The Stickboys Podcast

This week Alan Altizer is joined by his good friend Aaron Miller. Many hunters dream of going on an out of state hunt in pursuit of a trophy of a lifetime but never cross their state lines due to not knowing how to get started in the planning of a hunt. Aaron shares in detail the planning and execution of the various steps that he implemented to draw an Iowa tag, planning the hunt, scouting, and execution of his hunt. The luckiest hunters are generally those that work the hardest and smartest. You will follow Aaron’s path over several years of planning in getting to Iowa and his day-to-day decision-making process once he was on the hunt. Set in on the conversation as Aaron generously shares his perspectives on what it takes to plan a hunt of a lifetime.

This week Alan Altizer is joined by Montana bowhunter Brian Koelzer. The truth is this podcast was recorded prior to Brian’s episode on the wind. Brian and Alan share their perspectives on the magic of hunting with a traditional bow and what it has meant to them though out their lives. Brian shares his 2024 Grizzly Hunt with us, as well as what it was like growing up in Montana with so many of the trad legends as mentors. These guys love traditional bowhunting and both work towards its future for the upcoming generations. Most of all, they share how much fun it is hunting with a stick and string.

Join us for Part 2 of the 2024 Moose hunt in Alaska’s wilderness. Our friends Bryan Burkhardt and Jim Eeckhout were once again kind enough to record and share their 2024 Alaskan Moose hunt. As the 2024 deer season winds down, we are excited to bring their hunts to you. Their incredible day-to-day adventures are the things most of us only dream about. So set back and join them by the fire as they share their sixteen-day Alaskan Moose Adventure.

Join us again for a trip to Alaska’s wilderness. Our friends Bryan Burkhardt and Jim Eeckhout were once again kind enough to record and share their 2024 Alaskan Moose hunt. As the 2024 deer season winds down, we are excited to bring their hunts to you. Their incredible day-to-day adventures are the things most of us only dream about. So set back and join them by the fire as they share their sixteen-day Alaskan Moose Adventure.

This week Alan Altizer is joined by the original “Stickboy”, Dalton Lewis, in the finale of the “Secrets of the Wind” series. In Part 5 of this series, Alan and Dalton break down the physical components of the wind and how animals utilize them on a day-to-day basis. Dalton shares his belief in the importance of understanding the animal’s perspective when hunting mature animals. Enjoy this episode as these two discuss hunt strategies from scouting, approach, setups, and execution in gaining opportunities at trophy class animals. Whether you’re a trad hunter, compound hunter, or a gun hunter, “The Stickboys” hope this series will provide you the listeners, a wealth of knowledge and improve your woodsmanship.

This week Alan Altizer is joined by Montana bowhunter Brian Koelzer for a western perspective in Part 4 of the “Secrets of the Wind” series. Brian is one of the most successful traditional bowhunters hunting today. Having grown up as the son of trad legend Scott Koelzer, Brian also grew up hanging out with many of the other legends of Montana’s traditional bowhunters. As an adult Brian has greatly expanded his bowhunting knowledge as he has successfully pursued big game throughout North America, including Grizzly and his specialty, trophy Mule deer inside 10 yards with a trad bow. Brian’s perspective and approach on how to hunt the wind whether hunting Ohio whitetail, Montana elk, Wyoming Mule deer, or Alaskan grizzly has led to his amazing success in taking some incredible animals. Join Alan as Brian graciously shares his knowledge of hunting the wind.

This week Alan Altizer is joined by his good friend Nathan Killen in Part 3 of the “Secrets of the Wind” series. Nathan is one of the most knowledgeable mountain whitetail hunters in North America. His ability to locate mature, public land whitetail bucks is hinged on his understanding of how the bucks utilize wind on a daily basis. Nathan constantly refines his knowledge of the secretive haunts of these bucks which is apparent with his ability to find their beds and sheds. His understanding of topography’s effects on wind is unsurpassed. Set in on the conversation as Nathan generously shares his perspectives on what it takes to kill a mature mountain buck.

This week Alan Altizer is joined by his good friend Aaron Miller in part 2 of the “Secrets of the Wind” series. Alan considers Aaron to be one of the most knowledgeable whitetail hunters in North America. Aaron’s success with a longbow and wood arrows on mature whitetail throughout North America is the result of years of quantitative studies, field experience, and hard work. His understanding of the winds of the whitetail and how mature bucks utilize it in varying environments has led to the demise of countless whitetail. Set in on the conversation as Aaron generously shares his perspectives on what it takes to kill a buck of a lifetime. This series will continue over several episodes as Alan interviews some of the most successful traditional bowhunters he knows as they discuss each of their approaches on hunting the wind. Trad bow range does not allow for mistakes, so these guys have to have a solid understanding and approach. This series will provide listeners a wealth of knowledge and improve your woodsmanship.

This week Alan Altizer begins the start of the “Secrets of the Wind” series. This five-part series begins by breaking down the physical components of the wind and how animals utilize them on a day-to-day basis. Alan stresses the importance of understanding the animal’s perspective, not the hunter’s, when hunting mature animals. Once the hunter understands the animal’s needs, they can then greatly increase their opportunities at trophy class animals. This series will continue over several episodes as Alan interviews some of the most successful traditional bowhunters he knows as they discuss each of their approaches on hunting the wind. Trad bow range does not allow for mistakes, so these guys have to have a solid understanding and approach. This series will provide listeners a wealth of knowledge and improve your woodsmanship.

TBM Owner, T.J. Conrads and former PBS President Jim Akenson introduce the newly formed Traditional Bowhunters Hall of Fame. The Traditional Bowhunters Hall of Fame Inc. was created to preserve the rich history of bowhunters who hunt with longbows, recurves, and selfbows. The organizational goal of TBHOF is to recognize and honor individual sportsmen, women, adventurers, conservationists, and craftsman. Some have gone on before us and some are still here today!

Gene Wensel graciously shares stories of floating Jay Massey's Moose John River in Alaska with his friend Paul Bruner in pursuit of moose and caribou. Jay was one off the incredible outdoorsmen in modern times and defined the best parts of traditional bowhunting while living the ethics of the hunt. So, pull up a chair and join Gene and Alan Altizer as they pay tribute to Jay's life. God bless the "The Pathfinder".

On this episode, Alan and Dalton talk adaption in the whitetail woods as the season progresses. Join in on this woodsman-centric conversation!

Pull up a chair and join in on a discusion between Alan Altizer and Dalton Lewis on early season shooting, scouting, and setups in preparation for the opening of season. This is a continuation of Early Season Techniques which featured Nathan Killen in Part 1. These two buddies discuss their approaches and reasoning utilized to zero in on locations which will provide shot opportunities in early season. By the way, by the time this one is released, one nice buck could have testified these techniques work, if he was still alive!! "Dalton sure just proved it!!"

Hunting season is nearly here. Join friends Nathan Killen and Alan Altizer as they sit down to discuss advanced methods of scouting and setting up on whitetail, with a heavy focus on older class bucks. These two discuss in great detail their approaches to early season whitetail. This is woodsmanship at a top level.

On May 26, 2024, we lost our friend and PBS member Stanley Rodrigue. Stanley not only bowhunted the right way, he loved his family and friends as he lived his life the right way. Share with us this tribute to this good man's life.

This week Alan Altizer sets down with his friend Gene Wensel to discuss Gene's bow hunting career outside of the whitetail world. Gene has taken countless species with traditional equipment from Alaska to Africa. Gene not only shares many of these stories, but passes on some sound wisdom, laughs, and great life stories.

This week, Alan Altizer is joined by Virginia bowhunter Rob Burnham. Rob is one of the most gracious members of PBS, freely giving of his time and talents in support of bowhunting. Having bowhunted since the 1970s, Rob's adventures have carried him throughout North American and Africa. Join us as Rob and Alan spend the early morning hours before church reminiscing about nearly fifty years of bowhunting experiences.

This week Alan is joined by a great friend of Gene Wensel's, Chris Blaskowski. Chris has bowhunted throughout North America, having taken numerous species with a traditional bow. His successful career has led him to being named the Montana Bowhunter of the year on two occasions. But tonight, heavy attention is placed on lion hunting with a twist and his pal Cain.

Join us this week as Dalton sits down with Clay Epperson, a hog's absolute worst nightmare. Clay lives in Texas, and finds himself chasing hogs all night more times than not. His approach is unique, and extremely fun. He has been particularly successful in recent weeks, as environmental factors have had the hogs up early and often. We talk night hunting hogs, bowhunting hogs in general, and gameplan on our hunt early next month. Enjoy!

On this episode, Dalton sits down with Mike Funderburk from Hunt Better. Mike is a new traditional bowhunter, having just completed his first full season with a stickbow, after years of being very successful with a compound. Topics covered include struggles of getting started, common problems for beginners, remedies, and of course a lot of laughs along the way. Check it out--especially if you're a new, or about to be a new traditional bowhunter.

We're all bears this week on the pod as Dalton is joined by Curt Cabrera, Cade Cabrera, and "BigEd" Schlimme. With that kind of crew there's bound to be some laughs! This crew will be headed north in a couple of weeks, so they talk stories from last year as well as strategies and excitement for this year. Check it out!

We've heard it said before that a wild hog is a "poor man's Grizzly." However you want to describe them, they're a ton of fun and a great animal to bowhunt! On this episode, Dalton and Alan talk everything hogs with a canoe full of stories included! Check it out!

On this week's Woodmanship episode, it's all turkeys! Dalton and Alan sit down and break down a few woodsmanship details that could make all the difference for you this Spring!

This week we're joined by our good friend Tim Jones to talk about calling bears. In many areas of Appalachia, baiting bears isn't legal and bowhunters have to learn to rely on other tactics. Tim discusses how he utilizes woodsmanship and predator calls to draw them in close!

This week we are joined by two fellow PBS members, Eric Lindner and Ethan Neidhart. Eric is a long time traditional bowhunter. Ethan is a 19 year old bowhunter that decided to start building bows at the age of 16, and took it upon his self to learn the craft. As fate would have it, he then met Eric and the mentoring began. This is a great story and classic example of what traditional bowhunting, as well as what PBS is all about!

At the recent PBS gathering in Lexington, we had the pleasure to meet a couple of great guys that are as ate up with traditional bowhunting as we are! Fernando and Poncho operate Stickbow Hunts, MX in Durango, Mexico. They offer hunts for Gould's turkey, Coues deer, hogs, and javelina. After visiting with them in Lexington, it didn't take us long to book a trip! They are in beautiful country in the Sierra Madre's, have fantastic accommodations, and lots of critters.... what more could a bowhunter ask for?!

This week Norm Johnson joins Ethan for a recap of the 2024 Lexington, Ky PBS Gathering. It was a fantastic time had by all and one of the most successful gatherings to date. With record attendance, donations, and new attendees, it was a lot to keep up with but very much worth the effort!

This week we'll be in Lexington for the Bi-Annual PBS banquet in Lexington. We figured we'd re-release one of our older episodes with Joey Buchanan to listen to some turkey stories! Joey is one of our favorite guests, and is hilarious to boot! If you like chasing turkey or not, you're gonna love this one!

This week the guys sit down to talk about lessons learned, lessons re-learned, what worked, and what didn't. From the use of terrain to being to aggressive or not aggressive enough, we bowhunters should strive to learn something each and every time we're in the woods!

This week our good buddy from Australia, Jack Spinks joins us for the podcast. Anyone familiar with Jack knows two things, he's hilarious, and he kills way more than his share of critters with a bow and arrow! Jack and his mates recently returned from what can only be described as an EPIC Asiatic water buffalo hunt. Along with more fun than should legally be allowed, the boys learned some pretty interesting things along the way in regards to hunting arrows, and Jack shares some of that with us this week. Topics discussed were hunting buffalo, arrow correction time and archers paradox, no substitute for experience, practicality, and common sense.

On this week's episode, our friend Matt Stoutjesdtk takes the helm for us and visits with Jerry Brumm and Rick Shephard of Great Northern Bowhunting. Both Rick and Jerry's history in traditional bowhunting goes way back. These guys have contributed to the traditional bowhunting world more than most probably realize, and we are absolutely stoked to have gotten this great conversation with two legends recorded and documented to share!

On this week's episode, our friend Matt Stoutjesdtk takes the helm for us and visits with Jerry Brumm and Rick Shephard of Great Northern Bowhunting. Both Rick and Jerry's history in traditional bowhunting goes way back. These guys have contributed to the traditional bowhunting world more than most probably realize, and we are absolutely stoked to have gotten this great conversation with two legends recorded and documented for everyone to share!

This week Cade Cabrera joins Dalton on the podcast to talk about an often overlooked topic. Cade grew up grounded in the outdoors, especially bowhunting. Like many young people, high school, college, and starting the process of finding your way in life can lead to drifting away from that love. Fortunately, those distractions tend to ease a bit and the love for the outdoors returns with a passion. Cade is a prime example of this and talks about his return to bowhunting with a deeper love that we all share. This is a great episode for younger people, as well as those of us that are a little older with kids at this stage of life!

This week our buddy Michael Arnette of Tall Tines Archery and his lovely wife Amanda join us to talk about hunting with your spouse. Michael and Amanda discuss the challenges and benefits of that, as well as managing expectations and some advice for getting started. They also share some pretty cool hunting stories along the way!

This week our friend Mike Mitten joins us on the podcast. Mike is a well respected bowhunter and well known for his solo wilderness adventures. That solo spirit was shared by the late Bart Schleyer of Wyoming. Bart lived an incredible life and was very likely among one of the best bowhunters and woodsman to ever carry a stick and string. As well as being kindred spirits, Mike and Bart were also friends. On this episode Mike shares stories about Bart's life and adventures.

This week we're joined by Matt Beisswanger of Pennsylvania. Matt has been hunting a small farm in the Midwest for over two decades. In that time he's learned the property intimately, and puts a ton of time into scouting, learning individual deer, and keeping up with the subtle changes on the farm and the surrounding area... all part of great woodsmanship. This past season was a phenomenal one for Matt and he tells us all about it!

We're back! Hope everyone enjoyed a great Christmas! Our good friends Bryan Burkhardt and Ben Pinney had a great adventure on Kodiak this past season. They were kind enough to record their adventures for us, and we think you'll really like it. Time spent with good friends is always time well spent, but time spent with good friends on a wilderness adventure can't be beat!!

This week Nathan joins us to talk about the importance of sticking it out! As hunters, we all make plans for our hunts. As traditional bowhunters especially it usually takes a while for those plans to work out. This episode is all about hanging in there and giving things time to play out, increasing your chances by playing the odds, and enjoying the process.

This week Noah Booth joins us on the podcast. Noah is a great young man that hales from Illinois where he chases big mid western stud whitetails using woodsmanship and hard work. He's had a fantastic season this year taking two bruiser bucks, including one absolute giant! Noah shares that story as well as some of his elk hunting adventures. In a world of people wanting instant success, its' super refreshing to talk to you a young man that enjoys the hardwork that goes in to being successful with the bow and arrow, and furthermore enjoys it!

This week Maribeth has a great chat with Meredith Powroznik, a Virginia bowhunter with a passion for adventure. In this episode, you can clearly hear Meredith's love for her father, family, and bowhunting with a traditional bow and arrow! She and Maribeth have a great conversation from a ladies perspective on whitetails, elk, family, adventure, and everything in between. Be sure to give this one a listen, we think you'll love it!

This week our good buddy Tyler Ross with Timberninja Outdoors joins us to talk about native habitat, soil, Southern Appalachia forests, and explain what the heck a "destructive dependent ecosystem" is. Tyler is a dedicated conservationist in the true sense of the word. He's worked as a Soil and Water Conservation District Director in North Carolina, and has served in many capacities with several national conservation organizations throughout the years. This is a great episode with tons of little nuggets every woodsman can store away in our toolbelts. Definitely want to give this one a listen!

This week our buddy Aaron Miller joins us to talk about a recent successful hunt on a beautiful mature midwestern whitetail. Aaron is as woods savvy as they come and this story is full of little golden nuggets of woodsmanship! You don't want to miss this one!

Every serious whitetail hunter knows about Mel Johnson's world record typical archery buck, scoring 204 1/2". Many of us older bowhunters can remember staring wide eyed at glossy images of Mel and the giant in the pages of Outdoor Life and bowhunting magazines long ago. But not to many people likely know much about Mel himself. Humble and very down to earth, Mel didn't seek the attention and fame that could have easily came along with taking such a magnificent animal. Mel was a father figure, mentor, and friend to our buddy Rick Snell, and this week Rick shares some of the memories he and Mel shared along the way, from the Midwest to Alaska. Super cool glimpse into the man so many of us know of, but not many of know about.

Join us for part 2 of Bryan Burkhardt and Jim Eeckhout's Alaskan Moose hunt campfire chat and recap! Jim and Bryan have spent considerable time in the Alaskan bush over the years. This recap is a great perspective on adventure and what's really important on a remote bow hunt. Special thanks to both Bryan and Jim for taking the time to share this awesome adventure with us!

Our good friends Bryan Burkhardt and Jim Eeckhout were kind enough to record live updates each evening on their recent moose hunt. And once again, we are excited to bring it to you! So sit back and enjoy the fire side chat of another great Alaskan Moose Adventure!

We sit down this week with our buddy Alan Altizer to talk about our favorite subject! Alan talks specifically about patterning deer at specific times of the year, and lots of general great tidbits on learning how to become a better woodsman!

This week Jeff Holchin joins Dalton and Alan to talk about his recent solo moose adventure. Jeff is the epitome of a down to earth, blue collar, good Christian man! Jeff recently returned from a successful Alaskan adventure. Jeff shares the story and discusses the adventure, enjoying the entire process, and getting charged by a mad moose!

This week Brian Wessel joins Alan and Ethan for a great conversation a bout faith, family, friend, balancing life and bowhunting. Brian has traveled extensively bowhunting critters from Alaskan grizzly bears, African game, and everywhere in between. Brian is a very humble guy that loves everything about bowhunting, and definitely loves the pursuit of game with the bow and arrow for pure and simple reasons! Great chat and we think you're gonna love it!

This week Alan and Ethan talk about what happens following the shot. Lots of things happen in an incredibly short amount of time. the guys talk about things to look and listen for and all the little clues gathered to make important decisions for retrieving animals. Good woodsmanship discussion that probably doesn't take place enough!

Episode 21, re-release On this episode we sit down with two of the most knowledgeable woodsmen we know. Alan and Nathan discuss in detail the skills we can all improve on to become better woodsman. If you're new to traditional bowhunting or hunting in general, or a seasoned veteran you can gain a lot of information from this one!