The Hunter Conservationist Podcast

Perry McCormick, president of Pheasants Forever Canada discusses the importance of habitat diversity for pheasants and other bird species. He highlights the need for shorter cover and the benefits of vegetation diversity. The conversation also touches on the impact of landscape changes, such as the transition from smaller farms to commercial farms, the use of pesticides, and the development of green infrastructure like wind turbines and solar farms. Perry emphasizes the importance of conserving ditches and right-of-ways as valuable habitat and the need for awareness and education on their natural benefits. The conversation concludes with a discussion on favorite pheasant recipes and the role of hunters in conservation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Michelle McLellan delves into the reintroduction of grizzly bears into the North Cascade ecosystem in Washington state, exploring the challenges, implications, and potential impact on the ecosystem and neighboring regions. The discussion covers the history of grizzly bear reintroduction, genetic diversity, habitat quality, and the potential for bear migration across borders. The conversation delves into the challenges and considerations surrounding the reintroduction of grizzly bears in British Columbia and Washington State. It explores the social, political, and ecological dimensions of this issue, highlighting the need for funding, public support, and wildlife management strategies. The conversation also touches on the impact of human-wildlife conflict and the importance of coexistence with apex predators in the ecosystem. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chef Michael Hunter muses about his background as a chef and book author, his personal philosophies as a chef and hunter, and the changing perception of hunting in the culinary world. He believes that showcasing the food aspect of hunting is educational and inspiring, and it has encouraged more people to take up hunting. He also discusses the blending of cooking and hunting in the hunting community and its impact on the perception of hunting. Chef Hunter expresses his desire to be able to share wild game with customers in his restaurant, but there are strict regulations and processes that make it difficult. He also talks about the importance of simplicity in cooking. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode Mark explores some of the central questions around bear baiting including, Is the use of artificial bait bad for a bear's health? Does baiting cause bears to become more aggressive towards humans and does baiting cause bears to stop foraging naturally? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Episode 1. In this episode, Doug and Mark introduce the show, the premise behind it and then provide updates on recent fur prices and the drivers behind the changes as well as providing a recap of the spring 2024 seal hunt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode Mark covers changes to fall migratory birds' flights, caribou and the pinnacle of perfection for the white-tailed deer, the mystery of coho deaths solved, Montreal deer control, ducking hunting in the NWT, who's fault is the bass, the transfer of Haida Gwaii, conservation success and the Coombs wolf-dog. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matt Besko and Dr. Lee Foote are back on the show to discuss wounding loss in hunting. Topics covered include definitions of wounding loss, wounding loss studies, the Finish study, wild predator kill success rates, whether wounding loss avoidable, whether wounding necessary in hunting and the ongoing Dr. Pepper/peanut debate. Matt and Lee always make for an intellectual and a banter fun-filled discussion no matter what the topic is. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Blaine Calkins, Member of Parliament joins Mark in this episode. Blaine is the SCI Legislator of the Year, and he talks about why hunting is important to him and why he defends the hunting way of life. Blaine talks about his career that led him into federal politics, what he enjoys most when he gets outdoors, what some of his current issues are he's working on and his future plans as an MP. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Dr. Marco Festa-Bianchet joins us as we explore the commonly held belief that taking the oldest aged males from a population has the least impact. Some of the questions covered in this episode include - Do old animals stop breeding? Are old females dry and have old males passed on their genes, and are not needed anymore? How old do some game animals live to and what's the difference in old age between hunted and un-hunted populations? How does survival and fitness affect breeding and is hunting the oldest individuals sustainable or not? Thank you to Darryn Epp for the cover art photo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mark explores bear baiting by first looking at the way all hunting is conducted and then secondly, by assessing baiting by the 2 principles of Fair Chase hunting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chris Luehmann helps us dispel the notion that urban people don't hunt. Chris lives in Vancouver, and he is a hunter and a sport shooter. Chris tells the hilarious story of how he became a hunter and why he persevered for many years without harvesting a big game animal. Chris shares his hunting memories, what motivates him to hunt and his first big game animal. Chris is a fantastic role model for new hunters! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

BC recently tabled a series of controversial hunting regulations changes that have compounded the hunting opportunity taken away from licensed hunters over the last several years. In this episode, Dr. Adam Ford, who is a scientific advisor on BC's hunting regulations committee, Scott Ellis, Executive Director of the BC Guide-Outfitters Association, and Jesse Zeman, Executive Director of the BC Wildlife Federation are on the show to debrief the regulation changes and provide their thoughts on the trajectory of wildlife management in the province. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode Mark tries to make sense of the Wyoming wolf incident by filling you in on what he has uncovered about hunting laws that contributed to the incident. Mark discusses the heart of this issue - why are snowmobiles allowed as a legal form of hunting in some jurisdictions? The use of snowmobiles to run coyotes and wolves over is evaluated against the two principles of Fair Chase and the three tests of ethical hunting. The episode boils down to a single broad message that is relevant for every hunter in North America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mark provides a way to define ethical hunting using 3 key questions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr Erick Lundgren from Aarhus University in Denmark joins Mark and Curtis to talk about a new research study he was part of. The study addresses the question of whether there’s a need to eradicate non-native large herbivores to protect ecosystems. Topics discussed include small picky eaters vs generalist bulk feeders, the role of individual body mass vs total mass of all animals, the millions of dollars spent on eradications, eradicating native species as well as eradicating endangered species and whether the functional niche a species occupies within an ecosystem is more or less important that the concept of "nativeness". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Levi is a relatively new Dad, a Registered Nurse, and a hunter. He lives in British Columbia and shares how hunting is sometimes a means to unpack the events of work but how it mostly about getting into the backcountry to hunt for food. Levi talks about how he shares the world of hunting with others and how he is adjusting his longer hunting trips to balance hunting and family life. Levi discusses his passion for being involved with the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, sharing the experience of hunting with others and the challenges of trying to stay informed with what is happing wildlife management. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode Mark covers the smoothing over an incident where endangered Peary caribou were killed in the high arctic, federal sabre rattling over Quebec caribou, whirling disease action and inaction, hunting bison in Banff, a very expensive way to deal with geese in BC, a not so peaceful bunny sanctuary, the predator attack that wasn't, protesting seafood price fixing in Newfoundland, the cost of the gun buyback program, and expenditures for the Sydney Island deer cull. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this special podcast, Mark explores the movement to abolish the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation and what that really means for the citizens of the United States and Canada. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How can high-tech tools be assessed against the principles of Fair Chase? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you say KI-yote or Ki-Yo-Tee? Courtney Anderson and Abby Thiemkey from the Ohio Coyote Research Project are on the show to talk all things coyote ecology and research. The scientists explain what the coyote project is about and share some of the highlights that the data are starting to highlight including coyote diet composition, population dynamics, behavior and movements. Abbey and Courtney share how they work with livestock producers, hunters, and trappers, what the general social attitudes are towards coyotes and whether intense hunting is changing the population or demographics of coyotes in Ohio. An engaging conversation and a great opportunity to learn more about one of the most hated and loved wildlife species in North America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices