The MeatEater Podcast - Ep. 619: MeatEater Radio Live! Hunters and the Election, Upland Bird Numbers, and Porcupine Mating

Episode Date: November 1, 2024

Welcome to MeatEater Radio Live! 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 Ryan Callaghan, Cory Calkins, Corinne Schneider, and Phil Taylor.  Guests: Jeff Crane, CEO of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, Bob St. Pierre, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, and Reed Barganier of ReedsPianoNews. 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. Meat Eater podcast. Don't even know when to start. Hey, welcome to Meat Eater Radio Live. It's 11 a.m. here in Boz Angeles, Montana. I'm your host, Ryan Callahan, and you're not with me today. Corinne Schneider and Cory Calkins. Howdy, folks. Fun fact for you.

If you wear a big fake wig on your face, it messes with the audio due to static electricity. Phil, what's happening over there in the boot? Oh, not a whole lot. What's going on with you, Cal? Oh, not a whole lot. So youth is in the air. It's October 31 and children still dress up. So we're going to talk about that. What motivates them? Why are they here? I think we should start with our actual ages first,

but we won't because there's a lady present. Snorts under the table is what I'm talking about. Snorts under the table is what I'm talking about. Corinne, you're dressed up as something. I am. I am a Chinese takeout box that says, enjoy. What's in the box? Lo Mein. What's in the box? Cory, what are you?

Well, I'm Merlin, the wizard, but this is also how I feel after an unsuccessful archery season Old and gray. Okay. Nice. Is there any other reason for the theme? Well my kid, my six year old boy Marshall, he's gonna be King Arthur of the Arthurian book series stories, so I figured I'd Go in there is the short Merlin sweet assuming Merlin was probably six to a few inches shorter than the real Merlin

But yeah here I am anything just magical powers go with height hand in hand Well sorta he's probably got a duck-a-lot where I'm just going right through, so got that going for me. But yeah, I feel like Hype might be able to help you see the future. You can see around the earth a little bit farther. Yeah, I like it. But I like it. Phil! Yes? You're dressed up as a something. I thought it was from Beetlejuice. It looks very similar to one of the little Beetlejuice monsters. No, this is just a generic Wraith, but I like that the eyes glow

and it's kind of like an avian, it's an avian looking skull, right? It's scary. It is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know, would you, like what's the closest like real life comp to what this skull looks like, would you say?

As someone who's probably seen like a few bird skulls in their life. There's that giant stork in Africa that's got a very similar beak to that. What is that? Albatross? No, it's a stork. I think it's one of the largest birds outside

of like the emu and the ostrich. Yeah. I was gonna say you look like a pelican. And Phil, you have kids, right? I do, I have two children. Okay, so your guys's costumes are making sense Let's go back to Corinne You're an adult who dressed up why?

Because they're on the radio live you know it's for the amusement of others Oh, and it brings joy to one's heart sometimes no matter how old you are oh We also have a thrilling contest in the office today best costume wins best costume. Oh, so awesome. I think we got top four costumes so far. Awesome. Yeah, for some reason, probably due to my email settings, I don't get a lot of office emails. You don't say I do say. Well, of all Cal you're dressed up but not in the way people might think. I think I've seen you wear this exact outfit to sportsmen's conventions before. Is that true? Maybe. This is a actual pheasant tie. It looks wonderful. Thank you.

Thank you. That's very classy and I got this this is my most worn and most favorite sports coat I of which I own two and I got it for seven dollars at a thrift shop in Ketchum, Idaho. It's a lovely corduroy. Thank you Yeah, starting to fade back there. Yeah, but granny's dead, so that was my seamstress. Anyway, Corey, you just got back from a successful hunt. Corinne, I know you had a successful opening day hunt. You guys were both opening day hunts.

Corey was guiding. Helping a friend. I guided for too long to say I'm still right. I was helping a buddy. Yeah, exactly. Spencer Newhart, which I wish he was here to tell the story. Yeah, it's odd that he's not. I thought he would be. Yeah. He's probably cutting meat. Oh, he might be. Yeah. So who wants to tell their tale first here? Go ahead, Cory. Well. Yeah, I'm happy to Spencer Newhart as we all know the host of meat eater trivia Drew a really good rifle tag for Montana, and I went out along with Another ex meat eater colleague and a few of Spencer's buddies from South Dakota

And we all went out to help Spencer find his first bowl and we were successful. Opening morning by I think 8 15 we had a nice 6 by 4 on the ground. An old fighter, a warrior. Did you just, did you see him that morning or did you put him to bed the night before? A couple of Spencer's buddies dug him up the day before, the night before. So we had all split up the day before opener to cover some ground and find some elk. And we found plenty of elk. So we had plan A, B, and C going into opening day. And even with a good trophy unit tag, there were still some other hunters in there creating a little pressure.

So our plan A hit the dirt by about four 30 in the morning, a couple hours before daylight, we had to reroute to plan B and, uh, they were still fired up bugling where we were. So right at daylight, we were able to put eyes on one of the elk that, uh, were spotted the day before. And again, I think 30 minutes after the sun came up, we him down on the ground Spencer made a couple great shots On him from a long ways out Practice made perfect for Spencer and yeah, and he said

You were able to turn the herd with a bugle. Yeah, which is sweet. I mean, yeah, he got the full elk hunting experience Seeing what elk do in the during the rut more in September, but this was late October, October 26th, and these elk were still very fired up. The bull and the cows were kind of, they were about 600 yards away, walking slightly away, so I decided to rip a bugle just to see what would happen because the herd bull was so talkative and it actually turned the cows and they started kind of running towards us, stopped at about 500 yards out and the bull was a little hesitant to come in, but the cows wanted to come in and of course he wanted to follow those cows. So, got a little bit closer and Spencer was able to put a couple good shots into him. Yeah, it was great

Yeah, I love that love that congrats Spencer Newhart. Congrats Cory. Congrats Spencer. Corinne what happened to you? um Well, I'll make it short. Sorry Corinne can you pull that mic a little closer? Is that possible for you? I'll make it short. There were definitely some highs and lows. I was out with myself in a spot I've successfully harvested mule deer from and this year I noticed the past couple of days before opening that I had gone out just more whitetail. And I wasn't quite sure if I was wanting to use my white tailed bee tag for that hunt or you know, I didn't know what I was going to see.

Yeah, you had a doe tag, a white tailed doe specific tag. Yep. And your general tag. And my general tag. Which is good for either sex. Exactly. And either species in that particular area. Exactly. Yep. And I've still got mule deer from the other year, so I was thinking

about wanting some whitetail meat. I just didn't know, you know, would I want to shoot a whitetail buck and it would be my first or use my B tag. And there are a couple of issues with other hunters coming a little too close to comfort for me, someone who parked himself within 400 yards, so we were hunting the same corner. And made some mistakes, like messed up big time with my turrets. New rifle this year, new scope, new setup. So fast forward through all of the drama. But I had wounded my buck, and it was sitting on the public side right up against the fence

with private land. And a couple of other deer had hopped the fence to be more around my injured buck and you know I was just kind of waiting to see did my first and second shot were they enough to kill him or not but then this other hunter popped out and started crawling toward these other deer where my injured deer was And it was clear. And your buck ended up on the private side of the fence. Yep, he did. That hunter took a shot at one of the deer there and my deer jumped up and popped over the fence. And I was very emotional and shaken and in hysterics and

I called you, Cal. And you were like, calm the fuck down. And do you, well, you were much nicer than that. But it's what I needed to hear. You helped me out, made some phone calls, got in touch with FWP, who got in touch with the landowner, and who's gracious enough to give me permission to access and that's good fast forward you know yeah I mean killed that deer drug it back to state and you and Sam is going through your head like I just need to get the

deer oh yeah you're so committed already that there could have been more mistakes made oh for sure I was I was not in my right mind and you heard most of that. But yeah, call the game warden. Game warden says, give me the details, calls the landowner. And in this case, the landowner, or the agents of the landowner were Yeah, we're Super understanding and they said Great. Thanks for calling them so much

Not only can you trespass but you can Trespass and make a follow-up shot if it's necessary and You know it was coming up on dark and they didn't say we'll wait for us Yeah, I forgot that part exactly. It was was coming up on dark my phone was almost dead you know all the modern tragedy. It's like my phone only has 7% battery life. And then you and Sam came and helped me drag that deer out and yeah now it's hanging so that was my first Montana whitetail buck. That's great congr Heck. Yeah. How are we doing on our first? Yeah, I see Jeff over there

We are gonna jump over to Probably for meat eater live the first ever Stop at the politics desk with our guest Jeff crane who is the president and CEO of the congressional Sportsman's Foundation? CSF Jeff are you on the line? Yes sir can you hear me? Yes sir we got you loud and clear how you doing? I'm doing great. I'm feeling a little old since I don't have my costume on with the rest of you guys but it's been a long time since I put a Halloween costume on. Well as it was just explained to me, Jeff, it's not just for children, it brings joy, I think is what our Chinese food box said.

Right. The Congressional Sportsman's Foundation, I'm familiar with, but will you please just let folks know, CSF isn't as out in front of I think like the general public as a lot of other um uh organizations are um very very powerful uh lobbying group on behalf of uh sportsman's interests in the United States. Can you give us a quick rundown on who and what CSF does? Sure, and thanks for having me on the show, Cal,

and I do kind of hate the fact that we aren't a better known household word, but we've been around for 35 years. We do work exclusively in the policy arena. We're the tip of the spear for hunters, anglers, recreational shooters, trappers. We were founded to work in Washington, DC in the United States alongside the United States Congress.

The last 20 years, we've expanded all 50 states, realizing that a lot of the wildlife management decisions that affect sportsmen and women actually get made at the state level. So we are very immersed. I think one of the big things that sets us apart is we have a bipartisan approach so that we can work with both sides of the aisle.

The one certainty in politics is the pendulum swings and the one party is not going to be in power all the time certainly in Washington some states is a little bit different but we want to be able to make sure that the sportsmen and men and women have a seat at the table regardless of who's in political office. And very timely, right? We have impending election, no matter what, we are going to have a new administration. And recently, you spoke with our good buddy and fantastic writer, Jordan Sillers, for an article, I believe it is titled, hunters could decide the 2024 presidential election. And could you just tell us how, is that true? How do hunters and anglers play into politics,

especially right now? So the absolute certainty of the truth is if you don't vote, you're not engaging in your constitutional right to decide who gets elected from the president right down to your local elections. And so clearly every citizen in this great country has that opportunity to impact the election. So the civics lesson is please make sure that you are exercising

your right as more to the point of sports men and women. There are different sort of polling studies and whatnot out there that suggest that sports men and women don't show up to the polls in numbers as they should. So that begs the question, why are you not going to the poll? Why are we not allowing ourselves with our passions for the great outdoors to have our voices heard? This is the way every citizen in this country can do it. So our encouragement and our campaign here at CSF

is I hunt, I fish, I vote. And we're trying to turn out the vote because it makes our job a whole lot easier if we have pro sportsmen and women elected officials or at least people that can relate to the fact that we are legitimate conservationists and that what we do is really beneficial for our landscapes. And so, yeah, it's important, you know, and if you're

going to be in a tree stand or you're going to be in a duck mine or you're going to be in a alpine meadow or somewhere, I mean there are all kinds of opportunities to vote early and, and you know, we're just trying to encourage the sportsman's vote to get out, turn out, not telling you who to vote for, but man, make your voice be heard. Well said. Darn right. Jeff, one thing that I think may prohibit sportsmen and women from showing up to the polls is, you know, we get this rhetoric out there that says, well, yeah, you can vote for your interests, but then you're voting against these interests. Is that true? Do we have to choose between hunting and angling rights and our other rights? Or is it possible to lobby and have it all?

You know, just based on the people that we work with on a routine basis in the United States Congress, I think it's possible to have it all. Again, are there gonna be occasions where that creates a conflict? Yeah, probably does. But a lot of times, you know, in just making sure that you're sending little, edit, smart people up to Washington and your state capitals and

stuff, then at least we have a running shot at being able to explain to them about hunting and fishing and how it impacts not only the environment, not only conservation, but the economy. And all those arguments can carry the day. So it's not a perfect, definitely 100% cowl that I could say, yeah, check the box. But more times than not, I would say, yes, it does. That's great, Jeff. And let's say we've already voted, the election's already been had, is our job over? What do we do?

Absolutely not. That's where we ask you to stay engaged, stay informed. Elected officials are still responsive to constituents. You guys are in your states, you've got your elected officials in your state. I live over in Maryland and so have my elected officials. If you don't have your voice heard even after the elections, then they're gonna ignore you. The old squeaky wheel gets the grease. And there again, that's what we're completely set up to do.

If you don't wanna do it yourself, reach through. We've got our website as an interactive feature to click on any state in the United States. You can find out who your state legislators are, who your federal legislators are in the congressional caucus, sportsman's caucus, and you know we can help you get engaged in this kind of stuff or you can, you know, we invite you to attend some things in your own state. So, no, absolutely this is not a once every two year, every four year thing. Please, please don't do that. that. That's fantastic, Jevin. And so how do our very engaged listeners and viewers find you? How do they learn more about Congressional Sportsman's Foundation?

It's a little long, but it's just www.congressionalsportsman.org. If you put Congressional Sportsman on a search engine, you'll probably find us. And again, there's an interactive map. We've got staff from coast to coast, north to south, that work the various states. And if you wanna find out what's going on in your state, so it's a great resource. You wanna find out who those elected officials are

that are in the various caucuses, sportsman's caucuses, whether it's here in the US Congress or in your state legislature. Again, great resource to find out about it, but the process is interactive all the time. And so I would definitely encourage you to go beyond next Tuesday. That is not the end all and be all,

and we have to stay engaged. And I will point out one other thing that I mentioned in the article. You know, it's a good thing that candidates think it's important to create sports men and women per candidate X, Y, and Z. The worst thing you can be in the political arena is irrelevant. And so the more numbers we can show that sportsmen and women come to the polls, the more numbers and more times that they show up in the state capitals or in Congress talking about stuff, generating the letters, things like that.

We have to make sure that we're punching way above our weight class. And again, that's what CSF is here to do. Heck yeah, we'll work with you on that any day of the week Jeff. Thank you so much for coming on the show. You're welcome to stick with us. We're gonna have a very spooky migration report. Thanks Jeff. Thanks for having me. I greatly appreciate it. Thanks. All right gang, what do we think of that, Tim?

Very informative everyone. Yeah, it's obviously top of mind everybody at the moment can't shake it Even in the woods. I was somehow getting texts and information about upcoming elections, so go out and vote exactly Buckle up. Oh boy. It's kickoff and then we got a long four quarters after that. So yeah gonna be a roller coaster Yeah, sir. All right. Now over to the migration report.

When you can't find food and the temps are so low, then you suffer. All right, all right. The migration is the way. Oh, Phil. We love it. is the way oh you're just waiting for the video now it says pre-recorded migration report oh but we need to introduce the migration report is where Matt McCormick gives a waterfowl hunting forecast for each flyway take it away

Matt I thought I'm Matt McCormick with Flying V and welcome to the Meteor Migration Report for October 31st, 2024. I'm coming to you live from the K.I. Refuge here in Southwest Montana to bring you the latest on migration trends, weather patterns, and what we can all expect to see in the coming weeks as we move into November. First up, we all have a new moon coming and that is a good thing for all of us. We can all expect to see more daylight action and when combined with the forecasted north winds and cooler temps, this is a recipe

for some of the best hunts of the season. Everybody who's ever hunted in a north wind on a cold front with a new moon can attest this recipe is about as good as it gets and in October it is very welcome. So hunters across the country can expect to see some better hunting ahead. Here in the pack fly we've been, you know, we've already had our first push and our weather has been

okay, it's been about, you know, 40, 50 degrees, a lot of sun, a lot of no wind. But we have had a first first push and we have two cold fronts coming back to back down the pipe right now. They are forecasting that we're going to have below average temperatures with which I can feel it right now in my hands. It's on its way, as well as heavy, heavy snowfall. If this happens, we can all expect to see birds pour out of Alberta and move into the staging areas in the U.S. I think we got some really good hunting ahead

in the Pacific Flyway. Over in the Central Flyway, you guys are gonna benefit from these cold fronts as well. These fronts are gonna push specks, pint tails, and this first wave of Canada geese down through South Dakota into Kansas, Oklahoma. I think you guys are gonna start to see new birds showing up here within the next week or so. It's looking really, really good for you guys as well. Big migration day is coming. You guys have had some great ones, you're about to have some more. In the Mississippi flyway, they've had some unseasonably warm weather, so it's slowed things down a little bit in the

north, but the reports are saying that there's still some great teal hunting. The diver hunting has been really good over in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the geese hunting has been pretty good as well, but everybody could use a few more birds, I think you guys are gonna see that as these birds push down out of Manitoba down in through the Mississippi Flyway I think everybody in Illinois, Missouri as we get through the weekend you guys are gonna start seeing that trickle of birds coming in as well finally in the Atlantic Flyway you know movement's been a slow uptick you guys have had pretty good hunting over the last few weeks.

But we are getting reports of new black ducks showing up in the St. Lawrence region, which is a good sign. It means the birds are on their way. The rain that you guys have gotten, the cooler temperatures should have improved the hunting on the coast as well. I think everybody in the New England

and mid-At mid Atlantic regions are gonna start to experience some really good hunting in these first few weeks of November as the cooler temps come in and the ducks start pushing in as well. That's it for this week's migration report. Whether you're battling the elements out west or you're just waiting on new birds in the central and Mississippi flyway, the coming cooler temps and these cold fronts show really promising good hunting to be had here in the next few weeks. Happy Halloween everybody and good luck out there.

Back to you, Spencer. Yeah. Dang. Matt McCormick's crashing up. That'll get you excited about some ducks. Oh, I love it. Good job, Matt. Thank you.

Love those guys. Yeah. Um, I even learned that it's, it, thank you. Yeah. Love those guys. Heck yeah. I even learned that it's the hip way of saying Pacific Flyway is PacFly. PacFly. Yeah, wow. Somebody that's a free brand name for somebody out there.

Ooh. Yeah. 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 sweepstakes. And our raffle and sweepstakes law makes it that they can't join. 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 MeatEater Podcast. Now you you guys in the Great White North 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 hand-picked by the OnX Hunt team. Some of our favorites are First Light, Shnez, 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, to the OnX club, y'all. slash meet Welcome to the to the on X Club y'all We're gonna take a quick break not from what you're watching But you keep watching because Phil is gonna give us some listener feedback on the fly so to speak Phil

Hey trying to make adjustments to my mask so it still looks cool, but I can see what I'm doing Oh, it looks so good. How does this look? that's great. You can't see through those glowing red eyeballs No, apparently not. I also I felt like today would be a good idea to try this effect that I have on my board so I can Hello I don't know if this echo is coming through on the stream, but I hope it is or else that was sound really lame I'm gonna turn it off. Wow, that's pretty great. Okay, how was that? That was fun, right? Spooky. I should do the whole show like that.

Okay, I don't think so. I think it'd be really annoying. Let's see, Mogor is asking, Corinne, how far in advance do you record the podcasts before uploading them? Said he was listening to the new trivia today and someone mentioned the Monday morning mood, which made me wonder.

Thank you. It kind of depends. Sometimes we might record the week before we drop an episode of the Meat Eater podcast. I assume he's asking about that. And sometimes trivia might be the week before, and sometimes just based on everyone's schedules, we might be a couple weeks out.

So it really just depends week to week. Yeah, I'd say it's very reliant on Stephen Ronella's schedule. Yep, indeed. That's the main thing. I'm getting word that the echo did not come through. Oh, no, you guys missed out. You know, I'm gonna try to workshop that

during the next interview, how about that? Fruit of the Mycelium, that's a great name, asks, how much meat do I share with my hunting buddy? We hunted a new state all of October and I finally shot a blacktail we packed it out and butchered it together He was a huge help Great question. Yeah, I mean great great question. I personally I would offer them half. Yeah Yeah, I mean blacktail are small I get it. I would I would offer half Yeah, I'd say at least a shoulder a ham. Mm-hmm

Since they packed out half of it. I mean, yeah at the minimum a whole ham Yeah, yeah, that's probably about right Don't don't go cherry-picking your your soft cuts and then cuz then you're not gonna have anybody to help pack something out And then try and help your buddy get him a deer Yeah, and blacktail are small like if that's the way you want to play it next year you go hunt by yourself. Oh Wait, so you and Sam helped me with my deer. So should I? Be giving you guys half see or should I split between the two of you or should I be giving you? Should should we split it three ways? I just want to stop you right there, okay?

She's trying to walk back a previous statement that she made we know she was a little bit hysterical She offered 15 dinners at one of the most expensive places in Bozeman And now she's like, oh oh wait no that's worth more than half the deer so no no we're gonna stick to that cow this is an addition so you have a generous heart that was not walking anything back. Corinne just saved us from you know going home and cooking dinner and relaxing and sitting in front of the boob tube so that would have been boring. Yep.

Jeremy asks can you recommend an area for an international hunter to come and do a US hunt? Tips or ideas on best area, target species, et cetera? He's looking three to five years in advance, which is very, very responsible. Well, good job looking ahead. That's sometimes how long it takes to draw tags in Western states.

Yeah, I mean, Corey Cory I think you'd be a good one to answer this but I mean it's if you're looking three to five years in advance get on it now I'd apply in New Mexico, Montana, Idaho, Colorado if you can. Yep that's a good point yeah big game out West or even White Tail in the Midwest would be a lot easier. You could probably, I would imagine you'd want to come out for maybe a week, two weeks, a month. So you could probably hunt a few states doing that if you play your cards right. Yeah, but there's no ban on international folks hunting anywhere in the US. So you're just seen as like a non-resident hunter.

So that, I mean, that's the side of it's pretty easy if that's a worry for you. Yeah, start accumulating some points. Tyler wants to shout out his 11-year-old Jayden on her first deer and buck this past weekend during the youth hunt in East Tennessee, tagged a nice seven point. Congrats, Tyler and Jayden. Any good youth hunting stories from the group? I know this is cause, cause Corey, you have a six year old, so he's not doing any hunting.

No, and you don't have kids. Cal, you also don't have kids, but you've been on some youth hunts, right? Oh, I've taken a lot of youth hunters over the years. Yeah. I mean, my, my biggest story is the fact that you have to see things from their level, right? So even things as big as an elk, I'm like, yep, there he is right there, just stepped out. And they're like, I can't see him.

And you're like, how in the heck can you not see that giant six point bull? And then you drop to your knees and you get on the level of an 11 year old and you're like, ah There is no way you can see the elk from here. Yeah short human I took my six-year-old turkey hunting with me this year. It was the best most memorable hunt I'll ever had we put some great stocks on some birds and then ultimately ended up getting one on the way out He was still strapped in his car seat I said buddy you stay here that he's gonna go around the hill and he Stuck his head out the window and he could hear the shotgun go off., he was still strapped in his car seat. I said, buddy, you stay here, daddy's gonna go around the hill.

And he stuck his head out the window and he could hear the shotgun go off, so he was there. Yeah. But still in the truck. It was perfect, it was a lot of fun. I can't wait to do it again. I probably know the answer to this because I edit every one of your podcasts,

but Cal the Snort prefer upland or waterfowl hunting. That's from Noah. Boy, she loves, I think, pheasants are very high on her list because they, especially late season, they run a lot, they represent a really serious challenge. I stick with upland hunting as long as possible, just for the exercise.

And, but I mean, these retrievers, I stick with upland hunting as long as possible just for the exercise. And, but I mean, these retrievers, man, they come alive. If you give them a chance to just do straight retrieving. And I think that she likes retrieving geese more than ducks. There's something about a big bird hitting the ground that she becomes a kind of a jerk to hunt with. She needs more reprimanding when geese are flying and when ducks are flying.

And follow up, Matt's asking, how is Snort recovering? And for those who don't know, what happened with Snort? Come here. Oh, yeah. Here we go. Hey, come here. Come on. Oh, there we go. Hey For all of you listeners snort is sitting on cows lap right now, so if she's got a little zipper on her chest here

And she's recovered quite well but she's about a third sealed up and She I'm thinking about a week and the rest of the zipper on her chest here will be, yeah, I don't know. Yeah, it's going to be real hard to see, but a lot of staples there. And she's going to be back to chasing the cocks around. That was a slice on barbed wire. Pheasant hunting. A little barbed wire cut. And Corinne was actually right there. And it's, you know, these dogs move so fast and they're so strong that it does not take much.

So she's an excellent patient these days. Sweet girl. Yeah, she's been through a lot in her short time. Snake bite, fences. Yep. Hosting a podcast. Oh boy. We just gotta put Fences? Yep, hosting a podcast. Oh boy. Exhausting.

We just gotta put the headphones on her. Oh, aww. She can do anything. It is about that time of day, huh? Alright, really quick, I think I fixed my effect. Guys, let me know if you can hear this. Hello, this should be coming through the street. You're listening to Media Radio Live on Halloween.

I really hope that worked please tell me that worked okay Actually snorts gonna help me introduce our next guest because she knows Bob we've done some some bird walking Or no, that's not true. Never mind get out of here snort Son of a gun. Next up, giving us a bird report and so much more from a fantastic habitat conservation group, pheasants and quail forever, Bob St. Pierre, who is the chief marketing and communications officer.

Son of a gun, look at that bird. Oh, happy Halloween, Bob. In the spirit. chief marketing and communications officer. Son of a gun! Look at that bird! Oh, happy Halloween, Bob! In the spirit. Wow. For all you listeners out there. Oh! Oh, oh, there you go.

There's the human face under the bird face. That'll scare the kids. I love it. He's putting his headphones on now. He's getting ready. For those listening to the podcast version, Bob had some sort of college mascot that looked like the red robin mascot as well. I don't know it was Uh, come on guys. That was rudy the rooster rudy That was my guess

Yeah, but but you're not too far up my my pre pheasants forever Uh job was in minor league baseball. So i've worn all sorts of mascot costumes. Lucky the leprechaun is one that sticks out. That goes good with that red turning to gray goatee that you have there, Bob. Thanks for noticing, Cal. Absolutely.

With that tie you're wearing. Thanks for wearing the pheasant tie today. Yeah Uh for folks who have never been to pheasant fest, which is uh coming up here in the in the new year Uh, it's a great Way to get together with a bunch of upland bird hunters and get really educated on All conservation things the farm bill, noxious weeds, habitat improvement, all sorts of different programs like the PATH program here, which is a pheasants and quail forever brainchild, another private land public access avenue out there for folks and critical organization out there. If you're not a

member you should be. Pheasants in Quail Forever. Bob have you been listening in on the whole show? The majority of it. Some with the mask on, some with it off. But I've listened to the majority. Okay well well you know, we had Jeff Crane on from the Congressional Sportsman's Fund. Thank you, CSF. And Jeff was talking about how they're a bipartisan organization and they work across the board with all political affiliations and I know Pheasant and Co Quail Forever does too. And you guys got some heat on that one recently because you always, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, they host a bunch of different governor's hunts

all around the state or help participate in, set up as the conservation partner. And this year, the spotlight was on you a little bit more than usual. Yeah, yeah, we did take a little vitriol on social media around the Minnesota governor's hunt, governor's pheasant hunt. But in fairness, I mean we participated in the Minnesota governor's pheasant hunt since it was created in 2011, regardless of what party holds the office of governor.

And that's true of South Dakota, which we just participated in last weekend, coming up in Iowa and coming up in Kansas. We've got four states, two are held by Republican governors, two are held by Democratic governors. And we participate in all of them, particularly our local volunteers. And Jeff, Jeff was talking about having a seat at the table and being relevant. And I'd echo that, you know, we're, we want to be at the table. Otherwise, you know, the phrase, if you're not at the table, you're on the menu. And we need to be at those. I mean it's it's a governor's pheasant hunt for a sitting governor for Opportunity for us to talk about habitat and conservation So yeah, we we participate in them whenever we get a chance

And well Tim walls there. He didn't get any cocks on opening Dave is are the numbers down in Minnesota? Yeah, things are down a little bit this year in Minnesota. We had almost a non-existent winter which set us up to have you know a hockey stick level, there's my Minnesota reference, hockey stick level increase. I had bird numbers because the winter was so mild. And we had a tremendous adult carryover, hens came into spring, nesting season really strong. Unfortunately, early June, at the time that's the peak of the hatch, we got super heavy rains across southern Minnesota,

northern Iowa, Partza, eastern South Dakota. And those rains, what we think happened is they gully-washed out nests. And so pheasants, you know, you'll sometimes hear pheasants pull off a second hatch. Well, that's not true. Pheasants will re-nest if they lose a nest. You know, say that a gully washes out a nest or a raccoon comes by and eats a nest. So a hen will lay a new nest as long as none of those eggs have hatched. But on an average first nest attempt, they start 11 to 13 eggs. As they go down for a second attempt, the egg numbers go down. So they may lay seven to nine eggs. A third attempt,

they'll try again, maybe it'll be an average of five eggs. So as long as the eggs aren't hatched or hatched in a chick happens, they will attempt to re-nest, but there's no such thing in pheasant biology as a second nest. So long-winded answer that that rain in June couldn't have come at a worse time probably led to a lot more re-nest attempts, so the reproduction numbers of new birds coming into the population ultimately in parts of Minnesota, Iowa, parts of South Dakota are down a little bit. But generally speaking, North Dakota, South Dakota are actually pretty strong numbers. Nebraska's on an uprise and then Kansas is slow uprise. They've been suffering drought for a number of years. So they're

little uptick in Kansas, but it's a little bit slower than say North Dakota and South Dakota. Awesome and then uh what about uh our quail hunters what can they expect this year any any good reports? Yeah it mixed bag depending on what species and what states we're talking about um I'll point to Arizona you know you got three species of quail in Arizona, the Montezuma or Mearns quail that live in the Sky Islands. Rains look to have come at the right time for those birds, so that should be good. Same thing with the desert birds, gambles and scalies. Look pretty good in Arizona. If you've never taken a spring break to the desert, this might be your year. Texas, things around the arise in Texas. It's not going to be like 2014 when you know Texas quail hunters were flushing you know 30

cubbies a day, but things around the improve in Texas. Then Nebraska mirrors pheasants, significantly better in Nebraska. Kansas a little bit better in Kansas. Same thing in Oklahoma, a little bit better for bobwhites than it has in the past. And then the Southeast, those hurricanes, you know, it makes things a little bit challenging for both the birds and the hunters. It doesn't wipe out quail numbers, but it's definitely going to put a little bit of a challenge for bird numbers and for hunting. Yeah, maybe even just displace populations if they were able to move a little bit there. Yeah.

Yeah. Obviously, the human loss is paramount. Well wishes to everybody in the southeast. Yeah darn darn right Bob what what are you looking forward to next? I'm going north I'm going to Rough Grouse and Woodcock hunting this weekend. Woodcock had been slow to arrive in the migration it's been been just so darn warm. I've had to pivot a bunch of prairie grouse trips to the Northwoods because it's been 90s and upper 80s across much of the, you know, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana prairies when I had tended to be chasing sharpies.

So, but I haven't been finding Woodcock. I think, you know, we're getting some snow today in Minnesota, which is the first. I don't think it's going to be the Halloween snowstorm of 1991, but we're getting a little bit of snow in Minnesota, so I think some Woodcock are going to come down. And the leaves are largely off the trees now, so you get a little bit better opportunity at Rough Grouse. And it's our last shot before deer hunters take to the woods so I think I'm gonna go north and chase grouse and woodcock this weekend. Heck yeah Bob well I know old Clay Newcomb and myself are gonna be seeing you at minimum from the meat eater crew down at pheasant Fest, Quail Fest this year or coming up next year, this year. Yeah. And there's another concert for conservation being held too, right?

Yeah, right. Shout out to our buddy Dave Siminet and Trampled by Turtles. Oh yeah, hey Dave. Hey Dave. He and they, Trampled took a leap of faith with us, gave us the friends and family discount because they believe in our organization and conservation and jumped in on this crazy idea to do our first ever concert for conservation in Sioux Falls last year and it was a tremendous success. We raised $100,000 for our Habitat Mission thanks to Trampled. And a band that's played with Trampled is jumping in and joining us in Kansas City. Muscadine Bloodline. Tickets are on sale.

They just got done opening for Post Malone across October and November and they are gonna headline our show at the Uptown Theater in Kansas City on Thursday night, March, gosh, I think it's March 5th, leading into, yeah, March 6th, Thursday night, March 6th, leading into National Pleasant Fest in Quail Classic. Heck yeah, well, we'll see you there, Bob. Thanks a bunch for coming on.

If you're- Thanks for the opportunity. Rooster! Rooster! Be safe out there, wear your orange and we'll hopefully get Snort together with old Gitchy there and we'll do some pointing and retrieving. I've got a young pup joining the pack too. So we got, uh, Winter's going to experience her first snowstorm today. So we got a five month old pup, Gitch is five years old and then got Esky at 10 years old. So I've got a full household. Heck yeah. Well, thanks for joining us, Bob.

Thanks Bob. Uh, I'm just going to interrupt for one second. Well, thanks for joining us, Bob. Thanks, Bob. I'm just going to interrupt for one second. We mentioned some of the areas affected by the hurricane. And MeatEater, in partnership with Onyx, we just got together and we actually have a fundraiser to support hurricane relief with the Red Cross. It's a pretty long link, so I won't read it out. But if you're on the MeatEater website and you're under the Conservation tab, you can find it. And if you also Google Red Cross with MeatEater and Onyx,

you'll see you'll land on a page at the Red Cross that brings you to the Onyx and MeatEater support for hurricane relief efforts. So feel free to donate to that if you're moved to do so. Love that. Darn right. We all know somebody down that neck of the woods. We can always lean in a little bit more and help out. Speaking of learning. Oh, we're at Cheddar Kit. Yeah, darn right we are. Speaking of learning. Oh, we're at Cheddar Kit. Yeah, darn right we are.

Phil, this is another pre-recorded segment. Are you ready? Oh, I am, but first. C-H-E-T-I-Q-U-E-T-T-E Find out what it means to me C-H-E-T-I-Q-U-E-T-T-E Take care of C-H-E-T Sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to You do dancing. That's amazing. This week. Hello everybody. My name is Chester Floyd and I'm coming at you from Wisconsin. It's a beautiful night and I'm sitting by another beautiful campfire. And this week's Cheddar Kit question comes to us from somebody who

does not want to be named. He writes, I have a good friend with two young boys who recently passed hunter's education. The younger one, age nine, is eager to hunt turkeys. And his mom, my friend, is interested too. Though she is unsure if she wants to pull the trigger herself, I offered to take them turkey hunting. We practiced with my 410 and went over safety. The day before the hunt we tried to get the boys license but his dad, her ex-husband, refused to share his hunter's education info. He said since he put them through the hunter's education course he

wanted to be the one to take him turkey hunting first. The problem is he doesn't turkey hunt and the season had been open for a month. He also said their mom shouldn't be involved in hunting because she doesn't hunt herself and no one but him should hunt with the boys. What do you think about this situation? I think it's a very tricky situation is my first thought. I think this ultimately comes down to, this is easy for me, the kids. You have to think about the kids and you have to get them out hunting. I understand why the ex-husband wants to take his boys out first but ultimately he has to do it.

So you guys need to figure that out as parents. Talk to the dad, talk to the mom, and get those boys out hunting because that's ultimately what matters. And that's all I have to say. He's right. Think of the kids. The children. Argue with Chad on that one. Yeah, good luck. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Phil, you want to weigh in on that? You know what? I wasn't listening at all because I was prepping the next segment, Kat. Oh, yeah. Darn right. Yeah. It's a bummer when kids get kind of caught in the crosshairs of adult,

being adult issues. So you'll get it figured out. Little time, little talking. Communication. Communication, Yes. 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 sweepstakes. And our raffle and sweepstakes law makes it that they can't join. Our Northern brothers. You're 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, you're 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, Schnez, Vortex, Federal, and more. As a special offer, you can get a free three months to try OnX out if you visit onxmaps.com.meet. onxmaps.com slash meet onxmaps.com slash meet. Welcome to the, to the OnX club y'all. We're going to jump over now

that we're putting the kids to bed because it's, that's a transition. Cause folks complained last time. So close your ears children. Talk about sex Oh, it's groovy. The tune is like very G-rated. It's getting fecundity in there too.

It's just fantastic. It misrepresents. Not for everybody. Yeah. Uh, Let's Talk About Sex is where I enlighten everyone on animal kingdom mating behaviors and this week we're talking about the North American porcupine. Ah, mood. Mating is rare for the North American porcupine.

The second largest rodent in North America is known for its body armor of 30,000 quills. Females are basically celibate and so sexually inactive that the vagina is closed with a membrane. In the prime of September, the membrane dissolves and females become receptive to mating. However, they are only fertile for an 8 to 12 hour period each year. 8 to 12 hours each year only. Before the female porcupine comes into estrus, she secretes a fragrant vaginal mucus. The scent, combined with musky urine, brings all the boys to the yard. Unsurprisingly, they fight over her with their sharp incisor teeth and quills,

and some males will even battle to the death. The lucky victorious male, having chased all the other suitors away, has earned the right to approach the female porcupine. He attempts to court her, sometimes singing, doing an odd kind of dance, or simply walking over to her on his hind legs and releasing a jet stream of Europe. Ooh, of Europe? No, no, no. Whoo! Start again. Walking over to her on his hind legs and releasing a jet stream of urine onto her from up to six feet away. If she is not ready, she might scream at him, try to bite him, or simply run away.

If the male's pheromones are hard to resist, she'll allow him to mate her, relaxing her spine and lifting her tail all the way up so that the unquilled underside acts as a cushion and the male doesn't get impaled. Once impregnated, gestation lasts for about seven months and in May the female will give birth to a single newborn porcupine called adorably a porcupette. That's the end of today's lesson. Single, single birth. Yes, single birth. Wild, wild. So uh, old timers will tell you you don't kill porcupines because you can kill them with a stick. So when winter is Coming and you don't know how severe it's gonna be you want to You know have that easy food for when times are real hard

Around so you don't just kill porcupines willy-nilly and that would definitely dovetail nicely with the fact that they have a they're a low fecundity species if they're only dropping one young and they have an 8 to 12 hour window once a year tight window that's incredible I had no idea yes yeah fascinating. Yeah plus the actual like biological physical barrier Is there a word for that in the animal kingdom like other animals that that's a good question I will have to do some research. Yeah Yeah, very cool. Thank you, Karen

Yeah Yeah You bet guys and before we move on to the next segment last call for Q&A at the end of the show so I get those questions in the live chat if you would like a chance for us to discuss them. Thank you. Please. Yes, alrighty. Well, Corinne, I will say that the music makes that a little heavy. I'm starting to see where our listeners are coming at us from How do you think Cory? Coming from about six feet away

In a jet anyway We're gonna jump over you guys to another musical number Our good friend Reed Bargainer. I hope I said that right Reed. Reed is on the line I know he's been sitting there with us. Reed is the piano man and He's joining us from Birmingham, Alabama Reed's piano news on Instagram You've heard him on the meteor podcast and meteor social media channels before but this is your first time on meat eater radio live Reed How you doing Doing great. I mean watching the wizard with that music soak in the porcupine mating rituals was

Magical I loved it Would you might turn up the gain on turn up the gain on your end you're a little quiet How is that? You can go a little higher How is that you can go a little higher how's that okay so you're the wizard the wizard I can't get over it you're gonna sit there in Birmingham Alabama and tell me honestly that that's your first experience with something like that with something like that? Yeah. I'll plead the fifth. Also, I am disappointed given everybody's got costumes on.

I started looking through the closet this morning and the best I could come up with was my mom's teacher sweater from the early 90s. Oh, wow, it's got watermelons on it. Amazing. Well it's a summer motif. Oh yeah. And I just thought it's not really even a character and I don't know this thing could go pretty south when you start off with a teacher sweater so I opted not to wear it but y'all all look great. Well thank you. Thanks Reed. Where are you going with those compliments Reed? What do you have for us today? Oh wait before that I just wanted to I'm gonna interrupt and just ask you for a little bit of the

backstory of how Reed's piano news got started because folks reach out to us about him a while back. You can comment on the show. I was gonna do it on the back end of the musical number. Oh you were? Okay, you know what? No Cal, that's better. It's Corinne's day. She's feeling spicy from her segment. She's got a little sriracha. And her costume. And her costume, yeah. There you go. Oh yeah, sriracha. I'm a very clever guy. Yeah, very creative fella you are there, Reed.

What brought you to this point in time? Yeah, well, I think I've always sort of had the musical itch after I went to Auburn and me and a bunch of buddies moved back to Birmingham and started a cover band for like three or four years. And then we did everything from Nelly to Call Me Maybe to Joe Diffie. It was kind of all over.

And just occasionally playing at bars in Birmingham. And then you know how it goes. Everybody has kids and that takes priority. That's a good thing. But the music, playing out sort of dropped off, but the itch sort of remained. And the first time I made a video, like what's on the Instagram page,

I think it was, we had a guys trip lined up to go down to Orange Beach. And you know, they're just, you don't get a guy, it's effort to get a guys trip, you know, teed up and together, everybody can go, and finally we had it. And the exact day we were supposed to get down there, Hurricane Sally was coming right up the Alabama Gulf coast and we needed to

pivot, uh, and pulled the old, uh, my uncle's got a lake house, um, somewhere in Alabama. And I pulled the old, Hey uncle, can we use your lake house move? And it seemed like it took him three days to get back to us and we're all, you know, you don't want to punt the guy's trip if you can afford it. And he finally texted back. He was like, yeah, no problem.

Y'all go have a good time. And I wrote, I consider it a masterpiece. It's called, We're Going to the Lake. And that's all the lyrics. And it's, we're going to the lake about 20 times in a row. And generally my friends will tell me if, you know, if I'm doing something just ridiculously dumb or if it's a bad idea and they seem to kind of like it. So you know, I kind of got the idea like, well, maybe I wonder what happened.

I think I found a story about this bear in a Chinese zoo that people couldn't figure out if he was a zookeeper dressed up in a bear's uniform or if it actually was a zoo. It is very ambiguous. It looks a little bit like both. And I'm not still certain whether it's a person or a bear. But wrote a song about that and they got some encouragement

and then it's kind of Taking off since then so you quit quit the day job Got totally got kids all right. It's cool and it's all piano news Right. Yeah, no, we're I've got this is I'm doing this from my third house. Oh, I love it You know, so yeah, no, it's going awesome. You got a knack, man. You definitely, definitely do. Unfortunately, you're really setting yourself up for a high standard today now that we got the backstory ahead of time. Mm-hmm. Yes.

You have piano news for us today, correct? I do, and look, I hate, especially this close close to election I hate to come on here and be wildly politically divisive but you know I just that's why I got a news okay well you got to go where the news takes you and as of late we found that there is a dog that has scaled the Great Pyramid of Giza, and it has taken Northern Africa by storm. And it's heavy, but I think that people need to know. And so I'm happy to play it for y'all. Oh, we'd love to hear it.

We love this live performance, Reed. I gotta tell you out of the gate, it doesn't sound like this one writes itself. So pins and needles over here All right, here we go Greatest thing man's ever built. There's a dog on top of it The most ancient mystery on earth On top there's a good boy perched A paraglider said he was barking at birds I bet you now most northern Africa's heard

Doggone, there's a doggone Great pyramid of geezers Give him a bone Cause he can fetch a cloud 500 feet up Egypt may never be the same I think the snakes should probably be replaced And also mommies, cause it's Halloween And I wonder if aliens built these things And I wonder if aliens built these things

And I wonder if aliens built these things And I wonder if aliens built these things. Doggone. And also, mommy's cause it's Halloween. Doggone. Oh yeah. Woo! Doggone. Doggone. So, there's that. That was great.

I'm inspired. That was great. I'm inspired. That was great. Oh, excellent. And I just salute you for having the courage to back up Dog Gone with Dog Gone. Brilliant. Yeah. Well, it took a lot of guts and it's something I lost sleep

over, but you know, made it through and here we are. Oh, not only made it through, but I think you crushed it. That's for sure. That's for sure. What where you at in your season in Alabama? What's up next for you? Yeah so I've got two youngins they're nine and five. The season lately has been football and baseball but we're finally through with that. I'm actually checking them out of school tomorrow to go fix up some stands and work on some roads.

And youth season opens November 15th, then adult season's a week after that. So yeah, the nine-year-old is absolutely determined to get one on the ground this year. So we're excited. Very excited. Matt, I'm excited for you. I mean, they're not gonna learn that stuff in school. Get those kids out of there.

Certainly not, yep. Good luck to you guys. Yeah, thank you much. At Reads Piano News on Instagram. R-E-E-D-S-P-I-A-N-O-N-E-W-S. Get your fill of the news Musically that's on I N S T. Hey gr am

Thank you very much read that was awesome. Thanks so much read See y'all By read All right, we're wrapping up the show and we're gonna do so with Q&A QA did you find some some cherries for I did we got a few questions first before we do that though I want to I just want to I was going through an old picture. I was telling corinne and the guys about it earlier five years ago today We had our

first costume contest here at MeatEater. I just wanted to... Can I bring this in here? There we are. Wow. Okay, so that's like pretty much the entire company right there. But then I wanted to just point out some of the people who are still here today. I was Doc Clawliday, the White Claw cowboy. I still have not topped this it was a lot of work, and I don't think I'll do anything like it again And then we've got Spencer was Amish And Janice was a cow and Then we have yep same costume guys. Yeah, current in the same costume looking thrilled to be there And that's Kylie with the with the sushi they were they came as a

Asian food pair yes and then oh that's not what I meant to do and we've got Steve is that insurance guy who keeps getting hurt I think he's got a name oh they leave you back or the original version oh yeah and then Cal was was our good friend Jeffrey right I think yep yeah yeah about Carl's Jeffrey Carl's character creation mayhem Mayhem that's right. Wait was cow not in that photo that was cow Yeah at the at the time everybody was confusing us so that's what yeah Yeah. All right. Let's move on to the questions here. We've got

Let's see. This is kind of a broad question that maybe you can offer some first steps here. Brady's wondering how a man plans an Alaskan caribou archery hunt for himself and his dad within a five year period. I don't know if there's anything this far out he should start prepping for or training for or signing documents for.

Cal, you ever hunted caribou? I've never hunted caribou, no. Same. No. Definitely not. I mean, there's a bunch of ways to go about this. There's a lot of good do-it-yourself forums out there where you could connect with people and just learn about your fly-in operators are going to be the ones that you need to figure out and then those

folks are going to have tabs on where those caribou herds are consistently coming through and in what numbers, right? Because obviously you want to get there into a spot where you're going to see some stuff. If you want to go the fly-inin route you can go off the Alaskan Highway as well and and that's archery only within the that two mile corridor on both sides of the the highway And that's a big road trip and that'd be super cool, too, but you're not necessarily going to be there Picking out trophies right like the trip is is going to be the trophy no matter what Picking out trophies right like the trip is is gonna be the trophy no matter what But if you go in with with one of the fly-in operators You're gonna see way more numbers and be able to you know, just do some some judging if you hit it, right? So like going on no old Randy Newberg's

Forum hunt talk is a great place rock slide is still a great place to get a good do-it-yourself information. And yeah, it's just going to take time doing some research and finding some people who are flying and you can reference as straight shooters. Hmm. Awesome. That sound good?

Mm hmm. All right. This would be a good question for Randall since he's got some first hand experience, but Cal, I'm sure you've got stuff to say. Stephanie says, I'd like to work in conservation. Any recommendations? I'm 13 in Idaho. She's wondering about TRCP, fish and game, or eat pheasants forever.

Oh, yeah. All awesome, awesome things to think about. Everybody has a program to get folks out as volunteers, starting as a volunteer is a great way of getting to know those communities and expanding your own community. And then, you know, you can talk about doing the school route, but seeing as you're 13,

you could probably start even applying for some like wildlife tech internships through IDFG, Idaho Fish and Game. There's some great, great, phenomenal people at IDFG at all these organizations, really. So we can follow up with you on that. I'm sure we got some listeners that probably have more of a direct Way to go but look for volunteer opportunities and just try some out There'll be a bunch coming up here in the spring. We love that question though, Stephanie The future looks bright also come out for brush for bucks. We're gonna plant sagebrush seedlings with Idaho Fish and Game and the Hush crew and First

Light as we do every year now. It's a great program. We're all out there volunteering and IDFG as well as I think we have some TRCP folks out there, regional folks and BHA folks out there, so good opportunity to come out, do some work that benefits wildlife directly, and you'll get to know some peers in that community. This is a similar vein here. Jonathan's asking if the meat eater crew wants a college intern. Jonathan, we usually have one or two interns floating around the office these days, and we post them on our website. If you go post them on our website. If you go to themeateater.com and scroll all the way down until you find a careers button,

we will be occasionally hiring interns. So keep an eye open there. I think we also post them on job sites and stuff too. So Cal, thoughts on the recent changes to Idaho's bear seasons with regards to GRIZ and the new rules? I don't know if you're if you know about this. I'm kind of putting you on the spot here. Oh, Matt, we worked for years to try to get where you had to take the meat out of the field in Idaho. Hopefully that happened. I'm not up to up to snuff on the regulation change though, so I'm sorry, but I will do my research

and we'll cover it in Cal's Week in Review ASAP, which I've just reminded me that I need to get that to fill today. Yeah, I gotta edit it tomorrow. Thank you. Let's see here. Cal, would you ever be interested in pheasant hunting with a falconer? Is that something that you've done or would want to do? It's from Josh.

Oh, yeah. Any sort of hunting I'm always interested in. I have been out with some falconers before. They were flying peregrines and it was Incredibly incredibly cool incredibly cool. I also just straightforward You people are nuts the level of care those birds take it's like It's one of the few hunting animals or I've been like, oh that's neat for other people and not me Versus I want one. Yeah. Oh,. Oh man, they're incredible. Absolutely incredible. But that's a very adult game that I'm not quite there yet. Very dedicated. Yes, very dedicated.

Lane asked during Chetikit if Chet ever works, because he's always just sitting by a fire. Lane, when Chet moved back to Wisconsin, we said he could keep working for us, but he has to just live outside, near a burning fire at all times. And he agreed. So that's his office.

Yeah, that's his choice. That's his office, that's his spot. Let's see here, I had one. Oh yeah, someone asked about one minute fishing because we didn't do it today for the first time. It's not going anywhere, guys, it's coming back. We just, I ordered some new equipment because we've got like a little cell phone dead zone

back at our usual pond and so I wanted it to look good instead of look bad. That's what I strive for usually. Keeping standards high Phil. That's right. And on that note, that's all I got for questions. That's really? Wow. Gang, we covered politics hard in this episode. I can't believe you fell short on that.

Well, I'm kind of glad that the live chat didn't just devolve into a cesspit of yelling at each other. So I'm actually proud of you guys for not piping in too much about that. Lots, guys. Yeah, well, that's one of the greatest things. Someone said that the election was going to be a landslide, but they didn't say in favor of that. Oh, wow. So, you know? Yeah. Heck of a community.

Hats off to you. You know, we have a game show where conservation always wins. And if we all work hard, no matter the administration, we're going to make sure that all the things that matter to us always win too. That's what I'm going to do do Please join. Let's make it happen any closers We don't do that typically but Nope. Nope. I just I saw in the initial comments that People thought you look like What's his name and the weatherman Ron Burgundy Ron? Yeah, a lot of Ron Burgundy comments

All right, yeah, she's scotch. So that's how he's signing off. Mm-hmm. Yeah, all the quotes I know out of Anchorman are not appropriate. No. Especially the ones of him behind a news desk staring into the camera. Ruler.

Well, this is fun. I think we should dress up more often around here. Yeah, I think it heightens the spirit. And I'm not even. I don't like dressing up, but this has been fun. I know, you can't say that with a straight face, and I can see that straight face, Cory. You look like you're having a great time. You put more effort than anyone in this room right now. I can go apply for a bank loan after this.

The human tort has denied a bank loan. Exactly. I can tell you got great credit. Thank you everybody for tuning in. Please share these episodes, they're a ton of fun. If they get out there, we're gonna do more of them. And if we missed anything, write it. We'll figure it out. To radio at themeedeater.com.

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