Ep. 831: A Wildlife Officer and Skier Walk Into a Bar | MeatEater Radio Live!

Hosts Janis Putelis, Randall Williams, and Seth Morris interview Olympic biathlete Paul Schommer and his coach, Matt Emmons, about competing in the upcoming Winter Olympic Games, look back 20 years in another edition of Throwback Thursday, and chat with Wildlife Officer Deme Wright about life as a game warden and her work around the Fort Carson poaching investigation. Watch the live stream on the MeatEater Podcast Network YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/@MeatEaterPodcastNetwork Subscribe to The MeatEater Podcast Network https://www.youtube.com/@MeatEaterPodcastNetwork MeatEater on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/meateater, Facebook https://www.facebook.com/StevenRinellaMeatEater/, Twitter https://twitter.com/MeatEaterTV?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor, and YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@MeatEaterPodcastNetwork See omnystudio.com/listener https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:04Speaker 01

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• 0:35Steven Rinella?

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• 1:15Steven Rinella?

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• 2:00Speaker 04

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

• 2:25Speaker 05

  Now?

• 2:28Speaker 05

  Welcome to Meat Eater Radio Live. It's 11 a.m. mountain time, mountain standard time here in Montana.

• 2:35Speaker 06

  Who's, who's phones ringing?

• 2:36Speaker 05

  Oh, sorry.

• 2:38Speaker 06

  You just said you're in airplane mode.

• 2:39Speaker 05

  It's connected to my, uh, computer and I, I am in airplane mode, but it still connects. That was Steven Rinella.

• 2:47Speaker 07

  We gotta, we gotta clean this thing up here, guys.

• 2:49Speaker 05

  I'm bothering, we do not have to, have to.

• 2:52Speaker 06

  You should tell Steve to come down.

• 2:54Speaker 05

  Steven's like, call me. I'm gonna tell him just to come down here if he's here. Hold on one second, folks.

• 2:59Speaker 06

  He is here.

• 2:59Speaker 05

  I gotta text Steve. Come to studio.

• 3:05Speaker 07

  Oh, this one's off to a real weird start.

• 3:07Speaker 05

  We're recording.

• 3:09Speaker 06

  I can't wait to get a text message from Spencer that says, this is the worst radio live.

• 3:14Speaker 05

  Spencer can suck.

• 3:15Speaker 06

  Yeah, whenever Spencer's not hosting, you guys don't know, those listeners at home, Spencer, uh, brews himself a warm cup of coffee, sits in a, in a recliner and turns on the show and takes notes. And judges us. Pulls out a legal pad.

• 3:25Speaker 05

  And he just is like, ha, ha, watch those boys burn.

• 3:28Speaker 07

  There may have been a text at one point that said, that was the worst radio live we've ever done.

• 3:33Speaker 05

  Who was hosting that one?

• 3:34Speaker 07

  I was involved somehow.

• 3:35Speaker 06

  I was involved too. I think it might've been Corey, me, you and Corey.

• 3:39Speaker 07

  Is it, is it 11 a.m. mountain time in Bozeman, Montana?

• 3:44Speaker 05

  Yes. Do you want me to continue now?

• 3:46Speaker 07

  I'm just trying to get it back on the tracks here.

• 3:48Speaker 05

  That's 7 p.m. for our fellow Americans in Italy on Thursday, February 5th, and we're live from Meat Eater World Headquarters in spring-like Bozeman, Montana. I'm your host, Yannis Patel. We're joined today by Seth Morris and Randall Williams. We've got a great show for you today, including an interview from Cortina Italy with Olympic biathlete Paul Shomer. Maybe Shomer, I didn't ask him. And his coach, Matt Emmons. We're also talking to Colorado Wildlife Officer Demi Wright, who recently wrapped up a big poaching case involving your mule deer. Then we'll look at photos of ourselves from about 20 years ago. And as always, we'll answer questions from the live audience.

• 4:32Speaker 05

  But first, let's get a few updates from the worlds of Seth, Randall, and yours truly on this fourth to the last episode of Meat Eater Radio Live.

• 4:45Speaker 05

  Oh, but don't fret. Meat Eater Radio Live is going to be replaced by the Meat Eater News with Cruz Show. Now, that's a working title. That's just, I think.

• 4:56Speaker 06

  I think Steve wants the title to be The News Show. Meat Eater, colon, The News Show.

• 5:03Speaker 05

  Uh, that doesn't sound great either, but you know, he's, he's the boss and whatever he chooses, that'll be it. Um, it's gonna be, so what you can expect out of that show? Updates from the crew. Spencer came up with a good thing that I liked. It's like, our news, your news, and the news. And what you can expect from that would be like, crew stories, updates from us, and then kinda how we do, uh, stories, questions, um, corrections from you guys. And then the news being like what really matters right now in conservation news. So that'll be starting, I believe, March 9th, and, um, it's, it's gonna be a great show.

• 5:48Speaker 05

  Uh, what else? Butcher and Bambi hoodies. Can you see it?

• 5:54Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 5:55Speaker 05

  This is what I was pestering Steve about, cause this is his idea. In my opinion, it is one of the best t-shirt hoodie designs we've ever come up with.

• 6:05Speaker 06

  Hmm, I do like it.

• 6:06Speaker 05

  Because it takes a anti-hunting idea. This thing that was made up, Bambi, the movie, and completely flips it upside down and makes it into a pro hunting thing. Any thoughts on that, boys?

• 6:22Speaker 07

  It's beautiful.

• 6:23Speaker 06

  I love it.

• 6:25Speaker 07

  It's a very subversive concept.

• 6:26Speaker 06

  Hmm. What's all, it has all the cuts on there?

• 6:30Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 6:31Speaker 06

  Lots of meat.

• 6:32Speaker 05

  Yeah, it's just like your classic butchering chart of a deer.

• 6:35Speaker 07

  Flank, ribs, shoulder.

• 6:37Speaker 05

  But it just uses Bambi.

• 6:39Speaker 06

  Mm-hmm, yeah.

• 6:40Speaker 05

  As it.

• 6:42Speaker 06

  I'd, who's.

• 6:43Speaker 07

  Those are gonna sell like hotcakes.

• 6:44Speaker 06

  Yeah, have our, have any lawyers from the Walt Disney Company reached out to us about that?

• 6:48Speaker 05

  I don't know.

• 6:49Speaker 07

  Bambi in the public domain.

• 6:50Speaker 05

  I don't know.

• 6:50Speaker 06

  And I don't think he is. Bambi's a boy, right?

• 6:54Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 6:55Speaker 06

  Oh.

• 6:55Speaker 05

  Uh, yeah.

• 6:56Speaker 07

  That's, that's.

• 6:57Speaker 06

  A buck.

• 6:58Speaker 07

  Maybe if we don't talk about that aspect of it, it'll just go unnoticed by.

• 7:02Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 7:03Speaker 07

  A giant.

• 7:03Speaker 06

  That's right. A giant. A buck, I'm over here, I'm metamorphizing. I'm so sorry.

• 7:08Speaker 05

  Anyways, the hoodies, uh, just popped, just landed on the website. Uh, you all should get one and wear it proudly and then make sure you can speak about what's going on here. That's what I was bothering Steve about this morning.

• 7:21Speaker 07

  Hmm.

• 7:21Speaker 05

  He says, call me when he texts me.

• 7:23Speaker 07

  Hmm.

• 7:23Speaker 05

  And then I said, no, just come down to the studio and he replies, I'm on a call.

• 7:28Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 7:28Speaker 05

  How is that gonna work?

• 7:31Speaker 05

  Okay, enough about hoodies. Uh, Randall, looks like what you've got going on in your life is, uh, well, first, let's hit the international shout out. We have our, we have our favorite, well, I don't know, is he our, I think our favorite international, like, guest is Mogor.

• 7:48Speaker 07

  Mogor, one of the most, the, the, I mean, I think he has a perfect attendance record. If this were high school, he'd be recognized at the end of your assembly. But, uh, someone pointed out to me that he's not the only international listener out there. So we want to give a big shout out to Dan Hernandez, who's currently stationed in the UK. Tuning into Media to Radio Live. Uh, shout out, Dan.

• 8:11Speaker 06

  Thanks for tuning in, Dan. Dan, if you're in the chat, let us know if not, um, why did you lie to us?

• 8:18Speaker 07

  We appreciate it. He seems like a good guy. We traded some, traded some messages on the IG, seems like a real, real good guy. So just want to give a big shout out to Dan. And then the big news in my household is, uh, when I left this morning, it was my last time saying, uh, goodbye for the day to Dolly, our five-year-old dog. She's not dying. She's turning six tomorrow.

• 8:41Speaker 06

  You really made it sound like she died.

• 8:43Speaker 07

  Deliberately set that up. No, she's turning six tomorrow. So today's the last day with a five-year-old dog in the house. Tomorrow we have a, we'll have a six-year-old dog and two 10-year-olds, soon to be 11-year-olds. So I basically feel like I have three loaded guns pointing at my head. Cause when you get into the big breeds. I feel like every year's, every year past, you know, like six, seven is real precious.

• 9:05Speaker 05

  Oh, I was gonna say past ten.

• 9:08Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 9:08Speaker 05

  You feel like it's past six, seven?

• 9:09Speaker 07

  Oh, yeah. I feel like labs, I feel like-

• 9:11Speaker 06

  Well, with the Labrador, yeah.

• 9:12Speaker 07

  Labs can, can, can take a quick turn downhill.

• 9:15Speaker 05

  Jeez, what do you feel like a blue-tick coonhound?

• 9:18Speaker 07

  I don't know. You run them hot. I don't know if that's good for the engine or bad for the engine. You know, some engines like to be run hot. I'd guess that a, a blue-tick coonhound would probably-

• 9:27Speaker 06

  That's probably good for Mingus.

• 9:29Speaker 07

  Yeah. But I don't know. I mean, these are just, these are just fluffy. So, yeah, Dolly's turning six, huge. She's kind of got a weird personality. She was a COVID dog. Uh, we thought, what better time to raise a third dog than, uh, when we were forced to stay at home for a few months?

• 9:44Speaker 05

  Mm-hmm.

• 9:45Speaker 07

  Um, but then she didn't really get socialized and so she, she's got a lot going on in her own head with herself.

• 9:53Speaker 05

  How will, uh, you all celebrate her birthday?

• 9:57Speaker 07

  Uh, typically we'll take her swimming at the river. Uh, that's what she likes to do. She likes to just be active. Uh, she's, she's got like, uh, she's a hundred and ten volt dog plugged into a two-twenty outlet. And, uh, so, yeah, whatever we can do to just, just wear her out. But, yeah, it's a big day in our household. We usually don't do a cake, but I'll often use, uh, you know, Cheese Whiz to write their ages on their food.

• 10:22Speaker 05

  Oh, that's fun.

• 10:22Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 10:23Speaker 05

  I bet they enjoy that.

• 10:24Speaker 07

  Yeah. It just depends on, depends on how much time we're investing each year in the celebration.

• 10:29Speaker 05

  Okay. Any, I imagine you'll have a couple beers. Do you ever, like, give them half a beer in the wa- in the water bowl?

• 10:36Speaker 07

  Our first dog used to drink a lot.

• 10:43Speaker 07

  He, uh, he was, eh, when, when he, when we first had him, we would take him to this brewery in Missoula, uh, called Bayern. And, uh, they're, they have all these, like, old German guys came over for the summer to, like, you know, work on the brewery and, and exchange. It's like, they do like exchange stuff with German breweries. And these old guys loved to feed Arlo beer when he was tiny. And he developed a real taste for it. Uh, thankfully, he couldn't drive, so that was never an issue. But, uh, he liked whiskey. He liked wine. He liked beer.

• 11:21Speaker 07

  And died ten days shy of his 10th birthday, but I don't think the booze had anything to do with it. Sorry, this has gone way darker than I.

• 11:28Speaker 06

  The boost might help.

• 11:29Speaker 07

  I thought it was gonna be like a, uh, this was gonna be a lighthearted, uh, celebration of Dolly's sixth birthday, but really I've taken some.

• 11:36Speaker 06

  Now we're just talking about dead dogs.

• 11:37Speaker 07

  Morbid turns here, yeah.

• 11:38Speaker 05

  Yeah, you know, well, we all know that's the, uh, the worst part about dogs is that, uh, they die.

• 11:43Speaker 07

  Oh, it kills me.

• 11:45Speaker 06

  What does Cal say, call it? Prolong suffering or something?

• 11:49Speaker 05

  I don't know.

• 11:49Speaker 06

  When you get a dog? Cause you just know they're gonna die.

• 11:51Speaker 05

  Oh.

• 11:52Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 11:53Speaker 05

  See, we had, like, I, Mingus is really my first dog as an adult. Like, I married my wife and she had a dog. And so, yeah, of course I adopted her, but I still, you know, didn't feel that attached.

• 12:05Speaker 06

  Attached, yeah.

• 12:06Speaker 05

  So, yeah, this is, uh, I'll, I'll be going through it, according to Randall, maybe in just a year or two. Um.

• 12:12Speaker 07

  I don't know, I just, life is a degenerative process, biologically speaking, so.

• 12:17Speaker 05

  Yes, yes, yes. Uh, I'll say, uh, let's talk about life. Uh, Seth, I'm sure you, you're talking about this all the time these days.

• 12:27Speaker 06

  Oh, God, nonstop.

• 12:28Speaker 05

  You're gonna be a dad soon. Uh, how's that all coming along?

• 12:31Speaker 06

  Five weeks out, the wife.

• 12:33Speaker 05

  That's it?

• 12:34Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 12:34Speaker 05

  Holy mackerel.

• 12:36Speaker 06

  Kelsey is very uncomfortable and sleeping poorly, but she feels good, like, you know, she's not, she's not struggling with like how she feels. It's just like, uh, like, uh, she's not sleeping well thing. That's her only struggle.

• 12:50Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 12:50Speaker 06

  At this point, so.

• 12:51Speaker 05

  Yeah, she's probably just ready for it to, uh, be over.

• 12:54Speaker 06

  Oh, yeah.

• 12:54Speaker 05

  Get on out.

• 12:55Speaker 06

  Our first was two weeks early, so you could be closer than you. Man, everyone we talked to was like, we had ours at thirty-five weeks, you know, or, or within like that thirty-five to forty-week period. Like, it seems like it could happen at any moment.

• 13:09Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 13:10Speaker 06

  Hmm. So.

• 13:11Speaker 05

  We were one time in a Pier One Imports. Like.

• 13:15Speaker 06

  Nice. It's perfect, perfect date night.

• 13:19Speaker 07

  We, we just finished up brunch at First Watch.

• 13:23Speaker 05

  I'm not saying that was a date night.

• 13:25Speaker 06

  No, no.

• 13:26Speaker 05

  We were looking for candles for the birth, right? We were gonna have, uh, my oldest at home. We had both, ended up having both of them at home.

• 13:33Speaker 06

  Oh, nice.

• 13:33Speaker 05

  And, uh, for whatever reason, like, a lot of candles is a thing when you have a home birth. And so, we're at Pier One getting some candles. And we were still like a solid week out, but you know, you start having these little baby contractions. And if you're, if you've been around pregnancies or.

• 13:50Speaker 05

  Then when those early contractions happen, you're like, oh yeah, okay. It's like your body's practicing to get ready to give birth.

• 13:56Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 13:57Speaker 05

  And we're chatting with a lady and Jennifer goes like, oh wow, oh little contraction there. And the girl looks at us and it's like, please don't have that baby in here.

• 14:08Speaker 05

  We're like, come on. It's not gonna happen.

• 14:12Speaker 06

  It's not that nice of a store.

• 14:14Speaker 05

  Yeah. Are you cleaning something over there, Phil?

• 14:16Speaker 07

  No, there's.

• 14:17Speaker 06

  No, why?

• 14:17Speaker 07

  They're using solvents in the new studio.

• 14:19Speaker 06

  Oh.

• 14:20Speaker 07

  I think they're like scraping a tile.

• 14:22Speaker 06

  Yeah. Off the concrete.

• 14:23Speaker 07

  Yeah, it smells like I just, uh, it's, I oftentimes flood our garage with acetone fumes and it lingers for a few days. And I'm getting real strong vibes of that.

• 14:32Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah. Have you guys noticed there while you're watching this live show that we're all getting a little drowsy, sleepy? Please, uh, let us know in the comments.

• 14:40Speaker 07

  Call 911.

• 14:40Speaker 06

  Yeah, there's not a lot of ventilation in this room.

• 14:42Speaker 05

  Oh my god.

• 14:43Speaker 06

  It's getting stronger.

• 14:43Speaker 07

  It's very strong.

• 14:44Speaker 06

  Getting quite strong. It might be, they might just be pumping it directly into this. Is this?

• 14:49Speaker 06

  Is this how they get rid of us?

• 14:52Speaker 05

  Yeah, guys, have fun in radio live. Remember, you can't leave. Oh my gosh, yeah, just like in One Battle After Another.

• 14:59Speaker 06

  I was gonna make that reference, but I wasn't sure who had seen the movie.

• 15:01Speaker 05

  Um, Seth, uh, you've also been doing a little bit of ice fishing.

• 15:06Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 15:07Speaker 05

  What's the, what's the ice fishing report right here?

• 15:09Speaker 06

  I mean, ice fishing report's not good. There's not much ice. There was enough ice on Canyon Ferry for, which is the local lake here. For, I don't know, I fished it twice, but it's been fishing for two weeks or so. Um, but it's like, ah, it's just not.

• 15:28Speaker 06

  It, the first time I fished, it was a little sketchy. Had about four inches of ice. And it was moving a lot, like pressure ridge, pressure ridges were building while we were there and, you know, just not what you want. And you couldn't really get to the stuff we wanted to get to out further. Um, but then last weekend we hit it and had a good walleye bite, which was fun. Um, kinda like a morning walleye bite. And then, um, yeah, I think it's kinda done now. We've had.

• 16:00Speaker 05

  Cause it just warmed up too much again.

• 16:01Speaker 06

  A warm week and what's supposed to be 60 degrees today.

• 16:06Speaker 05

  Now, is it early enough where it could turn around again? Or is it now you're like, eh, halfway through February, it's pretty much, no matter what happens, it's done.

• 16:15Speaker 06

  No, it could definitely turn around again and get, get cold and make ice enough to fish, but. At this point in time, I'm like, let's bring on open water and get in a boat.

• 16:27Speaker 05

  Right.

• 16:27Speaker 06

  Mm hmm. Just kind of over watching the weather.

• 16:31Speaker 05

  Mm hmm.

• 16:32Speaker 06

  For ice, but there's still places around where you, there's guys skating on the pond out back here this morning. There's obviously enough ice there, but I don't know, fishing these little ponds around here kind of gets old after a while.

• 16:46Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 16:46Speaker 06

  I want to get out in some big water.

• 16:48Speaker 05

  High school kids.

• 16:49Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 16:50Speaker 05

  They love, the high school kids, the hard cores, they love pounding the local pond.

• 16:53Speaker 06

  Oh, I know. Jimmy Rinella's been tearing it up.

• 16:56Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 16:56Speaker 06

  Hmm.

• 16:56Speaker 05

  Yeah, I heard he had, I heard from his little sister and I haven't got corroborated with Steven, but I heard that he was like having hypothermic symptoms from being on a recent ice fishing trip. You heard this story?

• 17:08Speaker 06

  Yeah, he told me about it. He was on a.

• 17:10Speaker 05

  Does it sound legit?

• 17:11Speaker 06

  Uh, yeah, he said they were, uh, fishing for burbit and night fishing and apparently the temperature was over that, that period of time when we got that cold snap.

• 17:25Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 17:26Speaker 06

  And yeah, apparently the temperatures dropped into negatives and he got hypothermia.

• 17:31Speaker 05

  Yeah, I heard that his, uh, his partners were getting ready to take him to the emergency room because of his, he was being so symptomatic.

• 17:37Speaker 06

  Oh, he didn't tell me that part.

• 17:38Speaker 05

  Yeah. Yeah. Uh, speaking of a place where it is really cold, uh, right now and they're having a heck of a winter, Wisconsin. Um, little update on my oak savanna project. Uh, if you don't know, if you haven't heard this, we're turning about seven acres. Of our 40 in Wisconsin into an oak savanna, which basically meant we cut out a lot of trees with a logging project, uh, left a few and then instead of regenerating oaks there, we instead, uh, killed all the oaks and everything else that was going to grow there. And, um, are now going to try to grow forbs and, uh, native grasses, uh, instead underneath the, the few oaks that are left and, um,

• 18:24Speaker 05

  uh, the part of the project where we were at, we had piled all of the slash that was left over from the logging. And these giant piles had to get burned. Um, I couldn't do it since I'm a thousand miles away and I needed help. So a friend of mine, Ashley Stanky from the, uh, he is the Wisconsin Grassland Ecologist for the Audubon Great Lakes, uh, and leads the Audubon Conservation Ranching Program in Wisconsin. And so he offered to burn these piles for me, which I had have roughly 30 of, uh, hanging out and they're giant piles. Like easily the size of the studio that we're in right now. Go ahead and, uh, show us some pictures, uh, Phil. Yeah. Do you want to do that first picture?

• 19:05Speaker 05

  Yeah, there's a picture of Ashley with the big old fire going behind him. You can see the size of the pile. It's legit. Um, so we had to get these things burned, uh, so that we have like a clear, uh, space to then do our seeding, which is going to happen very soon here. We're going to do a frost seeding, which basically means they just sprinkle the seeds all over while they still have, uh, you know, snow and basically a freeze thaw cycle, which will help the seeds get great contact with the ground. Go ahead and, uh, show those three, uh, mulch tree photos in a row. So this is the day that he burns. Uh, there's a, we have a stand kind of on this wildlife opening. The oak savanna is actually to the north, but you can see this is like, well, 11 a.m.

• 19:50Speaker 05

  And then a little bit later, uh, Ashley's got them all burning and then by, I think, 3:30, 4:00 in the next photo, you can, oh no, already by, that was only at noon. Well, that happened fast. Hmm. So they continued to burn and they, the piles got even a little bit smaller as you'll see in the video coming up here. But I was asking Ashley, uh, I'm like, mate, this is gonna take a couple of days and you can't just take time off of work. And he's like, oh, no, I will be working while I'm doing this. I'm like, but we don't have like a contract or anything. And he goes, yeah, man, but ours are our sort of attitude at the Audubon Society is like, if it's good for the birds, it's good for the bees. Sort of like, meaning like, we don't have a project with you,

• 20:33Speaker 05

  but what you're doing like helps the whole landscape around here. And it just, it has an impact. And so gladly come up and, and help you and put some of my work time

• 20:45Speaker 06

  Oh, that's cool.

• 20:46Speaker 05

  into your project. Yeah. Can you show that video, Phil, of the?

• 20:49Speaker 06

  The first one here?

• 20:50Speaker 05

  Yeah. This is a still when they're, uh, burning pretty good.

• 20:55Speaker 04

  With the exception of ones on the very south facing hillside.

• 21:01Speaker 06

  Oh, boy.

• 21:02Speaker 04

  Site.

• 21:04Speaker 04

  All I can think of is

• 21:07Speaker 04

  large scale landscape level restoration like this and sitting here in September and listening to Elk Bugle in this landscape.

• 21:20Speaker 04

  Have a good day.

• 21:22Speaker 05

  Um, I, we can, I think we've spent enough time on this. We don't need to play that other one. Um, but the next video would just show all those piles basically being a lot smaller. And it, it's, it's cool for me. You guys are just looking at like basically bonfires and going like, why is this really that interesting? But for someone that's been involved in this project now for two years and knowing that the end is really, well, there is no end to it, but sort of like, hopefully it looks like the Oaks of Anna that it's in my head in about another three years. Cause it's going to take three years for these seeds to really establish themselves and get going. But just the change from what it looked like when I was there in the fall with all these giant piles and now to see those piles gone and you can really get that sort of

• 22:05Speaker 05

  just like unobstructed view across those seven acres and just looking through like the few leftover giant oaks. It's sweet.

• 22:12Speaker 06

  Yeah, that's cool.

• 22:13Speaker 05

  I had major FOMO when Ashley was there the other day.

• 22:17Speaker 06

  Do you guys have plans to, to keep burning that area?

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• 24:50Steven Rinella?

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• 25:32Speaker 05

  All right, enough BSing. Let's get on with our first interview of the morning. We're going to play a little video before we start.

• 25:40Speaker 04

  Oh, yeah.

• 25:42Speaker 06

  When I'm skiing into the range, there's a lot going through my head. In 30 seconds, feels like the race could change. Hands are freezing, snow covers off and my heart rate's high. Magazine in, close the action, don't fumble, slow it down, focus. Pressure on the trigger, don't fight it, smooth, first shot, clean. Second shot, a little less, just third, fourth. Sometimes I'm not even really thinking. It all goes silent. And after that last shot, it all comes rushing back. Breathing, heartbeat, noise.

• 26:25Speaker 06

  And I'm not even on snow yet. This is biathlon.

• 26:32Speaker 05

  Hmm, sweet. Our first guests today, joining us from Ant-Holz, Italy, are biathletes Paul Schommer and Matt Emmons. Now Matt might not consider himself, I'm guessing he still skis as a biathlete in some version, but he is Paul's coach now. Welcome to the show, fellas.

• 26:55Speaker 06

  Hey, nice uh, nice journey guys.

• 26:58Speaker 05

  Good here.

• 27:00Speaker 05

  That uh, the first time I watched that video, I was like, nah, man, he's just, he's not even on snow. But when I just watched it, for whatever reason, man, it kinda got me fired fired up. And I was feeling the pressure that you feel when you're out there trying to shoot those little targets. Um, all right, fellas, welcome. Like I said, uh, for those that don't know, can you guys just give us a 30 second explanation of what biathlon is?

• 27:25Speaker 06

  Yeah, so I think, just to start, I think it's what's really cool about biathlon is I think it's really connected to a lot of things that make us, um, that we hold dear to us as humans, which I think are one, hunting and two, um, protecting and providing for those that we love. Cause it was really came about, uh, from people in Northern Scandinavia back in the day, hunting on snow in the winter on skis. And then eventually got turned into a border patrol during World War II. And then, and then basically from that practice, um, they had some mini competitions, um, and that's what turned into biathlon. Biathlon is first and foremost, a race. So the clock starts when you

• 28:06Speaker 06

  leave the, the start and ends when you cross the finish line. And it's a ski race where you stop and you have shootings, either two or four different shootings from an equal amount of, um, prone and standing. So if you have a two shooting race, it's one prone, one standing. A four shooting race, it's two prone, two standing. And for every missed target, you have a penalty, either by having to ski a penalty loop or a time penalty. Um, and so it's all about skiing fast, uh, being efficient on the range and hitting targets.

• 28:37Speaker 05

  Okay, obviously, uh, heart rate must play just like a huge, huge, it's gotta be a huge factor in like being able to execute what you're doing. So tell me, before we get into like how you do it, but like what's your like resting heart rate and your like racing when you're on skis? And then the heart rate that you're trying to actually, when you're shooting, what you're trying to get your heart rate to?

• 29:02Speaker 04

  Yeah, so I mean resting heart rate, um, I would say most nights I'm in the low 30s.

• 29:08Speaker 05

  Wow.

• 29:09Speaker 04

  So I'd say like if I'm in like a good spot and I'm waking up, um, I'll have my heart rate. Um, I have an Oura ring, but the Oura ring only tracks to 33 and so there'll be some times where I'll be under that, um, and there'll be like gaps in it. And then heart rate variability is another one that you will get for recovery. On the range, um, I have a pretty low heart rate in this grand scheme of things when it comes to like max heart rate. So my max heart rate is probably going to be like 175, um, throughout the season, whereas like some competitors, they'll be up over 200.

• 29:44Speaker 05

  Okay. And then so that that's your max when you're skiing and you're going full bore. What's the heart rate that you're trying to be at when you're trying to, uh, make these shots?

• 29:55Speaker 04

  Oh man, I mean, honestly, I don't really look at my heart rate too much. Um, I think that the breathing i- is what I really focus on, um, mostly because that's kind of like the anchor of focus sometimes. So you like control your breathing because you can control your breathing, whereas your heart rate is kind of like, kind of like, all right, heart's going to do what it wants. Um, I would say I'm probably shooting around 150 beats per minute most times that I'm, I'm on the range or more.

• 30:26Speaker 05

  For those of you at home, like, I don't know if you can even get to 150 beats a minute, but like, go ahead and try shooting a gun accurately with your heart doing 150 beats a minute. That's insane. Um, all right, Paul, because we, we've interviewed you before on the show, uh, not on this show, but on the Meteor Podcast, uh, so I have an idea of like the things that you've been through. I follow you on Instagram. Give us the, the sort of rundown of the hurdles. Um, I was talking with recently the, the, um, one of the main folks over at Crosscut, which is Bozeman's biathlete, uh, sort of center,

• 31:06Speaker 05

  shooting center. And I mentioned your name and she's like, yeah, that guy has been through more to get to what he's getting to do now than like anybody else I know. I mean, it's just like, it's amazing. So give us a short rundown of like the hurdles that you've had to go through to be able to race this next week.

• 31:26Speaker 04

  Um, I mean, yeah, I think that when I was last sitting in your guys' studio in 2022, I was asked the question like, oh, how long, how much longer are you going to go? And at that point, I was kind of like, I don't really know, like, um, and I, I didn't really see myself competing for another four years. And I think that decision was almost kind of made for me. Um, in 2023, I had a knee injury that I actually had to get a knee surgery. Um, so I had to finish my season early, came home, got surgery, rehabbed back from that surgery, um, made a full comeback, qualified for World Cup, was at the pre-World Cup, uh, camp in Finland, and my knee just totally blew

• 32:09Speaker 04

  up. Like, just, I didn't know what was going on. I thought maybe it was just the travel, some other things. Um, wasn't getting better. So, um, I ended up flying home from Finland. And at that point, um, not only was I having some knee issues, I was actually having a lot of other stuff going on in my personal life as well. And I, I just remember sitting across the table from my coach when I was in Finland and just saying like, I'm going home and I don't know when I'm coming back. Because, like, it just seemed like everything was pretty chaotic at that point. Um, I ended up going home and I realized that my knee had re-injured itself, so I had to get a second knee surgery. And basically what happened was the first surgery, the injury that they had repaired,

• 32:51Speaker 04

  just had failed and I was right back to where I was. And, um, it was a knee scope, so they're like, oh, hey, you should be good to like ski pretty soon. Um, and my knee just was not responding. Um, I would ski for about 30 minutes, my knee would be swollen for two days. Um, and so at that point, I was like, I don't even know if I can compete, much less if I want to compete. Um, and that kind of like put me in a really interesting spot because it was kind of like, maybe the decision was made for me. Um, I felt like my life at that point was maybe steering me in a different direction. Priorities that came, that come before sport, um, were, were things that I think I was

• 33:31Speaker 04

  Prioritizing at that time, um, but as that year unfolded, uh, again, I think some, some decisions were made for me, maybe decisions that I wouldn't have made for myself. And I ultimately felt like I should train, train back. Um, I went down to Stedman Clinic in Colorado because my knee wasn't responding and they said that I should get another knee surgery. Um, but they were going to put metal in my, my knee and I was just not ready to, to put metal in my knee at my age. It would have just kind of started me down another path that, um, I didn't really feel like was necessary. And, uh, I actually kind of started to get back into training and then got to a point where I was like, man, I finally feel like my knee's responding. I can train enough to be able to get back to a high level.

• 34:16Speaker 04

  Um, and I really don't know what happened other than maybe my body responded, um, in such a way that I was able to get back and slowly made my way back, um, at that time because I didn't compete that year before I was left off the national team. Um, so I didn't have any support from the national team. I lost my health insurance. Um, I was just training on my own and thankfully was able to re-qualify for the team this past year. Um, had to work my way back up through the ranks. Um, was at world championships and, um, qualified for that basically like last minute. Um, I missed a lot of other chaotic things going on and, um, that, that makes me being here in Italy

• 34:58Speaker 04

  right now, talking to you guys, um, something that I'm like really grateful for because I definitely don't, um, take it for granted. There's plenty of things that could have derailed me along the way and, um, makes it, makes it really special to be able to, to compete this winter.

• 35:12Speaker 05

  Awesome. Okay. So you, I don't know if I'm going to phrase this properly, but like what, you made it to the Olympics, which I think is, you know, for most of, most people that, that would be in of itself, like, and it is an amazing.

• 35:24Speaker 07

  Let's say for everybody, just, just generalize. Anybody that.

• 35:29Speaker 05

  It's an amazing accomplishment, but obviously you've got a little bit more gur in you than most of us. So you've, you're here. What's like, wh- wh- what is your focus set on now? What's your goal that you're there now?

• 35:43Speaker 04

  Um, well, I think like for this year, I've set the, the goal for myself, um, top 10 at the Olympics. Um, I've gone top 10 at this venue before on the World Cup. Um, and so that's something that I've really thought of. I think another goal for our entire team that we have and something that we hear about all the time at the Olympics is biathlon is the only winter sport the U S has yet to medal in at the Winter Olympics. And it's kind of dubbed the last first medal. Um, and so I think our goal is really to, to see the U S win that, that medal. Um, I think we have some chances in individual events, especially with my, my teammate Campbell, who last year won two silver medals at world championships. But, um, we've been fourth a couple of times and relayed this year on the, on the World Cup.

• 36:27Speaker 04

  So, um, I think we really have our sights set on hopefully bringing home that last first medal.

• 36:33Speaker 05

  Love it. Listen, man, if you're telling me that you're, you're planning on possibly breaking top 10, I immediately think, well, if he can do that, he could also go podium. Like you're only, that's only a few, few spots. And I know you guys know way more about this than I do, but, uh, yeah. All right. Awesome. I love to hear it. Let's talk a little bit about how this biathlon business, uh, like relates to hunting. Um, Matt, I was told that you actually have hunted chamois in the valley that you guys are, are compete. Well, the Paul is competing in this week. Is that right?

• 37:09Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah. Actually I've been here, uh, four different times hunting for chamois. Uh, it's a beautiful valley. I call it like my second home, even though it's not. Um, just love coming here. I love mountain hunting and I've lived in Europe now for 13 years. Um, and one of the things I've missed about living out west in the U S was just mountain hunting. Um, and so I got an opportunity to be able to come here and hunt chamois and it's, it's just awesome. So wasn't able to do it this past year, but hopefully this coming year I'll be able to do it again.

• 37:35Speaker 05

  What, what does a, uh, is that what you guys call it? Chamois or do you, do you pronounce it chamois?

• 37:42Speaker 04

  Uh, I say chamois. I don't know if that's right or not, but.

• 37:44Speaker 05

  Yeah. So like what's a sh- chamois hunt in, in that area look like? Just gives a real quick rundown of like a normal morning chamois hunt.

• 37:55Speaker 04

  Um, all of my hunts actually have been. Good morning, hunts. Pretty much what we do is we get up before, before sunup, um, get up in the mountains. Usually we drive up with a car up to a certain point. Uh, and then you gotta hike and sometimes it could be, you know, maybe just a 15 minute hike to get to a spot we're gonna be spotting. Um, or it could be a longer hike. Um, one year we actually did go into about midday. Um, so we were moving around trying to spot some animals. This isn't what we're looking for. Let's go over here. Um, and then we found some different ones, not what we're looking for. Let's go over here. So it took a little bit longer, but once you get one down. Um, usually you're up above, above 2,000 meters, which is over 6,000 feet, um, up above tree line.

• 38:35Speaker 04

  So once you get it down, then it's, you know, matter of gutting it, put it in a backpack hole. They put it in, in the backpack hole. They don't cut it up. Um, cause they only weigh about probably ah 60, 65 pounds roughly. Put it in the backpack and then you're hiking back down. So it could be, you know, a short hike, depending on where you park. Or it could be a fairly long hike. I mean, nothing like elk hunting in Colorado or something, but.

• 38:56Speaker 05

  Sure.

• 38:56Speaker 04

  You know, you get it down and take it to the cooler where, where we go and let it hang.

• 39:01Speaker 05

  Are they pretty spooky critters or, or like how sneaky do you have to be to get within rifle range?

• 39:08Speaker 04

  They see really well, so it depends on where, where you're at. Um, last year, well, not last year, the year before last. Um, I don't know if that one was just stupid or whatever, but we actually went across this opening where he could see us and I got to about 350 yards. Um, and decided, okay, he's, if we go any closer, he's gonna bust. So I was able to take the shot and knock him down. Um. Depends on where you're at. There's a lot of times where you're trying to sneak in, sneak in to get to rifle range or good rifle range, which I would say is. You know, 250 to 300 yards. The closest shot I've ever taken was probably about 230. Um, you gotta kind of sneak behind rocks, try to keep yourself hidden because they see well, and especially if you've got a big group of them. Um, you know, maybe there's 10 animals there. You got 10 different sets of eyes looking at you.

• 39:54Speaker 04

  Um, then you gotta be a little bit more careful, especially if there are females in, uh, if there are females with little ones, then. Then you gotta be really careful to get in on a buck.

• 40:03Speaker 05

  Um, I know both of you guys, uh, hunt, hunt a fair amount. Are there times when you guys are actually in the field? Maybe right after a shot or getting ready to preparing for a shot where you have a thought where you're like, oh. My biathlon training is really paying off.

• 40:24Speaker 04

  I mean, for sure. I think the biggest thing that I've noticed is that, one, I'm fit enough to be able to get places that I need to be, which is like a huge benefit. But yeah, I think that there's been a few hunts like in Montana, I was hunting the Missouri Brakes and like, we just like found a spot and it was no problem to hike in six miles or ever. And I mean, we were just on elk all day, every day. And then I think a couple of years ago, I actually drew a moose tag in North Dakota. And hunting there, I think that, like, one, the persistence, just like waking up every single day as an athlete, you just know, like, hey, it's a new opportunity. And just gotta be in the game if we're gonna be there. But then also, like, when that target shows up and the heart rate goes up,

• 41:08Speaker 04

  I'm, I'm just like, okay, yeah, we're just like, doesn't mean that my trigger has to be any bit different. Doesn't mean that my anchor points, my sights, everything else. Like, my, my focus goes immediately to the things that I want to do to take a good shot. And I think a lot of that comes from the fact that, like, I shoot tens of thousands of rounds every single year. Yeah, with a rifle, whereas with my, with my moose, I shot it with my bow. But like, shooting is shooting. And I think that's the biggest thing as a biathlete. Like, I just, I know I'm a better shooter than than I was when I was younger, and I wasn't shooting nearly as much as I do now. Well, I also think, Paul, the mental part of it, because when you're, we kind of go on autopilot. It's like, we've done this so much, whether it's in biathlon or precision shooting, you

• 41:53Speaker 04

  perform so often under pressure that when we're hunting, you get to that moment and you just do the things that you've been trained to do, the things that you've done, you know, thousands and thousands of times. So that, that training comes in very helpful. You just, you don't even think about it. You just do the work that needs to be done.

• 42:11Speaker 05

  Right. Okay. So you guys have both shot, I don't even know, you guys, do you guys have a rough number in your head about how many rounds of 22 LR you've, you've put down range?

• 42:23Speaker 04

  Well, I want to make a distinction here. Matt is a, um, he was an Olympic shooter and how many medals do you have? Three. So he has three shootings in just, uh, three medals in just shooting. Um, so that's, I mean, he, he probably shoots more as an athlete than I do. I probably shoot about 15 to 20,000 rounds of 22 a year. Yeah, it wasn't, I probably shot about maybe 25,000 a year.

• 42:46Speaker 05

  And how many years?

• 42:49Speaker 04

  Uh, I competed for, gee whiz, over 20 years. So I, it's, it's, it's a lot.

• 42:54Speaker 07

  That's fabulous. That's fabulous.

• 42:56Speaker 05

  That's a lot. I love it. So.

• 42:58Speaker 07

  Bet your fingers still stink like powder.

• 43:01Speaker 05

  I think for a real, like, a real take home for folks, uh, watching and listening would be coming from you guys. Like, what are, like, each give me two reasons of why, like, what makes someone a, I'm gonna use air quotes, a bad shot? Go ahead. Matt, you first.

• 43:21Speaker 04

  All right. Um, practice, practice. Everything comes down to practice. Um, I mean, also, if you practice poor things, if you've practiced a lot and you're doing it wrong, you're just gonna get good at doing it wrong.

• 43:34Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 43:34Speaker 04

  Um, so I think proper practice is number one. Um, a lot of people don't understand what proper technique is, and it's as simple as position, breathing, trigger control, follow through. If you can do those things right, you're gonna hit a lot of targets or animals or whatever it might be. Um, so I think proper practice, learning what proper technique is, and then just simply doing it, doing it a lot.

• 43:57Speaker 05

  Paul?

• 43:57Speaker 04

  Yeah, and I think, um, I think, I like, I see it in, I'm gonna say biathlon and if I'm watching hunting videos sometimes. You see someone, man, they're just, they don't have any good trigger work, and then they also are just popping their head up to see if they hit the target even before the shot goes off. So like, if your head's coming up before the recoil goes, you're more concerned about if you hit the animal. Um, I think that's the big thing. It's just having that patience to be able to have that trigger squeeze, watch it through the scope or your sights and see that bullet hit the target. Um, I think that's it. That's a huge one.

• 44:31Speaker 05

  Hmm. Hmm. So it sounds like being a bad shot is not an innate thing. Everybody just needs to shoot more, shoot more often.

• 44:40Speaker 04

  It's a skill and I would say skills are trainable.

• 44:42Speaker 07

  Yep. Love that.

• 44:44Speaker 05

  Uh, Randall, Seth, any questions for these fellows?

• 44:47Speaker 07

  Um, man, real quick, I, uh, I don't, I don't need the full breakdown on your rifle, but it looks like it's a straight pole. A lot of stuff hanging off of it. Um, I'm curious if you could give us like the 30 second rundown of, of what you compete with in terms of firearms. And then also you must travel internationally with, with your firearms quite a bit. So I'm curious about that as well.

• 45:13Speaker 04

  Yeah. So pretty much every single biathlete is going to shoot the exact same action and barrel. It's an on shoots Fortner. Um, and it's just the straight pole action. Uh, reason being is because of that action and also a reliable, good barrel. Um, there's ammo testing and barrel testing that's done. So every once in a while you'll have to get a new barrel. Um, but pretty much everybody's shooting the same thing where the differentiating like factor is going to be for each athlete is, is in the stock. Um, unfortunately I don't have my rifle here because they're all in rifle storage up at the venue. Um, otherwise I'd be able to show you, but my stock, I got a new one back in, uh, 2019. Um, it was made by a stockmaker in Germany. He's kind of renowned as being one of the best stockmakers in the world.

• 45:57Speaker 04

  Um, and it's all about balance and, and fitting me anatomically, my hand size, my arms, um, my cheekbones, everything. And it's all open sights. Um, but then it weighs about, uh, three and a half kilos, um, just over seven pounds. And yeah, and then you have a harness on so you can put it on your back while you're, while you're skiing. Um, now traveling with a rifle, um, honestly, as an American, sometimes really sucks because we don't have paperwork. Because all the Europeans, they all have rifle passports. So when they show up to a, a country, they can show them their rifle passport. They're like, okay, good.

• 46:38Speaker 04

  You go. We show up here and they're always asking us, oh, do you have like your firearms license? Do you have?

• 46:43Speaker 06

  And we're like, we're American. We that like my passport is my firearm license. Like, I don't know what you're talking about. And so a lot of times they're just sitting there like, wait, you don't have any. I'm like, usually what I show them is just the customs form, the like four, four, five, seven, which is the, the form that allows you to bring it back into the U.S. And they're just like, oh, okay, cool. But um, so yeah, it can be a real pain. I would say like South Korea was a huge pain. China, they didn't even let us touch it. Um, but they took the rifles from the airport and they put them in an armored vehicle and then drove them to the venue for our, for us. Um, but once you get in, it's, it's pretty simple. It's not, not anything crazy. Paperwork.

• 47:21Speaker 06

  Cool. What's the, uh, what's the ammo that you guys are shooting? Is that like all factory stuff or, or someone like loading that for you guys? And, and is everyone using the same ammo? Yeah, it's all, it's all factory ammo. So 22 is, it's not impossible to reload, but nobody does it. Yeah. Um, the way the priming system's done, the powder and all that stuff. So most everyone on the World Cup is using Lapua ammo. And it's called Lapua Polar Biathlon. Um, this was a, a 22 long rifle round that was developed for shooting in cold temperatures. So it uses a, a different type of powder that's less sensitive to temperature changes. Cause whether it's, you know, I don't know, 35 degrees Fahrenheit or zero, um, we're using the same stuff.

• 48:03Speaker 06

  And we need to make sure that the velocity is not going to change drastically as some other powders might. That way we keep the accuracy. Um, it also has a special lube on the bullet which functions better in cold weather. Um, most everyone's using the same stuff. There are some teams that are using, uh, RWS now. Um, and they've also developed a similar type of, of bullet and powder combination. Um, but most everyone uses Lapua. Nice. Love this.

• 48:29Speaker 05

  Okay. Lastly, uh, tell us, uh, I guess what day you're racing and I'm assuming that NBC Peacock is the best way. But maybe there's another place on the internet to watch your races, Paul?

• 48:42Speaker 04

  Yeah, so um we we have, Biathlon has, I think, 10 race days in the um in the Olympics here. We have, um, that's gonna be split between both men's and women's. The first race is gonna be this Sunday, the mixed relay. And then the men's individual is on Tuesday. The men's sprint is on Friday. Pursuit is on Sunday, is it?

• 49:07Speaker 06

  I think it's Sunday.

• 49:08Speaker 04

  Sunday. And then the relay is the next week, um, the 17th, which I think is a Tuesday or Wednesday. Um, but yeah, you can find it all on biathlonworld.com or biathlonresults.com, um, or on NBC M K C.

• 49:23Steven Rinella?

  Love it.

• 49:24Speaker 05

  Awesome. Thank you. Well, good luck to you guys. Uh, we'll be cheering you on from, uh, Bozeman, Montana.

• 49:31Steven Rinella?

  USA, USA, USA, U.

• 49:37Speaker 04

  Hey, I wanna share one last thing with you guys. Uh, as you say, good luck, I think one thing that's really cool here in Europe, or in Italy specifically, if you're wishing someone luck, it's kind of a call and response. Instead of just saying good luck, what you would say is embocco al lupo to the person you're wishing good luck, which means in the wolf's mouth. And the person would respond, preppy lupo, which means the wolf is dead. So, embocco al lupo, preppy lupo.

• 50:00Steven Rinella?

  Embocco al lupo.

• 50:02Speaker 05

  In the wolf's mouth and you respond with the wolf is dead.

• 50:06Steven Rinella?

  I love that.

• 50:06Speaker 05

  That's fantastic. Paul, you're crushing it, dude. Um, I, I, I see a top 10 finishing your future, buddy. Thanks again for coming on and, uh, we'll, we'll be watching you here shortly.

• 50:18Speaker 04

  Thanks, guys.

• 50:18Steven Rinella?

  Good luck, fellas. That's great.

• 50:22Speaker 05

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• 51:01Steven Rinella?

  If you spend a lot of time outdoors, you got dogs, you got kids, you know how hard it is to keep the floor of your rig clean. A thing we do in our, in our little fleet of vehicles that have at my household, if you go look, open the door on any one of them, they all got WeatherTech. We get a car, we throw the mats out and put in WeatherTech. Cause that way, when there's a mess, it's like your kid's fault, your dog's fault, it's the weather's fault, doesn't matter. You take them suckers out and hose them off and you're back to being good as new. I'm telling you, if you got a vehicle, put WeatherTech in there, you're gonna be happy you did it. And check this out, American made floor liners and cargo liners, okay? They laugh in the face of all weather. Go take a look for yourself today at weathertech.com. Okay. So buying a new car or a new home starts by building credit, right?

• 51:46Steven Rinella?

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• 52:07Speaker 03

  One Pay is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by Coastal Community Bank or Lead Bank, members FDIC. Builder card results may vary and aren't guaranteed. Learn more about banking through One Pay at onepay.com/podcast.

• 52:22Steven Rinella?

  I get sent all kinds of products and snacks and the truth is most of them come and go. Every once in a while though, I find something I keep reaching for and Wiley Wallaby is one of those things. I first tried it because someone just handed me a bag and said, this isn't like any other kind of licorice you've had before. And they were right. Wiley Wallaby makes authentic Australian style licorice that's incredibly soft and chewy. It's not like that weird, tough, waxy, cheap junk you get. And it doesn't have that artificial taste that turns a lot of people away from licorice in the first place. It's one Of those products, that's hard to explain until you've tasted it yourself. I keep some in my truck. I keep some in my fish shack. I keep some in my camper. They've got more than 10 flavors.

• 53:03Steven Rinella?

  And whether you like classic flavors or something a little different, there's probably one you'll end up keeping stocked around the house. Plus, it's made in the USA by a company that's been committed to quality and hometown values for over six decades. If you haven't tried Wiley Wallaby yet, pick yourself up a bag. Use code MEATEATER at shop.wileywallaby.com for free shipping and you can try it yourself. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

• 53:33Speaker 05

  Should we turn to our next guest?

• 53:35Speaker 06

  Yeah, I was, I was gonna say, let's move listener feed. Let's do a supersized listener feedback at the end of the show. So we can just do back to back interviews here and then hit throwback and then questions?

• 53:44Speaker 05

  Yeah, we don't wanna, we don't wanna keep our next, uh, our next guest waiting too long. So now we are joined by Wildlife Officer Extraordinaire Demi Wright from Colorado. Demi, welcome to the show. Hi guys. Thanks for having me. Super excited to be here. Are you a, were you watching that last interview? I was. Yeah, those guys are awesome. Are you gonna be watching? Are you a fan of the Olympics? Are you gonna be tuning in? Yeah, absolutely. Definitely gonna watch the Olympics. I can't, I can't believe how many rounds those guys shoot every year. Oh my gosh.

• 54:19Speaker 06

  Lucky.

• 54:22Speaker 05

  I guess if you, if you have the right sponsor, uh, you get to shoot all that for free, probably. Yeah, that's, yeah, that's amazing. Um, all right, Demi, we came across ya. Uh, I think most of us, I mean, I'm sure a lot of people watching and listening probably have seen your face or know your name. Because recently you had a, uh, a big, I think a big poaching bus and it got a lot of press.

• 54:48Speaker 05

  So tell us a little bit about that, uh, that specific case and sort of, I guess, why did it get so much press? Yeah, um, so the recent cage case was a, a poaching case, uh, with some active duty soldiers on, uh, Fort Carson, uh, an army military installation here in Colorado Springs in Colorado. I cover that installation and then they allow hunting and recreation opportunities on that installation. And it's an incredible resource, um, for civilians to hunt on and for, for, uh, members of the military. But, um, that poaching case.

• 55:23Speaker 04

  Involved six illegally taken deer and um you know it it got it got a lot of uh attention um which I wasn't expecting at all um. We have a lot of military in in Colorado Springs and so I think people always want to know what's going on. Um and it was pretty egregious. So I think people were were really upset with how many animals were taken and. You know, it's just uh, yeah, it got some some more attention than I thought it would.

• 55:52Speaker 05

  Okay, remind everybody, because I think a lot of times when we hear about a poaching case, you're like, well, it's just one. Or maybe even if it's just six deer, right? Or oh, someone had to eat and it's it's sometimes it can be easy. To be like, well, it's not that bad until you until you see like thirty, you know, giant racks that were poached. But remind everybody why why poaching is bad.

• 56:15Speaker 04

  Yeah, I mean, so hunting and poaching, two different things, right? Um, you know, hunters are doing it legally and ethically responsibly. They've got a license in their pocket. They're out there, you know, to fill their freezers or uh carry on tradition and heritage, have time with family and friends. Uh, you know, doing all the right things and reaping the rewards of it. And then poaching is just is a crime. It's just straight up taking, you know, or pursuing wildlife illegally. Um, and ultimately, you know, legal, ethical, responsible hunting funds wildlife conservation, you know. In Colorado and like many other states, um, hunting and fishing licenses fund wildlife conservation and habitat management. So.

• 56:55Speaker 04

  When you're not paying into that pot, you're robbing legitimate sports persons and as a legitimate sports person. I I'm I'm not cool with that and I just happen to have a patch that enforces those rules, so.

• 57:07Speaker 05

  Okay, we'll get back to the case itself. But I I want to do like a a few questions to just kind of set us up here. What um, like, wh- why did you want to become a wildlife officer?

• 57:19Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 57:20Speaker 05

  Or how did you get into it?

• 57:21Speaker 04

  I I've thought about that a lot recently. Um, yeah, I mean, I I grew up outdoors. Um, I was outside since since I was just a little one, you know. I have Barbie fishing pole in my hand. Um.

• 57:34Speaker 06

  Way back when and you know, I grew up around being outside hiking, camping, boating. Um, I grew up around a hunting family. Um, hunting wasn't passed down to me when I was, when I was younger. Um, it just kind of skipped my generation, but you know, I grew up butchering and processing, you know, all the animals that were brought home. And so I loved it. And then I realized when I got older, I could, I could get paid for this. And I actually have, you know, family members in the agency that I work for. And so I spent a couple of days in the summer being voluntold to do some things.

• 58:06Speaker 05

  Uh huh.

• 58:06Speaker 06

  Um, so, um, I realized, yeah, I want to do this. And then, you know, I knew I wanted to work for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Uh, I didn't really know in what, you know, what aspect I, I did. Then I realized I could be a wildlife officer and serve a community. Um, and so it all kind of worked out. I'm also a people person, so I didn't want to be a biologist because I need people to talk to. Um, our, our biologists do incredible work, but I'm, I'm kind of a yapper. So wildlife officer worked for me.

• 58:38Speaker 05

  Okay. Uh, what's a, what's a normal day look like for you? When they're, when you don't have to like go and, you know, check up on some illegally shot deer. You're just going, and I know that I, I'm very aware of the breadth of, of what you do. So there might not be an A, uh, an easy answer, but what's a normal day for you look like?

• 58:58Speaker 06

  Yeah. Um, there is definitely no normal day. Every day is different and that's, that's certainly the feel of the job, right? Um, my truck's my office, so a normal day starts in, starts in my office in my truck. Um, and you know, maybe it's hunting season and it's that time, you know, it's fall time and I'm, I'm checking hunters for 12 or 14 hours a day. And maybe that's what my whole day is, or you know, maybe it's summer when, you know, in Colorado Springs is the, the urban wildlife interface. And so moving bears around and And deer and or maybe I'm teaching Hunter Ed or I'm in a school doing, you know, a career,

• 59:38Speaker 06

  career topic. I mean, no two days are the same, which is truly the best part of this job is I've, I've never lived the same day twice. So.

• 59:46Speaker 07

  That's awesome.

• 59:47Speaker 05

  That is a great reason to to have your job. Okay, so that's a normal day, which sounds awesome. What? Tell, tell me about, how, how many years have you been doing this job?

• 59:58Speaker 06

  Yeah, I'm, I would classify myself as a, as a baby officer. So I've been an officer now for three years. Um, I started with agencies and intern and then I did some seasonal positions, which was the most fun jobs ever. All the fun stuff, none the responsibility. Um, and so, yeah, officer for three years now.

• 1:00:18Speaker 05

  So get in those three years. What's the most exciting day that you've experienced on the job? What happened?

• 1:00:25Speaker 06

  Oh, man, we have some exciting days. I'm not gonna lie. Um, I handle bears all the time. Um, I've got a lot of bears in my, in my district that I cover. Um, so I usually have my hands on, on a bear or two. And those days are exciting, especially when they're being honorary. And, you know, you can't predict what wildlife is gonna do, um, especially when you're trying to pick up a bear. Um, you know, we, we do some really cool stuff. You know, we have, uh, bighorn sheep traps that we do, and that's for some relocating to create different sheep herds. And that is literally just going out and wrestling sheep. Um, so there's a lot of exciting days.

• 1:01:05Speaker 05

  Okay, okay. Um, fellas, any questions to right now before I move on here?

• 1:01:11Speaker 07

  No, I'm just like, the hands on stuff always just grabs my imagination.

• 1:01:17Speaker 06

  Yeah. Yeah, the hands down stuff is why you do the job, right?

• 1:01:20Speaker 07

  Yeah, totally.

• 1:01:22Speaker 06

  I want to touch a bear.

• 1:01:25Speaker 05

  All right. So the article that I read, the many that I read, said there was a, a moment identified where you identified or associated vehicle with this crime that happened on, on Fort Carson. Um, but it didn't really say exactly how you did that. Um, can you explain like how you all of a sudden like figured out what vehicle was associated with the crime? And then tell me, like, was that a sort of crux of the investigation?

• 1:01:53Speaker 06

  Yeah. Um, so I was, you know, this, this tip came in from, from a legitimate hunter who, who'd found a buck.

• 1:02:01Speaker 07

  How the antlers sawed off and and very minimal meat taken and and he called the Fort Carson conservation officers who are absolutely incredible to work with. And so, you know, they kind of called me in and said, you know, we, I think we have a poacher. So went out there, um, you know, looked at the buck. Obviously, this is not a legitimate harvest that, you know, quarters aren't taken, tenderloins aren't taken, backstraps. I mean, just one, one small roast and the antlers cut off. And so, um, looking around for a spent cartridge, which is uh, pretty impossible on an active military installation, by the way.

• 1:02:39Speaker 07

  Uh, there's a lot of spent cartridges and, um, you know, find, find another doe with the exact same, same rump roast taken and that's it. Um, but near those two carcasses, found some boot tracks, um, followed those boot tracks, um, off of the installation.

• 1:02:56Speaker 05

  Sorry to inter- interject, but, uh, dirt tracking or snow tracking?

• 1:03:01Speaker 07

  A little bit of both. There wasn't a lot of snow on the ground. There was snow in some parts, but it was, yeah, it was mostly dirt. Um, so yeah, followed the boot tracks off the installation, found some tire tracks. It happened to be near a wildland firefighter. Um, housing. So, you know, we just, me and the conservation officers for Fort Carson popped in there and firefighters saw a vehicle there, um, within the last couple of days. And I, I, I knew that those carcasses were one, maybe two, two days old. So, um, they're like, yeah, this, this vehicle was here. It was weird. We took a picture of it. So that kind of linked up my guy and found the registered owner of that vehicle because they took the picture, um, ran him through our systems.

• 1:03:44Speaker 07

  Never had a license, which of course led me to his social media, uh, myself and the conservation officers to his social media where he.

• 1:03:53Speaker 04

  He certainly had some animals on there, but no license.

• 1:03:56Speaker 05

  Well. Yeah, that brings up the question because we've talked to enough wildlife officers over the years. And it more and more, it seems like what's bringing these fools down is social media. And like, and we've heard like, it's a big part of your job, right? Where you can actually like, get a lot of work done just by perusing social media.

• 1:04:20Speaker 04

  Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, everybody takes pictures of of what they do, you know? And especially if you think it's something cool. Um, and everybody's got a cell phone in their pocket. And so, yeah, in this case, uh, for for this case, um, twenty something people definitely take pictures of the things that they shoot at. And so, uh, we use that to our advantage. I mean, we're gonna use every, I'm gonna use every tool I have. So if I've got to get a warrant for your social media, that's fine. I can do that.

• 1:04:50Speaker 05

  Un- unreal, unreal.

• 1:04:54Speaker 05

  What else was I gonna ask you? Um, oh, as as a part of the punishment, I read that, uh, that they're giving giving some pretty hefty fines and then they're still sort of waiting to see what kind of, um, revocations, is that the right word? Will happen of their hunting and fishing licenses and it might be countrywide, um, because of the interstate compact that we have, uh, in place now. Um, so, that's awesome. When I saw the numbers, I was like, oh, good, they're gonna get hit pretty hard. But you're also taking their rifle. The rifle, though, is being destroyed. And oftentimes, that can like, it gets a little, um,

• 1:05:37Speaker 05

  like, people get upset when guns are are destroyed. So, why? Because I've heard that oftentimes heads and hides can be auctioned off, that are heads and hides that come from poaching cases, and then that money can get put back into wildlife. So why destroy this weapon versus possibly auctioning it off and using that money for for wildlife?

• 1:05:59Speaker 04

  Yeah, no, that's a great question. And and everybody asks it. And and the answer is, you know, it's it's state law. So it's Colorado State statute that this firearm has been deemed a public nuisance. And so that happens judicially. That's not something that Colorado Parks and Wildlife makes the call on. And so, you know, we follow the law and we listen to what the court system tells us. So it does get destroyed. We do have some hides that go to auction. And those are like roadkill mortality hides that will go to auction. And that money comes back into the general pot. But with the firearm, yeah, it's the court's decision. But I heard everybody loud and clear on that one.

• 1:06:40Speaker 07

  Well, I don't want to be a snob and I didn't get a good look at that thing. But I don't think it's going to bring in a ton of conservation funding.

• 1:06:47Speaker 04

  It's not anything to fight home about, I'll tell you that.

• 1:06:52Speaker 05

  Randall, you're not going to bid on that one.

• 1:06:54Speaker 07

  No, no, I don't think that's even worth the gun broker, you know, bumping it up with the listings, like paying for extra photos and stuff like that. Yeah.

• 1:07:03Speaker 05

  All right, Demi, for folks that, you know, hear this or they've been thinking about it, young folks out there thinking about what they're going to do with their lives, thinking they could possibly do the job that you do. Sounds pretty awesome. Give us some advice and maybe some sort of baseline education that you need to get involved in doing what you do.

• 1:07:27Speaker 04

  Yeah, so in the state of Colorado, you do have to have a four-year degree in a natural resource field. And then you go through a whole onboarding process, you know, that you would for kind of any peace officer position. So your background checks, polygraphs, psyche eval, all the fun stuff. And then when you get the job, you go to police academy for six months. And then after that, you go to Colorado Parks and Wildlife's academy. They teach you all kinds of fun things, snowmobile training, horseback riding training, wildlife forensics. It's all the cool stuff that you got into the job for.

• 1:08:09Speaker 04

  So that's kind of the education and then what you can expect if you're hired. But, you know, if you're looking at this job, just get involved with whatever, you know, state agency that you can, volunteer, spend your time with people, show them that you can work hard. Go on ride-alongs with the officers. You know, if you want to be an officer, I'd say.

• 1:08:30Speaker 05

  Really, you know, really understand the job before, before you get into it. It, it can be a really huge commitment. It's one of the most rewarding jobs in the world. I can't, I can't picture doing anything else. Um, but just really understand what you're signing up for and get involved as much as you can and just stick with it. Listen more than you speak and yeah, just, just stick with it. It's tough, but uh, once you get in, you're in, so. Hmm. I like that you said that. I, I like, always liked the quote about, uh, you have two ears and one mouth. You should use them and equal.

• 1:09:05Speaker 07

  That's good advice for any, anyone interested in any career field, I think.

• 1:09:09Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah, it is. Uh, Seth and Randall?

• 1:09:14Speaker 07

  I, I don't have any questions. I just, you know, I always appreciate, uh, folks out there putting themselves in uncomfortable situations to protect our, our shared resources and there's just like, everything that we love depends on people committing themselves to protecting that. So hats off and, uh, promising start, a young career, but a promising start. You know, let us know when you have your next big bust. We'll get you back on here. Thanks guys. Yeah. Thank, thanks so, so much for the kind words. Really, really happy to be here and

• 1:09:47Speaker 05

  yeah, share a little bit of what's going on in this world. Thank you, Demi. Good luck in the future.

• 1:09:52Speaker 07

  Thank you.

• 1:09:53Speaker 05

  Thanks, Demi.

• 1:09:54Speaker 06

  See ya.

• 1:09:56Speaker 07

  Two stellar guests today, Yanni.

• 1:10:02Speaker 05

  I ca- I can't take, I, I think I can take credit for Demi because I did send the article to, uh, to Jake, our producer and asked him to line that up. And then, uh, I don't know exactly who lined up Paul and Matt, but, uh, yeah, I've enjoyed that. Uh, it's time for some listener feedback, Phil.

• 1:10:19Speaker 06

  Yeah, well, uh, what, we're probably only going to do one listener feedback.

• 1:10:26Speaker 06

  And then we can just hit all the.

• 1:10:28Speaker 07

  Keep going. We can keep this thing going, Phil.

• 1:10:31Speaker 06

  We'll save that for March.

• 1:10:32Speaker 05

  Who wants to go first on our throwback?

• 1:10:35Speaker 07

  I'll go first.

• 1:10:36Speaker 06

  Oh, sorry. This is very important. I'm, I'm gonna milk all these. I'm gonna milk these for the next month.

• 1:10:49Speaker 05

  Steven Brody are old as shit.

• 1:10:55Speaker 05

  I don't think I had heard that one. Yeah.

• 1:10:57Speaker 07

  Oh, that's fantastic.

• 1:10:59Speaker 06

  It's one of my faves.

• 1:11:00Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 1:11:00Speaker 05

  Oh, Corey Calkins just texted me. He must be listening and he said, I lined up Paul. Come on, bro. Sorry, sorry, Corey. Sorry, Corey.

• 1:11:14Speaker 07

  Shout out to the whole team here.

• 1:11:16Speaker 05

  Yeah, it's a group.

• 1:11:18Speaker 06

  It's not just us.

• 1:11:19Speaker 05

  Group.

• 1:11:19Speaker 07

  I didn't do shit for this one.

• 1:11:21Speaker 05

  Group effort. All right. Who's going first?

• 1:11:23Speaker 06

  Doctor.

• 1:11:24Speaker 07

  I'll go first. I don't think Yanni realized when he sent out this, uh, this query for photos from 20 years ago. I don't think he realized that Seth and I were both still in high school.

• 1:11:36Speaker 05

  No, I 100% realized this. Yeah. I was half hoping that we could even have a fourth person in here that was even younger and all of a sudden we'd have a picture in diapers.

• 1:11:47Speaker 07

  Phil in the corner there.

• 1:11:48Speaker 06

  Yeah, you're not going to get me in diapers 20 years ago, but I do. I do have a picture.

• 1:11:52Speaker 07

  Yeah, I wanted to share.

• 1:11:53Speaker 06

  Oh, good.

• 1:11:53Speaker 07

  I wanted to share my, uh, my high school football photo, uh, but.

• 1:11:59Speaker 06

  Is that it?

• 1:11:59Speaker 07

  No, it's not it.

• 1:12:00Speaker 05

  I've seen, I've seen that photo. It's a good one. Maybe bring it out for the grand finale of.

• 1:12:05Speaker 07

  Yeah, and I realize that was 20, that was 2024. So, you know, it's not quite, but this is 20 years ago. Uh, this is me, uh, living my best life, uh, summer of 2026. Actually, I was probably home from my first.

• 1:12:23Speaker 05

  2006.

• 1:12:24Speaker 07

  I'm sorry, 2006.

• 1:12:26Speaker 05

  Good.

• 1:12:28Speaker 07

  I think I was probably actually home for my first year of college, uh, working for a company called Pro Clean Restoration Incorporated. Uh, we had an office on, uh, Columbia Parkway there in Cincinnati. Um, I sound like Rain Man when I do that. Columbia Parkway, Cincinnati, Ohio, 808 Oak Street or whatever. But, uh, yeah, so, so. So I bring up where I'm working because as you can see on this T-shirt, it's covered in paint and deck stain.

• 1:12:55Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 1:12:55Speaker 07

  And also that hat is a Bass Pro Shops hat that was, I used as a wiping rag. And so it actually weighed perhaps two and a quarter pounds with all of the cedar tone deck stain, as we called it C-Dub, that I'd absorbed into this hat, fully weatherproof, wore it for a real long time.

• 1:13:15Speaker 07

  Fishing with night crawlers in the little Miami river. That is a Bass Pro Shops bait casting combo. Uh, I think it's probably got some pretty heavy mono on there, judging by the reflection of the light.

• 1:13:26Speaker 06

  It looks real heavy.

• 1:13:27Speaker 07

  And, uh, just a real simple night crawler on the bottom. Uh, looks like I got an egg sinker there and, and a really crappy landing net that the foam had ripped off the handle. Uh, but you know, it's always fun to, to net fish instead of just dragging them up on the bank.

• 1:13:42Speaker 05

  Let me guess, like a seven pound channel cat? Is that what I'm looking at?

• 1:13:48Speaker 07

  Yeah, I, I think that's a good estimation.

• 1:13:51Speaker 05

  Um, did I get the species right?

• 1:13:54Speaker 07

  Yes, but what I like about that one, well, what I like about that one in particular is that the, uh, the tail is hanging out of the net, which I think always adds to, uh, always adds.

• 1:14:07Speaker 06

  Makes it look bigger.

• 1:14:07Speaker 07

  Exactly.

• 1:14:08Speaker 05

  Yeah, looks like it's gonna slap you in the face.

• 1:14:10Speaker 06

  Adds some inches.

• 1:14:11Speaker 07

  You get a, you get a, a king salmon in the net and you got the big tail flopping over the side. That's a good fish, no matter how big the net is.

• 1:14:17Speaker 05

  Oh, I need to go catch one of those one day.

• 1:14:19Speaker 06

  Buy some more nets.

• 1:14:20Speaker 07

  Let's go, right now.

• 1:14:21Speaker 05

  All right, Seth, uh, let's go back 20 years ago. See what Seth has.

• 1:14:25Speaker 06

  Almost 20.

• 1:14:26Speaker 05

  Almost 20.

• 1:14:27Speaker 06

  We'll, we'll say it's 18, this is 2008.

• 1:14:29Speaker 07

  Oh, look at that guy.

• 1:14:30Speaker 06

  Uh, doing some fur trapping. Had a, had a, what looks to be a good day of raccoon trapping. Um, I used to, back when I was in high school, I used to run a line every, every season, basically. And I would get up and check the line before school and then go into school. Um, but, uh, yeah, this was just a, a day of coon trapping. Got, the one on the left there is, uh, I'll point out is quite a large one. Um, and back in those days, raccoons were going for a decent price. Remember I got like 58 bucks for a raccoon back then?

• 1:15:06Speaker 05

  Wow, and that was, uh, flashed and stretched?

• 1:15:09Speaker 06

  Yeah, yeah, sold it through the North American Fur Auction, NAFO, which is no longer a thing.

• 1:15:14Speaker 07

  Um, what I like about this picture is that it could be from 20 years ago, or it could be from 40 years ago. It's ti- it's a timeless image.

• 1:15:23Speaker 06

  It's 2001 Dodge 1500.

• 1:15:25Speaker 07

  What, what's the sticker on the left? Is that a Monster Energy Drink sticker?

• 1:15:29Speaker 06

  No, no, that's a Hunter's Specialty sticker.

• 1:15:31Speaker 07

  Oh, good.

• 1:15:31Speaker 06

  And on the, on the right, there's Thompson Center and, and, uh, Hunter's Safety System there.

• 1:15:36Speaker 07

  God, you're.

• 1:15:37Speaker 06

  And if I'm repeating, if I'm doing what you did, I'll go with, I'm wearing a scent lock hat and an Antler King t-shirt. Back when I was planning a lot of food plots and stuff.

• 1:15:46Speaker 05

  And, and how old were you?

• 1:15:48Speaker 06

  Uh.

• 1:15:52Speaker 06

  Fourteen.

• 1:15:53Speaker 07

  Was your, was your-

• 1:15:54Speaker 05

  Oh, gosh. Youngster.

• 1:15:56Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 1:15:56Speaker 05

  So you didn't drive that truck.

• 1:15:57Speaker 07

  Could you zoom in on his face, Phil? Are we able to do that?

• 1:15:58Speaker 06

  No, I wasn't, I wasn't. No, I must not have been fourteen. I can't quickly. I'd have to put in some time.

• 1:16:02Speaker 07

  Don't worry about it, Phil.

• 1:16:03Speaker 06

  My math's terrible.

• 1:16:05Speaker 07

  Seth, was your, was your father an American flag and your mother a issue of Fur Fishing Game magazine? Because you just look like you, if you asked AI to make a, to make the American, the young American trapper, this would be it.

• 1:16:20Speaker 06

  It was a Trapper and Predator Caller magazine.

• 1:16:23Speaker 07

  God, it's good.

• 1:16:24Speaker 06

  Big Zach.

• 1:16:24Speaker 07

  This is good.

• 1:16:25Speaker 06

  Yep. Yep.

• 1:16:26Speaker 05

  Uh, I, the first thing that caught my eye is that, uh, Seth has been rocking the same eyebrows.

• 1:16:33Speaker 06

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:16:34Speaker 05

  His entire life, pretty much.

• 1:16:35Speaker 06

  Yeah, that runs in the family. They've actually just been getting, I noticed these days that they just get wilder with every year that passes. I'm getting like the Ryan Callahan-

• 1:16:46Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 1:16:47Speaker 06

  Eyebrows lately.

• 1:16:48Speaker 07

  I've started trimming mine every now and then.

• 1:16:50Speaker 06

  I'll get a white one.

• 1:16:51Speaker 07

  Cause I'll get a long one that curls out.

• 1:16:52Speaker 06

  Yeah, oh yeah. I'll get a long one that comes down and is, I can see it in my vision.

• 1:16:57Speaker 05

  Yeah, next thing they'll poke you in the eye. That happens to me every now and then if I don't stay on top of it. All right, Phil, let's see your photo from approximately twenty years ago.

• 1:17:06Speaker 06

  Sure. Yeah, well, so I, I already showed, we did a Throwback Thursday where Spencer asked people to bring in fishing photos and I actually had one from almost exactly twenty years ago that I already showed.

• 1:17:15Speaker 05

  No, but you didn't do that one.

• 1:17:17Speaker 06

  No, I didn't. I'm not doing that one again. So I decided to choose a picture, uh, pictures from my natural habitat in high school, which was, which was the band room. Uh, I lettered in band in high school. Uh, there's me in the middle there. That's what my hair was for most of high school. Uh, it was very cool.

• 1:17:33Speaker 07

  That is amazing.

• 1:17:35Speaker 05

  I love it.

• 1:17:36Speaker 06

  You should bring that back. I did pretty much any extracurricular band activity I, I could do. It was, it was my thing. I was very cool, you could say.

• 1:17:43Speaker 07

  Did you have a MySpace page?

• 1:17:45Speaker 06

  Yeah, of course I did.

• 1:17:46Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 1:17:47Speaker 06

  You know, I, I, you know, I spent way too much time, um, choosing the music that would play, you know. I actually, I had a Zanga before MySpace.

• 1:17:55Speaker 07

  Did you ever tell your parents you'll never understand?

• 1:18:00Speaker 06

  I wasn't that bad. Um, I probably, I probably had, had the thought a few times.

• 1:18:04Speaker 07

  The hair is pretty intimidating.

• 1:18:05Speaker 06

  The hair is, the hair is very good. I might bring it back. What do you guys think?

• 1:18:08Speaker 07

  I love it. Yes, please.

• 1:18:08Speaker 05

  Oh, yeah. I would totally go for it.

• 1:18:11Speaker 06

  That's good.

• 1:18:11Speaker 05

  What would your gal say?

• 1:18:14Speaker 06

  I, well, I, my, my hair was about that long when I met my wife and it worked back then.

• 1:18:19Speaker 07

  Fill out boy is a good, that's a good play on words.

• 1:18:21Speaker 05

  And is that a trombone?

• 1:18:24Speaker 06

  That is a trombone. Uh, it's, it's a large board trombone with a little valve to, that, um, helps you play the, the lower notes a little bit more, more easily.

• 1:18:33Speaker 07

  Were you wearing untied skater shoes in this photo?

• 1:18:36Speaker 06

  Probably yes, actually. Were they DC or Edney? Uh, yeah, no, it would, it would have been like, like vans or something.

• 1:18:45Speaker 07

  You're probably too young for Janko jeans to have still been in style.

• 1:18:49Speaker 06

  I never owned a pair of Jankos, but my cooler cousins had, had Janko jeans.

• 1:18:52Speaker 07

  Nice.

• 1:18:53Speaker 06

  Wow. All right. There's that.

• 1:18:54Speaker 05

  I was able to skip those.

• 1:18:56Speaker 01

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• 1:19:24Steven Rinella?

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• 1:21:02Steven Rinella?

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• 1:21:45Steven Rinella?

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• 1:22:12Speaker 05

  All right, last but not least.

• 1:22:14Speaker 07

  God, it's good, Phil. Thank you.

• 1:22:15Speaker 05

  This photo, I believe, is circa 2000. This is the first bull elk that I killed and recovered. Unfortunately, the year before, when I was, this is my first year that I was guiding, and I was able to take off the first rifle season in Colorado hunt with my dad and a couple other of our friends. And unfortunately, the year before, the outfitter taking me out on the last day of our DIY hunt, he realized that we hadn't seen an elk, let alone killed one. And I shot one close range and probably shot him in the guts. We looked for a day and a half, couldn't find him.

• 1:22:57Speaker 05

  It was found maybe, I don't know, a week later by another guide, bear on top of the carcass. So lesson learned there, when the elk is at 50 yards, you don't have your scope cranked up to nine. Hard to know where the bullet's gonna hit, right?

• 1:23:12Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 1:23:13Speaker 05

  But great morning, this is opening morning, and I wanted to hunt the top of this particular, let's call it a mountain. It's, it's, mountain makes it sound a little too big. It's a nice, it's, it's got, it's a big ridge, you know, that has an apex to it. And the elk like to go out there. And a lot of the other folks hunting that area, it's too big of a climb for them. So it was kind of left, left to those that wanted to make the walk up there. And I'd hunted basically my way all the way up to the ridge, to the very tippy top, and hadn't seen nothing. And it was pounding snow, just a full blizzard. A lot of times, you know, visibility less than 100 yards.

• 1:23:54Speaker 05

  And I'm kind of, once I turned around on the top, I kind of gave up and said, ah, you know, I'm just gonna, I have my rifle like slung on my shoulder and I'm more kind of mosey and ding dong and back down the same ridge, heading, heading back towards camp than hunting. And I think because of the snowstorm, limited visibility, I stopped at one point and I looked and there was a bull standing there, close, 50, 60 yards, you know, and he's looking at me, but just couldn't make me out or whatever, and it had enough time to take my. Model 700 BDL.

• 1:24:29Speaker 07

  Ooh.

• 1:24:29Speaker 05

  Randall.

• 1:24:30Speaker 07

  Hmm.

• 1:24:31Speaker 05

  Uh huh. Which I did a little cer- I did a little searching on this this morning and I'd forgotten what ADL, BDL, CDL stands for. Can you answer that question?

• 1:24:42Speaker 07

  Well, the ADL is, is the blind mag, right?

• 1:24:45Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 1:24:45Speaker 07

  And then the BDL is, is a floor plate.

• 1:24:48Speaker 05

  Uh huh.

• 1:24:49Speaker 07

  Is the CDL a box mag?

• 1:24:51Speaker 05

  I think the CDL is still hinged floor plate, but there's just some other fancy, you know, more satin on the walnut. And it's just a little bit fancier, but what I found really funny is that the DL stands for deluxe.

• 1:25:04Speaker 07

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:25:05Speaker 05

  The A stands for average. And yeah, so you go from average to lux.

• 1:25:13Speaker 07

  To better deluxe?

• 1:25:14Speaker 05

  To better deluxe, to classic deluxe. So no matter which 700 you buy, you're getting a deluxe rifle. But just average, better, or classic.

• 1:25:25Speaker 07

  Mm hmm.

• 1:25:26Speaker 05

  Um, yeah, my dad gave me that rifle when I was, uh, I don't know, 15, 16 years old. And it was one of those deals. I wasn't expecting a rifle. I hadn't asked for a rifle, but he just comes up to me. We're actually at a Latvian like social function and he just whispers in my ear, I just got your rifle. And I was like, oh. That's nice. That's never happened to me in my life where someone just like.

• 1:25:48Speaker 07

  Like, am I, am I a man now, dad?

• 1:25:50Speaker 05

  Yeah. Well, you like, it's one of those things like you're not expecting the, a present like that, but like it, it was secret, right? And it was kind of like, yeah, don't tell anybody because it costs money. We needed just like, we'll just work it into the. He was long divorced from my mother at that time, but um, anyways, uh, yeah, so I shot the bull. Uh, Remington Corelocked.

• 1:26:10Speaker 07

  Mm hmm.

• 1:26:11Speaker 05

  You can see where this story is going to go. I shoot him once, uh, later to find out in the heart. He jumps. I shoot him again. Another part of this story is when he jumps, he jumps a couple of yards, whatever. He's standing in a new spot. I look back to where he was just standing. Now, this is a night, this is, if you're not wa- looking at the photos, this is like a very small, probably two-year-old, four-point bull. Where he was standing is probably a three-year-old, five-point. I'm like, oh, look at that, you know? So I've got two shots in him and he's sort of like in that moment starts taking off and I just take off after him and I get another shot in him. I don't know where that that one hits. He keeps going. I run, I don't know, close to another hundred yards. I kind of end up in the

• 1:26:56Speaker 05

  timber and his downfall and he kind of gets caught up. I'm sure he's gonna die at that point, but he's not dead yet. So I put a fourth shot into him. He ends up having three in the heart and one in the lungs. And again, maybe would have died from the first one, but it's just like I'd already been around long enough to know that like with those elk, you just keep shooting until they're not, until their tongues, tongues hanging out. Uh, if you want to go through the attire, I want to say that was a Eldora Ski Resort, like just like a wool beanie I was wearing. I was wearing probably a Patagonia fleece with a probably a Patagonia capeline underneath

• 1:27:35Speaker 05

  it. Cabela's Shamwa or Shammy. Remember that? It was like a soft brushed cotton. We loved those pants because they were so quiet. And for whatever reason, I thought that suspenders were also hip at the time. But yeah, my first bull elk.

• 1:27:54Speaker 07

  Love it.

• 1:27:55Speaker 05

  Two thousand.

• 1:27:56Speaker 07

  That's cool. What was the rifle chambered in?

• 1:27:58Speaker 05

  Thirty ought six. I forgot. I'm mismentioning that. Yeah, ought six. Probably was shooting 180 core locks, if I had to guess.

• 1:28:07Speaker 07

  Killed a lot of animals with 180 core locks. Yep.

• 1:28:10Speaker 05

  Yep. All right. Now, the long awaited, we're only 17 minutes behind, but let's do some listener feedback, Phil.

• 1:28:18Speaker 06

  Sure. A couple of shout outs here first. This is from Bryson. I'd love to get a shout out to my son who turns two today and was the only three month old when he attended the Boise Meat Eater live show two years ago, which made him the youngest attendee. Happy birthday.

• 1:28:32Speaker 07

  Happy birthday.

• 1:28:34Speaker 06

  And we also had another shout out here too, that I will find at some point, but first.

• 1:28:41Speaker 07

  McCullough was going on a javelina hunt.

• 1:28:45Speaker 06

  Oh, yes. Did you see that one somewhere?

• 1:28:48Speaker 07

  Uh, I saw it live.

• 1:28:50Speaker 06

  Okay, I'll find it later. Cranky surf. When is Randall's haircut? Will there be a raffle to determine how much is cut off?

• 1:28:59Speaker 05

  Uh, still don't know when my haircut is. Uh, we have a listener who's a barber, who's offered to cut my hair on the radio, uh, Media to Radio Live finale, grand finale spectacular, but he lives in Maine, so I haven't yet been able to determine whether that will happen. Uh, as far as how much is getting cut off, pretty much just the stuff that's getting in my ears. Um, I need to keep it long in the back because it's sweet and I need to keep it long on top to hide the bald spot that has grown and grown in recent years. So I'm just hanging on by a thread to my youth. So the haircut-

• 1:29:40Speaker 06

  Sweet would be the word you would use.

• 1:29:41Speaker 05

  The haircut, if I cut it all off, it will be surrendering to Father Time, so.

• 1:29:48Speaker 06

  Mogor asks, Yanni, how are the little or big kitties doing in your area?

• 1:29:54Speaker 05

  Well, I'm, Mingus and I have not been bothering them if that, if that, hopefully that answers your question. As far as I know, the population is doing great. Um, but yeah, we've just had like sort of a streak of bad luck. We've had tracks, a lot of tracks have gone on to private, which we haven't been able to follow. Um, we've had tracks that have just filled in with snow. We've had tracks that have, we've lost on bare hillsides, which are common around these parts right now. Uh, we have caught a bobcat this year, which was quite the accomplishment for Mingus. He caught his first bobcat. But, uh, the big ones, um, I have not seen one in a tree yet this year. I will be going out, uh, I believe Friday or Saturday and, uh, keep after it.

• 1:30:41Speaker 06

  Great. Uh, will there be more Media to Kids episodes coming soon? This is from Chad. Chad, we are, they're not going to be in the same format that we did the first three seasons in. So we're currently cooking up some new kids content. How's that for alliteration? And, uh, but it's probably still a few, few months down the road, but, but keep your eyes peeled and, uh, keep them on that, on that podcast feed. Uh, there's a question for Seth. Seth, how much, uh, experience do you have with, with drones for photography? Do you have any? None. Okay. Then I will not ask you, uh, this guy who was looking for a drone recommendation.

• 1:31:14Speaker 05

  Right above you is the shout out.

• 1:31:16Speaker 06

  Oh, yeah. Uh, oh, it's from Leland.

• 1:31:17Speaker 05

  Oh, Leland.

• 1:31:18Speaker 06

  Arizona Youth Havelina opens for my daughter. Could I get a good luck to McCullough on her first Havelina hunt?

• 1:31:22Speaker 05

  Good luck.

• 1:31:23Speaker 06

  McCullough.

• 1:31:24Speaker 07

  Good luck McCullough.

• 1:31:25Speaker 05

  That's right. Just remember what we learned earlier. It was, what was it? Breathing, position, trigger pull and follow through? Four things.

• 1:31:35Speaker 07

  Knowing Leland, I'm sure she's already got plenty of practice.

• 1:31:38Speaker 05

  Yeah, I imagine so.

• 1:31:41Speaker 06

  Here's a Seth one. PA and fishing related. It's just Steven. He's looking for some, some basic gear, some beginner gear to get into ice fishing. If you had sort of like a quick kit, you could. Um, yeah, I would start with an auger. Doesn't have to be anything fancy. You can get one of those hand augers. They work pretty good as long as the blades are sharp.

• 1:32:03Speaker 06

  A basic ice pole, which is just a short fishing pole with a, you can honestly just use, if you have a spin reel,

• 1:32:11Speaker 06

  you don't have to buy a new reel. You can just throw that on, on a ice pole. And then from there, as far as safety wise, Pennsylvania doesn't always have great ice. They do this year, but I would get a spud bar and those, those ice picks that you put around your neck. So if you, you kind of wear them around your neck like a necklace. If you go through the ice, you can grab those things and use them to pull yourself back up on the ice. That's good to have, especially for beginners that don't have a lot of experience on ice.

• 1:32:46Speaker 06

  And then from, I mean, that's basically it. To start, you can go super deep on it with electronics and, you know, having a sled to haul your stuff out there is nice.

• 1:32:58Speaker 05

  But Sam Fella can't do the electronics part. That's kind of where I'm at. I feel like I have all the other gear. But I feel like without electronics, like how am I ever going to find the fish? So how do you find the fish with no electronics?

• 1:33:13Speaker 06

  Well, back when, back when I used to fish with, without electronics, we were just.

• 1:33:22Speaker 06

  Just trying to find like points that go out into the, the lake or whatever you're on.

• 1:33:26Speaker 05

  So like read, read a map.

• 1:33:28Speaker 06

  Yeah, basically if you have access to a map.

• 1:33:33Speaker 06

  That's helpful because you can just, you know, look at the map, but if you don't have access to like underwater mapping or whatever, I just try to find like points that are coming out into the water or.

• 1:33:47Speaker 06

  You know, i- if, if you're, if you can see the bank and there's like, it's like a sandy bank that transitions to a different type of like rip rap or something like finding transitions like that, or you know, it's, it's totally doable. We, I used to do it all the time.

• 1:34:03Speaker 05

  Bad form. Cause I was gonna say, well, you'd pull up and then see where all the other shanties are or people are fishing.

• 1:34:09Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 1:34:09Speaker 05

  And then go near there or start asking them questions. Like, is that bad form just to roll in and be like, hey, man?

• 1:34:14Speaker 07

  Let me take a look at your live scope.

• 1:34:16Speaker 05

  Yeah, I'm new to this. Like, would it be okay to drill a hole 10 yards away from here? Is that a good spot? Like, you think most people would be open to that?

• 1:34:23Speaker 06

  Totally, yeah. And if you're gonna go that close, I would definitely talk to someone, but you can definitely find the general area where people.

• 1:34:31Speaker 06

  You know, are fishing or if you go like early in the morning, wherever you can find last or yesterday's holes, basically. And, and try those spots too. So, yeah.

• 1:34:43Speaker 07

  Good luck. What else you got, Phil?

• 1:34:46Speaker 06

  Yanis, this is from Judah. Do you have any tips on trying to stay injury free or for trying to stay injury free over years of running?

• 1:34:56Speaker 05

  Yeah, I've been lucky to, I think I've, I have been able to stay injury free. I mean, I've had a bad ankle sprain once. I'm dealing with a little bit of like a cartilage issue and it's just, I think that's no matter if you're running or just living, you're gonna have those issues in your knees. But, uh, I don't know, I think doing it, that was, I recently had to go through this knee. Kind of a process of figuring out what was going on in there. My last appointment was with an orthopedic surgeon and she said, the, the worst thing you can do is stop doing what you're doing. I said, you even mean like running a hundred miles? She goes, yes. Do it. It is good for you. Do not stop. It's gonna get worse if you stop.

• 1:35:38Speaker 05

  So don't stop running.

• 1:35:40Speaker 06

  Uh, bow hunting. At Full Draw asks, who of, who all of you guys are going to be at N W T F in Nashville?

• 1:35:46Speaker 05

  Oh, yeah. Well, I guess you two are not.

• 1:35:50Speaker 06

  Nope.

• 1:35:51Speaker 05

  I am Full Draw.

• 1:35:53Speaker 06

  I wish.

• 1:35:54Speaker 07

  I will be at the.

• 1:35:55Speaker 06

  I do love the wild turkey.

• 1:35:56Speaker 07

  I'll be at the Hunt Expo that weekend.

• 1:35:59Speaker 05

  Yeah, and if you're gonna be at N W T F, a good place to run into us is going to be the Grand Slam Afterparty that Meat Eater is hosting. Uh, you know, it's a big fundraiser. They're gonna have a bunch of cool, uh, hunts and, uh, guns, shotguns, rifles to auction off. And, um, we're gonna tell some turkey stories. We're going to try to get all of you to buy as many raffle tickets for these items as possible. We're going to have an owl hooting contest. The clay is going to emcee. So if you're a good owl hooter and you're at N W T F, now this is voice, voice only. Um, and then we're also gonna play some trivia. So yeah, it's the Grand Slam Afterparty.

• 1:36:44Speaker 05

  Uh, be a great place to bump into us, or on Saturday, most of us will be at the booth, the first light booth all day and you can see us there.

• 1:36:54Speaker 07

  And if you want to find me at the Hunt Expo, I'll be slumming in the beer line with everybody else.

• 1:36:59Speaker 06

  Um, I'll, I'll make mention that the Great American Outdoor Show in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania is kicking off. And my, the family boot shop will have a booth there, Center Boot Company. Look them up. They'll have some first light gear there and I think some meat eater stuff too.

• 1:37:12Speaker 07

  Brett Reeves is at the, uh, at that show, I believe.

• 1:37:16Speaker 06

  Oh, really?

• 1:37:16Speaker 07

  Yeah, I think he's doing something with Case.

• 1:37:18Speaker 06

  Oh, we'll look him up too.

• 1:37:19Speaker 07

  He's a nice guy. Go talk to him.

• 1:37:21Speaker 05

  Extremely nice.

• 1:37:23Speaker 07

  Have him tell you a bedtime story.

• 1:37:24Speaker 06

  Ian asks, do you guys have more episodes of Roast on the way?

• 1:37:28Speaker 05

  Yes, Ian, we do have more episodes of Roast on the way. Um, they're, they're, they were, they were hounding me yesterday to put my notes in on an episode, which I believe they wanna release here in the next week or so. Um, so don't fret. And then behind that one, there are many more coming. We've been hard at it. We have been cooking, roasting our tails off here recently, so.

• 1:37:53Speaker 07

  Phil and I judged an episode together.

• 1:37:56Speaker 06

  We did. I think we did a pretty good job.

• 1:37:58Speaker 05

  I haven't seen a cut of that one yet, but I'm expecting great things.

• 1:38:01Speaker 07

  I think it's gonna take a lot of work to cut that one.

• 1:38:04Speaker 06

  Yeah. I think I gave the editor specific instructions on camera of things to do. So whoever's cutting that, I apologize. Um, let's see. What will you guys be doing on Thursdays at 11 a.m. after March 5th? That's from Mogor.

• 1:38:21Speaker 06

  Answering emails.

• 1:38:22Speaker 05

  Yeah. That, if I'm in the office, it'll be something. Yeah. Mogor.

• 1:38:27Speaker 07

  Working on a book.

• 1:38:28Speaker 06

  Editing video, editing photos.

• 1:38:30Speaker 07

  But to be honest, when I look at my calendar after March 5th,

• 1:38:37Speaker 07

  it's nothing, nothing there.

• 1:38:40Speaker 07

  My world is ending on March 5th.

• 1:38:42Speaker 05

  Hey Spencer, Spencer, if you're still out there, uh, has he commented, Phil?

• 1:38:47Speaker 06

  Spencer Newhart has not been in the chat. No. I shamed him for, for being too active in the chat one week and I think he's cold.

• 1:38:56Speaker 05

  Well, if he is out there listening, I would like him to give us a, a, a rating between zero and 10 on how well we did on this episode.

• 1:39:05Speaker 06

  Oh, this is a nine, five at least. It's up there. This is one of the better ones. Uh, another Mogor one. He's, we've got some good questions this week. This is, this is for Randall. It's a specific one. You're the weapons expert, Randall. Have you heard of the Walter, your Walder RS3 straight pull bull pup hunting rifle family? The one with the integrated suppressor and is that monocoque? Is that who?

• 1:39:26Speaker 07

  I would imagine that's a one-piece receiver.

• 1:39:29Speaker 06

  Yes. And then he, he had more to say, but that was basically it.

• 1:39:32Speaker 07

  Yes, I saw that. It was recently released. Um, I'm really intrigued by bull pup rifles. Uh, there was a, there's a company called Defensive Edge out of Idaho that makes something called the Long Range Killing Machine. And it has a 30 inch barrel, but because of the bullpup arrangement, the overall length is much shorter. So it's designed basically to ride it up to the top of the mountain on your back on a dirt bike. But bull pups offer the advantage of having a longer barrel length compared to the overall length of the rifle. Walther, I've never owned a Walther.

• 1:40:13Speaker 07

  But interestingly enough, I think they made a like a police sniper rifle, like a marksman rifle that was a semi-auto bullpup. So they have a bullpup legacy. I'm also really intrigued by guys on forums that are making their own bull pups with like homemade trigger linkages and weird stocks and it intrigues me and scares me at the same time.

• 1:40:36Speaker 05

  You're gonna have to explain it because I'm looking at pictures and there's like, it looks like a thousand variations of what a bullpup might be. So like, is there a definition of what a bullpup is?

• 1:40:46Speaker 07

  A bullpup is essentially the, the, the action is, is further back in the stock than the trigger is ahead of the action. So.

• 1:40:57Speaker 06

  The action's almost like where your.

• 1:40:58Speaker 07

  Yeah, you're, you're almost resting your cheek on the action itself. So instead of the, instead of the action being in front of the grip, uh, like the wrist of the stock, the action is back further so that, you know, you can have, you can have this much barrel, but it starts back here instead of starting out here.

• 1:41:16Speaker 05

  Okay. And obviously I guess the sort of the, I don't know if it's the issue, but you gotta figure out how to connect the trigger to the, to the action.

• 1:41:25Speaker 07

  Yeah. And, um, yeah, there's like some, you know, there's a lot of like factory bullpup options, but you can also find people sort of, there's some companies that make like a, uh, bullpup style chassis for a Remington 700 and you have a basically a trigger linkage. But, uh, in the age of suppressors, you know, overall length is, is a, uh, very important consideration. So yeah, when I think about big Magnum cartridge, want to get a big, long barrel on there. A bullpup would be mighty nice.

• 1:42:02Speaker 07

  That's weird enough.

• 1:42:04Speaker 05

  Interesting.

• 1:42:04Speaker 07

  That was a weird enough tangent for me.

• 1:42:07Speaker 05

  Anything else?

• 1:42:08Speaker 07

  The LRKM though, if you wanna, if you wanna have your hair stand up, look up an LRKM and the prices they fetch on the used market.

• 1:42:15Speaker 06

  Leland's asking your opinions on wild game tartare or tiger meat or cannibal meat or whatever all the terms are for it. Do you guys, is that something you guys consume or prep, prepare often?

• 1:42:29Speaker 07

  Yes.

• 1:42:30Speaker 05

  Oh, really?

• 1:42:31Speaker 06

  I think a burger's just better.

• 1:42:33Speaker 07

  We.

• 1:42:34Speaker 06

  If you cook it.

• 1:42:35Speaker 07

  We like eating, um, we like eating like beef tartare. Like if we go to a restaurant that has some sort of raw beef preparation, that's typically what we'll get as a starter. And so, yeah, we, when we get like a fresh animal home and then we have some back straps, we'll do some tartare.

• 1:42:55Speaker 05

  Yeah, I enjoy it. Um, I, I just often don't remember to make it and, and I should, uh, do it more often because it is delicious. Um, but yeah, I just, yeah, for whatever reason, I don't know. My family's probably only eaten it a couple of times.

• 1:43:14Speaker 06

  Nate Pow Pow, looking for recommendations on a pistol chest pack and chest holder. Handgun needs a proper safety. You guys have any, uh, any, uh, recommendations?

• 1:43:26Speaker 07

  As far as how to carry it, um, I think so. I go back and forth on the chest.

• 1:43:32Speaker 06

  I think he's, he's looking for like specific items like from FHF or something you guys could, uh, help him out with.

• 1:43:39Speaker 07

  FHF doesn't make, I mean, they use a, it's a, it's a RASCO holster that's attached to the, the bino pack, right?

• 1:43:48Speaker 06

  It was.

• 1:43:49Speaker 07

  It was, yeah.

• 1:43:51Speaker 06

  They make a system that, that attaches to the bottom of a bino harness or chest rig.

• 1:43:57Speaker 07

  Yeah, there's a company called Gunfighters, Inc., uh, that makes a, a, a chest rig.

• 1:44:04Speaker 07

  That you would wear under. They also make one that you would mount to your bino pack, but they make one that you wear, you would wear under your bino pack. Um, cause it's just sort of free, like it's, it's literally just meant to be worn on its own with nothing else rigged to it. And I like that quite a bit because you can take your binos off. Like if you're, if you're butchering an animal, um, and you can just have that gun on your chest. Uh, when your hands are all bloody and you don't want something hanging off, like the big bino rig hanging off. But I also go back and forth between like a belt holster. Sometimes I'll put a belt holster on my hip belt of my pack. But then you end up carrying two holsters because you also want one that you could wear if you drop your pack.

• 1:44:45Speaker 07

  So it all comes down to individual, individual preference, I think. Um, but there's a lot of options out there.

• 1:44:52Speaker 05

  Well, Paul, I think trying to solve for some of this now, instead of you, like he doesn't really offer a holster anymore. It's basically the holster hanger.

• 1:45:01Speaker 07

  It's like the blade, it's a blade tech.

• 1:45:03Speaker 05

  Yeah. And there's a quick detach system so that you could have one holster, but then have this attachment that could be under your bino harness. You could have another one on your hip belt of your pack and then you can just move it around. I personally find it to be too much when it's all on my chest. Um, and so I like to go to the hip, but yes, every time I drop my pack.

• 1:45:25Speaker 07

  Yeah. I also started wearing, I started wearing, uh, like a short thigh drop, like a drop panel.

• 1:45:33Speaker 05

  Mm hmm.

• 1:45:34Speaker 07

  And I, I've like seen people sit back and forth, say, oh, you don't want to wear that when you're hiking. You don't, like it's, it's too cumbersome, but I, I don't really notice it.

• 1:45:43Speaker 05

  Hmm.

• 1:45:44Speaker 07

  And then I have that gun on my hip.

• 1:45:46Speaker 05

  Always.

• 1:45:47Speaker 07

  At all times, take my pack off, take my bino harness off. It's one less thing when you want to shed a layer to mess with.

• 1:45:52Speaker 05

  Right.

• 1:45:53Speaker 07

  And, um, yeah.

• 1:45:55Speaker 05

  Yeah. Send me the link to that, uh, whatever you're using.

• 1:45:58Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 1:45:58Speaker 06

  Yeah. I, I run this thing that it's, it's just a clip. So like I can open.

• 1:46:03Steven Rinella?

  It up, put it on my pack. And then if I want to drop my pack, I just pop it off my pack and put it on, clip it on to my belt. Works pretty good.

• 1:46:13Speaker 05

  Phil, anything that has to be answered yet, or can we save?

• 1:46:17Speaker 06

  Oh, there's, there's. There's this one for me. It's okay. We'll have this be the last one.

• 1:46:22Steven Rinella?

  This is good.

• 1:46:23Speaker 06

  I mentioned this, this like lofi pixel art fishing game that came out recently called Cast and Chill, Cast and Chill. Um, and Cole is asking if I've played it yet. I have it downloaded on my Switch two and I was been holding off because I thought I might stream it the first time I played it, which I still might do. Um, but I haven't played it yet.

• 1:46:40Steven Rinella?

  Oh, I didn't realize you got a Switch two.

• 1:46:42Speaker 06

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:46:42Steven Rinella?

  Really? I just got my first Switch.

• 1:46:44Speaker 06

  Yes. And that's the thing is if maybe if I stream after we play some Cast and Chill, I'll play some Breath of the Wild because Randall, getting a Switch and playing Zelda had me restart a playthrough of Breath of the Wild.

• 1:46:55Steven Rinella?

  Verizon. I got some sort of Verizon deal where I got a free Switch. So I'm getting back into video games. Never too late to start something new.

• 1:47:04Speaker 06

  Couldn't agree more, Randall. Let's call it.

• 1:47:06Speaker 05

  Kids, go outside.

• 1:47:09Speaker 06

  This might have been our longest, I think this is our longest episode.

• 1:47:13Speaker 05

  Forget, forget your video games. Go outside.

• 1:47:17Speaker 06

  Eh, you know, find a healthy balance.

• 1:47:19Steven Rinella?

  An hour and 36 minutes. That's a hell of a warm up for the grand finale spectacular.

• 1:47:23Speaker 06

  That's right.

• 1:47:24Speaker 05

  I hope you guys all enjoyed it. Uh, it looked like they, most of them stuck around for the entirety of it. Uh, thank you all for watching and listening. And, uh, we'll see you again, uh, next week.

• 1:47:36Steven Rinella?

  Same time.

• 1:47:37Speaker 05

  Meat Eater Radio Live.

• 1:47:39Steven Rinella?

  Same place. Deuces.

• 1:47:41Speaker 05

  Later.

• 1:47:53Steven Rinella?

  If you spend a lot of time outdoors, you got dogs, you got kids, you know how hard it is to keep the floor of your rig clean. A thing we do in our, in our little fleet of vehicles that have at my household, if you go look, open the door on any one of them, they all got WeatherTech. We get a car, we throw the mats out and put in WeatherTech. Cause that way when there's a mess, it's like your kid's fault, your dog's fault, it's the weather's fault, doesn't matter. You take them suckers out and hose them off and you're back to being good as new. I'm telling you, if you got a vehicle, put WeatherTech in there, you're going to be happy you did it. And check this out. American made floor liners and cargo liners. Okay. They laugh in the face of all weather. Go take a look for yourself today at weather tech.com. Listen, we're all trying to save up for something. I got buddies saving up to buy their new house.

• 1:48:37Steven Rinella?

  I got people eyeing a new boat. I know buddies that are trying to switch out trucks and get an upgrade in their truck. Whatever, people are always saving up for stuff. In reality, though, we see that it can be hard to actually save money. But that's what's great about the One Pay app. It makes saving money easy. First, you earn 3% cash back on up to $150 in monthly spending. You choose categories, okay, like Walmart, gas, or dining, and then get rewarded when you spend in those categories. So you're rewarded for what you're already buying. And with high-yield savings, your money keeps growing. Download the One Pay app or visit onepay.com for banking that gives you more for what matters.

• 1:49:21Speaker 03

  One Pay is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by Coastal Community Bank, our lead bank, members FDIC. Cash back is earned as points. Go to onepay.com/rewards/terms for redemption options and additional details.

• 1:49:37Steven Rinella?

  I get sent all kinds of products and snacks, and the truth is, most of them come and go. Every once in a while, though, I find something I keep reaching for, and Wiley Wallaby is one of those things. I first tried it because someone just handed me a bag and said, "This isn't like any other kind of licorice you've had before." And they were right. Wiley Wallaby makes authentic Australian-style licorice that's incredibly soft and chewy. It's not like that weird, tough, waxy, cheap junk you get. And it doesn't have that artificial taste that turns a lot of people away from licorice in the first place. It's one of those products that's hard to explain until you've tasted it yourself. I keep some in my truck, I keep some in my fish shack, I keep some in my camper. They've got more than 10 flavors. And whether you like classic flavors or something a little different,

• 1:50:20Steven Rinella?

  there's probably one you'll end up keeping stocked around the house. Plus, it's made in the USA by a company that's been committed to quality and hometown values for over six decades. If you haven't tried Wiley Wallaby yet, pick yourself up a bag. Use code MEATEATER at shop.wileywallaby.com for free shipping, and you can try it yourself. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

• 1:50:46Speaker 00

  This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.