Ep. 932: Back 40 - Great Spot, Bad Access: Can I Still Hunt It Successfully?

Wired To Hunt Podcast

MeatEater

Wilderness, Sports

4.6 • 4.7K Ratings

🗓️ 6 August 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

You’ve got the sign, the bedding, the movement, and the spot - but getting in clean feels impossible. In this episode, Jake Hofer asks Steve Hanson, Don Higgins, Skip Sligh, Mark Kenyon, Jeff Sturgis, Bobby Kendall, and Bill Winke how they approach high-value spots with tough access. Can you still hunt it without blowing it up? Or are you better off leaving it alone? The panel shares their real-world tactics, how they evaluate risk vs reward, and what it takes to turn a tricky spot into a killing setup. If you’ve ever had a stand that looks perfect on the map but feels impossible to hunt, this is one you won’t want to miss.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	There's no shortcut to building gear that won't fail.
0:04.0	That's why First Light built the new Forge Waiters from the ground up,
0:08.2	field tested where failure isn't an option.
0:11.1	Designed for waterfow hunters who show up in the dark,
0:14.2	who break ice at the shoreline, and who stay out when the conditions stay brutal.
0:19.0	These aren't fire weather waiters.
0:20.9	They're built to perform, built to last.
0:23.8	If you're planning your waterfowl season, planned around gear that won't quit on you.
0:28.4	Forge waiters by First Light.
0:30.3	Zero quit, season after season.
0:33.3	Available now at Firstlight.com.
0:35.9	That's F-I-R-S-T-L-I-T-E.com.
0:40.7	The best spot on your farm has bad access. Then it's not the best spot on your farm.
0:46.7	Welcome back to Back40 podcast brought to you by land.com, the leading online real estate
0:52.1	marketplace to find your perfect rural, recreational,
0:55.1	agricultural, or hunting properties here in the U.S. and there's still some time to go to
0:59.3	the meat eater.com backslash back 40 for a chance to win a white till kit worth $1,000.
1:04.6	The contest ends August 12th, so don't wait. Sign up for a chance to win today at themeetere.com backslash Back40.
1:14.2	And today we're diving into a topic that we've all likely ran into at some point.
1:19.6	And so this might have been when you're summer scouting.
1:22.5	Maybe it's from last year.
1:23.8	Maybe there's just a spot that comes to mind and it has bad access and so I wrangled up the
	...

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