Episode
Episode 524: Nick Davidson Was Writing an Atavist Story All Along
- Published
- Apr 30, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 4902
- Processing state
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- https://zencastr.com/z/BQL20gVV
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Summary
"In the case of being a storyteller, I keep a document that I call my nonfiction compost pile. I keep little snippets of things that I've heard but it didn't really dive deeper into it. When you have other things to fall back on, it's easier to to pivot and say, 'Okay, this one didn't work out.' If you really believe in a story, you're going to find somebody else who believes in it too," says Nick Davidson, whose "Big Game" is this month's featured Atavist story. We've got Nick Davidson (@nickgdavidson on IG) returning to the pod because he has within the span of about two years landed ANOTHER story with our dear friends at the Atavist Magazine. Nose to tail, this is one of the best Atavist pods you're going to hear. I don't know what was in the air, but Jonah Ogles, the lead editor, and Nick, were in the zone. I'm very excited for you to sink into this one for reasons I think that'll be clear once you sit with it. Head to magazine.atavist.com [http://magazine.atavist.com/] to read the story and consider subscribing, and no, I don't get kickbacks and I, in fact, pay for my own subscription, so stick that in your pipe and smoke it. Nick's story chronicles the undercover operation to take down dozens of poachers in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado. The federal agent at the heart of it, George Morrison, goes undercover and what follows is a riveting story that raises all kinds of questions and blurs the lines between right and wrong. It's titled: Big Game: Colorado's San Luis Valley was a wildlife poacher's paradise. Then an undercover federal agent arrived. Nick can be found at nickgdavidson.com [http://nickgdavidson.com/]. His work has appeared in Outside, Men's Journal, Truly Adventurous, Garden & Gun, High Country News, Backpacker, VICE Sports, and Popular Sci…