Vortex Nation Podcast

Months of speculation, hours poring over aerial maps and a somewhat impulsive boat purchase have led Mark, Jimmy, and Erik to the office of DNR Wildlife Biologist/Area Expert Bob Hanson, to find out if their hypotheses’ about the region are overly optimistic, or on target. Is this river the mecca of fish and game – or a barren water wasteland. Spoiler alert, there is a heck of lot going on in the area if you’re willing to work for it. From bass to bucks, waterfowl to wild rice, and so much more, Northern WI is an outdoorsman’s paradise. If you’re one of those folks who consider Wisconsin a fly-over state, we would selfishly like you to keep on thinking that. Oh yeah, do we have the right boat? Bob says, “That depends”. As always, we want to hear your feedback! Let us know if there are any topics you'd like covered on the Vortex Nation podcast by asking us on Instagram @vortexnationpodcast

Few folks know whitetails and water access tactics like “The Hunting Public”. Jim, Mark and Erik tap into their vast knowledge and experience to aid in planning an upcoming multi-day river hunt. From low-impact speed scouting to backdooring low-pressure areas, this is a podcast worth listening to. Did we choose the right boat for the job? Well, they didn’t say it was the wrong boat. As always, we want to hear your feedback! Let us know if there are any topics you'd like covered on the Vortex Nation podcast by asking us on Instagram @vortexnationpodcast

Say it ain’t so!? Jimmy, Mark and Nick Laufenberg get 10 minutes to explain why, contrary to popular opinion, lightweight rifles are not always the best way to go. In this case, we’re talking specifically to precision long range rifles.

The hunter in pursuit of whitetail east of the Mississippi requires a different arsenal of optics than the elk or mule deer hunter in the American West. Likewise, both those two have different needs than the Alaskan caribou or moose hunter, and the Southwestern elk or coues deer hunter. Jimmy and Mark are joined by Paul Neess and Ryan Muckenhirn, each given a region of the country to speak to in terms of optic recommendations for the bulk of their hunts, to explain what our top recommendations are and why. Performance, budget, weight and convenience considerations are all taken into account and this conversation gives you the fully in-depth look into the mind of one of our optics experts when they make a recommendation for what is often someone else’s hunt of a lifetime.Already listened, but want the show notes for reference afterwards? You can find them here: https://vortexoptics.com/vortex-nation-podcastAs always, we want to hear your feedback! Let us know if there are any topics you'd like covered on the V

After a catastrophic meat loss from freezer failure this year, Mark has been on the hunt for a freezer alarm. In an effort to help anyone else avoid the same fate, we wanted to do a quick 10 minute talk to discuss what kinds of freezer alarms are out there and how much they can save you – not only in dollar value of the meat in your freezer, but of all the non-monetary value we place on our wild game as well.

Rods, reels, line, bait, bobbers, jigs, hooks, sinkers, spinners, spoons, worms, braid, monofilament… Holy smokes! These fishin’ folks seem to be speaking in a completely different language! If you have next-to-no fishing experience like Jimmy in this podcast or have maybe done some in the past but lost touch with the hobby and want to get back into it, this is a great podcast to start with. The topic of “Fishing 101” isn’t easy because the equipment and tactics for each type of fish, water and location will vary. That said, for the beginner just looking to get some casts in and catch something, our guests Ben Schneider (30 years fishing experience) and Larry Wipperfurth (52 years of fishing experience) from the office as well as Mark (nearly 37 years fishing experience) break it down for a noob like Jimmy with a great do-most-things, reasonably priced, easy-to-understand rod, reel, line, bait and bobber setup. They also bring up some great tips for where to go, how to fish and what to expect. We plan to do p

After listening to our full length episode on proper maintenance of your firearm, many of you may be wondering “Shoot… My BCG is pretty old – Does it require maintenance?”, “How the *** do I actually take this thing apart?” or “Does this mean I’m gonna have to go to a gun smith to fix it??”. Rest easy – it’s not as complicated as it sounds. In fact, Adrian was able to do it in just a smidge over 10 minutes while podcasting with us to show how it’s done. It’s simple, inexpensive, can save you the money of buying a whole new bolt carrier group and can also be integral to the reliable functionality of your AR.

We brought Jeff Sturgis of Whitetail Habitat Solutions back to pick his brain on some next-level whitetail techniques: Namely, using the weather to improve your chances on filling that whitetail tag. Jeff will cover different weather-related factors including how you can utilize weather tech to scout at home, how to use what’s happening in the sky to improve your ground game, and how to avoid pressuring deer. Many hunters follow “quantity over quality,” which Jeff debunks, saying you can harvest bigger bucks by spending more time on your couch. Although it can be hard to exercise the patience to wait for the perfect weather day, your friends, family, and career might be thankful. And who knows? You may even be rewarded with a huge buck. Get ready for another deep dive as Jeff walks us through how to find the best whitetail weather, and how to combine it with deer behavior and your scouting intel to form a weather-smart plan for your next hunt.Already listened, but want the show notes for reference afterwards?

After we discussed the .243 in a previous 10 Minute Talk, many of you requested a similar episode on the venerable 22-250 round. A popular varmint, coyote and even potential deer/antelope cartridge with an incredibly cool backstory, the 22-250 is still a popular cartridge to this day, and we owe it all to some wacky wildcatters in their basements for devising this little beast. Ryan Muckenhirn joins Mark and Jimmy to discuss the who, what, where, when, why of this lean, mean, varmint-huntin’ machine!

With a seemingly endless variety of birds, questions on where to go, what to wear, what to bring, which gun to shoot, how to be in the right place at the right time, how to effectively use decoys, etc., Jimmy and Mark are joined by Ryan Muckenhirn, long time waterfowl enthusiast, Mike McDowell, resident bird expert, and Erik Barber… for relatability to discuss waterfowl hunting. We’ve wanted to do a number of different waterfowl-related podcasts, which we’ll surely get to in the future, but figured before we dive in the weeds on these topics, we should do a 101 episode for those who aren’t yet up to speed (Jimmy being a prime example). Even if you’ve been waterfowling for years, it’s a great conversation to have, and with the crew we got together here, you may still even learn something new! Tons of people get stoked out of their minds every year for this sport – now you can hear what all the fuss is about.Already listened, but want the show notes for reference afterwards? You can find them here: https://vort

Following a heated Instagram debate as well as some internal division amongst our own team here, Jimmy, Mark, Colin and Brittani (New guest, long time behind-the-scenes coordinator) take a bit more than 10 minutes to duke it out in a 2 vs. 2 battle of Street Taco's vs Burrito's. We learn burrito's are pretty much the pinnacle of American culture according to Colin, Brittani eats bananas weird, Taco's are better because they have their own day, and Lance Armstrong claimed the moon... So what are your thoughts? Street Taco's or Burrito's? Which do you prefer?

Jimmy and Mark are joined by our very own Tom Cody for his first ever podcast to talk about, you guessed it – Beer. Tom is our in-house beer connoisseur, traveling the state of Wisconsin to try as many different beers as he possibly can and matching new brews to his favorite wild game recipes for years. To discuss the all-important topic of beer-pairings, Tom brought in a venison and a pheasant recipe from his mom’s recipe book to give us the rundown on which type of beer compliments each dish the best and why. Undoubtedly, we could go on about the topic of beer for a lot longer than 10 minutes (As you even saw in this episode) so if you like this one, let us know and tell us what else you’d like to hear about everyone’s favorite adult beverage and we may just need to do a full length episode!

2011's are sooo 2019" - Mark Boardman. In this episode, Jimmy and Mark sit down with Adam Maxwell and Reuben Aleckson to discuss the fuss about these fancy 2011 pistols and why so many competitive shooters and even other marksmen are becoming so entranced by their performance vs the classic polymer-framed options. What is the best type of pistol to start shooting with? Are 2011's unreliable compared to their polymer counterparts? At what point can someone say they're "Good enough" to get a nice custom 2011 pistol? What the heck even is a "2011"?? Just a few of the many questions we get to on this podcast!Already listened, but want the show notes for reference afterwards? You can find them here: https://vortexoptics.com/vortex-nation-podcast

With great trucks comes great responsibility. Mark, Erik and Jimmy are on the road in Jimmy's truck preparing for the next podventure and took a break to discuss important recovery gear and tools to keep on hand in the truck to be ready for any situation. Jimmy goes over his personal top 3 in each category with some real life situations that have occurred in the last few years to back each one up. What are the tools and gear you keep in your vehicle to be ready for anything? Bonus points to those carrying this kind of gear in cars that aren't trucks/SUV's, too - even a compact vehicle can come in handy in emergency situations!

Shooting fish underwater in Louisiana, finding Mil-Surp rifles in garbage cans at Sears and ultimately, becoming one of the most respected and most famous competition and world-record breaking shooters around, Jerry Miculek has had quite the interesting life. That's why it was our pleasure to host him on this special podcast where we not only attempted to scratch the surface of his life story, but also asked him what it is about that super-computer-of-a-brain of his that allows him to shoot so darn fast and how he actually goes about getting himself in the right mindset to be one of the best shooters in history. Whether you shoot competitively or not, this is one you absolutely don't want to miss.Already listened, but want the show notes for reference afterwards? You can find them here: https://vortexoptics.com/vortex-nation-podcast

Rob Morell from our Product Development team joins Jimmy and Mark once again to give us the 10 minute crash course in magnifiers for red dots. In the wake of our fresh Micro 3x Magnifier release, we ask Rob some of the technical questions behind magnifiers, what they are, how they work and what’s so special about this new Micro 3x? A few misconceptions even get debunked in this short amount of time. Want more magnifier conversation? Let us know! Maybe these deserve a full episode, too?

In typical “One, Two, Skip a few” fashion, Jimmy and Mark fast forward you back to HQ after the Vortex Extreme to give a run down on everything that happened from the moment those reloads left the press to the moment they crossed the finish line at the Vortex Extreme. How did it go? What tips/tricks would they give to the next group of newbie reloaders looking to take their new-found skills to a competition? Would they actually ever do this again? And as we answer those questions, it brings us to the conclusion of our very first podventure. What did you guys think of the series? Are you looking forward to more? Hopefully so, because, well… Whether you like it or not, we have more of these in the works! If you loved this, we’d love to hear your feedback, too, on ideas for future podventures – They could be competition-related, hunting-related, food-related, who knows! As always, we want to hear your feedback! Let us know if there are any topics you'd like covered on the Vortex Nation podcast by asking us on an

Semi-Live! Jimmy and Mark are joined by Ryan Muckenhirn to actually go ahead and reload their very first cartridges on the single stage press. We take you through every step of the process, from taking a once-fired piece of brass, spent primer still in the pocket, to dropping in a fresh, red-tipped Hornady 140 grain ELD Match bullet and adding it to the “Done” bin. No practice rounds were done before this one – this is literally Mark and Jimmy’s first ever reloaded rounds. Let’s hope they shoot! As always, we want to hear your feedback! Let us know if there are any topics you'd like covered on the Vortex Nation podcast by asking us on any one of our social media platforms and using #VortexNationPodcast.

Jimmy and Mark are joined by Nick Laufenberg, Ryan Hey of Magnetospeed and Tony Palzkill of… Well, we can’t say what Tony does… To talk about the best way of going about reloading to find the absolute best ammo for their particular rifles. We got the stuff to physically reload a round of ammunition, but there’s a lot of strategy and testing that actually goes into making sure you’re loading the right round. Rarely does anyone toss together a perfect recipe for their exact rifle and application in reloading on the first try. Sure, you can always follow the factory recommended loads to get something that works, but that will almost surely leave room for further improvement. If you’re like us, you know you want to load the most precise, consistent and predictable rounds possible – These guys explain exactly how to get there and make that happen. As always, we want to hear your feedback! Let us know if there are any topics you'd like covered on the Vortex Nation podcast by asking us on any one of our social media

Jimmy, Mark, Ryan Muckenhirn and listener as well as two-time guest, Trent Brenny, go into detail on the pencil dive, the cannon ball and the full-on head-first swan dive (Good, better and best) of reloading kits, detailing literally every single piece of gear necessary for you to get the job done. This has been one of Jimmy and Mark’s classic go-to excuses for not reloading – “It’s too complicated”, “There’s too many pieces of equipment to buy and I don’t know what to get”, “Everyone we talk to says we need something different”, etc. No more excuses – You can even get the job done with a $30 Lee Classic Kit and a hammer, which we even demonstrate in this episode! As always, we want to hear your feedback! Let us know if there are any topics you'd like covered on the Vortex Nation podcast by asking us on any one of our social media platforms and using #VortexNationPodcast.