The Blacktail Coach Podcast
We're here to share tips, strategies, and stories of hunting the Pacific Northwest.
Whether you're a seasoned hunter or just getting started, we'll help you turn preparation into achievement and passion into results.
So gear up and get ready, because SUCCESS IS NO ACCIDENT!
Episodes
92 episodes
A Four Day Gathering Builds Better Hunters Through Practice
Four days can change the way you hunt when the learning is real, the egos are gone, and the “secret sauce” is actually shared. We’re wrapping up the Hunters Gathering with quick testimonials from the people who lived it, from our instructors to...
Trail Camera Adventures with John Nicholson Part 3
Trail cameras can be addictive for the photos, but the real payoff is what those clips reveal about animal behavior and repeatable movement patterns. We’re joined again by John Nicholson from Trail Camera Adventures to get practical about turni...
Trail Camera Placement That Works With John Nicholson
Trail cameras feel simple until you realize how many animals can walk right past them without ever showing up on your card. We sit down again with John Nicholson from Trail Camera Adventures and get into the details that separate “random luck” ...
Trail Cams With John Nicholson Part 1
A trail camera can feel like a simple tool until you’ve watched an elk beat it up, a bear pry it open, or winter condensation turn every clip into a blurry mess. We’re joined by John Nicholson from Trail Camera Adventures, who’s spent years run...
Mike Moran & Steve Cole from the Washington Muzzleloaders Association
We’re recording live from the Cascade Mountain Man Muzzle Loading Arms and Pioneer Craft Show, and the background noise is the point, because this world is alive. I sit down with Mike Moran and Steve Cole from the Washington State Muzzle Loader...
Teen Hunters In The Field: Kinley And Josiah Share Their Stories
A 13-year-old sits in a stand for six hours, her phone dead, nerves climbing, and then a black bear finally steps out. A senior in high school buys a deer tag just days before late buck season, practices with a 12 gauge slug, and ends up doing ...
Coyote Hunting Part 3 with Cody Sanchez
Coyotes don’t read gear reviews, and they don’t slow down when they hit your call. We’re closing out our coyote hunting series with Cody Sanchez by getting brutally practical about what consistently puts fur on the ground in real Pacific Northw...
Coyote Range And Real-World Scouting: Cody Sanchez Part 2
Coyotes feel random until you zoom in on what they repeat. Aaron sits down with Cody Sanchez for week two of coyote hunting and gets specific about what “range” looks like in real timber country: tight home cores for established breeding pairs,...
Coyote Hunting With Guest Cody Sanchez
Coyotes don’t play by daytime rules, and that’s exactly why so many hunters are turning to night stands and thermal optics. We sit down with Cody Sanchez of Thermal Dispatch to unpack what really changes after dark—why coyotes move more, respon...
We Recap the Shows, Spotlight Allies, and Tackle IP28’s Threat to Hunting, Farming, and Public Lands
The shows are finally in the rearview, the colds are fading, and the conversations we had at the booth lit a fire under us. We met listeners who’ve packed freezers and missed shots, shook hands with makers who obsess over the little details, an...
The Outdoor Industry: Chatting With Clay Bond From Bonded Outdoors
What if your mount could tell the whole story every time someone walked past it? We sit down with Clay Bond from Bonded Outdoors to talk about turning memories into heirlooms with personalized leather tags and shoulder-mount patches that hold d...
Interview With Gary Sims From Blacktail Solution
Think blacktail won’t daylight over bait? They’re not stubborn; they’re spoiled for choice. We bring on Gary Sims—cofounder of Limbsaver and the mind behind Blacktail Solution—to explain how flavor, precision nutrients, and smart timing flip th...
Blacktail Locating and Tactics with Bud Braaten
Not every buck is meant to be chased. We dig into Bud’s hard-won blacktail system—how a season of empty sits became a framework for finding “killable bucks” on pressured public land. The shift sounds simple but it changes everything: hunt the a...
Habitat Over Predators: Why Deer Numbers Rise Or Fall
What if the biggest lever for stronger deer herds isn’t predator control, but the ground under their hooves? We dig into fresh data, field studies, and on-the-ground observations across California, Oregon, and Washington to challenge a common a...
Declining Licenses, Bottlenecked Gates, And The Myth Of “Too Many Hunters”
The trailhead looks crowded and it’s tempting to say hunting has exploded—but the numbers tell a different story. We dig into decades of data from California, Oregon, and Washington and find steep declines in license sales even as state populat...
From Boot Camp To Big Buck: Joe Riley's So. Oregon Success Story
Burn country can feel empty until you read it the right way. We sat down with Joe to break down how a brutal two-fire landscape in Southern Oregon still held mature blacktails in daylight—and how a simple, disciplined system made them visible a...
The Case For Clear Cuts In Modern Blacktail Hunting
Let’s rethink what success looks like in blacktail hunting. When schedules tighten, budgets pinch, and weather goes sideways, clear cuts offer a practical, ethical path forward that keeps us learning and in the game. We explore why open ground—...
Four Grown Men, Zero Bucks, Plenty Of Laughs
A season that humbled us also sharpened us. We went all in on named target bucks and ran into a wall of warm temps, atmospheric rivers, and shifting deer behavior that pushed daylight activity into a crawl. Cameras that fired pre-season went qu...
Agenda 23: A New Path For California’s Deer And Forests with Paul Trouette
If “more deer, more tags” hasn’t moved the needle in California, what will? We make the case for a better message—forest health and balanced wildlife management—and back it up with a rigorous camera trap study designed to deliver real numbers, ...
Inside Mendocino’s Blacktail: Habitat, Predators, And The B‑Zone Project with Guests Paul Trouette & John Wagenet
A number on a page says California holds 500,000 deer. Our boots say otherwise. We sat down with Paul Trouett and John Wagenet to map the ground truth of blacktail across Mendocino and the B‑Zones—why herds feel thinner, how habitats shifted, a...
How AI Helps Hunters Decode Deer Rubs And Habitat Choices
Ever wondered if AI can actually help you tag a smarter hunt, or if it’s just another loud voice with half-truths? We put it on the stand and tested its advice against muddy boots, real rub lines, and the stubborn logic of blacktail country. St...
Whitetail Vs. Blacktail
Ever passed a buck on the first morning and felt it echo all week? We did, and the story unpacks more than a near miss. We break down a Kansas whitetail hunt that swung from single-digit wind chill to warm afternoons, then connect each lesson t...
How Deer Talk With Their Nose, Eyes, And Ears To Rank, Breed, And Survive
Bucks broadcast more than tracks. They paint the woods with scent from orbital, forehead, tarsal, metatarsal, and interdigital glands—messages about identity, rank, breeding readiness, danger, and direction of travel. We break down how to read ...
Year Two, Bigger Buck: Mark Boon's Success Story
Big blacktail aren’t a mystery when you respect their routine. We sit down with Mark Boon to unpack how a hunter who once struggled close to home stacked two strong seasons back-to-back and sealed a Pope & Young buck in September. The shift...
From Clear Cuts To Confidence: Cully Scroggins Success Story
A chocolate-antler blacktail at 20 yards on opening morning isn’t a fluke—it’s the outcome of a system built on habitat, scent discipline, and patient stand time. We sit down with Cully Scroggins to unpack how a summer-long pattern, a tight ent...