6 Ranch Podcast

If you ask Gail Hammack, the word "conservation" is often misused. To Gail, conservation means taking care of the land, not preventing us from utilizing natural resources. Gail and her late husband, Doug McDaniel, understood what it meant to care for something you love. With the channelized Wallowa River running through their property, Doug and Gail had a vision of what the river could b...

I may not be an expert, but after seeing my fair share of mounts, I can spot good taxidermy when I see it. Dan Moncrief is one of the experts. He's been a taxidermist since 1986 and is an artist in every sense of the word. His attention to detail, realism, and artistry is truly something special, and is undoubtedly what won him a first-place cougar mount in international competition. In this...

There's only a handful of fish that people will alter the way they live just to catch. Tarpon are one of those fish. When you picture tarpon fishing, you're probably imagining some guy fly fishing from a flats boat in the Bahamas. But there's another very different type of tarpon fishing in a very different place, Pamlico Sound, North Carolina. Pamlico Sound is the second largest es...

On April 25th, 2009, the Princess Tiaping, a 54-foot replica of a Ming Dynasty Chinese junk, sank in open ocean. Larz Stewart, along with 10 other crew members, miraculously survived. The Princess Tiaping was built to revive maritime culture, history, and pride to the people of Taiwan and Southeast Asia. Larz joined the crew in Hawaii for the final leg of their global journey, intending to sail th...

On a cross state motorcycle trip, I stopped by G9 Defense, an innovative ammunition company, to do some ballistic testing with Casey Foster and Kyle Holmes. All the folks I've met from G9 have led fascinating lives, and my guests today are no exception. Before bullets, Casey spent years farming South Pacific Islands such as Fiji, Tahiti, and Samoa, and was at one point the world’s largest sup...

This week, I'm in Montana with Thomas Rucker and Payden Armstrong, the special forces veterans and expert bladesmiths behind Rucker Knives. Thomas served in Vietnam, becoming a Green Beret in 1967, only five years after the program's inception. He's been making knives for over 50 years, and together with his wife, has twice won the International Knife of the Year award. Payden serve...

Most people think of winter as the hunting off season, but really, the months in which you’re doing the least amount of hunting is June through August. So, what should hunters be doing this summer to prepare for the fall season? To answer that question, is my good buddy and frequent contributor to the show, Kevin Harlander. Kevin is an avid outdoorsman and a member of the First Lite Hunting Appare...

Leanna Wentz is no stranger to herding sheep, her family has been running sheep and cattle for over 10 generations. But running sheep in Hells Canyon is a different beast. Sheep are always trying to die, and Hells Canyon is one of the most hostile places I've ever been that wasn't an active war zone.  But Leanna's family made it work. From 1992 to 1998, her family had the last sheep...

This Memorial Day, I'm joined by my buddy and fellow former Marine, Ben Carleton. Ben joined the infantry right out of high school and served with the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines. He saw his fair share of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan and sees this day as a time for quiet reflection, not a day to celebrate or thank those who made it home. Ben also grew up hunting and got into archery when he...

If you enjoy a good meal with a glass of wine, Walla Walla, Washington has a lot to offer. And three of my friends from Walla Walla happen to know quite a bit about quality ingredients, food, and wine. Michelle and Michelle have owned and operated one of Walla Walla's best restaurants, Bacon and Eggs, for nearly a dozen years. Elaine co-owns and operates SuLei Cellars, where she makes award w...

It's interesting to think about the ancestors that came before us. The wars they fought, the migrations they made, and all their choices, big and small, led to where and who we are today. Most people don't know much about their family history past a couple of generations, and the stories they have are often embellished to the point of myth. I'm fortunate to know quite a bit of my fa...

Connection to place and community are terms we often throw around, but do we really know what they mean at their core? For me, this land, the 6 Ranch,  is the biggest part of who I am. And growing up in this small community shaped me. Cory Carman, a member of my community, is one of those people who understands. Cory grew up on a century old family ranch right here in Wallowa. With a desire to giv...

When it comes to safely and securely storing firearms, there's a lot of opinions and misinformation out there. Most people have one or two large, and often disorganized, gun safes that are heavy and awful to move. These safes are kept in obvious locations that thieves think to check first. They aren't truly fireproof or fail proof. But there are better options. To shed some light on what...

As is tradition, we're starting season 4 of the 6 Ranch Podcast on a spring bear hunting trip along the river. In this episode, we're talking ballistics as I'm joined by Joshua Manke and Weston Rogers of G9 Defense, an incredibly innovative ammunition company that is designing bullets with more accuracy and lethality. With a team of just 17 folks, G9 is not a big company, but they&a...

Robin Pace has spent literal years of her life on rivers. She’s been a rafting guide for the past 11 years, rowing some of the biggest whitewater out there. As a former guide myself with the same company, Robin and I had a good talk about all thing’s whitewater. We covered some basics like cooler hacks, gear preferences, and camp cooking, while also getting into it with stories of big water, injur...

Hells Canyon is a special place to me. The rugged terrain and powerful Snake River is beautiful, but harsh. My guest today, Mike Baird, has been guiding folks down the Snake for years and feels the same about it. I consider Mike's knowledge of Hells Canyon to be as encyclopedic as anyone out there. It was Mike who first taught me the history of the canyon on a guide training trip years ago, a...

It's tough to take life too seriously when you're drinking scotch with good friends. In this episode, I'm joined by my buddies Paul Pagano and Lyle Witherrite, to catch up on life and tell some war stories, while sneaking a few dad jokes into the mix. We also discuss leadership principles and share some of the greatest leaders we've had the privilege to work with in the Marines...

The timber industry has always been a part of western life, especially where I grew up in Wallowa County. As a kid, there were 5 sawmills here, running 24/7. But due to harvest regulation changes, there were zero by the time I graduated high school. A lot of hard-working folks lost their jobs overnight and our local economy was in crisis. David Schmidt was the first to open a new mill in the count...

Jeremiah Stent and his partner Aimee produce the best pork I've ever had in my life. As the owners of Square Mile Ranch here in Northeast Oregon, they operate a direct market meat business. On the hoof meat is a bit different than most folks are used to. When you buy pork or beef from them, you're buying that animal live, and you know it will be well cared for and killed humanly right on...

It's tough being a salmon. Very few fish survive to spawn, as they face seemingly insurmountable obstacles on their journey to the ocean and back. Obstacles that are naturally occurring, like predation, but many more that are human caused. From my home on the 6 Ranch, a juvenile salmon has to make it through 8 major dams before reaching the ocean, losing many siblings along the way. These fis...

When he was just seventeen, José Correa left his home in Mexico, and everything he'd ever known to come to the United States. He walked for ten straight days through the desert, with no food or water for the last three. I have to wonder, what situation could be so bad to make someone risk death just to come to America? In this episode, José shares the story of why he had to leave home, his lo...

This week's episode is a bit different than what you're used to. Instead of me asking all the questions, I'm going to be the one on the spot. My good friend and frequent guest on the show, Greg Jones, interviewed me in his stone house, armed with listener questions. This episode is less about giving advice, and more about just getting to know me. We discuss my love for my home, the...

I spent my summers during college fighting forest fires on a rappel crew. It was some of the toughest, most physically demanding work I've ever experienced, and I have a tremendous amount of respect for my fellow wildland firefighters. And as a rappeller, I also have a healthy rivalry with smokejumpers. My guest today, Ken Poole, was a smokejumper from 1977 to 1983. Over the course of his car...

When it comes to archery lethality and shot placement, there are tons of common misconceptions out there. Here to bust some of those myths is the incredibly knowledgeable  Dr. Randy Greenshields. Randy has been a practicing veterinarian for the past 29 years and has been bow hunting for just as long. With his extensive knowledge of animal anatomy and personal archery experience, Randy is the perfe...

Spearfishing is my favorite thing that I'm bad at. I'm absolutely fascinated by it, and how similar it is to bow hunting. Today, we've got a double header for you, two interviews with two different spearfishing experts, Steph Schuldt and Kiley Umeda. Steph gave up the corporate life, sold all her belongings, bought a sailing catamaran, and now lives in the Bahamas where she's i...