The MeatEater Podcast - Ep. 719: Answering Your Questions! | MeatEater Radio (Not) Live!

Episode Date: June 20, 2025

Hosts Randall Williams, Janis Putelis, and Cory Calkins field your questions in this pre-recorded show with some help from special guests Jason Phelps, Chester Floyd, Rich Froning, Tyler Jones, and Jordan Budd. Watch the live stream on the MeatEater Podcast Network YouTube channel. Subscribe to The MeatEater Podcast Network MeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTubeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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is the latest addition to the Bear Gryse feed on Meat Eaters podcast network. Together, we'll seek out a deeper understanding of wildlife, wild places, and the people who dedicate their lives to conserving both. After all, you can't love what you don't understand. Search Bear Gryse on Apple, iHeart, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast and hit that follow button to enroll in Backwoods University now. Welcome to MeatEater Trivia's MeatEater Podcast.

Welcome to MeatEater Radio Live. We're coming to you from MeatEater HQ in Bozeman, Montana. But we're not live today. Waa-waa. What? Yeah. No, this is for June 18th. 19th? 19th. This is June 19th. If you're listening to me now, it's Federal Holiday Juneteenth,

and we are recognizing that here by not being here. So this is a pre-recorded episode, and on today's episode we've got a great one for you. We're here to answer your questions from how to handle conversations with poachers, are we? To unique ways to prepare bear meat, this entire show is Q&A. ways to prepare bear meat this entire show is Q&A and it is June 19th today so we are in the thick of things summer speaking. Boys have any fun summer plans? Oh man. I stumbled through that intro I don't think this is off to a good start. I think you did great. I don't know who wrote this script but you crushed that. Yeah that yeah pound some more to that beer lube it up Randall mm-hmm That's a pet lubricate the wheels What are you doing Cory man?

Camping been doing some camping. It's been a hot summer already. I feel like winter kind of really yeah It feels like all of a sudden. It's just been hot like it feels like it's July out, and it's not it's June 19th yes, but it not it's June 19th yes but it's actually is June 19th that we're recording this and it's just it's just hotter than it needs to be already was I'll take it was up near our state capital over the weekend it was really smoky I think it's fires coming down to Canada but it's like it's just coming on a little too early I feel like spring held on pretty well but then it like, we need some snow still.

The smoke rolled in and dramatically waters in Western Montana are drying up. The rivers are drying up. Reservoirs are not going to fill up this year. It's not looking good. So you're telling me you're not going to fish much this summer. I'm going to fish now and come summer. I'm going to be shooting rocks from a slingshot at carp, or something else, not catching trout, that's for sure.

Oh yeah, maybe going to the reservoirs and practicing your spear fishing on some carp in the water. Some bow fishing, maybe. That'd be cool. But yeah, get your Montana trout fishing now, because it feels like it's gonna be a hoot owl coming to the shore later. be a Hoot owl later

What does hood owl mean Cory? Well, that's just the term that they've coined when rivers get a little too warm If it's above 72 degrees for a few days in a row, they'll shut the fishing down mostly in the afternoons Usually it's around 2 p.m. or whenever the water gets hot, but really you just need to have a thermometer in the water and use your head. If it gets honestly towards 70, you should put your fly fishing gear or any of your fishing gear down and go do something else. Get up a little earlier and fish early in the mornings, but

we will see that here sooner than later, I'm sure. So you should need to fish on owl hours. Right. I don't understand. They're only protected a bunch of non-natives I can understand if you're killing a bunch of cutthroats, but yeah a bunch of rainbows and Browns in there Yeah, what point in evolution is something native and not and non-native still like if a rainbow is born in a river obviously, it's Not from that area. But at what point, like, does it take thousands of years, hundreds of thousands of years?

At what point is an animal native to the landscape? You can ask that same question about humans. Yeah, we were just up in Manitoba, you know, on that bear hunt and different parts of that country. Canada, not Manitoba, the province. But, you know, they, depending on which province you're in, they really respect, they call them the first nations, right? Which we don't really use that term down here. I started thinking a lot about that. I'm like, well, they were first, but who was before them?

And no one. Maybe no one. Do we know? All the evidence maybe is buried under the sand. Like does, does their history go back that far where they're like, oh no, like my ancestors came across the, uh, lamb ridge or my ancestors came down the coast and then migrated? I mean, I think so. They, there's really no other way they, you could have ended up

indigenous without having some lineage that goes back to that, right? Hmm. Wow, I just don't think we know all the details yet. Do you? You do way more reading about this than I do. I mean, we're getting into... we're getting into some pretty heady territory here guys. Oh we are.

This is not where you want to go with this? No, no, I uh. We're supposed to just be talking about what we're doing this summer. What's the meaning of life? Yanis, I heard you're running a race this summer. Speaking of being hot this summer, I ran a race a couple days ago, last week, if you're listening to this on June 19th, in Pocatello, Idaho called the Scout Mountain Ultra,

ran the 50 mile distance, which actually in Scout Mountain, at Scout Mountain, it's 55. For the first time ever, I used a handkerchief or a bandana that was sewn shut and it had like a sleeve on the long edge and the ends were open, like where you would tie it, went around your neck and you stuff ice in there.

And then you tie it around your neck, game changer. And so how it- So you did do this this past weekend, it's not coming up next weekend. No, okay I already level of detail convinced me. Yes Yeah game changer and obviously it started with just a regular old bandana somebody decided to put some ice in a bandana They've evolved But I bet I would have run at least 30 minutes

Maybe 60 minutes longer and been way more affected by the heat had I not had this Ice bandana. Hmm. You were able to find some ice to fill it up throughout the race. So yeah, most of these ultras I would say all of them honestly have eight stations Mm-hmm, and they're the the longest distance that we went between eight stations was just over 10 miles, but most of the time they try to set them at like 5 to 7. Five sometimes can seem short because you're barely getting through what you've replenished before you need more. 10 felt a little bit long, especially Saturday because I had drained all my liquids and everything. But anyways, they know it's going to be hot.

They had ice at every single aid station. Lots of different like energy and caloric drinks. Like the, you know, Gatorade type stuff, tailwind, goo type stuff. But then also they'll just have little cups of Coke. Did they have some Coke for it? Ginger ale. Oh yeah. But I don't understand why I'm always I would rather drink a flat coke because then I don't have the carbonation bouncing around in my belly. Sure. But nobody at this race was they were like oh we thought you'd like carbonation because it settles your stomach.

You know how like when you're a kid and you're upset your mom mom gives a little seven up ginger. Yeah, saltine crackers. Yeah, but Yeah, so I ran the 55 in preparation for the crazy mountain 100 Mm-hmm, which is at the end of July that'll be hot. It could be Could be cold too. It's true weather in the crazies at the end of July. Never know don't know Yeah, July 4th last you were up there and getting snowed on. You were up there? Mm-hmm. Did a little hike.

I mean odds are it'll be warm on the warmer side of things than colder but you never know. I'll be prepared for that. If it's colder it'll be much easier running. What else I want to tell you about my recent race? I see here two emergency poops. Is that correct? Yes. But it was it was a bad way to start the race. Within the first 10 miles, I had two of those. But between those two emergency poops, I had three falls.

And at 47 years of age, my falls are not getting any easier. I used to kind of like skid, roll, flip, and just like be right back on my feet and trudging along, going like, oh, what was that? You know, and kind of take a couple of deep breaths, make sure the ribs and lungs are okay. Now I like skid and pretty much come to a halt on the ground and then lift my face off the dirt and I'm like, oh

And then I you know slowly like a big buck getting up out of his bed, you know Get get up and stretch and you know then check and make sure everything's still working and then proceed down the trail Damn, I don't know if it was I was wearing some new shoes I didn't have too many miles in yet The trail was like mountain bike single track so it had a little bit of that like V to it a belly Yeah, and it had like that groove You know what I'm talking about and I don't know if that was getting to me because I talked to some other folks I actually fell in that same section too But yeah, I've made it most of my life not needing to poop while

I'm running and those days are behind me. Are all poops while you're running emergency poops? What crosses the threshold? I think if I would have been able to, I knew I had an aid station coming up and I'm kind of watching on my watch. I know what mileage it's at. I know how many miles I have to go. And if I could just make it to the aid station, and even if I was sprinting in there to go have a bowel movement, I would say, oh, it wasn't really an emergency.

I had to poop. But these are like, oh no, you're getting off the trail now, and you're gonna poop. Talking to more ultra Marathon runners it they're like oh if you don't have some of those along with Losing some toenails fighting some nausea you didn't really experience an ultra marathon Well, I would guess like a hundred miles. How long is that gonna take you?

The goal is to do it under 30 miles There's a 30 hours 30 sorry 30 hours. Yeah, that's a few poops. Yo first Well depending because I think yeah if you're traveling well, sometimes you can go two days I have that curse where when I start a new hunt, I don't poop for three or four days. It's bad Phil what about you start a new video game? Are you things moving correctly or yeah, I mean I keep a bucket behind the couch Yeah, boy, that's a hell of a hobby Yeah, real picked a doozy. Yeah picked a doozy But it's you know, we we went to bed

Having this conversation like why are we doing this like in our group someone said yeah my literally my my bunghole is like worn raw and fucking on fire sorry for the f-bomb and that's no fun like we're talking about between the three of us how many toenails we're gonna lose everybody's hobbling around looks like you can barely walk. I'm like, why have we chosen this? Cause I used to run just to be in shape for elk hunting. Yeah, right. Just to be able to chase the bull up the mountain. And now it's become a little bit more of a love

for the run itself. But, and so we went to bed with questions and I woke up and I said, you know, it's because it makes you feel alive. I think that's a, there's no simpler answer than that. It's beautiful. Yeah. Yeah.

You guys have any other questions? I can tell you about my toenails. I can tell you about how- Did you lose some? I almost lost a toenail during hunting season. I put a toe warmer in my boot and then it flipped around and got on top of my toe But I didn't want to take it out time out. It was under your feet. Yeah, what?

Yeah on top of your foot. No, they don't know but yeah Top of your toes. Try it You're walking around with a Roll up. Listen, I know that what you're saying works, but the directions Are never read the directions are the opposite. They like go- Heat rises, baby. Yeah, but you certainly feel the heat touching you. Wow, this is new.

I got this bad boy wrapped up around my big toe. And that toenail is still, it filled up with blood. Let's ask the live chat. Do you guys go toe warmers on top or underneath your toes? Let's ask Cal. We'll wait for you guys to get back. Phil, what do we have?

Oh, nevermind. It's a 50-50 split, crazy. That settled nothing, I'm sorry, Yannis. It's 11.15 on a Monday. So it got in there, you still just hiked your tail off and that little toenail impounded against that toe warmer and that was the end of it. Yeah, yeah.

By the end of the day, I was limping pretty good, but I just never wanted to take my boot off. It was real cold. Then you lost it completely? No, no, it just sort of died and I've kind of trimmed it back to the quick. Never lifted off? Never lifted off, but it was no longer attached. It I've kind of trimmed it back to the quick. Never lifted off? Never lifted off, but it was no longer attached. It was just kind of floating.

Mmm. Ouch. Yeah, it's been a weird one. Still pretty ugly. At this point... So I'm wearing socks with Crocs today. So you can't get a peek. Fashion statement. You know what? My kids say these days you're a dork if you go the opposite, which is what I do. I don't like wearing socks with my Crocs,

but the kids are like, no, that's the only way to wear Crocs. So you're in, you're good. I love it. Do you think by looking at my toes, you could tell me if I'm gonna lose the toenail or not? Ooh, break them out. No, I have to get in there and wiggle them like a tooth.

Well, they're not loose yet by any means. There's just a coloration to them that's different from my other toenails and I Think I still might be able to keep them, but everybody looks at him is like no they're gone. You're done. Hmm This is your big toe. Yeah, you have both my big toes and then two of the little ones on the right foot. Hmm They're both looking at you. You don't need those What I'm hoping is that if I'm gonna lose them, I'm gonna lose them before I have to run 100 miles.

Cause if I just don't have toenails there, life will be easy peasy. But if I have like loose, messed up, partially attached, painful toenails, could suck. Put a little for the sole purpose of sheep hunting. Really? Yeah. Had him removed. Completely. Interesting. Yeah. He said he thought he was a tough guy and the doctor's like Yeah, we can like maybe do like two because he was gonna go in and be like take him take ten

Please let's get this done and the docs like now we'll do two. We'll see how it goes. He's and afterwards He's like, oh thank God Because yeah, I guess when you get your toenails removed, it's not fun. But then he went back there five more times. Yeah. Huh. No toenails. Yeah, Ed's hardcore. Yeah, no, he's into it.

Love it. All right, well, let's move on from my running. I'll let you boys know how it goes when I'm done with 100. Randall, what do you got going on this summer? Oh, boy. Are we doing the, yeah, I guess, uh, well, it's now June 19th coming up shortly here.

I'm heading across the pond for a little tour of, uh, beer and bratwurst. Ooh, lovely. Very nice. And, uh, so in Germany, Deutschland and Austria. Oh, that's Austria. And I'm just going to drink a lot of beer and eat a lot of pretzels and do a lot of sampling

of local tube meats. Oh, that sounds lovely. A little bit of walking. Hey, if I... It's a 10th anniversary trip. Oh, nice. Yeah. Good call.

Latvia's not far away. You could take, probably get a hundred dollar flight. Then call me when you're over there. Are you gonna be there? I won't be. But you know, just call him. If you- He'll call me back here and say,

hey, I made it. Latvia's cool. If you were gonna be there, I'd extend my trip and make it up there. So we could look for some dog raccoons or whatever they are. Oh, I can make that happen, buddy. I could make a little raccoon dog trip happen for you.

Well, that's awesome. That sounds like a great trip. And then we're coming back and sort of immediately recording the next Meteor American History audiobook, which is no small source of anxiety. It's gonna be great, but there's a lot of work to do. And then in August, you know, it just depends on how smoky everything is. I'm going to an event in Ikelaka, the Dino Shin Dig,

at the Carter County Museum. We're gonna go out and dig some dinosaur bones, listen to some dinosaur research. So yeah, pretty big summer ahead of me, guys. Pretty big summer. Yeah. Is Spencer Newyarth going with you to the Dino Shindig? No, he's not. Tickets are limited. So, and to go out on the field expedition is a couple hundred bucks. So I didn't buy Spencer a ticket, long story short.

But yeah, I'm excited. Well, you think he'd love that. Yeah. I think he wants to go, but you know, he's more of just a solid rock Yeah, I think he wants to go but You know, he's more of just a solid rock guy. I think When is this? It's like july. It's late july. Yeah, Ica Laca gets hot. Yeah Yeah, no, I think it's gonna be very hot. That'll be fun though. Phil. What about you? Oh Thanks for asking. Cory. I don't have a whole lot going on going to the black hills with the family

It's our our little, short little family vacay this year. There you go. That's pretty much all we've got planned, you know? Go see Mount Rushmore? We are. The kids are excited. Yeah.

Yeah. They're stoked. So yeah, it'll be a fun time. How did you get them fired up on Mount Rushmore? They just like the idea of Mount Rushmore. I'm sure they'll be completely deflated once we actually get there and they see how far away it is and how far we had to drive to get there. But for the time being they're stoked and that's, I'm just going to hold onto that as long as I can. Yeah. Think about swinging by Devil's Tower, which

is kind of out of the way, but I have been thinking about it. It's yeah. Yeah cam right underneath it and then there's uh Teddy roosevelt national park too, maybe in north dakota north. Yeah, there's the badlands. Yeah badlands national park All right, and and just the black hills state park is worth the drive They have a wild ass highway that goes around and around and It kind of frames you go through these tunnels built into the rock that frames Mount Rushmore Quite nicely. Yeah, it's very thoughtfully done. Yeah, we're actually gonna be staying in the bed in the Badlands So lovely Deadwood is good to stop to oh You don't have to tell me. I've already got plans

Phil what's the chat saying? Oh, oh, it's crazy. Even though we're pre recording this episode mogor is here I don't know how we found out here didn't say greetings thanks for the show you guys are awesome mogor thanks for being here it's always good you're 19th and hungry you searched for your informant who disappeared without a trace. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city driving closer to the truth while curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen discover Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible. Should we move on to some questions?

Well, gosh, how about you? Well, that or comments? I don't know which one you want to do first. Or we can split, we can do a little bit of one and then bounce back and forth. Let's, we can bounce back and forth a little bit here. Let's begin with this question from Michael M. Michael M. writes, I've recently been gifted two shotguns by my father-in-law who is handicapped and can no longer hunt. Inspired by this gesture and eager to connect with nature, I am determined to embark

on my hunting journey. However, as a newcomer, I find the most daunting challenge is locating accessible land to hunt on. I would greatly appreciate any advice or resources you could share on how to find hunting land in general. Additionally, if there are any local programs, public lands, or community initiatives that facilitate land access for new hunters, I would be eager to learn more." Great question. Who wants to start here? Giannis? Well, it's almost as if this question was sent in under a pseudonym. No, this is a genuine email. I know, but I'm asking if pseudonym is the right term I'm using, like a fake name. No, that's the real deal. But that is the real name. Yes, I know. But I'm asking you if my vocabulary is correct.

Yeah, pseudonym is a... Thank you. Yeah. As if someone from Onyx... Oh, oh, I see. I see. Under a pseudonym of Michael M. I thought you're accusing Cory of making up this question. Oh, like some of the other ones. No. No. Get out of here. Um. But Michael, it's very easy. Get yourself a smartphone, download yourself some Onyx, find yourself on that map, and then turn on the layer of public lands, and it will literally light up on your map of all the available public lands.

And then usually you can click on said lands and find out more information about it. And maybe even what you can can't hunt there. And then there's usually links to hunting regulations and so on and so forth. That would be my one piece of advice. I don't know about, uh, any initiatives that facilitate land access for new hunters, but I would say that, uh, you could go to sharing the land that our

buddy Doug Dern runs and, um, see if they might have some stuff going on, which is basically a, uh, cooperative where they find willing landowners that wanna give some access. They set them up with people like you that are looking to hunt and willing to do a little bit of work to get access to that land. And it's a great program. So there's stuff like that out there.

If that still doesn't work, send some letters and go door knocking. I would add to that, get involved in like your local BHA chapter. That's what I was talking about. Talk to, make some friends who are in the same boat and then also reach out to your local or your state Fish and Game office because those most of those agencies have access programs, whether it's like, you know, the public lands that they manage directly or private lands that they help administer public access to. And oftentimes they have like staffers who are specifically working on access issues.

So it's their job. that's what they wanna do is connect people with places to hunt. So don't be afraid to reach out to Fish and Game and see what they have going on. Yeah, you took the words right out of my mouth. I was also thinking, if you have a local sporting goods store, go check out the bulletin board down there and see if there's any group get togethers

or some sort of event that you can. Yeah, fundraisers, things like that. Yep, try mingling, any local banquets, that's unlimited. I know at least in some states there are organizations where you can go do boots on the ground conservation work like outside of BHA, you know, there's like organizations that are doing local projects if you have like a, you know, like a local sportsman's group that's helping pull fence or whatever else, go get involved in that stuff. And people are more likely to extend an invite to you if they see that you're invested in it and out there in the world doing good work. Yeah. And there's a very good chance that the work you'll be doing will be on land that you can go hunt. Yeah.

All right. I wish we knew what state Michael M was in, but oh well. Let's go on to, how do you pronounce this next one, Randall? Gibron T. I think this is a pseudonym for Cory. Gibron, Gibron. Gibron writes, I'll be hunting archery elk in Idaho for the first time this fall. What should I be doing to prepare as an elk caller in the off season? And to answer this question, here's Mr. Jason Phelps. What? One of the most asked questions we get this time of the year is what should I be doing as a caller in the off season to improve my chances for success come September? My short answer is always,

you just need to have the confidence to be able to call in September. One of those biggest hurdles is you're out there, you're interacting with the elk, you're on the elk, and you're just afraid to call. Yeah, there are a lot of situations where maybe calling is not the best answer, the best solution to find success,

but there are a lot of situations where calling will bring that bull into archery range and be the thing that does matter. So how do you build that confidence? It's practicing right now in the off season. I'm not gonna get into like making perfect cow calls, how you make those, that's difficult. We got YouTube videos for that.

You know, go search those up. But I relate this a lot to playing basketball. The game is where you get to show off how good you are. Practice is what makes you and builds how good you are. It's the same thing with archery, outcunning and calling. We don't get enough reps out in the field during September to become good. You need to do that in the off season. You need to have enough practice that you're confident when you go to blow a call.

You know exactly how that call is going to react. You know exactly how to repeat the call that you want. You know how to make this sound, a cow mew, an estrus wine, a challenge bugle, a lip ball, whatever it may be. You've did enough practice that your muscle memory, you can go out and make that call. So how do you do that? Ideally we recommend offseason, everybody goes back to a diaphragm and tube combo. Try to get that diaphragm to work if possible. It allows you to be hands-free as an archer, as a muzzleloader hunter, so that you have control over your weapon while you're

making calls. If that doesn't work, you know, you got gag reflex or for some reason you just can't get the hang of it. We have designed some calls like the Easy Estrus, Easy One, Easy Sucker on the cow call side to kind of cut that learning curve down. We've also designed the Easy Beagler on the cow call side to kind of cut that learning curve down. We've also Designed the easy bigler on the bigel tube side which attaches to a lot of our new bigel tubes to just make that process easier And hopefully build your confidence But whatever it is this offseason find something that builds confidence for you so that when it comes time To the big show in September you're willing to make a call when needed to help your chances to bring that bull into range Well said

Oh gets me excited. Let's go. It's like that guy thinks about calling a lot or something I was gonna say I don't really have much to add to that Yeah Before we move on to our next question. I was gonna add can I add some? Yeah. Yeah, please please Why is that funny? No, we're just out of sync today. It's, you know, it's being Monday. Oh, you think that's what it is?

I think that's the word. The pressure of being live, you know, it provides a little bit more energy, you know? And I think the fact that we're, that it's 3.30 on a Monday. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Could be. But we gotta remember, boys, we've got an audience.

They might not be watching now, but they're out there. I know, I know. Yeah. Yeah. Could be, but we gotta, we gotta remember boys. We've got an audience. They might be, they might not be watching now, but they're out there. I know. I know. Please add, add. I might be just a little bit low T because I'm drained from Saturday. So sorry audience. But do you have stuff to add to the calling thing? Yes, I do. The best, the best podcast apologize for themselves halfway through Yeah, what I what I like to do don't look at me with those Dear loss in the headlights look no. I just was looking at my face on the screen and my face is really red

Looks good red look at my hand Any awful go ahead, please. Jason's talking about calling a lot and I fall in this trap too. It's like I don't put enough reps in and I try to get plenty of summertime reps in with my calls. But I like to always practice. It's easy to have that call in your mouth for 10 minutes and have already tried to have blown 50 cal calls and to then produce a good one. It's a much harder when your mouth is dry and you just put one in and you got to make one soft mew. So I always try to practice that. It's kind of like doing a cold barrel for a shot, right? Like

that's the one you're killing the animal with. Cold bore challenge. Cold bore challenge, right? Same thing here. Dry diaphragm challenge. Chuck it in there, do whatever you gotta do with your saliva to get it ready, moist, get it in the right spot and see if you can just make that one perfect cow immune. That'll give you that confidence he was talking about. Yeah, how about when you're physically prepping for elk hunting, when you're climbing a mountain with a rock pack on or whatever. You want to get into this next question here? Oh, well, no, not necessarily. Here's another way for you, though.

Another idea is while you're shooting your bow, have a diaphragm in your mouth. Yanni, how many times have you tried stopping an elk at full draw with some sort of noise? Cow call works really well. I haven't. But it is. I would probably just give works really well. I haven't. But it is. I would probably just give me a man. Look up here.

Yeah, but it's nice to have a dime in your mouth while you're shooting. So that try it. It's good practice. Try it all. Well, speaking of preparation and then after this, maybe we could hit a comment or two, please.

Speaking of preparation, our next question comes to us from Adam B. I won a doll sheep hunt at a local wild sheep fundraiser. Congrats. Congrats. We're all happy for you. I've been doing a fair bit of hiking with a weighted pack, but where I live is flatter than a pancake.

Do you have any pointers for me to help get in sheep shape before my August hunt? Sheep shape. This guy must live in Manitoba, where I just was. Do you have any pointers for me to help get in sheep shape before my August hunt sheep shape? This guy must live in Manitoba where I just was it's flat there buddy, Kansas to answer this question Here's rich frowning Question is I want a doll sheep haunted a local wild sheep fundraiser I've been doing a fair bit of hiking with a weighted pack, but where I live is flatter than a pancake. Do you have any points for me to help get in sheep shape

before my August hunt? Yes, several things. Use that ruck. You can step up to a cooler if you have a box, if you have a stadium nearby where you can get on some stairs. You can throw in some squats. You can throw in some lunges. You can do some type of intervals where maybe you run, run, ruck, pop down, do some burpees with

the thing, but the more you can move that weight in different ranges of motion, we like the squat, we like a lunge, once again stepping forward on a cooler, doing lateral stepovers on a cooler. There's all kinds of different movements you can do, but you're gonna need to build up that leg strength and good luck in August. Nice, wow. Anything to add to that? Go out and run a hundred miles? That'll do it Yeah, but if it's a flat hunter, you're still gonna be hurting. Yeah, there's really nothing that Compares to just stepping up on things Yeah, that's right man being that you won this hunt once in a lifetime type thing most likely

Maybe plan on making a trip out to Colorado and go for a hike or two Maybe a couple weeks before your hunt. You have that's right. If he's if he's not paying for anything, you should fly out to some high country and do some mega hiking. That's a great idea. Definitely try and get up to the elevation and yeah, put a pack on. I mean, you can. Work on a step on a cooler all day long,

but nothing gets you trained in the mountains more than just being in the mountains. Yeah, yeah. Are you got some sheep feet trained up too. And it's nice because he knows when he's going sheep hunting, so he knows when he can stop working out. See, the rest of us are all sort of like floating around here waiting for the sheep hunt, but he has a finish line in sight of when he can just go back to being a total slob. After the hunt. Yeah, exactly.

Right. Just let her all hang out. Yeah. Just suffer. Suffer for a couple of months. You won't regret it. Oh, good question. Giannis, do you have any comments here?

This is our stand in for comments from the chat. It's a new thing we're doing on not live meat eater radio live We recently have done a new it's not a new series we have we've added some episodes to this series meteor experiences we did What it takes to lose zero we did one called the brush gun Have we released anything else yet? 277 Fury. Oh right 277 Fury where Randall basically told us about the 277 Fury and then we took that cartridge and shot a lot of bunch of stuff a bunch of

different mediums and super slow motion which was fun. But we didn't do it wrong according to a lot of these comments here on YouTube. Eric8851 says you all missed the point of a brush gun It's to carry walk and hunt in the brush not I think he missed the word shoot through brush Short light easy to get on target. No glass 30 30 45 70 44 mag 357 see a theme here, southeast hunter here.

Wood so thick, 30 yards is a long shot at time. Guns at bow range, hunting clear cut timber lots. So you did get it wrong. Great point. Yeah, which I think that we spoke to that in our brush gun video. There are multiple definitions of the term. And that not only is it meant to be able to be

the gun easily manipulated in brush country, but that the bullet has to perform well in the brush. I'm not gonna tell you the outcome of our brush gun video. Go watch it. I've got one here that's sort of long similar lines it reads shut up Randall Randall is getting a little more annoying every episode here's another one dr. Randall is insufferable I mute it when he opens his mouth good thing the questions were posted at the bottom of the screen it's obvious he's trying to win the who can be most in love with

himself contest that nobody asked for and then one more here let's find a good one here get a positive one day yeah yeah or you know he doesn't have to be positive as long as it's insightful Randall what an idiot okay yeah that fits Randall classic me generation not getting what they deserve there's another what an idiot dr. Randall Should go back to questions. Yeah, I don't understand why they why they don't like you Is it because you are the smartest guy in the room, and they just got they just got to try to take down No, it's because I'm conceited

It's because I'm conceited They hate you see right through me because they ain't you they know what I'm thinking and. They hate you. They see right through me. Because they ain't you. They know what I'm thinking and what I think of myself. Well, don't read those comments. We got another question here. This one comes. Phil, I got you that transition.

Got another question here. This is from a meat eater trivia all star question submitter, Leland Hart. Hey. He says, I lead a local conservation group. I'm always talking up hunting and angling to people I meet. For some reason, this appears to make me a magnet for people telling me about how they've broken game loss. It's happened at

least three times. Poachers apparently see my BHA and meat eater merch and think I'm going to tell this guy about unlicensed night hunting in a day hunting only state for game out of season? Or let me tell you how I pulled a fast one by hunting against regulations and got away with it. How would the meat eater team deal with confessions of wrongdoing told to you in earnest? And to answer this question, here's Chester Floyd. Oh, yes.

Buddy Chester Floyd here coming at you from Wisconsin. It's a bad game. And I've got another Cheddar kit for you this week's Cheddar kit comes to us from Leland Hart Leland writes in what the hell is from going on with this? Producer here. I have a Cheddar kit question proud hunter angler and Outdoorsmen while he's reading this talk about how giant his guitar looks VHA Yeah, look how blue the sky is.

And I'm always talking up hunting and angling with the people I meet. For some reason, this appears to make me a magnet for people to tell me about how they've been. And now they're going to know and remember. Now they're going to know that I read an abbreviated version of the question. Poachers apparently for better flow. So it's didn't change. Everything's going fine. So this wasn't a cl clunky QA about unlicensed night hunting in a day hunting only state for game

That's out of season and I don't have a tag for anyways god. I'm just her in quotes Let me tell you how I pulled a fast one by hunting Against regulations on a military base and got away with a trespassing citation instead of any real consequences. And so I get to be the standout musician. I tried to make this an educational moment when it happens. At least one of the people was just ignorant of the law. The others seemed oddly proud of their misbehavior.

I didn't hear anything actionable by law enforcement, just historical. I did this a while ago stuff. Obviously, if I anticipated a crime, I would report it, but it is a weird spot to be in. How would the meat eater team deal with confessions of wrongdoing told to you in earnest? Down in Fort Blue at Yucca's redneck crowd full, all kinds of people good and sound Except a couple of boys who were up to no good, causing all kinds of trouble in the hood Leelin', you're an approachable guy, that's why all the boys will spear the poach and cry

Sitting here thinking on what you must do About bad confessions told to you Like I pulled a fast one on the neighbor's place And I pulled a fast one on the military base and I pulled a fast one I thought you should know and I pulled a fast one call me no good joke Excellent camera work. Yeah. You can feel the emotion when you sing. all those acts if bona fide facts are gonna burn you down someday hey yeah they're gonna burn you down someday oh yeah they're gonna burn you down someday

does he think this memorized? i think so. this is insane. I know it. Maybe it's written on the top of his guitar. That's why it's so big. Under his eyelids. No, that's all. All-scale 4W2K. Should we erase a question to shorten this up? I gotta go. Hey Cory, everyone can hear you talking very serious yes

How's it no cancer trouble in the Little song and hopefully it gave you a little bit of Ideas on what to do, but I think teaching people and making it an educational moment, really letting them know like, what the heck dude, like you cannot do that stuff and that's going to come back to burn you and why are you telling me this? But if somebody has done something like crazy bad, which these guys have, but like just insane. Like you've got to report it to the DNR. They're in a bar drinking and stuff in this circumstance, so I'm not quite sure you know how truthful this is, but it's really use your best judgment, make it educational,

let them know that they have done wrong. Well said. Mm. Well done, man. What do you guys think? Hell of a thing to add to old Chesterro? Can't top that, but he's right. Janus? No, yeah, I would not worry about keeping them as friends and just and get right in their face

Let them know what's up. Mm-hmm Wrong is wrong. Tough love. Tough love, baby You searched for your informant Who disappeared without a trace? You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, driving closer to the truth. While curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen.

Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible. You had some more funny comments for me? You know, I've got another one here. Randall looks nothing like he sounds. I would have guessed an old gray haired man with glasses in his late sixties. Here's another one. I figured he, based off Randall's voice, I figured he was 25 years older than he appears to be. That's whack.

Everyone says, Sorry Randall, you're not a doctor, just a nerd with a degree. Ooh. That stings a little, eh? Yeah, yeah, so, uh, I don't know. Let's do a little compliment sandwich here. Hey, Yannis

I thoroughly enjoy when you host radio radio meat eater radio live The compliments about you it reminds me of old meat eater I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the way meat eater is now but when you host it has a very like Hey, man, we did this. It was awesome. You should try this feel to it. it anyway keep being awesome does that make you feel any better? No, because I think they're comparing it to Not that there's anything wrong with the new meat eater where they talk about Bennigan's, but I Think that's the new meat eater. I don't know Maybe that's just

More conceited talk on my part. Don't be so conceited. Um, Corey, you want to how many questions we got left on the list here? Oh, gosh. Um, what do we got? One, two, three, got a few more. No, I was wondering how many you wanted me to read from. Oh, well, I think we got a little bit of time. Yeah. How about how about this one? Should I read the question or just play the video? How about we just play the video? Let's play the video, Phil. And with our like, it's going to be the one video where they don't. Yeah, the question first, but let's find out. Here's Tyler Jones. The question is, how do I scout for bucks? Nailed it for shooting those bucks in the first three weeks of October, I have no major ag food sources. Instead, it's oak trees. There's two ways

that I could look at this and do most of the time. And let's break it down into the first two weeks, which are going to be more patternable stages of a deer's life. And then that last week of the three week span in October, you're getting towards the middle of October and into the twenties and deer get a little more pre-rut, a little more testosterone increase there. So we'll talk about those in that order. The first section, the patternable deer, these deer are not gonna move super far. They're gonna be near bedding, so thick areas,

and then they're gonna be feeding on oaks in close proximity, not moving a ton in the daylight usually. It makes them pretty tough. Trail cameras are a big part of finding these deer before this moment actually happens, right? So August, September, getting trail cameras out near thick bedding, where there's oak trees. Another thing you can do is when you actually go in to hunt is listen carefully because we're looking for the first oak trees to start dropping, which doesn't

happen at the 1st of October sometimes, depending on the year. So we're looking to hopefully get those deer that are moving to the same sound that we're hearing in the woods, which is acorns dropping and getting under those first few trees. The second part of this is the rut or pre-rut rather, but rut like movement, where we get into a pinch point, near a scrape.

And that's a situation I like a lot. In fact, in 2020, I killed a deer on the 23rd of October, just outside that window, but he had showed up on a scrape for the first time on this trail camera on the 16th. So as we get cold weather in that third week, we're looking to shoot deer near scrapes in pinch points, banking on the fact that they're moving

just a little bit more before dark. Hope this helps. Thanks for that great answer. Thank you Tyler. Tyler. Man I was distracted by all the awesome taxidermy behind him. I wonder if he's in his house or if he's at a taxidermy. Yeah looks like a garage maybe. He's killed a lot of bucks and those boys like to do taxidermy. Yes they do. I'm about to go pick up a little piece of taxidermy. Yes they do. I'm about to go pick up a little piece of taxidermy this weekend. Tell us about it. It's a shoulder mount of that bear I killed in Alaska two years ago. Oh nice

another shoulder mounted bear. Yeah well the other shoulder mounted bears in Jilly's office. Yeah it's more of a neck mount too. Yeah, yeah. Is yours gonna be, I actually have come to like those neck mounts. I saw some in Canada when I was up there and I'm coming to like them because I like them because they're manageable and they're small. I already have a big bear rug on the wall. Don't really have room for another one.

Well, you should take it down and put it on the floor. This is a wall pedestal. So it incorporates more of the sternum and chest, so it'll be coming out of the wall. And you know, it's sort of, it looks more like a, like a Mount of Deer where you get some of that. Because some of the bear neck mounts, they just look like you stuck it on the wall. Arms included? No, no, no. But I'm still excited at a big noggin, so what I really wanted to look at and remember was the size of its head.

And I saw a photo of it and it looks pretty spot on when I compare it to the photos from... What'd that run you? $2,000 to talk numbers. Does your wife listen to this show? $1,200. Oh, that's... It's not bad. Yeah. Yeah. I thought it was reasonable. Yeah.

But that's also why I don't do any other taxidermy. Mm hmm. It's expensive, man. It is always sad rather go on another hunt than get it. Get a buck mounted. Mm hmm. All right. can we ask the beer drinking question now? Yeah, sure. Travis T, and this actually is a real one, is why do I feel like everybody off camera is drinking beers and why are they hiding it? This was a question on a meteor roast episode.

That was Phil cracking a beer. He's not hiding it. We don't hide it. Who do you want to take this? You want me to take it? Why don't you take it? I'll start. You feel inspired. Um, nobody off-camera is drinking beers. Anybody off-camera is working, so they're not drinking beers. In the rare cases that we are drinking beers and there is some sort of video recording going on, it's usually towards the end of the day. Maybe your roast episode is a-

There's a glaring exception. Yeah, an anomaly. But for the most part, the cameras are put away, the day's wrapped up, we're not working anymore, we're relaxing, but something still funny happens or whatever and we get a phone out and it's recorded. Because I've gotten that a lot too, where they're just like, man, you're so fired up and happy,

you must be drinking beers. Oh, no, not drinking beers. Oh, not. Not drinking beers on camera. Also, that can I just crack was a sparkling juice drink. Oh. That's because I drank all the beers. What do you say to that, Cory? You've been on some production sets now recently in the last year in your new role.

Yeah, I can't say I ever saw open container while we were working, but afterwards now, because you got to work hard, you got to play hard. Yeah. If you like, we cracked a couple of cold ones afterwards, but yeah, never during. Yep. Nothing to add, Randall.

Randall's not hiding it it as you guys can see. And also I'm not being holier than thou at my previous job. The office was attached to a brewery. They had a deal with them that I got a free beer every day. And on Thursdays we got three free beers. What? Not every Thursday. The first Thursday of every month we got three free beers. Thirsty Thursday. So but, we got three free beers. Thirsty Thursdays. So, but I also worked the graveyard shift.

So I would start off my shift by drinking a double IPA, edit audio for eight hours. And then on Thursday, the first Thursdays, I mean, I don't know how I got worked up, but I did. Yeah. I was good at it. I worked, I worked across the tracks from that same brewery, Phil. Oh, I didn't get any free beers. I'm sorry. I missed that brewery. I was thinking about it, but I did go there a lot.

Wow. Yeah. Shout out to Draftworks in Missoula. I'll just. Oh, buddy. I've never been to their brewery, but I sure I sure do like their beer. Yeah. Home away from home. Away from home. Love it. We got another question here that goes to Jordan Budd and I don't know if she's repeated the question so I'll just say play the tape Phil. Got a question from Cameron Bokoff. Nice. And he just bought his first

whitetail tag and wants to know what are some must-haves for first whitetail hunt. So what I would suggest more than anything tangible is shoot whatever weapon that you're going to use, become super super proficient with that. In the end that's what it's going to come down to and it's going to probably happen pretty quick so being proficient and comfortable with whatever you use and it's probably the most important. Beyond that, white tail is a pretty stationary sport. So I would get some good clothes to be able to sit longer. So that's what I got for him.

Top notch advice from a white tail outfitter. Let me add to that, please. A safety harness. That me add to that. Please safety harness. Mm hmm. That's a good one. If in a tree. Yeah. Safety first. Don't go climbing trees without safety harnesses, folks. And these these days, they have the lifelines as well.

Yeah, it's basically a static rope that's attached above your tree stand and at the base and so that you where you're attached the whole time while you're climbing. Um, must have pieces of gear for his first whitetail hunt. If you'd asked 19 year old Randall, I would have told you three bottles of scent killer. If you'd asked 19 year old Randall, I would have told you three bottles of scent killer. Yeah, I don't really believe in that too much either. Must have pieces of gear for his first whitetail hunt. Man, it's so varied.

I have no idea where his hunt's gonna be, how cold he's gonna be, how hot he's gonna be. Depending on where he's hunting, I'd say a 50 pound bag of corn some old apples maybe maybe really vague sharp knife you gotta be able to gut and mm-hmm gut and chop up your deer after he gets it but what else to help him be successful binoculars you don't really have to have binos in the white-tailed woods. No. Something to help keep you patient, assuming maybe in a tree.

Maybe a good book. Yeah, a good book and some good snacks. Mm-hmm. Or just one earbud to listen to media to radio live, not live. I don't support that. Right. I don't teach. We get a lot of people in the chat saying that they're sitting in a tree stand or sitting against a tree waiting for turkeys listening to radio. That seems irresponsible if you're trying to be an efficient hunter. But hey, thanks for listening. Might get you in the mood though. Right. You're already out there. If you're not in the mood, might not be the right thing for you that's a really good point yeah listen to Janus if you're not happy to be out

there go home yeah go go pick up golf save it for the rest of us that's right you got more Randall oh I think that's it for questions Phil how are we doing on time here we're doing great on time We can we can head for the final lap here. Well, there's there's no there's no chat room questions Mogor says we're doing a great job. Keep it up. Thanks more. Gore. We really needed that one. Yeah Yeah, I'm trying to look what an idiot. Dr. Randall Hold on. I think we need to look at your meat eater roasts. Episode Randall's the guy we all love to hate.

I mute it when he opens his mouth. Is that is that one real? What's up with the wig? That's not real. Yeah, no. Someone actually did say these are all real. All right. Well, before we go, we have an important call to action. Starting next week, because today is June 19th, talking June 26th here. Okay, hold on, hold on.

I'm sorry I had to interrupt, but since we're not doing this live, it's fine. Thank you. I am gonna compliment Sam with you to help with your conceitedness to bring you up, because I want you to leave today. Oh. You know, up to leave today. Oh. You know, up high, not down low.

So right here, Noah Rachow. This is from a Randall and Spencer's roast episode. You guys did a great job on. Well, I lost. One of you did better than me. You lost. Yeah, Spencer is a tough competitor. But this fellow says, Randall slamming a beer to open a cooking show makes it feel like it's a deer camp cook-off,

and I love it! I've got some too. This was from last, the radio live from a couple weeks ago with the hundreds of beavers. Says, came here just to comment on the movie club. Outstanding, all caps. Dr. Randall, you have set a new bar and I look forward to the next one. Wow, hashtag proud Randall.

We have Randall is a national treasure. Oh, that's from Nick, he works for us. Oh, is he? Oh, that's brutal. Randall probably bought that dude a beer. That's brutal. What about this? I love all the Rose shows. Oh no, yeah? I love all the rose shows. Oh, no

Yeah, I love all the rose shows, but I loved this one, but he is kind of same thing anyways Randall always adds extra to everything he does Okay, here's here's another one in the quotes. Yeah, like I said don't don't eat all of them Is that a movie quote? No that's from when I told them not to eat the potatoes. Oh okay. Because some of the potatoes. Well he says I want another episode with Randall. Next one, Randall cracks me up. Like if you have four potatoes pick the one that looks most done. What a good sport. Great sport. See? Dr. Randall's the worst. Stop it.

Jameson says, I would like to thank whatever mechanism at MeatEater and maybe even just the universe for giving Randall the reign and more importantly, the confidence, I'm stressing that part editorially, to follow through with whatever meta concept that just had me laughing to tears in my truck. Randall's previous comments about being depressed after losing trivia and coming home to his wife all sad is honestly concerning to hear. So before we go... For all you Randall fans, see, gave you a good one to end on. I do think we should we should read some more comments like that it's kind of fun. Oh I love it it's hilarious. As I was saying starting next next week, June 26th, we will be doing a monthly trail cam photo contest presented by our

friends at Moultrie. We are asking you, our viewers, to send us your unique trail cam photos. This go-around, we're looking for your funniest trail cam photos. Send them to radio at themedeater.com before our June 26th show that's between today June 19th and next Thursday June 26th and we'll select two submissions to show during Radio Live and the winner will win an awesome package from Moultrie. Again, funny again funny pictures not serious pictures not Sad pictures not scary pictures. Yeah, we're gonna have like a monthly theme Yeah, we're gonna have themes and this this month's theme is funny. Yep, so make it funny Yeah, not nasty either. You've got a nasty one save it

I'm imagining like some a lot of pictures with animals with their tongues out of their mouths Doing some weird tongue motion. Perhaps. Yeah, some weirdo just walking past the camera. Yeah See, I was just gonna say let's not have those we really want those I kind of want some are tasteful a lot of breeding images, maybe Depends on how old you are if it's back to the animals or we talk about Hey well images maybe. Depends on how old you are. If it's back to the animals are we talking about? Well, send your funniest trail cam photos to radio at the meat eater dot com before our June 26th show funny photos presented by our friends at Moultrie. Get them in and we'll choose a winner here. Happy summer folks the next

time we see you all the summer solstice will have passed and we'll be one season away from the fall. That's beautiful. Hey. We'll be one season away from the fall. And we'll see you right back here next week on Thursday, June 26th with our regularly scheduled MeatEater Radio Live programming. Folks, it's June 19th. We'll see you later.