The MeatEater Podcast - Ep. 640: MeatEater Radio Live! A Holiday Special

Episode Date: December 20, 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 Spencer Neuharth, Janis Putelis, Ryan Callaghan, and Phil Taylor.  Connect with The MeatEater Podcast Network MeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YoutubeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sometimes when it comes to your personal fitness goals, you just need a plan. Peloton can give you the plan. Absolutely. And Steve, you've got a Peloton. I sure do. And Steve benefits from things like a variety of challenging classes. There are four week strength building classes, running, cycling, everything in between. Peloton can adapt to any goal in this season of your life.

And by the way, the holidays are around the corner. Now is when you need to be on the Peloton. Find your push, find your power with Peloton at onepeloton.ca. Mead Eater Radio Live is the newest edition to the Mead Eater podcast feed. Every Thursday at 11 a.m. Mountain Time, we'll be going live from Mead Eater HQ

on the Mead Eater Podcast Network YouTube channel. This one hour variety show will feature call in guests, you to the Meat Eater crew every Thursday at 11 a.m. Mountain Time on the Meat Eater Podcast Network YouTube channel. And remember, it's live, so anything can happen. Well, almost anything. Smell us now, lady. Welcome to Meat Eater Trivia's Meat Eater Radio Live! It's 11am Mountain Time on December 19th and we're live from MeatEater HQ in Bozeman,

Montana. I'm your host Spencer Neuharth joined today by Ryan Callahan and Yannis Poutelis. On today's show we'll discuss the top 3 Christmas gifts we've ever received, then we'll find out how much Cal and Yannis know about their fellow hunters and anglers with a game of meat pole, and finally we'll do one minute fishing with a special guest. Yanni Cal, can I be the first to wish you a Merry Christmas? Has anyone done that to you yet? Multiple people have, but I'll take it anyway.

That's an old Chris Berman line. Do you know who Chris Berman is? The Bermanator? Yes, I do know who Chris Berman is. The fastest man in football. Exactly. Let's go. You for knowing that. He'll always like in the holiday season, He's the first to wish you a happy Halloween. He's the last to wish you a happy New Year. Oh, I like I like that gimmick that he has. Oh, I do too. What I like about him too is that where everybody else in his

career or what am I trying to say like like sportscasters? Yeah, sports journalists in that universe in that universe very sharp. I imagine sharply dressed extremely expensive looking suits and that dude rolls in like I'm like ah Yeah, I can relate to him because I can probably go I can afford that same suit He's wearing man. He looks like he smells like meats and alcohol at all times Yeah, you know that SNL skit. You know where the boys would sit around talking about double ours Oh, yeah, you know he could roll right into that I'm surprised They never tapped him actually to do that skin with them Chris Berman. He's still around mm-hmm does that yeah crushing it cow What do you do? What is that? Oh?

I have no idea what that is Sounds like sleigh bells it does sound like sleigh bells We are going to find out ladies and gentlemen in our studio a special guest You smell Santa Santa's gonna talk into his microphone. He has two game bags that are very bloody What do you got a spring bear in there? You have a lot of explaining to do, being as the guy that rolls around with a bunch of reindeer. Oh!

You have bloody game bags. These are, this is the blood of mule deer and whitetail deer. I wouldn't harm a reindeer. They're incredibly important to my operation. So Santa has two white game bags that have some old blood on them. chunks of meat kinda and chunks of meat Oh, yeah, I missed that these have not got a proper washing yet. Have they Santa? No, no Do they not have bleach at the North Pole? I find that hard to believe. It was a busy fall and then I roll right into this thing

This gig keeps me real busy So Santa has brought with him It looks like some gifts as well as a few guests. We have Brody Henderson and Cory Calkins who just appeared in the studio, and I believe Santa is now going to pass out some gifts, and we don't know who they're from. Yes, that's right. The elves have been hard at work. This one is for Spencer Newar. Oh, okay. Today's host.well So this this I believe is probably the biggest gift in your game bag is that correct I believe so Okay, those are bottomless game, but is it the heavy bottomless game? Is it the head now in Santa's experience is it the size of the gift that matters? Oh, it's just what's inside

Fits in a tiny little envelope. It's wrapped in Grinch paper and then it- oh okay, here look at this ladies and gentlemen. Oh god. It has my name on it with a piece of paper that looks like it was written something about FedEx returns. And underneath that it has Corinne's name. Which gives away the whole bit Okay, well no we don't know necessarily that was from Corinne it maybe used to be for Corinne

That would be an interesting twist did Santa bring a pocket knife or oh Maybe it's a pocket knife in there. I don't have pockets in this. I don't think you can be a meat eater employee and not carry a Look I have just opened my gift to reveal a couple of What would you call slides like the sandal slides, but instead they are largemouth bass Those are gonna make some great camp shoes there. This is beautiful Those are gonna make some great camp shoes there. This is beautiful. Maybe hot tub shoes. They could be how What if me and Corinne didn't wear the same size shoes whoever gave this gift then what they they bear an uncanny Resemblance to that singing bass. I have outside of your office. Yes, the Billy largemouth bass

I'll have you know I wear size 14 boots So I don't know if these are going to fit me or not. They may have to just go to. John, I feel bad for your wife. They may have to go. Like, is this what Christmas morning is all the time? It's like, well, it's not exactly what... These are beautiful. I love them.

There you go. Say thank you. I appreciate whoever gave me this. Now, here's what happened. I had to tell everyone who they needed to bring their gifts for, so I know who this came from. The other folks can guess, though, who gave me this gift? Does anyone know?

Corinne! Santa! Not Corinne, not Santa, not Phil. Again a couple large mouth bass slides. Is it like, what's our pool of people to pick from? Everybody in this room. Randall Williams! Cory Caulkins!

Oh! Thank you Corey! Good job Corey! This is a beautiful gift. I'll also have you know that when we talked about this segment, Corey said he was going to re-gift this in our upcoming all company gift exchange. Is that still the plan? Nope, those are yours now.

Man, I sure hope they fit. If not, you can put them on your hands and have them as a backup paddle for your canoe. Oh, that's a good idea too. There we go. Thank you, Cory that that is a perfect gift exchange gift I think Shelby will love to wear those. Yes. Yeah, yes, you will All right, Santa's got out his next gift. This next gift is for Ryan. Oh Cal Callahan Callahan Is it a is it a picture frame it's not a bathroom scale or something That's always a great Christmas gift

It's a butcher it's a very nice cutting board That looks homemade That looks great. It better be homemade because there is a $25 limit on the cost of these gifts for the terms of our agreement Thanks for that reminder Santa Cheddar worst from Matt's that's good stuff That kind of gives away who the gift or was well I don't think that I mean people drive back and forth I mean it wasn't Phil I guess I would I would imagine this okay but I know I didn't notice that on the brats that Cal received it says processed for Brody Henderson The crime

Is that your is that your boys? Mule year. Nope. That's the elk I shot last year. Yeah cleaning out the old freezer Nope, that's the elk I shot last year. Mmm, yeah. Cleaning out the old freezer. We now have one of the Christmas dogs. Oh, we have the Christmas dogs. My buddy makes those cutting boards. Oh no way.

Sweet. Who's that? Trace might have an upset tummy later. Oh. He's been eating some of the dried meat from this bag. Ho ho ho ho ho ho. That's what dogs do. Yannis, this next gift is for you.

Thanks, Santa. Wow. Is that a candle? It's gotta be. It feels like a small dish of some sort. That looks like a man wrapped it. I guess a small dog bowl. Something almost fell out of there. I like it. I like it. It's a little, uh, it's a little kit of things that, uh, a man like myself might need. Oh, like what? Uh, Dr. Bronner's unsanted-

Excuse me, unscented organic magic balm for hands, face, and body. Mmm. Duct tape. Uh-huh. Super glue. And a lighter. And a lighter that works!

Oh, dang! And the lighter. And a lighter that works. And the lighter's got a little hint I think maybe. What's the hint? Looks like a... Can you see what's on it? Oh it's a tiki drink. It's a tiki drink. So I'm gonna have to guess that my man Phil put this together for me. Well, Yanis, you would be incorrect. No! They threw me off. What's your next guess? Cal. Yep.

Merry Christmas. Hey! Thanks, buddy. You're welcome. Cal, are these things you found this morning in your junk drawer? You took them out of his wilderness survival kit. No, it's all brand new.

I had to take the super glue out of the packaging though to make it all fit together, but I'm not I don't like gifts for the most part, but this is this is a practical thing You're not gonna be like oh, here's just extra stuff in the house Listen my wife gets upset with me because I have a running list on my phone you guys can if you sneak into my phone, you might see, your name might pop up, because if during the course of the year,

all of a sudden I'm like, oh, Santa really was interested in X, and I'll make a little note, and then when Christmas comes around, I give that gift, and it's from the heart. It's not because I had to give a gift, and it ends up being extra stuff in the house. Well you've really hyped up whatever person is going to receive a gift from Yanni then this year. Oh what's nice too is like if this I thought it through. Makes it to Yannis' desk and sits there for the rest of the

year it's still a valuable thing to have. Oh, and you can get it back. If it makes it as far as the truck, and just sits there forever, it's great. Yeah, let's just hope it doesn't wind up on the free table. That would be rude. What else does Santa have in his bloody game bags? This gift has the initial CC on it, which I understand to mean Cory Culkins Oh ho ho ho ho ho ho Hot dog Very hot in here I'm dressed for the North Pole

Santa when you were a little kid did you also laugh in that same mess? Yes, it was much more disturbing before I reached puberty. This is going to be really difficult. I thought you just came out of the womb looking like that. Well, I am an ancient being, I think, according to the lore. I've got a couple of really good-looking books. I believe they're Dungeons and Dragons. Yeah.

Books. Well, it looks like it's part of a series. I'm hoping there will be more, because I can see myself reading through these pretty quickly Are you a big D&D guy? Negative, Ghost Rider. So here's the thing Cory Um... Hahahaha Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, About it, but I'm sure people know that you're a world-class hunting guide Cory I mean everyone says how much they love to go out with you But one thing you might not know about is a different kind of game. Those are mythical beasts So if you ever want to expand your clientele kind of add new skills to your tears that you know

I thought these books might help you track these you know these animals I have yes, slay a dragon buy these books for my friend Cory or were they just on your shelf and you gifted them? They feel new out of convenience. They're crisp. I'm the first one to open them. Thank you, Phil. You're welcome, Cory. Now, uh, he was dressed as a wizard for Halloween so I can understand why someone would give you the D&D book. Are there wizards in D&D? Oh, yeah. Okay. Big, big part of D&D. That was a perfect gift then for Cory. Yeah, my kid's really into dragons at this point Well, I'm trying to indoctrinate Marshall, so You got yourself a drag and you could fly into some landlocked public. Oh drop into some BLM

Yeah, that's how Santa kills all his never have to worry about having a Bic lighter on you What else is a gift is for Phil Taylor the engineer. Also known as Phil the engineer. Right. Also known by his Christian name, Phil the engineer. I have a very long list of names each winter, so it's important that I'm particular. Yeah, a lot of Phil Taylor's out there. I'll also have our listeners know that Santa has been in this suit and doing this voice for the entire hour leading up to the show. What other voice would he do Spencer? Haha, that's right. Phil, we can't see what you're opening so you gotta give us a little bit of artwork.

I have it on the camera. Oh yeah. It's a Star Wars puzzle and look at this, this is great artwork. Wow. Oh my heavens, that's two thousand pieces. That's a big boy, you've got a big mouth. Star Wars puzzle and look at this is great artwork Heavens that's two thousand pieces That's a big boy you've got a lot of the films represented including some of the prequels This is fantastic. I have no idea who could have gotten this for me because honestly it could be any of you I'm gonna say it was

Spencer Newhart it was not me okay, but I like that you thought it was me Newhart? It was not me. Okay. No. But I like that you thought it was me. Was it Santa Claus? Oh, yes indeed it was. Oh, I got it from Santa himself. I'm so lucky. Yes, when I realized how incredibly expensive Lego toys are, I switched gears and bought you a puzzle. Oh, that's why that was on your mind this morning when you came into my office, Santa? Yes, I thought I might have given it away by making casual chit chat. Not at all I was caught off guard thank you so much. Is 2,000 pieces big? That's pretty big I'd say 1,000 is kind of the average okay like like a like a weekend puzzle 2,000 I mean that's that'll keep me busy for a while. That'll babysit your kids for a week that's much appreciate a gift

our next gift is for Brody Henderson okay that's got some heft to it the Santa get a gift well he's going to get into that how many more you got in there oh it's cold it came from the North Pole Brody. Oh He's opening it very slow. Look at that fancy one. It's a gift wrapped in a gift. I don't have my spectacles on. Oh, it looks like some ducks. Oh, very wonderful. Big fatty ducks. Some fatty ducks ducks big fatty ducks. I'm gonna guess Based on someone's recent schedule. It might have been yonis One of these ducks tell us about the ducks. Oh, yeah, you should open the

plastic bag that was just a way to transport them from my house here, but They're extremely prime. They've been picked clean. They are ready for the cast iron skillet. Shot them with one pellet in the head? Yep. Actually, I'm not that good of a shot, so the ones that were donated to me, I chose those to give to you that were shot by better shooters.

Now, what species do we got here? I'm pretty sure that they're all three mallards. I think there's either two hens in a drake or two drakes in a hen. Yeah, excellent. I do not have any ducks in my freezer right now. Santa's Bloody Game Bags had three mallard ducks and mule deer sausage.

I believe that that gift exceeds the monetary limit. Oh wow. By a lot. If there were such a thing. Right, if you could apply. Yeah. But uh... Priceless gifts, I think. Very good gift, that's right. Thank you. Alright, you're welcome. We have one gift left. This last gift is addressed to Randall, which is the name I've never seen before oh because he's on your naughty list right that's right That's right Phil Taylor And I don't want to tear this bag, but I can't untie this string I see CC is reaching for a pocket knife. You might have better dexterity Santa if you take your gloves off. No no no He's really committed to the baby Brody can help you

Now what do we have here? Oh, there's two items Okay bag for Randall You don't make Randall a mind that you're opening his gift. I don't really like the guy It's a Ham's! It's a Ham's Special Light! Not just any Ham's! Oh my goodness gracious! One of the rarest beers in the world!

Oh my goodness gracious! A Ham's Special Light! Is this really for me? Yes of course that's for you! I know that you only have a very limited supply of these! Well I had to get that one. I had to open up my third to last case. I'm now in my last three cases, but you cherish that Randall. I will. You open that on a special occasion, maybe Christmas Day.

Is it cold? I can't feel it through my gloves. It's not cold. Oh, that's too bad. Because if it was, I would say in the Christmas spirit, we could crack it open right now and everybody Oh, wow, taste what one of those tastes like. Oh my goodness and a pack of basketball cards Oh, not just any pack of basketball cards I went into my collection and I pulled out all of the worst cards which are coaches Any time when you're a you'd get a pack of cards you would frown if

you saw a coach in there. A Don Nelson? Not just one Don Nelson, there are many Don Nelson. Jim Bayheim? Of course Jim Bayheim is in there and if you look Santa... A Darvin Ham Nuggetsvin ham I believe it to darvin ham rookie nuggets card Oh, I have every coach for the Bucks in there going back to 19 no for the Mavs every Mavs coach going back to 1997 Randall Claus another Don Nelson another Don Nelson card that's Don Nelson was a popular card in my collecting era. Oh, this is what a thoughtful gift. Now Santa, what will you do with those cards?

Well, I'll try to keep them all on the table. Uh-huh. My limited dexterity. I'll put them on my the shelf in my office and just point them out as sort of a curiosity to anyone that comes in. Your office at the North Pole? That's correct. Uh-huh. He'll flip through them when he drinks his ham specialite. And I'll just reflect on all the humorous short-lived coaching stints that have characterized the modern NBA. Now don't go driving your sleigh after you've tossed this hams back. Oh, the reindeer do all the steering. Oh! But speaking of the North Pole, it's time I head back that way

before I overheat in this suit. So can I leave Randall's gifts here? You can leave his gifts here. We'll get those to him, we'll make sure. I'll just go on my merry way then. Okay, well thank you Santa and Brody and Cory we hope everyone is as joyful as we were come Christmas morning

Claus. Thank you Santa. We will we will catch up with Brody and Cory later and we will get back to our regularly scheduled Radio Live events. I mean considering how many podcasts there are in the world now that Santa's opened himself up to one. Yeah. I mean that's that's tough biz. Listen we've been trying to get some big famous guests on this podcast lately And we just got the biggest of them all. Hard to top. Mm-hmm. Especially this time of year. That's right Sometimes when it comes to your personal fitness goals, you just need a plan. Peloton can give you the plan Absolutely, and Steve you've got a Peloton. I sure do. And Steve benefits from things like a variety of challenging classes There are four week strength building classes running cycling everything in between

Peloton can adapt to any goal in this season of your life And by the way, the holidays are around the corner now is when you need to be on the peloton find your push Find your power with peloton at one peloton.ca at OnePeloton.ca segments, and live feedback from the MeadEater audience. Then on Friday morning, the episode will be available in audio form on the MeadEater podcast feed. So come hang with me, Steve, Yanni, Cal, and the rest of the MeadEater crew every Thursday at 11am Mountain Time on the MeadEater Podcast Network YouTube channel. And remember, it's live, so anything can happen. Well, almost anything

Phil let's uh let's take some break for some listener feedback. What's the chat have to say? Well, I think the chat was just so caught up in all the festivities that we haven't gotten a lot of questions So please throw in some questions here, but we do have a question from Leland Hart He asks will anyone in the crew be scoring a have a Lena school now that Boone and Crockett just announced they will accept them? I've never killed a javelina. I've never killed a javelina either and I would like to get one. Johnny? Oh, well We're gonna have some javelina tags in Mexico in January. Okay, Cal's gonna go kill his first one I have killed one. I don't believe it was any sort of a special specimen. So I will not be scoring the skull. I don't know, I'm not a huge scorer.

I score every now and then just so I know kind of like what, when someone says it's X big, I know what I'm looking at. But yeah, I don't know. Hopefully BNC gets something out of having Boone and Crockett, Ja don't know. Hopefully B and C get something out of having Boone and Crockett Have a Lena measurements and friend of the show Jim Heffelfinger I think he was a big part of getting that across the finish line that have a Lena would be a Boone and Crockett animal You know what Yannis just said like it

It is very helpful to occasionally score something. Mm-hmm it just, it, it anchors your, your reference points. Right. And we scored a not very great looking bull rack. Um, you know, officially for non-official scores, you knew where we were taking it serious and, and doing it the right way for once. And, um, we were shocked. My buddy shot a bull the last day archery season.

Okay. Was more happy about just getting a bull the last day archery season than getting this particular bull. Just skull capped the thing. It was sitting in his cabin when we showed up on the floor, leaning up against a pile of sheds and we're like oh god real long main beams but yeah not all that big but oh boy the mass is kind of nice and then you're kind of like

looking at it and we finally scored the thing and it it was a legit just just a shade under 360. What did you think he was gonna be? Like 330. Okay. Right? You're just like nothing really stood out as that impressive. The width measurement and the and the the mass will hide sometimes a lot of the other measurements. This makes it easier to communicate. I saw a 140 inch buck today. I saw a 300 inch bull. What else you got Phil? Brady a question for Cal. Thought pampering hunting dogs Gramps always claimed it will ruin them Boy Brady, I think the best thing that you can do

Is have a dog that sleeps outside. I mean really really do and my dog does not she's Firmly wedged into the bed, uh, often before I get there. Uh, but I think, yeah, it just builds up their cold tolerance for sure. They get a, a much different coat if, um, they're in like a, you know, an insulated dog house outside. I think that's one of the better things that you can do for them. But you know, outside of that, I think the more time that you can spend with them, which would be pampering in some folks eyes, can really

help that communication bond and a lot of the hunting aspects that you can run into. Cal goes for both ends of the spectrum. He lets snort sleep inside, but also let snort get bit by rattlesnakes So yeah little yin and yang no no relationship comes without risk Bill yeah, we'll do one more has anyone here ever made a wild duck down pillow no There is that something you would even recommend doing there is such a thing I mean I mean like the down that you get in your sleeping bags and stuff, that is cooked in order to kill, you know, natural parasites or fumigated in some fashion, which is something that you could definitely do at home. I know my grandma did do this

So it I mean it's absolutely doable Yeah, I've just heard a declining process. It's just a real pain in the tush Yeah, cuz you're not looking for feathers in general you're looking for the down feathers, so there's some some separation Anything else so yeah, we'll hold off on some until the end of the show. But yeah, please keep keep those questions coming in. Phil, I just want to make you see that later on in the show here. We have one minute fishing. Did you talk to who were calling about that? Yes.

Yes, I did. Just making sure that we're on the same page. All right, moving on. Our next segment is top threes. Your top three, your top three, top three, your top three. I will part in a day of tears. Whoa, nailed it. Wow. Bill is falsetto. And I say, I'm a d- everybody because we just don't have enough room. And I like to invite people that would enjoy the things

that we, the activities that we do at the party, which is basically ringing in the New Year with some Latvian pagan-like traditions. One of the things is singing. And so I got to thinking today, because I was telling someone else about it, I was like, you know, Phil would be a great person to have at the party because then this if

you have somebody that can sing at that level everybody feels a little more comfortable singing along yeah you know you could use a tenor there there's a lot of basses and baritones right so Phil would bring some much-needed yeah a lot of mono tones a lot of no tones yeah I love to, yeah, anytime you'd have me over. Okay, well, we'd invite you and your entire family. It's a kid-friendly event. But we need to hear your wife's voice first. No, no.

So there's tryouts. As long as she will just sing along. Your kids get to play with molten lead? No, unfortunately, I think we're squashing that. Really? Is the modern world caught up with that pagan ritual Yanni we display our lead that we threw each Christmas. We put it up. Oh, yeah I appreciate like to hear that but yeah last year. I think there was a kind of enough griping that we've decided to

Squash the lead pouring well glad I got to see it in its uh in its heyday then yeah all right this week we are ranking the three best Christmas gifts we've ever received Cal you go first what is the third best Christmas gift you've ever gotten I got a Okay third third best You know me he's acting like I didn't email him two days ago and say hey, this is a segment we're doing Yeah, I just I don't really like splitting them up. I got a prime rib roast for my mom one time That was pretty pretty bitching. Okay, pretty like a old 20-pound chunk of meat like a four rib roast you know you know I mean like

that runs you like 90 some bucks at the grocery store yeah so I mean that's that's a nice gift and you know having that big corn-fed fat beef is a pretty serious treat when your diets are as lean as ours are so when did you cook it up then what occasion did you save it for I think I ultimately cut it into steaks to kind of make it last longer okay and then yeah every every once in a while would grill up big big fat steak. Yanni? Jalapenos. Third best Christmas gift you've ever received. Man, I'm with Cal, it's hard to really rank these. Uh-huh.

Does that mean you're unprepared? No, no, no, no. Oh, okay. I have a lot of good, I've received a lot. The more I thought about it, I'm like, man, there's been so many good ones. But it's also been over the course of 46 years. But a Christmas gift that I still receive

annually, I hope to receive it again this year, is that my in-laws usually roll in or send us home if we're spending the holidays in North Carolina with a cooler full of headed shrimp. Oh, what do you do with them? Eat them. Oh, well, beyond that. Like, what kind of recipes? How do you cook them, when do you do with them eat them? Oh well beyond that? Like what kind of how do you cook them? When do you cook them? Is that like a thing you eat on Christmas?

Uh, I mean, there's a lot so we like to share with other, you know folks that would enjoy eating some shrimp But often we just do a you know shrimp Cocktail we might we fry a lot of shrimp Cocktail we might we fry a lot of shrimp We might just do like a boil and toss them in some hot Cajun butter kind of a thing, you know and do peel and eats We keep it pretty simple. I don't get too fancy with the shrimp. You think they're bringing you some this year? I don't know. I don't ask now. This is good. I'm crossing my fingers Uh-huh. This is a good way to encourage them telling that third best gift you've ever received a shrimp Oh, yeah. No, they're very aware that we are very appreciative of of that

freezer stuffer All right, third best gift I've ever received with some Cabela's waiters from my parents in high school I was driving a Chevy Cavalier at the time, which is just a two-door little car Not a lot of room so I could fit those in my trunk, and it unlocked a lot of fishing, a lot of hunting, and specifically, bow fishing was my favorite thing at the time. So I could fit my bow fishing rig and my waders in the trunk,

and that allowed me to kill hundreds of carp, really satisfied me in high school. So those waders, got a lot of mileage out of them. They're the best gift I ever received. I'm gonna do my second one too. Well, do we get to ask Phil? Does Phil get a play? Oh, well, Phil was just doing some technical adjustments over here. Phil, you can play along, of course. Oh, well, I did not do the homework Spencer, but maybe if you come back to me, I'll think of something.

Okay, we'll swing by him at the end here. Second best gift I ever received was my first trail camera. It was from my wife. She was my girlfriend at the time here. Second best gift I ever received was my first trail cameras for my wife. She was my girlfriend at the time in college. And that was a Moultrie M100. I still remember what it was. It would have been like 2011. And that was when trail cameras started to get really good and really affordable.

I don't know if you guys ever dabbled trail cameras like 20 years ago, but they were even more expensive than they are now. And they performed really poorly. And that was right about the time, that was like a tipping point, around 2010, 2012, when trail cameras got really good, and anybody could walk into a Cabela's

and buy one with some confidence. So that didn't make me a better deer hunter, but it made me a more excited deer hunter, was getting that first trail camera. So I'd say's the second best christmas gift i've ever received cal your second best christmas gift i would say um i got uh my first semi-auto shotgun, Winchester Super X2, which is still like a fantastic, waterfowl semi-auto shotgun if you can find one. I recently saw that thing on some lists of like used shotguns to look out for, and it's a fantastic shotgun.

I shot the heck out of that thing. What were you shooting before that? Winchester 1300 okay, which used to be able to get for like 150 bucks And it would come with a case of shells uh-huh and would you know would just shoot those things until they they fell apart There's something with the arms on the slide That at some point that metal would just weaken and snap off. Yeah. What age were you then when you got that semi-auto?

Probably 20. It's a good gift to be getting a semi-auto. Oh yeah. Time to begin the semi-auto shotgun. Huge, huge. Yeah. Yanni second best Christmas gift you've ever received. Also a firearm. Oh. My dad gave me a Remington 700

chambered, I believe it was the BDL, which has the detachable Not detachable, just has the hinge floor plate. Uh-huh. But chambered in 30-06. Okay, and how old were you? hmm probably 14 15 ish because we could hunt we couldn't hunt with a rifle in Michigan, but we could in Wisconsin Okay, and so I think then like the next year I went and killed my first buck with with that rifle in Wisconsin. I'm gonna give my number one

It was also a Remington 700. Hey, from my parents in high school, I think it had been like 15 years old. That was a 308 that I got. And that was the gun that I used to kill my first antelope, my first elk, my first mule deer. That was the rifle that like allowed me to, I guess, become more of a generalist hunter beyond just a whitetail guy was I was having my own, my very own rifle and it was a.308 and a Remington 700. It just worked good for everything. So Yanni's second best gift ever was a Remington 700. My best gift ever, Remington 700. Yanni, what was

the best gift you ever got? My youngest daughter was born December 5th, which is an early Christmas present. But Jennifer reminded me this morning that she was supposed to be a Thanksgiving baby. She was quite a bit late, which usually doesn't make the carrier of that baby happy. But it was a very nice gift. Two weeks later, we drove from,

where were we? We were living in Salt Lake. We drove to Michigan. So that was 2013. I forget what they called it. It wasn't the polar vortex that like went down into Texas or whatever. But it was a storm that came into the Midwest

and it literally just put a sheet of ice basically from somewhere in the Dakotas all the way into the you know into the Great Lakes states and Some of the craziest scariest driving I've ever experienced There was a moment how far of a drive Long enough we had to stay overnight Oh, you know two days of driving. Uh-huh. And to do that with a two week old baby in the middle of winter's maybe not,

wasn't a good decision. Yeah. But there was a moment where I drove through very slowly through a recently happened accident where there was multiple cars, like stuff littered on the highway. And I just was like, I think the best idea is just to keep weaving and moving like don't touch the brakes don't hit the

gas you know and just get away from all of this but yeah it was pretty intense so she was a better Christmas gift than your your rifle dad gave you oh yeah okay Cal best Christmas gift you ever received and then we're gonna hear hear from Phil the engineer. I think So my mom and it'd be I Can't really remember if it was I think it may have been more of a birthday present, but sometimes a Christmas present would be renewal subscriptions to outdoor life and field and stream and my dad, it's a combo deal, uh, collected works of Jack London. It's a big, thick book.

Okay. Um, but both of those were, um, you know, like definitely like the things that I would read and read and read that Were just like because I really didn't have any buddy That was like really enamored with hunting and fishing In my social circle like growing up, you know, so like there were folks who dabbled in it. Mm-hmm, but You know wasn't that was like my main resource right it's like and you know not like internet stuff or anything like that that you know just wasn't the

learning experience at that point so okay well if anyone out there is shopping for a gift for the three of us you could get us a gun books or a child that's at the top of our list yeah but number three is good too which would be you know food mm-hmm yeah I mean yeah food really it's such a good gift I mean look at this Brody Henderson mule deer brats yeah and anybody who does this stuff knows that sausage is expensive whether you make it on your own or pay to have it done it ain't cheap it's time and money and it's arguably like the most expensive thing in your freezer and it's

Almost always the thing that I give away and I mean ducks make people very happy too for the folks Those of you who can appreciate a good duck. That's right I was gonna I was gonna add to that one say that I ain't give it a duck to nobody just anybody especially a plucked one like that oh yeah it's like Brody I know that when he thaws that thing out it will be treated properly would be enjoyed but I can't say that about everybody yeah Phil the engineers are Remington 700 also at the top of your list it's not no and also both my kids were born born in the spring so I don't say that about everybody. Yeah, Phil the engineers are Remington 700 also at the top of your list It's not no and also both my kids were born born in the spring, so I don't have that cut that cop out either

cop I was thinking the same thing Thank You Cal I mean this is easy. I mean number three PlayStation 2 that was in the year 2000 number two probably the Gameboy advance in 1998 and number ones PlayStation 1 I think that was 97. Hell. Yeah, Phil. Hell. Yeah, sometimes when it comes to your personal fitness goals You just need a plan Peloton can give you the plan. Absolutely and Steve you've got a Peloton I sure do and Steve benefits from things like a variety of challenging classes There are four week strength building classes,

running, cycling, everything in between. Peloton can adapt to any goal in this season of your life. And by the way, the holidays are around the corner. Now is when you need to be on the Peloton. Find your push, find your power with Peloton at onepeloton.ca. All right, moving on, our next segment is Meat Pole. Meat Pole is a test of how much you know about your fellow hunters and anglers.

I surveyed 500 meat eater listeners about personal preferences and personal experiences. Your job is to predict their answers. There are three questions. Whoever is closest to the correct answer between Cal and Yanis gets a point. Whoever gets two points will be the winner. And everyone in the chat should play along as well Because Phil is going to watch for your answers and give a shout out to whoever is closest You boys ready? Yeah, I'm having a little Christmas cookie. All right the first question

What percentage of meat eater listeners plan to serve wild game on Christmas this year? So you're going to write down a number as a percent. What percentage of meat eater listeners plan to serve wild game on Christmas this year? Can't believe you guys thought that was a cop out. I mean, December 5th. It's closer to Thanksgiving, Yanni. It is, but.

Cal, what are you serving on Christmas this year? Well, I'll definitely be cooking some wild game on Christmas. Haven't cleared that with the program manager yet. Oh, okay. But Christmas Eve, I have a whole antelope ham that I'm gonna you know make all super nice in the smoker get a good salty briny crust on there when do you got to start on that then? I'll do that Christmas Eve morning okay Okay. And then do like hard rolls and a couple little sandwich spread sauces.

Mm-hmm. So you're only gonna brine it for a day? No. So what I like to do is just do like a salt rub the night before, which is a brine, but then put it on the pellet grill and then make a mop. So it's hard with a pellet grill because you lose so much heat, but like just 325-ish and then do like a rosemary, thyme, garlic, more salt, butter, and olive oil and then mop that on that roast over and over again like every 20 minutes and it really extends the cooking time, but you get this nice, like salty crust on there. It's kind of like Mediterranean style. You could put tzatziki out, something like that, but, and it works awesome with antelope specifically, but then folks can kind of build their own little sandwiches. And then I'm going to make a huge thing a poke out of a chunk of the yellowfin that we got from meat eater experiences

and then I Might do meatballs to some fresh ground Elk meatballs and a nice homemade marinara sauce I'm guessing that you must be hosting. Well, my uncle Mike's holes hosting and in his words, this is one of the original cow calla and in his words, this is one of the original Cal-Callahans, in his words, I'm providing the house and I will buy whatever you tell me. He's like, that's all I can contribute, which is a lot of, it was a huge contribution. Is he the program manager or that's referring to someone else? That's referring to somebody else on Christmas Day. There's Christmas Day

responsibilities, but Christmas Eve responsibilities are helping provide the food for 18 people. My uncle Mike's hosting. He'll buy some of the beer and the booze and then he likes to do Not a bouillabaisse, what's the other Seafood kind of stew chowder It's the sea. It's like a French. Yeah, you know, you know, you know, thank you. Good job team Italian

Yeah, so Cal you better get that paperwork submitted then to the program manager Yeah, you can figure out Christmas day again The question they're answering is what percentage of meat eater listeners plan to serve wild game on Christmas this year? Are you two ready? Reveal your answers. Cal says 86%. Cal.

Janice says 65%. The correct answer. I thought I was high. Is 44.7, meaning Yanni takes the first point of the game a 20 that's directly proportionate reflective of people who were successful and were not successful Jerry in the chat saying 45 45 Jerry 7 points off a

2020 you go pool looked at the most popular Christmas dishes in America. They found that turkey, prime rib, roast beef, steak, chicken, pork loin, and ham are the favorites, while goose, duck, lamb, and fish had the lowest approval ratings. I got a good Christmas duck story. We still tell it. I think that the details and the story have been skewed, and if my brother was here, he could better tell the story. But the short version of it is, excuse me, we're at my grandmother's in Chicago, and she cooks duck for Christmas.

And she could- Where'd the duck come from? Like a farm duck? Like a grocery store? Like a farm duck, farm duck, yeah. And she was a good cook, considered herself a good cook, and took a lot of pride in, you know, decorating for the holidays and having just a supreme spread. And whenever it's served, we sit down, it's duck, it looks beautiful, and my brother asked

for ketchup. And that did not go over well with Grandma and I don't forget exactly, you know, what happened after that. Did he get his ketchup? I don't even remember that far. I just remember that he asked for it and that oh, yeah That's when the shit store that make my mom lose it. She would she'd be visibly angered question to What percentage of Mediator listeners have killed a deer on Christmas Day?

Again, Yanni took the first point. He was closest on figuring it out. What percentage of listeners are serving wild game on Christmas this year? Now we're on question two. What percentage of Mediator listeners have killed a deer on Christmas Day? Have either of you killed a deer on Christmas this year. Now we're on question two. What percentage of meat eater listeners have killed a deer on Christmas day? Have either of you killed a deer on Christmas day?

Plenty of birds. Okay. I don't believe so. I just killed my first deer on Thanksgiving Day this year, which I thought was kind of fun and cool, you know? I didn't even think I'd ever be hunting on Thanksgiving Day, let alone get lucky enough to kill a deer. Why do you think you'd ever hunt on Thanksgiving Day? Well because usually I was never in a spot where that was like

I know for some people that's just tradition right that like Thanksgiving Day you're out hunting but I don't know for us we're usually just with I don't know maybe I'm not remembering things correctly because I maybe I've been on a squirrel hunt Thanksgiving Day now that I think about it but anyways I'm not remembering things correctly because I've maybe I've been on a squirrel hunt Thanksgiving Day. I think about it, but Anyways, I'm hoping to make it a tradition Yeah, again, what percentage of listeners have killed a deer on Christmas Day? Are you two ready? Yeah. Oh man according to our Folks writing in I am way high Go ahead and reveal your answers Cal says 11%

Yanni says 7% One of you is within 1% of the correct answer The correct answer is 6.2% There's a lot of 6's up there I forgot you guys can see me starring things over here, but guess what we had three people get it right on the money We had Benjamin say 6-2 damn Ben Ben, Scuba Steve said 6'2", and Dan Garrett said 6'2". Hell yeah Dan, the chat is on it. I think what we've learned here is I believe more in our audience than our audience does. Alabama has one of the most unique ruts

in North America with peak rut dates ranging from mid November to mid February and According to deer fetal collections Christmas Day is actually peak rut in some parts of the state. Oh, here's question three We already know Yanni won it but we're gonna look at this last one anyway What percentage of meat eater listeners think Yanni's is a better gift giver than Cal? Oh, how would they even know? listeners think Yanni is a better gift giver than Cal? Oh, how would they even know? Well, they've been consuming content with you two for years, and they've maybe gathered some info in that time. What percentage of listeners think Yanni is a better gift giver than Cal?

Yanni, who do you think is a better gift giver? I don't know. What did you give this year? We both did really good. Oh, you gave ducks and Cal gave a nice little, like, I don't know what you call that. A bouquet of, it's a kit of everyday, usable items. I mean it hasn't been two weeks since the last time Someone at my house was like I can't find the super glue you know there You know have an extra tube kicking around yeah both gave good good

I thought the salve to is I was looking for bag balm mmm, but they didn't didn't have it at the grocery store, so Cuz that's That's helpful stuff especially for Yanni's running career so what percentage of listeners think Yanni is a better gift-giver than Cal? So if I was to say 10% that would mean that 90% of them thought that Cal was a better gift-giver. That's correct we surveyed 500 people to get this answer. Wow. Better gift giver. John Flynn says 110% of the people think you're a better gift giver than I am. Are you ready Yanni? Oh sure. Reveal your answers. John you can buy your own stuff okay. Cal says 54% of listeners think Yanni is a better gift-giver than Cal and

Yanni says 80% of Listeners think Yanni is a better gift-giver than Cal. Yeah, this is not a reflection of what I think This is what I think the listeners think. Well, it's a clean sweep for Yanni this week 73.1% of listeners said they think Yanni is a better gift-giver. Yeah we had Evan guessing 73.5% so he was very close. Good work Evan. Evan, Yanni is our winner of this week's game of MeatPull. All right next up-

It's a fun game Spencer. Thank you Yanni, I think it fits into radio well. Next up we are doing One Minute Fishing. Do I feel lucky? Oh boy. Well, do you, punk? Go ahead. Make my cast. For folks who don't know,

Uh-huh. that a percentage game is something that we started doing at the live podcast, live tour. And it is pretty fun to be able to started doing at the live podcast, live tour. And it is pretty fun to be able to stare out at the audience and be like, 54% of this crowd. We learn a lot about folks in Anaheim

and Salt Lake City and Missoula. My favorite question to ask is what percentage of people think that their state game agency is corrupt? And it's often more than half in any state you're in. All right, 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.

This week, our angler is Santa Claus, who's at an undisclosed location Somewhere in the northern hemisphere and he's fishing for a donation to the Theodore Roosevelt conservation partnership He's even in a boat. I Didn't know Santa was gonna be in a boat Wow, well you you just saw us Santa don't you today? Wow. Well you you just saw us Santa. Don't you know? I'm everywhere all at once. That's how this whole thing works You got someplace sunny. Oh

It's extremely hot out here I thought it'd be cooler than it was in the podcast studio, but I'm still uncomfortable in my suit How did you transport your canoe Santa? By sleigh, of course. Oh of course. I mean that makes sense. Santa is in an actual canoe he has found soft water somewhere here in the Gallatin Valley unless he went to somewhere else totally he does have a sleigh to transport himself. He's wearing on ice I don't see any ripples coming off that canoe It's mostly hard water, but there's a little bit of soft water and we didn't feel comfortable getting on the ice today Okay He is being safe. He has a little orange life vest on

That I don't know if that's gonna work if we get in an emergency All right Santa Claus Okay, but it is legal Santa Claus, what are we fishing for today? We're fishing for some perch. I'm told okay, and what tactics are you using? We've got a little jig head here a little sort of a fire tiger type jig head with some Some meal worms okay Santa good store well the maybe the meat eater flagship store in downtown Bozeman because they do sell bait so if you're in the Gallatin Valley

and you find that you need some bait swing into the meat eater store okay Santa Claus your one minute starts whenever you make your first cast. Oh is that his ham special light at his feet? Well his ham special light is sitting right here so he must have a different... That's a different gear. Okay Santa Claus is now jigging it's a very gentle uh motion he's using. It's a very gentle motion he's using. It's a pretty aggressive jig though. Oh, sure, yeah. That is a short rod that he has as well. It's like something-

It's gotta fit in the sleigh, Spencer. Something between an ice fishing pole and a regular old jigging pole. You don't think that's the ice fishing rod? It looks, I mean it looks- You're not ice fishing, you're a- Did you see- We're not ice fishing. You're 30 seconds in. It looks I mean it Your 30 seconds in did you see Santa's somewhere just looking at Santa's jigging motion here. I don't think all st. Nick's a real purge fisherman

Well, you can give us some tips. He's got 10 seconds left. The shaky wrist. Slow it down a little bit. Yeah, act like you drank way too much the night before and your hands are shaking. All right, Santa. Looks like you might have a drink near his boot down there. I don't know. He did mention some eggnog.

Your one minute is over, but he's still fishing anyway. Santa, I'm disappointed we couldn't make it happen for the Christmas episode of Media to Radio Live. Although I do believe in the magic of Christmas I did not have a lot of confidence that this would work. Okay well thank you for joining us Randall Claus. Where are you off to next? Where are we gonna see you after this I hope Chipotle he did not bring a change of clothes so you may actually see him in Chipotle all right see you later Santa thanks Santa okay that brings us to the end of this week's show Phil let's get some final feedback from the chat

Weeks show Phil. Let's get some final feedback from the chat Wow Mogor asks hey Spencer when you found out that your favorite beer was going out of production. How much did you stockpile for yourself? Thank you for your answer. I think you've talked about this before but it's been a while, right? Yeah, so it was uh, there were rumors that it was happening for a while So I spent like a year just collecting and I had like people in my network my family and my friends Also trying to get it. Yeah, because well, they don't sell any of it in Montana either when they did sell ham special It's like sort of a Great Lakes Midwestern thing Maybe in the Northeast as well, but we didn't have it this far west. So I was really stockpiling it

And and you would see in Facebook groups when someone posts like, the Walmart and Mitchell, South Dakota just got more ham special light. I'd had a small but loyal following. What kind of a Facebook group? Like a ham? A hams Facebook group, yeah. And again, there were rumors for a while

that this was gonna happen. How it worked was during COVID. Molson Coors, who I think is the larger entity that brews hams and ham special light, they cut back production during COVID like a lot of places had to. And when they did that, they realized, hey, maybe we don't have to sell all of these niche beers anymore because it's not really affecting our bottom line. And so they cut 13 of their products one of them was sadly the ham special light So I am down to my third to last case I think by the time it was formally announced that they were canceling it I had like 10 cases left

So it's uh we're down to the line you're telling us the other day that they're getting they've outlived their shelf life Yeah, so that people are always in my Instagram comments like beer don't keep those things gotta be green I I get that but you know what's better than no ham specialite is a slightly off ham specialite So they are starting to taste Slightly different just a more mature beer now you got to drink them ice cold You don't drink a ham specialite to room temperature anymore What else we got Phil? Ben's asking tomorrow's my birthday, and I'm Spencer's number one fan

Can he send me a personalized message from his hot tub give a cameo account Spencer? Starting one no Ben is someone I went to high school It's just it's a little little prank from Ben. Yeah. And do you a message, Ben from the hot tub? That's a whole different revenue stream. Thoughts from Spencer's hot tub. That'd be good. Yeah. We'll give, give the money to conservation. Leland asks, what is a, what is better to prep for quail hunting, skeeter trap? What hunting style does each prep for better? What do you got, Cal?

Um, Does each prep for better? What do you got, Cal? I mean, whatever you can make time for, for sure. More shooting in the off season develops muscle memory. And yeah, I mean, that is the number one thing is mounting that gun the same way every single time and shooting from your toes, not your heels. An aggressive stance and you can hone that skill way better in the off season than you can during the hunting season. Um, but, uh, yeah, boy, uh, the sporting clays, if you can make it out to sporting clays, um, that's a great way to do it. Uh, because you just see a bunch of

different angles and go you know try to make some time to do it when it's not busy and you can spend time at different stations playing them over and over again for those those tricky shots. But maybe for quail the trap just because it comes out from under your feet kind of right yeah, yeah, yeah to pick one Yeah, cuz it's not gonna get a big passing shot on a quill no it not I Mean it all happens out there, but yeah, I think if you're flushing birds They're typically gonna come out and go away from you Phil anything else oh yeah, we can do one more Bradley asked

Where do you do most of your Christmas shopping for your significant other? I bought most of my presents at Menards this year. Hey, I said like go-to outlets for your girlfriend or or wife Bradley is uh, he's a good Midwestern or going to Menards you save big money there. You got to send it Oh, look, he's a he's a big trap or skeet guy judging by his picture there No, I don't. I bought very few gifts this year. Everybody has what they need in my house. There you go. I got my wife's gift from eBay this year but she might be listening so I'm not going to say what it is. Cal, any thoughts on this? Yeah, boy, I think actions over more stuff. Everybody has access to stuff, you know, all the time these days. Sure,

could be the action of buying something. There's a list of things that I need to get done that would make somebody very happy. Oh buddy, tell me about that mm-hmm Phil what else you got? How about we call the show guys okay? Just hit minute 60 and I can hear that Christmas. There's an all-company meeting happening upstairs right now Oh right now you're right. Yep, st. Nick All right everyone Merry Christmas Yeah. All right, everyone. Merry Christmas. Thank you very much.

Merry Christmas. Thanks for tuning in. And Phil, next week we do not have a show. Yes, next week we're dropping a couple of episodes of the Kids Podcast on the MeatEater Feed, but there are even more over on the MeatEater Kids Feed. So if you're a parent and you're listening to this show right now, go subscribe to the new feed

if you haven't done that already. But we'll be dropping a few more episodes and then we will also be back with a new episode on January 2nd, but it will be pre-taped. So it'll be live streamed, but it'll be pre-recorded. But then after that, we're live again for the foreseeable future. All right. Merry Christmas. We'll see you back here in the new year.

Have a fun one. Get outside. Have a fun one, get outside! Mountain Time will be going live from MeatEater HQ on the MeatEater Podcast Network YouTube channel. This one-hour variety show will feature call-in guests, segments and live feedback from the MeatEater audience. Then on Friday morning, the episode will be available in audio form on the MeatEater Podcast feed. So, come hang with me, Steve, Yanni, Cal and the rest of the Mead Eater crew every Thursday

at 11am Mountain Time on the Mead Eater Podcast Network YouTube channel. And remember, it's live, so anything can happen. Well, almost anything.