Pursuit With Cliff - Cliff Gray

Brian Poor, a former Marine scout sniper and SWAT instructor who now teaches Western hunters through Gunwerks sat down with me to break down what actually matters when an animal gives you an opportunity at distance.
In this episode:
Why truing your ballistics is the #1 thing most long-range hunters skip — and why a half-minute error means you miss half the time at 800 yards
Why prone is overrated in the field
Loading the bipod, cant vs. pan, and the rear-rest mistake that sends 4 of 5 shots high
Buck fever decoded: why "timing" the trigger through the vitals is the worst thing you can do
The kneeling, reverse-slope tripod setup that keeps you concealed
Reading mountain wind, setting your real limit, and why a tricky day can cut 300 yards off your max
The four stock-design features Brian won't shoot without
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FOLLOW CLIFF
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/CliffGray
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Pursuit With Cliff Podcast
https://pursuitwithcliff.com/interviews-and-podcasts/

Cliff's Hunt Planning and Strategy Membership
 https://pursuitwithcliff.com/membership/

Hunt. Fish. Spear.  (Experiences, Courses and Seminars)
https://pursuitwithcliff.com/Experiences

Merch
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Joel Turner spent 11 years as a SWAT sniper instructor before becoming one of the most well known instructors in the hunting world. His take on why hunters miss is unlike anything you've heard — and it applies equally to archery and rifle.

We start with how bullets actually kill. From there we get into the pre-ignition flinch... why there's no such thing as a subconscious override of the central nervous system, what open loop vs. closed loop trigger press actually means, and why the fix isn't mechanics. The fix is speech. Joel's core argument: the skill is not in the shooting, it's in what you say in your head while you shoot.

In this episode:
Hydrostatic shock, the 2,200 fps threshold, and why a .22 Creedmoor can kill elk
Pre-ignition flinch — open vs. closed loop trigger press explained
Why talking yourself through the shot is the actual skill
The 2014 blacktail story — how Joel figured it all out in a rainy tree stand
Commentary shooting from police driver training and why it works for archery
Free diving and breath holds — why that culture already knows this
Hinge releases: when they're a fix for a mental problem vs. a legitimate choice
Elk calling — distress calf vs. bull calling cows bugle, and the textbook bull setup
The yo stop: why a bull whirling at 10 yards is a controlled shot, not a panic shot

Guest: Joel Turner — ShotIQ founder, former SWAT sniper team instructor, competitive barebow archer. 
Joel's elk calling app: https://www.mtnwispr.com/
Shot IQ: https://shotiq.com/
Instagram: @joelturner_actual

Chapters
00:00 How Bullets Actually Kill
04:44 The Flinch Mechanism
34:17 The 2014 Breakthrough
45:48 Commentary Shooting
51:44 Snap Shots & Mental Game
01:14:02 Listener Questions
01:20:33 Free Diving Parallel
01:41:22 Elk Calling System

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FOLLOW CLIFF
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/CliffGray
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/Cliffgry/
Facebook - https://facebook.com/PursuitWithCliff

Pursuit With Cliff Podcast
https://pursuitwithcliff.com/interviews-and-podcasts/

Cliff's Hunt Planning and Strategy Membership
 https://pursuitwithcliff.com/membership/

Hunt. Fish. Spear.  (Experiences, Courses and Seminars)
https://pursuitwithcliff.com/Experiences

Merch
https://pursuitwithcliff.com/shop/

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Colorado's Parks and Wildlife Commission now has zero experienced big game hunters on it. The chair is a former Humane Society attorney who spent his career suing game agencies. Six of ten commissioners voted to impose a commercial fur ban that their own agency and director recommended against — in writing — with five expert witnesses and a hundred years of combined expertise. Dan Gates was in every one of those meetings.

Dan Gates runs Coloradans for Responsible Wildlife Management and has been on the front lines of every major Colorado hunting fight for eight years — Proposition 127, Ordinance 308, wolf reintroduction, and now Initiative 302: a constitutional amendment to enshrine the right to hunt and fish in the Colorado State Constitution. We dig into what that right actually does, why 24 other states already have it, and how the Polis administration has strategically stacked the commission. We also cover two upcoming raffles — a Hill Ranch elk hunt and an Alaska salmon/halibut trip — that benefit CRWM's ground game on this fight.

In this episode:
What Initiative 302 actually says — and what it doesn't do
Why Colorado hunters don't currently have a constitutional right to hunt
How Governor Polis stacks anti-hunting commissioners
The March commission meeting — agency scientists overruled by commissioners who said "our values differ from your science"
Two commissioners forced to resign during Senate confirmation — what that means
Why 24 other states already have this right
The Hill Ranch elk raffle — 34 preference points required to draw, better odds in this raffle than the state draw
Alaska salmon/halibut fishing raffle — Sitka, two people, Reel Charters

Guest: Dan Gates — Executive Director, Coloradans for Responsible Wildlife Management. savethehuntcolorado.com
Raffle tickets: scicolorado.org — deadline June 12th, drawing June 15th. $50/ticket, 3 for $100.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/c.r.w.m/

 
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FOLLOW CLIFF
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/CliffGray
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/Cliffgry/
Facebook - https://facebook.com/PursuitWithCliff

Pursuit With Cliff Podcast
https://pursuitwithcliff.com/interviews-and-podcasts/

Cliff's Hunt Planning and Strategy Membership
 https://pursuitwithcliff.com/membership/

Hunt. Fish. Spear.  (Experiences, Courses and Seminars)
https://pursuitwithcliff.com/Experiences

Merch
https://pursuitwithcliff.com/shop/

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Evan Koster just got back from seven days of public land hunting in New Zealand — no helicopter, no lodge, no estate stags. He hunted tahr in a glacial valley and red stag in the Canterbury High Country with guide Jurgen, carrying everything on his back and doing 5,000 vertical feet of gain literally the day he got off the plane. This conversation is the honest version of New Zealand hunting.

We cover what the terrain actually looks like, why the tussock country and scrub edge are the game zone, how red stag compare to elk (less gregarious, more vocal, harder to call across open country), why Evan passed on stags he could have shot and ended up empty-handed on deer, and what New Zealand's hunting culture looks like when you get off the estate. We also get into the invasive species debate - tahr, red deer, and chamois are valued by hunters and locals but under real threat from eradication programs - and how New Zealand's model of wildlife conservation compares to ours. At the end, Evan and Cliff break down the hosted hunt partnership with Jurgen that LKS Outfitters is building - a public land backpack experience unlike anything being offered commercially right now.

In this episode:
5,000 vertical feet daily — what the terrain actually demands
Tahr country: navigating stream beds, impenetrable bush, and glacial basins
How red stag compare to elk — roar, rut, callability, and body size
Why a 12-point stag on public land is equivalent to a 340-inch bull in the Flat Tops
No seasons, no bag limits — and why hunters self-regulate anyway
The invasive species debate: eradication programs vs. a hunting culture fighting back
What Jurgen's New Zealand public land hunts actually look like
LKS Outfitters hosted hunts with Jurgen — what's coming and how to book

Guest: Evan Koster — Lead guide, LKS Outfitters / Flat Tops Wilderness Guides. Instagram: @lks_outfitters | flatTopswildernessguides.com
Jurgen's hosted hunts: Coming soon via LKS Outfitters website under Hunt categories. Inquire directly through Evan.

00:00 Chapter 1 - Harder Than Colorado?
09:52 Chapter 2 - Why No Helicopter
14:20 Chapter 3 - Hunting Culture & Invasive Species
26:03 Chapter 4 - Game Density Comparison
31:44 Chapter 5 - Red Stag vs. Elk
37:35 Chapter 6 - The Tahr Hunt
44:44 Chapter 7 - The Stag Hunt
01:02:29 Chapter 8 - Jurgen & The Hosted Hunts

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FOLLOW CLIFF
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/CliffGray
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/Cliffgry/
Facebook - https://facebook.com/PursuitWithCliff

Pursuit With Cliff Podcast
https://pursuitwithcliff.com/interviews-and-podcasts/

Cliff's Hunt Planning and Strategy Membership
 https://pursuitwithcliff.com/membership/

Hunt. Fish. Spear.  (Experiences, Courses and Seminars)
https://pursuitwithcliff.com/Experiences

Merch
https://pursuitwithcliff.com/shop/

SUBSCRIBE TO CLIFF'S NEWSLETTER:
https://PursuitWithCliff.com/#Newsletter

Craig Doria spent 30 years in Africa as a professional hunter in addition to running two anti-poaching operations in Zambia and Tanzania. He's also just written Bateleur, a suspense thriller built on all of it.
 
We cover what poaching actually looks like from the inside: the subsistence guy with a muzzleloader trying to feed his kids, the 150-snare line bisecting the wildebeest migration corridor, the zebra hide operation running skins through a cattle tannery and across borders, and the ivory networks.

From there we get into buffalo hunting (Craig's pick for the best hunting still available — hundreds of hunts, multiple close calls), elephant hunting and the weight it carries, two helicopter crashes during anti-poaching operations, and a closing conversation about what happiness really looks like when you've spent your life tracking wounded buffalo through thick bush — and what you give up to get it.

Craig Doria — Professional hunter (Zambia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe), anti-poaching operator, Author of Bateleur (Whistling Thorn Press).
Available on Amazon (hardcover and Kindle) https://amzn.to/3RMGGcY
Signed copies direct: craig.doria@gmail.com | craigdoriasafaris.com

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FOLLOW CLIFF
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/CliffGray
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/Cliffgry/
Facebook - https://facebook.com/PursuitWithCliff

Pursuit With Cliff Podcast
https://pursuitwithcliff.com/interviews-and-podcasts/

Cliff's Hunt Planning and Strategy Membership
 https://pursuitwithcliff.com/membership/

Hunt. Fish. Spear.  (Experiences, Courses and Seminars)
https://pursuitwithcliff.com/Experiences

Merch
https://pursuitwithcliff.com/shop/

SUBSCRIBE TO CLIFF'S NEWSLETTER:
https://PursuitWithCliff.com/#Newsletter