Pursuit With Cliff - Cliff Gray

The hunt film is available here: https://youtu.be/20-E3jkSyp4 Pat spent 22 years in special operations and teaches firearms, but he’d never been on an elk hunt. I took him on his first one, on a Boy Scout ranch with a rutting herd of 70-plus elk. We break down all of it: the day-one stalk, passing a bull we probably could have killed, the ambush that got winded, and the 200-yard broadside shot that ended it.We dig into what a guide reads in a new hunter in the first hour, fields of fire on an elk setup, block breathing for buck fever, calling your shot, and the hard call every hunter faces walking up on a bull that isn’t quite dead. From there, the conversation goes into why hunting isn’t all about the meat, and how the Boy Scouts is such an important program.Pat's Solo Podcast on the experience: https://youtu.be/4K9W3btYN9g?si=J-jmBQ9VKViKGZJ8In this episode:Why not killing on day one made Pat a better hunterHunting one big herd: stalks vs. strategic ambushesRange cards, fields of fire, and adjusting your rest before elk showBlock breathing, buck fever, and calling your shotFinish him or let him go: the conflict after a good hitWhy hunting isn’t all about the meatInfinite Outdoors (PATMAC for Free trial) - https://infiniteoutdoorsusa.com/signupProperty Hunted - https://infiniteoutdoorsusa.com/property/bn8eihElig6ZGPRH27Ld---FOLLOW CLIFFYouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/CliffGrayInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/Cliffgry/Facebook - https://facebook.com/PursuitWithCliffPursuit With Cliff Podcasthttps://pursuitwithcliff.com/interviews-and-podcasts/Cliff's Hunt Planning and Strategy Membership https://pursuitwithcliff.com/membership/Hunt. Fish. Spear.  (Experiences, Courses and Seminars) https://pursuitwithcliff.com/ExperiencesMerchhttps://pursuitwithcliff.com/shop/SUBSCRIBE TO CLIFF'S NEWSLETTER:https://PursuitWithCliff.com/#Newsletter

Rob Gearing built Spartan Precision Equipment around a question most hunters never answer: what are you actually going to shoot off of when the animal shows up? We get into rest building, why front and rear support (quad sticks) adds real yards to a standing shot, the 500+ yard Namibian kudu Rob killed off one, and why his old Scottish stalking mentor told him “we’re not getting better, the gear’s getting better.”From there it goes wide. How hunting works in the UK with no public land and 300+ deer a year managed off a single 6,000 acre estate. Whether American hunter ed is too easy for adult-onset hunters. Why you can tell in five seconds if a guy is safe with a rifle. Why new women hunters often shoot cleaner than men. And a man-eating tiger at 30 yards in Chitwan with nothing but a 3 inch trees to climb.In this episode:Rest building and why most hunters walk in with no planQuad sticks vs tripods vs traditional African sticksUK deer management, access, and the cost of no public landHunter education, gun handling, and the adult-onset gapHas gear outpaced the hunter? Long shots vs getting closeHunting money and tiger recovery in NepalRob Gearing - Founder of Spartan Precisionhttps://javelinbipod.com/https://www.instagram.com/spartan_mrghttps://www.instagram.com/spartanprecision/?hl=en---FOLLOW CLIFFYouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/CliffGrayInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/Cliffgry/Facebook - https://facebook.com/PursuitWithCliffPursuit With Cliff Podcasthttps://pursuitwithcliff.com/interviews-and-podcasts/Cliff's Hunt Planning and Strategy Membership https://pursuitwithcliff.com/membership/Hunt. Fish. Spear.  (Experiences, Courses and Seminars) https://pursuitwithcliff.com/ExperiencesMerchhttps://pursuitwithcliff.com/shop/SUBSCRIBE TO CLIFF'S NEWSLETTER:https://PursuitWithCliff.com/#Newsletter

Hunters are far worse shooters than they think. I sit down with Form from Rokslide and Shoot2Hunt to talk about why 300 yards on a real animal is a long way, why the viral archery “trick pin” wounds elk, and why aiming off the animal falls apart under stress.From there we dig into the shot process and safety habits almost nobody actually uses. We also cover why a .223 with 77 grain TMKs kills better than most magnums under 400 yards, the physics behind the Rokstock (vertical grip, recoil pad above bore line, negative comb), mechanical vs fixed broadheads, and high-pressure cartridges like the SIG hybrid cases. We finish with listener questions on practice round counts, dry fire and slings.The drill mentioned by Form:https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/equipment-versus-practice-posts-and-rifle-practice-shooting.165291/---FOLLOW CLIFFYouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/CliffGrayInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/Cliffgry/Facebook - https://facebook.com/PursuitWithCliffPursuit With Cliff Podcasthttps://pursuitwithcliff.com/interviews-and-podcasts/Cliff's Hunt Planning and Strategy Membership https://pursuitwithcliff.com/membership/Hunt. Fish. Spear.  (Experiences, Courses and Seminars) https://pursuitwithcliff.com/ExperiencesMerchhttps://pursuitwithcliff.com/shop/SUBSCRIBE TO CLIFF'S NEWSLETTER:https://PursuitWithCliff.com/#Newsletter

We had three bull tags, good snow, almost no competing pressure, and two herds patterned in the Flat Tops during Colorado’s first rifle season. We killed two bulls. This is the honest breakdown of why it wasn’t three, and the guiding decisions I’d make differently.In this episode:How snow changes what you can see in heavily hunted OTC-style unitsThe meadow hunters overlook and why bulls die thereThe pinball analogy: why bumped elk blow their pattern for days or weeksGroupthink, two guides, and the only mountain goat I ever mis-judged5% vs 80%: making risk-adjusted calls on pressured elkGear review: Crispi gaiters, Sig Zulu 6 durability, Hunters Element, Xero boots, and the gloves that failed---FOLLOW CLIFFYouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/CliffGrayInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/Cliffgry/Facebook - https://facebook.com/PursuitWithCliffPursuit With Cliff Podcasthttps://pursuitwithcliff.com/interviews-and-podcasts/Cliff's Hunt Planning and Strategy Membership https://pursuitwithcliff.com/membership/Hunt. Fish. Spear.  (Experiences, Courses and Seminars) https://pursuitwithcliff.com/ExperiencesMerchhttps://pursuitwithcliff.com/shop/SUBSCRIBE TO CLIFF'S NEWSLETTER:https://PursuitWithCliff.com/#Newsletter

Dr. Ed Ashby has records on 631 big game animals he's taken across 26 years, and only four were never recovered. He explains why most wounded game is hit too far back, why lack of penetration was the number one reason a hit wasn't lethal, and why hunters need to quit being afraid of the shoulder.We get into his Natal Parks Board arrow research at Mkuzi Game Reserve, bowhunting rhino with a 115 lb longbow and 1,286 grain arrows, and why it took 650 grains to reliably break heavy bone. From there the conversation runs into double rifles and barrel regulation, the battery he carried in Africa, a PH who survived a leopard mauling, and the one hunt he'd still go back for.In this episode:Why four lost deer in 1980 started 40+ years of arrow research154 animals in 30 days: what failed and what penetratedWhy hunters perceive quartering animals as broadsideNever mount another animal: Ed's one regretDouble rifle regulation, loads, and why most guys shoot them poorlyThe guns, handguns, and shotgun he carried for leopard follow-ups---FOLLOW CLIFFYouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/CliffGrayInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/Cliffgry/Facebook - https://facebook.com/PursuitWithCliffPursuit With Cliff Podcasthttps://pursuitwithcliff.com/interviews-and-podcasts/Cliff's Hunt Planning and Strategy Membership https://pursuitwithcliff.com/membership/Hunt. Fish. Spear.  (Experiences, Courses and Seminars) https://pursuitwithcliff.com/ExperiencesMerchhttps://pursuitwithcliff.com/shop/SUBSCRIBE TO CLIFF'S NEWSLETTER:https://PursuitWithCliff.com/#Newsletter

 Access decides more elk hunts than gear, calling, or strategy combined. Private land, resident tags, draw odds, generations of local knowledge. That one variable is why comparing yourself to other hunters is mostly useless, and why the only real measure is for you to calculateCoffee with Cliff, mostly unedited. Assessing your own progress is a harder, but more useful way to judge whether you're actually getting better, plus why the hunting content world keeps getting people in legal trouble chasing the same scoreboard. ---FOLLOW CLIFFYouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/CliffGrayInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/Cliffgry/Facebook - https://facebook.com/PursuitWithCliffPursuit With Cliff Podcasthttps://pursuitwithcliff.com/interviews-and-podcasts/Cliff's Hunt Planning and Strategy Membership https://pursuitwithcliff.com/membership/Hunt. Fish. Spear.  (Experiences, Courses and Seminars) https://pursuitwithcliff.com/ExperiencesMerchhttps://pursuitwithcliff.com/shop/SUBSCRIBE TO CLIFF'S NEWSLETTER:https://PursuitWithCliff.com/#Newsletter

Double rifles are the least understood firearms in hunting. They cost more than most trucks, the two barrels are regulated by hand one pair at a time, and most guys buy one for a charge that is never going to happen. I brought in Chris from Heym USA to explain the whole thing from the ground up. Why they cost what they cost. What barrel regulation actually is and why lasers cannot shortcut it. Why 50% of the weight has to sit between your hands. Why a 26 inch barreled double carries shorter than the 22 inch bolt gun in your truck.Then we get into the part that applies to anybody shooting a big bore. Why the 450/400 Nitro Express is the first double rifle cartridge he tells guys to buy. Why the professional hunter's rifle and the client's rifle are two completely different tools. Why the honest answer on recoil is the one nobody wants to hear. We finish on red dots, grizzly handguns, one hole versus two on a Cape buffalo, and my great great grandfather's Damascus barreled Francotte 12 gauge.In this episode:- Why barrel regulation makes a double rifle expensive, explained without the mystique- The 450/400 Nitro Express, 400 grains at 2100 fps, at roughly 375 H&H recoil- Weight between the hands, five frame sizes, and why barrel length is about balance, not velocity- Kinetic energy versus shot placement, and what a 700 Nitro Express actually did to an elephant skull- PH rifle versus client rifle, and the aspirational marketing that sells you recoil you will never practice with- Soft point in the right barrel, solid in the left, and why two holes beat one---FOLLOW CLIFFYouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/CliffGrayInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/Cliffgry/Facebook - https://facebook.com/PursuitWithCliffPursuit With Cliff Podcasthttps://pursuitwithcliff.com/interviews-and-podcasts/Cliff's Hunt Planning and Strategy Membership https://pursuitwithcliff.com/membership/Hunt. Fish. Spear.  (Experiences, Courses and Seminars) https://pursuitwithcliff.com/ExperiencesMerchhttps://pursuitwithcliff.com/shop/SUBSCRIBE TO CLIFF'S NEWSLETTER:https://PursuitWithCliff.com/#Newsletter

Most elk hunters don't lose animals because they don't know enough. They lose them because they bugle in the middle of a meadow, creep at 800 yards, sprint at 200, and talk themselves out of the stalk halfway up the mountain. Cliff sits down with outfitter Cade Cole and Eric to break down what actually went wrong, and right, for the guys who came through the in-person Elk Hunting Masterclass in Wyoming this season.This is the unfiltered debrief: pacing, careless vocalization, wind discipline, onX habits, and the trailhead bubble that leaves miles of glassable elk country untouched every September. Not theory. Every scenario in the course came from a hunt one of us blew.The elk class discussed - https://pursuitwithcliff.com/elk-hunting-master-class/Eric Wilson's Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/do-not-go-quietly-w-eric-wilsonIn this episode:Why the biggest barrier to the course isn't experience, it's egoHow five days of scenarios stack more reps than five years of huntingThe pacing inversion: too slow at 800 yards, too fast inside 200Why guys bail halfway through a well-planned stalk, and the football parallel that explains itThe trailhead bubble and the outfitter bubble, and the unhunted elk between themWhy the overnight spike stalk works far more often than hunters believeWhat a Level 2 course would look like: spike camps and long stalks with no onX---FOLLOW CLIFFYouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/CliffGrayInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/Cliffgry/Facebook - https://facebook.com/PursuitWithCliffPursuit With Cliff Podcasthttps://pursuitwithcliff.com/interviews-and-podcasts/Cliff's Hunt Planning and Strategy Membership https://pursuitwithcliff.com/membership/Hunt. Fish. Spear.  (Experiences, Courses and Seminars) https://pursuitwithcliff.com/ExperiencesMerchhttps://pursuitwithcliff.com/shop/SUBSCRIBE TO CLIFF'S NEWSLETTER:https://PursuitWithCliff.com/#Newsletter

Tim Sundles is back on to talk about the Africa trip we did together, the near-charge that convinced him to stop pushing into thick brush, and what he thinks about internet experts who have never killed the animal they're arguing about.We also get into the part of African hunting nobody advertises: taxidermy commissions, booking kickbacks, and the difference between disclosing what you make and hiding it.In this episode:Why first-time Africa hunters come home changed, and why film can't capture itThree bachelor bulls at 15 feet in brush too thick to walk throughWhy an undisturbed buffalo dies fast and an alerted one turns bulletproofThe case for a double rifle, and the real disadvantage nobody mentionsTaxidermy and travel commissions that go undisclosed on most safarisPut-and-take stocking versus genuine genetic management on a game reserveWhy six of Jim Shockey's bear guides would all pick a .30-06 over a 7mm Rem MagBullet diameter, bullet construction, and matching the bullet to impact velocityThe Africa film: https://youtu.be/7OUa1L606s4Tim's new YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TimSundles-BuffaloBoreAmmuniti---FOLLOW CLIFFYouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/CliffGrayInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/Cliffgry/Facebook - https://facebook.com/PursuitWithCliffPursuit With Cliff Podcasthttps://pursuitwithcliff.com/interviews-and-podcasts/Cliff's Hunt Planning and Strategy Membership https://pursuitwithcliff.com/membership/Hunt. Fish. Spear.  (Experiences, Courses and Seminars) https://pursuitwithcliff.com/ExperiencesMerchhttps://pursuitwithcliff.com/shop/SUBSCRIBE TO CLIFF'S NEWSLETTER:https://PursuitWithCliff.com/#Newsletter

I guided an archery elk hunt last week and it had everything. A shooter bull at 25 yards on the first night that didn't work out. Slow days where bulls ignored every call. A last-night shot under 20 yards on a bull that was found three days later, 1,300 yards away, with a bear on top of him.This is an uncut coffee with Cliff recap. We get into early rut bull behavior in the first half of September, why you need to practice shooting from the edges of your setup radius, and how one blown opportunity can wreck the rest of a hunt if you let it. Then the hard part: how my own brain convinced me I was looking at fletchings when it was the broadhead on the exit, tracking a single lung bull in flat country, and why rutting bulls push wounded bulls farther than you'd expect.In this episode:Early rut behavior: spikes acting like herd bulls, big bulls roaming soloWhy your hunter couldn't draw on a bull at 25 yards (and the fix)Resetting after a blown opportunity so it doesn't plague your huntWhy guides are hesitant to celebrate any archery hitLosing blood in flat terrain, and when to back out overnightHow angles and bone shrink elk vitals---FOLLOW CLIFFYouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/CliffGrayInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/Cliffgry/Facebook - https://facebook.com/PursuitWithCliffPursuit With Cliff Podcasthttps://pursuitwithcliff.com/interviews-and-podcasts/Cliff's Hunt Planning and Strategy Membership https://pursuitwithcliff.com/membership/Hunt. Fish. Spear.  (Experiences, Courses and Seminars) https://pursuitwithcliff.com/ExperiencesMerchhttps://pursuitwithcliff.com/shop/SUBSCRIBE TO CLIFF'S NEWSLETTER:https://PursuitWithCliff.com/#Newsletter