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

Hosts Spencer Neuharth, Randall Williams, and Seth Morris interview Sgt. Ian Van Nest about life as a conservation officer in the "Polar Bear Capital of the World," key into some listener Hot Tips, revisit 2018's The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter in the MeatEater Movie Club, and chat with cheesemonger Emilia D'Albero about taking home a different kind of Olympic gold medal. 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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• 0:34Steven Rinella?

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• 2:11Speaker 03

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

• 2:34Speaker 03

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

• 3:04Speaker 04

  You guys should wave to our viewers.

• 3:06Speaker 03

  No, okay.

• 3:07Speaker 04

  Say hi.

• 3:08Speaker 03

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

• 3:12Speaker 05

  And I'll do some more later. It was shocking, to be frank.

• 3:15Speaker 03

  All right, on today's show, we'll interview Sergeant Ian Van Ness about Canada's Polar Bear Jail. After that, we have a hot tip-off about PVC rod holders and finding lost arrows, followed by a review of the legacy of a whitetail deer hunter for Meat Eater Movie Club, and finally, we'll interview Amelia Del Baro about winning gold at the Cheese Monger Olympics. But first, we have a few programming notes. Our first video of Meat Eaters 12 and 26 is live on the Meat Eater YouTube channel right now. Yannis goes on his first baited bear hunt and encounters more bears than you can shake an arrow at. It's a one-hour film that's presented by Moultrie and Onyx. You can see it on our YouTube channel right

• 3:57Speaker 03

  now. Phil, you have some details about another podcast coming out that accompanies that.

• 4:02Speaker 05

  Yeah, that's right. Yannis is going to be doing a Q and A and fielding questions about that episode. So if you want to watch the episode and either shoot Yannis some DMs, I think we're pulling questions from the comment section of that video as well. So if you have any burning questions for Yannis about the hunt or his experiences there, get him in. That's going to be dropping next Tuesday, which is the

• 4:27Speaker 05

  Oh no, what's the date next Tuesday? The 3rd, March 3rd.

• 4:30Speaker 03

  February.

• 4:31Speaker 05

  Check that out.

• 4:31Speaker 03

  Third.

• 4:32Speaker 06

  March 3rd.

• 4:32Speaker 03

  He's always got that little camera.

• 4:35Speaker 05

  I don't cut to it often because it makes me uncomfortable.

• 4:38Speaker 06

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

• 4:44Speaker 03

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

• 4:51Speaker 04

  Yep.

• 4:52Speaker 03

  Why is that Seth?

• 4:53Speaker 04

  This is my last episode ever of Media Radio Live. Um, my wife is gonna have a kid next Thursday.

• 4:59Speaker 03

  Hmm.

• 5:00Speaker 04

  Yep.

• 5:00Speaker 03

  Congratulations. Not very good planning on your part, though, to put it during the Media Radio Live finale.

• 5:05Speaker 04

  Well, you know, it wasn't supposed to be, but uh, one thing led to another. The little dude does not want to turn his head down, so... That means we gotta do a C-section, was not...

• 5:15Speaker 03

  Seth told him, "Keep your head up."

• 5:16Speaker 06

  And I'm hopeful that if everything goes well and we have a happy mother and happy child, uh, that we can do a live cut-in to the hospital.

• 5:25Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 5:26Speaker 06

  With Seth.

• 5:26Speaker 04

  Maybe.

• 5:27Speaker 06

  For our very last, our very last rut report.

• 5:29Speaker 04

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

• 5:33Speaker 06

  Oh yeah, you can probably still make it in, so...

• 5:35Speaker 03

  That's a great coverage, man.

• 5:36Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 5:37Speaker 03

  You know Seth, uh, some cultures believe in reincarnation, you know, like, the Pope dies, and then Cardi B has a baby, and it's like, "Welcome back, the Pope." The same day that Media Radio Live dies, your son is going to be born.

• 5:52Speaker 04

  Oh my god.

• 5:53Speaker 03

  Maybe, maybe it's a... I'm gonna call that baby, uh, Little Media Radio Live for the rest of its life. There's nothing you can do about that, Seth.

• 6:00Speaker 06

  Boy, that kid's gonna have a rough go of it.

• 6:02Speaker 03

  No, I don't. Virgil.

• 6:03Speaker 06

  Virgil.

• 6:04Speaker 04

  Virgil is his name.

• 6:05Speaker 03

  Virgil. I'm gonna call it Radio.

• 6:07Speaker 05

  Okay, like Michael Cuffee Gooding Jr.?

• 6:09Speaker 03

  Yes, exactly like that. Uh, and there's nothing you and Kelsey can do about that.

• 6:13Speaker 04

  This is Uncle Spencer, he's gonna call you Radio. He'll be the only person that calls you Radio.

• 6:17Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 6:18Speaker 04

  Just let him do it.

• 6:18Speaker 06

  But we're all thinking it.

• 6:20Speaker 03

  That'd be an interesting child if it comes out as Meat Eater Radio Live reincarnated.

• 6:25Speaker 05

  That would be weird.

• 6:26Speaker 06

  A lot of bad segments.

• 6:29Speaker 03

  Uh, for our finale, we have something very special planned. Randall, fill some folks in on what's gonna happen next Thursday.

• 6:35Speaker 06

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

• 6:59Speaker 05

  That and that's not, that's not a joke.

• 7:01Speaker 06

  That's not a joke. Uh, we have guest hosts lined up. Uh, all of your favorite Radio Live co-hosts will be joining us during various segments. We're gonna try to hit every single segment we've ever done. We have some

• 7:13Speaker 03

  Literally.

• 7:14Speaker 06

  Special, literally, every single segment. Um, so even the ones that we just did once, we'll try to hit those if we can remember how they go and if we have got a jingle for them. We've got some special messages from celebrities that will be playing on air.

• 7:29Speaker 03

  A music video.

• 7:30Speaker 06

  A music video.

• 7:31Speaker 03

  Cameos.

• 7:32Speaker 06

  Phil, yeah, I mean, there's a lot to look forward to.

• 7:36Speaker 05

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

• 7:46Speaker 06

  Yeah, I think it'll be best be viewed in parts.

• 7:49Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 7:50Speaker 06

  And segments.

• 7:52Steven Rinella?

  The, the, it won't work for the younger folks listening, but I think the only real, uh, point of comparison would be the Jerry Lewis Telethon.

• 8:01Speaker 06

  Yeah, yeah.

• 8:02Speaker 05

  It says we're not raising any money for children.

• 8:05Speaker 06

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

• 8:11Speaker 03

  That's right. Emptying the clip.

• 8:13Speaker 06

  We've been swamped with hot tip-offs in the past two weeks after someone bad-mouthed the recent round of submissions, so we've been swamped with some good ones. We're gonna hit those hard. Uh, it's gonna be a lot of fun.

• 8:23Speaker 05

  We're gonna play some, play some games.

• 8:25Speaker 06

  Play some games.

• 8:26Speaker 05

  With the audience participation.

• 8:28Speaker 03

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

• 8:47Speaker 03

  That's what we're doing. We know some of you are going to miss this.

• 8:49Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 8:50Speaker 03

  More media to radio.

• 8:51Speaker 06

  After this, you won't want anymore.

• 8:52Speaker 03

  Yeah, we're gonna make sure that.

• 8:53Speaker 06

  Sick to your stomach.

• 8:54Speaker 03

  You're exhausted.

• 8:55Speaker 06

  You might throw up. Yeah.

• 8:59Speaker 06

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

• 9:13Speaker 03

  Coming to you for the finale.

• 9:14Speaker 06

  As a community. Yeah.

• 9:15Speaker 03

  One week.

• 9:16Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 9:16Speaker 03

  Uh, there's gonna be a movie club for that one. Do we know what movie it'll be yet?

• 9:19Speaker 06

  Yes, we'll be reviewing the film Congo.

• 9:21Speaker 03

  How did you land on Congo?

• 9:23Speaker 06

  Uh, it's one of my favorite movies.

• 9:24Speaker 03

  Oh.

• 9:25Speaker 06

  It involves, uh, not necessarily hunting, but there's camping, there's outdoor adventure, there's wild animals, and a bunch of animals do get killed.

• 9:34Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 9:35Speaker 06

  Uh, by lasers. So.

• 9:37Speaker 03

  Hits all the criteria.

• 9:38Speaker 06

  Based on a Michael Crichton novel that I read, uh, last year for the first time, actually.

• 9:43Speaker 03

  Did you love it?

• 9:44Speaker 06

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

• 9:49Speaker 03

  I hear fantastic things about the Jurassic Park book.

• 9:52Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 9:52Speaker 03

  Have you read that?

• 9:53Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 9:53Speaker 03

  Is it very good?

• 9:54Speaker 06

  Yes, and, and, um, Congo came out the year after Jurassic Park, so it was like,

• 10:00Speaker 03

  He was on a heater.

• 10:01Speaker 06

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

• 10:30Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 10:31Speaker 06

  So I'll be. Of course you do. Just as I owned the novel, and, uh, yeah, that'll be a lot of fun. That'll be a lot of fun. So we're gonna, that one's just gonna be. Yeah, I think probably the most demented radio club or movie club on Radio Live we've ever had. So, except for maybe today.

• 10:47Speaker 03

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

• 10:58Speaker 06

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

• 11:08Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 11:09Speaker 06

  So.

• 11:09Speaker 03

  Call in sick.

• 11:10Speaker 06

  Plan ahead.

• 11:11Speaker 03

  Yep. Do what you gotta do. Alright, let's get on with the show. Joining us on the line first. Do we wanna say goodbye to the Poplin Middle School kids? Thank you for joining us.

• 11:19Speaker 06

  Thanks for joining us, Media Studies class.

• 11:22Speaker 03

  Mm-hmm. Played an important role.

• 11:23Speaker 06

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

• 11:26Speaker 03

  Now's your chance. Uh-oh. They forgot all the names.

• 11:29Speaker 06

  Step up.

• 11:30Speaker 03

  Name a friend.

• 11:32Speaker 07

  Give a shout out to my cousin Kendall.

• 11:34Speaker 03

  Shout out to Cousin Kendall. Alright, we did it. Shout out Kendall and Nicholas.

• 11:41Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah, let's hear that. Say it into the microphone. Yeah, say it in the mic.

• 11:48Speaker 06

  Hihana Washte.

• 11:50Steven Rinella?

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

• 11:54Steven Rinella?

  Randall's a MSK.

• 11:57Speaker 03

  We did it. Thank you for joining us.

• 11:59Speaker 06

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

• 12:07Speaker 03

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

• 12:10Speaker 06

  Thanks for visiting, guys. See you guys.

• 12:12Speaker 03

  Oh.

• 12:13Speaker 06

  Oh.

• 12:14Speaker 03

  Alright, joining us.

• 12:15Speaker 06

  Got me bad.

• 12:16Speaker 03

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

• 12:28Speaker 08

  Hey, guys. Super pumped to be here.

• 12:30Speaker 03

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

• 12:43Speaker 08

  Oh, so I'm Sergeant Conservation Officer up here in Churchill, Manitoba. So I'm in charge of the Polar Bear Alert Program. One of a kind program in the world. It's it's basically an apex predator management program. And what we do is we are solely there to make sure that people can coexist with these these giant critters.

• 13:09Speaker 03

  Okay, what is it about that area that creates such a dense population of polar bears?

• 13:16Speaker 08

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

• 14:00Speaker 03

  How common are maulings?

• 14:03Speaker 08

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

• 14:25Speaker 03

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

• 14:34Speaker 08

  Yeah, it's a it's an apex predator co-management program where the province will identify. So the province I say is of Manitoba, I'm a I'm an employee of of Manitoba. So basically what we're doing is we're identifying any bears that are potentially a problem, uh, whether they're food conditioned or uh, that they're aggressive in any any way. And we will do proactive measures like setting up bear traps and preventing uh, some of these bears from hanging around. And it's the bears that are hanging around town that are essentially problematic because then they become comfortable around humans. And we all know uh, wildlife, right? They're unpredictable. So

• 15:20Speaker 08

  uh, anytime you get these uh, these dangerous critters hanging around town, it's usually a recipe for uh, for a dangerous situation. So we'll either utilize uh, proactive things like uh, bear traps. We might have to dart these bears um, using wildlife uh, immobilization tactics. Whether we're darting them from helicopters or from the ground. Uh, other things we'll be doing is just simply what we do is hazing tactics. And hazing is essentially just using a loud sound and making it uncomfortable or unpleasant for that bear and letting that bear know that it's not okay to hang out in town. So 99% of the time, this is what we're doing. We're we're utilizing a shotgun.

• 16:05Speaker 08

  We're going to be firing cracker shells uh, towards the bear and steering them in a specific direction to get them out of town and and and away.

• 16:14Speaker 03

  Uh, what's the closest that you've come to being attacked?

• 16:19Speaker 08

  Oh, uh, there's been lots of times. Uh, I gotta think of one. I mean, it's a thrilling job and after a while, you you develop a comfort with the animals and that no other person has ever experienced until you do this job. So my comfort level with these creatures are a lot different than the average person, but there has been a few times of whoa, and you know what? You gotta you gotta be a little more careful there. Like, you're only fifteen feet away from this thing and it's giving you the side eye. And once you see the whites of those eyeballs, it's like, holy smokes. Okay, a little close, but I swear those bears, they they they can read you and they feel your energy.

• 17:03Speaker 08

  And they also know that you've got something that's a long stick called a boomstick, and they know that that thing might hurt them. So it's like they they're they're smart enough to know, hey? So I I I mean, I've been fifteen feet away from these things and giving me the side eye and and we we have our protocols where we've got somebody with lethal force in case we need to use it, but um, most of the time, I've walked up ten fifteen feet up to a bear like that, uh, eight hundred pound, thousand pound male, uh, and give it a dart so we can make it go to sleep. And and that that's the key part is getting it safely down, get to sleep so we can get it in the facility.

• 17:45Speaker 03

  Uh, and what kind of boomstick do you carry for the protection against these polar bears?

• 17:51Speaker 08

  Yeah, great question. You know, um, I got a bunch. I mean, I'm using a twelve gauge uh with slugs uh mostly because I can also fire my cracker shell, which is a non-lethal ammunition. Uh, but also I can quickly switch to a slug in case I need to use that. Uh, the other thing we just recently got is a Daniel Defense DD five and it's in a three oh eight cartridge. Uh, three twenty round magazine, so uh, red dot sight and know what? I think that is a very accurate and incredible weapon to use for defense against these creatures. So um, I've got that in my arsenal as well as a nine millimeter uh on my side. So

• 18:36Speaker 08

  that's also comforting to know in case uh one of them's on top of me or something and I gotta I gotta get in close quarters with this thing, so.

• 18:45Speaker 03

  Loaded to the teeth. You you said that they they've been fifteen feet from you. In those situations, have you ever drawn a gun ready to use lethal force?

• 18:55Speaker 08

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

• 19:19Speaker 03

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

• 19:26Speaker 08

  Yeah, I mean, it's pretty rare for them to bite people, but they they can't, right? That that risk is there. And it's a real risk and and they're very dangerous and we're in their territory. So basically, a lot of what we're doing is preventing that situation from happening. And the key thing of preventing that is stopping habituation. Uh, we have a lot of restaurants in town. People are careless with their garbage. So a lot of the inexperienced bears that are not great at

• 20:03Speaker 08

  their jaws on some garbage. So we're we're out doing proactive measures such as removing those attractants. And trying to keep them away from that because soon as they get that taste of garbage, they ain't leaving. And they're gonna hang around there and tell the sea ice forms again, they go back to hunting seals. So, you know, we gotta haze them out of there. Sometimes you might have to shoot them with a rubber slug if the the loud noise ain't working. And just getting them moving along and stop that that that food conditioning from happening.

• 20:33Speaker 03

  Uh, go ahead.

• 20:36Speaker 08

  Oh, go ahead. Yeah. Oh, I was just gonna say that, that like the problems that mainly arises, the food conditioning, getting it to human food sources. And because once they get that taste of human food source, they're not gonna leave. And then that's when we have to intervene. There will be a bear that's hanging out for a week in town. And, you know, someone will open up their doorstep and walk out their porch and there's a thousand pound polar bear sitting beside them. Well, that's happened many times and I've got videos sent to Me and this happening and and and so we respond right away. Uh, we got, we got an emergency line in town. So I got that phone beside my bed and they can call it and it wakes me up and I'm out the door.

• 21:15Speaker 08

  With my shotgun and and I'm going to scare that thing away. Uh, but it's a lot of proactive. The problems that they're they're. Getting into is that basically getting into human sources of food.

• 21:28Speaker 04

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

• 21:34Speaker 08

  Yeah, like you, you know, in bear season, which is, uh, starting now from August till December. So when there's no ice on the Hudson Bay. Those bears are all on land and that's when they're causing problems and or the potential for them to cause problems. Once that ice is formed. They don't care about our town. They don't care about Churchill or being on land or humans. All they care about is seals. So. Uh, so during the bear season, August to December. Basically what's happening is they're getting hungry and I I need to find some food. So so then we're going to be getting calls, five, 10 calls a night. And and it's like you're you're not sleep, you're not sleeping. And so you're up, you're up all night. My phone beside my bed, go deal the call, go home, try and.

• 22:18Speaker 08

  An hour phone goes again. And, uh, yeah, so there I don't sleep in bear season.

• 22:25Speaker 03

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

• 22:34Speaker 08

  Yeah, the polar bear holding facility, again, it's a world renowned, uh, there's no other place like it in the world. Um, so there's 28 holding cells in there. And and so only bears that are problematic end up in there. I'd say 99% of bears were able to get. Through town and get them away and they don't come back. It's that 1% that they're just causing problems. And they're not going away. So then I gotta go and dart them, put them to sleep. And then we'll transport them through, put them in a, uh, trap, uh, or we could just use it. We have what's called a bear board. It's basically a stretcher for a polar bear. And and you know, the bear is sleeping, goes on the stretcher back of my truck and I bring him inside the facility.

• 23:19Speaker 08

  And and they stay there for thirty days. Uh, so it's it's kind of marries a little bit of deterrence with separating them from people so that they don't hurt people. And and thirty days, they don't get fed. Uh, because again, we don't want them to introduce them to human, human food sources. So, uh, they're already in a state of hibernation and their bodies adapted to living off fat, off their their food stores when they were hunting seal all winter. So like, uh, so basically they're in there and they're like, oh, this sucks. You know, I'm not doing this again.

• 23:56Speaker 08

  I'm never coming back here again.

• 23:58Speaker 03

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

• 24:07Speaker 08

  Yeah, so bears hanging around town, it's been there for a week. But geez, we can't get this thing, we can't scare it away. So I end up darting it. Uh, a lot, a lot of times I gotta use a helicopter to see if you get to them. So you're darting out of hel- helicopter. You get them down and then we transport them on the stretcher, get them inside. They go inside an individual cell. But before we do that, we give them a number. So they have a number that identifies them as an individual. So then I can go back at a database and love, oh yeah, I dealt with this one before. And so then it's a repeat offender, right? And so this is how we better manage these bears. And and so, yeah, we get them a lip tattoo.

• 24:52Speaker 08

  So there's gonna be a corresponding number on their lip and their ear, they get a tag. And so this way, when they're, I'm in the field again, I got, deal with the same bear, I can easily identify them again. And yes, I do have a reoffender list. It's about twenty bears long.

• 25:13Speaker 08

  And this is the way we we can tell if they're just they have it in their behavior. And again, a lot of times these bears are like humans. Some of them are just bad actors and they just wind up in this facility over and over again. I it's it's true and I just can't believe it sometimes. But anyways, yeah, it's so thirty days. They're not getting any any food. They do get water. They stay in there. And then we're going to put them down again to sleep after their thirty days. We're going to load them on the stretcher, get them and make sure that we've got all the data off them that we need to. Bears will also be weighed so we know how much weight they lost inside the facility.

• 25:57Speaker 08

  And because they do lose about, to believe it or not, three to four pounds a day. And actually, this is kind of similar in the wild. They do as well.

• 26:07Speaker 03

  Must be nice.

• 26:09Speaker 08

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

• 26:22Speaker 03

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

• 26:27Speaker 08

  Oh, so mad, yeah.

• 26:31Speaker 08

  Like they they'll pound those bars and it's incredible their strength, like they'll bow the bars like those bars are just solid steel and concrete cylinder block cells. So there's we've never had one escape other than we did actually have a little cub escape one time. But it got through the trough where we feed them or where we give them water, sorry. So pardon me, we don't feed them, but we give them water and it got through that trough. So now we've got a special insert that goes in there so that the little cubs can't squeeze through the trough.

• 27:08Speaker 08

  So, yeah, and and it's in a they're powerful. They they hiss at you. They they give you the side eye. They got a really mean, deep growl. There's the like, it's pretty eerie sounding.

• 27:22Speaker 03

  That's good.

• 27:22Speaker 08

  And you can, yeah, it's you can hear it. It's there's nothing else like it like I've never experienced anything else like that. But, yeah, incredible.

• 27:31Speaker 03

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

• 27:40Speaker 08

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

• 27:59Speaker 03

  Wow.

• 27:59Speaker 08

  We're not handling them as much anymore. And that's because we've changed our tactics. We don't want to have to handle them. Unless we absolutely have to. So.

• 28:09Speaker 03

  Tough on crying. I like it.

• 28:12Speaker 08

  Yeah. Back in the eighties, they put a lot of bears through there. Now in, uh, 2026, we're, we're a little, uh, more selective on the bears we put in there. And on average, I'd say we probably put 20 per year in there.

• 28:28Speaker 03

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

• 28:33Speaker 08

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

• 29:18Speaker 03

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

• 29:25Speaker 08

  Well, come check out the polar bear holding facility because there's no other place like it in the world. You might even be able to hear the loud growl if you put if you put your ear close to the door and listen. And and ask some questions about polar bear alert program, Google it, check it out. Not a lot of people actually know about it. And it's it's a success story. It's protecting humans and protecting bears. And and come to Churchill and just it's the polar bear capital of the world. There's no other place where you can easily access. Basically, while a viewing areas where it's very likely you're going to see a polar bear. So. Book through a guide, though. A licensed guide is your way to go.

• 30:10Speaker 08

  There are restrictions on how to view bears, and so the the guides all know how to do that. And you don't because you don't want to get yourself in a bad situation. I've I've seen people five feet away from these things. They think it's the zoo and it's just. It's it's so incredible how fast they can move and and people just. Sometimes don't realize they get caught in the moment like, oh, this magnificent creature. And yet they're only five, 10 feet away from the thing. It's just. It's it's not ideal, but again, go through a guide and they'll keep you safe. So.

• 30:41Speaker 03

  Have you gotten any emergency calls while doing this interview?

• 30:46Speaker 08

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

• 30:58Speaker 03

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

• 31:03Speaker 08

  Yeah, thanks, guys. Been a pleasure.

• 31:05Speaker 06

  Yeah, likewise.

• 31:06Speaker 04

  Thanks, Ian.

• 31:08Speaker 03

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

• 31:15Speaker 04

  Oh, I mean, shotgun, I feel like is pretty run of the mill protection weapon for bears, but the the Daniel Defense.

• 31:22Speaker 03

  308?

• 31:23Speaker 04

  Yeah. It makes sense.

• 31:26Speaker 06

  Okay. Yeah, I mean, I'd assume they're just trying to. Put one in the central nervous system.

• 31:32Speaker 03

  Uh huh.

• 31:32Speaker 06

  So, um, probably a bullet.

• 31:36Speaker 03

  To be accurate.

• 31:38Speaker 06

  Probably bullet. What'd we get, Randall? A pack of smokes from Steve.

• 31:45Speaker 03

  Poplar Middle School brought gifts to the meat eater office. Uh, one of them was tobacco.

• 31:50Speaker 06

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

• 31:57Speaker 03

  What do you got there?

• 31:58Speaker 06

  Steve just re-gifted. Steve just gifted me a, a hard pack of Marlboro Smooth Originals.

• 32:05Speaker 03

  I thought Steve said they were, uh.

• 32:06Speaker 06

  I thought they were reds too. This is a gold pack. Yeah, it's a gold pack, but these, I mean, don't, don't do that. Don't smoke cigarettes.

• 32:14Speaker 03

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

• 32:17Speaker 06

  Oh, yeah.

• 32:19Speaker 03

  That's how we'll celebrate.

• 32:22Speaker 06

  Um, yeah.

• 32:25Speaker 06

  I love that guy. That was one of the best interviews. Spencer's, Spencer's throwing heat all the way to the end with his guest recruitment. And, uh, yeah, man, we're probably the only Americans that guy's gonna talk to for the next year that won't mention the hockey, uh, game. Oh, yeah. Don't worry, the, the chat has been on it. Yeah.

• 32:43Speaker 03

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

• 32:49Speaker 06

  Man, that guy was great. That was a great interview. Thank you, Spencer. That, that just, uh. Who would have thought? Bear prison.

• 32:55Speaker 03

  Bear prison.

• 32:56Speaker 06

  For 30 days. I wanna go.

• 32:58Speaker 03

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

• 33:06Speaker 06

  That was great.

• 33:07Speaker 03

  Gosh.

• 33:08Speaker 00

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• 34:30Steven Rinella?

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• 34:49Speaker 03

  All right, our next segment is Hot Tip Off.

• 34:52Speaker 09

  H O T T I P R. Let's all do a hot tip off. H O T T I P R. Let's all do a hot tip off.

• 35:06Speaker 03

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

• 35:25Speaker 10

  Marshall Loftus.

• 35:29Speaker 10

  Hey guys, Marshall here, and I have an extremely simple tip for finding your arrows.

• 35:37Speaker 10

  I know most of your listeners probably don't actually ever miss, but I do, so I had to come up with a creative solution. Number one, I use iViz, wrap some veins, nothing new there. Uh, but number two, I utilize a UV or black light flashlight. These are like 10, 15 bucks on Amazon. So, you know, anytime you shoot, you don't know where your arrow goes, it goes into something like this. Um, this is kind of standard what you see. Here's one of my arrows. Um, you know, it gets buried in the grass, it gets buried in the leaves. Very difficult to find, but I actually utilize this to find the arrows in the dark. So I'm back at that same area, but in the dark here, obviously, I have my black light flashlight on and I'm gonna walk

• 36:22Speaker 10

  up to that general area of where the arrow is and we'll see if it'll show up on here. Boom, there you can see it.

• 36:31Speaker 06

  Oh, that's wild.

• 36:31Speaker 10

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

• 36:52Speaker 07

  Hello, Meat Eater. I got a hot tip here for you and a great project to do if you, with your kids, if you've got them. This is my homemade jaw jacker, as my buddy likes to call it, the ghetto jacker. I just built this out of inch and a half PVC pipe. You could build it with a block of wood and a pipe angled in the back of it to hold the rod. The main thing is this trigger mechanism, which you just gotta do a hook and I built this out of a paint can handle. You could use a coat hanger or whatever you've really got laying around. I used a zip tie here to connect it to the rod. Ran it through an eyelet and you just run your line up through the hook end of it.

• 37:39Speaker 07

  My fish grabs it.

• 37:42Speaker 07

  Works pretty good. Sets up nice. Can fit a couple of them in a bucket. I keep these feet to where they can just come off.

• 37:52Speaker 07

  So you can fit a couple in a bucket.

• 37:55Speaker 07

  And

• 37:57Speaker 07

  surely beats the $60 price tag.

• 38:00Speaker 03

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

• 38:10Speaker 04

  Poll is live.

• 38:11Speaker 03

  All right, Seth, which one do you like? Dalton's, uh, hot tip about the PVC jaw jacker? Or Marshall's of the UV light arrow finder?

• 38:20Speaker 04

  Well, I don't know Pixies. I don't want to call anyone out, but the, uh, the arrow one has been, has been done before.

• 38:26Speaker 03

  On this show?

• 38:26Speaker 04

  On this show.

• 38:27Speaker 03

  Oh, no.

• 38:28Speaker 04

  Um, well, I got a better memory than me because I have no recollection.

• 38:32Speaker 03

  I did not know that.

• 38:33Speaker 06

  Sorry, you began that by saying you don't mean to call anybody out?

• 38:38Speaker 04

  No.

• 38:38Speaker 03

  Okay, which one do you like better?

• 38:40Speaker 04

  Was that Phil? Was that you, Phil?

• 38:41Speaker 03

  No.

• 38:42Speaker 04

  No.

• 38:42Speaker 06

  Okay, sorry.

• 38:44Speaker 04

  I don't, I don't mean to call anyone out, but I should have, I should have.

• 38:46Speaker 03

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

• 38:48Speaker 04

  Okay, um, the, the ice fishing one for me.

• 38:52Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 38:52Speaker 04

  The homemade jaw jacker. Jaw jackers aren't, aren't, they're not cheap.

• 38:56Speaker 03

  $60, he said.

• 38:57Speaker 04

  Yeah, so the, the homemade stuff is fantastic. And I did mention, or I did mention, I did notice he had, uh, Buddy Jay Siemens in the background on the television.

• 39:06Speaker 03

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

• 39:12Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 39:12Speaker 03

  He knew it was Jay.

• 39:13Speaker 04

  I like that one.

• 39:14Speaker 03

  All right, Seth is voting for the PVC jaw jacker. Randall, what do you think? Uh, the UV light arrow finder from Marshall? Or the jaw jacker from Dalton?

• 39:23Speaker 06

  I mean, to me, these two tips embody some of the finest traditions of tipping. One is just getting some device that's useful for one thing and applying it to another. As we remember from the air compressor blowing out the, the brains of the deer skull. Um, and the other is just going to Ace Hardware and buying a bunch of shit.

• 39:46Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 39:46Speaker 06

  And building your own, like. Little device. Um, so I appreciate both of them in different ways, but um, man, I do like that that homemade. I mean, anytime you can just make a mess of PVC. I was a big potato cannon kid. We made a battery gun one time that just shot double A batteries and we were punching holes in plywood with it.

• 40:09Speaker 03

  Oh, okay.

• 40:10Speaker 05

  That sounds fun.

• 40:10Speaker 06

  Uh, we moved on from the hairspray to dry ice and water.

• 40:15Speaker 03

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

• 40:19Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 40:20Speaker 03

  Randall making a potato cannon.

• 40:21Speaker 06

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

• 40:33Speaker 03

  Okay, that's two votes for the jawjacker.

• 40:34Speaker 06

  That was a long-winded answer, sorry.

• 40:36Speaker 03

  Yeah, I, uh, both of these, again, like mini hot tips, it's about how to save some money. Um, one is you're gonna recover more arrows. The other is you don't have to buy a $60 jawjacker.

• 40:45Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 40:46Speaker 03

  I'm going to vote, vote for the UV light arrow finder. Uh, you should go watch this video on our podcast YouTube channel. Uh, because that thing lit up like somebody turned on a light switch on the back of that arrow. It was so easy to find. Here's the other thing. I love having a UV light with me. Um, when I go camping, there's like, I don't know, probably 20 things that just stay in my camping kit that no matter what kind of camping I'm doing, they're coming with me. Uh, one of them is a UV light that I look for UV, uh, I look for rocks that show up under UV light. Um, so if you've got that with you, turn that on at night, you can recover some very cool rocks. You'll find other uses for that UV light. And it's only like 15 bucks from Amazon besides just recovering arrows.

• 41:31Speaker 06

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

• 41:36Speaker 03

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

• 41:39Speaker 05

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

• 41:52Speaker 03

  Oh, alright.

• 41:53Speaker 05

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

• 41:55Speaker 06

  That's a real dark horse. Get it?

• 41:59Speaker 03

  Marshall, good one Randall. He gets a $100 meat eater gift card. Uh, next week for the finale, we are just going to empty the clip for all of the hot tips that we have left.

• 42:08Speaker 06

  Indeed, indeed.

• 42:09Speaker 03

  Alright, let's take a break for some listener feedback. Phil, what's the chat have to say?

• 42:14Speaker 05

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

• 42:21Speaker 06

  Um, no, I'd like to. I enjoy eating wild turkey, so I'd like to shoot another turkey or two. It's just a, just a question of getting on someone's dance card. Max Barta is a

• 42:35Speaker 03

  Busy guy.

• 42:35Speaker 06

  Busy guy in the spring. I was talking to Cal last night and we were discussing a little turkey family camp. Family turkey camp, I should say. Um, so that's, that's in the cards as well, but definitely going to, uh, go out and look for some Bruins. I already have one of those trips on my calendar.

• 42:56Speaker 05

  Question for Seth from Coda. What's your go-to razor for a clean shave?

• 43:00Speaker 03

  Oh.

• 43:00Speaker 05

  I too have a mustache, but find it hard to keep up with a clean cut like you. Razors give me razor burn on my neck and jawline.

• 43:05Speaker 06

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

• 43:12Speaker 04

  Um, I, uh, ah, the ones I buy from the store are often different. I look at price more than, uh,

• 43:20Speaker 03

  There we go.

• 43:21Speaker 04

  I'll tip off. Yeah, I look at price more than the actual razor itself. A few blades is good, although I recently, uh, was given one of those proof razors. It's made in Belgrade.

• 43:33Speaker 03

  Oh.

• 43:33Speaker 04

  It's like a machined, all machined aluminum razor.

• 43:37Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 43:38Speaker 04

  Has one blade, replaceable.

• 43:40Speaker 03

  Hmm.

• 43:42Speaker 04

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

• 43:47Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 43:48Speaker 04

  So.

• 43:48Speaker 06

  And then an aftershave or something like that?

• 43:51Speaker 04

  No.

• 43:52Speaker 06

  As long as we're leaning into this.

• 43:53Speaker 04

  No, I don't, I don't use an aftershave. I use, uh, the shaving cream I use is like, uh, they call it like a shh. It's, it's like one of those healthy kinds. It's not edge.

• 44:03Speaker 03

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

• 44:08Speaker 05

  Question for King Randoml himself, if he only had to choose one for the rest of his life, would it be dogs or brats?

• 44:14Speaker 06

  Oh, hmm.

• 44:15Speaker 05

  I think I know.

• 44:18Speaker 06

  Man, it's probably dogs.

• 44:19Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 44:19Speaker 03

  I agree.

• 44:20Speaker 06

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

• 44:41Speaker 03

  Phil, let's do a couple more and then after that, I think we put movie club at the end of the show.

• 44:45Speaker 05

  I think it's a good call.

• 44:46Speaker 03

  Because our next guest is waiting, so we'll do that last year.

• 44:49Speaker 06

  It's a great idea.

• 44:49Speaker 05

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

• 44:57Speaker 06

  Yes, every year.

• 44:58Speaker 05

  Oh, yeah.

• 44:59Speaker 03

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

• 45:03Speaker 06

  Well, yeah, I'll.

• 45:06Speaker 06

  I probably will have a sheep tag. Just an unlimited sheep tag.

• 45:10Speaker 03

  Oh.

• 45:10Speaker 05

  Oh.

• 45:11Speaker 03

  They're changing that this year, I saw.

• 45:13Speaker 06

  Yeah. I just. Whatever.

• 45:16Speaker 03

  Okay. Randall's gonna be the sheep hunter.

• 45:18Speaker 06

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

• 45:24Speaker 03

  Let's do one more, Phil.

• 45:26Speaker 05

  Uh, sure, I'm gonna be selfish with this one. Phil, how's Cast and Chill treating you? That was that lo-fi fishing game that I've been talking about. I have it, so I just got myself a better monitor for my, the room where I stream, when I stream.

• 45:37Speaker 06

  Oh.

• 45:39Speaker 05

  But tomorrow, tomorrow's a big day because their Nintendo is, and Game Freak are releasing Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green for the Nintendo Switch. I'll be picking that up. But more importantly, for my streaming purposes, Resident Evil 9 comes out tomorrow.

• 45:54Speaker 06

  Wow.

• 45:54Speaker 05

  And I'm a big fat baby, and so I'm thinking about, and here's the scariest one so far.

• 45:59Speaker 06

  Sick day.

• 45:59Speaker 05

  Thinking about streaming it, uh, if you guys want to watch that.

• 46:03Speaker 06

  I do. It's like I'm taking a sick day, too.

• 46:06Speaker 04

  When did the original Resident Evil come out?

• 46:08Speaker 05

  Oh, like 1998 or something?

• 46:10Speaker 04

  Wow, did you play that one?

• 46:11Speaker 05

  No, I didn't. I've, I've only been starting, I've been dipping my toe into horror stuff over the last couple of years, but I've, over the last year, I've played Resident Evil. Two, four, seven, and I'm almost done with eight. Um, and I've, I've been really enjoying them. The writing is, is god awful. The plot makes no sense. Uh, but that's kind of part of the charm.

• 46:30Speaker 06

  So you don't like the films then, I assume?

• 46:32Speaker 05

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

• 46:41Speaker 03

  So how do I tune into this Phil Taylor livestream?

• 46:43Speaker 05

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

• 47:01Speaker 03

  And maybe Phil will tell us on his Instagram story how we can watch it live as well.

• 47:05Speaker 05

  So that's my YouTube handle and my Twitch handle, Philabuster Sword. Phil, it's my name. Philabuster with a P H because that's what people called me in high school. Buster Sword, as we all know, is the iconic sword that Cloud Strife wields in Final Fantasy VII. So it's a, it's a portmanteau of, of kinds.

• 47:21Speaker 06

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

• 47:24Speaker 03

  Good stuff.

• 47:25Speaker 06

  Who've gone from shaving products to goat and sheep tags to Philabuster Sword.

• 47:30Speaker 05

  So I'll, I'll be doing that Fri- this Friday or Saturday. So.

• 47:33Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 47:33Speaker 05

  Tune, tune in. You can watch me pee my pants. You never know what you'll get here.

• 47:36Speaker 06

  That got, yep.

• 47:38Speaker 03

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

• 47:55Speaker 11

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

• 47:59Speaker 03

  Great. Uh, first thing, what are the Cheese Monger Olympics?

• 48:04Speaker 11

  I'm happy to explain. Um, so the Mondial de Fermage, which is the Cheese Monger Olympics, it happens every two years in France. Uh, and champion cheesemongers from all over the world compete against each other in this like grueling eight hour day of cheesemonger challenges. With the goal of being crowned the world's best cheesemonger for that year. So. The challenges span everything from general knowledge, written tests, to blind tasting, pairing challenges, cheese sculpture, a one-square-meter-themed, absolutely massive cheese display made with like a hundred mystery cheeses that they just put down in crates behind you. So it was obviously very difficult, but it is also as much about stamina and

• 48:47Speaker 11

  time management as it was about cheese knowledge and monger's skill and technique.

• 48:52Speaker 03

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

• 48:57Speaker 11

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

• 49:32Speaker 03

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

• 49:40Speaker 11

  Um, so I actually have a degree in Italian. I went to college for Italian studies. And after that, I was working a kind of a corporate job, just managing a cooking school. It was a cooking school in educational space, so I was seeing a lot of these classes and events that were happening, everything from like, obviously, cheese tastings to butchering demonstrations, to pizza making, pasta making, dinners, things like that. So there's a lot of really cool stuff that I was experiencing for the first time. And then after a couple of years of managing that particular space, I decided I wanted to kind of make a switch and learn a craft, hopefully probably one of the things that I had witnessed in the

• 50:23Speaker 11

  school. And I also had a little bit of a, like a run-in, let's call it, with an animal rights group, and that kind of changed the trajectory of my career. So I decided I really wanted to learn butchery. That's what I was going to focus on. But at the time, I was like a little 23-year-old girl with no knife skills. So nobody was going to hire me for a butcher job, obviously. So I was advised to take a job at a cheese counter for a few months, learn how to handle knives, and then try to make that transfer. Obviously, I ended up loving cheese so much that it won and I I pursued the career in cheese quite successfully, I might add. But I did actually stay at the counter part-time while I was doing a butcher apprenticeship for a while.

• 51:08Speaker 11

  It ended up being a really fun combination because I was managing a cheese counter in Brooklyn during the pandemic and there was a nose-to-tail butcher in the same grocery store. So during the pandemic, I was able to kind of like pop over there when they needed some help and like make sausages, trim pork chops, that kind of thing. So since then, I have been the cheese manager and buyer of that grocery store. I'm currently the sales and marketing manager for Formaticum. We are the country's premier importer of cheesepaper, packaging, tools, all the professional quality items that you need to run a cheese department. And that is a really cool role that allows me to do a lot of travel and educate both cheesemongers and consumers alike

• 51:49Speaker 11

  about how to properly take care of cheese and taste cheese and just, you know, sharing the love and encouraging enthusiasm for cheese.

• 51:57Speaker 03

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

• 52:14Speaker 11

  So obviously, the United States does not have a great reputation globally when it comes to cheese and like all other food.

• 52:22Speaker 03

  Because of American cheese?

• 52:25Speaker 11

  I'm, I actually am going to talk about that. Like, some of that is completely justified, but we actually do have a pretty thriving cheese culture here, pun intended. There is a lot of misconception about the term "American cheese" and what that means. And when you say that, most people think of the like plasticky orange slices, which totally do have their time and place. But when I think of American cheese, I think about all of the amazing cheese producers that we have all across the country, in every state, who are making absolutely incredible cheese every single day. They're winning awards. They are focusing on regenerative agriculture. They're giving back to their communities. And I like to say, good American cheese is

• 53:07Speaker 11

  everywhere for those with eyes to see. So being able to show up at this competition and represent the United States.

• 53:16Speaker 11

  In my own way and be able to be able to prove on the world stage that American cheesemongers are skilled and talented and creative was just amazing and especially to be surrounded by so many other wonderfully talented cheesemongers, just being inspired by them and being able to learn from them. We left France with a lot of new friends, I am happy to say.

• 53:35Speaker 03

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

• 53:49Speaker 11

  First of all, I love venison. But with these types of unconventional pairings, let's say, instead of focusing on like the pairing exclusively, I try to think about like who would be eating these things and how they would be prepared and like what those people might have access to. So in the cheese industry, we have this, the saying that's what grows together, goes together. And that basically means that products from the same region will likely be a good pairing. So for venison, I'm thinking like, like braised venison, roasted meat, stew, ragu, things that would likely be found in like a mountain region, like the Alps of Italy or Switzerland, things like that. So that automatically takes

• 54:28Speaker 11

  me over to like a funky oniony mountain cheese like Gruyere or Fontina, something that really melts well. But on the other side of things, specifically Smokey Blue, which is a really cool blue cheese made by Rogue Creamery in Oregon, I think would pair really well with that.

• 54:45Speaker 03

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

• 54:50Speaker 11

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

• 55:10Speaker 03

  Okay, how about small game, like squirrels and rabbits?

• 55:14Speaker 11

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

• 55:39Speaker 03

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

• 55:50Speaker 11

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

• 56:12Speaker 03

  How about fish, uh, that, that have some color in their meat, like a trout or salmon?

• 56:18Speaker 11

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

• 56:37Speaker 03

  Okay. Uh, final one, what cheeses pair well with wild mushrooms like morels, chanterelles and bolettes?

• 56:43Speaker 11

  Yum. Um, immediately umami, I, I wanna go for an umami bomb here. Um, one of my favorite dishes to make is a mushroom risotto with some melted toleggio. Uh, toleggio is a kind of stinky washed, dried cheese from northern Italy. I think that that pairs really well with those mushrooms, but also if we're like, you know, on the umami train, we can do something with truffle. And I know that truffled toleggio is a thing that exists, so, um, if you can find it, I think that that would be wonderful.

• 57:12Speaker 03

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

• 57:28Speaker 11

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

• 58:10Speaker 11

  Um, but I can encourage you to branch out, try something new and just most importantly, keep cheese on your table physically and metaphorically.

• 58:21Speaker 03

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

• 58:32Speaker 11

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

• 59:13Speaker 03

  Okay. Thanks for your time and wisdom, Amelia, and congrats again on winning gold at the Cheese Olympics.

• 59:19Speaker 11

  I just wanted to show it.

• 59:21Speaker 03

  Hell yeah. Flashing her gold medal.

• 59:24Speaker 11

  She's thick.

• 59:25Speaker 04

  Oh, wow. Yeah.

• 59:25Speaker 03

  That's great.

• 59:26Speaker 04

  That's awesome.

• 59:27Speaker 03

  Thank you. Have a good day.

• 59:28Speaker 11

  Thank you so much for having me.

• 59:30Speaker 03

  Wow. Seth was nodding his head about the Velveeta and mac and cheese.

• 59:35Speaker 04

  Yeah, it does make good cheese for mac and cheese. I haven't had Velveeta though in long time.

• 59:42Speaker 03

  Yeah, I think of childhood.

• 59:43Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 59:44Speaker 03

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

• 59:48Speaker 05

  We had Boondog in the chat saying his girlfriend is the cheese monger at Smith's here in Bozeman, and that this lady is her hero. Oh, that's amazing.

• 59:54Speaker 04

  Nice.

• 59:55Speaker 05

  So Amelia, Amelia's still here. She heard that. That's good. That's amazing.

• 59:59Speaker 03

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

• 1:00:06Speaker 03

  That would work.

• 1:00:08Speaker 12

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• 1:01:48Speaker 03

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

• 1:02:04Speaker 05

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

• 1:02:09Speaker 03

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

• 1:02:14Speaker 06

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

• 1:02:16Speaker 05

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:02:17Speaker 06

  Should I begin?

• 1:02:18Speaker 05

  Happy to play. Oh, please do.

• 1:02:19Speaker 06

  Okay.

• 1:02:21Speaker 06

  On February 15th, 2009, I fell in love with a man.

• 1:02:27Speaker 06

  I was home for my first year at college. I was at a friend's house. Across the room, I caught a glimpse of a face unlike any I'd seen before. I heard his voice and I was transfixed. He told me in no uncertain terms that he had a mind for victory and an arm like an effing cannon. His name was Kenny Powers, the maladjusted protagonist of the HBO series Eastbound and Down. In the years that followed, I came to know and to love many other characters in the Danny McBride Jodie Hill universe who resemble Kenny Powers. These men are not villains. They're not even precisely fools. Each is simply a man who has confused his own success in one domain of life for mastery in all domains. The inevitable consequence of this mindset is an existence punctuated by eruptions of frustration at the world around him.

• 1:03:13Speaker 06

  The expected results of his actions never quite align with his delusions of grandeur. These are men undone by their own mythologies. Josh Brolin, Josh Brolin plays just such a man in the 2018 Netflix original, The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter.

• 1:03:30Speaker 06

  Despite the provocative opening sentence of this review, what follows is not a celebration of my favorite comedic catalog. This is Meat Eater Movie Club, where our focus, as always, remains laser focused on the film at hand.

• 1:03:41Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 1:03:42Speaker 06

  But I thought it was too good of a cold open, so I kept it in there. And that detail explains the lack of a decent transition at this point in the review. The plot of Legacy is relatively simple. Man loves hunting, man ignores son, man attempts to force son to love hunting, son declines. Josh Brolin stars as Buck Ferguson, the host of a successful hunting video series, who takes his estranged son into the wilderness to shoot his first deer. A ritual Buck believes will forge the bond their fractured relationship has lacked. Jaden predictably would rather be elsewhere. Buck Ferguson wants his son to want a deer. And beneath that, he wants his son to want him. To see in his father, not a man, his mother divorced, not a stranger who shows up with camera equipment and a bumbling sidekick,

• 1:04:27Speaker 06

  but a living repository of masculine wisdom. This is of course, not how children work. Children are not vessels waiting to be filled with their father's hobbies. Listen up Seth. They're already full of their own desires, most of which involve guitar practice and texting their girlfriends. Here's another spot where I could have come up with a better transition. In 1956, the sociologist Irving Goffman published the presentation of self in everyday life, in which he argued that human social interaction is essentially theatrical, that we are all at times performing versions of ourselves for audiences we have consciously or unconsciously assembled. Goffman did not mean this point cynically. The performance he suggested is not a distortion of the self, but an expression of it. We become in some meaningful sense, what we repeatedly enact.

• 1:05:12Speaker 06

  The costume becomes the skin. Buck Ferguson does not merely hunt. He films himself hunting. Every descent into the wilderness is simultaneously a descent into the role of Buck Ferguson, legendary outdoorsman, as mediated through the lens of Don, a role masterfully inhabited by Danny McBride. The film's sharpest, excuse me, this is the film's sharpest and most underexplored insight. The camera does not actually capture authenticity. It replaces it. The moment Buck raises his rifle, he is no longer a man in the woods. He is a man in the woods being watched, which is an entirely different psychological condition, one that forecloses the very intimacy with nature and with his son that Buck so desperately desires.

• 1:05:57Speaker 06

  This is, I apologize, this is going on longer than I thought. No, we all expected this. There is a cruelty to this arrangement that the film only partially acknowledges. Buck wants to give him, Buck wants to give his son something real. A memory, a tradition, a moment of shared significance. But he has invited a camera to witness it, which means he has already converted the moment from experience into content. The deer if shot will not be a private communion between father and son. It will be episode 47 of Buck Fever. The memory will be archived before it is even formed. This is not, it should be noted, an affliction unique to men named Buck Ferguson. We live now in a civilization that has developed an extraordinary and insatiable appetite

• 1:06:40Speaker 06

  for the documentation of its own significant moments. Births, deaths, proposals, first steps, last words. All of it fed into the great digital maw, transforming from experience into artifact, from felt into filmed. It is widely acknowledged that writing restructures consciousness. One shudders to contemplate what the selfie lens on an iPhone camera has done to it. Or I might add, a set of three cameras on tripods used to livestream a podcast every Thursday during which occasionally a man reviews films. It is not lost on your reviewer that this segment is itself a performance during which Randall Williams, movie critic, is as much a constructed identity as Buck Ferguson, outdoorsman. The difference perhaps is one of self-awareness.

• 1:07:24Speaker 06

  Buck never quite grasps that the camera has replaced the experience he was chasing. Whereas I know that I'm full of shit. A meaningful conclusion to this review was hard to come up with.

• 1:07:34Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 1:07:37Speaker 05

  Randall, you're a really good writer. I just want to throw that out there.

• 1:07:40Speaker 06

  Oh, thanks, guys.

• 1:07:41Speaker 04

  Someone says here in the chat that, oh, Randall writes well.

• 1:07:44Speaker 06

  Oh, thank you.

• 1:07:45Speaker 04

  Randall writes so well.

• 1:07:46Speaker 06

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

• 1:08:01Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 1:08:02Speaker 06

  Both to Florida, if I recall.

• 1:08:03Speaker 03

  You must have been a good student if missing two classes was no.

• 1:08:06Speaker 06

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

• 1:08:12Speaker 03

  Got it. Okay.

• 1:08:14Speaker 04

  Hopefully the Penn State.

• 1:08:16Speaker 06

  Guys, I think if you go to this film wanting to see a great hunting film, you're missing the point.

• 1:08:23Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:08:24Speaker 06

  I, I think that the, you know, like, nobody watches Ricky Bobby Talladega Nights and says, that's not how sports cars work. Nobody watches, so. Throw away the weird camo, the CGI deer.

• 1:08:41Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:08:41Speaker 06

  All that stuff. I enjoyed this film, not as much as I enjoy the rest of his catalog, but I thought it, I mean, the reviews I read were terrible, but I thought it was good.

• 1:08:52Speaker 03

  Twenty-five percent on Rotten Tomatoes. I think I saw another, IMDb had it like 2.8 out of 10 stars, so not a well-received, straight-to-streaming.

• 1:09:02Speaker 05

  I think that's fair.

• 1:09:04Speaker 03

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

• 1:09:09Speaker 06

  Oh, just you guys didn't, you guys didn't enjoy it.

• 1:09:12Speaker 03

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

• 1:09:18Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 1:09:18Speaker 03

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

• 1:09:33Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 1:09:33Speaker 03

  Like, it's just not for you.

• 1:09:35Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 1:09:35Speaker 03

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

• 1:09:40Speaker 06

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

• 1:09:44Speaker 03

  I would agree with that.

• 1:09:45Speaker 06

  When he wrecks the ATV and he's like, now I have to pay for that?

• 1:09:49Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:09:49Speaker 06

  It's great.

• 1:09:50Speaker 03

  I agree.

• 1:09:51Speaker 06

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

• 1:10:02Speaker 05

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

• 1:10:13Speaker 03

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

• 1:10:52Speaker 06

  Yeah. I mean, I think. For me, I have a hard time coming into this and judging it on its merits because there's so many elements of a classic Danny McBride product in it. There's the the lackey. McBride plays essentially Stevie Janowski from Eastbound and Down. He's he's the man who wants to be the great man. Who really cares nothing about his welfare. And in fact, he suffers disfigurement for that man.

• 1:11:24Speaker 03

  Several times.

• 1:11:25Speaker 06

  This several times. Saying inappropriate things to children. When he describes parkour as gymnastics, I couldn't help but think of the classic line, I'm not trying to be the best at exercising. To describe a triathlon. He has like a very precise understanding of behaviors that make characters look like losers. Like when the stepdad is riding the hoverboard.

• 1:11:50Speaker 03

  Right.

• 1:11:51Speaker 06

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

• 1:12:05Speaker 03

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

• 1:12:08Speaker 06

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

• 1:12:34Speaker 03

  I there's certain times when we're making a piece of content at MeatEater. And you know, when you're doing it like this is really good. Or this kind of sucks. We like didn't hit our marks. I'm certain they knew when they were making this movie that they were making. A movie that was gonna get 25% on Rotten Tomatoes.

• 1:12:52Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 1:12:52Speaker 03

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

• 1:13:02Speaker 06

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:13:02Speaker 03

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

• 1:13:05Speaker 05

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

• 1:13:24Speaker 06

  Yeah, Brolin is.

• 1:13:25Speaker 05

  All over his body.

• 1:13:25Speaker 06

  Brolin's great.

• 1:13:26Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 1:13:27Speaker 06

  There's just like the moments where he's like not on camera and he's like quietly sad or desperate. Um, he, the other, the other thing I enjoyed was it ending with a climatic, like whitewater. Negotiating the rapids. How many movies have ended with that? I'd like to think that they didn't know how to end the movie and they were just like, let's just do.

• 1:13:49Speaker 05

  Yeah, do the rapid scene.

• 1:13:51Speaker 03

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

• 1:14:02Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 1:14:02Speaker 03

  At any time.

• 1:14:03Speaker 06

  And the guitar.

• 1:14:04Speaker 03

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:14:04Speaker 06

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

• 1:14:16Speaker 05

  Yeah. Yeah, those, those videos are great. I specifically, uh, flagged the soundtrack of, of, of those, those hunting videos, which was very like Manheim Steamroller, like 80's jangly synth stuff. It like, it, but it fits so well. I thought that was like a really inspired.

• 1:14:32Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 1:14:32Speaker 05

  Decision.

• 1:14:33Speaker 03

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

• 1:14:36Speaker 05

  Yeah, I remember you telling me about that.

• 1:14:37Speaker 03

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

• 1:14:43Speaker 05

  You gotta do the hits. Um, I've got some questions for you guys, cause, uh, you know, I'm not really, I'm, I'm new to this whole world, but just, just some vernacular. Have you ever, uh, before shooting an animal said, referred to shooting it as punching a time card?

• 1:14:57Speaker 03

  No.

• 1:14:58Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 1:14:58Speaker 03

  Never heard that one.

• 1:14:59Speaker 05

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

• 1:15:03Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:15:03Speaker 05

  Have you ever said that?

• 1:15:04Speaker 03

  No.

• 1:15:04Speaker 06

  I don't like that.

• 1:15:06Speaker 05

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

• 1:15:11Speaker 03

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

• 1:15:18Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 1:15:18Speaker 03

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

• 1:15:22Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 1:15:22Speaker 03

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

• 1:15:26Speaker 06

  Yeah, they make, I mean, they make like hats that say, catching deer.

• 1:15:30Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:15:31Speaker 06

  You know, it's like a joke.

• 1:15:32Speaker 03

  Yeah. Seth watched this movie back during COVID.

• 1:15:34Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 1:15:35Speaker 03

  Seth, what did you think of it then?

• 1:15:36Speaker 04

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

• 1:15:41Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 1:15:42Speaker 04

  But it was one of those, like, when you guys said you were gonna review this movie, I was like, I'm not gonna watch that again. Like, I feel like

• 1:15:48Speaker 03

  That's fair.

• 1:15:49Speaker 04

  I feel like what I've seen and remember is like enough to get through this segment of the show. I just didn't wanna spend any more time watching it again. Cause what I remember was that it was, it was, it had its funny moments, but overall it was, you know, I'm with the folks on Rotten Tomatoes.

• 1:16:08Speaker 03

  Yeah. Seth had observed that it was like watching Jackie Bushman be portrayed in a movie. And I said, well, actually it's about Roger Regland. That's who Josh Brolin's character was based on. So if you're a fan of Roger Regland, then maybe you need to watch this movie.

• 1:16:23Speaker 05

  It did have one of my favorite sort of tropes of a Danny McRide project, which was genuine emotional sweetness that's punctuated by something like horribly explicit. When he's telling the story to the son about his girlfriend, he's like, I got this girlfriend, Kim, did you know she's a registered nurse and a mechanic?

• 1:16:41Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:16:42Speaker 05

  And so I told her that I had a broken truck and a heart condition and she liked that, you know. It's like a genuinely sweet moment. And then he's like, and check these out. And then he pulls out the cuckold Polaroid pictures.

• 1:16:53Speaker 06

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

• 1:16:59Speaker 05

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

• 1:17:03Speaker 06

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

• 1:17:20Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 1:17:21Speaker 06

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

• 1:17:26Speaker 03

  Oh, from this film?

• 1:17:28Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 1:17:28Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 1:17:29Speaker 05

  One of mine too.

• 1:17:30Speaker 06

  When he begins to um, tell the story to the kid of him splitting up with the kid's mom. And he goes, it started at oh nine. DVD sales were down slightly.

• 1:17:45Speaker 06

  And then proceeds to say that uh, the, he had to, he had to prevent uh, the kid's mom from going to the mall. After that, that was great.

• 1:17:55Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:17:55Speaker 05

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

• 1:18:02Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 1:18:03Speaker 05

  Uh, I just wanted to throw out one, a couple, a couple of lines I really enjoyed.

• 1:18:06Speaker 06

  Please, Phil.

• 1:18:07Speaker 05

  Uh, when Brolin finds him with the pictures and uh, he's kind of yelling at the kid, even though it's not his fault at all.

• 1:18:13Speaker 06

  Mm hmm.

• 1:18:13Speaker 05

  And, and uh, he says, I'm not a kid anymore. He goes, you are a kid when it comes to nudity and sexual relations.

• 1:18:18Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 1:18:19Speaker 05

  That was a good one.

• 1:18:20Speaker 06

  I did, I did love nudity.

• 1:18:22Speaker 05

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

• 1:18:51Speaker 05

  Those are, those are some of my favorites.

• 1:18:53Speaker 03

  Not strong muscle control in this movie.

• 1:18:56Speaker 06

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

• 1:19:05Speaker 03

  Mm hmm. I bet this looked very familiar to you, uh, big buck hunter boys, because that's like how the deer looked. The CGI-ness of them was as though they just pulled them from a big buck hunter video game.

• 1:19:16Speaker 06

  Yeah, I liked how bad the deer looked.

• 1:19:18Speaker 03

  Yeah. Oh, and they're always around, like, they're always in the most picturesque.

• 1:19:21Speaker 06

  They're always at the water.

• 1:19:22Speaker 03

  At the waterfall.

• 1:19:23Speaker 06

  Yeah. It was like they found a beautiful place and they're like, we know that buck will be here. Great. That's how it works.

• 1:19:29Speaker 03

  All right. Again, our last episode next week with the movie club topic being Congo, Randall's favorite movie?

• 1:19:37Speaker 06

  It's one of them. Yeah, it's a classic.

• 1:19:39Speaker 03

  Top 10, top 10 favorite movies.

• 1:19:40Speaker 06

  For show.

• 1:19:41Speaker 03

  All right, Phil, let's get some final feedback from the chat.

• 1:19:44Speaker 05

  Uh, this is from Chase. Phil, you gotta ask Randall what led to his trivia beat down from Steve.

• 1:19:48Speaker 06

  Oh, man. Sometimes you just don't have it.

• 1:19:52Speaker 03

  Vermin.

• 1:19:53Speaker 05

  Tough times.

• 1:19:54Speaker 06

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

• 1:20:15Speaker 03

  Man in the arena.

• 1:20:16Speaker 06

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

• 1:20:25Speaker 03

  Sometimes. What else you got, Phil?

• 1:20:27Speaker 05

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

• 1:20:36Speaker 04

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

• 1:20:42Speaker 03

  I've never touched one in my life.

• 1:20:43Speaker 04

  Not a big trout guy.

• 1:20:45Speaker 05

  Oh, that sounded, it sounded kind of angry.

• 1:20:47Speaker 03

  Sorry, Sarah. Find a, what do you have against trout, Seth?

• 1:20:49Speaker 06

  Find a buddy.

• 1:20:50Speaker 04

  Uh, just like warm, warm water stuff.

• 1:20:53Speaker 03

  YouTube, go to YouTube, type in steelhead fishing, Great Lakes.

• 1:20:57Speaker 04

  Message Chester Floyd.

• 1:20:58Speaker 03

  There you go.

• 1:20:59Speaker 04

  On Instagram.

• 1:21:00Speaker 05

  Couple of shout outs here. Uh, I thought this was fun. This is from Tyler. If any listeners of the, or of the Meat Eater Squad are ever in Southern Indiana, check out Old Homestead Distilling Company at Patoka Lake. We are sportsman friendly and out, and they have outlets to charge boat batteries.

• 1:21:14Speaker 04

  Oh, that's fantastic.

• 1:21:15Speaker 06

  That's good.

• 1:21:16Speaker 04

  Love that.

• 1:21:17Speaker 05

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

• 1:21:26Speaker 06

  Shout out to your daughter.

• 1:21:27Speaker 05

  Or, or her. Looks like it might be a woman in the picture there.

• 1:21:30Speaker 06

  Shout out to your daughter, J. Seuss, two, one, four, five. I don't know what it is that she sees in me, but it's good to have that support out there.

• 1:21:39Speaker 03

  What else you got, Phil?

• 1:21:40Speaker 06

  I don't think I play to a young crowd. Maybe I do.

• 1:21:44Speaker 06

  I've always thought I skewed older.

• 1:21:46Speaker 03

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

• 1:21:50Speaker 06

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

• 1:21:54Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:21:54Speaker 06

  Um, history buffs, maybe.

• 1:21:56Speaker 03

  What, what would he walk out of a gas station with? He goes in there for beer and snacks.

• 1:22:01Speaker 05

  Roller dog.

• 1:22:02Speaker 06

  Roller dog.

• 1:22:03Speaker 03

  Okay, what else?

• 1:22:03Speaker 06

  Cooler Ranch Doritos.

• 1:22:05Speaker 03

  Cooler?

• 1:22:07Speaker 06

  Yeah, didn't they change?

• 1:22:08Speaker 03

  There's more cool?

• 1:22:09Speaker 06

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

• 1:22:18Speaker 05

  It, yeah, it used to be nacho cheesier and I think cooler ranch, but then they, they just kind of simplified. I guess everyone was using saying cooler ranch anyway. I might be wrong.

• 1:22:26Speaker 06

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

• 1:22:29Speaker 03

  Okay, real random, I think. So a random walks into a gas station.

• 1:22:33Speaker 06

  A random would know that.

• 1:22:34Speaker 03

  Uh, he gets a roller hot dog.

• 1:22:36Speaker 06

  I feel like a fool now.

• 1:22:38Speaker 03

  Cooler Ranch Doritos. What else? What else is he getting?

• 1:22:40Speaker 05

  I'll press the cut button.

• 1:22:41Speaker 06

  Uh, couple of, uh,

• 1:22:46Speaker 06

  couple brew dogs.

• 1:22:47Speaker 05

  Yeah, some brewskis.

• 1:22:49Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 1:22:49Speaker 06

  Yeah, maybe some night crawlers.

• 1:22:51Speaker 03

  Yeah, very kid friendly still.

• 1:22:53Speaker 06

  And he's got weird, he's got something weird that he's thinking about.

• 1:22:56Speaker 05

  Maybe, maybe some zen.

• 1:22:58Speaker 06

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

• 1:23:12Speaker 03

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

• 1:23:18Speaker 06

  Sometimes he listens.

• 1:23:21Speaker 06

  Bill, let's do two more. But if he's not buying them, it's like he never smoked them.

• 1:23:28Speaker 05

  Favorite smoked trout recipes or techniques from Lane?

• 1:23:32Speaker 06

  I like them gifted to me.

• 1:23:34Speaker 04

  I like the, I like we turned into smoked trout dip.

• 1:23:38Speaker 03

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

• 1:23:43Speaker 04

  Yep.

• 1:23:44Speaker 06

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

• 1:23:48Speaker 03

  Oh, man.

• 1:23:50Speaker 04

  Sorry.

• 1:23:50Speaker 03

  Last one, Bill.

• 1:23:51Speaker 05

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

• 1:23:53Speaker 03

  That's all right. We will be back for the finale next week.

• 1:23:57Speaker 05

  Yes, six hour mega stream, lots of stuff happening, every segment you could imagine. It's gonna be fun.

• 1:24:04Speaker 06

  And this.

• 1:24:04Speaker 03

  Please join us.

• 1:24:05Speaker 04

  This is me signing out for good.

• 1:24:07Speaker 05

  Oh, sad.

• 1:24:07Speaker 03

  Well, you're gonna call in and, and deliver the happy news.

• 1:24:10Speaker 04

  That's true, yeah.

• 1:24:11Speaker 03

  Of the baby radio.

• 1:24:13Speaker 04

  That's true.

• 1:24:13Speaker 03

  Share with us.

• 1:24:13Speaker 06

  Did you know that internationally, they're called cool American Doritos?

• 1:24:17Speaker 04

  I like that. That's way cooler.

• 1:24:21Speaker 06

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

• 1:24:29Speaker 03

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

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• 1:26:38Speaker 00

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