Overdrive Outdoors Podcast

The podcast features Josh Mapes and Kevin Rought discussing Josh's first turkey hunting experience with Tony, where they successfully harvested a tom turkey after several hours of waiting. The conversation then covers various hunting topics including predator hunting strategies, ammunition choices, and wildlife observations, with particular focus on coyote hunting techniques and ethics. They also discuss upcoming hunting seasons, fishing plans, and equipment considerations while sharing personal experiences with urban wildlife encounters and recent hunting activities. The discussion concludes with plans for future hunts and mentions of ongoing predator control challenges due to seasonal restrictions. As always, THANK YOU for...

This week Kevin and Josh welcome Pam Fleming to the show. Pam hails from southern Colorado and is starting up a new app just for outdoors persons called OpenRange social. Pam tells us about her experiences hunting and guiding, primarily in the western and south western US for Elk and deer along with her husband, how she got into it, and what it means to her. Then we get into the info about the app they are developing. Why develop the app, some of the things that have to take place in development of an app for IOS and Android. ...

This week on the Overdrive Outdoors podcast, everything air guns. We have special guest Tom Simmon from Michigan's own High Pressure Pneumatics. Tom and his wife own Michigan's only dedicated Air Gun retail store in Harrison Michigan, where they sell and service PCP and other air guns. During this show we hear everything Tom has to offer about PCP (Pre Charged Pneumatic) air guns from a guy that does it for a living, everything from the types of guns, function, maintenance, performance and the pros and cons for using PCP's for hunting and target shooting. We learned about the rifles...

This week on the podcast we welcome back Rich Fowllab. We start off by talking about some recent hunts and how we've had some oddly uncommitted coyotes and very few hard chargers. We talk with Rich about his recent switch to hunting with a thermal optic, (he recently got the PTO Mission thermal scope) and his transition from going from thermal scanner, shooting NV to Thermal/Thermal. We discuss the pros and cons of NV vs thermal, target identification and how it relates to experience level of the hunter and the quality of the optic, scenarios where it is important...

This week Kevin is joined by Ross Graveling. We invited Ross on to tell us about the recent Youth predator workshop that was put on by Sportspersons Ministries with some of the funds coming from the donations provided by the Answering The Call charity hunt put on by SPI and Overdrive Outdoors. We get a rundown of how the weekend went, how many people participated and worked at the event, that went from Friday evening until Sunday morning. We get to hear about the activities that both the kids and parents got to experience, from trapping, to predator calling, seeing...

This week Kevin and Josh are joined by Michigan Trappers and Predator Callers Association public relations director, Merle Jones. We talk a bit about tournament hunting and how the tournaments went for Merle and his team. Then Merle catches us up in regards to the Michigan hunting political situation. He tells us about the status of both the lawsuit, the appeal and a possible reversal of the season that was imposed. Merle goes into detail on the when's and why's of what is going on in Lansing, with the MTPCA and MUCC. He then tells us more about the path...

This week Josh and Kevin have another fireside chat. First off, we talk about weather conditions, what types of conditions we really don't care for and weighing success vs how much noise you're going to make or hunting in adverse conditions. How the noise you make may or may not affect your hunt success, and weighing that against waiting for better conditions. We discuss dealing with anti hunters or uninformed people commenting on hunting related posts (specifically a video Kevin posted when calling for bobcats), its amazing how some people don't know anything about hunting methods, or believe common methods...

This week on the Overdrive Outdoors podcast, Kevin welcomes Ryan Mareno to the show. Ryan is from south Louisiana, and operates a guide service called Moreno's Outfitters. In this episode, we talk about how Ryan grew up in southern Louisiana in the early years,  fishing and water fowl hunting and eventually getting into deer. He tells about how he at first thought deer hunting was boring using a rifle, but then got hooked when he switched to archery. Ryan tells us about his experiences Spearfishing, going spear fishing around oil rigs in the Gulf, and all the way over to Fl...

This week Kevin and Josh are joined by Josh's brother Kyle and guest Bryan Watson of Trapline Beard Oil LLC. Kyle has recently gotten into trapping and as a person being new to it, he had a few questions, so we had a Q&A session! Bryan is originally from Michigan but now resides in North Dakota where he traps, hunts and runs Trapline Beard Oil LLC. We discuss many topics of trapping with Kyle to try and give him some advice based off our experiences including water trapping of Muskrats, Beaver (Bryan has more experience here) and land trapping...

SHOT show recap. This week Josh talks to Kevin about his recent trip to SHOT show in Las Vegas, the largest shooting and hunting expo in the country, with aprox 50000 people in attendance and people from 100 countries, there is more to do and see than you can take in the 5 days of the show. Kevin talks about the new product releases from ATN, specifically the new clip on thermals, then talks about other products he saw and the people he saw at the show and conversations had. Josh talks about some new thermal products being released as well from Predator...

This week Kevin and Josh welcome back Dave from Razor Broadheads. Dave has been doing a fair amount of coyote hunting and had a few scenarios and questions he wanted to talk with us about. We start by talking about some recent hunting, how the bobcat hunting is going (or not going in this case). Then we get into Daves questions. We talk about- * calling cadence * how we respond to vocals * prey sounds vs vocals * moving on coyotes after getting a response. * setting up and hunting the full moon * hunting environmental conditions (barometric pressure, temperature, snow depth, wind speed) * different...

1st episode of the new year! Welcome back everyone. On this episode Josh and Kevin start by talking about recent hunting experiences, including some specific info regarding bobcat hunting here in Michigan, as well as Josh's last hunt with his friend Todd. Then we jump into the Answering The Call (ATC) charity hunt that took place last weekend. 1st and foremost we wish to thank everyone involved for making our first event a success, thank you to the sponsors, volunteers, the kids, and all of the people that attended. We ended up earning $10800 for charity, that money raised was donated...

This week Kevin and Josh sit down for fireside chat and a discussion of "hot topics" We talk about recent hunting experiences, Josh with deer and coyote and Kevin with lack of deer. Then get into talking about some "Hot Topics" for Michigan folks. We discuss several bills and changes that have been proposed and some voted on already. 1st one is the license fee increases. HB 6229: The bill would raise the license to fish from $25 to $38 for residents and from $78 to $88 for nonresidents. It also lower the age requirements for acquiring a fishing license from 17 to 16 years old. Hunting...

Hot topic day. This episode Josh and Kevin dive into "hot topics". Opinions and thoughts on issues that have arrived or been brought up in discussion on social media. Issues we discuss are the dumping of several coyotes in a ditch near a local establishment and a school bus pickup/drop off spot. We go over the "BODA" rules including penalties for violations, we discuss the reason why you SHOULD not be doing this, from just a plain responsible and ethical standpoint to some unintended consequences of doing this, we talk about proper ways to dispose of animals, and available...

This week Josh and Kevin welcome back Ray Dancer from Michigan Outdoor reports. We discuss our deer season so far and then get to hear about Rays, including his hunting with a traditional bow, what set up he uses, shooting instinctual, broad head and arrow choices and more. We talk about processing deer, our choices on how, meaning what cuts or grind we do, and what we do with it. We hear about what's going on at Michigan outdoor reports with Ray and his crew. And lastly we discuss what the plans are for the rest of the season. We...

This week Josh and Kevin sit down for a fireside chat. We start off discussing a little bit about the seasons, archery and rifle, and what cartridges are popular (meaning sales that Kevin has seen at his shop) specifically in terms of the .450 bushmaster and .350 legend for the limited rifle zone, where he has not seen a demand so far for the newer cartridges, the .350 seems to be leading the pack. We then get into discussing a bit about reloading, how small mistakes in terms of powder and failure to follow the manuals or other established data can be disastrous...

This week Kevin and Josh welcome back Dave Buikema of Razor Broadheads. We start off by talking about some recent hunts, Coyotes and deer, including dealing with owls when calling, as in dodging them. We then get into deer hunting, hearing about both Daves and Josh's recent adventures. We talk about specifics of broad head performance, the what's and whys of terminal performance in actual field use, and some more testing that Dave wishes to do to find out in the future. We hear from Dave about Razor Broadheads new offerings, 125gr up to 300 grain broadheads and a new color...

This week, Josh is live from deer camp with his brother Kyle. They discuss a bit of Kyles time living in Florida, learning to fish for species he wasnt used to catching back home in Michigan. They then move on to the weekends hunting, expectations from trail camera details, and scouting results. They each discuss their hunts, what was seen, what was heard and what was learned. Josh tells a story of heart break on a dandy public land 8 point, and Kyle tries to determine why deer seem to disappear on the weekends. We hope you are all having a...

On this episode Josh and Kevin welcome Dom Zambelli to the show. Dom is a Michigan hunter who recently had his 1st successful deer hunt here in Michigan. We hear about Doms hunting history, and his journey into deer hunting. We discuss the tools he used, tactics and the whole story of his 1st deer, everything from scouting to field dressing it by himself, and what he plans on doing with it, like saving the liver, but not the heart, as we talk about various methods of cooking different parts of the deer. We get into what Dom learned from...

This week Josh and Kevin welcome back returning guest Ross Graveling. Ross is part of Sportspersons Ministries and an avid outdoorsman. We start by talking about a couple recent hunts, then get into the topic this week, hunter safety. Ross has been teaching hunter safety for awhile now to both kids and adults. We talk about Michigan specific stuff, what to do if you can't find your hunter safety certificate, the importance of safety and how the courses are done. Ross tells us about the variety of students from both young and old, men and women that attend the courses. ...

This week's podcast is a fire side chat with Josh and Kevin. We recap Kevins recent coyote hunt in the woods at night, talking about using thermal in thick cover, being able to see brush and such. We talk about Joshs deer hunting early season with his Kids for both the youth season and early doe, we get into the .350 legend, how the kids handled it and how it performed on deer. We delve into using LRF and various range finding methods, talking about using built in laser range finders, vs handheld. We talk a bit about using "Mil-dot" systems...

We have covered hunting various game animals with dogs, and lots of other methods, but this week, we learn about something that we haven heard of before, but have never gotten 1st hand info on. Falconry. This week Josh and Kevin Welcome David Lanting to the show. David has 18 years experience hunting with Hawks. We start off talking about his hunting background, growing up, then move on into information on using birds of prey to hunt. David tells us about the paperwork involved, the process of getting a bird, what to look for in a bird, the process of "bonding"...

This week's episode is a fireside chat with John Smith and Shane Shepherd of Predator Pursuit of Michigan LLC. Josh and Kevin welcome them to the show and get their stories, how they came up in the outdoors, hunting fishing and trapping. We discuss what they hunted, and fished, and how their families did and do as well. We discuss their history of trapping, and THE history of trapping, why their families used to do it, for financial reasons, and why now it no longer is a very viable form of income. But was a great introduction to the outdoors. ...

This week Josh and Kevin sit down for a B.S. session/fireside chat. We discuss recent hunting adventures, including Kevin getting Ninja'd, and Josh's great night getting 4 with his Uncle who has never hunted before. We talk about a recent happening where a guy had his Savage 17wsm blow up on him at the range, we discuss what COULD have been some of the reasons, and discuss other firearms related failures that have happened over the years. We both share how happy we are that fall is starting, the cooler weather, leaves changing colors and the incoming fall hunting...

This week, Kevin and Josh welcome Kyle Dupuis to the show. Kyle, a fellow Michigan hunter, actually asked about doing a podcast with a 1st generation predator hunter, it sounded like a good conversation so we made it happen. Kyle talks to us about his upbringing in hunting and the outdoors, including telling us about his grandma who was the known deer hunter in the family. We talk a bit about predator hunting around the country, how Michigan differs from out west or down south, mainly population and terrain. We discuss who we learned from, the shows we watched, and...

This week on the Overdrive Outdoors Podcast Kevin welcomes Lincoln Rohn to the show. Lincoln is another local west MI resident that has been very active in the outdoors. We talk about the business that Lincoln now runs, Packer Maxx, a cultipacker that is ideal for sportsmen and small farmers, he tells us about acquiring the business and the advantages of using a cultipacker for your food plots. We then discuss Lincolns upbringing in the outdoors. Then we get into his most recent hunt...Africa. Lincoln recently returned from an African plains game hunt, we ask him to break it...

This week Josh and Kevin welcome Nick Otto, AKA "Huntavore", to the show. Nick has a really good thing going with the Huntavore podcast (https://sportsmensempire.com/network/the-huntavore) and The sportsman's empire (https://sportsmensempire.com/network/the-huntavore). We start by talking a bit about guns...Kevin tells Josh about a few of the guns he has in the shop, a lot of them dating back to the civil war and spanish american war, and the unique characteristics of some of them, mechanically very unique, including one that was made in Big Rapids Michigan in the 1800's. We also talk...

This week's episode is all about successful hunting. Josh and Kevin are joined by a gentleman that has been on with us earlier this year talking about his struggles to get his 1st coyote, Josh Smith. Josh was able to get his first coyote under his belt over the weekend with Clinton Taylor. Josh tells us the whole story of his 1st successful coyote hunt, from beginning to end. With details on how it went down, what he wants to do with his 1st coyote, how the gear performed and more. We then also discuss both Josh Mapes and Kevin's...

This week Josh and Kevin welcome back Jordan Hoover and welcome Dan Featherstone to the podcast. If you've followed the podcast you've probably heard of Jordan, Dan is another U.P. resident that was also part of the recent Michigan Deer Management Initiative (DMI). Jordan and Dan recount more specific things that transpired during the DMI and the most recent meeting of the Natural Resources Commission. Jordan and Dan both discuss the issues, the info they learned, the people they learned it from and the importance of using that data to help manage our deer as a natural resource, to...

This week on the OOD podcast, Josh and Kevin are joined by Angellia Perry, also known as "Airgun Angie". In this episode, Angie tells us about her growing up, not necessarily in a "hunting' family, but did not get into it until she met her husband. Angie then was approached by Rick Eutsler about making her outdoor activities into a job, doing product reviews. Since then Angie has delved heavily into not just hunting and shooting with PCP Air rifles (Precharged compressed pneumatic) but hunting and shooting in general. Angie tells us about hunting down in her now home state...

This week Josh and Kevin welcome Corey Corr to the show. Corey had responded to a post on MI coyote hunting outdoors page about being a guest, and suggested a topic of discussion. We start by talking a little bit about recent Woodchuck hunting, then get right into talking with Corey. Corey had a question about landowners NOT wanting coyote hunters due to increased deer populations, so we discussed the experiences we have had with that issue, which hasn't been a lot, but we have encountered it. We delve into why landowners would not want coyotes taken off their property...

This week Josh and Kevin welcome Rashel Hubbard and Jordan Hoover to the show. Jordan is a returning guest while this is Rashels 1st time on our show. Both Rashel and Jordan were involved in the Michigan DMI. (Deer management initiative.) The objective of this initiative was advertised as putting together a group of folks from Michigan to gather data, then make recommendations to the Michigan NRC for the management of our deer herd in both the U.P and Lower parts of the state. But...as you will hear, it was a farce. The data collected and recommendations made...

This week Josh and Kevin are joined by Michael Beltzold We start by discussing some recent ground hog hunting adventures from Kevin, and Josh's recent experiences shooting a new 17wsm load. We then welcome Michael to the show. Michael is another fellow Michigan hunter, that has experience running dogs for bears, raccoons and more. We discuss dog breeds, choosing a dog for hunting, and what Michael uses. We discuss one of Michaels favorite things about using dogs to hunt, watching the dogs work (the hounding) Michael describes his enjoyment from watching when a dog "clicks" and gets into the hunt...

On this weeks episode Kevin and Josh are joined by team member Brad Bingham. We start by talking about our trip this past weekend to Ohio to hunt with Tony Boninsegna from Mountain Lodge Outdoors, our successes and mishaps, new equipment, and good times. Then we move on to Brad Brad has been down in Missouri now for a couple years and we talk about his experiences hunting down there vs here in Michigan. We talk about- * Terrain differences and how it effects setting up. * coyote seasons in Missouri (short nighttime hunting season). * His gear set up, firearms, load, caller...

This week we are joined by Dan Gates. Dan has been very active in a battle similar to ours here in Michigan now with proposal G, but in Colorado. Being part of the Coloradans for Responsible Wildlife Management (https://savethehuntcolorado.com/), Dan has some great insights on what they are doing in their battle, but also what others can and NEED to do in their states. As we discuss in the episode this is not a state specific issue, but a country wide issue in how our natural resources and wildlife are managed. The importance of using responsible science vs...

This week, Josh and Kevin have another fireside chat. We start off by discussing recent hunts, or lack thereof. Then we start talking Kevin's favorite subject, guns and ammo. We talk about bullet performance, minimum expansion velocity, how bullet performance is dependent on construction and velocity. We talk about different bullet types and how they are suited for different applications. Josh and Kevin discuss the importance of knowing your equipment and your own limitations. If you want the best experience in your pursuits, everything is a factor, from familiarity with the controls of your equipment, how it performs in the...

"In this week's episode we welcome Rich Fowllab to the show. Rich is a fellow Michigan hunter. We start off with a quick discussion about the weekends fishing trip for Crappie and whatever else would bite down by Josh. We then get to hear about Rich, how he got his start in hunting and the types of hunting he does, discussing some caliber choices, and experiences for deer using the .350 legend, which both Josh and Rich use for deer here in Michigan. We then talk a little bit about barrel life and differences in barrel construction. We go into some...

On this week's podcast it's a fire side "tossed salad" Josh starts off asking Kevin about how this last season archery league went and how he felt about the new arrows from ORC archery and his hopes to finally get a deer with it this upcoming season. We talk about some recent depredation hunting, and how bad the ticks are this year already. We talk a bit about snake experiences, then switch into some of Josh recent cooking experiences, including his preparing "jerk" chicken, and what is "hot" in terms of seasoning. Kevin then asks Josh to elaborate a bit...

We each have that specific pursuit, a target species, whether it be fish, fowl, deer, predators or big game that gets our heart beating faster, and in the end, what keeps us doing it year after year. This week Josh and Kevin talk about their recent turkey hunting experiences. We delve a little deeper into "the passion" that outdoorsmen and women feel, and how it's different for each of us, and why. Sometimes it is based on the experience, and while you may not have deep seated emotions about the target animal, the experience as a whole, the camaraderie, the...

For this week's fireside chat, Josh and Kevin are joined by Elliot Hubbard. The subject matter of this chat is out of state hunting, but we got a little side tracked with a couple other subjects to start, like hair styles, and martial arts training. We then got talking about Elliot's recent out of state Turkey hunt, we talk about turkey camp, and the story of his successful hunt as well as his wifes successful hunt here in MI. Kevin discusses his recent out of state hunt to Nebraska for coyotes and prairie dogs. How the terrain differences effected how...