The Outdoor Gibbon

The weather was brutal this year—snowed in for days, then floods that turned fields into lakes—but the hardest storm we unpack is personal. We sit down with Emma, a countryside stalwart and lifelong field sports devotee, to trace how a charming “pest controller” built an entire false identity, from forged stalking certificates to a decorated military persona that never existed. What starts as an engaging story about pest control, deer management, and rural life becomes a raw exploration of co...

A whiteout January in Aberdeenshire set the stakes: eight days of deep snow, hungry birds and deer, and a stark reminder that when weather hits hard, the countryside relies on people who live with the land. From there we shift gears into a wild origin story: how a beef farmer and his podcast partner turned a cheeky sweatshirt run into Dead Badger Clothing, a rural brand that refuses to take itself too seriously—and that’s exactly why it works. We dig into the scrappy path from a garage bar t...

A fire, a spaniel, and a late‑December reset set the tone for a day that turned into a lesson in patience, ethics, and focus. We brought Jacob from Lockwood Smocks out for his first civilian deer stalk and used the whole journey—range to hillside—to unpack how a clean, humane shot is built long before a trigger breaks. On the range, we compare military ball ammo with hunting rounds, why polymer tips matter, and what tolerances do to consistency. Jacob meets a new trigger, a moderated .308, a...

A crackling fire, three spaniels at our feet, and a conversation that takes us from frosty Scottish mornings to the heat and dust of the South African veld. We sit down with professional hunter and outfitter Sarah Ripley Forsyth to talk about what conservation really looks like when you’re paying the bills, protecting herds, and living with predators. Sarah runs a historic lodge and game farm on land once owned by Paul Kruger, where history, habitat, and hard choices intersect every single da...

The frost finally arrived, and with it a frank look at what winter really means for working countryside life. We open with frozen offices, hungry pheasants, and a social media landscape that keeps shifting under the boots of anyone who mentions fieldsports. Then we settle in at a Perthshire kitchen table with farmer and comedian Jim Smith to talk roots, resilience, and why a good laugh sometimes saves the day. Jim’s story starts with bales, tatties, and Young Farmers’ stage nights, then leap...