The MeatEater Podcast - Ep. 804: Santa (!) and the World Record Rock Skipper | MeatEater Radio Live!

Episode Date: December 12, 2025

Hosts Spencer Neuharth, Seth Morris, and Randall Williams don their Christmas Spirit in hopes of a visit from St. Nick, interview Kurt Steiner, who holds the record for most consecutive skips with a single rock throw, and bring back some Gear Talk. 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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Meat-Eater podcast. Welcome to Meadeer Radio live. It's 11 a.m. Mountain Time. That's 1 p.m. for our friends in Machias, Maine on Thursday, December 11. And we're live from Me, Dieter, H.Q, and Bozeman. I'm your host, Spencer, joined today by Seth. Randall was supposed to be here, but for some reason he had to bail. Well, it was a good reason.

Now, on today's show, we'll interview Kurt Steiner, the man who holds the world record for skipping a rock 88 times, and we'll have Gear Talk where Seth and I review hunting and fishing products. But first, Seth, I just killed the biggest white tail in my life. Oh, I know. I know it. When I got that, I love when my friends send me deer pictures, but your, yours, your picture was the best one I got all year. I was just like overrun with joy when you send me that. I'm tickled to hear that. It's also like the biggest white tail deer of most people's lifetimes, not just yours.

Like that's a really big deer, right? Yeah, yeah. For some reason, we have Ryan Callahan, Brody Anderson, and Max Barton also in the room. What did everyone? You introduced us at the beginning. No, he didn't. No, he actually specifically said, we will not be acknowledging you. No, she is a spoiler alert.

You're live. Merry Christmas, everybody. I was in the Golden Triangle of Illinois. That's Pike County, Adams County, Brown County. Those counties are second, third, and tenth in Illinois for Boone and Crockett Whitetail Entries. And it's just like, if you got to play Sims or play God with the earth and be like, I'm going to make the best white tail ground I can fathom, that's what you would get in the

Golden Triangle. It's just like the perfect mix of timber and egg. And since the invention of outdoor magazine, outdoor TV. The Golden Triangle has been a place on a map that the Whitetail Hunters fantasize about. Oh, yeah. I'd put it with like, you know, like Buffalo County, Illinois, the Milk River in Montana, South Texas, South Iowa, the breadbasket of Saskatchewan. You know, it's just like notorious is all those places for like big giant white tail bucks. Yeah, it's like, it's like what Nashville is for country music. Exactly. Yeah. That's a good analogy, Seth. So my, my buddy invited me

out to hunt his farm this year. It was like the most excited. I've been about a hunt in 2025 and going into the hunt I had told my buddy this I was like my anticipation is so high that there's no possible way it can meet my expectations yeah like I'm just I'm expecting too much at this point um and then the the biggest buck on the farm showed up so did you did you go into this did you know did you have like trail cam pictures of of the deer that you could potentially be seen there yeah my my landowner buddy was was aware of like four or five bucks they thought that were like five plus years old.

This was the biggest buck of them all. They had three years of history with him when he was a three-year-old, a four-year-old, and this year a five-year-old. They had seen him during archery season in October. Never gave him a shot. And then he disappeared at the end of October. They didn't see him again. They didn't get any trail cam photos of him.

The old rut. That's right. So this landowner was hunting this deer. He was hunting. Yes, they tried to kill him. Didn't happen this year. But then December rolled around. And they got like eight inches.

of snow. And they had to call in Spencer to get it done. We're like, we just can't kill them. You can't get another invite there. Look at this thing up on the, up on the TV. That's right. We have a picture of him. Oh, it's beautiful. He's a mainframe five by five, but he's got a lot of junk. I think he has 19

squirable points. A lot of it is around his bases that are hard to appreciate. You just think you're kind of guessing he's got 19. He didn't look at him that hard? Well, he's got stuff going on around his bases that are like crawling across into his hide um some of it's going to be close to that inch i haven't put a tape measure on him yet um but

i think it'll come out to 19 points and if you look i've got sheds here of the buck um he's got like they're not really dirty sheds but it's called a dirty shed when they break off some of their pedicle with it and typically that means they're going to throw a funky rack when you have a dirty shed in this book he has a few dirty sheds his three-year-old sheds were dirty his four-year-old sheds were kind of dirty um and so then you know you're going to get some abnormal points. You're talking about those little bumps there. At the white stuff on the bottom.

Yeah. That's like part of his skull that's coming with, which is an ideal for a deer. They want to make a nice, clean break off. Seems pretty ideal for him. Ideal for him. Yeah, it was working out. So he was a mainframe 5 by 5, 19 points. Very excited.

This landowner that he got this little connection with. Is this like a draw tag? What a great guy. It's a drawl tag. It's a drawl a tag. But it's like, you know, the golden triangle is mostly private land. And so it's not that competitive for a non-resident to be able to go there and hunt. Yeah, the buck disappeared for five weeks, showed back up.

They had like eight inches of snow the week before I got there. And they were saying it's been a very long time since the second gun season, which was what I was there for, had that much snow on the ground. So it just worked out perfect where it made deer show up in some places real heavy and disappear from others. And it just happened that they had the right soybeans. To pull in the bucks. That's fantastic. Perfect. Crazy.

What's this? Do you hear that? I hear something. You look giddy. Something is a foot in the meat eater studio. Oh, I feel like it's... Whoa, I see a shadow coming. The door is opening.

Oh! It's Santa! Santa Claus! Santa! Santa! Santa! I wasn't ready for that. He was not ready.

I thought there was more to that story. Indeed. Ladies and gentlemen, Santa Claus has just stepped into the Meteor podcast studio. He's got a big sack full of gifts. Hello, boys and girls. Hello, Santa. How are you doing? I'm doing very well.

Thank you very much. Where did you park the reindeer? Oh, they're outside. No, they're not. Now don't be a grinch there, Brody. I'm just telling truth, buddy. You're full of hummed. Now, Seth has observed that you have a giant bag with you.

I do, I do. I thought I'd swing by my favorite Thursday live podcast that airs at 11 Mountain Time to spread a little Christmas cheer. Perfect, okay. That's amazing, Santa. And now, it also appears that Cal, Brody, and Max have shown up in this studio. Let's see who's been naughty and who's been nice. You sound like Daniel Day Lewis from there will be blood. Give me the bloody lie.

You're a false profit, Seth. Someone told me whose gift this was, and I've forgotten it already. Okay. To whom does this go? That's for Phil the engineer. Phil the engineer. Wow. I wonder who it's...

Phil. It must have been good. Pillar-like rectangle box. I'm not a great rapper film. Oh, wow. It does, indeed. Oh, I got it. There's a series of gifts for Seth Morris that are numbered.

Open this way. Number one. You're supposed to open them in order. My goodness. This is for Spencer Newhart. Oh, oh, okay. Have you ever seen that, Spencer? What is it?

It's good and cold. Maxwell? Oh, Santa. You shouldn't have. What else is in there? Ryan Callahan has a gift. Oh. Looks like a man wrapped that present.

Brody doesn't have anything. No. To Brody Anderson. Oh, all right. Same wrapping papers, Cal's. This is a Tupperware that the Williams' house sold borrowed from you. Thank you. Okay.

I may have been very specific that I wanted it back. Randy's not here, but I'll open that. Oh, all right. Perfect. Is that all the gifts? Is that everything? Okay, I think so. No, nope, it's not everything.

Oh, wait. He's not done yet. I also have a lot of candy canes and fireball. Many bottles of fireball. Ten baby bottles of fireball whiskey have just been jumped onto the table. And if you need more, I have more. There's a lot of it at my house, and I don't like it. I can't believe that.

That fireball keeps Santa de-frosted in the slag. I want to gag just thinking about that. Now, what doesn't Santa like about fireball? That's kind of an upset. I assume that'd be right in his wheelhouse. It's too sweet. Too sweet. I drink it too fast.

You need to go ice fishing. Well, Santa, last year, Santa went one minute fishing on our show. I don't think he was successful. We have great fishing weather today. We do. It's nearly 60 degrees in Bozeman. Not ice fishing weather. No, no.

Sorry. Okay, Santa has handed out the gifts. Let's start over with Phil the engineer. Phil, let's open up that gift. Oh, sure. It looks like the internet at Meat Eater HQ dropped up for a sec. Shit. But I think, Santa?

Santa, we're live. Nottie Santa's here. Oh, right. Chad, let us know if the stream's back. I believe it is. Yeah, it looks good. Okay, okay. I'm opening my gift now.

It's on the floor since it's a little bit large to do in my lap. Santa's people are asking if you've been drinking already. No, not yet. Not yet. It's the middle of the day. I'm drying out. Commute back to the North Pole later. Phil, you're supposed to read that whole card.

The whole card. Do you want me to read it live on air here? Yes. Okay, here we go. It says, because you mean so much at Christmas and always. It's kind of romantic. I'm feeling things. The holiday season isn't really about gifts and decorations.

It's about reaching out to the people who mean the most to us and letting them know how much we care. So true. Remove wrap before placing an honest. envelope. Did you write that or was that on the card? No, that's on the card. And whoever gave you this gift, I mean, they were kind enough not to write in the card so you can re-gift that.

Oh, thank you. That's great. That's great. Very conscious. Very thoughtful. There's a guy who cares about the environment. You're such a special person and you're wished every little happiness long after the holidays are over.

Merry Christmas. Wow. Thank you to my secret Santa, whoever they may be. P.T. Thanks for keeping it all together. FYI, extra lean beef is 722 a pound. Now open your present.

Hugs and kisses. Merry Christmas, Cal. P.S. Well, yeah. Am I supposed to read that? Yeah, go ahead.

You can read the first part of the PS. Oh, okay. With only the first part. I'm gifting you a BHA family membership. Cow! Whoa! The gift of public lands! It couldn't ask for anything better.

Thank you so much. That was awesome. But that's not all. there's also a bottle of some kind oh here we are Sailor Jerry's Spiced Rum

Oh okay There you go Get the sailor in yourself That was the go-to For my rum and coke Back in college Thank you so much Cal And look at this

We've got We've got frozen beef And I'm glad that I now know The exact value At least that beef No that's ground out Ground out That makes more sense

That is four pounds You're letting me know how much money I'm saving. Yes. If you were to go buy Ground Elk, probably more than beef, 20 bucks a pound on that. Right.

That's value. Some people need context. It's not that it's about the money, Phil. That's right. Secret Santa, thank you so much. No, it's the thought that counts. This will all go to use, including the VH membership.

That's what people who give shitty gifts say. Phil, I think we've lost our bed of music. Oh, yeah. We'll bring it back. Sorry, I've been busy opening guests here. Now, Cal, how did you pick Sailor Jerry's when you were looking at the ROM shelf? It's because Phil and I had a conversation a long time ago about, like, because there's, like, scary high-end drums.

Uh-huh. But I believe that the teaky crowd feels like Sailor Jerry and Captain Morgan are totally fine for most things. Is that correct? I'd say for mixing cocktail, like, like into a soda mixer. But if you're going to make a Mai Tai, I mean, honestly, Kalsai, Sailor jerry's and and and yeah that's that's a that's a cardinal sin but I love Sailor jerry's Phil have you ever tried Mount Gay that's some good stuff I have yeah they got a lot Barveito's yeah what a gift okay well done Cal that's that's fun for you Phil Max

you're up next I'm up open that thing up it's supposed to be a little something for everybody that's a pro level rapid job I I suck at rapping What do we got there, Maxwell? Is this a puzzle? The puzzle has puzzled him. No, it is puzzled me. Phil, what is this? How do you know that was me?

That's a very easy-to-learn board game called Cascadia, where you create wildlife corridors and habitats for different... Oh, different printers. When I saw that game existed, I was pissed off. I didn't come up with that idea. Isn't this very similar to, like, what's that game with the squared? Risk. No.

You're talking about Catan? Yeah, Catan. I'd say it's easier than Catan. It's more pickup and play, which is why I... Nice. Sweet. Many fun nights to come at the Barter Household. It's a board game season.

Board game night. Love it. That's great. Thank you, Phil. Oh, you're welcome, Max. For Maxwell. Next up, we have a Brody who has handed a fireball to Max. He's now opening his gift.

Also a swell gift wrapping job here. Someone said Santa's language is going to demonetize this video. Hope the suits don't notice. They definitely won't know Santa, don't work. What do we got over there, Brody? Oh, wow. Someone really knows me, although those are ladies' glasses. Oh, yeah.

Pog-Bog like it, jigheads. Oh, yeah. Heck yeah. My kids were just asking about ice fish, and I was like, man, it's going to be a while, but we'll get those in use this year. Oh, those really, ladies' glasses? Oh, yeah. No, they need of sex. I thought you used to us.

Look, they're just round. Do you need glasses to look at them? For Christ's six. So, Brody got a three pack of readers from the drugstore and some ice fishing lures. That's a good gift. That's a great gift. But, you know, I scatter these things everywhere. That's what I was thinking

when I pick those up for you, Brody, that... One, you're going to need to wear those to tie knots. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And you just leave those things everywhere, so... That's great. Next up, we have Ryan Callahan, who had the same wrapping paper

as Brody's gift. That's because we all use the office wrapping paper. It appears so. What do we have there, Cal? Wow, CEOs need ties, Suit for a suit Oh, that's great

That screams America Yeah He has a tie Fire up the YouTube video so I can learn how to tie Freedom isn't free That's great With some bald eagles on it Got some warm-up juice

Nice And what's this one say He has a shirt I didn't mean to what Says, sorry, I'm late. I didn't want to come. Now, who do you think gave that to you, Cal? I have so many occasions where this is a wonderful...

He would have worn it today if he already had it. Who do you think gave that to you? People who pay attention. Okay. I'll give you a hint. That tie used to be... belong to my father-in-law. Okay.

That's great. Very good. Wow. And he didn't wear it as a novelty tie. Give me an example of a place he would wear that tie. To work. To work. Very good.

That'll work well for the future CEO of VHA. Thank you. All right. I am now going to open my gift, my gift, which was wrapped in a meat eater trivia collector's edition Amel Box. Oh, all right. We have some halibut labeled 2025. Nice.

In here, that is great. I do not have any halibut in the freezer, nor do I have King's salmon. You got a nice gift. Chinoki. 2025. That is phenomenal. I had to line up the gift exchange, so I know this came from Brody. And Brody even warned me, said, well, you drew the short straw by having, by me, or by Brody

having my name, but that is a phenomenal gift. Oh, I got to tell you, Spencer. I was real torn about giving you that king salmon. Did that bag used to have shrimp in it? Yeah, there's no shrimp. Now, what do you think I should do with this king salmon? Give me a recommendation. Well, are you going to let your wife eat it with you or just you?

She's uninterested in. Is that right? That's right. This is going to be for me. This is just going to be for me. How do you think I should cook that? Very simply. Okay.

You could grill it, you know, butter, lemon, whatever. Yeah, don't overdo it. Yeah, don't overdo it. overdo it. Good advice. Brody, that is a wonderful gift. Great gift. Thank you very much. Well done. Very efficient. Next up we have

Seth now, who has, how many gifts are in front of you, Seth? I got a pile. Someone must have been a very good boy this year. They're numbered, so I got a... Okay, I assume then you should start with number one. Yep. It looks like. All right, here we go.

This one is wrapped like as though a candy maybe giant piece of candy sure a baseball that would fit in there what could this be wrapped in butcher paper

a carrot my dogs have the same thing oh okay I wouldn't I wouldn't recognize that as a dog toy is that what it is oh okay Wiley would like that

that's the size of your dog that thing is enormous that's a boon and crockett carrot do your dogs like it will my dog like it Santa Do your dogs like that toy?

No, they're scared of any toy that squeaks. What is this? Now he's got a t-shirt. Hey, that's my shirt. What the... That's my shirt, too. What the hell is this? No.

No, this is one of a kind items from my own house. This is cultural appropriation. Seth is now open. There's a t-shirt. I hope this isn't a gun. An ape on the front. The other is a LeBron James jersey. Now he's on to gift number three.

That's not yours, Randall. This is mine. It is mine. Oh, look at these. A new pair of shoes I've been wanting. What the hell is this? Okay, so very well-used shoes. What the hell?

These are all my most treasured possessions. Seth, I didn't know you were going to start to play basketball. What's started now? What are this shirt? That is a great shirt. I was just wearing that the other day. Well, that's kind of weird you would give him all this stuff then. Who did this?

Did you give all this to me? Thank you. I didn't know. I don't know how this got here. You better talk to Mrs. Claus. Was it you? Was it you? Pointing fingers is not a very Christmassy thing to do, Santa.

Since Randall's not here, you might want to consider re-gifting those to Rand. I think Randall would really like these things. Oh, thank you. Jackson Hayes of the Los Angeles Lakers gave me a fist bump and said sweet jersey, brough. That's mine. Legit. Very good Lord. Legit.

Your hands off my jersey. And now it belongs to Seth. Son of them. That is Seth's story now. I'm bewildered by this. Okay. This is a horrible prank. How about you open up Randall?

gift now there, Santa. Okay. He's going to need a gift card to pay for all the stuff that he's lost. Again, we have a dog toy, a jersey, a t-shirt, and a pair of sneakers that Seth got. This is a gift card to

DOG. D-O-G. Oh, that's a pet place. A pet place. That's good. I have three. Randall has three pets. And they're all very needy. So he will be most appreciative of this.

Now, Santa, let's try to solve the crime of how these gifts wound up in Seth's possession. What do you think happened here? My wife was in on it. I know that. But also, we don't lock our house very often. Okay. Let's not, let's not. Look at OnX.

Can we cut that, Phil? I think your full name is on your land. She hates these shoes. Oh, does she? My dog hates this toy Who hates that shirt Sidney hates that shirt But I didn't know that she didn't like these shirts

I was literally wearing this just the other day It's from the San Diego Zoo Oh wow and it made her angry It's a juvenile orangutan Okay So you've accused Cal It was not Cal

I only think of Cal because he often is in and out of my home Mm-hmm Was not Cal Who else? Hmm. Well, I suppose anybody could have slid into her DMs on Instagram. Who's the next suspect?

Phil the engineer. It was not Phil. I would never. That's two strikes. No. It's like he's just lashing out. Yeah. Spencer Newark.

It was not me. It was not three. Maxwell Barba. It was Max. Yeah, it was Max. I definitely, I slid into sending us in these DMs. yes. I did. I actually did. Max was so proud of this idea. He hasn't done a thing at work all week just preparing this gift. I'm impressed that I recognized this toy. And you said it right away. Oh,

my dogs have the same toy. Mrs. Claus gets lonely this time of you. Hey, watch your dirty mouth. Oh, I'm having so much. I didn't wear much of a layer under this suit because it was so warm last year, but I'm having so much fun that I'm sweating again. Yes, Max and Sydney. You guys had to meet up in town, I imagine, this week. Oh, that's fun. Very good. Now we have a real gift here for Seth to open as well.

Just pull that bow. There you go. This is our final gift of the day that Santa has brought in. I hope it's something you treasure. Someone's taken out of your home without your knowledge. Apple butter. You've got a jar of apple butter. That's great.

Oh, some salsa. Mmm, okay. Spicy restaurant style. There you go. My favorite. Your favorite. Wow, okay. You like restaurant style?

I do. Oh, wow. Some big old cookies. Oh, my. Who's this from? That's from me. I went into the pantry last night, made you some cookies. I'm trying to get good at baking a few things.

I made you some cookies. and then let's try him Let's try it live It's got some salt on there That's right You can share That makes for a good cookie

Yep Yep Seth also has a pregnant wife at home So maybe we got to leave one for her As well Leave one for Kelsey Sorry, no milk Santa Oh these are fantastic

Oh thank you I'm just getting into baking I'm trying to be like Not a one trick pony But like a three trick pony So I want to learn how to make cookies First And then I think I'm going to move on

a banana bread soon. The apple butter that was made with apples I found on my Idaho deer hunt this year up in the mountains. You made this. I made that and I made the salsa. The salsa ingredients, those are just from, from Albertsons. Nice, dude. That's great.

That is great. The cookies, though, the eggs came from my neighbor. So some Gallatin Valley eggs there for you. So did you make the labels? My wife did. That's the perk of being married to a graphic designer. Made the labels for it. It even has the ingredients on here.

That's right. Then you know, in case you're allergic to anything. Very good gifts this year, Santer. Yeah, everybody did great. Nice doing from Santa now. I'm really in the mood. This was a terrible mistake. It doesn't breathe.

Well, Santa, Randall didn't show up today if you wouldn't mind filling in for him. Yeah, so I suppose I'll sit in on this. Santa, your Leatherman jacket from high school is upstairs in my office. Oh, shit. That one's awesome, too. Yeah. I was going to wrap that up to. but this jersey, interestingly enough, has several typos on the back.

Oh, very interesting. There's an extra digit under one of LeBronza. Oh, where is that? Where is that? I'll find it. Okay, good stuff from Santa Claus. Yes, yes, good stuff. That is the 2025 Meat Eater Radio gift exchange.

Oh, it says he won the most valuable player in the year, two zero zero one zero which as we all know is in the distant future that's right Santa will you still be around then yes Phil I'm immortal I wasn't sure if there was like a Santa Claus Tim Allen situation where someone would take your place no there's no plan for succession in my line okay media radio will still be going on as well that's right oh I hope not and Santa's gonna stick around for the rest of the show yes yes I will do that for you Thank you, Santa.

Thank you, Santa. And Seth, thanks for joining us for this holiday cheer. Merry Christmas, everyone. Merry Christmas. Brody, Maxwell and Cal are going to disappear. Phil, thank you very much. Oh, yes, of course, Max. I expect all this fireball to be gone when I check in later.

Yeah, we'll work on it. We'll work on it. All right. Thank you, boys. Merry Christmas, everyone. We will see you later. Hunting big country isn't for the faint of heart. You got steep ground, long distances, and miles of crown,

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Oh, goodness. What's the chat after say? Okay, Hunter says, Ask Santa if he thinks anybody is going to stop the thunder this year. The two damn good. But if recent NBA history tells it's anything, it's that Shay Gilgis Alexander, will rupture his Achilles tendon

because that's what happens to the best players in the league. Very good. Well Nicola Yokic is the best player in the league. Oh, sure. So you take that back. The nuggets are going to stop OKC this year. That's what's going to happen there. Hunter's Hut. Jonathan Walberg asks,

what is your recommendation for processing deer shanks specifically for Osabuco? I struggle to make clean cuts through the bone when thawed and don't have a band saw to use when frozen. Thanks. Salzol. Yeah, I use it solzol. Cut through the meat that you can with a knife and then do the rest of it with the solzol, and you'll be just fine. Or go to a butcher and ask if they can bansot.

There you go. Like the solzol too, specifically the ones that you can just like, you grab onto the kind of the top of it. It's easier to hold that one, that kind, and then be able to hold the shank too and just zip through them. You know pretty quickly if you have the right blade on your solzol when you're going through bone. Yeah, and you can go on Amazon too or wherever. butcher products are sold and buy stainless steel saws all blades specific for

that. Do they, are they labeled like steel or wood or do they say bone on them? I'm always using ones that are labeled for wood or steel. Yeah, no, I just went on I think I got them on Amazon and they're like specific bone saw like butchering blades.

I'm going to add that to the tool chest. You know, those are pretty much the only real substantive questions with that. I think people have been distracted and I would hope entertained. Fun questions are fun too, Phil. Hopefully entertained. Chat, maybe brew up some questions for

Santa for the next time we check in with you. If you want to know if someone's on the naughty or nice list, what Santa does in the off season, please shoot those questions over well and we'll address them in about a half hour. Oh, this one's very substantive. Seth Jones says he was skeptical at the start of the D&D

episode, me and you both, Seth. He did thoroughly enjoy it though. And we'd like to see more. Interesting comments, Seth. Thanks for writing. Okay, good stuff. We'll try to get more of that in 2026. Spencer, come on. If you had to eat Randall, how would you cook him? Well, what do you think, Santa?

Oh, well done. Well done. Who knows what he's got? A lot of parasites. You don't know. Yeah. He's an old ruddy buck. We probably got to marinate him overnight, go low and slow.

Not the hot and fast kind of meat. And you're going to have a lot of rendering to do afterwards. Okay. We'll sort that all out in the crock. How about one more, Spencer? Because this one, it's a gun two deer season. What does that mean? Does that mean something?

It means they have multiple gun seasons, and this is number two of like three of them. Gotcha. This weekend in Iowa and the Daily Heiser, three and one degrees. Do you think it's worth my time in the woods to go out? Or should they wait until Monday when the highs are in the 30s? Absolutely. No, that is the best time to go out. especially if you have access to agriculture in i assume it's going to be beans or corn for you

even if that field has been harvested already the deer got to eat every day they're going to be out there uh they're going to pile into agriculture in your neighborhood if you have it be out there pm j i would be very excited about those temperatures rather than pessimistic yeah and i i wouldn't uh be shy about sitting all day if you can if you can handle it yes when it's very cold at the north pole my friends are on their feet all day if i were trying to shoot them that's when i'd go out very good and what cartridge would you take if you were trying to shoot them oh what santa's gun safe look like i'm a traditionalist as you know i'm a traditionalist frequently i if i were to call my herd it would most likely be with a 30 30 okay that is a traditional wow there's a lot of guns

cuts in reindeer. So, you know, they're big, they're bigger animals, but you really don't need to shoot them with a big magnum or anything. Just get a nice, a nice, uh, expanding bullet and put it in the front half. There you go. All right, we will do some more listening questions at the end of the show. Yeah, I'll try to pay more attention this time. For Santa.

All right, joining us on the line now is Kurt Steiner, the man who holds the world record for skipping a rock 88 times. Kurt, welcome to the show. good to be here uh first thing kirk thank you uh take us back to that day in 2013 when you set the world record where were you at and what was it about that particular throw that made it the greatest throw of all time yeah well can i give you just a brief bit of context here yes please i had actually i set the record uh originally in 2002 uh where uh i kind of introduced some new power kind of attack methods to stone skipping and that held for five years and a guy a buddy of

mine since past but he he took the record in 2007 and so then it was on you know we we were been fighting each other for 10 years kind of developing this whole sport really and 2013 came and I've been saving stones probably for 10 years just waiting for the day yeah Yeah, because, you know, Mother Nature never seems fit to, like, make exactly the right stone. So you put it aside, you save it for a tournament or, in this case, a record attempt. And so I had about 500 stones set aside, which was enough for two attempts. And the first one I kind of blew early in 2013 in July, because I didn't get a good camera angle on it. So September rolls around, long story short, I was ready for a second attempt.

And so I had my wife put her up on a bridge and so you could look down on the stones and you could count the ripples much better. And it was a bit of a magical day. I won't lie. I kind of had things lined up for me. I had a bit of a tailwind, which helps, but I also had a little bit of a low, onshore kind of ripple coming at me. So it was a good combination for various technical reasons, and I just threw the hell out of that stone. And, you know, I went through, I probably threw 100 that day, and I narrowed it down to, you know, looking at frame by frame, finally sent it out. And I, you know, I had a group of counts between 88 and 90. So I just took the lowest one figuring that it's kind of like everybody agrees on that. And it's held up.

Very good. Wow. 88 skip throw. It's still the record to this day. Now, you've been competing in stone skipping competitions around the world for 25 years. Explain to us how these competitions are set up and how they differ in the U.S. versus Europe. Right. Well, the U.S., what, oh, oh, okay, yeah, yeah, I thought you lost me.

In the U.S., we basically count skips, and that's what stone skipping is. In Europe, they actually count distance. They measure the distance you throw, and to distinguish it, they call it skimming. So I've been in both tournaments. I went to UK in 2018, and I threw 373 feet. Wow. And that was, at that time, the longest recorded throw of a natural stone. But then the next day, 24 hours later, a Scottish guy came down and Dougie Isaacs and threw 400 feet.

So I'm still He still got the record at 400 there But I'm I still got the skip count And I'm and I'm well placed in the skimming category The other thing is that the Japanese I happen to also be a bit of a hot spot So it's kind of New England, US The British

And then and then Japan And the Japanese Kind of combine everything And they just they have two guys throw and decide, they just judge who threw the better rock on that throw. And they just kind of go through that and a kind of round robin thing and a best of three format. And eventually, you know, they spit it out a good winner. It's kind of a combination of the aesthetic appearance of it,

just and skip out all of it together. So they're all different flavors and we've all kind of cross-pollinated each other over the decades here. And I kind of take, you know, I would take a little bit of pride in being kind of pushing all. all that sacrificing a lot of my life to do, you know, playing, playing, you know. That's great. And then make them a thing, you know. You usually bring your own stones to competitions. Where do you gather your rocks from?

Yeah, I get about 90% of my stones from the southeast coast to Lake Erie. I grew up in Erie, you know, which is between Cleveland and Buffalo there. and the geology and the water, you know, the waves of Lake Erie kind of combined to make a really good skipping rock. That's where I grew up right there. Nowadays, of course, I'm living up on a mountain off grid here in Appalachia, PA, and so I have to try three hours to get my rocks. I got all the water in the world, but the stones are shit, you know. I go up, I'll go see my mom get some rocks come back. and have some fun.

That's great. Yeah, and the Scottish have a place up in North Scotland with some really great slate, and there's a place up in North Vermont with some really, really beautiful rocks. But I put the ones I go to, they're accessible, and they're kind of like number four on my world best list, you know. That's amazing. So I got lucky. Describe for us the perfect rock. it kind of depends like that's like saying what's the perfect tool you know it's it's you got to know

what is what is what is you're trying to do and then and then you look for those features in the stone and and it takes many years of kind of being it's imagine imagine if you were a you know I don't know a pitcher or a bowler or a hockey player or something and every time you went to take a whack at the thing or throw the thing it was a different size a different shape different weight out of balance you know so so the skill is in learning how to look through all the junk and find the one that's going to do what you want and and so with that preface there uh what i would say is in general you're going to want something that's got a very flat bottom you're going to want something that's kind of got a very smooth texture those are kind of the obvious ones uh something to look for is

Between the bottom side and the edge, that kind of transition edge right here, what I would say is that the flatter the water, the sharper that edge can be. And so it's a lot of experimentation, a lot of trying this, seeing what happens, and then adapting your next throw to that. And what I would say, though, is, you know, I generally throw four to six ounces. You know, we're throwing probably around 70 miles an hour and maybe 25, maybe 2,500 or 3,000 RPM, right? So a distance thrower will back off the spin a little bit and go for more velocity. you know I spent like five years figuring out like that kind of whip right there if you can see that where I'm pulling down to the ground and then driving back up against my my body and then letting my hand snap out and that really generates some good spin and that and that spin in turn with all the we'll kind of chop the water kind of like a like maybe a hydroplane boat propeller kind of chopping at it and that adds up So, so basically flat bottom, kind of a maybe a radius of curvature on that bottom edge of maybe, maybe an eighth of an inch, you know, something about the size of your palm, maybe four or five ounces, and smooth, you know, the main thing is that bottom edge, you just can't have any jaggingness in it or it will bite the water, just like trying to run a radial saw backwards, right?

You need all the sharpness on your, the bottom edge of that stone to be kind of feathering the water rather than biting into it. You can understand what I'm saying. Sure. Yeah. Kurt, you mentioned when you, the day that you threw the record there, you had some ripples in the water. Do you prefer that over flat com or what do you prefer there? Yeah, yeah. I mean, think of driving over Rumble strips, right?

your tire gets in kind of a harmonic there and so you're kind of it's the same kind of deal where if you're running over the tops of just very regular ripples it kind of creates like a stone's running over rumble stick strip and the way I

I mean I had some lucky waves coming out I say a wave I mean I'm talking like that much of a wave that regular like one foot intervals was just enough. But I also did kind of a trick where I threw like a real deep stone out and then if you wait just the right amount of time those ripples, right?

They kind of leave a nice... Wow. That was a little bit of a veteran trick there. Yeah. And so, yeah, because the water's too flat, what will happen is the stone will eventually bogged down just like a, like a, you throw a baseball and it'll bounce, bounce, bounce, like a grounder, but then it'll kind of roll on the ground.

This is just like having a bumpy ground. So it kind of keeps kicking up, you know, and it keeps kicking it up, and so you can get more count out of it. The power, there's usually enough power in your throat. You get a lot of skips, but once it bogs and sticks to the water, like Guinness basically will only count, the basic rule for counting in a world record. is you have to have a distinct evidence of the water, stone contacting the water,

and then in whatever next frame, at some point you have to show clear water between each contact point. So if you have a stone that hits and slides 10 feet, even though it might look like 10 or 20 skips in there, it comes out as like one, right? You have one water contact. And so the great thing about that,

Troy did in 13, was it had very, distinct separated skips and uh you know and i won't lie it's been kind of hard on the old body here uh i'm starting to age out i won't lie uh i got some veteran tricks but uh you know i've had um i'd be like a rotator cuff surgery and uh i in uh in 20 in 2018 when i threw that 373 i ripped an oblique muscle cool and uh blew up like a football and that was it that That was a nasty one. Oh, jeez. I paid my dues on that one.

Yeah, but, and now I need knee injections, you know, from coming down hard. Because if you imagine, it's like a baseball player, maybe starting real high, like, maybe seven feet up. But we're letting the stones leave our hand, like, maybe only a foot off the ground. But you're really coming down into that shot. And it just, you know, it just, it's, it's, it's, it's. It's, it's, uh, you know, I took this fun little thing and turned it into like this, you know. It's great. Brutal, brutal, uh, like sports science kind of thing.

And, uh, it's great, you know, it's great. Now, it's, uh, Kurt, we, we want to, we want to be better at skipping rocks ourselves. So please walk us through the perfect form. What should our feet, our arms, our hands be doing to make the best throw? difficult question to answer but what i can do is give you some pointers right i'm not going to tell you here's how you throw a stone at 30 000 you know but uh but as a rule of thumb you know you want to stand more per you don't want to you want to kind of stand at maybe 45 degrees almost perpendicular to the water right with your your your follow foot uh to the water but the main thing is

you're going to want to come down uh at the water right there's like there's five things to think about i guess okay the angle the stone is coming at the water right uh if you let go from around your knees and hit the water maybe 10 10 12 feet out that's a that's a good all around angle right so figure leaving the stone leaving between your your waist and your knee and hitting you know maybe 10 feet out and and then there's the tilt of the stone right the front edge of the rock you want something that's maybe 10 degrees 10 to 20 degrees coming out of your hand and and the rule there is if the stone bounces up too high after that first skip then lower the edge down right so most people will throw it with too much of an angle and it'll bounce high and the pros tend to

throw with a real shallow angle so it comes down and then takes off horizontally So if it bounces up, lower that tilt, come in, you know, maybe like that. And then other things is the spin, the spin's just going to come out naturally, but you are going to want to hold the stone at what I would say is if you look around the perimeter, it's going to have different like radii, like it's got different lengths depending on the irregularity of the rock. You want to grab the longest point on the rock, like put it right in the middle of your pad of your finger or your middle finger, which I have developed also for different throws.

But right in the middle, that tip of the pad on the point down at that angle. And then if you want a little pro tip or secret, when you rock's leaving your hand, right, this direction, I usually throw with just a little bit of right-hand roll in it, right? like the stone is spinning clockwise for a right-handed person and I'm leaning that right edge the outside edge if you will of the stone down toward the water a little because as the stone flies through the air you know if you notice it'll roll over uh counterclockwise so just kind of loading that stone a tad with just maybe two degrees of roll pre-roll pre-loading the stone By the time it hits the water, it'll come down a little bit flatter.

And it makes it a little more stable and sticks a little better. You know, it's it's subtle stuff. A lot of physics, it sounds like. It is, it is. And it does come down a lot to the difference between a natural and an artificial rock. I'm kind of a purist natural rocks are much harder to master. So there's a little bit more prestige, I think. Yeah.

in throwing what i won't lie i mean we have uh especially in in europe where they're just looking for distance numbers right they they they'll go they'll make artificial rocks and they'll blast them guy just last month threw a stone over 500 feet well you think as i understand it using an artificial stone uh so that that's all well and good but uh you know isaac's when he beat me he threw he threw 400 with a natural rock and i consider that actually even more impressive because he went out and dug it out of the ground, you know. Good stuff. Yeah.

All right, well, good luck of your next competition, Kurt. Congrats on that 88 skip world record throw. Thank you for educating us and thank you for joining us. Yeah, hey, thanks for the opportunity, dudes. Got some fun. Thank you, Kurt. Thanks, Kurt. I think that's the best interview we've ever done.

It's not often we have an interview where I just, just sit there and watch and I'm fully entranced by our guest, but that was something special. It means a lot that you're saying we Santa, like you just kind of feel like you're a part of the crew. That's a good point, Phil. Do you boys fashion yourself, good rock skippers? No. No.

You know, I grew up, it sounds like not too far from where he's at. It's in your blood. Yeah, and I, you know, I never really hit the banks of Lake Erie to find a good skipping rock, but I've skipped some rocks in my day. You've missed out on your calling. I guess. Could have been you, Seth.

I prefer to find the biggest rock I can get one skip out of. That's also fun. That's my approach. Yeah, see how badly you can hurt your arm for the rest of the week. That was fascinating. That was good. Hunting big country isn't for the faint of heart. You got steep ground, long distances, and miles of crown land that aren't always easy to navigate.

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See you in town. All right. Our next segment is Gear Talk. I've never had to talk about gear. But I know someone who has. Turn it up, Phil. It makes me wonder if he still wants to talk about gear. I guess he doesn't have a choice.

How much money will he spend? It's Johnny talking gear again Wow The problem with that one is that Janus isn't here today No but that's brilliant And he rewrote that jingle You must have been feeling inspired

To give us a new version The true story Spencer is I forgot That I had a jingle for that Oh So how there are two gear talk jingles Okay Phil I don't mean to tell you how to do your job But Kurt's name is still at the bottom of the screen

I put the wrong one up I meant to do that one Thank you Santa You are a part of the crew Thank you. Thank you. Please start us off with some gear talk today. What do you got?

Well, hold on one second. Okay. He's not fully prepared. Now he's grabbed something from the shelf. I brought two items today. All right. The first is this hat. Beautiful hat.

Now, folks out there might say, oh, he's plug in first light again. He's not. This is the best hat I've ever worn outside. It combines a almost full-sized brim that you'd find on a baseball cap with a very warm wool, much like the wool in our heavy, heavyweight sweaters and things of that nature, whose names I'm not remembering. But I often wear two hats when I, I have two hats when I go outside. I'll have a lightweight hat in late season that I can hike in and get sweaty. And then I like to have a heavy hat that I can.

put on when I'm going to get cold. The problem is, I don't want to carry a third hat. So if I need a brim, it often requires me to either bring a baseball cap or bring a third hat, which I don't want to do. So this is my first piece of gear. Very good. Where's this hat fit in your kit? Oh, this isn't performance kit.

This is just a uniform. Ceremonial, really. The second is this Asiak tripod head. Now, I'm in the market for a new tripod, so I'm going to need you to sell me on this one. Well, I'd like to focus just on the head. Okay. I have never, never liked lightweight tripods very much. To me, they don't serve the purpose of a tripod, which is stabilizing your gear, your glass, what have you.

And I find a panhead to be the most useful type of head for glass. large areas because you can work your way methodically across the landscape as opposed to a ballhead where you simply loosen it and tilt it around, especially when using a heavy pair of binoculars, like, oh, a size 18 with a 56 millimeter objective or a spotting scope. And so this head, typically you need a heavier panhead, but this head, which I just got this year, is extremely lightweight. weight. It's extremely compact and it allows a much lighter tripod to function with the same performance as a heavier tripod. So I'm now a light tripod man. Okay. And it's all due to the quality of this head. It has very fine adjustments so you can have it so you can use your nose to knock your binoculars around if you've got your hands in your pockets. It also locks up tight if you're in a windy environment and trying to glass something far away. And I just can't say

enough about this panhead. It's just fabulous. That is fantastic Santa. Gear Talk review. This year on my South Dakota deer hunt, I pulled up to an approach for the property I was hunting. I'd gotten out. I was glassing some deer off of my spotter

that I could see about a half mile away. Messed around for a while. Got in out of the truck looking at on X, looking through the spotter. Probably sat there for like a half hour. Went to leave, pull away, and crunch. I run over my tripod with the spotting scope on it.

Did not damage the spotting scope, luckily, but I crushed my tripod that I've had for like a decade and it was a crappy tripod. Oh. So now, like conveniently, I just get to get a new tripod. That's fantastic. Highly recommend this. Okay. Okay. I'm gonna I ran over parapenoculars last year, did the same thing. Ooh. Did you get back to my truck in the dark, lean my tripod and binos against the truck while I fumbled for my keys, got in the old truck and drove home and thought, damn, where's those binoes? Went back to next day. I didn't

run them over. Someone else did, but they were just toast. How do you know you didn't run them over? Well, you could see the tracks. Okay. And I wouldn't be happy with myself if I were responsible, so I blame it on whoever piled in there after me. There you go. You gave it a quick death. There was no suffering involved. All right, Seth, what do you got for gear talk? What I got is very inexpensive. In fact, it's free and it's very effective. It's not. the Bino harness, which this is a great bina harness FHF gear, but it's what I keep in the side over here. Okay.

And this is, you know, this has become, I would say, more and more popular over the years. But instead of having one of them like, you know, the little puffer bottles for my Windicator, this is milkweed. Love it. Oh, this is just natural material. Send some of that into the atmosphere for us.

Look how, I don't know if you can see this. Look how it just floats. Uh-huh. It's wonderful. Love milkweed. It just floats. You can watch that stuff float away for 100 yards. Yeah, yeah, especially if you're in a tree stand where you're elevated, you drop a piece of that. You can see exactly where your scent's going. And like you said, I've sat there with my binoculars and watched it go 100 plus yards out from where I was sitting.

You can see exactly where your scent's blowing. You just keep some in the side pouchy, you're buying a harness. Yep, yep, keep it right there. And it's just always ready to go when I need it. And it's very cheap because it's natural and I get it right off the landscape. And I know Seth did this. I'm just reminding others, but leave the seeds where you found them. Just take the white stuff.

What does that even call it? Does they have a name? Just like that, whatever that hair substances. It probably is. It's, yeah. That way you're not spreading milkweed all over the continent. But the best vindicator nature could give you. Yeah.

That's good stuff. All right. For Gear Talk today, I am revisiting the gas can dilemma. Last month, I had declared that I haven't used a good gas can in a decade and all the gas cans in my life came from my dad that are you know as old as I am so I asked folks to write in with gas cans that they really liked I got 161 emails from listeners recommending gas cans and there were four brands that were recommended far more than the others those four brands made up 64% of the emails I got so here they are starting at number four that is the

no spill gas can I had 14 folks write in about this one a five gallon no spill can is $39 at Walmart. They claim to have one of the fastest cans on the market. They say it drains three gallons a minute has a thumb-controlled fuel spout and view stripe. Jay Hattrop

he said if you're filling something that's filled from the top like a lawnmower or snowblower, there is nothing better than a no spill can. These are dead simple for top filling but are basically worthless for filling a vehicle. So that is the no spill can. That is

fourth place, 14 people. That's a good thing. You're doing four of these. Four of these. Number three is the sure can. Nineteen folks wrote in about this one. Five-gallon shirt can is $80 at Ace. That is the most expensive one from our list.

It's got a spout at the bottom, thumb control on the top. They say this design gives you the best control when filling large machines. Ethan Lindquist specifically said, I highly recommend sure can gas cans. I have six and have never spilled. Best of all, you can fill most things while standing up instead of bending over. So that is the sure can at number three. I've never seen that. Number two, number two, we have the tough jug.

21 folks wrote in recommending this. Five-gallon tough jug is $42 from their website. They use an auto stop technology that instantly shuts off flow when your container is full. It has internal venting that helps prevent leaks. John Foley, he said there's a reason. these are on back order they're worth every penny no leaks or glugs i'm a fire chief and after replacing my personal ones every gas can at the firehouse for small engines is now a tough jug so that is number two 21 folks recommended that number one this had a dominating lead

in the polling from our listeners 48 folks wrote in recommending this one uh everybody seems to love this it is the VP racing gas can uh Five and a half gallon BP racing can is $48 at lows. They have a wide grip and deluxe hose that won't spill. Now, here's the kicker. These are not sold as gas cans. They explicitly say on their website that this is only intended for non-fuel products. Instead, they advertise them as, quote,

motorsport containers that can also pour auto fluids, birdseed, deer corn, and water. But clearly most customers are putting gas in them. And by skirting some EPA regulations, that's what I was about to say. That's great. The best gas can on the market. Justin Bowman, he wrote in to say VP racing gas cans are by far the best on the market. They'll make you feel like you're pouring gas in 2005, which is about the strongest endorsement somebody could give to a gas can. 48 folks wrote in recommending that about 33% of our audience said that is an amazing gas can from BP racing.

That's great. I like how they use terminology to skirt the whole gas game thing. Yeah, it's not for fuel. Very clear. It's not for fuel. And somebody actually wrote in saying they live in one of the states where you can't pump your own gas, which I think New Jersey is. Oregon used to be. They said they pulled up to a gas pump with one of these VP racing and the attendant will not fill it.

So you might run into that. You may only use this bong for tobacco. Exactly. Yes. Very similar to thing. VP racing. $48 can. Everyone seems to love them.

That is probably the can I'm going to get. There is your gas can roundup from meat eater listeners. That's great. That is great. Fantastic. All right. That brings us to the end of the show. Bill,

let's get some final feedback from the chat. Oh, let's do it. Get these in. Folks. You have a trapping question. I thought since Seth was here, we tackled, but it's specifically northern Minnesota traffic.

Oh, yeah. Can do you hear, Seth. Cracket, Cracket, Washington, asks, what terrain slash features or terrain features would you look out for during his first Northeast Minnesota Bobcat slash Fisher Trapping season? He's got a 220 cubby set, by the way. You have any insights. That's a good start. So Fisher trapping, which I've done in Pennsylvania, and I've actually caught one, I was trapping an area that was heavy with.

with some porcupines, which they like to feed on. Oh, I didn't know that about that. Yeah, they can, they can somehow roll them over and get at them without getting stuck from what they say. But, and I, you know, I had some trail cameras in that area and was getting, getting fishers on my trail camera. So I knew that they were there. So, but, like, terrain features, I was just in hard, like, hardwoods. mixed with some white pine that just had, like, the right forage form, I guess. Lots of pork pines, lots squirrels.

So basically hardwood timber mixed with some conifers. And then bobcats, they like rocky stuff. So if there's any sort of outcropping or, you know, big boulders, they like to work those edges. or Steve and I actually just caught a bobcat yesterday here in Montana. Good one? Yeah, 33 and a half pounds. Whoa. Yeah.

That's a big kitty. That was river bottom, thick, brushy stuff that had plenty of pheasins and birds around. Here's some insight from someone who's never trapped a bobcat or tried. So this doesn't mean anything. But I grew up in southeastern South Dakota, a place that is pretty marred. marginal bobcat habitat. But when I would come across bobcats, it was in my places that were also the best spots for turkey hunting, whether it was because the turkeys were there or the bobcats

and the turkeys just liked the exact same thing. I imagine northern Minnesota is not crawling with turkeys. So maybe if you come across pheasants like Seth said or turkeys, which is something I observed in eastern South Dakota, maybe you're prime for a bobcat there. Yep. Good luck. cool uh stephen mullet says please more no more d and d episodes wow interesting couldn't agree more that's fair uh steve steve brinella didn't even try to come up with a good burner

for that he just had his own first name in there and everything uh hayden fitty when rifle hunting for big game do you value full penetration or energy expansion of your bullet hmm santa what do you think well i have a couple answers I would go for a bullet that creates a wider wound channel. And the way I would begin thinking about projectile selection is I would find whatever you're looking for, figure out what the minimum terminal velocity you need

to make that bullet expand as fully as it can. And then determine which cartridge is going to launch that bullet at that speed to get to the given range that you'd like. I think you want big wounds. Wounds are what kill. Energy doesn't kill. Big wounds kill. Full penetration.

I think there aren't very many bullets that you don't have to worry about penetration. So that's a rambling answer, which sort of skirted around your question. But I like a bullet that upsets violently, and I'm not too worried about shooting through, you know, four feet of wood. There you get. It's just bones and skin and muscle. In Africa, when Steve was buffalo hunting, the first. The first round in the magazine, or I guess the first round that would come out of the magazine was a bullet that would expand well. And then the other ones behind that were penetrating rounds.

That way, the first bullet went in, expanded, created that good wound channel, and then the follow-up shots, you just keep shooting until you don't have shots anymore, you know? Do you know how deep you were penetrating those critters? I have no clue. It all depends on the angle. Sure. So that's just, that's for Buffalo hunting in Africa, but, you know. Sansa anything else to add? No, I would just say, uh, I would just say, I don't think that energy is a good measure of a bullet's efficacy.

Okay. It's, it's all about what that bullet mechanically does when it hits an animal at a given speed. Good answer, Santa. What else you got, Phil? Cliff is wondering if, if Randall and Phil are going to release any footage from the big book hunter, World Championships. Yes. Look out for it early next year.

Oh, oh, oh. Q1 as in the business part. That sounds like a fun little video. It'll be a fun little. Again, it's going to be like a short thing. It's not going to be like an episode of meat eater or with that production value either. It's going to be exactly. I heard a rumor.

I heard a rumor in the office that there's some sick footage of Randall. Don't spoil it. Don't. Santa. Santa. Sick footage of Randall. Sick footage. Sick footage.

It's all you. Sick footage. It's very sick footage. Very good. Mark asks, what's the worst injury, each of you have endured during hunting or fishing? Hmm. I, I, in this was in 2018, I was coming out of a tree stand one night in South Dakota after a bow hunt in late October. My like third to last step was not a step.

It was a tree branch that I had trimmed down to be like six inches that I had put a lot of faith in over the years. And that night it broke and I fell. and it was a very shortfall like I landed on my feet but on the way down I hit a metal tree step that I had also put in and it opened up my side and I drove to the ER

and yeah they took some scans stitched me up and I went on my way home and I was most devastated because one like I was now going to worry my wife who I'm always telling like it's gonna be fine I'm good you know like I'm by myself it's all gonna be whatever but then also the rut was coming up

and I had a rifle tag I was excited about and I was like I'm going to miss some rut hunts about two weeks later I was back to hunting again so it was all fine and I still got that scar Seth worst injury I don't really have anything good

cuts from knives and whatnot hooks in hands I did something I tweaked my knee this year when I was packing out my bowl I've kind of been suffering with that ever since but I don't know. I don't know if I'd call that an injury.

Santa? Oh, outside of the usual cuts, um, the first thing that comes to mind is I was driving a jet boat that was, it had a poor design, very steep chines and occasionally when you're power sliding it, it would grab. And, uh,

I was coming around this big log. We're at. Up in Alaska. I'll go in full tilt, you know. and it grabbed and I was thrown forward in the boat and gave myself a concussion. We're pretty sure I didn't go to a hospital, but I was pretty sick and nauseous for the next day or so. Felt sleepy.

And hit my head on the floor of the boat. Yep. I didn't like that boat. We eventually put some floats on the back to try to alleviate its handling characteristics because, again, the geometry of it was all off. but I never really trusted that boat. Santa made it here today, though. Yes. Stung by bees, too.

I swell up quite a bit. Three crank asks or says first, I've gotten two roadkill deer this year. If you guys get roadkill, do you treat it differently when processing? Santa, do you snag roadkill in the sled? The only roadkill I've ever taken was a buck that my dad hit driving home from work when I was a senior in high school. I had a broken leg at the time.

so my buddy picked me up and we went and the cop shot the deer in the head because it wasn't dead yet so then we euroed that skull but we took the deer to a processor because I wasn't hunting that year as a man named Patterson he had a tattoo on his arm of a castle with a dragon flying over oh sick and then he skinned it up and he said it was two bruised to eat so he wouldn't accept it so that's my roadkill story I hit a dough last year driving home from a hunt in South Dakota um and that thing had too much trauma as well to like take most of the meat so i took i had the back straps i took the tender loins um and then like a roast on the back ham but otherwise it was just like you know pretty well ruined uh that you wouldn't want to be eating that a lot of trauma

a lot of blood set any roadkill in your day um i don't think i've picked up a roadkill deer I've picked up some roadkill fur bears and skinned them. Do you treat them any different than one that was in your trap? No, just I mean, you know, try to avoid picking something up that's full of trauma, but no, I don't treat them different.

Phil, one more. Okay, first. Phil, I've seen a few suggestions in the chat that I've had I've been overserved today and I'd just like to address that. I haven't had anything to drink you. He hasn't yet. Yet.

Yeah. I'm just full of the Christmas spirit. Yet, yeah. It's intoxicating. Uh-huh. Uh, Santa, what was the mascot at your high school? The Warriors. Oh, that's, I thought you'd be a little bit more, you know, theme.

Was it portrayed as like a Native American or what was? Yes, but they changed it. They changed it in recent years to fit more of a Spartan theme with a, with a gladiator-type helmet with a nose shield and a sword. and people were very upset about it. Sure. Yes, yes. That's a good one to end. Merrimont Warriors.

Okay, last one. This is from Mr. Hunterman 69. Santa, is Brody on the naughty list because he wins more in trivia than Randall? Or is Spencer on the naughty list for asking all those fishing questions for number 10? Good question. It's all about the questions for me. It's like playing golf. You're really playing against yourself trying to pick up a stroke here and there on your opponent.

But if the course is shitty, there's not much you can do. That's right. Santa, thank you for joining us. Oh, it's so much fun to be on radio live. Very warm in here too, I know. Yes, yes. My face isiches tremendously. Yeah.

No, I need to get this off. You're about to be real busy here. Oh, yes, yes, it's coming up quickly, and there's all sorts of boys and girls all over the world who made their gifts. So I better sign off and get back to the workshop. The elves are busy. Speaking of the holidays, we have some pre-recorded episodes for radio coming. coming up, send us your questions to radio at the meat eater.com so we can interject those where the live chat normally participates.

Radio at the meat eater.com, send your questions our way very soon. One last thing, Seth, about that apple butter. Oh, yeah. I was driving by a rancher's place. I picked some apples that day while I was hunting on the mountain, and then they had some beautiful apple trees in their driveway. I swung in and asked for permission to pick their apples, and they let me. So that's the first time I've ever gotten apple hunting permission.

Oh, that is. Now I turned in that apple. Spencer Newhart, the king of permissions. That's right. All right. See you back here next week. Same time and place. Bye now.

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