A little bit of a State of the Union so to speak. For those who just recently started listening, I wanna say welcome to the show. This past year has been a whirlwind and I know there are a ton of new listeners. I have to admit, back when I started this whole little podcast thing, it stemmed from the selfish desire to ask questions and learn more from those ahead of me. I was so bored of the 500-word magazine articles that merely toted the “five tips to killing the bull of a lifetime”. Even the hunting books that only covered a general outline and the basics of hunting were a snooze. I had been listening to podcasts for years about all kinds of random topics and loved how much the platform allowed you to nerd out on a specific topic. Somewhere along the way, in my desire to learn more, ask better questions, and hear great hunting stories, I realized that there are a lot of people in my shoes as well. I am not the best hunter by any stretch of the imagination, nor do I seek fame in any sense of the word. To be honest, I despise it, because ego is the enemy, but if my journey to be a little better and push myself a little harder every year motivates you to get after it as well, then awesome. I can’t tell you how awesome it is to get success photos and messages thanking the podcast for their success. If one of the byproducts of me getting excited about September is motivating others to get after it, that’s great!

Last year, in an attempt to just be able to do an elk podcast every week, we launched a little thing called Wapiti Wednesday. At the time, it was intended to be a shorter 20-30 minute show on elk hunting, but when the first 2-3 episodes went well over an hour, I knew there was no way to cut Wapiti Wednesday down to a short conversation nor was there a need to. In fact, the Elk Nut episode went nearly 3 hours and I can’t tell you how many people told me they listened to that episode multiple times. Then, with a quality Mule Deer tag in my pocket, I figured I better learn as much as I can about that, so we launched Muley Monday as well. Now I like to give a little grief to all my buddies, telling them that chasing elk is much better than the chasing stinky jackrabbits with horns on their heads, but chasing mule deer is definitely growing on me. Now that I live in a state with killer mule deer hunting and terrible blacktail hunting, I may spend a little more time chasing sticky mule deer bucks. If only for the fact that I need redemption and love the new challenge.

I have been getting pounded with questions about when Wapiti Wednesday and Muley Monday are coming back. To say that they were a huge hit is quite the understatement. I can’t thank you all enough for tuning in every week. My original plan was to run Wapiti Wednesday and Muley Monday from June to October, however, if the death threats to bring you more don’t stop, we may have to bump those up to may. Your guys’ support has been amazing and I can’t thank you enough. 2018 is no different and we plan to bring you a lot more. Muley Monday will be back, Wapiti Wednesday will be back, and we’re adding a Tag Tuesday from time to time though probably not every Tuesday for draw season. We will also still be here every Thursday for more great interviews with an even wider spectrum of personalities, and yes, more of The Walt and Dave Show. Again I can’t thank you guys and gals enough for the support and I hope to keep this show a good mix of whatever I find interesting albeit sometimes random, and more of what you guys want to hear, including doing some live podcasts.

That being said, our first live podcast is scheduled for January 6th in Longview, Washington at the Columbia Theatre. I’m pretty pumped for this actually. The Born and Raised Outdoors crew and the Phelps Game calls guys are all really, really good dudes and good friends, and what better way to do your first live podcast than to get your elk hunting buddies together and shoot the shit. The Land of the Free project that they have been doing is amazing and I couldn’t be happier for their success. You won’t find many people who will outwork those guys and they have been working toward this success for a long damn time. For the live podcast will do a podcast with the whole crew, and then do Q&A segment, as well as a meet and greet. I think it is almost sold out, so if you want tickets better hurry. So long as this isn’t a complete failure, then I would imagine we’ll be doing more of these in 2018.

I also have a big announcement that I have been working on for the last couple of months and would love your input on.

It all started as a hair-brained idea last summer, and if you know me, my brain produces those about every three to five seconds. So, like most hair-brained ideas I didn’t give it much further thought. This little gem though kept popping back into my head over and over, and initially, I put it off because honestly, I just did not have the time to stack another thing on my plate. However, like any good idea does, it persisted. Now, over the years I have come to learn to not just dive into something right away (pun totally intended) but to wait until the excitement wears off. If it still seems like a good idea, then maybe it is worth pursuing. So, over the course of hunting season, I kicked around the idea even more and talked it over with hunting buddies. (Which, let’s be honest, hunting camp has been the sounding board of both great ideas and terrible ones for probably hundreds of years.)

The concept actually stems from my own personal needs. I was sitting there one day and thought, “I wish there was one of those subscription boxes that would send me all the bars and meals that I use for hunting.” For one, I feel like there are a ton of companies constantly popping up producing cool new products, and I would love to try them all, whether it be Off Grid Food Company, Dark Timber Coffee, Heather’s Choice, Humble Foods, Green Belly or Big Sur bars, there are so many options and they all take time to track down and order. Personally, I find myself not getting around to ordering very often if at all. Half the time, I fill the shopping cart at Walmart on the way to camp or at best, the night before, which ultimately costs me an arm and a leg just to live in the woods for a weekend. So the more I thought about it, the more the idea intrigued me. As far as hunting goes, my gear is pretty dialed. I know what works and what I can live without, but the food is the one thing I’m always going through, and it’s also something that is vastly improving and the industry is growing every year. As we become more conscious of where our nutrition comes from, it only makes sense that we are looking for the best fuel for our bodies while we do so.

Enter Backcountry Fuel Box, a monthly subscription box that will send you all the bars, blocks, snacks, mixes, and meals to your door. It will be the ultimate way to not only save on the supplies you use anyway, but also to try out a wide variety of high-quality options, while not having to think about it or spend the time finding and ordering new products. Each month for $29 bucks you will receive $40-$50 dollars of food you will actually use. Everything in the box will be hand-picked items that will work great as backcountry fuel. Like I said, this idea stems from both my own needs and what I’ve found from the podcast that is lacking. Before I actually kick it off though, I really want your opinions. Is this something that you guys, the listeners, would actually want? I mean, I may think it’s a great idea, but if I’m the only one then it doesn’t much matter. I am hoping to launch the first box in March and would love to hear your thoughts and input. Just drop your info in at Backcountry Fuel Box.com and be sure to leave some feedback in the comments section. I will say that there will be a number of free boxes given away to early supporters. Honestly, I’m somewhat hesitant to do much of a giveaway to start out, because I want your honest feedback and not just a bunch of people signing up for free stuff. However, I am hoping that the decision to launch or not launch is very clear based on feedback, so please let me know what you think. Again that is Backcountry Fuel Box.com and I will put a link in the show notes.

Thank you all for your support of the podcast and here’s looking forward to an even better 2018.