John & Robin recap their completed trip to Alaska, and review John's upcoming fall hunts. Robin concludes that John is living his #bestlife for his 50th trip around the sun with all of these epic hunts.

John and Robin tune in from the tundra in the far north of Alaska to talk about John's caribou hunt along the Dalton Highway - the northernmost paved road in the world. This was recorded on Robin's iPhone from the camper van in the first half of the hunt - follow up episode coming soon!

Robin & John sit down at the mic after a brief summer hiatus to talk about expanding their shared weekly creative practice into writing. Robin has had a handful of experiences publishing written work; John is more or less brand new to the party. Both experience imposter syndrome. But keep writing anyway!

Robin's FreeWrite device: https://getfreewrite.com/products/freewrite-traveler

John and Robin recap their birthday trip to Hawaii, John's hunting in Hawaii . . . and their fight in Hawaii.

John and Robin recap John's first day of spring turkey, where John harvested a Jake within the first ten minutes of the season!

Robin is fascinated and delighted by the idea of antlered does and bearded hens, and or any representation of tomboys in the wild.

John got his Jake within ten minutes of the first day of hunting, so he spent the rest of the day preparing a Steve Rinella-style camp meal of turkey organ burgers on a flat stone over the campfire. (Organs harvested: liver, heart, gizzard, and testicles.)

Then, John and Robin, who have the same birthday (April 19; 1976 for John, 1985 for Robin) discuss their upcoming birthday trip to Hawaii where John will spend a few days hunting on Maui while Robin hangs at the beach, and then Lanai, where Robin will spend that same time hunting for the best massage at one of the island's Four Seasons resorts.

John and Robin beat their track record for the last two years and record their second episode of 2025. In this episode, they talk about two different theories of the stages of learning:

Four Stages of Learning: 1) unconscious incompetence 2) conscious incompetence 3) conscious competence 4) unconscious competence

Three Stages of Motor Learning: 1) cognitive 2) associative 3) autonomous

Robin and John are back at the mic for their first and hopefully not only episode of 2025. Robin discusses her recent discovery that the knots she ties in macrame and crochet are WAY too tight, almost like she's tying to strangle the ropes she's working with. She wonders if she might need to loosen up, in art and in life. John suggests that it might be part of her mastery journey, learning to tie these knots and practice her craft with nuance. John then discusses the bone-on-bone arthritis he discovered in his right knee a year ago, how he has been rehabbing it, and how it affects his hunting and training. Robin suggests that, because of his arthritis, he now is compelled to approach the hunt with a fair amount of nuance. John likes how that really tied the podcast together.

To be discussed next time, on The Artist and The Hunter podcast: the stages of learning/competence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_stages_of_competence

Tip of the hat to Meghan Daum, and The Unspeakable Podcast, for the exquisite phrase "Nuanced AF" https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-unspeakable-podcast/id1524832743

Heart & Soil supplements referral link (R&J get 20% off after you make a purchase through this link): https://refer.heartandsoil.co/hs533876

John and Robin sit down again after a long hiatus, but grateful and excited to be back at the mic. Their topic for today's episode: collaboration. What's it like to collaborate with others, in hunting and in art? The Artist and The Hunter dig into their personal experiences and preferences, and discover by the end of the podcast that they may be actually be talking about teaching . . . or collaborating in LOVE.

Show note:
"A new report released on Oct. 12 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows that 14.4 million hunters aged 16 and over contributed $45.2 billion to the economy in 2022. The survey found that 6% of the U.S. population hunted, and they spent a combined 241 million days afield last year."