Let's Go Guided

Robbie, Colin and Lindsay | Let's Go Guided
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Welcome to Let's Go Guided, the premier media platform connecting hunters with the world’s most trusted outfitters. Episodes hosted by Robbie Clunes and Colin Lyons, we go behind the scenes of the hunting industry to bring you raw stories from the experts, sharing the traditions of hunting and the outfitter world. Whether you're a seasoned hunter or planning your very first guided trip, Let's Go Guided is your roadmap to ethical, successful, and life-changing outdoor experiences. Subscribe to join the movement of stewardship and adventure.

  1. 11h ago

    EP28: South Pacific Safaris (Outfitter Spotlight)

    James Pinfold shot his first red deer at 9, spent his teens and early twenties rodeoing, then came home to guide hunts on New Zealand’s South Island. Robbie sits down with James of South Pacific Safaris, an operation two hours north of Christchurch on the east coast, where the hunting country runs from the mountains down to the ocean. James’s then girlfriend’s parents had just bought the business. He came back to help them through one transition season and is still there eight or nine years later. James covers the species the operation hunts and how each one is accessed. Red stag, fallow deer, Arapawa rams, and feral goats are hunted on a 4,000 acre home property. Tahr are hunted on a 25,000 acre private land concession further south, and chamois with helicopter access. He explains why hunts run five days on the home property and seven when tahr or chamois are added, to leave room for mountain weather, and walks through a typical day, from sighting in on arrival to the evening meal back at the lodge. For hunters weighing a first trip to New Zealand, James talks about what he wants people to know before they arrive. He says it is safe and family friendly, with plenty for non-hunting partners and kids to do. He also covers bringing your own rifle versus using the lodge’s suppressed rifles, and how the property is set up for hunters with limited mobility. He explains why, outside the waterfowl and upland seasons, New Zealanders can hunt year round. Then the stories. A client pushes through two brutal days for a bull tahr. A drone delivers three rounds of ammunition to a hunter who has run out. And two red stags lock antlers and cartwheel down a hill in front of James and his client. When hunters at the shows ask what sets one New Zealand outfitter apart from another, James’s answer is the people you hunt with. He also explains why the trophy on the wall is really a reminder of the memory behind it. Hey, can you do us a favor? If you’re enjoying the show, please give Let’s Go Guided a rating. It's free to do and it'll help us grow our podcast :) Watch on YouTube:https://youtu.be/dvm1ZZrzoyY Let’s Go Guided:Website + email signup: letsgoguided.comInstagram: @letsgoguided_Facebook: Let’s Go Guided South Pacific Safaris:🌐 safaris.co.nz📸 @southpacificsafaris Photography credit: Courtesy of South Pacific Safaris

  2. Oct 6

    EP27: Yukon Cariboo Hunt Recap | Iron North Outfitting

    Two caribou tags, two filled, and a ten hour horseback ride just to reach the valley where the bulls were living. Robbie sits down with Iron North Outfitting guide Kaden Kwiatkowski and Colin to retell the Yukon hunt he shared with his dad, Rob Sr. The trip started with a three day drive to Mayo, Yukon and a flight into base camp. From there it was horses, rivers, a canyon route the crew had never taken before, and a saddle slip on the way in that could have ended the hunt before it started. Rob Sr.'s bull came early. A lone bull moving through tall willows, a short stalk, and one shot off shooting sticks. Up close, he carried double shovels that nearly interlock, still in velvet. Robbie held out for a skyline bull. They glassed one bedded on a ridge nearly two miles away, tied the horses in a circle on an open saddle, and climbed blind through scree. Caribou do not behave like other game, and this one ran straight toward the horses. Robbie made the shot off his pack at two hundred seventy yards, and the bull turned out older and heavier than anyone had judged from a distance. Back in camp, Rob Sr. had heard a shot and checked his phone. It was 3:08. Kaden brings the guide's side of it too. How to keep meat good in the alpine with no trees to hang it, why he likes clients who show up with simple rifle setups, why practicing off your pack matters more than bench time, and which rain gear stood up to a week of Yukon rain. For Robbie, it was a hunt of a lifetime shared with his dad, and he credits Kaden and fellow guide Gabriel for getting them through it. The full hunt film is coming soon on the Let's Go Guided YouTube channel. Planning a guided hunt and want to know more about how we can help you? Send us a DM on Instagram @letsgoguided_. We also have a couple of spots left on our 2027 South Africa group hunt. DM us on Instagram for details. Website + email signup: letsgoguided.com

  3. Sep 22

    EP26: Lake Hāwea Station Hunting (Outfitter Spotlight)

    Mitch Green runs the hunting program at Lake Hāwea Station in New Zealand's Otago high country, where red stag, tahr, chamois and fallow deer share sixteen thousand acres of free range mountain terrain above Lake Hāwea. He grew up chasing sika deer in the North Island, moved south at eighteen, and worked his way from fishing guide to head guide on one of Otago's best known hunting properties. In this conversation, Mitch walks through what separates a guided hunt from public land hunting in New Zealand: how the station manages its deer, chamois and tahr populations with no natural predators on the ground, why the red stag roar in late March and April is considered the height of New Zealand hunting, and how steep the country actually feels once you're standing in it. Mitch says he estimates that without predators, a New Zealand deer population can double every two to four years, part of why active management matters so much on a property like this. He also covers what it takes to bring a rifle into New Zealand as a visiting hunter, the accommodation options on station (converted century-old musterers' huts), and stories of a run of hunts with a repeat client that produced a trophy fallow buck, two red stags and a heavy chamois in the space of two trips. Whether you're weighing a first guided hunt in New Zealand, researching Otago's draw of red stag, tahr and chamois, or just want to hear what it's like to guide free range mountain hunting for a living, this one covers it. Let's Go Guided:Website + email signup: letsgoguided.comInstagram: @letsgoguided_Facebook: Let's Go Guided Lake Hāwea Station Hunting:🌐 lakehaweastationhunting.com📸 @lakehaweastation_hunting Photography credit: Courtesy of Lake Hāwea Station Hunting

  4. Sep 15

    EP25: Crusader Safaris (Outfitter Spotlight)

    Andrew Pringle grew up hunting in South Africa, then spent a decade guiding whitetail and mule deer in Alberta before building Crusader Safaris into 800,000 free range acres back home. No high fences, no farmed game, animals living where they've always lived. In this conversation, Andrew breaks down what actually separates a free range hunt from a high-fenced one, why the majority of his clients come back within a few years, and how giving local communities a real stake in the wildlife has made poaching a non-issue in most of his areas. He also talks through the three conservancies (Umkomaas, Stormberg, and the Baviaansriver), what a first South Africa hunt should look like species-wise, and why he thinks it's one of the easiest, best-value first international hunts a North American hunter can book. Robbie also shares that Let's Go Guided is bringing a group to hunt the Baviaansriver Conservancy with Crusader Safaris in June 2027, with five-day and seven-day packages and room for a custom trip. Want in on it? DM us on Instagram (@letsgoguided_) or Email lindsay@letsgoguided.com. Come for the hunting, stay for the comradery, the filming, and an experience none of us will forget! Crusader Safaris:🌐 crusadersafaris.com📸 @crusader_safaris Photography credit: Courtesy of Crusader Safaris

  5. Sep 1

    EP24: GURO Outfitters (Outfitter Spotlight)

    Rod runs one of Sonora, Mexico's larger desert bighorn sheep operations, and he guarantees hunters a shot opportunity on a ram. In eight seasons, that guarantee has only slipped twice, and both times the hunt was simply extended a day or two to get it done. He and his partner Gustavo started GURO Outfitters with two mule deer tags and nothing else. Rod grew up hunting in Mexico City, starting at four years old on whitetail hunts just south of the Texas border with his father. Gustavo's family had hunted the same Sonora ranches for generations, and after his grandmother's eightieth birthday, the two decided almost on impulse to start an outfit together. The first two years were rough. They couldn't sell their own hunts and survived by taking overflow clients from another outfitter. By year three they added desert bighorn sheep to the lineup, and the growth from there was steady. Today GURO runs two camps at a time, each with its own chef and guide team, and never mixes hunting parties. Sheep hunts run eight full days, mule deer hunts six, with clients typically picked up in Tucson and then crossed the border. Rod walks through what actually makes a sheep hunt hard, how "high racking" works for mule deer, why target acquisition, not marksmanship, is the biggest obstacle most clients face, and how Sonora's government uses a helicopter survey every three years to set sheep tag allocations. He also gets into the mule deer scoring standard GURO holds itself to, the toll a multi-year drought took on the herd, and the questions he thinks every hunter should ask an outfitter before booking. Let's Go Guided:Website + email signup: letsgoguided.comInstagram: @letsgoguided_Facebook: Let's Go Guided GURO Outfitters:🌐 desertbighornsheephunt.com📸 @gurooutfitters Photography credit: Courtesy of GURO Outfitters

  6. Aug 25

    EP23: Faro Safaris (Outfitter Spotlight)

    Three generations, one concession in Cameroon, fifty five years of guiding the same wild country. Xavier Vannier of Faro Safaris joins the show to explain why the Lord Derby Eland has become the animal that defines hunting in northern Cameroon, and why it is considered one of the most difficult trophies to close on anywhere in Africa. Faro Safaris was founded in 1971 by Xavier's grandfather, who got his start in the bush with the help of Xavier's great grandfather, already working in Cameroon since the 1940s. Xavier's father took over the operation in 2003, and Xavier joined full time in 2016, having spent his entire childhood immersed in the bush. Today the family holds one of the smaller hunting concessions in Cameroon by size, seventy five thousand hectares, but by their own account runs among the highest quota density per hectare of any area in the country. Xavier walks through what actually makes the Eland so hard to hunt: a January to March breeding season unlike any other species in the region, a herd structure built around wary, watchful females, and terrain so unstable underfoot that a single misstep can end a stalk. He and Robbie get into what a twelve day tracking hunt actually looks like day to day, the physical and mental demands it puts on a hunter, and a couple of specific hunts that stuck with Xavier for what they taught him about patience and pressure. The conversation also covers the making of Eden, a documentary filmed on the Faro Safaris concession during the COVID years, and the conservation side of the operation: anti poaching patrols, community relations, and a nonprofit called the Faro Conservancy Project that runs on hunting revenue, a published photo book, paid conservation trips for non hunters, and international conservation funding. If you're weighing a first guided hunt in Cameroon, trying to understand what an Eland hunt actually demands physically and mentally, or just want a straight account of how a well run, multi generational African outfit funds its own conservation work, this episode covers all of it in detail. Faro Safaris:🌐 farosafaris.com📸 @farosafariclubcameroon Let's Go Guided:Website + email signup: letsgoguided.comInstagram: @letsgoguided_Facebook: Let's Go Guided Photography credit: Courtesy of Faro Safaris

  7. Aug 18

    EP22: Primitive Outfitting (Outfitter Spotlight)

    Guiding hunters across Alberta and British Columbia for decades, Jeff Lander built his reputation on one rule: never oversell the hunt. Jeff Lander is the owner of Primitive Outfitting, based in British Columbia near McBride. He grew up hunting mule deer, elk, and upland birds in Washington State, then guided whitetail for years in Edmonton's Bowzone under outfitter Jim Hole Jr. From there he built his own archery-only mule deer operation in southern Alberta, ran it for decades, and sold it a few years back to focus solely on his BC operation. Today Primitive Outfitting runs spring black bear hunts out of a family-run lodge, where Jeff's wife cooks for the camp, and eight-day moose and elk hunts by jet boat and raft along a sixty-mile stretch of river that sees almost no other hunting pressure. Jeff has shot a longbow since 1985 and chased stone sheep with it six times; grizzly with a longbow is still on his list, not something he's done yet. In this conversation, Jeff and Robbie get into the landowner relationships that kept his Alberta operation running, the most common mistakes hunters make glassing open-country mule deer, how his team handles it when a hunt turns dangerous, and what he hopes clients say about him ten years from now. Jeff also gives his honest advice for anyone shopping for an outfitter: call the references who didn't fill their tag, not just the ones who did. Listen and subscribe to Let's Go Guided for more conversations with the outfitters and guides shaping western hunting. Let's Go Guided:Website + email signup: letsgoguided.comInstagram: @letsgoguided_Facebook: Let's Go Guided Primitive Outfitting:Website: primitive-outfitting.comEmail: primitivebowhunts@gmail.comInstagram: @primtve Photography credit: Courtesy of Primitive Outfitting

  8. Aug 11

    EP21: Findlay Creek Outfitters (Outfitter Spotlight)

    Lee Drescher didn't grow up hunting. His passion for the backcountry started after his father fell ill, and within a few years he had gone from watching Meat Eater videos in his living room to purchasing one of British Columbia's most remote guiding territories. Findlay Creek Outfitters operates 220,000 acres entirely within the Purcell Wilderness Conservancy, protected since 1974, with no motor vehicle access whatsoever. The only way in is horseback or boot leather. In this episode, Robbie sits down with Lee to talk elk, moose, mountain goat, and mule deer hunting in the East Kootenays, what it actually feels like to be dropped into nearly a thousand square kilometers of backcountry with no one else around for forty kilometers in any direction, and the story of his very first guided hunt: a six point bull at fifteen yards, called in on the last day, shared with a client from Idaho who later mailed Lee a laser engraved skinning knife with his name and the words Lee Drescher Outfitter. Let's Go Guided: Website + email signup: letsgoguided.com Instagram: @letsgoguided_ Facebook: Let's Go Guided Findlay Creek Outfitters: 🌐 findlaycreekoutfitters.com 📧 lee@findlaycreekoutfitters.com 📸@findlaycreekoutfitters Photography credit: Courtesy of Findlay Creek Outfitters

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About

Welcome to Let's Go Guided, the premier media platform connecting hunters with the world’s most trusted outfitters. Episodes hosted by Robbie Clunes and Colin Lyons, we go behind the scenes of the hunting industry to bring you raw stories from the experts, sharing the traditions of hunting and the outfitter world. Whether you're a seasoned hunter or planning your very first guided trip, Let's Go Guided is your roadmap to ethical, successful, and life-changing outdoor experiences. Subscribe to join the movement of stewardship and adventure.

Information

  • Creator
    Robbie, Colin and Lindsay | Let's Go Guided
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    29
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Robbie, Colin and Lindsay | Let's Go Guided
  • Show Website
    Let's Go Guided

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