Ep. 789: A Bad Road, Rutty Bucks and Cookbooks | MeatEater Radio Live!

Summary

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The MeatEater Podcast – Ep. 789: A Bad Road, Rutty Bucks and Cookbooks | MeatEater Radio Live!

Date: November 7, 2025
Host: Brody Henderson (filling in for Steven Rinella)
Guests/Co-Hosts: Giannis Patelis, Maggie Hudlow, Phil (engineer), plus interviews with Matt Jackson & Tim Fulman (Wilderness Society)
Main Theme:
A live episode with lively hunting banter, fresh hunt stories, rut reports, a deep-dive into the controversial Alaska Ambler Road project with conservation experts, practical game-processing tips, and an interactive cookbook giveaway.

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Episode Overview

The episode captures the full flavor of the MeatEater crew’s live dynamic: fun hunting tales, humor, conservation advocacy, wild game tips, and direct community participation. With host Brody Henderson at the helm, the team covers the current peak of the deer rut, debates public land policies—with a major focus on Alaska’s Ambler Road—and connects with conservation experts. The show wraps up with practical processing tips, hunting stories, and an interactive cookbook box set giveaway for fans.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

Opening Banter & Plans for the Rut (01:09–05:56)

• Brody, Giannis, and Maggie exchange fall hunting plans:
  • Giannis gearing up for Wisconsin deer rut, craves the rut report.
  • Maggie shifting from deer to upland bird hunting after filling her elk-less freezer and having a cabin-fevered bird dog.
  • Brody shares a hard lesson: held off on shooting a great buck because tough, windy, rushed shots aren't ethical—even if the buck's a bruiser.

    “You need to be like…it's okay if I don’t get that thing. People need that reminder now and then.” —Brody Henderson (07:32)

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Public Lands Conservation & The Ambler Road Controversy (09:13–31:07)

Setting the Stage (09:13–14:04)

• Brody highlights an urgent BLM comment period and frames the Ambler Road’s massive implications for Alaskan wilderness.
• The road: “210 miles through pristine, roadless Brooks Range wilderness, mainly to benefit foreign mining interests, not locals.”

Expert Voices: The Wilderness Society (14:04–19:57)

• Matt Jackson (Wilderness Society, Alaskan born) outlines the stakes:

  • Parallels to the Pebble Mine: short-term profits of foreign mining vs. long-term vitality of wildlife, lands, and communities.
  • 88 tribes spanning Yukon and Koyukuk strongly oppose the road; “What the feds are doing is a roller coaster…but here in the state, we’ve said no to this road a bunch of times.” (15:35)
  • Unknown who will fund the $350+ million project. The road is private—industrial, not public.

• Public Cost & Environmental Concerns:

  “We’re certainly going to be on the hook to clean up the mess afterwards.” —Matt Jackson (17:12)

• Environmental assessment studies in 2024 led Bureau of Land Management to deny the permit on wildlife and cultural impact grounds—now overruled by federal proclamation.

  “By proclamation, they’re trying to say none of that science...matters anymore. Just bulldoze the thing anyway.” —Tim Fulman (18:00)

Wildlife Impacts: Ground Truth (21:14–27:38)

• Tim Fulman (Wilderness Society, Senior Ecologist) on caribou:

  • Western Arctic caribou herd down ~70% since early 2000s.
  • Construction bisects caribou migration routes: stress and fragmentation compound existing declines.

    “Caribou need to be able to be free to roam…studies have shown caribou are sensitive to development…” (22:02)

  • Subsistence impacts: Road would impair thousands-year-old local community hunting traditions.

• Fish & Watersheds:

  • “4,000 culverts…concerns about mine tailings and water quality.” (27:13)

Action Steps & Hope (27:38–31:09)

• No current public comment window, but people are urged to follow groups like Wilderness Society and Defend the Brooks Range for mobilization.
• “There’s always hope, especially when there’s so much unity around protecting this landscape within the state…” —Matt Jackson (27:38)

Immediate Crew Reactions (28:50–31:09)

• Crew alarmed at exporting resources, environmental risks, and rapid development benefiting foreign companies over locals.

  “It’s just such a shame that some people are so willing to sacrifice that for the sake of the dollar.” —Maggie Hudlow (30:47)

• Emphasis on the long-term costs of cleanup, irreversible habitat loss.

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Hot Tip-Off Contest: Field-Tested Wild Game Tips (31:17–40:02)

Fun, practical hunting and butchering hacks, audience-voted:

1. Yannis: Pre-cook stews, chili, sausage, and vacuum-seal for instant, homemade wild-game meals at camp. "Then when it's time for hunting season, you just throw all that stuff into the cooler...and dinners are pretty much done." (33:17)

2. Brody (WINNER): When removing a buck’s head, cut from the throat side—easier, faster, less muscle/resistance.

   “Flip ‘em over and come in from the throat down—it’s just way easier, way faster…you’ll find it takes like less than half the time of coming in from the top.” (35:14)

3. Maggie: Lay butcher paper on kitchen island for elk processing—label cuts, quick clean-up, no need for big cutting boards.

Bonus: lots of lively, teasing banter and practical CWD/testing asides.

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Audience Q&A & Cookbook Giveaway (41:14–44:38; 77:01–83:47)

• Deer processing tips: Avoid gristly rib meat for burger; slow-cook for stew. "The more gristle your burger has, the shittier your burger is gonna be." – Brody (42:20)
• Cookbook Contest: Funniest, most creative fan comment wins the new MeatEater cookbook box set (signed), plus a calendar prize.
  • Best entries: “If I don’t win, I’ll be forced to read cereal boxes again” (Mogor) and “No stinking cookbook—but an effed up truck calendar, that I deserve!” (Steven) (82:58)
• Winning entries announced (83:21).

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National Rut Report: Live Hunter Check-ins (44:38–56:16)

A real pulse-check from the field, covering current deer movement from Montana to Wisconsin and the Southeast.

• Montana/Midwest: Bucks riled up, more daylight movement, but muleys "not quite there yet." (Spencer)
• Nebraska/Whitetails: Bucks cruising and rutting, even under warm conditions. “Four minutes into his first sit…killed a buck.” (Tony)
• Southeast: Chasing ramps up, cold front about to send it into high gear. “Big bucks are starting to come out of the woodwork.” (Bear Newcombe, 53:02)
• Wisconsin: Bucks locked on does, best tactics: focus on bedding area corridors, “downwind sides of bedding.” (Chester, 53:02)
• Rut is universally “on,” but local timing still dictated by weather, does’ readiness, and habitat—science detailed by Giannis.

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Personal Crew Hunt Stories (57:30–77:01)

Intimate, anecdote-rich recaps of recent hunts highlighting family, ethical choices, and learning moments.

Maggie’s Elk Hunt:

• Tough October, finally succeeded stalking a young 4x5 bull through snow and timber—a “tasty” freezer filler.

  “Young bulls—those are the ones to shoot if you want to eat them.” —Maggie (60:55)

• Elk jerky recipe: “Heavy on the smoke…Danielle Pruitt’s smoked venison jerky—worth trying out.” (62:17)

Yannis’ Multi-Species Fall:

• Biggest bull elk to date (310”), Idaho buck, youth hunts with daughters (including “8-hour wait on a bedded buck”), important parental lessons in patience and ethical shooting.

Brody’s Sons’ Deer & Antelope Hunts:

• Letting older son Hayden plan the hunt: “For the first time, it really felt like his hunt.” (71:09)
• Youngest son Conley’s emotional journey: missed his first shot, persevered, succeeded later that day, “all smiles” with a little help from some cattle-moving cowboys. (76:21)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Ethics & Temptation in Hunting:

“As the buck gets bigger, the ethics sort of slide down…they make people do stupid shit. If it was a 200 incher, I’m gonna be like, ‘Well, if I can just get one in him, then I can probably get two more in him later.’” —Giannis Patelis (08:22)

Ambler Road Economics/Justice:

“The real winners are not going to be Americans.” —Giannis (30:27)
“We’re certainly going to be on the hook to clean up the mess afterwards.” —Matt Jackson (17:12)

Practical Humor:

“If you want something that bad…you need to be able to say, ‘it’s okay if I don’t get that thing.’” —Brody (07:32)
“If you do this every time you have dinner, just make a little extra and vacuum seal it…dinners are pretty much done. You get to be eating game while you’re hunting game for next year.” —Giannis (33:17)
“The more gristle your burger has, the shittier your burger is going to be.” —Brody (42:20)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:09 – Hosts’ hunting plans and personal updates
• 06:01 – Brody’s ethical dilemma lesson
• 09:13 – Urgent public lands advocacy & Ambler Road intro
• 14:04 – Interview with Matt Jackson: The Wilderness Society/Nature of Opposition
• 21:14 – Interview with Tim Fulman: Caribou herd welfare & scientific studies
• 27:38 – Action items; What listeners can do to help
• 31:17 – Hot tip-off contest: wild game field/processing hacks
• 41:14 – Audience Q&A (deer processing, tips)
• 44:38 – National rut reports: Montana, Nebraska, Southeast, Wisconsin
• 57:30 – Recent hunt recaps: Maggie (elk), Yannis (multi-species, daughter’s hunt), Brody (antelope/deer w/sons)
• 77:01 – Cookbook giveaway contest and results
• 78:22 – Reflections & recommendations on MeatEater cookbooks

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Overall Tone & Takeaways

The show’s signature blend of camaraderie, practical wisdom, irreverence, and conservation advocacy is on full display. From hunting tales that emphasize humility and teaching moments, to detailed discussion of national conservation battles (especially the Ambler Road), and right down to hands-on wild game processing and cooking tips, the episode provides something for every hunter and conservation-minded foodie.

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For more information on the Ambler Road and to stay involved, follow:

• The Wilderness Society (social media, email updates)
• Defend the Brooks Range advocacy group

For great wild game recipes, knife tips, and a sense of community, check out the new MeatEater Cookbook Box Set.

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Transcript

[Maggie Hudlow]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Jordan Sillers]

This season on Blood Trails. Each story begins with a hunter stepping into the wild. But not all of them come back. I'm Jordan Sillers, a journalist with over a decade of experience investigating stories about hunting, fishing, guns and crime. Join me as we track the truth through tangled cover and cold case files where every trail tells a story and every story leaves its own trail of blood.

[Giannis Patelis]

Blood Trails.

[Spotify Announcer]

Listen now on Spotify.

[Phil]

Smell us now, lady.

[Giannis Patelis]

Welcome to Meat Eater Trivia.

[Brody Henderson]

Meat Eater Podcast welcome to Meat Eater Radio Live. I'm your host, Brody Henderson. Joining me today we've got Giannis Patelis and Maggie Hudlow.

[Giannis Patelis]

Good morning.

[Brody Henderson]

Morning happy. It's, it's 11am Thursday, November 6th here at the Meat Eater world headquarters in Bozeman. But no matter what time zone you're in, you should probably be out hunting right now.

[Giannis Patelis]

That's right. Instead of listening to this stupid show.

[Brody Henderson]

Yep. But you know, if you are listening this year podcast, it should be from the stand or a glassing knob because this is week. The rut kicks into high gear for whitetails and the mule deer. Bucks are also starting to get pretty frisky, I hear. So whether you're doing an all day sit, you're stuck at work or you're already tagged out, we we've got a great show for you today. We have an interview with a couple folks from the Wilderness Society up in Alaska regarding the recent federal approval for building the controversial Ambler Road. If you don't know what that is, we'll, we'll will fill you in. We're also going to be checking in for a rut report from a few of our crew members who are out hunting right now. Me and my charming co hosts are going to be competing in our own hot tip off segment for which you, the live chat audience is going to decide the winner. And we're also going to share some recent hunt stories rather than some, you know, weird segment that Spencer would do. We're just going to talk hunting and finally we're going to try something new. Hope it works out. It involves the folks in the live chat and it involves those one of those folks getting a sweet prize to celebrate the release of our brand spanking new Meat Eater cookbook box set. Right there. Can you see that, Phil?

[Phil]

There it is.

[Brody Henderson]

Two cookbook box set that releases next Tuesday, November 11th, which is also Veterans Day. We're going to give away a copy of that thing that's signed by Steve. All you guys have to do while we're doing the show live is you got to write a comment in there in the chat, and it has to be the most convincing reason why you and you alone should deserve to be the winner. Phil's gonna weed through those as we go. He's gonna pick out a few of the best ones, and at the very end of the show, we'll vote and decide who gets a copy of this cookbook.

[Giannis Patelis]

Who came up with this game?

[Brody Henderson]

I did. You don't like it?

[Giannis Patelis]

Well, I just don't really understand. Are you expecting to be entertained by their comments?

[Brody Henderson]

I want to be entertained.

[Phil]

You don't want genuine, heart wrenching stories about why they disagree?

[Brody Henderson]

Well, you know, something like that too might work, but yeah, we just want to get people involved in having fun.

[Giannis Patelis]

All right, you guys better be entertaining.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah, yeah, I'm sure they already are. We probably already have our winner already.

[Phil]

There's been a chat discourse happening here. I mean, an hour before the show even started, there's people in here talking away.

[Brody Henderson]

I'm gonna sweeten the pot too. If you make a really strong case for why you deserve the cookbook, you're gonna get the effed up old trucks calendar that's also signed by the crew. So there you go. Little extra something fancy. Giannis. Maggie, before we get get really going, what have you guys been up to and what are your plans for the November rut?

[Giannis Patelis]

Well, I'm just really here for the rut report since I leave for Wisconsin tomorrow. And as long as I can get these rut reports in, then I know what to expect.

[Brody Henderson]

I think we have a Wisconsin rut report coming in, don't we?

[Phil]

We do.

[Giannis Patelis]

And I don't know, I don't think we're going to play Mark's rut report, but I got a picture this morning from Mark and he put down a bruiser.

[Brody Henderson]

Is that right? Little teaser.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Maggie, admittedly I don't have deer hunting plans. I got a few freezer full of elk meat right now, but my got your meat. My bird dog, Bill has been real bummed when we've been leaving every morning to go elk hunting without him. So the gears are shifting and we're gonna go try and shoot some birds now.

[Brody Henderson]

So when you're saying birds, what kind of birds?

[Maggie Hudlow]

Ducks around where we live. And then we're gonna venture to the other side of the mountain and start dabbling in some upland hunting, which is some new grounds for me. So I'm excited.

[Brody Henderson]

Why don't you bring that dog up here to hunt pheas? Pheasants like A banner pheasant year around here.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Really? Yes, I will.

[Brody Henderson]

And I saw it in the other day, mule deer and. And antelope. And I must have seen, I don't know, a couple hundred sharp tales. Like, they were just everywhere, man, where I was. So I'll tell you where they were if you don't tell anyone else.

[Maggie Hudlow]

I know how to keep my mouth shut.

[Brody Henderson]

Man. On Saturday, I had a good lesson. I feel like a lesson that everyone needs to get now and then. I found. I killed an antelope Saturday, Sunday. Found, like, for Montana, a very, very nice buck. And I wanted him really, really bad. But it was windy, and it was like I had to sprint to get into position. And I think I made the right choice not to shoot. And I think you need a reminder like that now and then. Like, I wanted that thing bad. And I was a millisecond from squeezing the trigger and held off.

[Giannis Patelis]

Tell us.

[Brody Henderson]

Just because it was windy, it was rushed. Like, I had to sprint. I was breathing hard. It was a small window to shoot through that combinate.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Windy just wasn't right.

[Brody Henderson]

It wasn't right.

[Giannis Patelis]

He wasn't big enough for that kind of a shot.

[Brody Henderson]

No, he was too big to make that kind of shot.

[Giannis Patelis]

So you're saying, I'm guessing he was like a solid 160s, maybe even a 170 type buck, something like that. And if he was a 200 incher, you don't think their lead would have been flying?

[Brody Henderson]

No, no, I wouldn't have shot because.

[Giannis Patelis]

I was telling my kids last night, actually at the dinner table that personal ethics usually tend to. As the buck gets bigger, the ethics sure sort of slide down, down.

[Brody Henderson]

But I, like, I've been talking to my kids lately, like, about there's just no reason to do that shoot and see what happens thing. Like, if you want, like, you shouldn't want something that bad. Like, you need to be like, not that you would say, I don't care if I get that thing or not, but you need to say, like, you know, it's okay if I don't get that thing. And I think people need that reminder now and then.

[Maggie Hudlow]

I respect.

[Brody Henderson]

Anyway, you look. You look like you're doubting me. Honestly.

[Giannis Patelis]

No, I'm not.

[Brody Henderson]

Not at all.

[Giannis Patelis]

It's just I. I like, struggle with this, the whole. The theory of the conversation around it. Because I know if, like, if it was like a 150 and I was kind of like, yeah, I don't really need that buck, you know, I'd be like, yeah, you know it was too windy. I was right.

[Brody Henderson]

You don't buck.

[Giannis Patelis]

No, I know, but when they get huge.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah.

[Giannis Patelis]

Like it's, it's like a drug.

[Brody Henderson]

Well, that's what I'm saying.

[Giannis Patelis]

They make people do stupid.

[Brody Henderson]

That's what.

[Giannis Patelis]

If it was a 200 incher, I'm gonna be like, well, if I can just get one in him, then I can probably get two more in them later.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Okay.

[Giannis Patelis]

Just saying it was a different way to think about it. I mean, I'm happy for you that you, you know, you had that experience and you made that decision. But, you know, it's such a personal thing.

[Brody Henderson]

It is, it is. You know, we'll see what happens. I'm heading to Colorado like today. 200 incher pops out. I might be shooting over the horizon.

[Giannis Patelis]

That's right. You'll be like 800. Never tried it. But this buck is worth it.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah. All right, moving on to the. The guts of the show as always. There are a lot of important public lands issues going on right now. One you got to know about is this is the last few days of a public comment period where you can weigh in on the plan to. There's a plan out there from the federal government to rescind the. What's called the BLM public lands rule, which essentially prioritizes managing BLM lands like multi use, but prioritizes wildlife conservation. The plan would throw that out the window that are rescinding. The plan would throw that out the window. So you can go to regulations.gov and leave a comment supporting. Just leaving the public lands rule as is. Go on there and do that. I think you've got. What'd you say, Maggie? Till November 10th.

[Maggie Hudlow]

November 10th.

[Brody Henderson]

Oh, so only a few more days. So go do that. The public lands issue we're actually going to talk about today is the Ambler Road. And if you're not familiar, the Ambler Road is. Will be a 210 mile long east to west route from the Dalton highway which runs north south almost all the way through Alaska. Isn't that right? Honest?

[Phil]

Yes.

[Brody Henderson]

It runs east west from the Dalton highway over to Ambler and it's going to cut directly through this like massive pristine road less wilderness of the Brook Brooks Range to. To Ambler. The Trump administration recently had been. It had been nixed. The. The Trump administration recently reversed that and approved construction of the road despite serious concerns about destructive impacts to fish and wildlife habitat, including a major caribou migration corridor. Now there's, there's proponents of this and there's people and there's detractors, but what I would say is, like, Alaska is the last place in the United States that still has these, like, vast swaths of largely pristine tracks of. Of roadless wilderness. And, like, that's what makes, alas, Alaska special. And it's the only way it's going to stay. Those in favor of the road are site, job creations and other economic benefits for local communities. But you got to keep in mind that the road is being built almost exclusively for foreign mining interests, which are Trilogy Medals of Canada and South32 of Australia. So, yeah, there's going to be some local jobs that are going to get created, but the bulk of the financial kind of winnings are going to go to foreign mining companies. So we're going to dig into that today. We're going to talk to Tim Fulman from the Wilderness Society. He's their senior ecologist. We're also going to talk to Matt Jackson from the Wilderness Society, who's their. Their senior manager. And we're going to see what's going on and check out the potential impacts with those guys.

[Giannis Patelis]

If I can add Brody, too. If you want to hear more from someone that's opposed to the Ambler Road, we did a great podcast with author Seth Kantner probably a year ago. He wrote a book called A Thousand Trails Home Living with Caribou. But basically, where he lives would be greatly impacted by this road.

[Brody Henderson]

Right at the end of the road.

[Giannis Patelis]

Yeah. And his. His caribou that. That he hunts and that the villages all around their hunt would be impacted by this road. And I'm sure if you just search Seth Kantner Meter podcast, you'd find the episode.

[Brody Henderson]

Yep. You got those guys in there? Yep, there they are. Okay, thanks for coming, guys. We appreciate you talking to us today and informing the audience a little more on the Ambler Road. Matt, I want to talk to you first. It seems like this. This is a situation, at least to me, that in many ways mirrors the pebble mine that was going on a little while ago down in Bristol Bay. You know, it's really controversial. It involves, like, really good wildlife habitat, also fish habitat. So why don't you talk about the Wilderness Society's number one, what you guys do holistically and your role in the Ambler Road situation. And then after that, after that, we'll get in and, like, more of a feel for who in Alaska is for and against. But let's. Let's hit the big stuff first.

[Matt Jackson]

Yeah. Thanks so much for having us on. My name is Matt. I'm born raised Alaskan and the Wilderness Society nationally. We helped write the Wilderness Act. We advocate for public lands, fish and wildlife habitat. And so we're working on this issue of the Amble Road in Alaska because of its impact not just the federal public lands, national public lands, but this huge swath of the Brooks Range. The proposed road would cut through gates the Arctic national park and Preserve, also public lands right around the Dalton highway corridor that you mentioned. And the parallels you draw from with the Pebble Mine are really accurate. You know, what we've got here is we're looking at the short term profits of foreign mining companies versus the long term well being of public lands of wildlife and most importantly the communities that rely on them for their way of life. And so that's how the Wilderness Society started to get involved in the Ambler Road is through listening to local communities and looking at the impacts that it would have on those public lands in the Brooks Range.

[Brody Henderson]

So it's been kind of a roller coaster because not that long ago the road had been shut down and then just recently it's back on again. So that's like, it's got to make your job harder, you know, when, when things change. So. And the same thing with, with Pebble Mine too, right? Like it's up, it's down and you know, now it's back again.

[Matt Jackson]

It's been a little bit of a roller coaster. But what's been really consistent from within the state is actually the opposition. You know, we've been through multiple public comment periods where communities have gotten to speak up on this. You know, 88 tribes across the Yukon, Koyukuk and watersheds have opposed this project. So, you know, what the feds are doing is a roller coaster. But here in the state, pretty level, we know what we want and we've said no to this road a bunch of times. So I just try to focus on that local right perspective to protect the land because that's been consistent.

[Brody Henderson]

I want to get into some like nitty gritty stuff for the road. Like who's paying for the road?

[Matt Jackson]

That's a question we don't know the answer to. The cost estimates for the road keep going up and down. You know, I think it's upwards of 350 million to build dollars to build the road is the estimate right now and nobody's agreed who's going to pay for it. I think one thing that's really important for folks to know is this is not a public road. You know, it's not a US highway. It's going to be a private mining road for industrial scale mine trucks hauling ore back and forth. When you have trucks like that driving, they're what's called fugitive dust mine tailings escape from the trucks. And so there's kind of some rough drafts to have it be a toll road and the mine company will pay the toll, but nobody knows who's going to pay to build it.

[Brody Henderson]

Is there any chance, like American taxpayers end up on the hook for some of the costs?

[Matt Jackson]

We're certainly going to be on the hook to clean up the mess afterwards.

[Brody Henderson]

That's how it works.

[Matt Jackson]

It's not sure who's going to be on the hook to build it. It's a risk.

[Brody Henderson]

Is there a. Is there a timeline for construction or is that, or is it too early?

[Matt Jackson]

You know, some of the boosters, these foreign mining companies, they say they want to start as soon as next spring. Yeah, I think that's unrealistic financially and you know, legally for them.

[Brody Henderson]

Right.

[Matt Jackson]

That's what they're trying to do is start construction in the spring.

[Brody Henderson]

Normally when something, you know, a road like this gets built there, there has to be all these like, assessments done beforehand, like impact studies and things like that. Has that work already been done or is it going to be done or.

[Matt Jackson]

Well, yes and no. You mentioned the roller coaster. All of the federal roller coaster, all of that work was done. And in 2024, the Bureau of Land Management said in a record of decision that based on all of that work and permitting, there's no way you can build this road legally because it would impact wildlife, it would impact subsistence habitat or subsistence communities, it would impact water quality, you know, all these issues with it. And so that's why the, the government said no in 2024. What the administration did at the beginning of the of October is by proclamation, they're just trying to say that none of that matters and to force the agencies to issue permits that contradict what they decided in 2024. And so that's what we're seeing happen right now is that by proclamation they're trying to say none of that science that happened in 2024 matters anymore. Just bulldoze the thing anyways. And that's what the Wilderness Society and our, more importantly the frontline communities here in Alaska are trying to stop right now.

[Brody Henderson]

What, what are you guys working with? With a bunch of other conservation groups to fight this?

[Matt Jackson]

We are. I. There's a big coalition. You know, I mentioned those 88 tribes.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah.

[Matt Jackson]

And so, you know, Tanana Chiefs Conference is a, is A consortium of tribes in kind of the central interior region of Alaska, and we work with them. National Parks Conservation association also deserves a shout out. What they do is in their name, National Parks Conservation. And they've been a leader on this for a while because of the impacts to Gates of the Arctic National Park. It's definitely a team effort, but really the stars of the show and I tried to bring some of them on today, but they weren't able to make it. Are the tribal members from the region who from the beginning have said this is not going to work for our way of life.

[Brody Henderson]

Great question, bro.

[Giannis Patelis]

Where does the, where does Alaska's governor stand on this?

[Matt Jackson]

Our current governor has spoken in favor of the project. You know, I don't want to speak for him, but he tends to be pro resource extraction.

[Brody Henderson]

Which isn't. I mean, resource extraction itself isn't necessarily bad if it's done in the right way, but you know, this, this doesn't sound like the right way. Tim, I want to move on to you. The Amlor Road, as I mentioned earlier, is going to bisect kind of the core range of the Western Arctic caribou herd and go right through their migration path. It's also critical habitat for Dall sheep, moose, boreal birds, salmon, etc. But if you could, let's, let's start with that, that caribou herd, because it's already, as far as I know, kind of in a downturn. So just give us a brief history of that herd and how they're doing right now and then crystal ball it. What could happen, you know, if the road goes through.

[Spotify Announcer]

Sure, yeah. So I mean, I guess zooming out even a tiny bit more, caribou and reindeer, as they're called over in Europe and Asia, all the same species across the globe, we're seeing declines in many populations. It's true across a lot of Canada and it's true here in Alaska. So when I moved here 11 and a half years ago, there were more caribou than people in the state of Alaska. And that isn't true anymore. And the Western Arctic herd is a prime example of that. It used to be the largest herd in the state with nearly half a million animals as of the early 2000s. But over the last two decades, it showed a nearly 70% decline in numbers. Now, as you mentioned, the proposed area in which the road would go would cut through migration and winter habitat, other important areas that are used by the herd. And the concern there is that caribou are an animal that needs to be able to use big intact areas. They live in a really variable environment. There's lots of changes from season to season. And caribou need to be able to be free to roam across their habitat to access the different resources they need at different times of the year. And yet studies have shown that caribou also are sensitive to development. And we see altered move behavior at certain sensitive times of the year, like calving and post calving. They displace away from roads and activity. And so there's a concern about, at a time when the herd already is in decline, what the impact of adding on extra stressors might be for the caribou.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah, yeah. Can you give us some. Some other more specific examples of potential impacts, like on wildlife, but. But also on local subsistence communities?

[Spotify Announcer]

Sure, yeah. So earlier this year, we published a study looking at the Western Arctic herd and looking at how they responded to roads. And we found that it wasn't every caribou every time. But over time, impacts on the herd accumulate and it's much more than you might expect just based on the footprint of roads. And so we saw that caribou were being affected throughout the year with altered movement. They might delay their movements near a road, spending more time near the road than otherwise expected. They might not even be able to cross at all. They approach or they bounce back away and they can't make it past those roads. Other kinds of things like that. And then you mentioned the impact for the people who rely on caribou. There are concerns about the ability to access caribou herds to be able to carry on the traditional subsistence way of life that people have been practicing here for thousands and thousands of years who rely on caribou. And so there's real interest among groups like the Western Arctic caribou herd working group that I'm a part of, which brings together subsistence hunters from the range of the herd, hunting guides and transporters, and myself representing conservationists to try to come up with ways to. To encourage conservation of the herd and its habitat so that it can stay around to sustain future generations.

[Brody Henderson]

Has, has the Western art occurred? Is that, is it already in a situation where quotas for the number of animals that are allowed to be taken have already been reduced? Before, like before the road, it was.

[Spotify Announcer]

I believe it was just about a year ago that because of the ongoing decline in the herd, the bag limit, the harvest level for residents, was dropped. They've also put in restrictions for out of state hunters and what they're able to access from the herd because of the decline. And so that's exactly why, you know, with all these things going on, there's a question of does it make sense to add additional pressures to the herd?

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah.

[Jordan Sillers]

In 1996, a 15 year old girl was found along Montana's Gallatin River. Raped, drowned, and left for dead. For nearly 30 years, her killer remained free, living quietly among friends, co workers, and hunting partners.

[Brody Henderson]

I think they just thought he was a pretty normal dude. We thought he was a kind of.

[Phil]

A quirky guy, but he was ex.

[Brody Henderson]

Military and a wildlife biologist background, so we just always thought he was kind of a different guy.

[Jordan Sillers]

His name was Paul Hutchinson. A husband, father, and passionate outdoorsman who spent decades lying about the festering atrocity hiding in his past.

[Brody Henderson]

You never think you're gonna be on the villain side of the story.

[Jordan Sillers]

In this episode of Blood Trails, we follow the trail of a monster hiding in plain sight by speaking to the family and friends who knew him and the investigators who tried to bring him to justice. I'm Jordan Sillers. Tune in to this week's episode of Blood Trails, A Monster among us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Brody Henderson]

You guys got anything?

[Maggie Hudlow]

Yeah. Isn't this also going to have a huge impact on fish? I mean, there should be like, I think in the thousands of creek crossings, having to build culverts with this road, things like Dolly Varden sheepfish being impacted, mine tailings. I mean, it's kind of expansive how much the impacts go.

[Spotify Announcer]

We definitely are hearing concerns about the impacts to fish from people out on the land and in the communities nearest to where the road is proposed. And, you know, we have an aquatic ecologist who works with us here at the Wilderness Society. And yeah, he's much better able to speak to some of the details of that. But, yeah, there's concerns about what the impacts of putting in a road, putting in the culverts, all those things might do to fish and to fishing opportunities.

[Brody Henderson]

If you, if you guys don't mind, right.

[Matt Jackson]

It was 4,000 culverts.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah.

[Matt Jackson]

Would be required to build this road.

[Brody Henderson]

If you guys don't mind, send us his. His contact info because we might want to talk definitely about that more. All right, we kind of got to wrap things up and move on, guys. But before we go, is there any hope of a reversal like in the courts or. And is there anything people can do to fight it right now?

[Matt Jackson]

There's always hope, especially when there's so much unity around protecting this landscape within the state, within the communities that live there? Unfortunately, Kind of by design. There's not a lot of public engagement. There's, you know, there's not a comment period. There's not a chance for people to speak up at this moment. But the Wilderness Society and our friends here in Alaska, we're working to create that opportunity to make sure we have public comments or a chance to see speak up. So what I can tell folks right now is to just follow the Wilderness Society on social media. Sign up for email updates. And also the Defend the Brooks Range group. You asked earlier if we were working with lots of other groups in Alaska that. That group of is called Defend the Brooks Range and they're also on social media and, you know, the Wilderness Society, we, we work on a bunch of things. If you follow Defend the Brooks Range, you're going to get content on the Brooks Range, you know, learn more about the people that live there, the kind of wildlife that's there, and how to stay involved.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah, and just, just look at Pebble Minus as an example. Like, that was a big win, so hopefully we get one here, too. Well, thanks a lot, guys. I'm sure you're busy, so we'll let you go.

[Giannis Patelis]

Thanks, guys.

[Spotify Announcer]

Thank you.

[Brody Henderson]

Okay. You guys got anything to say about that?

[Giannis Patelis]

Oh, just. It makes me sick, you know, to think that. But, you know, the whole thing is people are always like, yeah, we need to. We need more energy here.

[Brody Henderson]

Well, this isn't even energy. This is, sure, just mining.

[Giannis Patelis]

But, you know, when they talk about doing more, you know, resource extraction on the north side of the Brooks Range, in the, in the, in the park there.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah. Right, Anwar, you mean?

[Giannis Patelis]

Yeah, it's like most of our resources now are exported.

[Brody Henderson]

Sure.

[Giannis Patelis]

People don't understand that. Like, we have plenty. We export it. We don't. We're not always buying oil from some other place to, to, you know, make our cars go. We have plenty of it. We don't need to pump more out of it. Like, it's a reserve for a reason. Let's keep it there until we really need it, you know, for when it's.

[Brody Henderson]

Like, dire in this case. Like, it's foreign mining companies. Like, it's crazy.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Well, and there's this frantic need, like, we have to do this now. We need to get these industries going now. And when there's this push to get things done so fast, you know, environmental protections aren't taken into consideration. Things are just. They're jumping through hoops and it, it's, you know, it's really a, like, reversal in time of, like, we've Seen the damage that mines can do yet. We're so willing to just go right back to this, cause all this environmental damage without a second look, just for, you know, make the rich richer.

[Giannis Patelis]

Yeah. There's no doubt there'll be a few Alaskans that have some jobs there for a few years, you know, and it could be 20 years of jobs. But like, the real winners are not going to be Americans.

[Maggie Hudlow]

No, no, no, no. And, and think about how much time they would have to be spending cleaning up mine tailings, cleaning up the water, cleaning up the land.

[Brody Henderson]

The thing is, is like you can't, like you never truly clean that stuff out.

[Maggie Hudlow]

No. Either it's there, it becomes part of the land and it's when you have a place like Alaska, it's just such a shame that some people are so willing to sacrifice that for the sake of the dollar.

[Brody Henderson]

Yep. Let's move on to something fun.

[Giannis Patelis]

That's right. Let's get this. Let's get this thing. Our smiles turned around y upside down.

[Brody Henderson]

We got an in house hot tip off contest we're going to do. So you got to follow along and place your vote in the chat. Make it real easy for Phil to figure out who the winner is.

[Phil]

Yeah, I'm going to start a poll here as soon as the tip offs end.

[Brody Henderson]

Before we get into it, if you've got a hot tip off that's so hot it has to be shared with us because we do fan hot tip offs. Also send it to. I think it's radiolive atthe meat eater.com.

[Phil]

I think it might just be radio.

[Brody Henderson]

It might be radio.

[Phil]

I'm a horrible engineer of the show, but maybe our producer, producer Jake will.

[Brody Henderson]

Pipe in here or send it to like info Meat eater. Someone will get it.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Meat eater dot com.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah, send it to Giannis themeatre.com DM.

[Phil]

It to Maggie on Instagram.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah, yeah, someone will get it. But yeah, send us those we like. We like doing those from the, from the fans too. Phil, you ready to tee em up or.

[Phil]

Yes, we've got some, we've got video tips from Brody and Giannis and then Maggie is going to do a. An in house hot tip off.

[Maggie Hudlow]

I thought that's what Giannis was doing. So that's what I rolled with.

[Giannis Patelis]

No, Brody said I couldn't do it.

[Brody Henderson]

I didn't say couldn't. Well, anyways, depends on like I couldn't have done mine that way.

[Giannis Patelis]

Yeah.

[Phil]

All right, let's watch the tips.

[Giannis Patelis]

Welcome to another hot tip off. Janice Patel is here and here's my hot tip. During the year, prepare for hunting season by making large amounts of things like chili, elk stew, breakfast sausage, meatballs, slow cooked meat for barbecue sandwiches from a deer neck bear, Birberia. Here's enough for three meals.

[Brody Henderson]

I want some of that stuff.

[Giannis Patelis]

More slow cooked meat, more breakfast sausage. If you do this every time you have dinner, you just make a little extra and vacuum seal it, put it in your freezer. Then when it's time for hunting season, you just throw all that stuff into the cooler, go to camp, and dinners are pretty much done. All you gotta do is reheat it, hit the grocery store, buy tortillas, some buns, whatever you need. Makes life super easy. And you get to continue to be living the meat eater lifestyle and eating game while you're hunting game for next year. So there you go. Beat that. Hot tip off Maggie and Brody. Aggressive note to future Yanni from past Yanni. Shoot straight this week. Okay. Aim for the top of the heart.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Hell yeah.

[Brody Henderson]

Thanks for coming at you with a hot tip from antelope season here in Montana. My son just got this buck like an hour ago and we're ready to take the head off of it. For years and years, when I was taking the head off of a bunch buck or a bull, I would always come in from the top, like back behind the ears and through all that heavy muscle and tendon that's down here. And I learned that if you flip them over and come in from the throat down, it's just way easier, way faster. You come out right where you want, where the skull meets the spine and slip your knife right between the skull and the spine. And it takes like less than half the time of coming in from the top. So you just go down, cut through the, the esophagus there and follow those jaw muscles or jaw bone down right there. And you get through that stuff and you're there. Like it's right there and you'll find.

[Giannis Patelis]

Oh, can he execute that?

[Brody Henderson]

If you get, get it right, you can just cut, kick it a little bit and you're right where you're at and you're through just like that. Like it's like fast. Way faster than coming through all the heavy muscle and tendon from the top. So that's your hot tip.

[Maggie Hudlow]

You know about your hot tip roady. If you're, if you're getting lymph nodes for cwd, you've already made that first cut. You're already right there.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah, I don't do the whole like skin in the Head and all that. When I take a skull or take a head out, no, I leave all that stuff on.

[Giannis Patelis]

You do have to be careful, though, cutting them that close like that, because some CWD test check stations will be like, hey, you're a little tight. We like to leave a little bit more neck on here.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Well, Wyoming, you just have to get the lymph nodes out.

[Giannis Patelis]

Can you bring them in personally?

[Phil]

Yeah.

[Brody Henderson]

They're like, yeah. All right, Maggie, let's hear yours.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Okay. This is kind of a lukewarm tip, but it was extremely convenient this year. Phil, you got the picture up. So processing my elk this year, we just laid out butcher paper on my kitchen island. And we could label all the pots and everything because we've got, like, a grind pile, a jerky pile, a dog pile. So when you're shipping Miller lights, you know, and you don't get them confused, actually, that's a high life. And it just made cleanup really easy because I don't have big enough cutting boards for a whole quarter. So you could just kind of flop whole muscle groups there. Get ready to clean it up a little more. And, you know, it's kind of a lame tip, but, man, it made cleanup a breeze this year.

[Brody Henderson]

You're not cutting on the table, though, right?

[Maggie Hudlow]

No, I mean, I've got. It's just, like, a walnut butcher block, so I could if I wanted to, but trying not to patina it up that much.

[Giannis Patelis]

But I do the same thing, but without the butcher paper.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Yeah.

[Brody Henderson]

Yep. Just spray and wipe it.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Well, see, that's the thing. I can't really, because it's an untreated butcher blood.

[Brody Henderson]

Oh, I gotcha.

[Maggie Hudlow]

So I don't have a way to, like, really disinfect it that well other than, like, dish soap.

[Brody Henderson]

You should just, like, rub a bunch of mineral oil into that well.

[Maggie Hudlow]

I keep doing it, but it. It's like, not even a year old, so it doesn't quite have, like. It's not quite there yet.

[Brody Henderson]

I don't want to seem like I'm bagging on your hot tip up. I think it's great.

[Giannis Patelis]

It's a good tip.

[Maggie Hudlow]

No, it was.

[Giannis Patelis]

It does make cleanup super easy.

[Maggie Hudlow]

It Cleanup real easy.

[Giannis Patelis]

Brody's tip is good, too. He told me about it. I forget when. Maybe on the youth hunt. Yeah, and I've used it on two different animals now. You're going through the same stuff as you would go from coming in from the top.

[Brody Henderson]

It's just easier to bind, but, yeah.

[Giannis Patelis]

It'S easier to find the gap that.

[Brody Henderson]

Takes you There something about coming in from the top where you're just not lined up right a lot of the time, or. I don't know.

[Giannis Patelis]

But I just think that, yeah, the top, it just takes way more experience to, like, hit the spot exactly right. Because when I hit it just right, I can do it that way fast, too.

[Brody Henderson]

And it's also like the way that the joints come together, the skull and the spine come to. If you turn it over and it's like they're coming apart. Almost like you stretch that throat out and it's. And it's, you know, like that. It's hard to explain.

[Phil]

All right, Poll is live, everybody. I'll give you another 30 seconds or so and then we'll. We'll call it.

[Maggie Hudlow]

I remember that conversation because that was when I was up here last time for Meat Eater Roast. You guys were talking about that. Yeah, we were.

[Brody Henderson]

Stick those antlers in the ground or whatever, and it lays there just right.

[Maggie Hudlow]

I like your tip too, Yanni, because I do that all the time, just for my sanity, not even just for hunting. Like, I love having stuff ready to roll.

[Brody Henderson]

Oh, I'd like to just roll that way all the time.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Yeah.

[Giannis Patelis]

Yeah.

[Brody Henderson]

My wife would like it, too.

[Giannis Patelis]

We use some of it throughout the year. But what happens is the kids get overeating something or, you know, they're like stew again. And so this worked out perfectly because, you know, I had to cook for myself for the next week.

[Brody Henderson]

Yep.

[Giannis Patelis]

And my dad. And to have basically seven or eight meals done, it's going to make it easy.

[Brody Henderson]

Where'd you get that burrito recipe?

[Giannis Patelis]

Probably New York. New York Times, I'm guessing.

[Brody Henderson]

I want to try that.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Have you. Have you gotten into the little freezer mold things? Little square things like they do for baby food? I don't know. They used to be like ice cube trays, but you can freeze, like, stock and stuff and like a square thing and then you just stick them in a freezer bag. Those are slick. That was going to be my other hot tip option.

[Brody Henderson]

Where are we at with the boating?

[Phil]

I will let you know right now. With 21% of the vote, in third place is Maggie Hudlo.

[Giannis Patelis]

But we have.

[Phil]

Maggie has a lot of supporters in the chat.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Thanks. Chat?

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah.

[Phil]

Someone said that they've been doing it Maggie's way for the last few years. Game changer. What he said. But then the winner with 44% of the vote is Brody Henderson.

[Brody Henderson]

Thank you, everyone. Give it a try this weekend when you kill a great big buck. If you're not going to get it mounted. I'm just going to do a freedom mount. Well, Phil, let's. We should do some, like, questions and comments too while we're here.

[Phil]

Yeah, sure. I've been booked, flagging, bookmarking all of the cookbook submissions. Yes. And we have a few just straight up questions, but I kind of have to sort through them here.

[Brody Henderson]

I get it.

[Phil]

Andrew was in the meat eater store this morning and saw Maggie in the wild and was starstruck. But that just goes to show you that even our crew members go shop at the meat eater store.

[Maggie Hudlow]

For that, I needed a new hat. Hi, Andrew.

[Giannis Patelis]

I can't believe you didn't buy this one. Get this one.

[Maggie Hudlow]

I almost did, and then I thought we'd be matching itching if I came in.

[Giannis Patelis]

This is the luckiest hunting hat I've ever owned.

[Maggie Hudlow]

No kidding.

[Giannis Patelis]

Oh, yeah, Yeah. I think like five or six big game animals have fallen while I've been wearing.

[Brody Henderson]

So do you like when you're going hunt now, like, you feel weird if you don't have it on?

[Giannis Patelis]

I'm gonna wear it through the end of this season and then I'll retire it.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah.

[Giannis Patelis]

Put it in the auction house oddities or something. But I'm telling you, if you're having a rough season right now, go order yourself one of these. Wired to hunt bucket.

[Maggie Hudlow]

That's what everybody wants, is a stinky hunting hat.

[Phil]

Nathan Stillwell says with the deer, I am putting the rib meat into the grind for burger. How much would you worry about having the fat tallow attached to the meat going into the grind? Will it affect the flavor or texture?

[Brody Henderson]

I think it depends on the deer. Like a big buck with a bunch of that tallow on the outside of his chest. Yeah.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Don't be a little waxy.

[Brody Henderson]

I mean, I've gotten away from using that type of meat in my. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it.

[Giannis Patelis]

I am.

[Brody Henderson]

But that rib meat is just full of gristle. And the more gristle your burger has, the shittier your burger is going to be. I know people don't like sacrificing like big whole muscle roasts off the ham or off the shoulder. But, like, that's what I use for burger.

[Maggie Hudlow]

It makes better burger.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah. Like, I would just save the ribs to cook as ribs.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Agreed.

[Giannis Patelis]

Or debone them and then chop them up real small and make stew or any other slow and low preparation like you would do with the neck or the shanks.

[Brody Henderson]

Melt that stuff where.

[Giannis Patelis]

That stuff that you're like worrying about how. What to deal with. Deal with it, and how it's going to be negative to your recipe. If you slow and low those ribs, it's gonna. It's gonna add to the flavor and the consistency in the recipe.

[Brody Henderson]

I mean, he's specifically asking about fat and tallow. I would get r as much of that as you can, but you can't get rid of all that gristle that's in the rib meat. You just can't.

[Phil]

Great. Most of everything else has been cookbook stuff, but I'm just gonna. This is a Phil question that Brody loves, too. John's asking If I'm playing Battlefield 6. I am not, but Alex Plakta, who's our social guy who plays trivia occasionally, is playing Red Sec, and we might play together soon, so that's fun.

[Brody Henderson]

Oh, you guys can have a little video game play date.

[Phil]

No, John, I just rolled credits on Hades 2. I'm in the Act 3 of Hollow Knight Silksong, and I'm playing Ghost of Yotei, which I'm kind of bouncing off of. I'm kind of. I've got open world fatigue. Yeah. Brody.

[Brody Henderson]

What? Maybe you're not willing to share because you don't want to get attacked online, but what's your, like, online video hand, video game plan handle?

[Phil]

Oh, well, yeah, you don't have to. I'm not going to share it.

[Brody Henderson]

Okay. You got to tell me.

[Giannis Patelis]

I shared it.

[Phil]

I shared it once before on Benoit Brian's old podcast. And even then with his smaller audience, I got inundated with a bunch of requests from, I'm sure, fine people, but I like to have a clean, fresh.

[Brody Henderson]

We should run a contest to have people guess your handle.

[Phil]

Oh, okay.

[Brody Henderson]

I think some people know. All right. Is that all for now?

[Phil]

Yeah. Yeah, that's all for now. Please send in some more straight up questions for the end of the show because we're a little light on those.

[Brody Henderson]

Questions and a good reason you need that. Their cookbook. Okay, next up, we are going to be checking in with some hunters around the country for some boots on the ground Rut reports. But before we get to them, I just want to check in with with you guys. Giannis, you got some exciting stuff showing up on your trail cams.

[Giannis Patelis]

I wouldn't say exciting. It's kind of what you expect. Deer movement. Lots of deer movement. More daylight movement than a month ago. Know, it's not like the cams all of a sudden are just lit up with, you know, Boone and Crockett type bucks, and I try to remind myself and my dad especially a lot, all the time, is that, like, you cannot make hunting decisions based on cameras. And we have a lot of them. You know, we're. We're, you know, partners with Moultrie. So I basically have as many cameras I want to run. There's probably two dozen of them out there right now. But still deer walk behind them. They walk sometimes in front of them and don't get their picture taken. You just like. I like to have them for, like, a general inventory. I know where there's like, a bunch of does are hanging out right now. That's a good thing to know for the rut, you know, like, where they're hanging out. So. Yeah, that's my trail cam report.

[Brody Henderson]

Maggie, you said you're not going to be.

[Maggie Hudlow]

I. I'm not. But I have seen more mule deer running around.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Which is cool to see, except for, you know, I was driving up from Wyoming last night, so I was driving pretty slow the whole way because I saw quite a few deer running around, Especially driving it. You know, I think the way to.

[Brody Henderson]

Avoid them is drive faster.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Yeah. Take a look at my truck. And then maybe you'll reconsider that.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah, I just. I have one day of mule deer hunting in this year. Just a few days ago, there were some. Some small box forkies that were, like, hanging with those, like, getting their nose up near the doe's butt. But it's just like that mule deer. Right. I feel lags behind the whitetail rut a little bit. I did have that big buck that was. That was checking a dough, but he was, like, not ready. He was like, I'm gonna walk over there and see what's going on. And then he walked away. So, like, I'm hoping because I'm heading to Colorado, I'm hoping that it's going to start kicking off. Good. Let's check out the actual in the field reports.

[Phil]

Phil.

[Brody Henderson]

Hey, Spencer Newarth bringing you a rut report from November 3rd. I am in eastern Montana hunting a place that is almost exclusively mule deer. So that's the kind of information you're getting from for me. Last night, I saw 30 to 40 muley does broke up into, like, 10 different groups, and not a single one of them had a buck with them. I think if it was a week from now, two weeks from now, that would have been a different story. But clearly the muleys out here are not at a stage in the rut where the does are getting too harassed quite yet. Otherwise I would have seen it last Night. This morning, I saw a bachelor group of three bucks together. They were leaving an egg field, headed to bed right at about shooting light. And those three bucks seemed kind of irritated with each other. A couple of them postured looked like.

[Spotify Announcer]

They were going to lock antlers.

[Brody Henderson]

At one point, a different buck, I saw him rubbing his antlers, thrashing around in one of those jaws. And one of those bucks, I killed right at sunrise. And I'll go show them to you in the back of my pickup here right now. Here he is. I was doing that route report from inside of my truck because it is so damn windy out here and I care about our listeners. This buck was the biggest buck in that bachelor group. And if I'd have been out here a week later, he might have been in a different county. He seemed like he was getting amped up to chase some tail. All right, I will be hosting Meat Eater radio next week. I'll have more on this story then. Back to you, Brody.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Nice buck, Nice.

[Brody Henderson]

Tony Peterson's got your rut report right here. As you can see, you should probably be in a tree right now. Not a huge surprised since it's the first week of November, but in all fairness, he killed it four minutes into his first sit. So he has really no idea what's going on. I did sit there for two extra hours afterward. Right. Did you see Rud act like. Like after you were done hunting, did you observe any r. I was drinking a Starbucks energy drink and eating a. A protein bar. And I did see a little buck come through cruising. He was rotting. He. This dude was looking. That dude was looking. And we had does go in between and they were not together. So it was just like bucks were roaming, does were trying to avoid them. But it's definitely even being 65 degrees, 70 degrees today. They were going. I'd like to return to something in case people missed it four minutes into his first set.

[Matt Jackson]

Right.

[Brody Henderson]

But I would like to. I would like to wrap this up by asking Steve what he was doing when I shot this book. I was trying to help the deer herd by doing some coyote wood on November 4th. That's why that buck was free to.

[Giannis Patelis]

Be who he was, you know?

[Matt Jackson]

Right.

[Brody Henderson]

Cuz the real threat wasn't in the woods. So get out there. Oh, you know what? Tony had found him on a camera and his name was. You might not have heard it before. His name was Old Split Time. Yep. We call him Old. Old Tri Split is what he should have been. Right.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Right there.

[Brody Henderson]

Pretty derivative deer name here. Yeah, we didn't go too far outside the lines. I'm trying not to seem jealous. Do I seem unjealous, Chili?

[Giannis Patelis]

I seem good. I seem like.

[Brody Henderson]

I seem like. I'm not.

[Giannis Patelis]

Like I don't care.

[Brody Henderson]

Right.

[Giannis Patelis]

I don't think a jealous man would.

[Brody Henderson]

Go coyote hunting on November 4th. It was like I didn't know. I mean, who could have foreseen that on November 4th?

[Giannis Patelis]

You should definitely not go to your.

[Brody Henderson]

Tree stand and go run a trap lane on them. Moonscape of Nebraska. I can see where you're coming from on it, but anyway, get into a tree right now. Oh, look, I didn't notice that. He's been robbing. Robbing big time. These guys need to work on their porting skills a little bit.

[Phil]

Nebraska.

[Brody Henderson]

East Nebraska. Rut is rotting. Kyot running. Oh, no. After. No. When it's. Is it over?

[Phil]

Oh, no, it's still going.

[Giannis Patelis]

It's still going to the next one.

[Brody Henderson]

Well, wait, before you go to the next one, I got an addendum to this one. Our buddy Pat, who is also out there hunting with those guys, he got a buck as well. So it's happening out there, and Steve's chasing coyotes.

[Giannis Patelis]

Well, now he's. He's in a tree trying to kill a deer now that everybody else killed one.

[Phil]

All right, back to the rut report.

[Brody Henderson]

I don't think we need to finish this Disney movie. What's up, Meteor live? I'm Bear Newcombe coming at you with a rut report for the southeast. I've been hunting a lot the last two weeks, and I've really seen the rut activity start to pick up the last couple days. The first chase I saw was the last couple days of October, but this week, I've seen two big shooter bucks that I haven't seen before. Both chase and does. So the rut I've would say is coming into its peak over here next week. We've got a big cold front coming, and so I'd imagine that that will be probably the peak of the rut. But I've been seeing a lot of chasing. I've seen three or four chases alone this week, and the big bucks are starting to come out of the woodwork. But I'm switching over from food sources right now, switching more to trout corridors and other pinch points, and have been having a lot of luck that way. There's also a few spots where I saw a lot of does in the early season, and I went into one of those spots the other day and instantly got in on a. On a chase there. Were three bucks chasing one doe. So the rut is in full swing. If there's ever a time to be out in the woods, it's right now. So good luck to all of you guys who are getting out there. Hello, everybody. Good morning from central Wisconsin. Giving you a little rust.

[Giannis Patelis]

Let's go.

[Brody Henderson]

Chester sitting at the breakfast table this morning, coming up with a solid hunt plan for the next few days, and I think. I think we've got a good plan. Anyways, what I've been seeing is a lot of the mature dominant bucks have been pretty locked down on does. So the ruts obviously happening right now. It's a good time of year to be sitting all day. Once those bigger mature deer, you know, get off that doe, they breed her, they start looking for another one they're going to be cruising. So what I'm focusing on is bedding areas. So downwind side of bedding areas, pinch points between bedding areas, and then also in the evenings and mornings, transitions between, you know, the bedding area and food. Wherever those does are going to be, those. Those bucks are going to be checking them out. So be careful on the roads. Driving at night in Wisconsin, you know, it's a hazard. So deer are running around. Good luck to everybody, and I hope you get out there, and I hope you shoot a big buck.

[Giannis Patelis]

What a cutie.

[Brody Henderson]

There you have. It sounds like things are happening. Does that get you real excited? Giannis?

[Giannis Patelis]

You know, I was kind of joking about being here for the rut report. The thing about a rut report is, like, it's never going to change because what one person sees doesn't really make a difference. Well, you could be the next ridge over, next valley over, county over. It could be a completely different thing, just depending on if you're where the hot dough is or not, right? Or Chester there has got some cool video. Like, he's been in them. Like, they obviously have a hot dough that these bucks are around. But, like, Mark just did a great podcast with about, like, what science says about the rut. And those fawns are all. They try to be all born or the. I should say their moms all try to give birth on the same day so that they have. The fawns have the best chance of survival called predators. Well, that's one reason, but the other reason, too, is that, like, if it's Memorial Day, which is so from like Pennsylvania, just take that Latin to the line across the Midwest, like, you have the most food on the ground, the.

[Brody Henderson]

Green, they try to time it with the Green up.

[Giannis Patelis]

Yeah. So you don't want to be too early because you don't have enough food. It can, you can still be. Get some cold.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah.

[Giannis Patelis]

Nights and you could die when you're only weighing two pounds, you know, as a deer. And so like the peak breeding is going to always be sure it just.

[Brody Henderson]

Might happen at night or that gestation.

[Giannis Patelis]

Period before, you know, whatever that is. Two hundred and some days, Memorial Day, Right. Yep. So it's fun to hear about what people are seeing and what's happening, but every single year for the rest of our lives across like the Midwest.

[Brody Henderson]

Right.

[Giannis Patelis]

Like roughly November 1st to November 15th, 20th, it's going to be pretty good hunting.

[Brody Henderson]

Yep.

[Giannis Patelis]

You know.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah. But you know, it's good to know what's going on around some different areas.

[Giannis Patelis]

It is, it's fun. Like I said, it's entertaining.

[Phil]

It's about the hype.

[Brody Henderson]

Yep.

[Giannis Patelis]

I'm hyped.

[Brody Henderson]

The rut.

[Jordan Sillers]

In 1996, a 15 year old girl was found along Montana's Gallatin River. Raped, drowned and left for dead. For nearly 30 years, her killer remained free, living quietly among friends, co workers and hunting partners.

[Brody Henderson]

I think they just thought he was a pretty normal dude. We thought he was a kind of a quirky guy, but his ex military and a wildlife biologist background. So we just always thought he was kind of a different guy.

[Jordan Sillers]

His name was Paul Hutchinson, a husband, father and passionate outdoorsman who spent decades lying about the festering atrocity hiding in his past.

[Brody Henderson]

You never think you're going to be on the villain side of the story.

[Jordan Sillers]

In this episode of Blood Trails, we follow the trail of a monster hiding in plain sight by speaking to the family and friends who knew him and the investigators who tried to bring him to justice. I'm Jordan Sillers. Tune in to this week's episode of Blood A Monster among us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

[Brody Henderson]

Obviously, we're in the heart of hunting season here, so we're gonna, we're gonna share some recent crew hunt stories.

[Giannis Patelis]

Oh, boy.

[Brody Henderson]

Maggie, what do you got?

[Maggie Hudlow]

Oh, yeah, I, I was elk hunting this year and I'm gonna pull up the pictures.

[Giannis Patelis]

Maggie, is that not something you do every year?

[Maggie Hudlow]

I mean, it is. So I kind of been like year on, year off for the health reasons. So like last year I was just, I was packing out, so I was, I was hunting. I just wasn't pulling the trigger because my eyeballs were messed up.

[Giannis Patelis]

Right.

[Maggie Hudlow]

But so yeah, this year it was my turn to pull the trigger. And we had a real slow October. We, we hunted every weekend in October and did not have a single opportunity to shoot.

[Brody Henderson]

Now the thing about Wyoming is their rifle season starts like October 1st, so the Bulls are still rutting, you know.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Well, they're real high up too, and we don't have pack animals or nothing, so. And I just had a general tag. So we were kind of hopping around because it's like one place will be open for a couple weeks for bull and then another place will. And so it's like sort of just hopped around for where we could hunt. Because I was like, you know, I'd like to shoot a bull if I can. That'd be cool. You know, I'm a meat hunter, but I also can't help it that I want to shoot something with horns. So I think we ended up hunting four different areas in total. And this last one is like, all right, there's a cold front coming in. Feeling good about it. We're going to hunt this new spot we were scouting out on onyx and like, like we're both from the area so we're pretty familiar with, you know, where to go. It's just a matter of where there's going to be people, where there's going to be elk.

[Brody Henderson]

And so usually they're where the people aren't.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Yeah, yeah. And that was. We got pretty lucky. We, we saw these elk first thing in the morning, but it was just dump and snow and it was like they were like 500 yards away. So we were just kind of tromping around following tracks all day. Like.

[Giannis Patelis]

So you saw a bunch of elk but then didn't go after them?

[Maggie Hudlow]

Well, we did, but we just, we kind of lost them in the timber. We, we were, we were trying to get after them. We eventually got back to those elk. It was the same, it was the same group where I shot that bull at like 3 o' clock that afternoon. So it was just a matter of like looping around, crawling around in some downfall hell holes and finally coming back to an open meadow where we could get to them.

[Brody Henderson]

Were you tracking them in the snow or just looking for them?

[Maggie Hudlow]

It was both. And then we had a pretty good idea of where they'd be. We kind of gave him some time in the afternoon, went on a little side quest, saw some real big bull tracks and I was getting really excited. We were going to see a bigger elk, which we didn't. But I'm still happy to shoot little 4x5 Elk. He's real tasty.

[Brody Henderson]

Listen Those young bulls are the ones to shoot if you want to eat them.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Oh, my gosh. Young bulls. I don't think anything can top it.

[Brody Henderson]

You're rolling a dice with those cows, man. They could be, like, 18 years old.

[Giannis Patelis]

Yeah, you never know with a cow.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Totally. I was just explaining that to my mom, like, just the other night, I was like, I don't know. I feel like I'm kind of a cougar hunter. Mom. I like the young bulls.

[Brody Henderson]

There you go.

[Maggie Hudlow]

And then. Oh, that's Bill. That's my bird dog, Bill.

[Giannis Patelis]

He's happy elk season's over.

[Maggie Hudlow]

He is. He's ready to spend some time. He got to fetch, like, one duck that day. We were kind of just tromping around. It was a quick morning hunt because we had an elk to cut up that afternoon. We just wanted to get him out. So Bill is happy to get some elk scraps and happy to be the star of the show from here on out.

[Brody Henderson]

Nice work, Maggie.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Thanks. It was a fun hunt, Giannis. Oh, I forgot. I brought you guys a little treat, some elk jerky from my bowl. But I've been told it is not a fun auditory experience to listen to people eat jerky.

[Giannis Patelis]

I could eat jerky and tell my hunting stories at the same time.

[Brody Henderson]

Really?

[Maggie Hudlow]

We'll save it for after the show.

[Phil]

But, I mean, I don't give a shit.

[Giannis Patelis]

I'm looking forward to trying.

[Maggie Hudlow]

If you haven't tried Danielle Pruitt's smoked.

[Giannis Patelis]

Venison jerky recipe, it's heavy on the smoke.

[Maggie Hudlow]

It's my go to favorite, and it's worth trying out. I tweak it a little bit, but.

[Brody Henderson]

We'Ll try it here in a few minutes.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Yeah.

[Brody Henderson]

Giannis, let her get hungry.

[Giannis Patelis]

All right. I started with this first slide because it turns out this is my biggest bull to date. Bow or rifle?

[Maggie Hudlow]

Yeah. Yanni.

[Giannis Patelis]

And didn't really know what I had until I walked up on him and found him.

[Phil]

So.

[Giannis Patelis]

Yeah, that's exciting. Corey taped him for me the other day. 310 inches on the dot.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Nice.

[Giannis Patelis]

Pretty stoked. Next picture shows. Speaking of eating bulls, the backstrap was very surprised. I've actually sort of reorganized my freezer in my plant because I've got a lot of meat this year. Caribou deer. Lots of deer. With the kids shooting deer, this bull. And I was going to give away a lot of elk steaks, but this bull is eating extremely well. Like, even the hind quarter steaks have been very tender. Just delicious. So I'm actually starting to hoard this bull's meat a little bit more.

[Brody Henderson]

Well, you could, like, you can keep that. Like, people think it's like a year. Like you could be eating that bull three years from now.

[Giannis Patelis]

Oh, for sure, for sure. Let's see next. There's a Bach I got in Idaho. Whatever. Nice buck fun hunt. What made it super fun was hanging out with our buddy Max Barda, who you can see in the next photo. Oh, no. We had. We had an awesome tent site where you could literally glass for bucks right out of the tent door.

[Brody Henderson]

That snow. Do you have some snow?

[Giannis Patelis]

Yeah, there's a little bit of snow up high. And it was not. That was kind of probably the last camping trip of the year. You know, we got to spend three nights on the mountain, pack some pizza in there. Yeah, well, we made. We made a pit stop on the drive down, and we were having some pizza, and I'm like, you know what? Let's add a. Let's add a few more slices to this order, and then we can have some in the mountains. So we packed some up in the. Into the mountains with us. And yeah, it was great to share a week with Max. All right, here's. Here's the exciting stuff. Here's youth hunt with my daughters. We are 350 yards, maybe a little bit less from a bedded buck. Mabel was the one to be shooting. Mabel laid there on that. On that buck for nine hours. We got there on to that spot right there at 10am that Buck never stood up. We yelled at it. Ina, my other daughter, shot bullets 10ft.

[Brody Henderson]

How long?

[Giannis Patelis]

9 hours.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Really?

[Giannis Patelis]

10. 10? What time did it get dark out there?

[Brody Henderson]

I don't think it was that late, but a lot. Yeah, eight hours maybe.

[Giannis Patelis]

Well, ten to six would be eight, I guess. All right, eight hours. Long time.

[Maggie Hudlow]

And she's like staring through the scope.

[Giannis Patelis]

Yeah. On a bedded buck. And the one thing Brody later told me I should have tried is to. I didn't have with me, but I'll get to that. Fawn and distress.

[Brody Henderson]

I'll get that.

[Giannis Patelis]

Oh, Brody's gonna talk about it anyways. Yeah. The next slide shows it. When you're waiting for eight hours on a buck, you take some naps. My girls have become extremely good at napping. Cuz they're both napping. I'm like, who's watching the deer to stand up?

[Matt Jackson]

You.

[Brody Henderson]

So did you guys have the sun?

[Giannis Patelis]

I'll gladly do it.

[Brody Henderson]

Did that sun get behind you? Like, you weren't having to stare into the sun to watch that buck? No, that's good.

[Giannis Patelis]

No, no, we were looking kind of due east actually. So it got behind us for sure. And then, let's see. Was that it? For all my pictures?

[Phil]

That was it.

[Giannis Patelis]

That was it. Okay. Oh, well, I was going to mention last night Mabel, who did not get a shot off that day. We went on a hunt last night to a very target rich environment not far from Bozeman. A lot of white tail deer. She kind of, I asked her, I thought this was a clever answer. I said, you're going to shoot the first buck that comes out. Which I thought she would say yes, you know, just to be successful. Put some meat down, she goes, depends on what he looks like. So then we had to look over, we had to look up. We literally saw more deer yesterday than I'll see on, on my entire Wisconsin hunt. I mean, I don't know. We saw probably close to 100 whitetail deer and multiple bucks that we're like, okay, too small. Small to medium. Two medium, little. Getting a little bit better. And then we finally got, we saw a few that were like big enough. And they, the one big enough buck came to us, got to within 200, like with 20 minutes of light left and we're like, safety off, ready to shoot him. And that sucker had been feeding all evening, not running, does nothing up until that point, like just out of range. And then once he like came into range within the does, he just, just got full on ready. And he would not stand still long enough for an 11 year old to make the shot. And it was funny because I was like talking her through it the whole time. I'm like, okay, he's the one facing left. He's the one facing right. He's running right. He's got dough behind him now. And all the time she's like, yeah, okay, I'm on this. I'm on the right buck. I'm on the right buck. Okay, he's got a doe going right to left behind him. Yep, I'm on the buck. I'm on the buck. And then as light was fading and they were getting a little bit farther away from us, I could like hear her answers in her voice starting to crack a little bit. As in like, oh, I know it's not gonna happen tonight. I'm going home. Buckless. I gotta tell the story about not shooting one and multiple times. She's like, I think I'm looking at him, but there's also some grass and like, I want to be sure. And I'm like, yeah, you can't Shoot, if you're not sure, you know, you gotta be sure. And so we had that a bunch. So anyways, it's like. Like, would have been great to kill a buck last night, but at the same time, I'm like, she's killed. I guess she's only killed one other buck, but she's got three gobblers now. It's all been pretty easy for her.

[Brody Henderson]

Right.

[Giannis Patelis]

It's good to have a couple hunts where she's having to work for it and not have just success just laid in her lap again.

[Brody Henderson]

Definitely. Definitely she'll get one this season. I guess that leaves me. Phil, can you pull up the antelope one first?

[Phil]

Yes.

[Brody Henderson]

This is my kid, Hayden. This was opening day of antelope season. The reason, like, he shot an antelope before he shot bucks. He shot an elk. Like, the kids killed some animals. The reason I'm showing this picture is because this year, I kind of decided I was gonna let him make most of the decisions, like, on how the hunt went. And it started, like, at first light, like, we were parked on a high spot on a road to glass, as you do for antelope. And I was like, let's check what would be the north side of the road, because we had in the past seen a lot of antelope in that zone. And he's like, no, we should glass the south side of the road first. Because pretty soon we will be staring into the sun over there, and we won't be able to glass it. I was like, man, can kids got a point. So we, like, hike in a little ways, get on a knob, start class. And he found five antelope, like, within minutes. And I was like, it's great. There's a. Like, I couldn't. I couldn't tell if, like, with my eyes. And it wasn't, like, quite, you know, light. Light yet if there was a buck or not. But he's. And he's just freehanding a pair of those. This Sig image, stabilizing one. He's like, one of us buck, like, cool, but. And I was like, we can't. There's, like, no way. We can't go straight at them. Like, they're gonna see us, you know? So I'm like, what do you think we should do? And he's looking around, and he picks a route, like a circular, you know, half circle route around. I'm like, sounds good to me. And we kind of eventually get up into that zone near where they were. We had a little, like, pointy, like, Dirt mound kind of thing we were using as a landmark. And, man, we got in there and just like, where are they? Because you get in that antelope stuff, and it's broken, and there you realize there they were in a low spot. You couldn't really tell from the road. And we're sitting there for a while, and I was like, man, I think we should, like, creep forward like, 50 yards and get a look into that low spot. He's like, no, no, let's stay here. And sure enough, a few minutes later, we see some ears and some horns, and eventually, they feed up out of that low spot. And I'm like, 250. And, you know, he took care of everything else. It was cool because it was, like, really like his hunt for.

[Phil]

Yeah.

[Brody Henderson]

For the first time.

[Giannis Patelis]

Yeah. Sounds like from the. At least the details that you share, that you might just want to let him continue to do that and start guiding you a little bit, Slow you down a little bit, look in the right direction.

[Brody Henderson]

Exactly. Exactly.

[Giannis Patelis]

I like that you are doing that with him, because I told both my girls, too, at the end of this year's youth hunt, I'm like, next year, I'm not glassing. I'm gonna glass.

[Brody Henderson]

I'm gonna glass.

[Giannis Patelis]

I'm gonna glass because I like to glass. And I'll. I'll be like, oh, I see some bucks find them. But, yeah, I'm like, you guys are gonna have to find them.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah.

[Giannis Patelis]

Because otherwise, they just, like. They like to hang out while. While dad's glassing up the critters candy. Yeah.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah.

[Giannis Patelis]

And now I'm gonna. I'm gonna make them find them to find the deer.

[Brody Henderson]

Yep. We can do the next one there, Phil. All right. That's my younger son this year. He turned 10. So he first year, he's able to hunt in Montana. And, you know, same thing. Youth hunt. We all. We. We do a youth hunt together. Group of us. And this was opening morning, and he definitely wasn't, like, looking for. My other kid was looking for a big one, the one that got. Got the antelope. But Conley, the younger one, was like any buck. And we went kind of in a zone. We had hunted in years past, and his brother was a little bummed because that was like, his brother's zone. But just me and Conley went in there, and it was windy and cold that morning. He was suffering a little bit while. While we're glassing around and things calmed down, like, maybe an hour after shooting, like, 8:30. It kind of got a little Warmer, the wind calmed down, and I glassed up two little teeny bucks. Like, one of them might have been a forky. The other one was probably a spike. But it was like, all right, it's on. Let's go. And we had to kind of hustle down this drainage to get into shooting position. And these two bucks were, like, oblivious to what was going on. We were out in the open and. And they just weren't looking our direction. And I got Conley set up for a cross canyon shot that was a little over 300. And, you know, get him. He's laying down, he's shooting off a bipod and kaboom. Like I say, are you steady? All that stuff. We go through the whole thing, and he lets one fly and misses. And one of the bucks continues to stand there. The other one runs. I. I was pretty sure he had missed, but the other one ran in a way that I was like, we gotta check. We went down there and we. He's like, can I shoot at the other one? I was like, no, buddy, we gotta make sure you didn't hit the first one. So we went in there and we spent a good 30 to 45 minutes looking for blood and hair, Nothing. And he was down, man. Like, bummed out. First time, first opportunity. He was definitely, like, bum, like. No tears, but, like, close, you know? And I was like, man, we gotta both hold it together and just go find another one. And an hour later, we found a buck bedded down and the train laid out nicely for us to get set up, but it was still 300 yards and he was bedded, like, on a timbered hillside. And I forgot to mention that earlier that morning, when we had first sat down to start glassing, we had heard some, like, hooting and hollering way off in the distance. And humans. Well, Conley was like, is that a coyote? And I was like, man, I don't like. I think it was people. And the first thing that came to mind is, like, there might be some cowboys in here, because there's cattle in the area. We're hunting anyway, we're laid down on this buck. He dry fires on it a couple times, like, he's comfortable, he's solid, everything's looking good. And I tell him, like, we might have to lay here for a while, you know, before he stands up and he's cool with it. And then we hear that hooting and hollering again. And I look off that direction, and maybe a thousand yards away, here comes two cowboys with a couple dogs pushing some Cows. And I, like, know that zone well enough to know where they are that that cattle trail is going to go right under that buck, like, right under him. And I'm like, oh, my God. Really? Like, what do we do here? And I told Conley, I was like, we can lay here and see if that buck just lets them go underneath him and nothing happens, which. And I was like, I think the buck's going to spook because they're going to get too close to him. Or I can hit this font, this fawn bleed real loud a couple times and try and get him to stand up. There's a chance, like, he could run, but there's a good chance he'll stand up. And he didn't even think about it. He's like, hit the fawn bleed like, I don't want the horses running underneath that deer. And I did it. The buck stood up. I was like, are you solid aim? You know? And ten seconds later, boom. It kills the buck.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Nice.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah. And. And then like, we.

[Giannis Patelis]

The.

[Brody Henderson]

The. The. The cowboys were out of sight. They had to cross this draw. But I was like, conley, we're gonna, like, walk over that direction and talk to him before we go look for your buck. And we went over there. It's young couple. Very nice. I was like, you know, he just shot. They're like, we heard the shot. Hope you get. I mean, and then the guy's like, did you see any cows down the hill? I was like, yeah, there's a bunch down there. So they just took off and. And look for their cows. We went up there and found the buck, and it was all smiles, you know, it's fun.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Heck, yeah.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Giannis Patelis]

He was fired up.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah.

[Maggie Hudlow]

That's awesome.

[Brody Henderson]

All right, thanks for listening to our stories, guys. It's always fun to. Fun to talk hunting. We're gonna move on to the. The cookbook box set contest here. If you don't know about this thing. Can you see that thing, Phil? I'll move it over. There we go. If you don't know about this, this is like a special edition, kind of limited run. We didn't print a million of these things. It's got both of our cookbooks in it. The original Mediador Cookbook, Fishing game cookbook, and the outdoor Cookbook. They're paperback, which is kind of nice. You can fit them both in there. It's a really good Christmas gift. Pretty economical way to get both of them. You can pre order them now if you really want to. They go on sale next Tuesday if you Want a signed copy like this one? We've got a limited number of them that are only available on the website. Or you can. You can. Our two retail locations in Bozeman and Milwaukee also have some, so you could pick one one up there, but not until Tuesday when the book releases. You got anything to say, honest, about, like, these two cookbooks, making of them? What. What you think about them? Favorite meals, recipes, anything like that?

[Giannis Patelis]

They're a lot of fun to make.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah.

[Giannis Patelis]

It's always a fun project.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah.

[Giannis Patelis]

Especially because we plan them not in hunting season, which is smart of us.

[Brody Henderson]

Yep. Get to eat a lot of good food.

[Giannis Patelis]

The one I keep going back to in the original cookbook is the fish stew.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah.

[Giannis Patelis]

Love that recipe. We got a bunch of halibut now, which tends to do very well.

[Brody Henderson]

Is it a chowder? I can't remember.

[Giannis Patelis]

Yeah, I mean, it's kind of one of the same, isn't it?

[Brody Henderson]

Well, no, stew and chowder aren't the same thing.

[Maggie Hudlow]

No, I think a chowder is, like, creamy.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah.

[Giannis Patelis]

Oh, yeah. It's got cream in it.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah.

[Giannis Patelis]

Yeah. But I feel like we call it fish stew in the book anyways.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah.

[Giannis Patelis]

Don't matter. Get the book. Try it out. It's a good one.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Maggie, is the osso buco recipe in there?

[Brody Henderson]

Oh, yeah, the original. That was the original.

[Giannis Patelis]

I love that.

[Brody Henderson]

Started a nationwide osso buco movement, I feel like.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Yeah. Save your damn shanks, folks.

[Brody Henderson]

Yep. Drown that thing in some red wine for several hours.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Hell, yeah.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah, they're both great. A lot of, like, the original for, like, beginner hunters, wild game chefs. Like, it's got great butchering tips. Fantastic butchering tips. The outdoor cookbook's got some great, like, gear and equipment information. You'll love them. But let's move on, Phil, to see if we can actually pick a winner.

[Phil]

Okay. Yeah, I'm just gonna rapid fire through a bunch of these, and then you guys just kind of flag them in your head.

[Brody Henderson]

Yep.

[Phil]

By far the most. The answer that came up the most was that my wife or my girlfriend thinks my cooking is terrible, and this would help me. There were so many of those that I don't think I picked any of them. You guys, step up your game.

[Brody Henderson]

Yeah. You guys are gonna have to buy this thing. Sorry.

[Phil]

Yeah, sorry. Let's see. Okay. I'm just gonna run through these. Wokum says Brody. If I win, I will put the recipes into the fall menu of the kitchen I manage.

[Maggie Hudlow]

Is that a copyright?

[Phil]

Yeah, that was gonna be my next question.

[Giannis Patelis]

Also.

[Brody Henderson]

You can't do that with Wild Game if it's like a restaurant kitchen.

[Phil]

Yeah, yeah, I'm sure he's just talking about the recipes anyway. Okay, that's gonna be a no go. Ben says, need a new recipe for my tag. Tag. Soup's getting a little stale. Kevin says my 7 year old daughter's favorite show to watch together is a meat eater. Her favorite way of helping in the kitchen is cooking Wild game with me. Having these cookbooks would give us infinite memories.

[Brody Henderson]

Getting better.

[Phil]

Mogor, our dude. Why should I win this book? Because I've already cleared shelf space and trained my cat to turn pages. I don't win, I'll be forced to read cereal boxes again. Don't let that happen.

[Brody Henderson]

Mogor. Mogor's up there. Where does Mogor live? Like shipping this thing to him.

[Phil]

I know it could be expensive. Let's see. Brian says, contingency plan for acquiring the cookbook. Phil, do you accept bribes? My Venmo is PhilTaylor6. Let's see.

[Brody Henderson]

He won't share his video game handle, but share that.

[Phil]

Yeah, duh. Ethan, anytime I cook Wild game, I truly feel like I'm disrespecting my harvest. Unless I'm using one of Steve's recipes. No others come close. Just ask my wife how many times I've said this.

[Brody Henderson]

I feel like that's sucking up a little bit.

[Phil]

Yeah, a little bit. Speaking of sucking up or. Well, that sounds mean. I'm just gonna read it. Ritzman says I'm a young adult who recently got married, had my first baby, and am hunting, butchering, and cooking solo for the first time in my life. And that then he's got a part 2. My dad was my mentor for years, but a devastating shattered pelvis left him unable to keep up the tradition. The cookbooks would be one more arrow in my quiver and bringing the hunt tradition in to my family. Another one from Brian. He says Max Barda would want the cookbook to go to his favorite native North Dakotan. Brian. When Max wins a game of trivia, I will send you so many cookbooks.

[Brody Henderson]

There you go.

[Giannis Patelis]

Be honest.

[Brody Henderson]

You getting excited about any of these? Not really.

[Phil]

Yeah, apologies. I flagged the ones that jumped out to me.

[Giannis Patelis]

Remember, Brody? I was looking for entertainment.

[Brody Henderson]

I know Mogor was entertaining, but he lives.

[Phil]

There's a guy named Adam who has been just typing out verses from the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald and replacing random words with cookbook. I'm not going to select yours, Adam, but you're going to love the meat Eater podcast on Monday. Stay tuned.

[Brody Henderson]

Bill, we gotta find a winner here. This is dragging on too long.

[Phil]

Listen, right now it's Mous can can jump into the chat. Honestly, out of all of them, when Mogors popped up, I was like, I, I thought that he would just take it because it was funny. We love Mogor.

[Giannis Patelis]

Yeah, we'll. We'll get it. We'll ship it to.

[Maggie Hudlow]

There was one that kind of made me laugh, but it was just how it was written and it said, well.

[Phil]

This, this is my favorite one and I'm not going to put it on the screen because of the profanity, but I will read it and censor it. Steven says cookbook I don't want or deserve. No stinking cookbook but an effed up truck calendar that I deserve. I deserved an effed up anything for that matter. That's from Stephen.

[Brody Henderson]

All right, well, let's do this. Mogor gets the book and Steven gets the calendar.

[Giannis Patelis]

Oh, sounds good to me.

[Maggie Hudlow]

That sounds good.

[Giannis Patelis]

Wow.

[Brody Henderson]

How's that? How's that?

[Phil]

Some great negotiations.

[Giannis Patelis]

Nobody was good enough to get both.

[Brody Henderson]

No, Mogor, send. Don't send your address and stuff to me.

[Phil]

Send it to, like, radiothemateater.com which is the correct email address.

[Brody Henderson]

There we go. All right, do we got any other, like, comments?

[Phil]

We do, but I've got a plane to catch soon, so let's wrap this baby up. How about that?

[Brody Henderson]

All right, we'll shut you guys down. We'll get them filled.

[Phil]

I mean, this is already on the longer side of the show.

[Brody Henderson]

We'll see you next week. Thanks everybody for tuning in. And get out there in the woods. The ruts on. Take it easy.

[Giannis Patelis]

Thanks, guys. Bye.

[Jordan Sillers]

This season on Blood Trails, each story begins with the hunter stepping into the wild. But not all of them come back. I'm Jordan Sillers, a journalist. Journalist with over a decade of experience investigating stories about hunting, fishing, guns and crime. Join me as we track the truth through tangled cover and Cold Case Files, where every trail tells a story and every story leaves its own trail of blood.

[Giannis Patelis]

Blood trails.

[Spotify Announcer]

Listen now on Spotify.

[Maggie Hudlow]

This is an Iheart podcast.