The Mindful Hunter Podcast

This week’s guest needs no introduction. You have seen his photos and videos for years. I sat down with Steven Drake, and we discussed his early exposure to hunting, a pivotal moment that changed the way he saw hunting, his approach to content creation and much more.   Steven Drake https://www.youtube.com/user/stevendrakemt https://www.instagram.com/stevendrakephoto     Jay Nichol jay@mindfulhunte...

Coming back with another Q&A episode. Tons of great questions this week such as my favourite piece of gear under $100, is upper body strength necessary, or should we just focus on legs and cardio, my archery setup this year, and much much more.   Jay Nichol jay@mindfulhunter.com https://www.mindful-reviews.com/ https://www.mindfulhunter.com/   Merch https://www.mindfulhunter.com/shop   Free Backco...

I decided to take a bit of a left turn with the podcast this week. Competing in the Toronto Pro Qualifier bodybuilding competition last weekend left me with a ton of insights that I felt the need to share. This episode is truly a blend of my business and hunting backgrounds. I dove into Michael Porter’s definition of competitive advantage and share a couple of frameworks from Jim Collins that can...

Well folks this one took a hard left turn. I have been running these headlamps since September of last year. I put the Fenix HM65R-T, Peax Backcountry Duo and Nitecore HC68 through the wringer in a major way. After testing and collecting data for 9 months I never foresaw the actual outcome that occurred. You need to watch this one to find out.   0:00 – Intro 0:14 – Mindful Reviews 1:50 – Nitecore...

For the next installment of The Founders Series, I sat down with Jim Graham of Marsupial Gear. It is incredibly impressive what Jim has been able to build since 2015 and what is even more helpful is Jim’s level of awareness about the challenges he faced and the tactics he used to overcome them. I learned a ton from this conversation, and I am sure you will too!   Marsupial Gear https://www.instagr...

This week I share my gear list for my upcoming sheep hunt and dive into gear related listener questions.     Jay Nichol jay@mindfulhunter.com https://www.mindful-reviews.com/ https://www.mindfulhunter.com/   Merch https://www.mindfulhunter.com/shop   Free Backcountry Nutrition Guide https://www.mindfulhunter.com/tools   Newsletter https://www.mindfulhunter.com/contact   IG https://www.instagram.co...

After years of testing, I firmly believe that quilts are a superior choice for backcountry hunting over sleeping bags. In this video, I give my top 5 reasons why and I also detail my entire deep winter and 3-season sleep systems.   Deep winter setup: Exped Ultra 7R Long Wide Enlightened Equipment Enigma Synthetic 20* Quilt Sea to Summit Thermolite Reactor Sleeping Bag Liner Puffy Layers   3-Season...

To enter the raffle join https://www.mindful-reviews.com/   This review has been over 2 years in the making. I have put these two 4 season shelters from Hilleberg and Stone Glacier through the wringer spending more than 20 nights in each of them in temps down to -25c, -10f with upwards of 12”-16” snowfall on some nights. Both the Sky Solus and the Soulo are premium tents but they also both have th...

This was the biggest Q&A I’ve ever had on the channel. I want to thank every single person that submitted a question. I did my best to answer them as thoroughly as possible.     Jay Nichol jay@mindfulhunter.com https://www.mindful-reviews.com/ https://www.mindfulhunter.com/   Merch https://www.mindfulhunter.com/shop   Free Backcountry Nutrition Guide https://www.mindfulhunter.com/tools   Newslette...

Well ladies and gentlemen this is either the podcast you’ve been waiting for or the one you’re gonna want to skip. If you’ve ever wondered why I am the way I am and how I do the things I do this podcast will give you those answers. I did my best to share my story through addiction and recovery as honestly and transparently as I could. Please keep an open mind.     Jay Nichol jay@mindfulhunter.com...

Well folks apparently last week, when I thought I posted this review I actually double-posted the first review. So here's a bonus episode to fix my screwup. Regularly scheduled new episode tomorrow as always.   Battery Banks For Backpacking Review I picked up 5 battery banks that are marketed at people who spend time in the backcountry and tried my best to figure out which one was best across a nu...

I'm down in AZ with the fam for some R&R so I am throwing up some recent reviews by request. Hope you enjoy and we'll be back to regularly scheduled programming next week.   Sitka Ambient vs. Heavyweight Hoody – Field-Tested Review After running both the Sitka Ambient Hoody and the Core Heavyweight Hoody back to back for the last year I put my final thoughts together in this field-tested review. L...

Pap has been one of my most requested guests and we finally got the chance to sit down and chat. First, we dove into Pap’s background growing up as a guide in AZ and then moved on to a Q&A. I apologize in advance if we did not get to your question, we crushed a two-hour podcast and just ran out of time. Pap has promised to come back on though and catch us up on his hunting adventures and answer an...

Ryan is one of my best internet friends and I’ve been meaning to get him on the podcast for a while. He’s got a super cool job as the captain of a sportfishing boat off the coast of southern California. He also gets after it and smokes good deer every year mostly in CA and AZ but branched out to ID this year. I really enjoyed this chat.    Mindful Reviews https://www.mindful-reviews.com/     Jay N...

Dove into some listener questions this week answering things like, the best early-season hiking boots, what bow release I use, book recommendations for entrepreneurs, and much more.      Mindful Reviews https://www.mindful-reviews.com/     Jay Nichol jay@mindfulhunter.com https://www.mindful-reviews.com/ https://www.mindfulhunter.com/   Merch https://www.mindfulhunter.com/shop   Free Backcountry N...

Before we dive into this week’s episode I want to mention that the Frontiersmen Gear film Through Our Eyes is premiering on March 18th at 6 pm PDT on YouTube. There will be a giveaway live during the premiere. Go follow Tanner on IG for more details.   https://www.instagram.com/frontiersmengear/   In this review I compare the two ultralight tripod pan heads; Tricer LP and Wiser PH-170 Nighthawk. W...

Welcome to my most ambitious review yet. I compare 6 popular 85mm spotting scopes: Swarovski ATX 85mm, Kowa TSN Prominar 88, Zeiss Conquest Gavia 85mm, Maven S.1A 80mm, and Zeiss Victory Harpia 85mm to give you a better understanding about what makes them different, and which one may be best for you. 100% unbiased, highly technical, and overly detailed, as always!   The raffle for the winning spot...

I’m back from my third winter goat hunt and while I did not kill a Billy I had a phenomenal hunt.   0:00 – Intro 2:16 – The hunt 7:50 – The difference between -10 and -20 13:40 – Limits of cannister stoves in very cold temps 16:30 – My daily routine 18:07 – My updated strategy 19:55 – Insulated booties 21:40 – Glassing strategies 26:10 – First goat of the trip 29:10 – Three Billy’s 34:40 – The lit...

Seeing as I am heading back in for another goat hunt I figured I'd post another review instead of skipping a week so here you go! After doing my initial 2-person 3-season category review of 9 tents I took my number one choice the Sea To Summit Telos TR2 on a sheep hunt. Unfortunately, I was met with unexpected and considerable water in the tent. Well, it has taken 6 months and a new tent being shi...

This week I do my best to answer all the questions I received regarding my solo winter mountain goat hunt.   0:00 – Intro 1:02 – Sea To Summit Telos TR2 Review 1:50 – Mindful Review updates 3:00 – Rokslide updates 4:15 – Influencer Economics 101 16:38 – Snowshoes vs. Skis 19:26 – Atlas vs MSR Snowshoes 22:55 – How would you escout differently in the future? 26:18 – Will you apply for the same LEH?...

Well, the title kind of says it all, if you want to hear the story check out the podcast. I also go through a bunch of house cleaning and had a few rants on various topics lol.     Jay Nichol jay@mindfulhunter.com https://www.mindful-reviews.com/ https://www.mindfulhunter.com/   Merch https://www.mindfulhunter.com/shop   Free Backcountry Nutrition Guide https://www.mindfulhunter.com/tools   Newsle...

Alright folks I failed to kill a goat, but I successfully made it back in one piece. In this week’s episode, I walk through every piece of gear I brought and discuss how it performed!     Jay Nichol jay@mindfulhunter.com https://www.mindful-reviews.com/ https://www.mindfulhunter.com/   Merch https://www.mindfulhunter.com/shop   Free Backcountry Nutrition Guide https://www.mindfulhunter.com/tools  ...

I’m still out of town goat hunting so I put the audio of two of my YouTube reviews from December up as an interim episode. See links below for YouTube videos.   FINAL REVIEW: Fierce CT Rival 300 PRC Leupold VX-5HD 3-15x44 https://youtu.be/ahHCjx5uFY0   Seek Outside 12 Man Tipi with XL Stove Review https://youtu.be/v3zJNeq-lVw     Jay Nichol jay@mindfulhunter.com https://www.mindful-reviews.com/ ht...

I’ve put both these binocular harnesses through the paces on multiple hunts over the last two years. I rank each one across 21 different categories and break down exactly why I prefer one of these for my particular hunting style.  0:00 – Intro 6:02 – 21 Categories 6:34 – Scoring System 7:14 – AGC Kodiak Cub Max 10:08 – Marsupial Bino Harness 11:34 – Price 12:03 – Colour Options 12:41 – Sizes 13:05...

Kevin is the co-host of The Focus Hunting Podcast and has been a good friend for a while and someone I look up to for his hunting skill and the way he conducts his life both on and offline. I wanted to get Kevin on over the holidays to catch up and see how his year went and what his plans are for 2023. Kevin is the type of hunter we should all try to be a little more like and I thoroughly enjoyed...