Mark Sasser is a long time and very successful hunter and especially a tradbow and backcountry/backpack hunter. As someone who has hunted the backcountry and with a stickbow for a long time myself, I know when someone knows what they are talking about on those subjects and Mark is that guy. So often these days people become instant experts and Insta-heros and give advice without the real world experience, successes, and failures to backup their views. Mark has had his share of all of those and is the real deal. He's definitely qualified to share his experiences, thoughts, and stories and be taken seriously. To that end, he recently published a book of essays about his life and experiences carrying a bow into the backcountry entitled, Alone Against the Mountains. I had intended to read his book and then interview him for a podcast episode, but out of the blue he showed up in Prescott today, so we sat down for an impromptu visit.

In this episode we talk about his book, our experiences backcountry hunting, social media, ethics, philosophy, traditional bowhunting organizations, and more. It was a totally organic spontaneous conversation with no notes or agenda. Just two guys talking about life and hunting. It's a long one and we could have gone on forever. I hope you enjoy it. We will definitely do some more episodes in the future too.

Look up Mark on instagram as California Tradbow Hunter and buy his book on Amazon or wherever you can find it. I've already read the first several chapters and its great. He's also a partner at Bwana Bows which makes wide diversity of fine traditional bows. See what they are about at bwanabows.com

OK, It's been a long time. It's been a struggle since the first of the year and I haven't had a lot of great or interesting stuff to talk about, but it's time to tell my story. It's not always a good story and sorry about complaining, but I figure I might as well get it all off my chest. Stuck in Limbo is where I've been for a while and here's why. I'm hoping the next one will be more upbeat, or at least I will go on a rant about something hunting related. If you stick it out I have some good news near the end.

Its been a while and for good reason. I've been dealing with more heart issues that finally culminated in a quadruple bypass surgery in early October. Seven weeks later, with the help of my future son-in-law, Aaron I tested it out by packing into an Arizona Wilderness with my llamas for a rifle coues deer hunt. In this episode Aaron and I talk about the hunt and a bunch of other stuff. It was his first time on a big game hunt and he got the full experience.

I apologize for some low quality audio. I recorded it straight from the built in mics on a portable recorder outside in the wind. We also captured llamas humming and birds chirping for ambiance.

I hope you enjoy it and learn something as usual. Thanks for listening, and feel free to comment and contact me at closerangehunter@gmail.com.