
Loading summary
Stephen Rinella
Hey, American history buffs. Hunting history buffs, listen up. We're back at it with another volume of our Meat Eaters American History series. In this edition, titled the Mountain Men 1806-1840, we tackle the Rocky Mountain beaver trade and dive into the lives and legends of fellows like Jim Bridger, Jed Smith and John Colter. This small but legendary fraternity of backwoodsmen helped define an era when the west represented not just unmapped territory, but untapped opportunity for those willing to endure some heinous and at times, violent conditions. We explain what started the mountain man era and what ended it. We tell you everything you'd ever want to know about what the mountain men ate, how they hunted and trapped, what gear they carried, what clothes they wore, how they interacted with Native Americans, how 10% of them died violent deaths, and even detailed descriptions of of how they performed amputations on the fly. It's as dark and bloody and good as our previous volume about the white tailed deer skin trade, which is titled the Long Hunters 1761-1775. So again, this new Mountain man edition about the beaver skin trade is available for pre order now wherever audiobooks are sold. It's called Meat Eaters American History the Mountain Men 1806-1840 by me, Stephen Rella.
Spencer Newhart
Smell us now, lady. Welcome to Meat Eater Trivia Meat Eater.
Corinne Schneider
Podcast.
Spencer Newhart
Welcome to Meat Eater radio live. It's 11am Mountain Time on Thursday, January 23rd and we're live from Meat Eater HQ in Bozeman, Montana. I'm your host, Spencer Newarth, joined today by Corinne Schneider and Corey Calkins. On today's show, we'll interview Brian Johnson about getting caught in a tornado while fishing. After that, we'll play Meat Eaters Price is Right. Then we've got a cheddar kid about public land deer hunting, followed by Corinne educating us about sea otter sex. And finally, we'll interview Anna Borgman about how to be a good customer at the butcher. But first, Corinne, Corey, Phil, I have come bearing gifts today. This is for each of you. This is over mine, Corinne. Corinne has described that it looks like tartar sauce. That is deer.
Brian Johnson
Oh, yeah.
Corey Calkins
Thank you, Spencer.
Spencer Newhart
So this is off of my Idaho buck that I killed this fall. I killed him in early October. Deer are probably like their fattest right at the end of September, beginning of October, they've, they've like put on their winter coat and their winter fat by that point. But they haven't burned it all off by participating in the rut. So I killed this buck probably at his peak fatness. Phil has a picture of him there.
Phil
Oh, yeah, I'll get it up.
Spencer Newhart
But anyway, I killed this buck. I peeled all that fat off of him, took that home. I rendered it a few days later, got. Got a really nice, like, amber color fat. That's right. That was all the fat distilled down to that did it in my slow cooker. And then this past weekend, my wife and I made a bunch of products with it. And this that you're getting is what we're going to call our buck balm. It is the deer tallow. It's beeswax, it's yarrow infused oil. The yarrow came from our backyard. And then essential oils. Yeah. So you could apply this stuff to your lips. Dry skin, fresh tattoo, your leather boots, leather purses, whatever you want to put this on. And it's food grade, so this is great.
Corey Calkins
So you can eat it.
Spencer Newhart
Yeah. Slather it where? I mean, I wouldn't, but yeah, you slather it wherever you want.
Isaac
The essential oils might give it off a funky taste.
Spencer Newhart
Yeah.
Isaac
But it sure smells good.
Spencer Newhart
Yeah.
Corey Calkins
Oh, yeah.
Isaac
Thank you, Spencer.
Corey Calkins
Probably shouldn't have eaten that.
Spencer Newhart
Corinne. Corinne has done some taste testing already.
Corey Calkins
But actually it doesn't taste that. It tastes just a little.
Spencer Newhart
Tastes like essential oils, I imagine.
Isaac
Way to utilize the entire animal.
Spencer Newhart
It was fun. It was fun. You know, I. I kill most of my critters during the rut, and they, they're just like, you know, not a lick of fat on them. But Idaho has an early rifle season, and I've already got that same tag for this coming year, so I'm looking forward to pulling more fat off of that whitetail to make more fun little products like this.
Corey Calkins
Thanks for the gift.
Isaac
It's already helped my cracked knuckles.
Spencer Newhart
There you go. Very, very helpful.
Phil
Isaac is asking how many, how many pounds of fat you got off? I'm guessing unrendered? He's asking.
Spencer Newhart
Yeah. I don't know how to describe it in pounds.
Corey Calkins
Ten.
Spencer Newhart
I wouldn't say ten pounds. I would say if you took. How can I think about this?
Isaac
How many gallons?
Spencer Newhart
Probably, like, if you, if you had like a basketball and you packed that whole thing full of fat, Shelby piped.
Phil
In and said 81 ounces.
Spencer Newhart
81 ounces. Okay. Thank you, Shelby. That. That is my wife. I've encouraged her throughout this process to take some really good notes. So we were very satisfied with the project or with the, the products this time, but next time it's going to be even better.
Corey Calkins
The texture of it seems a bit whipped. Like it's whipped. It's like you whip it good.
Spencer Newhart
Good job, Corrine. Yes, we did whip it, and that makes it go a little bit further. So this, this stuff, I don't think it was either not whipped or not whipped for very long, but we did whip a lot of our products. We made lotion, we made butter, we made a body scrub. We made chapstick.
Corey Calkins
Yep, yep.
Spencer Newhart
Lot of different stuff. Fun way to spend a Sunday.
Corey Calkins
Do you guys make soap, too?
Spencer Newhart
We did not make soap quite yet.
Brian Johnson
We.
Spencer Newhart
We thought about it. We did make a candle, though, with it as well.
Corinne Schneider
Yeah.
Corey Calkins
Nice.
Spencer Newhart
So give. Give me a review after you've used this for a little bit on your. Your skin and your leather.
Isaac
Thank you.
Spencer Newhart
No problem. All right, we're going to get right into the show. Joining us on the line first is Brian Johnson, who is here to talk about getting caught in a tornado while bass fishing in Texas.
Brian Johnson
Brian.
Spencer Newhart
Brian, welcome to the show.
Corinne Schneider
Glad to be here.
Spencer Newhart
And while we talk to Brian, Phil is going to be playing that video that Brian took that day of fishing in that tornado. First thing, tell us about being on the water leading up to the storm.
Corinne Schneider
So I'd gotten up that morning. It was after Christmas. My kids had gone to visit some other family, and I stayed back. So I thought, man, I'm going to go fishing today. I knew that there was bad weather in the area, but all of the forecast that I saw, storm that were coming, they were going to be moving north and east. So I thought as long as I look back to the southwest and there is no bad weather, then I should be fine. So I went out that day, and I'd been fishing several hours before this video actually takes place. I fished for several hours. The fish, as you know, as an outdoorsman, crazy things happen in the wildlife when the barometric pressure starts fluctuating and those fish, they were biting every cast, every other cast. So I called my friend Tony, who's in the boat here with me. Tony, you gotta get out here. The fishing is amazing. They're going crazy. So we never intended to film a tornado. We're filming a fishing video, and the camera was just left on during the tornado.
Spencer Newhart
It's. It is really crazy footage. You can see it either on this episode on The Meteor Podcast YouTube channel, or I just posted it on my Instagram channel. You'll get to see what it looks like to be on a lake in the middle of a tornado. You knew there was bad weather, but did you know that There was an EF3 tornado with 138 mile per hour winds in the area.
Corey Calkins
Oh, my goodness. Is that what it was?
Corinne Schneider
So I knew that there was bad weather and I knew that there were potential for storms. When I left that morning, I checked the weather. And then I'm not just checking the weather. The whole rest of the time, I'm fishing. But I did have a few phone calls from some friends and family saying, hey, you ought to. You need to watch out for this. And I said, hey, look, man, that thing's moving north. Everything to the south in the middle of that storm, if you look south, it is still sunshine. So, I mean, I was just foolish and. And didn't pay attention. In fact, I went back and looked at a longer version of the video, and you can hear my phone going off with the warning. So I would tell people, did I know that I was going to get in the middle of a tornado? And so I wanted to catch a fish so bad that I stayed out there during that? Absolutely not. But I will tell you, I thought tornadoes, my experience is they look like the movie Twister. It's this gray, skinny tornado moving across the sky. That's not what I saw. What I saw. And what you see in that film is blue and it's very wide. I never thought a tornado would be that wide. That was a very rare occurrence for our area. So I thought, when I saw it over there, I thought, this is just a rainstorm. That. That's rain over there, and it's going to be moving north, so I'm not even going to get wet. By the time I knew that I was in a tornado, it was too late.
Spencer Newhart
And at what point did you realize it was too late, though? Like, once the tornado was on top.
Corinne Schneider
Of you, like, literally when you're watching the video and I've got my rod in my hand right there, I'm still playing on fishing at that point.
Corey Calkins
Goodness, you lost a hat.
Corinne Schneider
Oh, I'm still fishing. I lost my hat. And then the wind started blowing real hard. And that's. Then it's the first time it's rained all day. Okay, so it starts to rain. And I looked over at my buddy. I don't think that I'm in a tornado till right about there. And then I said, tony, we are in the tornado. And the reason I knew it wasn't because of the, the. The rain or even the wind, because I've been in storms or. But you couldn't breathe. Okay, The. The pressure changed. And I just looked at him, I said, Tony, we're, we're in a tornado. We're in it right now. And you see me, the boat is standing still because I've got one of those, the, the Minn Kota Talon, the shallow water anchor that drives down into the ground. This boat during this whole process, it's only a cast away from the, from the boat dock. Okay. I'm not in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. I'm on a 200 acre reservoir and I can see my truck sitting there. I'm, I'm thinking, if anything, I'm so close to safety.
Corey Calkins
Okay.
Corinne Schneider
The boat is anchored down and, and you see me turning around in the video and they're like, why is he staying there? Because I'm waiting for the anchor to come up. The anchor has me down. So then I, I start the boat, the anchor comes up and that's when we drive towards the shore.
Spencer Newhart
And you said it was hard to breathe being in the tornado. Give us some more description of what it's like to be in the middle of a tornado. What could you see, hear, feel?
Corinne Schneider
So you can't see anything. Okay. You can't see anything. We couldn't, I couldn't see the bank. I told Tony, I'm going to go to the bank. I mean, it's just raining and it's just pelting us. And if you, if you're watching the video, there will come a point in the video, if you listen to it, that, that everything goes quiet. Okay. And, and during that quiet part, they believe that was, was when we went through actually the eye of the storm. And I'll tell you the, so the weather reports had been all over. We know for sure it was an EF3. But, but some of the local reports said that there were gusts up to 161 miles an hour. I will tell you this. It blew my truck off of the levee. It blew my buddy's truck off of the levee. It rolled another truck. And on the street, right, probably 200 yards from where we are, there's the gate. There are massive power line transmission lines that go to the beach, that go towards High island and Bolivar Peninsula. And they were built to withstand hurricane force winds. And they're the big steel ones that are in concrete at the bottom. Those were snapped in half on both sides of where we were.
Spencer Newhart
My goodness. So again, you can see this video on our YouTube channel or on my Instagram. The storm or the video sort of ends after the boat flips over and you guys are hung up in some Shallow water at that point, where did the three of you wind up after the boat got turned over?
Corinne Schneider
Okay, so when you're watching the video and. And you see the boat flip over. When the boat flipped over, everyone was under the boat. The. We're in the reeds. It's probably waist deep water, and we're. We're under the boat. So my first thought is, I've got to get out from under this boat. So I'm telling you, I tried to get out from under the boat and my leg was hung on something. I don't know if it was the throttle or what, but I was stuck and I couldn't get out, and the waves and the wind were just pounding me. So I think for a second, this is how they drown and die in the movies. This. This is where it's over. Because I'm half under and half out and trying to hold on, but the waves are splashing in my face. And I'm telling you, at that time, I cried out to Jesus and he gave me a piece and said, it's going to be okay. And somehow everything was calm. And I'm like, okay, this is not how my story ends. God's got a plan and a purpose for me. I need to just calm down. And so I calmed down and I was able to. The wiggle and wiggle. And then my. My legs got free and I was able to get out. Now the storm is still. The wind is still whipping, so I'm. I'm not wanting to get out of the boat. And I'll. I'll tell you this. And, and I believe this with all my heart. I. I believe that that part of God's plan was that he saved me by flipping that boat and he saved my friend and he saved my dog. Because had the boat not flipped, we would have tried to get to the truck. Had we tried to get to the truck, we would have literally blown away.
Corey Calkins
Oh, my goodness.
Spencer Newhart
Wow. Yeah. What. What was your. What was your dog doing while the storm was moving in?
Corinne Schneider
So that dog, Sam, the fisher dog. And, and I got a lot of comments about how terrible I am for taking that dog fishing. You can't from going fishing. Okay. So when the storm comes, you see him pacing back and forth and running around, and he does that a lot. Okay. But so he probably looking back, he knew something was going on when the boat flipped, he went and got up under the console and. And he just hung out until we flipped the boat back over. And then he jumped in our arms and he got back in the boat. He was ready to go fishing the same day.
Spencer Newhart
And what's, what's been the feedback like online from people who have seen the video?
Corinne Schneider
So a lot of the feedback has been. In fact, I took the, I took the video down after a while because I got tired of hearing what an idiot that I was. And, and I, I would agree that that was a, A poor decision. But I, I told him, I said, you know, some people were excited to see that, that God spared us and delivered us, and others just wanted to talk about we were an idiot. And, and I've kind of used it to, to tell the story. This is what I believe. Okay. And, and you may want to hear this. You may not. I should have died that day. Okay? It's not a good idea to go fishing in 160 mile an hour winds. Everything points to all the destruction in the area. I should have died, but I was in a storm. That was my fault. That, that's what I tell people. Sometimes we get. We face storms in life. Sometimes they're your fault, sometimes they're not. This was 100% my fault, but God still delivered me. So I've used this storm as an opportunity to tell people that, hey, if you're in a storm of life, cry out to Jesus. He can deliver you, even if it's your fault.
Spencer Newhart
And what's the status of the boat and all the gear that was in the boat?
Corinne Schneider
So the status of the boat and all the gear was a, A total loss by the insurance company. But I am. And that's mainly because the value of the motor was you can't replace the motor. It costs more than everything was worth. And since it went upside down, an insurance company's not willing to mess with that. But I will tell you this. I went fishing in it this weekend.
Spencer Newhart
Okay, Good to know.
Corinne Schneider
We had this Texas storm with the, the blizzard and the cold weather and, and I, I tried to go. I couldn't get my boat out in the blizzard, but I did go fishing in some of the local ponds in the blizzard. And I tell people this, okay? I fished in a tornado and I fished in a blizzard, and the fish a lot better before a tornado, but I don't recommend either one.
Spencer Newhart
Okay, good to know. Last question for you, Brian, and you are more qualified to answer this than anybody I know, but is a bad day of fishing really better than a good day of work?
Corinne Schneider
And I haven't had very many bad days of fishing. All's well that ends well.
Spencer Newhart
Okay? All right. So. So still the jury is still out if a bad day of fishing is better than a good day of work. All right, well, thank you for joining us, Brian. We're glad you got out. Safe to tell us your story, Brian.
Corey Calkins
We're glad you're still here.
Corinne Schneider
Thank you.
Spencer Newhart
You guys ever been caught in any, like, insane? I mean, I. I felt like I have, but once I saw this video, I was like, no, I've never been close to something like that before.
Corey Calkins
I mean, not like that. I was in a sandstorm in Egypt, but that's about it.
Spencer Newhart
Is that scary?
Corey Calkins
It wasn't that. That that bad, but yeah.
Spencer Newhart
Were you outside during it?
Corey Calkins
I was outside.
Spencer Newhart
It had to be, like, painful.
Corey Calkins
I was outside for a while until we got to our vehicle. You know, it's just a new environment. It's not like I grew up in a desert, you know, and so just to see how you can, you know, you see it in movies and in shows, and until you're in something like that, you don't realize the various powers of mother Nature. And what you can. You know, what was previously calm can suddenly seem a little bit chaotic.
Isaac
Was there a wall, like a wave of sand coming towards you like I've seen in photos?
Corey Calkins
No. I don't know if scenes like that are more. I'm sure that's actually real and not just film, you know, special effects. But no, not like that. It was just very windy and sand is all around. So you can see the. The kind of how the wind funnels and how the wind spins up. Because it's just kind of like in Brian's video. You see that with the water. You see that with vapor. You can see that bit with sand. Yeah. It's just a unique experience.
Spencer Newhart
Corey, you got anything that's ever rivaled what Brian experienced?
Isaac
Man, I can relate to not being able to breathe in the wind. I've hunted in some windy areas. At least looking towards the wind, you can't see anything. You can't breathe. So you, you know, basically just turn and look the other way to catch your breath and then walk back into the wind. In April 2011, I was in a suburb of St. Louis when a EF4 went through St. Louis. I think it really messed up the Lambert Airport in St. Louis. It was actually the day I met my wife.
Phil
Oh.
Isaac
So as a Montana kid, we were watching a movie in the theater, and all of a sudden they're like, you gotta leave the theater. There's a tornado, like, 20 miles away. So you can't stay here.
Spencer Newhart
But where are they gonna send you to at that point.
Isaac
Well, they all suggested going to the but my buddy and I went outside and I'm not a smoker, but I went and smoked a cigarette that day. Yeah, and then I met my wife later that day.
Spencer Newhart
There you go. It all worked out. Yep. Yeah.
Shelby
Memorable day 2025 is here and Mint Mobile has a resolution for you. Skip the gym. Skip the fad diet. Skip the resolutions you'll forget about by next month. Instead, make a resolution to save some serious cash by making the switch to Mint Mobile. And right now you can get half off their three month unlimited plan. Mint Mobile is dropping huge savings for the New year by offering any three month plan for only 15 bucks a month, even their unlimited plan. All plans come with high speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. You can even bring your current phone and your number switch to Mint and new customers can get half off an unlimited plan until February 2nd. To get your new wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month and get the plan shipped to your door for free, go to mintmobile.com meateater that's mintmobile.com meateater $45 upfront payment required equivalent to $15 a month. New customers on first three month plan only speed slower above 40 gigabytes on unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees and restrictions apply. See Mint Mobile for details.
Stephen Rinella
Hey American history buffs, Hunting history buffs, listen up. We're back at it with another volume, our Meat Eaters American History series. In this edition, titled the Mountain Men 1806-1840, we tackle the Rocky Mountain beaver trade and dive into the lives and legends of fellows like Jim Bridger, Jed Smith and John Coulter. This small but legendary fraternity of backwoodsmen helped define an era when the west represented not just unmapped territory, but untapped opportunity for those willing to endure some heinous and at times violent conditions. We explain what started the mountain man era and what ended it. We tell you everything you'd ever want to know about what the mountain men ate, how they hunted and trapped, what gear they carried, what clothes they wore, how they interacted with Native Americans, how 10% of them died violent deaths, and even detailed descriptions of how they performed amputations on the fly. It's as dark and bloody and good as our previous volume about the white tailed deer skin trade, which is titled the Long Hunters 1761-1775. So again, this new Mountain man edition about the beaver skin trade is available for pre order now. Wherever audiobooks are sold. It's called meat eaters American history the Mountain Men, 1806-1840 by me, Stephen Ranella.
Spencer Newhart
All right, our next segment is a new segment. This is meat eaters price is right.
Phil
Here it comes from Bozeman, Montana. Meat eater radio's most exciting 15 minutes. It's the Price is right. Corinne Schneider, come on down.
Spencer Newhart
She's here.
Phil
All right, Corey Calkins, come on down. You are the first two contestants on mediator radio's the price is right. Now, here's your host, Spencer Newhart.
Spencer Newhart
Wow, what an intro.
Corey Calkins
Just amazing.
Spencer Newhart
Bill was trying to downplay how well he would do that. He said, I don't quite have it in me to do it like a professional, but I'll give it my best. And his best was damn good, Phil. Well done. All right, this game is really simple. Phil is going to tell you about a product from the meat eater universe, and you need to guess its price. The player with the closest answer without going over will be declared the winner. If both players go over, then you'll both be told to try again. And the chat should play along as well because whoever has the closest answer is going to get a shout out. Phil is going to be watching for that. All right, there are five products for today's show. Take it away, Phil.
Corey Calkins
This is so good.
Phil
Our first product is one night in the governor's suite of the bass pro shops pyramid.
Spencer Newhart
Wow.
Phil
This 2,000 square foot suite is the shangri la of Memphis, Tennessee. From the third floor balcony, you'll be able to watch customers peruse the world's biggest bass pro shops below. The room comes with a king bed, two queen beds, three bathrooms, two air tubs, three fireplaces, and a fully stocked kitchen. But no worries, if you don't feel like cooking, you're just a stone's throw from uncle Buck's fishbowl and grill.
Spencer Newhart
And Phil is now showing us some photos of the pyramid and that governor suite. Yeah, I hope the guy who asked for honeymoon recommendations is watching again this week because, buddy, I know just the place for you. All right, Corinne and Corey, now you need to guess the price of a one night stay at the governor's suite of the Bass pro shops pyramid. Man, they have their whiteboards in front of them. They're gonna write down their answer. And our chat is also participating in this again. You need to come up with the price of the one night chat.
Corinne Schneider
You.
Phil
I'm so proud of you. But holy crap, I'm not gonna be able to sift through all of these.
Spencer Newhart
Bill's gonna do his best. Yeah. So one night at the Governor Suite of the Bass Pro Shops Pyramid. This is the nicest room that they offer. Again, it has a king bed, two queen beds, three bathrooms, two air tubs, three fireplaces, and a fully stocked kitchen.
Isaac
Three bathrooms. Made me change my answer.
Spencer Newhart
Three bathrooms. He's adding an extra thousand dollars to 2,000 square feet. Wow. Uh huh. You could live here. Yeah. Okay, and again, you can't go over. We're doing Price is Right rules. If you both go over, then you'll both be told to try again. Phil, how's our chat doing? Is anybody flirting with the right.
Phil
We get a few close answers and I'm trusting our contestants in the room to not look at which comments I'm bookmarking.
Spencer Newhart
Oh, that's right.
Phil
Give something away.
Spencer Newhart
We're also trusting our live chat to not Google the correct answer because our last guest, he would tell you that God is watching right now. And he will know if you cheat at the meat eater. Price is Right.
Isaac
Amen.
Spencer Newhart
Do both of you have an answer for the price of one night in the Governor's suite to the Bass Pro Shops Pyramid? Yes. Go ahead and reveal your answers. We have Corinne saying $1,225. And Corey says 899. The correct answer is $1,539. Corinne was $300 off. She gets the first point now. That is 14 $99 for the room and 40 dollars for the resort fee.
Phil
And we have RM in the chat. Who guessed 1500?
Spencer Newhart
Hell yeah. RM. He was only 39 dollars off. Well done, RM 1500 dollars for the best dang sweet at the Bass Pro Shops Pyramid. I. If I had like, you know, six people in on this.
Corey Calkins
We should totally.
Spencer Newhart
Absolutely. We'll make a trip to Memphis. Three couples will go to Memphis. We're going to stay in the Shangri La of Memphis, Tennessee.
Corey Calkins
It's totally worth it.
Spencer Newhart
All right, Phil, what is our next item?
Phil
Well, Spencer, our next item on the docket is a bison cheeseburger from Ted's Montana Grill.
Spencer Newhart
Oh, thanks.
Corey Calkins
Some of us might know how much that is.
Phil
Ted Turner owns 2 million acres of land, making him the third largest landowner in America. What's he do with all that property? Well, he raises bison, of course. And after those buffalo have been slaughtered, some end up at Ted's Montana Grill, which has 38 locations from Atlanta to New York City to Bozeman, Montana. The bison cheeseburger comes with a slice of cheddar, lettuce, onion, tomato, and a.
Spencer Newhart
Side of fries that's right, Phil. And the Bozeman location has 3.4 stars on Yelp, which is the same as the Taco Bell on Main Street. All right, Corinne and Corey, what's that bison cheeseburger cost?
Isaac
Wait, does it come with that coke? And maybe no milkshake.
Spencer Newhart
The menu. That's just their. Their dolled up photo on their website. It's very pretty. It's got a little toothpick with an American flag. It's got what looks like, I don't know, a root beer floater, a chocolate milkshake in the background, a giant helping of fries, and then a bottle of coke. And you need to tell me what the price of that bison cheeseburger from Ted's Montana Grill is.
Isaac
That ain't no smash burger.
Spencer Newhart
Phil, you ever eaten at Ted's Montana Grill?
Phil
I have, several times. I gotta say, it's not one of my go to places, but I don't think I've ever had a bad meal.
Spencer Newhart
Okay. How about you, Corey? What's your review of Ted's Montana Grill?
Isaac
I've been there a couple times, and.
Spencer Newhart
Yeah, you're a native Montana, so it must be like your favorite place. It has Montana in the name.
Isaac
Yeah, that's true, doesn't it? I guided Ted Turner fishing once. Oh, a couple times.
Spencer Newhart
Tell us about that.
Isaac
Oh, he's a great guy.
Spencer Newhart
What kind of tip did he leave you?
Isaac
I definitely.
Spencer Newhart
Well, fat one.
Isaac
I mean, it's just kind of all part of the program. It was, it was. It was a fat one about like that. Cheeseburger, huh?
Spencer Newhart
Yeah. Good. Corinne, you ever been to Ted's Montana Grill?
Corey Calkins
Yeah, it's been a couple of years. I think I've been two or three times over the past few years. Maybe that bison burger went up in price. We'll see what. We'll see what my number.
Isaac
20, 25.
Spencer Newhart
Again, we're looking at the price of a bison cheeseburger from Ted's Montana Grill. It comes with a slice of cheddar, lettuce, onion, tomato, and a side of fries. Are both of you ready? Ready. Go ahead and reveal your answers. Wow. I'm not. I'm not convinced there wasn't some cheating going on here, but we have Corinne saying $20.99, and Corey says $21. It's probably gonna be incredible.
Stephen Rinella
The thing is, both of you are.
Spencer Newhart
Too high, so you're going to have to try again. Both of you will come up with a new answer. You know that it is less than $20.99.
Phil
I didn't prep this sound. But if. If I had I would have done the tube out.
Spencer Newhart
Brrr.
Phil
Brrrrrrrrr.
Spencer Newhart
There you go. We don't even need the sound effect. Phil is the sound effect. So again, both of our players were too high. We know that the correct answer is less than $20.99. Are you ready with your new answers? Go ahead and reveal your answers. We have Corinne saying 1899.
Isaac
Keeping it high.
Spencer Newhart
Corey says 1950.
Isaac
Got to be up in there. Bucks doesn't have to go far to get his meat.
Spencer Newhart
The correct answer is $19. Karin was a penny off. Well done, Corinne. She takes her second point. And Andrew Bryant was also.
Phil
We had six or seven people guess. 18.9 19 on the dot. On the dot though.
Spencer Newhart
Isaac Spencer. RM are you googling this?
Corey Calkins
You know, we should have known that that Ted is a classy gentleman and he wouldn't really be pricing things with 99 cents. Sure of his menu marketing ploy. So a flat numbers.
Spencer Newhart
It'd probably be confident an extra 99 cents if you wanted like an extra piece of cheese on there, right? Or something like that.
Isaac
Or a pickle.
Spencer Newhart
So Corinne has already taken two points. Corey, you've got some catching up stew again.
Corey Calkins
I'm piss poor at trivia so I might as well be good at some kind of game around here.
Spencer Newhart
That that bison cheeseburger from Ted's Montana Grill costs $19. Phil, what's our next item?
Phil
Well, Spencer, our next item is ice fishing. Oh no. Yep, there we are. Ice fishing gear from Facebook marketplace. Shane from Billings said he hates the cold so he's ready to give up this damn sport.
Corey Calkins
Shane from Billings.
Phil
His ice fishing lot includes a Cabela's collapsible hut, ice screws, two ice fishing poles, two rod holders, ice scoops and an ice shovel. Let me start that music again. And a Cobra strike master gas powered ice auger with an 8 inch blade. Everything has been stored in a climate control garage and is like new, but it hasn't been used in eight years.
Spencer Newhart
And Shane's other Facebook Marketplace listings include a 1976 Harley and a 2009 Kawasaki. He says he'll accept this dollar offer for the ice fishing gear or OBO, which is or best offer. So what does Shane want for this ice fishing equipment?
Corey Calkins
Is that. Is that Cabela's tent insulated like an Eskimo?
Spencer Newhart
It does not appear to be insulated again. All right, the stuff that he's offering is a Cabela's collapsible hut.
Corey Calkins
Okay.
Spencer Newhart
Ice screws, two ice fishing Poles, which I couldn't see the brand on them. Two rod holders, two ice scoops and a shovel with a gas powered ice auger that has an 8 inch blade. I mean I found this on Facebook marketplace yesterday. And if someone is interested in all this gear, you just hop on the billings Facebook marketplace you'll find, you'll find Shane's listing.
Isaac
Couple tip ups. What'd you say about the auger?
Spencer Newhart
What was wrong with it? Well, he said in his listing it said the carburetor might need to be cleaned. Nothing. He didn't say anything was wrong with it. It's a gas powered ice auger with an inch blade and everything has been stored in a climate controlled garage which is a big deal. Phil is showing us photos of all of these products thus far. Huh. He showed us some pictures of the bass pro shops pyramid governor suite. Then he showed us a picture of Ted's bison cheeseburger. And now we're looking at Shane's listing from Facebook marketplace of ice fishing gear. Are both of you ready?
Isaac
And he's hard up to get rid of it. It sounds like he had a couple bad years.
Spencer Newhart
He's listed multiple things on place right now. He must be looking to, you know, clear out the garage a little. And he said that he's looking for this amount of money or best offer. So think about that when you're coming up with your answer. Is everybody ready?
Isaac
Yep.
Corey Calkins
He's sick of the cold.
Spencer Newhart
He's sick of the cold. That's right. I went to his Facebook profile to look at it afterwards.
Corey Calkins
Florida.
Spencer Newhart
No, he's from Billings.
Corey Calkins
But no, no but I mean Billings it sound.
Spencer Newhart
Oh maybe someone asked.
Corey Calkins
I think he was from someplace else, moved to Billings. They said Shane, he got too cold. He wants to.
Spencer Newhart
He shared this on his profile. Someone said why are you getting rid of that stuff? And he said cuz I hate the cold. Both. Are you ready?
Isaac
I mean Billings is usually warmer.
Spencer Newhart
Go ahead and reveal your answers. We have Corinne saying $559 and Corey says 250.
Corey Calkins
Cory's gonna get this one right Cuz I don't. I don't really know.
Isaac
I think it's good.
Spencer Newhart
The correct answer I don't really know is $350. Corey takes that point. Well done Corey. It is two to one going in to our fourth item.
Phil
We had three people guess 350. We had Max, Ben and Joey.
Spencer Newhart
Well done Max, Ben and Joey. Got it. Dead nuts.
Isaac
He'll take 250 to get the hell out of this.
Spencer Newhart
That's Right. I think if you offered him 250. Head over to Facebook marketplace, narrow your search to billings, and you can get Shane's ice fishing gear. Phil, what's our next item up for bid?
Phil
Sorry, I'm pressing a lot of buttons here. Oh, Spencer. Our next item is a cattle ranch in northern Kansas. This 865 acre property is 700 acres of pasture, 160 acres of tillable land, and 5 acres of food plots. The ranch has deer, turkeys, pheasant, quail, squirrels and rabbits. Cattle not included, but it does come with two tower blinds and a 3,000 pound gravity feeder guaranteeing you'll kill a big giant white tail buck every fall. If Spencer wins the lottery, he'll tell meat eater, smell you later and is going to go buy this property.
Spencer Newhart
But I don't play the lottery, so you listeners are stuck with me. Now, I found this listing through whitetail properties, and now you need to guess.
Corey Calkins
That price for 850 acres in Kansas.
Spencer Newhart
865 acres. And how that breaks down is it's 700 acres of pasture, 160 acres of tillable, and 5 acres of food plots. Plus it comes with a couple deer towers and a gravity feeder. Phil is showing you some photos. Oh, that's a big property. And that's a trail cam photo from that property on November 24th. We've got a triple main beam bruiser. Wow. Who is helping himself to some corn. It looks like.
Isaac
God, I'm so stuck in Montana land prices that I'm having a hard time.
Spencer Newhart
865 acres in northern Kansas.
Corey Calkins
I mean.
Spencer Newhart
See a lot of writing on these whiteboards. This is our fourth item. If Corinne were to get this right, she would win this week's game of price is right. This is.
Corey Calkins
Maybe I'm really low.
Isaac
Oh, yeah, just keep it.
Spencer Newhart
Maybe Corey went really high and then you'll just win by default.
Isaac
That buck keeps the price high though.
Spencer Newhart
Phil's showing us again some aerial photos of the property, plus a trail cam photo of a big giant white tailed buck. Are both of you ready?
Isaac
Yep.
Spencer Newhart
Go ahead and reveal your answers. Wow. We have Corey saying $1 and Corinne says $8 million. This is probably the largest spread I imagine we'll ever have without going on in a game of meat eater. Price is right. An 8 million dollar difference in their answers. The correct answer is 2.4 million, making Corey our winner. Of the fourth item. That's $2,700 per acre, which is actually kind of cheap. $2,700 in northern Kansas.
Corey Calkins
Definitely stuck in Montana.
Spencer Newhart
Hey, that's okay, Corinne. Eight million. Million. Hey, I bet he would take that offer if you said, hey, I'll give you 8 million for this.
Isaac
I originally guessed 1.7. Still would have been close.
Corey Calkins
Like, that's a lot. Can you lease that out for a lot of money, too?
Spencer Newhart
Yeah, you could, yeah. Northern Kansas, that is. That's premier whitetail country. You'd have a line of customers if you said, I want to lease this property out. All right, it all comes down to our last item. Oh, and Phil, did we have anybody who got.
Phil
Yeah, we had Gus. And then apologies to the person I just had on screen, but you all saw his name, so they got it.
Spencer Newhart
Right on the nose.
Phil
They got 2.4. Yeah, two people said 2.4.
Spencer Newhart
Well done, Gus. And the other guy from Kansas on the screen. Realtors, perhaps if they work for Whitetail Properties, they're the broker. All right, it all comes down to this last item. Phil, tell us about the fifth thing for bid.
Phil
Well, the last item on our docket today is a scoop of minnows from HR one stop in Wabay, South Dakota. There it is. HR one stop is a gas station with a hardware store attached, making it a pillar of the Huawei community, population 475. Their all inclusive shopping experience offers fishing tackle, groceries, hot stuff, pizza, video lottery, liquor, and of course, bait. It's Spencer's favorite place to buy minnows, and he's purchased thousands from them over the years.
Spencer Newhart
That's right. And I called them yesterday and I asked some high school cashier what a scoop of minnow is currently selling for now, you need to guess that price. We're gonna go to cents on this. So if you think it's 9.99, you're gonna write down $9.99 for your answer. Again, one scoop of minnows from the place that I have bought more bait from than anywhere else on the planet, the HR1 stop in Wabay, South Dakota. And Phil is showing us a generic stock image of a scoop of minnows plus that actual gas station. All right, do you players have your answer? And do we have two decimal places in your answer?
Isaac
Yep.
Spencer Newhart
Okay. Corey, how do you feel about your answer?
Isaac
Not great. I've never bought minnows.
Spencer Newhart
Okay, Corinne, how do you feel about your answer?
Corey Calkins
I don't know. I could be off bucks.
Spencer Newhart
Corey, the rare fishing God who's never purchased a scoop of minnows.
Isaac
Nope.
Spencer Newhart
It all comes down to this. Go ahead and reveal your answers. We have Corinne saying $3.79 cents. And Corey says $14 and one cent.
Corey Calkins
Embarrassingly low.
Spencer Newhart
Both of you are too high. So you're going to come up with another answer. And then that's how we're going to declare a winner. I love your answer of $14, Corey. Is it Arrested Development, Phil, where it's. She's like, what is. What is, Michael?
Phil
$10.
Spencer Newhart
Yeah, that's. That's the vibe I got from Corey's answer there. What does. What does a banana cost? So fun of 379. Is that what you had? 379 was too high. Both of our players are going to come up with another answer. And hopefully after this round, we can declare ourselves a winner. Yeah. Are the two of you ready? Go ahead and reveal your answers. Wow. We have Corey saying A$88 and Corinne saying A$89. Corey's gonn hope that he got it dead nuts to be the winner.
Isaac
Hot in here.
Spencer Newhart
And he did not. The correct answer is $3.46, making Corinne our winner. Well earned. Corinne, your first answer. You were only like 30 cents off. So you were. You had it narrowed down.
Corey Calkins
This is the most fun thing we should.
Spencer Newhart
Oh, thank you.
Corey Calkins
That was so fun.
Spencer Newhart
Thank you. Thank you. You can go claim your prizes from HR upstairs. They've actually got the scoop of minnows, a cat cattle ranch. I already got all the fishing gear from Shane. And then we'll have a voucher.
Corey Calkins
Yeah.
Spencer Newhart
One night stay ever. And a new car. And a brand new car. That's right. All right, thanks everybody for playing along. And remember to help control the pet population, have your pets spayed and neutered. All right, Phil, let's take a break for some listener feedback. What's the chat?
Phil
Once again, I feel like I always have some sort of disclaimer every time the listener feedback comes up.
Spencer Newhart
Hold on. Who. Who. Who was closest on our last answer?
Phil
Oh, we had. Owen and Bradley both guessed 325. I think that was the closest. There might have been one or another one who slipped in there. But Bradley and Owen said 325. We have a few questions. Do the a legitimate one first. Sad Squatch is asking, being brand new to an area, what would you consider to be a better use of time scouting public lands or searching for private landowners willing to let you hunt? Thanks.
Spencer Newhart
I would say it depends on what you're hunting and where you're at. Sad Squatch, if you are looking to hunt white tail deer and you. You live in the golden triangle of white tails in Illinois, you're Gonna probably knock on 100 doors and get told no a hundred times. That's just the reality of, like, looking to hunt a specific animal In a place that's known for it. But if maybe, you know, you're in eastern Colorado. And you're looking to hunt whitetails there, or if you even, you know, lower your expectations to just small game or turkeys, you're gonna have a lot better odds of getting private land permission there. So I would say it depends where you're at. How coveted is the thing that you're looking to hunt in that area. And how much public land is there? The. The. The best answer I can give you, sad Squatch, Is do both of those things. The best hunters, they have a plan. A, B, C, D, E. And. And to pull that off, it's probably going to be a mix of private and a mix of public. Corey, Corinne, anything to add?
Isaac
Yeah, you were spot on. I mean, if you're targeting bull elk.
Spencer Newhart
Yeah.
Isaac
Knocking on doors isn't going to get you anywhere without $10,000. So scout hard.
Spencer Newhart
There you go, Phil. Anything else?
Phil
Great. John is asking about your opinion. About how close it is acceptable to set up next to someone while ice fishing. He noticed a lot of tight clusters of people on flats chasing lake trout.
Spencer Newhart
I would say it depends what everyone else is doing. If there's, like, you know, already 12 guys in the area, I think you can be the 13th. And just don't be the dude who set up the closest out of all 13 of those guys. But if there's only one ice fishing shack on this whole little lake or this stretch of lake, you best not be within, like, you know, 50 yards of them, is what I would say.
Isaac
Go explore. Keep your distance.
Spencer Newhart
Sure.
Isaac
That drives me nuts, But I guess I'm not familiar with lakes that are just, you know, overpopulated with anglers.
Spencer Newhart
Yeah.
Isaac
So that's a tough one, I guess, if it's really crowded.
Spencer Newhart
But, Corinne, what would you do? You'd be cool setting up next to those.
Corey Calkins
No other angles. Give others privacy and maintain privacy for myself, a little bit of space. So just, you know, show some decency. And, yeah, try to try to space out filler.
Spencer Newhart
We still on air? Looks like it froze.
Phil
Oh, no. It might have just frozen for the monitor. But, yes, we are very much on there.
Spencer Newhart
Okay. Any. Any other.
Phil
We've got a few more, but let's. We'll hit them at the end. And please keep submitting questions. And we'll try to get them at the end of the show.
Spencer Newhart
All right. Our Next segment is from Chester Floyd. This is cheticate CTT IQ E T.
Phil
T E. Find out what it means to me. CT IQ E T T E Take care of C H e t.
Spencer Newhart
This week, Chester is answering a listener's question about deer hunting. A buddy spot on public land. Take it away, Chad.
I
Hello, everybody. My name's Chester Floyd, and I'm coming at you from Wisconsin this week. This week's Chet kit, though, comes to us from a guy who does not want to be named. He writes, I have an etiquette question. My friend and I have been deer hunting on a massive public land area in Ontario, Canada, called Crownland for the past 13 years. It's taken us years to find good hunting spots. Excuse me. I hunt there throughout the bow season, the gun season, and the black powder season. That's in December. My friend, on the other hand, only comes up for the first three days of the gun hunt. He baits and typically shoots the first legal deer that shows up, which is fine by me. I have no problem with that. Here's the dilemma, though. For the past three years, my buddy has captured a monster buck on his camera right before the gun hunt. However, he always shoots the first deer that comes in, never giving himself a real chance at taking this big buck. So in my opinion, it's a miracle this buck has survived this long. So I asked my friend if I could bait, set up my camera and hunt his spot for the upcoming muzzleloader hunt in December to try and bag this buck. His response was, I think I'm gonna go buy a boat. Which was essentially telling me no. Quite frankly, I was shocked by his answer, and now I'm unsure what to do. Everyone I've talked to, including my wife, says that I should just go after this buck. So I'm considering hunting the spot without telling him. If I get the buck, I'll say it wandered into my area. He'd never know. Does this make me a bad person? Is this bad? Check it. I'll let you know. So it's a shared public land spot as we know it. If your buddy cannot see, think your friendship's meant to be terminated at the thought of it. Common sense is a lot of it. Although I hate to sit baby date if it's legal in your straight. So come December season, hunting time. Grab your muzzle loader, you'll be fine. Climb the tree and shoot straight and take your wife on a date.
Phil
Oh, oh, Chester got an Andrew bird whistling some love.
Corinne Schneider
Oh.
I
All right. So I don't think that's bad. Etiquette. If you go and hunt that spot. I also don't think it's bad of your buddy to shoot any deer he wants. He can do that. But I think it's pretty poor friendship, if you will, if he doesn't let you go and try and get after this big buck and kill him. Because, like, if it were me, I'd be just as excited if my buddy shot this big buck. It's a team thing here, you know? So those are my thoughts.
Isaac
Wow. Well done, Chester.
Spencer Newhart
That was great. The. The whistling bit is a new addition to Chatticky. Love that you guys have anything to add to this listener's dilemma.
Isaac
I mean, I'm with. Chester just serenaded me to sleep during that.
Spencer Newhart
Yeah. And most importantly, take your wife on a date.
Isaac
Yeah.
Spencer Newhart
During haunting season. And that'll help every situation you're in.
Shelby
2025 is here, and Mint Mobile has a resolution for you. Skip the gym. Skip the fad diet. Skip the resolutions you'll forget about by next month. Instead, make a resolution to save some serious cash by making the switch to Mint Mobile. And right now, you can get half off their three month unlimited plan. Mint Mobile is dropping huge savings for the new year by offering any three month plan for only 15 bucks a month. Even their unlimited plan. All plans come with high speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. You can even bring your current phone and your number. Switch to Mint and new customers can get half off an unlimited plan until February 2nd. To get your new wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month and get the plan shipped to your door for free, go to mintmobile.com meat eater. That's mintmobile.com meateater $45 upfront payment required, equivalent to $15 a month. New customers on first three month plan only. Speed slower above 40 gigabytes on unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees and restrictions apply. See Mint Mobile for details.
Spencer Newhart
All right, our next segment is let's talk about sex. Yeah.
Phil
I want to talk about geese. Want to talk about mice. Want to talk about justice of black cap chick.
Corinne Schneider
I like to hear Steve say the.
Phil
Word for C because occasionally you want to talk about sex.
Corey Calkins
Oh, yeah.
Spencer Newhart
Let's Talk about Sex is where Corinne enlightens us on Animal Kingdom Mating. This week, she's here to educate us on sea otters. Take it away, Corinne.
Corey Calkins
Well, here we go. Oh. Sets the mood, Phil.
Spencer Newhart
Huh? What about the lighting? Oh, there we go.
Corey Calkins
There we go.
Spencer Newhart
Now we're ready.
Corey Calkins
Okay. Sea otter sex is aggressive. Sometimes leads to Death and involves. Here's a new word for everyone. Odoxilegnia.
Spencer Newhart
That is a new word.
Corey Calkins
It is odoxilegnia, from the Greek words for with the teeth. And lust describes arousal through biting or being bitten. In this case, the special spot is the nose. So we'll call that fixation. Nasophilia. Sea otters, the largest member of the weasel family, breed throughout the year. Typically, multiple females live within a male's territory. And when a sexually mature female of about 3 to 15 years of age is receptive, the male will meet mate with her. However, males are also known to force mating. Regardless of whether a female is receptive, he approaches from behind, grabs her with his paws and clamps down hard on her nose with his teeth.
Spencer Newhart
Just like Corey.
Corey Calkins
Wow. Sometimes pulling her head underwater, the bite can result in deep cuts and torn away flesh. If her nose swells from infection and prevents her from eating, she could starve to death. My friend and fellow meat eater, colleague and queen sea otter Hunter Heather D'Youville of the Tlingit tribe and in southeast Alaska has harvested hundreds of sea otters in her time. So she told me that some of the male sea otters she has harvested present with broken penis bones, likely from fighting or from mating. So take that.
Isaac
Like Spencer.
Corey Calkins
You guys, Heather's also documented male sea otters with large pink scars on their noses or half bitten off noses too. She told me that she once saw a pair wrestling in the water and she thinks they were trying to mate but were also fighting and then she shot both of them.
Spencer Newhart
Oh.
Corey Calkins
When she brought them into the boat, she found that the male had tons of bruises and bite marks, whereas the female had none. So she thinks that females will kick male sea otter ass just the same. Go gals. Sea otter mating occurs year round and females can enter the estrus period multiple times in a year. Some female sea otters will pair, bond with a male for a few days and mate a number of times during this period. Others will mate with a few different males during their estrus cycle. Copulation is aquatic and prolonged. The pair will spin underwater for up to 30 minutes until mating is finished and the male releases the female. As the affair tends to be quite vigorous, females can drown or die from the physical trauma. Shockingly, in some cases, males have been known to continue holding on to a female long after she's expired, meaning died.
Spencer Newhart
Whoa.
Corey Calkins
And Heather has also seen this behavior with her own eyes. Gestation lasts between four to nine months and mom gives birth to a single pup, which she weans for about six months before it's on its own. And pups can't dive underwater until they get their adults. And here's a fun fact about sea otter fur, by the way. When Steve first heard this fact from Heather, he just couldn't stop telling anyone and everyone as though he were the first person to know this. So here goes. Sea otter fur is the most dense of any mammal. And there are more fur strands and hairs in a single square inch of their skin than there are on an entire German shepherd dog. About 850,000 to 1 million hairs. And I am actually wearing a beautiful sea otter scarf that is beautiful by Heather. It is the warmest thing I've ever worn. It's so soft. It's made from sea otter. She's harvested on her own, tanned, stitched this together and she's got a little online shop called Coastal Fur and Leather and. Yeah. So from our sea otter queen. I love it right here.
Spencer Newhart
What occasion are you gonna wear your sea otter scarf for? Besides meat eater radio?
Corey Calkins
Oh, goodness. I wear this all the time. Just because it's comfortable. I'll wear it at home. If I'm cold, I'll wear it out. I mean it's, that's. I've never.
Spencer Newhart
It's at home. That's luxury to be able to put.
Corey Calkins
On a sea otter scarf at home. Absolutely. Thanks, Heather. Love you.
Spencer Newhart
The most amazing thing I heard in there was they breed throughout the year. That is incredibly rare in the animal kingdom. Most, most animals have like a two week period where they are doing their mating. Maybe it happens twice a year. But to hear that sea otters were just continuous breeders, that's pretty amazing.
Corey Calkins
I think I'm. There's. I think it also depends. I have to read another note from Heather because she helped me with this, that there's also northern sea otters and southern sea otters. They give birth year round, she says, but the timing of births vary by location. So I wonder if that's impacted by. If mating tends to happen more during a certain period of time during the year. But it can happen.
Spencer Newhart
Yeah. Most, most animals, they time their breeding around when they're going to drop their young to be most advantageous for their young to survive. Right. So like a fawn popping out in late spring, that's the best time of the year for a fawn to be on the ground. What that would tell me about sea otters. If they just continuously breed, they just kick ass in any environment. It doesn't matter if it's summer or winter. They just like Got good odds of raising that pup. That's cool.
Corey Calkins
Yeah.
Spencer Newhart
Thank you for Corinne for that.
Corey Calkins
You bet.
Spencer Newhart
Moving on. This is our last interview of the day. Joining us on the line next is butcher Anna Borgman. She's here to talk to us about how to be a good customer when taking meat to a processor. Anna, welcome to the show.
Brian Johnson
Hi. How are you guys?
Spencer Newhart
We're doing good. Anna, you went to culinary school. Does everyone at culinary school learn how to butcher animals?
Brian Johnson
I think so. I think it's sort of like a. Sort of like a survey class in college. Like a butchery 101, because every chef should know how to break down, like, you know, a side of pork or a chicken or whatever. So, yeah, I'm pretty sure everyone that goes to culinary school takes a butchery class or some sort of meat cutting class at some point.
Spencer Newhart
Okay. And how many animals, how many animals in your life have you butchered?
Brian Johnson
In the thousands, for sure. Yeah, I was trying to do the math. I was like, we would do six to seven beef in a day or, you know, 15 to 20 lambs, and that would just be day after day after day. And that's years and years of doing that. So definitely in the thousands. And then, like, when I started doing slaughter, I've skinned and gutted thousands of animals. So, yeah, it's up there.
Spencer Newhart
And of those thousands of animals, wild and domestic, that you've butchered, which is the best and the worst to work with?
Brian Johnson
The bigger the better, I think. So, like, I've got a bison that I have to finish cutting today, and that's really fun. Smaller animals. You know, I like doing slaughter with lambs, and it's super easy to cut deer, but just the smaller they are, the harder it is to really get anything substantial off of that. And it's just. It's kind of tedious. So, you know, you're cutting like backstrap stakes, and they're teeny, teeny tiny. Whereas when you cut an elk or a bison or something, it looks like a steak.
Spencer Newhart
Yeah. All right, I got some general butchery questions for you, and then we're going to talk about how to be a good customer at the processor. Vacuum seal or paper wrap?
Brian Johnson
Paper wrap, I'd say paper wrap.
Corinne Schneider
It's.
Brian Johnson
I didn't used to think that. I used to think back seal. But after, you know, working at a shop where we really only did vaccine, it kind of became more of a pain. It's just, it seems easy when you start doing it, and then, you know, you go through your freezer and you've got a bunch of broken seals and a bunch of freezer burned meat. So I like the paper wrap. The only downside is that you can't see what's in there. I try to be really specific about labeling, like exactly how many steaks are in there or whatever it is. So it's no guessing. But paper wrap I think just holds up better in the freezer.
Spencer Newhart
Okay, good to know. That's going to change what I do at home. Can you tell when a buck or a bull has been rutting?
Brian Johnson
You know, kind of, but it seems pretty rare to me. And I feel like from what I've heard from people I should notice it more. But really, if anything, it just smells maybe a little bit more like an animal, you know. But I have found that hanging stuff, we have a cooler, which is really fun because we get to hang stuff instead of just cutting it immediately and kind of see how that changes the meat quality and the taste of stuff. And I think if you notice anything in a ruddy buck or bowl, if you can hang it for a couple of days, that seems to mellow it out a little bit. But I don't ever notice anything too crazy.
Spencer Newhart
Can you explain what a dark cutter is? And have you ever seen a dark cutter in big game?
Brian Johnson
I tend to think that game is going to be a dark cutter already. It's going to lean that way anyway because it's already in a pretty high stress environment. Whereas like a beef has a pretty chill life for the most part. Right. And the only time it might be really stressed out is potentially right before slaughter. Hopefully not. But that, that can happen. And basically a dark cutter is just, it's. It happens with lactic acid production right before the animal dies. And so that can mean either right when it's killed or right before it. If it's running or it gets hit and it ends up running right before it dies, the lactic acid will use itself up really fast. And so then when it's dead, there isn't enough lactic acid to actually break the meat down the way you'd want it to. And that's how you'll end up with a dark cutter. But I think with game they're pretty active and high stress, or at least high strung anyway. So it's pretty rare that I notice anything like really, really obvious.
Spencer Newhart
I like that perspective. That's a good way to think about dealing with antelope and elk and deer. What are some strange things that you've recovered in an animal's Meat or organs?
Brian Johnson
I've seen some. I did an elk that was real mangy and the lymph nodes should be about the size of like a dime or a quarter. And these things were about the size of my hand. Like they were huge. Yeah. And it, I mean, the meat was fine. It was, you know, a little bit tough, but I think it ate fine. It was really. We did it into burger, just to be sure. But I also, if you look at Steve's Instagram, I texted him a picture of a thing I found in. I think it was like the front shoulder of a deer that we were cutting for someone. And it's the weirdest thing I've ever seen. It was this little tumor cyst looking thing that had a bunch of little, like yellow balls in it. It was bizarre. That's called. Yeah, I know. I was trying to remember today what he decided it was. I know he texted it to some people like help, a finger and whatnot. But it ended up. We think it's like a keratin cyst, sort of. So it looked like it had hair in it. And yeah, it was weird. It didn't smell like anything. I smelled it right when I found it because I've seen plenty of cysts and abscesses and everything and I'd never seen anything like that. So it seems like it was pretty harmless, but it was a weird thing to pull out of that meat for sure.
Corey Calkins
Hey, Anna Corinne here. I look forward to meeting you in person one day soon. It'll happen. It'll happen. Just wondering about whether anyone asks for a different kind of cut, like different kinds of cuts, if they're angling to make, like Eastern cuisine. Because I was talking to my friend, a local chef in town, Linda Huang, who has Hummingbird's Kitchen here, and she was explaining to me how Chinese butchers will cut pork belly kind of from the top of the back down to the belly. And whereas here she's run into a lot of people who will butcher kind of from the head end of the animal to the tail end of the animal. Just wondering if there's. If you do things differently, if, if you understand, you know, what, what's behind that? I have no idea.
Brian Johnson
I think I'm. That's something that's really interesting to me that I don't know a ton about and I'd love to learn more about it, but I. I think of butchering as. Especially in different areas of the world. It basically, you butcher the way you're going to end up cooking something. Right. So it's like you, if you follow the cuisine, you can kind of trace backwards to how they cut the animal. So it's like, you know, they're not in Japan or China or any, you know, anywhere. Thailand, whatever. It's like they're not necessarily eating porterhouse steaks. That's a pretty American or British.
Corey Calkins
Right.
Brian Johnson
You know, cut of meat. And I try to, I try to explain this to people when I'm teaching butchery because people don't want to mess up their animal. But unless you're, you know, mistreating the meat and it's spoiling or it's dirty, there's really no way to totally screw it up. Up. You're going to end up with something that you can cook in some way. And maybe that is more of a, you know, Asian inspired dish for South American or African or something. But yeah, that's really, really interesting to me and I, I'd like to learn more about that because it just, it gives you more freedom in terms of butchering. But it's definitely. The butchering practices are driven by the, the cuisine of the area.
Corey Calkins
Totally makes sense.
Spencer Newhart
Thanks, Anna. Every hunter is terrified that when they take meat to a processor, it's just going to get thrown into a big pile and they actually going to get their own deer back. Is that a justified fear?
Brian Johnson
To an extent. I don't want to throw any other processors under the bus and I don't, I don't know, you know, I've only been to a few of them to see what they do. But basically, logistically, I think as far as grind goes, that would be the place where you might not get your specific meat back. Because a lot of places are using grinders that are 50 pound grinders and so to utilize that grinder and they're huge industrial stuffer, they need a lot of meat in there. And you're not necessarily going to get 50 pounds of grind off your deer, right. So it only makes sense for them to put a few animals in there. As far as like stakes and other cuts, I would assume that you're getting it back. That's not hard to, to do. You know, people are just, even in a high production facility, they're going through animal by animal. And I would assume that just like we did at the shop that I first worked at, you put it in a lug, it's labeled with a name and it goes straight back to the person. The only, I mean, really, I think the only reason that people potentially don't get stuff back is really just A matter of necessity for grinding at scale. But we have really small equipment. So ours is like our, our batch is the smallest we'll do is like £15. And we can do really specific small batch stuff for flavors like sausages and whatnot. But, but yeah, I can see how people, you just got to get it all done and you have a huge grinder and you can't put 10 pounds of meat in there.
Corinne Schneider
So.
Spencer Newhart
Okay, we want to know how we can be a better customer when we bring meat to a processor to the butcher. But first tell us what are some things that bad customers do.
Brian Johnson
I'd say my least favorite thing is people who don't have a plan for what they're going to do with their animal. And I mean like, we get calls all the time day of. And like I just shot, you know, whatever. And that's fine. I'm totally fine with that. It's when it's been four or five days, especially during like archery season, and I get calls from people and they're like, I have this antelope dough, you know, it's in the back of my truck and it's been 90 degrees for five days. And that like, I'm tempted to say no, but I also don't want that animal to go to waste. But man, that stuff is, it's frustrating because yeah, it's just you're not going to get the highest quality meat and it's a bummer. But besides that, dirty animals, you know, tendons cut on the back legs, that kind of drives me nuts. Just for my ease of butchering. It's nice when I can hang it on a hook and cut it off of there off the rail instead of having to do it on a table. And then my biggest pet peeve, I'd say is like teeny tiny little scraps of meat in game bag. So I'll dump out the game bag and it's just like a disaster of like quarter and golf ball sized pieces of meat that are also covered in dirt. And there's really not a lot I can do with that. And you know, you got, it's, it's, you're like, why would you put that in a game bag? But I don't know, I get, you know, you want to get it all out of there. But you know, think about yourself too. Even if you're the one that's going to cut it, think ahead a little bit and think, am I going to be able to do anything with this? You know, or should I just. You can keep it and to give it to your dogs, I guess.
Spencer Newhart
But yeah, the easier we can make your job, the better product we're going to get back each time, I imagine. All right, what are some things that good customers do?
Brian Johnson
Good customers keep things clean. And, you know, I know stuff happens and you drop it or there's just. There's only so much you can do. And I'm, I'm very aware of that, but I've seen some crazy stuff. So keeping things as clean as you can, cutting off those back legs, if you're going to put it in a game bag, get those back legs off. There is a joint in there. I know it's kind of hard to find sometimes, but just so you're not shoving a hoof with hide on it in a game bag with meat that you've tried to keep clean, because that kind of defeats the point sometimes. And I'd say just having a plan, you know, like either reaching out to someone ahead of time, whether it's me or someone else that's going to process it for you, or just having a plan for how to deal with it because, you know, by the time that animal is dead, you only have so much time to. To deal with it and to be respectful to the animal and to get a bunch of really good meat for your family. So.
Spencer Newhart
All good notes. All right, Anna, tell us about your new endeavor, Chaos Farms.
Brian Johnson
Chaos Farms. Well, it started as a joke on my first date with my boyfriend. We went to the Hofbrau and had a couple cold smokes and came up with Chaos Farms. And now it's a thing. So we have. We've got goats, weed eating goats, and eventually. They're so cute. I'm. I love these boys. We're gonna rent them out for weed control. That's kind of why we got them, to see if they would eat, you know, the invasive weeds around here. Yeah. And they do a great job. So hopefully get more of those and kind of do some fire suppression work around here. And then we've got a ton of chickens. We. We sell eggs. And then we're doing game processing and mobile slaughter. And eventually we're going to have a shop built so we can do custom exempt processing also for livestock.
Spencer Newhart
So it's a great name and a great logo. And I took my elk to Anna this year and she did a phenomenal job. I'm thrilled with what I got back. And in fact, we ate some steaks last night. All right, Anna, well, thank you for making us better customers at the butcher. And thank you for joining us.
Corey Calkins
Thanks, Anna.
Brian Johnson
Thanks for having me. Bye, guys.
Corey Calkins
Bye.
Spencer Newhart
All right, that brings us to the end of this week's show. Phil, let's get some final listener feedback.
Phil
Yeah, a quick comment. We had a comment from someone during the sex segment saying, my best friend's wife is a world class marine biologist. She wrote an Oprah book club listed book called Sex in the Our Intimate Connection With Kinky Crustaceans, Sex Changing Fish, Romantic Lobsters, and Other Salty Erotica of the Deep.
Corey Calkins
Wow, that is a. So, yeah, it's fantastic title.
Spencer Newhart
Okay, there it is.
Phil
So in case you guys want some more of what Corinne dished out today.
Spencer Newhart
Sex in the Sea. Very fitting cover for that book. Thank you for that.
Corey Calkins
I'll order that. Thank you.
Spencer Newhart
That bit of info.
Phil
Yeah. Frederick says we need to start having more talks about what the crew has cooked recently. We haven't done a meat eater menu in a while, but I thought the Q and A would be a good time if you guys want to share anything fun or anything interesting.
Spencer Newhart
Corey, what you've been cooking lately, man.
Isaac
Right now I'm solo dadding, so it's burgers, tacos, and a couple frozen pizzas here and there.
Spencer Newhart
Okay.
Isaac
But yeah, I mean, just the classics. Last night we had a mule deer tacos. Night before, elk burgers. So I haven't really.
Spencer Newhart
Okay.
Isaac
Tested my culinary expertise in a while, which is sad. But so I'm gonna have to break out some fine cuts. I've got a lot of my spring black bear that I killed last year that I still need to eat before this spring season starts, so I'm excited for that.
Spencer Newhart
Corinne, anything exciting coming out of your kitchen?
Corey Calkins
I am actually fixing to make today for dinner, elk shank, which I actually have off the bone and pork belly. I was gonna do like a Chinese five spice braise in a pressure cooker for a while. So soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, five spice and some sugar and. Yeah. Over rice.
Spencer Newhart
Okay.
Corey Calkins
Yep.
Spencer Newhart
Last night I made chorizo veggie soup. Very excited about that recipe. Tomorrow night, I'm making a Cajun pasta that's using some venison sausage and then Saturday making osso buco.
Corey Calkins
Oh, yeah.
Isaac
So with your elk leg?
Spencer Newhart
With my elk shanks that Anna was cut up for me. So very exciting.
Corey Calkins
I love how you plan daily.
Spencer Newhart
I do. Well, I. I want to make like one grocery run a week. Yeah. I want to make one grocery run a week. And to do that, I need to think about what I'm cooking each night.
Corey Calkins
Got it.
Spencer Newhart
So I usually set out. Okay. These are the seven things that we're eating this week.
Isaac
Did Anna cut the shanks into discs?
Spencer Newhart
She did. Oh, wow. It's super convenient.
Isaac
Yeah. Oh, that'll be great.
Spencer Newhart
Phil, what else you got?
Phil
Let's see. What does the crew do? John, asking about fishing on causeways that cross state borders. Have you guys ever run into this before?
Spencer Newhart
Or causeway. What's a causeway? Is that like a bridge?
Phil
No, I think it's a. I don't.
Spencer Newhart
Know what a causeway is, John. I'm sorry, I'm not of. Not of a lot of help.
Corey Calkins
There is a track road or railway on the upper point of here. Just take, take a pic. That picture.
Spencer Newhart
Oh, yeah, it's like. It's like sort of a levy sort of thing. What do we do about fishing? One that crosses state borders? I think the most important thing, John, is just knowing the regulations. A lot of states will have some sort of agreement about, like you can fish on this part of this stream despite it, like maybe crossing into this other state. So what do we do about fishing the causeways? I just think know your regulations and make sure you're legal. And if you need to have a specific license, license for a specific state, make sure you got that. Because game wardens know those sort of gray areas where people may be breaking a law. Not that they're out there like, like trying to trap you, but you'll see more folks in those areas get tickets than other sorts of spots.
Isaac
Yeah. Certainly know where you are. Onx, whatever. Yes, I found myself fishing into Canada on accident. I didn't think about it.
Spencer Newhart
International traveler. Yeah.
Isaac
Yeah. I fished my way up this creek and then realized I'm probably in Canada.
Spencer Newhart
Yeah.
Isaac
Fish back. Looked at a map. Turned out. Yeah, I was like half a mile lucky.
Corey Calkins
The border patrol, our friends at the border Path patrol, didn't they call.
Spencer Newhart
Yeah, they call them green pants up there. Something like that. You're lucky the green pants didn't come on you down.
Isaac
Oh, no, it's cool now.
Spencer Newhart
Phil, what else you got?
Phil
I'll do one more. What is the crew's favorite content to film? I guess this would mostly be a Spencer and. And Corey question, but Corinne, you've been on a few shoots.
Spencer Newhart
I. Maybe you could tell over what I've made the last few years, but a lot of games. I love meat eater trivia and love the meat pole thing, the price is right thing that was new today. I just love creating games like that. I hope that for our listeners or viewers that I'm. I'm doing something that's interesting to you as well as informative. So I just want to be entertaining and hope that you learn something along the way. That's my favorite content.
Isaac
Yeah, I mean, I've been on a few episodes with Steve and I don't know, just the rawness and the realness of being out in the woods filming a hunt that we do, the way we do it, it's good. It's a big team effort, obviously, but it's always amazing how it turns out in the end. So our hats off to our post production team before and after putting it out there for everybody to watch. It's a lot of fun to be a part of.
Spencer Newhart
Corinne, what are your favorite podcasts to record?
Corey Calkins
I mean, I think I have the most fun when we go out into the field and we try to see what we can film outside. We've done a couple of outside outdoor podcast episodes, so that that's been the most fun. You know, in an environment you don't really control, so you're not inside. Because most of the time we are inside in an environment we can control. So it's fun for me to do something a little different every now and then.
Spencer Newhart
Phil, anything else?
Phil
I have a Sharpie's asking, phil, can you cook? The answer is sort of kinda. I mean, honestly, like in meat eater trivia, I know most of the cooking quality, like, even, even some that like Brody and Giannis and Steve just, just can't think of.
Spencer Newhart
You worked in a kitchen?
Phil
I, I did, yeah. I've waited tables, I've worked in a kitchen. And, and you know, I try to, I try to pull my weight around the house. I, I make, I make dinner every, every, every now and then. But, you know, I don't want to juice myself up too much in case I actually do play trivia someday. And I just tank on the cooking questions. So the answer officially is not really.
Spencer Newhart
Good answer.
Phil
Thanks. Yeah, I think that'll do it, Spencer.
Spencer Newhart
All right. Thank you, Phil. Thank you, chat. We'll see everyone back here in one week. Thanks for watching.
Corey Calkins
Thanks for listening.
Stephen Rinella
Hey, American history buffs. Hunting history buffs, listen up. We're back at it with another volume of our Meat Eaters American History series. In this edition, titled the Mountain Men, 1806-1840, we tackle the Rocky Mountain beaver trade and dive into the lives and legends of fellows like Jim Bridger, Jed Smith, and John Coulter. This small but legendary fraternity of backwoodsmen helped define an era when the west represented not just unmapped territory, but untapped opportunity for those willing to endure some heinous and at times violent conditions. We explain what started the mountain man era and what ended it. We tell you everything you'd ever want to know about what the mountain men ate, how they hunted and trapped, what gear they carried, what clothes they wore, how they interacted with Native Americans, how 10% of them died violent deaths, and even detailed descriptions of how they performed amputations on the fly. It's as dark and bloody and good as our previous volume about the white tailed deer skin trade, which is titled the Long Hunters 1761-1775. So again, this new Mountain man edition about the beaver skin trade is available for pre order now wherever audiobooks are sold. It's called Meat Eaters American History The Mountain Men 1806-1840 by me, Stephen Rinella.
The MeatEater Podcast – Episode 654 Summary: Fishing in a Tornado, Otter Sex, and The Price is Right
In Episode 654 of The MeatEater Podcast, titled "MeatEater Radio Live! Fishing in a Tornado, Otter Sex, and The Price is Right," host Spencer Newhart leads a dynamic live show from MeatEater HQ in Bozeman, Montana. The episode is packed with engaging segments, including interviews, interactive games, educational discussions, and insightful conversations about outdoor living.
The episode kicks off with Spencer presenting a unique gift to his co-hosts, Corinne Schneider and Corey Calkins—buck balm made from deer tallow. Spencer shares the process of rendering the fat from an Idaho buck he hunted, resulting in a versatile product infused with beeswax, yarrow oil, and essential oils.
Notable Quote:
The hosts discuss the potential uses of the balm, emphasizing its practicality and the sustainable use of the entire animal. Phil inquires about the quantity of fat, revealing an impressive 81 ounces, and the conversation highlights the camaraderie and creativity in utilizing game products.
The show transitions to an intense interview with Brian Johnson, who recounts his harrowing experience of being caught in an EF3 tornado while bass fishing in Texas. Brian describes the sudden shift in weather conditions, the unexpected formation of the tornado, and the sheer force of nature that turned a peaceful fishing trip into a life-threatening ordeal.
Notable Quotes:
The interview delves into the emotional and physical challenges faced during the storm, including Brian’s struggle to free himself from the overturned boat and the miraculous survival of both him and his dog. The segment underscores themes of resilience, faith, and the unpredictable power of nature.
In a lively and interactive segment, Spencer introduces a "Price is Right" game where contestants guess the prices of various outdoor-related items. The first game features a luxurious one-night stay in the Governor's Suite of the Bass Pro Shops Pyramid, with close guesses sparking excitement.
Notable Quotes:
The game continues with items like a bison cheeseburger from Ted's Montana Grill, ice fishing gear from Facebook Marketplace, a cattle ranch in northern Kansas, and a scoop of minnows from HR One Stop in Wabay, South Dakota. Contestants Corinne and Corey showcase their knowledge and luck, with Corinne emerging as the final winner. The segment combines humor, competitive spirit, and practical outdoor knowledge, engaging both live participants and the audience.
Corinne Schneider leads an eye-opening discussion about the aggressive mating behaviors of sea otters. Drawing from insights provided by Heather D'Youville of the Tlingit tribe, Corinne explains the physical and often violent interactions during sea otter courtship.
Notable Quotes:
The segment covers the risks faced by female sea otters during mating, including injuries and potential death from trauma or drowning. Additionally, Corinne shares fascinating facts about sea otter fur, highlighting its unparalleled density and the craftsmanship of Heather’s sea otter scarf business. This educational piece blends biological information with personal anecdotes, adding depth to the conversation on marine life.
The final interview features butcher Anna Borgman, who provides expert advice on effective butchery practices and customer etiquette. Anna discusses her extensive experience in processing thousands of animals, emphasizing the importance of cleanliness, having a plan, and respecting the meat to ensure quality outcomes.
Notable Quotes:
Anna also shares her venture, Chaos Farms, which includes innovative ideas like using goats for weed control and expanding into mobile slaughter and custom processing. The conversation highlights the symbiotic relationship between hunters and butchers, stressing how thoughtful preparation and communication can enhance the quality of harvested game.
Throughout the episode, hosts engage with listener questions and feedback. Topics range from hunting etiquette on public lands to navigating fishing regulations across state borders. Chester Floyd provides thoughtful responses to a listener's dilemma about shared hunting spots, emphasizing mutual respect and ethical hunting practices.
Notable Quotes:
The interactive Q&A fosters a sense of community, offering practical solutions and encouraging responsible outdoor behavior. Additionally, the hosts share their recent culinary endeavors, showcasing the practical applications of butchery and the enjoyment of game meat.
Episode 654 of The MeatEater Podcast delivers a compelling blend of survival stories, interactive fun, educational content, and expert interviews. From surviving a tornado while fishing to understanding the complex mating behaviors of sea otters, and mastering butchery skills, the episode offers valuable insights for outdoor enthusiasts. The engaging games and heartfelt discussions create an immersive experience, making this episode a must-listen for anyone passionate about hunting, fishing, and the natural world.
Subscribe and Join the Community: Stay connected with The MeatEater Podcast Network for more episodes filled with humor, irreverence, and surprising stories that enrich your outdoor adventures.