The MeatEater Podcast - Ep. 604: MeatEater Radio Live! An Alaska Moose Hunt, Utah Wants Your Land, and Buffalo Scapulas

Episode Date: September 27, 2024

Welcome to our brand new MeatEater Radio Live! podcast. Join Steve Rinella and the rest of the crew as they go LIVE from MeatEater HQ every Thursday at 11am MT! They’ll have segments, call-in guests, and real-time interaction with the audience. You can watch the stream on the MeatEater Podcast Network YouTube channel, or catch the audio version of the show on Fridays. Today's episode is hosted by Janis Putelis, Ryan Callaghan, and Brody Henderson, and Phil Taylor. Guests: Patrick Berry, CEO of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, Papa Janis Putelis Sr., and Wyatt Seep of Old Northwest Timber & Habitat.  Connect with The MeatEater Podcast Network MeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YoutubeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey folks, exciting news for those who live or hunt in Canada. You might not be able to join our raffles and sweepstakes and all that because of raffle and sweepstakes law, but hear this. OnX Hunt is now in Canada. It is now at your fingertips, you Canadians. The great features that you love in OnX are available for your hunts this season. Now the Hunt app is a fully functioning GPS with hunting maps that include public and crown land, hunting zones, aerial imagery, 24K topo maps, waypoints and tracking. You can even use offline maps to see where you are

without cell phone service as a special offer. You can get a free three months to try out OnX if you visit onxmaps.com slash meat. Smell us now, lady. Welcome to Meat Eater Trivia. Meat Eater Podcast. Me and your podcast.

Hosts, Giannis Calbrodi. Length, 50 to 70 minutes. Oh, sorry. I'm actually, I'm reading from a script here, if you can't tell. Hold on, let me start again. Welcome to Meat Eater Radio Live. It's 11 a.m. Mountain Time on September 26th. And we're live from Meat Eater headquarters, world headquarters, here in Bozeman, Montana. I'm your host today, Giannis Patelis, and I'm joined by Brody Anderson and Ryan Callahan. On today's show, we'll recap a recent moose, elk, and deer hunt.

Then we'll talk to BHA President Patrick Berry about a concerning public lands lawsuit. After that, we'll look at a hunting tattoo that was performed by a man who was high on meth. Followed by one minute fishing with the one and only my dad, Papa Giannis. Then we've got a hot tip off where Steven Rinella is guaranteed to lose. Think about that one. Followed by an interview with Wyatt Seep, who's currently logging my Wisconsin deer property. And finally, Phil will school us in some pop culture trivia. But first, let's hear from Cal.

Cal, you were recently in Wyoming hunting deer and elk, correct? Yeah, actually, I went down the Thursday before Labor Day weekend. A buddy of mine had a unit 61 tag or still, he just took off on the hunt yesterday. And so I went down there and helped him scout, very wilderness based hunt in Zorkas. And so rode around with him, checked a bunch of stuff out, saw antelope at 10,400 feet, which was a highlight. Um, bunch of super cool country there. And then, um, yeah, kind of fortunately, unfortunately I drew an elk and a deer tag in Wyoming, which is not the way I had wanted it to be. Um. No, it was definitely too much of a good thing.

Yeah, yeah. But yeah, hiked our butts off, had pack llamas, which was super fun characters to have in camp. Yeah, how'd that go? How would you rate your overall llama experience? You know, we had one character with us uh who's just not much of a pack animal enthusiast and as long as i could human a human and as long as i could keep that human away from the the pack animals things went great things went great but you know he's like the type of dude who like grabs the lead rope

and pulls it around with him and he's like the goddamn llama won't sit still you know and you're like well you literally just told it to follow you around otherwise good though otherwise great no stubborn llamas no spitting no um honestly had, they're supposed to like, they're cruising speeds like two miles an hour, right? Um, and I mean, we did three miles an hour for like 11 miles one day. Um, and they, they crushed it. They were a little, little pissy because the end of that trail ended in like a very steep headwall and they weren't real jazzed about that at the end but yeah no we'll tuck it out yeah yeah all right you were telling me before the show started you had a little encounter with a another hunter what happened there oh well i mean

unfortunately i had many many many encounters with many, many hunters, the trail density, this is region H and the human hunter density, uh, was just insane. Like the, the opposite. Uh, I would rather have very few animals, very low potential and no people then. Yeah. So I just spent, I felt like a ping pong ball being bounced around different groups of folks. Um, and it was pretty funny, like bump into somebody and they'd be like, Cal and Garrett Smith was, uh, filming with me. And he's like, how'd they go to high school with you? You know, stuff. It was just funny.

Everybody was very uh casual but um yeah we had this is like the question right like what would you do um let's say you get up a little late or you're moving a little slow you take a nasty hike basically Nasty hike, basically straight up, 2,000 vertical feet. You get on top of the ridge. It's already daylight. And you see two hunters actively hunting that ridge. What do you do? They're like out ahead on the ridge, like sort of. I'm guessing they're like still hunting out in front of me or just moving on, on the ridge out ahead of me.

Yep. I would, and well, I could go talk to them and see what their plan is and then maybe figure out a plan B for me. Yep. You could just turn around, but that'd be tough because you just did 2000 feet of some nasty. to just turn around but that'd be tough because you just did 2 000 feet of some nasty so best thing to do is probably talk to them but you know obviously give them you know first choice of where they want to go and then kind of play off of their move yeah yeah that's definitely one way to go

brody what do you think you know i would probably like i'm assuming this is a spot like a high country deer hunt you're going to be looking at a lot of country and it's not like you're hunting one draw it's like you're hunting a big area so you know if you're there last like you're kind of screwed as far as far as i'm concerned like i i'm not gonna go like I might talk to them if it's convenient, but just walking up to them, you might screw their hunt up. Right. Like if they're set up glassing and there's deer around that could screw their hunt up.

Um, I probably shrug my shoulders and turn around. Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah, the, unfortunately like the biggest stories that I have out of this deer hunt are all people stories. Old Garrett set his camera down in a pile of human surface poop. Um, that was horrible.

Um, there was a, yeah, just, just like glassing in the morning. You'd be like, oh, that person's taking a crap. Oh, that person's like, you're just seeing people and camps and yeah, just, just something really something. Um, did you, I guess you're not sounding like you killed a elk or a deer no i didn't um i and you know like despite all this i did find one big giant buck as doug durin would say and uh and yeah gotta gotta hunt that deer um almost without running into people but that was like the really good story of human encounter where I'm in this like pea soup, thick fog bank and, um, peek over this little ridge, big giant buck right there. Um, it doesn't work out, but I'm like, okay, that's the only big deer I've seen. So I'm just going to stay on this thing's tracks.

He's going to timber up at some point, and then I'm going to kill this thing. So for over a mile, I stay on this buck's track. And, you know, you can't really see. Like the visibility is nothing because you're in a cloud bank, right? And finally, this buck's tracks turn and bail into this timber patch. And I'm like, okay, awesome. I start going out. And, you know, I'm like glued to Onyx at this point because I don't really even know where the hell I am.

But I start going down the ridge to get below and glass into this timber patch and as soon as i start doing that the visibility just like the day totally flips like it's blue sky it's hot and i kind of come out of this little scrap of timber down the ridge and there's three dudes just straight up walking towards the rim of this little circ right and i'm like oh my god this buck is gonna blow out of here and uh i'm like oh i don't don't know what to do and so i throw my hands up like this and i whistle and i stop those three dudes and i'm, I feel like a total jackass, and I kind of scoot down there as quick as I can,

and I just say, guys, good morning. I just tracked this huge buck into this timber patch up here. I know you're here. I'm not laying any claim to this thing, but somebody should kill it. It doesn't have to be me but you're nobody's gonna kill it if you go walking up to the to the rim and all three of those dudes like instantaneously are like well you spotted him go kill him nice yeah i mean that like restored my faith in humanity after the the week plus of bumping into people that i had so well it's nice to end on a high note yep for

sure brody you were in alaska while cal was in wyoming yeah i got the invite from steve to do my dream hunt which is a bull moose in Alaska. So that was. Was that your like, seriously, your dream, like your top bucket list hunt? The very top. Oh, cool. That's awesome. Yeah. Um, so yeah, we went and did the hunt that he's done with your dad, with Clay a couple times, went to the same area that he killed his big bull last year.

Um, there, we do what's called a ridgetop hunt where there's different ways to hunt bulls in alaska um you can float a river 100 miles a river and move camps every day you can use a jet boat and hit a bunch of different stuff on bigger rivers we do what's called a ridgetop hunt where you fly in to a high ridge on these little super cub planes, land on the ridge, and that's where you're going to live for 10 days. Um, like you're hunting there and that's where you're, you're, you're stuck basically. And, you know, we've heard some, some comments about this being like a mentally challenging hunt for some people. It drives some people nuts being stuck there. You can't like, you can't go after a moose that's two miles away.

It's like, you just can't do it. You gotta call them to you. Um. Well, and it's like bad hunting tactics because you lay, you start laying your scent down. And you're just never gonna find the thing. Like you get down in that thick shit and you're never gonna find them.

Right. Um, so it's, you just got to bring them to you. Uh, so we flew in, can't hunt the first day cause you're, you, you fly that day. Um, hunted three days, uh, saw three cow moose, no bulls. The very, actually the very first animal we saw was a grizz a couple hundred yards away that

rolled up the hill right to us and stopped at about 20 yards um and did what it was supposed to it spooked when it saw us steve was very bummed that his brother danny wasn't there because he could have killed that bear um but about mid-morning of day four i kind of moved away from our main glassing calling spot and wrapped around the ridge a little bit to get a better look at some stuff we couldn't see and threw my binos up and like holy shit there's a bull and he was already coming like we had he was a little over a mile away but he's already cut you just tell he was walking thrashing brush walking thrashing brush, walking, thrashing brush, um, ran over to where Steve and our buddy, Matt cook were sitting like, there's a bull. And then it was just kind of a waiting game from there. He, we called, he kept coming. He disappeared on us for 10 or 15 minutes,

but then reappeared, um, maybe 800 yards away. And at that point it was like he's definitely coming so like i got set up for the shot and all that and and the idea is you're gonna call them right into your lap right they're just gonna you guys draw straws as to who was like how'd you pick who was gonna get the first opportunity well matt cook generously gave me that. Yes. It was incredibly generous of him to do that. Um, so the bulls come in, I kind of get set up in front of them. It's, uh, you know, it's, we're up on a Ridge. It's going to be a downhill shot into this fairly open flat area. The bulls working through all this Aspen and, dwarf birch and all there it's real thick like

there's no shot and right before he gets to where he's going to be like clear and in the open he lays down in a pile of brush like he was like just decides to take a nap he was a chicken shit like i think i think we made a mistake because we were just cow calling. And I think we made a mistake by raking brush. Gave him something else to think about. And he laid down and you could just barely see his antlers in that brush, like bobbing back and forth. He was in there panting because he had come a long ways pretty quick. I think he's like, I'm just going to wait and see what happens.

So I don't i i didn't time it was at least an hour it could have been closer to two we're just sitting there waiting and we tried everything dude we kept calling steve actually snuck down the hill to get closer to him to call and he just did not budge at one point we considered going in there and i'm like that ain't gonna work no um so after a while he stands up and it's a very clear he's not coming to us he's like i'm out and i got a quick look at his vitals through the brush shot once um i think i hit him like back in the liver. It was three 50 and then he turned away from us and I threw a couple more at him. And then at 500, he stopped dead still. I think he was like running out of gas and shot him at 500 and ass over tea kettle. Uh, that was kind of just, that's,

as you guys know, just the start of things. So, you know, like he died in a very brushy hell hole with no visible, you couldn't see 10 feet in there. Uh-huh. And so like, I would have loved to have kicked back and enjoyed the moment and like. Yeah. Your dream hunt. Take the animal in, but you can't like the clock's ticking as soon as that thing hits the ground, right? You mean just because you got to take care of the meat.

Take care of the meat and a grizz is going to find it. Oh, yeah. Yeah, get the meat away from the guts. Yeah. So I shot him about two-ish, two o'clock. We finished cutting him up right at dark. We were only able to move the meat 40 or 50 yards away from the carcass. And then we.

Probably out of that brush pocket. It was all brush. It was, the meat was still in the brush. Um, but we had to move it away from, cause the bear is going to go after the guts first. Right. Um, we took a load, went back to camp, came back the next morning, very carefully went in there. There wasn't a bear, like we would have known if there was a bear on the carcass, cause we were only 50 yards away from it, but we couldn't see it. Got the meat out of there.

Um, moved all that stuff and, you know, continue to hunt for a couple of days for a bull for Matt. But it was, it was awesome. Um, it was, it's in no way boring or was it psychologically challenging for me? I'm like, if you get bored doing a hunt in the Alaska wilderness, you should have your head examined. Well, you're, you're an old guy now, man. So sitting in one spot, being patient and just looking. No, it's hard for me, man. It is.

It's like yeah i'd i'd get that's why i'd get up and wrap around the ridge every half hour or so but yeah i mean like the whole idea is trust the process right like you got 10 days and you just gotta like believe because we saw six moose and however many days, eight, four cows, and two bulls. Yeah. I've said it before. I'll say it again, man. Everybody thinks Alaska is like the land of plenty.

And is there a lot of game up there? Yes. But like per square mile? No. No. It seems like that when there's a giant herd of caribou walking in front of you. Yeah. But then there's the other 12 or 11 and a half months of the year where there's nothing on that hillside.

It was cool leaving camp. You've been with those pilots. They like to get low and buzz cool things that they see. And so we're like, let's fly over the carcass. And there was a giant grizzly on the carcass and the the when they claim a carcass they just dig they dig everything up and make a big mound and bury that carcass you'll see it like was that it right in the beginning yeah he cleared that entire area like a bulldozer and covered that thing up that is so awesome um and he actually was lunging at the

super cubs as we were buzzing him what oh yeah like he was pissed he didn't want to swat that fly right out of the sky yeah and obviously like really big bear he's got a gut full of full of moose in him there but way bigger than that bear that rolled up on us the first day so yeah we got it all is there did you did phil already have a picture of the first day. So yeah, we got it all. It was fun. Did Phil already have a picture of the bull up? I did, yeah. Oh, I wasn't looking. I'll bring it back.

Okay. Nice. Yeah. Well, congratulations. Thank you. I have 100 more questions for you, but because this show is live and it's a very tight schedule, we have to move on.

I'm sorry for everybody else having more questions for Brody. But we got to move on I'm sorry for everybody else that more questions for Brody um but we got to get to uh Patrick Berry uh who's joining us on the line now he's the president and CEO of backcountry hunters and anglers and he's here to talk about a high-stakes lawsuit regarding public lands that's been filed with the U.S Supreme Court Patrick welcome to the show thank you so much for having me although I got to tell you that's a tough with the U.S. Supreme Court. Patrick, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me, although I got to tell you, that's a tough act to follow. That was some pretty entertaining stuff right there. Well, listen, we're talking about villains

and possibly thieves now, right? Yeah, I mean, I guess the way I would frame it is that if you love the story you just heard and you love doing that on public land, I think anybody out there who cares about that would want to know and pay attention to this stuff. So what's happening in Utah, Patrick? So the state is, there's a long history in the state of Utah fighting over public lands, which I think you guys are aware. I mean, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers was founded on the premise that our public land resources are invaluable, what they provide to hunters, anglers, and a whole variety of recreational enthusiasts. And their long history of, I guess, disdain and trying to wrestle control of federal lands away from every American who owns them finally got to the point where they filed a lawsuit

questioning the constitutionality of whether the Bureau of Land Management can own 18.5 million acres of land within the state of Utah. But the implications go well beyond that. So if you have any federal land, Forest Service land or refuge land or any other kind of federal land anywhere near you that you enjoy that uh you know generations of hunters and anglers have have enjoyed and passed on our uh heritage you know from generation to generation uh all of that is potentially under threat because of the way that this lawsuit has been filed in the language that they're using and how they're going about it. So even though it's a Utah ground zero issue, the threat goes to every corner of the country where there's federally owned public land. What do you think the intent is? Why is the state doing this? What's their plan for

that 18 and a half million acres just within Utah? Well, there's a big distinction here, I think, between what they claim their intent is and what actually is going to happen. I mean, if you listen to the way they talk about it, they say, you know, Utah's land would be better managed by Utah, federal land better managed by Utah. It's not their land. It's land owned by every American. That's part of our legacy that's unique to North America. And what they claim is that, no, no, no, it's okay. We're just going to take over ownership of this land and manage it in the best interest for Utah, and we'll keep that public land open. But honestly, guys, this is one of the most sinister and polished gaslighting jobs that I've ever seen because they actually can't afford to own that land and they would have no choice but to sell it off as they've done with other land owned by the state of Utah. They were granted at the time of statehood, seven and a half million acres of state trust land, sorry, not federal land that was specifically

allocated to fund their schools. And they've already auctioned off more than half of that. In fact, you can go on their own website right now and you can see more parcels that are up for sale for the highest bidder. So they'll claim that they're going to keep it in public ownership, but they can't afford it. And they've shown from their own history that is not their intention. And isn't the lawsuit, doesn't lawsuit itself use the language of disposal? They do. And that's a really good point, Cal, because they talk about land transfer, but the lawsuit talks about disposal. And some pretty sharp legal minds on the on the good side of this issue believe that the intention actually is to pretty much sell all of it. And, you know, look, if you go back to, you know, Jason Chaffetz's bill representative, you know, in Congress from the state of Utah, you know, he introduced a bill.

It was pretty clear to sell off three million acres of federal land. So there's a pattern here. And there is a belief that based on the way the lawsuit was filed, that the goal is just to sell it. But here's the thing that matters right they're questioning if you look at the lawsuit they question the constitutionality of whether federal agencies can own land in perpetuity which of course is hey that's the value of that federal land that you know our kids and grandkids and generations you know can enjoy some of the same things that we did. But the clauses in the Constitution that give Congress authority over land transfers, it doesn't distinguish between this type of land management

and this federal agency. It's incredibly broad. So it doesn't specifically say BLM or U.S. Forest Service or Park Service. They'll claim it's about a specific type of BLM land. But when you question the constitutionality of whether the federal government can own land in perpetuity, you're questioning whether they can own any kind of land under that congressional clause. So all 640 million acres of federally owned public land is potentially implicated in this. And that's why I said at the top of this conversation,

you live anywhere near federally owned public land that you enjoy for hunting and backcountry adventures, you should pay attention to what's happening in Utah. Hey, Patrick, what is it about Utah, man? Like, why does this stuff continually pop up in Utah? You've got, you know, other conservative states like Wyoming with tons of federal public land where this doesn't seem to be as much of an issue. Well, it's an issue in Wyoming for sure. But, you know, there's, look, there's a long,

some of this has to do with a long history of battles with the federal government in general. And the, you know, the easiest leverage that I think they have in front of them is the, is a federal land issue in Utah. And it is also true that, you know, 70% of the land in Utah is publicly owned land. But, you know, on one hand, they'll talk about the incredible value of having all this land for recreational purposes and all

the economic activity and everything it brings. And then in the very next sentence, talk about how it's this huge disadvantage and the federal government shouldn't own this land and Utah should have it. So it's just kind of baked into the culture over time and these ongoing battles with the federal government over a whole bunch of issues. And honestly, the craziest thing is how much money the state of Utah has just pissed away on a bunch of these legal actions trying to get control over federal public land. I mean, this current lawsuit at a minimum is going to cost, by their own acknowledgement, $14 million of Utah taxpayer money. And, man, they're also spending a lot of money on billboards and advertising campaigns and not just in Utah, but well beyond the border.

So whatever that history is and why Utah has a gripe with the federal government and why they've decided to take aim at federal public ownership, I suppose you'd have to ask the folks at Utah. But the stakes are high, and it's costing them a lot of money to go down this road. And if they don't prevail, man, that's another big waste of taxpayer money. Where's the best place to stay on top of this issue? Just so you can watch what's going on. And then what should people do if there's any action they can take right now?

No, that's a great question uh i mean listen we're um you know we bha as you guys know is you know we we lead with advocacy for protection of uh of public land and and the opportunities it provides for hunters and anglers and we're going to do everything we can to keep folks updated i mean um you know we're not afraid to jump into fights, whether we have dedicated funding or not, because we know it's incredibly valuable. So we'll do the best we can on our own website to continue to provide updates. Really happy to see a lot of other organizations in our space are taking interest in. And even, frankly, organizations that aren't connected to hunting and fishing, but just outdoor recreation in general, I think recognize the threat as well.

So folks can certainly get involved. I mean, frankly, I would encourage folks to call Governor Spencer Cox's office directly and tell him to drop the lawsuit, that folks don't support it. There is a building coalition. If this ends up, if the Supreme Court decides to take this up to fight this on legal grounds, and frankly, guys, that's going to require support from folks who care about public land and the opportunities they provide. So, you know, stay informed through, you know, our website, backcountryhunters.org. Call the governor's office and tell them to drop this, you know, BS lawsuit. Make sure that, you know, you support all the organizations that are digging in on this effort, too, so that we can continue to fight this because out of, you know,

all the federal land issues that have come up and all these threats to public lands, this one has the potential to have the farthest reaching implications. And, you know, I think that'd be a concern to everybody who enjoys the same stuff we do. All right. Well, keep us up to speed if you don't mind and appreciate your time today, Patrick. Hey, thanks so much for you guys taking a few minutes to cover this issue. It's pretty important stuff. And in the midst of all the great stories that you guys are

sharing too, you got to have a little bit of, I guess, medicine with all the sugar. Make sure that we got places to go down the road. That's right. We won't be able to tell any of these fun stories that we have without public land. So thank you again. Hey, folks, exciting news for those who live or hunt in Canada. And boy, my goodness, do we hear from the Canadians whenever we do a raffle or a sweepstakes.

And our raffle and sweepstakes law makes it that they can't join. Whew. Our northern brothers get irritated. Well, if you're sick of, you know, sucking high and titty there, OnX is now in Canada. The great features that you love in OnX are available for your hunts this season. The Hunt app is a fully functioning GPS with hunting maps that include public and crown land, hunting zones, aerial imagery,

24K topo maps, waypoints, and tracking. That's right. We're always talking about OnX here on the Meat Eater Podcast. Now you guys in the Great White North can be part of it, be part of the excitement. You can even use offline maps to see where you are without cell phone service. That's a sweet function. As part of your membership, you'll gain access to exclusive pricing on products and services handpicked by the OnX Hunt team.

Some of our favorites are First Light, Schnee's, Vortex Federal, and more. As a special offer, you can get a free three months to try OnX out if you visit OnXMaps.com slash meet. OnXMaps.com slash meet. Welcome to the OnX club, y'all. Now we're moving on to Tattoos I Regret. I made a huge mistake. That's it? That's the whole thing.

I always say that because some of the other little sound sound ups that you made are a little bit longer that was the very first one i did for episode for the pilot episode one and since then i've kind of gone off the rails with my uh with my weird out my my b-tier weird al covers uh yeah sorry i really enjoyed no that's great yeah i missed weird al well i've just been doing really bad parody songs and changing the lyrics to sound up these segments. I used to have many Weird Al cassette tapes. Oh, yeah. Nice. Oh, yeah.

Weird Al Yankovic. Today's regrettable tattoo comes from Evan Flowers. If you have a hunting or fishing-related tattoo that you regret, please email us at radio at the meat eater dot com says here phil then pulls up the picture of the tattoo there we go can we zoom in a little bit phil uh that's the best slightly yeah all right evan evan writes in with these details i had envisioned a hunting sleeve when i was young it was going to be a full sleeve of a big buck ducks flying waterfall bow hunter all with the sun setting in the background what i got instead is just a bunch of squiggly lines that look nothing like what I

pictured in my head. One of my friends even says he can see a corn dog in the mural, which I haven't found a corn dog yet, but I'll keep looking. The tattoo was done in my kitchen by a guy who kept nodding off during the tattoo process. He did it in two eight hour appointments and I paid him twelve hundred dollars. While in my house he and his girlfriend ate all my food. Later

I found out he was on meth had lost his tattoo shop and was only doing home appointments to make ends meet. Everything in my bones told me to kick him out

but I was young and dumb and now I'm stuck with this on my right arm forever. Luckily, I've learned to laugh it off as I've gotten older. Boys, what do you think? What are you guys seeing? I mean, from this distance, it just looks like a tattoo. Yeah, I get the lack of details hard to like comment on

but i did see his great big buck on there um maybe it's not as bad as he thinks yeah i would say as far as bad tattoos go this this one isn't terrible but the story behind it is i think is the uh is the draw yeah yeah yeah and he didn't come away with like hep c or something like that exactly yeah he didn't get it on his, like, wrapped around his neck. And even though you were young and dumb, you were also, you know, loyal to your tattoo artist. Right? And I, you know, there's a lot of morals, as there always are in these stories, but

if you are young and dumb and thinking about getting your first tattoo, maybe don't start with a full sleeve and maybe just and maybe just give it a year. That's what I always tell everybody. You want a tattoo? Think about it for an entire year. If you still want to get that tattoo, then go ahead and get it. That's good advice.

You have a tattoo, don't you? I have one. It's only maybe, I don't know, it's three or four inch, like a Latvian pagan sun on my shoulder. I don't regret it it's three or four inch, uh, like a Latvian pagan son on my shoulder. I don't regret it. Um, has meaning to me, but, uh, I know a lot of people that do. That have regrettable tattoos. Oh yeah. They're not hunting and fishing related. So, um, I like this guy because his last sentence is that he's like, he's learned to laugh it off, you know? So

he's not letting it get to him. Although his arm is covered with ink from his shoulder to his wrist. Yeah, yeah. When my grandma passed away last year, a bunch of the girls in the family, I think fueled by grief and wine, went down, got matching tattoos. Like what, like a date? I don't.

Like her birthday? I don't. I think, think oh it's orchid grandma used to grow orchids you know they can be kind of tricky to grow um and yeah i was just like yeah this guy should just be happy he didn't get some life-threatening uh infection during this process for sure sepsis totallyis. Totally. And you know, if he's going to go ahead and just keep it, sounds like he is. He hasn't said anything

about removing it. He could just have it touched up. Like, I mean, there's all kinds of people that do work with existing tattoos and he still might be able to have this beautiful scene

that he once envisioned. Mm-hmm. It's probably going to cost him $2,400 now. Yeah, just drop some more cash into that baby thanks for sharing though oh yeah thanks Evan

if you want to see possibly see your tattoo oh no you can see this tattoo on our YouTube channel so if you're just listening and our description of it wasn't enough for you go to the YouTube channel and you can see the pictures of it there

and again if you have a regrettable wasn't enough for you, go to the YouTube channel and you can see the pictures of it there. And again, if you have a regrettable hunting and fishing tattoo, send it on over to radio at themeateater.com. All right, now we're going to do a little listener feedback. What you got, Phil? Yeah, we'll run a little long, so let's just keep it short for this. But we're getting a lot of comments about those tomatoes on the table, Brody. If you kind of want to just tell us what's going on here. I can grow some damn good tomatoes, man. Lots of them. People want someone to take a bite

out of it like an apple. We got so many I can't keep up with them. I'll tell you right now, this is... The Allentown Valley is not like the gardener's friend. It can be tough, man, but every year my tomatoes just crush it and now i've got way too many and i want to share the wealth well man he used to give me zucchinis when

he first moved to town yeah man but that was the first year everyone can grow zucchinis yeah but those are good my fresh garden yeah my family doesn't either. I switched to cucumbers. That's way better. But what I still don't understand, how come you can produce this yet you go to any grocery store in Montana, or really in the West, where I've lived in the last 20-some years, you can't get anything that

kind of resembles the taste of this. No, I mean, I think it's like that with most commercially produced produce. Our food system is completely broken. We're shipping these things hundreds of miles, if not thousands. Yeah, you're right. They're picked when they're green, they're

ripened artificially, like it's just. Yeah, exactly. It was so good. And currently in the Gallatin Valley, we're just plowing under fantastic farm ground for a bunch of BS. Some of the richest soil in Montana. Some of the richest soil in Montana. Had it not been for that soil, there wouldn't be people here.

But here we are. All right. Trashing it. Moving on. Thanks for the feedback. Those tomatoes are delicious. Brody grew them. You can't get anything like it in a store.

Maybe at a farmer's market in North Carolina. We eat some pretty good tomatoes there. All right. I'd give my left arm for a BLT out of these things right now. Oh, buddy. I've eaten a couple from earlier this summer that Brody's given me, BLTs. Yeah. I might go home and make one.

All right. Our next segment is one minute fishing. Do I feel lucky? Well, do you, punk? Go ahead. Make my cast. Oh, the sultry tones of Phil Taylor. One minute fishing is where we go live to someone who's fishing

and they have one minute to catch a fish. And if they're successful, we'll make a $500 donation to a conservation group of their choice, I think, usually, right? This week, our angler is, like I said earlier, the one and only, my dad, Papa Giannis, who's on Mud Lake in Michigan, which I'll add, Brody told me, Mud Lake is the most common lake name in the United States at 897 mud lakes. My dad is fishing for a donation to the National Wildlife Federation.

Now, before I introduce who you see on camera there right now, I just want to tell you how this all started with my dad signing up for one-minute fishing. He calls me out of the blue. He's not an angler. Not an angler. Yeah, so the last thing I expect is that he's going to call me and say, hey, man, I can for sure catch a fish in one minute.

I'm like, what are you talking about? Oh, yeah, right, the one-minute fishing segment. To me, I'm like, oh oh you want a little spotlight you want to get in front of the camera alright we can do this so we didn't have anybody for this week I figured well we'll give the old man a shot as soon as I told him he's in

he's like alright going down to the store to buy a fishing rod so that tells you how much of an angler he is we've got my younger brother on the line right now. It says Papayanas, but that's actually Matting Putellas. And luckily, he's in town golfing, according to my dad. What else are you doing while you're there?

I've been working. Working a little bit, golfing a lot. Working on that handicap. So Matting is a professional photographer and has worked as a videographer as well. So this is going to work out really good for us that you're going to be running the camera for dad. Because if it was just him out there, we wouldn't have a great visual experience today. It would be questionable. All right.

What do you think the odds are uh your dad catching a fish right now in one minute uh they're actually pretty good um i saw some testing out here earlier and uh it actually worked so okay i think it might be good um i didn't want to i want to note though uh if you had remembered um brody's story about the moose got me thinking i just saw our first or our first trip together to the brooks range was 10 years ago um just recently if you remember that moose hunt yeah anyway that was a lake hunt it's kind of the opposite of the ridge hunt you just go to a lake and then don't move yeah except for then we moved a lot and killed it way far away yeah that's right i forgot about

that too all right flip it around let's uh let's uh talk to the uh papillanas there all right so uh no no listen that wasn't too bad at all i want to hear in your words uh what prompted you to want to participate in one minute fishing? Just to show that old folks can do it too. And, you know, last week, I think that there was a pretty good example of that with Pat Durkin, and we're just going to continue on that line. Okay.

Now, when is the last time prior to today that you've handled a fishing rod? Well, as your brother asked me, like other than fishing with your grandkids, I think 20 years ago, maybe 25. Well, that's not true because we went on a charter on Lake Michigan like five summers ago. Oh, you're right. Oh, yeah, but that's like trolling and then just pulling pulling them in that's right you're right that is correct yeah i'm proud of you for knowing the difference that when you're on that boat that uh grant does all the work not you all right so when you when you decided to do this did you have to go down to uh the local uh

fishing store to get some advice on how to catch a fish? Well, as everybody knows, you can explain. No, I just remembered that all these things that I had to practice, and they were all coming back to me like when my dad was teaching me how to fish. And basically, it was like, yeah, don't do this, don't do that. Here's the right way to put a worm on. Make sure your bobber's set right. Make sure your weights are right.

What's the right way to put a worm on? Everyone needs to know how you put a worm on. See that? Hide that hook. Bury that hook in there. There you go. Okay. Make sure it's moving still.

Okay. Yeah, and make sure it's moving still. Okay, so you're going with a pretty standard bobber with a worm, and you're on your own little dock that you built for the grandkids, and you're targeting panfish, I'm guessing. You got it. Although there are largemouth bass in here and northern, but on the testing they have not come through so it's going to be panted okay are you ready we've got an eagle claw here eagle claw with uh big reds oh you ready are you ready we're ready where the clock is going to start on your first cast. All right. He's made a cast.

The bobber's in. He's closed the bail. It's in the zone. We're looking for any twitches now. Matting, if you can zoom in on that bobber, he'd be my favorite brother. Oh! No. Not a bite. He's going for another cast. I think he's panicking.

Uh-oh. He's panicking. A little bit of panic setting on another cast. He didn't hit his spot. Don't tangle. Catch the one that lives under the dock. Where's the timer? He's got about 15 seconds. He got a little

bit more distance. 15 seconds. We just need to get him on the line in a minute, right? Palook? I guess when people can't do it. The minute has ended. I think you did too much practicing and trained up all this little pet panfish. Yeah. Oh.

Yeah. Yeah. You're right. Well, good try. I'm glad. It's fun to see. Sorry to disappoint. No, that's all right. It's fun to see. Sorry to disappoint. No, that's all right.

It's fun to see you with the rod in your hands. Maybe this will spur a little more fishing in your days. I know I'm a disappointment to the meat eater group. We'll do better next time. No, we're not disappointed. That was fun. That was fun. Thanks for participating. you're welcome all right a hot tip off oh man it's moving so fast here we go

hot tip off is where we play two videos that contain advice for hunters and anglers then we declare which tip was hotter this week it is steve ranella versus steven ranella steven ranella welcome to another hot tip off now in the past people have criticized my hot tip offs as being things that are too obscure for normal use right like things that don't really pertain to a wide enough audience of hunters and anglers so for this hot tip off i'm going to do something that's appropriate men women children hippies stoners headbangers partierscks, southerners, something for everybody. Everybody knows when calling moose you want to use a scapula because it gives you a good sound. Now we'll typically use a moose scapula but on one moose hunt you might

burn through two moose scapulas because they give out right here here's the hot tip get yourself a buffalo scapula i sourced mine from north bridge or bison you see how i cut down that little bone to make it a nicer handle this has got one dead bull to its name days of calling indestructible i'm going to hang this from a tree here in moose camp that'll be waiting for me next year thanks for joining good step Steven Rinella welcome to another hot tip off when you're leaving your moose camp and you want your scapulas to be available next year, tie them up in a tree. We did this last year and something stole them,

and so I'm doing it again. What are you using the scapula for? Oh, for rake and brush for moose hunting. But last year we hung fresh ones up in a tree with the meat still on them, and they got stolen. This year I'm just trying to hang hung fresh ones up in a tree with the meat still on them and they got stolen this year i'm just trying to hang some dry ones up in hopes they'll be waiting for me next year what do you think yannis a couple of good tips um i think i like the use of the bison scapula better than hanging it up in the tree.

Well, yeah, we don't know if the hanging it up in the tree is going to work. Cal, this piece of dog hair has been on your hat all morning, and it's really bugging me. I got a lot of dog hair in my life. That's true, and it didn't work last time. The only thing, too, that I don't necessarily like about hanging up in that, especially a small little tree like that, it's going to see a lot of sun. And, you know, that bone is going to become more brittle. Exactly.

So, Steve, you lose. But you also won. Hey. Good job, Steve. Yeah, loaded the deck, so to speak. Joining us next, right now on the line is logger wyatt seep who owns old northwest timber and habitat he's calling us from my deer hunting property in wisconsin where he's on day three of logging it let me tell you for, it is like Christmas. I was introduced to Wyatt through

Doug Dern about two years ago when I acquired the property and needed a logger due to our managed forest law plan, which required a cut. Due to the smaller size of the property and my custom needs around the project, finding a logger was difficult. Most logging companies are interested in only logging, not building wildlife openings, access roads, fire breaks, slash pile exclosures, etc. Old Northwest Timber and Habitat specializes in exactly this. Now that the work has finally commenced, I am beyond ecstatic.

If you've never been in this position, it's just hard to relate. It's like your baby, huh? Oh my gosh, man. I'm so fired up. So Wyatt, welcome to the show, buddy. Hey, what's up guys? What's going on there right now? And don't say where you're exactly at. I'm trying to keep my little location there as private as possible. But in central Wisconsin, what's going on? Yeah, I got you. More importantly, what's going down? I'm sitting in my timber harvest right now.

Kind of like you said, we kind of do everything, right? We can utilize all tools right down from a backpack sprayer to this harvester that I'm sitting in right now. And in a minute, I'm going to show you what exactly is a timber harvester and how we're using it. Cool. You want to start with that or you want to get in on that Aldo Leupold quote you were telling me that you thought might kind of sway Steve and Rinella to being a little bit more pro my project. All right. I can start off with that. Okay. So, um, yeah. Um, due to the 75th anniversary of, uh, the San County almanac, um, I was reading it a little bit earlier and I thought this would pertain to your situation with Steve a little bit. Out of chapter 13 of the Sand

County Almanac, Aldo Leopold says, I have read many definitions of what is a conservationist and written not a few myself, but I suspect that the best one is written not with a pen, but with an ax. It is a matter of what a man thinks about while chopping or deciding what to chop. A conservationist is one that is humbly aware that with each stroke, he is writing his signature on the face of his land. Signatures, of course, differ, whether written with an ax or pen, and this is as it should be. I love it.

I love it. That makes me feel really good about what I'm doing. I'm hoping Steve's listening. Forestry in general is real situationally specific. Sometimes it can be nice and cute and other times it can be really messy. But the important thing is that you've got a really solid plan going into it. Yep. And like you were showing me yesterday, Wyatt sent me a little video of he was just walking through the woods and showing me just not quite a carpet, but kind of a loose carpet of two foot tall oak seedlings. And so I've got my regeneration already started.

And so when he cuts now, it's just going to release those suckers and they're going to go straight to the sky. All right. Let's see what the what the harvester does. All right, guys, guys i'm gonna turn you around hopefully i can get this in uh in the film here you know what i'm real interested in is uh a side-by-side comparison of who gets to run the backpack sprayer versus who gets to run the harvester that looks like a pretty fancy machine oh my god it's like something out of mad max so we're looking at uh two wheels of this machine um i can tell you because i've seen the whole

thing there's six giant tires um and then this must be the head that just came off the ground. Yeah, this is the cutting head. Okay, that's the cutting head. It can open up. I've got rollers here that moves the tree back and forth so I can cut it. It also takes log measurements. And then it's got a hydraulically powered saw right there. And that's what can cut the tree and buck the blades.

So I'm gonna cut a jack pine right now. Oh not that one! I want to save that one! Just kidding, just kidding. Cut! Alright, so now that we've cut it, this thing has a computer in it that measures log length. I'm making pulpwood right now which is 100 inches. Holy moly. Yeah, it's like measuring it, stripping all the bark and the limbs off of it,

and then cutting it at 100 inches. And holy cow. You just made like 500 or 600-inch logs in less than 30 seconds. Oh, going for number two. Yeah, I picked these two grabs at the bottom cuts it off and then just starts working up at 100 inch increments i love it it's gonna be messy man and a lot of people are gonna come and look at it the first two three maybe in five years and gonna go oh you destroyed this place but man i have total faith that five

years from now they're gonna go dude can i come hunt and sit there uh because there's just deer all over the place you know why real quick and uh just to put a little plug in too um you know as far as young forest goes oftentimes it's ugly, especially at first it can be pretty ugly, but there's a lot of wildlife species other than deer that are, you know, that need it. The rough grouse being one of them. Like you alluded to, we're in the central third of the state. There's still some rough grouse up here due to poor soil quality. There's not quite as much farmland.

A lot of that's being managed for timber. But when you get down to the driftless area uh where doug and i come from um there's really not much grouse to speak of where there used to be you know and that uh there's a lot of different reasons for that but um you know uh having old trees is really important but having young trees is really important too yeah and we're leaving some of the old ones so hey man thank, thank you for taking the time and showing us around a little bit. This was mostly just for me.

I hope you guys enjoyed it too, but I'd drive Wyatt crazy because I would just be checking in with him every 10 minutes to see what he's cutting and what you got going on. So thank you for that. We'll let you get back to it, man. Have a great day. You too, man. It was great chatting with you guys. All back to it, man. Have a great day. You too, man. It was great chatting with you guys.

All right. Thanks, Wyatt. You didn't talk about the fact that you really got to knock the piss out of those whitetail deer if you want those oaks to grow up. Oh, dude. Yeah. Again, very tight schedule in this show. We can talk about that.

We got some time. we can talk about that sometime we had we have a Wyatt and I kind of throw uh silviculture podcast back and forth with with each other with each other which is again something I thought I'd never listen to is a silviculture podcast but I just listened to one we have a big issue with a lot of the stuff in the southern half of that property is what they call unmerchantable timber it's just too small, too skinny, but I don't want it growing there anymore. I need to get it done. So we had kind of landed on how to deal with it was just going to be built huge slash piles, like literally the size of a house. And then this winter burn them. Okay. And just get rid of it. But it costs money

to make the pile, costs time and money to go there and burn them. Just listen to one where they're doing these basically deer exclusions using the slash. So they build a wall 20 feet wide, 10 feet tall, and you make the exclusion how big you want. It could be all 40 acres. It could be five acres. The smaller you get, you're sort of taking up almost too much space by the wall itself and not getting the center big enough to make it worth diminishing return yeah thing yeah but compared to because some places like pennsylvania a very popular thing to do and again this is going towards oak regeneration and preventing deer from eating seedlings is they actually go in there and

put up fences to keep deer out so they can get these oaks going. And so this is sort of a natural way to do it. You put up basically a big giant slash pile, everything on the inside can't get touched by the deer. And I think they said like a fence can be like five, six bucks a foot. And doing this slash exclusion pile, you can get it down to like a dollar dollar fifty a foot wow and then it just disappears every every year it goes down by ten percent and like ten twelve years into it like it's almost non-existent and inside you've got you know these growth hopefully that uh that you've been you're looking for and the fence itself i'm sure serves as wildlife

habitat for little critters. Oh yeah. What they said was amazing is that the only thing that really keeps out is the deer, everything else, turkeys, raccoons, possums, grouse, they just fly right over and get in there and use it. That is like a funny, like, you know, like down lodge pole, lots of just down timber areas

like if you have a zone that you like to hunt because those are good uh refuge areas because they're they're hard like not a lot of people uh go there to hunt um but i have a couple of spots where it's like you catch yourself thinking like, boy, this used to be a lot harder and it's not just an old man thing of like, oh, I walked to school uphill both ways. It actually did. It was worse. Oh yeah.

Right. Because that. Decreasing in height. Yeah. Yeah. Because that timber breaks down and gets closer and closer and closer to the ground. Yeah. Yeah.

It's nice to have your finger on that pulse, and closer and closer to the ground. Yeah. Yeah. It's nice to have your finger on that pulse, man, to, to do that. Cause yeah. And those, when those things first get started, like after a burn, it sucks. Oh yeah. I did some log hopping this weekend. Ugh. Worn out. All right.

Thanks for everybody for, uh, what's the word when you're like're not that into it, but you give somebody else. Suffering through? No, no. Following along. Yeah, that's not either of the terms. Indulging me? Yeah, thank you. Thank you for indulging me and my timber work over there in Wisconsin.

Hey, folks, exciting news for those who live or hunt in Canada. And boy, my goodness, do we hear from the Canadians whenever we do a raffle or a sweepstakes. And our raffle and sweepstakes law makes it that they can't join. Whew. Our northern brothers get irritated. Well, if you're sick of, you know, sucking a high-end titty there, OnX is now in Canada. The great features that you love in OnX are available for your hunts this season.

The Hunt app is a fully functioning GPS with hunting maps that include public and crown land, hunting zones, aerial imagery, 24K topo maps, waypoints, and tracking. That's right. We're always talking about OnX here on the Meat Eater Podcast. Now you guys in the Great White North can be part of it, be part of the excitement. You can even use offline maps to see where you are without cell phone service. That's a sweet function. As part of your membership,

you'll gain access to exclusive pricing on products and services handpicked by the OnX Hunt team. Some of our favorites are First Light, Schnee's, Vortex Federal, and more. As a special offer, you can get a free three months to try OnX out if you visit onxmaps.com slash meet. onxmaps.com slash meet. OnXMaps.com slash meet. Welcome to the OnX Club, y'all. Next, this is a new segment, I think. Phil's Trivia.

Welcome to Phil's Trivia, the only game show where I always win. I'm your host, Phil the Engineer, and today we are joined by Giannis Poutelis, Ryan Callahan, and Brody Henderson. This is a three-round quiz show with questions that have little or nothing to do with Meat Eater's four verticals, and instead of being centered, or instead, will be centered around pop culture,

entertainment, or whatever the hell I feel like asking, frankly. And there's definitely not a prize. And for the stat of the week this week, today, September 26th, marks the release of a new Legend of Zelda game, The Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom, which is the 21st mainline entry in the franchise. I already have it downloaded

onto my Switch and will be diving in later tonight. And hey, if you're interested in watching me live stream indie games and hanging out in the chat, whether in my personal time or on the company's dime, please write in to radio at themeateater.com. If we get three or more emails asking for a certain type of project or a pitch for an idea, we legally have to do it.

That's just company policy. And for this week's housekeeping, I just want to quell some anxiety in the room about questions that I will be asking. It would be no fun for me to just roll in here and ask you guys a bunch of questions that I know you wouldn't know the answer to. So rather than ask you to recite the recipe

of a 1944 Trader Vic's Mai Tai to the quarter ounce, I have prepared three questions that I believe are very accessible. And I think there's a solid chance that one of you goes three for three. Could you recite this Mai Tai recipe? Phil, the original Mai Tai is actually very simple. I learned this from Phil. Wow. Crazy. It's like I just won't shut up about the same things all the time uh uh yannis no i i could not actually i can tell you the ingredients but not not the recipe to the quarter ounce okay um but you know i think i think brody you frankly surprise me we'll talk about movies sometimes and and you bring up something that you've watched you seem like

you're kind of a pretty religious watcher of of things like whether t like hbo shows or it all depends phil like some stuff sure uh like 30 year old um jim carrey movies no oh yeah but um yeah you know i like i like to watch a movie now and then yeah right on well i wish you all good luck today uh let's see where are we in the script man spencer this is hard uh the adrian index this week is 1.5 meaning our winner should get um i don't really have any idea actually and with that we're on to the game of trivia play the drop me power resides where men believe it resides it's a trick a shadow on the wall i'm very engaged game now and the great game is terrifying okay let's see. It's the first time I've ever done trivia this way.

Let's see here. I'm entertained so far. How are we doing this? Are we, like, as far as answering, Phil? Question one. Oh, yeah. We don't have any whiteboards. You know what?

Just tell me. Yeah. You want to grab some whiteboards, Corinne, really quick? I'll go ahead and ask the question first. They're just right behind you. Question number one. The topic is not quite public lands. Here's one for you, Yanni. ahead and ask the question first question number one the topic is not quite public lands here's

one for you musician jackson brown wrote in 1972 about quote standing on a corner in this southwestern american city oh got this one phil i think ready everybody's writing everyone's ready yeah yeah that's what i'd like to hear okay go ahead and reveal your answers we have yannis saying winslow arizona cal and brody both saying winslow arizona holy crap everyone got it right but not from jackson brown well here's my uh fact follow-up factoid time, Brody. Despite being made famous by the Eagles in the same year, the song Take It Easy was initially written by Jackson Brown

with the intention of it being part of his debut album. After hitting a wall and finishing the song that was only partially written, he played a rough version for his neighbor and Eagles guitarist Glenn Frey. Quote, I showed him the beginnings of that song and he asked if I was going to put it on my record. And I said it wouldn't be ready in time. He said, well, we'll put it on. We'll do it because he liked it.

Frye put the finishing touches on the song and it went on to be the first track of the Eagles debut album and was later recorded by Brown himself and released as a part of his second album For Everyman. That's good trivia, Phil. That is. Thanks. Let's see how you guys feel about that for the next question.

Question number two. The topic is woodsmanship? Bat guano and sulfur are the two components needed to cast the fireball spell in this role-playing game that is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. year oh brody's having to think a little bit i listened to the question but i didn't read it um the only reason i'm knowing it i'm gonna know this one is because of the 50th anniversary, and it's been on the radio a little bit. I tried to provide some context clues as part of it, making it accessible. How are we doing? Everyone's ready?

All right, go ahead and reveal your answers. We have Giannis saying D&D, Cal saying D&D, Brody saying D&D. Everyone's got a perfect game. The answer is Dungeons & Dragons. I was like, when did computer games start? First published in 1974, Dungeons & Dragons was developed by Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax and was a notable departure from existing tabletop games of the era which were largely centered around military units and conquest as opposed to individual characters on a quest. The game's mechanics, which are based around 4-20 sighted dice rolls to determine the outcome of a character's actions,

went on to be the blueprint for Japanese role-playing video games that would, in turn, inspire role-playing game design the world over. Actual play streaming shows such as Critical Role and Dimension 20 featured plotlines on shows like Stranger Things and Freaks and Geeks, as well as admitted celebrity players, have made Dungeons & Dragons more popular than ever in recent years with over 150 hours, or million hours, of D&D gameplay being viewed on Twitch and YouTube in 2020 alone.

Old Vince Vaughn's big D&D guy. That's right, yeah. There's kind of a secret Hollywood D&D club. Yeah, and he's a part of it. Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine. Yeah. Yeah, Stephen Colbert is a big player. Well, and he's a part of it. Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine. Yeah. Yeah. Stephen Colbert is a big player. Well, you guys are doing

great. I wanted to make you feel good. We'll see how this last question goes. I do have a tiebreaker. And I think we might need it. Question number three. The topic is cooking. In the 2004 film Sideways, Paul Giamatti

famously declares that he is not drinking any effing blank, a popular grape variety. Cal looks confident. Giannis looks confident. Brody looks confident. Holy cow. Go ahead and reveal your answers. He's not drinking any effing merlot that is correct way to go gang because of its use as a standalone variety as well as a popular grape in blended

wines merlot is the most widely grown grape in the bordeaux bordeaux wine regions of france after the release of the film sideways the western united states saw a two percent decline in merlot sales that resulted in a noticeable fall of its price. However, the most significant ripple effect of the film was its effect on Pinot Noir sales. Giamatti's character Miles' favorite wine, which jumped by 16% in the Western U.S. in the following years. A study in the Journal of Wine Economics,

co-authored by eight staff members from UC Davis, argued that the spike in demand of Pinot Noir caused winemakers to plant the grape in less than suitable climates, causing a long-term negative effect on the quality of Pinot Noir in the country. Wow. I was talking to somebody recently and some wine person, they were saying that Merlot still hasn't recovered the sales of Merlot from that movie. And I played a clip from the Project Grizzly, just like a video clip

in the background, and we got dinged for it. I don't have a video clip, but I do have an audio clip of this quote. Let's go ahead and hear that. Do not sabotage me. If you want to be

a f***ing lightweight, then that's your call, but do not sabotage me. Oh, aye, aye, Captain. You got it. And if they want to drink Merlot, we're drinking Merlot. No, if anybody orders Merlot,

I'm leaving. I am not drinking any f***ing Merlot. Okay, okaylot okay okay relax miles jesus no merlot did you bring your xanax love that movie well here's the thing gang we're going to a tiebreaker i don't have a special sound up or anything and i'm just going to ask the question and i asked my wife the lovely adrian taylor to come up with my tiebreaker question so it is a numerical question and here it is according to a study in an article published on puzzle hobby.com what is the average amount of puzzle pieces that are actually in a the box of a jigsaw puzzle advertised to have 1,000 pieces. What?

The answer is not 1,000. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Oh, yeah, and really quick guys, because of the sound effects I'm playing on the computer, I had to change some settings on my soundboard. So I apologize that you all just heard that Merlot quote probably twice in a weird echo

situation on the live stream. I'll fix that in the podcast version. That's just more bang for their buck, Phil. Thank you. That's the framing I'm looking for. Yeah. Does everyone have an answer? Yeah.

All right. I'm happy. Go ahead and reveal your answers. We have Giannis saying 1,002 pieces, Cal saying 1,005, Brody saying 990. The correct answer is 1,026 pieces, making Ryan Callahan our winner good job

and anyway i don't have like a like a cool fun outro or anything guys i just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart i wrote a little victory speech for playing phil's trivia that's great phil thank you oh of course my. Yeah, I appreciate you guys making us feel like we actually know something about pop culture. Oh, hip. Yeah, real hip. Yeah. Even though that one question was from before I was born. Listener feedback.

We're going to wrap it up here, Phil. Yeah. Listener feedback. Sure. We got some great questions that came in today. Really quick, I just want to say someone asked for tips about getting his daughter excited about the outdoors and we had a ton of people just respond to him in the live chat giving him tips, things to do, ways to frame things. So thanks guys in the live chat.

But first one is for Cal. How do llamas stack up to other pack animals? Well, they carry less weight and they move slower would be like the two broad negatives. Um, if they step on you, you're probably not going to break a toe. So they're, they're a gentler beast to be around. Um, they're not in it for affection. Don't get thinking that they're going to, uh, end up loving you after a week um they can definitely hold their footing on some steeper terrain than conventional stock uh and i've got you know i'm gonna bring food for them either do you well that's a little bit

of a misnomer yeah yeah i mean they they are a browser they're uh the more you look at them the more time you spend with them you're like that's a dinosaur um so they can find they'll eat tree bark they'll eat pine needles they'll they'll eat a bunch of things but just like any animal out there they need they go for good stuff first, and then they'll go get the other stuff. So, yeah, they're definitely like a little hardier here and there, but definitely something to consider. Real easy. I've known bow baby at Wilderness Ridge pack llamas or traillamas for, I mean, more than a decade. And this is the first time I've ever actually rented any llamas from them.

And they were awesome. They're great. You're not going to have a life-threatening wreck on a steep trail with them either, like you could with. You're not. You know, we had like a couple of blowups that would never be considered a blowup in the horse mule community. Right. Um, but yeah, so they're definitely like more family friendly.

There's fewer dangers out there. And then, uh, the babies there, uh, at W R L will, uh, WRTL, they have an online course these days that will, uh, get you up to snuff and that answers a ton of questions and, and it really is valuable. Um, so, uh, yeah, check them out. Right on. Uh, Brody. Mm-hmm. Did your Alaska hunt live up to expectations and what was the best part

oh it exceeded expectations for sure um like i know this is gonna sound hokey but the best part was like me and matt and steve had like a lot of laughs like like getting the moose was like yeah i'd have been bummed if I didn't get one. Probably like everyone's like, Oh, I'm in it for the experience. I don't care about getting an animal. I wanted to get a bull bad.

Um, but the laughs that we had like constantly over the course of more than a week was super cool. Right on. I'm just kind of a big question, Cal, you can tackle as much of it as you want, but last question in your opinion, how do you feel about the Montana block management system in comparison to other states?

That's a question from Adam. Oh, I think block management is awesome. You know, none of these systems, doesn't matter if it's like WeHa. So, sorry, block management is a private land public access program, completely voluntary. Landowners can can sign up with the state and then they get compensated by use. Basically, the more people who show old, started in one place and now it's at a different place because it's got to change with the time. So you can make more money in block management than you used to be able to make, but it's a system that will never be perfect. But I'll tell you right now, the opportunities that you get on these private land public access programs are absolutely fantastic. And it weighs on every single hunter who participates. So you have got to sign up where you're supposed to sign up pick up other people's trash be

respectful don't drive on wet roads and uh one thing that i don't think a lot of people consider when a lot of these um areas are only open to foot traffic you can't drive in there that's not because they want people to have a harder time. That's because they're really nervous about fire and invasive weeds, grasses, stuff like that. So they're trying to increase their bottom line on that family property. This is another opportunity for them to do so, but they're, they're trying to maintain other states like Colorado, for example, ranching for wildlife, like you've got to apply to hunt there. There's not a lot of places enrolled in it. It's very hard to get on it. Like block management and Montana is like a prime example of,

you know, private land access. Yeah. And then, uh, WeehHa in Kansas would be another like very, very good program. Yeah. Yeah. Right on. Thanks, guys. Thank you, Phil. I'm just going to jump in for a second there. A ton of people shouting out Phil.

Tons of D&D fans in the chat as well. And a lot of people saying that they want you, Phil, to host an upcoming episode of trivia. So maybe that'll happen. We'll bring the fastballs for that one. Ten questions. Yeah, I'm sorry about that echo, guys. I feel like a real schmuck. It's amateur hour, but thanks for putting up with it.

All good. They love you, Phil. You got a lot of leeway there, bud. Thanks. We all make mistakes, Phil. All right, two final notes. Next't make mistakes, Phil. Alright, two final notes. Next week is Whitetail Week at MeatEater, meaning we'll be bringing you our best

Whitetail content as well as some great deals on Whitetail gear. The Whitetail-specific articles, podcasts, videos, and shopping start on Monday at TheMeatEater.com. Also, in honor of Whitetail Week, the crew for next week's

live show will be reviewing Escanaba in the Moonlight for the Meat Eater Movie Club. If you want to join in on the discussion, you can stream that Jeff Daniels classic on Amazon Prime, Tubi, or Roku TV. Whoa.

Go root for the Buckless Youper. Amazing. Have you watched that one yet? No. Yeah, I don't need to. You don't? No. Why not?

Well, because it sounds like I need to do some drugs in order to watch it. Oh, who said that? Everybody I've talked to. Can I throw in one more thing here? Yeah. Yeah. Okay, hey, just to touch back on this Utah public land situation,

it is so bizarre to me that people are like, oh, the feds. The reality is we are the feds. This is America. It is a government for the people by the people. If you aren't participating, you have chosen to put your head in the sand or, you know, between your butt cheeks in an orifice, right? You have the ability to weigh in on this stuff. We always change. The federal government changes. You need to weigh in and be active.

That's why groups like backcountry hunters and anglers exist. If you're a part of any other group, you should tell them that they need to weigh in on this situation right these giant public lands we talked about two public land experiences that uh brody and i just had we're going to be out on public land a bunch more this stuff needs to stick around and it's really up to us whether it does or not so weigh in start at the state level, state representatives, talk to your legislators. You can call any government office, okay? And it doesn't matter if you have some sort of degree in politics or policy. If you're turning a wrench or doing anything you're spending money on public lands that is your voice you say hey my name's this my family does this every year this stuff super important to me that stuff needs

to stick around your voice does matter you gotta weigh in if you choose not to i don't want to hear you bitch thanks Cal Cal to action there you go oh and speaking of a Cal to action Spencer would like to remind you that you're on next week's episode so you have to watch Escanaba in the moonlight thanks for watching everybody we'll see you next week week.

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