The Wallow Bull, the Grizzly Sow, and the Pack of Wolves — Stories From the Backcountry with Brandon Schmitz

Alright, if you want a raw, unfiltered elk hunting conversation from a guy who is absolutely obsessed with the game — this is your episode. Brandon Schmitz out of North Idaho joins the show for his very first podcast appearance, and let me tell you, this dude brings it. No fluff, no highlight reel — just honest elk hunting from a guy who has spent the last six years grinding through some of the most demanding country in the West.

Brandon didn't grow up with a silver spoon handed to him in the elk woods. His dad lost the fire for hunting after wolves moved into North Idaho and wrecked what used to be some of the best big game hunting in the country. So Brandon had to figure it out himself, and that journey is exactly what makes this conversation so good. From his very first elk hunt — where his cousin smoked a bull that basically walked up to a truck parked in the middle of the road — to going toe-to-toe with grizzly bears, packs of wolves, and rutting bull moose in the same drainage, this guy has seen it all.

Six-plus years in, Brandon still hasn't notched his tag, but don't let that fool you. This dude is FINDING elk — like, legitimately locating 20-plus bulls in a single season. The problem he keeps running into is the same one that trips up a ton of DIY hunters: closing the deal. We dig deep into that in this episode, and I think a lot of you guys are going to hear yourselves in Brandon's story.

We talk about the mental side of solo hunting, what it really means to "be in striking distance," how to work a bull when your setup goes sideways, the art of building a bull's ego so he's absolutely fired up the next morning, and why sometimes the laziest move IS the right move. We also get into the very real challenges of elk hunting in grizzly and wolf country, the predator management problem that nobody in power wants to touch, and what it's like to be solo in the woods surrounded by apex predators that don't have a healthy fear of humans anymore.

This is one of those conversations that reminds you why we love this thing so damn much — even when it's hard. Maybe especially when it's hard.

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