Ep. 828: Nonresidents, Wildlife Commissions, and the Boundary Waters | MeatEater Radio Live!

Summary

The MeatEater Podcast – Ep. 828: Nonresidents, Wildlife Commissions, and the Boundary Waters | MeatEater Radio Live!

Date: January 30, 2026
Host: Brody Henderson (for Radio Live), featuring Seth, Corey, Steve, Randall, Phil, and special guests Lucas Leaf (Sportsmen for the Boundary Waters) and Jeremy Romero (National Wildlife Federation)

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Episode Overview

This fast-paced and banter-filled episode of MeatEater Radio Live dives deep into timely and controversial outdoor and conservation topics. The team is joined by guest experts to tackle the battle over mining in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters, break down the often misunderstood influence of state wildlife commissions on hunting regulations, and address hot listener mail about nonresident hunting access and more.

In characteristic MeatEater fashion, the crew mixes sharp analysis, irreverent humor, practical life tips, food talk, and audience interaction. The episode also marks an emotional pre-farewell, as the hosts announce the end of the live version of the show, teasing a new, more flexible format to come.

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Table of Contents

• Farewell Announcement and Format Changes (02:21)
• Boundary Waters & Mining Controversy
  • Background and Stakes (08:34)
  • Interview with Lucas Leaf (12:12)
• Crew Hot Tip-Off (27:00)
• State Wildlife Commissions 101 with Jeremy Romero (44:34)
• Listener & Fan Emails: Nonresident Hunting and Neighborhood Ethics (64:43)
• Miscellaneous Q&A: Trapping, Meat Use, and Lead in Game (77:13)
• Quotes, Standout Moments & Notable Timestamps

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Farewell Announcement and Format Changes (02:21)

• Brody announces that MeatEater Radio Live is wrapping up in early March 2026.
• “We’re gonna be saying goodbye… Been a great run and we’ve had so much fun doing the live show for you guys. So we’re sad to see it go.” (Brody, 02:47)
• A new, more flexible “second weekly episode of the MeatEater Podcast” will take its place, featuring much of the original crew and a stronger focus on current events.
• Listeners encouraged to send in “wants” and suggestions for the live grand finale episode.
• Snark and humor ensue: “Phil can go on vacations that include Thursdays.” (Randall, 05:08)
• Surprise: Occasional “pop-up” live shows may occur in the future.

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Boundary Waters & Mining Controversy

Background and Stakes (08:34)

• Brody delivers a primer on the Boundary Waters: “1.1 million acres… the most visited wilderness area in the United States.”
• Area threatened by a proposed massive sulfide-ore copper mine by Twin Metals (owned by Chilean conglomerate Antofagasta), risking irreversible pollution.
• “Hard rock mining is generally regarded as the most toxic industry in America.” (Brody, 11:36)

Interview with Lucas Leaf (12:12–27:00)

Who are Sportsmen for the Boundary Waters?

• “The hunting and angling voice for the area… to work and prevent this proposed copper-nickel mine…” (Lucas, 12:28)
• Programs include habitat stewardship and on-the-ground conservation.

Why is the mining threat so severe?

• “It’s an extremely water-rich environment… Superior National Forest holds 20% of the fresh water in the entire national forest system.” (Lucas, 13:54)
• Lucas emphasizes water flows north into Canada, creating transboundary threats.

Congressional Action and Political Dynamics

• Recent Republican-backed House resolution seeks to lift a 20-year mining moratorium on 225,000 acres in the Rainy River watershed.
• “Antofagasta just got fined for not meeting regulations in one of its Chilean mines to the tune of nearly $800,000 this week too.” (Lucas, 16:31)
• Extracted minerals would largely be shipped overseas: “Once minerals end up, you know, on foreign soil for processing, they just flood the global market with no guarantee they’re coming back… that’s the real kick in the nuts.” (Lucas, 17:33)

What’s at Stake Economically?

• Boundary Waters supports ~17,000 jobs, $1B annually.
• Losses would hit local businesses, outfitters, gear suppliers, and accessibility as a family-friendly wilderness.

What Can People Do? (Action Steps)

• “This isn’t a blue or red issue, man. This is everybody... Best thing you can do is call your senators.” (Lucas, 22:12)
• Capitol switchboard: “202-224-3121” connects you directly. (Lucas, 23:21)

Memorable Quote

• “At the moment… there is no project similar to this that has been done without polluting in some form.” (Lucas, 17:54)

Food & Recipes from the Boundary Waters (24:00)

• “Nothing better than shore lunch—lake trout cooked in bacon grease on a cold day.” (Lucas, 24:37)
• “Use yellow mustard as a binder… pulverized Cheez-Its for breading.” (Lucas, 25:02)
• On walleye: “Really good in curries and a pasta I’ve done before, puttanesca.” (Lucas, 25:18)
• Grouse: “Pound out the breasts and sear them in a cast iron… take the legs and probably braise them in something." (Lucas, 26:05)
• “God, makes me want to go to the Boundary Waters.” (Brody, 26:30)

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Crew Hot Tip-Off (27:00)

A favorite recurring segment. The crew shares under-the-radar practical “hot tips.”

• Seth: Wear nitrile gloves under fingerless gloves for cold-weather fishing—“It’s just enough to take the edge off and keep your fingers warm.” (Seth, 29:03)
• Corey: DIY raise for folding tables using PVC pipe sections for easier meat cutting. “Just like that, I’ve got a table it’s belly button height so I can start cutting some meat, not hurting my back.” (Corey, 32:13, with video demonstration)
• Brody: Save and strain braising liquid (“taco juice”) to freeze and reuse for future braising: “It just gets better every time… you could eat it like soup, it’s so good.” (Brody, 34:50)
• Randall (after pressure): Bring a rake to the shooting range to help collect spent brass: “Don’t be a garbage person. Pick up your brass.” (Randall, 36:23)
• Audience voting: Hotly contested. Randall wins the poll, but since he’s a guest, Corey takes the backup crown.

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State Wildlife Commissions 101 with Jeremy Romero (44:34)

What Are Wildlife Commissions and Why Do They Matter?

• “A lot of people don’t understand what game commissions do… These commissioners are tasked with setting the rules and regulations… and they’re also tasked with hiring and overseeing agency directors.” (Jeremy, 45:59)
• They approve hunting/fishing dates, quotas, weapon types, and are also the final vote on regulations.

Who Serves on Commissions?

• “By law, those commissioners have to represent those different stakeholder groups—ranchers, outfitters, guides, biologists, hunters, anglers…” (Jeremy, 48:06)
• Most are gubernatorial appointees, sometimes resulting in commissioners openly hostile to hunting/angling (e.g., in Colorado, Washington).

Recent Reform in New Mexico (52:41)

• New law creates a Wildlife Commission nominating committee (not just governor appointees), including university biologists, state agency directors, legislators.
• Appointees must come from set backgrounds: tribal rep, conservationist, working rancher, scientist, licensed hunter/angler, etc. No more than 2 from same political party (55:58).
• Term limits of six years (max two terms).
• To remove a commissioner now requires formal process for cause (neglect, incompetence, malfeasance), preventing a governor from simply firing opponents.

Why This Matters (58:09+)

• Model for other states: “It really is a good thing… You want those checks and balances.” (Jeremy, 58:09)
• Commissioners are representatives: “You should look at them almost like one of your congressional representatives or state legislators… they work for you.” (Brody, 60:15)

How to Engage

• All state wildlife agencies list commission contact info; email, phone, and public meetings (“carve-out for public participation”) are the primary paths (Jeremy, 60:54)
• Support conservation orgs (“they’re the tip of the spear…” 63:12)

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Listener & Fan Emails: Nonresident Hunting and Neighborhood Ethics (64:43)

Nonresident Pheasant Hunters Frustrated by Resident-Only Early Season in Montana

Question:

• Why is Montana giving residents a 10-day early pheasant opener, and why not give residents priority for fishing too?

Brody’s Response:

• “Preferential treatment for residents is just the way things work… No state is under obligation to provide equal access to nonresidents.” (Brody, 66:46)
• Gives context—other states like Alaska, Colorado, Wyoming, Iowa all sharply limit nonresident opportunities. A social contract for resident satisfaction is at play.
• “It’s ten days out of a three month long season. If you want to continue to hunt Montana, you could. You’re just missing the first 10 days.” (Brody, 68:55)
• Corey: “Think of the positives… Opening day won’t be as chaotic.” (69:18)

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Deer Carcasses and Neighborhood Etiquette

• Hunter asks if it’s okay to dump processed deer carcasses in his own woods, even if neighbor dogs get into them.
• Brody: It’s your land, but "I’d rather have happy neighbors… It’s not too hard to throw deer bones… in a trash can. There could be CWD concerns too. Don’t dump on public land.” (Brody, 75:13)
• Seth: “If you don’t want your dog eating deer, that’s on the neighbors. Don’t let them go on the neighbor’s.”
• Randall’s hot tip: Don’t dump at popular trailheads!

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Miscellaneous Q&A: Trapping, Meat Use, and Lead in Game (77:13)

• Is it wasteful/hypocritical to trap muskrats, beavers, etc. for fur and not eat them?

  • Seth: “Some things are good to eat… If states required you to eat coyotes, no one would trap or kill coyotes.” (Seth, 78:12)
  • Brody: “It’s okay that you’re not using the meat. You shouldn’t have to feel bad about that.” (78:34)

• Is eating a pressure-cooked venison shank with a mushroomed lead bullet dangerous?

  • Brody: “No, it’s not going to hurt you. Your gut is not as strong as a condor’s. You’re not going to break that lead down and get poisoned.” (80:51)

• Bobcat vs. beaver for predator bait?

  • Seth: “I think people prefer bobcat meat over anything.” (82:51)

• Miscellanea: Updates on Cal, more hot tips, and audience Qs about everyday hunting and meat-eating life.

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Quotes, Standout Moments & Notable Timestamps

Big Moments

• [02:21] – Farewell to MeatEater Radio Live explained
• [08:34] – Boundary Waters intro & mining threat
• [12:12–27:00] – Lucas Leaf interview: full breakdown of the fight for Boundary Waters
• [44:34–64:40] – Deep dive on state wildlife commissions
• [64:43 onwards] – Fan email ‘Roundtable’ with prominent hunting access debate

Notable Quotes

• “Hard rock mining is the most toxic industry in America. And hydrologists say that pollution from mining in this area is like—it's inevitable, it's going to happen.” — Brody, [11:36]
• “The whole issue is that those minerals, once extracted, are going to be shipped overseas… that’s the real kick in the nuts.” — Lucas Leaf, [17:33]
• “This isn’t a blue or red issue, man. This is everybody. You know, this is the time for us all to come together for the places that we cherish.” — Lucas Leaf, [22:12]
• “You should look at [commissioners] almost like one of your congressional representatives… they work for you.” — Brody, [60:15]
• “It's okay to go trap a fox or a skunk or like whatever furbear and not eat it…you shouldn't have to feel bad about that." – Brody, [78:34]
• “Preferential treatment for residents is just the way things work… No state is under obligation to provide equal access to nonresidents.” — Brody, [66:46]

Classic MeatEater Humor

• “Phil can go on vacations that include Thursdays.” — Randall, [05:08]
• “Don’t be a garbage person. Pick up your brass.” — Randall, [36:23]
• "[My tip is] four-year-old taco juice. That's my hot tip." — Brody, [35:07]
• On live show chaos: "I got a DM yesterday that said, can you just go f off and not be on every podcast?" — Randall, [86:32]

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Final Thoughts

This episode encapsulates the MeatEater ethos: no-BS conversation about real conservation issues, seasoned with camp banter, field know-how, and a running dialogue with a passionate, informed audience. Whether you care about the fate of the Boundary Waters, how state policy shapes your tags, or just want a great recipe for lake trout or a clever way to keep your hands warm while fishing—this one’s got it.

Catch the final weeks of MeatEater Radio Live, and stay tuned for the next chapter in the podcast’s evolution!

Transcript

[Brody]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.

[Randall]

Okay, so you know, t mobile 5G home Internet is easy on the wallet, but here's some big news. It's now the fastest 5G home Internet according to the experts at Ookla Speed Test. And yeah, it's a great value because you get a 5 year price guarantee. T Mobile 5G home Internet. It's the fastest 5G home Internet at a great price with savings that stick. Check availability@t mobile.com homeinternet price guarantee. Exclusions like taxes and fees apply. It's the fastest based on OOKLA Speed Test intelligence Data from the second half of 2025. All rights reserved.

[Phil]

Smell us now, lady.

[Randall]

Welcome to Meat Eater Trivia. Me Eater Podcast.

[Brody]

Oh, there you are. Welcome to Meat Eater radio live. It's 11am on Thursday, which means we're here at HQ and Bozeman to chit chat with you guys. I'm your host, Brody. I'm joined today by Seth and Corey and Steve. Steve ditched Randall, so Randall's here too. You can't see him though. He's sitting. Hey, everybody.

[Seth]

Hey, Mor.

[Brody]

We got a couple great guests joining us today who are going to be talking to us about the Boundary Waters. And then we're going to talk about state wildlife commissions. There's some interesting stuff going on in New Mexico regarding state wildlife commissions. And we're also going to be addressing Randall's loud bag of Sun Chips and some interesting email correspondence from the Meat Eater inbox. And we'll also do a crew hot tip off and the live. You guys, the live audience, you're going to decide the winner and we'll announce that at the end of the show. What flavor do you got there, Randall?

[Lucas Leaf]

Garden salsa.

[Jeremy Romero]

My favorite.

[Brody]

Nice.

[Seth]

That is a good chip.

[Corey Calkins]

Do you have enough for the rest of the class?

[Seth]

Nope.

[Brody]

Okay, moving on.

[Randall]

I'm not even supposed to be here.

[Brody]

Moving on. Before we dive into the show, I want to make an announcement in case you guys haven't heard. Some of you have probably have, Some of you probably haven't. Might be a little painful for. For our most diehard listeners like Mogar Mogor. So hold on your britches. In case you haven't heard, we're going to be saying goodbye to Mediator Radio live in early March.

[Phil]

So sad.

[Brody]

Been a great run and we've had so much fun doing the live show for you guys. So we're sad to see it go. Randall in particular has been in a dark, deep depression the last couple of weeks. Is that you got Anything to add there?

[Randall]

Yeah, but we've learned so much along the way and really made all kinds of new friends, including we've learned things about one another that I don't think would have come to light. Yeah, I've been for this vehicle.

[Seth]

That's true.

[Brody]

Anyway, there's. There's some good news here, too. Radio Live is going to replace. Be replaced by a second weekly episode of Meat Eater, the Meat Eater podcast. And you're still going to be seeing the crew from Radiator Mediator. Radio Live, along with Steve. And the additional drop of the Mediator podcast is going to focus on news and current events. But we're gonna bring some of the fun and energy from Radio Live along with us. But for now, we've got another month or so, five weeks maybe of Radio Live left before we sign off, and we're definitely going to be do. Doing something very special for, for our last episode of Radio Live. Phil, Phil and Randall are already plotting. So if you have, if you have any, like, suggestions or like, wants that you would see in. In our last show, send them in to us. We'll see if we can do anything.

[Randall]

Yeah, Phil, do we have a. Is it radiothemed? Eater.com?

[Phil]

I believe it is.

[Randall]

If you have any ideas for the Meat Eater Radio Live Grand Finale Spectacular.

[Phil]

Live on March 5, 2026. March 5th will be our last show, and we're playing. It's gonna be a blast.

[Randall]

So please, it's gonna be wild.

[Phil]

Please tune in. And I think really, really quick, too, just to add to some of the messaging around here about, like, why specifically we're doing this. I mean, the main reason is that Steve wants to do stuff like this more. He wants to be on. He loves Radio Live. He loves coming on, and it's just, he can't do it very often because it's tied to a specific time. But so now it's just being replaced. The new show's gonna have a lot of the same energy, sort of like the old crew shows from, from back in the old days. So I think you're going to still enjoy it, but now if we're just more flexible, we can talk about topical stuff more quickly, which is what Steve wants.

[Randall]

Phil can go on vacations that include Thursdays.

[Brody]

Man, I'm getting hijacked here a little bit.

[Randall]

Sorry, I'm gonna have to leave.

[Phil]

I just think some of the messaging hasn't been super clear, so I just thought we'd get, you know, get in front of it.

[Brody]

Pipe down, boys.

[Randall]

That's not A you, Brody.

[Brody]

I know, I know. I'm just.

[Phil]

Yeah, not from you. I mean the messaging that has been.

[Brody]

Yeah.

[Phil]

Communicated so far before today and I.

[Brody]

I will add that there is a chance, I think if we get. Get our way, it'll happen. There's a chance that every now and then we'll do like a pop up version of radio Live.

[Phil]

Oh.

[Brody]

So it may not be completely going away. We'll see.

[Phil]

Yeah. We were even thinking about some, some like primetime shows, like, you know, seven o' clock on a Friday or Saturday night where, you know, we can kind of eventize it a little bit or.

[Brody]

If we're at like some kind of event or something, we might try and do it.

[Lucas Leaf]

Do it.

[Randall]

Would rent tuxedos for those.

[Brody]

Yeah. All right. So you guys got anything you want to chit chat about before we start talking?

[Seth]

Well, I'd like to tell you a bunch of ice fishing stories, but I.

[Brody]

Saw you were on the ice the other day. Did you get any of those 5 inch bluegills?

[Seth]

No. Well, yeah, I got some bluegills on the Three Forks Ponds. But yeah, I was up at Canyon Ferry and Dismal.

[Brody]

Just caught the Dismal.

[Seth]

Yeah, it was not good. Four inches of ice. Couldn't get out to the good stuff. Yeah, a little sketchy.

[Phil]

Ice was bare minimum.

[Seth]

Ice was chit chatty up there.

[Corey Calkins]

Yeah.

[Seth]

Making all kinds of noises.

[Corey Calkins]

Yelling at you.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Corey Calkins]

Threatening.

[Seth]

Yeah. A little scary.

[Corey Calkins]

It's been so unseasonably warm. I went fly fishing the other day.

[Lucas Leaf]

Wow.

[Corey Calkins]

Yeah. Never done it in Jason. You married before?

[Lucas Leaf]

No.

[Corey Calkins]

This typical January trout fishing. They're pretty in the rivers at least. Not a lot of food, not a lot of activity. But if you put it in their face, they'll eat it.

[Brody]

Yep.

[Corey Calkins]

Yeah, we caught a few.

[Randall]

One time I went ice fishing while fly fishing. I was up in Alaska. Went out to the lodge on a snow machine, busted the ice open next to the bank and drifted a fly through there. Caught a nice trout. I'll show you a picture sometime.

[Seth]

Really?

[Randall]

Oh, yeah.

[Lucas Leaf]

Oh, yeah.

[Seth]

That's cool.

[Brody]

Excellent job. Yeah.

[Phil]

Oh, yeah.

[Seth]

Oh, yeah.

[Jeremy Romero]

Yeah.

[Brody]

I don't. I don't got. Got a whole lot going on right now. My. My life's kind of in turmoil. Really.

[Seth]

We're kind of just stuck in a weird time right now.

[Jeremy Romero]

Like vortex.

[Brody]

I know.

[Seth]

Well, the one weather's not great for anything.

[Brody]

I know. It's like between seasons. It's like turkey season's way off. But the one good thing about this weather is super nice weather is I Was forced by my family to. I was going to do a marathon, my first marathon in September.

[Seth]

Oh yeah.

[Brody]

And I was informed that that training program would be way too disruptive to our summer activities. It's like every weekend I got to do some long ass run, you know, can't go anywhere, can't go fish and camp and all that stuff. So I bumped it up to, to June, to the Missoula marathon, late June. So it's like it's thrown my whole life off.

[Corey Calkins]

Yeah. Well, you're able to train at the moment at least. Yeah. Maybe not.

[Brody]

That's a good thing.

[Seth]

Oh. How are you feeling about it?

[Brody]

Good. Little nervous, but good. But a little nervous.

[Seth]

You're feeling like you're getting prepared.

[Brody]

Yeah.

[Lucas Leaf]

Yeah.

[Brody]

I got five months, so.

[Seth]

A lot.

[Brody]

Most marathon plans are either 16 or 20 weeks, so I've got over 20. I'm good.

[Seth]

You gotta be good.

[Brody]

But now it's real. Like September seems so far off and June's like right there. Anyway, we got more important stuff to talk about, namely the Boundary Waters. Our first guest today is Lucas Leaf. And Lucas is that the lead chef for Modern Carnivore. And he's also contributed a bunch of his best wild game recipes to the Meat eater website. In addition to that, Lucas is also the executive director of the conservation group Sportsman for the Boundary Waters. And he's gonna, he's here to talk to us today about the most recent congressional assault on one of America's most cherished wild places, which is Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area. The Boundary Waters have been threatened before, managed to fight those threats off, but this one, this time it's like serious. And before we get to the interview with Lucas, like for anyone who's not familiar, I want to give you guys a quick background on the, on the Boundary Waters. That's going to help you understand what the stakes are here. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area wilderness is a 1.1 million acre federally protected wilderness area in northeastern Minnesota. Superior National Forest. It's big. I think Yellowstone is 2 million. So, you know, a million acres, a big chunk of land. It's the most visited wilderness area in the United states. It has 1,175 lakes, 1200 plus miles of canoe routes, and it offers backcountry canoeing, hunting, fishing, hiking and winter activities. It's like this vast, very pristine network of interconnected waterways that provide really good fishing for walleye pike, smallmouth bass, lake trout. And the area also encompasses our southernmost boreal forest that harbors, you know, you can hunt Waterfowl, black bears, spruce and rough grouse, snowshoe hares and white tailed deer. And they're white tailed deer that have never seen a corn pile. So they're pretty cool. And the reason we're talking about all this is because the Boundary Waters is threatened by this massive sulfide or copper mine that's proposed on the banks of the South Kawishi Kawashi river and Birch Lake. And sulfide or mining in the United States has a like a long, dark history of causing significant environmental damage. There's like, something seems to always go wrong with these mines. They're like, you can look it up. There's plenty of examples. You Google it and you'll see all these examples across the United States where these mines have just caused irreversible damage to habitat, polluting streams, lakes, drinking water supplies with heavy metals and other toxins. Hard rock mining is the most generally regarded as the most toxic industry in America. And hydrologists say that pollution from mining in this area is like. It's inevitable, it's going to happen. So we're gonna talk to Lucas. Lucas, you on the line?

[Lucas Leaf]

I sure am. Thanks guys for having me. And Brody, you really. You nailed that intro, man.

[Brody]

Thanks. Thanks. Before we get into the Boundary Waters, let's first talk about who sportsman for the Boundary Waters is and, and what you guys do.

[Lucas Leaf]

Yeah, so I mean, you know, sportsman for the Boundary Waters was founded, you know, roughly a decade ago mainly as the hunting and angling voice for the area for protections of the area for, for the world class hunting and fishing opportunities that, that it holds like you talked about. But also, you know, to, you know, to work and prevent this proposed copper nickel mine that you were talking about by Twin Metals, which is a subsidiary of Ana Fagasta, which is a Chilean mining conglomerate. Yeah, so that's one of our, you know, kind of key issues that we work on. And we also have a pretty robust stewardship and habitat program. So on the ground projects, working with, you know, state and, and national, you know, partners and coalitions as well.

[Randall]

Great.

[Brody]

So obviously this seems. Randall. Randall's trying to play music over here. Sorry.

[Phil]

No, I apologize.

[Randall]

I was trying to hop into the chat.

[Phil]

I really. I should believe.

[Lucas Leaf]

I like those sun chips too. It's all good.

[Brody]

Okay, Lucas, so like, obviously to like most people, I would say this seems like a real shitty place to put it. Sulfide or mining operation. So can you lay out why Congress approved stripping protections from the Boundary Waters?

[Lucas Leaf]

Yeah, I mean, it's been a very partisan issue for a Long time. Right. You know, supporters of the mine are hoping for, you know, protect projected jobs and you know, royalties to the states, you know, touting the idea for shoring up, you know, domestic critical minerals dominance. But, but it really is like a terrible place for this as you alluded to. Right. It's extremely water rich environment instead of Superior National Forest. Superior national forest holds 20% of the fresh water in the entire national forest system. Huge interconnected water rich area. It is just a terrible spot for it. Right on the shores of Birch Lake, you know, miles away from the Boundary Waters, the headwaters of the area. And it's located, you know, north of the Laurentian Divide. So all the water flows north. That'd be through the Boundary Waters, in and out of it, up through Rainy Lake, you know, great walleye fishery and others all the way up to Hudson Bay. Also affecting parts of, you know, the Canadian border waters. You know, you mentioned the boundary water is 1.1 million acres. Well, it's, it's sister park in Canada, the Quetico is nearly the same size and they border each other as well.

[Brody]

So it would end up flowing downstream to that as well.

[Lucas Leaf]

Yep, exactly.

[Brody]

You said, you said it's a partisan issue, which is unfortunate, but really is, you know, the reality is, is that the Republicans in Congress are the ones that push this thing through.

[Lucas Leaf]

That's right.

[Brody]

And again, like is this like unfortunately, like is this come down to money?

[Lucas Leaf]

I mean, or it's hard to say. Right. Like you know, quick background, you know, what, what this. And we can get into the House resolution that was introduced by Representative Stauber and passed the House last week. But you know, it's, it's. This resolution is meant to overturn a 20 year mining moratorium in nearly 225,000 acres in that rainy river watershed. The watershed that houses the Boundary Water Security National Forest, etc, And that happened in January of 2023. So we're just right at about the three year anniversary of those protections being put in place. And coincidentally Anapagasta just got fined for not meeting regulations in one of its Chilean mines for to the tune of nearly $800,000 this week too.

[Brody]

So yeah, it's crazy, like whenever one of these, these huge mining operations pops up that that's like environmentally questionable. It's like always a foreign mining company.

[Lucas Leaf]

That's right, that's right. And, and a key point to put to point out here is, is like Antifa Gas. Yes. Chilean mining conglomerate definitely has, you know, certain ties to the current administration. It obviously, you know, is about money, but, but it's also about tying into that, you know, need for domestic critical minerals.

[Brody]

Right.

[Lucas Leaf]

The whole issue with that is, is that those minerals, once extracted, are going to be shipped overseas. There are no, there are no smelting operations on U.S. soil that are capable of taking care of that. And once minerals end up, you know, on foreign so processing, they just flood the global market with, with no guarantee that they're coming back.

[Brody]

Yeah.

[Lucas Leaf]

To us, that's the real kick in the nuts.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Lucas Leaf]

America.

[Brody]

No, no, no, we don't get anything.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Brody]

I mean, someone's getting something out of it, but.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Jeremy Romero]

Yeah.

[Lucas Leaf]

You know, no one's saying that, you know, it's a 20 year withdrawal.

[Jeremy Romero]

Right.

[Lucas Leaf]

The whole, the whole reason for that is to give it time to find out whether or not it's viable.

[Brody]

Yeah.

[Lucas Leaf]

Potentially technology catches up, who knows? But at the moment, as you said, there is no type, there is no project similar to this that has been done without polluting in some form.

[Brody]

Yeah.

[Lucas Leaf]

And that's most arid environments too.

[Brody]

Exactly. So, like, obviously this goes like, way beyond a handful of, of hunters and anglers that are worried about, like, their spot. Right. So besides, like, the clearly dangerous environmental risks, there's also could be a huge, like, local and regional economic, you know, component to what's at stake here because the Boundary water supports like 17,000 jobs and generates a billion dollars in sales and income annually. So I, I just wondered if you can hit on, on that aspect of this at all. Like what? Like who would be the people that would be losing jobs, losing money if this thing goes forward?

[Lucas Leaf]

Well, certainly all of the local businesses, you know, the Boundary Waters and the surrounding areas are a huge economic driver for all of those local towns and cities. And, you know, it's not just those local businesses. I mean, this trickles out everywhere to the folks that are excited and buying gear to, you know, to go up and take the trips to, you know, to, to everything that's needed for, for a place like this.

[Brody]

Yeah.

[Lucas Leaf]

And for a trip like that, you know, a true backcountry wilderness experience that anybody can, you know, from a, you know, an infant I just took, you know, the first time I took my kids, they were two, you know, all the way up to somebody on their 50th anniversary. That's, you know, 85. Right. It is truly accessible to everyone.

[Brody]

Yeah.

[Lucas Leaf]

So. Yeah. And then, you know, with, with the resolution, the, the unfortunate piece for that is, yes, it did pass the House and now it does, you know, move on to the Senate and Real. The real battle is, is hoping that we can turn this into a bipartisan issue and that, you know, this crosses the aisle. And, and we can have some Republican folks, you know, understand the implications of. Of what using the Congressional Review act for overturning a mineral draw really means, not only for the boundary waters, but for similar protections across the country, too.

[Brody]

Yeah, that's. I mean, that's the worrying aspect of it is like, if the dominoes start falling after this, you know, so it's going to the Senate. Do you got a feel for what things are looking like? They're like, which direction it's lean in, or is it completely up in the air?

[Lucas Leaf]

You know, it's pretty up in the air. So the Senate parliamentarian still has to rule on whether or not the usage of the cra, the Congressional Review act, is lawful in this manner because traditionally it's only been used for land management plans. This is a federal action. So kind of an unprecedented usage of the cra. So we're hoping to hear what that ruling may be and if it'll sway the movement in the Senate as well. But at this moment, it has not been taken up in the Senate. You know, I think, as everybody knows, there's a lot else going on right now in Congress.

[Brody]

What's the timing on it? Do you know when they're going to get to it?

[Lucas Leaf]

We certainly expect sooner than later. It moves so fast through the House. I mean, we're talking an introduction, you know, less than two weeks ago to passage last week.

[Seth]

Right.

[Lucas Leaf]

Like, so it really slammed through and it had. It certainly had some help, too. So we know that when it does hit the Senate, they know they have the backing to get it to move forward. So best case scenario is that doesn't get the light of day, and our states do some work to ensure that it scares off the folks trying to get this to move forward in the Senate as well.

[Brody]

I know this is kind of like beating a dead horse with all these kind of issues that come up, but what can people do to help stop it from happening?

[Lucas Leaf]

Yeah, I mean, this isn't a blue or red issue, man. This is. This is everybody. You know, this is the time for us all to come together, you know, for the places that we cherish and understand that it has those broader implications for others. So it's not just a Minnesota issue. It's a national issue. There are tons of great organizations working on this. The best thing you can do is call your senators. It doesn't matter if they're Republican or Democrat. They need to hear from their constituents that this is not the right place for this mine, and that this resolution should not move forward in the Senate. So making those phone calls, getting a meeting with your senators, if you can, and hooking up and joining conservation organizations that are working on this, signing action alerts that a number have out right now, almost anything you can do is most important right now. It's all hands on deck. Yeah.

[Brody]

And. And for people who are wondering, like, it's actually very easy to. To call your senator. It's. It's not, like, a painful, long process. I wish we had a number, but you can look it up.

[Lucas Leaf]

I. I know it by heart.

[Brody]

There you go. Lay it on us. 202244.

[Lucas Leaf]

I think it's 3121.

[Brody]

Okay, well, we'll. If it's wrong, we'll figure it out, but I think.

[Lucas Leaf]

Double check me, but it connects you directly with the Capital Switchboard, and the operator can put you directly in touch with your. Your senator's office.

[Brody]

Yeah, it's actually a pretty quick process. All right, before. Before we let you go, Lucas, you are a chef, so we got to talk about food a little bit.

[Lucas Leaf]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Brody]

Giannis has given us the bird out there. This place is falling apart, man. Like, we announced that Radio Live is going away, and the whole place is falling apart.

[Corey Calkins]

Domino's.

[Brody]

Sorry about this, Lucas. It's embarrassing. Give us, like, two or three of your favorite recipes or preparations from fishing game that. That you typically would harvest in the Boundary Waters.

[Lucas Leaf]

If I'm in the Boundary Waters, sure. Should we do it that way?

[Brody]

Yeah.

[Lucas Leaf]

Okay.

[Brody]

Or if you brought something home from the Boundary Waters. Whatever.

[Lucas Leaf]

Well, I'll say. All right. In camp. In camp, there is nothing better than shore lunch. Lake trout cooked in bacon grease on a cold day.

[Brody]

Are you breading that? Are you just putting it in the gas?

[Lucas Leaf]

Really lightly breaded?

[Brody]

Yeah.

[Lucas Leaf]

With the actual shore lunch. Otherwise, like, one that I. That I'll use is just, like, pulverized Cheez. Its.

[Brody]

Yep.

[Lucas Leaf]

And use yellow mustard as a binder. Trust me, both are great. But, yeah, that. That's one of. That's one of my favorites, honestly. Let me think. Gosh.

[Seth]

What about walleye? Same thing.

[Lucas Leaf]

Yeah. You know, I think, you know, walleye is a pretty. Pretty lean fish. It cooks up really well in a ton of different preparations. It's really good in, like, curries and a pasta I've done before. It's called puttanesca. It's pretty rich, like olives, capers, anchovy, tomato Based, you know? But again, I mean, nothing better than a fried walleye sandwich, too, right? With some homemade tartar.

[Brody]

Let's say you were up there and you shot yourself a rough grouse and you're, like, camping up there. What would you do with it first?

[Lucas Leaf]

I'd let it sit for a little bit.

[Brody]

Do you mean, like, let it hang.

[Lucas Leaf]

For a while if you have time? I mean, yeah, you know, going. Going straight from shot to the pan can. Can make things a little bit difficult, but.

[Brody]

Yep.

[Lucas Leaf]

Once that done, I honestly, I pound out the breasts and sear them in a cast iron with a little sauce over the fire and take the legs and probably braise them in something, you know, which is just a really slow cook. If you have time, you can take the carcass and make a stock, you know, to make a sauce. Just kind of use the whole thing, right?

[Brody]

Yep.

[Lucas Leaf]

Take. Take maybe, you know, the livers and hearts and grill them real quick, you know, Just use everything you have.

[Brody]

God, makes me want to go to the Boundary Waters.

[Lucas Leaf]

Yeah. I mean, you guys were talking about ice fishing earlier. It is prime time right now. Yeah.

[Brody]

You guys got cold. We didn't. You got all the cold we missed, man.

[Lucas Leaf]

Yeah, you can take. You can take some. It's been too cold.

[Brody]

Well, listen, Lucas, thanks. Thanks for chatting with us today and keep us posted on what's going on with Boundary Waters. If there's anything we can do to help get the message out, let us know.

[Lucas Leaf]

Yeah, I really appreciate it. Spreading the word and just getting folks to take action is super important. So thank you so much for having me on today.

[Brody]

Yep. Thanks again. We'll talk soon. All right, moving on. Hopefully. Hopefully we get some good news here soon. But, yeah, we're gonna move on to our crew. Hot tip off. Normally, we like to feature hot tip offs from our audience, but you guys have been kind of lame on submitting stuff, you know, I'm sorry.

[Phil]

That's Brody speaking. I think every tip we've gotten has been.

[Seth]

It's not.

[Brody]

We're just not, like, not getting many sent in right now. The folder's pretty empty.

[Corey Calkins]

Certainly not a lot of show words.

[Brody]

Truth hurts. I mean, come on, Phil.

[Corey Calkins]

Step it up.

[Brody]

Yeah, step it up.

[Phil]

You don't have a lot of time.

[Seth]

Maybe the folks just don't want to invest their time in a show that's going away.

[Randall]

Don't make light of this their last chance.

[Brody]

Like, get their. Get their big prize. Yeah, that's a good point.

[Phil]

If you've been holding in those hot tips for the last year and a half.

[Brody]

So anyway, you're stuck with our hot, hot tips, which we'll see. They might only be lukewarm tips.

[Seth]

Way to sell.

[Randall]

Way to sell the segment, Brody.

[Brody]

I know. Look, I'm. I'm trying to get. Get through this, Randall. I'm sad.

[Phil]

Okay, now I feel bad.

[Brody]

Yeah. The way we're going to do this is we're not like the. The. You guys are going to vote on the. The winner, but it's like, kind of hard for Phil to do as we're. We're doing the hot, hot tips and compile kind of who. Who got the most votes. So we'll. The. The second time we talk to you guys, that's. That's what. At the end of the show, that's when we'll announce the winner. So there'll be all this tension through the rest of the show.

[Phil]

Okay, well, that's not what I thought the plan was, but I, I like it.

[Brody]

I like to keep you on your toes.

[Phil]

Brody's calling the shots today.

[Brody]

It's my show, Phil. My show. So, Seth, Corey, which one you guys wants to go first?

[Corey Calkins]

Oh, Seth, why don't you do the honors?

[Seth]

Sure, I'll go.

[Corey Calkins]

I'm very curious.

[Seth]

All right, so when you're. When you're out fishing and it's like early spring, maybe later in the fall, water's cold, your hands are getting cold because you're touching fish and whatnot. A thing you can do to help take the edge off is wear a pair of nitrile gloves. I prefer black, but I ran out of my black ones, so this is the only thing I had laying around. I often wear those underneath a pair of fingerless gloves. And it's just enough to take the edge off if it's a little windy outside or whatnot. It's just enough to take the edge off and keep your. Your fingers warm.

[Brody]

I'll vouch that it works. I've done that running. And you, you peel those things off and they're full of sweat water, like, but warm.

[Corey Calkins]

Yeah, but I haven't tried that yet. And good for the fish too, if you're handling right. Yeah, those are good gloves to handle fish with.

[Seth]

Yeah, it's just that little. That little, you know, barrier. Barrier there. Keeps your fingers warmer.

[Corey Calkins]

How about tying knots?

[Seth]

That's. Yeah, it's a good thing because another plus is that you, like, have the dexterity that you would lose with, like, a fingered glove. A heavy fingered glove.

[Phil]

Got my vote.

[Lucas Leaf]

You already.

[Seth]

Bring it. Bring it, Corey.

[Corey Calkins]

It's hot in here all of a sudden.

[Brody]

All right, try and beat that one, Corey.

[Seth]

All right.

[Corey Calkins]

My hot tip. I actually had a fun time a couple months ago making a video. I was hoping there was going to be other crew submissions, but there haven't been any. So Phil, do you have my video up there?

[Phil]

Oh yeah, let's bring it up. I didn't make a little title card for you, but I can just do it live here. Corey Calkins.

[Corey Calkins]

Thank you for pronouncing it correctly. Hi, I'm Corey Calkins and I got a hot tip for you. Anybody out there have one of these cheap foldable lifetime tables? Well, anybody ever try to cut meat on these and notice that it's just a little short and you find yourself hunched over all the time trying to cut up on these short tables. So I'm going to teach you, if you have one of these, how to raise it up. So first I need to figure out it's pretty long, how much higher that I'd like it. So for me it'd be nice maybe if it was about belly button height or higher. Then you're going to measure the distance from the ground up to that little crossbar right there, which looks like it's. I'm going to say 10 inches. So I need four 22 inch sections of this pipe and get you a stick of one of these 1 1/2 inch PVC pipes.

[Randall]

You should have just done the whole video that way.

[Brody]

Oh, we lost the camera power tools.

[Phil]

I like this editing for you.

[Lucas Leaf]

Thank you.

[Seth]

Yeah, what a great film.

[Corey Calkins]

Then two at a time, you're gonna lift the table and stick one on each corner.

[Brody]

One, two, three, three.

[Lucas Leaf]

Guess what?

[Seth]

Four.

[Corey Calkins]

Just like that, I've got a table, it's belly button height so I can start cutting some meat, not hurting my back.

[Brody]

Give it a try, man.

[Seth]

That's good.

[Corey Calkins]

I don't know, it's.

[Seth]

Look at all that dead stuff in there.

[Corey Calkins]

So I know my garage is a mess right now. Everything's in my drift boat.

[Brody]

I only got one suggestion for you, Cory. To put some non slip feet down there on the bottom.

[Corey Calkins]

Well, you know, I thought about that. I was concerned, but the angle of the feet that comes with the table is so wide that it's like it's pretty grippy. Yeah. So I don't know, it's just if you aren't able to watch, get to your computer phone fast and go watch that. But it's pretty self explanatory trying to.

[Randall]

Raise it pretty easily.

[Corey Calkins]

Those tables are cheap and they're great. Costco or Walmart, but they're always just a hair short. And I'm a short fella, so.

[Brody]

And it's a cheap fix. Yeah, it's like a cheapskate tip. Yeah, yeah.

[Corey Calkins]

Shout out to my buddy Phil, who actually came up with that hot tip.

[Brody]

This Phil?

[Corey Calkins]

No.

[Randall]

Phil.

[Phil]

That's funny. Brody.

[Brody]

Come on, don't get mad.

[Phil]

Broadwater Street Phil, I'm not mad. I just think I know how to work a power tool in my.

[Randall]

You could just find a chair and sit at your table.

[Corey Calkins]

Oh, that's uncomfortable.

[Brody]

Oh, yeah, you can't do that.

[Corey Calkins]

Cutting up an elk for six, seven hours.

[Seth]

You'll get blood clots doing that.

[Brody]

Pass out from being dizzy. All right, I'm a little scared now. Mine's pretty simple, man.

[Corey Calkins]

Simple is good.

[Brody]

When you, like when you're braising meat, cooking it in a liquid shank, roast, whatever, save the braising liquid to reuse it once you're done cooking it. And whatever you're doing doesn't matter, like what kind of meal you're cooking. Strain that, all that braising liquid after you cook it. So it's, you know, you get all the kind of scum and debris and stuff like that out of it. You'll get a pretty clear, you know, liquid, and put it in a Tupperware, a mason jar, whatever, freeze it. The next time you're going to braise stuff, you get that stuff out, thaw it out, dump it in there, and you can do this over and over and over again. And it just gets better every time. I got this jar of what I called taco juice. That's like three. It's like I've had it for like three years, man. I use it for making like turkey leg carnita, like when I'm braising turkey legs or whatever, like Mexican style. And I just keep reusing that stuff and it gets better and better. Like you could eat it like soup. It's so good.

[Randall]

So that's.

[Brody]

That's my.

[Seth]

I like that. We. We actually do that all the time.

[Brody]

Yeah.

[Seth]

Anytime we braise something, we. We run it through a screen at the end and then freeze it. And then a lot of times we'll just pull it out, thaw it out and just drink it.

[Brody]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's good, man.

[Seth]

Oh, yeah.

[Corey Calkins]

Make a gravy with it.

[Brody]

Yep. Anything.

[Lucas Leaf]

Yep.

[Brody]

Anything. Great, great, hot four year old taco juice. That's my hot tip.

[Seth]

I bet that's got some flavor.

[Corey Calkins]

Yep.

[Brody]

Randall, you want to jump?

[Jeremy Romero]

Yeah.

[Brody]

You Got a hot tip.

[Corey Calkins]

Winner gets a bag of chips here.

[Jeremy Romero]

So.

[Randall]

Hot tip. Oh, gosh, I don't know. I shouldn't have come in here.

[Corey Calkins]

Hairstyle tips.

[Brody]

We put you on the spot. It's okay.

[Randall]

Yeah, I'll come up with something. Something good.

[Seth]

Just give me.

[Phil]

So here's. Here's where the problem lies in your strategy, Brody. I. I think the. The live chat can see poll results before I announce them. I think it updates them live. So if I start the poll now, the audience will already know what the results are. So we might as well just announce them soon.

[Brody]

Damn it.

[Corey Calkins]

Was it a landslide or what?

[Brody]

I wanted to build up some tension here.

[Randall]

Can we just edit this part out.

[Phil]

Phil, where you don't come up with a radio lives. It doesn't exist anymore. So this is pre taped.

[Jeremy Romero]

You're right.

[Brody]

All right, whatever, Phil.

[Phil]

I thought you were like, all right, starting the poll. And Randall is one of the options. So, Randall, you have about 30 seconds to come up with a hot tip. Go.

[Randall]

Oh, God. Oh.

[Phil]

Something about people are voting already the longer you take.

[Seth]

Hurry, Randall.

[Corey Calkins]

Flat tires. Shooting pistols.

[Seth]

Oh.

[Randall]

When you go to the range, and the range being an empty piece of public land where you shoot, bring a rake so you don't have to pick up individual brass cases by the thousands.

[Phil]

Yep.

[Corey Calkins]

Preach.

[Seth]

Yeah, we were shooting last weekend and Randall's like, we should have brought a rake.

[Randall]

Yeah, we had, because we littered the ground.

[Seth]

Yeah.

[Corey Calkins]

Any suggestions on a type of rake? Metal rake, plastic rig?

[Randall]

I would think just something with the teeth rather close together because like a 2, 2, 3 case. You know, if it gets the long way in there, you could see it sliding through. But I don't know if that's really hot tip. We also thought we should just shoot steel cased ammo and use a magnet.

[Seth]

Yep.

[Randall]

But I don't. I haven't tried it yet, so I don't know if it's a hot tip. To think of it, I actually haven't used the rake tip either.

[Seth]

So I'll add a hot tip to your hot tip.

[Brody]

Geez, you guys are getting it today.

[Seth]

Pick up your damn brass.

[Randall]

That's what I was gonna say. Don't be a garbage person. Pick up your brass.

[Phil]

You wanna do a follow up hot tip, Randall? Based on this question, we got Garrett asking, what's the advantage of opening Fritos from the bottom of the bag as opposed to the top?

[Randall]

Oh, you get at them faster if you're holding the bag upside down.

[Corey Calkins]

And that's why.

[Randall]

Plus, it's if. If if you're self conscious about what you're eating and you don't want people to be able to read the label, hold it upside down, they'll think maybe it's some sort of foreign food and you're a fancy person that buys like imported snacks.

[Seth]

Here's another hot tip. Take Fritos on your backcountry trips because they're high in calories and you can start fires with them.

[Randall]

Salt, you can mix them into like if, you know, if you have a freeze dried chili or stew or anything like that, like a Mexican mash, as I like to call most of the mountain house southwestern meals. You just dump your Fritos in there, you're gonna be living like a king.

[Brody]

Doesn't matter if they get all mashed up in your pack. So good.

[Seth]

30.

[Phil]

30 more seconds on the poll.

[Seth]

The results, how many hot tips you got going now?

[Phil]

Are thrilling.

[Randall]

Yeah, my hot tips are layered.

[Phil]

Cory Brody, you want to throw any additional ones in there to try to juice, juice your numbers here?

[Brody]

No, man, don't hurt your back on mine.

[Phil]

All right, well, with 40% of the vote, the winner today is Randall William.

[Brody]

Okay, but he's not really in the show.

[Seth]

What if we took his away? Who won?

[Phil]

Yeah, Corey, Cory, nice work.

[Brody]

God.

[Corey Calkins]

Thanks, everybody.

[Brody]

Okay, Randall, you can shout out, shout.

[Randall]

Out to the crew. And by the crew, I mean the chat.

[Corey Calkins]

Must have been that editing.

[Brody]

You guys, do we got any other feedback?

[Phil]

We want to do a feedback right now.

[Brody]

Do a couple.

[Phil]

Try it. Sure. I will just say something really quick based on some comments. I do not speak for meat eater or Steve or trcp. Putting a sitting US Representative on the podcast is not platforming them. So if anything, it lets them speak more to things and you can hold them accountable for it come election season or when you call your representatives and senators. So anyway, that's all I have to say about that. They already have a pretty big platform and they're writing the legislation.

[Seth]

Let them.

[Brody]

Different than them going on the news.

[Phil]

Exactly. Yeah. Anyway, when Rachel Maddow has Josh Hawley on, it's not. We're not platforming him, we're letting him talk. Vice versa.

[Brody]

Let's do something.

[Seth]

Sure.

[Phil]

Jackson Reedy says when I cook shanks in the crock pot, the tendons turn gelatinous, but usually sticks to the meat and doesn't add much moisture, but just leaves an unpleasant texture. What am I doing wrong?

[Seth]

Just think about your joints when you're eating that gelatinous stuff.

[Brody]

Yeah, it's good for you if it's not turning like almost liquidy. I don't know like what your process is for cooking them, but I would try maybe going a little less temperature and quite a bit longer.

[Lucas Leaf]

Yeah.

[Corey Calkins]

If it's stuck to the meat, might just need some more time.

[Brody]

Yeah, I like that stuff.

[Corey Calkins]

Oh, that's good. But I know what he means it. That can take.

[Brody]

Sometimes it doesn't get where you want it to get.

[Phil]

Will meet theater continue to exist when Radio Live ends? Give me meat theater. Give me death.

[Corey Calkins]

Randall.

[Randall]

You know, meat theater started as a fever dream in my mind and it will always live there. But if you are a fan of meat theater, be sure to tune in to the Meat Eater Radio Live grand finale Spectacular Live on What date, Phil?

[Phil]

March 5th.

[Randall]

March 5th. You won't be disappointed.

[Seth]

We should make merch for this final episode.

[Corey Calkins]

Oh man.

[Randall]

I think we're going to find an investor. Just comes in and buys the concept.

[Corey Calkins]

Any sponsors?

[Seth]

Maybe we can sell the concept.

[Phil]

Yeah, there's some questions regarding the new show and will it be live? No, the new show will not be live. That's kind of the whole point is just so we can. Steve can talk about stuff whenever he wants. We can drop it quickly.

[Randall]

Oh no. This guy says the rake doesn't work.

[Phil]

Uh oh, dang it.

[Brody]

Well, there goes Randy.

[Corey Calkins]

Depends on the rake.

[Phil]

I was change it.

[Randall]

I've got a big. I've got a big canvas drop cloth like for painting that I used as a floor in the wall tent this fall. And I thought next time we go out, we should just spread that out on the ground and do all of our shooting on the thing. We just roll it up like a. Like a rug.

[Brody]

It's kind of like when a hitman kills someone on a sheet of blast.

[Phil]

Dexter it up.

[Corey Calkins]

Oh yeah, yeah, Blood and everything.

[Seth]

Randall and I have been thrown around the idea of starting a meat eater intramural pistol league.

[Randall]

It's called the. It's called the Me EP Lee.

[Phil]

For short questions about. About drops and stuff like that. I will, in the first week of March I will put together a strung together medley of all of my drops and really put it on the Reddit or somewhere where you guys, you weirdos can download it.

[Randall]

Can you put it on Spotify or will you get dinged?

[Phil]

Yeah, I don't think I can do Spotify, but it's gotta be kind of under the radar.

[Seth]

Phil.

[Brody]

We got Jeremy waiting for us.

[Phil]

We actually don't. He's not in his chair right now, so we have to wait for him to come back.

[Randall]

This Guy loves me.

[Brody]

Jeremy Romero.

[Seth]

Oh, we got good.

[Phil]

Gonna bring him in now.

[Seth]

Good feedback already. Bring him in.

[Phil]

Okay.

[Brody]

All right, up next, we've got Jeremy Romero from the National Wildlife Federation. You might have seen Jeremy Hunt with Steve on the Meat Eater television show. I think you guys did a couple different shows down there in New Mexico, but if not, go watch that. And I can personally vouch for Jeremy's status as an all around good guy. He's a hard working wildlife conservationist. He helps out me and Steve on the youth deer hunt. And this should tell you everything you need to know about him. He sleeps in a tool shed with the minks at Steve's fish shack.

[Seth]

He's a good stick in the halibut waters.

[Brody]

Oh, yeah, yeah. He like. He may have been the guy who introduced slow pitch jigging to southeast Alaska.

[Seth]

Yeah, the OG Slow pitch.

[Brody]

How's that for buttering you up, Jeremy?

[Seth]

Oh, oh, something's wrong.

[Phil]

It's audio problems.

[Corey Calkins]

We're live.

[Phil]

He sounded great right before this.

[Brody]

I can keep buttering him up.

[Lucas Leaf]

Thank you, Brody.

[Randall]

I appreciate the compliments.

[Phil]

Hey, Jeremy, really quick. We are getting audio from you, but it sounds like it's coming out of a tin can and we can't understand a word you're saying. So I'm going to. I'm going to boot you from the call. And you want to try to hop back in.

[Randall]

I don't boot him, Phil.

[Phil]

Well, he can see. Kick.

[Randall]

Oh, yeah. Kick from studio.

[Phil]

All right, we're going to. We're going to try this again. I kind of like this show is ending. Free wheeling spirit we got going on. The wheels are just falling off.

[Randall]

It was so buttoned up before, but.

[Phil]

Now we can let it all happen.

[Seth]

How?

[Phil]

We can really show our true colors.

[Corey Calkins]

Loosen our collars.

[Seth]

It's kind of like when you put your two wheels.

[Brody]

People are dropping, like, kind of stop working a little bit.

[Phil]

No, no, we actually got. We got solid numbers right now.

[Seth]

Do we? Oh, 344. Come on.

[Brody]

We need him back.

[Seth]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Randall]

I mean, I think the.

[Phil]

Okay, let's try again.

[Randall]

All the hard work is ahead of us.

[Corey Calkins]

You think?

[Randall]

The finale.

[Phil]

Jeremy, you want to give us a few words here?

[Lucas Leaf]

Any.

[Jeremy Romero]

Any better?

[Phil]

Hey.

[Brody]

Okay.

[Jeremy Romero]

All right, guys.

[Phil]

I didn't.

[Jeremy Romero]

I didn't.

[Brody]

No worries.

[Jeremy Romero]

I'm not sure why that was. Was messing up, but I. I should have just stayed quiet with all those nice things you guys are saying. Yeah, man, that was nice. I appreciate it.

[Brody]

All right, now. Now that you're feeling all good about yourself, I want to Talk to you about state wildlife commissions and their role in guiding the rules and regulations that are set forth by state fish and game agencies. I think a lot of people maybe aren't aware of how these things work in regards to the regulations that you got to follow in any given state. A lot of people are like, ah, you know, Fish and Game or Parks and Wildlife, they do this or they do that. But in a lot of cases it's like they're doing these things at the behest of what state wildlife commissions, kind of like how they steer them into a particular management strategy. So Jeremy, give us quick breakdown of what a state wildlife commission is and who they're supposed to represent as far as different user groups and stakeholders and, and then like how they actually end up guiding the policies of state fishing game agencies.

[Jeremy Romero]

Yeah, you bet. And first of all, thanks for, for having me on the show.

[Seth]

Yep.

[Jeremy Romero]

You know, you bring up a really good point and a lot of people don't quite understand, you know, what, and you know, what game commissions do and game commissioners and their responsibilities and roles with, working with the, with the Department of Game and Fishes. And so, you know, I think it's important to note that these commissioners are tasked with setting the rules and regulations, as you mentioned, you know, hunting dates as well as quota limits and things like usable weapon type. They're also tasked with hiring and overseeing and managing the directors of the departments, Deputy directors. It kind of goes, it kind of varies depending on the state and how the department is made up. But they also are tasked with, you know, receiving a lot of that public input and trying to incorporate that into management level decisions. But at the end of the day, the folks that work with the departments, they propose different ideas, different recommendations as far as like the rules changes, policy changes. And at the end of the day, the game and fish commissions are the ones that are tasked with voting to finally approve or adopt those measures that go into those proclamations that you see that, you know, identify hunt dates, species types, weapon types, etc. So they, they play a pretty important role. And you know, most states the number of commissioners is different, but a lot of times what I've seen is, you know, in that 5 to 7 range, they really, they are really tasked with an important role of overseeing the game agencies and they budget moving budgets, all that, all those types.

[Brody]

And generally they, they're supposed to represent different user groups and stakeholders. Correct. Like there, there will be like a commissioner that represents the ranching community. There'll be a commissioner that represents like outfitters and guides, there'll be a commissioner that represents like, wildlife biology, etc. Etc. Like, is that, is that correct?

[Jeremy Romero]

Yeah, that, that's exactly right. So usually you see a few at large seats. So people fill in those commission roles for various reasons, but a lot of times by law, those commissioners have to represent those different stakeholder groups or those different demographics. And so as you mentioned, you'll have a, a rancher or a, a farmer on the commission. You'll have a hunter or an angler. In some instances, you'll have an indigenous member from a federally recognized tribe. And sometimes you'll have seats that are filled based off of geography in different states. And so, you know, it's important to point out that in most situations, in most states across our country, commissioners are appointed at the discretion of the governors. So you have a new governor that comes in office, newly elected, and they essentially appoint a new slate of commissioners. And the hope will be that the governor or the overseeing body points those commissioners that are qualified to serve in these roles. Right. Qualified or knowledgeable, and doing so represent the best interests of hunters, anglers, and wildlife management.

[Corey Calkins]

Right.

[Brody]

Yep.

[Jeremy Romero]

That's not always the case.

[Brody]

Yeah, let's, let's, let's kind of pause. I don't, I don't want you to roll too far ahead of us yet. I was, I was going to. You already answered my question, which is how our wildlife commissioners chosen. Most of the time they're governor appointees. And I want to address that before you, before we move on. In states like Colorado, Washington, you may have some other examples that use this system where these people are appointed directly by the governor. We've seen wildlife commissioners who are like, openly anti hunting end up on these commissions. And these are the people who end up shaping the policy, at least can affect the policy of state fish and game agencies. Is there any, do you have any other state examples you're aware of that were like, you know, in Washington things happened like spring bear hunting got outlawed. In Colorado, the wildlife commissioners got involved with things like the wolf reintroduction in ways that probably weren't in the best interest of hunters, anglers, and wildlife management?

[Jeremy Romero]

Yeah, I mean, you guys have done a phenomenal job what's been happening in Colorado and Washington, and there really aren't a whole lot of examples. You know, we'll touch on kind of what's happened in, in New Mexico. But the other one that comes to mind, which wasn't exactly, you know, the full responsibility responsibility of the Game Commission, but we saw, you know, in New Jersey with the black bear hunting and trying to reduce black bear hunting. That wasn't all the commission's fault, but it was very much a politically driven effort. So you can, you can, you know, say that it was indirectly, you know, attributed to commission level impact. You know, you, you bring up an important point, which is sometimes you'll have commissioners that are appointed by the governor that just do not serve the best interests of the hunting, hunting, angling or wildlife management communities. But there's also the flip side, right? The flip side is that you have these qualified commissioners that do represent, you know, the, the hunting, angling, wildlife management world, but at the same time, when they bring up controversial topics that, you know, the hunting, hunting and angling community want to see brought up, sometimes they're removed. Sometimes they're removed from those seats without any valid justification whatsoever.

[Brody]

Yeah, because it's at the will of the governor, right?

[Jeremy Romero]

Correct. Yeah, absolutely. And so I can get into, you know, a little bit of what New Mexico did to help.

[Brody]

Yeah, let's, let's talk about that. Your home state is New Mexico. And up until this past year, New Mexico's wildlife commissioners were, were appointed by the governor. But a bill recently passed in New Mexico that mandates that the commissioners be selected through a different process. So can you explain what the process in New Mexico will be going forward and whether you think that's going to be an improvement on the current like governor appointed system?

[Jeremy Romero]

Yeah, absolutely. So, so last year, New Mexico bunch of conservation organizations came together, formed a coalition and pursued a bill. It's called Senate Bill 5. It was, the title of it was Game Commission Reform. There was a lot in that bill. So I'll just quickly touch on it. Part of it was renaming the wildlife, the Game and Fish Agency to Department of Wildlife Change. The mission of that increased license fees which were much needed for game and fish agencies. Our, our licenses in New Mexico hadn't been increased, I want to say around 20 years. So, you know, kind of meeting current cost of, of living and inflation and adjusting those prices accordingly, bringing in more funds to the agency. But the most important piece, the most, and the most important piece that's relevant to this conversation was, you know, the section of the bill that it, that reformed kind of the way our Wildlife Commission is, is created. And so the Wildlife Commission will still have seven voting members. Instead of being appointed by the governor, there is now a, a wildlife Commission nominating committee. So this is a little bit of another layer of protection that insulates these commissioners from just being appointed for specific government interest. Or governor interests.

[Brody]

Who makes up that committee? Is it state legislation, members from the state legislature or who, who.

[Jeremy Romero]

So there are members of the state legislature. There's also the, the, the director, the directors from both of the. Which is, it's actually pretty cool. The directors from, you know, the wildlife conservation biology. Wildlife. Wildlife biology programs at both of the universities in New Mexico, the large, largest university, so University of New Mexico and New Mexico State University, as well as some of the directors from the agencies within the state government. So I want to say it was, you know, the director of. Or Secretary of Energy, Minerals, Natural Resources, those, those types of roles. So it's a pretty comprehensive list of folks that form that nominating committee.

[Brody]

Great. So now you'll have this new process. And in your opinion, do you think it's going to be an improvement on how the commission is able to act in the best interests of the people in New Mexico and the wildlife in New Mexico?

[Jeremy Romero]

100. 100. And you know, in that criteria for appointing those new, those new members to a nominating committee, they have some, some restrictions to do so. Right. So there's a seven, you know, seven commission members of which three of them are at large. So really they can be nominated for a lot of different reasons. You know, one of the members has to be from a federally recognized tribe that represents, you know, tribal interests. No more than two members can be affiliated with the same political party. Those initial three at large members, the remaining four, one of them has to be a farmer or rancher who actively farms or ranches where two big game species are frequently present.

[Brody]

Cool.

[Jeremy Romero]

Right? Someone who's, who's a rancher or farmer that has, you know, political interest or ties to an administration. They have to be in an area where big game are present. So that's important. Another member has, is it has to be a conservationist working from a conservation organization that has been employed in the conservation field for at least four years. The other one has to be a hunter and angler or you know, it could be both. And they had to have had a license, a hunting and fishing license for four years. And then the last person is a scientist who holds at least a master's degree in wildlife biology, conservation biology, Fishery Science, etc. And term limits for those commissioners are six year terms and they can only serve two terms. So, you know, that and of itself creates a, a buffer from being able to be with, you know, appointed for a lot of different interests that brings a lot of knowledge and expertise and you know, quite frankly qualified individuals to serve on These seats. And then the other important piece of. Of that legislation was it. Is it prevented the way it was initially written, was it created a much more formal process for a governor to remove a commission member. You know, eight years ago, we had two commissioners, the chair and the vice chair of the commission here in New Mexico that brought up some topics that were controversial. I think those topics, in my opinion, were, you know, were within the best interest of. Of helping hunting hunters and anglers in New Mexico. As a result of those efforts, the governor overnight removed those commissioners.

[Brody]

Yeah, I think that's, that's the best thing about this is it kind of puts a roadblock in the way of a governor who might want to, like, push their own agenda through the state fish and game agency. Like, like we've seen in states like Colorado, it kind of. It puts a stopper on that, which is, in my opinion, a really good thing.

[Jeremy Romero]

And these, in these processes where you have commissioners representing, you know, what's best for the hunting and angling and wildlife management world, you know, you want those checks and balances. Yeah, you don't want, you know, a governor to remove commissioner because they're doing the right thing. You know, you. You don't want commissioners serving in these roles for reasons other than, you know, the best interests of the hunting, angling and wildlife management worlds. So it really is a good thing. I hope other states, you know, adopt these measures to really, you know, insulate their commissions to best serve members of those states. You know, a lot of this goes into effect next year, and so we're. We're really going to get to see when, you know, as rubber. As rubber meets the road, what this looks like. But I, I imagine that it's going to be nothing but good news for, for the state of New Mexico, and hopefully other states see it as a model and start to adopt it if they don't already have a similar model, you know, in place. The one thing I did want to mention, Brody, was, you know, in that. In that section to remove a commissioner, there was a lengthy section there that provided more of that formal, you know, process to remove a commissioner. And at the time, the governor ended up vetoing or line vetoing a lot of that section to the only remaining. So the only remaining section there for the removal process is a commissioner can be removed if it is deemed that they are. And, you know, if they're illustrating incompetence, you know, neglect of duty or malfeasance in that. In that office. Now, there's similar efforts in this legislative session to kind of reinsert that language. So there's a much more formal process that has to go through the courts if, in fact, it is deemed that a commissioner should be removed. So that's, that's an important piece worth noting, and I think it provides those different layers of, you know, oversight before something like that happens.

[Brody]

One last thing about these state wildlife commissions that I want to, I want you to talk about that. Again, people may not be aware of like these people. You should look at them almost like one of your congressional representatives or state legislative legislature representatives. Like, they're there to represent you. They work for you. So. And people may not be aware that they can interact with these people and communicate with them. And so I just wanted you to touch on how people can do that. How can they let their voices be heard to these, these state wildlife commissions?

[Jeremy Romero]

And it's, it's incredibly important that people understand that they can connect with these, these commissioners. Why? Because a lot of times these commissioners represent those constituents, right? So if there's an issue that you're facing, if there's a problem or even an opportunity in your areas or something you do when it comes to hunting and fishing, like being able to communicate that to a commissioner so they can then also carry a little bit of that weight and advocate it at the department level is, is important. And so, you know, most game and fish websites have a commission page where it identifies all the different commissioners that are sitting in those seats, provides contact information, usually their email. You can reach out to them via, via email and express your concern, concerns, frustrations, or, you know, commend them for the good work there. They could, they could be doing. Another important resource and a way to commission to communicate with those commissioners is at the public meeting level. Most state game departments have public commission meetings. You know, this is where those rules and regulations and setting budgets and approving them and, you know, hearing from what the department wants to do but needs that approval. This is the, this is the setting for. And so most of these commission meetings are publicly advertised via the, the game department's websites. You can go and attend these meetings. There's also, and I would say all of the meetings, there's a carve out for, for public participation where you can go up there, you know, and talk about the issues that are, that are most concerning to you. And at the end of the day, if you don't, you don't feel comfortable doing that in a public setting, you can at least introduce yourself and meet the commissioners, you know, in person at these, at these Commission level meetings. And I would say those, those two are probably the most important ways to communicate with your commissioners to hopefully see the work, the good work be done and reflect the best interests of the hunting and angling and wildlife management communities.

[Brody]

Yeah. And they'll often be like, like a question, comment, opinion, like, survey type thing attached to those meetings that you can fill out too, and that goes to those commissioners as well.

[Jeremy Romero]

The only, the only thing I want to point out.

[Brody]

Yeah.

[Jeremy Romero]

From the commission is, you know, with the current attacks that we've seen on hunting in England at the, at the commission levels, like not only important commissioners, that's, that's an important piece, but also reaching out to the different, you know, to the agencies directly as well as to the different conservation organizations that are, that are advocating for these bills, are, you know, working day and night to see, you know, commission reform take place like it's worth it's weight and goal to reach out and support those organizations because those are the ones that are going to go to bat for you on issues like this. And they're, you know, the tip of the spear when it comes to seeing legislation like what happened in New Mexico get over the finish line. So I want to emphasize, you know, reaching out and supporting those conservation organizations because they do play a critical role in this whole, this whole piece.

[Brody]

Yep, for sure. Organizations like yours, New Mexico Wildlife Federation, you mentioned, but, but any of them, you know, bha, they're all, they're all working for you, so.

[Jeremy Romero]

Absolutely.

[Brody]

All right, Jeremy, we got to move on, but thanks for, thanks for joining us today and talking to us.

[Jeremy Romero]

Thanks guys for having me. I gotta go get some lunch. After hearing Lucas talk about those filets and curry and smashed grass breasts, I gotta go eat. But I appreciate you all for, for letting me chat with you today and good luck with the rest of the show.

[Brody]

Great. Thanks, man.

[Seth]

Thanks, Jeremy.

[Brody]

All right. Did you learn anything there?

[Seth]

I always learned something when, when I'm around Jeremy.

[Brody]

All right, man. This one I'm hoping will be fun. We're gonna do some, some fan emails and we'll try and, you know, get some feedback from the crew here. This is, this is one that I think is very interesting and I'll, I'll read through it here for you guys. This is coming from Peter in Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Family members and I have been traveling northeast Montana each fall to hunt pheasants for about 15 years. We've done our homework, scoping out habitat, establishing relationships with landowners. It's been a great time, but changes are Afoot recently passed Senate Bill 514 will give Montana residents a head start on the season by 10 days. My cohort nine. I obviously think this is a bad idea. We will probably head to North Dakota for next season opener. I think this is a good one for your show to tackle. Including why the state doesn't give preferential treatment to residents for fishing. Quite certain the same folks from western Montana clamoring for preferential treatment for upland hunting in eastern Montana would strongly oppose such a change strictly for economic reasons. Okay, this guy is bummed that he can't hunt the dumb young of the year birds anymore before they get shot at. Like, I get it. I pheasant hunt. They're, they're a lot easier to kill in the first week of the season. I like, I'll let everyone weigh in, but I'm going to say one thing to this guy first. And I'm not trying to be confrontational. It's just the reality of like being a non resident. I cannot go to British Columbia and hunt big game unless I hire a guide. Like preferential treatment for residents.

[Lucas Leaf]

Right?

[Brody]

It's just the way things work. As far as his fishing thing like fishing and hunting or it's like you can't compare it. It's like apples and orange. But I'll give you an example where resident anglers are highly prioritized over non res. And that's Alaska. Like we deal with it every year, man. Like the limits are very strict compared to what residents can do for many species of fish. So states do in some cases prioritize residents for fishing. And like it or not, this is just like a larger trend that's been going on across western states for the last several years. The fact is like no state is under the obligation to provide equal access and opportunity to that state's game resources to non residents. Like they're just not states. Could be a state could be like we're not letting any resident non residents hunt here. The reason these things, these things happen is because state fish and game agencies and wildlife commissions like we just talked about, they're under an obligation to try and satisfy their resident hunters. Like they got to keep those people happy. They need the money from non resident license sales. Like there's no doubt about that. But there's a social component to this and that's that residents get priority and their satisfaction with their experience is important. You've seen this happen over the past few years. Colorado no longer issues over the counter archery elk licenses to non residents. Wyoming, Colorado cut non resident Rifle draw tags pretty significantly. Montana reduced non resident mule deer tags. So like this is a thing that's, that's been happening across the west and it, and it is the result of kind of how residents feel about their hunting experience. I feel for you. Like I understand it, but you know, I'm kind of like, it is what it is, man. I understand why you'd go to North Dakota, but you know, it's ten days out of a three month long season. If you want to continue to hunt Montana, you could. You're just missing the first 10 days of the season. I don't know if you guys have any thoughts.

[Seth]

I agree 100%. You nailed it.

[Corey Calkins]

Yeah, you're spot on. I mean, North Dakota is probably going to see a little influx if a lot of folks in the same shoes as this fellow. But I don't know, think of the positives. Like you said, it is what it is. So opening day won't be as chaotic.

[Brody]

Right.

[Corey Calkins]

That next week might be that much easier and you might find just as many birds. Especially if you've done your homework and you got places to hunt.

[Brody]

There could be like some minor economic impacts to small towns out in eastern Montana that, you know, may not get, you know, people coming into the restaurants or the campgrounds or what are as many, you know.

[Corey Calkins]

Yeah.

[Brody]

I will say that the pheasant opener coincides with the antelope opener. So, you know, I don't know how much of an impact it's going to have.

[Corey Calkins]

It's a busy weekend.

[Brody]

Randall, you got nothing there.

[Randall]

Oh, I just. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's kind of baked into the system and you know, obviously like there's no perfect balance. I don't know what, what that would look like if, you know, I'm sure there's somebody who lives in a state with real bad hunting and fishing. Although I think there's. You can always find like everywhere has something to offer. But if everybody could buy a resident license in Montana, that wouldn't work.

[Lucas Leaf]

Right.

[Randall]

And we can't shut out nonresidents completely. Like I wouldn't want to do that. But you're always going to have to find some middle ground between those two extremes. And so it's true, the overall trend is that non resident opportunities are declining across the west. And yeah, like I'm affected by that as well. Like states where I have bonus points and preference points that are limiting the percentage of non resident tags. You know, it's hurting me as well. So I don't know what the perfect situation looks Like, I think we'd all like to turn back the clock to the glory days of the, whatever, the 70s, 80s, 90s, when it seemed like you could, if you had the money, you could travel across the west and, and get tags and hunt as much as you wanted. But the reality is it's a finite resource. And so we're left with this unfortunate balancing act that, as you point out, sort of structurally is tipped in the favor of residents pretty extremely. So. Yeah, I don't know.

[Brody]

And it's not just a western issue. Try getting a white tail tag in Iowa and you'll know what I'm talking about. Not easy. All right, there you go.

[Phil]

Good one.

[Brody]

Sorry, sorry. To the guy from. From BC Hope. Hope you have a good hunt in North Dakota. All right, next one. Where is it? This one's kind of long. I'm gonna try and shorten it as much as I can. I would really like to get your opinion to help settle a bit of neighborhood etiquette question involving three whitetail carcasses and my neighbor's love of their dogs. I live on the outskirts of town in a development consists about 15 homes that sit on 4 to 5 acre parcels that are a mixture of yard, woods and prairie. I have three acres of woods that are between my house and the county road. I have good relationships with all my neighbors, most of which have a dog or two that can run relatively free. Last year our group shot three deer and we processed them at my place. I had three carcasses I had to dispose of. I thought nothing of it and put them out of sight from the road out in the middle of his woods. You know, it's. It says it's cold here, so there wouldn't be any concern over smell. And by springtime, all that would be left was a few bones. My first mistake is he didn't do this over the COVID of darkness. I don't know about that if that was his first mistake. One of the neighbors saw me dragging carcass into the woods and within a day I had multiple people questioning me. They're a little irritated about the. The carcasses and the dogs getting in into them and the possibility that he was attracting predators to the area. He brushed off those concerns, but he did find it humorous when he saw a dog from three doors down walking up the road amongst later with a deer leg in his mouth. Anyway, he's one now wondering what's your take? What should. What should you do? Find somewhere else to dump them, Wait till dark and, and sneak in there. You know, this isn't a huge problem necessarily. It's your property and you can do what you want. But I'm going to play devil's advocate here. Your neighbors do have a point. And I'd rather have happy neighbors. Like, you know, it's not too hard to throw deer bones, like a whole deer bone boned out carcass into a trash can. I do it all the time. And if coyotes do come in, they will mess up a dog or two. There's nothing illegal about what you're doing, more than likely, but there possibly could be. And you should consider disposing of those carcasses properly. Not only because of the dogs, because of CWD concerns. I don't know if you're getting your deer tested or not, but dumping carcasses is a good way to spread CWD around. So whatever you do, don't go dump them out on public land somewhere that, like, that's the main thing. Put them in the trash is the. Is the best thing, I would say. I don't know if you guys feel like I'm being a little hard on this guy, but.

[Corey Calkins]

No, that's the honest truth.

[Brody]

I mean, Steve throws deer carcasses on the roof of his. Yeah, you know, it's on the roof at least.

[Seth]

If you don't want your neighbor. If you don't want your dog eating deer, that's on the neighbors. Don't let them go on the neighbors.

[Brody]

True. Right.

[Seth]

Like, your dogs probably shouldn't be going on. Like, if my dog goes over to the neighbor's yard, I say, hey, Yep, get over here.

[Corey Calkins]

I don't know.

[Randall]

I agree. I mean, if. If the carcass is on his property. Sounds like your neighbor needs a fence.

[Seth]

Yeah. Unless the neighbor's helping.

[Brody]

Like, they. Nobody. It's like, it's like everyone agrees that it's cool that the dogs roam around. I don't think he's saying these dogs are a problem, you know?

[Randall]

Well, I know, but, like, if you're the type of person that doesn't want your dog getting into stuff and you got an issue with.

[Brody]

Right, yeah.

[Seth]

Keep your dog on your own property.

[Randall]

But yeah, I mean, I don't know.

[Seth]

I don't think the neighbors are helping that guy pay his property taxes, so they don't really have a say.

[Randall]

Let me add another hot tip. This isn't really pertinent, brother, but along the lines of the brass, don't be the guy that drives to a trailhead and dumps like four whitetail carcasses three feet off the gravel, in the bushes. That's where I have an issue with people, like, just being sloppy public land stewards. You know, as far as I'm concerned, if you want to leave your carcasses in your woods, in your living room, whatever.

[Brody]

No, like I said, I'm cool with it. But if you want, if it's like, if you're weighing how important it is to, like, not have a beef with your neighbors, you know, yeah. You can throw those carcasses.

[Randall]

Oh, sure.

[Corey Calkins]

Yeah.

[Seth]

That'd be the best.

[Randall]

And plenty of people do that who don't have access to woods where they can let them stink, you know?

[Seth]

Yeah, I do that all the time.

[Brody]

All right, Seth, this one's. I'll let you hit this one first. I don't mean this in any sort of critical, judgmental, or confrontational way. I'm just curious about your thoughts on meat from.

[Jeremy Romero]

For.

[Brody]

From fur bearing animals recently. I don't know how recent this is. It's talking about, pardon my plate, muskrats. Which, that's long.

[Seth]

That's years ago.

[Brody]

He's just catching up, I guess. Anyway, it still applies. Steve says he's trapped perhaps a thousand muskrats, but only eaten 20. That got me wondering, do you find that hypocritical since we're always championing wanton waste laws and maximizing the use from the meat? What do trappers do with all the meat if they're not eating it? Dog food. Would it also be okay. I'm not sure where he's going with this part. Would it also be okay if someone turned a whole whitetail into dog food? Like, let's not even worry about that yet. Let's stick with the trapping thing. I just think it's an interesting question. I don't mean it to be condemning. Doesn't bother me. In fact, I'd really like to get into trapping myself. I just haven't made the effort. But I'm interested in how you deal with that potential conflict.

[Seth]

I mean, some things are good to eat, like beaver muskrats, but cats. Yeah, we ate. We ate bobcat down in Texas a couple weeks ago. But if it was like, as far as, like, want waste laws, if states required you to eat coyotes, no one would trap or kill coyotes.

[Brody]

Yeah, there is no want waste law for. For many fur bearing species.

[Seth]

And if there is, it's just like you have to harvest the fur.

[Brody]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't. I think it's okay to have a resource that you're using that's using for fur and it's not. It's okay that you're not using. Yeah, I know we harp on that all the time, the meat thing. But like, look man, like, it's okay to go trap a fox or a skunk or like whatever furbear and not eat it. You know, you shouldn't have to feel bad about that.

[Seth]

Yeah. But if, you know, if you want to try some bobcat back straps.

[Brody]

Yeah.

[Randall]

Let's get weird.

[Seth]

Let's raccoon.

[Brody]

We've got raccoon rest. Like, look, there is opportunity for, to eat some of these things for sure, but I don't think you should necessarily feel obligated to do so.

[Seth]

Yeah, it's like shooting of. What is it? The fall bears in Alaska. You're not required to.

[Brody]

Right. Because they're.

[Seth]

Because they just taste terrible.

[Randall]

Yep.

[Brody]

Yep. All right, last one. I threw a venison shank into my instant pot last weekend. Everything was great except the last meal, one of the last bites. I ended up finding a mushroom bullet. I initially thought it was a chunk of bone. My question I tried asking Google and couldn't seem to word it right to get the answer I was looking for was did that instant pot just make a lead based broth that I consumed entirely by myself? And should I be concerned? I can't say. I know the science behind pressure cooking meat and lead bullets together. No, you do not have to worry about it. Otherwise, like people who shoot all kinds of small game and birds would die of lead poisoning. Like we're picking lead out of meat that we've cooked all the time. Humans can't absorb lead through their solid lead through their digestive system. Lead poisoning is like from inhaling dust particles from old lead based paint and things like that. Now if you cooked it past like 600 degrees, then you'd be in trouble because that lead would melt.

[Randall]

I'd rather find that lead in the, in the crock pot than in a turd, you know, just to be safe.

[Brody]

Right, right. But no, it's, it's not going to hurt you. Your, your gut is not as strong as like an eagle or a condor where like you're going to break that lead down to the point where it's going to poison you.

[Corey Calkins]

I got to know what that shank looked like and who shot.

[Seth]

Yeah, I was just gonna say what, like why is there mushroom bullet in the shank?

[Brody]

No, listen, it wasn't him. I give this guy credit. What's his name? Brian.

[Corey Calkins]

Less worried about the shot, but the.

[Brody]

Hold on I. I shortened this thing for. To make it shorter.

[Seth]

Thank you.

[Brody]

That bullet was already in there. He just found it in there.

[Corey Calkins]

Interesting.

[Brody]

Yeah.

[Corey Calkins]

Maybe it healed over and you couldn't tell, huh?

[Brody]

Yep.

[Corey Calkins]

Interesting. Wow. Yeah, you never know what you're going to bite into in there.

[Brody]

That's it for the the Meat Eater correspondence inbox. That's fun for that one.

[Phil]

Yeah.

[Brody]

What's the chat saying?

[Phil]

Chat's mostly trying to figure out a way to save the show. Starting underground letter campaigns.

[Seth]

Oh, good.

[Phil]

So we'll see how that plays out for them. Excited to get an update on that. This is from Papa Medic. Papa's for Seth. Two part question. Well, not two parts, but it's just long. Seth, I'm trying to save some money by making my own predator bait. For trapping. I'm using a commercial bait solution with sodium benzonate. I don't have any beaver meat at the moment, but I do have two frozen bobcats. Should I use the bobcat meat or wait until I have a beaver? Targeting coyotes? Primarily coyotes. If you're a west coast child, how. Also how tainted. Thanks.

[Seth]

I think a lot of bait and lure makers would say that bobcats better than beaver meat.

[Brody]

Is that right?

[Seth]

Yeah, I know Steve right now has a jar of bobcat meat in his garage that he's tainting for for bait for goats.

[Brody]

But he'd be good with either one, right?

[Seth]

Yeah, go with either one. But I do think. I've never made bait before, but I think people prefer bobcat meat over anything.

[Brody]

I wonder why.

[Seth]

So use the bobcat.

[Brody]

Try it after we just told you you should be eating it.

[Corey Calkins]

Let us know before March 5th how.

[Phil]

It went from Mogor. Question for Randall. Hi Randall, in these remaining few five radio live episodes, will there be a Butcher's Crossing review or should we no longer expect it? Thank you so much.

[Corey Calkins]

A lot of pressure.

[Brody]

Mogor.

[Seth]

You gotta do it for Moore.

[Randall]

Is that your number one choice? Could we ask Mogur in the chat if that's his number one choice?

[Phil]

We can get a top three from Mogul.

[Randall]

Yeah, if I could get a top three. The issue is Mogul. We have a limited number of shows. I will only be on a few of them because I have a bit of travel coming up in the month of February. And at this point, knowing that I only have a few set number of movie clubs, I'm really thinking about opening up the catalog of films I'd like to. I'm entertaining the idea of Jurassic Park, Congo, any sort of Michael Crichton based wildlife centric Film. I want to get loose with it. I feel like we have this platform that we can now use to just transgress all boundaries of good taste and judgment.

[Brody]

The rules have been thrown out the window. So yeah, maybe Deliverance, free to do whatever.

[Randall]

Maybe, maybe we do do the, the Deliverance movie club. But yeah, if you have, if you have strong thoughts, mogul, I would like to, I would like to throw you a bone. So tell me your number one movie will do it.

[Seth]

Cool.

[Phil]

Let us know. This is from Brian Lammers. It's also a loyal, loyal live watcher.

[Brody]

Cal who?

[Phil]

Update on Cal. Has the crew been in contact?

[Brody]

Who is this Cal guy?

[Phil]

I've forgotten. I've. I tried texting Black and I don't remember who that is.

[Brody]

I tried texting Cal yesterday about the pheasant thing we were talking about earlier. Still haven't heard from him.

[Seth]

I heard.

[Brody]

Busy man.

[Seth]

Yeah, I heard he's been real busy.

[Randall]

He had time for a couple beers.

[Brody]

On Friday.

[Randall]

And he texted me over the weekend to ask me to plug his trailer in so that the batteries weren't damaged by the cold. He just wanted to maintain his batteries. He has time for an occasional long phone call. I don't know if people out there know this, but when you get a phone call from Cal, it typically goes until it has to be. You have to hang up because someone needs to do something else.

[Lucas Leaf]

Right.

[Randall]

It's sort of an open ended conversation. He might have another conversation with someone in the room with him as you're on the phone with him. He's gotten a couple of those. He seems to be doing well, but very obviously there's a lot going on. So he's very stressed and. But yeah, he is still fighting. Time to wet the whistle every now and then.

[Phil]

Yeah. And I would say if you haven't listened to Cal's week in review in these last six, seven years that it's been running, now's a good time to do it because it's a whole new perspective. He's got a. He's got a very different job than he used to have and he talks about it at the top of the show every week. The stuff he's doing, where he's going. I would recommend it.

[Randall]

Yeah. I'm still hoping I can get him to come over for stew this week. Got a lot of stew. Need some mouths, Phil.

[Brody]

I want to do a couple more because I don't know if I'm going to be hosting this thing before the end. You really not sure?

[Phil]

Well, yeah, there haven't been a lot of direct questions that we usually get. People are mostly talking about the show ending, which is.

[Brody]

I mean, Randall hijacked the whole show.

[Randall]

You know what's funny? I didn't even think about this. I got a DM yesterday that said, can you just go f off and not be on every podcast?

[Jeremy Romero]

Let it out.

[Brody]

I feel the same way.

[Randall]

They said you love yourself. We get it. It's too much. Or something along those lines. And it hadn't occurred to me that.

[Brody]

Now you didn't check who sent that to. You did.

[Randall]

Dude, I've just showed up to a podcast that I'm not even supposed to be on, so maybe that guy has a point.

[Brody]

That was my burner Instagram burst through.

[Phil]

The door at, like, 1058 with two.

[Seth]

Bags of chips and a Diet Coke.

[Randall]

It's not because I love myself. It's because I love you guys.

[Phil]

Oh.

[Randall]

If I wasn't here, I'd be up sitting in my office alone staring at books. But I can come in here, and.

[Phil]

I'm gonna miss the show. But it's making me more excited for the. For the big Blowout Books and used firearms.

[Randall]

The Blowout Spectacular is gonna. Oh, God, I'm so excited.

[Brody]

One more, Phil.

[Phil]

Okay.

[Brody]

Come on, man.

[Phil]

Guys, get the questions. First one I see that catches my eye gets red. Guys, have any plans this weekend?

[Corey Calkins]

There's a lot of exclamation points.

[Randall]

I thought somebody said good taste and judgment.

[Phil]

When is Randall getting his haircut on Radio Live? Sounds like a great segment for the Blowout Spectacular.

[Randall]

We should do that for the Grand Blowout Spectacular.

[Brody]

I have a pair of clippers at home.

[Randall]

No, no, we're not cutting it that much.

[Corey Calkins]

Oh.

[Brody]

You know, we should do is have.

[Seth]

Ten people involved, and each. Each person gets, like, 30 seconds.

[Randall]

Oh, oh, oh. On my hair.

[Seth]

On your hair.

[Brody]

We could put your hair in the auction house of oddities.

[Corey Calkins]

I was going to say you probably do that. Donate that hair at this point.

[Brody]

Like I said, things are just falling apart here.

[Randall]

Brody closed his computer already?

[Brody]

Yep. All right, that's all we got for you today, guys. Thanks for joining. Tune in next week.

[Randall]

We love you guys. The Radio Live going away is not in any way a reflection on our love for the crowd here. So see you next week.

[Seth]

Have a great week.

[Jeremy Romero]

Bye.

[Phil]

Should I play the Outro video?

[Randall]

Play the outro.

[Seth]

Hit it.

[Randall]

Phil, you're usually so timely.

[Phil]

I know. I'm just thinking about. I just don't want the show to end.

[Brody]

This is an Iheart podcast. Guaranteed human.