Ep. 752: The American Chestnut and Fishing Infomercials | MeatEater Radio Live!

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The MeatEater Podcast – Ep. 752: The American Chestnut and Fishing Infomercials | MeatEater Radio Live!

Date: August 22, 2025
Host: Spencer Newhearth (for this episode—note: Steven Rinella is the flagship host)
Guests & Crew: Seth, Brody, Jared Westbrook (American Chestnut Foundation), Pat Durkin, Phil

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Episode Overview

This episode of MeatEater Radio Live! blends the usual mix of outdoor tales, conservation insights, audience Q&A, and fun interactive segments. The show’s centerpiece interview is an in-depth conversation with Jared Westbrook of the American Chestnut Foundation, focusing on the history, devastation, and future restoration of America's iconic tree. Along the way, the crew shares stories from recent Alaska trips, reviews hunting gear, plays listener-focused games, and tries (with mild success and much laughter) to keep chaos at bay during a live “one minute fishing” segment.

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Key Segments and Timestamps

• Alaska Fishing Recap (01:00–10:29)
• Interview: Jared Westbrook—The American Chestnut (10:33–22:53)
• Gear Talk: Favorite First Lite Gear (27:23–33:07)
• Listener Questions: Hunting, Cooking, Fishing, and Knives (33:24–41:16)
• One Minute Fishing with Pat Durkin (41:22–48:27)
• The Price Is Right: Outdoor Edition (49:39–63:41)
• Final Chat/Listener Q&A & Closing Thoughts (63:41–70:07)

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Alaska Fishing Adventure Recap – Best and Worst of the Season

[01:00–10:29]

• Seth and Brody reflect on their weather-challenged but memorable Alaska trip.
• Bad luck with the weather and rough seas: “This was the worst year. Weather-wise and rough seas wise... two or three days we couldn't even get out to the good halibut spot.” (Seth, 01:35)
• Highlights included landing “probably a giant silver gray rockfish.” Seth recalls: “I didn't weigh it... the world record is 16 lbs. That thing felt like picking up a jake turkey... maybe 13 lbs.” (02:25)
• Failed big halibut attempts—Steve shows up "to help," chaos ensues, harpoon missed, and fish lost. “It went to total chaos when Steve showed up… the halibut dodged the harpoon.” (Seth, 04:44)
• Family-friendly: The kids landed fish, Steve’s son Jimmy got an 80-pounder halibut.
• Cabin upgrades: “Got a roof on the back porch.” “I could go up there and work for two weeks straight and not fish at all.” (07:03–08:14)
• Octopus dispatching: Crew watches Steve bite the octopus' head—“Chomping down on the brain. I think he learned that from Kimmy Werner.” (08:46)

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Deep Dive: The American Chestnut – Interview with Jared Westbrook

[10:33–22:53]

History and Decline:

• The American Chestnut once dominated Eastern forests, providing food and livelihood for Native Americans and settlers: “People sold [chestnuts] on the street corners. They made more money off chestnuts than farming.” (Jared, 11:45)
• The chestnut blight arrived via imported Asian chestnuts in the early 1900s, decimating the population of ~4 billion trees.
• Remaining trees survive mainly as small, non-reproducing sprouts; they’re “functionally extinct.”

“They're not actually extinct… they're kind of plentiful... but they don’t reproduce. They'll grow up like 10 ft… they get the blight and die.”
— Jared Westbrook, 13:47

Restoration Efforts:

• American Chestnut Foundation is cross-breeding American and Asian chestnuts to develop blight-resistant lines.
• They run a massive citizen science program with 400–500 orchards along the East Coast.
• Transgenic (genetically engineered) approaches have struggled—“Resistance is complicated. There [are] a lot of genes involved.” (Jared, 20:00)
• Ecological significance: Lost food and habitat for wildlife; hopes of using chestnut for mine land reclamation.

How Listeners Can Help:

• Join/donate to TACF, get involved in citizen science, or volunteer at local chapters.

Notable Quote:

“I would love to see chestnuts on the mountains in North Carolina... The wildlife carrying capacity of the forests diminished as a result of the loss.”
— Jared Westbrook, 21:14

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Gear Talk: Favorite First Lite Gear

[27:23–33:07]

• Corrugate Foundry Pants (Seth): "Can't wear them out... knee pads, waterproof knees and seat... I wear them for everything." (28:11–29:16)
• Men's Kiln Long John Base Layer (Spencer): "If I could only have one base layer for the rest of my life, it would be this." (29:10)
• Dirtbag Duffel (Brody): "Bombproof, durable... large took over [the spot] for me over Patagonia Black Hole." (30:56)
• Emphasis on utility, durability, and real-world testing in tough conditions (notably, Alaska).
• Gear deals ("Season Opener Sale") are repeatedly mentioned.

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Listener Q&A – Fielding All Things Outdoor

[33:24–41:16]

• Meat care in warm weather:
  • “Get the skin off and hang them in shade with breeze... If you get that crust, you'd be surprised how long skinned out elk quarters last.” (Brody/Seth, 33:37–34:11)
• Antelope field meal recommendations:
  • “Buck nuts in butter” (classic Steve move); fresh tenderloin is another favorite (35:08–35:46)
• Favorite streamer (fly):
  • Brody recommends the “Tequili”—shiny body, yellow tail, rubber legs: "In the fall, it drives big brown trout insane." (36:07)
• Knife preferences for skinning:
  • Comfort, sharpness, small/narrow blade preferred; gut hooks are not (37:57–39:43)
• Walleye: best way to cook:
  • “Fried is hard to beat... Panko style, blackened Cajun on griddles, or walleye pinwheels wrapped in bacon.” (39:53–40:44)

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One Minute Fishing: Pat Durkin’s Winning Streak

[41:22–48:27]

• Pat Durkin, journalist and outdoorsman, goes live from Lake Vermilion, MN.
• Within seconds, Pat’s grandson Leighton lands a “fat smallmouth bass.” (41:55–42:13)
• Pat recounts catching yellow perch on a crappie jig—twice a winner on "One Minute Fishing."
• $500 donation made to Sturgeon for Tomorrow, an organization involved in sturgeon conservation and anti-poaching work.
• Heartwarming family moment: Pat introduces his grandson and Navy-veteran daughter.

“Pat Durkin, the only angler to be successful twice at one minute fishing. Both times with a yellow perch.” (46:30)

“When I was a young reporter back in the 1980s... a group called Sturgeon for Tomorrow formed for hands-on citizen science. They run sturgeon patrol.” (Pat Durkin, 47:15)

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“The Price Is Right” – Outdoor Infomercial Edition

[49:39–63:41]

Featured Items and Laughter-Inducing Highlights:

• Guided Nilgai & Whitetail Hunt at King Ranch, TX (51:03)
  • Actual price: $8,500 ("only"—Brody wins). Nilgai cow hunt is $4,400; combo dove hunt & saltwater trip $2,400.
• Banjo Minnow 2025 102-piece Pro Kit (54:56)
  • Hilarious 1990s infomercial throwback: “Banjo Minnow—the world’s first and only genetic response fishing lure!” (55:21)
  • Price today: $59.99. Seth wins by guessing $59.95.
• 12-pound Whole Chinook Salmon Shipped from Seattle’s Pike Place Market (60:43)
  • Price: $432 + $70 shipping = $502 (Brody nails it with $420).
  • “That’s $42 a pound!”—Sticker-shock for even the most seasoned Alaska anglers.

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Listener Chat and Final Q&A

[63:41–70:07]

• Camo vs. Solid Pants:
  • Mixed opinions; consensus is that except for close-range pressured hunts (e.g., turkey, whitetail in tight cover), it’s not crucial.
  • “I've killed plenty of turkeys wearing solid tan or green pants.” (Brody, 64:31)
• Cartridges for upcoming season:
  • Seth & Spencer: 7mm PRC; Brody: 6.5 PRC and sometimes 6.5 Creedmoor.
• Mule deer archery hunting tips:
  • Suggest searching the "In Pursuit" podcast (formerly "Cutting the Distance") for deep dives.
• Wall tent recommendations:
  • “Montana Canvas,” “Montana Wall Tent”—universal nods for durability.
• Steve Rinella Office Presence:
  • Spencer: “When Steve’s here, he’s here for a reason... working on something.” Phil: “I personally have no idea when he’s here and when he’s not.”
• Tailgate Tour Plug:
  • Crew announces the upcoming MeatEater Tailgate Tour—six university stops across the Midwest and South.

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Notable Quotes and Moments

• On the chestnut blight:

  “They have low levels of blight resistance... they're kind of lucky trees, you could say.” — Jared Westbrook, 14:43

• On outdoor gear:

  “For a very long time, I was a Patagonia Black Hole supporter, and the dirtbag duffel kind of took over that spot for me.” — Brody, 31:05

• On knife preferences:

  “I don't care for a gut hook on my knife. It just gets in the way.” — Spencer, 37:57

• On field meals:

  “If you do those [buck nuts], don't go high heat or they'll explode. You gotta take your time with them.” — Brody, 35:27

• On infomercials:

  “The Banjo Minnow is truly the most exciting thing I've seen in a mighty long time.” — Infomercial audio, 55:29
  “Look! It's dang near jumping out of my hand. Banjo Minnow.” — Spencer, 57:56

• On community and show milestone:

  “This show premiered one year ago on August 22nd. If you’re still watching... this show is one of the highlights of my week.” — Phil, 69:34

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Takeaways

• The American Chestnut’s Story: A blend of loss, luck, and hope. The fight for restoration is huge, slow, and depends on citizen science—everyone can help.
• Alaska Adventure Vibes: The reality of outdoor trips—weather, tough luck, big fish, and unforgettable family moments.
• Outdoors Culture: Practical, gear-centric advice; reverence for tradition; much–needed laughs (infomercials, “Price Is Right,” friendly teasing).
• Community: Strong two-way dialogue with listeners; celebration of the audience and contributors.

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Transcript

[A]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[B]

Hey, it's the meat Eater. Buy a tea, get a tea sale. Plus you can save on all kinds of gear from August 19 to 24 for a limited time, buy one meat eater graphic tee, get another one free while you're over there. You can load up and save on gear we trust in the field, including yeti coolers and drinkware, Moultrie trail cams, premium optics knives from Montana Knife Company and more. The season opener sale runs now through August 24th only at store.theme eater.com.

[C]

Smell us now, lady.

[D]

Welcome to Meat Eater Trivia.

[B]

Meat Eater Podcast.

[D]

Welcome to Meat Eater radio live. It's 11:00am Mountain Time. That's 1:00pm for our friends in Howard, Pennsylvania on Thursday, August 21st. And we're live from Meteater HQ in Bozeman. I'm your host Spencer, joined today by Seth and Brody. On today's show, we'll interview Jared Westbrook from the American Chestnut Foundation. Then we'll be reviewing some gear that's currently on sale, followed by the Price is Right. And finally, we'll be joined by Pat Durkin in Minnesota for one minute fishing. But first, Seth and Brody give me an Alaska recap. Very jealous.

[A]

It was good. Always is. I would say in the, the, the seven years I've been going there with my family, this was the worst year. Weather wise and rough seas wise. Two or at least two, maybe three days we couldn't even get out to the like the good halibut spot.

[E]

Yep.

[A]

So you know, that's part of it. You know you're going to have weather but we, we still scratched out plenty of fish and everybody had fun.

[D]

Not the worst fishing in your seven years of going there though.

[F]

No.

[A]

When we could get out, it was good.

[E]

Yeah, some things were not so good this year, like salmon.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah, it was tough. Normally we, we'd put up a lot of silvers but the silver run either hadn't started or it was just a really weak run this year.

[D]

Tell me about this picture we're looking at.

[A]

That is a silver gray rockfish and big one. Normally when we get them they're like yay big. Maybe 16 inches is a decent one. And I, we dropped down on a rocky spire for lingcod and that thing came up and we thought like when it was coming up from 100ft down, we thought it was a big lingcod and it turns out it was a giant silver gray. I didn't weigh it. The world record is £16. And that thing is, I don't know. It felt like picking up a jake turkey, like so. I don't know. 13 think so. Oh, yeah. It was huge.

[D]

Is there a scale in the boat?

[A]

It was like this. No, it was giant.

[E]

Yeah, it was a big fit. It was the biggest one I've ever seen.

[D]

Would have been legal to keep.

[A]

We kept it. Oh, yeah, it's in the freezer.

[D]

Okay. So, like, are the guts still in it?

[A]

No, no, no.

[D]

It's delayed now. I'm so curious about the weight.

[A]

I know, so am I. But, you know, nothing but plays now, so. Yeah. That was like, probably my fish and highlight, other than putting the kids on a bunch of fish.

[D]

And when you were reeling that in, what'd you think it was?

[A]

Dude, it was like. I thought it was a big lingcod because normally it was rock fish. They'll give a few head shakes and then they come up pretty easily.

[E]

Give up.

[A]

And that thing was just dig in. And it pulled line a couple times. Pulled drag a couple of times. And you can see color coming up from a long ways down. I was like, yep, it's a big lingcod. And Andy, Steve's buddy, was in the boat. From me, he's like, I knew it hit as soon as it, like I jig that hit bottom. Jigged it once and it was on. But then I was like, holy shit, that's a giant silver gray. So that was cool.

[D]

The kids is the world record. Also. Alaska state record. Did it come from?

[A]

I didn't look at that. It came from Alaska, though, so I'm assuming it's also state record. I don't know. Yeah. Some other highlights are my wife. I was not in the boat, thankfully, when this happened, but my wife got a 70, 80 pounder halibut up to. Up to the surface. And like, as she's fighting it, she was in Andy's boat and. And Steve kind of rushed into the scene.

[D]

Oh.

[A]

And took over and jumped in the boat.

[E]

That's when everything went to. I heard.

[A]

All I heard is it went to total chaos when Steve showed up. Anyway, it got wrapped around the anchor line and they're trying to. They were handlining it in like it was all looking like it might happen. But Steve said that the halit dodged the harpoon.

[D]

Oh.

[F]

And.

[A]

And the fish got off.

[E]

I was. I was in a different boat about, I don't know, a hundred yards away when this was all going down. Watching it, I could tell that. That his wife Carrie was on to something big.

[D]

Okay.

[E]

So I. I got my binoculars out and was Watching it all happen through my binoculars.

[D]

Iwegian fish finders.

[E]

Yep, that's right. And Steve, I see Steve coming. He comes over, he's like, what's going on? You catch anything? I said they're, they're into something big over there. So he of course goes over there as quick as he can. And I'm watching with my binoculars and I see him get the harpoon and I'm like. And I could tell, like, Gary has something big on him.

[D]

Steve gets on the boat.

[E]

Steve gets on their boat, grabs the harpoon, and I see him like throw the harpoon and then like he picks the harpoon up, throws it in the bottom of the boat and then crosses his arm. I'm like, that ain't good.

[A]

No, no, but enough picking on Steve. It was, it was, it was a good trip. And that kind of thing happens with big halibut. But I'll tell you what, like, if you want to catch a big halibut, you end up at the fish shack and you want to get a big one. This is the guy to go with because he was putting all kinds of people on big halibut.

[E]

Yeah, we got some good ones this year.

[D]

Would have that been the big one of the trip, that fish?

[E]

I don't know.

[D]

They were all like, when they get away. They are. Yeah, that was, that was the biggest one.

[E]

Steve's boy Jimmy was in my boat and he got an 80 pounder. And then his daughter was in the boat the day before she got a 60. I had what I believe to be between a 70 to 80 to the boat. And there was a little mishap with the harpoon again.

[D]

Oh, who this time with my wife running the harpoon.

[E]

Kelsey.

[D]

Oh, man.

[E]

And then my dad had one on that. We never saw it, but it drug us around for quite a while and then it got off.

[D]

Give me a cabin update.

[E]

Cabin. Cabin's looking good. We got on this trip. We, we wired the place and got a roof on the back porch.

[D]

Okay.

[A]

No, it looks great, man.

[D]

Better than ever.

[E]

Better than ever.

[D]

Like, even better than prior to the Christmas tree coming. 100.

[E]

Yeah.

[D]

Good.

[A]

It looks brand new from the outside.

[D]

It's beautiful.

[E]

Thanks.

[D]

Yeah. Yeah.

[E]

There's still a lot to do, but.

[D]

How many hours do you think you spent on this trip? You were there for what, a week?

[E]

Two weeks.

[D]

Two weeks. How many hours in that two weeks were you hammering away on the cabin?

[E]

Well, I don't know, A few good days. Like all day for the most part. Working on it.

[D]

Two eight hour shifts More.

[E]

Probably more.

[D]

Okay.

[E]

Once it's all. Some. I mean, some days we'd fish the morning, and I just work on. It's like I wasn't just working on one project the whole time. There's, like, kind of a bunch of things going on, and then just, like, little stuff. Cleaning up, you know, stuff around the cabin or fixing little things. And, you know, it's. It's just. I could honestly go up there and work on it for two weeks straight and not fish at all.

[A]

Oh, yeah. Yeah. But, Phil, do we got. Do we got Steve's hat? How to dispatch a. An octopus video?

[D]

No.

[A]

Watch till the end.

[D]

We just watched Steve bite into the. Would you say that's the head? Yeah.

[A]

The brain.

[D]

Okay.

[A]

Yeah. Chomping down on the brain. I think he learned that from Kimmy Werner.

[E]

Mm.

[A]

I think some.

[D]

Is that how every octopus dies up there that you guys keep.

[E]

I don't know about up there, but in Hawaii, for sure. Yeah. Usually they turn. They, like, immediately go a different color.

[D]

Yeah. I was waiting for that thing to just go totally limp.

[E]

Yeah. Maybe he didn't get it. Great.

[A]

Those things come up in the shrimp pots, though.

[E]

Yeah. Don't get in there and eat all your shrimp out of your pot.

[D]

Okay. Done with Alaska then? For the year. You won't return till the spring?

[E]

Not till spring? Yep. Unfortunately. Unless I can squeeze in a trip. But I don't think that's gonna happen.

[D]

What's gonna be the big project next year?

[E]

Outdoor shower. And got a couple pilings we gotta replace yet.

[D]

Okay. Is that outdoor shower gonna be a game changer?

[E]

Yeah. Just gets all the moisture and humidity from a shower out of the cabin. The. The main thing up there is moisture management.

[D]

Yeah.

[E]

I've come to find over the years, because if you leave the place, when you button it up for the year with moisture in there, you come back with quite a bit of mold.

[D]

I was surprised to hear you say that. Like, snow just doesn't stick.

[E]

No, I mean, from what I hear. I've never been up there during the winter, but from what I hear, they'll get, like, big dumps of snow, and then it just, like, melts within the next couple days.

[A]

Yeah, it's like that maritime climate, you know, like the Pacific Northwest. It's just.

[E]

Yeah. The way snows one day rains the next type of thing.

[D]

And you said 13ft of precipitation annually.

[A]

We got 13ft while we were there.

[E]

It rained a lot.

[D]

Well, still brought home some good fish and a potential world record.

[A]

No. Well, I don't Think it was a world record?

[D]

Yeah, well, you didn't weigh it, so.

[A]

No.

[D]

Never know. All right, let's get on with the show. Joining us on the line first is Jared Westbrook, the director of science from the American Chestnut Foundation. He's here to talk about restoring this once plentiful tree. Jared, welcome to the show.

[G]

Hello, everyone.

[D]

First thing, Jared, take us back in time and tell us about when things were good for the American chestnut.

[G]

Well, chestnuts and their relatives have been around in North America for 40 million years. And where you all are in Montana, they used to live out there in Idaho and Colorado. Chestnut fossils have been found in Tennessee, some of the oldest ones. And they used to, like, as the ice age came down, like in 13, 000 years ago, they went all the way down into Florida and. And then slowly, over the last 2,000 years, they moved up into, like, New England. And people use them. Native Americans, like, would burn the forest, create openings. The chestnuts would be plentiful source of food. And then when European sellers came over here, we, you know, collected nuts by the train load and shipped them up to the cities. New York City, Baltimore. People sold them on the street corners. They made more money off of chestnuts than they did off of farming. So it was a source of livelihood for people. And before and after, I mean, during that time, people brought over Chinese chestnuts. And we can talk about the blight next.

[D]

Yeah. Today the USDA refers to the American chestnut as a, quote, near mythical species. So what happened?

[G]

So the chestnuts used to be in, you know, North Carolina, where I live, in the Smoky Mountains, like you could. There's, like reports of people being able to walk their cows into the inside of the trees and walk around. Like they're that big. So they're huge, you know, old growth stands of these in the, in the Smoky Mountains and then up into the. Throughout the Appalachians. And in 1904, actually, earlier, people were brought over, like Japanese chestnuts and Chinese chestnuts, because they were bred for having large nuts to eat. And they brought them over and they did not know that a fungus was on those trees. And this fungus attacks the bark of the tree and then they die from the top. The top of the tree dies, but they still live from their roots. But right now there was like 4 billion trees on the East Coast. Now there's probably a few hundred million that are left, but they're sitting in the understory of the forest. Like, if you're walking around the woods in the Appalachian Mountains, you might see them. They have the blight, but they don't really flower and reproduce, so they're no longer evolving on their own, living as a tree as they once were.

[D]

Now I've seen your organization refer to them as functionally extinct. Why that label?

[G]

Because they're not actually extinct, like in the sense that there's no chestnuts out in the landscape. They're actually kind of plentiful, especially around here in Carolina, Western Carolina. But they don't reproduce. They're. They'll grow up like 10ft, and then they get the blight and they die. And they're in this cycle of dying back and. And then re. Sprouting from their roots over and over again. So, yeah, they're not really reproducing on their own, but we can occasionally get, like, on the side of the road sometimes we'll find one. Some people will tell us, like, oh, there's a chestnut flowering, and we can get seeds from those and breed those trees. But then they die from blight. So it's not like a permanent solution that they're reproducing on their own.

[D]

Some estimates say there are fewer than 100 mature American chestnuts left in the wild. What can you tell us about where those mature trees live and how they've been able to survive the blight?

[G]

Yeah, we call them large surviving American chestnuts, and they're extremely rare. Like I was saying, like, there's hundreds of millions left, but, like, there's. I know of a few dozen. We have names for them, like ort. There's one tree in Pennsylvania. It's in someone's yard. It's called ort. We have another tree in Virginia, Amherst tree. Erie, Pennsylvania. Um, so we know these trees, and they have the blight, and they've been living with the blight probably since before. I mean, when the original pandemic of the blight came through. And they seem to have a slightly elevated resistance when we. We've actually crossed those trees, like, bred them together, and then we gave their kids the blight. And they. The kids have somewhat elevated resistance, but they're not super resistant themselves. So they're kind of lucky trees, you could say. And they have low levels of blight resistance.

[D]

You guys do a lot of citizen science and you ask people to fill out a tree locator form if they think they've spotted an American chestnut. What are some of the strangest places you've had confirmed trees?

[G]

Well, some of the trees. You know, what's interesting is, like, people brought Lewis and Clark, like the Lewis and Clark expedition brought chestnuts, people brought them over to Washington State. So like on the Coast Range in Washington there are chestnuts growing that don't have blight. So in California and Washington, these are areas where strangely the blight hasn't come and the, these trees are mature. There's another tree in Belgium that was brought over before the blight, that's maybe the largest tree in the world. It's like 120ft tall. And so you can actually see, you know, these trees that you can actually see how the tree grows now are really rare. But the west coast has some and Europe in an arboretum has one. So if you ever get out to Taruvan Arboretum in Belgium, that's one place you could see an American chestnut.

[E]

Jared, has there been any movement with crossing American chestnuts with other chestnuts that are like resistant to the blight? When I was in college we, we did a little bit of that planting trees that were like American chestnut mixed with something else like a Chinese chestnut. I don't remember exactly what it was, but just trying to find something that could live on the landscape and be resistant to the blight.

[G]

Yeah, so that's that been the focus of our organization is the Chinese chestnuts, Japanese chestnuts, they, they co evolved with the blight fungus for tens of millions of years. They have resistance. And there's been a long effort starting in the 1920s to breed, cross breed the American species with the Chinese and the Japanese. And what we've done is you get the 50, 50 hybrids between the two species and they tend to, they have resistance from the Asian chestnut species and they are fertile. So they, we do they, all the chestnut species hybridize readily. But in order to make them grow and be competitive in the forest, the American chestnuts grow very tall. The Chinese chestnuts tend to be shorter orchard trees. What we're trying to do is basically cross those hybrids back to American chestnut, dilute out some of the Chinese traits, bring in more of the American traits, but also select for resistance so that we can improve, improve that over time. So what we're trying to do is kind of dilute out the, make the trees, keep the resistance, but then also breed for these tall timber type traits in the American chestnut. And we have this citizen science organization there where people have found trees like from Maine all the way down to Mississippi, they tell us we found a tree, it's flowering and we've taken pollen from our hybrid, our selected hybrids and put it on those trees to get these diverse populations. And we have probably 4 to 500 orchards across the east coast maintained by volunteers that have been. We plant the kids of these hybrids in these orchards and we give them blight and we see which trees survive from that. And we've continued now, I mean, we've done this huge effort of like looking at all these trees resistance over like the last 20 years. And we are now crossing these best trees that have really good resistance with each other and selecting even better kids of those trees. So we're incrementally improving the resistance so the trees can live on their own.

[E]

Awesome.

[A]

Hey, Jared, beyond like physical cross breeding where you're like putting pollen on another tree, has there been any, any like lab genetic engineering to. To. To work on resistance to the, to the blight?

[G]

Yeah, there is a. There is a. What's called a transgenic tree where it has a gene from wheat that's put. It been put into the American chestnut tree. The gene is involved in like detoxifies an acid that's produced by the fungus and that has. It's going under a. It's been under review by the USDA to be able to release those trees. And we've done some assessments on their resistance. And they look, they looked great initially in the. When we look at the seedling stage and we gave them blight as little babies, but when you put them out in the like over time, for a longer period of time, they get pretty severe infections and there's a lot of susceptible trees. So what we've learned is that the resistance is complicated. There's a lot of. There's a lot of genes involved in that. And so doing that crossbreeding brings in a lot of those genes involved in the resistance to give it more durable resistance than any single gene could give the trees.

[D]

Yeah, Jared, why does it matter? What, what does the American chestnut provide that our eastern forests are missing without them there?

[G]

I mean, I would love to see chestnuts and on the mountains in North Carolina. They grow on top of the mountains with some of the most beautiful places in the Appalachians. And they used to provide nuts every year. And the wildlife carrying capacity of the forests diminished as a result of loss of the chestnut. There were insects and things that also were dependent on the tree. And we would love to see like the. In this, there's like strip mine sites in, throughout Appalachia where the chestnuts grow really well on that really poor acidic soil. So I'd love to see, you know, reclamation of some of the mine lands with, with chestnuts going forward.

[D]

For people who are listening right now, what can they do to help the American chestnut?

[G]

Well, we are a citizen science organization and a nonprofit organization and we have, we're funded by members and so people donate to us and that helps us. What we're doing is a lot of genomic testing on our trees to make the breeding go faster, Growing out the best kids and then giving them blight and seeing which, you know, really confirming they have resistance. So if you live in the east coast, you can join your local chapter. We have 16 state chapters across the east coast. But also just donate to TACF to help us with some of our work to do the cross breeding and genomics to better understand resistance and make the breeding work a lot better.

[D]

Thank you for joining us, Jared, and thanks for helping save the American chestnut.

[G]

Thanks, guys.

[E]

Thanks, Jared.

[D]

Bye. Now, I saw you two boys nodding along when he said that there is a mature one living in Erie, Pennsylvania.

[E]

That's Brody's neck.

[A]

Yeah, that's my old stomping grounds. I didn't know that. It's just, just that's where I came from.

[E]

I know of several that are living on the family farm, but they, they're just stump sprouting from old stumps.

[D]

Just babies.

[E]

Yeah, they only get, like he said, 10, 10, 12ft tall and then die.

[D]

Did you know that before today that, like, that's what that was and that's why it was doing it?

[E]

Yep, yep. Yeah. I mean, there's, I don't, I don't know how many there are exactly on the farm, but I mean, you can. It's nothing to walk for five minutes in the woods and find a couple of them.

[D]

Yeah. I think he said there's hundreds of millions that just never reach maturity.

[E]

Yep. They're all over the place. But yeah, man, it's such a shame. Those trees were like, I mean, I've heard them called like the redwoods of the east.

[D]

Yeah.

[E]

Just huge trees that. I couldn't imagine what it would have been like back in the day to see that.

[D]

Critters, A lot of critters would have been eating them.

[E]

Yeah, for sure. Yeah. We have some Chinese chestnuts on the farm and man, when those things start falling, the deer hammer, they love them.

[B]

Just last night I was laying around on my extremely comfortable Helix mattress with my two boys watching a nature documentary with a very good thing about the world's forests, where I actually learned some stuff I didn't know before. And man, we were comfortable. The dog was up there with us. The helix lineup offers 20 unique mattresses, including the award winning Lux and Ultra Premium Elite collections, Helix Plus a mattress designed for big and tall sleepers and Helix Kids Mattresses, which my kids have designed for growing bodies endorsed by child sleep experts. How will you know which Helix mattress works best for you and your body? Well, it's easy. You take the Helix Sleep Quiz and find your perfect mattress in under two minutes. Your personalized mattress is then shipped straight to your door free of charge. It's brilliant packaging too. You just like carry it into the room, open it up and poof, there's your mattress. Very easy. And Helix knows there's no better way to test out a new mattress than by sleeping on that sucker in your own home. That's why they offer a 100 night trial in a 10 to 15 year warranty. To try out your new Helix Mattress, go to helixsleep.commee eater for 27% off site wide. That's helixsleep.commeater for off site wide. Make sure you enter our show name after checkout so they know we sent you helixsleep.com me eater anywhere worth going is worth going. In good boots. You can find your perfect pair with the Cobras. My my beloved friend Clay Newcomb agrees with me on this and my beloved friend Ronnie Bame all agree on this that like man, if you don't got a good pair of leather boots on, you just like don't have that good ready feeling that the three of us like to have. If you ever wondered if you can pull off boots with your perfect style, you owe it to your feet to pull on a pair of tacobas. Being confident is about being different. It's about being yourself. Find comfort in the traditions of the west and confidence from making it your own. Honor the west by leaving your own boot print to Kova's crafts quality Western boots for everyone. From generational ranchers and lifelong Cowboys down to first time boot buyers. Every one of Taco's boots are handcrafted with over 200 meticulous steps for broken in comfort right out of the box right now. Get 10 off at the covas.commeater when you sign up for email and text. That's 10 off at t e c o v a s.commeater to kovas.commeater see the site details to Covas. POINT YOUR toes West hunting season is coming fast. You've glassed the ridges, hung stands and marked your maps. Now it's time to make sure your gear is as ready as you are. From proven base layers to best selling outerwear. First Light season opener sale is here for a limited time with savings up to 40% off. It's our biggest sale of the year. So whether you're chasing bugles in the high country or settling into a stand for opening night, now's the time to dial in your system. No shortcuts, no compromises, just the gear that gets it done. Shop the season opener sale@first light.com that's F I R-S-T L I T E.com.

[D]

All right, moving on. Our next segment is gear talk.

[F]

Let's talk about gear, baby. Let's talk about scopes and beats. Let's talk about boots and vinyls, camo patterns with Yandy. Let's talk about gear. Let's talk about gear.

[A]

Let's talk about this week.

[D]

For gear talk, we are talking about our favorite first light gear. Their season opener sale is happening right now over on first light dot com. This is one of their biggest sales and just in time for hunting season. You can get up to 40% off, select base layers, outerwear, pants and more. The deals are happening now through Sunday, August 24th. Again, that's firstly.com for some of their biggest discounts of the year. All right, Seth, you go first. What are you talking to us about Today?

[E]

I'm going to talk to you about my favorite hunting pan of all time, the corrugate foundry pants. Man, I still have the original pair that I got when these things first came out years ago, probably five, six years ago, I don't even remember. But I still use them every fall. They can't wear them out. I like them because they have knee pads, which I like to have in a hunting pants, especially when you're doing stuff like antelope hunting and whatnot crawling around. It's nice to have knee pads. And they got the waterproof knees and seat, which is helpful.

[D]

And they are 30 off this week. Again, the sale goes through Sunday. What hunt are you going to be wearing them on this year?

[E]

Pretty much everything. I'm hunting elk, deer, antelope. I'll probably wear them when I go back east, whitetail hunting, depending on the weather. Yeah, I kind of wear them for everything. I honestly just wear them when I'm.

[D]

Wearing in the office.

[E]

I wear them in the office. I wear, I wore them for two weeks in Alaska recently.

[D]

Good endorsement.

[E]

Yeah, I wear them all the time. I like just general fixing stuff around the house. Because you got knee pads, you're always, you know, on your knees for something.

[D]

So that is the Corrugate foundry pant 30 off for the next few days. All right, I'm gonna go next. I am going to talk to you about the men's kiln Long John. That is 20 off during this sale. This is my favorite base layer. It's my most used base layer. My guess would be that it's the most used base layer among the crew. And if I could only have, like, a singular base layer for the rest of my life, it would be this. The. The kiln Long John. They're easy to hike in. They also work great if you're still hunting. I wore them when I killed a bull last year, and it was 50 degrees on. On opening day. I also wore them when I killed them mutely on the last week of the season when it was negative 18 degrees wind chill. They're comfortable enough to sleep in if I'm tenting in cold weather. Wear them when I'm snow blowing my driveway. Uh, and the badass skiers in the office, like Corey Calkins, uh, he'll wear them for skiing. He especially likes the ones that have the zippers in them. 380 reviews on First Light's website. 4.81 stars. So they are just universally loved. Again, that's the kiln Long John. Sizes available small to 2 XL. They're also available in the women's version, the kiln Long Jane. And that is 20% off right now as well.

[E]

It's a great piece.

[D]

Like I said, I. I genuinely wear it all fall.

[E]

Yeah, I just love wool next to skin.

[A]

I run them long. I run them from, like, October to April.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Half the year.

[E]

Yeah. That's legit.

[D]

All right. Brody, what are you talking about today?

[A]

The dirtbag duffel.

[D]

Love it.

[A]

I've been running these things for, I don't know, like, these things have been out for, what, four or five years now, at least.

[E]

Yep.

[A]

I have the original. I have a couple of the big ones, couple of medium ones, like, and I have had no, no trouble with any of them. They're bombproof, they're durable. They're great when you got to take stuff into, like, a wet environment like southeast Alaska or like the river trip that we're going to do later this year. They're just. They're just a really good duffel, and they got, you know, extra features like pockets and things like that. You can carry it like a backpack through the airport if you want. For a very long time, I was a Patagonia Black Hole supporter, and the dirtbag duffel kind of took over that. The large took over that spot for me, you can fit a week's worth of stuff in there easily in the big one.

[D]

So, yeah, it's the thing that I travel with the most. So much so that I had to get a second one because my wife wanted to have one as well. That's the meat medium I use for a lot of traveling. They also. What, what's the material on them?

[A]

It's tpu rip stop. But, you know, it's got that, what. It's got like a coating on it, you know, water.

[D]

That's what I was gonna get it. It has the lid that I think they call the launch pad.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

You open it up if you're hunting and you're like changing boots, you stand on that thing, it doesn't matter if there's snow or water underneath it. Your feet are not going to get wet. I. I love the dirt bag. D. And that is 20% off this week as well.

[E]

Yeah, I just had that thing in. In southeast Alaska.

[A]

Yeah.

[E]

When we were up there and when we were leaving, it was pouring rain.

[A]

Yeah. And you got to set your stuff out like an hour before the float plane gets there.

[E]

Yeah, I. I had that thing sitting in the rain for a while and it was fine. Yeah.

[D]

Yeah. They have small, medium, and large. I'll travel with all my hunting clothes in there in the fall. And then again, if we're just like staying in a hotel somewhere, it's the duffel that my wife and I both use.

[E]

Love it.

[D]

Again, that is the season opener sale where 121st light items are discounted this week. The deals end on Sunday, August 24th. Head over to first light.com to gear up before it's too late. All right, we're halfway through the show. Phil, let's take a break for some listener feedback. What's the chat have to say?

[F]

Yeah, let's do it. Get those questions in. Cameron says question for the crew. What are some tips to keep meat from spoiling on warmer days and longer packouts? Cameron says that he's doing his first elk hunt DIY style in Kentucky.

[A]

I'll chime in. Get the skin off. But I like you would be surprised how long skinned out elk quarters can last in warm weather. If you get the skin off and hang them in a shady like spot with some breeze. Like, it's not a problem if it's 70 degrees out during the day. You can hang that meat longer than you think you can. If you get that skin off and hang it in a shady spot.

[E]

Yeah. As long as it Gets that crust.

[A]

Yeah, they can.

[E]

You'd be surprised. I was surprised when we were in Africa. There's no refrigeration there. They hung that meat for days.

[A]

Yeah. If you get like one cool night to get the interior, you know, of the meat cooled, you're going to be fine for like a few days. This is not something I worry about a whole lot.

[D]

Air flow, very important. And as we've talked about on previous episodes of Trivia, if the conditions are too extreme, you could get bone rot. Especially around those joints are going to hold a lot of heat. Being that you're in Kentucky, I'm guessing that thing's not going to be away from a cooler for too long. So just get it on ice as.

[A]

Soon as you can carry it and keep it dry. Like if that stuff's hanging and it gets wet, it's going to go bad a lot faster.

[F]

See Freddie, Rick on the mon says, I'm taking my wife out antelope hunting tomorrow. What's a fun in the field meal we should make if successful?

[D]

I love. I don't know if it was like season four of Meat Eater. Steve's on a solo antelope hunt and he cooks up some buck nuts in butter. It's real easy. All you need is a source of heat, a skillet and some butter. And that's a pretty authentic way to enjoy a successful antelope.

[A]

You gotta go. If you do those don't go high heat or they'll explode. You gotta take your time with them.

[E]

I like tenderloin fresh in the field. Just because those, especially with an antelope, if you get that crust on, on those things, like you end up just taking too much. Like just eat those things fresh.

[D]

You don't want those to go in the freezer.

[E]

Yeah, no, no. Just eat them fresh over fire or something. And they're fantastic.

[A]

The heart would be good to cut that up right away and eat that.

[F]

Drifting flies has been just absolutely stoked in the chat this whole show. Just mostly all caps trump style. But he says Brody favorite streamer. He's going to target some big browns very soon. What's your favorite streamer, Brody?

[A]

And there's an old, old. I don't know if they still make it. I bet you they do. It's called the tequili. I wish we could pull up a picture of it. It's got like a shiny like copper colored chenille body and then like a bright like yellow marabou tail and some big bright rubber legs on it. And like in the Fall. It drives those big brown trout insane. It's a good one.

[D]

Do you tie your own streamers back in the day?

[A]

Oh, yeah, man. I tied a lot of flies. I still have all this stuff, you know, I just.

[D]

Just don't do it. Waiting for your sons to get into it.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. I have so many flies. I don't now I don't need to tie any. I don't know. But yeah, that's a real good one. There's a bunch of like, I, I'm not like, I kind of stopped fly fishing as much. There's been like a new wave of fly tying that's gone on like, and especially in the streamer world.

[D]

Explain that to me.

[A]

Just bigger, like it's trended towards bigger in the last several years. Like Kelly Gallup at the slide in. He's got these real big flies that tend to have weird names like Sex Dungeon and things like that. And then Blaine Chocolates. God, what game changer. Like a lot of people are throwing those and they tend to tend to. If you want to like specifically target like a brown trout 30 inches and larger, you need to be throwing a fly that's six inches long or bigger, I would say, because otherwise you're just going to be catching a lot of 16 inches.

[F]

Mississippi says Spencer Brody and Seth. What's your favorite feature that you look for in a skinning knife or features?

[D]

Probably just how it feels in my hand. I know like my favorite knife that I keep in my gun cabinet. You could put a blindfold on me and hand me all my knives and I would pick that one, I think, every single time just because it feels right in my hand. So as far as what you're looking for, I don't know specifics. When you're just looking at something, how does it feel in your hand? I'll tell you one thing, I don't care for a gut hook on my knife. It just like gets in the way. And it seemed like those were very fashionable for a moment and they're becoming less fashionable now. But I'm just like pretty much immediately not interested. If it has a big gut hook.

[A]

On it, I would say something with, without an overly large blade. I think, you know, when you're, when you're dealing with stuff laying on the ground and getting skin off, like a big long blade is just going to be detrimental. And I like like width wise narrower ones. I know some people like that wider blade, but I like something a little narrower and a little more nimble.

[E]

Yeah, I agree with that.

[A]

Something Narrower, but those heavy duty, like, sturdy knives with, like, broader blades, when you get into like, pop and hip joints and stuff like that, that's where they come in handy. But yeah, it's something that's sharp and something that feels good. Something that holds an edge.

[E]

Seth I like some with a little bit more of a rounded tip, not, not so pointy on the tip. It also depends on what I'm skinning. Like, if I'm not worried about putting holes in it like a deer, usually a, you know, it doesn't matter that much. But if I'm skinning something like a coyote or something that I want to tan and keep the hide nice, I like a little more rounded tip so I don't punch holes in it.

[D]

Let's do one more for now. Phil.

[F]

Sure. Ethan says. Seth My buddy Sean just won the Michigan Walleye Tour for the second straight year. We'll be bringing some filets down next weekend. Best way to cook them.

[E]

Thanks, man. I just like fried walleye. It's hard to beat that. I one time took a small, smaller walleye fillets and like, rolled them up lengthwise and you wrap those in bacon.

[D]

Never seen this.

[E]

It's kind of like a, like a walleye pinwheel and just baked those or put them on the grill, you know, hit them with some butter and whatnot. That was pretty good.

[D]

Brody, you've been eating a lot of walleye this summer?

[A]

Yeah, I mean, it's my, like, my wife likes some panko crusted. Yeah, like pan fried, not like deep fried. And that's very good. Another thing there, walleye's pretty delicate, but you can pull it off if you're careful, is you get them on a, on a griddle, like an outdoor griddle, like a Blackstone or whatever, and just do black and Cajun black and fillets. Those are real good.

[E]

Yeah.

[D]

You go to the Meat eater dot com, you'll find a lot of good walleye recipes there. Jesse Griffiths, I think it was probably four or five years ago at this point. Dead beer battered fish. Which, which that recipe would work great for walleye as well. That's what I'd recommend.

[E]

Chester and I did a one of those. It was a meteor cooked or something episode where we fried walleye. And it was fantastic. Panko style.

[D]

Even though Chester can't even enjoy it.

[E]

Nope.

[D]

Just gotta look.

[E]

He's just gotta look and smell.

[D]

All right, moving on. Our next segment is One Minute Fishing. Do I feel lucky?

[A]

Well, do you, punk? Go ahead, make my cast.

[D]

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 500 donation to a conservation group this week. Our angler is American hero Pat Durkin. He's on Lake Vermilion in Minnesota and fishing for a donation to Sturgeon for tomorrow. Pat, welcome to the show.

[C]

Hey, Spencer.

[E]

Pat's got a fish.

[D]

He's holding a mouth right now.

[A]

Already done.

[D]

Wow.

[C]

We just reeled it in just now.

[D]

Okay, well that, that's a good sign. How'd you catch it?

[C]

Leighton, tell them what you caught. Speak up. A bass. Smallmouth bass.

[D]

A very nice smallmouth he's been putting on his feed bag for fall. That thing's got a nice gut on it.

[E]

Look at that thing.

[D]

Pat, you have a few guests with you today. Tell us about your fishing buddies.

[C]

First of all, here is Leighton. Leighton, my nine year old grandson from Rochester, Minnesota. Over my left shoulder here is my daughter, Leah. This is my oldest daughter. She was 14 years in the Navy. Spencer.

[E]

Wow, cool.

[D]

Now I didn't know that they let cheese heads fish in Minnesota. So why Lake Vermilion, Pat?

[C]

Well, we. It's kind of a long story, but Leah walked into a good opportunity to pick up a one week rental up here around Lake Vermilion. And I hear Lake Vermilion, they make sure, you know, it's spelled with one link. But it's a Lake with 361 islands. It's a big area. It's just west of Ely, Minnesota.

[D]

And, and what's the plan for that smallmouth? Is he gonna go in the live well or back in the lake?

[C]

Leighton says live well.

[D]

Okay.

[C]

That means we'll be eating him for dinner probably.

[D]

I like that attitude. How's the fishing been so far this week, Pat?

[C]

Well, our first day was Tuesday. We got four walleyes and let's see, a couple small moths perched. They were getting mainly perched for fishing slip bobbers here on Armstrong. Excuse me, Armstrong Bay. And so this is a. We caught maybe a half dozen nice perch this morning and now it's kind of getting a little slower until this guy hit.

[D]

Okay, so for one minute fishing, are you targeting smallmouth? Are you going for something else?

[C]

We've been targeting basically perch and bluegills. And once a while when these, one of these random mama shows up and smacks that little crappie, you know, size jig. And once a while, we got gotten them in the boat today.

[D]

Okay, so for one minute fishing, he's looking for a perch of bluegill or a smallmouth. And you said you're tossing jigs at them.

[C]

Yeah, we got. We have what we're doing. We have this little chunks of worm on there. That's us again, like a number eight number. Number six. That thereabouts. I'm gonna put this in the live well. Hang on one second.

[D]

Okay. And then after Pat gets that fish in his live well, we're gonna start one minute fishing. And for the first time ever, we're gonna have three anglers trying to fish for that donation today. So, Pat, whenever you guys make your first cast, your one minute of fishing will start.

[C]

I'm gonna have Lincoln go first.

[D]

Let's have you all. Can you all fish at once? Pat, can. Can we do all three of you in that one minute?

[C]

Yeah, we can do them all at once.

[D]

Okay. There's gonna be a little chaos in Lund.

[C]

Yep. Let me get mine. I gotta rebate real quick. Spencer.

[D]

Okay. Pat is reapplying a nightcrawler. Seth, Lake vermilion. Ever been there?

[E]

Never been, but it's definitely one I want to visit. I've heard lots of good things about Vermillion.

[D]

Just. Just that general part of Minnesota.

[E]

Yep.

[A]

Pat, do they call you captain in that boat?

[C]

They call me a lot worse.

[D]

Okay, Pat, is everybody ready?

[C]

You're ready? Okay. Leighton, you go first.

[D]

All right. Grandson has made his cast. Pat has made his cast. Their one minute has begun. Pat, are we just running slip bobbers?

[C]

Sorry.

[D]

Are we just running slip bobbers? There we are. The wind is getting really windy. We're losing Pat's audio.

[E]

Does he got one?

[D]

Is he reeling one in? Pat Durkin, the only angler to be successful twice at one minute fishing. Both times. Was that a yellow perch?

[C]

This one's a bit smaller, but he's definitely a neater.

[D]

Okay. And both times, Pat has been successful. He's done it with a yellow perch. Once in Idaho and now once in Minnesota. Well done, Pat.

[A]

Captain Pat Durkin.

[C]

You bet.

[E]

That's awesome. In the old Lund.

[D]

In the Lund in lake Vermillion. He's just won a $500 donation to Sturgeon for tomorrow. Pat, you were really stoked to. To make a donation to sturgeon for tomorrow. Tell us about them.

[C]

Yeah. This goes back in my. In my personal history a little bit, Spencer. When I was a young reporter back in the 1980s, a group called a group of local fishermen in the lake Winnebago area, which is Oshkosh, Wisconsin, that region, they wanted to get more involved in the Hands on citizen science aspect of sturgeon management. And they formed this group called sturgeon for tomorrow. And they've been running now close to 40, about 40 years or so. And every spring, they help organize what's called sturgeon patrol. And they put guys on the Wolf river where the sturgeon spawn and make sure they don't get poached because it used to be a real bad poaching problem in that. In that region back in all the way through the early 80s. I used to do newspaper stakeouts, basically where I'd ride along, the wardens spend the night watching for poaching activity on the Wolf River. But these guys, that's one of the very, very many projects they get involved in.

[D]

Well, you just saved a few more sturgeon with that $500 donation. Well done. The legend of Pat Durkin. In one minute, fishing grows.

[C]

Thanks, you guys.

[D]

Thanks for joining us, Pat. Good luck with the rest of the week. High fives all around in the boat. I'm tickled.

[E]

That was great.

[D]

That was fun.

[A]

He should just be on every week. Then we have people that catch fish.

[D]

Pat. Pat is great because he's obviously a retired fella. I could text him on a Wednesday and be like, pat, we need someone for one minute fishing tomorrow. He's like, okay, I'm in. So you'll see a lot more of Pat Durkin on me. Eater Radio's one minute fishing hunting season is coming fast.

[B]

You've glassed the ridges, hung stands and marked your maps. Now it's time to make sure your gear is as ready as you are. From base layers to best selling outerwear. First light season opener sale is here for a limited time with savings up to 40% off. It's our biggest sale of the year. So whether you're chasing bugles in the high country or settling into a stand for opening night, now's the time to dial in your system. No shortcuts, no compromises, just the gear that gets it done. Shop the season opener [e-mail] that's f I r s t l I t e dot com.

[D]

All right, moving on. Our next segment is the price is right.

[F]

Here it comes from Bozeman, Montana, Media Radio's most exciting 10 minutes. It's the price is right. Chef Morris, come on down.

[D]

All right, he's here.

[E]

Anderson, come on down.

[F]

You're the next two contestants on media radios. The price is right.

[E]

Right now, here's your host, Spencer Newhart.

[D]

Wow. Thank you, Phil. He brings it every single time.

[E]

It's impressive. He just does that, you know it's not pre recorded or nothing?

[D]

No, no, that's. That's live. Phil in the studio. Now, 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 to the correct answer will get a shout out. And. And none of them are going to cheat. They have all vowed to be very honest.

[A]

How. How many of these are we doing? Just one.

[D]

Three of them. We've got three of them. There are three products today. Have either of you boys played meat eater radios prices right before?

[A]

Nope.

[E]

I did. I played once and won.

[D]

Okay, we've got the veteran Seth here then bringing all that experience.

[A]

What's the prize? What are we playing for?

[D]

We'll find out in a second. Phil, tell us about the first item up for bid.

[F]

Our first item today is a guided nilgai and whitetail hunt on the famous King Ranch in Texas. Here's your chance to hunt one of the largest pieces of private land in the world. At 825,000 acres, the King Ranch is bigger than Rhode Island. This property is home to 18,000 nilgai, which got their start on the King Ranch after a stocking from the San Diego Zoological Garden a century ago. The package includes a nilgai bull and a management whitetail buck that's guaranteed to score between 130 and 140 inches. You'll also get two nights lodging at the King Ranch, but meals are not included.

[D]

That's right, Phil. But keep in mind it's a four hunter minimum. So you better have three buddies with deep pockets just like you.

[A]

So we got a four hunter price.

[D]

We're just gonna do for one hunter, one hunter price. And this gets you a nilgai bull, a management buck that they say will be an eight or nine pointer that is over five and a half years old and will score between 130, 130 and 140 inches. And you have two nights at the King Ranch.

[A]

But two nights, three days of hunting or something like.

[D]

I think. I think it's two full days. They are very efficient, I guess.

[E]

On the King, I killed a whitetail buck about 80 yards from the King ranch border.

[D]

That thing might have been living on the King. Yeah, you killed yourself. Was it a high fence there? Was it a little.

[E]

Nope. Low fence.

[D]

Low fence.

[E]

Yep.

[D]

You don't even need a high fence when you own Rhode Island.

[E]

Oh, I know it's a lot of land.

[D]

Can't fathom, but I like to say.

[E]

That that buck was living on the King Ranch, and I got to get that one for free.

[D]

Ranch buck again. The package is a guided hunt for a bull nil guy, a 135 inch whitetail, and two nights of lodging at the famous King Ranch in Texas. And remember, you cannot go over. If both of you go over, you'll both be told to try again. Seth, are you ready?

[E]

I'm ready.

[D]

Brody, are you ready?

[A]

Okay, make a little change.

[D]

Making a small change to his answer for one person to go to the King Ranch and kill themselves a nilgai and a whitetail. All right, go ahead and reveal your answers. We have Seth saying 10,500, Brody saying 8,900. The correct answer is lower than both of those, so you'll both need to try again. We know it is less than 8,900. They are revisiting their whiteboards and coming up with a new answer. Brody, very quick. Seth, are you ready? Reveal your answers. We have Seth saying $6,350. Brody says $6,900. Ooh. The correct answer is $8,500. Giving Brody that first point, he was only $400. Off with his first guess. Now, a nilgai cow hunt is. Is 4,400. A combo dove hunt and saltwater fishing trip is 2,400. And I've got redfish right off 200.

[A]

From the king Ranch right off the bank of the King. Well, like, casting towards the bank of the King Ranch.

[D]

Okay, you boys are very familiar with that place. Phil, how'd the chat do?

[F]

Well, we had several people get it right on the money. I'm convinced they cheated, unfortunately. I just. I don't trust anybody. But bull site Archer archery guessed eight grand. So I'm gonna give him. I'm gonna give him the point at that point.

[D]

Well done, Bullseye Archery. That just goes to show if you're gonna cheat, you can't cheat right on the money.

[F]

Yeah.

[E]

Yeah, exactly.

[F]

You're gonna have to fool me.

[D]

And we can still see Pat Durkin fishing. He's still in our waiting room there.

[A]

Filling that line while.

[D]

Yeah, we're watching some fancy camera work now. It looks like the boat is moving around. All right, we'll maybe check in with Pat later. Phil, tell us about the second item up for bidding.

[F]

Yeah, sorry, I'm stopping all the things. Next up, we have the 102 piece Deluxe Pro kit from Banjo Minnow. But hold on. I'm going to pause this video because I can't do this lord justice. But do you know what can? This two minute infomercial from 1994. Please get your credit cards ready.

[A]

Just is amazing.

[H]

There's only one fishing lure proven to catch all these fish.

[F]

Look at that action.

[H]

Every spot species of game fish in North America. It's the Banjo Minnow. The world's first and only genetic response fishing lure.

[A]

Hello everybody. There he is.

[H]

There's the manjo. Minnow is truly the most exciting thing I've seen in a mighty long time.

[A]

Oh.

[H]

Predator fish are genetically programmed to attack and eat crippled dying minnows. The Banjo Minnow perfectly mimics the spastic action of a wounded minnow. A movement so realistic and so irresistible to predator fish that it could actually trigger a genetic response.

[A]

How did it ever catch on all.

[E]

That footage from a bass pro shop tank?

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Oh, King salmon. Love it.

[H]

Anything has proved itself again and again and again that it will outfish every.

[A]

Fishing lure in a stalker bows.

[H]

We had made a fishing lure that.

[A]

Actually made fish bites even if they weren't hungry.

[D]

A genetic response everywhere you want to.

[E]

They still sell these.

[D]

I've not missed a fish. Talk about in a second.

[A]

It's just unbelievable. I was really impressed.

[F]

There won't be a fish left in the world. Wow.

[H]

The Banjo Minnows unique patent pending rubber weed guard. Lets every fisherman fish anywhere.

[D]

You need that?

[E]

Yeah.

[H]

On top of docks right where the big ones are.

[E]

Oh, two of them came up for it.

[F]

You guys are getting so excited.

[D]

No.

[F]

Hot and bothered.

[H]

Different sizes, in four colors, Banjo weedless bait hooks, counterbalance jigs and much much more. All yours for only 29.95. For faster service, have your credit card ready and call the number.

[F]

Account for inflation is phenomenal.

[D]

Now you're probably wondering who on earth would fall for such ridiculous marketing. Well, me. I would when I was in middle school. I now present to you 2 Banjo Minnow from my personal tackle box. And I can attest that these have tricked dozens of largemouth in the 40 acre lake near my hometown. Now the the price that you are guessing today is for a Banjo minnow set in 2025. They are still around and they offer a 102 piece starter kit sold on banjo minnow.com. it comes with 24 banjo minnows, 30o rings, 24 weed guards, 12 nose anchors and 12 hooks. Now look at that one. This is a new Swim bait design. I have the OG These are way more desirable. Look, it's got the ribs in them very thin. The new ones in 2025 look much different. They don't look anything like a banjo minnow. Now look at this thing. It's dang near jumping out of my hand. Banjo minnow.

[A]

What's with the hole?

[E]

I'm gonna buy some of these.

[D]

Well, that's where the, the nose jig goes. I think that's what they call, what do they call that thing? Nose anchor. You put a nose anchor through there and then that's got a little piece where you can slide your hook through. And so your hook isn't even touching any of the soft plastic.

[A]

So same thing, today's price.

[D]

Well, we know that in 1994 it was 29.95 for a 110 piece kit, but you guys are guessing the price of a 102 piece kit. That banjo Minnow is still selling. Wow. Phil, can we get it, can we get a just me on the camera here? Show these things. Look at that action. My goodness. Fish are genetically wired to eat these things. They just can't resist. The one fella from the infomercial said they should be illegal. But there's going to be no fish left in North America. Here's what I'll do. Whoever wins today's game, I'll give you one of my banjo minnows. And then I expect you to catch something on that. Yeah, you could probably catch the first fish ever that bit a banjo minnow in Alaska. You should take one of these to Alaska.

[A]

Oh, that would get eat.

[D]

What would you, what would you catch with this?

[E]

A quill back, please.

[D]

I would be, I would be so pleased if you took one of these to Alaska and caught something.

[A]

If, if there was silver like at the mouth of a creek, they might eat one. One of those things. Kelp greenling would eat a lot of stuff. Would eat.

[D]

Okay.

[E]

If you drop that thing down on a shallow hump in like 40ft of water. Water. You'll have something to instantly.

[A]

The problem is it's also going to get bit off.

[D]

Yes.

[A]

It just.

[D]

You bite. Get one fish to bite on this and then the, the lure is just shot. All right. Do you have your price for the 20, 25, 110 piece kit?

[E]

Yep.

[D]

102 piece kit. Go ahead and reveal your answers. We have Brody saying 39.95. Seth saying 59.95. The correct answer is 59.99 was 4 cents. That's probably the closest we've ever had someone get to the correct answer. I'm gonna buy some for the prices. Right. But I don't think you want the new ones. Those new ones just like any. They look like any swim bait at Bass.

[E]

You want the little articulating cuts in there.

[D]

That's right. I think so. All right, we're on to our final item for today.

[F]

Just really quick, I want to throw out there that. That Keith said.

[D]

Thank you.

[F]

Three easy payments of 1995. And I think for accuracy and creativity, I think he deserves some flowers there.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

Please get your credit cards ready. They delivered that line twice in the infomercial. Make sure when you call if you're going to get the banjo Minnow, you have your credit card in your hand.

[F]

They don't have any time to waste.

[D]

Art. Phil. Third and final item. We are tied one to one.

[F]

Our final item up for bid today is a whole salmon from Seattle's world famous Pike Place fish market. Known for their flying fish, they'll actually fly one right to your front door. This 12 pound wild caught chinook comes fresh out of the Pacific Ocean and is Pike Place's number one seller. You can choose to have it sent whole with the head and fins attached or have their expert fishmongers turn it into filets and steaks for you.

[D]

That's right, Phil. And they guarantee that if we order before noon today, it will arrive on Friday. All right, Seth.

[A]

And brilliant. Did you say £12, Phil?

[D]

£12. What does it cost to get a whole king salmon ship 700 miles to Meat Eater HQ. So you are guessing the price of the fish as well as what it costs to ship it here. A 12 pound king salmon from the Pike Place fish market. This will determine who gets the banjo Minnow between.

[E]

I don't. I never buy fish from a store, so I don't even have a clue.

[D]

Phil, have you ever bought anything from Pike Place?

[F]

I have not. No. Whenever I. I've only gone there a couple of times and I just try to get. Get. Just walk through as fast as possible. Don't make eye contact. Just keep moving.

[D]

I like the busyness of it. That's like why I would want to be there is to like feel the hustle and bustle of Pike Place.

[A]

Now, Phil, does it say no, I probably won't.

[E]

What are you looking for?

[A]

Wilder Hatchery.

[D]

It says wild caught. They are adamant it is wild caught comes out of the Pacific Ocean.

[A]

Well, there's like wild kings and then there's the ones they raise up for a little while. Hatcheries and then cut them loose.

[D]

They say wild caught. They don't say anything about where it was raised at though. So again, it's a 12 pound salmon shipped 700 miles.

[A]

Some just like that in Alaska. The kids got them.

[D]

Well, we're going to find out what they're worth. Ready?

[A]

I have a pretty good idea.

[D]

Are you ready?

[A]

Cuz my kid figured it out.

[D]

Sure, go ahead. And remember, reveal your answers. We have Brody saying $420. All right, Seth saying $145. The correct answer is $502. That's $432 for the fish and $70 for shipping. That comes out to a whopping $42 per pound.

[E]

Geez, that's way more than I thought.

[D]

Them salmon, they ain't cheap.

[A]

Well, the king, because they got the highest, they're like highest fat content. Like it wouldn't be that much for a silver.

[D]

Well done, Brody. Only $80 off the correct answer. Again, $502. How'd the chat do, Phil?

[E]

Chat way.

[F]

I mean most of them were in like the $50 range on average. We had Mike at the near the end coming with 420 just like, just like Brody did.

[D]

Thanks for playing along. And remember to help control the pet population, have your pets spayed and neutered and you might just win yourself a banjo minnow. All right, that brings us to the end of this week's show. Phil, let's get some final feedback from the chat.

[E]

Yeah.

[F]

Last call for questions. Greg says, Brody, what hat are you wearing?

[A]

Magpul.

[E]

Perfect.

[F]

David asks, any wall tent recommendations for a December hunt in Pennsylvania?

[A]

Montana wall tent.

[E]

Montana canvas.

[A]

Yeah, Montana canvas.

[E]

Yeah. Cool.

[F]

Back to. We were, we were doing gear talk. Spicy nachos sent in this. Now what are your thoughts on the non camo pants? He's always been a full camo guy and was wondering if you've ever had any issues being half a blob.

[D]

If you're sitting in a tree stand and trying to kill a whitetail buck at 11 yards, I'd probably be wearing camel pants. If you are trying to kill a very smart Turkey at 15 yards, probably wear camel pants. Besides that, it's not going to be the thing that caused you to not.

[A]

Kill a critter, camo waders or camo pants. Like I'm going to disagree slightly with Spencer. On, on at least the turkey thing. I've killed plenty of turkeys wearing solid tan or solid green pants. If you're, if you're still, it's. I don't think it's as big of a deal as long as you got camo uppers and you're just snug down to the ground tight.

[E]

Yeah, I've killed a lot of Miriams in solid pants. If I was hunting easterns back in Pennsylvania somewhere where they're real pressured, I would go full camo for sure.

[F]

Randall says shout out, Phil. Shout out. Radio Live crew. Hey, man. Thanks, Randall.

[E]

Thank you, Randall.

[F]

Big fan.

[D]

Randall likes this show so much, we have to kick him out of the studio before we turn on the microphones. He was in here right up until the countdown clock started.

[E]

The studio is basically Randall's office.

[A]

Yeah.

[F]

Lately, Dalton got the King Ranch hunt right on the money and has commented several times about how he's mad at me because I accused him of cheating.

[D]

Do we trust him?

[F]

Not at all. No.

[D]

Oh, okay. Sorry.

[F]

He needs to come here, buy a ticket to Bozeman, and present your case in person. And maybe I will hear it.

[E]

He might do that. Phil, don't say that.

[F]

Oh, yeah, no, just shoot me an Instagram dm. See, this is another one of those general questions that usually don't play very well because it's sort of like I'm going to Colorado to hunt. Any tips? But you know, he's got some other questions. Stuff that's deep in here. Max says I'm at hour seven of his 18 hour drive to Utah for a muley archery hunt. Any tips or suggestions for success? But he follows that up with, are there any previous meat eater podcasts that focus on mealy hunting to add to my binge list? I wish I could pull up some podcast episodes from the recesses of my brain, but I'm sure there are some if you search in whatever platform that you use for podcasting.

[D]

Yeah, go check out what was formerly cutting the distance.

[F]

That's right.

[D]

Remy Warren used to host that show, and I'm sure he had all sorts of good mule deer tips and tricks. Then Jason Phelps and Dirk. I'm sure they have some good muley tips as well. And that is now the In Pursuit channel with Rich Froning. What do you got, Brody?

[A]

Oh, I was just gonna say you probably within like the general, other than cutting the distance. Like, probably not a lot of archery mule deer stuff that I can remember. Can you think of anything, Seth? If you want to watch Steve and Joe Rogan archery hunt mule deer, there's a good episode on that, but I can't think of anything.

[E]

That's one thing I've never really done. Hunt mule deer with the bow. I've done it a couple of times in Montana.

[A]

It'd be fun to hunt him up above a tree. Line up real high this time.

[E]

Yeah, that would be a wicked fun hunt.

[D]

Let's do a couple more, Phil.

[F]

Devin says, hey, what kind. What cartridge are you guys using this upcoming season? It's a pretty big question. Kind of depends on what you're going after.

[E]

7 millimeter PRC, same.

[D]

That is probably what I will do 80% of my hunting with this year. And I have a gun tag in Illinois where for the first time, I will be using a straight wall cartridge.

[E]

Oh, nice.

[D]

And I think it'll be a.350 legend. Still deciding.

[E]

Sweet, Brody.

[A]

It depends on the hunt. I'll be using a.6.5 PRC, which is great one. Then maybe shooting a 6.5 Creedmoor a little bit that my kids will be using. But I might use that gun a little bit, too.

[D]

One more, Phil.

[F]

Nate says when Steve shows up in the office, does work grind to a halt or is that the only time anything gets done? I could see him producing either outcome. I'd say it depends on whether or not he breaks the harpoon out.

[E]

Yeah.

[D]

Seth is the only one on the same floor as him. Well, I guess Phil as well. Do you notice when Steve's around?

[F]

I personally have no idea when he's here and when he's not here.

[A]

When Steve's. I'll give him credit. When Steve is here, he's, like, here for a reason and he's working on something.

[F]

That's true.

[E]

I know. I like to try to sneak into his office and, like, bug him about stuff, like just talking about anything other than work. And he's usually like, what do you need? Like, I just want to talk fishing or something.

[D]

All right. A few plugs before we get out of here. The meteor crew is hitting the road again this fall, visiting some of our favorite fan bases that will be playing games, giving away prizes, and showing off how the meteater crew tailgates. That is the meat eater tailgate tour. It's returning. Come join our tailgate, eat some food, hang out with the crew, and we'll see you at. I think we have six stops. August 30, Ohio State, September 6, Missouri. September 13, Texas. September 20, Wisconsin. September 27, Penn State, and October 4, Notre Dame. There will be more details. Which one are you going to? I will be at the Wisconsin game against Maryland September 20th. You boys, I assume Penn State.

[E]

Yes, sir. We'll be there.

[D]

More details to come on really quick.

[F]

Just because Mogo reminded me with his comment. He said, huge thanks for today's show. We crushed it like a pinata at a birthday party. This show premiered one year ago on August 22nd. Radio Live did. So if you're still watching, thanks for listening. Thanks for watching. This show is one of the highlights of my week. Thanks to Spencer for helping the show kind of find its voice and rhythm and every single crew member who's been a part of it. It's been a lot of fun.

[D]

We're just hitting our stride. It's only going to get better. Mogor and everyone else.

[E]

Yeah, and thanks to Mogar Mogor because he's probably.

[F]

I don't think he's missed a show.

[E]

Yeah, he's like our number one fan.

[D]

That's right. All right, thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. See you back here next week, same time and place. Bye now.

[E]

Foreign.

[B]

Eater Buy a tea, Get a tea sale. Plus you can save on all kinds of gear from August 19 to 24. For a limited time, buy one meat eater graphic tea. Get another one free. While you're over there. You can load up and save on gear we trust in the field, including yeti coolers and drinkware, Moultrie trail cams, premium optics knives from Montana Knife Company and more. The season opener sale runs now through August 24th [e-mail].

[E]

This is an iHeart podcast.