Vortex Nation Podcast

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Welcome to the Vortex Nation Podcast. Brought to you by lovers of hunting, shooting, public lands, the Second Amendment and dang good food.

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941 episodes
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Episodes941

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May 15, 2019 · 1 hr 1 min
Ep. 75 | Gas Guns Vs. Bolt Guns for Long Range
The long-standing perception amongst shooters is that bolt guns hands-down out shoot gas guns in terms of accuracy and long range capability. In the past this was certainly true, and gas guns were simply held to a lower standard in accuracy than bolt guns were. But now, have gas guns made enough strides to match their bolt gun counterparts? Are they a more viable solution for long range precision shooting? We grabbed Dillen Easly, competitive shooter of many disciplines, and Garrett Grover of Ri
May 14, 2019 · 10 min
#10MinuteTalk - Slingin’ Rick’s .270 Ruger M77
After drooling over the famed Ruger M77 in a Petersen’s Magazine as a 12 year old boy, Rick just couldn’t help himself and begged his dad to get one as his first deer rifle. After 16 years, he still breaks it out every season to fill the freezer. We got 10 minutes with him to chat about this rifle’s story, why Rick chose one chambered in God’s cartridge of .270 Win (The answer involves an old computer game), and how he’s modified its sight mounting system with a Weigatinny rail and precision mat
May 13, 2019 · 57 min
Ep. 74 | Rimfire Competitive Shooting With Cheyenne Dalton
Dust off that old 10/22, go buy a bucket o’ bullets and prepare to have a ton of fun. Thought rimfire was just for kids and squirrel hunters? Think again, Cheyenne Dalton joins Mark, Jimmy and another special guest and frequent listener, Trent Brenny, to talk about the world of competitive rimfire shooting. Cheyenne started out her competitive shooting career in rimfire with a purple 10/22 she got at a WalMart and wound up going all the way to win the rimfire world championship in her division.
May 8, 2019 · 1 hr 2 min
Ep. 73 | Chad Mendes – MMA Fighter. Public Figure. Hunter.
Chad Mendes is a very recently retired professional MMA fighter (Still toweling of the sweat from his last fight and not retired at time of this recording), former collegiate wrestler, public figure in sports and at the risk of damaging his outwardly tough-as-nails appearance, a really nice guy. To us, perhaps the coolest thing about Chad is that he has been an avid hunter his entire life. From making time in his busy wrestling career as a kid to head to the mountains with his dad and family to
May 7, 2019 · 10 min
#10MinuteTalk - Astigmatisms
The topic of astigmatisms comes up more times than you can shake a stick at when people are discussing red dots. It seems everywhere you look there are people being affected by “Starbursts” or “Clusters of grapes” in their red dots, but why? In 10 minutes, Jimmy, Reuben and Mark discuss just what an astigmatism actually is, the issues most commonly experienced by users with an astigmatism, ways you’ve possibly misdiagnosed yourself with one, and what you can do to avoid negative effects from an
May 6, 2019 · 1 hr 20 min
Ep. 72 | Red Dots on Pistols – The More You Know
If you only remember one thing from this podcast, it’s probably how good Mike Love, new guest to the podcast and range instructor here at Vortex, sounds with his perfect radio voice. Anyway, in addition to Mike, Adam Maxwell joins Jimmy and Mark to discuss the “Wild West” world of red dots on pistols. With no convenient standard to adhere to like our beloved AR-15’s with their “Mil-Spec” parts, there seems to be about a million and one ways to mount a red dot to your handgun, thoughts on proper
May 1, 2019 · 1 hr 9 min
Ep. 71 | Couse Deer Hunting With Chris Denham
Chris Denham, Arizona resident and recognized expert of “Grey Ghosts” from Western Hunter Magazine, joins Jimmy, Mark and Paul Neess to talk Couse deer hunting in the Southwest. If you’ve never heard of these deer before, imagine a scaled down whitetail living in the desert mountains that has mastered the art of blending in with its surroundings and remaining hidden. Why would anyone ever want to go after a small whitetail? Well, if you ask Chris (And us), there’s just something special about th
Apr 30, 2019 · 9 min
#10MinuteTalk - Red Dots vs Prism Scopes
Reuben joins Mark and Jimmy for ten minutes to discuss the basic differences between 1x prism scopes like our Spitfire AR and red dots. More than just what the technical differences are between the two and how they work, but what might make you want to choose one over the other and what scenarios you may find one to be more advantageous over the other.
Apr 29, 2019 · 1 hr 31 min
Ep. 70 | Long Range 1004: ELR
How much farther can we take the long range 100_ series? There are plenty more long range topics to cover out here, but this one might be the grand finale for the series, discussing simply shooting out to 1000 yards to now sitting down with Ian Klemm and Jeff Heeg, Extreme Long Range (ELR) competitor, to discuss taking rifles out to some truly mind-boggling distances. Whether it’s a .22 beyond 500 yards or a souped up CheyTac cartridge at 2 miles and beyond, this particular shooting sport requir
Apr 24, 2019 · 1 hr 9 min
Ep. 69 | DIY Elk with Zach Bowhay of Hunt DIY
When the word Bow makes up half your last name, it’s pretty much destiny much of your life is going revolve around chasing elk with stick and string. That’s good news for the rest of us. We sit down with Zach Bowhay from Hunt DIY to tap into his vast elk knowledge - focusing on a first time elk hunters perspective. Don’t kid yourself, elk hunting is hard. Zach will tell you that first hand. Armed with the right knowledge and a lot of sweat equity, it is possible. Turn your ears on and brace you
Apr 23, 2019 · 10 min
#10MinuteTalk - Cheap Tools You Can’t Live Without – Chapstick
Whether you need to condition your bowstring to prevent it from drying out, avoid potential blisters, enjoy the ambient glow of a candle, or start a fire, there’s one tool for that’ll do it all – Chapstick. Heck, you can even moisturize your lips, if that’s your thing. Regardless, we jammed the many uses of Chapstick all into one 10-minute talk, solidifying its minuscule place in your pack. Got an ultra-affordable piece of gear that wears many hats for your adventures? Let us know and we just
Apr 22, 2019 · 1 hr 39 min
Ep. 68 | Listener Special – WW2 Guns & History
Nick, a frequent listener of the Vortex Nation podcast, reached out to us after our first WW2(ish) podcast revolving around a few historic firearms and not only explained how the M1 Garand’s grenade launcher system actually worked, but also explained that he and his dad are avid (Understatement) WW2 era firearms collectors and reenactors. Jimmy, Mark and Ryan Muckenhirn were lucky enough to sit down with these two as they went through 14 different firearms (And a WW2 era grenade launcher) from t
Apr 17, 2019 · 49 min
Ep. 67 | The Western Tag Game Made Simple
Navigating Western Tag applications, Draws, Preference Points, Bonus Points, Odds, Over The Counter Options – #AlreadyOverwhelmed. It’s not your fault. This stuff is more confusing than trying to understand the opposite sex. Not anymore. We sat down with Brady Miller and Trail Kreitzer from Go Hunt to break down this topic using the advanced tools they offer. GO Hunt has compiled all the info you need into an easy-to-use, filterable, digital platform. Unit descriptions, photos of terrain, histor
Apr 16, 2019 · 9 min
#10MinuteTalk – Turkey Vest Vs. Backpack?
Mark, Jimmy and Erik argue the pros and cons of wearing a turkey vest vs simply taking a backpack afield for hunting turkeys this spring in 10 minutes. Maybe this will help you decide which you choose or maybe it will leave you in exactly the same undecided state by the end, but hey, it’s only 10 minutes! As long as you’re out chasing gobblers, is there really any wrong answer? What’s your preferred gear for turkey hunting? We’d love to hear about it in the comments on Instagram!
Apr 15, 2019 · 1 hr 16 min
Ep. 66 | Bowhunting the ‘Burbs with Taylor Chamberlin
As the glowing orb of sunlight pierces the horizon, sounds of sirens, kids at play, and bumper-to-bumper traffic overwhelm Taylor Chamberlin’s audible senses. These aren’t conventional sights and sounds associated with bowhunting whitetails, but Taylor’s swaying from the treetops of suburbia, Washington D.C., keeping the growing whitetail herd at bay and filling his freezer in the process. While the Midwest is traditionally looked at as the mecca of whitetail hunting, deer are living a fat and
Apr 10, 2019 · 1 hr 11 min
Ep. 65 | Rangefinders: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know
Mark and Jimmy join Paul Neess and Rob Morell of our product development team to discuss laser rangefinders for this special episode. Not only do we dive in to the history of the laser rangefinder, how they work, tips and tricks to maximize the performance of your laser rangefinder in the field and the different types of features and their applications, but we also discuss a brand new, never-before-seen rangefinder from Vortex. You’ll have to tune in and listen to hear about this new product, bu
Apr 8, 2019 · 1 hr 18 min
Ep. 64 | Feel Better - Hunt Better
Plug in your headphones and grab a bowl of garden fresh vegetables as we visit with Ryan Lampers and Doc. Hillary Lampers from Hunt Harvest Health. We talk fasting and Doc Hilary uses words like Autophagy (because she is smart) - which basically means taking the garbage out of your body’s cells. We also cover eating good on the mountain and making your own backcountry food/meals (way before your hunts), Leptin Resistance (shutting down your “I’m Hungry” signals), eating to reduce inflammation an
Apr 3, 2019 · 1 hr 14 min
Ep. 63 | New Jersey Public Land Bear Hunt Taken Away
How political is hunting these days? With the stroke of his pen, Gov. Philip D. Murphy signed an executive order effectively ending the state’s planned 2018 bear hunt on all state-owned lands. For the public landowners out there – that happened on YOUR public land!!! No consulting of biologists, no scientific or ecological reasoning. Simply the fulfilling of a campaign promise to do everything possible to eliminate the hunt. If you’re like us, you’re saying to yourself “I didn’t even know you c
Apr 1, 2019 · 1 hr 3 min
Ep. 62 | How to Properly Maintain Your Firearms – Not Just Clean Them!
If you find yourself guilty of not properly maintaining your firearm after listening to this podcast, don’t worry about it too much – you’re not the only one by a long shot! Unfortunately, so few people are aware of the actual proper methods of maintaining a firearm that our head of range operations at the Vortex shooting range, Adrian Alan, and head firearm instructor, Pete Schreier, suggested this as a great topic - it turned out to be a great one. These two explain the very important differe
Mar 27, 2019 · 1 hr 12 min
Ep. 61 | Aggressive Elk Tactics - Born and Raised Outdoors
Buckle your hip belt and hold on tight as we join the Born and Raised Outdoors crew for an upbeat conversation on how they consistently call and kill bulls year after year. Bugle, rake, repeat. It sounds like a simple concept, but Trevor, Trent, and Kody and the rest of the crew at Born and Raised Outdoors have been filling their OTC elk tags with beautiful bulls on pressured public land by perfecting this tactic - now known as the “Cat Road Shuffle.” Their aggressive hunting style takes the f