Ep. 759: It's September! (Again!) | MeatEater Radio Live!

Summary

The MeatEater Podcast, Ep. 759: It’s September! (Again!) | MeatEater Radio Live!

Date: September 5, 2025
Host: Randall Williams
Guests/Panel: Ryan Callahan (“Cal”), Seth Morris, Mark Kenyon, Ben Batten, Producer Phil
Theme: Outdoor life in September—hunting, fishing, conservation, public lands policy, wild foods, and listener interaction. This live MeatEater Radio episode mixes humor, advice, field stories, and expert interviews for a lively start to fall.

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Episode Overview

Kicking off September and the fall hunting season, this episode brings a blend of personal outdoor updates, deep dives on conservation policy, hands-on advice, and interactive listener segments. Highlights include an in-depth discussion of the Roadless Rule controversy, the critical role of interstate resource commissions, practical backcountry tips, and light-hearted fare like show & tell and food talk. There’s a live audience, big gear giveaways, and lots of friendly ribbing.

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Key Discussion Points & Notable Segments

1. Fall Outdoor Prep & Personal Updates

[02:04–07:59]

• Hunting Season Anticipation:
  • Cal is about to depart on an Alaska brown bear hunt—his first as a hunter, previously only a packer—sharing how balancing “adult responsibilities” makes preparing mentally tough.
    • “It's huge. And I'm just trying to get in a mental place with all the adult responsibilities where I can just focus on nothing but that.” – Cal [02:53]
  • Seth is more excited for fall fishing (walleyes/smallmouths/rifle hunting) than archery season.
• Nostalgic Local Fishing Encounters:
  • Randall details a visit to his Ohio childhood fishing spot, noting increased regulation and lost freewheeling access.
    • “We used to have Fight Club down there. You know, it used to be the Wild West.” – Randall [05:18]
  • Cal shares efforts introducing kids to antelope camp and classic catfishing—emphasizing outdoor mentorship.

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2. Roadless Rule Debate: Conservation at a Crossroads

Interview with Mark Kenyon, Wired to Hunt Podcast Host

[08:05–19:56]

• What is the Roadless Rule?
  • A 2001 Forest Service regulation protecting 58.5 million acres of national forests from new road construction, with exceptions for fire management and wildlife improvement.
  • “These are really, really special places…some of our last, best backcountry elk hunting spots, mule deer hunting spots, high country trout spots…” – Mark Kenyon [10:32]
• Why the Rule is in the News:
  • The current administration proposes rolling back roadless protections, citing the need for timber production and forest management.
• Arguments from Both Sides:
  • Rollback rationale: Increase timber yields, address perceived management shortfalls, reduce wildfire risk.
  • Support for maintaining rule: Preserves rare unfragmented habitat; exceptions already allow for fire/habitat management; roads themselves are correlated with fire ignition; rollback enables large-scale mineral extraction.
  • “This wholesale rollback… seems the wrong way to go about this, at least my 2 cents…” – Mark Kenyon [16:09]
• Geographical Stakes:
  • While roadless areas exist in 39 states, the largest impacts would hit the Western U.S.—especially Alaska's Tongass National Forest (9 million acres protected).
• Action Steps for Public Involvement:
  • 21-day public comment period is open—hunters, anglers urged to submit feedback before September 19.
    • “This is the democratic process. This is our opportunity… to ask our elected officials… to do what's best for the public and the long term future of these places.” – Mark Kenyon [19:17]

Memorable Segment:

• Cal gives a nuanced “color commentary” on roadless: “There is a history of litigation by certain groups when the roadless rule is used, as it should be, to try to build roads for the purposes of habitat and things like that. Like there’s a lot of suing that goes on...” – Cal [21:00]

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3. Show & Tell: Found, Read, and Essential Gear

[26:24–34:01]

• Seth: Bison skull discovered in Montana while hunting with his wife—a spontaneous find highlighting “buried treasures” on the landscape.
• Cal: Book recommendation: This America of Ours: Bernard DeVoto and the Fight to Save the Public Lands, a conservation history with current relevance.
• Randall:
  • “Deuce #3” trowel for burying waste in the woods (“imagine a long-haired border collie rolling in your feces”)—PSA on responsible backcountry ethics. [32:20]
  • Recovering a lost rifle bipod days later thanks to GPS tracking—a plug for backtracking tools and preparedness.

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4. Q&A and Hot Tips from Listeners

Food, Gear, and Hunting Advice

• Favorite Dove Recipes: Cal: Don’t overcook, try ground sausage-stuffed jalapeños; Seth: Dove in spaghetti sauce [34:20]
• Fishing for Huge Walleyes: Seth encourages checking survey data, not just famous lakes.
• Boot Insoles: Cal: Try in-store, test for arch fit, comfort [39:01]
• October Elk Tactics: Cal: Herds are vocal—cow calls bring in satellite bulls [40:18]

Hot Tip Off: Live Voter Contest

[41:52–50:18]

• Tip 1 (Nick): “Self-progressing workout”—train for hunting while hiking with kids in carrier/backpack. “Gets you some points with the wife 'cause she's got a couple hours to not have anybody hanging off of her.” [43:13]
• Tip 2 (Chad): Use waxed 9-strand string for hanging elk quarters—super strong, lighter than paracord. [44:01]
• Live vote winner: Chad and the waxed string tip.

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5. Conservation in Action: MICRA and the Mississippi River Basin

Interview with Ben Batten, Arkansas Game and Fish [52:26–60:53]

• What is MICRA?
  • 28 states, federal agencies, and tribes coordinate to manage the vast, multi-state fisheries and habitats of the Mississippi River Basin.
  • “A fish can swim from the Gulf 1200 miles without ever running into anything…” – Ben Batten [55:07]
• Top Issues:
  • Scale/scope of the basin; invasive carp; need for coordinated resources.
• Push for Commission Status:
  • Would allow direct congressional recognition and $30–50 million in funding for fisheries management, modeled after existing commissions (Great Lakes, Flyway Councils).
• Bear Attack in Arkansas:
  • First in 25 years—a rare event, involved a yearling bear; authorities responded swiftly.

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6. Trail Cam Photo Contest (Presented by Moultrie)

[62:11–70:34]

• Four user-submitted elk trail cam photos in contention for a major prize package (trail cams, gift cards, knives).
• Live Vote Winner: “Brothers” trail cam photo—two bulls together in wild country.
  • “None of these animals are guaranteed to be there when you show up. Number one's like, man could be anywhere. Look at this country. But I know they're here somewhere.” – Cal [68:55]

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7. Final Q&A – Favorite Encounters, Field Tips, and Rituals

[71:00–82:41]

• Non-target Animal Watching: Squirrels, bugs, bears, birds—panel shares why watching wildlife never gets old.
• Pre-Season Rituals:
  • Get home obligations squared away so you can focus on hunting.
  • Some start practice shooting 11 days out (jokingly).
• Meat Safety After Long Tracking:
  • “Smell test… salvage every edible thing you can.” – Seth [73:41]
• Wild Game Pizza Toppings: Duck, goose salami, or just classic sausage.
• Scent Cover for Hunting: “Walk into the wind… [scents sprays] overcomplicate life.” – Cal [74:32]
• Food Storage in Predator Country: Always hang food, even for rodents.

Notable Quotes & Lighthearted Moments:

• Skyline Chili/Ohio Tour Recap
  • Randall celebrates eating spree: “I had five [cheese coneys] plus [a] three way. And then the next day I went to the Reds game. ...I wanted more, but time didn't allow.” [36:56]
• Chad’s Hunt Photo Update: “If I were you, I'd just roll around on that underside of that bull so you can take that smell home with you for months.” – Cal [61:51]
• On trail cams: “It takes some of the mystery out of the woods. But at the same time, I also am jealous of not getting constant email updates…” – Cal [63:45]
• On field defecation: “Just grab the deuce and release the deuce, as I like to say.” – Randall [33:25]
• On conservation swings: “I for one, [am] very sick and tired of a Democrat administration coming in, swinging the pendulum extremely one way, and then a conservative administration coming in and swinging it completely the opposite way. When I feel like most Americans are like, 'oh, this thing in the middle makes sense.'” – Cal [24:22]
• On public land theft: “The reason that folks were [able to] take all this awesome stuff away from us is because folks weren’t paying attention.” – Cal [31:26]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:14–02:04: Show open, guests assemble
• 02:04–07:59: Personal outdoor stories, pre-season plans
• 08:05–19:56: Mark Kenyon on the Roadless Rule controversy
• 21:00–24:22: Cal’s commentary on conservation policy
• 26:24–34:01: Show & Tell: field finds, book recs, and essential tools
• 34:10–41:52: Listener Q&A (recipes, gear, hunting tactics)
• 41:52–50:18: Hot Tip Off contest (winner: Chad and wax string hack)
• 52:26–60:53: Ben Batten on MICRA and interstate fisheries management
• 62:11–70:34: Trail cam photo contest (winner: “Brothers” photo)
• 71:00–82:41: Final audience Q&A, animal watching, rituals, safety tips, and closing banter

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Episode Tone & Style

• Conversational, humorous, unscripted—plenty of self-deprecation, playful teasing, and authentic camaraderie.
• Irreverent and practical—mixing deep issues (public lands, conservation funding) with offbeat field tales and quirky listener advice.
• Interactive—the live audience is deeply involved, voting and commenting, and the crew riffs off chat input.

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Final Thoughts

This episode perfectly captures September’s spirit for hunters, anglers, and outdoorspeople: anticipation for the season, serious concern for public land access and conservation policy, and a light touch that never takes itself too seriously. It weaves together expert voices, grassroots tips, live contests, and memorable field stories—delivering an engaging, informative hour-plus for anyone who cares about wild places and wild pursuits.

Transcript

[Randall Williams]

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[Cal]

Smell us now, lady. Welcome to Meat Eater Trivia.

[Podcast Announcer]

Meat Eater Podcast.

[Randall Williams]

Welcome to Meat Eater radio live. It's 11am Mountain Time. That's 1pm for our friends in beautiful Ashtabula, Ohio, on this Thursday, September 4th. And we are live from Meteor HQ in Bozeman, Montana. I'm your host, Randall Williams, and I have the distinct pleasure today of being joined by my two friends, Ryan Callahan and Seth Morris.

[Seth Morris]

It's good to be here.

[Randall Williams]

On today's show, we're talking to Ben Batten.

[Cal]

I don't think you sent me the script for this week, so I don't know what I'm supposed to say. Am I genuinely supposed to say hello?

[Randall Williams]

No, no, that's in a minute here. I will send you the script right now. Do you know how to check Slack? Oh, her email is better.

[Cal]

Speed bump.

[Seth Morris]

We should have went over this a little bit ago, but I'm dicking.

[Cal]

Here we are. Let's continue.

[Randall Williams]

Oh, you're good. All right. Never can tell around here. On today's show, we're talking to Ben Batten. We've got a hot, hot, hot tip off. We're going to do a little show and tell. We're going to talk to Mark Kenyon about the latest public land controversy. And finally, you, our faithful audience, will choose the winner of the trail cam photo contest, brought to you by Moultrie. Sounds like another fantastic episode. Ryan, Seth, how are you guys doing today?

[Seth Morris]

Fantastic.

[Cal]

Real good, real good. I'm high.

[Phil]

Anxiety.

[Randall Williams]

Like the script thing.

[Cal]

Oh, hunting season started.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah.

[Cal]

And I have lots to do before I can, like, really get serious about hunting season.

[Randall Williams]

What's your first big trip?

[Cal]

Brown bear in Alaska, which is a big, big trip for anybody. Yeah, yeah. And truly a trip I never thought I would go on. So, I mean, it's. It's huge. And I'm Just trying to get in a mental place with all the adult responsibilities where I can just focus on nothing but that.

[Randall Williams]

Sure.

[Cal]

It's hard.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah.

[Cal]

Yeah.

[Phil]

Did you ever guide a brown bear hunt before?

[Cal]

I worked as a packer for one season up on the peninsula. So it'll be super cool to come back.

[Seth Morris]

Yeah.

[Cal]

Yeah.

[Randall Williams]

Cool.

[Seth Morris]

That'll be awesome.

[Cal]

You know, like any ultra low paid position in the outdoor world. You just do everything when you're up.

[Randall Williams]

There and you never dream about being the guy sitting on the other side of the boat.

[Cal]

Oh, yeah. Never, never. And just like at that point in my life too, I was like, how much did the tag cost? No, sir.

[Randall Williams]

Who would ever do this? Jeez. Incredibly indulgent.

[Seth Morris]

Yeah.

[Randall Williams]

Seth. How are you?

[Seth Morris]

I'm great. I'm. I gotta say I'm more excited for fall fishing than picking up the bow at this point in my life.

[Randall Williams]

Got out this weekend for a little bit.

[Seth Morris]

Yep.

[Cal]

But I am chasing just big brown trout running after streamers. That's what you're thinking about?

[Seth Morris]

No.

[Cal]

Yeah, just drowning a worm next to a lazy.

[Seth Morris]

I'm thinking about big walleyes and smallmouth putting on the feed bag for winter. That's what, that's what gets me excited. That and then just the thought of rifle season coming. I like shooting things at further distances with center fire cartridges.

[Randall Williams]

Oh, you're speaking my language.

[Cal]

How's your. Your trip out to the Pecker?

[Phil]

It was.

[Seth Morris]

A lot of shit happened that. It's a long story. It's a long story. We got one solid day in, but the weekend ended sooner than I expected, so we'll just end it there.

[Cal]

You need a do over?

[Randall Williams]

I got back to my old stomping grounds in the Little Miami river and I drowned. Four night crawlers. Caught one fish.

[Seth Morris]

That probably put you back in a certain place in time.

[Randall Williams]

My God. Just the. The bugs landing on me. Just listen to the water.

[Seth Morris]

Was it after dark?

[Randall Williams]

No. Because much to my disappointment, all of my childhood fishing areas now are extremely well signed with. This area closes at sundown or dusk.

[Cal]

Yeah.

[Randall Williams]

Like it used to be the case that. This is before Onyx. We're just like, do you think anybody owns this? Can we fish here? And then we sort of verified that, yes, it was owned by the county or whatever. Owned by the town. But there was no actual like signage. And. And so everywhere I pulled up, it was like. Like I came back from the tailgate tour literally on my way home from Columbus, bought a big old can of Coors Light and 12 Night Crawlers, ripped down was like 10 minutes before sunset. Got to the spot I wanted. The first thing I see when I get out of my car is a big sign. It says closed at. At dusk. Which I'm just like, we used to have Fight Club down there. You know, it used to be the Wild West.

[Cal]

I am, I'm. I'm advocating heavily with my buddy and his wife, who's also my buddy, to allow their oldest boy, who's nine. This is a real, like, western Montana family float fish, fly fishing for. For trout all the time. But I'm trying to get them to allow the nine year old out for antelope camp this year with the intention of getting that kid on some catfish, too. So much introducing the joy of.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah.

[Cal]

Sitting next to a rod that's just stuck in a mud bank.

[Randall Williams]

I did bring. I did bring a bell. I got to listen to the bell jingle.

[Cal]

Excellent.

[Randall Williams]

Stuck. Stuck my rod bud in a tangled root ball and just. Oh, it's like old times. But I didn't get a catfish. I just caught a little striper.

[Cal]

Oh.

[Randall Williams]

And then I broke my rod. I set the hook in that striper and I heard this little tick and I kind of like pushed all the sections back together, thinking that maybe they jiggled loose and then got the fish in cast out again. Went to set the hook on another fish and the thing just snapped off like five inches above the cork. So that's why I only drowned four of the 12 worms. The eight of them are probably still living rich lives alongside the beautiful banks of Little Miami.

[Seth Morris]

Well, at least you got out there and got a couple.

[Randall Williams]

Oh. All it made me want to do is go back immediately.

[Cal]

Yeah.

[Randall Williams]

And just float that thing again and again and again.

[Cal]

Yeah. I mean, that's the thing that nobody can properly celebrate. Right. Is failure just really makes you be like, like your weekend. Right. I'm sure you're like, I need to go back.

[Seth Morris]

Oh, God. I just.

[Cal]

And put a big W on the board.

[Seth Morris]

All I think about every day since then is I just gotta get back.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah.

[Cal]

Yeah. I wasted my weekend. I failed. Yeah, exactly. Gotta do it right.

[Randall Williams]

Well, speaking of doing things right, joining us on the line next is Mark Kenyon.

[Cal]

Oh, yeah.

[Randall Williams]

Host of the Wired to Hunt podcast and author of that Wild Country. An Epic Journey through the Past, present and future of America's Public lands.

[Cal]

Meteor's most beautiful cast member, Mark.

[Randall Williams]

Welcome to the show, sir.

[Cal]

There he is. Look at that. Oh, stunning.

[Mark Kenyon]

You're too kind. You're too kind. It's good to be here, though, guys. Thanks for having me.

[Randall Williams]

Mark. There's been a lot of news recently about something called the Roadless Rule. And for those listening to this, this podcast, or watching us on YouTube here, if they're not familiar with the road, the Roadless rule. Can you explain what the Roadless rule is?

[Mark Kenyon]

Yeah. So the 2001 roadless rule was enacted by the National Forest Service and the U.S. department of Agriculture back in 2001. As the title would tell you, in response to a couple different things going on at that time, you had one, which was a serious backlog in maintenance of the Forest Service road system. So the US Forest Service has nearly 400,000 miles of roads running across our public lands. That's a lot of work to try to keep that, you know, in good working conditions so that people can access their public lands so that folks can, can access these different places to do whatever kind of use they might be undertaking. So at this time in the late 90s, they realized, while we have a massive maintenance backlog, these roads that have been subsidized by taxpayers are now not providing the return. We're having serious budget issues. At the same time, we have also, as one person put it, cut the face off our forests in many places. And now we are left with just, you know, fragments of habitat that has not been eroded, that has not been developed. And so maybe we should think about what the long term future of these last places should be. You know, long story short, what that led to was the Roadless Rule. It was a very long process, you know, almost two years. Hundreds of public meetings, 1.6 million public comments put in from the public in regards to whether or not this is a good idea and how we should go about it. All that led to this rule being created, enacted, and it protected about 58.5 million acres of our national forest system in a relatively unroaded way. So there were exceptions baked into this rule that allowed for some roads to be built in these places. If there was, you know, need for wildfire mitigation and management, there were exceptions put into this rule that would allow some new road building in the case of wildlife habitat improvement projects being needed. But in general, this 58.5 million acres of national forest would not be the home for new roads. So it would leave this area in a relatively undeveloped, relatively intact, relatively unfragmented state. And it has been in that state for, you know, 24 years now. And these places are some of our, you know, our best, our last, best back country elk hunting spots, mule deer hunting spots, you know, high country trout spots. I went on my, my two kids, my, at the time, they were 4 and 6. I think it was their first backpacking trip with both of them, or maybe they're three and five. That was in one of our inventoried roadless areas. I killed my first elk on an inventoried roadless area. So, long story short, these are really, really special places and they're in the news right now because the administration has proposed removing that rule entirely, rolling back all of those protections. So that's the high level scoop. That's what the roadless rule is. That's why it's in the news right now.

[Randall Williams]

Gotcha. And so what are the, I guess what are the main arguments on both sides of the issue? What's the rationale for. You've laid out a bit about the benefits of these roadless areas for hunters and anglers, but what's the rationale for rolling it back?

[Mark Kenyon]

Yes, so in the proposal, in the, you know, in all of the press releases and comments from the administration from the Secretary of Agriculture, the reason for rolling back the roadless rule has supposedly been to, to help, you know, move forward with President Trump's executive order to expand timber production and then also to better manage our forests. There's been a lot of talk about the forest fact that, you know, our forests have been under managed. They have, you know, too much fuel for wildfire. So wildfire risk is high. The habitat isn't as good for wildlife. We're not producing as much timber as maybe we have in the past. And so the argument is if we roll back the roadless rule, that will fix all of that. That's, that's why they say they should roll this rule back. On the flip side, advocates for the rule, which includes most all environmental and conservation groups, most hunting and fishing groups that I've seen have all been coming out very strongly in support of the rule. The reason why we think the roadless rule should stick around is because, as I mentioned, this is protecting some of our last best hunting and fishing places. This is protecting, you know, some of our last unfragmented wildlife habitat for, for so many species, whether it be species we hunt and fish or endangered and threatened species. We do not have very many of these places that are not already broken up and separated and bifurcated by roads and open to develop. So this is something that is pretty rare these days. As I mentioned, there are exceptions already for wildfire management and for habitat management. Trout Unlimited has done a great job of starting to quantify this. If you go to their website, they've got an interactive map that showcases where these inventories, roadless areas are and what kinds of management, management efforts have been happening there. So significant wildfire mitigation efforts have been underway in these places. So it's, it's false to say that these places have not had any management or any work done on them. But certainly, you know, there's an argument to be made that our national forest absolutely can and should be managed better. We do need to manage for fire risk. We do need to manage for wildlife habitat. And I think there's, you know, two things to consider. One, a lot of that should be happening not in our backcountry roadless areas, but up in the wildland urban interface where there already are roads. Something like 80 or 85% of all of our wildfires are started by humans, first off, and I think it's 90% of the fires on our national forests start within half mile of a road. So roads typically are what leads to wildfires igniting and started. That's where this stuff's happening a lot of the time, in the places that we want to protect from fire homes, human development. You know, that stuff's not in these roadless areas, is up on that, what they call it the, the wildland urban interface. So the wui, I think, is what people refer to that as.

[Randall Williams]

Who could forget that?

[Mark Kenyon]

What's that?

[Randall Williams]

Who could forget that? The wui.

[Mark Kenyon]

Yeah, the wui. So, yeah, we need to have management that can be done in these places that are not in our inventory, roadless areas that should be. There's plenty of challenges to that that can be addressed. And maybe there are ways we can improve the roadless rule. I think there's room for enhancing it, fixing it, finding more ways for more of these exceptions to be created for temporary roads to do more of this careful management in the right ways. I think there's a conversation to be had there, and a lot of conservation and hunting and fishing organizations, I think, would be happy to engage in that. But this wholesale rollback of all of it, that would eliminate all of these, you know, carefully managed and protected places that benefit a lot of folks and a lot of wildlife and a lot of user bases. That seems the wrong way to go about this, at least my 2 cents on the matter.

[Randall Williams]

Sure. Are there specific regions or forests where this debate is particularly heated, like areas of the country that are going to be affected more than others?

[Mark Kenyon]

Yeah. So there are inventoried roadless areas, which are what we call these places that the roadless rule applies to. There are IRAs, inventory roadless areas in 39 different states from west coast to east. But the vast majority of these spots are in the 10 Western states. And Alaska in particular with the Tongass National Forest has probably the largest impacted zone. The Tongass has about just over 9 million acres of roadless area there. So that would make a huge, this would be a really big deal if the road, this rule was rescinded, especially up there in the Tongass where you have, you know, there were a lot of roads built back in the day to start developing the Tongass and that has, you know, for example, really, really impacted salmon and steelhead runs up there because every one of these roads has culverts crossing hundreds and hundreds of different streams. And that's a major issue now that I know that Trout Unlimited has been working on for years trying to, you know, fix culverts and open up passageway for fish through these many, many different roadways. So there's a lot to be discussed there. In Alaska, I know, for example, you know, in Wyoming and Montana, some of my favorite places that I've spent time in, those could possibly be impacted. So if you live in the west especially, this is something you should be paying attention to. But I know in New Hampshire, in North Carolina, in Michigan, all those states have roadless areas that could be impacted as well.

[Randall Williams]

Gotcha. And what should people who care about public lands, access and conservation be watching for as this issue develops? Where do things stand right now and if they want to weigh in, how can hunters and anglers make a difference on this? Yes.

[Mark Kenyon]

So this past Friday, so I don't know, five, six days ago, the administration officially proposed this rollback and opened up a comment period. The comment period is a 21 day window that we, the public, have to submit to the administration our thoughts on this proposal. And so I, you know, any hunter and angler who cares about these last roadless places and who would like to see them protected in this way should absolutely go and submit a comment explaining, you know, why these wild places, why these roadless areas are important, why the careful management of them in such a way is important for hunting and fishing and wildlife and whatever else it is that you love to do. If you go to backcountryhunters.org there's an action center there that has an opportunity for you to send a letter to your elected officials and then also instructions for how to access the Federal Register, which is where you submit your official comments. So what I'd ask everyone to do is to Go there, follow the action items there on that document which would be sending the note and then submitting an actual comment to the Federal Register. We have until September 19th to do so. And so, you know, this is, this is the democratic process. This is our opportunity to get in there and submit our thoughts to, to share our perspectives and to ask our elected officials and those who are appointed by them to, to do what's best for the public and the long term future of these places and the wildlife that live on them. And we gotta speak up.

[Randall Williams]

Appreciate it. Mark, thanks for, thanks for helping us better understand this issue and for everything you're doing for public lands. I know you got some groceries to unload and you've got some deer to hunt this afternoon. So with that we'll let you go.

[Mark Kenyon]

Thanks, guys.

[Cal]

Thanks, Mark. Good night.

[Phil]

Thanks, Mark.

[Cal]

Boy.

[Randall Williams]

He'S got a good delivery there.

[Phil]

Oh, great delivery.

[Cal]

Great delivery.

[Randall Williams]

Good to have advocates like that on our side.

[Phil]

Yeah, on that note too, Rashad commented and said Mark just got out of the grocery store and remembered he was supposed to go live today. I will say, Mark, the reason for that is that Mark is technically off the clock today. Yeah, he's on a office, so he did us a big favor jumping in.

[Randall Williams]

So he's on a little family hunting and fishing trip and he took time out of his busy time off.

[Cal]

Can I, can I throw in a little color on roadless?

[Randall Williams]

Sure.

[Cal]

Because. So we call it roadless, but there's about 20 million acres out there that have pre existing road networks. Mark covered that at the very beginning. Then at the end he kind of went back to roadless, which it is roadless designated. But there are pre existing roads out there that people walk and hike and used to access deeper into these areas. But sometimes that gets thrown around as.

[Randall Williams]

Like the, oh yeah, we're locked out.

[Cal]

Well, you know, there's that too. But they're like, oh yeah, your roadless has roads on it. How is it roadless? Right. And the, you know, the big thing here is that there is a history of litigation by certain groups when the roadless rule is used, as it should be, to try to build roads for the purposes of habitat and things like that. Like there's a lot of suing that goes on to stop all road building, even though it's written into the roadless rule. And some of those feelings have very much come to the surface.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah.

[Cal]

To say get rid of the roadless rule. But the flip side of this is.

[Randall Williams]

That you see the same thing with the Endangered Species Act.

[Cal]

Yeah. Exactly, exactly. Is the roadless rule is really working for a lot of people in a lot of areas. And so obviously there's middle ground here for roadless rule reform where it's needed. And this idea of it's got to be all one way or all the other way is just not accurate. And so this is just really lazy management to say, okay, get rid of the whole thing. And also to classify this as only a timber play is completely wrong. Timber's the thing that gets absolutely talked about the most, both in fire fuel reduction, which nobody's come out to say how we're going to pay for reducing low growth that is not marketable by and large, unless it's extremely close to like a pellet facility or you know, a pulp situation that makes it something you would get paid to do versus something you pay for. Obviously right now, like we're not talking about paying for a lot of things. Right, right. That's why I bring that up. So the other thing that's not getting talked a lot about here is this would provide the ability to build roads to areas for mineral withdrawal. And when we talk about mineral withdrawal, we're talking about something with large footprints and long term impacts that instead of our friend Seth here having to wait for a logging operation to get done over the course of a couple of seasons and then going in and hunting that stuff that now provides early successional growth that animals love to come in and eat and is can be really good hunting if. If that cut is done in the correct way. We're talking about an area that Seth does not go back into for his entire lifetime because it takes a long time to run these mineral extraction operations. And obviously we need stuff that comes out of the ground too. But is that a situation where we have to roll back this entire thing or can we identify these areas.

[Randall Williams]

Right.

[Cal]

And say, hey, this is really important right now. We need to reform the roadless rule to accommodate these. Yes.

[Randall Williams]

Specific things.

[Cal]

Yeah. So like, I for one, very sick and tired of a Democrat administration coming in, swinging the pendulum extremely one way and then a conservative administration coming in and swinging it completely the opposite way. When I feel like most Americans are like, oh, this thing in the middle makes sense.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Seth Morris]

Well, agreed.

[Randall Williams]

Keep pounding the drum.

[Podcast Announcer]

Mega important announcement. In fact, the most important announcement you ever heard. The third volume in our Meat Eaters American History audiobook series is available for pre order right now. Meat Eaters American history the Hidehunters 1865-1883 tells the story of the commercial buffalo hunters who Drove North America's most iconic large mammal to the brink of extinction in the years after the Civil War. You'll learn all about these guys. Guys like Dirty Face Jones, Skunk Johnson and Charles Squirrel Eye Emery. How they organized their hunting expeditions, what they took with them, how they hunted, what rifles they shot, how they processed their kills, how they suffered and died in the field. And the true stories of what drove them to do it in the first place. You'll also learn about the economic factors that made this a viable profession. And what happened to those millions of buffalo skins once they were shipped east. And like we do in all of our Meat Eaters American History projects, you'll hear a ton of wild stories and bizarre details from this era. And don't worry, we didn't leave out any of the gory details. Pre order Meat Eaters American history, the Hidehunters, 1865-1883. Wherever you get your audiobooks. And you'll be ready to dig in when it's available to listen on October 14th.

[Randall Williams]

Our next segment is show and tell the Sweet tones.

[Cal]

Is the song better or Phil dancing to his own song better? Oh, this is like his morning shower routine.

[Randall Williams]

Stink face is good. The stink face is good.

[Cal]

Can you see him putting gel in his hair to that song?

[Randall Williams]

Oh, yeah, that cut. Seth, let's start with you.

[Seth Morris]

Yeah.

[Randall Williams]

What did you bring to share with the class today?

[Seth Morris]

I brought a thing that I found out on the prairie one time when I was hunting deer.

[Randall Williams]

Mmm. Boy, that's neat.

[Seth Morris]

This is a bison skull that I found sticking out of a bank in Montana.

[Cal]

It's an eater sized bison.

[Seth Morris]

Yeah. Not a big one. Where are you hunting deer in Montana and like county?

[Randall Williams]

I'm just joking.

[Seth Morris]

So my wife had just killed a pretty cool cactus buck and we were several miles from our vehicle at this point in time and it was starting to get dark and I just pulled up the old onx and noticed that there was a two track that got us a little closer. So I kept her there to work on the deer. She needed some experience and breaking critters down by herself anyway.

[Cal]

Opportunity, right? Yes.

[Randall Williams]

Plus then you don't have to be there during that process.

[Mark Kenyon]

Yep.

[Seth Morris]

Um, and I was like, I'm gonna go back and get the. Get the truck and make a loop and we'll get a little closer for the pack out. So I did that and on my way there, I just happened to catch out of the corner of my eye a little bit of white sticking out of a bank. That was. Wasn't even like A exposed type bank that has like, you know, a bunch of soil and stuff. It was just like completely covered in grass and little woody shrubs.

[Randall Williams]

Settled.

[Cal]

Oh, wow.

[Seth Morris]

Yeah. And yeah, I just saw a little piece of white and I kind of got to digging around and it. It just kept getting bigger and bigger and ended up digging that thing out.

[Phil]

That's cool.

[Seth Morris]

Which was cool.

[Cal]

Yeah, I should.

[Seth Morris]

I was in a hurry, so I kind of. There was a lot more to it than this.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah.

[Seth Morris]

I should have taken my time and got the whole thing.

[Cal]

Yeah. But then you got. Got the misses back there being like.

[Podcast Announcer]

Yeah.

[Cal]

Just abandoned.

[Seth Morris]

How did the deer go?

[Randall Williams]

The butchering went all right.

[Seth Morris]

Well, I got back and she had just stopped and was like. That got to a point where I just didn't know I was doing. So I figured I'd wait for you.

[Randall Williams]

Gotcha.

[Seth Morris]

But yeah, very cool.

[Randall Williams]

So I've never found one. I'd love to.

[Seth Morris]

You know, there's a lot of them out there. You just got to find them. A lot of them are buried.

[Randall Williams]

Yep.

[Seth Morris]

But a cool story about the. The buck she killed. I found that deer like 12 miles away the day before.

[Cal]

Oh, cool.

[Seth Morris]

Yeah. And we woke up that morning and we're like, we're just going to go hunt a different area. And for whatever reason, that deer over trying to get killed moved a lot. So.

[Cal]

That's cool. That's really cool.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah. Cal. What did you bring the class here?

[Cal]

So I actually thought about this first time here on Meteor Radio Live.

[Phil]

Nate says, who wants to place odds on what? Cal takes off the wall for his show.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So take off the nightstand, I think is the.

[Cal]

So this is the first real good book I've read in a while here. And it's by this dude, Nate Schweber, who is actually. I think we were actually classmates or maybe we didn't overlap, but he's a Hellgate Knight, Montana, just like I am this America of ours. Bernard Navis devoto. And it is a great conservation history book. It's got a lot of relevance for this time in. In. In space right now, there's a healthy helping of super cute love story. There's all sorts of. I would call them like celebrity cameos in here that are. Are really interesting as well. But really it tackles a lot of like land theft, public land theft.

[Randall Williams]

And it's like the. He's really engaged in like the late 40s and 50s, right, DeVoto? Yeah, yeah.

[Cal]

I mean, earlier. Earlier in that too. Taken before his time.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah.

[Cal]

Big old heart attack.

[Mark Kenyon]

Yeah.

[Cal]

Cut him down. But so when you're looking to forget.

[Randall Williams]

About your day to day stresses, pick up a book about public land theft and pillaging of our shared resources.

[Cal]

Yeah. And the reality is, is just like today, the reason that folks were take all this awesome stuff away from us is because folks weren't paying attention.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah.

[Cal]

And it took old Bernard Navis here to shine a little light on the situation. So great book, Highly recommend.

[Randall Williams]

Very cool.

[Cal]

Yeah.

[Randall Williams]

Appreciate it. Well, I brought, I brought two things. One, I was the first idea and I thought it was a good psa. So I was looking at the gear shelf and.

[Cal]

Oh, bless your heart.

[Randall Williams]

This is the deuce number three. It's a trowel for burying your waste when you need to defecate in the woods. Which I hope to be doing plenty of this fall if my work commitments allow. This probably weighs like, weighs like a couple credit cards. I mean, it's nothing. Slide it right there next to your water bottle. Well, maybe not next to your water bottle, but it fits almost anywhere flat. And bury your duke. Folks, Cal had an unfortunate incident recently.

[Cal]

The whole weekend was just marked by human feces on dogs in dogs surface pooping.

[Randall Williams]

Yep.

[Cal]

Human surface pooping.

[Randall Williams]

Yep.

[Cal]

The woods around Bos Angeles are heavily loved by humans and they're not burying their waste.

[Randall Williams]

So if you, if you're going out into the woods this fall, and I.

[Cal]

Hope you are, imagine a long haired border collie.

[Randall Williams]

Be prepared.

[Cal]

Rolling in your feces.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah.

[Cal]

And then running back and wanting to jump in the vehicle.

[Randall Williams]

So this is, this actually says on here it's bad. It's 0.97 ounces.

[Cal]

Snort eight. Human boot.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah.

[Cal]

And we make out. Think of that.

[Randall Williams]

Yep.

[Cal]

It's horrifying. It is horrifying.

[Phil]

Randall. Why is that?

[Randall Williams]

The deuce number three, they have different sizes.

[Phil]

Oh, gotcha.

[Cal]

I think that's an adult size.

[Randall Williams]

Great question. Yeah. There's different sizes.

[Cal]

I mean, mama bear, baby bear.

[Randall Williams]

I used to know trowel guy. I used to be like, oh, there's plenty of sticks in the woods. But you don't, when you got to go, you don't want to dig around for something to dig around with.

[Cal]

Yeah. Or just find that rock to flip over.

[Randall Williams]

Just grab the deuce and release the deuce, as I like to say.

[Seth Morris]

There you go.

[Randall Williams]

And then I also, I lost my bipod hunting last fall and it fell off my rifle. It's got like a little ARCA clamp and I was in a, I was in an unfortunate situation of trying to get a shot off at an animal and lost my bipod. Didn't realize it till I got back home. Followed my onyx track and grabbed it last week. So a little once over with the wire wheel on the dremel and she's good to go. So nice.

[Seth Morris]

Ready for another season.

[Randall Williams]

Getting ready for the fall. I couldn't make up my mind when I visited the gear bench.

[Cal]

I like it. So you just casually strolled in, just grabbed something, didn't even think about it. Yeah. There you go, audience.

[Randall Williams]

Phil, what's chat saying?

[Phil]

Hey, listener feedback. We got some good questions this week. This might be a good one for Cal. I don't know, but Leland asks, what are everyone's favorite dove recipes?

[Cal]

Mmm. Yeah. Don't cook them too long. Yeah. Kind of medium rareish. And just gnaw them off the bone. I've also ground them into sausage. My favorite thing that I've ever done probably is you take your dove breaths and throw some Cotija cheese and cilantro and salt and a little cumin and run that stuff through the grinder and use the soft sausage stuffing attachment and just shoot it right into jalapenos.

[Randall Williams]

Ooh.

[Cal]

And then just roast the jalapenos on the. The top deck of the pellet grill.

[Randall Williams]

It's kind of like a twist on the classic popper.

[Cal]

Oh, people. Yeah, it's a killer. That's real good.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah.

[Cal]

A little classier than the.

[Randall Williams]

I've always done like a classic popper or just throw them on the grill real quick and eat them rare.

[Cal]

Yeah.

[Seth Morris]

We used to fillet the meat off the breast and. And throw it in spaghetti sauce. And it was like, instead of me, like spaghetti and meatballs, it was like spaghetti and dove breast, perfect size.

[Randall Williams]

That's good.

[Phil]

Randall. Ethan says, did you pick up some skyline while you were home? And follow up from me. How was the tailgate tour your stop?

[Randall Williams]

Well, I can answer the first question pretty quickly. Yes. Immediately after the Ohio State Buckeyes vanquished the deplorable Texas longhorns, I celebrated with four cheese Coney's onion mustard in a small freeway. And then when the guy came back and he said with the check and he said, you guys good? I said, no, bring me another cheese Coney, please. Just one onion and mustard. So I had five plus three way. And then the next day I went to the Reds game. And on the way to the Reds game, I had four cheese coneys, onion and mustard. And I wanted to get more, but time didn't allow it. I was on sort of a. You know, I had to cram a lot in.

[Phil]

I think you did.

[Randall Williams]

Going to the zoo, going to the baseball game, catching a fish. I did it all. But the tailgate tour was good. I met some delightful folks. I saw there was a question there about EHD In Ohio, and I heard a lot about EHD In Ohio. Sounds like it's pretty bad at the moment. And actually when I was driving back from the airport to my folks house, There's a guy that, you know, like the houses that like, will write something on plywood and stick it out by the road with their thoughts on the world. And this guy had written, Postpone Deer Hunting 2025. Let the herd recover.

[Cal]

Whoa. Wow.

[Randall Williams]

And that was like a half an hour off. After I got off the plane, I was like, whoa, this is pretty serious. And then sure enough, that sort of piqued my curiosity. And the next day I heard a lot about EHD so. But all in all, fabulous to be in the Buckeye state and got to see Ohio state win. Got to see the reds win and got to see some gorillas, so.

[Phil]

And that was Mason asking about EHD In Ohio. This is from Steven. Question for Seth. I'm trying to beat 12 pounds 4 ounces for walleyes. Is for Peck a consideration or should I just be considering Erie?

[Seth Morris]

I think you're narrowing it. You're narrowing in too much. There's lots of places where you can be 12 pounds 4 ounces. The whole Missouri river system as a. As a whole is pretty fantastic. A lot of places in the Midwest. I'd recommend looking at survey data from local or from state fish and game agencies. You can. A lot of times you can go on there and see when they survey different lakes, they'll do some.

[Cal]

That fish app with that has all the survey data in it. The I Fish. What. What is the.

[Randall Williams]

The Onx.

[Cal]

The Onx one. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Seth Morris]

Onx fish. Onx fish app has. I think they have Wisconsin and Minnesota, and I think they just dropped Ohio recently. Oo but yeah, you can go on there and look at different lakes and see trophy potential. But I mean, for pack and. And Erie are both great fisheries. But I'm not sure where you live, but there might be places a lot closer to home.

[Phil]

Great.

[Seth Morris]

Good luck. I hope you. You beat it.

[Phil]

Hey, Jamie, your Amber would. Your Amber, your wife Amber would like like us to say hi to you. Hi. Thanks for being a watcher and a listener.

[Randall Williams]

Shout out J. Shout out Jamie Thibodeau.

[Seth Morris]

There you go.

[Randall Williams]

Assuming you have the same last name.

[Phil]

As your wife, Ralph Asks Cal. A couple of months ago you were on and talking about boots. You said, always get a good pair of insoles. I am in the market for some insoles and would love a recommendation if you have any. Thanks.

[Cal]

Boy. Yeah, go someplace where you can kind of get a idea of what your instep is and then you like, you know, the, I don't know what they call little footboard things. Any, like, kind of nice boot shop has something like this and they oftentimes have an assortment of all the, the insoles out there too. And, and the difference between the insoles is like cushion, but also how it fits the arch of your foot and you know, like all good things in life takes a little, little doing little, little time invested on your part. But yeah, find one that feels comfy and eliminates that foot slide and you'll be in good shape.

[Seth Morris]

If Ralph lives in central Pennsylvania, a little shameless plug for the family biz. Definitely center boot company. They'll get you squared away.

[Randall Williams]

Cool.

[Phil]

Let's do one more.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah.

[Phil]

Before the next segment here. This is from Mad Sean. Question for the crew for mid October hunts. How do you adjust calling and approach when hunting elk? He specifically says Roosevelt elk, but in dense coastal fau forest compared to Rocky Mountain environs.

[Randall Williams]

Sounds like a question for old Ryan Callahan.

[Cal]

Boy, let's call Jason Phelps. Boy. Yeah, I don't, I don't know much about Roosevelt elk. I would love to go over there and hunt those things. They're super cool. I, I do know that calling, calling works. It's just hard to hear them because the foliage is so dense. Um, late or. Sorry. Early to mid October around here is typically when the herds are, are, are built up and they're bigger. And that means they are more vocal. So you have a good chance of locating elk because they're more talkative. And then cow calls, cow calf calls in combo can bring in satellite and raghorn bulls on. On the fringe, which most of the time when I'm hunting elk, I'm hunting broadside elk. Not. I don't need to go find the big herd bull because I want to put that sucker in my freezer and then worry about mule deer.

[Seth Morris]

I. I agree. Couldn't agree more.

[Randall Williams]

Thank you, Phil. And for those of you in the chat, keep them coming, please. Keep them coming. We'll hit it again. Our next segment is hot tip off.

[Phil]

H o t T I P A.

[Randall Williams]

Let'S all do a ha tiba H.

[Phil]

O t T I P A let's all do a ha tip.

[Randall Williams]

Hot Tip off is where two listeners go head to head with competing pieces of advice. And after we hear each tip, we'll declare which one is hotter. I think we should change that to read. And after we hear both tips, if you have a hot tip, take a 1 minute video on your phone and email it to radiothemediator.com with the subject line Hot Tip Off. This week Hot Tip off is brought to you by Mountain Ops. Mountain Ops Mountain Ops supports your daily journey from mountain training to overall well being, optimizing performance enhancing, recovery and bolstering health, preparing you for any challenge. Today's competitors are Chad in Corvia from Eagle, Idaho and Nick Maroldi from Cragsmore, New York. And they're competing for the Meat Eater Classic Bison Hoodie. Folks, in the chat, please chime in. Let's see those hot tips.

[Seth Morris]

Phil.

[Cal]

Nick Maroldi.

[Nick Maroldi]

Hey guys, this is Nick coming with a hot tip. So good way to start training for your season and get your kids outdoors at the same time. See here I got my little guy on the in the chest carrier. I got my little girl in the osprey backpack. This is a great workout that's self progressing. So I started with just the one, progressed to two. Gonna have to get a little creative if we have three or as this one gets too big big for the chest carrier. But again, self progressing workout gets your kids excited to be outside and it gets you some points with the wife because she's got a couple hours to not have anybody hanging off of her. All right, hope you enjoyed. Take care.

[Cal]

Chad and Corvia.

[Chad]

Hi, me eater wanted to submit a hot tip. I'm preparing to head down to Utah for an elk hunt and in putting my kill kit together I got my meat hanging string. This is waxed nine strand string used for a lot of commercial purposes. Has a weight rating of about £140. I'll hang an Elk Quarter off one strand of that. You see it's waxed so it holds its shape pretty good, makes it easy to tie knots. This 12 foot piece I just weighed is about 4 1/2 grams or 0.16 ounces. To show you how strong it is, I have a piece hanging up here and my makeshift pull up bar. I weigh about 230 pounds and you can see just a couple strands.

[Randall Williams]

It carries it well, no problem.

[Chad]

So instead of paracord or other heavy ropes, grab yourself some waxed nine strand.

[Randall Williams]

Cool.

[Seth Morris]

Based off his garage there he has some experience.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah, that guy killed smell that guy looks like a Killer.

[Cal]

Yeah, he borrowed a lot of elk.

[Phil]

The poll is live in the chat. You guys are picking the winners of two different contests today. I feel like we're giving you too much power, but yeah, I want to.

[Randall Williams]

Strip some of this power for. From them and appropriate it to ourselves. But yeah, get in there and vote. You know, be honest. I liked the joke about this being a self. What did he call, how did he describe his workout?

[Phil]

Self progressing.

[Randall Williams]

Self progressing workout. He's very clever.

[Seth Morris]

Yeah.

[Randall Williams]

Plus he probably gets to eat a lot of like Cheerios and stuff that they drop on the ground.

[Phil]

Applesauce pouches.

[Randall Williams]

The one worry I have though is that whenever I see someone with baby on their back or on their chest, I'm like, okay, that's good. They know if they fall, they can go that way or that way opposite the baby, right?

[Seth Morris]

Oh, yeah.

[Randall Williams]

When you got babies on all sides.

[Seth Morris]

You can either go left or right.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah, you gotta go left or right. And that's not good for the old rotator cuff.

[Seth Morris]

No.

[Randall Williams]

You guys doing anything.

[Cal]

So too dangerous. Too dangerous is why you won't be doing that particular training exercise.

[Randall Williams]

Precisely. Precisely. Yeah, it seems. And also I'm far behind this man in, in his development of his equipment. So you guys doing any. Doing any hiking? Doing any. Getting prepped for the.

[Cal]

All season I've been so short on time. I have been just trying to like bust out on trail runs. I mean, as. As much as possible daily, if, if possible. But I put the shortened time there because I'm trying to make myself feel as poorly as possible with the least amount of time.

[Randall Williams]

Good.

[Cal]

Otherwise hiking would be good.

[Seth Morris]

I. I do some running a couple times a week and then hit the weights a couple times a week.

[Randall Williams]

I see you in here. It's early.

[Seth Morris]

It's not like a season prep. It's just like general maintenance for my entire life.

[Phil]

So this poll is. Could not be closer. So if you have not voted, you can tip the scales. So get in there.

[Randall Williams]

Get in there.

[Phil]

I think I'm end it in about 30 seconds here.

[Randall Williams]

If there are fewer than 300 votes out of our audience of 353, I'll be sorely disappointed. Voting is your right as an American. And it's unconscionable that people don't participate when given the option. Yeah.

[Phil]

What are the voting statistics?

[Randall Williams]

The opportunity something? Percent yeah, I don't know. I mean, I just think it's embarrassing. Like people, you know, vote 361. Come on, get in there. I'd like to see 320 votes. Yeah. I like the guy mentions. He carries it well. That was one of my. I thought that guy. £230. That guy stacked.

[Phil]

Looks great.

[Randall Williams]

That guy stacked.

[Cal]

Yeah.

[Randall Williams]

All right, we'll give this 10 more seconds. I have not been doing much preparation or training. Been on a real downhill slide since visiting Germany two months ago. Just gotten a lot of bad habits in terms of what I'm putting in my body. And I feel it every day when I wake up.

[Cal]

I mean, the Ohio trip. I didn't want to say anything on that note.

[Phil]

I was going to ask if you wanted a Gutalauna trip after the recording.

[Randall Williams]

Yes, I could be talked into that. I could be talking. Yeah. I actually didn't. I mean, thankfully I didn't drink that much in Ohio. Just ate a lot of cheese.

[Phil]

I feel like I can't end this poll. It's so close.

[Cal]

Oh, couple more.

[Phil]

Oh, my God.

[Cal]

Amount of cheese is just a lot.

[Randall Williams]

You haven't even seen the vids yet.

[Cal]

And then the saltiness of the.

[Randall Williams]

Oh, I feel like it's so good.

[Cal]

You're just entering one into your heart.

[Randall Williams]

It's so good.

[Cal]

I don't pride myself on like overly healthful eating.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah, but that.

[Cal]

That's tough.

[Randall Williams]

And Seth, as the spouse of an artist, you'll appreciate this. I found a painting that I'd like to buy a print of and it' Skyline Chili Parlor with a man dishing out skyline chili. And Pete Rose is sitting there eating with him. Joe Burrow.

[Seth Morris]

Oh, man.

[Randall Williams]

Larkin. Ken Griffey Sr. All the. All the Cincinnati, like classic athletes and they're just all enjoying. Enjoying a nice three way. Phil, how are we doing on this poll?

[Phil]

I got it. Okay.

[Randall Williams]

I'm describing artwork that I saw in a fast food restaurant, so we should probably wrap it up.

[Seth Morris]

I'm hoping you'll have another Instagram reel about your time in Ohio eating these dogs.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah, I gotta figure out. I forgot how to do voiceovers. How to do the voice change on voiceover voiceovers, so.

[Seth Morris]

Oh, just YouTube it.

[Randall Williams]

I got. I got a. I got a. A real coming of our Costco hot dog run. I got a real comment. My Cincinnati trip, it's going to be some hot stuff.

[Phil]

With just over 50% of the vote. Like 50 and a decimal point. The winner is Chad the wax string for hanging.

[Cal]

Whoa.

[Randall Williams]

Whoa.

[Seth Morris]

I wasn't expecting it.

[Cal]

In Corvia.

[Phil]

It was back and forth for a while.

[Randall Williams]

I. I am interested in.

[Cal]

That doesn't always win. That's a. That's.

[Randall Williams]

I end up carrying so much paracord I've got like my paracord to hang my food. I got my paracord to hang some meat. I got the paracord for just having paracord. You could just cut a little bit of that out.

[Seth Morris]

Paracord for hanging your paracord.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah, just cut a little bit of that out. With this WAX9 strand we'll be running.

[Phil]

And Chad, for winning the hot tip off, you will be receiving this wonderful meat eater hoodie. Bison hoodie.

[Randall Williams]

Look at that.

[Phil]

Our producer will be getting a hold of you to get your size and address information.

[Cal]

So, yeah, thank.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah.

[Phil]

If you, if you would like to submit a tip and win something like this wonderful bison hoodie, please submit your.

[Randall Williams]

Hot tips radio atthe meat eater.com with the subject line hot tip off.

[Cal]

I thought you were actually asking me, Phil, because I don't own that sweater. And I was like, well, I guess.

[Phil]

I could, but I actually do own that one. It's one of my favorites. It's, it's thick.

[Podcast Announcer]

Mega important announcement. In fact, the most important announcement you ever heard. The third volume in our Meat Eaters American History audiobook series is available for pre order right now. Meat Eaters American History The Hide Hunters, 1865-1883 tells the story of the commercial buffalo hunters who drove North America's most iconic large mammal to the brink of extinction in the years after the Civil War. You'll learn all about these guys, guys like Dirty Face Jones, Skunk Johnson, and Charles Squirrel Eye Emery. How they organized their hunting expeditions, what they took with them, how they hunted, what rifles they shot, how they processed their kills, how they suffered and died in the field, and the true stories of what drove them to do it in the first place. You'll also learn about the economic factors that made this a viable profession and what happened to those millions of buffalo skins once they were shipped east. And like we do in all of our Meat Eaters American History projects, you'll hear a ton of wild stories and bizarre details from this era. And don't worry, we didn't leave out any of the gory details. Pre order. Meat Eaters American History The Hide Hunters, 1865-1883. Wherever you get your audiobooks. And you'll be ready to dig in when it's available to listen on October 14th.

[Randall Williams]

Joining us on the line next is Ben Batten, deputy director of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, who is coming to us live from Bozeman, Montana, at a meeting of the Mississippi Interstate Cooperative Resource Association. Ben, welcome to the show.

[Phil]

So Ben was in the waiting room as you said. His name. I think he might have picked up his phone to get ready and then accidentally left. So we're gonna wait here for Ben to rejoin. Oh, no, I'm sure he's fine. I don't think it was anything like a kidnapping.

[Randall Williams]

He was very excited for this.

[Phil]

He was. He was in the house.

[Randall Williams]

It would be surprising if he'd abandoned us.

[Phil]

No, he was. I think he just accidentally left the room.

[Randall Williams]

This. This is unexpected.

[Seth Morris]

I was gonna say we just saw him.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah, I just saw him.

[Phil]

He was right there. Well, we couldn't do the. The trail cam contest while we went.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah, we just gave something away. Why don't we give some.

[Seth Morris]

Oh, there he is.

[Phil]

Let's bring him in.

[Cal]

Hey, yo, Ben.

[Randall Williams]

How are you, sir?

[Ben Batten]

All right, guys, you're not gonna believe this. I got one for you. Here is the ultimate hot tip. I was sitting out for you all, and two seconds before I go on, I get. Your phone's too hot.

[Randall Williams]

Oh, yeah, that always seems to hit at the wrong time.

[Ben Batten]

I'm at a hatchery here in Bozeman, and I went and dumped my phone in a pond.

[Randall Williams]

That's commitment. That's commitment to the show. We appreciate that, Ben. Ben, can you tell our listeners who might not be familiar with the Mississippi Interstate Cooperative Resource association, and I can guarantee that it's most of them, can you explain what the organization is and who participates?

[Ben Batten]

Yeah, absolutely. Thanks again, guys, for having me on. I really appreciate it. So MICRA is the leadership for fisher managers throughout the Mississippi river basin. And so there's 31 states in the basin. We currently have 28 folks. And this is going to be what's called the Chief of Fisheries. Every state fish and game agency has, you know, some number of employees, but the head is usually called the chief, so it's those folks. We also have Federal agencies like U.S. fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. geological Survey, Army Corps, Tennessee Valley Authority, folks like that. And then, of course, all the tribes within the basin are welcome. And basically, in short, the purpose of of MICRA is to do a job we can. Coordinating interjurisdictional fish species.

[Randall Williams]

Gotcha. What are some of the challenges or projects that you're currently working on as an organization?

[Ben Batten]

All right. Well, I think what makes the Mississippi River Basin awesome is also some of the biggest challenges. I mean, 1.2 million square miles, 320 million acres, you know, the Mississippi River Basin, every drop of water that goes from the east side of the Rockies to the west side of the Appalachians ends up in the Gulf. So it's just gigantic. It's the fourth largest basin in the planet after the Amazon, Congo and the Nile. So scale here is a challenge. Also neat is that, you know, a fish can swim from the Gulf 1200 miles without ever running into anything. Take a left and head up the Missouri all the way to Gavin's Point, South Dakota, another 800 miles. So 2,000 miles of fish can swim before ever hitting a dam. But that's the best case in the, in the, in the area. I mean there's dams and, and things like that that, you know, mess with fish passage and fish being able to move. We love working on, on a positive native fish species, you know, big cool things like paddlefish and sturgeon and things like that, catfish etc. But probably our biggest drain on our energy is the invasive carp issue. That is most of the Basin.

[Randall Williams]

Gotcha. Now I understand that the MICRA is currently working towards being recognized by Congress. What does that recognition mean and what does that process involve?

[Ben Batten]

Yeah, that's great. I appreciate you guys checking on. So the goal of this, it's an association. So we just all exist by a bunch of signatures of, you know, fisheries group leadership. But our goal since 1991 at establishment was to become a commission. And basically that recognition would give us one just more stature and influence. So, you know, a letter to Congress or somebody from this association doesn't carry near as much weight as it does from the Mississippi River Basin Fishery Commission. And then the biggest probably is funding and resource. I think, you know, you guys talk all the time. I don't think you'd find anybody that's a manager across the country that would say they have enough resource for the challenges. And so this draft legislation that we have right now asks for in years two through five of existing $30 million a year for the basin and then 50 million on after that. So a significant amount of resource that would help us out kind of, you asked where, you know, what does it take. So we currently have draft bills, both the House and the Senate. On the Senate side, it's Bill 1078 with sponsors from Senator Wicker in Mississippi, Bozeman in Arkansas and Baldwin in Wisconsin. And then on the House side, 1514, the companion bill with Congressman Ezell from Mississippi and Carter of Louisiana. And we're currently looking for more sponsors. So if you are somebody out there that has connections there and we work with coalition, this is something you do on these bills. And so there will be groups you all are very familiar with, like bha, Teddy Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, National Wildlife Federation and American Sport Fish association are all working with us to get this thing going.

[Randall Williams]

Good deal. And are there other interstate conservation partnerships that serve as a model for this approach and what have you learned from them?

[Ben Batten]

Yeah, great question. So there's four existing fishery commissions, there's Gulf States, Pacific States, Atlantic States, and then the Great Lakes. And those have all been around since somewhere between the late 40s and the late 50s. And we visited with each of their leadership as we were doing this for kind of some, hey, what would you do differently? What worked great, that kind of thing. And so that was super helpful. And we mostly patterned ours off the Great Lakes Commission. And then probably the best known and without is the Flyway Council system that manages water.

[Randall Williams]

Sure.

[Ben Batten]

Here in North America.

[Randall Williams]

Looking forward, what's, what's on the horizon? Obviously, you're working towards recognition, but, but sort of what is the, what's the discussion there about what's, what's in the future for the, for Micra?

[Ben Batten]

We'll continue to operate as we have for 34 years, again coordinating and doing our best to manage, you know, interjurisdictional fisheries. But we're going to continue to go to the Hill a couple times a year, D.C. and, you know, beat the offices and try to get in there and get this bill across the line.

[Randall Williams]

Great. Well, Ben, on a final note here, Arkansas was just in the news for its first bear attack in what I understand to be some 25 years. Can you tell us any bit about the facts of the incident and how if in any way, Arkansas Game and Fish is responding?

[Ben Batten]

Yeah, sure. So yesterday in west central Arkansas, there was an older gentleman working on a gravel road on a tractor doing some work, and he was working with his son, who was a little bit out of, out of eyesight. Son comes back, finds the dad on the ground and there's a bear attacking, able to stop that. And game fish was obviously immediately called. They're heading up and, and about 20 minutes later they get there and they end up dispatching the bear. You know, it was a young bear, which is really rare. They said it was a yearling rated 80 to 100 pounds. And you know, just want to emphasize it's really a rare deal and especially for it to be a, a young bear. And of course, you know, all of our thoughts are with the family of victim and, and everything else and hope that he makes a successful recovery.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah, same, same here. Ben, thanks so much for taking the time to speak with us today and best of luck to you. In the work of micro here.

[Ben Batten]

Appreciate the time. Thanks, guys.

[Randall Williams]

Yep, we'll see.

[Cal]

I hear that stuff happens all the time in Arkansas from Clay. Yeah, Cougars, bear attacks, Bigfoots, Black Panthers.

[Phil]

Yeah.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah. I get the impression from Clay that Arkansas is like Wild West.

[Cal]

Yeah.

[Phil]

Sorry, Randall. I didn't mean to cut you off there.

[Randall Williams]

No, please.

[Phil]

Trying to sneak in before just. We have an update from our winner, Chad. He referenced a hunt that he was about to go on, and this was the outcome. Nope, not that clever.

[Cal]

Where'd it go?

[Phil]

Is it not working too bad?

[Randall Williams]

He did.

[Cal]

There it is. Nice, Chad. You're even wearing the right stuff. Good for you, buddy.

[Seth Morris]

Man, that's probably why, you know.

[Randall Williams]

Oh, that's exciting.

[Cal]

Just. Why are we sitting here?

[Randall Williams]

I know why.

[Mark Kenyon]

September 4th.

[Phil]

That is September.

[Seth Morris]

Beautiful.

[Randall Williams]

And I bet that. I bet that wax9 strand handled those quarters nicely.

[Cal]

Yeah, Chad, if I were you, I'd just roll around on that underside of that bowl so you can take that smell home with you for months. Oh, love it. I love it.

[Randall Williams]

Thanks for sharing, Phil. That really added to the depth and richness of this program.

[Phil]

Yeah, Jake, our producer, reminded me about that.

[Cal]

Oh, good job. Teamwork behind the bench there.

[Phil]

Oh, yeah.

[Randall Williams]

It's now time for our trail cam photo contest, presented by our friends at Moultrie. Speaking of Moultrie, you really should check out their new Edge 3. We recently got to learn about this latest and greatest Moultrie camera, and it is super impressive. Plus, they've got even more exciting cameras coming soon. For this second round, we asked you folks to send us your big bull elk photos captured from your trail cameras. We got loads of submissions on the Meat Eater website. So choosing these top four contenders was difficult to say the least. There are a lot of fighting bulls, impressive racks, and bachelor herds to whet your appetite for fall hunting. The winner will receive two Edge 2 first light Spectre Camo Edition Moultrie cameras with 10 watt. It's a watt 10 watt solar power pack bundles. And a $250 gift card to the Meat Eater store. And a $250 gift card To First Light. And a case. Knives. Brent Reeves signature mini trapper knife.

[Phil]

We got Brent Reeves in the chat today.

[Randall Williams]

My goodness.

[Cal]

How Many watts?

[Randall Williams]

Watts? 10.

[Phil]

10.

[Cal]

Great Scott.

[Randall Williams]

1.21 gigawatts.

[Cal]

Phil was sleeping on that. I mean, that's a gimme.

[Randall Williams]

I just saw 10W and I second guessed myself in the moment. You know, electricity. I'm like a medieval peasant when it comes to talking about watts and amps.

[Cal]

I do not enjoy the use of trail cameras other than the fun stuff.

[Randall Williams]

Like.

[Cal]

You know, it's like it takes some of the mystery out of the woods. But at the same time, I also am jealous of not getting constant email updates of cool stuff walking around the woods. Yeah, it's a real conundrum.

[Randall Williams]

Oh, yeah. Phil, would you show us our top contenders, please?

[Phil]

I'd love to. This is number one. Gorgeous.

[Cal]

This is.

[Phil]

This is from at 7-16-307.

[Cal]

What would you title that, Phil?

[Phil]

Well, luckily we've got a title. It's called brothers.

[Cal]

Oh, it's beautiful.

[Phil]

I don't know if Jake, if Jake titled these ones or the people who sent them in, I would guess, I guess Jake. I don't know if everyone titled it, but it's cousins.

[Cal]

How we should add a guest spot with Kelsey Morrison here.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah, this actually.

[Cal]

What would you title this?

[Randall Williams]

Framed beautifully.

[Seth Morris]

She's got that stuff.

[Randall Williams]

What do we got? What do we got?

[Cal]

Number two here.

[Phil]

That's number one here. I will start a poll after we view all of these.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah. Remember folks, you are choosing the winner. That hefty. Hefty prize package.

[Phil]

Insane prize package. Okay, number two is this from Brock. 2319.

[Randall Williams]

Wade Boggs.

[Cal]

Wade Boggs.

[Randall Williams]

Oh, it's great.

[Seth Morris]

Wow, that's a sick bull.

[Cal]

Yeah. Crowny out.

[Seth Morris]

Yeah.

[Cal]

Yeah, he's not going to be like that for long. Better stick him fast. Yeah, too many points.

[Randall Williams]

The surface of the water is really beautiful. You can see the reflection of some of the trees.

[Cal]

There's water in that photo.

[Phil]

All right, number three, this is from Heath Myers. Got butting heads.

[Randall Williams]

Action packed.

[Phil]

And there's stuff going on in the background too.

[Seth Morris]

Yeah, another raghorn back there to the left.

[Randall Williams]

These guys are putting on a real show.

[Cal]

Like butting heads is kind of lazy. We can do better than that. What else we got?

[Phil]

Well, our producer Jake said that he titled all these, so. Good job, Jake.

[Cal]

Jake, you felt better? Yeah, do better. Let's see.

[Phil]

All right, so that's not tangled up. Number four, Winter Wonder. I cut off the borders. Cutting these titles off. That's on me.

[Randall Williams]

Winter Wonder.

[Phil]

This is from Cage Rosen.

[Randall Williams]

That's A.

[Phil]

Or K.D. rosen. I don't know.

[Randall Williams]

A stark image.

[Seth Morris]

That's a good looking bull.

[Randall Williams]

Silhouetted nicely.

[Phil]

Okay, I'm going to start this poll and then I will go through all of the photos again. You guys talk about them while I type up this poll here.

[Cal]

Well, to me there's a clear winner.

[Phil]

Yes.

[Cal]

Yeah, same.

[Randall Williams]

Really?

[Cal]

Yeah, for sure.

[Randall Williams]

Say it at the same time.

[Cal]

Two, the Brothers, there's disagreement. Yeah. I'd call it before the rain.

[Randall Williams]

Oh, my God.

[Cal]

That'd be my title.

[Randall Williams]

Before the rain.

[Seth Morris]

I like that. After the rain waiting out there in that pond.

[Randall Williams]

Wade Boggs Brothers is really. I mean, if I took that photo with a handheld camera, I'd show everybody. It's beautiful.

[Cal]

Plus. Yeah. The back.

[Seth Morris]

It is beautiful.

[Cal]

Yeah.

[Phil]

All right, I'm starting the poll, and we'll go through the pictures again.

[Randall Williams]

But there's something haunting about that last image.

[Seth Morris]

I do like the last one.

[Cal]

Like, look at the backdrop.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah.

[Cal]

The fact that you're not staring at a big, muddy water hole.

[Randall Williams]

You can see this is nice because.

[Cal]

You get wild animals, like, looking wild on this.

[Randall Williams]

I really appreciate the. The gate of these bulls, too.

[Cal]

Yeah.

[Seth Morris]

Can't get wild animals looking wild in. In a pond.

[Cal]

No, they're just, you know, it's like.

[Phil]

Looks like there should be some turkeys. Sam comments that he votes for in Corvia, the big. The big. In Corvia, the big one that our guy Chad.

[Randall Williams]

We kind of. We kind of popped this balloon already with the big dead bull.

[Cal]

Yeah.

[Randall Williams]

Phil, let me get through. Let me get number two again.

[Phil]

All right, so that's number one.

[Randall Williams]

So I can.

[Phil]

Wade Boggs, number two. That's the one in the water here.

[Randall Williams]

Ooh, Ooh. Yeah.

[Phil]

And then we've got number three butting heads.

[Cal]

And that's a pretty picture, too.

[Randall Williams]

That's just fun. That's just darn fun. October 20th.

[Cal]

It's where the kids hang out. Right there.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah.

[Phil]

And then winter wonder, number four. It's a good looking.

[Cal]

I mean, it's an amazing elk. It is for sure.

[Seth Morris]

It's 29 degrees.

[Randall Williams]

No, 29. Oh, oh, yeah, yeah. 29 Fahrenheit. I was looking at the Celsius.

[Seth Morris]

The only thing that I just noticed about number two, the one that I voted for. And is. Is it a trail cam photo?

[Phil]

It's got the quality photo. Yeah. We can't see the bottom. It's not the border. I don't think the original photo had any time stamps.

[Randall Williams]

Seth, you can't accuse one of our contestants of.

[Cal]

Sure you can. I like number one.

[Phil]

Okay, cows. Cal's vote is brothers number one.

[Cal]

That says adventure.

[Randall Williams]

But what's really important is what the. The audience thinks is number is. Is the winner.

[Seth Morris]

Yeah.

[Randall Williams]

It doesn't matter what we think to us. Remember, you guys need to get in that. In that poll.

[Phil]

Only I can see the results right now. We've got. I don't know. I don't think this is going to swing. We've got a pretty clear winner. But I'll let this run for another minute if you guys want to get some last minute votes in here.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah, yeah. No, I feel like.

[Phil]

Randall, do you have a preference?

[Randall Williams]

Boy, I just think number one is very tough to. If those bulls were a little more impressive, it would just do it for me.

[Cal]

Well, this is the last thing I'm going to say. None of these animals are guaranteed to be there when you show up. Right. Number one's like, man could be anywhere. Look at this country. But I know they're here somewhere. And then if we go to number two, like, I'm gonna be stuck staring at this mud hole all day.

[Seth Morris]

Yeah, you just go there and get them.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah, get them.

[Seth Morris]

I like getting them.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah, this, this just speaks to my heart, I think.

[Phil]

But we got several people in the chat saying that number one looks fake. And I don't know if it's just the stream you guys are seeing, but this looks like a pretty legitimate trail camp picture to me.

[Seth Morris]

It does look legit.

[Randall Williams]

That's just what Montana looks like everywhere or wherever this.

[Cal]

All right.

[Phil]

I'm putting an end to the poll because 1. One of these photos ran away with it.

[Randall Williams]

Oh, let's do the. CNN is now calling.

[Phil]

Yep, that's right. We are prepared to call Maricopa County. The results are in the voting. And the winner with 49% of the vote.

[Randall Williams]

Almost half of the vote. Yeah.

[Phil]

Clear winner, number one. Brother.

[Randall Williams]

No, I hope we didn't taint. I hope we didn't taint the voter.

[Cal]

I thought the whole point was to. Was to take.

[Phil]

Yeah, I think tainting is encouraged.

[Randall Williams]

All right, well, congratulations to. @ 716-_307. So it probably is a Wyoming.

[Cal]

And just so everybody knows, anything discussed on this podcast is our right to make it a T shirt. So tainting is encouraged. Yeah, that's ours.

[Phil]

We encourage. Taint is on the T shirt is encouraged.

[Randall Williams]

Oh, man. Well, well, gang, you know, congratulations to 716307. You've got a heck of a prize package coming your way. Please say thanks to the audience if you. If you find yourself in the chat in the future because, boy, you're. You've got some trail cams, you've got some gift cards, you've got a Brent Reeves signature knife headed your way. And I just closed out my script accidentally.

[Cal]

We got listener feedback.

[Phil]

I think feedback's the only thing we've got left. Yeah, I've been missing some of the. Some of the Chat for the last few minutes since I've been running other stuff.

[Randall Williams]

You've been busy today, Phil. I hope you're doing all right.

[Phil]

Let's start with just a fun recreational one. Sure. Asks what's the crew's favorite non game or non target animal to just watch, observe while hunting?

[Seth Morris]

Gray squirrels. Oh, they do weird stuff sometimes. It's kind of fun to watch.

[Cal]

Easily distracted and happily distracted. Bugs, horned toads, birds, doesn't matter.

[Randall Williams]

I'm gonna, we're gonna call this a non target animal rather than non game animal. I'm say a bear. Yeah. Watching bears do stuff.

[Seth Morris]

Yeah, that's cool.

[Randall Williams]

Half the fun of bear hunting is just watching little bears fall off things, tip things over, do things for no reason at all.

[Cal]

We had a crew of Swainson's hawks migrating through and for whatever reason, they're very social. So kind of curious. I think they took note of the fact that I was aggressively observing their behavior. This is very urban, you know, greater fringe, Bos Angeles region here. And they, they came down and ripped apart a squirrel on top of the fence. Oh, that's like 20 yard viewing. It was fantastic. Got the stabilized binos out and it was great eating right there with them, three of them. Really, really, really awesome Merlin app. Had to. It was great.

[Seth Morris]

Super fun.

[Phil]

Isaac is stoked about both seasons starting in Missouri in 11 days. Any sort of last minute rituals or things you guys do in the last days before going into season.

[Randall Williams]

Get all of the stuff done at home that is expected of you to.

[Seth Morris]

Get done 11 days before. Usually start shooting my bow about that time.

[Cal]

No, I'm kidding.

[Seth Morris]

Hopefully you've been shooting for a long.

[Randall Williams]

You've got it. You've got a good week and a half to get your affairs in order so that you don't get a phone call saying that, you know, you need to come home to do this, do that, you know, get you find yourself in the good graces of your family unit and look forward to the season.

[Cal]

Yeah. In Missouri, you're probably starting your permethrin treatment right now, which I think would be a crucial step to your game.

[Phil]

This is from Jay. He says as we are closing in on many hunting seasons, if one makes a bad shot on large game and it takes longer than ideal to find said game, how do you determine what meat needs to be cut out or lost when you finally harvest it?

[Seth Morris]

Smell.

[Randall Williams]

Stank.

[Seth Morris]

Smell. Test it.

[Cal]

Yeah. And there's portions that can smell. And if those portions smell strong enough, remove them from the rest of the. Of the situation so the smell of that stuff doesn't contaminate your. Your sniffer because there, there's typically. It's not all bad. And you need to salvage every edible thing that you can.

[Phil]

This is one that I don't think we've gotten before, but favorite wild game meat pizza topping. Russell says his is duck bacon and goose salami.

[Cal]

Wow.

[Phil]

Game on. Pizza.

[Cal]

Yeah. Just sausage.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah. We don't do a whole lot of homemade pizzas, but yeah, I don't know. Elk nachos. It's almost pizza.

[Phil]

Joe asks Cal scent cover. Yay or nay?

[Cal]

Walk into the wind. If you're stuck in a tree like my friend Mark Kenyon, just face into the wind. Yeah, we used to mess around with all that stuff and it just more complicates life.

[Randall Williams]

We should make a T shirt of Mark in a tree and just says, help, I'm stuck in a tree. I'm Mark Kenyon, the host of Wired podcast.

[Phil]

David asks Randall Pete Rose. Yay or nay?

[Randall Williams]

Yeah, I mean, he's a slime ball, but he's our slime ball.

[Cal]

Yeah.

[Phil]

Clifford. How does the crew store their food in Black Bear? Mountain lion country lives in Arizona, so brown bear isn't an issue. Do you suggest putting food in a bag away from camp? I think the, the general thing to do is to hang it. Right.

[Cal]

Yeah, Hanging will just. It's just gonna solve issues because if you leave, let's say you have a, like a dry bag or a stuff sack that you put all your. All your food in once you get to camp. So you're organized and you're not packing around all your food and you're in your hunting bag. Every day a squirrel is going to chew through that thing on the ground and then you got a mess to clean up and you lose stuff. And then you're in that situation of like, well, now I got to eat something that a squirrel have chewed on and Hana virus and all that fun stuff. So hang your. Hang your food even if you're not worried it's just going to prevent other things from happening. And as I like to say, I'm totally fine if a bear kills me. That's. But I don't. I'm not fine if in the article it says didn't hang his food.

[Randall Williams]

Yep.

[Cal]

And then I get lumped in. Like somebody who didn't know what was going on in the woods.

[Randall Williams]

Yep. It's just a. Wherever you can prevent a headache, like having something chew through your backpack or whatever else, like prevent those headaches because something else is going to go wrong inevitably.

[Cal]

Yeah. Seth.

[Seth Morris]

I wouldn't worry about mountain lions.

[Randall Williams]

What do you got Phil? What do you got Phil?

[Phil]

Here we go.

[Randall Williams]

I feel like we're on a roll now.

[Phil]

Yeah, real quick one for me. We get this question a lot. Videos on Spotify. We have no plans. It's not going to happen anytime soon. Specifically just because of other agreements we've made regarding videos.

[Cal]

Can you put videos on Spotify?

[Phil]

You can?

[Randall Williams]

Oh yeah.

[Phil]

It's a pretty slick interface, cutting edge. So when you just start the audio, the video just plays automatically and you can choose to turn that on or off. Christopher Cowell, what do you carry in the field for your doggy first aid kit? And where do you find any non typical items that you pack up?

[Cal]

You know feed stores or your Murdochs or what are the like the farm. What is it?

[Seth Morris]

Rocky Mountain supply.

[Cal]

Rocky Mountain supply. Feed stores always have a really awesome. What is the tractor one? Tractor supply. Yeah, yeah.

[Randall Williams]

That's hard place the tractor supplies.

[Cal]

Yeah, yeah. Anyway, they always have a good vet section. It's typically around like livestock. But hot tip for you, you can go get doggy supplies there for boy like a fifth of what they're going to charge you at the vet. So that's where I go. And I always have EMT gel which is like a liquid suture that can get you through some tough times. Gauze. I find a good tape that will stick to fur for holding gauze in place or you know like coban stuff. Yeah, you get this like zipper like 90 degree tears in in dog hide from running into fence or corrugated metal when they're going nuts after roosters and stuff in that, in that thick cover. And so you need something that's going to hold that flap down. And then I use just good old fashioned iodine. Betadine works well too. And I just carry like a small container of that. This sounds like a lot of stuff but it's really not. You can pack it down nice and tight and then Sudafed. Sudafed is good. Not it's an anti histamine but it is something just like it makes us drowsy. It can put a little chill into the dog when you need it to get relaxed. Like if you are in a rattlesnake bite scenario because you're not going to suck the venom out like in an old John Ford film. I wash a little bit of eye wash. Just you know your over the counter stuff that folks with bad eyesight use to flush their eyeballs out. That's. That's like part of our routine to keep dog's eyes looking good because they pack a lot of seeds in there during hunting season, especially when it's hot and dry, which unfortunately it often is during bird season these days. So that little kit right there will definitely get you through the hard times and you'll be able to package up your best buddy and get them someplace pro or get them into a good enough situation where they can keep hunting or walk themselves out. That's about really what you need.

[Phil]

Great. But a couple questions about the new Wisconsin meat eater store. I don't think there's a specific opening date yet, but I think one update is that I think we're still hiring. So yes, if you're in the area.

[Randall Williams]

Believe we're still hiring.

[Seth Morris]

Check out, isn't there there's going to.

[Randall Williams]

Be a little opening celebration coordinating with our tailgate tour stop in Madison with Chester Floyd and Spencer Newharth.

[Cal]

Nice.

[Randall Williams]

So take a look at the tailgate tour schedule and I think the event page for that will, will have some mention of the event in Brookfield.

[Cal]

I would, I'd love to make it over there myself. I as a younger fellow I used to, I had several good times in Milwaukee. Nice people, good food, lots of good, the best beer. Yeah.

[Phil]

So let's do one more. You guys had some great questions this week. Thanks. Really appreciate it. Makes my job easier. But the most important one for last, Randall, top three zoos. This is from Jackson.

[Randall Williams]

Boy, I feel like this episode got way too Randall centric.

[Phil]

You are the host.

[Cal]

Live it up. Drink it in.

[Randall Williams]

Well, let's see.

[Seth Morris]

You were just that one.

[Randall Williams]

Yeah, I was just at the Cincinnati Zoo. It's a world class, phenomenal institution. The gorilla world is above and beyond what I want when I go to look at primates, specifically great apes. Probably my most favorite zoo visit in recent memory was the Shone Garten Zoo in Vienna, Austria. If you've never been to a zoo in a foreign country, I highly recommend it because you'll read things in a foreign language and all of a sudden it feels a lot more sophisticated than when you're just in, you know, some suburban neighborhood drinking a beer and looking at a tiger. Finally, gosh, had some good visits to the San Francisco Zoo. I don't know if it's, if it's like strongly in my top three, but I've had some great visits there. Again, some really world class ape encounters and it's just been there for me when I needed it at a few key points in my life. So Leave it at that.

[Seth Morris]

Fantastic.

[Randall Williams]

Thanks, Jackson. Your interest in zoological gardens is much appreciated. Well, gang, that brings us to the end of today's show. It was another fun one. Thanks to Mark and Ben for joining us. And with that, we'll see you here next week.

[Cal]

Oh, hey, I got one more thing for the audience. If you're going to be in the Manhattan area or ideally if you live there, Montana. No, not Montana, the New York City Manhattan. I am participating in a conservation event at the end of the month at the Patagonia store with Conservation Lands foundation. And my God, I just got to looking at the prices of hotel rooms. If you need somebody to crash on your couch.

[Randall Williams]

House sit, he'll tell you some stories. Yeah, and he actually does a great job cleaning up after himself. My barn has never looked better since Cal's been on a little trailer work and tear.

[Cal]

So, yeah, there you go.

[Randall Williams]

Delightful guest. All right, folks, we'll see you next week. Thanks for tuning in.

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[Randall Williams]

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