Ep. 840: Polar Bear Jail and an Olympic Cheesemonger | MeatEater Radio Live!

Summary

The MeatEater Podcast – Episode 840: Polar Bear Jail and an Olympic Cheesemonger | MeatEater Radio Live!

Release Date: February 27, 2026
Host: Spencer, with Randall, Phil, Seth, and special guests
Featured guests: Sgt. Ian Van Ness (Manitoba Conservation), Emilia Del Barro (World Champion Cheesemonger)
Live Audience: Poplar Middle School, Fort Peck Reservation, MT

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Episode Overview

This lively episode captures the spirit of the MeatEater community—deep engagement with wild places, irreverent humor, and unfiltered curiosity. The episode delivers engaging interviews and segments on everything from “polar bear jail” in Churchill, Manitoba, to tips for finding lost arrows, a celebration of wild cheese pairings, and a comedic yet insightful hunting movie review. It's a melting pot of hunting, conservation, wild foods, and outdoor trivia, all culminating in anticipation of next week’s 6+ hour grand finale.

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Key Segments and Discussions

1. Program Announcements & Community Vibe (01:48–10:10)

• Farewells & Finale Preview: Anticipation builds for the “MeatEater Radio Live” finale next week, a planned six-hour extravaganza with guest hosts, celebrity shoutouts, cameos, and every segment they've ever done.

  “This is the podcast version of if your parents want you to not smoke cigarettes—well, how about you smoke a whole pack?” – Spencer (07:41)

• Team Updates & Jokes: Seth announces he won’t join the finale—his wife is due with their baby. Spencer jokes about reincarnation, riffing on MeatEater Radio being reincarnated in Seth’s son.

• Special Guests in Studio: Shoutouts to visiting Poplar Middle School students; playful banter sets a community tone.

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2. Interview: Sgt. Ian Van Ness & Polar Bear Jail (11:29–30:16)

a. Churchill, Manitoba: Life with Polar Bears

• Role and Environment:
  Sgt. Van Ness oversees the “polar bear alert program,” ensuring coexistence between 800 humans and 800 polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba—the “polar bear capital of the world.”

  "I'm in charge of the polar bear alert program—one of a kind in the world. It's an apex predator management program... we make sure people can coexist with these giant critters." – Sgt. Ian Van Ness (11:56)

• Why Churchill?
  The area’s dense polar bear population is due to proximity to seal-rich Hudson Bay and the world’s largest denning areas—Churchill sits right in the migration path.

b. What Is the Polar Bear Alert Program?

• Program Mechanics:
  The program prevents dangerous interactions by identifying and removing problem bears, setting bear traps, employing hazing tactics (loud sounds, cracker shells from shotguns), and sometimes tranquilizing and relocating bears.

  "99% of the time, we're firing cracker shells... steering them in a specific direction to get them out of town." (14:10)

• Prevention Works:
  No maulings since 2013, a testament to proactive management.

• Most Dangerous Encounters:
  Frequently comes within 10–15 feet of massive bears—“Once you see the whites of those eyeballs, it's like, holy smokes. Okay, a little close.” (15:33)

  Always armed (“12 gauge with slugs,” “Daniel Defense DD5 in .308,” “a 9mm on my side”), but hasn't had to use lethal force—calm and animal-reading skills are key.

c. Bear Problems & The Notorious “Jail”

• Root Issues:
  Bears rarely attack but are drawn to human food waste. Habituation (bears becoming comfortable around humans/attracted to trash) is the biggest threat.

  "As soon as they get that taste of garbage, they're not leaving." (19:47)

• Facility Details:
  Problem bears go to the polar bear holding facility, aka "polar bear jail," for 30 days—no food, just water, to avoid creating food associations. Only about 20 bears a year qualify.

  "There's 28 holding cells in there... only bears that are problematic end up [in jail]." (21:47) “They lose about three to four pounds a day in there—wish I could lose weight like that!” (25:22)

• Release Process:
  After serving their time, bears get airlifted north in a cargo net, following natural migration, marked by ear tags and lip tattoos to identify repeat offenders.

  “Yes, I have a re-offender list—about 20 bears long!” (23:21)

d. Visiting Churchill & Closing Thoughts

• Advice for Visitors:
  “Book through a licensed guide... I’ve seen people five feet away from these things. They think it’s the zoo! They have no idea how fast they move." (28:38)

• Mood in Jail:
  “So mad! They’ll pound those bars... It's incredible, their strength... They hiss at you, give you the side eye, a really mean, deep growl.” (25:40, 26:22)

  “There's no other place like it in the world.” (28:38)

Memorable Quotes:

• “Once you see the whites of those eyeballs, it's like, holy smokes. Okay, a little close." – Sgt. Van Ness (15:33)
• “We want to separate them from people so they don’t hurt people... and 30 days, they don’t get fed... They’re like, ‘Oh, this sucks, I’m not doing this again!’” – Sgt. Van Ness (21:47)
• “Some of them are just bad actors... They wind up in this facility over and over again.” – Sgt. Van Ness (23:21)

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3. Hot Tip Off (34:34–41:54)

Two listeners provide frugal, field-tested outdoor tips, aiming to win a $100 gift card. The live chat audience chooses the winner.

• Tip 1:
  Marshall Loftus: Use a UV/black light flashlight ($10–15) to find lost arrows in darkness, especially if equipped with high-vis wraps and vanes.

  "Looks like a headlight out there in the dark. This makes finding your arrows a thousand times easier." (36:16)

• Tip 2:
  Dalton Bouchard: Build a DIY jawjacker (ice fishing rod holder) using PVC pipe and hardware store odds and ends—saves buying the $60 commercial versions.

• Team Votes: Both are creative; hosts (especially Randall) love anything homemade from PVC, but Spencer argues for the broader utility of a UV light.

• Audience Winner: Marshall’s UV black light tip wins (64% of the vote).

  "Get one of those things, you’ll find other uses for that UV light. Besides just recovering arrows." – Spencer (41:16)

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4. Listener Feedback & Banter (41:54–47:23)

• Outdoor Talk:
  • Spring turkey hunting and family “turkey camp” plans
  • Razor and shaving tips
  • “Dog or brat for life?”—Randall: “Probably dogs. Just for the emotional factor.” (44:03)
  • Sheep and goat tag drawing odds
  • Video game banter: new releases, streaming (Phil’s handle: “PhilibustersWord”)
• Community Vibe:
  • Shoutouts, jokes, and crowd suggestions throughout
  • “Find a buddy” – for all Great Lakes steelhead newbies (80:38)
  • “Yeah, I’m totally shaken by the Doritos thing...” – Randall (83:31), after a chat about cool ranch/cooler ranch naming

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5. Interview: Emilia Del Barro—2025 Cheesemonger Olympics Gold Medalist (47:23–59:12)

a. The Cheesemonger Olympics & Emilia’s Path

• Competition Overview:
  Mondial du Fromage (“Cheesemonger Olympics”), held biennially in France, pits national champions in written, practical, sculptural, and tasting cheese challenges over eight hours.

  "It was as much about stamina and time management as it was about cheese knowledge and technique." – Emilia (48:37)

• Emilia’s Journey:
  Studied Italian, fell in love with specialty food; wanted to learn butchery, began at a cheese counter for basic skills—then fully committed to cheese. Now works for an elite cheese importer/educator.

  "[My background] ended up being a really fun combination because I was... managing a cheese counter in Brooklyn during the pandemic, with a butcher in the same grocery store.” (49:26)

• America’s Cheese Reputation:
  “Not great globally—because of American cheese, the plastic slices—but there’s a thriving culture here. ‘Good American cheese is everywhere for those with eyes to see.’” (51:59)

  "Being able to show up at this competition and represent the United States... to prove that American cheesemongers are skilled... was just amazing.” (51:59)

b. Wild Food & Cheese Pairing Advice

• General Philosophy:
  “What grows together, goes together”—pair regional cheeses with regional foods.

• Venison:

  • Gruyère or fontina (melty Alpine cheeses) for braised or stewed preparations
  • Smoky Blue by Rogue Creamery (Oregon) for a modern blue cheese note

• Feral Hog:

  • “Immediately thought of wild boar ragù from Tuscany—shower it with parmigiano reggiano or use Tuscan pecorino.” (54:35)

• Small Game:

  • Pecorino Romano—great for rabbit ragù or pasta (55:24) ("Didn’t know you could eat squirrel!")

• Fish (White-fleshed):

  • “Pecorino Romano—its brininess and saltiness goes well with fish.” (55:35)

• Fish (Oily/Colored):

  • “Smoked pecorino fiore sardo for smoked trout or salmon.” (56:05)

• Wild Mushrooms:

  • “Go for an umami bomb. Mushroom risotto with taleggio (stinky, creamy northern Italian cheese) or truffle cheeses.” (56:28)

c. Cheese Shopping & American “Processed” Staples

• Grocery Chains:
  “Dedicated cheese shops are best, but cheese is for everyone—branch out and keep cheese on your table.” (57:13)

• Cheese Curds & Velveeta:
  “I love fried or squeaky cheese curds. And I love Velveeta for mac and cheese—those cheeses are chemically designed to melt beautifully. They have a time and a place.” (58:16)

  “Mac and cheese is the place and time for that.” – Emilia (58:16)
  “She could lead Wisconsin into battle!” – Chat comment (59:43)

Notable Quotes:

• “The hardest part was just finding the guts to show up... imposter syndrome is real!” – Emilia (48:43)
• "Good American cheese is everywhere for those with eyes to see." (51:59)
• “Cheese is for everyone and everyone deserves to enjoy it.” (57:13)

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6. Movie Club: Review of “Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter” (Netflix, 2018) (61:35–79:24)

a. Randall’s Critique

• Plot:
  Buck Ferguson (Josh Brolin), a legendary (in his mind) hunting show host, takes his reluctant, estranged son on a deer hunt, with comic-foil cameraman Don (Danny McBride). Attempts at forced bonding and passing down masculine tradition go awry, especially as everything is filmed for Buck’s show.

• Themes & Insights:

  • Performance vs. authenticity: “The camera does not actually capture authenticity, it replaces it. The moment Buck raises his rifle, he is no longer a man in the woods—he is a man in the woods being watched.” (65:48)
  • Modern experiences as content, not memories
  • Buck’s failure to realize his son has his own desires

  "Children are not vessels waiting to be filled with their father's hobbies; they're already full of their own desires..." – Randall (64:23)

• Comedy Universe:

  • The film is filled with motifs from the Danny McBride/Jody Hill world:
    • The insecure “great man” (Buck/Stevie Janowski types)
    • Self-sabotage, egotism, and misplaced priorities
  • Not a traditional “hunting” movie; closer to Eastbound & Down’s satirical tone

• Panel’s Take:

  • Scores low on Rotten Tomatoes (25%), but some hosts found moments and lines genuinely funny; others wouldn’t re-watch.
  • The “catch a deer” and “punch a time card” lines are not real hunting lingo.
  • Bad muzzle control/cringeworthy hunting realism—deliberately overplayed for comedy.
  • “CGI deer look ripped from a Big Buck Hunter video game.” (78:53)
  • “Watch if you care about themes, don’t watch if you want hunting how-to.”

b. Memorable Movie Quotes/Discussion

• “I’m gonna honor this deer by splitting its dang eyebrows.”
• “You are a kid when it comes to nudeness and sexual relations!” (78:08)
• “It started in 2009. DVD sales were down slightly…” (77:17)
• “He could lead Wisconsin into battle.” (59:43, chat about cheesemonger Emilia)

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Other Notable Moments

• Live banter about Doritos names: Randall is “shaken” to learn about Cool Ranch vs. Cooler Ranch branding (83:31).
• Practical tips scattered throughout: Steelhead fishing (“Find a buddy”), smoked trout dip recommended for “fish haters,” and an appreciation for community-sourced problem-solving and humor.

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Notable Quotes, One-Liners, and Memorable Moments

• “Once you see the whites of those eyeballs, it’s like, holy smokes.” – Sgt. Van Ness (15:33)
• “Some cultures believe in reincarnation... The same day MeatEater Radio Live dies, your son is going to be born.” – Spencer joking with Seth (04:50)
• “Good American cheese is everywhere for those with eyes to see.” – Emilia (51:59)
• “Some of these bears are just bad actors.” – Sgt. Van Ness (23:21)
• “If your parents want you to not smoke cigarettes... Well, how about you smoke a whole pack of MeatEater Radio Live?” – Spencer (07:41)
• “The camera does not actually capture authenticity, it replaces it.” – Randall Movie Club (65:48)

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Segment Timestamps

• Program notes and community welcome: 01:48–10:10
• Interview: Sgt. Ian Van Ness (Polar Bear Jail): 11:29–30:16
• Hot Tip Off (UV Arrow finding and DIY ice gear): 34:34–41:54
• Listener Feedback & Banter: 41:54–47:23
• Interview: Emilia Del Barro (Cheesemonger Olympian): 47:23–59:12
• Movie Club: “Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter”: 61:35–79:24

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In Summary

Ep. 840 of The MeatEater Podcast is a microcosm of the MeatEater universe: Community, irreverence, serious conservation, wild foods, and sharp cultural observation, all underpinned by a love of sharing knowledge in the great outdoors. Whether you came for the polar bear jail, the hot tips, or wild game cheese pairings, you leave with laughter—and maybe a reminder that most experiences (in hunting, eating, or family) are best left as memories, not just content.

Transcript

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Podcast Advertiser]

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[Phil]

Smell us now, lady.

[Randall]

Welcome to Meat Eater Trivia Meat Eater Podcast.

[Spencer]

Welcome to Meat Eater radio live. It's 11am Mountain Time. That's also 11am for our friends in Poplar, Montana on Thursday, February 26th. And we're live from Meat Eater HQ in Bozeman. I'm your host, Spencer, joined today by Randall and Seth, as well as the Poplar Middle School from Fort Peck Reservation in Northeast Montana. They are here to see how a media company. You can see them live. We're live on our YouTube channel right now. You guys are really nervous, right?

[Phil]

You guys should wave to our viewers.

[Spencer]

No? Okay.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

Say hi.

[Spencer]

We told them they couldn't cuss live on air, so they got all their cussing out right before we went live.

[Randall]

And I'll do some more later.

[Phil]

It was shocking, to be frank.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

All right.

[Spencer]

On today's show, we'll interview Sergeant Ian Van Ness about Canada's polar bear jail. After that, we have a hot tip off about PVC rod holders and finding lost arrows, followed by a review of the legacy of a whitetail deer hunter for Meat Eater Movie Club. And finally, we'll interview Emilia Del Barrow about winning gold at the Cheesemonger Olympics. But first, we have a few programming notes. Our first video of Meat Eaters 12 and 26 is live on the Meat Eater YouTube channel right now. Giannis goes on his first baited bear hunt and encounters more bears than you can shake an arrow at. It's a one hour film that's presented by Moultrie and Onx. You can see it on our YouTube channel right now. Phil, you have some details about another podcast coming out that accompanies.

[Phil]

Yeah, that's right. Giannis is going to be doing a Q and A and fielding questions about that episode. So if you want to watch the episode and either shoot Yanni some dms, I think we're, we're pulling questions from the comment section of that video as well. So if you have any, any burning questions for Giannis about, about the hunt or his experiences there. Get him in. That's going to be dropping next Tuesday, which is the. No. What's the third. The third March 3rd February. Check that out.

[Randall]

Third March 3rd.

[Phil]

Got a little camera over there for himself.

[Spencer]

He's always got that little camera.

[Phil]

I don't cut to it off Steve

[Randall]

Ronaldo in the corner. He's leading the the tour for these students. So he's tucked himself where you can't see him, but he is here.

[Spencer]

And they're joining us for our second to last episode of Media Radio Live. Next week is the finale and Seth won't be joining us.

[Phil]

Yep.

[Spencer]

Why is that?

[Phil]

This is my last episode ever of Media Radio Live. My wife is going to have a kid next Thursday. Yep.

[Spencer]

Congratulations. Not very good planning on your part though, to put it during the Meat Eater Radio.

[Phil]

Well, you know, it wasn't supposed to be, but one thing led to another. The little dude does not want to turn his head down. So that means we got to do a C section. Was not keep your head up.

[Randall]

And I'm hopeful that if everything goes well and we have a happy mother and happy child, that we can do a live cut in to the hospital with Seth. Maybe for our very last. Our very last Rut report.

[Phil]

Baby's actually coming out early in the morning. We're scheduled early.

[Randall]

Oh, yeah.

[Spencer]

Good timing.

[Randall]

Still make it in.

[Phil]

So great coverage, man. Yeah.

[Spencer]

You know, Seth, some cultures believe in reincarnation. You know, like the Pope dies and then cardi b has a baby and it's like, welcome back the Pope. The same day that me Theater Radio Live dies. Your son is going to be born.

[Randall]

Maybe.

[Spencer]

Maybe it's. I'm gonna call that bab Little Meat Eater Radio Live for the rest of its life. There's nothing you can do about. No, I don't.

[Randall]

Virgil Virgil.

[Phil]

Virgil is his. Is his name Virgil.

[Spencer]

I'm going to call it Radio, okay?

[Phil]

Like Cuba Gooding Jr.

[Spencer]

Yes, exactly like that. There's nothing you can do about.

[Phil]

This is Uncle Spencer. He's going to call you Radio. He'll be the only person that calls you Radio. Yeah, just let him go.

[Randall]

But we're all thinking it.

[Spencer]

That'd be an interesting child. If it comes out as Mediator Radio Live reincarnated.

[Phil]

That would be weird.

[Randall]

A lot of bad segments.

[Spencer]

For our finale, we have something very special planned. Randall, fill some folks in. And what's going to happen next Thursday?

[Randall]

Yeah, I think everybody here is eagerly awaiting the Meat Eater Radio Live grand finale. Live extravaganza. Yeah, well, I mean, you know, with mixed emotions, of course, but I just want to give everybody a shout out. I alluded to this earlier. Heads up that we will be going long next week. Uh, Spencer and Phil and I are aiming for about six plus hours in the studio.

[Phil]

That. And that's not. That's not a joke.

[Randall]

That's not a joke. Uh, we have guest hosts lined up. All of your favorite Radio Live co hosts will be joining us. During various segments. We're gonna try to hit every single segment we've ever done. We have some literally special. Literally every single segment. Um, so even the ones that we did just did once, we'll try to hit those if we can remember how they go and if we have got a jingle for them. We've got some special messages from celebrities that will be playing on air.

[Spencer]

A music video.

[Randall]

A music video cameos. Phil. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot to look forward to.

[Phil]

And because it's six hours, we're not expecting everyone to sit down and watch the whole thing, though you're more than welcome to. And I encourage it. But it's one of those things you can kind of tune in for a while, take a break, come back later.

[Randall]

Yeah. I think it'll be best be viewed in parts, in segments. I think the only. The, the.

[Podcast Advertiser]

It won't work for the younger folks

[Phil]

listening, but I think the only real

[Podcast Advertiser]

point of comparison would be the Jerry Lewis telethon.

[Randall]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Phil]

We're not raising any money for children.

[Randall]

Yeah, maybe we should raise money for something. We're gonna, we're gonna burn through a lot of hot tip offs.

[Phil]

That's right.

[Spencer]

Emptying the clip.

[Randall]

We've been swamped with hot tip offs in the past two weeks after someone badmouthed the recent round of submissions. So we've been swamped with some good ones. We're gonna hit those hard. It's gonna be a lot of fun.

[Phil]

Play some games with audience participation.

[Spencer]

That's right. We will talk to the chat all day, so be in our weight room. We'll answer your questions every hour. This is the podcast version of if your parents want you to not smoke cigarettes when you're a kid, they'll be like, oh, you like that, huh? Well, how about you smoke a whole pack of Meat Eater Radio Live? That's what we're doing. We know some of you are going to miss this and you want more Meat Eater Radio Live.

[Randall]

After this, you won't want anymore.

[Spencer]

We're going to make sure that you're going to get sick to your stomach, exhausted, throw up.

[Randall]

Yeah, no, I'm, I'm, I'm excited. There's still a lot of work left to put that thing together, but, but we're excited and I think there's going to be some fun surprises along the way. And really, it's a celebration of what we all share together.

[Spencer]

Coming to you for the community.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

Yeah, One week.

[Spencer]

Yeah, there's going to be a movie club for that. When do we know what movie it'll be yet?

[Randall]

Yes, we'll be reviewing the film Congo.

[Spencer]

How did you land on Congo?

[Randall]

It's one of my favorite movies. It involves not necessarily hunting, but there's camping, there's outdoor adventure, there's wild animals, and a bunch of animals do get killed by lasers.

[Spencer]

Hits all the criteria based on a

[Randall]

Michael Crichton novel that I read last year for the first time, actually.

[Spencer]

Did you love it?

[Randall]

Yeah. And it's actually, the adaptation is remarkably faithful.

[Spencer]

I hear fantastic things about the Jurassic park book. Have you read that?

[Randall]

Yes.

[Spencer]

Is it very good?

[Randall]

Yes. And. And Congo came out the year after Jurassic park, so it was like he

[Spencer]

was on a heater.

[Randall]

Let's take the momentum of Jurassic park and carry it into a new universe. It's a classic, especially knowing what we know now about satellite communications and technologies. This is made when that was just like a fanciful idea and it's plays a big role in the plot. So, yeah, big ape guy, as we all know. And so I'm melding my two primary interests, bad movies and great apes. And we're gonna review Congo. So I didn't look up where you can view it, but I'm pretty sure it's on Netflix. I own it. Okay, so.

[Phil]

Of course you do.

[Randall]

Just as I owned the novel. And. Yeah, that'll be a lot of fun. That'll be a lot of fun. So we're gonna. That one's just gonna be. Yeah. I think probably the most demented radio club or Movie Club on RadioLIVE we've ever had. So. Except for maybe today.

[Spencer]

Today, February 5th is the finale. Again, probably a six plus hour episode hop in the Meat Eater YouTube channel that day and you'll get to participate in our finale.

[Randall]

Yeah. So if you've got a doctor's appointment that afternoon at like 2 or 3pm, you're going to want to cancel that one too, because that will actually be a conflict.

[Spencer]

Yeah.

[Randall]

So call in six work. Yep.

[Phil]

Do what you got to do.

[Spencer]

All right, let's get on with the show. Joining us, should we line first?

[Phil]

Do we want to say say goodbye to the Poplar podcast?

[Randall]

Thank you for join. Thanks for joining us.

[Spencer]

Media studies class played an important role.

[Randall]

Anybody want to give a quick shout out to your friends or family?

[Phil]

Now's your chance.

[Spencer]

Oh, they forgot all the names.

[Randall]

Step up.

[Spencer]

Name a friend.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

Give a shout out to my cousin Kendall.

[Spencer]

Shout out to cousin Kendall. All right, we did it. Shout out Kendall and Nicholas.

[Randall]

Yeah.

[Phil]

Yeah. Let's hear this.

[Spencer]

Say it in the microphone.

[Phil]

Yeah, say it. Say it in the mic.

[Podcast Advertiser]

Did you guys say Randall's a loser in Lakota?

[Spencer]

Okay, we did it. Thank you for joining us.

[Randall]

I've gotten a lot of. I've gotten a lot of angry emails and DMS over the years, but I've never seen it expressed quite that way. So thank you.

[Spencer]

Enjoy the rest of the day. We'll. We'll see you guys around the office.

[Randall]

Thanks for visiting, guys.

[Phil]

See you guys. Oh. Oh.

[Randall]

All right, Got me bad.

[Spencer]

Joining us on the line first is Sergeant Ian Van Nest. He's a Manitoba conservation officer in the polar bear capital of the world. Ian, welcome to the show.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

Hey, guys. Super pumped to be here.

[Spencer]

We're excited to have you. Now you live and work in a place that has as many humans as it does polar bears. There are about 800 of each in Churchill. What is your role there?

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

Oh, so I'm Sergeant conservation officer up here in Churchill, Manitoba. So I'm in charge of the polar bear alert program, one of a kind program in the world. It's, it's a. Basically an apex predator management program. And what we do is we are solely there to make sure that people can coexist with these, these giant critters.

[Spencer]

Okay. What is it about that area that creates such a dense population of polar bears?

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

Yeah, Churchill again. Poor bear capital of the world. It's got to be, you know, the habitat you've got the ring seal out on the Hudson Bay there. That's the primary food staple for polar bears. And not to mention too that there's also the largest denning area in the world, Wapus national park, just to the, to the southeast of Churchill. So Churchill is essentially in a migratory path of these bears. And it's quite incredible because we have 800 plus people living right in their path. So thanks to our program, we're able to keep people safe and also the bears safe and prevent any problems from happening.

[Spencer]

How common are maulings?

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

Well, again, thanks to that polar bear alert program, not very common. Like you mentioned there, like back in 2013, we did have a mauling that was our last mauling. So quite proud to say that due to our program we've been able to stop and prevent a lot of these tragedies from happening.

[Spencer]

Can you explain what the polar bear alert program is? How does that tell people that they need to be on alert for a polar bear?

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

Yeah, it's a, it's an apex predator co management program where the province will identify. So the province I say is of Manitoba. I'm a, I'm an employee of, of Manitoba. So basically what we're doing is we're identifying any bears that are potentially a problem, whether they're food conditioned or that they're aggressive in any, any way. And we will do proactive measures like setting up bear traps and preventing some of these bears from hanging around. And it's the bears that are hanging around town that are essentially problematic because then they become comfortable around humans. And we all know wildlife, right? They're unpredictable. So anytime you get these, these dangerous critters hanging around town, it's usually a recipe for a dangerous situation. So we'll either utilize proactive things like our bear traps. We might have to dart these bears using wildlife immobilization tactics. Whether we're darting them from helicopters or from the ground. Other things we'll be doing is just simply what we do is hazing tactics. And hazing is essentially just using a loud sound and making it uncomfortable or unpleasant for that bear and letting that bear know that it's not okay to hang out in town. So 99 of the time, this is what we're doing. We're, we're utilizing a shotgun. We're going to be firing cracker shells towards the bear and steering them in a specific direction to get them out of town and, and away.

[Spencer]

What's the closest that you've come to being attacked?

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

Oh, there's been Lots of times I gotta take a one. I mean, it's a thrilling job and after a while you, you develop a comfort with the animals and that no other person has ever experienced until you do this job. So my comfort level with these creatures are a lot different than the average person. But there has been a few times. Whoa, you know what, you gotta, you got to be a little more careful there. Like you're only 15ft away from this thing and it's giving you the side eye. Once you see the whites of those eyeballs, it's like, holy smokes. Okay, a little close. But I swear those bears, they, they, they can read you and they feel your energy. And they also know that you've got something that's a long stick called a boom stick. And they know that that thing might hurt them. So it's like they, they're, they're smart enough to know, hey, so I, I mean I've been 15ft giving me the side eye and, and we, we have our pulp protocols where we've got somebody with lethal force in case we need to use it. But most of the time I've walked up 10, 15ft up to a bear like that 800 pound, thousand pound male and give it a dart so we can make it go to sleep. And, and that, that's the key part is getting it safely down, get to sleep so we can get it in the facility.

[Spencer]

And what kind of boom stick do you carry for the protection against these polar bears?

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

Great question. You know, I got a bunch. I mean, I'm using a 12 gauge with slugs mostly because I can also fire my cracker shell, which is a non lethal ammunition. But also I can quickly switch to a slug in case I need to use that. The other thing we just recently got is a Daniel Defense DD5. And it's in that 308 cartridge, three 20 round magazines. So red dot sight. And you know what? I think that is a very accurate and incredible weapon to use for defense against these creatures. So I've got that in my arsenal as well as a 9 millimeter on my side. So that's also comforting to know in case one of them's on top of me or something. And I gotta, I gotta get in close quarters with this thing.

[Spencer]

So loaded to the teeth. You said that they Bet they've been 15ft from you in those situations. Have you ever drawn a gun ready to use lethal force?

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

Yeah, lots. I mean, if I'm in that close, I'm drawn and ready with lethal force and you know, What? Knock on wood. I have never had to use, use it and kill a bear in a situation like that. So again, it's a lot of reading the animal and they're smart and they can feel your energy. So staying calm is I think a big part of it too.

[Spencer]

Okay, now if the polar bears aren't running around biting people all the time, tell us what kind of problems they do create.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

Yeah, I mean it's pretty rare for them to bite people, but they, they can, right? That, that risk is there and it's a real risk and they're very dangerous and we're in their territory. So basically a lot of what we're doing is preventing that situation from happening. And the key thing of preventing that is stopping habituation. We have a lot of restaurants in town. People are careless with their garbage. So a lot of the inexperienced bears that are not great at. That's a hard connection, their jaws on some garbage. So we're, we're out doing proactive measures such as removing those attractants and trying to keep them away from that because as soon as they get that taste of garbage, they ain't leaving. And they're gonna hang around there until the sea ice forms again. They go back to hunting seals. So you know, we gotta haze them out of there. Sometimes you might have to shoot them with a rubber slug if the, the loud noise ain't working and just getting them moving along and stop that, that, that food conditioning from happening.

[Spencer]

So go ahead.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

No, go ahead. Yeah, no, I was just gonna say that like the, the problems that mainly arise is the food conditioning, getting it to human food sources and because once they get that taste of human food source, they're not going to leave. And then that's when we have to intervene. There'll be a bear that's hanging out for a week in town and you know, someone will open up their doorstep and walk out their porch and there's a thousand pound polar bear sitting beside them. Well, that's happened many times and I've got videos sent to me of this happening and, and so we respond right away. We got, we got an emergency line in town. So I got that phone beside my bed and they can call it and it wakes me up and I'm out the door with my shotgun and, and I'm gonna scare that thing away. But it's a lot of proactive, the problems that they're, they're getting into is that basically getting into human sources of food.

[Phil]

How often are you getting those calls in the middle of the night that There's a polar bear too close.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

Yeah. Like, you know, in bear season, which is starting now from August till December. So when there's no ice on the Hudson Bay, those bears are all on land. And that's when they're causing problems or the potential for them to cause problems. Once that ice is formed, they don't care about our town, they don't care about Churchill or being on land or humans. All they care about is seals.

[Randall]

So.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

So during the bear season, August to December, basically what's happening is they're getting hungry and they're like, I need to find some food. So, so then we're gonna be getting calls, five, ten calls a night.

[Phil]

Wow.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

And it's like you're not sleep, you're not sleeping.

[Phil]

Dang.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

So you're up, you're up all night. My phone beside my bag. Go deal the call, go home, try and get an hour phone goes again. And yeah, so there. I don't sleep in bear season.

[Spencer]

And if there is a problematic bear, you guys sometimes send that bear to the polar bear jail. Tell us about that facility.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

Yeah, the polar bear holding facility. Again, it's a world renowned. There's no other place like it in the world. So there's 28 holding cells in there. And, and so only bears that are problematic end up in there. I'd say 99 of bears were able to get through town and get them away and they don't come back. It's that 1% that they're just causing problems and they're not going away. So then I got to go and dart them, put them to sleep and then we'll transport them through, put them in a trap. Or we could just use it. We have what's called a bare board. It's basically a stretcher for a polar bear. And, and you know, the bear is sleeping, goes on the stretcher, back of my truck and I bring them inside the facility and, and they stay there for 30 days. So it's, it's kind of marries a little bit of deterrence with separating them from people so that they don't hurt people. And, and 30 days they don't get fed because again, we don't want them to introduce them to human, human food sources. So they're already in a state of hibernation and their bodies adapted to living off fat off their, their food stores when they were hunting seal all winter. So so basically they're in there and they're like, oh, this sucks. You know, I'm not doing this again. I'm never Coming back here again.

[Spencer]

Say, say a bear is thrown in jail for a month. Walk us through what happens from the time they're locked up to the time they're set free.

[Phil]

Yeah.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

So bears hanging around town, it's been there for a week. Like geez, we can't get this thing, we can't scare it away. So I end up darting it. A lot of times I got to use a helicopter to see if get to them. So you're darting out of helicopter, you get them down and then we transport them on the stretcher, get them inside. They go inside an individual cell. But before we do that, we give them a number so they have a number that identifies them as an individual. So then I can go back at a database and look. Oh yeah, I dealt with this one before. And so then it's a repeat offender. Right. And so this is how we better manage these bears. And, and so yeah, we get them a lip tattoo. So there's going to be a corresponding number on their lip and their ear, they get a tag. And so this way when they're, I'm in the field again, I got deal with the same bear. I can easily identify them again. And yes, I do have a re offender list. It's about 20 bears long. And this is the way we, we can tell if they're just, they have it in their behavior. And again, a lot of times these bears are like humans. Some of them are just bad actors and they just wind up in this facility over and over again. I, it's, it's true and I just can't believe it sometimes. But anyways, yeah, it's so 30 days. They're not getting any, any food. They do get water. They stay in there. And then we're going to put them down again to sleep. After their 30 days, we're going to load them on the stretcher, get them and make sure that we've got all the data off them that we need to. Bears will also be weighed so we know how much weight they lost inside the facility. And because they do lose about to, believe it or not, three to four pounds a day. And actually this is kind of similar in the wild they do as well.

[Randall]

Must be nice.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

Yeah, it's quite amazing. Yeah, I wish I could lose that much weight. But anyways, they are an incredible species and it's just amazing how they've adapted to live.

[Spencer]

Here's a dumb question. How pissed are they when they're locked up?

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

Oh, so mad. Yeah, like they, they'll pound those bars. It's Incredible. Their strength. Like, they'll bow the bar. Like those bars are just solid steel and concrete cylinder block cells.

[Phil]

So there's.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

We've never had one escape other than we did actually have a little cub escape one time. But it got through the trough where we feed them or where we give them water. Sorry. So. Pardon me, we don't feed them, but we give them water and it got through that trough. So now we've got a special insert that goes in there so that the little cubs can't squeeze through the trough.

[Podcast Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Phil]

And.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

And it's in a very powerful. They. They hiss at. Yeah, they. They give you the side eye. They got a really mean deep growl. There's the. It's pretty eerie sounding.

[Spencer]

That's good.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

And you can. Yeah, it's. You can hear it. There's nothing else like it. Like, I've never experienced anything else like that, but, yeah, incredible.

[Spencer]

What's the most bears you've ever had locked up at once? You said you have 28 holding facilities. Do you ever get to max capacity?

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

Yes, we have done that. And back. Back in. Back in the day when it first started in the 1980s, they filled that. That's those cells over and over again. It was a rotating door, revolving door. Now I put 20 in a season, so a fraction of that.

[Spencer]

Wow.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

We're not handling them as much anymore. And that's because we've changed our tactics. We don't want to have to handle them unless we absolutely have to sort of like it. Yeah. Back in the 80s, they put a lot of bears through there. Now in 20, 26, we're. We're a little more selective on the bears we put in there. And on average, I'd say we probably put 20 per year in there.

[Spencer]

All right, so walk us through the process of what happens when you go to let them go.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

Yeah. So once we get all the data off them, weight, their length, their girth, make sure we got their numbers. What male, female, are they pregnant? Stuff like that. You got to watch. You got to pay attention to stuff like that. Then we're gonna. We're gonna put them in a cargo net and basically helicopter and sling them out to their. Their. Their habitat to the north. We put them to the north because these bears are naturally migrating from east to west and then north again. So we want to follow their natural migration. And essentially, yeah, we just. We get them in the, in the cargo nets and put them in the. In a remote area to the north, away from people. That's essentially all it is.

[Spencer]

And if folks want to come visit Churchill, the polar bear capital of the world, what advice do you have for them?

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

Well, come check out the polar bear holding facility because there's no other place like it in the world. You might even be able to hear the lobby growl if you put, if you put your ear close to the door and listen and, and ask some questions about polar bear alert program. Google it, check it out. Not a lot of people actually know about it and it's, it's a success story. It's protecting humans and protecting bears and, and come to Churchill and just, it's the polar bear capital of the world. There's no other place where you can easily access basically wildlife viewing areas where it's very likely you're going to see a polar bear. So book through a guide though a licensed guide is your way to go. There are restrictions on how to view bears and so the guides all know how to do that and you don't because you don't want to get yourself in a bad situation. I've, I've seen people five feet away from these things. They think it's the zoo and it's just, it's, it's so incredible how fast they can move and, and people just sometimes don't realize they get caught in the moment like, oh, this magnificent creature and yet they're only 5, 10ft away from the thing. It's just, it's, it's not ideal. But again, go through a guide and they'll keep you safe.

[Spencer]

So have you gotten any emergency calls while doing this interview?

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

No. So luckily right now those bears are out on the sea ice and they're, they're going to be there till probably June, July and ring seal, that's their primary diet. And so I get to rest right now.

[Spencer]

Okay, good, good for you. Thanks for joining us, Ian. Stay safe out there.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

Yeah, thanks guys. Been a pleasure.

[Randall]

Yeah, likewise.

[Phil]

Thanks, Ian.

[Spencer]

I noticed you boys perk up when he talked about what he carries for protection. Did anything surprise you about what he has on him?

[Phil]

Oh, I mean, shotgun I feel like is pretty run of the mill protection weapon for bears, but the, the Daniel defense 308. Yeah. Did that make sense?

[Spencer]

Okay.

[Randall]

Yeah, I mean, I assume they're just trying to put one in the central nervous system, so probably a bullet to be accurate. Probably a bullet.

[Phil]

What'd we get, Randall?

[Randall]

A pack of smokes from Steve.

[Spencer]

The Poplar Middle School brought gifts to the meat eater office. One of them was tobacco.

[Randall]

It's a traditional, it's a traditional gifting you know, culture of gifting. And so tobacco is one of the gifts.

[Spencer]

And what do you got?

[Phil]

Steve just re gifted it.

[Randall]

Steve just gifted me a hard pack of Marlboro Smooth originals.

[Spencer]

I thought Steve said they were gold.

[Randall]

Yeah, it's a gold pack. But these, I mean, don't. Don't do that. Don't smoke cigarettes.

[Spencer]

Well, we could bust him out when baby radio is born.

[Podcast Advertiser]

Oh, yeah.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

Yeah.

[Randall]

That's how we'll celebrate.

[Emilia Del Barro]

Yeah.

[Randall]

I love that guy.

[Phil]

That was one of the best interviews.

[Randall]

Spencer's speaker, throwing heat all the way to the end with his guest recruitment. And yeah, man, we're probably the only Americans that guy's going to talk to for the next year. That won't mention the hockey game.

[Phil]

Don't worry. The chat has been on it.

[Randall]

Yeah.

[Spencer]

So hopefully he doesn't look back and feel bad about that silver medal because the chat was really poking him for that whole interview.

[Randall]

Man, that guy was great.

[Phil]

That was a great interview, Spencer.

[Randall]

That, that just.

[Phil]

Who would have thought? Bear prison.

[Spencer]

Bear prison for 30 days.

[Randall]

I want to go.

[Spencer]

Only 20 re offenders. They've been doing this since the 80s. So that's. That's pretty incredible that it's like that successful at keeping these bears out of the way of humans.

[Phil]

That was great.

[Randall]

Gosh.

[Podcast Advertiser]

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[Phil]

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[Randall]

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[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

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[Spencer]

all right, our next segment is Hot tip Off. H O T T I P R let's all do a hot tip off. H o T I let's all do

[Phil]

a hot tip off.

[Spencer]

Hot Tip off is where two listeners go head to head with competing pieces of advice. And after we hear each tip, we'll declare which one is hotter. This week, It's Dalton Picard versus Marshall Loftus, and they're competing for a 100 meat eater store gift card. Take it away, Phil.

[Phil]

Marshall Loftus. Hey, guys, Marshall here and I have an extremely simple tip for finding your arrows. I know most of your listeners probably don't actually ever miss, but I do. So I had to come up with a creative solution. Number one, I use high vis wraps and veins. Nothing new there. But number two, I utilize a UV or black light flashlight. These are like 10, 15 bucks on Amazon. So, you know, anytime you shoot, you don't know where your arrow goes. It goes into something like this. This is kind of standard. What you see, here's one of my arrows. You know, it gets buried in the grass, it gets buried in the leaves. It's very difficult to find, but I actually utilize this to find the arrows in the dark. So I'm back at that same area, but in the dark. Here, obviously, I have my black light.

[Randall]

Obviously, I'm gonna walk up to that

[Phil]

general area of where the arrow is and we'll see if it'll show up on here.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

Boom.

[Phil]

There you can see it.

[Randall]

Oh, it's wild.

[Phil]

Looks like a headlight out there in the dark. This makes finding your arrows a thousand times easier and saves you a lot of money on having to buy new arrows.

[Spencer]

Dalton Bouchard.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

Hello, meat eater.

[Phil]

I got a hot tip here for you and a great project to do

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

with your kids, if you've got them.

[Phil]

This is my homemade jawjacker.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

As my buddy likes to call it, the ghetto jacker.

[Phil]

I just built this at a inch and a half PVC pipe.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

You could build it with a block of wood and a pipe angled in

[Phil]

the back of it to hold the rod.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

The main thing is this trigger mechanism, which you just got to do a hook.

[Phil]

And I built this out of a paint can handle. You could use a coat hanger or

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

whatever you've really got laying around. I use the zip tie here to connect it to the rod. Ran it through an eyelet, and you just run your line up through the

[Phil]

hook end of it. My fish grabs it.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

Works pretty good. Sets up nice.

[Phil]

Can fit a couple of them in a bucket.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

I keep these feet to where they can just come off. So you can fit a couple in

[Phil]

a bucket and surely beats the $60 price tag.

[Spencer]

All right, those are our two hot tips. The chat is going to decide who the winner is of the $100 Meat Eater store gift card. Phil is going to give you a couple minutes to vote.

[Phil]

Poll is live.

[Spencer]

All right, Seth, which one do you like? Dalton's hot tip about the PVC jawjacker or Marshalls of the UV light arrow finder?

[Phil]

Well, I don't know who picks these. I want to call anyone out, but the. The arrow one has been. Has been done before.

[Spencer]

On this show.

[Phil]

On this show.

[Spencer]

Oh, no.

[Phil]

Well, it's got a better memory than me because I have no recollection.

[Spencer]

I did not know.

[Randall]

Sorry. You began that by saying you don't mean to call anybody out.

[Phil]

No.

[Randall]

Okay.

[Spencer]

Okay. Which one do you like better?

[Phil]

Was that Phil? Was that you, Phil?

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

No.

[Phil]

No. Okay, so I don't. I don't mean to call anyone, but I should have.

[Randall]

Guys, no one's noticed. Let's just go back to the thing.

[Phil]

The. The ice fishing one for me.

[Spencer]

Okay.

[Phil]

The homemade jaw jacket Jaw jackers aren't. Are not. They're not cheap.

[Spencer]

$60, he said.

[Phil]

Yeah. So the. The homemade stuff is fantastic. And I did mention he had. Or I did mention I did notice he had buddy Jay Seamans in the background on the television.

[Spencer]

I wondered if it was him, but I couldn't identify just from that quick shot. But Seth has his ice fishing eyes on.

[Phil]

Yep.

[Spencer]

He knew it was Jay.

[Phil]

I like that one.

[Spencer]

All right, Seth is voting for the PVC jawjacker. Randall, what do you think? The UV Light arrow finder from Marshall or the Jawjacker from Dalton.

[Randall]

I mean, to me, these two tips embody some of the finest traditions of tipping. One is just getting some device that's useful for one thing and applying it to another, as we remember, from the air compressor blowing out the brains of the deer skull. And the other is just going to ace Hardware and buying a bunch of shit. Yeah, and building your own little device. So I appreciate both of them in different ways, but, man, I do like that homemade. I mean, anytime you can just make a mess of pvc. I was a big potato cannon kid. We made a battery gun one time that just shot AA batteries, and we were punching holes in plywood with it. We moved on from the hair spray to dry ice and water.

[Spencer]

We should do that for a meat eater video. I don't know how it applies to what this company does, but, yeah, Randall making a potato cannon.

[Randall]

The nice thing about the hairspray, though, is if you want to launch an incendiary round of some sort, you know, you have that ignition source from the hairspray. But, yeah, I'm going to vote for the Jawjacker.

[Spencer]

Okay, that's two votes for the Jawjacker.

[Randall]

That was a long winded answer. Sorry.

[Spencer]

Yeah, both of these. Again, like mini hot tips. It's about how to save some money. One is you're going to recover more arrows. The other is you don't have to buy a $60 jaw jack. Yes, I'm going to vote for the UV light arrow finder. You should go watch this video on our podcast YouTube channel, because that thing lit up like somebody turned on a light switch on the back of that arrow. It was so easy to find. Here's the other thing. I love having a UV light with me when I go camping. There's like, I don't know, probably 20 things that just stay in my camping kit that no matter what kind of camping I'm doing, they're coming with me. One of them is a UV light that I look for. Uv. I look for rocks that show up under UV light. So if you've got that with you, turn that on at night, you can recover some very cool rocks. You'll find other uses for that UV light. It's only like, 15 bucks from Amazon. Besides just recovering arrows.

[Randall]

Yeah, it's making me think I should attach arrow fletchings to my car keys in my earbuds.

[Spencer]

That'd be good. Phil, what does the chat think?

[Phil]

It's been a pretty decisive lead this entire time, so I'm going to go ahead and end the poll. And with 64% of the vote, the winner is Marshall with the black light.

[Spencer]

Oh, all right.

[Phil]

Oh, he didn't win the last time, so he won this time.

[Randall]

That's a real dark horse. Get it, Marshall.

[Spencer]

Good one, Randall. He gets a $100 media gift card next week for the finale. We are just going to empty the clip for all of the hot tips that we have left.

[Randall]

Indeed. Indeed.

[Spencer]

All right, let's take a break for some listener feedback. Phil, what's Chad have to say?

[Phil]

Let's see here. This is from Nate. He says, randall, are you going turkey hunting this spring or was last year a one and done and you're back to bears forever?

[Randall]

No, I'd like to. I enjoy eating wild turkeys, so I'd like to shoot another turkey or two. It's just a. Just a question of getting on someone's dance card. Max Barda is a busy guy. Busy guy in the spring. I was talking to Cal last night and we were discussing a little turkey family camp. Family turkey camp, I should say. So that's in the cards as well. But definitely going to go out and look for some Bruins. I already have one of those trips on my calendar.

[Phil]

Question for Seth from Coda. What's your go to razor for a clean shave? I too have a mustache, but find it hard to keep up with a clean cut like you. Razors give me razor burn on my neck and jawline.

[Randall]

Well, you need the jawline first. That's my problem with. With trimming facial hair is I don't have anything like what Seth has there.

[Phil]

I. The ones I buy from the store are often different. I look at price more than I'll tip off. Yeah, I look at price more than the actual razor itself. Few blades is good. Although I recently was given one of those proof razors that's made in Belgrade.

[Spencer]

Oh.

[Phil]

It's like a machined. All machined aluminum razor.

[Spencer]

Okay.

[Phil]

Has that one blade replaceable. It's. It works great. Yeah, it's like. It's like a razor that you'll just have for the rest of your life.

[Spencer]

Okay.

[Phil]

So.

[Randall]

And then an aftershave or something like that. No, as long as we're leaning into this.

[Phil]

No, I don't. I don't use an aftershave. I use. The shaving cream I use is like a. They call it like a sh. It's. It's like one of those healthy kinds. It's not edge.

[Spencer]

Best kept mustache in the company. What else you got, Phil?

[Phil]

Question for King Randomal himself. If he only had to choose one for the rest of his life, would it be dogs or brats? Oh, I think I know, man.

[Randall]

It's probably dogs.

[Spencer]

Yeah, I agree.

[Randall]

Just for the emotional factor. I just don't get the same feelings from eating a brat at a ball game. But I do find brats. I find myself cooking brats more at home, and I feel like it's a more versatile tube meat. But yeah, I can't make a cheese coney with a brat.

[Spencer]

Phil, let's do a couple more. And then after that, I think we put movie club at the end of the show because our next guest is waiting. So we'll do that last year.

[Randall]

It's a great idea.

[Phil]

Who knows how long that'll take? Any of the crew from Valancour hopeful for a sheep or goat tag this year? Did you guys put in for.

[Randall]

Yes every year.

[Phil]

Yeah.

[Spencer]

Not hopeful, though. Hopeful and putting in are two different things.

[Randall]

Well, yeah, I'll. I probably will have a sheep tag. Just an unlimited sheep tag.

[Spencer]

Oh. Oh, they're changing that this year. I saw.

[Randall]

Yeah, yeah, I just.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

Whatever.

[Spencer]

Okay. Randall's gonna be the sheep hunter.

[Randall]

Yeah, yeah, we'll see. We'll see. My calendar is aligning so that I might be able to get out there for the unit that I want to get out there for.

[Spencer]

Let's do one more, Phil.

[Phil]

Sure. I'm gonna be selfish with this one, Phil. How's Cast and chill treating you? That was that lo fi fishing game that I've been talking about. I have it. So I just got myself a better monitor for my. The room where I stream when I stream.

[Randall]

Oh.

[Phil]

But tomorrow's a big day because Nintendo and Game Freak are releasing Pokemon Firered and Leaf Green for the Nintendo Switch. I'll be picking that up, but more importantly, for my streaming purposes, Resident Evil 9 comes out tomorrow. Wow. And I'm a big fat baby. And so I'm thinking about. And here's the scariest one so far, Sick day. I'm thinking about streaming it if you guys want to watch that. I do.

[Randall]

I'm taking a sick day too.

[Phil]

When did the original Resident Evil come out? Oh, like 1998 or something. Did you play that one? No, I didn't. I've only been starting. I've been dipping my toe into horror stuff over the last couple of years, but over the last year, I've played Resident Evil 2, 4, 7, and I'm almost done with 8, and I've been really enjoying them. The writing is God awful. The plot makes no sense, but that's kind of part of the charm.

[Randall]

So you don't like the films then

[Phil]

I assume the films are. The films are bad. It's like if you took the dialogue and plot from the games, where it's kind of campy and fun and you put it into a movie format, it just doesn't translate.

[Spencer]

So how do I tune into this Phil Taylor live stream?

[Phil]

Oh. Oh, God. That's a great. That's a great question. I don't think this is self promotion because I make no money off of this. In fact, I think I lose money with the equipment that I've bought. But I'll put my YouTube handle up here because it's stupid and nonsensical. I'll spell it out here. This is good program.

[Spencer]

Maybe Phil will tell us on his Instagram story how we can watch.

[Phil]

Sure. So that's my YouTube handle and my Twitch handle, PhilibustersWord. Phil. It's my name. Filibuster with a ph. Because that's what people called me in High Buster. Sword, as we all know, is the iconic sword that Cloud Strife wields in Final Fantasy vii. So it's a portmanteau of kinds.

[Randall]

I'm sure our next guest's head is spinning.

[Spencer]

Good stuff.

[Randall]

We've gone from shaving products to goat and sheep tags to filibuster sword.

[Phil]

So I'll be doing that this Friday or Saturday. So tune in. You can watch me pee my pants. You never know what you'll get here.

[Randall]

Yep.

[Spencer]

Let's go to our last interview. Joining us on the line next is Emilia Del Barro, who won the gold medal at the 2025 Cheesemonger Olympics. She's here to educate us on pairing cheeses with wild game. Emilia, welcome to the show.

[Emilia Del Barro]

Hey, thanks so much for having me on the show. Super stoked to be here and chat. Cheese.

[Spencer]

Great. First thing, what are the Cheesemonger Olympics?

[Emilia Del Barro]

I am happy to explain. So the Mondial du Fromage, which is the Cheesemonger Olympics, it happens every two years in France and champion cheesemongers from all over the world compete against each other in this, like grueling eight hour day of cheesemonger challenges with the goal of being crowned the world's best cheesemonger for that year. So the challenges span everything from general knowledge, written tests to blind tasting, pairing challenges. Cheese sculpture, a 1 square meter themed, absolutely massive cheese display made with like, like 100 mystery cheeses that they just put down in crates behind you. So it was obviously very difficult but it is also as much about, like stamina and time management as it was about cheese knowledge and monger skill and technique.

[Spencer]

Okay, I want to be there. What's the most difficult part of the competition?

[Emilia Del Barro]

I would say that all of the challenges were equally difficult in terms of execution and preparation. But for me personally, truthfully, the hardest part of the entire experience was just finding the guts to show up. I have like crazy imposter syndrome. So I actually did a lot of work with my therapist in the months leading up to the competition to help manage that so that I could like show up, be fully present and just do my best. And I actually think that aspect of the preparation is super important to talk about openly because I know a lot of people struggle with this.

[Spencer]

And then you went there and won the gold medal. Congratulations for that. Tell us about your background. How does one become such an accomplished cheesemonger?

[Emilia Del Barro]

So I actually have a degree in, in Italian. I went to college for Italian studies and after that I was working a kind of a corporate job, just managing a cooking school. It was a cooking school and educational space. So I was seeing a lot of these classes and events that were happening, everything from like obviously cheese tastings to butchering demonstrations, to pizza making, pasta making dinners, things like that. So there's a lot of really cool stuff that I was experiencing for the first time. And then after a couple of years of managing that particular space, I decided I wanted to kind of make a switch and learn a craft, hopefully probably one of the things that I had witnessed in the school. And I also had a little bit of a, like a run in, let's call it, with an animal rights group. And that kind of changed the trajectory of my career. So I decided I really wanted to learn butchery. That's what I was going to focus on. But at the time I was like a little 23 year old girl with no knife skills. So nobody was going to hire me for a butcher job, obviously. So I was advised to take a job at a cheese counter for a few months, learn how to handle knives, and then try to make that transfer. Obviously I ended up loving cheese so much that it won and I, I pursued the career in cheese quite successfully, I might add. But I did actually stay at the counter part time while I was doing a butcher apprenticeship for a while. It ended up being a really fun combination because I was managing a cheese counter in Brooklyn during the pandemic and there was a nose to tail butcher in the same grocery store. So during the pandemic I was able to kind of, like, pop over there when they needed some help and, like, make sausages, trim pork chops, that kind of thing. So since then, I have been the cheese manager and buyer of that grocery store. I'm currently the sales and marketing manager for Phrmaticum. We are the country's premier importer of cheese, paper packaging, tools, all the professional quality items that you need to run a cheese department. And that is a really cool role that allows me to do a lot of travel and educate both cheesemongers and consumers alike about how to properly take care of cheese and taste cheese and just, you know, sharing the love and encouraging enthusiasm for cheese.

[Spencer]

Okay, you were the first American to win gold at the cheesemonger Olympics. Congrats for that. There were 14 countries represented at last year's competition. What kind of reputation does America have when it comes to cheeses and cheesemongers?

[Emilia Del Barro]

So, obviously, the United States does not have a great reputation globally when it comes to cheese. And like all other food, because of American cheese. I actually am going to talk about that. Like, some of that is completely justified, but we actually do have a pretty thriving cheese culture here. Pun intended. There is a lot of misconception about the term American cheese and what that means. And when you say that, most people think of the, like, plasticky orange slices, which totally do have their time and place. But when I think of American cheese, I think about all of the amazing cheese producers that. That we have all across the country, in every state, who are making absolutely incredible cheese every single day. They're winning awards. They are focusing on regenerative agriculture. They're giving back to their communities. And I like to say good American cheese is everywhere for those with eyes to see. So being able to show up at this competition and represent the United States in my own way and be able to prove on the world stage that American cheesemongers are skilled and talented and creative was just amazing. And especially to be surrounded by so many other wonderfully talented cheesemongers, just being inspired by them and being able to learn from them. We left France with a lot of new friends. I am happy to say that's great.

[Spencer]

Our audience eats a lot of wild games, so we want your advice on how to pair cheeses with different wild foods. Let's start with venison. Please give us some recommendations on what cheeses pair well with deer meat.

[Emilia Del Barro]

First of all, I love venison, but with these types of unconventional pairings, let's say instead of focusing on, like, the pairing exclusively, I try to think about, like, who would be eating these things and how they would be prepared and, like, what those people might have access to. So in the cheese industry, we have this. This saying. That's what grows together, goes together. And that basically means that products from the same region will likely be a good pairing. So for venison, I'm thinking, like, braised venison, roasted meat stew, ragu, Things that would likely be found in, like, a mountain region, like the Alps of Italy or Switzerland, things like that. So that automatically takes me over to, like, a funky, oniony mountain cheese like gruyere or fontina, Something that really melts well. But on the other side of things, specifically, smoky blue, which is a really cool blue cheese made by rogue creamery in Oregon, I think would pair really well with that.

[Spencer]

Okay, Randall is shaking his head in agreement. What about feral hogs?

[Emilia Del Barro]

I love this question. I got so excited. I immediately was like, this reminds me of cingale, which is Italian wild boar ragu from Tuscany specifically. Makes me want to do a little bit of, like, grated parmigiano, reggiano on top, Give it a little bit of a salt kick, a little umami, or specifically a Tuscan pecorino.

[Spencer]

Okay, how about small game like squirrels and rabbits?

[Emilia Del Barro]

I'm gonna be really honest. I didn't know that you could eat squirrel, but rabbit is one of my grandfather's favorite foods. I have this, like, distinct memory of special ordering a whole rabbit to bring to their house and cook for him. So we did that. We did a rabbit ragu with some tomatoes and fresh handmade pasta. So I'm gonna go with pecorino romano for this one, because that's what my grandparents always have in their fridge for putting on top of pasta.

[Spencer]

All right, let's talk about cheese pairings with fish. Let's start with fish that have a white flesh, like walleye or perch or crappie. What cheeses pair well with them?

[Emilia Del Barro]

Cheese and fish is a hot topic. A lot of people think that, like, eating cheese with fish is kind of sacrilege, But I think that there's definitely a right way to do it. I'm gonna say pecorino romano. Again, that is just kind of a go to when it comes to fish, that it has this really beautiful like. Like brininess, the saltiness. That goes well with a lot of fish dishes.

[Spencer]

How about fish that. That have some color in their meat, Like a trout or salmon?

[Phil]

Hmm.

[Emilia Del Barro]

For this, I'm thinking, like, smoked trout. Smoked salmon. I'm going to go pecorino, fiore sardo, which is specifically a smoked pecorino. It's a little bit drier. I think that that might be nice with a more oily fish.

[Spencer]

Okay, final one. What cheeses pair well with wild mushrooms like morels, chanterelles, and boulettes?

[Emilia Del Barro]

Yum. Immediately umami. I want to go for an umami bomb here. One of my favorite dishes to make is a mushroom risotto with some melted taleggio. Taleggio is a kind of stinky washed rind cheese from northern Italy. I think that that pairs really well with those mushrooms. But also, so if we're like, you know, on the umami train, we can do something with truffle. And I know that truffle to legio is a thing that exists, so if you can find it, I think that that would be wonderful.

[Spencer]

Last question. I assume that boutique grocers and markets are the best places to find a really good selection of cheeses, but what about the chain options when it comes to places like Costco, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Kroger's, Albertsons? Who has the best cheese cheeses?

[Emilia Del Barro]

That's a good question. I get that a lot. So, of course, like, a dedicated cheese shop or a specialty cheese counter is my first recommendation. But I know that not everyone has the access physically or financially to, you know, frequent those places. And like, while my job is partially to promote these, like, high quality cheeses, it's also part of my job to just encourage people to eat cheese in general. So whatever cheeses that you choose to enjoy, no matter where they come from, I'm just happy that you're eating it. Because what I like to say is that cheese is for everyone and everyone deserves to enjoy it. I can't personally speak to the selection of cheese in everyone's local grocery store, but I can encourage you to branch out, try something new, and just most importantly, keep cheese on your table physically and metaphorically.

[Spencer]

Okay. And our chat has two things that they want your take on. One is cheese curds, and the other is Velveeta. Please tell us what you think of cheese curds and Velveeta.

[Emilia Del Barro]

I love them. I love both of those things. I love a fried cheese curd. I love a fresh cheese curd. Very squeaky. I love a flavored cheese curd. Velveeta, I am told, is like one of the best cheeses to make macaroni and cheese with. I personally, I didn't grow up with it. I am a Cooper Sharp girly. I live in Philly, absolutely love Cooper Sharp. But my, my partner loves Belvita So a lot of those cheeses are, like, chemically designed to melt beautifully. They're. They're specifically meant for that. That's what they do. So that's why I like, that's why I say that they have a. A place and a time, and I would say that Mac and cheese is the place and time for that. So.

[Spencer]

Okay, thanks for your time and wisdom, Amelia, and congrats again on winning gold at the Cheese Olympics and making America proud. It flashing her gold medal.

[Emilia Del Barro]

Hefty. She's thick.

[Phil]

Oh, wow.

[Spencer]

That's great.

[Phil]

That's awesome.

[Spencer]

Thank you. Have a good day.

[Randall]

Thank you so much for having me.

[Spencer]

Wow, guys, Seth was nodding his head about the Velveeta and Mac and cheese.

[Phil]

Yeah, it does make good cheese for Mac and cheese. I haven't had Velveeta, though, and Long time.

[Randall]

Yeah.

[Spencer]

I think of childhood.

[Phil]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Spencer]

I heard a lot of names and cheeses I'm not familiar with. I need to go back and listen to this.

[Randall]

This.

[Phil]

We had Boondog in the chat saying his girlfriend is the cheesemonger at Smith's here in Bozeman and that this lady is her hero.

[Randall]

Oh, that's amazing.

[Phil]

Oh, nice. So Amelia. Oh, Amelia's still here. She heard that. That's.

[Randall]

That's amazing.

[Spencer]

Good, good. I saw another person say that she could lead Wisconsin into battle. That would work.

[Podcast Advertiser]

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[Spencer]

All right, for our last segment of the day, we have the Meat Eater Movie Club. This week, we're reviewing the 2018 comedy the Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter.

[Phil]

Coincidentally enough, there's a conversation about American versus other cheeses in this film.

[Spencer]

There is. I enjoyed that. I watched that last night. I was like, oh, we gotta bring that up tomorrow.

[Randall]

Boy, I haven't heard that jingle in a while. Thank you, Phil.

[Phil]

Oh, yeah.

[Randall]

Should I begin?

[Phil]

Happy to play. Oh, please do.

[Randall]

Okay. On February 15, 2009, I fell in love with a man. I was home from my first year at college. I was at a friend's house across the room. I caught a glimpse of a face unlike any I'd seen before. I heard his voice, and I was transfixed. He told me in no uncertain terms that he had a mind for victory and an arm like an effing cannon. His name was Kenny Powers, the maladjusted protagonist of the HBO series Eastbound and Down. In the years that followed, I came to know and to love many other characters in the Danny McBride, Jody Hill universe who resemble Kenny Powers. These men are not villains. They're not even precisely foolish. Each is simply a man who has confused his own success in one domain of life for mastery in all domains. The inevitable consequence of this mindset is an existence punctuated by eruptions of frustration at the world around him. The expected results of his actions never quite align with his delusions of grandeur. These are men undone by their own mythologies. Josh Poland. Josh Boland plays just such a man in the 2018 Netflix original the Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter. Despite the provocative opening sentence of this review, what follows is not a celebration of my favorite comedic catalog. This is Meat Eater Movie Club, where our focus, as always, remains laser focused on the film at hand. Yes, but I thought it was too good of a cold open, so I kept it in there. And that detail explains the lack of a decent transition at this point in the review. The plot of Legacy is relatively simple. Man loves hunting, man ignores son. Man attempts to force son to love hunting, son declines. Josh Brolin stars as Buck Ferguson, the host of a successful hunting video series who takes his estranged son into the wilderness to shoot his first deer, a ritual Buck believes will forge the bond their fractured relationship has lacked. Jaden, predictably, would rather be elsewhere. Buck Ferguson wants his son to want a deer, and beneath that, he wants his son to want him to see in his father, not a man his mother divorced, not a stranger who shows up with camera equipment and a bumbling sidekick, but a living repository of masculine wisdom. This is, of course, not how children work. Children are not vessels waiting to be filled with their father's hobbies.

[Spencer]

Listen up, Seth.

[Randall]

They're already full of their own desires, most of which involve guitar practice and texting their girlfriends. Here's another spot where I could have come up with a better transition. In 1956, the sociologist Irving Goffman published the Presentation of Self in an Everyday Life Life, in which he argued that human social interaction is essentially theatrical, that we are all, at times, performing versions of ourselves for audiences we have consciously or unconsciously assembled. Goffman did not mean this point cynically. The performance, he suggested, is not a distortion of the self, but an expression of it. We become, in some meaningful sense, what we repeatedly enact. The costume becomes the skin. Buck Ferguson does not merely hunt, he films himself hunting. Every descent into the wilderness is simultaneously a descent into the role of Buck Ferguson, legendary outdoorsman, as mediated through the lens of Don, a role masterfully inhabited by Danny McBride, the film's sharpest. Excuse me. This is the film's sharpest and most underexplored insight. The camera does not actually capture authenticity, it replaces it. The moment Buck raises his rifle, he is no longer a man in the woods. He is a man in the woods being watched, which is an entirely different psychological condition, one that forecloses the very intimacy with nature and with his son that Buck so desperately desires. This is a. I apologize. It's going on longer than I thought.

[Phil]

We all expected this.

[Randall]

There is a cruelty to this arrangement that the film only partially acknowledges. Buck wants to give him. Buck wants to give his son something real, a memory, a tradition, a moment of shared significance. But he has invited a camera to witness it, which means he has already converted the moment from experience into content. The dear if shot will not be a private communion between father and son, it will be episode 47 of Buck Fever. The memory will be archived before it is even formed. This is not. It should Be noted an affliction unique to men named Buck Ferguson. We live now in a civilization that has developed an extraordinary and insatiable appetite for the documentation of its own significant moments. Births, deaths, proposals, first steps, last words, all of it fed into the great digital maw, transforming from experience into artifact, from felt into filmed. It is widely acknowledged that writing restructures consciousness. One shudders to contemplate what the selfie lens on an iPhone camera has done to it. Or, I might add, a set of three cameras on tripods used to live stream a podcast every Thursday, during which occasionally a man reviews films. It is not lost on your reviewer that this segment is itself a performance during which Randall Williams, movie critic, is as much a constructed identity as Buck Ferguson, outdoorsman. The difference, perhaps, is one of self awareness. Buck never quite grasps that the camera has replaced the experience he was chasing. Whereas I know that I'm full of. A meaningful conclusion to this review was hard to come up with.

[Phil]

Okay, Randall, you're a really good writer. I just want to throw that out there. Someone says here in the chat that Randall writes well.

[Podcast Advertiser]

Oh, thank you.

[Phil]

Randall writes so well.

[Randall]

Thank you.

[Podcast Advertiser]

Yeah, yeah.

[Randall]

Irving Goffman. That was the text that I read in probably my worst series of classes in college. It's terrible. And I skipped two of them to watch some of my favorite teams lose in NCAA championship games that year.

[Spencer]

Okay.

[Randall]

Only Florida, if I recall.

[Spencer]

You must have been a good student if missing two classes was.

[Randall]

No, no, I missed more than that. But two of them were specifically to watch Ohio baseball sports teams lose in college.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

Got it.

[Spencer]

Okay.

[Phil]

Hopefully it depends,

[Randall]

guys. I think if you go to this film wanting to see a great hunting film, you're missing the point. Yeah, I. I think that the, you know, like, nobody watches Ricky Bobby Talladega Nights and says that's not how sports cars work.

[Spencer]

Right.

[Randall]

Nobody watches. So throw away the weird camo, the CGI deer. Yeah, all that stuff. I enjoyed this film. Not as much as I enjoy the rest of his catalog, but I thought it. I mean, the reviews I read were terrible, but I thought it was good.

[Spencer]

25% on rotten tomatoes. I think I saw another. IMDb had it like 2.8 out of 10 stars. So not a well received straight to streamy.

[Phil]

I think that's fair.

[Spencer]

Yeah, I. I would agree with that. Yeah. And if. If you see the title. What's wrong?

[Randall]

Oh, just. You guys didn't. You guys didn't enjoy it?

[Spencer]

No, I'm. I'm glad I got to watch it. I imagine there's some point in my life, I would have needed to have turned this on.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

Yeah.

[Spencer]

But if. If you're like. If you see the title and you're like, this is a movie for deer hunters, that would be incorrect. It's. It's not. And like, Danny McBride's catalog, you wouldn't watch Righteous Gemstones if you attended a megachurch in the South. Yeah. Like, it's that. It's just not for you.

[Randall]

Yes.

[Spencer]

And this film isn't really for someone, you know, who really loves the outdoors,

[Randall]

although there's a lot of stuff in there that you wouldn't pick up on if you didn't live in this space.

[Spencer]

I was true.

[Randall]

When he. When he wrecks the ATV and he's like, now I have to pay for that. Yeah, it's great.

[Spencer]

I. I agree.

[Randall]

When he says the air mattress, he's like. He's like, they sent me this, you know, like, to test this out. And he just reads, like, the product description to his son. Like, it's very in conversation with the real.

[Phil]

And Jody Hill and Danny McBride both grew up in North Carolina, like, really inundated in this culture. And so I think they bring a lot of affection for it while also, you know, kicking it a little bit.

[Spencer]

Yeah, I liked that. While he is talking about getting the air mattress for free, you have a well placed Ozark Trail logo on the tent. And my wife and I disagreed on if Ozark Trail paid for that placement or not. I said, there's no way that Ozark Trail has that budget to do that. And then also, the tent was, like, just kind of loose and sloppy. Like, they wouldn't be satisfied with seeing their tent like that, but you could see it and, you know, feel either way that, like, oh, he's talking about a sponsorship thing. While there's a sponsorship thing happening on this movie, it was like breaking the fourth wall, in a way.

[Randall]

Yeah. I mean, I think for me, I have a hard time coming into this and judging it on its merits because there's so many elements of a classic Danny McBride product in it. There's the lackey. McBride plays essentially Stevie Janowski from Eastbound and Down. He's the man who wants to be the great man, man who really cares nothing about his welfare. And in fact, he suffers disfigurement for that man several times this. Several times saying inappropriate things to children. When he describes parkour as gymnastics, I couldn't help but think of the classic line, I'm not trying to be the best at exercising to describe a triathlon he has, like, a very precise understanding of behaviors that make characters look like losers. Like when the stepdad is riding the hoverboard.

[Phil]

Right.

[Randall]

And then the guy taking pleasure in secretly sabotaging, like, one of his rivals when he's deleting the pictures off the phone. Like, these are classic Kenny Powers motifs.

[Spencer]

You think if someone loved Kenny Powers, they would love this?

[Randall]

I mean, I don't want to go. I don't want to go overboard here. I wouldn't say that I loved it. I enjoyed it. I don't know that I'll watch it again. I won't revisit it. But given the state of comedy movies, I guess this is 2018, so sort of coming out of the tail end of that. That era. But I don't know, I enjoyed watching something that I'd never seen before, and it kind of tickled my. Tickled the right notes for me.

[Spencer]

There's certain times when we're making a piece of content at Meat Eater, and, you know, when you're doing it, like, this is really good, or this kind of sucks. We, like, didn't hit our marks. I'm certain they knew when they were making this movie that they were making a movie that was going to get 25% on rotten tomatoes.

[Randall]

Yeah.

[Spencer]

I'm sure that they felt it and were very aware, and that probably was a little freeing for them that, like, boy, this is just a steaming pile we've made.

[Randall]

Oh, yeah.

[Spencer]

And that's okay because that's what it is.

[Phil]

Yeah. I don't think it's a good movie, but it's very watchable, mostly because of brolin and Danny McBride. I think they're just very compelling, fun actors to watch. And it does have, like Randall said, most of the hallmarks of a McBride like Jody Hill thing, which is, like, a guy who wears his fragile ego just, like, all plastered. Right.

[Spencer]

Yeah.

[Phil]

Brolin is all over his body.

[Randall]

Brolin's great. There's just, like, the moments where he's, like, not on camera and he's, like, quietly sad or desperate.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

He.

[Randall]

The other. The other thing I enjoyed was it ending with a climatic, like, whitewater negotiating the rapids. How many movies have ended with that? I'd like to think that they didn't know how to end the movie, and they were just like, let's just do

[Phil]

an air mattress, do the rapid scene.

[Spencer]

Yeah. Another thing I enjoyed was that they had a Mary Poppins backpack. Or, like, it didn't matter the size of the backpack. They had. Any piece of gear could have come out of that.

[Randall]

Yeah.

[Spencer]

At any time.

[Randall]

And the guitar. I did enjoy, like, the VO mid sequence in the film he talks about. He has, like, the VO where he's like, buck Ferguson goes, always gets his deer. And that was dead on.

[Phil]

Yeah. Yeah, those. Those videos are great. I. I specifically flagged the soundtrack of. Of. Of those. Those hunting videos, which was very, like, Mannheim steamroller, like,'80s jangly synth stuff. It like it, but it fit so well. I thought that was, like, a really inspired Phil.

[Spencer]

I saw the Manheim Steamroller in Bozeman a couple years ago.

[Phil]

Yeah, I remember you telling me about that.

[Spencer]

And then they played Convoy while they were there. Even though it was a Christmas show, they said they can't do a show without playing Convoy.

[Emilia Del Barro]

Sure.

[Phil]

You gotta do the hits. I've got some questions for you guys. Cause, you know, I'm not really. I'm new to this whole world, but just some vernacular. Have you ever, before shooting an animal, said. Referred to shooting it as punching a time card? No. Okay.

[Spencer]

Never heard that one.

[Phil]

One of my favorite lines, too, was, I'm gonna honor this deer by splitting its dang eyebrows.

[Randall]

Yeah.

[Phil]

Have you?

[Randall]

No.

[Phil]

Okay.

[Randall]

Like that.

[Phil]

I was just wondering if those were common phrases I'm just not. Not privy to. Okay.

[Spencer]

The other one was that people will joke about other people saying, catch a deer. And I personally never heard someone say, catch a deer.

[Phil]

Yeah.

[Spencer]

And so it feels like it's like being overplayed that.

[Randall]

Yeah.

[Spencer]

Someone who's out of the loop would say, catch a deer. But they say it multiple times in this movie.

[Randall]

Yeah, they make. I mean, they make, like, hats that are. Say, catching deer. Yeah. You know, it's like a joke.

[Spencer]

Yeah. Seth watched this movie back during COVID Yeah. Seth, what did you think of it then?

[Phil]

Well, I. I don't remember a whole lot of it, to be honest.

[Spencer]

Yep.

[Phil]

But it was one of those movies, like, when you guys said, you're going to review them, review this movie. I was like, I'm not gonna watch that again. Like, I feel like that's fair. I feel like what I've seen and remember is, like, enough to get through this segment of the show. I just didn't want to spend any more time watching it again because I. What I remember was that it was. It was. It had its funny moments, but overall, it was. You know, I'm with the folks on Rotten Tomatoes.

[Spencer]

Yeah. Seth had observed that it was like watching Jackie Bushman.

[Phil]

Yeah.

[Spencer]

Portrayed in a movie. And I said, well, actually, it's about Roger Ragland. That's who Josh Brolin's character was based on. So if you're a fan of Roger Breglin, then maybe you need to watch this movie.

[Phil]

It did have one of my favorite sort of tropes of a Danny McBride project, which was genuine emotional sweetness that's punctuated by something like horribly explicit. When he's telling the story to the son about his girlfriend, he's like, I got this girlfriend, Kim. Did you know she's a registered nurse and a mechanic? And so I told her that I had a broken truck and a heart condition and she liked that. You know, it's like a genuinely sweet moment. Then he's like, like. And check these out. Then he pulls out the cuckold Polaroid pictures.

[Randall]

Yeah. I apologize to anybody that watched this. I didn't realize that scene was in there. I'd never seen.

[Phil]

It was great. He's got one where he's got his. His. His foot with the missing toe. He's like, see that? That's my foot.

[Randall]

The missing toe is so good. I don't know how much more we want. I like that the kid's playing Redemption Song and the dad. The dad compliments it and he's like, I didn't understand any of the lyrics, but it sounded good. The dad not knowing that his son has been playing guitar for two years Is great.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

Great.

[Phil]

Yeah.

[Randall]

And then my last note is one of my favorite all time lines from a film.

[Spencer]

Oh, from this film?

[Randall]

Yes.

[Spencer]

Okay.

[Phil]

He's one of mine too, when he

[Randall]

begins to tell the story to the kid of him splitting up with the kid's mom. And he goes, it started at 09. DVD sales were down slightly. And then proceeds to say that

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

he

[Randall]

had to prevent the kid's mom from going to the mall after that. That was great.

[Phil]

Sorry if you're hearing some static on this stream here. I don't know where it's coming from. It doesn't sound like cell phone stuff. I've never heard this sound before. So it's probably a good thing the show's ending.

[Randall]

Yeah.

[Phil]

I just wanted to throw out a couple lines that I really enjoyed. Please do. When Brolin finds him with the pictures and he's kind of yelling at the kid even though it's not his fault at all, and he says, I'm not a kid anymore. He goes, you are a kid when it comes to nudeness and sexual relations. Y. That was a good one.

[Randall]

I did love nudeness.

[Phil]

There's one where he's talking to his girlfriend on the phone and it's clear that there's some like the kid is the 12 year old kid. And he says, you know, it's something about how his girlfriend is hanging out with another boy and that he found that peculiar. And there's some silence on the other line and he goes, I know life's peculiar. I'm the one who taught you that. That was a good one. And then when he shoots Don, you'll see like an explosion of blood. And Josh Brolin goes, shit, it's dawn. Those are some of my favorites.

[Spencer]

Not strong muzzle control in this movie.

[Randall]

I mean, the big question for me is, did he shoot at the end? Puts like the septum down, then he brings it back up. That was great. Yeah, that was great. But it wasn't going to be on camera.

[Spencer]

I bet this looked very familiar to you big Buck Hunter boys because that's like how the deer looked. The CGI of them was as though they just pulled them from a big Buck hunter video game.

[Randall]

Yeah, I liked how bad the deer looked.

[Spencer]

Yeah. Oh, and they're always around, like they're always in the most picturesque. They're always at the water at the waterfall.

[Podcast Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Randall]

It was like they found a beautiful place and they're like, we know that

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

buck will be here.

[Randall]

It's great. Yeah, that's how it works.

[Spencer]

All right, again, our last episode next week with the movie club. Topic being Congo, Randall's favorite movie.

[Randall]

It's one of them. Yeah.

[Spencer]

Top 10 top 10 favorite movies for show. All right, Phil, let's get some final feedback from the chat.

[Phil]

Matt, this is from Chase. Phil, you got to ask Randall what led to his trivia beat down from Steve. Oh, man.

[Randall]

Sometimes you just don't have it.

[Spencer]

Vermin.

[Phil]

Tough times.

[Randall]

Vermin killed me. That question, I will say that question is. Is an experience that I haven't had before in the room where Steve was just talking and talking and there was. There's nothing that could happen in my head. I just blew up. It's like playoff. It's like game six, Harden, you know,

[Spencer]

man, in the arena.

[Randall]

Yeah, Yeah. I don't know. It's fun to have competition sometimes. So we'll be back sometimes.

[Spencer]

What else you got?

[Phil]

Phil, Throw this one to Seth if you've got something to say. It's from Sarah. What's a good steelhead fishing tip? Midwesterner fishing off the Great Lakes. And I'm new to the method, so any tip would be appreciated.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

It.

[Phil]

Oh, I'm not the right person to ask. I've never caught a steel. I've never. Steelhead Fished before.

[Spencer]

I never touched one in my life.

[Phil]

Not a big trout guy. Oh, that sounded. Sounded kind of angry.

[Spencer]

Sorry, Sarah.

[Randall]

Find a trout, find a buddy.

[Phil]

Ah, just like warm, warm water stuff.

[Spencer]

YouTube. Go to YouTube. Type in steelhead fishing. Great Lakes message.

[Phil]

Chester Floyd. There you go on Instagram. A couple of shout outs here. I thought this was fun. This is from Tyler. If any listeners have of the or of the meat eater squatter ever in southern Indiana, check out old Homestead distilling Company at Patoka Lake. We are sportsman friendly and out. And they have outlets to charge boat batteries. Oh, that's fantastic.

[Randall]

That's good.

[Phil]

Love that. And then J. Seuss is asking for a shout out from Randall for his daughter, who's probably one of his biggest little fans.

[Randall]

Shout out to your daughter or her.

[Phil]

Looks like it might be a woman in the picture there.

[Randall]

Shout out to your daughter. J2, 14 5. I don't know what it is that she sees in me, but it's good to have that support out there.

[Spencer]

What else you got, Phil?

[Randall]

I don't think I play to a young crowd. Maybe I do. I've always thought I skewed older.

[Spencer]

What do you think? What do you think a random demographic is?

[Randall]

I don't know. Guys watch Eastbound and Down a lot.

[Phil]

Yeah.

[Randall]

History buffs, maybe.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

What?

[Spencer]

What would he walk out of a gas station with if he goes in there for beer and snacks?

[Phil]

Roller dog.

[Randall]

Roller dog.

[Spencer]

Okay. What else?

[Randall]

Cooler Ranch. Doritos.

[Spencer]

Cooler?

[Randall]

Yeah. Didn't they change the more cool.

[Phil]

Yeah.

[Randall]

No, they're not Cool Ranch. Am I right? It's all cooler and nacho cheesier. Didn't they change all that?

[Phil]

Yeah, it used to be Nacho Cheesier and I think Cooler Ranch, but then they just kind of simplified it because everyone was saying Cooler Ranch. Anyway, I might be wrong.

[Randall]

They made them all comparable. Oh, no, maybe they did go back to Cool Ranch.

[Spencer]

Okay. Real random. I think so. A random walks into a gas station. Yeah.

[Randall]

A random would know that he gets

[Spencer]

a roller hot dog.

[Randall]

I feel like a fool.

[Phil]

Yes.

[Spencer]

What else is he.

[Phil]

I'll press the cut button.

[Randall]

Couple of. Couple brew dogs.

[Phil]

Yeah. Some brewskis.

[Spencer]

Okay.

[Randall]

Yeah. Maybe some night crawlers.

[Spencer]

Yeah. Very kid friendly stuff.

[Randall]

He's got weird. He's got something weird that he's thinking about.

[Phil]

Maybe a. Maybe some Zinn.

[Randall]

Yeah. He's not going home to like a traditional. I feel like he's not going home to like a traditional, like, you know, like happy family sitting around the dinner table. I feel like he's kind of a loose cannon.

[Spencer]

Uh huh. And the cigarettes are speaking to him, but he doesn't listen usually.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

Sometimes he listens.

[Spencer]

Let's do two more.

[Randall]

But if he's not buying them them, it's like you never smoked them.

[Phil]

Favorite smoked trout recipes or techniques from Lane?

[Randall]

I like them gifted to me.

[Phil]

I like the. I like when you turn into smoked trout dip.

[Spencer]

Anybody will enjoy. Even if they're like, I don't enjoy fish. They can enjoy a smoked fish dip.

[Phil]

Yep.

[Randall]

God, I'm totally shaken by the Doritos thing. I always thought that was like a fun nugget that I had in my head.

[Spencer]

Oh, man.

[Phil]

Sorry.

[Spencer]

Last one.

[Phil]

Oh, I don't even know if I have the last one.

[Spencer]

Okay, that's all right. We will be back for the finale next week.

[Phil]

Yes. Six hour mega stream. Lots of stuff happening. Every segment you could imagine. It's gonna be fun. And this.

[Spencer]

Please join us.

[Phil]

This is me signing out for good.

[Spencer]

Oh, well, you're gonna call in and deliver the happy.

[Phil]

That's true. Yeah.

[Spencer]

Of the baby radio.

[Phil]

That's true.

[Spencer]

Share with us.

[Randall]

Did you know that internationally they're called Cool American Doritos.

[Phil]

I like that. That's way cooler.

[Randall]

So was. It was cooler from 1995 to 2005. 2006. So in the heyday of my Doritos consumption.

[Spencer]

There's your flavor text for the future. All right, we'll see you back here for one last time next week. Same time in place. Bye now.

[Podcast Advertiser]

Hey, if you're in or around Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and you live for hunting season, you need to swing by the meat eater store in Milwaukee. We're stocked wall to wall with the gear we actually use in the field. First light FHF gear, Phelps, game calls and more. You'll find us at the corners of Brookfield. Whether you're gearing up for the season, dialing in a setup, or just want to talk shop with people who love to hunt, this is your place. That's the meat eater store Milwaukee at the corners of Brookfield. Stop in, get dialed and get after it.

[Sergeant Ian Van Ness]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Podcast Advertiser]

Guaranteed Human.