6 Ranch Podcast

Tyson Samples has been hunting elk as long as he could legally buy a license, bow hunting being his favorite method. In his day job, he owns his own welding and fabrication business and makes some unique and beautiful custom pieces. In this episode we sample homemade white-tail salami, and discuss my recent goose turned duck hunt, archery and why we love it, advice on calling bulls, and our lesson...

You might remember my guest today, Kevin Plew, from a previous episode where he told the story of being charged and attacked by a black bear. Besides surviving bear attacks, Kevin has been busy guiding elk and mule deer hunters and harvesting black-tail and waterfowl. Kevin has a knack for finding big mulies in places with very few deer. In this episode, we discuss mule deer tactics, common huntin...

Shane Brozowski, an Explosive Ordinance Disposal Technician and Blake Woestman, an electrician, have been friends since grade school. Growing up in Wisconsin, they've hunted their fair share of turkey, coyote and white-tail from tree stands, but were both unfamiliar with western hunting. A couple years ago, I advertised a learn to hunt course, and these two took me up on it. At the 6 Ranch Ou...

The legend of Claude Dallas; was he an old west outlaw living in modern times, or a coldblooded killer? In 1981, Claude Dallas shot and killed two state game wardens in the remote Owyhees of southwestern Idaho. He eluded capture for over fifteen months, was caught and sentenced, escaped from prison, and was recaptured again. Joining me to tell the story is my friend and frequent guest on the show,...

Very few hunters have as much knowledge and experience as Cliff Gray. For a decade, Cliff owned and operated Flat Tops Wilderness Guides, a massive outfitting operation guiding and packing into the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. At its peak, Cliff’s business ran 250 hunts a year, employed 20 guides, and owned 52 pack horses and mules. Cliff recently sold his guiding business to create educational co...

Ricky Forbes is one of the lucky few who found his passion in life and through hard work, managed to turn it into a career. The only catch, his passion is chasing dangerous tornadoes. Ricky is a a professional storm chaser, documenting the wildest storms on the planet through stunning photography and videography. For the past 11 years, he's witnessed some of nature's most terrifying disp...

This week, I’m joined by not one, but three fly fishing experts from across the U.S. Captain Lael Johnson moved from Topeka, Kansas to Seattle to become a fishing guide. He also founded the F•Y•S•H Foundation, an organization that promotes mental health by providing free fishing trips to trauma survivors, underprivileged, and at-risk people. My next guest, Jameson Redding, shares his passion for t...

Today, I'm joined by my little sister, Adele Schott, boss at the 6 Ranch, to share some updates on our business. Along with raising cattle, Adele has been running the business side of the 6 Ranch for a year now and is happy to announce that our Grassroots Beef Club is back. If you want to join the club and receive high quality, lean grass-fed Corriente beef on a regular basis, check out the l...

You could easily claim that Cole Hauter is an adrenaline junkie, though that’s not how he would necessarily describe himself. Cole learned to ride a motorcycle at the age of 5 and started desert racing when he was 11. He’s also been a white-water rafting guide for the past 7 years, often rowing a giant gear boat through Hells Canyon. In this episode, we discuss what it’s like to break both femurs,...

Josh Whi was born in South Korea and moved to Chicago at the age of 9. Now a U.S. citizen and first generation American, Josh has found his passion working in the firearms industry, both for Alpha Foxtrot and Paladin 33, and is doing some incredibly innovative things. In this episode, Josh shares his life story, from his childhood in two cultures, raised by traditional Korean parents, to his world...

Kainoa Delatori loves everything about archery season and is happy to share his knowledge with anyone who will listen. Raised in Wallowa County, he grew up hunting and steelhead fishing, with a turn at bull riding as a young man. Now, Kainoa's passion lies in archery hunting elk and mule deer. In this episode, Kainoa and I swap stories of our high school and college rodeo days, his favorite m...

I'll be the first to admit, I don't always like beavers. Of course, I recognize that beavers and fur trapping played a huge role in shaping the western United States. But I also don't like them cutting down trees on my property. That being said, I promised my guest this week, Ian Wilson, that I would keep an open mind. Ian is a huge proponent of beavers and their natural role on the...

I love tattoos and have been getting them for over 20 years now. My latest tattoo was done by Tim Biedron, an artist who recently moved to Joseph, Oregon and opened the only tattoo shop in the county. Tim is an extremely talented artist who's been tattooing in Chicago since the mid 90s. His style is unique and difficult to fit into a box. On top of that, he's an interesting guy who enjoy...

One year ago, Gary Shepard died for 15 minutes, then was brought back. So of course, I had to ask, what's it like to die? In this episode, Gary shares the story of his life. His childhood growing up hunting, trapping, and fishing in Montana. His time in Special Forces as a Green Beret during the Vietnam era. And his guiding philosophy, that today is enough. All you can do is try your very bes...

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...