Bear Grease - Ep. 504: This Country Life - 2026 World Championship Squirrel Cook Off

Episode Date: September 18, 2026

It’s the annual World Championship Squirrel Cook Off in Bentonville, Arkansas. Brent’s sitting down with Kevin Murphy, Josh Spielmaker, Lake Pickle, Dave Gardner, and Joe Wilson for a round table discussion of the event and what everyone’s been up too. Fix a plate and get comfortable. It’s time for MeatEater’s “This Country Life” podcast. Thank you to our sponsors, Case Knives and Stor-Mor. Shop This Country Life Merch Connect with Brent and MeatEater MeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Youtube Clips Subscribe to the MeatEater Podcast Network on YouTube Shop This Country Life MerchSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's no shortcut for saving time, but saving money is simple. Just combine your car and home insurance with Bel Air Direct and save. Get a quote at bellair direct.com. Meat eater and bestselling author Brian Burrow present Gunfighters, a new podcast series about the American West and the violence that made its most legendary figures infamous. Davis Tutts staggered forward, shouted, boys, I'm killed. Healed over dead. Listen to gunfighters.

Starting on September 15th on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves. From Coon Hunting to Trotlining and Just General Country Living, I want you to stay a while as I share my experiences and life lessons. This Country Life is presented by Case Knives from the Storemore Studio on Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you the best outdoor podcast that airways have to offer. All right, friends, grab a chair or drop that tailgate.

I've got some stories to share. Everybody glad to be here? Everybody having fun? All right, on the count of three, we're going to give a world champion, world-class welcome for the wonderful event that's gone on today, and I'm sure a lot of us have been here every year. I've been here for the last 40.

One, two, three. All right. Thank everybody for being here. This is a special This Country Live podcast, and I've got some wonderful folks, and everybody's going to get the chance to tell the stuff they've been up to lately. I think everybody knows what Joe's been up to lately for the past. Let me guess, 364 days.

I took one day off. But to my extreme left, everybody you know him, you love him, you can't live without him. It's the world's greatest small game hunter, Kevin Murphy. Glad to be here. Kevin Murphy. Now, Kevin, I hadn't asked you this. Is this Butchie three toes? That is wings and things.

Wings and things. He's got the best name for dogs ever. I was 14 before I figured out my name wouldn't go get wood. but this one right here is the predecessor or the follow-upper of do you still have butchie three toes he's on my mantle he's on the man on the man very well in a place of honor next to him is the recently crowned world is it the world champion or best mustache at the world champion's world gold golf did you win i did where's your plaque are you kidding it's in my truck it's in a like I wanted, it needed to be under lock and key because the other guys that were competing.

Josh Spillmaker, who works for meat eater and produces Clay's podcast, entered for some reason the championship mustache contest. And he finally, after all these efforts, he's had that thing since he was a little baby. And it's finally paid off for him. That is an absolutely fine mustache, my friend. Well, thank you. I feel like I got a starter kid over here compared to this. I just get up in the morning and say, Jesus, take the wheel.

Yeah, yeah, and he gave you handlebars. Well, he came back and he was all excited, and I was like, Josh, if somebody beat you, I want to see that mustache. Yeah, for real. What was her name? Yeah, there we go. All right, now, right here to my right is my good friend Lake Pickle and Lake hosts the Backwoods University podcast on Bear Creek's channel for Meat Eater. He also works for on-ex and does a lot of goodness. in the outdoor space.

He is an absolute veteran, career veteran, cameraman, outdoorsman, and outdoor media. My good friend, and he can't shoot bears worth anything, but I still love it. Lake Shigle. Right here. No, man, I'm pumped to be here.

I've never been to this event before, and this is impressive. Like, truly, it's impressive. I was like, good grief. This is a big event. Yeah, for real. It's like, it is like our Super Bowl, man. Y'all have something really cool here.

Just the attitude and, and the crowd, all of it. It's really cool. You know, I said this morning, Brent, I was telling somebody, since 2011 we haven't had a single fist fight. We haven't had a single argument. And I've seen one person frown because they didn't get some squirrel that they wanted to eat.

That's pretty good record, man. I don't even have those stats for family reunion at home. I'm right there with you, Pickle. Yeah. yeah about about six months is all i can get on that time with time lost without family fist fight zero days i get it to lakes right is my good friend dave gardner now dave gardner uh has a instagram page called um Dave gardner creative Dave gardner creative very original and he is a he is a freelance photographer and has been filming me running around in the woods for the last

four or five years, I would assume. So if y'all've seen any contact or any content when I was running around on your television screen or on your phone or whatever you watch your stuff, it's a good chance this guy right here was filming it. And we're going to talk about some of the stuff that we've, that just came out here in a minute. And we'll talk about that and get his thoughts on what we did. But to the far end down there, last but not least, is our friend Joe Wilson, who is

absolutely everybody's friend. I've never met a fellow. I told, I was talking to Jen Pearson. Jen Pearson is our events coordinator with meat eater. And she said, Brent, this thing that y'all do, the squirrel thing down there in Arkansas, who do I talk to about it? And I said, there's one guy, and his name is Joe Wilson. She said, tell me what he's like.

And I said, he's a guy that could absolutely talk you into taking out your own appendix if he decided to do it. Boy, we come close. this week. To doing that. But Joe, it's such a pleasure to be a small part of this and watch this thing go every year. It's just, it gets bigger and better than every year. It's like the World's Fair.

So, thank you, Joe. Hey, thank you. And let me help out here. First of all, I'm just a little bit bigger than that small piece that you're talking about. I got you. I've had tons of volunteers show up to do a. amazing things. The place is relatively clean right now.

Second, we have amazing teams who work real hard, shoot straight, and try to get this hard to get meat, unless you're Kevin Murphy, out of them trees, and on to the plates. And then finally, you know, I got fishing game that's been very supportive of me over the years. and I pulled a little stunt. I don't know if y'all looked up about 1245 and you seen a helicopter come over. And that helicopter was part of my network that stemmed from this whole operation we're doing. Clifton Jackson had won the World Champion Squirrel Cook

or cleaning competition for four years. And Saturday, I got a phone call that his father-in-law had passed away. and they were going to put them in the ground and they did today and clifton wasn't going to be able to make it from little rock to springdale and i love me some clifton jackson you know anybody that you'll talk to that knows that doesn't love clifton jackson so i said clifton you need time to mourn but it's hot outside and i imagine they're going to bury people of the morning

and so when this funeral gets done you don't think you could drive here and he said it ain't no way I said what if I get a helicopter and he giggled which is part of healing when someone you love dies is laughing

and over a little bit of work because I built a network Brent I was able to score a helicopter and we flew down to Little Rock picked Clifton up, flew him by, flew kind of low above this place, landed the helicopter, quarter mile up the road, shuttled him over. And Clifton, I think because of the flight schedule, he got second place today. Oh, is that right? Wow. But a great man got first place and Clifton was proud of him. Well, that's outstanding. Yeah, yeah. And just so anybody,

there's no confusion to anybody that's listening or anybody that was here this was totally donated by the helicopter service no state money no squirrel money no any money was donated other than the company that owned the aircraft and donated the time that's correct and the fuel yep that's correct well lacy pickle lake's wife is here and she has brought me something that i want to You didn't know was coming. But the fellow that does y'all's trophies for everybody, he called me a week ago, two weeks ago. He says, I got something I want you to give to somebody.

Yeah, so what is it? He told me what it was. And what this says is World Championship Squirrel Cookoff, 2026 champion event coordinator. And we're going to give this to my friend, Wilson man i i i appreciate thank you guys uh joe is joe's the guy

who likes to he we're very reminiscent i think but joe's the guy that likes to be the center of attention and his least favorite subject is joe wilson he's always wants to talk about somebody else and prop somebody else up well folks are thinking about you and they appreciate you and it's a it's for the folks that are listening and not watching it is a walnut plaque with some pretty scroll work in there

it's got Joe's name on and just a small token of appreciation from the people that love you and appreciate. We understand there's lots of folks that help, but you're a big part of it and we thank you. Well, I'll never take the honor and I appreciate the plaque. But honestly, I guess I don't understand it because you know the background. Sure.

The background is I told a big lie one day. And you know, I never get tired of hearing the story. I actually told us to a friend of mine that I'm bear hunting with this year, and he couldn't believe it. So give us the Reader's Digest version of how this started. Yeah, in 2011, I was contacted by Bizarre Foods for the Travel Channel. And with that contact, they asked if I could host the Ozark Edition of Bazaar Foods. And they gave me a long list of things.

and I could accomplish every one of them, and they got to the grand finale, what was going to be their big spot on the show. And that was if I knew how to cook squirrel. And I said, yes, not only that, I cook world champion squirrel. And they said, how do you know? I said, because of the world champion squirrel cookoff. And they said, is there such a thing?

I said, yeah. They said, when is it? I said, when are you coming? They told me a date, and we had the first one, based off of that lie. Well, since then, y'all see what we've created. We've created a deal where tens of thousands of people

over the years have been able to come together and eat this squirrel. And not to be romantic or nothing, but it becomes something way beyond cooking squirrel. And for me, it becomes the fact that as you walked around out here today, you've seen people who have never hunted in their life. They probably never even fished. But what they come for is the novelty of the show, the chance to eat something that you can't buy at the store.

You've got to know someone like us. And to look out in the crowd and see people from all over the country, all over the world, England and Australia and all of this, man, that's what the show's about now. You know, that's what it is. And so I appreciate the plaque, and I know that man, he's a good man. But that's to everybody who's ever been here. Oh, absolutely it is.

I get to take pictures with families and kids that I get shorter every year. And I'll get comparison photos of them. The kids just get bigger and bigger. But it's such a fun event. Where I met Kevin Murphy was right here the first time 112 years ago. He was just a little pope. Kevin, what's going on in Kevin Murphy's world? Man, this summer is being busy, busy, busy, busy.

and I have been catfishing. I've become a rod and reel catfish guy. For real. So I had a good buddy of mine that I'd met back in 2013. All my good buddies, I meet at work. Yeah. So I met him in a rock quarry at 2013, and he retired this year and had a bunch of free time on his hands.

And me and him, we went out probably, like, close to 20 times, been rod and reeling below our magnificent waterways, fish three rivers. the Cumberland, Tennessee, and the Ohio River. And, yeah, I'm working my way up to be a rod. We didn't do a lot of cat fishing growing up? A little bit, you know, here and there, just not to the magnitude that I did this summer. Kids, I had no skills.

I mean, you know, you don't instantly just learn something out there. So this year I went with him, and he's from a long line of cat fisherman. I think he told me right before his dad died that he fished 360 days out of a 365 day. He wasn't real serious about it, that was it? You know, that's who I like to hang with. That's the Christmas, Easter, his birthday, and his anniversary. Or her birthday is anniversary.

He was a big fisherman, and like I said, we've got that magnificent river system. You know, I made the meat eater show. Me and Steve on the jug fishing. I've been doing that quite a bit. that only been one time this year, two times, had very successful at that. But rod and reeling fishing, below the dams and the bowls, it's a little bit different skill.

I mean, when you've got a weight on that weighs 16 ounces, and that's bigger than most fish people catch. For sure. So a little bit different strategy going in and fishing. Except for Josh, Josh catches big fish. Josh is a trout guide here in Arkansas, and is done quite well. You're booking a lot of folks.

little time doing that is that when he ain't kicking rocks at bears exactly yeah josh killed a bear opening day i did open and day tell us the story about that first tell the story that led up to it the video that that joe's talking about i was uh baiting i was baiting for bears on some private land that uh that's adjacent to the wilderness area and uh in order to bait up there i've got to i had to pack bait in on mules and so the first time i went up there it went up a few times and got it got it baited while i started having a bunch of bears come in and uh the third or fourth time i went up um there was a sow there when i got there and and uh she was she liked having that bait but she was also interested in the bait that i had did you and i could not get her away does she have any

Cubs close? Well, I didn't think so. And I started unloading the bait, and I literally had to shoe her, I mean, kicking rocks at her, throwing sticks at her, and she never backed off farther than about 30 yards and just circled all the way around. And then her two Cubs came and showed up, and that felt like a compromising position. Joe, you referenced the video. Josh put this video on his Instagram page, and I just assume his wife Christy was there.

filming it but you had the camera on a stand i had a camera on a stand yep and it was there was a tracking camera so it was following me just you and josh just me and the camera and uh i seen you had your side piece on there so i did i did and i have to be honest there were a couple times i drew on her because she got within about five six feet of me is that right and i wasn't wasn't going to shoot her but i was going to maybe have to fire toward her just to get her to back off but well um but i got in and out of there and then I went and baited on on the couple days before had still had good bears and you know you never know sure I mean they can drop off in a moment's notice but I went in and took my mules up there and dropped some bait and went and parked the mules and and then went and

stood in the stand about got in the stand about one o'clock and saw between one o'clock and 4.30 saw probably eight different bears and about 430 had a really good good, big mature sow, dry sow with a big monster head come scrolling in and, man, just thank the Lord. You know, I've been, you know, just, my, my biggest concern is that I put all this work into doing this and then miss. And so I've been trying to shoot 100 arrows a day just to try to train myself just to be, yeah.

I ain't shot 100 errors in my life. Yeah. I mean, just trying to shoot 100 arrows as often as I can. and man, just 10 ringed her. She ran 40 yards and expired. That's why you do that. That's fantastic. You know, Jared Larson, who colleague, another colleague of Lakes that works at Onyx, told me one time that you will put no more.

How many bear hunters we got in here? Any bear hunters in here? There's some hands. Two. Okay. I see six, ten. 47. And they will agree with me.

There is no. Jared Larson said, you'll have. no more sweat equity into any type of hunt than a baited bear hunt. Oh, man. You're not kidding. It's the hottest time of the year. And if you're having to tote that stuff, any length of any travel, especially if you're hunting in a place like where Josh is at where you're walking in.

I'm fortunate enough to be able to go into a piece where we could drive it in there in a can and am and dump it out. But it's hot and there's just, it's just a lot, too. ain't easy and i've been sitting over a bear bait now for Dave has been sitting with me with this camera for three days four days today will be day four today this afternoon will be day four and it it ain't you don't dump bait out and a bear walks in and you shoot it it just don't happen are they eating the bait at night or they are they're eating the night the acres are starting to drop so we're having some issues

with that but um it's it's not it's not a lead pipe cinch by Well, we got some weather happening today. Yeah. And maybe it'll shake it up. So any change is always good. Now, we're starting to see more, and we passed on a decent bear yesterday, but he's got a lot of potential to be a bigger bear, and there's bigger bears in that area. So that's what we're looking for.

Good deal. But we'll talk more about that in a minute. I want to talk about elk hunting. Lake. Yeah. Is an elk hunter and an elk farmer. He's filmed Mr. Will. Remos for years out West and is an accomplished Elkhunter itself.

And you're, you fixed to go on one shortly? Yeah, leave on next Tuesday, I think. Yeah. Go ahead out. New Mexico or out west? Yeah, meeting Brad out there. Okay. What's, is this a place that you've been to before?

Yeah. It's, we've got a lot of history there. And typically like that place, if you could have it, if I could have the first 20 days of September, if I could have the first 20 days of season, Or the last five days of season, I'd take the last five every time. Really? Yeah. That's just, that's what you want, to bugling and calling bulls in and acting right.

And so I'll be there a little over a week. And the 16th is typically, historically, that's like the day. That's the day. Yeah, when everything. I mean, you can have some good hunts before them, but historically that place is the 16th, they really start to fire off. Okay. And so.

Big bulls in that area, potential to come. The biggest bull I ever shot in my life was on that place. How big was he? 356. 356. That's pretty sporty. That's a good one. Any elk hunters, Dave's a Elk Hunter from way back to Missoula.

Dave Gardner lives in Missoula around that area up there and is an archery El Hunter and just you got any hunts coming up there? Hope so. Trying to figure out the schedule. but yeah hopefully get out for uh six seven days and go wander around the woods with a backpack and Dave's wife Ada is a she's accomplished herself they these folks are run up down the mountains like cat squirrels in the pecan tree I'm telling you you don't want to follow you don't want to follow Dave or Ada or his little boy both you don't want to I don't think I could keep up with him

we're getting older yeah we ain't no Kevin Murphy that's he no who ain't that guy's on his own deal over there His time machine is clogged. There's no sand falling out of it. So I had the honor today. I've done stuff with Kevin over the past few years, but I kind of prodded him because, Brent,

you're on a diet because of this bear hunt deal. So I filled your space with Kevin Murphy at the judging table. Yep. And what do you have? 14 dishes? I was contracted for 13. And then under protest, I did 14. I've got paid over time.

I've done it three times, I think, and I have yet to eat anything that I thought I would never eat that again. The quality of the food that comes in back there is some well thought out and well-prepared stuff. All right. So I'm going to tell you one that I think is a Brent Reeves topic. and it's a it's a curiosity that Kevin Murphy has and any time this old boy here gets on a mission, he finds the end of it, right? Tell them about the cornbread, Kevin. So we're going through the dishes, you know, everything's a little bit different.

And all of a sudden we get one and it's got hot water cornbread, which I've heard about during my lifetime. It's not anything that was ever served and never had it before. I've seen more of a southern thing than in Kentucky. So I see that in there, and then two or three of the judges start talking about, oh, this cornbread is really good. And I'm trying to watch and eat, you know, compose, yeah, just like go through there. So I slice into the hot water cornbread, and I thought, oh, man, this is, this is tasty. They needed to put some squirrel meat in this right here for the appetizer, the side dish on the thing.

So started talking to several people in there. And Joe says, oh, someone's over at the next table. He's a big chef. He knows how to make the secret to hot water cornbread. And the guy says, I don't know no secret. I says, well, when you find out, I want to know. Because when I go back home, I'm going to start making some hot water cornbread. You like it?

It was very appealing. Something different. I like corn bread. I like all products made from corn. But the hot water corn bread, yeah, it's, it's, it's a, my curiosity. It sure ain't a muffin, isn't it? No, it's not.

And we make it at home. So it's fantastic. So give me the reader digest real quick method. What's different about hot water cornbread than regular cornbread? You're basically cooking a meal with the boiling water before you put it in the skillet. Is the texture different when it's done? No, it's just a little thicker. It's just a little more dense.

It would be like a store-bought hush puppy. Some of them are kind of dense, you know, there's no flyer in them, apparently. But that hot water cornbread is good. If you just make it thin, fry it crisp, it's crunchy, and it's good on ice cream. I mean, fantastic. That's one good secret right there, thin and crispy. Oh, yeah. I could see where that would really pay off.

Oh, yeah. That's really good. We've had that forever. I got my wife eating it. She likes hot water corn bread, too. Man, because I'm one cooking it. There's no shortcut for saving time, but saving money is simple. Just combine your car and home insurance with Bel Air Direct and save.

Get a quote at bellair direct.com. Meat eater and bestselling author Brian Burrow present Gunfighters, a new podcast series about the American West and the violence that made its most legendary figures infamous. Davis Tutt staggered forward, shouted, boys, I'm killed. I'm killed over dead. From notorious killers to blood feuds in Texas, gunfighters strips away the myth to get at the reality. Who these men really were and what they actually did. The first great gunfighter, John Wesley Harden, killed at least 26 men before he turned 21 years old.

It helped you know that he was pretty much a complete psychopath. Listen to gunfighters, starting on September 15th on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. and get your shooting irons these stories don't miss is any is anybody seen the uh 12 and 26 are you familiar with the 12 and 26 films that come out on meat eater channel has anybody saw the the moose episode with me in northern manitoba a lot of folks i think are 6,000 people that's seen that sitting in here well this is the guy right here that filmed it dave gardner and i drove drove and flew and drove to northern Manitoba and filmed and hunt that hunt up there. And if you hadn't seen it, I won't spoil it.

But a moose does die in the end. Okay, I spoiled it. I got a moose. It's been out for a while. You should already know. But it was an absolute fantastic adventure. It was one of the absolute incredible time that we had. Dave and I've gotten, been very fortunate to share.

some experiences all over the country. And that one up there is going to be hard to beat, Dave. Oh, yeah. It was a lot of fun. And the kind of the premise of the story, there's always a story in a meat eater film. There's some underlying thing that happens there, or the story's never just about hunting or fishing.

There's something that goes along with it. But this one was kind of, well, I started out as a cameraman. man many moons ago. And I used to film Clay Nookam before Meat Eater when it was just a bear grease channel or a bear hunting magazine channel on YouTube. And everybody, I know a lot of folks have seen where the bear came in and got close to Clay's arrow

and it touched the tip of his arrow. Well, I was the clown behind the camera that if you turn the TV up really loud, you can hear somebody say, get back. Well, that was me talking to the bear, not to Clay. Anyway, we got the bear. So that was my claim to fame, and that's eventually what lit the fuse to why we're all sitting here now. So anyway, the story on this was kind of going from me going from behind the camera to in front of the camera.

And behind the camera was my friend and brother Dave Gardner over here. And it was special for me. Josh and I talked about this on a companion podcast just the other day. but it was it was it was hard for me not to want to do what dave does Dave can you and you I know I hadn't told you I was going to ask you here but can you tell these folks what it's like the everybody would like a lot of folks would like to have a hunting show but hardly anybody wants to be the cameraman watching somebody else do something

what appeals what's the appealing part of that can you You know what it is? I think it's the best job in the world. Yeah. Why is that? I mean, I get to go on a little, you know, that was a trip of the lifetime we were on up there in Manitoba. And I get to experience, have the same experience that you have almost without pulling the trigger. Right.

So, I mean, I feel the same excitement that you had and get to share those experiences with you. but it allows me to exercise some creativity and I don't know just super grateful to do what I do it was a long road to get there. A lot of years of banging my head against the wall trying to figure out how to make it work as a cameraman. Can I say something, Brett? You absolutely can. So, man, I don't think you guys get enough. They don't. And I'm not even talking about the financial side of what you all do.

but over the past year I've been filming a program too and you know you're the first one's up the last ones to bed whenever I get done doing what I'm asked to do I go in eat dinner and lay down and you guys are worried about batteries and cleaning lenses and talking about USBs and drives and what lens you're going to use and all of this stuff and me personally as I go further in in this adventure that I'm in.

Man, I want to show all of what you guys do. Yeah. Because for us, the viewer, we're attracted to what the hunter is doing, but no one truly knows until you walk in this deal how much work you guys are doing. And the four different angles and flying the drone and doing all the work, you guys are the stars of the show. 100%. And I mean, I'm finally understanding it because I've had the opportunity.

It's amazing what you guys do. You know, I was talking to Jeremy Island. He's a good friend of mine. And has it been helping me put some bait out for some bears or I've been helping him more like it? And he was, we were talking about it. He said, man, he's just going to be good. We kill this big old bear. We got Dave over here.

He wore his shirt that's got all the muscles in it. said we got Dave over here to help tote this thing out and I said let me tell you what Dave's going to do he's going to pick tote that camera out we're going to have to take this barrel out that's Dave's job and that's the best part of being the camera guys like oh sorry man I can't pick that up I got to get this footage it's an amazing skill and really to get the shot to get the lighting to get all that stuff I'm far too dumb to understand what's going on but if you tell me to stand in one spot for 10 minutes and walk in a door six times. I got it. I could handle that part. And I really think that all this B-roll of that side of the adventure, there's a space for it.

And I think people need to see it because it can encourage others to do the same thing. And being the guy talking, that's one thing. But the guy's filming and getting the audio, that's awesome. Well, Lake here, I mean, that's how I got in this business. That's how Lake started. Lake, you filmed. Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't be doing anything if a camera didn't come first. Yeah. But it was kind of like what you were saying earlier.

The upside, I mean, there's obviously some upsides to be in the one that shoots the moose, you know. Sure. But there's also, like, when you're filming somebody and they punch a tag and you were there, there ain't a tag to punch on holding the camera. Like I've gotten to sit so much stuff that being behind that camera allowed me to go and see. Yeah. You know. But you got, I think as an outdoor cameraman, you've got to be the hunter because you're the guy that's going to blow the whole deal.

Yeah. And just me walking around, meeting people talking, eating, and doing some outdoor activity. When you're on a trip of a lifetime to film a moose, you better be a better hunter than Brent. Oh, yeah, which is not hard to do at all. But that is the thing. Like you said, you first up, last eat, last to go to sleep. And there can absolutely be no reason for a failed hunt can be the cameraman's fault if he wants to work in that business. It can't be his fault.

Yesterday, prime time, 30 minutes before. absolute lights out two bears on the bait somebody coughed and scared them off it was not the camera man it was me and it's i mean this happens and i felt i apologize to davy's like and that's you idiot i didn't do it that was you man can tell a quick story sure so the first time like so i get hired to run camera for primos right so i make it through my first fall and i had not hunted with will yeah that had filmed everybody else but like especially as a kid growing up in mississippi you know like i thought will primos hung the moon that's big deal so springtime runs around they're like all right you're going to missouri with will you are turkey hunting and i'm

like you know like this is it so we go out and we would uh we're walking it's like late in the morning and if you're a turkey hunter you all know if a turkey ever starts handing out gobbels for free like you didn't do anything to provoke him you're just kind of like okay yeah so We're walking, and this turkey just starts gobbling, and Will's like, okay. So we sit down, and he starts calling, the turkey starts coming. And over this little rise in the hill, I see two fans. And I'm like, yeah. And I'm just right down Will's shoulder.

And I'm like, I got this. I'm doing it. I can't believe, you know. And I'm here, two strutting turkeys is all I see. And Will goes, you got him? I said, yeah. And he said, the one on the left, I said, yeah. Ketow!

Two turkeys fly off. And I'm like, this ain't how this is supposed to go. You know, like Will's supposed to kill. I don't want it. And Will gets up in the most nonchalant way and just starts walking out to where the turkeys were. I'm like, what is he doing? The turkey's gone.

What is he doing? And all of a sudden out from the side of the tree he was sitting on, I just catch this little flicker. There was another. And I lean out and there's a turkey flopping. And I was like, oh, no. I never got, I didn't get a stitch of that turkey on it. I'm fired.

Yeah. I thought that was it. I was like, well, this has been a nice long six-month career. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, they kept me around. But yeah, the first time I filmed Wilbur Turkey on, I did not get it on video.

And I don't know which direction. I just wanted to make that clear. Sure. Because I know all you three are those guys. And I know that Josh has been doing it too. I'm really good at not getting turkeys on film. Well, but me and Kevin's the other side of the deal. We don't have a clue what none of that is.

And I'm sure Kevin could read three books and be a professional. but you guys deserve a lot of credit on that side of the film and I think that these people out here and the listeners they need to see it sure that's a good idea for some projects coming up and actually next month Janice Patelis and I will be in Kansas on a deer hunt I didn't draw a tag but Yanni did and we're going to film each other yeah we're I'm going to film Yanni

And Yanni's going to film me filming Yanni So it's going to be like one of them things Look where you're looking in the mirror at the... You guys are taking our jobs. Oh, absolutely. Dave, we knew how. Dave's going to be at home. You thought AI was coming.

It's just me and Yonnie. It's going to be hunting. It's not AI. It's just Brent and Yonis. Exactly. You know, we should do, we should do a film where the meat eater personalities

film the cameraman hunting. Oh, I'd be all. I'd be in that in a minute. I promise you, my favorite job is behind the camera. I'm very blessed to be sitting here and talking to these folks in this room, talking to the people that are listening and watching this on YouTube. But I envy Dave when we go hunting that he's getting to get all that.

Because I got into this to show my dad. My dad wasn't a duck hunter. So I started filming some duck hunts to show him what ducks look like coming through the timber. And that's where it all started. Well, and that's the goal of a good film. Yeah, to show somebody. To show somebody. Yeah.

And, you know, the focus shouldn't be on the 12-point buck or the 12-pound bass. It should be on the reason why it's important. And Kevin's, I mean, he's a key example of that, right? Yeah. I mean, he's an odd dude. He's dressed here in fluorescent hunters orange and looks like he's been working on the chain game. He's got shoes on this time. Yeah.

And the first time we were. we've seen them with shoes. Yep, yep. But this is my deer dog thug outfit, you know. The deer dog hunters get no respect wherever they are. You know, we're down to 10 states out of 50 that only allow deer dog hunters out there. And I came on a work project about five years ago down here in Arkansas and met a bunch of deer dog hunters and just fell in love with it. And I'm in deer dog camp twice a year for the last five years.

So it's just something. Had a suggestion today, Joe. guy coming to me and said, what about a treeing contest here next year? And I'm like, man, that's a good idea. We better have a guy. I'll talk to Joe. I'll pass it along. But anyway, we had a good, had a dog get auctioned off today.

Somebody donated. Yep. Some happy folks lived with a good dog. Yeah, we try to show every aspect of this. Yeah. And that's why, you know, the skin and portion is such an important role. Yeah. It's kind of amazing we're allowed to do it, right?

Yeah. But you got to skin it to eat it. I say those squirrels come in a biodegradable package. That's true. And so we got to show what it's like when it doesn't come in solophan. Yeah. And styrofoam. We got to show that.

We got to show how hard it is to accomplish this. And it doesn't matter if it's squirrels or ducks or doves or this bear that you're trying to get. Right. This is a lot of work. And it's really what makes us human. Well, John Pantuso and I were talking earlier today. And I mentioned this, I think, on a podcast not too long ago, that we got to share this stuff. We got to share it.

If we want to see this, keep going. If we want to see this for, I have a grandson, a brand new grandson. Here is about a week old now. And if I want that young and to be able to see the things that these kids over here, of these Jackson youngings that I have known for for years and I met them right here Joe and those folks are just like my family. I almost got choked up when I seen them earlier today. If we want those folks and folks just like them to see and enjoy the things that we're good,

I dare anybody to find anything bad about what is going on right outside in the 98 degree heat that everybody's standing in. Well, we got to share it as, and show folks. As much as that little plaque humbles me, which you just said humbles me too. And I'm honored to be around guys like y'all, and I've got lots of them. We all do.

We're blessed people to have tons and tons of amazing people in our circle. I have yet to find a person that doesn't make me better. And I think what gets forgotten so often is we look at mentors as these positive figures, people we strive to be like. But we could also have mentors that are negative people, and we strive not to be like them. Roger that.

And so it doesn't matter who you meet. You got to take what they gave you. And that's what this event, being in the outdoors, meeting humans all over the place means to me. And y'all are some of my favorite people, just being in the industry and trying to preach that, you know. Kevin Murphy, final thoughts on the 2026? I'm going to do show and tell.

Lay it on, man. But I appreciate being a judge. You know, it's been a new perspective doing that. I've helped cook a couple times here. I've wandered around a couple times. But going in there and being a judge, I think that's something that what I would do suggest is that at the next event, you just have people put their name in a hat and pull them out and let them be a judge.

and I think they would really respect this a whole lot more of being able to go in there and participate, doing something different that they're, you know, regular person. I know you pick some people out of the crowd and everything, but would be a vital part of it saying, hey, you might have a chance to be a judge. Good idea. What you got there? So I'm a novice waterfow hunter.

That way there's no pressure on you. Okay. No pressure. You can mess up, do whatever you want to. You can do great. You're not a hero, but novice waterfow hunter, and I'm a novice archaeologist. And last Sunday, 11 hours northeast of here, about two meters under the ground, this was pulled out by me and my son, his girlfriend, and three more archaeologists. And that is the second molar of a mastodon.

Wow. Oh, wow. So. That's cool. That is pretty cool. Some of the first Kentuckians last year, I talked about the phallus that we've. found that was carved out of the lower tusk of a mastodon. So that's the second molar from a site that we're digging 14,500 years ago.

Our country was covered with glaciers from the edge of the Ohio River going down up to Carvindale, Illinois, which is like less than 45 minutes as a crow flies from my house. And our country, that portion of the United States was completely glaciated, covered in ice. Here we are 12,000 years later on, and we got 98 degrees. We've been going through a heat wave in Kentucky. But just to showing you how quick that the temperature can change, and then, like I said, we're trying to trace the first Kentuckyans with Dr. Gramley at that site, and we will be digging all the way into the middle of October, first week in October,

hoping to find some more artifacts. We found a four-foot tusk a week before I got there. but I asked if I could bring something down here for people to see and so where did you find this that came out of northern Kentucky 11 11 hours I ate at the dinnies one time and the waitress had teeth just like she could crush the maker's too I think that was her name her name was my stuff that's awesome Josh what you got going man man uh you know bear season's over now we're looking at killing some deer For some folks. Well, yeah, now that I'm tagged out, I just

Just forget about it. Lean up against the bed with my hands folded praying for you guys to tag out. We can take all the help. I'm going to try to do a bunch of trout fishing this fall too. Okay. Yeah. Folks can find you. Josh Lambridge, spill maker on Instagram.

It's easy to spell. It's easier to say than it is a spell. Blake, you got an elk hunt coming up. Leave on Tuesday. Backwoods University's doing fantastic. It's a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun. It's a lot of good information.

It's fun to listen to. And I'm really thankful for folks that came by and said something to me about it here. It means a whole lot. Yeah. Yeah. They're doing good. Dave, you're going to be busy this afternoon. What are you going to be doing?

I'm hoping to film a big old bear coming in. That's what I wanted to hear you say right there. Man, I, uh... Joe? I got stuff. What you're going to be doing? I'm going to take a nap. No.

No, I've got a sweep. I'm racing in the Ozark gambler in a Cadillac, going to pick up trash in the woods with some mud tires on that front wheel drive. I'm going to northern Wisconsin on woodcock hunt, trying to catch a musky. And then fast forward to December, first week of December, I'm going to Kingman for a lion. Really? A hound hunt. Nice. Yeah, so, yeah.

I'm going to be busy. And then I got to take that boy small mouth fishing about 430 times in between them. Well, he's working on some popcorn over there. So he'll be ready. Yeah, so if you want to pay attention to what I'm doing, just look me up on Facebook, just Joe Wilson, and I'm the one that looks like he lives in North Arkansas. He looks just exactly like that guy.

It looks exactly like he sounds. Well, thank everybody for being here. Thank all the folks at home. and wherever you are listening to it. Will, we know where you are. I talked to your mom and daddy today. We're praying for you. You're going to be a good deal.

It's going to work out just fine. Thank y'all for being here. And like I always say, on three, y'all be careful. I didn't count the three. One, two, three. Y'all be careful. There you go.

Thanks, guys. Meat eater and best-selling author Brian Burrow present Gunfighters, a new podcast series about the American West and the violence that made its most legendary figures infamous. Davis Tutte staggered forward, shouted, boys, I'm killed. I'm killed over dead.

Listen to gunfighters, starting on September 15th, on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.