Ep. 722: All Hands for Public Lands! (Part Deux: Redux) | MeatEater Radio Live! - The MeatEater Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Smell us now, lady, Welcome to Meet Eater Trivia podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
All right, we're on. Welcome to the June twenty sixth
episode of Media to Radio Live. It's eleven o'clock here
in Bozeman, Montana. It's eight o'clock eight pm for Steve,
who's currently in Tanzania, Africa. My kid's got a MOA's
lawn tomorrow for him. I'm your host, Brody Henderson, and

(00:48):
I'm joined by Seth Morris and Corey Calkins. Today we're
gonna chat with a Vermont Forrester about logging and shooting.
Wait till doze. Then we're gonna do a little public
lands throwback Thursday, and we're gonna follow that up with
some regional fishing reports and a first ever meat Eater

(01:11):
live at fishing tournament between Seth and Corey. You guys nervous?

Speaker 3 (01:15):
Oh yeah, I'm not at all.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
You shouldn't be. No, it's just gonna this is like
like just trail breaking stuff here. That what you guys
are gonna do today.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
Someone's ever done.

Speaker 4 (01:28):
I'd be nervous if I was a fish in that
pond right now.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (01:31):
They don't know what's coming.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
Unlass. We're gonna finish everything up with a funny trailcam
photo contest, which should be really really cool to look at. Uh.
Before we get get to all that, we're gonna do
a little chit chat like we usually do. What do
you guys went up to?

Speaker 3 (01:48):
Well?

Speaker 4 (01:49):
I got a quick question, how well does Steve pay
your kids for mowing this lawn?

Speaker 2 (01:53):
That was unclear? I asked, asked my kid, like, what
did he tell you were getting? He's like, he didn't
say anything. Mmmm, so it might be based, it might
be performance based pay.

Speaker 4 (02:03):
We'll see, well naturally, Yeah, what he's gone for a while.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
But then I found out he's got to bag up
a bunch of grass because Steve needs to like mulch
his potatoes or something.

Speaker 3 (02:13):
Oh that's I hope he charges extra for that.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Yeah, we'll see. So, yeah, we got to go over
there and do that.

Speaker 3 (02:19):
See what your what your boy needs to do is
just give him an invoice. I know, don't don't like,
let Steve set the price.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
You know, that's a good idea.

Speaker 3 (02:28):
Yeah, that's great on that.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Yeah, Seth, you're about to go on a really long
plane ride.

Speaker 3 (02:34):
Yeah, I'm heading to where Steve's at right now Tanzania
tomorrow morning.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:40):
Yeah, I don't know how many hours exactly, like thirty
thirty some hours to travel.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
Where's it? Where are your stopovers?

Speaker 3 (02:50):
Minneapolis, Amsterdam, kil Minjaro.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
That's not so bad.

Speaker 3 (02:55):
It's like, uh whatever, from here to Minneapolis is what
to and some change. Then it's eight hours, nine hours,
and then I think there's some little type of bush
plane flight we take into where we're going to be.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Wow, I can We'll see you at the end of
the summer.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
I'll yeah, yeah, gone all summer.

Speaker 4 (03:19):
That'll be an adventure.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
Man.

Speaker 3 (03:20):
You guys have to do some fishing for me.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
Oh, we're heading out this week and we're going after
some walleye purchase.

Speaker 3 (03:26):
We just don't send me any photos because I don't.
I'll be jealous.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Seth would rather see a picture of a big walleye
than like a lion or a dram Yeah, that's true story.
Corey been doing anything.

Speaker 4 (03:38):
Fun, lots of fishing and camping, trying to get my
seven year old kid into the lifestyle.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
I saw that video of him hauling in a trout. Yeah,
not too long ago. That's pretty cool.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
Yep, he's pretty hooked.

Speaker 4 (03:50):
Now we got him echos Gecko. It's this little kid's
flyer out. It's got a little fighting butt, fiberglass, four weight,
super easy for the kids to cast. High recommend it
if anybody wants to get their kids into fly fish.
And it just makes anybody a professional angler.

Speaker 3 (04:05):
You can.

Speaker 4 (04:06):
I was shocked that it could land these super heavy, stout,
healthy fish on the Missouri.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
Bendy fiberglass rod.

Speaker 4 (04:13):
Yeah, very easy to fight.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
You can use it today in the tournament.

Speaker 4 (04:15):
You should, I should, But no, I got my kid's
other rod. Actually, I'm just a little seven foot seven
and a half foot four weight cool should do the.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
Trick, Philt. We got our interviewee ready to go.

Speaker 5 (04:29):
He is in the waiting room. Yeah, he's ready to go.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
Let's let's talk. Uh, let's talk logging and stuff.

Speaker 3 (04:36):
Let's bring him in.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
Okay. Today we're joined by a former met Eater podcast guest,
Mike's Mike Snyder. Mike served twelve years as the commissioner
of Vermont's Department of Forest, Parks and Recreation and also
as State for Forrester. Today is the owner of Green
Fire Enterprises, which is an operation that consults on forrest conservation,

(05:00):
forestry and outdoor recreation. And he's also a writer who
wrote woods Wise, an expiration of forest and forestry. So, Mike,
thanks for joining us.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
Man, happy to be here.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
Like your shirt.

Speaker 3 (05:15):
Yeah, apport shirt for here.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
We had to wrap today for that, chefs. Good to
see you again. Last time we chatted we were comparing
notes on the old dendrology class.

Speaker 3 (05:24):
Yes, sir, good to see you again.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (05:26):
Right on, Mike, Just in case anyone missed the podcast
that you were on, can you give us just a
brief rundown of your experience in the field of forestry
and then we'll move on to some current events stuff.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
Sure. Yeah, I'm a forester. I live here in Vermont.
I've been practicing forestry now just forty years here in
a variety of capacities over time for science forest management,
start working with private landowners, and then, as you mentioned,
I was tapped to philip role as Commissioner of the

(06:01):
Department of Forest, Parks and Recreation, working closely with the
Department of Fish and Wildlife unrelated matters and so a
couple of years ago I stepped down from that and
have gone back into private practice with my company Green
Fire as you say, consulting in a variety of forestry, conservation,
outdoor recreation related topics. I also spent time teaching at

(06:24):
UVM University of from teaching forestry for decade and a
half and have been writing for various magazines over time
as well. So it's a mixed bag, but pretty much
everything I've ever done has been related to the woods
one way or another.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
So, like, for all those city folks out there, like,
what does a forester do? Is it just like looking
at a chunk of land and being like, how do
we make this healthy? How do we keep this forest healthy?
Like just like what like say as the state for well,
you said state forest was political, but like's what's an
on the ground forest are doing?

Speaker 1 (07:02):
Yeah, it's a good question because there is a lot
of it seems overtime definitely learned that there's misconceptions. There's
a lot of ways to be a forester. Uh And
but the sort of boots on the ground, as you
describe the basic field forester is as you say, it's
the folks who kind of take care of the woods, understand, map, inventory, describe,
and make decisions and choices about how to get what

(07:25):
people need from the woods, well, taking care of the woods.
One good analogy I would I would draw that's very helpful,
I think is it's rough, but it's reasonable. Particularly where
you think about forester is differentiated from the lagger. So
like the forest think of like architect and builder. The
forester is more like the architect, design input on the

(07:47):
front end, and then the lagger is more like the
builder who actually does the tough work of harvesting trees,
you know, getting them out of the woods in a
careful way. And so you know, that's how I would
describe it. Foresters are responsible to the landowner and to
the land and kind of agent for land and for landowner,

(08:09):
trying to hold it all together. And you know, forest
health is the root of it, but also the practical
realities of people needing stuff from the woods. We use
an enormous amount of wood products, a wild range of
wood products in our daily lives, even if we don't
really know it. And foresters that's the core of what
forestry and foresters are all about.

Speaker 2 (08:30):
Cool. Well, since you're a forester, and I'm assuming you
worked with a lot of logging operations, so like we've established,
you got some subject matter expertise. I wanted wanted to
get your thoughts on the recent repeal of the roadless

(08:51):
rules that in national forests that are going to open
up tens of millions of acres of national forests a logging.
There's definitely, like I believe, some legitimate concerns around this
surrounding like threats to critical wildlife habitat and threats to

(09:12):
the headwaters of river drainages that supply clean water to
millions of people. But the logging part, it's not so
cut and dry.

Speaker 1 (09:23):
You know.

Speaker 2 (09:23):
Some folks feel like all logging is gonna end up
being this like ecological disaster, and there's others that are like, man,
it's national forest, like every single acre of it should
be used and logged. So you know, we're not so
reliant on Canadian lumber and you're creating jobs. And then

(09:44):
like that's legitimate too, So like give us your perspective
on this and try to help our listeners understand like
when logging is good and when it's bad, like both
in practice and in location.

Speaker 1 (10:01):
Yeah, there's a lot too much. So we've got a
couple hours. Yeah, there's a lot there, right, And so
it's like so many things particularly in nature or wherever
biology or ecology involved. People and policy seem to really
want black and white, one size fits all kind of

(10:22):
policies and approaches and statements and forests all biological systems.
They just don't do that. And so here where we're
talking about logging, habitats management, you know, it's complicated. So
I would start there and then says it's nowhere near
as simple or black and white as any of us
might want to say when we go to our respective

(10:43):
corners and sort of anchor down. Let's start with I
would start with the forests are are incredible. They're complex,
they're diverse, they're dynamic, and they don't need us. They're
just fine and they're gonna be fine. But the fact
is we need them, and we have been involved with
forests for forever. There's never been a time in the

(11:06):
history of people when people weren't utterly dependent on on
wood for a variety of things basic needs, and that continues.
There's not there's no reason to think that's ever going
to change. So we have this relationship and on the
one hand, we'd like to say, let's set it aside
and leave it be. And then there's the more Leapolean
kind of approach of like, we're part of this community. Uh.

(11:28):
And and that's where forestry comes in, and that's where
we have to start thinking with with public lands national forests.
The intent is very clear for this multi use mandate
uh and for wood supply.

Speaker 6 (11:41):
UH.

Speaker 1 (11:42):
And so then we just further get into like, well,
what where when, for what reasons and and uh proposals
to generally speaking, whether it's roadless rule or doing away
with pesky regulations as that's been called, but just basically
an executive order that says, let's increase the on of
timber supply, domestic supply. On his face, I'd say, there's

(12:03):
there's good good there's some good stuff there. Like it.
It's reasonable to up our, you know, production of domestic wood.
We have the resource, we have the wood base, we
have the the technology, we have the the expertise to
do it really well. And so any given place where
there's a proposal on public lands for logging, it's not

(12:26):
logging just because somebody doesn't like trees or once enjoys
cutting them down. It's to meet massive demands, uh, societal
demands and economic needs. And so you got to look
at each one, and I would I would also just
say that the public lands managers, the foresters and biologists

(12:47):
and hydrologists you know that work on public lands that
propose and and vet logging projects there, they're more than
logging projects. They're forced management projects. And logging is a
tool to affect various changes in the forest, to to
tweak forest health, to reduce fuel loads, to enhance habitat,

(13:10):
to protect water quality. And the wood that comes off
is this wonderful byproduct. But these are the most regulated,
the most that scrutinize the quality of silver, cultural planning
and then implementation. It's it's the best anywhere, certainly more
than on private lands or industrial lands. And so you know,

(13:33):
I would encourage folks to relax a little bit and
then look into the details of any given proposal. And
then lastly, I would just say this idea that well,
let's just increase domestic supply. That's for me. That would
that make as I said, that makes sense on the surface,
but that's not what is wrong with or what plagues

(13:56):
rural communities where that depend on harvesting. Like we've lost mills,
we've lost workforce, the loggers, the truckers, we lost the mills,
the secondary manufacturing facilities, and we can dump a lot
of wood back into the system, but therefore aren't loggers,
there aren't truckers, there aren't mills and processing facilities to

(14:18):
process produce material from those. Then it doesn't do us
any good. So that's my big point in all this
is we can get all hot and bothered about any
given logging project, but it doesn't matter if we don't
have the real policy shifts are in workforce and education,
rural redevelopment, investment in these facilities that have this conservation

(14:42):
effect on the landscape. That's my big point here would
be that forestry is a conservation tool that keeps forests forests.
And it's counterintuitive to most people that we can save
forest by cutting trees, but we meet our needs with
wood being better than all the alternative materials plastics, steel, concrete.

(15:03):
And that's what we got to get over is that
people survey after surveys show that people really truly love wood,
and people say that wood is the most sustainable material
of all they're right, but then they say that logging
and forestry are the least sustainable. So this is where
we gotta we gotta lean in. People love wood, but
they don't like how we get wood, and that's a

(15:24):
big problem. Public lends can play a role in supplying
wood and helping us realize that it's done well. It's complicated.
Uh and yeah, I guess I'll cause there. Just sure,
I know, I spit out a lot there.

Speaker 2 (15:38):
We had plenty of time there, We had plenty of time.
Let's let's jump into hunting next, Mike, if we can.
Vermont recently expanded dough hunt hunting opportunities in order to
dress some overpopulation issues. I'm assuming and state biologists and

(15:59):
a college just kind of agree that keeping deer numbers
in check would lead to healthier herds, healthier for us.
We've seen a lot of states go this route in
the past couple of decades, and the hunting community, like
in general, I would say, has embraced killing more white
tailed dos as a management tool. But I heard that

(16:24):
some for my hunters were very opposed to increasing dough harvest.
So we're gonna get your thoughts there. Like when I
was a kid in Pennsylvania, a lot of the old
timers frowned on killing does because they thought that meant
less bucks In the future. I don't know if it
was that way for you, Seth, but again, like I

(16:45):
feel like in the last couple of decades, last decade,
for sure, I think most white tail hunters have turned
the corner on that. So it's interesting to me that
there's still, you know, a widespread stigma against killing does
in Vermont.

Speaker 1 (17:03):
It's yeah, you nailed it, and this is it's so Vermont.
As of now, we have antlerless you know, with archery,
and there's a lottery system for antler liss tags for muzzleloader,
but it's verboten. There's never you know, you don't shoot
those during the rifle season. And that's what has recently

(17:24):
looks like it's changing. So and Vermont is the only
state in the Northeast, i think, all the way through
Pennsylvania down in Virginia that doesn't still doesn't allow any
antlerless rifle hunting. And so the Fish and Wildlife Board,
the Vermont Fishing Wildlife Board, that is charged with setting
regulations and developing and enacting those regulations for hunting and

(17:45):
fishing and trapping things like seasons, bag limits, methods of
taking license fees. That's the body that makes these decisions
and they've last time, it's been forty years since there
was any dough season, and that's back in the mid
eighties during rifle and it was highly contentious. Then there
were more deer and more hunters than and so you're right.

(18:07):
Now they have this these deer density targets for various
management units around the state and they're finding that we
have fewer hunters and more deer and that's a problem
for habitat and for healthy forests. And so they've been
suggesting this and it's been no, no, no, no, no no.
The philosophy, the traditional philosophy is you don't shoot up.

(18:29):
And so a couple weeks ago, at its last board meeting,
the department proposed about seven changes to the deer management
rule and the board, well, so this was the second
vote they in February, they voted, that's the first vote
to say, okay, this will let's go forward with public
comment and the process. And that opened up this can

(18:52):
of worms. And it's very contentious and many of my
buddies hunting pals, they're dead set against it, but they
went for it and they came back and then two
weeks ago they had a meeting they had a vote
and it was highly contentious, and it's a fourteen member
board and this component passed eight to six and so

(19:14):
and with quite a lot of controversy and contention. So
that's the second vote, that is the most important, meaningful vote.
It now goes to the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules
and then it'll go back to the board for the
third vote, which is usually kind of pro forma.

Speaker 2 (19:30):
So is it not a done deal yet?

Speaker 1 (19:34):
Right, That's what I'm trying to say. This is the
big step just happened, which I spoke with the Director
of Fish and Wildlife yesterday and indicated this generally means
it's going forward. But yeah, there are a couple more
steps and then it would go into effect if passed
fully and as it is expected to do. Now, this
was the last big hurdle. It'll be a fall of
twenty six where these go into effect. And there's a

(19:56):
number of related rules, but this was the big one.
The antler permits to be used during the regular sixteen
day rifle season in November.

Speaker 2 (20:04):
Has has Vermont experienced like is there deer herd? Like
on a big upward climb, like there's like is there
too many. I mean too many is obviously, you know,
it depends on who you're talking to.

Speaker 1 (20:20):
And it's amazing, right, this is a small state. You
guys are in Montana. This is a really small state.
And yet even here we have wide ranging habitat conditions
and populations. So by management unit around the state, there
are some that have the biologists even indicate that we
foresters have been kind of whining about this for some time.
Locally over abundant leading to significant over browsing, which is

(20:43):
not good for forest, but it's certainly not good for deer, right, yes,
in some places, and that's why they want to do
this these deer density unit targets by unit and it
but this this rag would apply to all but the
far northern northeastern portion of the state because as generally
the population trends are going up, dear effort, a hunter

(21:05):
effort is down, winter severity is down. You know, the
various factors they put into their model which are all
pointing to our increased herd size, decreased hunting, and wanting
to get this back in balance with their habitat.

Speaker 2 (21:17):
Right, Well, myself, I hope it goes through. I think
people tend to forget about this kind of stuff fairly quickly,
and you know, in ten years, if the dough hunting
thing goes through, it won't be an issue anymore. That's
that's my take on it anyway.

Speaker 1 (21:35):
And I think, you know, like you say, it's contentious
and there's a lot of folks that are not into it.
There have been lens made at this over the last
few decades, and they do surveys and it's been slowly
changing where hunters are saying. You know, before it was
everybody was against it, and then there's some for it,
and now it's about half. And the board heard from

(21:55):
their constituents ultimately, and I think for some of them
it was really hard. But there's still a bunch you say,
it's really a safety issue. They you know, Vermont was
behind in this regard as well. We don't require hunter
orange and so they're sort of brown is down fear
and it's going to be crazy out there come rifle season. Uh.
And as I understand that that's a big piece of

(22:16):
the the the concerns against even because because the culture
has shifted, as you suggest to, we get this a
little bit more now that maybe we need to shoot
some does a bit more than just with bow and arrow.

Speaker 2 (22:29):
Yep, all right, Uh, I understand that that you're going
on the hunt of a lifetime. This fallout in our
area and one of one of our country's most impressive
public land destinations, the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Are you are you?
What are you going after? Deer?

Speaker 1 (22:50):
Elk?

Speaker 2 (22:50):
Are you going? You're doing this on your own? Are
you getting a guide?

Speaker 3 (22:56):
This?

Speaker 1 (22:56):
I'm so excited. And you rightly called it a hunt
of a lifetime. This is not something I've done done.
I've hunted in Montowna and in the West elsewhere, but
this is a pack string hunt guided fully you know, outfitted.
We're going in the Bob Marshall uh of seven days
of hunting gear elk. Three good buddies, excellent hunters that
I have been. We're more trackers here in the Northeast.

(23:17):
We don't, you know, sit sit on stands and and
so this is just going to be super different. And
I have to say each one of us is completely
freaked out at the prospect of being lame for three
or four days. After I know which which end, I
know which end the food goes in, and I think
I'm pretty sure which end, the food comes out. That's
the end of my horsemanship knowledge.

Speaker 2 (23:41):
Well, I mean it's the The Bob is a super
cool place, so that alone will make the trip worth
it for you, I think.

Speaker 1 (23:48):
Yeah, that's how we see it is like, you know,
no matter what, this is going to be great, right,
I mean just great. Watch out that you guys have
for getting ready for this.

Speaker 4 (23:57):
Well, Corey here used to guiding the Bob, So yeah, Mike,
I guided in there for a decade. I'm not going
to ask for you're going because it's all gnarly and rugged,
but yeah, I get ready for the toughest hunt of
your life.

Speaker 1 (24:08):
I'm ready. I'm gonna be ready. It's this is super motivating, right,
I mean, and then you're talking with the outfitter, just
like I don't know most of I don't shoot at
four hundred yards very often. I don't even know how
to train for that. So that's my biggest fear is
sort of being ready for a good shot at at distance,
because that's just not something that I have a lot

(24:28):
of experience with.

Speaker 4 (24:29):
Well, yeah, depending on what end of the wilderness you're in.
The area I was in, our average shot was sixty
to eighty yards with a rifle.

Speaker 1 (24:36):
That's what I'm talking.

Speaker 4 (24:37):
Because we're hunting in during the rut, as you know,
so right, yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:41):
This is just so I don't know if I dropped
that to somebody. I'm really glad you brought it up.
It's just like you can imagine my excitement, right yep.

Speaker 2 (24:50):
Well, Mike, thanks for thanks for checking in with us,
and good luck on that hunt.

Speaker 3 (24:54):
Yeah, good luck, Mike.

Speaker 2 (24:56):
Thanks guys, take care, take it easy.

Speaker 3 (25:01):
Man.

Speaker 2 (25:01):
Unless you've been living under a rock and like Senator
Mike Lee's backyard, you probably know what's going on with
his attempts to sell off our public lands. It's like
ever changing it. So there's been like three different versions
of it this week, but it's still he's still going
after that stuff. But just in case you're not aware

(25:23):
of what's going on, like, hop on our website, read
the article, follow Cal on Instagram, and he'll keep you
up to date. But it just to show people like
how important this stuff is and what's at stake, Me
and the boys here are going to remind you about
it and share some of our favorite public land hunting.

(25:47):
Did you guys do fish any fishing or just hunting?

Speaker 3 (25:50):
I just did hunting slash.

Speaker 2 (25:53):
Yeah, yeah, yours through a little twist, a little little
hike and bike and kind of stuff.

Speaker 4 (26:00):
Hiking, Ye, not a bike, gotcha.

Speaker 2 (26:04):
Anyway, we're gonna share some pictures and tell a little
story and kind of let you know why public lands
are important to us. Corey, since since you're not a
hunter anymore, why don't you start off?

Speaker 4 (26:18):
Well, I'm gonna throw this all the way back to
last n I.

Speaker 2 (26:21):
Screw up there Phil by having Cory go first.

Speaker 3 (26:23):
Probably, Oh no, it's fine. I can. I can change
things on the fly.

Speaker 2 (26:27):
It's all right.

Speaker 4 (26:27):
It feels like a chameleon. He can adapt. H Anyway,
I'm gonna throw this all the way back to last week, last.

Speaker 2 (26:34):
Wednesday, long time ago.

Speaker 1 (26:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (26:36):
A few colleagues and myself teamed up with the Station Foundation,
which is an amazing organization made up of Special Operations
vets and other highly trained professionals that help transition our
nation special ops forces and their families get back to
normal civilian life, which includes a multi day retreat here

(26:56):
in Montana, which includes one day of high making this
ten thousand foot peak just south of Bozeman, So three
of us from meat either.

Speaker 2 (27:05):
Is that within the five mile corridor or whatever border
thing that like, Oh, not quite close to town.

Speaker 4 (27:17):
Yeah, and from the top, I mean, you can see
one of our busier towns in this city. Ear excuse me,
in this state of Montana, not Bozeman. But anyway, it
was a really amazing experience. There was thirty of us
that summit did this peak, kids ranging from eight to fifteen,
I think, and then a bunch of their dads and

(27:37):
some of the other volunteers for the Station Foundation climbed
this ten thousand foot peak. Hats off to all those kids.

Speaker 3 (27:44):
You made it up there.

Speaker 4 (27:45):
My seven year old kid wouldn't have made it halfway
up there, and there were these eight year old kids
who just kicked its ass. Last Wednesday, a beautiful day.
Couldn't have had better weather.

Speaker 3 (27:53):
There's a view.

Speaker 4 (27:54):
All that that you can see right there in that
photo is public land, So keep your hands off of it.

Speaker 2 (28:00):
Nice seth. What do you got for us?

Speaker 3 (28:04):
Oh, I got a photo of a mountain lion. This
is the first mountain lion I've ever encountered in my life.
I have seen multiple since then, but this was twenty seventeen.
I believe was hunting this during Archer season September in
Montana here hunting some public land National forest, and we

(28:24):
weren't hearing many bugles that day, so we're kind of
just still hunting through some timber and kind of out
of nowhere, a few cows and a couple calf l
kind of filtered past us. So we kind of honkered down, thinking,
you know, there might be a bull behind them or whatnot,
and we're.

Speaker 2 (28:43):
This was all pretty new experience for you.

Speaker 3 (28:46):
This was like, yeah, this was my first archery season.

Speaker 2 (28:51):
Like all this public land to just go Yeah.

Speaker 3 (28:54):
Yeah, I moved in twenty sixteen, but this was the
first time I had like my resident license for our
tree season. And so these these elk kind of moved
past us, and we hunkered down just to see what
was gonna happen next. And I kind of look over
and I see something brown like moving kind of on

(29:14):
the same trail where these elk could just come by.
It's probably I don't know, maybe a minute later, and sure, shit,
it was this mountain lion. And it was like hunting
those elk, which was cool. And this photo here was
taken through a pair of binoculars with a cell phone. Cool.
It turned out pretty Yeah, it turned out pretty good.

(29:37):
And uh so this thing it came, it came to
about fifty yards of us, and once it like noticed
we were there, it like did the like the cat
just like hunker, like it just sunk to the ground,
like put its belly on the ground and just sat
there for a couple of minutes, just staring at us
and like we weren't moving, so it I don't think
it really knew what we were at first. And then

(29:57):
finally it just like got up and ran off. But yeah,
it was that's when it was so cool. Yeah, it
was awesome experience. Sweet all in public land. Yep.

Speaker 2 (30:08):
I guess that leads me this year is going to
be It'll be twenty years I've been out west hunting,
and man, I don't know, like I like, let's say
I've got in twenty years I've killed I don't know,
let's say, like fifty big game animals or something like that.

(30:33):
I think only four or maybe five of those animals
were killed on private land. I've got nothing against hunting
on private land. That's how I grew up. But when
I came out and to the west and was like
I have all this stuff to hunt and twenty years later.
Here I am. These pictures are my older boy, his

(31:01):
firsts that he's had on all on public land in
the last few years. So like this is his first
ever dear Mule deer buck that he got on public land.
I don't know what Phil has has teed up next.
So this was his first elk last year on public land. Antelope,

(31:22):
that's his first anilt with his little bro there with him.
And then I think the last photos me and him
he did. We we doubled on Turkey's last year. The
reason I picked these photos is because like those firsts
are super important, and like that kid only knows hunting
on public land, Like we don't have a bunch of

(31:43):
friends with big private ranches and access to a bunch
of private land. Like this is how this kid hunts.
And if that stuff gets taken away, that get that's
getting taken away from him. I'm not so worried about myself,
you know, but like those opportunities will be taken away
from him and a bunch of other kids and first

(32:04):
time hunters, and you know, on top of that all
the other people that that recreate on public land. So
that those are the pictures that I chose and that's
why I chose them.

Speaker 3 (32:14):
Yeah, good point. Yeah, yep, it's not worth it.

Speaker 2 (32:20):
Nope, Nope. What's what's the chat have to say about
all that? Phil?

Speaker 5 (32:25):
A lot of people yelling about protecting public land, calling
your senator a bunch of a bunch of a handful
of Canadians who are who are worried for us?

Speaker 2 (32:32):
Bill Brent? Are you still lurking in there not working?

Speaker 5 (32:37):
He hasn't said anything for a while, so I think
he's probably I don't know, doing something with a knife
for recording a podcast.

Speaker 3 (32:44):
But uh, let's see here.

Speaker 5 (32:45):
We've gotta gotta get your questions in. This has been
questioned l a question light episode. But you have any
questions for the crew, let me know. But Colton asks Seth,
what's the plan for yeall's time in Tanzania.

Speaker 3 (32:59):
Where I know Steve's buffalo hunting, so spend the big
chunk of time doing that? And then I think he
wants to kill a warthog two other than I don't know.
I think we're just gonna be hiking around the bush
a bunch and you guys are.

Speaker 5 (33:15):
There for a long time, right, yeah, almost three weeks.

Speaker 3 (33:19):
Yeah, it's quite a chunk of time. So yeah, I
don't know. I don't know if he If he gets
those things early, we're gonna go after other things.

Speaker 2 (33:27):
I got a question for you. If one of those
water buffalo charges Steve and you're right over his shoulder
with that camera, what are you gonna do.

Speaker 3 (33:37):
Oh, I'm gonna drop the camera.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
That's what I was wondering. That's what I get.

Speaker 5 (33:43):
I will also say too, that we are going to
have a handful of bonus podcast episodes coming out around
the African.

Speaker 3 (33:53):
Buffalo.

Speaker 5 (33:54):
So they're gonna be kind of sort of diaries from
the field with Steve and and various members of the
crew that are gonna be on the trip. Seth included
Dirt Myth as well, so look forward to those ones,
and then we're gonna have a big, old normal podcast
episode at the end of the trip. And then I'm
sure you guys can look forward to some video content
down the road, but that stuff takes a few months
to put together.

Speaker 3 (34:15):
But yeah, this is all for season thirteen and media. Yes,
So yeah, I'm gonna stick to stick close to whoever
has that double barrel rifle.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
Yeah that's a smart plan.

Speaker 5 (34:25):
Yeah, Noah asks Brody, what was your favorite thing to
do outdoors wise in Pa?

Speaker 2 (34:31):
Well, I mean I can never answer these questions like
hunting and fishing, but I did more fishing just because
I was younger when I was there. But I did
a lot of hunting too.

Speaker 5 (34:45):
This guy's asked this question before, and I don't remember
if you guys were in the room when he asked it,
but he wants to. He wants an answer from everyone
on the crew, and I'll give him that opportunity. But
he says, what animal do you shamelessly wish was a
game animal but is and will never be?

Speaker 3 (35:02):
Mm hmm, whales?

Speaker 5 (35:04):
That's a good answer.

Speaker 2 (35:07):
Well, they're game animals for some people. I guess.

Speaker 4 (35:10):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (35:14):
I that's not something I've ever even like considered.

Speaker 4 (35:18):
Yeah, it's a tough one. Tourists, that's pretty shamelessly, but
it's tourists season here in Montana. But I can't seem
to find a tag, so.

Speaker 3 (35:29):
Yeah, yeah, what else would be good?

Speaker 2 (35:32):
Trying to think wild horses?

Speaker 4 (35:35):
Yeah, here in Montana.

Speaker 5 (35:40):
To the dads, this is from Alaska High boy Any
books for kids, and I mean, I think it goes
without saying. Uh, some of the ones that Brody wrote that.
I'm sure he'll mention, but yeah, those are pretty good.
Those are solid. He says he's got an almost one
year old and he's tired of all the cutesy, far
from accurate wildlife books.

Speaker 2 (35:55):
That's a tough one for me. Man, Like, I like
it's so little, Like I don't even like we just
read our one year old all sorts of stuff. I
don't know that there's like outdoor specific books that we
were reading to our kids at that age. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (36:11):
Same, I know there's some out there, but we didn't
read any. Now he's too old for those little kids books.

Speaker 2 (36:17):
Yeah, tough.

Speaker 5 (36:19):
One question for Corey. It's from figure Nit out Doors.
Solid name there. This guy he got too excited and
didn't even finish his question. He says spring Bear scope
magnification SFP, or FFP and best all around cartridge and
then he stops. But I think you can answer some
of those if you would like to.

Speaker 4 (36:37):
Oh, yeah, I like the second focal plane four to
fifteen is plenty. If you're shooting anywhere over three hundred yards,
you might want to zoom in a little bit more
than twelve power, but you certainly don't need it, depending
on where you're hunting to if you're shooting close quarters,
you might not even need a scope. And then best

(36:58):
all around cartridge is the three hundred winch mister magnum period.

Speaker 2 (37:03):
Gotcha, there you go.

Speaker 5 (37:06):
Corey's spoken, Uh, let's see here, just kind of these
are these are coming in hot, hot and heavy, trying to.

Speaker 2 (37:14):
Pick them out?

Speaker 3 (37:16):
Uh?

Speaker 5 (37:16):
Dan the outdoorman question for the crew, any unwanted interactions
with the environmental police while hunting or fishing? Any complicated
laws gotten you in trouble before?

Speaker 2 (37:26):
Nope. All my interactions with game wardens have been very
pleasant because I haven't had any reason to be in trouble.

Speaker 7 (37:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (37:36):
Same as a fishing guide. We'd get pulled over all
the time, making sure we I was licensed in my
anglers were had their fishing licenses and we had enough
life jackets in the boat. But it was always a
pleasant Yeah.

Speaker 3 (37:47):
Yeah, I never had any bad There's one time we
had a weird interaction with a park ranger in a
spot where we were hunting. Yeah, I remember, well, still
a park and he seemed like the guy just didn't
like hunters.

Speaker 2 (38:00):
Right, But that was like that wasn't a game work.

Speaker 3 (38:04):
No, it wasn't a game war and it was just
a yeah, weird interaction with authority.

Speaker 5 (38:10):
I we'll do one more Africa question then we can
we can move it along. Max says, question for Seth,
will you get any opportunities to hunt in Tanzania?

Speaker 3 (38:17):
I don't think so. Yeah, it's usually the Steve.

Speaker 5 (38:21):
Show down there is Yeah, shoot with you.

Speaker 3 (38:24):
It's too expensive, I think, yeah, get creators over there. Cool.

Speaker 2 (38:30):
All right, we'll check back in with those guys towards
the end of the show. Our next segment is new.
We're gonna do kind of a regional summer fishing report.

Speaker 5 (38:43):
Yeah, so if you got a handful, you got a
couple remote check ins from some some crew members.

Speaker 3 (38:49):
Let's take Phil.

Speaker 2 (38:50):
It says pause for sound. Here, do you got a
song or not?

Speaker 3 (38:52):
No, I don't have a sound. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (38:55):
Come on, that was going.

Speaker 3 (38:57):
Up right now, Phil?

Speaker 4 (38:58):
That was somebody cast in a line and open something
would bite.

Speaker 2 (39:01):
All right, we'll come up with a song for that one.

Speaker 3 (39:06):
In the dark.

Speaker 7 (39:06):
There you go.

Speaker 5 (39:08):
We didn't play this one.

Speaker 2 (39:10):
Oh we didn't. I didn't give you time to play
it earlier.

Speaker 6 (39:26):
All right, we're live, We're to start out.

Speaker 4 (39:37):
But I've just been getting hotter.

Speaker 7 (39:38):
The rivers, they've been shrinking down obviously, and the fish
have been getting more concentrated. I've noticed that the smallies
they've started to run in big groups, going after baitball,
some minnows, any sort of streamer.

Speaker 4 (39:50):
Those have been working well. Crawdads.

Speaker 7 (39:51):
Also, this time of year, if you're looking to catch
a big trophy smallly uh. Night fishing is super effective.
On the trout side of things. The soul for hatches
in full swing. I've been hearing from some of my
guide buddies that they are going more after the dry
flies and the emergers, and then this time of year
you will find the long ear sunfish are in full bloom.

(40:15):
They're as vibrant as ever, looking like something straight out
of the Amazon rainforest. So get out there, go get them.
Good luck to everyone this week who's going out there
to fish.

Speaker 3 (40:26):
Stay safe, and hey, keep it public. Yeah, buddy, god,
he sounds like Clay.

Speaker 2 (40:33):
He's way better angler than Clay.

Speaker 3 (40:35):
I'll pay that. Well, that sounds pretty good.

Speaker 5 (40:39):
I'll let your tea this one up, Bertie. I apologize.

Speaker 2 (40:42):
We're bringing in thank you because I came up with
a good one. Okay, we're bringing in Chester the walleye
Molester from Wisconsin to let us know what's going on
out there.

Speaker 8 (40:53):
Hello everybody, Chester Floyd coming at you from northern Wisconsin.
Here's your Northern Wisconsin muskie fishing report. With the weather
being so inconsistent in northern Wisconsin, the fish have kind
of been inconsistent too, but big fish are being caught.
Once you find them one day, they could be gone
and move the next day. So the key is to

(41:13):
move around a bunch until you find those fish. I'm
going to focus on main lake points, kind of main
lake humps. If I can find weeds on those, all
the better. Some baits that have been working have been
top water baits, jerk baits like a squarely tailed hellhound here.
Soon enough, the rubber bite and the buck tail bite

(41:34):
should should pick up with the weather, you know, leveling
out and being more consistent. I haven't been out a
lot recently, so I got this information from my buddy
Gus Manti with sugsfishing dot Com.

Speaker 2 (41:47):
He's a guide up here.

Speaker 8 (41:49):
But I hope you guys can get out on the
water and hopefully this information helps you catch a big ol' musky.

Speaker 2 (41:56):
See ya, very professional report.

Speaker 4 (41:59):
Nice yeah, thanks boys.

Speaker 3 (42:01):
Wow, he's in his new fancy. I'm jealous of that boat.

Speaker 2 (42:05):
Said, I know you don't got a report because you're
all mad that you haven't been fishing.

Speaker 3 (42:09):
Well, I have been fishing. It's not worth a report,
so got you. So it's been tough, it's been tough
for me. Oh yeah, Cory.

Speaker 2 (42:18):
Uh man.

Speaker 4 (42:18):
I've been fly angling on some of our local waters
around here and it's been amazing. Really runoffs over with
a little earlier this year. Water temps are just right
for now getting it. River temps just right. I wish
it was end of July and not the end of June,

(42:39):
talking like right now is the time because in three
weeks there might not be a lot of angling to
be done.

Speaker 2 (42:44):
We've already got some Houdau restrictions going on. But it's
just good shutting stuff down.

Speaker 4 (42:49):
It's really good right now.

Speaker 2 (42:51):
I've been out a little bit, uh planning on heading
out this weekend to one of our favorite lakes for
perching while I hear it's picking up. So I'll have
a report for yeah later after that.

Speaker 4 (43:01):
Yeah, we'll have to do this again.

Speaker 3 (43:03):
Wuld I do kind of have a report all right?
I guess you call it that. I've been keeping track
of what's going on with the local Montana walleye circuit,
and holy crap, some big numbers this year.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
I saw the numbers from Tiber. Holy cow.

Speaker 3 (43:20):
Yeah, big numbers.

Speaker 2 (43:22):
One hundred and forty pound bags.

Speaker 3 (43:24):
One hundred and forty three pounds for the winning bag.

Speaker 2 (43:27):
So that's ten fish.

Speaker 3 (43:28):
Yeh fish? Whoa, that's do the math in your head there, yeah,
figure out a lot. Cool.

Speaker 1 (43:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (43:38):
Yeah, sounds like the walleye fishing other than where I've
been fishing has been good.

Speaker 1 (43:42):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (43:45):
All right, we're gonna stick with the fishing theme for
this next section. Uh, We're not doing one minute fishing
because it never seems to work out. I'm really over it.
We're so different where this is gonna be really exciting
for everyone. First of its kind live fishing contest between

(44:06):
Seth and Corey. We've we've got our own trout pond
right out here behind Meat Eater h Q. Seth is
gonna be out there with his spin pole and Corey
it's gonna take his fly rod. But I am picking.
I'm picking their lewer slash fly for them.

Speaker 3 (44:26):
I'm nervous too.

Speaker 2 (44:28):
You shouldn't be I didn't get I thought about being mean,
but I'm not going to be mean. So I actually
I am going to give you a choice.

Speaker 4 (44:35):
I like options, Corey.

Speaker 2 (44:37):
If you can't catch fish with one of these two things, like,
I'm gonna be really embarrassed, olive or blackly bugger, and
then seth a little panther Martin or a little cast Master,
both of which are pretty good choices.

Speaker 3 (44:56):
Oh. I like that. We did a little pre fish yesterday,
and I'm a little worried I need the heavier one.

Speaker 2 (45:03):
That's what you get.

Speaker 1 (45:04):
I get it.

Speaker 4 (45:05):
I was ready for whatever. They're pretty aggressive out there,
mostly brick trout that we can find. I know there's
well somebody caught a cutthroat in there at one point.

Speaker 3 (45:13):
Right, I caught a sucker in there one time.

Speaker 4 (45:16):
Okay, you don't know, Okay, so.

Speaker 2 (45:19):
So choose your weapon, man, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (45:21):
Okay, I'm going with the panther Mark.

Speaker 4 (45:24):
I'm going with the olive wooly bugger.

Speaker 2 (45:27):
All right, run out there and here we go.

Speaker 3 (45:32):
Time or goes? Is it is this like.

Speaker 1 (45:37):
First fish?

Speaker 2 (45:38):
I guess I just got to sit here while they're
they're out fishing.

Speaker 5 (45:43):
Hello, audio listeners, Phil butting in to let you know
that I'm cutting this entire segment out of the podcast
version that you are currently listening to, because, frankly, it
wasn't very exciting for audio only listeners. We didn't get
a lot of banter from Seth and Corey out there
at the pond. So let's just cut right back to
the moment where they come back in the studio and

(46:05):
Seth wins the competition with one fish.

Speaker 3 (46:10):
How I look Phil terrible?

Speaker 5 (46:12):
So you have to tell us about it.

Speaker 3 (46:17):
When I was releasing that fish, I don't know if
you could hear it, but there's a lady behind me
saying release it nicely, gently gently that yeah.

Speaker 4 (46:24):
Yeah, we had some spectators, there are some lawnmowers.

Speaker 2 (46:27):
What was your challenge out there? Your biggest challenge?

Speaker 4 (46:30):
Course, mine was just the weeds that I had to
deal with managing my line.

Speaker 2 (46:33):
Which you should have waited right in there.

Speaker 4 (46:35):
I thought about it, not really. Uh, yesterday we went
and tested the water just to make sure there was
actually fishing.

Speaker 2 (46:42):
I saw it like you're doing a little pre fish
and beating them up out there. You could have caught
those fish today.

Speaker 4 (46:46):
That could have been what happened. I think I caught
four yesterday. There you go pretty quickly, or it was
all of the selection fly. Maybe I should have went
with the black one. But either way, nice work.

Speaker 3 (46:55):
Set I thanks. I wasn't catching anything until I sent
one all the way up into where that yep, and
then I could see him. He missed it a few times.
I could see it flashing, oh yeah, and then he got.

Speaker 2 (47:08):
A rush, a bit of an upset, I'd say, Seth,
nice work.

Speaker 3 (47:12):
I was kind of nervous because yesterday Corey was crushing
him on the on the the fly.

Speaker 2 (47:19):
Can't be sure, but my guess is is there's probably
like ten or twelve fish in that.

Speaker 3 (47:23):
Entire games like that might be over overkill. Actually, yeah,
that half a dozen. I keep saying I'm gonna win
during the winter. I'm gonna drill hole and get the
the live scope down in there and just see what's
going on. But it's just hard to motivate me to
do that for a couple of Brookies for sure.

Speaker 2 (47:41):
All right, Well, that good job, boys. We're gonna move
on to our trail cam photo contest. Man, here we go.
It's gonna be big. It's brought to us by our
friends at Moultrie and For the first round, we ask
you guys to send us your funniest photos. We got

(48:03):
hundreds of submissions, so choosing the top five was difficult.
We saw shots multiple folks taking a dump in the woods.
That's that's like not I don't know, I don't find
that funny. Dear raccoon, squirrel, bear fornication, that's funny. Topless

(48:23):
female hiker not funny, but you know whatever. Anyway, Corey,
you looked through all these, didn't you.

Speaker 4 (48:32):
I looked through all of them last night with a
tall glass of whiskey. So thanks for everybody for putting
all these in. I'd say there were like three hundred
and fifty submissions.

Speaker 3 (48:41):
Are you damaged from it? Or you're doing all right?
I mean.

Speaker 2 (48:46):
This made you laugh out loud?

Speaker 4 (48:48):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (48:48):
There were like are we gonna see them?

Speaker 3 (48:50):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (48:50):
The couple that made me laugh out loud it made
it in here. There was a lot that should have
made it in here.

Speaker 3 (48:54):
But it was tough to select five. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (48:57):
Again, next to everybody for submitting. We're gonna do this
again next month, maybe with a different themes. So stay tuned.

Speaker 2 (49:02):
But so let's like I'll tell people what let's like
announce what they're getting after we look at the picture,
build up the excitement.

Speaker 5 (49:12):
All right, are we ready to see photo number one?

Speaker 1 (49:14):
Here?

Speaker 4 (49:14):
Photo number one? Now the chat. If you guys can
give us your thoughts on the your funniest picture please.

Speaker 2 (49:22):
Yeah, you guys are going to decide the winner. We're
not deciding the winner. So like Phil's gonna do some
quick math as you guys.

Speaker 5 (49:30):
Vote for them, I'm going to try to start a pull.
I think I can add five five options on the
poll that I might be limited to this one.

Speaker 2 (49:36):
Exist you can say these people's names, right, yeah, Branson McAtee.
He's calling this the Ninja squirrel.

Speaker 4 (49:43):
I mean, look at that capture.

Speaker 3 (49:45):
I wonder what is he trying to land on the
turkey's back or what? I wonder what's going on?

Speaker 4 (49:48):
It looks like he's going full American Ninje warri or
on this turkey.

Speaker 3 (49:54):
I wish that was ael video we do.

Speaker 4 (49:58):
I know that would be a mat we can do that.
What happened after? But I cracked up to this one.
I mean, what a great shot. Yeah, what a capture.

Speaker 3 (50:06):
Just squirrel. You know, squirrels just do weird stuff when
you're yep, they're funny when you're sitting a tree stand
back east. You just watch squirrels do weird stuff, which
is cool, Okay, Ninja squirrel?

Speaker 1 (50:16):
All right?

Speaker 2 (50:17):
Number two this is from level nineteen. Uh, late night Talk.
It's really hard to tell what come on? Is this real?

Speaker 4 (50:28):
I was worried we had some AI generated photos, but
it's so it's hard to say what's happening here.

Speaker 3 (50:33):
But that's just it's like a bug that's yeah, close
to the camera and it just just happened to be
a right right spot right time.

Speaker 2 (50:43):
I'm gonna show. I'm gonna I'd like to think that's
what it is. Seth, I'm gonna.

Speaker 1 (50:47):
I'm gonna.

Speaker 2 (50:47):
I'm gonna not be a Debbie Downer and say this
was this was like.

Speaker 4 (50:53):
This one had the second most likes on the website.

Speaker 3 (50:55):
It looks like that Is that a palmetto right there? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (50:58):
Somewhere south?

Speaker 3 (51:00):
Good call? All right?

Speaker 2 (51:01):
Number three, number three weeks coming from Michael hammondry kid Menace.

Speaker 5 (51:09):
I think he's doing the Shocker. I can't tell.

Speaker 2 (51:14):
This kid is just driving by a camera. He knows
is there that his dad how's has out and he's
just like trespassing.

Speaker 4 (51:22):
So, yeah, we had a lot of you know, wild
game images, but some really great, like home security photos
that were hilarious, and this one just seemed like it
was obviously set up maybe for turkeys or deer. And
this kid who's supposed to like.

Speaker 2 (51:34):
In a neighborhood, there's like houses and stuff back there.

Speaker 4 (51:37):
Yeah, and I remember the guy mentioning that this kid
is supposed to be on the street and he keeps
kind of like taking a short.

Speaker 2 (51:42):
Cut, and then he found that camera. He's just brutalizing
that guy.

Speaker 4 (51:46):
Know, I couldn't help.

Speaker 2 (51:47):
Maybe it's more funny.

Speaker 5 (51:48):
Now, all right, here's number four, Brian cal Yoda. This
is the one that I do not think is a
trail camp.

Speaker 4 (51:56):
Okay, so Brian said, and Brody, you've met Brian before,
for he made sure to mention this. Yeah, i'll forward
you the email. But he was doing a Purdue University
project where they were learning how to scientifically survey wildlife
populations using trail cameras. And this trail camera was a
thirty five millimeter film camera that they were using.

Speaker 2 (52:15):
But Bud just set up as an yeah gotcha.

Speaker 4 (52:18):
Yeah, But a buddy of his played a joke and
put on the Yoda mask and obviously captured something other
than what they were going.

Speaker 3 (52:27):
For here, but I that's creepy.

Speaker 4 (52:29):
I thought it was funny.

Speaker 3 (52:30):
It was that phill. That one was for you. Oh,
I appreciate it. Thanks for the shout out. I like
to feel included. You know, someone was having fun with
that one.

Speaker 1 (52:39):
All right?

Speaker 2 (52:40):
Number five, like, how can this not be funny?

Speaker 4 (52:43):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (52:44):
Like a bear shitting in the woods is just fun.

Speaker 4 (52:46):
If you zoom in close to you can really.

Speaker 3 (52:48):
I think I wish I wish I had a zoomed
in one.

Speaker 2 (52:54):
People's vote, but this one gets my vote.

Speaker 5 (52:56):
I like it not because he's shitting, but his facial
expression looking into the cameras.

Speaker 2 (53:03):
Embarrass and he's like, up on. I feel like he's
working pretty hard because he's up on hind legs man,
like he's really getting after.

Speaker 4 (53:11):
I was impressed by that too.

Speaker 5 (53:13):
Okay, so here are the limitations of the poll. I
can only give four options, so I think as a room,
we eliminate our least favorite Yoda.

Speaker 2 (53:22):
Yeah, I'm sorry, Brian, I understand we met, but that
pictures I don't like it.

Speaker 5 (53:28):
All right, So I am we are eliminating Yoda. I'm
going to start the pole here in a few seconds.

Speaker 3 (53:35):
So one two, here we go, three or four.

Speaker 5 (53:38):
One two, three or five. Pole is going live right now.
Please vote in the live chat and we will do.

Speaker 2 (53:47):
We want to mess around with. Can we do a
little feedback while of course please do people are voting.
That'll give us something to do.

Speaker 3 (53:58):
Let's see.

Speaker 5 (53:59):
We got a question from mote. Hey says Hi Seth,
what camera are you currently using? Do you bring a
lot of photography gear when you travel or just one
reliable setup?

Speaker 3 (54:10):
Thank you? A seven R five for the main camera.
Backup is in a seven R four. I got a
seventy to two hundred lens, twenty four to seventy and
sixteen to thirty five. Yeah that's my setup, A bunch
of batteries, some filters. Yeah, it's about it. Not super complicated,

(54:35):
but sounds complicated to me. Wow, you're a professional.

Speaker 5 (54:40):
Yeah, Spencer not our spencer in the chat has an idea.
He says, we should do an outdoor obstacle course. Catch
a fish, catch a loose chicken and a fishing net,
then pluck a duck.

Speaker 2 (54:49):
First we got to catch a fish, like the other stuff.
It'd be great to do the other stuff first.

Speaker 3 (54:54):
We but we never get there.

Speaker 4 (54:55):
Yeah, this was an idea last winter. Actually we're gonna
like ice skating, drilling holes in the ice and then
like first one to drop their line in the ice.
But it would have been too much. We would have
needed more than a couple of minutes.

Speaker 5 (55:08):
The question from Matt He says, how do you like
to answer non hunters who ask you did you catch
a big one when you get home from hunting season?

Speaker 2 (55:17):
I don't. I just like I just tell them, like
I'm not going to like try and make him feel stupid,
you know.

Speaker 3 (55:23):
Yeah, I would just say we kill them, not catch them,
unless you're like lying hunting or something. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (55:31):
Captain Texas says Seth. What is the most challenging part
about filming other people hunting?

Speaker 6 (55:38):
Hmm?

Speaker 3 (55:41):
I would say just trying not to be the guy
that ever spooks the animal, you know, ye, which over
time you learn you just I typically I don't move
unless Steve's Steve moves, so there's never like a you know,
he can't turn around and be like you spooked it.
I'd be like, well, I was doing the same thing
you were doing.

Speaker 2 (55:59):
So do you notice the difference between because like Steve's
very aware you know, I used to work on the
camera crew way back, and like Steve's very aware of
the camera guys and how the whole thing works, and
like there's got to be like you've got to have
expectations for the hunters too, right, do you notice like

(56:20):
a way big difference between like filming Steve and filming
a guest hunter has never been filmed before, Like as
far as challenges they present to you.

Speaker 3 (56:30):
I mean, yes, and no filming someone that's never been
filmed before, Like they they just think. I feel like
most people just think it's like impossible to kill something
with that many people. And you'll get guys there like,
you know, don't move, don't It's like, yeah, we know

(56:53):
what we're doing. So that's kind of like one thing
with with new people. And Steve's like it depends on
the animal too, but he's like I think he we
always use guys that have been with us forever and
know the game and know how to be quiet, and

(57:15):
so he's he typically doesn't like yell at us or anything.
Sometimes he does, but yeah, it all depends.

Speaker 5 (57:22):
Mark says, guys, I want to send a mule deer
hide off to get processed hair on it's currently wrapped
and in the freezer. How long is that going to
be good for before I need to ship it off?

Speaker 2 (57:32):
As long as it's frozen.

Speaker 3 (57:33):
Yeah, for a long time, forever cool.

Speaker 5 (57:37):
I'll do one more, then we'll see how the pole
is going. Max, not our Max says, how did y'all
get started with meat Eater? Was there an application, an
interview process or we all picked because of your individual skills.
I think we each have like a different path to
how he got.

Speaker 2 (57:55):
I'll start since I'm the oldest. I used to guide
with Giannis in Colorado. Jannis moved to Alaska through a
mutual friend, got hooked up with Steve and became a
production assistant. A few years later, they needed help on

(58:17):
the Stars in the Sky shoot. Joannis approached me. That's
how I got my start, and one thing led to
another and I started writing with Steve. That was ten
years ago.

Speaker 4 (58:30):
Yeah, mine was semi similar. Good friend of mine and
also one of our colleagues presented the job offer to me.
It was during COVID, when I was guiding fishermen and hunters,
when I wasn't quite sure if that industry was going
to last. A whole lot longer. Just we weren't letting
out of staters in the States, so things were really weird.
So I tried to get a different job, I guess

(58:51):
more steady job. And yeah that was five years ago.

Speaker 3 (58:54):
Now, nice. Yeah, mine was meteor. Was just looking for
a pretty auction assistant to help out on shoots and
haul gear and make time.

Speaker 2 (59:04):
Can you find out a mutual friend.

Speaker 3 (59:08):
Recommended a mutual friend that knew Yiannis and Steve and
whatnot recommended me to them, And yeah, just kind of
got on a phone call with The Honest and rest
was history. That was twenty eighteen, Washington. El Khunt was
the my first shoot ever.

Speaker 5 (59:26):
Phil Oh I got burnt out working in TV and
applied via indeed dot com. Nice yeah, and yeah I
had audio experience and I was worried they wouldn't want
me because I didn't hunt and the Honest. My first
interview was with The Honest. He said that does not matter.
I said, thank God. And that was six years ago now,

(59:48):
so yeah, there we go. All right, let's see who
had the best trail camp photo in last place with
six percent of the vote, we have number three, biker Kid.

Speaker 4 (01:00:04):
Oh well, yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:00:06):
We get rid of it. But that shit, look at them.
You probably needs slapped.

Speaker 4 (01:00:12):
Is that an e bike?

Speaker 3 (01:00:14):
Oh it might be, it's.

Speaker 4 (01:00:16):
Hard to tell you a little motorcycle.

Speaker 5 (01:00:17):
Yeah, possibly, all right. And then in third place, with
twelve percent of the vote, we have deer fart.

Speaker 4 (01:00:27):
Oh see you had high hopes for that left.

Speaker 3 (01:00:31):
I agree with that.

Speaker 4 (01:00:33):
Hard to say what's going on in that photo, but yeah,
nobody else.

Speaker 5 (01:00:37):
Cared and we only have two left. Now it's between
Ninja squirrel and bear shitting, and I will announce the
first place winner. The first place winner with sixty eight
percent of the vote.

Speaker 3 (01:00:49):
It was a landslide. We've got bear shitt.

Speaker 5 (01:00:53):
There we go, congratulations, Yeah, yeah, yeah, all.

Speaker 2 (01:00:57):
Right, So who was that fine at a Pain?

Speaker 3 (01:01:02):
A pain?

Speaker 4 (01:01:02):
Yeah, we'll reach out to you for this so massive collection.

Speaker 2 (01:01:07):
Yeah, gear the winner at a Pain you're going to
receive a uh what's is it? T w O or
two two two? It looks like it's part of the Okay,
it's like written weird two of the Moultrie Edge, two cameras,
So two of those suckers. Two ten watt solar pack

(01:01:30):
or is that ten watt ten watt solar power power packs?
An MKC knife, the saw two slicer. You want to
show them what that one is.

Speaker 4 (01:01:41):
Well, it's pretty packaged up here.

Speaker 2 (01:01:43):
Oh then, don't worry about it all. Geez man, this
just this list, just this is a long one. The
list just keeps going. Two hundred and fifty dollars Meat
Eater store gift card and a two hundred and fifty
dollars First Light gift card.

Speaker 4 (01:01:58):
That's five hundred dollars.

Speaker 3 (01:02:00):
Fake Pride. Didn't know who's this big. I would have submitted
a photo.

Speaker 2 (01:02:04):
A fair ship in the woods for all that stuff.

Speaker 4 (01:02:08):
Yeah, stay tuned again. We're gonna try this again next
month and maybe the month after.

Speaker 2 (01:02:12):
Sounds I think we should. It's kind of fun as
long as Moultrie is gonna kick down and we keep
getting cool prizes. All right, hope you enjoyed it. That's
the end of today's show. Join us next week everyone,
and have a great weekend.

Speaker 3 (01:02:28):
Take it easy later.

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Ep. 722: All Hands for Public Lands! (Part Deux: Redux) | MeatEater Radio Live!

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Steven Rinella

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Ep. 722: All Hands for Public Lands! (Part Deux: Redux) | MeatEater Radio Live!