Roundup 171 | Weekly Roundup with Robbie and Ashlee

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Origins Foundation Podcast

Episode: Roundup 171 | Weekly Roundup with Robbie and Ashlee

Date: April 29, 2026
Hosts: Robbie and Ashlee

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Episode Overview

This weekly roundup episode, hosted by Robbie and Ashlee, provides a deep dive into several current issues in wildlife management, hunting policy, and conservation both in the U.S. and the U.K. The hosts reflect on recent travels through Europe, highlight the challenges of predator management, discuss legislative developments like the U.S. Endangered Species Act Amendments, and comment on evolving state-level wildlife debates. The episode is colored by their candid banter, irreverent humor, and passion for hard-hitting, nuanced discussion in the sustainable use space.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Robbie’s Recent Travel Adventures (00:49–10:15)

• Robbie recounts a 16-day trip spanning Austria and England, including a stay above a centuries-old English pub (“The Globe”) in Buckfastleigh, on the edge of Dartmoor. He describes the challenging yet humorous conditions and local color, like navigating cramped, ancient rooms and noisy slot machines at night.

  • Notable Quote:
    “There’s a sweet spot with a gun, you know, too heavy and it’s a burden to walk with. Too light and you whipping it.” – Robbie [00:00]

• The story shifts to a memorable night in Vienna, where Robbie attends a private mass at the city’s largest cathedral thanks to connections made at a major wildlife conservation conference (CIC).

• Ashlee and Robbie exchange personal travel dreams and tales of European seasonal traditions like the Christmas markets.

  • Memorable moment:
    The anecdote of an elderly German lady sitting in the premium economy seats Robbie was downgraded to—only for a flight attendant to scold her, after which Robbie graciously allows her to stay.
    – [11:04–12:56]

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2. The Importance of Predator Management in the UK (18:01–29:27)

• Robbie details the filming of a new documentary, “Why Moorlands Matter,” aimed at educating politicians and the public about the ecological necessity of managed predator control on England’s grouse moors, particularly for the survival of red-listed ground-nesting birds.

  • Key Explanation:
    In the UK, “shooting” refers to hunting birds; “stalking” is for deer/hard game.
    – [18:58–19:38]

• Contrasts are drawn between regions with intensive predator management (yielding thriving populations of rare ground-nesting birds) and areas like Dartmoor, where hands-off “rewilding” results in the near absence of such species.

• Discussion of land tenure in Dartmoor, where private ownership coexists with “commoner” grazing rights and universal public access (“right to roam”), creating management complexity.

  • Notable Quote:
    “You can't say one is bad and one is good because it’s all based on judgment and value of what you see in the landscape.” – Robbie [22:44]

• Points out the class tensions underlying British debates (“the Lords” own the moors; working-class/urban activists oppose predator management), and highlights the similar ideological battles in the U.S. around rewilding, predator species, and hunting.

  • Notable Quote:
    “The more we get into these different environments with these different issues, it’s the same issue all over the world.” – Robbie [30:16]

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3. U.S. Conservation Policy: ESA Amendments & Legislative Frustrations (30:38–36:19)

• Endangered Species Act Amendments:
  Ashlee explains the recent political stall on the ESA reform bill. She provides a behind-the-scenes look at why the measure was abruptly pulled, the challenge of including too many amendments (especially surrounding economic considerations), and the likelihood of future compromise.

  • Quote:
    “Nobody you talk to behind the scenes says, yeah, this is great, this is ideal. ...But they also don’t necessarily want all of the amendments that are wrapped up into this.” – Ashlee [32:00]

• The segment outlines procedural drama, contrasts it with competing national conservation priorities in the federal budget, and notes widespread cuts impacting agencies like the Forest Service and Fish & Wildlife.

  • Notable Quote:
    “Depending on what group you’re with and what you focus on, that’s kind of what you’re hearing about in the budget.” – Ashlee [35:38]

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4. State-Level Policy: Colorado’s Citizen-Led Wildlife Management & Louisiana’s CWD Debate (37:32–43:18)

• Colorado:
  Excitement over a citizens’ petition (IP200, targeting a 2026 ballot measure) to reshape state wildlife management. Ashlee underscores the challenge: all signatures must be gathered in person.

  • Quote:
    “If they will just all turn out for this, they can get this passed 100%. But they've got to vote because it'll take 55% of the vote, but they can do that.” – Ashlee [37:55]

• Louisiana:
  Coverage of controversial bills around Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) control:

  • One proposed law would eliminate all CWD regulations.
  • Others offer compromise, shrinking zones and allowing some feeding, aiming to maintain agency authority while appeasing key stakeholder groups.
  • Notable Quote:
    “I personally wish that they would not do that. I don't agree...with feeding in CWD zones at all because it helps artificially congregate the deer. But they would rather this bill pass as a sort of compromise…than have all authority stripped from the agency and no CWD regulations.” – Ashlee [41:19]

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5. Personal Notes & Looking Ahead (43:31–45:28)

• The duo gives a shoutout to friend Travis Thompson recovering from health issues, wishing him well and welcoming his return to banter on Instagram.

  • Quote:
    “We love you, Travis, and we hope you’re feeling better, buddy.” – Ashlee [43:36]

• Robbie outlines upcoming projects:

  • Three weeks more on rhino work in South Africa
  • Mozambique filming with a noted conservationist
  • Screening an elephant documentary in Kenya (where hunting is banned)—with anticipation and a bit of nerves about local reactions
  • A trip to France for a film premiere

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “Ivory, in my opinion, was the plastic of its age.” – Robbie [00:00]
• “It’s like snakes and ladders. You guys are climbing the ladder and then somebody does something stupid and you just slide down.” – Robbie [00:00]
• “Could you imagine? ...Friday night, four cameramen and...we bust open the front door of the bar because we have to go through the bar to get up to our rooms.” – Robbie [06:04]
• “This whole predator thing...it’s like oh how dare you, you’re going to eradicate the predators. No you’re not. You’re just suppressing them.” – Robbie [30:16]
• “Politics comes down to compromise, right?” – Robbie [43:18]
• “If anyone wants to give us a shout out, touch base, give us any topics you want us to discuss...We appreciate everybody weighing in and appreciate you joining us.” – Ashlee [45:28]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |---------|-----------| | UK Travel Stories & Pub Adventures | 00:49–10:15 | | Vienna Conference & Mass | 13:15–15:06 | | Austrian Gun Makers & Turkish Walnut | 15:26–18:01 | | UK Predator Management, Grouse Moors | 18:01–29:27 | | ESA Amendments Discussion | 30:38–36:19 | | U.S. Federal Budget Cuts | 35:35–36:19 | | Colorado & Louisiana Wildlife Policy | 37:32–43:18 | | Personal Shout-outs & Upcoming Projects | 43:31–45:28 |

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Episode Tone & Language

The conversation weaves humor and casual banter with earnest, expert commentary. The hosts stay frank and approachable, willing to critique both their own community and "outsiders," and are open about the challenges facing conservation globally.

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Conclusion

Robbie and Ashlee’s weekly roundup delivers an engaging blend of travelogue, ecological insight, and legislative analysis. With pointed anecdotes, policy breakdowns, and a sense of camaraderie, the episode exemplifies The Origins Foundation Podcast’s commitment to championing conservation and “telling the truth about hunting”—even, and especially, when it’s complicated.

Transcript

[Robbie]

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[Co-host]

The expenses are going up.

[Robbie]

It goes a long way with families.

[Co-host]

We have families that do need it.

[Robbie]

Me close this door because I have a little wiener dog. What you. Are you laughing because I said wiener?

[Co-host]

I'm really glad you finished the sentence out. I'm sorry the first happened. What are we doing here today?

[Robbie]

You're telling the whole world.

[Co-host]

I. E there to check it. New app and everything.

[Robbie]

Whenever I'm traveling, people are just like, oh, Robbie, you know, you have the most amazing life. You travel so much. You travel all over the world. And that is absolutely true. I absolutely love, love, love, love what I do. However, I think in the last. How long have I been gone now? 16 days on this last jaunt.

[Co-host]

Has it been 16 days?

[Robbie]

11th to the 27th. 16th. Now I came home yesterday. 11th to the 26th.

[Co-host]

Feels like two on my end.

[Robbie]

20. And let me count. 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 different kinds of beds I slept in. And the last bed that I slept in was. No, the second to last bed that I slept in was above a pub in a town called Buck Fastly in southern England. And you know, you book accommodations thinking, okay, this is sort of in the general area, right?

[Co-host]

Yeah.

[Robbie]

And we stayed in the Globe. Globe Comfort Inn maybe, or the Globe in. I think it's the Globe in and the Globe in is above a Very local bar.

[Co-host]

What town was it?

[Robbie]

Buckfastly, Buck Fosty, Buckfast Lee.

[Co-host]

I'm not gonna try to resay that again.

[Robbie]

And it's on the edge of Dartmoor. Dartmoor is this really famous place in England. And we all walk in. It's myself, it's Jack, Patrick and Freddy, the slots, Media boys. And like the first guy that greets us, we asked him about driving and parking. Can we park here, can we park there? And he starts going, well, yeah, I don't know if it got changed or whatnot. He goes, but I don't drive. So I don't really know. You're talking to like a 19 year old or 20 year old. I don't drive. The proprietor of the place is what you would expect of this place. Like the ceilings, actually, I'm telling you, the ceilings are maybe like 12 inches above my head.

[Co-host]

Okay, so it's been there for hundreds of years.

[Robbie]

Yeah. The stairwell to the upstairs, which is where the rooms are, come off, comes off the bar. And there's just levels to everything. Like you get to the tops of the stairs and then there's another stair up to the right for the other for the three rooms. And then a step up for one room and then a step up for the other two rooms. And the rooms are all like this. The, the. You, you're essentially in the attic. Right. So all the rooms have ceilings like this.

[Co-host]

Yeah.

[Robbie]

So you get in single beds and the beds were actually quite comfortable. But the, the bathroom, it is a, what do they, what did they call it? A self cleaning bathroom setup. I. E Was one shower head on the corner that you can manipulate. It's almost like a somebody, if you had a wheelchair, was a wheelchairs bathroom. So there was a drain in the middle, a rail handrail, like around pretty much most of the bathroom. The toilet scrunched up against the side. Like There was maybe 4 inches between the edge of the toilet and the wall and then the area that you showered.

[Co-host]

So you're basically in like a medieval times.

[Robbie]

Oh, 100.

[Co-host]

Except for you did have running water.

[Robbie]

Yes.

[Co-host]

Well you, you are, you are on set of like the period dramas that I watch every other night.

[Robbie]

We all did not shower.

[Co-host]

Let's just say that you all did not shower.

[Robbie]

No, because if you had like the toilet would have been completely wet. The whole entire toilet would have been completely wet.

[Co-host]

I mean, I feel like that's better than the alternative.

[Robbie]

No, we were just like, screw it, because we were getting, getting up early in the morning. The next morning the boys rooms. One of the boys rooms was right over the top of the pub, like the bar itself.

[Co-host]

Huh.

[Robbie]

And they had slots machines downstairs. And like, man, we could hear slots machines going like all night.

[Co-host]

That's hysterical. So saying, I'm saying sounded kind of romantic until you mentioned slots machines.

[Robbie]

Well, there was also Lauren. So Lauren downstairs as we all walked in late, right? We were all just like buggered. We've been filming all night, all day. We then went off and had dinner with the guy that we were filming. His name was Prof. Charles and Prof. Was just amazing. Just amazing guy. He's been an environmental ecologist for 2028 years. He's been working the Dartmoor system for 25 years. Just an amazing cat. Loves photography, bird photography. And we walked in. Could you imagine? This is the scene Friday night, four cameramen and three cameramen myself. We all have all of our gear. We bust open the front door of the bar because we have to go through the bar to get up to our rooms. It is 2026 and my friends, big changes have happened in the world of firearm suppressors. The 200 tax stamp fee is now gone. Huge win for hunters, huge win for shooters, and a huge win for your wallets. If you're thinking about elevating your shooting experience and adding a suppressor, Silence Essential is the best way to shop. And you don't even have to get off your couch to do it. Go to silence essential.com, browse hundreds of suppressor options. They literally have all of the popular makes and models. Then their experts will walk you through setting up your account, creating a free NFA trust, and then submitting your application to the atf. Once approved, Silencer Central ships your new suppressor directly to your door. That's when you're going to have to essentially get off the couch. It's a game changer, guys. If you haven't done it yet, do it. The old days of waiting eight to 10 months on a suppressor are gone. It's more like two weeks. Some have even gotten their suppressors in shorter timeframes. It's never been easier to start shooting suppressed. Get started today by visiting silencercentral.com it's really the simplest way to get your suppressors. Bushnell is eager to help you get set up for conservation success. That's right. They want to help you. The conservation and research community is dominated by good people doing good things and investing significant time and effort for the benefit of habitat and the species. So what do you need to do? Pretty simple. Send us your conservation story and or your conservation wish could be managing whitetails, could be understanding your environment or species or something else related to conservation. What would you be able to do if you had a great trail camera setup? We will select the best story every other month and send you a camera bundle. Cell camera, normal, SD camera, SD cards as well as optics. Everything you need to get set up for success. I can't wait to see what you submit. You can email us, DM us, message us whatever you want. We are not hard to find. Good luck. And there's the locals. It's not jam packed, but there's like, you know, 10, 12 people in the bar. They all look at us and obviously they all know who we are because the proprietors behind the bar has told them about these chaps living upstairs because clearly nobody else has decided to book a room. We have booked the rooms and we walk past and there's a guy in the. As I said to him, he was in his denim tuxedo, denim. Denim jacket, denim jeans, Canadian tuxedo. Canadian tuxedo. Can hardly understand a word he's saying to me. Deep British accent. And Lauren is sitting next to him. And Lauren goes, where are you guys from? And I know, I say, who are they from? I say, I'm from Memphis, Tennessee. She puts out her hand like this and I ob. I obviously shake her hand and she was like, you're a handsome fella, aren't you? Like, pleasure to be Jack. As I was going up the stairs, Jack is like, are you sure Lauren's not following you up here?

[Co-host]

Well, she may have for a prize.

[Robbie]

Probably. Probably.

[Co-host]

That sounds very. I mean it.

[Robbie]

You know, I said that all to say I had an amazing night's sleep last night in my own.

[Co-host]

In your own bed. In your own bed. But you do have a very from. From all of the Instagram reels, other than the pictures of your knees in the airplanes. It does look very exciting and romantic other than your airplane delays and it's

[Robbie]

all romantic until, you know, you book a ticket. I don't know that I'm actually jumping on a. On a flight with Austrian Airways and I get put on standby. I bought a premium economy seat. Oversold. Premium economy, completely first class is booked out so they won't upgrade you. Now they're going to downgrade you and I'm the last person to be boarded

[Co-host]

and

[Robbie]

my bag does not make it because I'm on standby. I get downgraded and I was told, oh, you can have three seats in economy. So that you can lie down. I said, okay, great. That's awesome. Nobody's going to sit next to me. Well, I sit down, I get myself situated, and I look across, and there's three seats in the middle of the plane. On this plane, it's not a three, four, three. It's a three, three, three. And there's three people in that seat. And there's this lovely old, like, German lady sitting there. And I can see she looking. Looking over here, looking over here. And I'm like, she's going to move. And. But there's a seat in front of her that's open. There's also a free caddy corner to a seat, caddy corner to her that's open, too. And as we push back, start pushing back, she gets up and she was like, can I sit here? And, like, what am I going to say?

[Co-host]

You could.

[Robbie]

No, you can't sit there. I've booked all three.

[Co-host]

I. I booked all three.

[Robbie]

So I said, no problem. Sit, sit, sit, sit. So she sits, she gets herself comfortable. Like, she's got all her paraphernalia all around her. And we take off. And, like, the first cart that typically comes when you take off is the drinks cart. And the hostess that's moving the drinks cart sees this lady in my row, and she goes, you're not allowed to sit there. He's. He's got all three seats. And she looks at me. She's like, like, with this, like, terrified, like, oh, my God. Look. And she was like, oh, I'm so sorry.

[Co-host]

I'll move.

[Robbie]

I'll move. I said, ma', am, don't worry about it. Just you stay right there. You know, don't, please, please, please don't worry. I'm gonna sleep standing up. It's gonna be fine. It's gonna be fine. I'm gonna take the tablet, you know, and she's like, so apologetic. And I was like, look, it is what it is at this point in this flight. Just let's keep going.

[Co-host]

That was Austrian Air.

[Robbie]

Austrian Airways. FYI. Tsa. Psa. Psa. Not a tsa. Public service announcement. Do not ever fly Austrian.

[Co-host]

I didn't even know Austrian Air existed. And that's. You were going to Cicada in Vienna, right?

[Robbie]

Yep. Yep.

[Co-host]

And which was quite the elaborate affair, right?

[Robbie]

Yeah, the biggest. Have. Have you been to Vienna?

[Co-host]

I did. V. No. We are going for Thanksgiving, actually.

[Robbie]

Okay. So when you go to Vienna, the biggest cathedral in Vienna, I don't know what it's St. John's or St. Patrick's anyway, it doesn't matter. You'll. It's the.

[Co-host]

I've read about it.

[Robbie]

Okay. It's got. It's got like this a facade of, like, tiles on the roof. That's like 1832. Inside is magnificent. There's a stone. There's a gate rail that'll stop you from going actually into the cathedral because you can't. They only let you in if there's mass happening.

[Co-host]

Okay.

[Robbie]

The president, who just the past president now, he was lost. President's meeting is so well known in Vienna. He knows the bishop. And so Friday night mass was open to us and we walked the streets with a police escort, shutting down the streets of downtown Vienna on a Friday evening to the cathedral in which we then had. There was mass.

[Co-host]

That is fantastic. I would like it to be known that I did volunteer to go to that conference for you. I was an opera major.

[Robbie]

That's amazing.

[Co-host]

Vienna is on my bucket list.

[Robbie]

Well, you're going in November. See, I don't have to take you.

[Co-host]

I am, I am. And it won't be for work, but I won't. I won't get to go down with a police escort through the. Through the middle of it. But I will be there for Christmas markets. So I'm excited about that. That'll be fun.

[Robbie]

Oh, no, it's going to be amazing. I'm telling you that the Christmas markets in Germany are unbelievable. Germany, Austria, those areas, Switzerland, are amazing.

[Co-host]

It's been on our list. Brad's wanted to take the boys before they're too big, that they have bad attitudes and can still appreciate it. So that's going to be our big, big family trip this year. So we're excited you went from Vienna to England.

[Robbie]

Yeah. So we actually, before we did cic, we did two days near the Slovenian border with Daniela Fanzoy, who's a gunsmith. Gunsmith, A gun maker. Amazing little gun company. They've been in production since it's like eight generations now or nine generations from like 1790. This valley that we're in, the town was furlough, but it's the Rose Valley. And it's where all of the gun makers for, for eternity have been like World War I, World War II. None of the actual cities in this Rose Valley actually ever got bomb bombed from anybody because they all recognized that these guys were the gun makers. And so whoever occupied the area, like the Germans occupied the area while the Germans just said, you build us guns, and then the Brits came in. Well, you build us guns. Okay, we'll build whoever. Whoever's over us will build your guns. Just don't blow us up. Interestingly enough, that. That part of the country, though, that I actually, my geography skills are pretty good, but I didn't realize how Austria, the bottom Austria borders Slovenia and Slovenia and Italy. Slovenia and Italy. And then down Slovenia is obviously where you have Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina. And then that all connects into. Into Turkey. And so back in the day, even still today, now, modern, all the Turkish traders with the Turkish walnut for the beautiful walnut stocks. Turkish walnut stocks, all these beautiful gun makers would come out of Turkey, come up the mountain pass and drop into the Rose Valley of Austria.

[Co-host]

Okay.

[Robbie]

And still today, there's a family that drives their vehicle into furlough. They stop at Johann van Zoi's place. That's the number one stop that they do. They open up their trunk and they've got all these slabs of Turkish walnut wood.

[Co-host]

Oh, wow, that's really cool.

[Robbie]

And I told Daniela that she's got a. She's got a problem. And Patrick, they've got a hoarding problem. It's just like this thing that they just collect these stocks of wood they've got. They make 23, 25 guns a year. Okay. They've got enough walnut stocks in that property probably for the next 50 years of gun making.

[Co-host]

Oh, wow.

[Robbie]

Or 80 years of gun making. It's just an obsession. It's like a. Like a, you know, you can't help, but some of us buy lots of guns, others buy lots of, you know, plates to put on the wall. Patrick has this obsession about just buying Turkish walnut gun stocks.

[Co-host]

That's really cool, though. I bet it was fascinating to see.

[Robbie]

Fascinating, Fascinating. And just like, you know, just attention to detail that they did. Yeah. And then I went to cic. Amazing. Cic. Great General Assembly. Great people. Seeing everyone again was amazing. And then we went across to England and as we said, this year, we're definitely putting our fingerprints and our footprint down in England for the very first time this year. We did the Wild Fowling heritage documentary piece in January, which is going to turn out beautifully. You saw a little teaser of it at our Conservation One event. And then we worked with a guy called Tarquin Millington Drake. How. How more English can you get a name as Tarquin Millington Drake?

[Co-host]

Amazing, amazing, amazing. Tarquin Tarquin Julian Millington Drake. You sent me a few little snippets and those birds are amazing. Amazing.

[Robbie]

So why all in matters is a piece that sort of educates politicians, those against hunting, those against the shooting fraternity, an opportunity to Come to a property to see which is the best way, right? Come see, come see for yourself. Let me prove to you what shooting in, in the, in the English context, remember, shooting is hunting. So England, they say two different things. They say shooting and stalking. Because hunting is fox hunting, that's with hounds. That's really what it's relegated to. Shooting is bird shooting, grouse shooting, pheasant shooting, that kind of stuff. And stalking is when you go deer, deer hunting.

[Co-host]

Okay?

[Robbie]

So that's the terminology there. And so these grouse moors are shot. They are, you know, for grouse and for pheasants. But because they're managed for predators specifically, they have the opportunity because pretty much all of the guild of species that are red listed endangered and live on these moors, including predators, which is quite amazing, are all ground nesting birds, their harriers. One of the class of eagles that they have there nests on the ground. Merlin, another very small little predatory bird, super, super, super endangered. It nests in riverbank cavities. Grouse, red grouse, the famous red grouse, ground nesting bird, grape partridge, ground nesting bird, black grouse is what you saw. So black grouse we saw there's probably a dozen leks on, on Matt Ridley's place in total in England. There's only 1200 of these birds.

[Co-host]

Really.

[Robbie]

And we saw 60 of them, 70 of them curlews, ground nesting bird, lapwing, ground nesting bird, red shank, ground nesting bird, woodcock, ground nesting bird, snipe, ground nesting bird. Unbelievable. Unbelievable.

[Co-host]

So fun.

[Robbie]

And the thing is this whole landscape is old school England, right? Everywhere you go are these rock walls.

[Co-host]

Yeah, it was beautiful rock wall, very

[Robbie]

rugged rock walls, Rockwall, which are great habitat for stoats, great habitat for predators to live in. And, and I guess the argument comes down to this. Like obviously there's just this anti, anti, anti predator management argument in England. And so the sort of the biggest question I asked them is is there a situation here in England where you have no predator management and have all these red listed ground nesting birds living on the landscape. The answer is no. There is not a single place in the entire United Kingdom landscape in which that occurs. So it comes down to either or you either don't manage your predators, like we said that, like we saw in Dartmoor, no predator management. A couple of brace of grouse holding on for dear life. Two pairs of curlew that have been coming to the same place. How sad is this curlew? Super long lived species. 20 to 30 years they come, they nest, they lay eggs and hopefully fledge chicks. The same two pairs have been coming back to Dartmoor for 10 years. Based on Prof's. Thoughts, they have never fledged chicks.

[Co-host]

Neither pair.

[Robbie]

Neither pair.

[Co-host]

Why?

[Robbie]

Because there's too much predators on the landscape.

[Co-host]

Predators always get their eggs.

[Robbie]

Yeah. And so, for instance, Dartmoor. And here's the other thing I said is that it's not. You can't say one is bad and one is good because it's all based on judgment and value of what you see in the landscape. Okay. Dartmoor is in southern England. Very, very highly populated area of England. Dartmoor is extremely well utilized from a recreation perspective. Biking, bouldering, mountain bikes on the boulders, hiking everywhere, camping everywhere. You got to remember, in. In this part of England, it is. There is a right to roam.

[Co-host]

Okay.

[Robbie]

I E. You can walk wherever you want, you can camp wherever you want. You can do literally whatever you want in this one area we went to is called a Haytor tor t o r r these like is it is

[Co-host]

none of it private?

[Robbie]

Not Dartmoor. So Dartmoor is interesting. Dartmoor is owned by the crown, but it's also. I'm going to get this wrong, which it's so convoluted, but it's also owned by commoners. And the commoners have the rights to the grounds for grazing. So if you and me decided we can go in and buy a piece of Dartmoor, we can. But the commoners have grazing rights, so they can come onto our and graze whatever they want. There's no shooting rights anymore on Dartmoor. Even if you did have them. There's nothing to shoot. But like this, this place. Hey, tour. We were sitting in the car park, hundreds of people going up to see the. The tour, which is amazing. Hundreds of vehicles, motorbikes, bikers, dogs off leads running everywhere, which again, I'd do it. My dog, I'd love my dog go roaming around, but my dog's gonna eat those. Dogs are eating nest eggs, are disturbing nests, that kind of stuff. And then it's essentially created this little honey pot. And this honey pot is. Are people. You know, people are dropping a chip, french fries, whatnot. And in. In the 45 minutes that we're there, We must have seen 24 crows. And I'm not talking like the little crows we have here, like the big proper corvids, right? And those crows just hang out there and they get all the scraps from people and then they go and find whatever else is in the bushes, right. I E. Ground nesting birds. And so I'm saying all this to say I'm not saying that's bad, right. And I spoke to the ice cream guy. There was a guy selling ice cream. We filmed my interaction with the ice cream guy and I said, you realize that there's no grouse or curlew or lapping or anything here. He's like, really? And I explained to him, like, why there's none. He goes, oh, okay, that makes sense. I said, but this isn't bad. Like, if this is what you want, there's generalist bird species around, right? There's, there's some crows, there's crows, skylarks, there's. There may be a meadow pipet that comes in, but that's it. That's it. And so like when we were up north at this Moira state, actually I saw probably 30 curlews in 45 minutes. And when I, when we were about to leave, he's like, just remember how many curlews you saw because you're probably not going to see another curlew after you leave this property.

[Co-host]

Well, there's just probably an argument there for having different areas designed for different uses.

[Robbie]

Yes, absolutely. 100% yes, absolutely. It is tied to use. But I guess what I'm getting at is here is like you've got the, the rich. The rich guy, right? The rich guy who owns the estate, the rich guy who wants to shoot. The rich guy who's pouring all of his resources into the gamekeepers that are managing the predators and they're managing the habitat and the food and whatnot. Like, you can't poke point a finger at that guy and go, you're wrong.

[Co-host]

Is there no government management of species?

[Robbie]

There is, and it's done by organization called Natural England, which is essentially the implementation body of defra. Natural England, as most government organizations that you are very well aware of at different levels believe in different things. We actually had a Natural England reserve manager at why Morelands Matter and he actually was like, I'm pro predator management. Like, I want curlew back. And I know that I cannot get curlew back unless I manage the Corvettes, unless I trap for fox, for stoats, unless I shoot foxes.

[Co-host]

And from. You know, I am very objective looking in and not familiar with the inner workings of England. But it seems like a very, very, very hard environment for the wildlife managers who are not animal activists. Like, it seems like the country has gone very, very far to the left in terms of.

[Robbie]

Oh yeah.

[Co-host]

I mean, you know, London was the

[Robbie]

only class disparities, right? There's these. More owners are the Lords.

[Co-host]

Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, London was the only fashion week that banned fur and leather and all of that stuff. I mean and they've lost so much of their bio diversity and it's just, they just, it just seems like they cave all the time to the animal activists over there and. Yes. And have tried to make it a class argument which you know, maybe for a long time it was but now it's like in order to get it back for the everyday person to be able to enjoy this, it's going to have to be something that everybody in the country comes together and agrees on.

[Robbie]

But well, and this is where, this is what I think I landed on. It's like you don't need. Everybody can have what they want. So you don't have to agree on one or the other. If you are believe in the system of hands off rewilding, no predator management, no human intervention, no human interference. Cool.

[Co-host]

You're just going to only have predators.

[Robbie]

You're only going to have predators and certain generalist birds. That's it. If that's what you want. Power to you.

[Co-host]

Who wants, who wants that though? Like who only wants the rscb?

[Robbie]

Well I don't think, I don't think anybody wants that. They're very much of the belief system that predator management is archaic and do they want the red listed species? Sure. RSPB the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds will celebrate the two curlew nests or the two lapwing nests that they have on one of their reserves.

[Co-host]

You know that's not that different though from the people in America who want the grizzly reintroduction, the wolf reintroduction and then don't want any management of the species 100% and don't understand the long term ramifications of what that means.

[Robbie]

Ashley, it is the more I get into this, the more we get into these different environments with these different issues. It is the same issue all over the world. This whole predator thing on their side. It's like oh how dare you. You're going to eradicate the predators. No you're not. You're just suppressing them.

[Co-host]

Well, sort of leads me into one of the news of the week. I mean talking about wolves and talking about grizzlies and how we have gone to such great lengths in America to recover them under the Endangered Species Act. And once they become in cover it recovered, they still stay on the list forever and ever and ever and ever. And we don't have great mechanisms to get them off the list even though they're recovered. And so the ESA Amendments act was supposed to come up for a vote this week and abruptly.

[Robbie]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You did a video on that, didn't you?

[Co-host]

Yeah, yeah. It was supposed to come up for a vote this week, and Speaker Johnson pulled it at the very last minute with no, no statement. It just got pulled, pulled off the calendar. But from behind the scenes, support really started eroding in the Republican Party and there was just a national push and the, the animal activists and the Democrats gained momentum to try and kill it. And what I think really is happening is that there are so many amendments in the bill that they're just trying to do too much at once, because I don't think that anybody, I don't even think that the Democrats agree that this thing is working perfectly. Nobody you talk to behind the scenes says, yeah, this is great, this is ideal. We want these things to go on the list and stay on them forever. We want all this stuff to be, you know, we want the taxpayers to be on the hook. We, you know, love this endless cycle of litigation that goes on and on and on and on. But they also don't necessarily want all of the amendments that are wrapped up into this. I mean, one of the amendments that was on the table requires a look at the overall economic impact and picture, and that seems to be the most controversial amendment of all of them and the one that was getting the most pushback. So my hope is that they go back and look at some of the less popular ones and keep the ones that are desperately needed and maybe wait on one or two more and, and maybe pull that one out about the economic, because that is by far the one that people agree on the least. And so I think if they take that one out and maybe, maybe another one, then I think they can get this one, this act, across the finish line, which I think would be really, really good for policy in America. So that was, that was a, I think, a setback for smart conservation in America this week.

[Robbie]

So what will happen now? So for those of like, like me, I'm, like, oblivious. Is somebody going to pick that back up and.

[Co-host]

Well, it's still, it's, it's not dead. It's not dead. I mean, it's, you know, still, it's already had its hearing, it's already had its markup. They will just have to find, I think, I think for them to pass it, I think for them to get the needed votes, because they're not going to bring it up. I mean, Mike Johnson is most likely not going to schedule floor time unless he knows he has the votes to pass it. They don't usually bring things up to fail. So they will keep working behind the scenes to either tweak the act, because beforehand, the week beforehand when they went to Rules Committee, they blocked all Democrat amendments. So they, they did a procedural move where. So before something goes to floor time, it goes to the Rules Committee, where they set the rules that happen ahead of time. And this, this, for this particular bill, they blocked any amendments. And sometimes they do that, sometimes they don't. So I think that if they were to allow any amendments or if they went ahead and tweaked this to just allow a little more compromise, then they probably could get the vote votes to. To pass it. So I think that's what they're doing is they're just negotiating more behind the scenes. And then we'll try to schedule it at some point again in the future for a boat. So I think we'll see it come back up. It'll just look a little bit different than it did or was going to this past week.

[Robbie]

So we think it potentially will come up.

[Co-host]

Hey, yeah, I think so. I think it will. I think they've just got a little bit more work to do on it and a little bit more outreach and education on why it's needed, why it's needed, and what exactly is involved in it. There's been some other stuff going on, and so this hasn't gotten as much press and attention. The Boundary Waters failure was a huge national piece of news that got a ton of airplay. It's still getting airplay. People are pissed. And so that was a big setback, and that's still moving through. The president's budget came out with just

[Robbie]

catastrophic, massive, massive, massive cuts across.

[Co-host]

Massive cuts, massive cuts across the board. And there's not really any great way to spin that. And so depending on what group you're with and what you focus on, that's kind of what you're hearing about in the budget. Whether it's the farm bill cuts or whether it's the national park cuts or refuge cuts or Fish and Wildlife Service. I mean, there's a ton under doi. So we're kind of hearing about the President's budget in piecemeal bits, depending on who you follow and what you care about and the different groups that you're involved in. But, I mean, it's, it's across the board. It's, you know, unless you're defense. Unless you're defense spending and you, you know, make weapons or you're not happy.

[Robbie]

You're not happy.

[Co-host]

You're not happy. Yeah. And then, of course, these big, giant reorganizations. The Forest Service, you know, the USDA reorganization people are just up in arms over moving headquarters from D.C. to Salt Lake City. Mike Lee's the middle of his district and closing all nine regional offices. And they're saying that they're trying to get more people on the ground, but how that translates in real life remains to be seen. I mean, there's just so much skepticism out there and, and the fact that they really are supposed to have legally on a reorg of this magnitude, they're supposed to have Congress's approval. And they sat there in a hearing in House Natural Resources and the usda. The, the chief over this part, over the Forest Service was basically like, we're doing it with or without you. So there's just a lot of. A lot going on right now. There are some good things. I mean, we put a story out on Monday about the Colorado effort, the citizen petition petition. It's. And I don't know whether it's two numbers, but it's.

[Robbie]

Is it for 2026?

[Co-host]

Yeah, that's going to be for 2026. And it's IP200. Gosh, they've got a 302 and 303.

[Robbie]

That's such a short Runway to get all the signatures.

[Co-host]

My gosh, really, really short Runway. It's a short Runway, but I think they can do it. They can do it.

[Robbie]

You can get the signatures.

[Co-host]

They can do it. 100%. They can do it. I mean, Coloradans are pissed and as they should be. And they're fed up with this governor, and they're really fed up with this governor's husband and the commission. And there are so many hunters and so many anglers out there, and if they will just all turn out for this, they can get this passed 100%. But they've got to vote because it'll take 55% of the vote, but they can do that. This is not legislatively referred. This is straight up from the people.

[Robbie]

Straight up.

[Co-host]

Ohio's is moving through public initiative is

[Robbie]

legislative ballot Fox, you know, check the box. Yep.

[Co-host]

Yeah. So. So we've got to keep getting the word out about that. They have not started officially collecting. So the crazy thing is you would think in modern times you could go sign one of these petitions online and you can't.

[Robbie]

No, no. You have to do it in person.

[Co-host]

In person on the streets. Yes.

[Robbie]

It's not just assigning. There's a whole thing that you have to fill out.

[Co-host]

Right, right. And and so they will start setting up and that requires a lot of volunteer effort. So kudos to these guys out there who are on the ground going to be doing this. It's going to take a lot of partners and iotr Colorado's for Responsible Wildlife Management. Yeah, I, it's easier for me to spell it out than get their acronym right. Crwm howell.org all of our partners out there will be helping on the ground. We will as much as we can, keep everyone updated. We will as soon as it's time to start going and signing those things. We need everybody to do that.

[Robbie]

Everybody to the freaking wherever they are. Just take a thing and go around that's you know, public center to public center all the way through the western half of Colorado. Just get the signatures.

[Co-host]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Louisiana has kind of had a crazy situation going on down there. There's been a big, it's been a little on the down low, but they have had a couple of bills. Well, they've, well they've had a bunch of bills in all different. There's. If anybody follows menhaden, there's been a thousand menhaden bills and some good ones have been moving. We're not going to go into that right now because that we could talk for two hours about the poggy bills but we are going to talk about a couple of important ones. And I know the National Deer association has been monitoring these but there was a bill introduced to basically eliminate all CWD regulations period from the state. So basically take all power away from wildlife agency. Right. Just, just top to bottom, no justification, no scientific basis, no more input from the agency, just remove it. And so because there was a real worry that that bill could pass a couple of very sportsman minded senator, well one senator and one house member, Senator Womack and Representative Reiser who we've had on our podcast introduced another bill which at first look it's not perfect. I wish they didn't have to do this but they introduced a bill as a sort of compromise to shrink the existing CWD zone. Right now it's like a 15 mile and a 25 mile radius and baiting is not allowed at all. You can't supplementally feed within the zone because they just had a new positive in a parish that had not had a pause of before. And so that parish went into the zone and so ordinarily you could not feed it all during the year. And so what they did was this, under this new. It's a joint resolution that they've introduced, you would still be allowed to feed between September 1st and March 1st. So slightly before and slightly after the end of de deer season statewide. I personally wish that they would not do that. I don't agree, as you know, with feeding in CWD zones at all because it helps artificially congregate the deer. But they would rather this bill pass as a sort of compromise between people down there that want to be able to feed no matter what and then have all authority stripped from. From the agency and no CWD regulations. So I agree.

[Robbie]

I would rather their boss did the circles shrink?

[Co-host]

The circles would shrink from 25 and 15 to 15 and 5. So this is just an effort to maintain some sort of CWD zones and just try to prevent the spread as much as they can without it just being a complete free for all. So. So, look, I appreciate those guys getting out there and doing what they can to one, help keep the wildlife agency and those biologists involved in the fight and help recognize that this is a disease that we have to keep fighting and working on and try to prevent the spread of.

[Robbie]

So, yeah, 100%. 100%. Well, you know, what do they say about politics? Politics comes down to compromise, right?

[Co-host]

Gotta compromise sometimes.

[Robbie]

Gotta compromise sometimes. All right, good deal.

[Co-host]

I want to give a shout out to our friend Travis Thompson. Throw some prayers.

[Robbie]

Shout out Travis Thompson.

[Co-host]

I've seen it. He's popping up on Instagram. I think he's feeling better, Travis. He's back at it, having some health problems down in Florida. And I think he is hopefully on the mend. And we love you, Travis, and we hope you're feeling better, buddy.

[Robbie]

Yeah, we hope you're feeling better, bud. And you must be because I guess the doctors have given you the a okay to start working your fingers again and starting to comment and trash talk on Instagram.

[Co-host]

So we need you. We need you out there, bud.

[Robbie]

So 100 shout out to big shout out.

[Co-host]

Where are you going next, Robbie? You're only here for a few days.

[Robbie]

Yeah, South Africa on Thursday, and we're finishing a bunch of rhino work for the next three weeks in South Africa. A docu series that we've been working on for last year or so. Final three weeks of shooting coming up. And then, yeah, I go to Mozambique to film a piece with a very strong hunter conservationist. And then I go to Kenya to be in person watching a Kenyan audience watch our elephant hunting documentary.

[Co-host]

That's going to be huge. Yeah, because they don't allow hunting there. And so Robbie is going to be right in the.

[Robbie]

It's going to be in the lion's den.

[Co-host]

Yep.

[Robbie]

And then I'm gonna go see somebody a, a fan of the podcast, actually a fan of the podcast who wanted some, some trail cameras. And he happens to run a conservancy out in West Kenya. So we're gonna spend the weekend after the documentary film festival with him. So see his landscape, see his sort of non consumptive use set up. They're in the tourism business, ecotourism business.

[Co-host]

Awesome.

[Robbie]

And then I, and then I fly from there to France and spend two days getting prepped for our film premiere of Savon Bambi in Paris, France.

[Co-host]

Super cool stuff. If anyone wants to give us a shout out, touch base, give us any topics you want us to discuss. Google voice number 601-790-0607. We appreciate everybody weighing in and appreciate you joining us.

[Robbie]

Give us a shout out, send us a text, let's hear from you. See ya.

[Co-host]

Thanks.

[Robbie]

Well, that's it for today. Appreciate you listening. As always, leave a review, share it with your friends and most importantly, do what's right to convey the truth around hunting.