Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Podcast & Blast with Hal Herring

Hal Herring is one of the best outdoor journalists working today, and this podcast gives him the long-form format his reporting deserves. Produced by Backcountry Hunters & Anglers — the conservation organization that has become the political backbone of the public lands hunting movement — the show runs 225 episodes deep with a 4.8 rating from over 870 reviews. If you care about the future of hunting on public land in the American West, this is essential listening. The format is almost entirely long-form interviews, typically running 90 minutes to over two hours. Herring sits down with conservation biologists, policy advocates, ranchers, Indigenous land stewards, outdoor writers, and working-class hunters to discuss the forces shaping access to wild places. Episodes tackle mining threats to wilderness watersheds, stream access legal battles, prescribed fire policy, pronghorn migration corridors, and the quiet political fights that determine whether your favorite hunting area stays open or gets developed. This is not a tactics podcast. You will not learn how to call elk or set up a tree stand. Instead, you will understand why certain units produce fewer animals than they used to, why your hunting opportunity in a particular state changed, or why a piece of legislation matters more than it looks. Herring asks hard questions and lets his guests answer at length. The conversations are thoughtful, occasionally uncomfortable, and always grounded in genuine concern for wild country and the traditions that depend on it. For western hunters who want to understand the bigger picture, there is nothing else like it.