The MeatEater Podcast - Ep. 840: Polar Bear Jail and an Olympic Cheesemonger | MeatEater Radio Live!

Episode Date: February 27, 2026

Hosts Spencer Neuharth, Randall Williams, and Seth Morris interview Sgt. Ian Van Nest about life as a conservation officer in the "Polar Bear Capital of the World," key into some listener Hot Tips, revisit 2018's The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter in the MeatEater Movie Club, and chat with cheesemonger Emilia D'Albero about taking home a different kind of Olympic gold medal. 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.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, if you're in or around Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and you live for hunting season, you need to swing by the meat eater store in Milwaukee. We're stocked wall to wall with the gear we actually use in the field. First Light, FHF gear, Phelps game calls, and more. You'll find us at the corners of Brookfield.

Whether you're gearing up for the season, dialing in a setup, or just want to talk shop with people who loved to hunt. This is your place. That's the meat eater store, Milwaukee, at the corners of Brookfield. Stop in, get dialed, and get after it. Smell us now, lady. Welcome to Meat Eater Trivias. Meat Eater podcast. Welcome to Mead eater Radio Live. It's 11 a.m. Mountain Time. That's also 11 a.m. for our friends in Poplar, Montana on Thursday, February 26th, and we're live.

from Me Deeder H.Q. and Bozeman. I'm your host, Spencer, joined today by Randall and Seth, as well as the Poplar Middle School from Fort Peck Reservation in Northeast Montana. They are here to see how a media company works. You can see them live on our YouTube channel right now. You guys are really nervous, right? You guys should wave to our viewers. No.

Okay. Say hi. We told them they couldn't cuss live on air, so they got all their cussing out right before we went live. And I'll do some more later. It was shocking to be framed. All right, on today's show, we'll interview Sergeant Ian Van Ness about Canada's polar bear jail. After that, we have a hot tip off about PVC rod holders and finding lost arrows, followed by a review of the legacy of a white-tailed deer hunter for meat eater movie club.

And finally, we'll interview Amelia Del Barrow about winning gold at the Cheesmonger Olympics. But first, we have a few programming notes. Our first video of meat eaters 12 and 26 is live on the meat eater YouTube channel right now. Janus goes on his first baited bear hunt and encounters more bears than you can shake an arrow at. It's a one-hour film that's presented by Maltry and Onyx. You can see it on our YouTube channel right now. Phil, you have some details about another podcast coming out that accompanies. Yeah, that's right.

Janice is going to be doing a Q&A and fielding questions about that episode. So if you want to watch the episode and either shoot Yon, some DMs. I think we're pulling questions from the comment section of that video as well. So if you have any burning questions for Janice about the hunt or his experiences there, get him in. That's going to be dropping

next Tuesday, which is the oh no, what's the third? The third. March 3rd. Check that out. March 3rd. March 3rd. He's always got a little camera over there for himself. He's always got that little camera. I don't cut to it off. Steve Rennell is.

He's hidden in the corner. He's leading the tour for these So he's tucked himself where you can't see him. But he is here. And they're joining us for our second to last episode of Media Radio Live. Next week is the finale. And Seth won't be joining us. Yep.

Why is that, Seth? This is my last episode ever of Media Radio Live. My wife is going to have a kid next Thursday. Woo! Yep. Congratulations. Not very good planning on your part, though, to put it during the Media Radio Live finale. Well, you know, it wasn't supposed to be.

But one thing led to another, the little dude does not want to turn his head down. So that means we got to do a C-section was not. So keep your head up. And I'm hopeful that if everything goes well and we have a happy mother and happy child, that we can do a live cut in to the hospital with Seth for our very last, our very last rut report. Babies actually coming out early in the morning.

We're scheduled early. Oh, yeah. You can probably still make it in. So. Yeah. You know, Seth, some cultures believe in reincarnation. You know, like the Pope dies, and then Cardi B has a baby. And it's like, welcome back the Pope.

The same day that Medita Radio Live dies, your son is going to be born. Oh, my God. Maybe, maybe it's a little, I'm going to call that baby a little meat eater radio live for the rest of its life. There's nothing you can do about that. Boy, that's going to have a rough goal of it. No, I don't. Virgil. Virgil.

Virgil. Virgil is his name. Virgil. I'm going to call it radio. Okay. Like Cuba Gooding Jr.? Yes, exactly like that. And there's nothing you and Kelsey can do about that.

This is Uncle Spencer. He's going to call you radio. He'll be the only person that calls you radio. Yeah. Just let them both. But we're all thinking it. That'd be an interesting child if it comes out as Meadeer Radio Live reincarnated. That would be weird.

A lot of bad segments. For our finale, we have something very special planned. Randall, fill some folks in and what's going to happen next Thursday. Yeah, I think everybody here is eagerly awaiting the Meadeter Radio Live, grand finale live. extravaganza. Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, with mixed emotions, of course, but I just want to give everybody a shout out. I alluded to this earlier, heads up, that we will be going long next week. Spencer and Phil and I are aiming for about six plus hours in the studio. That and that's not a joke. That's not a joke. We have guest hosts lined up. All of your

favorite radio live co-hosts will be joining us during various segments. We're going to try to hit every single segment we've ever done. We have some special, literally every single segment. So even the ones that we just did once, we'll try to hit those if we can remember how they go. And if we have got a jingle for them. We've got some special messages from celebrities that will be playing on air. A music video. A music video.

Camios. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot to look forward to. And because it's six hours, we're not expecting everyone to sit down and watch the whole thing. though you're more than welcome to and I encourage it. But it's one of those things you can kind of tune in for a while, take a break, come back later. Yeah,

I think it'll be best be viewed in parts. Yeah. In segments. It won't work for the younger folks listening, but I think the only real point of comparison would be the Jerry Lewis Telethon. Yeah. Yeah.

It says we're not raising any money for children. Yeah. Maybe we should raise money for some. We're going to burn through a lot of hot, tip-offs. That's right. Empty in the clip. We've been swamped with hot tip-offs in the past two weeks after someone bad-mouthed the

recent round of submissions. So we've been swapped with some good ones. We're going to hit those hard. It's going to be a lot of fun. We're going to play some games with audience participation. That's right. We will talk to the chat all day. So be in our wait room.

We'll answer your questions every hour. This is the podcast version of if your parents want you to not smoke cigarette when you're a kid to be like, oh, you like that, huh? Well, how about

you smoke a whole pack of media radio live? That's what we're doing. We know some of you are going to miss this and you want more meat eater radio live. After this,

you won't want anymore. We're going to make sure that you're sick to your stomach. You're exhausted. You might throw up. Yeah. No, I'm excited.

There's still a lot of work left to put that thing together, but we're excited. And I think there's going to be some fun surprises along the way. And really, it's a celebration. of what we all share together.

Coming to you for the family. That's a community. One week. Yeah. There's going to be a movie club for that. When do we know what movie it'll be yet? Yes, we'll be reviewing the film Congo. How did you land out Congo?

It's one of my favorite movies. It involves not necessarily hunting, but there's camping, there's outdoor adventure, there's wild animals, and a bunch of animals do get killed. Okay. By lasers. So, it's all the criteria. Based on a Michael Crichton novel that. that I read last year for the first time, actually.

Did you love it? Yeah, and it's actually, the adaptation is remarkably faithful. I hear fantastic things about the Jurassic Park book. Have you read that? Yes. Is it very good? Yes. And Congo came out the year after Jurassic Park.

So it was like, let's take the momentum of Jurassic Park and carry it into a new universe. It's a classic, especially knowing what we know now about satellite communications and technologies, this is made when that was just like a fanciful idea. And it plays a big role in the plot. So, yeah, big ape guy, as we all know. And so I'm melding my two primary interests, bad movies, and great apes. And we're going to review Congo. So I didn't look up where you can view it, but I'm pretty sure it's on Netflix.

I own it. Okay. So I'll be, of course, you do. Just as I owned the novel. And, yeah, that'll be a lot of fun. That'll be a lot of fun. So we're going to, that one's just going to be. Yeah, I think probably the most demented radio club or movie club on radio live we've ever had.

So except for maybe today. February 5th is the finale again, probably a six plus hour episode. Hop in the meat eater YouTube channel that day and you'll get to participate in our finale. Yeah, so if you've got a doctor's appointment that afternoon at like two or three p.m., you're going to want to cancel that one too because that will actually be a conflict. Yeah. So. Call in sick. Plan ahead.

Yeah. Do what you got to do. All right, let's get on with the show. Joining us on the line first. Do we want to say goodbye to the Poplar Middle School? Oh, yeah. Thank you for joining us. Thanks for joining us.

Media Studies class. Mm-hmm. Played an important role. Anybody want to give a quick shout out to your friends or family. Aw. Now's your chance. Uh-oh. They forgot all the names.

Step up. Name a friend. Give a shout out to my cousin, Kendall. Shout out to cousin Kendall. All right. We did it. Shout out Kendall. and Nicholas.

I just want to say Good morning in Lakota. Yeah, yeah, let's hear the. Say it in the microphone. Say it in the mic. Heana washede. Heana washede. Can you guys say Randall's a loser in Lakota?

Randall's an SK. Okay. We did it. Thank you for joining us. I've gotten a lot of angry emails and DMs over the years, but I've never seen it expressed quite that way. Thank you.

Enjoy the rest of the day. We'll see you guys around the office. Thanks for visiting guys. Oh. Oh. All right. Got me. Got me bad.

Joining us on the line first is Sergeant Ian Van Nest. He's a Manitoba conservation officer in the polar bear capital of the world. Ian, welcome to the show. Hey, guys. Super pumped to be here. We're excited to have you. Now, you live and work in a place that has as many humans as it does polar bears. There are about 800 of each in Churchill.

What is your role there? Oh, so I'm Sergeant Conservation Officer up here in Churchill, Manitoba. So I'm in charge of the polar alert program, one-of-a-kind program in the world. It's basically an apex predator management program. And what we do is we are solely there to make sure that people can coexist with these these giant critters. Okay. What is it about that area that creates such a dense population of polar bears? Yeah, Churchill, again, polar bear capital of the world, it's got to be, you know, the habitat.

You've got the ring seal out on the Hudson Bay there. That's the primary food staple for polar bears. And not to mention, too, that there's also the largest denning area in the world, what pass national park just to the to the southeast of churchill so churchill is essentially in a migratory path of these bears and it's quite incredible because we have 800 plus people living right in their path so thanks to our program we're able to keep people safe and also the bears safe and prevent any problems from happening how common are mallings well again thanks to that polar bear alert program, not very common. Like you mentioned,

back in 2013, we did have a malling. That was our last malling. So quite proud to say that due to our program, we've been able to stop and prevent a lot of these tragedies from happening. Can you explain what the polar bear alert program is? How does that tell people that they need to be on alert for a polar bear? Yeah. It's an Apex Predator Co-Management Program where the province will identify.

So the province I say is Manitoba. I'm an employee of Manitoba. So basically what we're doing is we're identifying any bears that are potentially a problem, whether they're food conditioned or that they're aggressive in any way. And we will do proactive measures like setting up bear. traps and preventing some of these bears from hanging around. And it's the bears that are hanging around town that are essentially problematic because then they become comfortable around humans.

And we all know wildlife, right? They're unpredictable. So anytime you get these dangerous critters hanging around town, it's usually a recipe for, a dangerous situation. So we'll either utilize proactive things like our bear traps. We might have to dart these bears using wildlife immobilization tactics, whether we're darting them from helicopters or from the ground. Other things we'll be doing is just simply what we do is hazing tactics.

And hazing is essentially just using a loud sound and making it uncomfortable or unpleasant for that bear and letting that bear know that it's not okay to hang out in town. So 99% of the time this is what we're doing. We're utilizing a shotgun. We're going to be firing cracker shells towards the bear and steering them in a specific direction to get them out of town and away. What's the closest that you've come to being attacked? Oh, there's been lots of times. I got to take a one.

I mean, it's a thrilling job. And after a while, you develop a comfort with the animals and that no other person has. ever experienced until you do this job. So my comfort level with these creatures are a lot different than the average person. But there has been a few times, whoa, Ian, you know what? You got to be a little more careful there. Like you're only 15 feet away from this thing and it's giving you the side eye. Once you see the whites of those eyeballs, it's like, holy smokes.

A little close, but I swear those bears, they can read you and they feel your energy. and they also know that you've got something that's a long stick called a boom stick and they know that that thing might hurt them. So it's like they're smart enough to know, hey? So, I mean, I've been 15 feet away from these things and giving me the side eye. And we have our protocols where we've got somebody with lethal force in case we need to use it. But most of the time, I've walked up 10, 15 feet up to a bear like that. 800 pound, 1,000 pound mail and give it a dart so we can make it go to sleep.

And that's the key part is getting it safely down, get to sleep so we can get it in the facility. And what kind of boomstick do you carry for the protection against these polar bears? Yeah, great question. You know, I got a bunch. I mean, I'm using a 12 gauge with slugs, mostly because I can also fire my cracker shell, which is a non-lethal ammunition, but also I can quickly switch to a slug in case I need to use that. The other thing we just recently got is a Daniel Defense DD5, and it's in a 308 cartridge. 320 round magazine, so red dot site, and you know what, I think that is a very accurate an incredible weapon to use for defense against these creatures.

So I've got that in my arsenal as well as a 9mm on my side. So that's also comforting to know in case one of them's on top of me or something. And I got to get in close quarters with this thing. Loaded to the teeth. You said that they've been 15 feet from you. In those situations, have you ever drawn a gun ready to use lethal force? Yeah, lots. I mean, if I'm in that close, I'm drawn and ready with lethal force. And you know what? Knock on wood, I have never had to use it and kill a bear in a situation like that. So again, it's a lot of reading the animal.

And they're smart and they can feel your energy. So staying calm is, I think, a big part of it too. Okay. Now, if the polar bears aren't running around biting people all the time, tell us what kind of of problems they do create. Yeah. I mean, it's pretty rare for them to bite people, but they can't, right? That risk is there and it's a real risk and they're very dangerous and we're in their territory. So basically a lot of what we're doing is preventing that situation from happening.

And the key thing of preventing that is stopping habituation. We have a lot of restaurants in town. people are careless with their garbage. So a lot of the inexperienced bears that are not great at their jaws on some garbage. So we're out doing proactive measures such as removing those attractants and trying to keep them away from that. Because as soon as they get that taste of garbage, they ain't leaving. And they're going to hang around there and tell the sea ice forms again. They go back to hunting seals.

So, you know, we got to haze them out of there. Sometimes we might have to shoot them with a rubber slug if the loud noise ain't working. And just getting them moving along and stop that food conditioning from happening. Go ahead. Oh, go ahead. Yeah. Oh, I was just going to say that the problems that mainly arises the food conditioning, getting into human food sources.

And because once they get that taste of human food source, they're not going to leave. And then that's when we have to intervene. There will be a bear that's hanging out for a week in town. and, you know, someone will open up their doorstep and walk out their porch and there's a thousand pound polar bear sitting beside them. Well, that's happened many times and I've got videos sent to me and this happening. And so we respond right away. We got an emergency line in town. So I got that phone beside my bed and they can call it and it wakes me up and I'm out the door with my shotgun and I'm going to scare that thing away.

But it's a lot of proactive. The problems that they're getting into is that basically getting into human sources of food. How often are you getting those calls in the middle of the night that there's a polar bear too close? Yeah, like, you know, in bear season, which is starting now from August till December, so when there's no ice on the Hudson Bay,

those bears are all on land, and that's when they're causing problems or the potential for them to cause problems. Once that ice is formed, they don't care about our town. They don't care about Churchill or being on land or humans. All they care about is seals. So during the bear season, August of December,

basically what's happening is they're getting hungry and I need to find some food. So then we're going to be getting calls, five, ten calls a night. And it's like you're not sleeping. So you're up all night. My phone beside my bag, go deal the call, go home, try and get an hour.

our phone goes again. And yeah, so I don't sleep in bear season. And if there is a problematic bear, you guys sometimes send that bear to the polar bear jail. Tell us about that facility. Yeah, the polar bear holding facility, again, it's a world-renowned. There's no other place like it in the world.

So there's 28 holding cells in there. And so only bears that are problematic end up in there. I'd say 99% of bears were able to get through town and get them away and they don't come back. It's that 1% that they're just causing problems and they're not going away. So then I got to go and dart them, put them to sleep, and then we'll transport them, put them in a trap. Or we could just use it. We have what's called a bear board. It's basically a stretcher for a polar bear.

And the bear is sleeping, goes on the stretcher back of my truck, and I bring them inside the facility. And they stay there for 30 days. So it's kind of marries a little bit of deterrence with separating them from people so that they don't hurt people. And 30 days, they don't get fed because, again, we don't want them to introduce them to human food sources. So they're already in a state of hibernation and their bodies adapted to living off fat off their food stores when they were hunting seal all winter. so basically they're in there and they're like, oh, this sucks. You know, I'm not doing this again. I'm never coming back here again.

Say a bear is thrown in jail for a month. Walk us through what happens from the time they're locked up to the time they're set free. Yeah. So bears hanging around town. It's been there for a week. Like, geez, we can't get this thing. We can't scare it away. So I end up darting it.

A lot of times I got to use a helicopter. to see if you get to them. So you're darting out of helicopter. You get them down and then we transport them on the stretcher, get them inside. They go inside an individual cell. But before we do that, we give them a number. So they have a number that identifies them as an individual. So then I can go back at a database and love, oh, yeah, I've dealt with this one before.

And so then it's a repeat offender, right? And so this is how we better manage these bears. And so, yeah, we get them a lip tattoo. So there's going to be a corresponding number on their lip and their ear. They get a tag. And so this way, when I'm in the field again, I get deal with the same bear, I can easily identify them again. And yes, I do have a reoffender list. It's about 20 bears long.

And this is the way we can tell if they're just. They have it in their behavior. And again, a lot of times these bears are like humans. Some of them are just bad actors. And they just wind up in this facility over and over again. It's true. And I just can't believe it sometimes. But anyways, yeah, it's so 30 days.

They're not getting any food. They do get water. They stay in there. And then we're going to put them down again to sleep after their 30 days. We're going to load them on the stretcher, get them and make sure that we, got all the data off them that we need to. Bears will also be weighed so we know how much weight they lost inside the facility. And because they do lose a boat to believe it or not, three to four pounds a day. And actually, this is kind of similar in the wild. They do as well. Must be nice.

Yeah. It's quite amazing. Yeah. I wish I could lose that much weight. But anyways, they are an incredible species and it's just amazing how they've adapted to live. Here's a dumb question. How pissed are they when they're locked up? Oh, so mad. Yeah. Like they'll pound those bars and it's incredible their strength. Like they'll bow the bars like those bars are just solid steel and concrete cylinder block cells.

So we've never had one escape other than we did actually have a little cub. Escape one time. But it got through the trough where we feed them or where we give them water, sorry. So pardon me, we don't feed them, but we give them water. And it got through that trough. So now we've got a special insert that goes in there so that the little cubs can't squeeze through the trough. So, yeah, and it's in a, they're powerful. They hiss at you.

They give you the side eye. they got a really mean, deep growl. There's a ooh. It's pretty eerie sounding. That's good. And you can, yeah, it's, you can hear it. There's nothing else like it. Like I've never experienced anything else like that.

But yeah, incredible. What's the most bears you've ever had locked up at once? You said you have 28 holding facilities. Do you ever get to max capacity? Yes, we have done that. And back in, back in the day when it first started in the 1980, they filled that that's those cells over and over again it was a rotating door revolving door now i put 20 in a season so a fraction of that we're not handling them as much anymore and that's

because we've changed our tactics we don't want to have to handle them unless we absolutely have to so i tough on crying i like it yeah back in the 80s they put a lot of bears through there now In 2020, we're a little more selective on the bears we put in there. And on average, I'd say we probably put 20 per year in there. All right. So walk us through the process of what happens when you go to let them go. Yeah. So once we get all the data off them, weight, their length, their girth, make sure we got their numbers.

What male, female, are they pregnant? Stuff like that. You got to watch. You got to pay attention to stuff like that. then we're going to put them in a cargo net and basically helicopter and sling them out to their their habitat to the north. We put them to the north because these bears are naturally migrating from east to west and then north again. So we want to follow their natural migration. And essentially, yeah, we just we get them in the cargo nets and put them in a remote area to the north away from people.

that's essentially all it is. And if folks want to come visit Churchill, the polar bear capital of the world, what advice do you have for them? Well, come check out the polar bear holding facility because there's no other place like it in the world. You might even be able to hear the loud growl

if you put your ear close to the door and listen. And ask some questions about the polar bear alert program, Google it. Check it out. Not a lot of people actually know about it. And it's a success story. It's protecting humans and protecting bears. And come to Churchill and just, it's a polar bear capital of the world.

There's no other place where you can easily access basically wildlife viewing areas where it's very likely you're going to see a polar bear. So book through a guide, though, a licensed guide is your way to go. There are restrictions on how to view bears. and so the guides all know how to do that. And you don't, because you don't want to get yourself in a bad situation. I've seen people five feet away from these things. They think it's the zoo.

And it's just, it's so incredible how fast they can move. And people just sometimes don't realize they get caught in a moment. Like, oh, this magnificent creature. And yet they're only five, 10 feet away from the thing. It's just, it's not ideal. But again, go through a guide and they'll keep you safe. Have you gotten any emergency calls while doing this interview? No.

So luckily right now, those bears are out on the sea ice and they're going to be there until probably June, July, eating ring seal. That's their primary diet. And so I get to rest right now. Okay. Good, good for you. Thanks for joining us, Ian. Stay safe out there. Yeah, thanks, guys.

It's been a pleasure. Yeah, likewise. Thanks, Ian. I noticed you boys perk up when he talked about what he carries for protection. Do anything surprise you about what he has on him? Oh, I mean, shotgun, I feel like it's pretty run-of-the-mill protection weapon for bears, but the Daniel defense. 308?

Yeah. Did that make sense? Okay. Yeah, I mean, I assume they're just trying to put one in the central nervous system. Uh-huh. So probably a bullet. Just be accurate. probably bullet what did we get randall a pack of smokes from steve

the popular middle school brought gifts to the meat eater office one of them was tobacco it's a traditional it's a traditional gifting uh you know culture of gifting and so tobacco is one of the gifts and what do you got they just re-gifted Steve just gives me a hard pack a marlboro smooth the originals. I thought Steve said they were reds, too. We got gold. Yeah, it's a gold pack. Yeah, it's a gold pack. But these, I mean, don't don't do that. Don't smoke cigarettes.

Well, we could bust him out when baby radio is born. Oh, yeah. That's how we'll celebrate. Yeah. I love that guy. That was one of the best interviews. Spencer's throwing heat all the way to the end with his guest recruitment.

I love that. And, yeah, man, we're probably the only Americans that guy's going to talk to for the next year that won't mention the hockey game. Oh, yeah, don't worry that the chat has been on it. Yeah, so. Hopefully he doesn't look back and feel bad about that silver medal because the chat was really poking him

for that whole interview. Man, that guy was great. That was a great interview. That just, uh, who would have thought? Bear prison. Bear prison. For 30 days. I want to go.

Only 20 reoffenders. They've been doing this since the 80s. So that's, uh, that's pretty incredible. Yeah. It's like that successful. at keeping these bears out of the way of humans. That was great. Gosh.

Seasoned gamer or just video game curious, this weekend gaming is the podcast for you. We break down the latest in the world of video games, from basics to beyond. The hottest gaming news, insight and industry leaders, and more weekly. Join me, Naomi Kyle, and stay ahead of the game with all the latest updates. Even if you're a total newbie. Stream this week in gaming on the free,

Hi Heart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Quest complete. Hey, if you're in or around Milwaukee, Wisconsin and you live for hunting season, you need to swing by the meat eater store in Milwaukee. We're stocked wall to wall with the gear we actually use in the field. First Light, FHF gear, Phelps game calls, and more. You'll find us at the corners of Brookfield. Whether you're gearing up for the season, dialing in a setup,

or just want to talk shop with people who love to hunt, this is your place. That's the meat eater store, Milwaukee, at the corners of Brookfield. Stop in, get dialed, and get after it. All right, our next segment is Hot Tip-Off. H-O-T-I-P-R, let's all do a hot tip-off. H-O-T-I-P-R, let's all do a hot tip-off.

Hot tip off. Hot tip off is where two listeners go head to head with competing pieces of advice. And after we hear each tip, we'll declare which one is hotter. This week, it's Dalton Bacard versus Marshall Loftus, and they're competing for a $100 meat eater store gift card. Take it away, Phil. Marshall Loftus. Hey guys, Marshall here.

And I have an extremely simple tip for finding your arrows. I know most of your listeners probably don't actually ever miss, but I do, so I had to come up with a creative solution. Number one, I use IVs, wraps, and veins, nothing new there. But number two, I utilize a UV or blacklight flashlight. These are like 10, 15 bucks on Amazon. So, you know, anytime you shoot, don't know where your arrow goes, it goes into something like this. This is kind of standard what you see. Here's one of my arrows.

You know, it gets buried in the grass. It gets buried in the leaves. It's very difficult to find. But I actually utilize this to find the arrows in the dark. So I'm back at that same area, but in the dark here, obviously. I have my black light on and I'm going to walk up to that general area of where the arrow is. And we'll see if it'll show up on here. Boom.

There you can see it. Oh, that's wild. Looks like a headlight out there in the dark. This makes finding your arrows a thousand times easier and saves you a lot of money on having to buy new arrows. Dalton Bichard! Hello, meat eater. I got a hot tip here for you and a great project to do with your kids if you've got them.

This is my homemade jawjacker, as my buddy likes to call it, the ghetto jacker. I just built this out an inch and a half PVC pipe. You could build it with a block of wood and a pipe angled in the back of it to hold the rod. The main thing is this trigger mechanism, which you just got to do a hook. And I built this out of a paint can handle. You could use a coat hanger or whatever you've really got laying around. I use the zip tie here to connect it to the rod, ran it through an islet, and you just run your line up through the hook end of it.

My fish grabs it. Works pretty good. Sets up nice. You can fit a couple of them in a bucket. I keep these feet to where they can just come off. You can fit a couple in a bucket. And surely beats the $60 price tag. All right, those are our two hot tips.

is going to decide who the winner is of the $100 meat eater store gift card. Phil is going to give you a couple minutes to vote. Poll is live. All right. Seth, which one do you like? Dalton's hot tip about the PVC jawjacker or marshals of the UV light arrowfinder. Well, I don't know who Pixies. I don't want to call anyone out, but the arrow one has been done before. On this show? On this show. Oh, no. Well, I just got a better memory than me because I have no

recollection. I did not know that. Sorry, you began that by saying you don't mean to call anybody out? No. Okay. Okay. Which one do you like better? Was that Phil? Was that you Phil? No. Okay. Sorry. I don't mean to call anyone out, but I should have, I should. Guys, no one's let's just go back to the thing. Okay. The, the, the, the, the ice fishing one for me. Okay. The homemade jowlerjackers, jow jell jell jell jacers aren't, they're not cheap. $60, he said. Yeah, so the, the homemade stuff is fantastic and I did mention, or I did mention, I did notice he had buddy Jay Siemens in the background on the television. I wondered if it was him, but I couldn't identify just from that quick shot, but Seth has his ice fishing eyes on. Yeah. He knew it was Jay.

I like that one. All right, Seth is voting for the PVC jaw jacker. Randall, what do you think? The UV light arrow finder from Marshall or the jaw jacker from Dalton? I mean, to be these two tips embody some of the finest traditions of tipping. one is just getting some device that's useful for one thing and applying it to another as we remember from the air compressor blowing out the the brains of the deer skull and the other is just going to ace hardware and buying a bunch of shit yeah and building your own like little device um so i appreciate both of them in different ways but um man i do like that that homemade i mean anytime you can just make a mess of PVC. I was a big potato cannon kid. We made a battery gun one time that just shot

double A batteries and we were punching holes and plywood with it. Oh, okay. We moved on from the hairspray to dry ice and water. We should do that for a meat eater video. I don't know how it applies to what this company does, but, uh, yeah,

Randall making a potato cannon. The nice thing about the hairspray, though, is if you want to launch an incendiary round of some sort, uh, you know, you have that ignition sort. from the hairspray. But yeah, I'm going to vote for the jawjacker.

Okay, that's two votes for the jawjacker. That was a long-winded answer. Sorry. Yeah, both of these, again, like many hot tips, it's about how to save some money. One is you're going to recover more arrows. The other is you don't have to buy a $60 jaw jacker. Yes.

I'm going to vote for the UV light arrow finder. You should go watch this video on our podcast YouTube channel because that thing lit up like somebody turned on a light switch on the back of that arrow. It was so easy to find. Here's the other thing. I love having a UV light with me when I go camping. There's like, I don't know, probably 20 things that just stay in my camping kit, that no matter

what kind of camping I'm doing, they're coming with me. One of them is a UV light that I look for UV. I look for rocks that show up under UV light. So if you've got that with you turn that on at night, you can recover some very cool rocks. You'll find other uses for that UV light. That's only like 15 bucks. from Amazon besides just recovering arrows. Yeah, it's making me think I should attach arrow fletchings to my car keys and my earbuds.

That'll be good. Phil, what does the chat think? It's been a pretty decisive lead this entire time, so I'm going to go ahead and end the poll. And with 64% of the vote, the winner is Marshall with the Blacklight. Oh, all right. Oh, he didn't win the last time, so he won this time. That's a real dark horse. Get it?

Get it. Marshall, good one, Randall. He gets a $100 media to gift card. Next week for the finale, we are just going to empty the clip for all of the hot tips that we have left. Indeed, indeed. All right, let's take a break for some listener feedback. Phil, what's the chat app to say? Let's see here.

This is from Nate. He says, Randall, are you going turkey hunting this spring? Or was last year a one and done and you're back to bears forever? No, I'd like to, I enjoy eating wild turkey. So I'd like to shoot another turkey or two. It's just a question of getting on someone's dance card. Max Barta is a busy guy. Busy guy in the spring.

I was talking to Cal last night and we were discussing a little turkey family camp, family turkey camp, I should say. So that's in the cards as well. But definitely going to go out and look for some Bruins. I already have one of those trips on my calendar. Question for Seth from Cota. What's your go-to razor for a clean shave? I too have a mustache, but find it hard to keep up with a clean cut like you.

Razors give me razor burn on my neck and jawline. Well, you need the jawline first. That's my problem with trimming facial hairs. I don't have anything like what Seth has there. The ones I buy from the store are often different. I look at price more than... There we go. I'll tip off.

Yeah, I look at price more than the actual race. It's a few blades is good although I recently was given one of those proof raisers that's made in Belgrade It's like a machined all-machined aluminum razor Okay, has that word one blade replaceable It's it works great. Yeah, it's like a razor that you'll just have for the rest of your life Okay, so and then an after shave or something like that? No as long as we're leaning into this no I don't I don't use an after shave I I use the shaving cream I use is like a, they call it like a, it's like one of those healthy kinds. It's not edge.

Best kept mustache in the company. What else you got, Phil? Question for King Randomall himself. If he only had to choose one for the rest of his life, would it be dogs or brats? Oh, I think I know. Man, it's probably dogs. Yeah. I agree.

That's what I thought. Just for the emotional factor. I just don't give the same. feelings for eating a broad at a ballgame. But I do find brots. I find myself cooking brots more at home. And I feel like it's a more versatile tube meat. But yeah, I can't make a cheeseconi with a broth.

Phil, let's do a couple more. And then after that, I think we put movie club at the end of the show. Because our next guest is waiting, so we'll do that last. It's a great idea. Yeah, who knows how long that'll take? Any of the crew from Valancourt hopeful for a sheep or goat tag this year, Did you guys put in for? Yes, every year.

Yeah. Not hopeful, though. Hopeful in putting in are two different things. Well, yeah. I'll, I probably will have a sheep tag, just an unlimited sheep tag. Oh. Oh. They're changing that this year, I saw.

Yeah. Yeah. I just, whatever. Okay. Randall's going to be the sheep hunter. Yeah. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see.

My calendar is lining so that I might be able to get out there for the unit that I want to get out there. Let's do one more, Phil. sure I'm going to be selfish with this one Phil how's cast and chill treating you that was that low five fishing game that I've been talking about I have it so I just got myself a better monitor for my the room where I stream when I streamed but tomorrow tomorrow's a big day because their Nintendo is and Game Freak are releasing a Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green for the Nintendo Switch I'm picking that up but more importantly for my streaming purposes Resident Evil 9 comes out tomorrow wow and I'm a big fat baby And so I'm thinking about, and I hear it's the scariest one so far. I'm thinking about streaming it if you guys want to watch that. I do. It's like I'm taking a sick day too.

When did the original Resident Evil come out? Oh, like 1998 or something? Did you play that one? No, I didn't. I've only been starting, I've been dipping my toe into horror stuff over the last couple years, but over the last year I've played Resident Evil 2, 4, 7, and I'm almost done with 8. And I've been really enjoying them.

The writing is God-awful. The plot makes no sense. But that's kind of part of the charm. So you don't like the films, then, I assume. The films are, the films are bad. Like, it's like if you took the dialogue and plot from the games where it's kind of campy and fun. And you put it into a movie format, it just doesn't translate.

So how do I tune into this Phil Taylor Live stream? Oh, oh, God. That's a great, it's a great question. I'll put, I don't think it's a self-promotion because I make no money off of this. In fact, I think I lose money with the equipment that I've bought. But I'll put my, I'll put my YouTube handle. up here because it's stupid and nonsensical. I'll spill it out here.

This is a good program. Maybe Phil will tell us on his Instagram story, how we can watch it live as well. That's my YouTube handle and my Twitch handle. Phil a Buster Sword. Phil, it's my name. Phil a Buster with a pH because that's what people called me in high school. Buster Sword, as we all know, is the iconic sword that Cloudstripe wields in Final Fantasy 7. It's a portmanteau of kinds.

I'm sure our next guest's head is spinning. We've gone from shaving products to goat and sheep tags to Philbusters sword. So I'll be doing this Friday or Saturday. So tune in. You can watch me pee my pants. You never know what you'll get here. That got. Yep.

Let's go to our last interview. Joining us on the line next is Amelia Del Barrow, who won the gold medal at the 2025 Cheesmonger Olympics. She's here to educate us on pairing cheeses with Wild Game. Amelia, welcome to the show. Hey, thanks so much for having me on the show. Super stoked to be here and chat cheese. Great. First thing, what are the Cheesmonger Olympics?

I am happy to explain. So the Mondial de Fermage, which is the Cheesmonger Olympics, it happens every two years in France and champion cheesemongers from all over the world compete against each other in this like grueling eight-hour day of cheesemonger challenges with the goal of being crowned, the world's best cheesemonger for that year. The challenges span everything from general knowledge written test to blind tasting, pairing challenges, cheese sculpture, a one square meter themed absolutely massive cheese display made with like a hundred mystery cheeses that they just put down in crates behind you. So it was obviously very difficult, but it is also as much about like stamina and time management as it was about cheese knowledge and monger's skill and technique. Okay.

I want to be there. What's the most difficult part of the competition? I would say that all of the challenges that were equally difficult in terms of execution and preparation. But for me personally, truthfully, the hardest part of the entire experience was just finding the guts to show up. I have like crazy imposter syndrome. So I actually did a lot of work with my therapist in the months leading up to the competition to help manage that so that I could like show up, be fully present. and just do my best. And I actually think that aspect of the preparation is super important to talk about openly because I know a lot of people struggle with this.

And then you went there and won the gold medal. Congratulations for that. Tell us about your background. How does one become such an accomplished cheesemonger? So I actually have a degree in Italian. I went to college for Italian studies. And after that, I was working kind of a corporate job. just managing a cooking school. It was a cooking school in educational space. So I was seeing a lot of

these classes and events that were happening, everything from like, obviously, cheese tastings to butchering demonstrations, to pizza making, pasta making, dinners, things like that. So there's a lot of really cool stuff that I was experiencing for the first time. And then after a couple of years of managing that particular space, I decided I wanted to kind of make a switch and learn a craft, hopefully probably one of the things that I had witnessed in the school. And I also had a little bit of a like a run-in, let's call it, with an animal rights group. And that kind of changed the trajectory of my career. So I decided I really wanted to learn butchery. That's what I was going to focus on. But at the time, I was like a little 23-year-old girl with no knife skills. So nobody was going to hire me for a butcher

job, obviously. So I was advised to take a job at a cheese counter for a few months, learn how to handle knives, and then try to make that transfer. Obviously, I ended up loving cheese so much that it won, and I pursued the career in cheese quite successfully, I might add. But I did actually stay at the counter part-time while I was doing a butcher apprenticeship for a while. It ended up being a really fun combination because I was managing a cheese counter in Brooklyn during the pandemic and there was a nose to tail butcher in the same grocery store. So during the pandemic, I was able to kind of like pop over there when they needed some help and like make sausages, trim pork chops, that kind of thing. So since then, I have been the cheese manager and buyer of that

grocery store. I'm currently the sales and marketing manager for Frematum. We are the country's premier importer of cheese paper, packaging, tools, all the professional quality items that you need to run a cheese department. And that is a really cool role that allows me to do a lot of travel and educate both cheese mongers and consumers alike about how to properly take care of cheese and taste cheese and just, you know, sharing the love and encouraging enthusiasm for cheese. Okay. You were the first American to win gold at the Cheesemonger Olympics.

Congrats for that. There were 14 countries represented at last year's competition. What kind of reputation does America have when it comes to cheeses and cheese mongers? So obviously the United States does not have a great reputation globally when it comes to cheese and like all other food. Because of American cheese? I actually am going to talk about that. Some of that is completely justified, but we actually do have a pretty thriving cheese culture here, pun intended. There is a lot of misconception about the term American cheese and what that means.

And when you say that, most people think of the plastic-y-orange slices, which totally do have their time in place. But when I think of American cheese, I think about all of the amazing cheese producers that we have all across the country in every state who are making absolutely incredible cheese every single day. They're winning awards. They are focusing on regenerative agriculture. they're giving back to their communities. And I like to say good American cheese is everywhere for those with eyes to see. So being able to show up at this competition and represent the United States in my own way and be able to prove on the world stage that American cheesmongers are skilled and talented

and creative was just amazing and especially to be surrounded by so many other wonderfully talented cheesmongers, just being inspired by them and being able to learn from them. We left France with a lot of new friends, I am happy to say. That's great. Our audience eats a lot of wild games. So we want your advice on how to pair cheeses with different wild food. Let's start with Venison. Please give us some recommendations on what cheeses pair well with deer meat.

First of all, I love venison. But with these types of unconventional pairings, let's say, instead of focusing on like the pairing exclusively, I try to think about like who would be eating these things and how they would be prepared. and like what those people might have access to. So in the cheese industry, we have this, this saying that's what grows together goes together. And that basically means that products from the same region will likely be a good pairing. So for venison, I'm thinking like like brazed venison, roasted meat, stew, ragu, things that would likely be found in like a mountain region, like the Alps of Italy or Switzerland, things like that. So that automatically takes me

over to like a funky oniony mountain cheese like Grier or Fontina, something that really melts well. But on the other side of things, specifically smoky blue, which is a really cool blue cheese made by rogue creamery in Oregon, I think would pair really well with that. Okay. Randall is shaking his head in agreement. What about feral hogs? I love this question. I got so excited.

I immediately was like, this reminds me of chingale, which is Italian wild boar ragu from Tuscany specifically. Makes me want to do a little bit of, like, grated Parmigiano reggiano on top, give it a little bit of a salt kick, a little umami. Or specifically a Tuscan pecorino. Okay. How about small game, like squirrels and rabbits? I'm going to be really honest. I didn't know that you could eat squirrel.

Ah. But rabbit is one of my grandfather's favorite foods. I have this like distinct memory of special ordering a whole rabbit to bring to their house and cook for him. So we did that. we did a rabbit ragu with some tomatoes and fresh handmade pasta. So I'm going to go with Pecorino Romano for this one because that's what my grandparents always have in their fridge for putting on top of pasta. All right.

Let's talk about cheese pairings with fish. Let's start with fish that have a white flesh like walleye or perch or crappie. What cheeses pair well with them? Cheese and fish is a hot topic. A lot of people think that eating cheese with fish is kind of sacrilege. but I think that there's definitely a right way to do it. I'm going to say Pecorino Romano again, that is just kind of a go-to when it comes to fish. It has this really beautiful, like, brineiness, this saltiness that goes well with a lot of fish dishes.

How about fish that have some color in their meat like a trout or salmon? Hmm. For this, I'm thinking like smoked trout, smoked salmon. I'm going to go pecorino Fiori Sardo, which is specifically a smoked pecorino. It's a little bit drier. I think that that might be nice with a more oily fish. Okay. Final one.

What cheese is pair well with wild mushrooms, like morels, chantrells, and bullets? Yum. Immediately, um, I want to go for an umami bomb here. Um, one of my favorite dishes to make is a mushroom risotto with some melted teleggio. Teleggio is a kind of stinky washdry and cheese from northern Italy. I think that that pairs really well with those mushrooms, but also if we're like on the umami train, we can do something with truffle. And I know that truffled telegio is a thing that exists.

So if you can find it, I think that that would be wonderful. Last question. I assume that boutique grocers and markets are the best places to find a really good selection of cheeses. But what about the chain options? When it comes to places like Costco, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Kroger's, Albertsons, who has the best cheeses? That's a good question.

I get that a lot. So, of course, like a dedicated cheese shop or a specialty cheese counter is my first recommendation, but I know that not everyone has the access physically or financially to, you know, frequent those places. And, like, while my job is partially to promote these, like, high-quality cheeses, it's also part of my job to just encourage people to eat cheese in general. So whatever cheese is that you choose to enjoy, no matter where they come from, I'm just happy that you're eating it because what I like to say is that cheese is for everyone and everyone deserves to enjoy it. I can't personally speak to

the selection of cheese in everyone's local grocery store, but I can encourage you to branch out, try something new, and just most importantly, keep cheese on your table physically and metaphorically. Okay. And our chat has two things that they want your take on. One is cheese curds and the other is Valvita. Please tell us what you think of cheese curds and Velvita. I love them. I love both of those things. I love a fried cheese curd. I love a fresh cheese curd. Very squeaky. I love a flavored cheese curd. Velveeta, I am told, is like one of the best cheeses to make macaroni and cheese with. I personally, I didn't grow up with it. I'm a Cooper Sharp girlie. I live in 15. I absolutely love Cooper Sharp, but my partner loves Belvita. So a lot of those cheeses are like chemically designed to melt beautifully. They're specifically meant for that. And that's what they do. So that's why I like, that's why I say that they have a place and a time.

And I would say that mac and cheese is the place in time for that. Okay. Thanks for your time and wisdom, Amelia. And congrats again on winning gold at the Cheese Olympics. Wow. And making America approach. She wanted to show it. Hell yeah.

Flash and her gold metal. She's thick. Oh, wow. Yeah. That's great. That's awesome. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

Wow. Seth was nodding his head about the velvita and mac and cheese. Yeah, it does make good cheese for mac and cheese. I haven't had velvita though in, ooh, long time. Yeah. I think of childhood. Yeah. Yeah.

I heard a lot of names of cheeses I'm not familiar with. I need to go back and listen to this. We had Boondog in the chat saying his girlfriend is the cheesemonger at Smith's here in Bozeman and that this lady is her hero. Oh, that's amazing. Oh, nice. So Amelia's still here. She heard that.

That's amazing. Good, good. I saw another person say that she could lead Wisconsin into battle. That would work. I'm Dylan Playfair. And I'm Tyler Smith. We're putting loneliness in the penalty box by talking to some of our favorite athletes about the importance of friendship. This is bromance.

Bromance is brought to you by Charmed Diamond Center, proudly Canadian-owned and operator. Charm has been part of your love stories and bromances for over 50 years. And you can find bromance on the IHart Radio Network or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, if you're in or around Milwaukee, Wisconsin and you live for hunting season, you need to swing by the meat eater store in Milwaukee. We're stocked wall to wall with the gear we actually use in the field, first light, FHF gear, Phelps game calls, and more. you'll find us at the corners of Brookfield.

Whether you're gearing up for the season, dialing in a setup, or just want to talk shop with people who love to hunt, this is your place. That's the Meat Eater Store, Milwaukee, at the corners of Brookfield. Stop in, get dialed, and get after it. All right, for our last segment of the day, we have the Meat Eater Movie Club. This week, we're reviewing the 2018 comedy,

the legacy of a white-tailed deer hunter. Coincidentally enough, there's a conversation about American versus other cheeses in this film. There is. I enjoyed that. I watched it last night. I was like, oh, we got to bring that up tomorrow. Boy, I haven't heard that jingle in a while. Thank you, Phil. Oh, yeah. Should I begin? Happy to play. Oh, please do. Okay. On February 15th, 2009, I fell in love with a man. I was home from my first year at college. I was at a friend's house. Across the room, I caught a glimpse of a face unlike any had seen before. I heard his voice and I was transfixed.

He told me in no uncertain terms that he had a mind for victory and an arm like an effing cannon. His name was Kenny Powers, the maladjusted protagonist of the HBO series Eastbound and Down. In the years that followed, I came to know and to love

many other characters in the Danny McBride, Jody Hill universe who resemble Kenny Powers. These men are not villains. They're not even precisely fools. Each is simply a man who has confused his own success in one domain of life for mastery in all domains.

The inevitable consequence of this mindset is an existence punctuated by eruptions of frustration at the world around him. The expected results of his actions never quite align with his delusions of grandeur. These are men undone by their own mythologies. Josh Prolin, Josh Boland plays just such a man in the 2018 Netflix original,

the legacy of a white-tailed deer hunter. Despite the provocative opening sentence of this review, What follows is not a celebration of my favorite comedic catalog. This is Meteor Movie Club, where a focus, as always, remains laser-focused on the film at hand. But I thought it was too good of a cold open, so I kept it in there. And that detail explains the lack of a decent transition at this point in the review. The plot of legacy is relatively simple. Man loves hunting.

Man ignores son. Man attempts to force son to love hunting. Sun declines. Josh Brolin stars as Buck Ferguson, the host of a successful hunting video series. who takes his estranged son into the wilderness to shoot his first deer. A ritual Buck believes will forge the bond their fractured relationship has lacked. Jaden predictably would rather be elsewhere. Buck Ferguson wants his son to want a deer.

And beneath that, he wants his son to want him. To see in his father not a man his mother divorced, not a stranger who shows up with camera equipment and a bumbling sidekick, but a living repository of masculine wisdom. This is, of course, not how children work. Children are not vessels waiting to be filled with their father's hobbies. Listen up, Seth. They're already full of their own desires, most of which involve guitar practice and texting their girlfriends.

Here's another spot where I could have come up with a better transition. In 1956, the sociologist Irving Goffman published the presentation of self in everyday life, in which he argue that human social interaction is essentially theatrical, that we are all at times performing versions of ourselves for audiences we have consciously or unconsciously assembled. Goughman did not mean this point cynically. The performance he suggested is not a distortion of the self, but an expression of it. We become, in some meaningful sense, what we repeatedly enact.

The costume becomes the skin. Buck Ferguson does not merely hunt. He films himself hunting. Every descent into the wilderness is simultaneously a descent into the role of Buck Ferguson, legendary outdoorsman, as mediated through the lens of dawn, a role masterfully inhabited by Danny McBride. The film's sharpest, excuse me, this is the film's sharpest and most under-explored insight. The camera does not actually capture authenticity.

It replaces it. The moment Buck raises his rifle, he is no longer a man in the woods. He is a man in the woods being watched, which is an entirely different psychological condition, one that forecloses the very intimacy with nature and with his son that Buck so desperately desires. This is, I apologize, this is going on longer than I thought. No, we all expected this. There is a cruelty to this arrangement that the film only partially acknowledges. Buck wants to give his son something real.

A memory, a tradition, a moment of shared significance. But he has invited a camera to witness it, which means he has already converted the moment from experience into content. The dear if shot will not be a private communion between father and son. It will be episode 47 of Buck fever. The memory will be archived before. it is even formed. This is not, it should be noted, an affliction unique to men named Buck Ferguson. We live now in a civilization that has developed an extraordinary and insatiable appetite

for the documentation of its own significant moments. Births, deaths, proposals, first steps, last words. All of it fed into the great digital maw, transforming from experience into artifact, from felt into filmed. It is widely acknowledged that writing restructures consciousness. One shudders to contemplate what the selfie lens on an iPhone camera has done to it. Or I might add, a set of three cameras on tripods used to live stream a podcast every Thursday during which occasionally a man reviews films. It is not lost on your reviewer that this segment is itself a performance during which Randall Williams movie critic is as much a constructed identity as Buck Ferguson outdoorsman.

The difference perhaps is one of self-awareness. Buck never quite grasps that the camera has replaced the experience he was chasing. Whereas I know that I'm full of shit. A meaningful conclusion to this review was hard to come up with. Okay. Randall, you're a really good writer. I just want to throw that out there. Thanks, guys.

Someone says here in the chat that Randall writes well. Oh, thank you. It writes so well. Thank you. Yeah, Irving Goffman. That was the text that I read in probably my worst series of classes in college. It's terrible. And I skipped two of them to watch some of my favorite team.

lose in NCAA championship games that year. Okay. Both to Florida, if I recall. You must have been a good student if missing two classes was no other. No, no, I missed more than that, but two of them were specifically to watch Ohio-based sports teams lose in college. Got it. Okay. Hopefully it depends.

Guys, I think if you go to this film wanting to see a great hunting film, you're missing the point. Yeah. I think that the, you know, like, nobody. Nobody watches Ricky Bobby Talladega Nights and says That's not how sports cars were Right Nobody watches

So Throw away the weird camo The CGI deer Yeah All that stuff I enjoyed this film Not as much as I enjoy the rest of his catalog but I thought it

It I mean the reviews I read were terrible But I thought it was good 25% on Rotten Tomatoes I think I saw another IMDB had it like 2.8 out of 10 10 stars.

So not a well-received straight to streaming. I think that's fair. Yeah. I would agree with that. Yeah. And if you see the title, what's wrong? Oh, just you guys didn't, you guys didn't enjoy it. No, I'm glad I got to watch it.

I imagine there's some point in my life I would have needed to have turned this on. Yeah. But if you're like, if you see the title and you're like, this is a movie for deer hunters, that would be incorrect. It's not. And like Danny McBride's catalog. You wouldn't watch righteous gemstones if you attended a megachurch in the South. Like it's a,

it's just not for you. Yes. And this film isn't really for someone, you know, who really loves the outdoors. Although there's a lot of stuff in there that you wouldn't pick up on if you didn't live in this space. That's true. When he, when he wrecks the ATV and he's like,

now I have to pay for that. Yeah. It's great. I agree. When he says the air mattress, he's like, he's like, they send me this,

you know, like to test this out. And he just reads like the product description to his son. Like it's very in conversation with the real. And Jody Hill and Danny McBride both grew up in North Carolina, like really inundated in this culture. And so I think they bring a lot of affection for it while also, you know, kicking it a little bit. Yeah. I liked that while he is talking about getting the air mattress for free, you have a well-placed Ozark Trail logo on the tent.

And my wife and I disagreed on if Ozark Trail paid for that placement. or not. I said there's no way that Ozark Trail has that budget to do that. And then also the tent was like just kind of loose and sloppy. Like they wouldn't be satisfied with seeing their tent like that. But you could see it and feel either way that like, oh, he's talking about a sponsorship thing while there's a sponsorship thing happening on this movie. It was like breaking the fourth wall in a way. Yeah. I mean, I think for me, I have a hard time coming into this and judging it. on its merits because there's so many elements of a classic Danny McBride product in it. There's the lackey.

McBride plays essentially Stevie Janowski from Eastbound and Down. He's the man who wants to be the great man who really cares nothing about his welfare. And in fact, he suffers disfigurement for that man. Several times. Several times. saying inappropriate things to children when he describes parkour as gymnastics I couldn't help but think of the classic line

I'm not trying to be the best at exercising to describe a triathlon he has like a very precise understanding of behaviors that make characters look like losers like when the stepdad is riding the hoverboard and then the guy taking pleasure in secretly sabotage

like one of his rivals when he's deleting the pictures off the phone like these are a classic Kenny Powers motifs you think you think if someone loved Kenny Powers they would love this I mean I don't want to go I don't want to go overboard here I don't I wouldn't say that I loved it I enjoyed it I don't know that I'll watch it again I won't revisit it but um given the state of of of comedy movies in the I guess this is 2018 so sort of coming out of the tail end of that that era But I don't know. I enjoyed watching something that I'd never seen before and it kind of tickled my,

tickled the right notes for me. I, there's certain times when we're making a piece of content at Meteor and you, you know when you're doing it like, this is really good or this kind of sucks. We like didn't hit our marks. I'm certain they knew when they were making this movie that they were making a movie that was going to get 25% on Rotten Tomatoes. Yeah.

I'm sure that they felt it and, uh, we're very aware. and that probably was a little freeing for them that like, boy, this is just a steaming pile we've made. Oh, yeah. And that's okay, because that's what it is. Yeah, I don't think it's a good movie, but it's very watchable, mostly because of Brolin

and Danny McBride. I think they're just very compelling, fun actors to watch. And it does have, like Randall said, most of the hallmarks of a McBride, like Jody Hill thing, which is like a guy who wears his fragile ego, just like all plastered right on Brolin is all over his body.

Brolin's great. Yeah. There's just like the moments where he's like not on camera and he's like quietly sad or desperate. He, the other thing I enjoyed was ending with a climatic like whitewater. Negotiating the rapids. How many movies have ended with that?

I'd like to think that they didn't know how to end the movie and they were just like, let's just do what they do. Do the rabbit scene. Yeah. Another thing I enjoyed was that they had. a Mary Poppins backpack. We're like, it didn't matter the size

of the backpack they had. Any piece of gear could have come out of that thing. Yeah. At any time. And the guitar. I did enjoy, um,

like the VO, mid sequence in the film, he talks about, he has like the VO where he's like, Buck Ferguson goes, always gets his deer and that was dead on. Yeah. Those,

those videos are great. I specifically, uh, flagged the soundtrack of, of, of those, those hunting videos, which was very like

Mannheim steamroller like 80s jangly scint stuff but it fits so well I thought that was like a really inspired decision. Phil I saw the Mannheim

steamroller in Bozeman a couple years ago yeah I remember you tell me about that and then they played convoy while they were there even though it was a

Christmas show they said they can't do a show without playing convoy sure you got to do the hits I've got some questions for you guys because you know I'm not really

I'm new to this whole world but just just some vernacular have you ever before shooting an animal said referred to shooting it as punching a time card? No. Okay.

No. One of my favorite lines, too, was I'm gonna honor this deer by splitting its dang eyebrows. Yeah. Have you ever said that? No. Okay.

I was just wondering if those were common phrases I'm just not privy to. Okay. The other one was that people will joke about other people saying catch a deer. And I personally never heard someone say catch a deer.

And so it feels like it's like being overplayed that someone who's out of of the loop would say catch a deer, but they say it multiple times in this movie. Yeah, they make, I mean, they make like hats that are, say, catching deer. Yeah. You know, it's like a joke. Yeah.

Seth watched this movie back during COVID. Yeah. Seth, what did you think of it then? Well, I don't remember a whole lot of it, to be honest. Yep. But it was one of those, like, when you guys said you were going to review this movie, I was like, I'm not going to watch it again. Like, I feel like.

That's fair. I feel like what I've seen and remember is like enough to get through this. segment of the show. I just didn't want to spend any more time watching it again. Because what I remember was that it was, it had its funny moments, but overall it was, you know, I'm with the folks on Rotten Tomatoes. Yeah. Seth had observed that it was like watching Jackie Bushman being portrayed in a movie. And I said, well, actually, it's about Roger Reglin. That's who Josh Brolin's character was based on. So if you're a fan of Roger Reglin, then maybe you need to watch movie. It did have one of my favorite sort of tropes of a Danny McRide project, which was genuine

emotional sweetness that's punctuated by something like horribly explicit. When he's telling the story to the son about his girlfriend, he's like, I got this girlfriend, Kim. Did you know she's a registered nurse and a mechanic? And he's like, and so I told her that I had a broken truck and a heart condition and she liked that. It's like a genuinely sweet moment. And he's like, and check these out. And then he pulls out the cuckold Polaroid pictures. Yeah, I apologize to anybody that watched this.

I didn't realize that scene was in there. I'd never seen this before. It was great. He's got one where he's got his foot with the missing toe. He's like, see that? That's my foot.

The missing toe is so good. I don't know how much more we want to. I like that the kids playing a redemption song and the dad the dad complements it. And he's like, I didn't understand any of the lyrics, but it sounded good.

The dad, not knowing that his son has been playing guitar for two years is great. Yeah. And then my last note is one of my favorite all-time lines from a film. Oh. From this film? Yes.

Okay. When he, when he begins to, um, tell the story to the kid of him splitting up with the kid's mom. And he goes, it started at 09. DVD sales were down. Slightly.

And then proceeds to say that, uh, the, he had to, he had to, He had to prevent the kid's mom from going to the mall after that. That was great. Sorry if you heard some static on this stream here. I don't know where it's coming from.

It doesn't sound like cell phone stuff. I've never heard this sound before. So it's probably a good thing the show's ending. Yeah. I just want to throw out a couple lines that I really enjoyed when Brolin finds him with the pictures. And he's kind of yelling at the kid, even though it's not his fault at all. And he says, I'm not a kid anymore. He goes, you are a kid when it comes to nudeness and sexual relations.

That was a good one. I did. I did love nudeness. There's one where he's talking to his girlfriend on the phone, and it's clear that there's some, like, the kid is, the 12-year-old kid. And he says, you know, it's something about how his girlfriend is hanging out with another boy that he found that peculiar. And there's some silence on the other line. And he goes, I know life's peculiar. I'm the one who taught you that.

That was a good one. And then when when he shoots Don, you just like an explosion of blood. And Josh Brolin goes, shit. It's Don! Those are some of my favorites. Not strong Mosul control in this movie. I mean, the big question for me is, did he shoot at the end? It puts the ruption down, then he brings it back up.

That was great. Yeah. That was great. But it wasn't going to be on camera. I bet this looked very familiar to you, Big Buck Hunter boys, because that's like how the deer looked, the CG-diness of them. Yeah. Was as though they just pulled them from a Big Buck Hunter video game.

Yeah, I liked how bad the deer looked. Oh, and they're always around, like they're always in the most picturesque. They're always at the water. At the waterfall. Yeah. It was like they found a beautiful place and they're like, we know that buck will be here. Great. Yeah.

That's how it works. All right. Again, our last episode next week with the movie club topic being Congo, Randall's favorite movie? It's one of them. Okay. It's a classic. Top 10. Yeah.

For show. All right, Phil. Let's get some final feedback from the chat. This is from Chase. Phil, you got to ask Randall what led to his trivia beatdown from Steve. Oh, man. Sometimes you just don't have it. Vermin.

Tough times. Vermin killed me. That question, I will say that question is an experience that I haven't had before in the room where Steve was just talking and talking. And there was nothing that could happen in my head. I just blew up. It's like playoff, it's like game six hardened, you know? Man in the arena. Yeah.

Yeah, I don't know. Like, it's fun to have competition sometimes. So we'll be back. Sometimes. What else you got, Phil? Uh, I'll throw this one to Seth. If you've got something to say, Sarah, what's a good steelhead fishing tip?

Midwestern are fishing off the Great Lakes, and I'm new to the method, so any tip would be appreciated. Oh, I'm not the right person now. I've never caught a steel. I've never steelhead fish before. I've never touched one in my life. I'm not a big trout guy. Oh, that sounded, it sounded kind of angry.

Sorry, Sarah. Find a, no. It's trout, Seth. Find a buddy. Just like warm water stuff. YouTube, go to YouTube. Type in steel head fishing, great lakes. Message Chester Floyd.

There you go on Instagram. A couple of shoutouts here. I thought this was fun. This is from Tyler. If any listeners of the or of the meat eater squad are ever in southern Indiana, check out Old Homestead Distilling Company at Patoka Lake. We are sportsman friendly and they have outlets to charge boat batteries. Oh, that's fantastic.

That's good. Love that. And then Jay Seuss is asking for a shout out from Randall for his daughter, who's probably one of his biggest little fans. Shout out to your daughter. Or her. Looks like it might be a woman in the picture there. Shout out to your daughter, Jay Seuss, 2145. I don't know what it is that she sees in me, but it's good to have that support out there.

What else you got, Phil? I don't think I play to a young crowd. Maybe I do. I've always thought I skewed older. What do you think a random demographic is? I don't know. Guys watch Eastbound and down a lot. Yeah.

History buffs, maybe. What would he walk out of a gas station with if he goes in there for beer and snacks? Roller dog. Roller dog. What else? Cooler ranch Doritos. Cooler? Yeah.

Didn't they change the more cool? No, they're not cool ranch. Am I right? It's all cooler and not. nacho cheesier. Didn't they change all that? Yeah, it used to be nache cheesier and I think cooler ranch,

but then they just kind of simplified because everyone was using cooler ranch anyway. I might be wrong. They made them all comparative. Oh no, maybe they did go back to Cool Ranch. Okay, real randomal, I think.

Gosh. So a random will walks into a gas station. A randomal would know that. He gets a roller hot dog. I feel like a fool now. Cooler ranch can we just cut this out, Phil? Yeah. What else is he getting?

I'll press the cut button. A couple of a couple brew dogs. Yeah, some bruskees. Yeah, maybe some night crawlers. Yeah. Very kid friendly still.

And he's got weird, he's got something weird that he's thinking about. Maybe some zen? Yeah, he's not going home to like a traditional, I feel like he's not going home to like a traditional,

like, you know, like happy family, sitting around the dinner table. I feel like he's kind of a loose cannon. Uh-huh. And the cigarettes are speaking. are speaking to him, but he doesn't listen. Usually.

Sometimes he listens. Bill, let's do two more. But if he's not buying them, it's like he never smoked them. Favorite smoked trout recipes or techniques from Lane? I like them gifted to me. I like the, I like we turn into smoke trout dip. Yeah. Anybody will enjoy, even if they're like, I don't enjoy fish, they can enjoy a smoked fish dip.

Yep. God, I'm totally shaken by the Doritos thing. I always thought that was like a fun nugget that I had in my head. Oh, man. It's all right. Show's ending. Oh, I don't even know if I have a last one, Spencer. That's all right.

We will be back for the finale next week. Six-hour, mega stream, lots of stuff happening. Every segment you could imagine. It's going to be fun. Please join us. This is me signing out for good. Oh, sad. Well, you're going to call in and deliver the happy news of the baby radio.

That's true. share with us. Did you know that internationally they're called cool American Doritos? I like that. That's way cooler. So it was it was cooler from 1995 to 2005-2006. So in the heyday of my Doritos consumption. There's your flavor text for the future.

All right, we'll see you back here for one last time. Next week, same time and place. By now. Hey, if you're in or around, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and you live for hunting season, you need to swing by the meat eater store in Milwaukee. We're stocked wall to wall with the gear we actually use in the field. First Light, FHF gear, Phelps game calls, and more.

You'll find us at the corners of Brookfield. Whether you're gearing up for the season, dialing in a setup, or just want to talk shop with people who love to hunt, this is your place. That's the meat eater store, Milwaukee, at the corners of Brookfield. Stop in, get done. dialed and get after it. This is an IHeart podcast.

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