Ep. 651: MeatEater Radio Live! Rare Guns, Best Camp Spots, and Gettysburg

Welcome to MeatEater Radio Live! Join Steve Rinella and the rest of the crew as they go LIVE from MeatEater HQ every Thursday at 11am MT! They’ll have segments, call-in guests, and real-time interaction with the audience. You can watch the stream on the MeatEater Podcast Network YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@MeatEaterPodcastNetwork, or catch the audio version of the show on Fridays. Today's episode is hosted by Spencer Neuharth https://www.instagram.com/spencerneuharth/?hl=en, Cory Calkins https://www.themeateater.com/people/cory-calkins, Seth Morris https://www.themeateater.com/people/seth-morris, and Phil Taylor https://www.instagram.com/philtaylor25/?hl=en. Connect with 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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• 0:04Steven Rinella?

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• 1:29Steven Rinella?

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• 2:12Steven Rinella?

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• 2:20Speaker 02

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

• 2:42Speaker 03

  Welcome to Meat Eater Radio Live. It's 11 a.m. Mountain Time on Thursday, January 16th, and we're live from Meat Eater HQ in Bozeman, Montana. I'm your host Spencer Neuharth, joined today by Seth Morris and Cory Calkins. On today's show, we'll interview Joel Collender from Rock Island Auction about some super rare guns that are for sale. Then we'll get a migration report from Matt McCormick, followed by One Minute Fishing with Chester in Wisconsin. After that, we'll rank the three coolest places we've ever camped. And finally, we'll talk to Phil Musket about one of the most coveted public lands jobs in America. But before we do anything, Corey, I need to issue an apology to you. Do you know why?

• 3:25Steven Rinella?

  No.

• 3:26Speaker 03

  There's not a chance you know why. Corey and I were elk hunting in October, and it was a big full moon that night. And I was talking about how I am very entertained by doctors and schoolteachers and nurses who say that like, the hospital is the worst place to work on a full moon. Kids are harder to deal with on a full moon. And I said, all these studies have shown that that's not true. But I'm glad that they think that that's true. But there's multiple studies that are like, that is not the case. Which Corey said that he sleeps worse on a full moon. And I said, Corey, you fool. There is no chance that's the case. Earlier this week, I was having a tough time falling asleep. Looked out the window, a full moon. And so I'm like, was Corey right? So I Googled it. There were

• 4:11Speaker 03

  like, six to 10 studies saying that that is the case. People have a harder time falling asleep on a full moon, and they wake up sooner on a full moon. They conducted these studies in South America, in the United States, in rural areas, in urban areas. Areas in laboratories where you didn't even know like what the moon was doing that night. And it's it's like pretty consistently agreed upon by science that you sleep worse on a full moon. So Corey, I'm sorry.

• 4:40Speaker 04

  That that's all right. I hate to say I told you so, but I mean, that was just my own life. You know, things I noticed in my life. I mean, there's like, what, three nights in a row where it's almost full.

• 4:50Speaker 03

  Happened this week. Did you notice that you slept any slept any worse?

• 4:54Speaker 04

  You know, my house has been in shambles. We had a little water leak, so we got fans and dehumidifiers going nuts. So actually, I slept great. But yeah, typically, full moon, like my kid doesn't sleep well. My dog's up roaming around, needs to go outside and howl at the moon or something. So yeah, it's typically a rough night to sleep, especially out camping, you know, it's a little bright.

• 5:12Speaker 03

  Seth, you ever notice that full moons, they they mess with you?

• 5:15Speaker 05

  Uh, other than just the the fact that it's light out, especially like right now when there's snow cover. I just like, I like darkness. Yeah, I like darkness when I sleep, so. But I can't say that I've noticed a difference because of the full moon.

• 5:30Speaker 03

  Phil, are your boys rowdier on a full moon, you think?

• 5:34Speaker 06

  I don't know. I've never noticed any sort of pattern like that. I know a lot of astrology people would would beg to differ.

• 5:40Speaker 03

  A few days ago, were they a real pain in your butt?

• 5:43Speaker 06

  You know, actually, for the first time, they they they weren't a pain in my butt for a while. So maybe it's like my kids are just the opposite, which, you know, yeah, I don't know.

• 5:51Speaker 03

  So Corey, going back to our elk camp conversation in October, I'm sorry.

• 5:56Speaker 04

  That's all right. Thank you for the apology, I guess. I wonder why that's the case. Must be gravity.

• 6:01Speaker 03

  One of the studies I saw said it's actually more rare in children than it affects their sleep. And so it's something that's been baked into us by the time we're adults that just messes with you.

• 6:11Speaker 04

  Wild, huh? Wild world.

• 6:13Speaker 03

  All right, we're gonna go to our first interview. Joining us on the line now is Joel Collander from Rock Island Auction. And he's here to show us some legendary guns that are coming up for sale. Joel, welcome to the show.

• 6:25Speaker 06

  Hey, a pleasure to be here. Thanks for having us on.

• 6:28Speaker 03

  First thing, Joel, tell us about what Rock Island Auction is.

• 6:32Speaker 06

  Uh, the short way to put it is Rock Island Auction House is the number one auction house in the world for fine and historic firearms. Uh, a lot of people associate us with six and seven-figure firearms. Those are what we're most known for, but I love coining on, on shows like this and saying, but there's guns for everybody. I mean, you just want to something to go out to the field. You need a pre-64 Winchester Model 70, you know, we're, we're going to have that. We're, we're really catering, uh, to collectors at, at all levels, not just collectors, but people use these things too.

• 7:02Speaker 03

  You mentioned six, six and seven-figure guns. What's the most expensive firearm you've ever sold?

• 7:09Speaker 06

  Uh, that would be a pair of firearms. Uh, that was in May 22, a pair of Remington new models. So percussion revolvers, mint condition, engraved by one of the finest engravers of the century, LD Nimski. Um, and they were presented to Ulysses S. Grant. Uh, that pair sold for $5.18 million.

• 7:31Speaker 03

  Oh my goodness. 5.18. Is that what you expected those guns to yield?

• 7:36Speaker 06

  No, we had a, I believe a pre-auction estimate between, between one and three. So we, we had a seven-figure estimate on it. We knew those were special and above and beyond. Once you start adding those historic figures, a lot of times there's, you know, there's no precedent for that. There's no precedent on, you know, what, what should a Ulysses S. Grant revolver sell for? Uh, so when it comes to auction time, it's, uh, sometimes you get some fireworks.

• 8:00Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's, it's worth what somebody will pay for it. Uh, how many guns a year do you guys move?

• 8:07Speaker 06

  Um, anymore. So we're, we're changing a lot of auction formats, trying to do a lot of new things on, with online platforms. Uh, currently, uh, just about, just about under 50,000 guns annually.

• 8:18Speaker 03

  Okay. 50,000 guns moving through Rock Island Auction. Now I see that you're wearing some gloves today. I assume that, uh, that's so you can delicately handle some of the firearms that you're about to show us. Uh, and you've got some guns that are coming up for auction in February. What, what do you have to share with us?

• 8:37Speaker 06

  Sure, well, these are in our February 21st through 23rd Sporting Collector Firearms Auction. The full catalog's on our website, so people can do that. You don't need to be present, although we certainly encourage people to come. If you're in that Dallas-Fort Worth area, come see the new facility that's in Bedford. We can talk about that later, but one of the ones, when you ask about the most expensive guns, one that was on our list for a long time was a Colt Walker. You know, it's a very, very first revolver with the Colt name actually on it.

• 9:08Speaker 06

  And we have one of those coming up in February.

• 9:11Speaker 05

  Ooh, nice.

• 9:12Speaker 06

  This is a Model 1847. That's when Colt would have started producing the Walkers. Absolute, just, as maybe you can tell, just a unit. Just a unit of a revolver. I mean, the cylinder is multiple inches in diameter. These saw hard use. To see them in any condition is absolutely phenomenal. There were only 1,000 made for military contract, 100 made for the commercial, for the commercial market. And they really, you know, our President Kevin Hogan likes to say, you know, they really gave Samuel Colt the keys to the mint. They opened up doors for him. It was just the start of military contracts, as well as getting, you know, introducing people on a more powerful scale to the repeater, or repeating pistol.

• 9:53Speaker 03

  For our audience members who are listening to this show, I'd suggest you go over to YouTube and watch this one, because Joel is handling these guns on the camera here. We're gonna just get to see all these expensive guns. What was the original price of that gun when it sold?

• 10:09Speaker 06

  Well, the 1,000 that were sold to the US government, they sold for $25 apiece, and an extra $3 per revolver for accessories and accoutrements.

• 10:19Speaker 03

  Wow, okay. And what do you guys expect it to sell for next month?

• 10:23Speaker 06

  The Colt Walkers do set the top of the market. We've sold examples commercially and otherwise for right around 1.8 million. Those are fine condition, all original. But there's still examples out there, and like I mentioned, a range of conditions. I believe we have the estimate at this one at 25,000 to 50,000. A really good way for someone who, you know, if you don't want to spend the moon on a Colt Walker, things like this provide a really easy way to do it to get an original, authentic, you know, Texas Ranger history Colt Walker in their collection.

• 10:54Speaker 03

  That is a beast of a gun. I see somebody in the comments of the live chat saying that they would be the unlucky person who would put a dent in one of these things. Out of the 50,000 guns that you guys sell a year, I imagine some accident has happened along the way, right? Where somebody has fumbled a gun and you guys had a little accident there.

• 11:15Speaker 06

  We don't have it happen here too much, but again, a lot of the guns that come to us, you know, we have our premier auctions, which are kind of the world class, just the best guns in the world are going to be at our premier auctions. Those, you don't see too many on, but the sporting collector auctions or some of our other arms and accessories auctions, you know, there's a lot of really good history in those that aren't in pristine condition. You know, they've been used, they've been there, they've done that, they've seen combat or they've seen the firing range. So, you know, some of them have some marks on it already and some people prefer that. They'd like a gun that's been there and done that instead of a safe queen or one that missed all the battles. You know, they want, they want something that a Texas Ranger might have had in their holster. So it's all like I said, we cater to all levels.

• 11:57Speaker 03

  All right, Joel, what else do you have to show us today?

• 12:00Speaker 06

  Well, this next one's going to be two hands. Uh, one of our most popular videos of all time is me and another gentleman here firing some rifles by J D Jones. Uh, J D Jones invented like the Whisper line of cartridges, which of course gave rise to 300 blackout, famous handgun hunter, famous Wildcatter, also did some rifle cartridges and rifle rounds. And this is one of them. Uh, this guy's chambered in 700 JDJ.

• 12:28Speaker 03

  Jesus. Whoa, that'll pack a wallop.

• 12:32Speaker 06

  Oh wow. It doesn't even have a muzzle brake, like that's ambitious. Uh, giant fluted cylinder, um, makes these things out of Phoenix and just no ATF, uh, or ATF exempt, so you don't need a, an ATF letter on, on a gun like this. Uh, the, the host cartridge is actually made from a 50 BMG brass. It's been necked out to accept that 700 caliber cartridge.

• 12:56Speaker 05

  How much does that thing weigh, Joel?

• 12:58Speaker 06

  Too much. Too much, I'm struggling with it now. I mean, this has got to be like 35 pounds.

• 13:03Speaker 03

  Yeah, Joel can't hold that for the whole interview, uh, because that, that is quite the workout. He can't even fit the whole thing in the frame of his screen. This is another beast of a firearm.

• 13:14Speaker 06

  Yeah, you, you're gonna want the weight, frankly, with a, with a round like that. I did some, uh, napkin math and it's about 28,000 foot pounds of force.

• 13:25Speaker 03

  Gee, wow.

• 13:26Speaker 06

  It's like a 30 out of six is generating 2,900 foot pounds of force.

• 13:30Speaker 03

  And what, what was this gun used for, uh, back in the day when, when people are tilting these things around?

• 13:36Speaker 06

  Uh, nobody, nobody was, that's the good news. Like it has sling swivels on it, but I don't know for what.

• 13:43Speaker 03

  Oh.

• 13:44Speaker 06

  Nobody's gonna want to carry this. Um, you can see though, it is in this heavy bench rest stock. So it's really just testing the boundaries of cartridge, which is what J D Jones is doing with the wildcatting and the, and the handgun hunting. Um, he's testing the boundaries for, for things like that. So target shooting, um, it's also made for watching your friends shoot it. And not, not you a whole bunch of times. That's probably more entertaining as well.

• 14:06Speaker 03

  Uh huh. The, the kind of guy who would haul that around in their back, I think that's, uh, exclusive to someone like Doug Durin. What, what was the original price on that gun?

• 14:15Speaker 06

  Then I don't know the original price, but it's pretty modern. So these, uh, the 700 JDJ, that's just, uh, developed as recently as 1995. Um, but I don't have the original price on it. Our estimate, uh, for that weekend for the February auction will be 14,000 to 22,500. Um, these big bores are becoming more desirable all the time. So, um, I wouldn't be surprised to see it float a little higher than that.

• 14:39Speaker 03

  Okay. And that, that thing, you could shoot it if you bought that, right? That, that's one that you take out to the range?

• 14:45Speaker 06

  Absolutely. It, uh, comes with a bunch of, uh, solids. So it comes with copper solids and soft points. Um, as well as the dies and you, you would laugh if you saw the reloading dies for this. They're just, they're just comically large.

• 14:58Speaker 03

  Yeah. All right. And what's, what's the last? Last gun you have to show us today.

• 15:02Speaker 06

  Last gun, kind of a classic. Got ourselves a Sharps. In fact, I'll flip it around. You can see the good side.

• 15:09Speaker 03

  Oh, that's beautiful.

• 15:10Speaker 06

  Sharps 1874. Um, and if you love, you know, 19th century, American hunting, or even Civil War history, boy, a Sharps uh, is the way to go. I mean, pre-Civil War history, Civil War, and in the 1870s like this one, you know, you come into those American bison hunts. Uh, and all the hunting that was going on there, the Sharps were extremely popular for that. Um, they come in a variety of calibers and sizes and lengths, and they were going to configure them just about any way you wanted it. Um, so they're popular for that reason, uh, and you can, and great for collectors. So if you want to collect a variety of them, uh, you can sure find them.

• 15:48Speaker 03

  And so when that gun was on the market in the 1870s, do you know what the selling price was?

• 15:54Speaker 06

  Um, a base model gun, so again, short barrel, uh, short octagon barrel and no kind of extra features, right around 35 bucks.

• 16:03Speaker 03

  And what do you think it's going to sell for next month?

• 16:05Speaker 06

  Let me check the estimate on that guy. Um, we had it 75 to 9500.

• 16:10Speaker 03

  Okay, $35 in the.

• 16:13Speaker 06

  Not a fancy stock, but we do have, um, a half octagon, half round barrel, uh, not as many of those produced, the, the full, um, round barrels are, are the rarest, the least produced out of the model 1874, but, uh, like I said, great model. This is, uh, you know, kind of got its fame with the Quigley Down Under movie. So that was, uh, in 1874 and in the same chambering as well, when the 45 110.

• 16:36Speaker 03

  Uh, $35 gives me a little sticker shock for 1874. I, I'd assume that thing would be half of that price. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Uh, Joel, if, if some listener is interested in one of these guns, how, how do they make a bid?

• 16:51Speaker 06

  RockIslandAuction.com, best way to do it. You can set it up where you just set in a sealed bid. You tell us what your max is. You can also request just right on the website to get a phone call. You can bid live via phone in the auctions. Just click a button and one of our folks will call you. Maybe five lots before the auction or before that lot comes up and says, hey, you know, this is Joel with Rock Island Auction Company. What's up? Let's talk about this gun a little bit and what your plans are for it. So any number of ways to bid. I like to joke it just about, we'll take a bid anyway, except for a smoke signal.

• 17:21Speaker 03

  Okay, it's, it is pretty painless. Rock Island Auction is actually where we bought our punt gun. And I've heard rumors in the office that it may get fired next month.

• 17:31Speaker 06

  Oh, finally.

• 17:33Speaker 03

  If you're in the Gallatin Valley and you hear a big old boom someday, you'll know what was going on. Joel, I had saw in an email recently that there was a gun you were supposed to tell Phil about that was once upon a time in your auction house.

• 17:49Speaker 06

  Bill, we, we set a Guinness Book World Record for the most expensive movie prop firearm ever sold. And that was for a, for the Han Solo DL-44 Blaster. Oh, nice. You beat me to the DL-44. I was gonna come in with that, with that, that name, but no. Yeah, that sounds, that sounds great. Where, where was I for this? How could I have gotten a notification?

• 18:19Speaker 06

  We told a few people about it, but it went for just over a million dollars. You know what? I take it back, Joel. I take it all back. You could have had that. Easy.

• 18:30Speaker 03

  A million dollars. Wow.

• 18:34Speaker 06

  Bidding's free. It's just the winning gets a little. That's a great point.

• 18:37Speaker 03

  Yeah. All right, Joel. Well, we're definitely gonna check, check in with you later this year to see what other cool guns you guys have at the auction house. Already looking forward to that next interview. Thanks for joining us.

• 18:49Speaker 06

  Hey, pleasure to be here. Thanks very much.

• 18:51Speaker 03

  Have a good one, Joel.

• 18:51Speaker 06

  Thanks, Joel.

• 18:53Speaker 03

  All right, our next segment is the migration report.

• 19:13Speaker 03

  The Migration Report is where Matt McCormick gives a waterfowl hunting forecast for each flyway. Take it away, Matt.

• 19:20Speaker 06

  Hey, guys. I'm Matt McCormick with Flying V and welcome to the Meat Eater Migration Report for January 16th, 2025. Been a little while since we've done one of these and for good reason. We've been hunting hard. And as you can see here in the Pacific Flyway of Montana, which is where I am right now, we are all the way snowed in, iced up, and the birds are pushing. We ended our season on January 10th and let me tell you, it was a banger of a, of an ending. And those birds on the front edge of this storm pushed all the way down into Utah, down to the SAC Valley. Everybody in the Pacific Flyway had a hell of a season this year.

• 20:01Speaker 06

  So kudos to everybody that was able to get out and do some hunting in the Pacific Flyway. In the Central Flyway, some seasons are starting to close, same with Mississippi. But as we're pushing south, and if you've been paying attention, there are birds pouring out of the north, down to the south, on the front and back end of this recent storm. I see you guys got some snow down there. Talked to some guys. You guys are getting massive pushes of birds as we dive into these last few weeks of the season. So if you're looking to get out and do some hunting, find a state that's open, hit the road with your buddies. If you're in one of those states that's still open, good luck. Have fun with these last few weeks because in about a month or so,

• 20:46Speaker 06

  all of you, including myself, are going to be wishing that season was still open. We're going to hit the road tomorrow, go find some birds somewhere else because we just can't handle it.

• 20:55Speaker 04

  Hey, it's hunting season, boys. It's still here. So get in the truck, go find birds and keep hunting. Good luck and be safe.

• 21:06Speaker 03

  Now, I believe that is the last migration report we'll have for the year, but for more waterfalling content from Matt and Flying V, be sure to go watch their show on the Meteor YouTube channel. A new episode just dropped today. Corey, Seth, you boys take advantage of the final stretch of the Montana season here or no?

• 21:24Speaker 05

  Um, I did actually got out like for the first time this year in the last week or so.

• 21:31Speaker 03

  How'd that go?

• 21:32Speaker 05

  It was good. Got a couple of birds, not many. We're taking it too serious, but just something to do on the weekend.

• 21:39Speaker 03

  What was the hunt like? You were just like waiting down some stream nearby?

• 21:43Speaker 05

  Just local, public stuff around here. Yeah.

• 21:47Speaker 03

  You saving those ducks then for a special occasion or what are you going to do with them?

• 21:51Speaker 05

  We ate some of them already. Yeah. Yeah. We, we usually don't let them things sit around too long. My wife loves them. So if we have ducks, we're eating them.

• 21:59Speaker 04

  Pretty fatty too, I'm sure.

• 22:00Speaker 05

  Yeah. Yeah. They're delicious.

• 22:03Steven Rinella?

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• 22:44Steven Rinella?

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• 23:28Steven Rinella?

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• 24:13Steven Rinella?

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• 24:55Steven Rinella?

  so make sure you sign up for email and SMS to be the first to know. These are going to sell out quick. Head to MKC.com today. That's MKC.com.

• 25:06Speaker 03

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

• 25:10Speaker 06

  Yeah, well, I see that Dr. Randall and Steven Rinella are both in the chat currently saying, hey, gentlemen, if you have a question for the crew, feel free to drop it in right now. Uh, Mitchell has a question for Spencer. I mean, you can be as, as specific or nonspecific as you'd like, but he says this is his first year hunting in South Dakota as a resident. What West River Zone do you think I should try putting in for?

• 25:32Speaker 03

  Well, if this is your first year, then I assume that means you have zero points and you are going to be quite limited, Mitchell. Um, to, to draw like a pretty quality unit in Western South Dakota as a resident, you probably need three or four points. Um, what I would say is probably just avoid Gregory County. Uh, if, if this is your first time going West River, you're probably going to be drawn to that zone when you look at a public land map and see your draw odds. Um, that unit has an incredibly low retention rate because people get fooled by the reasons I just said, and then they go there and they're super disappointed and they never go back again. And, and you may think at that point,

• 26:14Speaker 03

  oh, that's what it's like to hunt Western South Dakota. Um, so it's, it's, I would say, uh, just plan on drawing some preference points. Uh, make a quality trip in like 2027 and, uh, for this first year in 2025, just don't do Gregory County.

• 26:32Speaker 06

  Sounds good. Uh, I'm actually curious about this because I don't know how, how, I don't think any of you guys are much of waterfowl people as far as I know, but Eric's asking with duck season coming to a close and after that migration report, does any of the gang have a good waterfowl story from this season?

• 26:50Speaker 03

  Uh, I hunted zero waterfowl.

• 26:52Speaker 06

  That's what I thought.

• 26:53Speaker 03

  Corey?

• 26:53Speaker 04

  I'm too big of a skier to waterfowl hunt. When I get old, I'll waterfowl hunt. That's what I always say.

• 26:58Speaker 05

  I, the best, well, I photographed a waterfowl hunt this year with Max Varda and it was phenomenal. That dude is just a ducky dude.

• 27:05Speaker 03

  Uh huh.

• 27:05Speaker 05

  And, uh, yeah, he did a bunch of scouting and found this spot, this spring pond, the ducks were flying, flying to between there and, um, like a, a grain elevator that had some spilt grain laying around. And yeah, Max knocked on some doors and it was just a phenomenal, like, you know, a thousand ducks over your head in the morning.

• 27:29Speaker 03

  Wow. And you didn't have a gun in your hand. You had a camera?

• 27:31Speaker 05

  Nope. I had a camera. Yeah.

• 27:33Speaker 04

  Uh, but they're amazing shots though.

• 27:35Speaker 05

  Oh, they're great. As always.

• 27:37Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 27:39Speaker 06

  Uh, let's see, Jova and Figueroa? I don't know. Uh, thoughts about passing off venison as something else when cooking? People like to joke that you can't tell the difference between beef and venison. Uh, he says he's against it, but his wife is not. Have you ever done this before?

• 27:55Speaker 03

  Uh, I, I wouldn't like openly misdirect someone and say it's beef. Um, but if I feel like someone would be hesitant to eat it, I maybe wouldn't volunteer. That it's venison. Um, I don't know. There's, there's plenty of good ways to make venison. Where it doesn't matter what kind of red meat it is, specifically with like a ground meat recipe. Um, you can get away with damn near anything and it doesn't matter. Uh, that it came off of a whitetail, um, rather than a, a cow.

• 28:27Speaker 05

  Yeah, I, I, I love having people over for dinner that like are wishy washy about eating wild game. And then just like not telling them what it is.

• 28:37Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 28:37Speaker 05

  And then, then like them eating it and being like, oh, this is delicious.

• 28:40Speaker 03

  Mm hmm.

• 28:41Speaker 05

  And then I tell them, you know?

• 28:42Speaker 04

  Yeah, blows my mind how folks would rather eat a Walmart cow steak versus a wild deer.

• 28:49Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 28:49Speaker 04

  And there's a lot of them.

• 28:50Speaker 05

  There are.

• 28:51Speaker 03

  I, I, I feel like the people who are against it are more so they had a bad experience.

• 28:56Speaker 04

  Sure.

• 28:57Speaker 03

  When they were a kid and like, uh, their dad cooked their venison steaks to a well done.

• 29:02Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 29:02Speaker 04

  Hockey box.

• 29:03Speaker 03

  Of, of course, no one's gonna like that. If that's, uh, all the exposure you had for a while. Uh, just show them how dang good venison could be, uh, without lying to them.

• 29:13Speaker 06

  I'm not sure why this is directed at you Seth, but I'm curious. Uh, Seth, can you eat the velvet from deer antlers? Has it, have you guys ever done that before?

• 29:22Speaker 05

  I don't know why that's directed towards me either. Um, never even thought about doing it.

• 29:25Speaker 03

  Deer eat it. I feel like you see photos like when they're shedding their velvet, they'll eat it.

• 29:30Speaker 05

  Yep.

• 29:30Speaker 03

  Uh, there was also famously Ray Lewis, the linebacker, Hall of Famer from the Baltimore Ravens. Um, he got busted with, I think it was a banned substance at the time. If it wasn't a bad banned substance, they were going to make it banned, but it was a deer antler spray. Um, which I don't know how that was applied, if it's oral or if you'd like, you have an inflamed knee, so you spray it there. Um, but

• 29:52Speaker 06

  Interesting.

• 29:52Speaker 03

  Deer eat their own velvet. Um, yeah. So I think, I think you could do it too.

• 29:57Speaker 04

  Didn't your wife kill a cactus buck covered in velvet?

• 30:00Speaker 05

  Yeah, she did.

• 30:01Speaker 04

  I wonder if that's what they're referring to. But you didn't eat it?

• 30:03Speaker 05

  No, we didn't eat it. It's still on the antlers.

• 30:06Speaker 04

  They always say you can't eat the antlers, but maybe you can if they're in velvet.

• 30:09Speaker 03

  Did you, when you got that mounted, did they strip it off and reapply it? Or did they freeze dry?

• 30:14Speaker 05

  I think they s-

• 30:16Speaker 03

  Not freeze dry, but like flash freeze?

• 30:18Speaker 05

  Yeah, I think they stripped it and reapplied it.

• 30:20Speaker 03

  Uh huh.

• 30:21Speaker 05

  Which, I don't know how that works, but-

• 30:24Speaker 03

  I also killed a velvet buck. That one, they just like did a flash freeze on it. It's held real good. It doesn't smell at all. I, there was one, there was a couple of spots where it was starting to peel a little bit. And I noticed that will peel like an extra eighth of an inch every two years.

• 30:42Speaker 05

  Oh, really?

• 30:42Speaker 03

  Without it ever being handled. So I imagine, um, you know, when I'm old and gray, that thing is, is going to be peeling a little more, but for right now, it's, it's holding real well.

• 30:52Speaker 05

  I, one time in Pennsylvania, um, was shed hunting and found, uh, shed antler that was still in like full velvet. It was peeling off in places.

• 31:02Speaker 03

  Uh huh.

• 31:03Speaker 05

  And it was cold outside, so I just like picked up, was like, oh, this is cool. And then like brought it in the house.

• 31:07Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 31:08Speaker 05

  Not think like, cause I couldn't smell it. It was just like frozen.

• 31:11Speaker 03

  Live flesh on there.

• 31:12Speaker 05

  And I brought it in the house and once it thawed out, it was just the most miserable smelling thing.

• 31:16Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah. I imagine you handled the same way when Kelsey killed her cactus buck. But, uh, when I killed my cactus buck, uh, threw the whole head in the freezer until I could get it to the taxidermist.

• 31:26Speaker 05

  Yeah, we, we took it like right away.

• 31:28Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 31:29Speaker 05

  So.

• 31:29Speaker 06

  Steve says that question was directed at you Seth, because it looks like you need some help. I don't know what that means. Uh, thanks.

• 31:36Speaker 03

  Yeah, Steve Bernella is in the chat today, as well as, uh, Randall Williams. And I know Randall was saying something before our show today, uh, that the Sharps rifle plays a heavy role in their upcoming, uh, Mountain Man history project. Maybe Randall can tell you more in the chat about that.

• 31:54Speaker 06

  Oh, sure. Yeah. I'll do one more here. Uh, Dr. Randall Williams is asking about the Streamathon. Great question, Randall. Um, for those of you who didn't hear Phil trivia, I proposed a 24 hour stream of Red Dead Redemption 2 to raise money for the Media to Land Access Initiative. Unfortunately, the person in charge of content is on paternity leave right now and I'm very disappointed he didn't drop everything he was doing, including his baby, to come tell me what the best idea that that was. But I'm still fighting for it. I'm gonna pitch it officially at the next round of pitches that come through. So I've got faith. I have faith. Thank you for that question, Randall.

• 32:30Speaker 03

  All right, our next segment is One Minute Fishing. Do I feel lucky? Well, do you, punk? Go ahead. Make my cast. One Minute Fishing is where we go live to someone who's fishing and they have one minute to catch a fish. And if they're successful, we'll make a $500 donation to a conservation group. This week, our angler is Chester Floyd, who's on a frozen lake in Wisconsin, and he's fishing for a donation to Muskie's, Inc. Chester, welcome to the show.

• 33:03Speaker 06

  Hello. It's windy as all heck out here.

• 33:06Speaker 03

  It looks cold, too.

• 33:08Speaker 05

  Oh, man.

• 33:10Speaker 06

  And I'm cold.

• 33:12Speaker 03

  Chester is the first person in the history of One Minute Fishing to join us on the hard water. Tell us about what you're after today, Chester.

• 33:21Speaker 06

  Well, we're really after some bluegill, but they're not biting. So we switched to baby little perch. So I hope that's what I catch here.

• 33:32Speaker 03

  And how long have you been on the ice today?

• 33:35Speaker 06

  About an hour.

• 33:37Speaker 03

  And how many fish have you caught?

• 33:40Speaker 06

  Uh, 30.

• 33:44Speaker 03

  Oh, okay. So there's a chance. I thought the answer was going to be three.

• 33:48Speaker 05

  How many beers have you drank, Jet?

• 33:50Speaker 06

  None. It's a workday.

• 33:52Speaker 05

  Oh, come on. But it's lunchtime. You're in Wisconsin and you're fishing.

• 33:57Speaker 03

  And Chester is a...

• 33:59Speaker 06

  Say hi to my brother, Ike.

• 34:00Speaker 03

  Oh, hey, Ike. Famous from the 18-inch wheel song. Chester stole your bike.

• 34:07Speaker 05

  And the Sturgeon Spearin' episode with Yanis.

• 34:10Speaker 03

  That's right.

• 34:11Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 34:11Speaker 06

  Yeah, he's a cookie guy.

• 34:15Speaker 03

  And Chester has the camera very tight on his face. You almost can't even see both of his ears. I think he's trying to hide his location, so nobody goes out there and catches his baby little perch that he's after.

• 34:30Speaker 06

  Wendy, guys? Want to do this.

• 34:35Speaker 03

  Chester's getting real cold. I imagine his fingers are getting frostbitten. First thing Chester, tell us about what you're doing to try to catch one of these perch. What tactics we using?

• 34:45Speaker 05

  Looks like it involves a live scope.

• 34:46Speaker 03

  Ooh.

• 34:47Speaker 05

  Oh no, that's a camera.

• 34:49Speaker 06

  Yeah, that's just a down in 2D sonar. Uh, we don't really need it. Literally, we're just in weeds. And uh, there's a little perch everywhere. So I hope they're there right now.

• 35:04Speaker 03

  And what are you dropping down there? A little waxy worm or what?

• 35:08Speaker 06

  Uh, wax worm and a little tungsten jig. Yep.

• 35:11Speaker 03

  Okay Chester, uh, hand that phone over to Ike and your one minute of fishing starts as soon as that waxy worm hits the water.

• 35:20Speaker 06

  Okay, I'll say, I'll say.

• 35:23Speaker 03

  Okay, he's uh, he's picking up his rod. Um, oh, he's showing the camera. That, that is bait for a little itty bitty fish. And uh, we're ready, we're ready. Go for it. All right, the worm is in the water. Your 60 seconds starts now.

• 35:42Speaker 05

  I'm on the edge of my seat already.

• 35:44Speaker 03

  We've only had a few successful anglers in the history of one minute fishing. Pat Durkin. Oh, and he set the hook. We had 13 seconds in and he pulled off a perch uh, that I would say if I described it as four inches long, that would be generous. Show us that fish Chester.

• 36:04Speaker 05

  Chester.

• 36:05Speaker 04

  Wow, was that 20 seconds?

• 36:07Speaker 03

  That was 13 seconds.

• 36:09Speaker 04

  Oh my gosh.

• 36:10Speaker 03

  13 seconds.

• 36:12Speaker 04

  I knew it.

• 36:12Speaker 03

  Chester caught a little perch to make a donation to Muskie's Inc. Well done Chester.

• 36:20Speaker 06

  Thank you guys. I appreciate it.

• 36:23Speaker 03

  Are you gonna eat that thing?

• 36:25Speaker 05

  He's allergic.

• 36:25Speaker 06

  No, it's back. Back.

• 36:29Speaker 02

  Bluegills at work. Kind of catching.

• 36:32Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 36:33Speaker 06

  Oh, he's running.

• 36:34Speaker 03

  Oh, he's, he's running to another hole.

• 36:36Speaker 06

  Is it a tip up?

• 36:38Speaker 03

  What are you, what are you running to Chester?

• 36:41Speaker 02

  Where, where these bluegills are on the ice.

• 36:45Speaker 03

  Okay. He's gonna, he's gonna show us, uh, the hot bluegill bite.

• 36:48Speaker 06

  Should this just be the whole show? Like apologies to whatever we had coming up.

• 36:51Speaker 02

  This is, uh, oh, yeah. This is like the size, you know?

• 36:56Speaker 03

  Uh huh.

• 36:56Speaker 04

  Perfect.

• 36:57Speaker 06

  You're keeping those.

• 36:58Speaker 02

  Got some cold.

• 36:59Speaker 03

  Okay. All right, we will see you later Chester. Thank you for joining us. Congrats on getting that $500 donation from Muskie's Inc.

• 37:06Speaker 04

  Nice job, buddy.

• 37:07Speaker 06

  Good work, Chester.

• 37:08Speaker 02

  Okay, see you guys.

• 37:09Speaker 04

  Man, it looked like it could have been 20 or 30 below zero with the wind chill.

• 37:13Speaker 03

  Uh, yeah, Chester makes it look colder and I trust that it was very cold out there.

• 37:17Speaker 04

  Sound cold.

• 37:19Speaker 06

  Incredible stuff.

• 37:19Speaker 04

  Wow, there you go.

• 37:20Speaker 06

  That was great content.

• 37:21Speaker 03

  I think our third successful angler for one minute fishing. We had Pat Durkin, we had Yanni in Louisiana, and now Chester Floyd joins the Hall of Fame.

• 37:31Speaker 04

  Wow.

• 37:32Speaker 03

  All right, uh, our next segment is top threes.

• 37:46Speaker 06

  I'm sorry this one is so long.

• 37:55Speaker 03

  It's the other way, Phil. You should apologize for the ones that are short.

• 37:58Speaker 06

  Okay.

• 37:59Speaker 03

  Uh, yeah, that's kind of, that's a real treat.

• 38:01Speaker 06

  Oh, that's not the right thing.

• 38:02Speaker 03

  All right, this week we are ranking the three coolest places we've ever camped. Corey, you go first. What's the third coolest place you've ever camped?

• 38:11Speaker 04

  The third coolest place I've ever camped would have to be in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Uh, I used to guide back in the Bob. Uh, we'd run fishing pack trips. There were six day pack trips. Uh, we joked that we were professional campers back there because we were helping other folks get back there, obviously, and get out successfully without getting hurt. That was our biggest goal in and out. Uh, I did the math over eight years of running. Those trips I did three hundred and forty to three hundred and sixty days back in the wilderness camping, sleeping on the ground under a tarp if it was threatening rain. But yeah, that's a picture of me when I was a cook back there.

• 38:51Speaker 03

  How old were you?

• 38:53Speaker 04

  I would have been twenty years old, probably in that photo.

• 38:55Speaker 03

  Twenty years.

• 38:56Speaker 05

  You looked to be about thirteen in that photo.

• 38:58Speaker 03

  Couldn't even enjoy a beer yet in that photo.

• 39:00Speaker 04

  There's a pile of baby back ribs and some looks like baked beans.

• 39:05Speaker 05

  Baked beans.

• 39:06Speaker 04

  Bushes baked beans, of course.

• 39:08Speaker 05

  Nice.

• 39:09Speaker 04

  Yeah, there's a photo of me with the river in the background. I'm probably schmegging dishes in the river.

• 39:15Speaker 03

  Schmegging? I've never heard that term.

• 39:17Speaker 04

  Yeah, just giving it a quick schmeg.

• 39:20Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 39:20Speaker 04

  In the water just to get the food off.

• 39:22Speaker 03

  Do you do you schmeg your dishes at home or is that exclusively when you're outside?

• 39:26Speaker 04

  No, I schmeg before they go in the dishwasher. It helps your dishwasher out. Nobody else smags.

• 39:31Speaker 03

  I mean, I think I do, but I don't say it that way.

• 39:34Speaker 05

  I don't have a dishwasher, so.

• 39:36Speaker 03

  Hmm, Seth is your dishwasher.

• 39:38Speaker 04

  Yeah, you gotta schmeg.

• 39:39Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 39:40Speaker 04

  Yeah, but yeah, by far, top three.

• 39:44Speaker 03

  Third coolest place was right here in Montana then.

• 39:46Speaker 04

  Yep.

• 39:47Speaker 03

  Yeah, and if seeing those cool guns that Joel was showing us earlier wasn't enough to get you to come over to YouTube and watch. We're going to be showing you pictures of the coolest places that we've ever camped as well, and maybe in some cases, video. All right, Seth, what's the third coolest place that you've ever camped?

• 40:03Speaker 05

  Um, so my third coolest place is along the Missouri River, also in Montana. Um, this was the view basically right outside my tent.

• 40:13Speaker 03

  Ooh.

• 40:14Speaker 05

  Um, but there's you can kind of see there in the background, there's an old homestead. Um, I don't know the history of it, but would love to know, but it, this was like one of the most peaceful. It was like in the spring, everything's green. It was like one of the most peaceful camp spots I've ever slept at.

• 40:32Speaker 03

  Yeah, looks like it.

• 40:33Speaker 05

  And it wasn't like a designated camp spot. It's just like off a two track.

• 40:36Speaker 03

  Mm hmm.

• 40:36Speaker 05

  Um, turkeys were gobbling, coyotes were running around just outside of camp there. It was just a cool spot to be in after like a long, hard winter in Montana, and it's cool to just lay there at night, just thinking about like. Lewis and Clark came like saw that country, that exact country that I was sleeping in.

• 40:57Speaker 03

  And so much of the Missouri River today looks very different than how it looked a hundred years ago or 200 years ago, but that part of the river, that looks like it did when Lewis and Clark came floating.

• 41:07Speaker 05

  Yep, so.

• 41:09Speaker 04

  How are the skeeters?

• 41:10Speaker 05

  Uh, at night, they were not great.

• 41:12Speaker 04

  Yeah, really?

• 41:12Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 41:13Speaker 03

  Pretty green in that photo.

• 41:14Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 41:14Speaker 04

  Lots of sage.

• 41:16Speaker 03

  All right, the third coolest place I've ever camped is Death Valley in California. Uh, it was March of 2023. That's the hottest place in North America. It's the biggest national park in the lower 48. Um, went there on a weekday, so it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves, me and my wife. Uh, that picture you're seeing there, that's the sailing stones. And that's at the racetrack playa. Those are rocks that move on their own. Uh, no human is helping them create that giant skid mark behind it. Uh, it's all about ice and water and wind that pushes these things around this dried lake bed. Um, and you can see I'm in shorts and a t-shirt there. It was blazing hot at that time, but you got

• 41:58Speaker 03

  like the full effect of being in the desert because by that night it was freezing cold. Um, and there were no moon, there's no moon that night. The stars were super bright and a good barometer when you're camping and when you're stargazing is if you can see the seven sisters, if it's a good stargazing that night, if it's a good stargazing night. Um, and the seven sisters that night were so vivid. I'd never seen anything like it. It felt like every other time I'd seen the seven sisters in my life, that was wrong. And in Death Valley that night, that that was the correct way, uh, to view the seven sisters. And there was no moon out, which which makes for better stargazing. Um, so Phil's got some more photos there. Yeah, that was, that was, you know, only a few hours

• 42:41Speaker 03

  after I was in the shorts and a t-shirt at the racetrack playa and we were camping in the national park, which you can't do a lot of in places in national parks where you're dispersed camping. Dispersed camping would be what we were just talking about where you're not in a designated camping spot. Um, Death Valley, because it's so big and remote, they allow you to do some, uh, some dispersed camping and that's what we did. The unique thing about that trip too. We were on a road trip. We were on a seven day road trip, me and my wife. And the next day, we were going to Phoenix from there. We were camping in Death Valley the night before the clocks changed for daylight savings, but we didn't have cell signal for like 24 hours. Um, so the clocks changed that night. We come out of the park.

• 43:23Speaker 03

  Um, we're heading to Arizona, because we're going to Phoenix, who does not recognize daylight savings.

• 43:29Speaker 05

  Oh, yeah.

• 43:30Speaker 03

  Um, they're also crossing a time zone going into Arizona. So my brain was totally in a pretzel, trying to figure out what time I was gonna get to Phoenix. I didn't know if it was gonna be 5:00 PM or 10:00 PM, just because again, daylight savings happened, didn't have cell service, crossing a time zone, going into a state that doesn't even do daylight savings. I was, it felt like a mess.

• 43:48Speaker 05

  I'd have that Siri.

• 43:49Speaker 03

  Yeah, but we got there.

• 43:51Speaker 04

  For sure.

• 43:52Speaker 03

  All right, the second coolest place you've ever camped, Corey?

• 43:55Speaker 04

  Second coolest place I've ever camped would have to be on Cumberland Island off the coast of Georgia.

• 44:01Speaker 03

  Hmm.

• 44:03Speaker 04

  In 2013, my wife and I, uh, booked a reservation. Cumberland Island's part of the National Seashore, uh, National Park System. So only 300 people are allowed on the island a day, and X amount of people, I forget how many, are allowed to camp.

• 44:19Speaker 03

  Is that a gator or a croc in your photo?

• 44:21Speaker 04

  I think it's a gator.

• 44:22Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 44:23Speaker 04

  And a wild horse. Well, a wild horse in the background.

• 44:26Speaker 03

  Uh huh.

• 44:26Speaker 04

  Uh, but as a kid from Montana, used to seeing the horses, obviously, but seeing the gators and the teeny tiny little ticks on there, the Spanish moss covering all the trees was really cool. There's a lot of amazing, uh, American history on that island. Uh, I don't need to bore everybody with that.

• 44:43Speaker 03

  How'd you get to the island?

• 44:45Speaker 04

  You have to take a ferry.

• 44:45Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 44:46Speaker 04

  Yep, from St. Mary's, Georgia.

• 44:47Speaker 03

  And hauling your own camping gear there?

• 44:49Speaker 04

  Yep. So we just had everything in our backpacks, water, like drinking water is tricky, so you wanna carry around some water. There's a couple spigots of fresh water. Uh, but obviously you're along the ocean, so you gotta be careful what you drink. Uh, so yeah, I highly recommend it.

• 45:03Speaker 03

  I'm gonna steal Seth's question. How were the mosquitoes?

• 45:05Speaker 04

  Mosquitoes, uh, nonexistent.

• 45:07Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 45:07Speaker 04

  Yeah, we were there in. April, late April, I think.

• 45:11Speaker 03

  Uh huh.

• 45:11Speaker 04

  But the ticks, I mean, I'm used to the bigger ticks we have here in Montana. Teeny tiny little ticks, like if you left your zipper open on your tent long enough, they just crawl right in there and they're on you. But otherwise it was amazing.

• 45:24Speaker 03

  Seth, second coolest place you've ever camped?

• 45:26Speaker 05

  Uh, my number two, also in Montana, it wasn't so much the place. It was just kind of what we saw that night, um, one of the nights while we were out there came, this is a deer camp in November.

• 45:36Speaker 03

  Wow.

• 45:37Speaker 05

  Um, in Montana. But, um, actually Chester and his brother Ike were here at this, the moment this photo was shot. Um, but we were kind of just sitting around the campfire at night and someone like, I don't know, got up to take a leak or something and cause you can't really see the sky too well, like around the campfire, you know, some, when someone got up and was like, hey, the, I think I can see the northern lights. And we all like jumped up and went away from the fire and you could just, it was just like a beautiful northern lights show that night.

• 46:06Speaker 03

  Wow.

• 46:06Speaker 05

  Out on the plains in eastern Montana is just like one of my favorite places.

• 46:11Speaker 03

  And it looks like you were successful. I see some, uh, see some antlers.

• 46:14Speaker 05

  Yeah, we, we, I think almost everyone, uh, filled their tag on that trip. It was a good hunt.

• 46:20Speaker 03

  Yeah. Beautiful photo Seth is showing us. You can see the northern lights and, uh, every star in the sky.

• 46:26Speaker 04

  Is that the seven sisters I can see above to the right of the tent?

• 46:29Speaker 03

  Oh, you know what I think it is? If you don't know what the seven sisters is, go, go take a look online about the seven sisters and one, you've, you've certainly seen it before, but maybe you didn't know what you were looking at. Um, but, but again, that's a good way to judge just how good the stargazing is, is how good you can see the seven sisters. And I think, uh, Seth was just showing it off in his photo there.

• 46:49Speaker 04

  Wow.

• 46:50Speaker 03

  All right. The second coolest place I've ever camped was the Valley of the Gods in Utah. Uh, and this was just this last September, um, that day I visited Monument Valley in Arizona. And where I'm sitting there on this highway is where Forrest Gump famously stopped running. Uh, that was where he had, he had his whole posse behind him and he stood right where I'm sitting. Uh, and he said, um, I'm, I'm pretty tired.

• 47:13Speaker 05

  I'm getting pretty tired.

• 47:15Speaker 03

  Uh, and so that's where he delivered that line and that is, uh, Monument. Valley behind me, which is in Arizona, but the place that I had camped was in the Valley of the Gods. And that's part of the Bears Ears National Monument that you hear a lot of talk about when it goes from one presidency to the next, based on what they do to that bit of public lands. Where we camped, you, you need four wheel drive to get there and, and a high clearance vehicle. And that keeps out, you know, a whole lot of folks. And Valley of the Gods was so cool. I would rank it over the Grand Canyon as far as just like pretty places that I've seen. So, so getting to camp there and, and be among all that was real special.

• 47:57Speaker 03

  And again, that is, that's more dispersed camping. You don't need a reservation somewhere. You just pull off on the road and opposite of when I camped in Death Valley, it was a full moon that night. And it just really lit up the Valley of the Gods. And so you could see every butte and every mesa long after the, the sun went down. I took that photo and probably around midnight.

• 48:19Speaker 04

  Wow.

• 48:20Speaker 03

  Yeah, you can see everything that's happening miles off in the distance.

• 48:24Speaker 04

  That's cool.

• 48:26Speaker 03

  All right, Corey, the coolest place you've ever camped?

• 48:29Speaker 04

  The coolest place I've ever camped would had to have been in Iceland underneath the Eia Fetya Yokyo volcano.

• 48:37Speaker 03

  Oh.

• 48:37Speaker 04

  While it was erupting.

• 48:38Speaker 03

  Sounded like you said that correctly. I wouldn't know any different.

• 48:40Speaker 04

  I hope I didn't butcher.

• 48:41Speaker 03

  Do it, do it again.

• 48:42Speaker 04

  Eia Fetya Yokyo.

• 48:43Speaker 03

  Wow.

• 48:44Speaker 04

  I hope I didn't butcher that, but I mean, when you camp under it, you better, better know the damn name of it.

• 48:49Speaker 03

  Is it erupting all the time?

• 48:50Speaker 04

  I don't believe it's always erupting, but in 2010, if anybody remembers it, it erupted from March to June, I believe off and on. And it disrupted the entire globe, like flights from Europe through Asia. And I think almost all the way into the US were disrupted from the ash cloud that came from it.

• 49:12Speaker 03

  Wow.

• 49:13Speaker 04

  But I circumnavigated the island. It's called the Ring Road, Highway one, for four weeks. Spent on the road hitchhiking my way around Iceland. It was an amazing time. Highly recommend just visiting if you can get, just get there for a long weekend. But I spent a month there and I hitchhiked for half the way and then the second half.

• 49:32Speaker 03

  Hitchhiked?

• 49:32Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 49:33Speaker 03

  Tell me about that.

• 49:35Speaker 04

  Well, I had heard that it was one of the friendliest places in the world.

• 49:37Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 49:38Speaker 04

  So hitchhiking is a very easy way to get around. I mean, the locals are amazing. Lots of farmers just moving from town to town.

• 49:44Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 49:44Speaker 04

  Uh, so it was actually very easy to get on Highway One, stick out your thumb and make it to the next town.

• 49:49Speaker 03

  Really?

• 49:49Speaker 04

  And then there's hostels everywhere, so it was really easy.

• 49:52Speaker 03

  Uh huh.

• 49:52Speaker 04

  There's a photo of me with, uh, most people know Doritos, or most Americans would know Doritos as Cool Ranch in the blue bag, but, uh, in Europe, or at least in Iceland, I'm assuming Europe, they're called Cool American.

• 50:05Speaker 03

  Cool American, just like Corey.

• 50:06Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 50:07Speaker 03

  Cool American.

• 50:08Speaker 04

  Very confused.

• 50:08Speaker 03

  Holding the bag of Cool American Doritos.

• 50:10Speaker 04

  And then this is, and this is me in front of the Fallological Museum.

• 50:14Speaker 03

  Oh.

• 50:15Speaker 04

  Uh, to the layman's, that's the penis museum in Iceland.

• 50:18Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 50:19Speaker 04

  Highly recommend if you make it to the island.

• 50:21Speaker 03

  Did you wind up in any sketchy situations hitchhiking around for a month?

• 50:25Speaker 04

  No, not at all. No, it was so easy.

• 50:28Speaker 03

  Huh.

• 50:28Speaker 04

  I would do it again.

• 50:29Speaker 03

  Did it make you, did it make you think about picking people up on the side of the road back here in the States?

• 50:34Speaker 04

  Oh, not in the States. No. But I, I rented a car on the second half and then was able to camp in that scene right underneath the volcano. I woke up to it erupting. There was lightning and it sounded like cannons going off underneath it.

• 50:46Speaker 03

  Whoa, that's cool.

• 50:47Speaker 04

  It was wild. Uh, I didn't pick up any hitchhikers because I never saw any, but I certainly would have.

• 50:51Speaker 03

  You were willing.

• 50:52Speaker 04

  Totally.

• 50:53Speaker 03

  All right, Seth, see if you can top that. The coolest place you've ever camped.

• 50:57Speaker 05

  Uh, my number one is in Alaska on a doll sheep hunt with, uh, Steve and his brother, Danny. We camped up on this like finger ridge coming down from the, the main ridge, uh, the one night and below us, that's just a huge, that whole valley is just a huge glacier.

• 51:15Speaker 03

  Uh huh.

• 51:16Speaker 05

  And, um, the, the, the cool thing about camping by that glacier and there was, there was a couple nights where we camped closer to it than this, but.

• 51:24Speaker 03

  So is that water behind you or that's the glacier?

• 51:26Speaker 05

  That's just ice.

• 51:27Speaker 03

  Damn.

• 51:27Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 51:28Speaker 03

  That's.

• 51:28Speaker 05

  Um, that glacier made the craziest noises all night long.

• 51:34Speaker 04

  Oh, really?

• 51:34Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 51:35Speaker 04

  Constantly moving.

• 51:35Speaker 05

  Just like. Big pieces sloughing off.

• 51:38Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 51:38Speaker 05

  Smacking the valley floor and um just it like popping and and just making crazy like moaning noises is

• 51:46Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 51:47Speaker 05

  Wild.

• 51:47Speaker 03

  Um, anyone who's ice fish knows what Seth is talking about or the, you know, those sorts of noises that might wig you out if you're new to ice fishing. I can't imagine what a glacier sounds like.

• 51:56Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 51:56Speaker 03

  To that.

• 51:57Speaker 05

  It was cool. Um, and then this photo, Phil, if you zoom in, there's two white dots right behind Steve there.

• 52:02Speaker 03

  Uh huh.

• 52:03Speaker 05

  We woke up the one morning, there was some doll sheep below us.

• 52:06Speaker 03

  Wow.

• 52:06Speaker 05

  Um, not legal, but uh it was cool to wake up to that. Um, and then the next photo there, Phil, is just the valley.

• 52:14Speaker 03

  Hmm.

• 52:15Speaker 05

  Um, this is from, from where we camped, looking up valley.

• 52:19Speaker 03

  Amazing. All right. Uh, I, I don't think I can beat either one of those, but the coolest place I've ever camped was off Cape Flattery in Washington. And Cape Flattery is the northwesternmost part of the lower 48. If you look at a map and you see that little point, uh, that's way on the edge of Washington, that's, that's Cape Flattery. And from there, you're standing on a cliff. That's like, uh, you know, a 270 degree view around you. You were just on the edge of the United States. Um, so we, we visited that. Um, and then we couldn't camp there because that's a reservation, but we did camp down the road and on our way out of the reservation, um, stopped in, in some small town and bought some, uh,

• 53:01Speaker 03

  smoked salmon, um, from someone's smoke shed. And then this is where I pulled my truck right onto the beach. Um, and, uh, camped there.

• 53:09Speaker 05

  Nice.

• 53:09Speaker 03

  And, uh, just listened to the waves all night. Um, and I, I wish I could like, bring that home with me. I've, I've since then, like, tried to listen to waves crashing on Spotify or something. Uh, it's not the same.

• 53:21Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 53:21Speaker 03

  Um, so that, that was probably the coolest spot I've ever camped. And then you could sit there and watch the ships come in at night and try to figure out like, what is that thing carrying? Oh, that's a cruise ship. Uh, or like that one, you know, uh, is three times as long as any boat I've ever seen in my life. Uh, that, that was fun to watch.

• 53:41Steven Rinella?

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• 56:50Speaker 03

  All right, that is the end of the top threes and we have one interview left for today. Joining us on the line next is Phil Musket, the president of the Association of Licensed Battlefield Guides. Phil is here to talk about being a guide at Gettysburg, which is one of the most competitive public lands jobs in America. Phil, welcome to the show.

• 57:12Speaker 06

  Hey, how are you doing?

• 57:13Speaker 03

  Doing good. First thing, Phil, explain to us why being a guide at Gettysburg is such a coveted job?

• 57:21Speaker 06

  Well, this is the Mecca of the American Civil War. So we get thousands of visitors. We get about 900,000 visitors a year, which is down from the 2 million we used to get. But people come here to learn and people come here and they hear the stories of the men who fought here and it's.

• 57:42Speaker 06

  Parks a fire in them and these people continue to come back and they find out about guiding and they like, "Hey, I can do that." So they want to aspire to be a licensed battlefield guide and spend their, the rest of their lives on the battlefield telling the stories of those men who fought here.

• 58:01Speaker 03

  And to be a guide there, you have to pass a very thorough test. I read a quote recently in a Wall Street Journal article from a lawyer saying that the Gettysburg Guide Test was harder than the bar exam. Will you walk us through what the testing process is?

• 58:18Speaker 06

  I sure will. So I've also heard it's as hard as the Harvard entrance exam, but it's a four-tier process, a four-step process. The first step is a written exam, which is fill in the blanks, recognizing pictures and describe, you know, writing out what that is. That's the first part of the test. That's three hours. Then part two is essays. And you've got five essay choices and you've got to write three. You've got three hours to get that done, too. You're taking this exam, this past one we just did, we had 153,

• 59:03Speaker 06

  52 people taking the test. As of today, which is after the exam, we have, we only advanced 20 out of those 150.

• 59:16Speaker 03

  And how many of those 20? Sorry, Phil, how many of those 20 will end up passing?

• 59:24Speaker 06

  Realistically, maybe five.

• 59:27Speaker 03

  Five of them will end up passing? Wow.

• 59:29Speaker 06

  Because the second step is a panel interview because yeah, it's great. You know all that knowledge, but you got to get it from here to here, to where people can understand it. So that weeds out a lot of people as well, too. Step three is what they call the field practicum. They, you spend three days working with a mentor who is a guide and you will Write up your two hour tat, or your two hour tour that you're gonna give to people when they visit. You give that to the mentor and practice that. They also drop you on a place in the battlefield, i.e. Little Round Top. And tell us what happened here. You've got five minutes.

• 1:00:15Speaker 06

  And see how well you do. And if you pass that, then you get into the oral examination, which is you could go around with your mentor, all right, until they feel you're ready. And then you schedule with the National Park Service Superintendent. And you get two shots to go around the battlefield. It's 25 square miles and you've got two hours and 15 minutes to tell the story. So all of that minutia you learned past Tier One is out the window because you

• 1:00:55Speaker 06

  can't fit all that in. So you've got to tailor it down to where it's still a story where you're telling the basics. You get two shots at that. If you pass that, you become a guide. If you fail that, you start all over again.

• 1:01:11Speaker 03

  Another important detail from that Wall Street Journal article was it said that the test hadn't been offered in seven years. So it's not like five people per year pass this thing. It's five people almost once a decade pass this like thorough test to be a guide to Gettysburg.

• 1:01:31Speaker 06

  Now, back when I passed the exam back in 2010, they were doing it every two years. And they were on that schedule until 2017. And then for whatever reason, the Park Service did not do the exam until we got down. Down to 130 guides. Uh, when I started out, we had 156. So we're losing numbers and we need new blood. So we finally got this new exam. And we're hoping we get more than five and we're hoping the Association of Battlefield Guides, we're hoping that this will start on another regular two, three year cycle like it used to be.

• 1:02:14Speaker 06

  To replace, the average age of the guide force right now is 72.

• 1:02:18Speaker 03

  Whoa.

• 1:02:19Speaker 06

  I'm keeping it down. I'm 57. I'm keeping it down.

• 1:02:26Speaker 06

  So yeah, it's, go ahead.

• 1:02:28Speaker 03

  With the stakes being so high, have you ever heard of somebody cheating?

• 1:02:33Speaker 06

  I have not heard of anybody physically cheating and being escorted out. I'm sure it's happened, but I'm not familiar with it. What I have witnessed is, you know, sitting at, people sitting at the table and they're looking over. Now, if they're writing the same thing down, the person, you know, I don't know, but that's the limit of what I've seen as, as cheating because not only are you, you're trying to become a guide, but

• 1:03:05Speaker 06

  do on this exam, so.

• 1:03:10Speaker 03

  What, what are some, what are some examples, Phil, of people uprooting their lives for a chance to take this test?

• 1:03:18Speaker 06

  Well, we've got

• 1:03:21Speaker 06

  people from all over the country that are currently guides and, uh, one of our guides, he's a lawyer out in San Francisco. And when he was studying to be a guide, he would fly in. Uh, he'd do his reading out there and his walk in the battlefield when he'd come here here and, uh, hanging out with friends and, and spending the days on the battlefield. And once he passed the test and became a guide, he now, he still works in San Francisco and he'll fly out here and spend a month or two out here doing tours, then go back to San Fran and, and work. Uh, we've Got other guides. We had a Ohio State trooper for a while. Basically, he'd drive in on the

• 1:04:02Speaker 06

  weekends, do some tours, go back, do his job. So, um, I, you know, another example I thought of yesterday was, uh, we used to have a nurse, uh, who worked down in Tampa, Florida. And he would come up here for a month straight. And at that time, we had quotas. So we had to do

• 1:04:26Speaker 06

  so many tours a year. And he would do his 90 tours in 30 days. So he was doing

• 1:04:33Speaker 03

  Dang.

• 1:04:33Speaker 06

  Buku tours all at once. And then he'd go back to Florida and work. He used all of his vacation to come here and give a tour.

• 1:04:41Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:04:42Speaker 06

  So that's, yeah.

• 1:04:44Speaker 03

  It must be a pretty rewarding gig for, uh, how badly people want to do. But what's, what's your favorite part of the job?

• 1:04:51Speaker 06

  Well, my favorite part of the job is sharing the stories. Uh, you know, taking people out on the field, spending two hours with them. That's the bare minimum tour. So, uh, and putting people in places where important events happened. You know, uh, I enjoy that. People with ancestors come in here and being able to take those ancestors, those descendants to where their ancestor was fought, where he might've been killed, where he might've been captured, things like that. That is what, um, you know, I, I enjoy doing. And, and even with our school groups, we have

• 1:05:32Speaker 06

  school groups come in. Uh, we jokingly sometimes call March California month because we get a whole bunch of California kids coming in. Um, we get to tell these kids the stories and maybe that'll spark some interest in. Their lives and that'll bring the next generation into guiding and the Civil War and history of America.

• 1:05:54Speaker 03

  Yeah, and Gettysburg is like 6,000 acres, all of which is managed by the Park Service. What can you tell us about the wildlife and conservation work that takes place there?

• 1:06:06Speaker 06

  Well, what we've got here, we've got a big deer population, which they do every year, they'll have a big deer hunt here now. What they do is only federal employees are authorized to participate. So they come out here and they thin out the herd because it damages the vegetation around here and the local farmers' crops. But then they take all of the meat that they that they get and they donate it to the local shelters here

• 1:06:44Speaker 06

  in the South Central Pennsylvania area. So it goes to a good cause. Our current controversy on the battlefield deals with beavers. We've got some beaver dams in front of Little Round Top, which was a marshy area during the battle on July 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, 1863. But now we got these little ice skating rinks now, this time of year. So we're dealing with that. And the Park Service, they can't do anything to remove the beavers until they start to damage the asset. And they've done some mitigations which have worked, so the beavers are staying.

• 1:07:25Speaker 06

  Much to the chagrin of many historians, we've got a bald eagle that's seen around here periodically. We've got a whole bunch of hawks, which they're fun to watch, too. Watch them dive bomb onto a field mouse or something. That's really amazing. Occasionally, we get a black bear in here coming down off South Mountain, which y'all would call a hill, but that type of thing. The park maintains the tree lines as best they can to what it was at the time of the battle. So they're constantly working on keeping that and then the landscape correct, even down to the fence rails and fence lines that were here during the battle. So all of that stuff they do.

• 1:08:09Speaker 03

  Yeah, that's great. Last question, Phil. Is your last name really Musket?

• 1:08:14Speaker 06

  It really is. That's what my daddy gave me all those years ago. And I, I have actually had a guy on a bus argue with me and I had to pull out my military ID and show him. That, I mean, he was just adamant. I had people that have made bets. And at the end of the tour, they've settled their bet by asking that question. Um, oh yeah, I get it all the time. I get it all the time. We got a Chris Army here. We got a Steve Slaughter as well, too.

• 1:08:44Speaker 03

  Whoa, okay.

• 1:08:47Speaker 06

  We used to have an Andy Custer, but she got married.

• 1:08:50Speaker 03

  Oh.

• 1:08:50Speaker 06

  Great. So now it's Andy Donahue. Yeah. But we had a Custer for a while as well, too.

• 1:08:55Speaker 03

  There's some, uh, there's some Desti involved and maybe that helps you pass the test at the end when your last name is Musket or Custer or Slaughter.

• 1:09:01Speaker 06

  Oh, yeah, yeah. At least you gotta get one question right. Yeah.

• 1:09:05Speaker 03

  Well, Phil, uh, thank you for guiding us through what it takes to be a guide and joining us on Media to Radio.

• 1:09:12Speaker 06

  Okay. And anytime you're out, check out Gettysburg Tours Guide, GettysburgTourGuides.org.

• 1:09:20Speaker 06

  All right. We'll set you up for, we'll get you a tour guide and get you out on the battlefield.

• 1:09:24Speaker 03

  Thank you, Mr. Musket.

• 1:09:25Speaker 06

  For having me.

• 1:09:26Speaker 05

  Thanks, Phil.

• 1:09:28Speaker 03

  Seth, you grew up, uh, I don't know how far from Gettysburg, but in the same state. You ever been?

• 1:09:33Speaker 05

  Yeah. So I, uh, went, when I started college, I started, I got my forestry degree from Penn State, Montalto, um, which is a branch camp. It's a Penn State, which that's, it used to be the Pennsylvania, uh, Forest Academy, which was started by Gifford Pincho. Um, but anyway, that college is not far from Gettysburg. Um, and like he mentioned, South Mountain, the bear coming off, coming down from South Mountain. We used to do all sorts of like forestry classes and stuff on South Mountain. Um, so I know the area well and. I've only actually been to Gettysburg like a handful of times, just like I think three, three or four times, something like that. But when I was younger in elementary school,

• 1:10:15Speaker 05

  my grandparents took me down there and we did like a, like a motor tour. Like we bought, it was at the time, it was a cassette tape and we put that in the, in the cassette player in the car and drive around the park and it kind of like told you like all the history. So, yeah.

• 1:10:36Speaker 03

  I assumed you were there every weekend and you took a field trip there every year.

• 1:10:39Speaker 05

  No, no, did not, but it's, I recommend it. It's like, it's a really cool place. You can still see like bullet holes and walls and, and cannonball holes and, and buildings and stuff. It's really cool.

• 1:10:50Speaker 03

  Yeah. You know what? I grew up in South Dakota. I've only been to Mount Rushmore once. So same thing.

• 1:10:55Speaker 05

  Yeah, same thing.

• 1:10:56Speaker 03

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

• 1:11:01Speaker 06

  Yeah, I think people were just asking Steven Randall questions live in the chat. So we, we don't have a lot, but we've got a few. Jude says that he shot his first deer while listening to media to radio live. Thanks. Learned a lot. I, I don't think it was today, but I would guess recently. So congrats Jude.

• 1:11:20Speaker 06

  Uh, let's see. Wapiti Woods says Spencer, is it, is it specifically Ham Special Light that you love so much? Just bought a six pack of original hams up in Rogers, Minnesota. Curious your thoughts of hams, original, hams heavy.

• 1:11:33Speaker 03

  My, my origin story with Ham Special Light, it was the cheapest beer that you could buy at Hy-Vee. It was 11.99 for a 30 pack. And so when I'm, you know, an underage high schooler and I gotta send like, you know, one of the college kids I know there to buy me, I gotta, gotta send a $12 bill and that'll get me a whole 30 pack of Ham Special Light. The other thing is hams has a reputation of just not tasting good. Ham Special Light was like a classic American light lager, like a, like a Bush Light or a Coors Light tasting thing. But because it said hams on the can, nobody would touch it when you go to a party. Like I didn't have to worry about my 30 rack of Ham Special Light walking away. So it was, it was the cheapest beer. It was the beer that was least likely to be stolen. So that-

• 1:12:15Speaker 03

  That was my origin story of Ham's Special Light. It's not really about the taste. It's just like the nostalgia of it that it's it's just what I've always.

• 1:12:24Speaker 05

  And the light is discontinued now, right?

• 1:12:26Speaker 03

  Discontinued. Yeah. And I'm hoarding my last. I'm into my third to last case.

• 1:12:32Speaker 06

  Colin asked what you're switching to when your special light is all gone.

• 1:12:35Speaker 03

  Uh, I'm, I'm, I don't, I'm not loyal to anybody. Um, but so I, I might be sitting at the bar one time.

• 1:12:42Speaker 06

  So breweries pay attention, you know?

• 1:12:44Speaker 03

  Coors Light, uh huh.

• 1:12:46Speaker 06

  Hit him up on, uh, and sliding to his DMs.

• 1:12:48Speaker 03

  Miller Lite does not matter.

• 1:12:49Speaker 06

  Okay. Uh, question for Seth from Eric. What is your favorite kind of hunt to film?

• 1:12:55Speaker 03

  Good question.

• 1:12:57Speaker 05

  That is a good one. Um, well, a lot of my favorite photographs come from Southeast Alaska.

• 1:13:07Speaker 05

  Which, oh, we got Steve Vrenella.

• 1:13:13Speaker 06

  You want to come sit? You can go sit next to Seth if you want to.

• 1:13:19Speaker 03

  Seth was just talking about his favorite hunts to, uh, capture through a camera.

• 1:13:25Speaker 05

  Yeah. And I was saying some of my favorite, like one of my favorite places to photograph is Southeast Alaska. Cause everything about it's cool and pretty. Um, but the, the big Alaska hunts, like that dull sheep hunt, the photos I showed earlier. And then the moose stuff is always cool to photograph.

• 1:13:42Speaker 03

  Steve, you have any live feedback from today's show?

• 1:13:47Steven Rinella?

  Seems like it's going great, man. The boys are running overtime.

• 1:13:50Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:13:53Speaker 03

  Schedule. We're live. Phil, Phil had mentioned that Steve and Randall were in the chat. If you go back and watch this when it's not live, you'll get to see the whole chat replay. So if you're curious what Randall and Steve were talking about for the last hour, uh, you'll just get to read their comments there on YouTube.

• 1:14:08Speaker 06

  Cool. Uh, we'll just, uh, we, we are over time. So last question, cause now that Steve walked into the room as well, Henry's asking, how's that beaver season coming along Seth? And Steve, you can.

• 1:14:17Speaker 05

  I haven't set a beaver trap yet, but.

• 1:14:19Speaker 06

  Oh, all right.

• 1:14:19Steven Rinella?

  No, I've, I've got a couple, but I haven't gotten real, I haven't gotten real hardcore.

• 1:14:23Speaker 05

  We're into it yet. I mean, I got a few. I got a few. I like trapping beavers in the spring when they're real active. Yeah. That's a lot of fun. I'll get out there in the spring.

• 1:14:32Steven Rinella?

  Last thing before we get out of here, the Meat Eater Movie Club returns next week. Randall and crew will be reviewing the 1988 movie The Bear, which you can stream on Amazon, Tubi, or Pluto. Make sure you watch it before the next episode if you want to join in on the discussion. All right. Thanks for listening. Thanks for watching. We'll see you guys back here next week.

• 1:14:52Speaker 05

  Bye, suckers.

• 1:15:06Steven Rinella?

  I'll tell you one thing that binds together all of the vehicles in the Rinella fleet at my house. They all have WeatherTech floor liners. When we get a new car, the first thing we do, out with the junky factory carpet mats, in with WeatherTech. They really are the best. They're indestructible. You can pull them out, hose them off. It doesn't matter what happens on the floor of your rig. If you've got WeatherTech, you're going to be covered. I love these things. If you're looking to get a great gift for someone, especially if they're a big time outdoors kind of person, like if you really want to do them a favor, get them some WeatherTech floor liners for their truck or car. They'll have a way easier time keeping their rig nice and clean, and they'll get years and years of use out of a set.

• 1:15:50Steven Rinella?

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• 1:16:35Steven Rinella?

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• 1:17:12Speaker 06

  A BetterHelp ad. I would like to formally request more storage space in my brain. Because somehow I can forget why I opened my laptop where I put my keys, or the name of someone I met 30 seconds ago. But I can remember an awkward conversation from six years ago in extraordinary detail. So if your brain came with a delete button, what would you use it on? Maybe it's that tough breakup you've analyzed from every possible angle? An irrational worry you know doesn't deserve this much attention? The conversation with your boss you keep rehearsing in the shower? Or that one comment someone made that you're still thinking about weeks later? We don't always get to choose what sticks around in our heads.

• 1:17:53Speaker 06

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• 1:18:12Speaker 00

  This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.