The Silvercore Podcast with Travis Bader

Jay Nichol spends around 140 days a year in the mountains. He guides black bear, mule deer, mountain goat and coues deer across British Columbia, Alberta and Mexico, and runs The Mindful Hunter, an unsponsored gear-review and podcast platform that has grown into Mindful Hunter Outfitting, the Forged in the Backcountry apparel line, and Mindful Munitions, a new Canadian store for the gear he trusts. In this conversation with Travis Bader, Jay explains what he changed after too many clients missed their shot in spring bear camp, how 18 years of sobriety shaped the way he leaves home for a hunt, and what sends hunters out of the backcountry early. From Jay: The Truth About Training for Mountain Hunting (free downloadable plan): https://youtu.be/wAugmpvZrtc Free downloads and tools: https://www.mindfulhunter.com/tools Kowa TSN-88A Sweepstakes: https://forgedinthebackcountry.com/blogs/resources/kowa-tsn-88a-sweepstakes Find Jay Nichol: The Mindful Hunter: https://www.mindfulhunter.com The Mindful Hunter Podcast: https://mindfulhunter.podbean.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MindfulHunter Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindful_hunter Mindful Munitions: https://mindfulmunitions.com Forged in the Backcountry: https://forgedinthebackcountry.com Forged in the Backcountry on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/forgedinthebackcountry Mindful Reviews: https://www.mindful-reviews.com _____ The Silvercore Club keeps you sharp and has your back. $5M excess liability insurance for hunting, fishing, and shooting across Canada and the US, member discounts, and a community that gets outside. $59/year. Join the Club - https://www.silvercore.ca/club Firearms & hunting courses - https://www.silvercore.ca/course/category Merchandise - https://www.silvercore.ca/collections/all-merchandise Host Instagram - @Bader.Trav https://www.instagram.com/bader.trav Silvercore Instagram - @SilvercoreOutdoors https://www.instagram.com/silvercoreoutdoors This content is for information and entertainment only. Nothing here is professional, legal, or safety advice. Firearms, hunting, and outdoor activities carry real risk. Know and follow the laws that apply to you, use safe practices, and get proper training from qualified professionals before acting on anything discussed. Silvercore accepts no liability for how this information is used. ____ 00:00 Introducing Jay Nichol 03:00 Leaving home at 15 04:00 Only as sick as our secrets 08:00 Stolen CDs and the start of addiction 14:00 Addiction as a sense of purpose 18:00 The rite of passage nobody gave him 24:00 Letting people help you 26:00 Two mistakes: no mentor, no community 32:00 The annealing hot take 35:00 University with no high school diploma 40:00 Proving something to his father 43:00 Ego death and moments of clarity 49:00 Clean your house before you leave 52:00 The dark years, 2023 and 2024 56:00 Tapping out versus breaking 1:01:00 Why men talk shoulder to shoulder 1:09:00 Hours per day doing what you love 1:12:00 Anger as fuel, and compartmentalizing 1:17:00 Telling his daughter no 1:19:00 1,200 rounds in five days 1:22:00 The kneeling logging road shot 1:24:00 Buy a 223, shoot 1,000 rounds 1:27:00 Kill the weak parts 1:30:00 Zone two and the StairMaster 1:36:00 Travis on going into AFib 1:42:00 The illusion of learning 1:45:00 Nothing died, so you failed 1:47:00 36 deer in 105 minutes 1:50:00 Spend it on field days, not a spotter 1:52:00 Forged in the Backcountry 1:56:00 Outfitting in BC, Alberta and Mexico 2:00:00 Launching Mindful Munitions 2:04:00 Why the focus is men

Mark Twight joins Travis Bader on the Silvercore Podcast for a conversation about alpinism, Gym Jones, the training behind 300, and life after peak performance. The booking took five years and one condition: in person only. Twight climbed in the Alps, Alaska and the Canadian Rockies, including The Reality Bath, a route that went unrepeated for 37 years. He climbed the Slovak Direct on Denali in 60 hours with Steve House and Scott Backes. His books Extreme Alpinism and Kiss or Kill were picked up well outside climbing, including by military units who found the chapter on attitude and character applied to their work. He later worked on nine feature films, most of them with director Zack Snyder, building physical transformations against production deadlines. In this conversation, recorded in person in Montana, Twight talks about what separated him from better technical climbers, why he keeps walking away from things at the top, and what he has found in the valley since. Topics covered: - Growing up the son of a National Park Service law enforcement ranger - Taking up shooting in 1995, and mentors including Brian Enos and Pat Rogers - Getting disqualified before firing a shot in his first match in 21 years - Self image, permission to fail, and why some competitors stall - Mount Hunter in 39 hours nonstop, and the arithmetic of pack weight - Writing while drinking, and the decision to stop - Building the cast of 300, and why fast results do not hold - Leaving the Aquaman job when the paycheque became the only reason to stay - Declining physical capacity, and purpose after achievement A conversation about total commitment, and the bill that comes due for it. Learn more about Mark Twight: Website: https://www.marktwight.com Substack: https://marktwight.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wfmft _____ The Silvercore Club keeps you sharp and has your back. $5M excess liability insurance for hunting, fishing, and shooting across Canada and the US, member discounts, and a community that gets outside. $59/year. Join the Club - https://www.silvercore.ca/club Firearms & hunting courses - https://www.silvercore.ca/course/category Merchandise - https://www.silvercore.ca/collections/all-merchandise Host Instagram - @Bader.Trav https://www.instagram.com/bader.trav Silvercore Instagram - @SilvercoreOutdoors https://www.instagram.com/silvercoreoutdoors This content is for information and entertainment only. Nothing here is professional, legal, or safety advice. Firearms, hunting, and outdoor activities carry real risk. Know and follow the laws that apply to you, use safe practices, and get proper training from qualified professionals before acting on anything discussed. Silvercore accepts no liability for how this information is used. ____ 00:00 Five years and a one word reply 06:20 A ranger father, an anti-authority son 12:50 Nine films, mostly with Zack Snyder 17:20 Forty pounds and a changed life 20:00 Extreme Alpinism reaches Special Forces 26:50 The mountains are not clever, men are 28:40 Guns are stupid, then a range day 31:30 Brian Enos, Gunsite and mentors 41:50 Back to competition, DQ'd first match 49:40 You never outperform your self image 51:20 Permission to fail 57:20 Seven lives in one lifetime 1:01:00 Mount Hunter, 39 hours nonstop 1:04:50 The Slovak Direct in 60 hours 1:11:00 Why he stopped climbing 1:16:30 Writing drunk, and what it cost 1:29:00 Coming down to the valley 1:38:40 Borrowed beliefs and in-group politics 1:44:40 Hunters, conservation, common ground 1:47:20 Paragliding before anyone knew how 1:56:40 Something to rebel against 2:00:20 The first gym, and what it taught him 2:06:40 Invitation only, everyone on parole 2:12:30 300 and the website that crashed 2:16:30 Fear, rationalization, walking away 2:23:20 Walking off Aquaman 2:31:50 Fast results are unstable results 2:46:20 Why dangerous things matter 2:51:40 Risk tolerance over technical skill 3:03:40 No off-ramp for veterans and athletes 3:08:00 Intent instead of intensity 3:17:30 Saying goodbye to Daryl Miller 3:23:20 What success means at 65

Ian Sim spent nearly three decades in the RCMP. In December, alone in his apartment, the strokes came. He saved the wine, booked an Uber to emergency because it was faster than an ambulance, and days later faced a decision about a clot-busting drug with minutes on the clock and nobody to call. The man who returns to the Silvercore Podcast is in what he calls the afterglow. Colours are brighter. Food tastes better. Any familiar face is an old friend. Ian cold-called the SAS out of directory assistance and got a yes. He policed Wreck Beach by getting out of the car and learning names. He wrote a counterterrorism paper that got him summoned to the principal's office, and he has rebuilt his off-duty carry proposal into something a province could adopt on its own. And he answers the question an RCMP recruiter asked him at 19: do you have a healthy or an unhealthy interest in firearms? His answer got the room to go quiet. Ian speaks as a private citizen. His views are his own, not those of the RCMP. _____ The Silvercore Club keeps you sharp and has your back. $5M excess liability insurance for hunting, fishing, and shooting across Canada and the US, member discounts, and a community that gets outside. $59/year. Join the Club - https://www.silvercore.ca/club Firearms & hunting courses - https://www.silvercore.ca/course/category Merchandise - https://www.silvercore.ca/collections/all-merchandise Host Instagram - @Bader.Trav https://www.instagram.com/bader.trav Silvercore Instagram - @SilvercoreOutdoors https://www.instagram.com/silvercoreoutdoors This content is for information and entertainment only. Nothing here is professional, legal, or safety advice. Firearms, hunting, and outdoor activities carry real risk. Know and follow the laws that apply to you, use safe practices, and get proper training from qualified professionals before acting on anything discussed. Silvercore accepts no liability for how this information is used. ____ 00:00:00 Welcome back 00:01:00 The warning shots 00:12:00 The big one 00:18:00 The clot buster decision 00:29:00 A song and a $5 bill 00:43:00 Is there any such thing as a coincidence? 00:53:00 A Reaper in the desert 00:56:00 Cold-calling the SAS 01:04:00 The afterglow 01:12:00 They don't look like supermen 01:19:00 Radio, Wreck Beach and who works for whom 01:32:00 Smart on crime 01:35:00 Off-shift carry, the proposal rebuilt 01:48:00 Define the problem first 01:55:00 The paper and the principal's office 02:10:00 A Liberal beat him to it 02:14:00 "I wanted to live my life armed" 02:26:00 The next sidearm 02:36:00 Courts and credibility 02:38:00 Until next time

Retired Delta Force Sergeant Major Kyle Lamb returns to the Silvercore Podcast to talk about his new book, The Next Mission, co-authored with his wife Melynda. Kyle spent 21 years in the US Army, 15 of them in Delta Force, and fought in the Battle of Mogadishu in 1993. The day episode 124 finished recording, Kyle got a phone call telling him he had bladder cancer. He had just told Travis, on tape, that he was living as though he had six months left. What happened next changed how he and Melynda live. In this conversation: The phone call after the last podcast, and the lung finding that followed for his wife Why The Next Mission reads the Bible through a special operations lens, and why Bible scholars are not the audience Ehud the left-handed assassin, and how researching a bronze dagger led to Herodotus and tin from ancient Britain The Apostle Paul chained to a Roman soldier, and the two words that would have stopped his beating Why Melynda's name is on the cover, and the five chapters she red-X'd out of Leadership in the Shadows Two poems read aloud that have never been published anywhere Twelve years without a drink, and the conversation in Hawaii that changed how he saw it Why the Christian who did the most for his faith in two years is a Muslim friend What tribe actually means, and why it has nothing to do with skin, geography, or religion The redactions left visible in the book, and the note inside the cover confirming no AI was used The Next Mission is 432 pages, published June 6, 2026. Signed and personalized copies are available direct from Viking Tactics. It is priced at $27.17, a reference to Proverbs 27:17, iron sharpens iron. Kyle Lamb and Viking Tactics Signed copies: https://www.vikingtactics.com/shop/the-next-mission/ Stay in the Fight Foundation: https://www.vikingtactics.com/stay-in-the-fight-foundation/ Team VTAC Podcast: https://kylelamb.libsyn.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vikingtactics _____ Silvercore Club - https://www.silvercore.ca/club Online Training - https://www.silvercore.ca/course/canadian-firearms-safety-course-online Other Training & Services - https://www.silvercore.ca/course/category Merchandise - https://www.silvercore.ca/collections/all-merchandise Blog Page - https://www.silvercore.ca/blog Host Instagram - @Bader.Trav https://www.instagram.com/bader.trav Silvercore Instagram - @SilvercoreOutdoors https://www.instagram.com/silvercoreoutdoors ____ 00:00 The best conversations happen off the record 01:41 Welcome back, Kyle Lamb 02:19 The year-end question, and what happened that same day 03:40 "Mr. Lamb, you've got bladder cancer" 04:50 Then it was his wife 06:20 What he said to God in the truck 11:20 Time is the gift 13:30 Nims Purja and purpose after achievement 16:20 What's the mission today? 23:00 How the book started: Ehud and the bronze dagger 26:10 The Apostle Paul, chained to a Roman soldier 30:15 Battlefield reflections and the audiobook 31:15 Why Melynda's name is on the cover 33:50 Speaking, elk season, and his grandson's first hunt 36:10 The attention span of a squirrel 39:40 The Kyle pile 45:40 The guns he'd never get rid of 50:20 Commander's intent: reach the unreachable 51:30 Don't wear your faith as a badge 55:20 The Muslim friend who sent him a Bible verse 1:04:20 What tribe actually means 1:08:30 How his prayers changed 1:11:50 Twelve years without a drink 1:14:30 What an answer to prayer looks like 1:21:00 The farther from the flagpole 1:26:20 "If I shoot guns, I get paid" 1:29:20 The path of Musashi 1:34:40 Two poems, never released anywhere 1:46:10 What the public doesn't see 1:47:20 The five chapters his wife red-X'd 1:50:50 Putting the light on evil 1:51:50 Meek is not weak 1:56:40 Cutting twenty percent 2:00:40 Why he writes at a sixth grade level 2:15:20 Do you feel guilt? 2:22:20 The motorcycle in the classroom 2:26:30 Where to get the book, and why it costs $27.17 2:28:20 The redactions and the unit approval

John Barklow spent 26 years in the U.S. Navy, most of it teaching Naval Special Warfare how to survive the coldest, most unforgiving mountains on earth. After 9/11 the military needed mountain warfare experts and almost none were left. They picked a diver from Cleveland, Ohio, and his work went on to reshape cold weather survival training for a generation of special operators. In this conversation, Travis Bader and John go far past gear. They get into the mindset that keeps you alive when things go wrong, the difference between chasing happiness and building satisfaction, and why the hunting and firearms communities are so quick to turn on their own. John breaks down his famous rewarming drill in full: what to do if you fall in cold water in the backcountry, why you keep your wet clothes on instead of stripping them off, and how your own body heat dries your system from the inside. He explains how to train it safely in your own backyard before your life depends on it. He also tells the story of a British Columbia horseback hunt that nearly ended under 1,400 pounds of falling horse in the dark, opens up about two hip replacements and refusing to let the old man in, and shares, for the first time publicly, who wrote the foreword to his new book. Some of the best survival lessons of your life are the ones John learned the hard way, so you don't have to. John's first book, Knowledge from Storms, is available for pre-order now. This episode includes a giveaway. Details are in the show and on our channels. Learn more about John Barklow: Book: Knowledge from Storms (St. Martin's Press) Website: knowledgefromstorms.com Instagram: @jbarklow Courses: outdoorclass.com Free videos: Montana Knife Company YouTube, MKC Survival Guide series _____ Silvercore Club - https://www.silvercore.ca/club Online Training - https://www.silvercore.ca/course/canadian-firearms-safety-course-online Other Training & Services - https://www.silvercore.ca/course/category Merchandise - https://www.silvercore.ca/collections/all-merchandise Blog Page - https://www.silvercore.ca/blog Host Instagram - @Bader.Trav https://www.instagram.com/bader.trav Silvercore Instagram - @SilvercoreOutdoors https://www.instagram.com/silvercoreoutdoors ____ Timestamps 00:00 Cold open: they picked a diver 01:00 The best introduction he's ever had 02:00 Cleveland, Ohio does not grow mountain men 05:00 Enlisting in the Navy at 19 07:00 The cardinal direction: a heading he couldn't name 08:00 Breaking the script he was handed 10:00 Happiness versus satisfaction 17:00 The harder you work, the luckier you get 18:00 When it goes wrong in the mountains, who does he call? 21:00 COVID, and the birth of Knowledge From Storms 23:00 The inciting incident: his drill in a competitor's marketing 27:00 Why the hunting and firearms communities eat their own 28:00 The camo wars, and refusing to fight in public 31:00 Trust is slow to earn and fast to lose 34:00 Travis at 16: the station wagon, the cabin, and hypothermia 38:00 Where he learned cold: diving, the Sierras, and Mark Twight 41:00 After 9/11: rebuilding a lost cold weather capability 42:00 Making the soldier durable 45:00 The rewarming drill on camera, and Adam Foss 47:00 The static rewarming drill: clothing is shelter 48:00 Why building a fire can be the wrong first move 49:00 Trap the heat, then move 51:00 An hour in: the shivering stops 54:00 Do it in your backyard, not in the middle of nowhere 57:00 Granddad in denim, and what modern gear actually changed 59:00 The active rewarming drill: one bucket, any trailhead 1:02:00 Mark Twight wrote the foreword, announced here first 1:05:00 Extreme Alpinism: the book that prepared men for war 1:06:00 Going light without getting forced out: the margin of safety 1:09:00 Three days pinned in a Mount Rainier blizzard 1:11:00 Planning builds confidence, confidence builds decisions 1:13:00 Keeping your world small when the float plane leaves 1:16:00 We romanticize the mountains. Here is the rest of it. 1:19:00 The PPCLI research miss 1:20:00 The BC horseback hunt that went wrong 1:22:00 1,400 pounds of horse in the dark 1:24:00 Giardia, and the unforced error he owns 1:28:00 Two hip replacements, and not letting the old man in 1:32:00 Who the book is for 1:35:00 OutdoorClass and Montana Knife Company 1:38:00 Start higher on the mountain, but climb it yourself 1:39:00 Student of the game: enjoy where you are