80+% of counties are testing positive for CWD. Doug shares what he’s seen from his decades of hunting the same piece of land. The CWD discussion is a very hot topic right now, especially with what is happening all over the United States, from Georgia to North Dakota.

Robbie is joined by Adri Kitzhoff-Botha, CEO of the Custodians of Professional Hunting South Africa and Craig Kelly-Maartens, the current chairman of the same association - recorded on-location in South Africa - to discuss the new rebrand of the Custodians and what it means for wildlife and conservation. Adri and Craig go into the ‘why’, the evolution of the association, answer the question of ‘who we are’ and Robbie is the FIRST to sit down with them and talk about the rebrand.

After the old folks catch up and compare notes on ‘back-in-my-day’ childhood home remodel assignments, Robbie and Ashlee discuss all the news fit to print around hunting in the country, including CWD and new bills affecting hunting (LOTS OF THESE), public reaction to Fish and Game changes down in New Mexico (particularly a proposed commission shakeup), the intersection of gun safety education and cultural impacts on gun violence, and more!

In this edition of Our Voice, the collaborative podcast highlighting indigenous voices and perspectives on wildlife conservation with CIC, Robbie and Bupe interview Daniel Kobei, a community representative from Kenya, about wildlife conservation efforts in the nation and the perspective of the local indigenous communities. They discuss the ban on hunting in Kenya, the challenges of human-wildlife conflict that the ban presents to those who live there, and the unique contributions of indigenous communities to conservation. From the Mau Forest Complex and the coexistence of pastoralists with wildlife to the need for benefit sharing and community involvement in conservation efforts. The team dives deep on the international efforts of wildlife conservation and the importance of engaging local communities in Kenya and beyond.

If you grew up in South Africa and loved wildlife you likely wanted to be a veterinarian. Robbie did, but quickly realized that to be a wildlife vet and not a typical cats and dogs vet, 1) there were very limited chances of you getting into vet school, and 2) an even smaller chance of you working in that field when you graduated. Dr. Fraser was one of those guys that succeeded on both of those levels. Andy Fraser is a wildlife vet out of Rooiberg, South Africa, - a little town about 2 hours north of Pretoria in South Africa. He has spent the last decade of his life dedicating himself to wildlife conservation through his veterinary work, working on everything from rhinos to wild dogs to cheetahs and beyond. Andy sits down with Robbie and dives deep into veterinary work, wildlife conservation, Andy’s incredible career at the very top of his field, the future of wildlife conservation, and a look at an ongoing project of ours that involves Andy - meaning you’ll be hearing from him a lot more!

Robbie and Ashlee are back after a busy three weeks of travel for the entire Blood Origins crew, home renovation madness, recent conventions and, of course, all the news that’s fit to print around wildlife conservation around the world. Ashlee and Robbie chop it up on everything from the ‘show season bugs’ from traveling around for meetings to the implications of changing weather patterns on duck populations, legal hunting issues within city limits, the proposed turkey stamp, updates on other wildlife bills around the country, and the always popular wolf debate in Montana and Idaho. They also touch on mountain lion hunting regulations in Wyoming, a potential sandhill crane hunt in Wisconsin, and more. And don’t forget to TEXT IN comments, questions and more at 601-790-0607.

Richard Sowry, a 22 year veteran of Kruger National Park and current Pafuri section ranger in Kruger National Park, took Robbie on a game drive outside the Letaba Rest Camp in late November. Richard is an incredible conservationist, has fought the height of the Rhino poaching battle in Kruger National Park, loves argentinian doggos, and is just a pragmatic guy when it comes to wildlife conservation in today's era. Richard is a neutral in my book - he hunts, but isn't completely pro-hunting, he is also pro-ecotourim, and is a staunch pro-sustainable use guy. Robbie and Richard drove around for an hour, and recorded a podcast as they did it, during the height of sweltering summer in South Africa to talk all about African wildlife, Rich’s career, and more. You will have to forgive Richard and Robbie, as both during this podcast are like dogs when they see a squirrel, but this time, it's two passionate individuals spotting wildlife and game on their game drive together!

Ashlee is joined by Dana Dykema, her counterpart (head of policy) at Blood Origins Canada for this week’s Blood Origins around the world roundup! The ladies get revenge on Robbie for relentlessly teasing Ashlee, talk about Dana’s intro into hunting, discuss sheep hunting, black bear conservation and controversy in Washington state and Japan, spring turkey hunting, Colorado wolves, and more!

Mike Schwartz is exactly the kind of podcast guest we’re famous for - a complete, unknown stranger to you, us, and everyone in our space. You see Mike came to us after sending an email. He said he had been a fan for some time, and shared that Blood Origins was the reason he changed his opinion around hunting but was now struggling to take the next step. So rather than write about it, Robbie invited him on to talk about it, and how those perceptions changed for the better after being educated about what hunting is, who hunters are, and what this lifestyle means to us - and Mike’s own journey from ardent anti-hunter to conservationist with interest in hunting himself. His last obstacle? He struggles to get over the sadness in killing an animal, which Robbie and he dive deep into in this unforgettable heartfelt episode.

The Honorable Nicole McKee, member of New Zealand’s Parliament and cabinet member for NZ’s Prime Minister, and heads firearm policy in that role as the Associate Minister of Justice - and even though she was raised as a non-hunter has become a passionate gun owner herself and even supporter of SCI New Zealand. Robbie & the Minister sit down and talk about her views on firearms, the controversy around them in New Zealand, including the history of things in New Zealand, and the importance of the topic to sportsmen and women even halfway around the world!

There are big black bears and then there are World Record Black Bears. You may or may not have heard of Brian Melvin and his amazing black bear out of New Jersey - dressed out at 770 pounds, but Robbie gets the scoop from him in this episode of Blood Origins. You would be mistaken to think that this Black Bear would have had to come out of the great north, but in fact it came out of New Jersey, the state with the high density of black bears in North America, but also now can claim the largest bears too! With a little math, it works out to be the unofficial biggest black bear in the world, and Brian dives deep into the incredible journey this bear took him on, and the reward of finally connecting with him in a Jersey swamp in October. This is a fascinating episode as Brian describes how he hunts for big black bears like someone would hunt for a big mature whitetail - Robbie had never heard of people hunting particular bears like that and lends itself for an amazing conversation.

It’s just Robbie flying solo today since Ashlee is out with pink eye (sorry Ashlee, Robbie did you dirty on this roundup!) and after showing off his hat collection and blasting the Washington State conservation disaster, he reflects on a great - but crazy - show season, shares some cool stuff he’s seen from exhibitors, and issues a special call to action for outdoor groups to work TOGETHER. Listen in and shoot a text to our call-in line at 601-790-0607 to wish Ashlee a speedy recovery.

Robbie and Tana have been in connection for a couple of years now. Tana and her family live up in Alaska, have a super unique household, fostered and adopted kids and just an incredible heart for hunting, living, and connecting with the land. Tana knew as she got more and more involved in the Alaskan wilderness and what that time spent there was doing for her - mentally, physically, spiritually, that she wanted to share that with other women. Tana shares with Robbie about her woman-only hunts in Alaska - and the broader landscape of woman hunt programs writ-large from organizations including Wild Sheep Foundation, SCI, Wahine Wapiti in New Zealand, She Hunt and others around the world. Woman hunters and woman hunt programs are becoming more and more common and dominant as woman are the fastest growing demographic of hunters in the world!

Wahine (AKA “woman” or “girl” in Maori, the native language of New Zealand) Wapiti, is a brand new woman’s outdoors program that takes women out in one of the most formidable, grueling backcountries in the world, the Fiordland on the South Island of New Zealand. This podcast is not to be missed as it explains what these amazing women are getting out of the experience. From not knowing each other at all to celebrating the great outdoors together, reconnecting with nature and the landscape, is what it is all about. For the vast majority it leads to a life changing experience.