Ep. 637: MeatEater Radio Live! The Doe Derby, Fishing Crappie, and Riding Buffalo

Smell us Now, Lady, Welcome to Meet Eater Trivia mea podcast.

Welcome to Meet Eater Radio Live. It's eleven am Mountain Time on Thursday, December twelfth, and we are here live for medi to HQ and Bozeman, Montana. I'm your host, Randa Williams, and I'm joined today by Brody Henderson and Ryan cal Callahan. Did I get that right?

Nailed it?

On today's show, We're gonna talk to our good friends Bubbly, Doug Duran and Pat Durkin. We're gonna dig into the photo archives for another throwback Thursday. We're gonna know We're going to North Alabama for One Minute Fishing. We'll discuss our top three wild game and fish species for the table. And we're doing another highly anticipated installment of the Meat Eater Movie Club where we will be reviewing the nineteen seventy eight film Buffalo Rider. Before we get into all that,

I don't know that calendars go irrelevant because I think most folks are just ad them for the photos at this point.

Yeah.

Yeah, And you often walk into our garage and see a calendar from twenty six years ago.

Exactly.

Yeah, but that's usually you know, big Bucks or pin up gals.

Not I was going to say, the older they are, the more lud baby.

If it's a good enough shit or it could stand the test of time, exactly.

Well.

Uh.

Joining us on the line first today are friends of the program, Doug Durhan and Pat Dirkin, who are joining us on day one of Doug's Doe Derby in Wisconsin. Gentlemen, welcome to the show. It's great to see you both.

Visible.

I see, So what is what's going on with the Doe Derby there? Doug can you tell us what the Casanovia doe derby is?

Well, the uh, we're started to take your time.

Doug, I'm sorry said take your time.

Is this thing on?

Yeah, you know it's the same. You don't have the whole show.

So we started the dough derby a few years ago as a part of the forty antler list hunt. And the idea is that we're encouraging people to reduce the population by taking antler this deer, most of which will be does of course.

And then the other thing is.

That we're getting them encouraging to get them tested for CWD if they bring their harvested dough like to in a trailer over or in our buggy over here that we got the fine cut the head off submitted for CWD testing. Inside this thing will be a couple of

And then the other thing that we do is we.

Have this party here on Saturday evening with my tall friend Pat Durkin will be a part of that. And Uh, it's just a place where hunters gather and we you know, tell deer stories and kind of some of the old school stuff that and I used to enjoy a lot more when we were kids.

Does Pat have all the prizes in those pockets.

On his bed? Like?

I feel like we do a whole segment just going through Pat's pockets.

Said, I'm kind of kind of surprised you guys haven't pointed out that for once in my life, I'm standing taller than Doug.

I figured it was just the angle of the camera, or is there? Ah? Yeah, very nice. Well how's how's the hunting been?

I mean, I got this idea by watching the NFL one year in a pregame. I walked down the field and saw Bob Costa sending a box. That's not a bad idea, so I figured stand. I used to Doug, I looked like a little kid, So I thought today we'll change things up a little bit and make him look up at me.

I like it.

So what is the the deer count? And have you gotten any testing back yet?

Doug?

Uh?

Yeah, we're up to depending on just on the farm and you know, the properties that I have here, we're at about twenty five. Unfortunately, the later ones that we got later in the season, we haven't gotten back yet. But the unfortunate part is the ones that we got early in this season, including a nice four year old buck that I got tested positive. Brock who's holding the camera here right now, shot a a antlerless buck and a and it was a year and a half old I think, and and a two and a half year

They tested positive. So we have five.

That have tested positive out of eleven that we've gotten back so far.

All right, all right, and then.

Are those your only dough derby submissions the ones in the canyon there or turned in?

Well, we've got uh. This year, we've expanded, so we have five different kiosks like this where people can happen, and the people who are running those kiosks are bringing the tickets up and it's been really fun because they people are more you know, it's just more opportunity and getting more people involved, and I haven't countered them all up yet, but it looks like we're well over two hundred and fifty so far.

Wow wow, very cool.

And this is just open to anyone who wants to participate in the area, is that correct, right?

Anybody who can legally transport a deer, because there's just all these CWD regulations that we're not going to talk about unless you really want to. But the CWD regulations you have to kind of be adjacent, and of course everybody is sort of adjacent now because of the way the disease has expanded.

So folks can bring they can bring the head, they can bring the whole carcascent if they want to. Some people have just brought the limph notes and you know, who's gonna lie about something like that.

So, uh, it's been it's been gratifying to see this grow. I mean, cal you were here the first year and we had I don't know, you know, less than one hundred submissions, I think around fifty, and now we're you know, we're approaching three hundred, so we're excited about that.

Well that's the way these things have to start, you know, because then everybody who participates win something in the raffle and word word spent spreads really fast. The other thing that meat processor that you have up the road. I mean, Mark Kenyan and I were going to come back just for the dough Derby, just so I can make have those guys make more brought worst.

That brought Worst is unbelievaba.

I'll testify. I did get to enjoy some of that brought Worst and it is spectacular.

Yeah, well that's great.

We're actually enjoying some of those this weekend as well as a part of our as a part of the party.

So yeah, do you have any idea how many folks are going to be in attendance at the party.

I would stay somewhere between fifty and one hundred. You don't have to be present to win, but I will tell anybody who's who's in the area who might come to the party. Saturday evening will start at about five until about eight, that we will have door prizes this year for only for the people who actually.

Come to the party.

Very nice.

Along with the.

We have a Savage access rifle with a word Tech scope and a Chris Crafted, a Chris Crafted custom sling, got a big can Am branded YETI cooler seed from my friends at Hoxy Native Seed Camp. Chef has given us as they have in previous years. Are really nice to burner stove. Our friends at Deck sent us one of their cases to give away some really great prizes. Binoculars from Vortex, a full set of meat Eater books, all signed by Steve. And so those are some of

Season is over with. We have a this four day.

Season and then bow hunting continues and then there's a holiday hunt. So between December fourteenth, hey, between holidays, right December fourteenth to January first, there's also another twenty.

That's why I have Dirk and here. It keeps me.

Yeah, how much up for the festivities tonight?

We have a pretty good pile over there.

We'll be all right, you know, nobody's gonna get nobody's gonna get cold.

We'll be able to see the fire from a ways away.

So you know, it's we have it's it's I think we have brought back some of that enjoyment that people have of getting together. They don't mind standing out in the cold, and that's why we have a big fire

Yeah, and you've created a safe place, if you will, for all these big tough folks to come together and talk about killing does which is something that's very important, and what they're going to do with the meat, and then have thoughtful discussions on CWD and and what they're going to do with all the cool stuff they want. You're doing the Lord's work.

Doug Well, and it's great to see we're doing what we can where we're at with what we've got.

And it's great to see that you have the support of a bunch of different great brands in the industry behind this all.

Yeah.

It really has been and it's not been, uh, incredibly difficult to get people to step forward. We've had people come First Light came forward and gave us the five hundred dollars gift certific you.

Know for first Light. What a great you know, what a great thing that is.

And it's really uh, it's been great to see that support.

And here we are, sunning standing in front.

Of the kiosk where we where if people do the when they come in and do the reporting and whatnot, I don't.

Think they're not.

It's the opposite of a live well.

And you're not on the dough board yet.

Yeah.

I got to on the on the board so far, and I tried to impress Doug you know that I actually know how to remove the lymph nodes. So that's my contribution is in there, just in a little bag.

They look suspiciously like consoles.

Now, is there any sign of our dear friend Chester Floyd at this gathering?

He will be here on Saturday, Yeah, for the for the party. He's bringing his.

Son and he said, I'd like to hunt, but I'll have a two year old with me. I said, I think I got a spot for you. I'll put him up there in that office. I got up on the ridge, you know.

Yeah, one of Pat's pockets. I was gonna say, you might save that, uh, save that milk crate for Chester if we if we end up going back to you, very good. Well, guys, it's great to see you, and uh, congratulations on pulling together another great event. And best of luck to you in the woods out there.

Thanks you guys, all right, thank you very much.

Couple couple solid folks there. Oh yeah, it is time for Throwback Thursday, where we dig into the photo archives and take a trip down memory lane with some of the crew.

Go back on a Thursday, Mon, Stephen Brody, take me back to nineteen seventy four. Did I mentioned Stephen Brody?

Our old as?

I love it?

Oh, that's delightful, Phil, Thank you, really good.

That's really good Phil.

Oh the memories, the memories, the pictures here.

Yeah, let's get those pictures up.

I was personally shocked that people had digitized memories. I thought that was the whole point of like going back and finding the polaroids.

Well, the new memories.

Look at that cute dog. What's that dog?

That dog? That dog is named Jack also known as Jack Bishkins. He in that photo. God, he must have been maybe two years old. He lived to the ripe old age of seventeen. Whoa, and he turned into quite an asshole in.

Speaking of being old though, Like you can tell that Randall is not old because this picture doesn't look old.

It's like like high quality. You know that you're mentioned.

Yeah, this is this is the early day of digital cameras. I don't know how old I am in that photo. Maybe nineteen twenty. That's my first buck, first white tailed deer buck. I'm sitting there in Kentucky and I got that I were sitting in the bed of black Thunder. It's a nineteen ninety seven Ford Ranger with an orange racing stripe on the side of it. Just just a you know, great memory with a good dog, good firearm. That is a Marlin Model eighteen ninety five g guide

Yeah, effective range of about one hundred yards.

Yeah. Actually this buck I shot him, he was he was actually locked up with a smaller.

Buck and made that smaller bucks day.

Yeah, I brought an end to their exciting fest.

What did that smaller buck do after you shot the big one.

It's all it's all a blur. It's all a blur. But I shot him out of a homemade little crotch seat made out of some leftover planks of wood and.

Two by fours, right as in the crotch of the tree.

Crouched the tree. Indeed, and then the following year I shot another ten point out of that same crotch with that same rifle. So some of my early formative memories there still got the rifle. I don't great big mistake on my part.

When I first looked at this, I thought, you're there is a cemetery as the back dry That's.

What I thought, excited to hear.

No, it's an old Uh. It's an old well pump with like a crank handle at the Lewis family farm. Oh, here's another one. This is me in maybe two thousand and ten eleven with a couple of berbot at the end of a long summer working in the last where I have obviously lost my mind.

Do they call him Burbot in Alaska? Or was there were there any other names for him?

Uh?

The guys I was with called him Burbot.

I think some people call him cusk up there.

Oh yeah, I read that.

I think so they got so many different names.

Yes, these are just on set lines and we ran around in the dark checking lines and then came back and had a big old.

Cus or loss.

I forget what Herbert fry on my last night up there.

Cool.

So that's me and my amish beard.

Yeah, I should bring that back.

That's a strapping young fellow.

That's the first iteration of the first light suspenders col.

Wool pants, wool union suit. That's a full one piece union suit underneath, and then wool sweater. Yeah classic yep. And if if the suspenders were turned the right way out, they have little skiers on them, but they are no more because they lost their elasticity a long time ago. But that's that's my first elk ever.

Right there. Yeah.

How old were you in that photo?

It was high school, probably a sophomore year.

I would think he grew up.

In Montana, right, yep. Did they not have an orange law back then?

They did?

So this this, this is like a manufactured photo.

I got a lot of people take the orange off for the photo.

Yeah, which I don't. Is never something like I've made a point of But I was out with my hunting mentor my my outfitter buddy, the guy learned everything from and my dad and we and we were it was like, you know, a paid hunt. So there were clients in camp, which was also like a father son and uh it was just rainy, crappy, very typical western Montana weather, dreary. Not a lot happened, and we hiked tired all week

Right or left handed. And uh.

Yeah, walked walked in and looked down into this cut and there was a cow and a calf feeding there and it.

Was all by myself.

First, OULC was like, oh my god, this is really happening, and tried to talk myself out of it and all the things and lay down and actually made a Texas heart shot on this cow as she was going out of sight, so shot her right at the base of the spine, and that bullet went in, kicked off her spine and went down through her heart and outer chest.

Textbook.

Yeah, didn't didn't hit a stitch of meat. It was like the most crazy shot ever. But you know, as you know, really just a kid cow had a calf. I was like, oh my god, somebody else could get this this calf. And so I ran back to camp and I was able to take the other father and son in there, and they shot. The son of the two shot the calf, and so they got to go

That's an antelope.

Another mustacheless photo, we do. I did see someone in the chat.

Uh.

There was some question about when you started growing at your mustache, and then some question about when you started losing your hair. So because of the hat in the previous photos, so here clearly you do have a full healthy head.

Yeah, I rocked a lot of hair. But you know, I think it was always on the way out.

It was.

It was fleeting, but I made up for it in the volume that I could grow around the deep pits.

Yeah.

I don't even know remember what happened here with this antelope.

But that's Ruger M. Seventy seven and eighty all.

That I had. That rifle, it's a good rifle.

It is a good rifle. Yeah. That paddle stock, yes it did. Yeah, did I tell yeah?

Yeah, the you know, the full weatherized stainless steel. Yeah, I cannot remember. I think my dad must have killed this buck. I was guiding at this point and Dad came out to camp.

So I was guiding for the.

Old outfitter and uh yeah, Dad, Dad, that's how that's those Those are the photos we used to take back then. Primary focus was on getting things gutted fast. And that is still my biggest white tail buck to day.

This is.

Other than antelope. This is the only shoulder mount animal that I have. And Randall has actually got to see this shoulder mount in person because it's hanging in my buddy's cabin in Augusta.

It's impressive.

Yep, oh, there you is.

I only sent phill one picture. I didn't know we were supposed to send multiples in. But anyway, that's me when I was probably I was probably ten or eleven. That's northwestern Pennsylvania on Elk Creek, which is a Lake Erie tributary. And back when, back when I was that age, those lake Erie streams used to get They used to have an artificial man made run of cohos chanook and steelhead, so you get all three in the streams in the fall for.

A short period of time.

Anyway, when it started raining in the fall, and that's me working over a steelhead with a with a zeb coo reel, probably a zebco rod reel combo.

Yeah, I landed that thing and I was like the first big fish I ever landed.

It looks like you have overboots on.

I do like what they call us, think galoshes, no waiters.

My dad was cheap skate back then.

So yeah, it's like you go in as deep as those boots and no deeper area.

You're getting wet.

But they're like those streams are weird because they're all shale bottom streams, so it's like a lot of it shallow and then there's like one deep because so you.

Could, so they'll run up and sit in that bucket.

Yeah, yeah, so yeah. Man, I've always loved that picture because I'm really reefing on that fish and I landed it. It's good times back then.

Yeah, and whoever colorized it after the fact from the original black and white a really nice job. I had to get one of those in.

Oh yeah, Well that's.

It for Throwback Thursday. Our next segment is One Minute Fishing. Do I feel lucky?

We'll do.

You go ahead, make my cast. One Minute Fishing is where we go live to someone who's fishing and they have one minute to catch a fish, and if they're successful, we'll make a five hundred dollars donation to a conservation group. This week, our angler is Kyle Liibarger, who's at Wheeler Lake on the Tennessee River in Alabama fishing for crappie.

How's it going.

We're doing very well, sir. Welcome to One Minute Fishing. Have you been fishing? Have you pre fished this spot this morning?

Yeah?

I have a called about eight or nine keeper crappie and probably twenty twenty five in total this morning, so promised.

This sounds like a very promising start. We've been on a bit of a dry spell here, and I think that's understating it. So were eager to have someone in the hot seat there who knows what they're doing. Well.

This pile, it's a tree top and this thing every time I come up to it and I catch one of my first casts usually, so I'm I have a mess with it in like two hours. I'm hoping hoping there's some crappy on it.

So oh that's dedication. I love it. What's your h now? What's your rig there? What are you fishing with today?

Oh?

I got all. I just got a little spinning reel. It's a fluger and a finwick rod and uh I got live minutes.

Yeah, live minos, you said, yeah, yeah, so it's kind of cheating.

Yeah, Well, you know, I have petfish at home in my pond behind my house, and so if I really wanted to cheat, I could.

Well, yeah, this seems like a good earnest effort. It looks like you're out there, uh, getting after it. So well, your timer and your one minute will begin whenever you make your first cast, So whenever you're ready, Kyle, take a shot, all right.

Let's try.

And the timer is going.

Is it on a jighead?

I have a little split shot about six or eight inches up, so that's the way, and just free lining it. Yeah, yeah, sometimes I'll use a bobber, but I use a free line.

It's like a beautiful piece of water there.

Yeah, this is Flint Creek. So we we manage a little grassland at the boat ramp here, but the state lets us manage.

But twenty seconds twenty seconds on the clock here.

Pressure's on.

M would not want to be you right now.

Ten seconds left here, five seconds.

Time.

I think you just got to go with a ripping hook set just to see.

Oh oh look does that count?

Oh god?

The old stickfish.

I mean, there is a fish on it.

But there he's got a point. It's no arguing with that.

Well, Kyle, I think next time we need to get you out there for your first cast of the day. It sounds like you have a pretty good track record when you first get in there.

Yeah, yeah, it's a you know, I think you'll need to change it to like, you know, ninety seconds or something.

We'll we'll put that one past Steve, But he seems pretty firmly committed to this bit.

So how many of you, how many have caught in sixty seconds so far?

Pat Dirkin did, But that was I mean, that was a special circumstance.

Yeah, maybe we should have a meeting about this offline and rethink the segment. But Kyle, I think you've raised some very valid points here.

I'm just trying to make myself feel better.

So well, we appreciate you, uh getting out on the water for us and uh showing us your your spot there and good luck with the rest of your day. Yeah, I appreciate y'all.

Give me a chance so I have a good one.

All right, we'll see again here.

I did, like I got a call.

I saw one comment in there where somebody's asking for current fishing conditions on Henry's Lake, Idaho.

I love that.

Yeah, I love that.

Yeah, that's that's what That's just the kind of community we need, just.

Throwing it out into the universe.

Yeah, yeah, who knows what the show will become in a year.

It could just be you know, oh yeah, just a live fishing report exactly. Yeah, uh, Phil, Why don't we take a little break here, get some listener feedback. What's happening in the chat?

Let's do it.

Let's start off with a with a breezy one. I don't I don't know if how people decorate their homes for Christmas? If if anybody but Aaron's asking who at meat Eater has the most festive house?

I know, Phil, put up lights?

I do.

I've got a very basic icicle lights set up with a wreath on the door, nothing fancy. I've also got a one story house, so I can't go too crazy. But yeah, do you guys decorate the exterior of your homes or the.

Entry of lights on our porch?

We're definitely like in our neighborhood where like the lame House screach house.

Yeah yeah, Phil, are you gonna play coy? Are you gonna let people know you've seen the inside of my house?

Well, Randall, I happen to know that you have quite a tree. We do.

We do have a big home.

You too, it's very impressive.

I'd rather have the lame house from the outside, but if you come in, there's gonna be a cold beer and something good to eat.

Well, it's not one or the other. You can have it all.

Col not with the timeline I have.

Have you seen Cal's garage. He doesn't have any room for distorre. Yeah, like ornaments in the season.

Might need to hang some new shelves from the ceiling there.

I'm actually I'm curious, you know the answer to this question. Eric is asking the longest you've gone without punching a tag. He says this is his second year in a row. Have you guys had this speaking of dry spells.

M Oh yeah, I mean.

I've definitely definitely been there.

I don't have enough self restraint to not punch tags. It's been a while since I haven't killed anything. I will say I went my first six or seven years of elk hunting without shooting an elk, and I was on a little streak there, seven years in a row with bulls, and this year it.

Came to you were way ahead of the odds, So you can't be too unhappy about.

I'm pretty unhappy, Brodie. Actually, I figure I don't have that many good elk cunning years left, you know with my so I just I'm like when am I hurting, I'll never get to eight.

You're already planning, like for your physical just debilitation to the point where you can.

Keep after it. Eric, I mean, ill straighten itself out. But the thing is is, like, man, there are there are no days of failure in the woods. Like if you're out there, if you're not killing, you're still learning a lot more than somebody who's not out there.

Oh yeah, and I will say too a couple of those Like I can think of one bowl in particular. We're about to pack up, and we said, before we take the tpee down, let's just go for a little walk. You know, we're out here, we might as well put another fifteen minutes in. And I shot that bowl like fifteen yards outside of the tepe. I got out there, put my backpack on, took it off, and shot that thing. It was just across the canyon. So it can happen at any time, discouraged.

The more tags you have, the better your chances are.

That's true. We're pretty spoiled here. Yeah, you got all kinds of seasons to hunt.

Yeah, it's a.

Little different, like when you live in a state where you might may only have a chance at Like a dear.

Uh Tyler is asking a question for cal Phil Can you ask Cal why no conservation organization right now is dedicated to pronghorn? He could be incorrect. I don't know, so I'm coming to you cal Well.

I mean there's there's a ton of overlap in that space, as with with everything. Habitat is is king habitat and connectivity, and so you have like a bunch of groups working on a new bill that would incentivize the preservation, conservation and re establishment of grassland ecosystems in North America, which we're losing at an incredibly alarming rate. Everybody should be

So there.

I know there's some folks interested in starting up a antelope prong horn specific organization, but don't feel like that work isn't being done.

So yeah, I like I do believe there is a group that has recently incorporated and they're kind of bootstrapping it and looking for funders. Yeah, and but I don't know that much about it currently.

I mean MDF, Mule Deer Foundation, Sage Grouse Initiative, like there's antelope are benefiting, like Cal said, from the work of other organizations.

So I mean even like RMEF, like Migration Corridor Protection, you know, yeah.

That migration initiative that focuses on that ho back to red desert migration, like the antelope use that migration corridor.

So but I will say, anaalope a cool critters, incredibly cool tasty critters, and there are.

Definitely places where their numbers.

Yeah are and very fun to hunt, and so I you know, it would be great if a prong horned specific group could take off and.

Yeah, or or if some of these other orgs were willing to like really get some dedicated funding in that space, because there is some really unbelievable inconsistency on on how those animals are managed at the state level, But there are some federal and state dollars available for like animal friendly fencing that that definitely need more help to.

So well, Jared is asking he has a neighbor who raises breeder bucks and does how will that affect his hunting? He can see the high fence from his blind. Do you have any theory res or firsthand experience with this?

I got some.

We used guide on a ranch in Colorado and the neighboring ranch was a high fence elk operation, and all the bugling that would come off that high fence place could could be helpful on the on the other side of the fence.

Yeah.

I would think if a bunch of those dose are going into Astris and they're you know, essentially chained up at the neighbor's place, that yeah, that's some good scent attraction.

But you might want to going back to Doug and Pat. You also might want to look into the whole c w H get.

Your dear tested.

Yeah, hopefully there's an exterior fence around the internior fence and uh, you know, ways of preventing any nose to nose contact because those operations are inevitably a CWD HOTS on the map.

I would be interested to learn what your experiences are. Jareded with that, because I think it would be just sort of a novel scenario to watch play out during the rut.

Yeah, cool, and we'll do one more for this little segment here, Fantastic John is asking how he can convince his girlfriend to allow him to put a shoulder mount in the bedroom.

Good luck as it were for me.

Yeah, pick your battles, I think.

Are we talking like a prong horned shoulder mount or moose moose sick point bull elk?

Right?

Yeah?

How tall are your ceiling?

How big is the bedroom? How important is it for you to put a shoulder mount in the bedroom. I feel like I have pretty free reign of the house when it comes to stacking skulls and you know, bear rugs.

Now, eventually that might end.

Though we reached a satur Yeah there's a point, we're at the saturation point.

But I've never it's it's never really uh come to a point where I felt compelled to hang on in the bed.

There's too many unanswered questions here, like is this the only thing this guy would have in his house or does he already have a bunch?

Yes, the bedroom the only place without a shoulder mountain.

Plus, if you guys are still boyfriend girlfriend, just do it.

Yeah, you'll find out if you're gonna get married her.

And that's our segment of Cal's relationship advice, just test boundaries. Alrighty, now it's time for another round of Top three.

Wow Phil hitting the high notes there.

That was incredible. I will say for a little behind the scenes look at how things go here. I was in this studio bright and early, and Phil came in and he said, can you please leave? I need to record a drop And I said sure. I said, would you like me to put a do not disturb sign on the door, to which he replied, yes, This might be the most embarrassing thing I've ever done. I know, I think you're perfectly I mean, you didn't have time to auto tune that.

No, that song, really it really shows you the limits of your singing abilities.

That's go straight from the pipes. I'd take that as a that gets my stamp of approval, Phil, Great, Thank you boy. Thursday is my favorite. This week we'll be ranking our preferred species of fish and game for the table, or talking the critters that you're reaching for if they're in the freezer. Brody will start with you. What's your number three choice?

Am I doing all three or just my third choice?

Let's go and row. Let's go your third, cows third, my third, your second cow sick in my second, Okay, and then we'll continue that pattern.

But I am going to say that I think that this is one of those like tough and almost kind of meaningless ranking systems because I like all kinds of wild fishing game and it's kind of.

Like based on the time of year.

Like I don't have any wild turkey brass in my freezer right now, so like if I had some, that would be my favorite thing to eat.

I'm just just.

Putting I was gonna I was going to expect that from cow.

Yeah, Like it totally changes you disagree with.

The press, Yeah, I think I think in the spirit of this of this segment, if it's in the freezer and you think I have X, Y or Z freezer, like what what which one are you most commonly going to reach for?

It's well, I don't know that it's a common thing either, right, It's like it might be you only have a little bit of it.

Exactly, Brody, what's your number three choice?

I'm saying, it's like there's a lot to think about here, Randall, I'll say king salmon, because I only got a little bit of that stuff left right now. And it's like, if you've had the different kinds of Pacific salmon, there's like no question that nocean cock king is the best of them, batty, delicious, No man, King's got kings. King's like bigger and better and it's a cooler fish.

Everything about it.

It's good. Col what's your number three?

Elk?

Care to elaborate on the reason behind your choice.

Elk is a fine meat, but I don't find elk to be very flavorful at this point in my life.

There's a lot of variability too, man, Like you shoot an old cow, you.

Might break a tooth on that thing, or it could be super could be super tender.

That cow in the in the picture you literally pulled her ivories out what was left of them with your fingers, like they fell out super old cow and she was delicious yep. But like I have a bowl in the freezer right now, and the tenderline was like, this is going to take a while.

Yeah, I feel like the safest bet is to shoot a young raghorn bull because then you know it's not old.

Yeah, Like, yeah, timing as early as possible or as late as possible.

Yeah, Well, I went for elk as well, and the reasons for that are versatility and quantity. There's there's a lot of especially with all that ground and sausage, there's a lot you can do with it, and so it's kind of just our go to and it's also our go to because there's a lot of it for every elk you kill. Mm hmm, yep, Brody, what's your number two here?

Oh, I'd I'd probably go with some white meat game bird like blue grouse.

Well, i'd go with wild.

Turkey just because you get more of it. I don't know, know, I'm going with blue grouse. It's better than wild turkey.

Blue grouse is fantastic.

What are you doing with that?

Typically all different kinds of stuff, man, like you can't beat. Just like I like to save the legs from all my game birds and then do something with those. But like the breast from a blue grouse pounded out, just battered and fried on a sandwich.

It's hard to beat.

Yeah, yep, col number two, I say mule deer. So I'm yeah, I'd like I really for whatever reason, don't find uh, you know, even trying to kill big old bucks, like I don't find them.

Uh.

Chewy, and they have more flavor than elk, So I'd prefer mule deer over elk.

Big mule deer, all right.

That are living the life of mule deer, a good life far away from agriculture.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I went with salmon for my number two, and I couldn't decide between sakkai or king, so I just went with the generic salmon. But I like sake if it's just going on the grill, but I feel like king is more maybe a little more firstile, like for a chowder you have all that extra.

Fat and slicing it up and eating it raw.

But yeah, I love it. I love having a big pile of salmon in the freezer. And for your number one selection, Brody.

Well, I got a shitload of moose in the freezer right now, so that's my favorite.

But actually like it. I think out of.

The different servid species, moose has like and this is going to sound weird, some people be like, no way, but I think it's like it has a beefier flavor than other deer species. It's like noticeable and it's like you you take a bite of that stuff and it's like, yeah, that's that's like good, good meat and yeah, so I'm glad I got a lot of it right now.

Yeah, you'll be enjoying that one for a while.

Ducks, Mallard Ducks or you know Mallard Wigeon, Gadwall fat tails.

Yeah, something with fat. Yep.

Yeah, like that is my Are you familiar with this like girl dinner phenomenon that? Oh yeah, you know that's my girl dinner.

Like I so cal call and snored on the couch. Yeah, with a rom com on.

It'll eat a hole with it. Yeah, I love it.

So throat on the grill with a big fireball that maybe comes close to burning down your friends on the fourth of July.

Yep, yep, that type of duck's bread to sop up that fat with Yeah, salt, fat, protein, medium, rare blood all around.

Yep.

Like that speaks speaks to a person.

Hard to beat.

Yep.

I was surprised. Uh. My number one choice is antelope.

Man.

If I get an antelope in the freezer or in some years multiple analope in the freezer, that stuff just goes so quickly because it's simple, you know, seer it, cook it, rare salt, and you don't need much else because it's just got so much flavor on its own.

Yep.

So I thought I thought this was going to be uh more of a boring segment because it would be on the same page. But I like that we got a little bit of variety here.

Well, yeah, I do side with Brody. Here is like, you know, some seasons of plenty in one protein department mm hmm. Like I mean, last two years ago, I had two big chunks of blue fin tuna mm hmm, and like, yeah, holy shit, man, I.

Thought there was another way to approach this, where it was what's one wildfish or game species that's been in your freezer once that you'd like to see back in there.

Yeah, I'd like Musko's loin is I think unique and really really fantastic, like big.

Horn sheep battie delicious yep.

Hard to acquire, Yeah.

Hard to acquire. Yeah, I'd go with mountain lion.

Mountain Lion's fantastic.

If I could shoot a mountain lion every year instead of a deer, I'd probably do that just for variety.

Yeah, yeah, I mean, variety is the key man. You can get sick of anything, Like you to have the best elk in the world, but if you're eating it every day, you're gonna get sick of it eventually.

Yeah.

Like you had a long stretch of being up to my ears and elk meat and not hunting elk for a few seasons, I haven't been like missing elk in the freezer, you know.

M Well, thanks for playing along, gents, will come up with a more compelling clearcut prompt for our next top three segment.

Yeah, always room to improve, you know.

Our next segment is meat Eater movie Club.

Oh love what you did there, Phil, It's a menadrie.

The nineteen seventy eight or perhaps nineteen seventy six. I found a few discrepancies in various sources for when this film was released. The nineteen seven eight film Buffalo Rider, directed by John Fabian, Dick Robinson, and George Loris, stars stuntman Rick Gwynn as Jake Buffalo Jones, a frontiersman who tames an American bison and uses it as his primary mode of transportation while battling both natural elements and human adversaries.

One day, the guy on the buffalo hopped off.

To stretch his legs, walk in the bill.

Hey wants to send the weeds. It's a baby, awesome and put it in a saddle, hopped on, hoped.

It up the hill and across the blame drying across the river. Not gonna happen, man riding on a buffalo member or keep the baby up floating with your.

Guy out the buffalo. Gotta find your friends.

She's barish, guya love, Hey, you want this baby?

She put then a doch you guy.

You're welcome. Lady.

Gotta bull it on on of my.

Guy on a full loop. One day the guy on the buffalo walked off.

It's so good.

It is so good.

No, no better than the movie in Fast.

Well.

The thing is is, this is how the movie is narrated. It's like and now he's doing this and this and this.

That's what's striking to me.

Got you're straight out and got my back.

Okay, this scene where he shows the scars on his back, it's like, well, understand that, get.

Out of here. So there's the animal violence. Yeah, multiple times in this show.

Thank you, Phil.

Definitely get kicked by a buffalo.

Thank you Phil. So I do have a bit of research that I'm tickled to share with you, uh as a bit of a prelude to our discussion. I found an article, uh that was published by the Canadian Broadcasting Company. Is mister Gwyn who plays Jake Jones is now Burton.

So.

The film was filmed in Utah and Oregon and the lead actor, Rick Guinn, was working for a company that supplied animals for film productions. He was in Missouri to purchase some mules and someone offered to sell him a buffalo as well. He decided to try to tame it so that he could ride it, and he was successful in doing so, and then some filmmakers saw him do that and said, do you want to star in a movie about a man who rides a buffalo? So that's

To questioning that.

My favorite detail, the mountain lion attack in the film, was in fact a mountain lion attack. The lion was being filmed on the same property for a different production when it escaped the production ran onto the set of Buffalo Rider and attacked mister gwyn.

But it wasn't a wild mountain lion.

I mean it attacked him. It was being filmed for like a nature show, and so it it attacked him. The cameras just happened to be rolling as he was filming a hunting scene. According to Gwynn quote, I had to kind of fight him off. It was a life or death situation. I kind of had to do something real quick. We had lots of shots like that that were just built in the movie that were accidents. Just changed the script a little bit and continued on.

But that mountain lion obviously didn't have full Yeah, but when they showed his injuries, those were real injuries.

Yeah, but they were like they were and.

That was a real lion.

Had been a real lion, yeah, there, a fully intact lion injuries would have been.

The fact that they escaped production.

Yeah. The fact that you guys are not listen, I think it's amazing.

You're not enthralled by the idea that that lion attack was totally listen.

I have to point something else out here. The fact that that buffalo comes out of Missouri is very telling because you can tell that that thing has a lot of beef Caligi.

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yes, So just general thoughts on the film.

It's a beefalow.

It held my attention for less time than your review of the film did and then went back to cleaning guns.

Oh, I think you're crazy, man. Listen. I would watch.

This over Escanaba in the moonlight. Yeah, nine out of ten. Absolutely. I loved the You know if you're you know, old enough to remember like the old the big Long run a Disney movies. Yeah, right, yeah, this is like right in that genre. And then yeah, it has all this like very gratuitous like you know, Nature document What was that guy's name who Grizzly the nature guy who they found out like a lot of the animals in the Nature documents his name.

Yeah.

Uh anyways, yeah, I know you'd be like synonymous with nature for a long time. But anyway, yeah, I mean in just crazy departures.

And Bandit the Raccoon.

To me, it's it's hilarious because there's like some filmmaking one oh one right where it's like, well, if you're going to talk about it, you have to show it. Yeah, and it's be like so then he got on the track and it looked like that of a mule track, and it's like, oh, there's Jake on the track.

Except I liked the part in the film where they mentioned a character who never appears on the stream. He's like he talked to the sheriff and the sheriff said it was okay.

So he went on, Oh, there's a lot of filling in of gaps with the narration because otherwise.

There would just be no story and it's just constant narration, which is what are There.

Is a saying in showbiz, you know, it's it's show, don't tell, and they took that axiom and flipped it on its head and it's like, we're actually just going to tell you things that are happening that you won't see happen.

Yeah, the scenery was great, was great, strongest part of the movie. There's wildlife so well that the actors weren't going to carry any part of this that it's like just lean on the scenery, the narration, and the animals.

Oh the line, the line delivery was insane.

What I want to know is like the people who made this movie was it made? Were they serious about like this is like a movie or were they just fucking around?

I believe they.

I believe there were.

There's a messing around came before it was an actual movie and then somebody was like, yeah, we're gonna pay for this.

Oh God.

There was a quote from uh Rick Gwynn that it was essentially just like meant to be a fun, silly family wildlife movie with a bit of adventure. So I don't think it was like done as a parody, right, but yeah, I mean, like it's just like a fever dream. Like at one point they go with the racket. They follow the raccoon, and the lion tries to drown it, but then the lion is in the cold deep water and it can't drown it. So the raccoon gets away

Long and hard before he comes near that river again.

Yeah. On the next scene, phenomenal the.

The Pioneer lady, her acting, I mean, they they make the decision to stick with her long. You can see her like emotional wind up to her line, but they show all of that. I mean, it's it's really amazing.

It's like it seems like so weird and such an outlier now fifty years later or whatever, but really it's not that unusual.

For the seventies. They made a lot of weird movies.

Go back and watch easy. You're like Rancho Deluxe, Rancho DELX.

The raccoon scene in this film reminded me of the like ten minute sex scene in the middle of Rancho Deluxe, And you're like, why did they do this. Were they just filming time? It didn't need to be in this movie. But Sydney had a theory that the raccoon was important because when Buffalo Jones returned the infant to the ranch, you know that the raccoon would have to nurse the baby to health because they made a big point to say that it was a female raccoon to everyone's surprise.

Yeah, that was the big reveal, and he got.

Cobbler and Stu or something. I mean, it was just.

Yeah, I would watch this folks at home. Yeah, I mean, this is going to surprise you. It's great. Like there's a lot of stuff that you're probably numbing your mind with on Netflix.

Check this one out.

And I will say the beginning of it, when they're out lining the historical context is pretty solid.

I was gonna ask you, like historically or the man? Right? So how accurate is what they were?

I mean, Buffalo Jones is a real person who's life in no way movie the.

Whole thing was depicted.

Well, I thought it was for the.

Conflict in the movie.

Well they they I mean, these guys had one pack animal and they were hide hunters, so they wouldn't have gotten very far, you know, typically I think they would have operated with a few wagons. But the way that they hunted them, like when he's talking about shooting the lead cow and then shooting the whole herd. I mean a lot of that stuff is straight out of like the sources that you read, right, and the stand hunting like going up and getting you know, sneaking up on herd,

That they did some some solid research and laying out the cartridges.

Yeah, that all seemed.

And the guys like when the guys like the narrator like then they got the sharps, the big fifty sharps and they were shooting him. I forget he I think he said like to six fifty. Yeah, I don't know how how you know accurate that is. But from the beginning of it, I was like, man, if this is like a documentary or something produced for high schoolers, like this would be pretty informed.

That's exactly what it reminded me of.

Like I'm just old enough to remember, like the substitute teacher comes in and rents out like an old VHS from the av department and puts it on and like mister.

Jones has a fever, and so I'm gonna just play this film for you to continue our lesson on the West and the destruction of the Bison.

Yeah.

I said this earlier, but I do think Steve would take issue with with demonizing the buffalo hunters. Oh yeah, I like, which is not an uncommon thing in movies, Like.

Sure, and I did like that they were just like basically thirteen year olds who got into wrestling matches at the drop of a hat. But the one the one guy did have a conscience. He did say at some point, uh, he killed the woman. Oh, shoot, you didn't have to do that. And then he says killing women ain't good. So killing women ain't no good. That comes from Ralph.

When they first focus, you know, nobody gets to jump on Frank Nesbit. Yeah, some line like that, and then the narrators like Frank Nesbit told everybody about a guy riding a buffalo, and then it's like in the saloon, he's like there's.

A guy riding a buffalo.

And then he goes up to the bar and he's like, there's a guy riding a buffalo.

We saw him two days from here.

Oh.

There's also these nuggets in there that you wonder, like where they going to do something else? Because the camera when he when he rides the buffalo into the saloon, the camera makes a point to show you that it knocks over the stove, and we were just waiting for the saloon to go up in flames, you know, and and and then there was really no point.

For the camera. Too much plot for this.

Yeah.

Yeah, there's also a point where I do wonder if it was a stuffed buffalo head that knocks over the card table in that scene, because it was just a weird cutaway. Also odd like frank Nesbit and the boys are are bad people and Buffalo Jones concentrates of the gunfight on the auxiliary character and frank Nesbitt never gets a shot off.

Yeah, And I was like.

Well, okay, it also seems.

It was the only fly I found in the well.

I think my favorite part of the film was that they ordered Gin and Tonics, a classic frontier drink. Give me that watch, we're getting a couple of gin and tonics. And then the fact that they had sort of a dual ending where they filmed the saloon shootout and then they're like, you know, it shouldn't end here. Why don't we just have one of these guys.

Not be here? My dad told it.

And then the buffalo can kill him.

Yeah. But then, man, the chase scene at the end goes like.

It's phenomenal, It's great.

I would watch this again.

It takes that mule a little while to get going though, Like the first two minutes of the chase, the mule just seems.

To interesting deal there too. Where'd the mule come?

Now?

Did they steal the mule from the wagon train? I guess, but no, no saddle.

Yeah, I think you're asking too many questions.

I thought it was very strange that they didn't take the wagon itself, because the primary their primary motivation in all this was just logistics. They wanted to be able to transport more hides, and so they killed his family and then they leave the wagon there. But like the reason that they first tangle up with buffalo Jones because he looks at the buffalo and he says, boy, that could carry a lot of stuff. Let's kill that guy and take his take his mode of transportation.

Yeah.

Yeah, And the whole time the costumes, I just kept thinking I was watching like a Jethrow Toll documentary. It was just like it was like, ye, if you tamed back the fringe just a little bit and added like a feather in the hair, were at Woodstock all of a sudden.

Well no, I mean yeah, they're in easy Writer. Yeah right, I mean.

That's Hie seventy one that much different from the eighteen seventies.

Right, yeah, Like no, I mean the fashion was po wore.

The same kind of shit. It all, it all comes there dirty, like yeah. Yeah.

The I thought that Buffalo Jones really had a very striking resemblance to like nineteen seventies, you know, portrayals of Jesus. The long hair, the beard, and he's just always sort of has his contemplative look on his face. There was a lot to unpack here.

There was there a real buffalo being shot, yes, and definitely real dogs being kicked, and definitely a real mountain lion getting punched in the face.

Yeah, that first buffalo that gets shot in the neck. Yeah, I read somewhere someone claimed that they had trained them to.

Fall when that's rubber bullets, but yeah, I don't think so.

That's I have interesting to find out when Hollywood really started cracking down on that stuff, because like animals got.

Shot and like.

Stampede scenes, like somebody's breaking the legs.

Yeah, a lot of horses get killed in Hollywood. Boy, thanks for indulging me and taking an hour and twenty eight minutes of your time to review that film, because that just tickled me to death.

Oh again, I'd watched that over asking abb in the Moonlight.

And thanks to our audience for the recommendation that one did come to our inbox as a as a suggested film for discussions, So thanks very much for that. It was just a real pleasure, Phil. I think that's about time for today. But do we have any more items from the chat that you like?

Sure you've got a few, not not a whole lot. Came in and John's just asking a general bow question. What bo's did you guys use this year, if any, and are you excited for any new ones?

A six milimeter creed more.

I got a rob Lee bow out of Texas new re curve that is absolutely bad ass.

I love it.

It's the first new bow I've had in a long time, really really awesome, awesome bow, and I'm not looking for another one.

Yeah, I can't add anything to that.

Great.

Mountain Bucks is asking if you've ever eaten Bobcat and what's better, Mountain Lion or Bobcat.

I have.

I've had Mountain Lion tacos a couple of times.

And yeah, I mean it's it's good.

I don't I don't think I'm eating Bobcat.

I have. It's very similar. Yeah, I think you can.

You get the right line, You're gonna it's gonna be a little fattier.

Yeah, and then you just have more to work with, you know, like those loins and stuff on. These animals have a lot more sinew, and so yeah.

You probably get more meat off of what like a wild turkey gobbler then you'd get off of a Bobcat.

Yeah probably, Yeah.

Yeah, Cal, what's your beer of choice?

You know?

Some typos in this in this question, So I'm kind of just making an assumption that that's what you're.

Asking, kind of like you don't like beer or lights of your.

Choice right now?

There always used to be like all these good seasonal dark beers that come out around Christmas time and for whatever reason, and here in bos Angelus, you know, cultural Mecca, you can't get any of them.

So that's the only part of the War on Christmas that's succeeding.

Yeah, Phil found jubile Ale and that's good stuff. Nincossi had I think it's Nincosi had Slayer.

Oh yeah, So Nincosi used to distribute to southwest Montana and then there was some some some distribution of war happening and and uh, someone pissed someone off, and then they stopped distributing.

Nincossia was a Slayer was good? Yeah, yeah, So I like, I like both ends of the spectrum. Love Rainier when it's hot, and uh, you know, you just want to refreshing, very light, generic logger. But other than that, it's got to have some some flavor, like a really good pilsner or get into the dark beers.

Got a six pack of the Bavic super Pills.

That's a Bombic super Pills. Yeah, that's good stuff. Yeah yeah.

And then just for the freaks out there, another plug for the meat Eater Dungeons and dragon session. I'm saying this on record. It will happen in twenty twenty five. I don't know if you will ever see it.

It might not be official.

No, it will not be official.

It will be It will probably be me in the Spencer's kitchen, hopefully Randall's there and a couple other people.

When you asked me to join your dungeon or whatever it's called, I did say yes, you did. I preface that with the caveat that I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm I'm down.

Yeah, And if if any of you know any sort of outdoor like hunting, animal tracking centered one shots, let me know, because I'm probably not gonna write my own m because I'm lazy and not that good.

So hit me up.

I'm going to ask you to explain one shots for me once we sign off here.

Yes, sounds good.

Uh, and yeah, I think that's all we got for questions. Well, we're already we're alread running a little long here.

Yeah, it was a meaty episode. Before we go, I would like to make a couple of quick announcements. We are in fact going to do a great American venison jerky competition, and we will have more details for you in the new year. In the meantime, start perfecting your venison jerky recipes. And thanks to everyone who already emailed us about their jerky. The inbox has been overwhelmed with

Happy holidays,