Trail To Adventure

Have men in today's world been robbed of their leadership and masculinity?  Has our media and entertainment stripped the strength from our men… or have we given it away freely? On today's program, we will meet with a father and son who love the outdoors…  Fishing, hiking, skiing and more…   But they choose to spend much of their time on a different endeavor; building strong relationships that help...

All of us have struggles to overcome in life.  For some it might seem like a small hurdle and for others it might feel like we've come up against a grizzly bear. Well one of this week's guests, Jim VanSteenhouse, was in fact attacked by a monster grizzly bear in the Northern Canadian Mountains. He was slowly bleeding to death and God spared his life. Up until that point, our guest was running as f...

Most men, woman, and children on earth go through something that seems to stop the world from turning and changes their direction forever. It might be an illness, a near death experience, the loss of a loved one, or something else. Whatever it is, it will be a crossroad in life. At that point, we will decide what direction our life will take from that day forward. Today's guest, Cam Tribolet, had...

The sounds of Solitude. In today's world, we rarely get to experience true solitude, as there are few places that offer it. In NW Ontario, on a secluded fly in only lake, there is still such a place; A place where  the only sounds are of water lapping against the side of the fishing boat or shoreline, the lonesome call of the loons, the rushing wind as it blows through the tall spruce, or the stil...

Each and everyone of us have a special need in our life. Some of our needs are more visible than others and for all of us, there is a special need that is only known by God Himself. Our host, Dean, has been  so blessed to spend 20 years of hunting camps with those with special  needs, both physical and spiritual special needs. On this weeks show, we'll hear from a friend who was born with physical...

In every life there is a point with sudden change. For some it's the loss of a loved one, a medical emergency, a financial disaster, loss of a body part through military situations, an accident, or foolish choices. On today's show, we will visit with Dusty Ruiter, a young man who has been living out the dream of many young outdoors men and women. Then, in one somewhat foolish choice, his life chan...

Happy New Year! We wish you a godly and blessed 2024. With our first year behind us, we want to share a story of new hope and new beginnings. All of us are in battles in our lives. Some our spiritual battles, some are physical and some are military. Then there are some battles that are a combination of all three.  When this happens, lives are changed, sometimes for the best and sometimes not so go...

Happy New Year. It's hard for us to believe that a full 52 weeks have passed since I was blessed to take over the reigns for the founder and original host, Gerry Caillouet.   The year has flown by and now we are heading into another year. This being our last week of 2023, we found It fitting to visit with an old friend of God's Great Outdoors and Gerry himself. He has assisted on some of the TRAIL...

Merry Christmas. In all of God's creation, in His Great Outdoors, we see trees all around us.  When we aren't seeing trees, if we look around we can see many things made from the wood that came from trees.  When we think of it, Jesus was laid in a manger at His birth, most likely made of wood. At His death, He died on a cross of wood. From beginning to the end of the  life of Christ, we see trees....

Every one of us will face struggles, big and small, throughout our lives. Some of the struggles will be easily overcome and others will drag us down if we attempt to take them on all on our own. On today's show, Clayton Porter, a good friend of our host, will share some exciting hunting stories and then he will share some of the struggles he has faced in his life and how he got through them. It wa...

One of the first things that Jesus told His disciples was recorded in Matthew 4:19 when He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of people." This week's guest left a life of drugs, alcohol and a multitude of other sins and when he did, he looked for ways to serve the Lord.  Being a serious fisherman and hunter, he was excited to find a way to use his passion to serve the Lord. One...

Teaching our youth to love and appreciate the outdoors is something that we need to do to maintain our hunting and fishing heritage. It is the same with our love for Jesus Christ.  We need to pass the gospel message on to all those who are coming behind us. Our world is reaping the fruit of not teaching our children what God expects of them. Many children are pointed towards Jesus Christ and then...

It's November and the whitetail deer rut is on across much of North America. People all over the deer hunting world are gathering together in tents, campers, tar paper shacks and cabins to share time together. Hunting is the purpose, but the camp and it's atmosphere is what most of them long for throughout the other 51 weeks of the year. Hunting and fishing camps are places that men, women and chi...

In each of our lives we feel we have a vision for where we should end up. On the trail to adventure in life, if we remain open to God's leading we might not be where we thought we would be but we will always end up in the right place. As a follow up to last week's show where we learned from Skipper Bettis about Quest Ministries and how that came about, this week we hear from his son, Colby, on whe...

The whitetail hunting family is a huge group. There are few names that have carried through generations. Today's guest, Skipper Bettis, is a man who helped bring the management of whitetails from Texas to the Midwest and has taught many others how to manage their herds. Having left Texas as a very young man, he traveled to the NW Territory and British Columbia before settling into Michigan.  On to...

  There are few things better in a hunting camp than someone that can play the guitar, unless it is someone who can play the guitar and cooks and does the dishes.   This week's show finds our host Dean Hulce and his wife Linda at Two Hats Ranch in Big Rapids, Michigan where they serve each year with Quest Ministries. They host one hunt for special needs young people and then a hunt for Purple Hear...

Sometimes a story is just so good we have to break it up and not tell the entire thing.  Well, that's the case this week. In last week's program we told you about the childhood and the beginning of the slide into a life of sin of a country music star.  This week we try to fit the rest of the amazing story in.   God's perfect plan for His children is never to have them self-destruct, hurting themse...

Many of us have lived out parts of our lives held by the chains of bad decisions and choices.  Today's guest had spent much of his early life chasing squirrels through the southern woods and behind a keyboard in church and often in places not quite so godly.  He's been on stage to receive a Grammy and other awards.  But a life lived in chains brought his life and career to a screeching halt. Throu...

Every one of us at sometime in our lives feels as though we are fighting off aligators as we traverse through our day to day struggles. On today's show, we will hear from a friend of our host that has a hobby of catching aligators. He has turned this passion into a place where people can come and be in close proximity to the gators and at the same time attend an amazing event.  Once a month, men f...

here's an old saying that goes, "There are no atheists in a fox hole". This week, we'll hear that the same is true in a prisoner war camp. All of us have been in a prison in our lives at some time or another. Sin has put many of us in a prison of our own making through our lives. On this week's show, we'll meet a deer hunter that spent a year in a North Korean prison, often being beaten daily.  We...

Everyone of us in the USA owes a great debt of gratitude to so many that have willingly gone out to protect our freedoms.  The old saying, "all gave some, but some gave all" is made clear on this week's program as we talk to a retired special service veteran who today is still giving of himself to serve those who gave so much.  Come along on the Trail to Adventure as we visit with the head of the...

The trumpet and bugle have been used for generations to call us together, to wake soldiers up in the morning and put them to bed. We raise and lower the flag to the sound of the horn and we say goodbye to our fallen soldiers.  Someday, maybe soon, it will call all God's children home to be with Him for all eternity. On this weeks show, our  guest is known around the world for his trumpet playing,...

In today's outdoor world, fishermen and hunters alike work hard to manage their lands and water. They remove old timber and invasive weeds all for the betterment of the resource, to set free the new growth of a healthy life.  On today's show, we'll visit with an outdoorsman who not only loves to manage lands for outdoor activities but also helps others spiritually by pointing them towards a life t...

The giant aspens of the western mountain are one of the largest known organisms in the world. It is not well know that many of the large groves of aspens are all connected to one another.  The roots grow out from one tree and often send up shoots that become another tree. Often times Ministries grow in the same fashion. One ministry sets roots and grows and as it matures, it sends out roots and a...

God gives all of His children gifts that are meant to be used to His glory. Some of our gifts prove that God has a sense of humor. Today's guest has spent his entire life traveling from town to town all around North America singing, playing his collection of harmonicas and doing an amazing impersonation of one of the most loved TV stars of the 1960's, Barney Fife. He still travels and shares God's...