Ep. 804: Santa (!) and the World Record Rock Skipper | MeatEater Radio Live!

Summary

The MeatEater Podcast: Ep. 804

Title: Santa (!) and the World Record Rock Skipper | MeatEater Radio Live!
Date: December 12, 2025
Host: Spencer (Main Host), with Seth, Phil, Santa Claus, Kurt Steiner, and others

Episode Overview

This festive, humor-laden episode of the MeatEater Podcast’s live radio show blends outdoor storytelling with holiday spirit. The hosts welcome back a "very special guest"—Santa Claus—for the annual MeatEater Radio gift exchange. The centerpiece interview features Kurt Steiner, the world record rock skipper, who gives a masterclass on stone skipping. The crew also reviews favorite hunting/fishing gear and answers live listener questions on topics from processing deer shanks to trapping and wild game bullets.

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Table of Contents

1. Whitetail Stories & Deer Hunting
2. Santa Claus’s Grand Entrance & Gift Exchange
3. Listener Q&A
4. Interview: Kurt Steiner, World Record Rock Skipper
5. Gear Talk & Audience Feedback
6. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
7. Episode Timestamps

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Whitetail Stories & Deer Hunting

• Golden Triangle in Illinois:
  • Spencer opens with a personal story about killing the biggest whitetail of his life in the famed "Golden Triangle" of Illinois: Pike, Adams, and Brown counties.
  • Discussion about local deer populations, weather events (deep snow), hunting strategies, and unique "dirty sheds" leading to gnarly racks.
  • Notable moment:
    • “It was like the most excited I’ve been about a hunt in 2025... My anticipation is so high that there’s no possible way it can meet my expectations... And then the biggest buck on the farm showed up.” —Spencer [04:28]

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Santa Claus’s Grand Entrance & Gift Exchange

• Surprise Studio Visit [07:42]:
  • Santa (a recurring holiday guest) enters with a sack of gifts, candy canes, and mini Fireball bottles—cracking jokes about parking the reindeer and his distaste for Fireball whiskey.
• Gift Exchange Parade [08:00–28:05]:
  • Each crew member opens their Secret Santa gifts, with playful ribbing and reactions:
    • Phil receives a heartfelt card, Sailor Jerry’s rum, and ground elk.
    • Max receives the board game Cascadia.
    • Brody gets reader glasses and ice fishing lures.
    • Ryan Callahan receives a bald eagle tie and a shirt: “Sorry I’m late. I didn’t want to come.”
    • Spencer gets halibut and king salmon.
    • Seth gets a pile of seemingly regifted items (an old T-shirt, LeBron jersey, worn-out shoes, and a huge carrot dog toy), then homemade apple butter, cookies, and salsa from Spencer.
  • A small caper is revealed—the regifted items were nabbed from Santa’s own house by Mrs. Claus and Max.
  • Notable sequence:
    • Santa, flustered about his possessions being gifted: “These are all my most treasured possessions... Was it you? You better talk to Mrs. Claus.” [22:00]

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Listener Q&A

Hunting, Cooking, and Trapping [32:55; 68:21]

• Processing Deer Shanks for Osso Buco:
  • Tips: Use a Sawzall with a bone blade and/or ask your butcher for a band saw.
    • “Cut through the meat you can with a knife and then do the rest of it with a sawzall and you’ll be just fine.” —Spencer [33:41]
• Best weather for deer hunting in cold temps:
  • “Absolutely, no. That is the best time to go out, especially if you have access to ag in Iowa... I’d be very excited about those temperatures.” —Spencer [36:12]
• Cartridges, wound channels, and bullet choice for big game:
  • Santa: “I think you want big wounds. Wounds are what kill. Energy doesn’t kill. Big wounds kill. Full penetration... I like a bullet that upsets violently.” [71:23]
• Trapping advice for Minnesota bobcats and fishers:
  • Seth: “Fisher trapping I’ve done in hardwoods mixed with some white pine... Bobcats like rocky stuff—outcroppings or thick brushy river bottom full of birds.” [68:50]
• Too many D&D episodes?
  • Listener jokes reflect fan polarization.

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Interview: Kurt Steiner, World Record Rock Skipper

[28:00–54:38]

• Kurt’s Record Journey:

  • First set world record in 2002, then bested by a friend in 2007.
  • In 2013, after saving 500 stones, he nailed the 88 skips record at a carefully chosen spot, sharing technical details about wind, water, and stone selection.
  • Camera angle and video for verification critical.
    • “I just threw the hell out of that stone... I had a group of counts between 88 and 90. I just took the lowest one, figuring that’s kind of like everybody agrees on that. And it’s held up.” —Kurt [39:09]

• Competition formats worldwide:

  • US: Skip counts rule (number of bounces).
  • Europe: Distance (called “skimming”).
  • Japan: Judges for aesthetics, distance, and skip count combined.

• Choosing the Perfect Rock:

  • Flat bottom, smooth texture, sharp side edge (if water flat), fits palm, ~4–6 ounces, no irregularities on the bottom edge.
  • “If the bottom edge is too jagged, it will bite the water... The sharpness has to feather the water.” —Kurt [44:00]

• Form & Physics Masterclass:

  • Stand at 45 degrees, come down at the water, use a low angle for better skips, ensure proper tilt, add spin, and “pre-load” the right side down 2 degrees for right-handers for stability.
  • "There’s five things to think about... Other things is the spin… Hold the stone at the longest point on the rock, and if you want a pro tip, give it a little right hand roll..." —Kurt [50:25]

• Audience Questions:

  • Water surface (prefer gentle ripples over dead calm).
  • Natural vs. artificial stones: extra prestige for mastering natural stones.
  • Injuries and aging affecting competition longevity.

• Memorable Moment:

  • Santa, totally engrossed: “That’s the best interview we’ve ever done... I was fully entranced by our guest.” [54:42]

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Gear Talk & Audience Feedback

[57:22–68:13]

Crew’s Gear Picks

• Santa:
  • First Light wool-brimmed hat—warm and functional with a wide brim; fits his outdoor uniform [58:35].
  • Asiak tripod head—lightweight pan head for stability with large binoculars and scopes, allows for “light tripod man” lifestyle [59:55].
• Seth:
  • Milkweed as a windicator—cheap, natural, superior to synthetic puffer bottles for tracking wind [62:43].
• Spencer:
  • Gas can dilemma resolved—crowdsourced feedback from 161 listeners. VP Racing gas cans came out on top for reliability, speed, and ease of use, despite being technically “not for fuel” cans [64:43–68:01].

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Santa, on Fireball:
  • “I have a lot of [Fireball] at the house, and I don’t like it. It’s too sweet. I drink it too fast.” [11:04]
• Gift Exchange Running Joke:
  • “These are all my most treasured possessions.” —Santa [22:30]
• Kurt on rock skipping:
  • “I just threw the hell out of that stone.” [39:09]
• Santa’s firearms wisdom:
  • “Big wounds kill. Energy doesn’t kill. Full penetration... I like a bullet that upsets violently.” [71:23]
• On audience engagement:
  • “Try stealing from Santa. Now I’m really in the mood... I’m sweating again.” —Santa [28:08]
• Holiday humor:
  • “Santa, people are asking if you’ve been drinking already.”
    • “No, not yet.” —Santa [11:53]

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Episode Timestamps

• [02:22] – Show intro, whitetail story from Illinois
• [07:42] – Santa’s dramatic entrance
• [08:00–28:05] – Secret Santa gift exchange
• [32:55] – Listener Q&A: deer processing, hunting tactics, trapping
• [36:01] – More listener questions
• [37:28] – Kurt Steiner interview: his record, stone selection, technique
• [54:38] – Crew reacts to Kurt’s interview
• [57:22] – Gear Talk: Favorite gear from each host
• [64:43] – Spencer reveals the listeners' favorite gas cans
• [68:21] – More Q&A: trapping, bullets, roadkill
• [79:42] – Holiday wrap-up and sign-off

---

This episode blends classic MeatEater humor, deep outdoor knowledge, and festive mayhem with the treat of a world-class stone skipper’s insider secrets. Whether you’re here for the hunting advice, nostalgic gift swapping, or to become a better rock skipper, you’ll find a warm, insightful, and very merry hour with the MeatEater crew.

Transcript

[Spencer]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Guaranteed Human (Sponsor/Ad Voice)]

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[Spencer]

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[Guaranteed Human (Sponsor/Ad Voice)]

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[Phil]

Smell us now, lady.

[Kurt Steiner]

Welcome to meat eater trivia meat eater podcast.

[Spencer]

Welcome to Meat Eater radio live. It's 11am Mountain Time. That's 1pm for our friends in Machias, Maine on Thursday, December 11th. And we're live from Meat Eater HQ in Bozeman. I'm your host, Spencer, joined today by Seth Randall was supposed to be here, but for some reason he had to bail. Hope it was a good reason. Now on today's show, we'll interview Kurt Steiner, the man who holds the world record for skipping a rock 88 times. And we'll have gear talk where Seth and I review hunting and fishing products. But first, Seth, I just killed the biggest whitetail in my life.

[Seth]

Oh, I know, I know it. I. When I got that, I. I love when my friends send Me, your pictures, but your. Yours. Your picture was the best one I got all year. I was just, like, overrun with. With joy.

[Spencer]

Good.

[Seth]

When you send me that, I'm tickled.

[Spencer]

I'm tickled to hear it's also, like.

[Phil]

The biggest whitetail deer of most people's lifetimes, not just yours. Like, that's a really big deer, right?

[Spencer]

Yeah. Yeah. For some reason, we have Ryan Callahan, Brody Anderson, and Max Barton also in the room.

[Kurt Steiner]

What did I do with that?

[Phil]

You said you introduced us at the beginning.

[Spencer]

No, he didn't. No, he didn't.

[Phil]

He actually specifically said, we will not be acknowledging you. Merry Christmas, everybody.

[Spencer]

I. I was in the Golden Triangle of Illinois. That's Pike County, Adams County, Brown County. Those count are second, third, and 10th in Illinois for Boone and Crockett whitetail entries. And it's just like, if you got to play sims or play God with the earth and be like, I'm gonna make the best whitetail ground I can fathom, that's what you would get in the Golden Triangle. It's just like the perfect mix of timber and egg. And since the invention of outdoor magazine, outdoor tv, the Golden Triangle has been a place on a map that the whitetail hunters fantasize about. Oh, yeah, I'd put it with, like, you know, like, Buffalo County, Illinois. The Milk river in Montana.

[Seth]

Yep.

[Spencer]

South Texas, South Iowa, the breadbasket of Saskatchewan. You know, it's. It's just like, notorious is all those places for, like, big, giant whitetail bucks.

[Seth]

Yeah, it's like. It's like what Nashville is for country music.

[Spencer]

Exactly. Yeah. That's a good analogy, Seth. So my. My buddy invited me out to hunt his farm this year. It was like the most excited I've been about a hunt in 2025. And going into the hunt, I had told my buddy this. I was like, my anticipation is so high that there's no possible way it can meet my expectations. Yeah, like, I'm just. I'm expecting too much at this point. And then the. The biggest buck on the farm showed up.

[Seth]

So did you. Did you. Going into this. Did you know, did you have, like, trail cam pictures of. Of the deer that you could potentially be seeing there?

[Spencer]

Yeah, My. My landowner buddy was. Was aware of like, four or five bucks. They thought that were like five plus years old. This. This was the biggest buck of them all. They had three years of history with him when he was a three year old, a four year old, and this year, five year old. They had seen him during archery season in October. Never gave him a Shot and then he disappeared at the end of October. They didn't see him again. They didn't get any trail cam photos of him.

[Seth]

The old rut.

[Spencer]

That's right.

[Seth]

Took him away.

[Spencer]

So this landowner was hunting this deer? He was hunting? Yes. They tried to kill him. Didn't happen this year. But then December rolled around and they got like 8 inches of snow and.

[Phil]

They had to call in Spencer to get him. Yeah, we just can't kill this getting another invite. There.

[Seth]

Look at this thing. Up on the, up on the TV.

[Spencer]

We have a picture of him. Oh, it's beautiful. He's, he's a mainframe 5x5 but he's got a lot of junk. I think he has 19 scorable points. A lot of it is around his bases that are hard to appreciate.

[Phil]

You just think, you're kind of guessing. He's got 19. He didn't look at him that hard.

[Spencer]

Well he's, he's got, he's got stuff going on around his bases that are like crawling across into his hide and some of it's going to be close to that inch. I haven't put a tape measure on him yet but I, I think it'll come out to 19 points. And if you look I've got sheds here of the buck. He's got like, they're not really dirty sheds but it's called a dirty shed when they break off some of their pedicle with it and typically that means they're going to throw a funky rack. When you have a dirty shed. This buck, he has a few dirty sheds. His three year old sheds were dirty, his four year old sheds were kind of dirty. And so then you know you're going to get some abnormal points. So you're talking about those little bumps there at the white stuff on the bottom? Yeah, yeah. That's like part of his skull that's coming with which isn't ideal for a deer. They want to make a nice clean break off. Seems pretty ideal for him. Ideal for him. Yeah, it was working out. So he was a mainframe 5 by 5, 19 points. Very excited.

[Seth]

This landowner that, that you got this little connection with.

[Phil]

Is this like a draw tag?

[Seth]

What a great guy.

[Spencer]

It's a draw tag but it's like, you know the Golden Triangle is mostly private land and so it's not that competitive for a non resident to be able to go there and hunt. Yeah. Debuck disappeared for five weeks, showed back up. They had like eight inches of snow the week before I got there and they were saying it's been a very long time since the second gun season, which was what I was there for. Had that much snow on the ground. So it just worked out perfect where it made deer show up in some places real heavy and disappear from others. And it just happened that they had the right soybeans to pull into bucks.

[Seth]

That's fantastic.

[Spencer]

Fun. Perfect.

[Kurt Steiner]

Crazy.

[Seth]

What's this?

[Kurt Steiner]

Do you hear that?

[Spencer]

I hear something.

[Kurt Steiner]

You look giddy.

[Spencer]

Something is afoot in the Meat Eater studio. Gosh, I feel like it's.

[Seth]

Whoa. I see a shadow coming.

[Spencer]

The door is opening.

[Phil]

Oh, it's Santa.

[Spencer]

Santa Claus.

[Kurt Steiner]

Santa.

[Spencer]

Santa.

[Santa Claus]

I wasn't ready for that.

[Spencer]

He was not ready indeed. Ladies and gentlemen, Santa Claus has just stepped into the Meat Eater podcast studio.

[Seth]

He's got a big sack full of gifts.

[Santa Claus]

Hello, boys and girls.

[Phil]

Hello, Santa.

[Seth]

How are you doing?

[Santa Claus]

I'm doing very well, thank you very much.

[Seth]

Where'd you park the reindeer?

[Santa Claus]

Oh, they're outside.

[Spencer]

No, they're not.

[Santa Claus]

Now don't, Grinch. Don't be a grinch there, Brody.

[Spencer]

I'm just telling truth, buddy.

[Santa Claus]

You're full of humbug.

[Spencer]

Now, Seth has observed that you have a giant bag with you.

[Kurt Steiner]

I do?

[Santa Claus]

I do. I thought I'd swing by my favorite Thursday live podcast that airs at 11 Mountain Time to spread a little Christmas cheer. Perfect.

[Spencer]

Okay. Amazing Santa. And now it also appears that Cal, Brody, and Max have shown up in the studio.

[Seth]

Look at that.

[Kurt Steiner]

Nice.

[Seth]

You sound like Daniel Day Lewis from There Will Be Blood.

[Phil]

Give me the bloody lie.

[Santa Claus]

You're a false prophet, Seth. Someone told me whose gift this was, and I've forgotten it already.

[Spencer]

Okay, someone help me.

[Santa Claus]

To whom does this go?

[Phil]

That's for Phil the engineer.

[Spencer]

Phil the engineer.

[Phil]

Wow. I wonder who it's Phil.

[Spencer]

Must have been good pillar, like rep box. Some heft to it.

[Phil]

Oh, wow.

[Spencer]

It does indeed.

[Phil]

Got it.

[Santa Claus]

There's a series of gifts for Seth Morris that are numbered.

[Seth]

Wow. Open this way. Number one.

[Santa Claus]

You're supposed to open them in order. Jeez.

[Spencer]

My goodness. Wow.

[Santa Claus]

Says this is for Spencer Newhart.

[Spencer]

Oh. Oh, okay. All right, we'll acknowledge.

[Phil]

Have you ever seen that, Spencer?

[Spencer]

What is it?

[Seth]

Good? Good and cold.

[Spencer]

Uhhuh.

[Santa Claus]

Maxwell.

[Spencer]

Oh, you shouldn't have. What else is in so much?

[Santa Claus]

Ryan Callahan has a gift.

[Spencer]

Callahan.

[Santa Claus]

Oh. Oh.

[Spencer]

Looks like a man wrapped that present. Brody doesn't have anything. No.

[Santa Claus]

To Brody Henderson.

[Spencer]

Oh, all right. Same wrapping paper as Cal's.

[Santa Claus]

This is a Tupperware that the Williams household borrowed from you. Thank you.

[Phil]

Okay, I may have been very specific that I Wanted it back.

[Santa Claus]

Randy's not here, but I'll open that.

[Spencer]

Oh, all right.

[Kurt Steiner]

Perfect.

[Santa Claus]

Is that all the gifts?

[Spencer]

Is that everything okay? I think so. Oh, wait, he's not done yet.

[Santa Claus]

I also have a lot of candy canes and Fireball mini bottles of Fireball.

[Spencer]

10 baby bottles of Fireball whiskey have just been dumped on.

[Santa Claus]

If you need more. I have more. There's a lot of it at house, and I don't like it.

[Seth]

I can't believe that that fireball keeps Santa defrost.

[Spencer]

I want to gag. Just what doesn't Santa like about Fireball? That's kind of an upset. I assume that'd be right in his wheelhouse.

[Santa Claus]

It's too sweet.

[Spencer]

Too sweet.

[Santa Claus]

I drink it too fast.

[Phil]

You need to go ice fishing. Well, Santa. Last year Santa went one one minute fishing on our show. I don't think he was successful.

[Santa Claus]

We have great fishing weather today.

[Spencer]

We do.

[Santa Claus]

It's nearly 60 degrees in Bozeman.

[Seth]

Not ice fishing weather.

[Santa Claus]

No, no.

[Guaranteed Human (Sponsor/Ad Voice)]

Sorry.

[Spencer]

Okay, Santa has handed out the gifts. Let's start over with Phil the engineer. Phil, let's open up that gift. Oh, sure.

[Phil]

It looks like the. The Internet meteater HQ dropped out for a sec.

[Santa Claus]

Sure.

[Phil]

But I think. Santa. Santa, we're live.

[Seth]

Naughty Santa.

[Santa Claus]

Oh, right.

[Spencer]

Chat.

[Phil]

Let us know. Let us know if the. If the stream's back. I believe it is.

[Santa Claus]

Yeah, it looks good.

[Phil]

Okay. Okay, I'm opening my g. It's on the floor. Since it's a little bit large to do in my lap.

[Spencer]

Santa, people are asking if you've been drinking already.

[Santa Claus]

No, not yet.

[Spencer]

Not yet. It's the middle of the day.

[Santa Claus]

I'm drying out.

[Spencer]

Commute back to the North Pole later.

[Phil]

Phil, you're supposed to read that whole card. The whole card? Do you want me to read it live on air here? Yes. Okay, here we go. It says because you mean so much. Mmm. At Christmas and always.

[Spencer]

It'S kind of romantic.

[Phil]

I'm feeling things. The holiday season isn't really about gifts and decorations. It's about reaching out to the people who mean the most to us and letting them know how much we care. Remove wrap before placing an envelope.

[Santa Claus]

Did you wrap that or was that on the card?

[Spencer]

No, that's on the card. Beautiful.

[Phil]

And whoever gave you this gift, I mean, they were kind enough not to write in the card. So you can re gift that. Oh, thank you. That's why the wrapping was left on that. Very conscious, very thoughtful.

[Spencer]

There's a guy who cares about the environment.

[Phil]

You're such a special person. And your wished every little happiness Long after the holidays are over. Merry Christmas. Wow. Thank you to my Secret Santa, whoever they may be. So, PT, thanks for keeping it all together. FYI, extra lean beef is $7.22 a pound. Now open your present. Hugs and kisses. Merry Christmas, cow. P.S.

[Kurt Steiner]

Well, yeah.

[Phil]

Am I supposed to read that?

[Spencer]

Yeah, go ahead.

[Phil]

You can read the first part of the P.S. oh, okay.

[Spencer]

With only the first part, I'm gifting.

[Phil]

You a BHA family membership. Cow. The gift of public Lands.

[Spencer]

That's great.

[Phil]

Couldn't ask for anything better. Thank you so much. But that's not all. There's also a bottle of some kind. Oh, here we are. Sailor Jerry's Spiced Rum.

[Santa Claus]

Oh, okay.

[Seth]

There you go.

[Santa Claus]

Get the sailor in yourself.

[Phil]

That was the go to for my rum and Cokes back in college. Thank you so much, Cal. And look at this. We've got frozen beef. And I'm glad that I now know the exact value at least. Is that beef? No, that's ground out. That makes more sense. That is four pounds of ground up. You're letting me know how much money is I'm saving? Yes. If you were to go buy ground.

[Spencer]

Elk, probably more than beef. 20 bucks a pound.

[Santa Claus]

Right.

[Seth]

I just. That's context.

[Phil]

Some people need context.

[Spencer]

Not that it's not the money, Phil. That's right, Secret Santa.

[Phil]

Thank you so much.

[Santa Claus]

No, it's the thought that counts.

[Phil]

This will all go to use, including the DHA members.

[Santa Claus]

Shitty gifts Sake.

[Spencer]

Phil, I think we've lost our bed of music.

[Phil]

Oh, yeah, we'll bring it back. Sorry, I've been. I've been busy opening gifts now.

[Spencer]

Cal, how did you pick Sailor Jerry's when you were looking at the rum shelf?

[Kurt Steiner]

It's.

[Phil]

It's because Phil and I had a conversation a long time ago about like. Because there's like scary high end realms, but I believe that the tiki crowd feels like Sailor Jerry and Captain Morgan are totally fine for most things. Is that correct? For. I'd say for. For mixing cocktail like, like, like, like into a soda mixer. But if you're going to make a Mai Tai. I mean, honestly, Cal. Sailor Jerry's and Kraken and. Yeah, that's. That's a. That's a cardinal sin. But I love Sailor Jerry's and I'll use it.

[Spencer]

Phil, have you ever tried Mount Gay? That's some good stuff.

[Phil]

I have. Yeah, they got a lot of.

[Spencer]

What a gift. Okay. Well done, Cal. That's. That's fun for you, Phil. Max, you're up Next. I'm up. Open that thing up.

[Phil]

Supposed to be a little something for everybody.

[Spencer]

Pro level, rapid job. This isn't a rapping job. I. I suck at rapping. What do we got there, Maxwell? Is this a puzzle?

[Santa Claus]

The puzzle has puzzled him.

[Spencer]

No, it has puzzled me. Phil, what is this?

[Phil]

How do you know that was me? That's a game. That's a. That's a very easy to learn board game called Cascadia, where you create wildlife corridors and habitats for different.

[Santa Claus]

Wow.

[Spencer]

When I saw that game existed, I was pissed off. I didn't come up with that idea. You know, isn't this very similar to like. What's that game with the squares?

[Santa Claus]

Risk.

[Phil]

No, you talk about Catan.

[Spencer]

Yeah, Catan.

[Phil]

I'd say it's easier than catan. It's more pick up and play. Which is. Which is why. Nice.

[Guaranteed Human (Sponsor/Ad Voice)]

Sweet.

[Spencer]

Many fun nights to come at the bar.

[Phil]

Game season.

[Santa Claus]

Board game night.

[Seth]

That's great.

[Spencer]

Thank you, Phil. Oh, you're welcome. For Maxwell. Next up, we have one of those. Brody Perky up, who has handed a fireball to Max. He's now opening his gift. Also a swell gift wrapping job here.

[Santa Claus]

Someone said Santa's language is going to demonetize this video. Hope the suits don't notice.

[Phil]

They definitely won't, Santa. Don't worry.

[Spencer]

What do we got over there, Brody?

[Phil]

Oh, wow.

[Spencer]

Someone really knows me. Although those are ladies glasses. Pug bug. Like it, jig heads. My kids were just asking about ice Fish, and I was like, man, it's gonna be a while, but we'll get those in use this year.

[Seth]

Are those really ladies glasses?

[Spencer]

Oh, yeah, no, they're unisex.

[Seth]

I thought you're unisex.

[Spencer]

How do you know? Look, they're just round. Do you need glasses?

[Santa Claus]

Look at the shape of them, for Christ's sakes.

[Spencer]

So Brody got a three pack of readers from the Drugst and some ice fishing lures.

[Seth]

That's a good.

[Spencer]

It's a great present.

[Phil]

That's a good. But you know, I scatter these things everywhere.

[Seth]

That's what I was thinking when I. When I picked those up for you, Brody. That they'll just leave a pair.

[Spencer]

1.

[Seth]

You're gonna need to wear those to tie.

[Spencer]

I know. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Seth]

And you just leave those things everywhere. So that's great.

[Spencer]

Next up, we have Ryan Callahan, who had the same wrapping paper as Brody's gift.

[Santa Claus]

That's because we all use the office.

[Spencer]

Wrapping pa. Appears so. What do we have there, Cal? Wow. CEOs need ties.

[Santa Claus]

Suit for A suit.

[Phil]

Oh, that's great.

[Seth]

That screams America.

[Kurt Steiner]

Yeah, Y.

[Spencer]

He has a YouTube video so I.

[Phil]

Can learn how to tie.

[Spencer]

Freedom isn't free.

[Seth]

That's great.

[Spencer]

With some bald eagles on it.

[Phil]

Got some. Some warm up juice.

[Seth]

Nice.

[Kurt Steiner]

And what's this one say?

[Spencer]

It's a shirt.

[Kurt Steiner]

I didn't mean to.

[Spencer]

What you gotta take that says.

[Phil]

Sorry I'm late. I didn't want to come.

[Spencer]

Now. Who do you think gave that to you?

[Phil]

Cal, I have so many occasions where.

[Kurt Steiner]

This is a wonderful.

[Spencer]

He would have worn it today if he already had it. Who do you think gave that to you?

[Phil]

People who pay attention.

[Spencer]

Okay.

[Santa Claus]

I'll give you a hint. That tie used to belong to my father in law.

[Phil]

Okay, that's great.

[Spencer]

Very good.

[Phil]

Wow.

[Santa Claus]

And he didn't wear it as a novelty tie.

[Seth]

Give.

[Spencer]

Give me an example of a place he would wear that tie to work. Very good. That'll. That'll work well for the future CEO of bha. Thank you. All right, I am now going to open my git. My gift, which was wrapped in a meat eater trivia collector's edition ammo box.

[Kurt Steiner]

Oh.

[Seth]

Oh.

[Phil]

All right.

[Spencer]

We have some halibut labeled 2025. Nice in here. That is great. I do not have any halibut in the freezer, nor do I have king salmon.

[Seth]

You got a nice gift, Shinoki.

[Spencer]

2025. That is phenomenal. I. I had to line up the gift exchange, so I know this came from Brody, and Brody even warned me, said, well, you drew the. The short straw by having. By me or by Brody having my name, but that is a phenomenal gift. Oh, I gotta tell you, Spencer, I was really torn about giving you that.

[Santa Claus]

Did that bag used to have shrimp in it?

[Spencer]

Yeah, there's no shrimp now.

[Kurt Steiner]

What.

[Spencer]

What do you think I should do with this king, Sam? Give me a recommendation. Well, are you going to let your wife eat it with you or just she's uninterested in. Is that right? That's right. This is going to be for me. This is just going to be for me. How do you think I should cook that?

[Phil]

Very simply.

[Spencer]

Okay. You could grill it, you know, butter, lemon, whatever.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Spencer]

Don't overdo it.

[Seth]

As you say, don't overdo that.

[Spencer]

Don't overdo it.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Spencer]

Good advice, Brody. That is a wonderful gift.

[Phil]

Great gift and excellent gift wrapping.

[Spencer]

Well done. Very efficient. Next up, we have Seth. Now, who has. How many gifts are in front of you? Three.

[Seth]

I got a pile.

[Santa Claus]

Someone must have been a very good boy this year.

[Seth]

They're numbered. So I got a.

[Spencer]

Okay. I assume that you should start with number one. Yep, it looks like.

[Seth]

All right, here we go.

[Spencer]

This one is wrapped like as though a piece of candy, maybe. Giant piece of candy. Sure. A baseball bat would fit in there.

[Seth]

What could this be wrapped in, butcher paper? A carrot?

[Santa Claus]

My dogs have the same thing.

[Spencer]

Oh, okay.

[Phil]

I wouldn't.

[Spencer]

I wouldn't recognize that as a dog toy. Is that what it is?

[Seth]

Wiley would like that giant dog.

[Spencer]

That's the size of your dog. That thing is enormous. It's a Boone and Crockett carrot.

[Seth]

Do your dogs like it? Will my dog like it?

[Spencer]

Santa.

[Seth]

What?

[Spencer]

Do your dogs like that toy?

[Santa Claus]

No, they're scared of any toy that squeaks.

[Spencer]

Okay, now he's got a T shirt.

[Santa Claus]

Hey, that's my shirt. What the. That's my shirt, too.

[Phil]

What.

[Santa Claus]

What the hell is this?

[Guaranteed Human (Sponsor/Ad Voice)]

No.

[Spencer]

That'S not.

[Santa Claus]

Items from my own house.

[Phil]

This is cultural appropriation.

[Spencer]

Chef is now open. There's a T shirt.

[Santa Claus]

I hope this isn't a gun.

[Spencer]

An ape on the front. The other is a LeBron James jersey. Now he's on to gift number three. That's not yours, Randall.

[Santa Claus]

This is mine. It is mine. Oh, look at these.

[Seth]

A new pair of shoes I've been wanting.

[Spencer]

Okay. Some very well used shoes that look familiar.

[Santa Claus]

These are all my most treasured possessions.

[Spencer]

Seth, I didn't know you're gonna start playing basketball. That is a great shirt.

[Santa Claus]

I was just wearing that the other day.

[Spencer]

Well, that's. That's kind of weird you would give him all this stuff.

[Santa Claus]

Did you give all this to me?

[Phil]

Thank you.

[Santa Claus]

I know. I don't know how this got here.

[Spencer]

You better talk to Mrs. Claus. Because of you.

[Santa Claus]

Was it you?

[Phil]

Pointing fingers is not a very Christmassy thing to do, Santa.

[Kurt Steiner]

Since.

[Spencer]

Since Randall's not here, you might want to consider re gifting those. Yeah, I think Randall would really like these things.

[Santa Claus]

Thank you. Jackson Hayes of the Los Angeles Lakers gave me a fist bump and said, sweet jersey, bruh.

[Seth]

That's mine.

[Santa Claus]

Legit.

[Spencer]

Very good Lord, legit.

[Seth]

Your hands off my jersey.

[Spencer]

And now it belongs to Seth.

[Santa Claus]

Son of a.

[Spencer]

That is Seth's story.

[Santa Claus]

Now I'm bewildered by this. Okay, this is a horrible prank.

[Spencer]

How about you open up Randall's gift? Now there's Santa.

[Santa Claus]

Okay, he's gonna need a gift card to pay for all the stuff that he's lost.

[Spencer]

Again, we have a dog toy, a jersey, a T shirt, and pair of sneakers that Seth got.

[Santa Claus]

This is a gift card to Dog.

[Spencer]

D, O G. Oh, that's the Pet place.

[Santa Claus]

A pet place. That's good. I have three. Randall has three pets. And they're all very needy, so he will be most appreciative of this.

[Spencer]

Uh huh. Now, Santa, let's try to solve the crime of how these gifts wound up in Seth's possession. What do you think happened here?

[Santa Claus]

My wife was in on it. I know that. But also, we don't lock our house very often.

[Seth]

Okay, up at the North Pole.

[Santa Claus]

Let's not look at on it. Can we cut that?

[Spencer]

Phil, I think your full name is on you landing.

[Santa Claus]

She hates these shoes.

[Spencer]

Oh, does she?

[Santa Claus]

My dog hates this toy.

[Spencer]

Does she hate that shirt?

[Santa Claus]

Sydney hates that shirt. But I didn't know that she didn't like these shirts. I was literally wearing this just the other day. It's from the San Diego Zoo.

[Spencer]

Oh, wow. And it made her ignorant.

[Santa Claus]

It's a juvenile orangutan.

[Spencer]

Okay, so you've accused Cal of thievery. It was not Cal.

[Santa Claus]

I only know I only think of Cal because he often is in and out of my home.

[Spencer]

Mm. Was not Cal.

[Santa Claus]

Who else? Well, I suppose anybody could have slid into her DMs on Instagram.

[Spencer]

Who's the next suspect?

[Santa Claus]

Phil the engineer.

[Spencer]

It was not Phil.

[Phil]

No, it's like he's just lashing out.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Santa Claus]

Spencer, New Army. Maxwell, Barter.

[Spencer]

It was Max. Yeah, I slid into Sydney's DMs. Yes, I did. I actually did. Max was so proud of this idea. He hasn't done a thing at work all week just preparing this.

[Santa Claus]

I was impressed that I recognize this toy.

[Phil]

And you said it right away.

[Spencer]

Oh, my dogs have the same toy.

[Phil]

Mrs. Claus gets lonely this time of year.

[Santa Claus]

Hey, watch your dirty mouth, Bill. Oh, I'm having so much fun. I didn't wear much of a layer under this suit because it was so warm last year, but I'm having so much fun that I'm sweating again.

[Spencer]

Yes. Max and Sydney, you guys had to meet up in town, I imagine, this week.

[Santa Claus]

Oh, that's fun.

[Spencer]

Very good. Now we have a real gift here for Seth to open. Thanks for playing with us. Just pull that bow. There you go. This is our final gift we got here of the day that Santa.

[Santa Claus]

I hope it's something you treasure. Someone's taken out of your home without your knowledge.

[Seth]

Apple butter.

[Spencer]

Got a jar butter.

[Seth]

Okay, that's great. Oh, some salsa.

[Spencer]

Okay.

[Seth]

Spicy. Restaurant style.

[Spencer]

There you go.

[Phil]

My favorite.

[Spencer]

Your favorite? Wow. Okay.

[Santa Claus]

You like restaurant style?

[Seth]

I do.

[Kurt Steiner]

Oh.

[Seth]

Some big old cookies.

[Santa Claus]

Oh, my.

[Seth]

Who's this from?

[Spencer]

That's from Me, I went in the pantry last night, made you some cookies. I'm trying to get good at baking a few things. Made you some cookies, and then let's try it live.

[Kurt Steiner]

Mm.

[Seth]

It's got some salt on there.

[Spencer]

That's right. You can share it.

[Santa Claus]

That makes for a good cookie.

[Spencer]

Yep, yep. Seth also has a pregnant wife at home, so maybe we got to leave one for her as well.

[Seth]

Leave one for. For Kelsey. Sorry.

[Santa Claus]

No.

[Spencer]

No milk, Santa. Yep.

[Seth]

Oh, these are fantastic.

[Spencer]

Oh, thank you. I'm just getting into baking. I'm trying to be like, not a one trick pony, but like a three trick pony. So I want to learn how to make cookies first, and then, you know, I think I'm gonna move on to banana bread soon. The apple butter that was made with apples I found on my Idaho deer hunt this year up in the mountains.

[Seth]

You made this?

[Spencer]

I made that. And I made the salsa. The salsa ingredients, those are just from. From Albertsons.

[Phil]

Nice, dude. That's great.

[Seth]

That is great.

[Spencer]

The cookies, though, the eggs came from my neighbor, so some Gallatin Valley eggs there for you.

[Phil]

So did you make the labels?

[Spencer]

My wife did. That's perk of being married to a graphic designer. It's even got married married. Made the labels for us.

[Seth]

It even has the ingredients on here.

[Spencer]

That's right. Then you know, in case you're. You're allergic to anything. Very good gift this year.

[Phil]

Thank you.

[Santa Claus]

Everybody did great.

[Phil]

Try stealing from Santa.

[Santa Claus]

Now I'm really in the mood. I. This was a terrible mistake. It doesn't breathe.

[Phil]

Well, Santa, Randall didn't show up today, if you wouldn't mind filling in for him.

[Kurt Steiner]

Yeah.

[Santa Claus]

So I suppose I'll sit in on this.

[Spencer]

Santa, your leatherman jacket from high school is upstairs in my office.

[Santa Claus]

Oh, that one's awesome, too.

[Spencer]

Yeah.

[Santa Claus]

But this jersey, interestingly enough, has several typos on the back.

[Spencer]

Oh, very interesting.

[Santa Claus]

There's an extra digit under one of LeBron's. Oh, where is that? Where is that? I'll find it.

[Spencer]

Okay. Good stuff from Santa Claus.

[Santa Claus]

Yes, yes. Good stuff.

[Spencer]

That is the 2025 Meat Eater Radio gift exchange.

[Phil]

Oh.

[Santa Claus]

It says he won the most valuable player in the year 20010, which, as we all know, is in the distant future.

[Spencer]

That's right, Santa.

[Phil]

Will you still be around then?

[Santa Claus]

Yes, Phil, I'm immortal.

[Phil]

I wasn't sure if there was, like, a Santa Claus Tim Allen situation where someone would take your place.

[Santa Claus]

No, there's no plan for succession in my line.

[Spencer]

O Meat Eater Radio will still be going on as well.

[Phil]

That's right.

[Santa Claus]

Oh, I hope not.

[Spencer]

And Santa's going to stick around for the rest of the show.

[Santa Claus]

Yes, I will do that for you, my friend. Santa.

[Phil]

Thank you. Santa.

[Santa Claus]

Thanks for joining us for this holiday.

[Spencer]

Cheers, everyone.

[Phil]

Merry Christmas.

[Seth]

Merry Christmas.

[Phil]

Merry Christmas.

[Spencer]

Brody, Maxwell and Cal are going to disappear. Phil, thank you very much.

[Phil]

Oh, yes, of course.

[Spencer]

Expect all this fireball to be gone when I check in later. Yeah, we'll work on it. It. We'll work on it. All right. Thank you, boys. Merry Christmas, everyone.

[Phil]

Merry Christmas.

[Spencer]

We will see you later.

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[Spencer]

All right, let's take a break for some listener feedback.

[Phil]

Oh, goodness.

[Spencer]

What's the chat have to say?

[Phil]

Okay, Hunter says ask Santa if he thinks anybody is going to stop the Thunder this year.

[Santa Claus]

They're too damn good. But if recent NBA history tells us anything, it's that Shay Gilgis Alexander will rupture his Achilles tendon because that's what happens to the best players in the league.

[Spencer]

Very good. Well, Nikola Jokic is the best player in the league.

[Santa Claus]

Oh, sure.

[Spencer]

So you take that back. Well, the Nuggets are going to stop OKC this year. That's what's going to happen there. Hunter's hut.

[Phil]

Jonathan Wahlberg asks, what is your recommendation for processing deer shanks specifically for osso buco. I struggle to make clean cuts through the bone when thawed and don't have a band saw to use when frozen. Thanks.

[Spencer]

Sawzall.

[Seth]

Yeah, I use sawzall.

[Spencer]

Cut through the meat that you can with a knife and then do the rest of it with a sawzall and you'll be just fine.

[Santa Claus]

Or go, go to a butcher and ask if they can band saw it.

[Spencer]

There you go.

[Seth]

Like the sawzall too. Specifically the ones that you can just like, you grab onto the kind of.

[Phil]

The top of it.

[Seth]

It's easier to. To hold that one, that kind and then be Able to hold the shank too, and just zip through them, you.

[Spencer]

Know, pretty quickly if you have the right blade on your sawzall when you're going through bone.

[Seth]

Yeah. And you can go on Amazon too, or wherever butcher products are sold and buy stainless steel sawzall blades specific for that.

[Spencer]

Do they. Do they. Are they labeled like steel or wood, or do they say bone on them? I'm always using ones that are labeled for wood or steel.

[Seth]

Yeah, no, I just. I just went on, on. I think I got them on Amazon and they're like specific bone saw, like butchering blades.

[Spencer]

Now that's the tool chest.

[Phil]

You know, those are pretty much the only real substantive questions we've been asking. I think people have been distracted and I would hope, entertained.

[Santa Claus]

Fun question.

[Seth]

Hopefully. Hopefully entertain chat.

[Spencer]

Maybe. Maybe brew up some questions for Santa for the next time we check in with you. If you want to know if someone's on the naughty or nice list, what Santa does in the off season, please shoot those questions over well and we'll address them in about a half hour.

[Phil]

Oh, this one's very substantive. Seth Jones says he was skeptical at the start of the D and D episode. Me and you both, Seth. He did thoroughly enjoy it, though. And we'd like to see more interesting comments. Thanks for writing.

[Spencer]

Oh, okay. Good stuff. We'll try to get more of that in 2026.

[Phil]

Spencer, come on.

[Santa Claus]

If you had to eat Randall, how would you cook him?

[Spencer]

Well, what do you think, Santa?

[Seth]

Oh, well done.

[Santa Claus]

Well done.

[Spencer]

Who knows what he's got.

[Santa Claus]

You don't know?

[Spencer]

Yep, he's an old ruddy buck. We probably got to marinate him overnight. Go low and slow, not the hot and fast kind of meat.

[Santa Claus]

And you're gonna have a lot of rendering to do afterwards.

[Spencer]

Okay, we'll sort that all out in the crock pot.

[Phil]

How about one more, Spencer? Because this one, it's. It's gun two deer season. What does that mean? Does that mean something?

[Spencer]

It means they have multiple gun seasons. And this is number two of like three of them, I believe.

[Phil]

Gotcha. This weekend in Iowa and The Daily Hyzer. 3. 3 and 1 degrees. Do you think it's worth my time in the woods to go out? Or should they wait until Monday when the highs are in the 30s?

[Spencer]

Absolutely no.

[Seth]

That is the best time to go.

[Spencer]

Out, especially if you have access to agriculture in Iowa. I assume it's going to be beans or corn for you. Even if that field has been harvested already. The deer got to eat every day. They're going to be out there. They're going to pile into agriculture in your neighborhood, if you have it, be out there. Pmj I would be very excited about those temperatures rather than pessimistic.

[Seth]

Yeah. And I wouldn't be shy about sitting all day, if you can. If you can handle it.

[Santa Claus]

Yes. When it's very cold at the North Pole, my friends are on their feet all day. If I were trying to shoot them, that's when I'd go out.

[Spencer]

Very good. And what cartridge would you take if you were trying to shoot them?

[Seth]

Oh, what's Santa's gun safe look like?

[Santa Claus]

I'm a traditionalist, as you know. I'm a traditionalist. Frequently I shoot. If I were to call my herd, it would most likely be with a 30. 30.

[Spencer]

Okay. That is a traditionalist.

[Kurt Steiner]

Wow.

[Santa Claus]

There's a lot of guts in reindeer. So, you know, they're big. They're bigger animals, but you really don't need to shoot them with a big magnum or anything. Just get a nice. A nice expanding bullet and put it in the front half.

[Spencer]

There you go. All right, we will do some more listening questions at the end of the show, please.

[Phil]

Yeah, I'll try to pay more attention.

[Spencer]

This time for Santa. All right. Joining us on the line now is Kurt Steiner, the man who holds the world record for skipping a rock 88 times. Kurt, welcome to the show.

[Kurt Steiner]

Good to be here.

[Spencer]

First thing. Kurt. Thank you. Take us back to that day in 2013 when you set the world record. Where were you at? And what was it about that particular throw that made it the greatest throw of all time?

[Phil]

Yeah.

[Kurt Steiner]

Well, can I give you just a brief bit of context here?

[Spencer]

Yes, please.

[Kurt Steiner]

I had actually, I set the record originally in 2002, where I kind of introduced some new power kind of attack methods to stone skipping. And that helped about five years. And a guy, a buddy of mine since. Since past. But he. He took the record in 2007. So then it was on. You know, we. We've been fighting each other for 10 years, kind of developing this whole sport, really. And 2013 came, and I had been saving stones probably for 10 years. Just wait for the day. Yeah, yeah. Because, you know, Mother nature never seems fit to, like, make exactly the right stone. So you put it aside, you save it for a tournament or in this case, a record attempt. And so I had about 500 set aside, which was enough for two. Two attempts. And the first one I kind of blew early in 2013 in July because I didn't get a good camera angle on it. So September Rolls around. Long story short, I was ready for a second attempt, and so I had my wife put her up on a bridge and so he could look down on the stones and you could count the ripples much better. And please. And it was, it was. It was a bit of a magical day, I won't lie. I kind of had things lined up for me. I had a bit of a tailwind, which helps, but I also had a little bit of a low onshore kind of ripple coming at me. So it was a good combination for various technical reasons. And. And I just threw the hell out of that stone. And, you know, I went through. I probably threw a hundred that day. And. And I. I narrowed it down to, you know, looking at. Looking at frame by frame. Finally sent it out and I, you know, I had a group of counts between 88 and 90. So I just took the lowest one, figuring that's kind of like everybody agrees on that. And. And it's held up very good. Wow.

[Spencer]

88 skip throw. It's still the record to this day. Now, you've been competing in stone skipping competitions around the world for 25 years. Explain to us how these competitions are set up and how they differ in the US versus Europe.

[Kurt Steiner]

Right. Well, the US. Oh, okay. Yeah, Yeah. I thought you lost me. In the US we basically count skips, and it's. That's what stone skipping is. In Europe, they actually count distance. They measure the distance you throw, and to distinguish it, they call it skimming. So I've been in both tournaments. I went to UK in 2018, and I threw 373ft.

[Spencer]

Wow.

[Kurt Steiner]

And that was at that time, the longest recorded throw of a natural stone. But then the next day, 24 hours later, Scottish guy came down and Dougie isaacs and threw 400ft. So I'm still. He still got the record at 400 there, but I still got the skip count and I'm well placed in the skimming category. The other thing is the Japanese, I happen to also be a bit of a hotspot. So it's kind of New England, us, the British, and then. And then Japan and the Japanese kind of combine everything and they just. They have two guys throw and decide they just judge who threw the better rock on that throw. And they just kind of go through that in a kind of round robin thing and a best of three format and eventually, you know, they spit it out a good winner. It's kind of a combination of the aesthetic appearance of it. Distance, skip down, all of it together. So they're all different flavors and we've all kind of cross pollinated each other over the decades here. And, and I kind of take, you know, I would take a little bit of pride in being kind of pushing all that sacrifice and a lot of my life to do, you know, playing. Playing, you know, that's great now and then making, you know, you usually bring.

[Spencer]

Your own stones to competitions. Where do you gather your rocks from?

[Kurt Steiner]

Yeah, I get about 90% of my stones from the southeast coast of Lake Erie. I grew up in Erie, you know, which is between Cleveland, Buffalo there and the geology and the water. You know, the waves of Lake Erie kind of combined to make a really good skipping rock. That's where I grew up, right there. Now nowadays, of course, I'm living up on a mountain off grid here in Appalachia, Pennsylvania. And so I have to drive three hours to get my rocks. I got all the water in the world, but the stones are shit. You know, I go up, I'll go see my mom, get some rocks, come back and have it, have some fun.

[Spencer]

That's great.

[Kurt Steiner]

Yeah. And the Scottish have a place up in North Scotland with some really great slate and there's a place up in North Vermont with some really, really beautiful rocks. But I put the ones I go to very accessible and they're kind of like number four on my world best list. You know, that's. So I kind of got lucky.

[Spencer]

Describe for us the perfect rock.

[Kurt Steiner]

It kind of depends. Like that's like saying what's the perfect tool? You know, it's, it's. You got to know what you, what is it you're trying to do? And then, and then you look for those features in the stone and, and it takes many years of kind of being able to imagine, imagine if you were a, you know, I don't know, a pitcher or a bowler or a hockey player or something. And every time you went to take a whack at the thing or throw the thing, it was a different size, a different shape, different weight, out of balance, you know, so, so the skill is in learning how to look through all the junk and find the one that's going to do what you want. And, and so with that preface there, what I would say is in general, you're going to want something that's got a very flat bottom. You're going to want something that's kind of got a very smooth texture. Those are kind of the obvious ones. Something to look for is between the bottom side and the edge, that kind of transition edge right here. What I would say Is that the flatter the water, the sharper that edge can be. And so you. It's a lot of experimentation, a lot of trying this, seeing what happens and then. And then adapting your next throw to that. And what I would say though is, you know, I generally throw 4 to 6 ounces. You know, we're throwing probably around 70 miles an hour and maybe 25, maybe 2500 or 3000 RPM. Right. So a distance thrower will back off the spin a little bit and go for more velocity. You know, I spent like five years figuring out like that kind of whip right there. If you can see that, where I'm pulling down to the ground and then driving back up against my, my, my body and then letting my hands snap out. And that really generates some good spin and that and that spin in turn with all the. Will kind of chop the water kind of like a, like maybe a hydroplane boat propeller kind of, you know, chopping at it and that adds up. So. So basically flat bottom, kind of a. Maybe a radius of curvature on that bottom edge of maybe maybe an eighth of an inch, you know, something about the size of your palm, maybe four or five ounces and smooth. You know, the main thing is that bottom edge. You just can't have any jaggedness in it or it will bite the water. Just like, like trying to run a radial saw backwards, right? It's. You need, you need all the, the sharpness on your. The bottom edge of that stone to be kind of feathering the water rather than biting into it. You can understand what I'm saying? Sure, yeah.

[Seth]

Kurt, you mentioned when you. The day that you threw the record there, you had some ripples in the water. Do you prefer that over flat calm or what do you prefer there?

[Kurt Steiner]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, think of driving over rumble strips, right? Your tire gets in kind of a harmonic there. And so you're kind of. It's the same kind of deal where if you're running over the tops of just very regular ripples, it kind of creates a, like a stone's running over rumble stick strip. And the way I, I mean, I had some lucky waves coming out. I say a wave. I mean, I'm talking like that much of a wave.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Kurt Steiner]

That regular like one foot intervals was just enough. But I also did kind of a trick where I threw like a real deep stone out. And then if you wait just the right amount of time, those ripples. Right. They kind of leave a nice.

[Santa Claus]

Wow.

[Kurt Steiner]

A veteran trick there. But yeah, and so. Yeah, because if the water's too flat. What will happen is the stone will eventually bog down just like. Like a bait you throw a baseball and will bounce, bounce, bounce like a grounder, but then it'll kind of roll on the ground. This is just like having the bumpy ground. So it kind of keeps kicking it up, you know, and it keeps kicking it up and so you can get more count out of it. The power. There's usually enough power in your throw. You get a lot of skips, but once it bogs and sticks to the water, like Guinness basically will only count. The basic rule for counting in a world record is you have to have a distinct evidence of the water stone contacting the water. And then in. In whatever next frame, at some point, you have to show clear water between each contact point. So if you have a stone that hits and. And slides 10ft, even though it might look like 10 or 20 skips in there, it comes out as like one, right? You have one water contact. And so it. But the great thing about that throw I did in 13 was it had very distinct separated skips. And, you know, and I won't lie, it's been kind of hard on the old body here. I'm starting to age out. I won't lie. I got some veteran tricks, but, you know, I've had. It'd be like a rotator cuff surgery. And I. In. In 20, in 2018, when I threw that 373, I ripped an oblique muscle and blew up like a football. And that was, that was a nasty on that one. Yeah, but. And now, now I need knee injections, you know, from coming down hard. Because if you imagine it's like a baseball player maybe starting real high, like maybe seven feet up, but we're letting the stones leave our hand, like maybe only a foot off the ground, huh? But you're really coming down into that shot. And it just, you know, it just. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's. You know, I took this fun little thing and turned it into, like this.

[Spencer]

You know, it's great.

[Seth]

Brutal.

[Kurt Steiner]

Brutal, like sports science kind of thing. And it's all. It's great, you know, it's great. Now it's.

[Spencer]

Kurt, we, we want to. We want to be better at skipping rocks ourselves. So please, walk us through the perfect form. What should our feet, our arms, our hands be doing to make the best throw?

[Kurt Steiner]

Difficult question to answer, but what I can do is give you some pointers, right? I'm not going to tell you. Here's how you throw a stone at 30,000pm you know, but, but as a rule of thumb, you know, you want to stand more per. You don't want to, you want to kind of stand at maybe 45 degrees almost perpendicular to the water, right? With your follow foot to the water. But the main thing is you're going to want to come down at the water, right? There's like, there's five things to think about, I guess. Okay, the angle the stone is coming at the water, right? If you let go from around your knees and hit the water maybe 10, 10, 12ft out, that's a good all around angle, right? So figure leaving the stone leaving between your waist and your knee and hitting, you know, maybe 10ft out. And then there's the tilt of the stone, right? The front edge of the rock. You want something that's maybe 10 degrees, 10 to 20 degrees coming out of your hand. And, and the rule there is if it stone bounces up too high after that, after that first skip, then lower the edge down, right? So the most people will throw with too much of an angle and will bounce high. And the pros tend to throw with a real shallow angle. So it comes down and then takes off horizontally. So if it bounces up lower, that tilt come in, you know, maybe like that. And then other things is the spin. The spin's just gonna come out naturally, but you are gonna want to hold the stone at. What I would say is if you look around the perimeter, it's gonna have different like radii. Like it's, it's got different lengths depending on the irregularity of the rock. You want to grab, grab the longest point on the rock. Like put it right in the middle of your pad of your finger or, or your middle finger, which, which I have developed also for different throws. But, but right in the middle of that tip of the pad on the point down at that angle. And then if you want a little pro tip or secret, when you, when your rocks leaving your hand right this direction, I usually throw just a little bit of right hand roll in it, right? Like the stone is spinning clockwise for a right handed person. And I'm leaning that right edge, the outside edge, if you will, of the stone down toward the water a little. Because as the stone flies through the air, if you notice, it'll roll over counterclockwise. So just kind of loading that stone a tad with just maybe 2 degrees of roll pre roll preloading the stone, by the time it hits the water, it'll come down a little bit flatter and it Makes it a little more stable and sticks a little better. You know, it's, it's, it's subtle stuff.

[Spencer]

A lot of physics. It sounds like it is.

[Kurt Steiner]

It is. And it does come down a lot to the difference between a natural and artificial rock. I'm kind of a purist. Natural rocks are much harder to master, so there's a little bit more prestige, I think.

[Spencer]

Yeah.

[Kurt Steiner]

I won't lie. I mean, we have, especially in Europe, where they're just looking for distance numbers, right? They'll go. They'll make artificial rocks and they'll blast them. Guy just last month threw a stone over 500ft, as I understand it, using an artificial stone. So that's all well and good, but, you know, Isaac's. When he beat me, he threw. He threw 400 with a natural rock. And I consider that actually even more impressive because he went out and dug it out of the ground, you know.

[Spencer]

Good stuff.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Spencer]

All right, well, good luck. Your next competition. Kurt, congrats on that 88 skip. World record throw. Thank you for educating us, and thank you for joining us.

[Kurt Steiner]

Yeah. Hey, thanks for the opportunity, dudes. Go have some fun.

[Santa Claus]

Thank you, Kurt.

[Spencer]

Thanks, Kurt.

[Santa Claus]

I think that's the best interview we've ever done. It's not often we have an interview where I just sit there and watch and I'm fully entranced by our guest. But that was. That was something special.

[Phil]

It means a lot that you're saying we. Santa, like, you just kind of feel like you're a part of the crew.

[Santa Claus]

That's a good point, Phil.

[Spencer]

Do you. You boys fashion yourself good rock skippers?

[Seth]

No, no, I. You know, I grew up. It sounds like not too far from where he's at.

[Spencer]

Your blood.

[Seth]

Yeah. And I, you know, I never really hit the banks of Lake Erie to find a good skipping rock, but I've skipped some rocks in my day.

[Santa Claus]

You missed out on your calling.

[Seth]

Yeah, I guess.

[Spencer]

Could have been you, Seth.

[Santa Claus]

I prefer to find the biggest rock I can get one skip out of.

[Spencer]

That's. That's awesome.

[Santa Claus]

That's my approach.

[Spencer]

Yep. See how badly you can hurt your arm for the rest of the of the week.

[Santa Claus]

That was fascinating.

[Phil]

That was.

[Seth]

That was good.

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[Spencer]

All right, our next segment is Gear Talk. Turn it up, phil. How much money will he spend? It's Yanny talking here again.

[Phil]

Wow. The problem. The problem with that one is that Giannis isn't here today.

[Santa Claus]

No, but that's brilliant.

[Spencer]

And he rewrote that jingle. You must have been feeling inspired to give us a new version.

[Phil]

The true story, Spencer, is I forgot that I had a jingle for that.

[Seth]

Oh.

[Phil]

How are two Gear Talk jingles?

[Santa Claus]

Okay, Phil, I don't mean to tell you how to do your job, but Kurt's name is still at the bottom.

[Phil]

I put the wrong one up. I meant to do that one. Thank you, Santa.

[Kurt Steiner]

This is.

[Phil]

You are a part of the crew.

[Spencer]

All right.

[Santa Claus]

Yes, thank you.

[Spencer]

Please start us off with some Gear Talk today. What do you got?

[Santa Claus]

Well, hold on one second.

[Spencer]

Okay, he's not fully prepared. Now he's grabbed something from the shelf.

[Santa Claus]

I. I brought two items today.

[Spencer]

All right?

[Santa Claus]

The first is this hat.

[Spencer]

Beautiful hat.

[Santa Claus]

Now, folks out there might say, oh, he's plugging First Light again.

[Spencer]

First Light again.

[Santa Claus]

He's not. This is the best hat I've ever worn outside. It combines a almost full sized brim that you'd find on a baseball cap with a very warm wool, much like the wool in our heavy heavyweight sweaters and things of that nature whose names I'm not remembering. But I often wear two hats when I have two hats. When I go outside, I'll have a lightweight hat in late season that I can hike in and get sweaty. And then I like to have a heavy hat that I can put on when I'm going to get cold. The problem is I don't want to carry a third hat. So if I need a brim, it often requires me to either bring a baseball cap or bring a third hat, which I don't want to do. So this is my first piece of gear. Very good.

[Seth]

Where's this hat fit in your kit?

[Santa Claus]

Oh, this isn't performance kit. This is just the uniform ceremonial, really. The second is this asiak tripod head.

[Spencer]

Now, I'm in the market for a new tripod, so I'm going to need you to sell me on this one.

[Santa Claus]

I'd like to focus just on the head.

[Spencer]

Okay.

[Santa Claus]

I have never, never liked lightweight tripods very much. To me, they don't serve the purpose of a tripod, which is stabilizing your gear, your glass, what have you. And I find a panhead to be the most useful type of head for glassing large areas because you can work your way methodically across the landscape, as opposed to a ball head where you simply loosen it and tilt it around, Especially when using a heavy pair of binoculars like, oh, a size 18 with a 56 millimeter objective or a spotting scope. And so this head, typically, you. You need a heavier pan head, but this head, which I just got this year, is extremely lightweight, it's extremely compact, and it allows a much lighter tripod to function as with the same performance as a heavier tripod. So I'm now a light tripod man.

[Spencer]

Okay.

[Santa Claus]

And. And it's all due to the quality of this head. It. It has very fine ad adjustments, so you can have it. So you can kind of use your nose to knock your binoculars around if you've got your hands in your pockets. It also locks up tight if you're in a windy environment and trying to glass something far away. And I just can't say enough about this panhead. It's just fabulous.

[Seth]

That is fantastic.

[Spencer]

Gear talk review.

[Phil]

Yes.

[Spencer]

This year on my South Dakota deer hunt, I had pulled up to an approach for the property I was hunting. I'd gotten out. I was glassing some deer off of my spotter that I. That I Could see about a half mile away. Messed around for a while, Got in and out of the truck, looking at on X, looking through the spotter. Probably sat there for like a half hour. Went to leave, pull away, and crunch. I run over my tripod with the spotting scope on. It did not damage the spotting scope, luckily. But I crushed my tripod that I've had for like a decade. And it was a crappy tripod.

[Santa Claus]

Oh.

[Spencer]

So now, like, conveniently, I just get to get a new tripod.

[Seth]

There you go.

[Santa Claus]

That's fantastic. Highly recommend this.

[Spencer]

Okay. Okay.

[Santa Claus]

I ran over a pair of binoculars last year, did the same thing.

[Phil]

Oh.

[Santa Claus]

We got back to my truck in the dark, leaned my tripod and binos against the truck while I fumbled for my keys. Got in the old truck and drove home and thought, damn, where's those binos? Went back the next day. I didn't run them over. Someone else did, but they were just toast.

[Spencer]

How do you know you didn't run them over?

[Santa Claus]

Well, you could see the tracks.

[Spencer]

Okay.

[Santa Claus]

And I wouldn't be happy with myself if I were responsible, so I blame it on whoever pulled in there after me.

[Phil]

There you go.

[Spencer]

You gave it a quick death. There was no suffering involved. All right, Seth, what do you got for gear talk?

[Seth]

What I got is very inexpensive. In fact, it's free and it's very effective. It's not the bino harness, which. This is a great bino harness, FHF gear, but it's what I keep in the side over here.

[Spencer]

Okay.

[Seth]

And this is, you know, this has become, I would say, more and more popular over the years. But instead of having one of them, like, you know, the little puffer bottles for my windicator. This is milkweed.

[Spencer]

Love it.

[Seth]

Oh, this is just natural material.

[Spencer]

Send some of that into the atmosphere for us.

[Seth]

Look how, I don't know if you can see this. Look how it just floats.

[Spencer]

Uh huh. It's wonderful. Love milkweed.

[Seth]

It just floats.

[Spencer]

You can watch that stuff float away for 100 yards.

[Seth]

Yeah, yeah. Especially if you're in a tree stand where you're elevated, you drop a piece of that, you can see exactly where your scent's going. And like you said, I've sat there with my binoculars and watched it go 100 plus yards out from where I was sitting. You can see exactly where your scent's blowing.

[Spencer]

You just keep some in the side pouch. Your bino harness.

[Kurt Steiner]

Yep, yep.

[Seth]

Keep it right there. And it's just always ready to go when I need it. And it's very cheap because it's natural and I get it right off the landscape.

[Spencer]

And I know Seth did this, I'm just reminding others, but leave the sea weeds where you find them. Just take the, the white stuff. What does that even call it? Zavanam. Just like that, whatever. That hair. Yeah, probably substances.

[Seth]

It probably. It's, it's. Yeah.

[Spencer]

That way you're not spreading milkweed all over the continent, but the best windicator nature could give you. Yeah, it's good stuff. All right. For gear talk today, I am revisiting the gas can dilemma. Last month I had declared that I haven't used a good gas can in a decade. And all the best gas cans in my life came from my dad that are, you know, as old as I am. So I asked folks to write in with gas cans that they really liked. I got 161 emails from listeners recommending gas cans and there were four brands that were recommended far more than the others. Those four brands made up 64% of the emails I got. So here they are starting at number four. That is the no spill gas can. I had 14 folks write in about this one. A five gallon no spill can is 39 at Walmart. They claim to have one of the fastest cans on the market. They say it drains three gallons a minute, has a thumb controlled fuel spout and view stripe. Jay Hatrup, he said if you're filling something that's filled from the top, like a lawnmower or snowblower, there is nothing better than a no spill can. These are dead simple for top filling, but are basically worthless for filling a vehicle. So that is the no spill can. That is fourth place. 14 people.

[Phil]

That's a good.

[Santa Claus]

Oh, you're doing four of these.

[Spencer]

Four of these. Number three is the sure Can. 19 folks wrote in about this one. Five gallon sure can is $80 at Ace. That is the most expensive one from our list. It's got a spout at the bottom, thumb control on the top. They say this design gives you the best control when filling large machines. Ethan Lindquist specifically said, I highly recommend sure can gas cans. I have six and have never spilled. Best of all, you can fill most things while standing up instead of bending over. So that is the sure can at number three.

[Seth]

I've never seen that.

[Spencer]

Two. Number two, we have the tough jug. 21 folks wrote in recommending this five gallon tough jug is $42 from their website. They use an auto stop technology that instantly shuts off flow when your container is full. It has internal venting that helps prevent Leaks. John Foley, he said there's a reason these are on backorder. They're worth every pen penny. No leaks or glugs. I'm a fire chief and after replacing my personal ones, every gas can at the firehouse for small engines is now a tough jug. So that is number two. 21 folks recommended that. Number one. This had a dominating lead in the polling from our listeners. 48 folks wrote in recommending this one. Everybody seems to love this. It is the VP racing gas can. Five and a half gallon BP racing can is $48 at Lowe's. They have a wide grip and deluxe hose that won't spill. Now here's the kicker. These are not sold as gas cans. They explicitly say on their website that this is only intended for non fuel products. Instead, they advertise them as quote, motorsport containers that can also pour auto fluids, birdseed, deer, corn and water. But clearly most customers are putting gas in them and by skirting some EPA regulations.

[Santa Claus]

That's what I was about to say.

[Kurt Steiner]

That's great.

[Spencer]

The best gas can on the market. Justin Bowman, he wrote in to say VP Racing gas cans are by far the best on the market. They'll make you feel like you're pouring gas in 2005, which is about the strongest endorsement somebody could give to a gas can. 48 folks wrote in recommending that. About 33% of our audience said that is an amazing gas can from BP Racing.

[Seth]

That's great. I like how they use terminology to skirt the whole gas thing.

[Spencer]

Yeah, it's not for fuel. Very clear. It's not for fuel. And somebody actually wrote in saying they live in one of the states where you can't pump your own gas, which I think New Jersey is Oregon used to be. They said they've pulled up to a gas pump with one of these. VP Racing and the attendant will not fill. So you might run into that.

[Phil]

You may only use this bong for tobacco.

[Spencer]

Exactly.

[Seth]

Yes.

[Spencer]

Very similar thing. VP Racing $48 can. Everyone seems to love them. That is probably the can I'm going to get. And there is your gas can roundup from meat eater listeners.

[Seth]

That's great. That is great.

[Santa Claus]

Fantastic.

[Spencer]

All right, that brings us to the end of the show. Phil, let's get some final feedback from the chat.

[Phil]

Oh, let's do it. Get these in. Folks. You have a trapping question. I thought since Seth was here we tackled it, but it's specifically northern Minnesota trapping. So you can do your. Seth crack crack at Washington asks, what terrain slash features or terrain features would you look out for during his first northeast Minnesota bobcat fisher trapping season. He's got a 220 cubby set, by the way. Well, any insight?

[Seth]

That's a good start. Fisher. So fisher trapping, which I've done in Pennsylvania and have actually caught one. I was trapped. I was trapped in an area that was heavy with some porcupines, which they like to feed on.

[Spencer]

Oh, I didn't know that about.

[Seth]

Yeah, they can somehow roll them over and get at them without getting stuck from what they say. But. And I, you know, I had some trail cameras in that area and was getting. Getting fishers on my trail camera. So I knew that they were there. So. But like, terrain features, I was just in hard, like hardwoods mixed with some white pine that, that just had like the right forage for them, I guess. Lots of porcupines, lots of squirrels. So basically hardwood timber mixed with some conifers. And then bobcats, they like rocky stuff. So if there's any sort of outcropping.

[Phil]

Or.

[Seth]

You know, big boulders, they like to work those edges or we. Steve and I actually just caught a bobcat yesterday here in Montana.

[Spencer]

Good one.

[Seth]

Yeah. 33 and a half pounds.

[Spencer]

Oh, whoa.

[Santa Claus]

Yeah, that's a big kitty.

[Seth]

That was river bottom, thick brushy stuff that had plenty of pheasants and birds around.

[Spencer]

Here's some insight from someone who's never trapped a bobcat or tried. So this doesn't mean anything, but I grew up in southeastern South Dakota, a place that is pretty marginal bobcat habitat. But when I would come across bobcats, it was in my places that were also the best spots for turkey hunting, whether it was because the turkeys were there or the bobcats and the turkeys just liked the exact same thing. I imagine northern Minnesota is not crawling with turkeys. So maybe if you come across pheasants like Seth said, or turkeys, which is something I observed in eastern South Dakota, maybe you're prime for a bobcat there.

[Seth]

Yep. Good luck.

[Phil]

Cool. Steven Mullet says please more. No more D and D episodes. Wow. Interesting. Couldn't agree more.

[Seth]

Certain.

[Spencer]

Steve Brunello didn't even try to come up with a good burner for that. He just had his own first name in there and everything.

[Phil]

Hayden Fitty. When rifle hunting for big game, do you value full penetration or energy expansion of your bullet?

[Spencer]

Santa, what do you think?

[Santa Claus]

Well, I have a couple answers. I would go for a bullet that creates a wider wound channel. And the way I would begin thinking about projectile selection is I would find whatever you're looking for figure out what the minimum terminal velocity you need to make that bullet expand as fully as it can and then determine which cartridge is going to launch that bullet at that speed to get to the given range that you'd like. I think you want big wounds. Wounds are what kill. Energy doesn't kill. Big wounds kill full penetration. I think there aren't very many bullets that you don't have to worry about penetration. So that's a rambling answer which sort of skirted around your question. But I like a bullet that upsets violently and I'm not too worried about shooting through, you know, four feet of wood.

[Spencer]

There you go.

[Santa Claus]

It's just bones and skin and muscle.

[Seth]

Seth, in Africa, when Steve was buffalo hunting, the first, the first round in the, in the magazine, or I guess the first round that would come out of the magazine was a bullet that would expand well and then the other ones behind that were, were penetrating rounds that way the first bullet went in, expanded, created that good wound channel. And then the follow up shots, you just keep shooting until. Interesting, you don't have shots anymore, you know.

[Spencer]

Do you know how deep you were penetrating those critters?

[Seth]

I have no clue.

[Santa Claus]

It all depends on the angle.

[Spencer]

Sure.

[Seth]

So that's just, that's for buffalo hunting in Africa. But you know, Santa.

[Spencer]

Anything else, dad?

[Santa Claus]

No, I would just say, I would just say I don't think that energy is a good measure of a bullet's efficacy.

[Spencer]

Okay.

[Santa Claus]

It's, it's all about what that bullet mechanically does when it hits an animal at a given speed.

[Spencer]

Good answer, Santa. What else you got, Phil?

[Phil]

Cliff is wondering if, if Randall and Phil are going to release any footage from the big Buck Hunter World Championships. Yes. Look out for it early next year.

[Santa Claus]

Oh, oh, oh. Q1, as in, that sounds like a fun little video.

[Phil]

It'll be a fun little again. It's gonna be like a short thing. It's not gonna be like an episode of Meat Eater or with that production value either.

[Spencer]

It's gonna be exactly.

[Santa Claus]

I heard a rumor, I heard a rumor in the office that there's some sick footage of Randall.

[Phil]

Don't spoil it. Don't. Santa. Santa.

[Spencer]

Sick footage of Randall. Sick footage period.

[Santa Claus]

Sick footage.

[Phil]

Very sick footage.

[Spencer]

Very good.

[Phil]

Mark asks, what's the worst injury each of you have endured during hunting or fishing?

[Spencer]

This was in 2018. I was coming out of a tree stand one night in South Dakota after a bow hunt in late October. My like third to last step was not a step, it was a tree branch that I had trimmed down to be, like, 6 inches that I had put a lot of faith in over the years. And that night, it broke, and I fell, and it was a very shortfall. Like, I landed on my feet, but on the way down, I hit a metal tree step that I had also put in, and it opened up my side, and I drove to the er.

[Kurt Steiner]

Ooh.

[Spencer]

Yeah. They took some scans, stitched me up, and went on my way home. And I was. Was most devastated because one, like, I was now going to worry my wife, who I'm always telling, like, yeah, it's gonna be fine. I'm good. You know, like, it's. I'm by myself. It's all gonna be whatever. But then also, the rut was coming up, and I had a rifle tag I was excited about, and I was like, I'm gonna miss some rut hunts. About two weeks later, I was back to hunting again. So it's all. It was all fine, and I still got that Scarlet Seth worst injury.

[Seth]

I don't really have anything good. Cuts from knives and whatnot, hooks in hands.

[Santa Claus]

Hmm.

[Seth]

I did something. I tweaked my knee this year when I was packing out my bowl. Kind of been suffering with that ever since, but I don't know. I don't know if I'd call that an injury.

[Spencer]

Santa.

[Kurt Steiner]

Oh.

[Santa Claus]

Outside of the usual cuts, the first thing that comes to mind is I was driving a jet boat.

[Kurt Steiner]

Boat that was.

[Santa Claus]

It had a poor design, very steep Chinese. And occasionally when you're power sliding it, it would grab, and I was coming around this big log we're at up in Alaska, going full tilt, you know, and it grabbed, and I was thrown forward in the boat and gave myself a concussion. We're pretty sure I didn't go to a hospital, but I was pretty sick and nauseous for the next day or so. Felt sleepy and hit my head on the floor of the boat. Yep, I didn't like that boat. We eventually. We eventually put some floats on the back to try to alleviate its handling characteristics, because, again, the geometry of it was all off. But I never really trusted that boat.

[Spencer]

Santa made it here today, though.

[Santa Claus]

Yes.

[Spencer]

He's doing fine.

[Santa Claus]

Stung by bees, too. I swell up quite a bit.

[Phil]

3 crank asks or says. First, I've gotten two roadkill deer this year. If you guys get roadkill, do you treat it differently when processing? Santa, do you snag roadkill in the sled?

[Santa Claus]

The only roadkill I've ever taken was a buck that my dad hit driving home from work when I was a senior in high school. I had a broken leg at the time, so my buddy picked me up and we went and the cop shot the deer in the head. Cause it wasn't dead yet. So then we Euroed that skull, but we took the deer to a processor because I wasn't hunting that year. There's a man named Patterson. He had a tattoo on his arm of a castle with a dragon flying over it.

[Phil]

Oh, sick.

[Santa Claus]

And then he skinned it up and he said it was too bruised to eat, so he wouldn't accept it. So that's my roadkill story.

[Spencer]

I hit a doe last year driving home from a hunt in South Dakota. And that thing had had too much trauma as well to like, take most of the meat. So I took. I had the back straps, I took the tenderloins and then like a roast on the backhand. But otherwise it was just like, you know, pretty well ruined that you wouldn't want to be eating that. A lot of trauma, a lot of blood. Seth, any roadkill in your day?

[Seth]

I don't think I've picked up a roadkill deer.

[Spencer]

I've.

[Seth]

I've picked up some roadkill furbearers and skinned them.

[Spencer]

Did you treat them any different than one that was in your trap?

[Seth]

No, just, I mean, you know, try to avoid picking something up that's full of trauma. But no, I don't treat them different.

[Spencer]

Phil, one more.

[Phil]

Okay, first, Phil, I've seen a few.

[Santa Claus]

Suggestions in the chat that I've had. I've been overserved today, and I'd just like to address that. I haven't had anything to drink yet.

[Spencer]

He hasn't yet.

[Santa Claus]

I'm just full of the Christmas spirit yet.

[Phil]

Yeah, it's intoxicating. Santa, what was the mascot at your high school?

[Santa Claus]

The Warriors.

[Phil]

Oh, that's. I thought you'd be a little bit more, you know, theme.

[Spencer]

Was it portrayed as like a Native American or what was it?

[Santa Claus]

Yes, but they changed it. They changed it in recent years to fit more of a Spartan theme with a gladiator type helmet with a nose shield and a sword. And people were very upset about it.

[Spencer]

Sure.

[Santa Claus]

Yes.

[Spencer]

Yes, That's a good one.

[Santa Claus]

Marymount Warriors.

[Phil]

Okay, last one. This is from Mr. Hunterman 69. Santa, is Brody on the naughty list because he wins more in trivia than Randall? Or is Spencer on the naughty list for asking all those fishing questions for number 10?

[Spencer]

Good question.

[Santa Claus]

It's all about the questions for me. It's like playing golf. You're really playing against yourself trying to pick up a stroke here. And There on your opponent. But if the course is shitty, there's not much you can do.

[Spencer]

That's right. Santa, thank you for joining us.

[Santa Claus]

Oh, it's so much fun to be on radio live.

[Spencer]

Very warm in here too.

[Santa Claus]

Yes, yes. My face itches tremendously. Yeah, no, I need to get this off.

[Seth]

You're about to be real busy here.

[Santa Claus]

Oh yes, yes. It's coming up quickly and there's all sorts of boys and girls all over the world who made their gifts. So I better, better sign off and get back to the workshop. The elves are busy.

[Spencer]

Speaking of the holidays, we have some pre recorded episodes for radio coming up. Send us your questions to RadioTheMeat eater.com so we can interject those where the live chat normally participates. Radio at the meat eater.com send your questions our way very soon. One last thing, Seth, about that apple butter.

[Phil]

Oh yeah.

[Spencer]

I was driving by a rancher's place. I had picked some apples that day while I was hunting on the mountain. And then they had some beautiful apple trees in their driveway. I swung in and asked for permission to pick their apples and they let me. So that's the first time I've ever gotten apple hunting permission. Oh, that is now. I turned in that apple.

[Seth]

Best beauty art. The king of permissions.

[Spencer]

That's right. All right, see you back here next week, same time and place. Bye now.

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[Kurt Steiner]

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