Ep. 765: Chain Reaction Roadkill, the Elk Rut, and Harsh Truths | MeatEater Radio Live!

Hosts Brody Henderson, Ryan Callaghan, and Randall Williams talk with Brian DeBolt from the Wyoming Game & Fish Department about a series of cascading roadkill incidents in the state, get a wide ranging Rut Report from the elk woods, chat with Conservation Land Foundation CEO Chris Hill about the consequences of a Roadless Rule rescission, stew in some harsh truths about hunting, and get a sneak peek at the brand new MeatEater Store opening in Milwaukee. 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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• 0:04Steven Rinella?

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• 2:04Speaker 02

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• 2:40Speaker 03

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

• 3:02Speaker 04

  Hey, everybody. Welcome to Meat Eater Radio Live. It's 11 a.m. here in Bozeman, Montana, at Meat Eater HQ. My wife, who just got back from the Dolomites in Italy, still thinks it's 2:00 in the morning, but it's 11:00 here. I'm your host, Brody Henderson. I'm joined today by your favorite history buff and Frankfurter aficionado, Randall Williams, and the world's foremost wildlife and public lands conservationist, Ryan Calhoun.

• 3:30Speaker 05

  Wow. Set the bar high.

• 3:32Speaker 04

  Ooh, yeah.

• 3:32Speaker 05

  I'll trade you for the Frankfurters.

• 3:36Speaker 04

  Today, we've got a couple of interviews. We've got one about roadkill, be getting more roadkill. It's a pretty cool story out of Wyoming. And we're also going to talk about what's at stake if the roadless rule on 45 million acres?

• 3:50Speaker 05

  Forty-eight.

• 3:51Speaker 04

  Forty-eight million acres of your national forest is rescinded. And since it's prime time for all the archery elk hunters out there, we've got a rut report from some hunters who are out in the field. And finally, we're going to lay down some harsh truths, and we'll check in with the crew at our newest Meat Eater retail location in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Sounds fun, eh? But first, I've been, I got an order from on high to make an announcement, the announcement everyone's been waiting for in December.

• 4:28Speaker 04

  You can join Steve, Yanis, Clay, Brent, and our, our own Doctor of History, Randall here, for a night of laugh, news, opinions, and free prizes on the Meat Eater Live Christmas Tour. Uh, they'll be visiting the following cities: Birmingham, Nashville, Memphis, Fayetteville, Dallas, and Austin. Um, and you can get details at the meat eater dot com backslash tour, uh, and, and find out the dates and the venues and all that stuff.

• 4:59Speaker 05

  Randall Williams is going to do the entire tour in a Cousin Eddie bathrobe on a Christmas vacation. So, there's gonna be all sorts of fun Christmas hijinks. Uh, you don't even know what you're gonna see.

• 5:12Speaker 06

  I've been practicing all of my carols, even the weird ones that no one likes to sing.

• 5:17Speaker 04

  You gonna break out your Santa suit?

• 5:19Speaker 06

  I'd like to. I'd like to actually use this opportunity to invest in a real Santa suit at this company. I feel like we have the resources. Yeah, yeah. No, but Hark the Herald Angels sing. We're just gonna get into the, the deep cuts.

• 5:34Speaker 04

  Going south, which is a new, uh, new kind of part of the country that we've not hit on the tours before.

• 5:39Speaker 06

  I'm excited. I think it's gonna be a lot of fun.

• 5:41Speaker 04

  Those people were griping for a long time, so we listened to them. Um, guys, it's starting to feel like fall around here, man. The leaves are starting to show some color, temperatures are cooling off, days are getting shorter. It's hunting season. Um, I've been out for grouse a couple times with my boys. Done alright. Um, but my first big hunt is gonna be antelope season here in like, what, three weeks, something like that. We've got four tags. It's gonna be crazy trying to fill four tags. Um, what's your big, first big hunt of the year, Randall?

• 6:14Speaker 06

  Well, I actually got out, uh, this past weekend, and we, we, in some areas of Montana, we have an early rifle deer and elk. So, I went in with a buddy and, uh, we camped together one night and split up and kinda looped back to the truck.

• 6:30Speaker 04

  Elk or deer? What were you after?

• 6:32Speaker 06

  Uh, both. Um, elk if it's the very right opportunity because the logistics are difficult. But, um, saw elk, saw a lot of deer, actually. I was surprised and, uh... Just didn't, uh, yeah. The logistics, but amazing to get out and amazing to, uh, you know, discover that the studs in your, uh, binocular tripod adapter are loose. Or that, uh, there's a hole in your tense rain fly.

• 7:02Speaker 04

  Good time here to figure that stuff out.

• 7:04Speaker 06

  Yeah, shaking it all out before, uh, the weather gets dangerously cold.

• 7:07Speaker 04

  It's a pretty, pretty unique opportunity to be able to carry a rifle around for deer and elk.

• 7:12Speaker 06

  Super cool, super cool. And yeah, like just gorgeous country. We didn't, we saw people, but we didn't talk to anybody for

• 7:19Speaker 04

  Right.

• 7:19Speaker 06

  Four days and

• 7:20Speaker 04

  Nice.

• 7:21Speaker 06

  Saw some moose, saw some goats.

• 7:23Speaker 04

  Cool.

• 7:23Speaker 06

  Mm-hmm.

• 7:24Speaker 04

  Um, Cal, you, you're doing a pretty crazy hunt. Um, did the company take out a life insurance policy on you before this traditional bow brown bear hunt?

• 7:36Speaker 05

  Well, I never thought about that, but knowing some of the folks around here like, like I do, uh, yeah, probably. Probably there's, there's some Vegas style, that's being placed for sure.

• 7:47Speaker 06

  Talk to our friends at FanDuel.

• 7:49Speaker 04

  First big hunt. Yeah.

• 7:50Speaker 05

  Yeah, it is. I mean, because that's a long hunt and then, um,

• 7:56Speaker 04

  Tell people a little about it. Just real quick.

• 7:58Speaker 05

  Yeah, it's out on the Alaska peninsula and it's brown bear, uh, and I'll be using my bow. Which, uh, if you're gonna try to get a brown bear with the bow, the fall time is, uh, up close and personal time because they're in there on the salmon streams and the water's rushing and stuff and it's always windy out on the peninsula. So it's good spot and stock conditions, provided it's not too nasty. And, um, so you know, the, the deck is as stacked in your favor as it can be.

• 8:29Speaker 04

  Yep.

• 8:29Speaker 05

  For just getting in tight.

• 8:31Speaker 04

  Are you, are you camping on the island or are you, are you doing the boat thing or what? How's it gonna work?

• 8:37Speaker 05

  Well, uh, we're not into the islands. We're not on the Aleutian chain.

• 8:40Speaker 04

  Oh, that's right. You're on the Kenai?

• 8:42Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 8:42Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 8:43Speaker 05

  Um, and

• 8:46Speaker 05

  It's still TBD as far as, cause you know, they're just, they're flying in and out of there all the time right now. So it's, um, we're going to figure out the best spot to be.

• 8:57Speaker 04

  Yep.

• 8:58Speaker 05

  And, and be there. And I'm going up a couple of days before the season starts and hopefully, um, have all those little kinks that Randall just gave me a little bit of anxiety with, uh, ironed out before it's, uh, it's sneaking up on bear's time.

• 9:15Speaker 06

  I'm going to give you a little insider tip. Check your air mattress for any slow leaks. The old hips are a little sore.

• 9:24Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 9:24Speaker 04

  You gotta carry a tenacious tape with you, man.

• 9:27Speaker 06

  Yeah, I know. I, I, uh, this is like the first time in a long time. I was certain that I had my, my, hole repair kit with me, but for whatever reason, it didn't make it in the backpack. So just a useful reminder.

• 9:39Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 9:40Speaker 06

  But yeah, the hips are sore. Started having to dig out my little hip hole under my tent before I go to sleep.

• 9:47Speaker 04

  That's a bummer when you wake up and those things are just deflated.

• 9:50Speaker 06

  It's also a bummer when it's, it's been solid. I bought it used like five years ago. Patched it one time since, and I've never had an issue. Had it out in Yellowstone last month. No issues. I don't know really what happened. So.

• 10:02Speaker 04

  Five years, you got your money's worth out of it.

• 10:04Speaker 06

  Yeah, but, but I don't want to buy a new one. Have you seen the prices these days?

• 10:09Speaker 05

  They are ghastly. Um, but the flip side of this, right? And this is the, the caveat of signing up for a big hunt.

• 10:18Speaker 04

  Mm hmm.

• 10:18Speaker 05

  Is I have not done, this is the furthest I have ever in my entire life been into any legal hunting season without hunting a single day.

• 10:29Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 10:30Speaker 05

  Like I've just got all this other stuff. I have got to get done and wrapped up.

• 10:34Speaker 04

  Going on in the world of conservation and public lands. Cal is too busy. He no longer hunts.

• 10:42Speaker 05

  That is a real reality that is just like so easy is right there.

• 10:48Speaker 04

  Yep.

• 10:48Speaker 05

  It's right there and I've spent my entire life fighting against that type of reality.

• 10:53Speaker 04

  So start fighting for Cal so he can go hunting. Geez, come on.

• 10:56Speaker 06

  Right. I've got a lead on some sandhill cranes.

• 10:59Speaker 05

  Oh, lovely.

• 11:00Speaker 06

  From the neighbor, so.

• 11:01Speaker 05

  Excellent.

• 11:02Speaker 06

  Got plans this weekend if you want to join.

• 11:04Speaker 04

  All right. We talked about bears a little bit. We're going to talk about bears some more in our first interview. Um, our first guest today is Brian DeBolt. Brian works out of, uh, Lander, Wyoming for the Wyoming Fish and Game Department as a large carnivore conflict coordinator. Um, and I, the, the, the reason I came across Brian is I, I read an article, um, just in the last couple of days about, um, multiple black bears that were killed by vehicles at the exact same location over the course of a day or two, I think, and decided to follow up with Brian and let him explain to us about why it happened. We got Brian on?

• 11:48Speaker 05

  Here he is.

• 11:48Speaker 07

  Yes.

• 11:49Speaker 04

  How's it going, Brian?

• 11:51Speaker 07

  Good. Hi guys. How are you?

• 11:52Speaker 04

  Good, good. Good to meet you. Um, thanks for, thanks for joining us. Um, before we get into this chain reaction roadkill story, um, can you give us just a little background on what you do for Wyoming Fish and Game?

• 12:07Speaker 07

  So, yeah, you read my title. It's a little lengthy. Large carnivore conflict coordinator. So, um,

• 12:15Speaker 05

  You set up the fights.

• 12:19Speaker 07

  Well, I try to referee them.

• 12:23Speaker 07

  Anything. So, um, the large carnivores in Wyoming that we deal with are black bears, grizzly bears, mountain lions and wolves. And whenever they come into conflict with people is my role, um, whether it's a bear tipping over a garbage can, um, bear killing livestock, you know, wolves killing livestock or, you know, oftentimes, um,

• 12:54Speaker 07

  Hunters encounter bears, you know, and shoot a bear in self-defense. Or maybe even a human gets injured or killed, unfortunately. Um, that's my job.

• 13:06Speaker 04

  I imagine you gotta have a, like, a pretty cool demeanor for that job, because on the one hand, you're like, looking out for people and livestock and things like that, but you, you also need to, like, kinda keep an eye out for, for the best interests of these, these predator species as well.

• 13:26Speaker 07

  Well, it's, uh, yeah, cool. I've never been turned.

• 13:31Speaker 07

  Um, it is an interesting dynamic and often the, the people are sometimes more difficult to deal with.

• 13:37Speaker 04

  You don't say.

• 13:39Speaker 07

  Yeah, um, as you know, so it's, it's interesting. Yeah. And you can't, uh, you can't judge people beforehand by any means. I mean, you could run into a kind of a rough, kinda redneck, old-looking fella and.

• 13:56Speaker 04

  There's none of them in Wyoming. Come on.

• 13:59Speaker 07

  But they, they wanna do everything they can to make sure that the bear is okay. That we don't hurt it, that we don't, you know, have to remove it, you know, lethally kill it or anything. And then next door, there's a, you know, that elderly lady or something in her nightgown and, and she wants to make sure that bear's as dead as can be, so.

• 14:17Speaker 05

  Because it tackled their bird feeder for the fifth time. Why can't that bear learn?

• 14:22Speaker 07

  So you just never know. It is, it's an interesting dynamic to, to, yeah, be in the middle.

• 14:28Speaker 05

  Yeah, it'd be helpful if everybody had some, uh, pointy ears on both sides of their head that either stand up or lay down.

• 14:36Speaker 07

  Yeah, that we could tell a little better.

• 14:38Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 14:38Speaker 07

  Analyze that behavior.

• 14:40Speaker 04

  Um, so with, with that in mind, with what you're out there doing every day, I ma- I, I gotta imagine this time of year, um, when bears especially are like very actively trying to put on as much weight as possible, um, it's, it's gotta be very busy for you in the conflict department. Probably your busiest time of year.

• 15:02Speaker 07

  It's extremely busy and this year is, is no exception. Um, yeah, bears are in what we call hyperphasia. Just like you mentioned, trying to gain as many calories as possible before they go into the damming period. And so they are foraging longer, they're active longer. And with anything they can possibly put into their gut, you know, whether it's natural or unnatural foods. And by unnatural, I mean, yeah, like bird feeders and

• 15:33Speaker 04

  Garbage.

• 15:34Speaker 07

  Food and, and that type of stuff, garbage. So yeah, we are extremely busy right now.

• 15:41Speaker 04

  Um, well, let's, I'll, I'll tie that into what happened a couple of weeks ago. Can, can you just tell us like initially what happened and then we'll get into why after you kind of let us, let us know what happened and, and if, if you want like, you can tell us where this happened to.

• 15:59Speaker 07

  Okay, so real briefly, um, there's a highway that goes over what's called South Pass.

• 16:05Speaker 04

  Very famous place. Uh, well, among certain circles.

• 16:09Speaker 07

  It's a south, uh, south pass of the Oregon Trail and different things. Um, over the south end of the Wind River Mountains here and

• 16:20Speaker 07

  got lots of wildlife up there, but, um, again, long story short, an elk was struck and killed by a vehicle. And in short order, within a matter of, of a few days later, um, a sow with two, um, what we call Cubs of the year, they're one this year, um, were struck and killed right at that roadkill elk. Um, they were, yeah, all three struck at the same time. And lots of traffic again on this highway. It's a pretty major thoroughfare. Um, and then later, that, that, that was early, early in the morning and then later that evening,

• 17:04Speaker 07

  uh, fourth bear was struck and killed at the same location. So.

• 17:11Speaker 04

  And, uh, normally you wouldn't get called into any kind of like roadkill situation, correct?

• 17:20Speaker 07

  Correct. So, um, if there is an animal, let's say struck on a, on the road and it's still alive, and maybe a highway patrolman or a, you know, a state trooper or a sheriff's deputy or something shows up on scene and the animal needs to be put down, you know, because it's critically injured. They have to call us. We have to give them permission to do so because we're the authority over wildlife. But a, a dead critter, you know, if something's just been struck and killed, that is not our authority. That's the Wyoming Department of Transportation. Because then it's just a road hazard. Um, and it's not live wildlife anymore. So,

• 18:04Speaker 07

  we typically don't get calls like say unless it's still alive.

• 18:07Speaker 04

  Hmm. So just for people who aren't following, an elk gets killed. It attracts the sow with the, with the young or with the year old cubs. And later that, that the elk's still hasn't been removed and it attracts another bear, which also gets killed. So what, what, like you got involved, I assume at that point after that fourth bear got killed and what happened after that?

• 18:35Speaker 07

  So actually I, I did get involved a little earlier. I was, I was aware that the, that a bull elk had been struck and killed.

• 18:47Speaker 07

  First impression that, um, it was going to be picked up. Um, and I'm sure not criticizing anybody. There's roadkill everywhere. It just happens a lot. Um, and then I got a call early in the morning, one morning that these three bears had been struck. So I responded and sure enough, it's a sow again with a couple of little cubs. And I gathered them up and the elk was still there. And again, I probably would have went ahead and loaded it up, but I had three bears in the back of my truck. And I made another wrong assumption that, well, okay, it'll be picked up now, you know.

• 19:27Speaker 07

  Um, and then that evening, right at dark, I get a call. That another bear, a bear was struck and killed by a vehicle, you know, mile marker fifty-five, whatever. And I said, no, that happened this morning.

• 19:41Speaker 04

  Hmm.

• 19:41Speaker 07

  I told our dispatch and they said, no, no, the guy's sitting there right now that just hit the bear. So I went back up there and sure as heck, a fourth bear, right there on the same spot, had been struck. And the elk carcass was still there. So I went ahead and loaded the elk carcass that time.

• 20:01Speaker 04

  Mm hmm.

• 20:02Speaker 07

  And got it out of there. So, yeah, it's a, you know, these kind of opportunistic, I would call them. It's an unfortunate.

• 20:10Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 20:10Speaker 07

  Opportunity that, that these critters get struck, whether it's a coyote or, you know, we get a lot of like ravens and magpies. That are standing on these carcasses.

• 20:20Speaker 04

  Yeah, I was gonna ask, is this, is this the first time you've seen that kind of like chain reaction roadkill event? Or is it, is it fairly common?

• 20:29Speaker 07

  Well.

• 20:29Speaker 04

  Maybe not with bears, but.

• 20:31Speaker 07

  You know, this is the biggest one I've seen. Um, usually it's one coyote or, you know, maybe one magpie or, you know. And we have had bears struck before, but not to this extent.

• 20:44Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 20:44Speaker 07

  Yeah, not this many. This is the first time I've been, you know, doing this for twenty-six years. And this is the first time I've seen it in this, uh, this bigger capacity.

• 20:55Speaker 04

  But it, I, I would imagine that, you know, Wyoming's got a lot of desolate spots, even on these major highways that. This is probably something that happens more often and we just don't know about it, right?

• 21:10Speaker 07

  That does, that that's true, that's true. Um, usually when it is a bear though, um, most folks do report that. We have a few mountain lions struck in the same, you know, type of scenario. Um, and often it's a passerby that reports it. I think folks might be a little apprehensive, oh, you know, especially if it's a grizzly bear.

• 21:32Speaker 05

  Right.

• 21:33Speaker 07

  They're, you know, they're an endangered species on paper. Um, and uh, so they're maybe reluctant to call. They think they did something wrong, but bottom line is it's just an accident.

• 21:45Speaker 05

  Right.

• 21:45Speaker 07

  And so it's often a passerby that says, hey, there's a dead bear laying on the road. Um, and we get called to investigate that.

• 21:52Speaker 05

  Hmm. Can you get a salvage tag for black bear in Wyoming?

• 21:56Speaker 07

  You can. Yep. Yep. If a, if a bear is taken legally, um, yeah, it can be donated. There, yeah. Um, any, any donation of a, of a grizzly bear, of course, it'd have to be through the Fish and Wildlife Service, but any other game under, under the jurisdiction of the game and fish, um, you can get a salvage tag.

• 22:18Speaker 05

  But not, not for roadkill? Can you get it for roadkill?

• 22:22Speaker 07

  So interesting. So with roadkill, um, there is a new law that just passed last year. And people are allowed to pick up most roadkill. Um, I won't get into all the details, but basically deer, elk and antelope, um, they can acquire that. They can pick it up. It, um, there's an app. It's called Wyoming 511. And if you come across the roadkill, you want to salvage it for whatever reason, um, you can log on to that 511 app and they basically give you a salvage number and you can take that whole carcass. Again, some animals, um, like bears and lions, um,

• 23:07Speaker 07

  Or not, you can't legally pick those up based on that. So, but other critters you can, yes.

• 23:14Speaker 05

  Would have thought I was in like a candid camera situation if I was trying to salvage. Yeah, be like, this is, is this considered baiting?

• 23:23Speaker 04

  Right, right.

• 23:24Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 23:25Speaker 04

  Um, Brian, uh, Wyoming has been, been pretty good at, at building wildlife overpasses in the last, I don't know, decade or more. Um, like how successful have those been in reducing roadkill at like, sites that formerly just were like known, like pinch points where a lot of animals were, were getting killed by vehicles? Like have those overpasses like drastically reduced roadkill?

• 23:56Speaker 07

  Yes, they really have. Um, they've been so beneficial and these things, as you can imagine, are multimillion dollar projects. It's a huge effort between the game and fish and the, you know, Department of Transportation and, you know, local wildlife groups, the landowners. It's, it's a monumental effort and, um, of course we'd like to have more, but again, they're huge costly projects. And so right now we're picking kind of the low hanging fruit. We spent decades, you know, identifying migration corridors, again, these choke points you're talking about where,

• 24:36Speaker 07

  where roadkill accidents are very common and we're focusing on those areas. But yeah, we'd sure like to expand it into other areas. Absolutely. They're, they're great. They're wonderful. Yeah.

• 24:49Speaker 04

  Cool. Um, I guess the last thing is, uh, i- if someone's involved in hitting a, hitting a animal or they, there's a, you know, maybe a big bull elk like on the road dead, like who do they call? Who should they be calling?

• 25:06Speaker 07

  Yeah, so now that this 511 app is available, that's probably the best thing. You can even just, if you don't want to harvest that, you know, pick up that roadkill, you can just report it and it goes to the Department of Transportation. And then the maintenance crew can, you know, knows there's a carcass there and they can get that scavenged and eliminate that road hazard. So you don't have this chain reaction thing going on. So that's, that's a great.

• 25:37Speaker 04

  Cool.

• 25:37Speaker 07

  Yeah, a great tool to do that. Or just call the, you know, Y dot, whatever.

• 25:42Speaker 04

  Yep, yep.

• 25:43Speaker 07

  But one thing I feel kind of compelled to mention too is, especially with bears, because that's what I deal with more often than anything.

• 25:53Speaker 07

  You know, we have some, some highways and everybody's familiar probably with bear 399 that was struck and killed on the highway in Wyoming. And she's darn sure not the first bear. There's been multiple grizzly bears, these roadside, I call them habituated roadside grizzly bears that have been killed along these highways. And part of what contributes to that is, is frankly, people feeding these bears.

• 26:23Speaker 07

  And it's not good. Like say, a roadkill that maybe is being scavenged by a bear. And then unfortunately, a driver comes along and yeah, they don't see this dark black bear in the middle of the road in the middle of the night. And they strike it. That's an accident. But when, when people are actively feeding these bears and, and oftentimes it's just to get a photograph of them.

• 26:47Speaker 04

  Yep.

• 26:48Speaker 07

  They don't realize how they're habituating these bears to the roadside and increasing that opportunity for them to get struck and killed.

• 26:56Speaker 04

  Or a person.

• 26:58Speaker 07

  Or a person. Yeah, all the, yeah, you know, family, um, you know, somebody vacationing from a, you know, different location and they come through Wyoming or Montana. And, oh, there's a bear off the road and they clamor out, they pull over and clamor out to get a picture and, you know, there could be a semi truck or a delivery truck zipping down the road at, you know, high speeds, not looking for wildlife. They got a job to do and yeah, it could cause a traffic accident or even hit a human. So, yeah, um, that's, that's another big part of this and, and that 399 bear and others do live a considerable amount of their life roadside.

• 27:43Speaker 05

  Mm hmm.

• 27:43Speaker 07

  And that's not good. They're just not living the wild, natural life and, um, it was just a matter of time, you know, before she was struck and killed on the highway.

• 27:54Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 27:55Speaker 07

  Yeah, that just happens.

• 27:56Speaker 05

  Yeah, but if she didn't live there, you couldn't take pictures of her.

• 28:01Speaker 07

  Yep. And you couldn't make the money and post it on your.

• 28:04Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 28:05Speaker 07

  It's all about money. That's right.

• 28:07Speaker 05

  Yeah. And, and just to doggy pile on here, uh, it's not the bear's fault. It's eating your bird seed. Uh, it's your fault for leaving the bird seed out to get ate. So put it away.

• 28:20Speaker 04

  That's right.

• 28:21Speaker 07

  Exactly. That's a good point, Cal. I appreciate that. You know, we work so hard with not only this roadkill stuff to try to prevent the accident from happening in the first place. So much of our work is trying to show people how to, yeah, you, you can feed birds, have it at your house, but there are ways to do it that the bears can't get to it. You know, if you're gonna have chickens, you know, electric fences, um, you know, your grain, horse grain and stuff, put it away at night, garbage, put, you know, secure it all away from a bear. So we work so hard to prevent all these unnecessarily deaths in the first place.

• 28:56Speaker 05

  Yeah. And if you leave a dirty campsite, even if it's all that biodegradable material, watermelon rinds, stuff like that, uh, you're just letting bears know that people leave good things behind. So pack it out with you.

• 29:12Speaker 07

  Free meal. Yep.

• 29:13Speaker 04

  Okay, Brian, thanks a lot for joining us. It was a great talk, interesting stuff. Um, maybe we'll check back in with you about, about this kind of same issue or something else that you're involved with at a later time.

• 29:27Speaker 07

  Excellent. No, yeah, I appreciate you having me. Thank you very much.

• 29:30Speaker 04

  Thanks, Brian.

• 29:31Speaker 05

  Have a good season.

• 29:34Speaker 04

  Neither, well, I guess, I guess Randall's been out elk hunting, but poor Cal hasn't, but we're, we're gonna move on to our rut report.

• 29:46Speaker 05

  I remember that sound.

• 29:50Speaker 04

  Oh, it's beautiful. Um, okay, this is the week in September that pretty much every archery elk hunter who hasn't tagged out has been waiting for. Um, it's the peak breeding period for elk and the, the ideally, you know, the bulls should be screaming their heads off and you hit the call and they come running in. Um, it's not always the way it works, but, um, we're gonna check in with, with some hunters we know who are out there hunting now or out hunting recently just to see if the action's been hot where they're hunting.

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• 33:23Speaker 06

  Hey guys, it's Corey Calkins coming at you with a Montana rut report for Wednesday, September 17th, hopefully.

• 33:32Speaker 05

  Hmm, close.

• 33:33Speaker 06

  I'm in southwest Montana, this is day five of an eight day elk hunt, and it's been pretty slow, to say the least. The rut activity, that is. Elk have been pretty quiet, very nocturnal, hearing them in the dark, moving in and out of our little hunting area, but it's also been pretty crowded, too. Hearing a lot of Doug Flutie bugles from the ridge tops everywhere, I don't know if that's keeping the elk quiet, but a few people that I've ran into have agreed that it's been pretty slow, excuse me, pretty slow, so I don't think it's just me.

• 34:13Speaker 06

  Hunted numerous different locations, different drainages, driven an hour each direction from my camp, trying to find hot cows and bugling elk, and it's been quiet in the general vicinity that I'm in, but the weather's been inconsistent. It's been raining every other day, it hasn't froze yet either, which I've always found that first frost of the year really gets them going, and it still hasn't gotten that cold yet, at least here. So, we got pretty consistent weather the next few days, really hoping things pick up, starting this afternoon, because we only have two and a half more days on this little journey, and I won't be able to hunt again till October, so hoping we can pull it off.

• 34:56Speaker 06

  And yeah, good luck to everybody out there, and back to you guys in the studio. That was a real downer. Dirk Durham here with Phelps Game Calls, just wrapping up an elk hunt from last week. Man, we faced tough conditions with full moon and warm weather, and then it kind of turned. We got, we got a bunch of storms that kind of rolled in, and that was really nice, got a big cooldown, but then, we still had that full moon we were fighting, and it seemed like bulls were just pretty tight lipped still. But around the 10th, things kind of turned, bulls started piping off a little bit in the mornings, and on the 11th, my son, Austin, killed a nice bull, called him right in, and then...

• 35:40Speaker 06

  The 12th, 13th, 14th, things are really starting to pick up. So I feel like we might have missed the really good calling action because it was kind of tough there early. So anyway, everybody get out there, take advantage of this time. I think the bulls should be ripping here for the next week and a half, two weeks, and should be some big bulls hitting the dirt. Good luck out there.

• 36:03Speaker 06

  Hey guys, coming to you from central Colorado, right in the middle of muzzleloader season. We're out here looking for some elk. The past few days, checking out another zone today. You might be able to hear behind me, there's a spring with some running water. You can kind of see the aspens are starting to turn. Had some good sign. Did hear some bugles a couple of days ago, but haven't gotten close yet. The weather's been good, good fall weather. Plenty of rain and we actually had some, some snow at about 11,000 feet as well.

• 36:43Speaker 06

  And it got down to about 40 degrees the last couple of nights. So we're hoping that gets them fired up. So it's been fun checking out these zones this time of year. It's a nice time to be out. So looking forward to the rest of the week and we'll keep you posted. Good luck everybody.

• 36:58Speaker 03

  Hey, what's up guys? This is Logan here with the rut report coming out of southwest Montana. Things are definitely shaping up to be a great couple of weeks elk hunting as we head into the third week of September. And the place that we've been hunting, the opening weekend, things were pretty slow. We didn't hear too many elk bugling. We saw a lot of cows, but most of the bulls seemed to be in their summer range and hadn't came down to try to breed cows yet. You know, this, this past weekend, things were starting to pick up. We heard a lot more elk vocalizations. Elk were bugling at night. Later into the morning,

• 37:38Speaker 03

  we were able to call bulls in on Saturday and we heard them talking all Sunday. So this, this next week should be even better. The fall equinox is on September 22nd this year, which is typically corresponds with the peak rut. And cows are coming into heat around that time period. So typically the five or 10 days before and after the fall equinox or the peak rut, you're going to have a lot of rutting behavior, which will make elk much more susceptible to calling. Bulls are going to be fired up. You know, it's just a great experience to be in the woods and hear elk bugling. So this is the perfect time of year to do that, especially these next couple of weeks.

• 38:24Speaker 03

  So, you know, in South Coast, Montana, we've got some cooler weather. It's not too hot. The new moon's approaching, so the nights are going to be dark. The days are going to be relatively cool and those are all the perfect conditions for elk hunting. So I'm very much looking forward to getting back out there. I hope you guys are too. If you've got a hunting trip planned, you're in for a good however long you're going to be out there for. And yeah, can't wait to get back out. Hope you guys are having fun and good luck out there.

• 39:00Speaker 06

  Jason Phelps with Phelps Game Calls calling in for a quick Elk Woods rut report. I've been in northern Utah hunting since the 8th of September. It's now the 13th of September. And kind of what we've seen, we've had some good days, but it's just not quite cranking yet. Some of the bigger bulls are still leaving their cows, you know, in the morning to go bed separately still. So it just kind of lets you know that that things aren't really happening. We have got on some herds where some cows have been in estrus and you've heard bulls glunking and really trailing, you know, specific cows. But overall, I feel like it's, it's just kind of getting going. I would say in the next day or two, you know, maybe some cold weather snap in there. But I would say by the 15th, 16th, things are heating up to really be going. But that's my rut report from northern Utah.

• 39:44Speaker 06

  Things are just getting ready to be going and I would, if I had to guess, the 15th to the 30th is going to be on fire. Take care. Good luck to all you out there and good luck in the elk woods.

• 39:56Speaker 05

  Our, uh, audience here has to decide if any of those people are, uh, you know, worth listening to in the first place.

• 40:03Speaker 04

  Or they're full of shit.

• 40:04Speaker 05

  Yeah, exactly.

• 40:06Speaker 04

  Exactly.

• 40:06Speaker 06

  Corey looks like he was on day five of an eight day hunt.

• 40:10Speaker 04

  Did those reports just, just make you even angrier that you're not out there right now, Cal?

• 40:15Speaker 05

  Oh, no, no. Uh, I, I would love, love to be out there, but, um, I always, I have always done a heck of a lot better if I didn't listen to any of that type of stuff.

• 40:27Speaker 04

  And you just went hunting?

• 40:28Speaker 05

  You just gotta go hunting. Yeah.

• 40:30Speaker 04

  Um, I agree with that. I mean, they're, they're pretty consistent reports, you know?

• 40:34Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 40:35Speaker 04

  Things are getting, right now is the time, right?

• 40:37Speaker 05

  For sure. I, I do, uh, the, throwing out the equinox as fact.

• 40:44Speaker 04

  Right.

• 40:44Speaker 05

  Well, it's like, you know, fall equinox happens and the activity has to peak around that.

• 40:49Speaker 04

  You know?

• 40:50Speaker 05

  Because.

• 40:51Speaker 04

  Some people would say that about the moon too.

• 40:53Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 40:54Speaker 06

  Although I'm inclined to listen to Logan because he filled every single tag that he had in Montana last year.

• 41:00Speaker 05

  Yeah, man.

• 41:01Speaker 06

  And like, I think the only guy in the office who did that.

• 41:04Speaker 05

  I, I think Logan is fantastic. He's a fellow third floor office mate. Um, last year was his first out.

• 41:13Speaker 04

  Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

• 41:15Speaker 05

  I mean.

• 41:16Speaker 06

  Oh, come on. Don't throw him under the bus.

• 41:17Speaker 05

  I'm not. I'm just saying. Context.

• 41:20Speaker 04

  Um, all right. It's time for some listener feedback. Give us some juicy, juicy stuff, Bill. Important questions, hot takes, grumpy people, happy people, lay it on us.

• 41:31Speaker 05

  Sure. This is from Spicy Nachos. I have an ethical question for you. I was out elk hunting last week and came across a cow with a severely broken leg. The kicker is that she had a calf with her. In a wolf dense area, would to take the cow? Well, there's some typos in there, but I don't know if you guys can put to, put together a.

• 41:48Speaker 04

  I, I don't know that that's, like, it's not ethical. I don't think it's unethical to not shoot her. I don't know about you guys, but I also think there's no problem with shooting her. Um.

• 42:03Speaker 04

  Yeah, you know, there's.

• 42:05Speaker 05

  You can't assume with wildlife.

• 42:07Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 42:07Speaker 05

  I've seen, uh, way back when, the first dude I guided with, he, uh, had a three-legged doe that had, you know, a noticeable limp and every set of clients who had a doe tag was like, well, it'd probably be better if I killed her. And, um, you know, we'd be like, yeah, cool. Make a stock and this, this old gal was cagey. Um, but the truth was,

• 42:36Speaker 05

  I mean, she was there for five years.

• 42:37Speaker 04

  Listen, I had the same thing.

• 42:39Speaker 05

  And having twins every single year.

• 42:40Speaker 04

  There was this doe that lived like near my buddy's house where we used to hunt. Um, there was a doe we called Peggy. And she was around for almost three years.

• 42:50Speaker 05

  Because she reminded you of your aunt?

• 42:52Speaker 04

  Because she was missing a leg.

• 42:53Speaker 05

  Oh, okay.

• 42:55Speaker 06

  Yeah, I, I will say this past weekend at our first camp on the glass knob. The first thing we saw was a bull moose and we're like, that's not what I thought the first thing we see on this trip would be. And that, that moose had, I don't know if it was a broken leg or some kind of growth, but its back left leg was swollen up like the size of a basketball and it's kind of dragging it. And it fell or almost fell a couple of times just trying to step over things. And God, it was hard to watch, but I, you know, it's like, if it's, it's one thing if you have a tag.

• 43:31Speaker 04

  Right.

• 43:31Speaker 06

  And it's like, that's an animal. If you're after a cow elk, it's got a broken leg. I think that calf is going to be fine.

• 43:37Speaker 05

  Well, I mean, the opposite of that, right? Is like that cow has proven to be a successful uh, adult breeding animal. Uh, she is expending energy to, uh, keep that calf around. Uh, if you're really thinking about herd health, I'd kill the calf. That way mom gets to focus on herself and she's got the survival instincts. Mathematically, that calf is probably voted the most likely to die.

• 44:09Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 44:09Speaker 05

  For being an idiot.

• 44:10Speaker 04

  And listen, if you're gonna decide to shoot an animal that's injured like that, you're, you know, you gotta own up to it. If you cut that thing open and that whole hind quarter is green and smelly, right?

• 44:22Speaker 05

  Yeah, that's your tag.

• 44:23Speaker 04

  Um, I don't think there's a right or wrong answer for that. Like if, if it makes you feel good to kill her, kill her. If not, like go fill your tag with another animal.

• 44:34Speaker 05

  And don't assume. Logan came, came in to clarify that he killed those elk with a bow. So he just wants to.

• 44:42Speaker 05

  He also says he's killed elk before that, but I don't, I don't know what he's referring.

• 44:45Speaker 06

  I got your back, Logan. Last year was his first archery elk, but he's killed other elk.

• 44:50Speaker 05

  Hmm. This is a big question, but I don't think it's something we've tackled before on any podcast I've been a part of.

• 44:56Speaker 06

  Oh geez.

• 44:56Speaker 05

  This is from Ethan Blair. What was your worst hunting or fishing trip? And why? If anything, the first thing that pops into your head. Hmm.

• 45:08Speaker 05

  I'll, I'll just tell you like bad attitudes in camp. We used to call them the camp cancer.

• 45:14Speaker 05

  And the, you can be on. It, for all reasonable people, it would be like the worst trip ever. But if everybody on the worst trip ever has a good attitude, it's still like an enjoyable time at the end of the day.

• 45:31Speaker 04

  I'm try, I'm trying really hard to think about a trip where I was like, God, in hindsight, that was horrible, but a lot of times the horrible trips, you look back and you're like, yeah, that was okay. That was fun.

• 45:43Speaker 05

  Right. Exactly. It's an adventure.

• 45:46Speaker 06

  I have a bad one for my dad. When we went to the Boundary Waters, one of the times we went to the Boundary Waters.

• 45:53Speaker 05

  Oh, is this the trip he died on?

• 45:55Speaker 06

  Well, he got, he got the treble hook, he got a treble hook, one hook in each finger, and we busted that out. Then he was throwing a bear bag or a bear hang over, over a limb, sort of standing on a steep cut bank, and he fell down the cut bank. You know, his momentum throwing the, throwing the rock took him down the cut bank. And, and that was the same day as the fishing hook. And then the next day, he and the other guy that was in his canoe capsized in the middle of a giant lake.

• 46:26Speaker 04

  Yeah, but now it's a great story.

• 46:28Speaker 06

  Oh, and he got bit by a spider. And so when we got back to Ely, they took him into Duluth because they thought it might have been a brown recluse. And he was, it was like, uh, the wound was opening up. And I was just like, man.

• 46:39Speaker 04

  That's a rough day.

• 46:40Speaker 06

  That's a rough, that's a rough little trip for one guy, but that was a great trip for me.

• 46:44Speaker 05

  Yeah. I would rather be on a bad trip with great attitudes and a great trip with bad attitudes.

• 46:51Speaker 04

  Totally, totally, completely.

• 46:53Speaker 05

  I'll do a couple more here. That was from Ethan, by the way. This one's, this one's fun, I think. This is from Michael. Question for the crew. What coworker would each of you pick to hunt, hunt with for whitetail, elk, and black bear? And I encourage hurting each other's feelings, too.

• 47:08Speaker 06

  Hmm.

• 47:09Speaker 04

  Um, I'd hunt with, like, the whole crew for any of those.

• 47:15Speaker 05

  No, you can't say that. You gotta pick one.

• 47:17Speaker 04

  Yeah. Pick one for each species?

• 47:19Speaker 05

  Sure, yeah.

• 47:20Speaker 06

  For, for whitetail, I would say either, uh, Mark or Spencer.

• 47:27Speaker 04

  Sure, yeah, yeah.

• 47:29Speaker 06

  Based on, based on improving my odds of success.

• 47:31Speaker 04

  Yeah, I'd want Jason Fels to guide me for elk.

• 47:34Speaker 06

  Yep. And then black bear, maybe Corey Calkins.

• 47:38Speaker 04

  Yeah, he kills a nice one every year.

• 47:40Speaker 06

  Wouldn't be honest.

• 47:44Speaker 06

  This is kind of ruthless. Well, well, I mean, he seems to have a lot of long, lonely hikes in the spring.

• 47:51Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 47:51Speaker 06

  Uh, this is ruthless.

• 47:53Speaker 05

  I would love to.

• 47:54Speaker 06

  Radio live hour.

• 47:55Speaker 05

  With, uh, Dirk. Because I haven't got an elk hunt with him. Jason Phelps is very fun dude to hunt with. Like, like just, just fun. And when we hunted together, neither was killed anything. It was a fantastic trip.

• 48:16Speaker 05

  And I would rather go whitetail hunting with Mark Kenyon over Tony Peterson. Purely for.

• 48:26Speaker 06

  Think about Tony.

• 48:28Speaker 05

  You know what? Maybe I retract that.

• 48:33Speaker 06

  You know what? You know what we still haven't said is, is Clay for black bear.

• 48:36Speaker 05

  I'm going to say Spencer New Hearth for whitetail.

• 48:38Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 48:39Speaker 05

  Because I know I would just bug the living shit out of him and it would be very entertaining the whole time.

• 48:45Speaker 04

  He'd be like, ah, forget these whitetails. I'm going to go look for a mule deer.

• 48:48Speaker 06

  I've gone to, well, I guess I have black bear hunted with Clay, but I'd love to, uh, sit in a tree stand over bait with Clay just to see him watch bears. Cause I've gone to the zoo with Clay and watched bears at the zoo with Clay and that was fun.

• 49:02Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 49:03Speaker 06

  He's just like, ah, look at him.

• 49:04Speaker 04

  Yeah, that would be very entertaining.

• 49:07Speaker 06

  Okay, uh, save the rest for later. No, Phil, you're doing great. Okay, thanks. We'll do one more. This is from Noah. Question for Randall. On a scale from one to 10, how bummed are you that you missed the D and D session? Honestly, I'm sick to my stomach. I, I was too. I was devastated when I. I can't believe Spencer lined it up in that way. I made my availability clear. Uh, and, and yeah, it's just an unfortunate.

• 49:28Speaker 04

  Asked him why you weren't there and he said you weren't available.

• 49:30Speaker 06

  Yeah, I wasn't. I was, I was in the back country. Yeah, I saw Randall decline the invite and I sent him a text saying, oh, you're going to miss the, miss the session. I was trying to keep it a secret. Well, I, I didn't even realize it was D and D. I thought it was just going to be Phil trivia and I was looking forward to that. People that knew it was happening were my wife.

• 49:46Speaker 04

  And Spencer's wife, uh, so.

• 49:48Speaker 06

  I still don't think I understand what D and D is, but it seemed fun.

• 49:51Speaker 04

  Oh, you would if you'd have been there. Brody didn't either.

• 49:53Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 49:54Speaker 04

  I hopefully feel you were, uh, you were pleased with our ability to adapt.

• 50:00Speaker 05

  It was hard at first. I was like, I was so confused as to what was going on.

• 50:04Speaker 04

  I tried to ease you into it and you guys did, did so well. There were even people that messaged me saying, I'm so glad Brody and Cal were game to play. Cause I thought they would just turn their nose up at it and I, I, I had that worry too, which is why I invited Shelby to bring some enthusiasm into the room. In case you guys just walked out on me.

• 50:21Speaker 05

  I just didn't understand. I was like, I was waiting for like a formal, like rule thing. Okay. And now this is how you play the game. I was like, I.

• 50:31Speaker 04

  Yeah. You, you guys didn't need that.

• 50:33Speaker 05

  It was hard.

• 50:34Speaker 04

  You, you got it. You did. You did great. It was a lot of fun.

• 50:36Speaker 06

  In any event, I'm crushed.

• 50:38Speaker 04

  You'll have to develop a new campaign. Campaign's what it's called, right, Phil? That's right, Brody. We'll do a new campaign sometime. Sounds good. Cool.

• 50:47Speaker 04

  All right. That's it for now, Phil. For now, we got a little save some more for the end of the show. So keep sending them in. Uh, we got another interview coming up. Next up, we've got Chris Hill, who's the CEO of Conservation Lands Foundation. She'll be joining us from Alaska. Uh, CLF is the only organization dedicated to the conservation and expansion of national conservation lands, which she'll have to explain a little bit, um, which currently total about 38 million acres. And I'm going to let Cal handle this one. Cause, uh, he'll do a better job than me.

• 51:22Speaker 05

  Yeah, Chris and I are internet friends.

• 51:24Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 51:25Speaker 06

  Welcome, Chris.

• 51:27Speaker 05

  I just say that because we haven't met in person ever, as this world goes. Yes. How are you, Chris Hill?

• 51:34Speaker 04

  I'm great. How are you guys doing? Thanks for having me.

• 51:37Speaker 05

  And where are you today?

• 51:40Speaker 04

  I am in Haynes, Alaska, which is southeast Alaska and.

• 51:44Speaker 06

  It's the first day in four days that it hasn't rained. So it's really nice out.

• 51:49Speaker 05

  Do you, would you mind hitting us with a quick Southeast Alaska hunt fish report? Have you been doing anything fun?

• 51:57Speaker 06

  Oh, yeah. So, you know, this is, this is the best time, I think, to be in Southeast Alaska because it's Coho season. So, and Coho is probably my, one of my favorite fish to,

• 52:11Speaker 06

  to fish for. So they're here. The Derby started. I gotta, I gotta keep my championship up and win the Derby again this year.

• 52:21Speaker 05

  Oh, wow. You're the returning champ.

• 52:23Speaker 06

  I am the returning champ on the fly, only on the fly.

• 52:26Speaker 05

  Gotcha, gotcha. Still, nonetheless.

• 52:29Speaker 06

  Yeah, it's fun. It's a lot. It's really fun. And we just got back from a trip to Yakata to go surfing and fishing and we did a little fish, a couple of days on the Sea Tuck to fish for Coho and it was just fantastic.

• 52:45Speaker 05

  And Yakata has a good steelhead fishery too, right?

• 52:48Speaker 06

  They do.

• 52:49Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 52:49Speaker 06

  So Sea Tuck, the Sea Tuck is a really awesome river. It's in the Tongass and it's home to all five species of Pacific salmon and has a healthy steelhead run. So it's, it was, it was really amazing. Yeah.

• 53:04Speaker 05

  Heck, yeah. Well, since you said the magic word Tongass, would, would you like to, really, this is your time, Chris, but we have lots of things happening all at once in the conservation landscape. What are you and CLF working on the most? What's, what's your number one item to tackle?

• 53:29Speaker 06

  Oh, that's, that's a hard one. So, because there's just so many things. So, Conservation Lands Foundation represents this broad, non-

• 53:40Speaker 03

  And National Network of Community Leaders that are solely focused on the lands from BLM. We're focused on expanding, protecting and restoring those lands at BLM. And, you know, as you guys know, BLM is the, has the largest amount of the country's public lands at 245 million acres. And just in comparison, that's larger than the Forest Service and probably three times larger than National Park Service. So these are all those lands in between the National Park Service. And we work with over 80 community-led land conservation organizations across the West and really do it in this sort of community-based advocacy model

• 54:21Speaker 03

  where investing in local leaders to protect their lands has really proven to be one of the most effective strategies. So, you know, really, as we look at sort of the onslaught of all of the things that are happening and all of the attacks that are happening on public lands, the idea that we want to privatize these places is still incredibly unpopular opinion in the communities. And we'll continue to see, you know, we, as a community, did a really great job of the sell-off of public lands during the reconciliation fight. But we're going to continue to see the onslaught of more and more things that are going to come from the administration and Congress to try to continue to privatize those lands.

• 55:06Speaker 03

  So right now, what we're working on, and I would say there's probably two, two big issues at the moment. The repeal of resource management plans within Congress. And then on the administration side, it's opening up drilling in the Western Arctic and the repeal of the public lands rule.

• 55:26Speaker 05

  And we have not talked a lot about Western Arctic here recently. Would you want to give us a quick snapshot of, of what the conversation is? Western Arctic, obviously huge Caribou area. And our Western Arctic herd is not historically healthy right now from a population standpoint. And Western Arctic has some calving areas and obviously a huge migration route for our migratory birds.

• 56:04Speaker 03

  Absolutely. And it's one of the last remaining intact ecosystems. We have on the planet, right? I think I think you went this summer to, did you go to the Western Arctic or?

• 56:15Speaker 05

  Well, we would have been like, we would have been east to west. Yeah, we were, so we were, we were, um, we were still quite a ways east to like Prudhoe.

• 56:26Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 56:26Speaker 05

  Yeah, we were closer to Canada.

• 56:29Speaker 03

  Okay, gotcha, gotcha. But that whole entire system, right, is super important and so right now, we're kind of in a holding pattern at the moment. So in June, the Interior Department proposed to rescind the current integrated activities plan. So it's like a management plan for the Western Arctic. And that plan limited oil and gas development from expanding into the special areas, which is some of what you've been talking about within the Western Arctic. The important piece of that plan is that it really did balance energy production with the protection of this ecosystem.

• 57:10Speaker 03

  They, they opened it up to rescind it. They proposed to rescind it. They had a comment period. That comment period has since closed. And during that comment period, we really saw the communities rise up and have a steady drumbeat of opposition. Um, so right now we're waiting for the administration to release its final plan during that. At the same time, if you remember during the congressional reconciliation fight, the Senate added back in provisions that directed DOI to resume oil and gas, the oil and gas leasing program in the Western Arctic. So this, that provision sort of went back to the Trump era plan.

• 57:53Speaker 03

  Um, that requires at least four million acres to be leased for drilling. So there's more to come here. I think we'll, it'll start to unravel itself again, and we're probably going to see this in the courts.

• 58:06Speaker 05

  And then, I guess, real quick, what, from that community level that you spoke about, what's the community response in regarding, in regards to rescinding roadless in the Tongass? Tongass and roadless typically go hand in hand. You can't talk about roadless act without talking about Tongass.

• 58:31Speaker 03

  Yeah, that's for sure. You know, Tongass is national forest, and it's dear to my heart because it is in my backyard. This is where I recreate all the time. And the Tongass National Forest is particularly going to be affected by the rescission of the roadless rule because it's, you know, the roadless areas in the Tongass is almost 92% of all of the forest. And, you know, as you guys know, the Tongass is the largest national forest in the United States. It's the world's last remaining temperate rainforest. It's called the climate forest or the lungs of the north of North America because of its old-growth trees

• 59:13Speaker 03

  and the ability for those trees to really, like, breathe in carbon and use it as a carbon sink for the rest of the earth. It's completely and just beautifully biologically diverse. It's home to brown bears and black bears and wolves and all sorts of Sitka black-tailed deer, which, by the way, that hunt is starting soon too, so I'm super excited about that.

• 59:40Speaker 03

  And it's like, it's one of the most important habitats for all five species of Pacific salmon. So, it's super important, it's culturally important for indigenous folks who have stewered and lived on the land since time immemorial, and it's a tourism powerhouse. You have all of the things, right, for the Tongass that just make it a really important place. And because of all of those things, those communities are the ones that are really standing up and saying, "No, we want to keep the roadless rule intact, and it's important to do so." You know, the roadless rule's been around since 2001. It's nine million acres of the Tongass that are designated as roadless, and it's important for us to continue that. It's not just the

• 1:00:23Speaker 03

  Tongue is that the roadless rule um uh is helps, right? It's it's across the west and um and probably a lot of areas where your folks are listening from as well. So I think we have one more day. I think the comment period ends tomorrow. I know Trout Unlimited, if you go on to tu.org, that you can submit a comment uh on their portal.

• 1:00:48Speaker 05

  Yeah, TU's got a good map, too. Uh uh the Wilderness Society's got a good map up. BHA's got a good map up. If you've got OnX, you can see uh you can put on your your roadless area uh layer and and see real quick. Speaking out of Boz Angeles here, our entire watershed for the Gallatin Valley is in a roadless area and highly, highly accessible for uh all you um casual dog walkers even, so.

• 1:01:20Speaker 03

  Exactly.

• 1:01:21Speaker 05

  Yeah, well, well-used, well-loved stuff. Yeah, darn right. Well, uh, how do folks learn more about CLF, Chris?

• 1:01:33Speaker 03

  Oh, great question. So we're on all the socials, right? You can you could find us on um Instagram and all of the social medias. And then you also can go to conservationlands.org. That's our website. You can get involved there. Um, we also, as I said, we work with over eighty local um nonprofits. And I would imagine that a lot of folks can be connected um to some of those local nonprofits to really do some of the work on the ground and get to know the folks in the communities.

• 1:02:05Speaker 06

  And I I will add that uh you just mentioned TU's uh action page. I went on there and just submitted a comment now, and I even personalized it. So everybody in the chat, uh it doesn't take that long to go and make your voice heard on on these public lands issues.

• 1:02:23Speaker 03

  That's right. And you know, we've seen time and time again, it's it's those comments that make a difference. Some people are like, ah, what is? What is my comment gonna do, but it actually makes a difference and creates that record to show that either the public is for or against an issue and you know when we're looking at it from the agency perspective, but also from the congressional perspective. Congress people want to hear from their constituencies. And when we band together and have that voice become, you know, very large and big. Things happen and things change and we saw that with the public land sell off fight.

• 1:02:57Speaker 05

  That's right. And if you folks at home want to think about it in a very tangible way. Do you act differently when people are paying attention to you?

• 1:03:10Speaker 03

  Exactly.

• 1:03:11Speaker 05

  Our, our representatives and our senators, uh, they can darn sure act differently when they know a lot of people are paying attention to them. So.

• 1:03:20Speaker 03

  Right.

• 1:03:20Speaker 05

  Um, that's part of getting your comment. Yeah. Uh, Chris Hill, thank you so much. Conservancy Conservation Lands Foundation. Um, we'll have to have you back on and, and, um, where to go, where do folks go to find you again?

• 1:03:36Speaker 03

  Conservationlands.org or any social channels.

• 1:03:40Speaker 05

  Awesome. Well, thank you so much. And we, or I will see you in the heart of the cold, cold city next week when we're going to talk about climate and conservation and public lands, uh, in Manhattan.

• 1:03:54Speaker 06

  Ooh.

• 1:03:54Speaker 05

  An actual island.

• 1:03:55Speaker 06

  Big Apple.

• 1:03:56Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 1:03:56Speaker 06

  Not any out running around there.

• 1:03:57Speaker 05

  No.

• 1:03:58Speaker 03

  No, we might see some rats though.

• 1:04:01Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 1:04:04Speaker 05

  Thanks, Chris.

• 1:04:05Speaker 03

  Yeah, thank you all and I'll see you soon. Thank you.

• 1:04:08Speaker 06

  Thanks, Chris.

• 1:04:10Steven Rinella?

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• 1:07:27Speaker 04

  We got a new segment for you today. And it is called Three Harsh Truths.

• 1:07:34Speaker 02

  Hey little hunter, let me light your candle, cause these truths are so hard to handle now.

• 1:07:43Speaker 05

  Spin doctors.

• 1:07:47Speaker 05

  I always screw that up.

• 1:07:48Speaker 04

  I just came up with a segment a couple of days ago and you.

• 1:07:52Speaker 06

  My God, we should just make up new segments all the time.

• 1:07:56Speaker 05

  Please don't.

• 1:07:58Speaker 06

  It's the highlight of this show.

• 1:07:59Speaker 04

  Three Harsh Truths is where our panel of experts, self-appointed experts. We're going to share some things that most people might not want to believe, but they're certainly true. At least according to us. And I thought about calling it hot takes, but it's like overused and hot takes are typically opinions that are expressed like without any real evidence and we wouldn't do that to you. So we're going to share ours with you in order. Cal, lay it, lay it on us. What's a harsh truth?

• 1:08:34Speaker 05

  Buying your hunting and fishing license is not enough. You have got to, if you want to be a responsible hunter or angler, you have got to participate in our system of wildlife management, which sometimes you would feel like is being political. But fill out your surveys.

• 1:08:59Speaker 05

  Go to in-person, go to your fish game committee meetings.

• 1:09:06Speaker 05

  Participate in the comment periods and write your senators and congresspeople. It makes a huge difference.

• 1:09:14Speaker 04

  I love filling out those surveys.

• 1:09:16Speaker 06

  Yeah, and showing up to meetings too is like you feel so much more involved and you have, you have such a greater awareness of what's happening.

• 1:09:26Speaker 04

  That's the thing is you're gonna like learn a bunch of stuff you otherwise would never know.

• 1:09:30Speaker 06

  Sometimes it feels like cheating in terms of just like being aware of what's happening with wildlife in your state.

• 1:09:36Speaker 05

  Yep, yep. Do you want to like round robin this thing or do you want me to go do all three?

• 1:09:42Speaker 04

  Well, we decided you can lay another one on us. We, Randall and I, we should have told you, um, we're just gonna do one each.

• 1:09:49Speaker 05

  Oh, okay, great.

• 1:09:51Speaker 04

  But if you got another quick one, lay it on us.

• 1:09:53Speaker 05

  Antelope jump fences.

• 1:09:57Speaker 04

  I've seen it.

• 1:10:00Speaker 05

  They can do it.

• 1:10:01Speaker 04

  I've also seen them standing around for 15 minutes wondering what to do when they hit a fence.

• 1:10:07Speaker 06

  That dovetails with, uh, this isn't my harsh truth, but one of my harsh truths is like, all the stuff you've heard isn't, isn't right.

• 1:10:16Speaker 04

  You don't say.

• 1:10:18Speaker 05

  All right, Randall.

• 1:10:20Speaker 06

  Uh, my harsh truth is this, uh, there's, there's a lot of like discourse online about social media and hunting and, and like is social media ruining hunting? And, and a lot of it focuses specifically on, um, like what's unique about hunting and social media. My harsh truth is social media is ruining everything. If you have any hobby, it's being, it's being ruined by social media. And I would just like, if you look at, um, like all the problems, I feel like a lot of the problems that people complain about in the hunting world are just problems about the modern world, uh, like permits in national parks are hard to get.

• 1:11:03Speaker 06

  Uh, like everything's getting too expensive. And so I just feel like there's a lot of like finger pointing within the hunting community about what's ruining, who's ruining what.

• 1:11:14Speaker 05

  Drones, infrared.

• 1:11:15Speaker 06

  I mean, there is that too, but it's like.

• 1:11:18Speaker 05

  Thermals.

• 1:11:19Speaker 06

  It's like, if you want to go backpacking somewhere, someone's already, you could watch a video of someone with a GoPro on their head, walking that trail.

• 1:11:25Speaker 04

  They're ruining that trail. Like, like I went down a social, like. I I've been running more and more lately and I went down a running social media trail tragically the other day and it's like social media is ruining running. I'm like, really? Like, because it's not ruining it for me. It's like whether you choose to allow it to ruin it for you or not. Like, no one's holding the gun to your head, telling you to like, believe or follow what's on every social media page. It's ridiculous.

• 1:11:57Speaker 06

  And I think that, like, now, I I had a lot of thoughts about this and they sort of sprawled. The one is, you haven't, everything you've heard isn't true. The other is like, just decide what you want and you'll get it out of hunting.

• 1:12:11Speaker 04

  Right.

• 1:12:11Speaker 06

  Like, like, oh, do you want to go somewhere and see no, see, see no other hunters? You can do that.

• 1:12:18Speaker 04

  Or you can decide to let social media ruin it for you.

• 1:12:20Speaker 06

  Yeah, exactly. Like, like, it's, it's all about, um, keeping it in perspective and just recognizing that, like, the finger pointing and the X, Y, Z.

• 1:12:31Speaker 04

  Shit talking?

• 1:12:31Speaker 06

  Yeah, like, that's all. It's not unique to our community.

• 1:12:37Speaker 04

  Not at all.

• 1:12:37Speaker 06

  And it, there's a lot of breath and, and ink wasted on it.

• 1:12:42Speaker 05

  Yeah, if you're gonna do social media, do DIY. Woodworking, plumbing, electrical.

• 1:12:49Speaker 06

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:12:49Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 1:12:50Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 1:12:51Speaker 05

  Then, man, yeah, that's who I'm watching.

• 1:12:54Speaker 04

  Yep.

• 1:12:54Speaker 06

  Oh, I know, like, there's, I'm sure there's plumbers out there like, social media's ruined plumbing.

• 1:12:58Speaker 04

  Exactly. I don't make as much money as I used to.

• 1:13:01Speaker 05

  Damn it.

• 1:13:02Speaker 06

  Randall can replace the light switch now.

• 1:13:04Speaker 04

  Anybody can.

• 1:13:05Speaker 06

  Ruined.

• 1:13:05Speaker 04

  Fix a broken toilet now.

• 1:13:07Speaker 06

  Exactly.

• 1:13:10Speaker 04

  Nice, Randall. I like that one. Um, mine's, mine's a little longer. I'll get through it, though. Um, there's a quote from a hunting writer, and I don't call who it is, but it's stuck with me over the years and it goes something like, anyone can take a 500-yard shot at an animal, but it takes a really good hunter to sneak in and kill one at 50 yards. And the, the reason I'm telling you that quote is, I strongly believe, based on years of experience, that it's a mistake to encourage or allow young or novice hunters to take long-ass rifle shots at big aim animals. And, like, long is relative, right? Like, it's, it's, there's not one specific distance.

• 1:13:54Speaker 04

  But I'll get, I'll get further into that later, but the reason why is even if a new hunter is practiced and they're capable of making four or 500 yard shots at the range, shooting at animals like in the heat of the moment is just way different than shooting at paper targets. And for every hunter, but especially inexperienced hunter, the goal should always be to get as close as possible to minimize the chance for a poor shot, a miss or a wounded animal, whatever.

• 1:14:25Speaker 04

  But I think just as important, that's the reason you always hear, but just as important, um, long range shooting at animals is not how you learn to be a good hunter. It's just like not, has nothing to do with it. Becoming a good hunter comes from reading, like things like reading sign, watching the behavior and body language of animals, learning how to like pick a route that keeps you out of sight on a stalk, being quiet, paying attention to the wind direction, like those are the things that, that's how you become a good hunter. And I like personally, I'm gonna, I'm gonna get up on the soapbox. Like I, I held to a strict,

• 1:15:06Speaker 04

  no shots over 200 yards rule with my older son for his first three big game seasons. And I know he's like a better hunter for it because he was learning along the way. And it taught me a lot because it didn't hamper his success one bit. In his first three hunting seasons, he killed three mule deer bucks and an antelope buck, like following that 200 yard rule. And then like now he's a little older and I'll let him, he's shot more, he's shot at animals, he's shot at targets more. And I'll let him stretch that range out a little bit.

• 1:15:38Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah. And this is just like a funny observational story, but uh, my good buddy Jim, like I'm old, old, old, old Jim down in Idaho. He

• 1:15:50Speaker 04

  Three olds?

• 1:15:50Speaker 05

  He's, yeah, yeah. I think, well, he's always the oldest of our hunting group.

• 1:15:55Speaker 04

  Oh.

• 1:15:57Speaker 05

  And he bought a, a super fancy sheep rifle, ultralight thing and.

• 1:16:03Speaker 04

  And that's the thing is those types of long range systems are like so prevalent now that it's just like.

• 1:16:09Speaker 05

  They are.

• 1:16:10Speaker 04

  You know?

• 1:16:10Speaker 05

  They are, but here's the fun thing like he, and he's got a, uh, he can shoot like a mile on his own property, like step out the door and he shoots all the time and.

• 1:16:18Speaker 04

  Yep.

• 1:16:18Speaker 05

  Has the ability to do it and he's very capable and, um, about three seasons after getting this rifle. He's like the furthest shot I have ever made with this expletive, expletive.

• 1:16:33Speaker 04

  Yep.

• 1:16:33Speaker 05

  Rifle is a hundred and fifty yards.

• 1:16:36Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 1:16:37Speaker 05

  And because when you grow up and you've put the time in to become that good hunter.

• 1:16:44Speaker 04

  Mm hmm.

• 1:16:45Speaker 05

  Your interactions with animals are much tighter.

• 1:16:48Speaker 04

  They're also more fun and exciting.

• 1:16:50Speaker 05

  They are, but you are just naturally putting yourself.

• 1:16:53Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 1:16:54Speaker 05

  In a tighter distance and the reality is, is like the closer you can get, the fewer variables you are going to encounter.

• 1:17:02Speaker 04

  Yep.

• 1:17:03Speaker 05

  Um, and you know, your ability to see what could be blocking your shot, no matter what scope you have at four hundred and fifty yards. Is not as good as it's gonna be at a hundred and fifty yards.

• 1:17:16Speaker 04

  I, I like, I'm not, I don't want this seem like I'm trashing long range shooting. I, I just think it's a disservice to like young and new hunters to be like. There's a buck at five hundred yards, lay down, shoot, you know, like, it's just like, they're not learning much.

• 1:17:32Speaker 05

  Oh man, I, I watched some folks, I watched these guys shoot this buck last year. Um, and it wasn't all that far.

• 1:17:40Speaker 04

  Hmm.

• 1:17:40Speaker 05

  But this is like dense grizzly bear area and. You know, they charged up the hill. They probably shot it at like four hundred and fifty yards, which is a long shot, but not crazy far when you're talking about long range shooting. And I watched those guys walk around.

• 1:17:58Speaker 04

  Looking for.

• 1:17:59Speaker 05

  Trying, trying to find this deer that dropped in its tracks.

• 1:18:01Speaker 04

  Mm hmm.

• 1:18:02Speaker 05

  For forty minutes.

• 1:18:04Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 1:18:05Speaker 05

  To the point where I was like, I better help like bird dog these people into where the deer dropped.

• 1:18:09Speaker 04

  Right.

• 1:18:10Speaker 05

  Um, and there's just things like that that people don't consider.

• 1:18:14Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 1:18:14Speaker 05

  And if you don't know you whacked that thing, a lot of people are going to give up on it and be like, oh God, maybe I missed. The doubt starts creeping in and and there's, uh, the state of Wyoming, they had a conversation in the, the fishing game regulation process about trying to address long range shooting.

• 1:18:36Speaker 04

  Yep.

• 1:18:37Speaker 05

  And there's ways that, um, all of which would be high, you know, it's, it's regulating morality, which is not something we can do. Uh, effectively, but, um, a limitation on the amount of ammunition you can pack with you.

• 1:18:55Speaker 04

  Make you think twice about.

• 1:18:56Speaker 05

  Right.

• 1:18:56Speaker 04

  That's great.

• 1:18:57Speaker 05

  That's right. And I think, I'm like, what would the effect be? If it's like, how many tags do you have? You got one valid tag, you get five rounds.

• 1:19:07Speaker 04

  Right.

• 1:19:08Speaker 05

  That's.

• 1:19:10Speaker 06

  Five rounds each day, right?

• 1:19:13Speaker 05

  And two extra in case you think the rifle got knocked off a zero and you need to prove you're, you're still on.

• 1:19:19Speaker 06

  Funny. I've never, I've never heard that.

• 1:19:21Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 1:19:22Speaker 06

  The round limitation.

• 1:19:23Speaker 05

  Yeah. Cause they do it on, uh, like WMAs.

• 1:19:26Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 1:19:26Speaker 05

  For waterfowl.

• 1:19:27Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 1:19:28Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 1:19:28Speaker 06

  Interesting.

• 1:19:29Speaker 05

  Try to limit sky busting.

• 1:19:31Speaker 04

  Um, anyway, that's what I think. So.

• 1:19:36Speaker 06

  Harsh truth. Take that.

• 1:19:37Speaker 04

  Or not.

• 1:19:38Speaker 06

  Take that world. Harsh truth.

• 1:19:40Steven Rinella?

  Yeah. Well, there should be, when this segment started out, there should be some sort of music bed playing underneath it, just like a variant, you know, kind of forepoding intense.

• 1:19:48Speaker 06

  You could have a little button you push and it just goes, ooh, that's harsh.

• 1:19:51Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 1:19:52Speaker 06

  Throughout the segment.

• 1:19:53Speaker 05

  Smash down.

• 1:19:54Speaker 06

  Whenever one of us makes a good point, you go, ooh, that's. Harsh.

• 1:19:57Speaker 04

  Phil, do we got any reactions to those harsh truth or maybe some of the listeners have some of their own?

• 1:20:03Speaker 05

  There were some happening throughout the thing. I don't remember the, you know, their timestamps, but I couldn't tell you exactly what they were in.

• 1:20:11Speaker 04

  Well, give us something interesting to talk about.

• 1:20:12Speaker 06

  What do we got?

• 1:20:13Speaker 05

  In reference to here.

• 1:20:15Speaker 06

  Let's do a general chat.

• 1:20:16Speaker 05

  Uh, mostly talking about.

• 1:20:16Speaker 04

  There's Heffelfinger. What's he want?

• 1:20:18Speaker 05

  Oh, Heffelfinger? He said one thing, you should use your woodsmanship, not marksmanship. See, I don't know what he's referring to here. That's the problem.

• 1:20:26Speaker 04

  What we just talked about.

• 1:20:28Speaker 05

  Great.

• 1:20:28Speaker 06

  Jim, this, if you're still on there, this moose that I saw with the busted up leg, the leg was on the left side and the right antler had grown in all kinds of funky. I'll send you a picture. You told us about that at some point.

• 1:20:43Speaker 05

  Uh, it's mostly people asking Mogor questions about Hungary and people talking about Steve on Theo Von.

• 1:20:48Speaker 06

  Shout out Mogor.

• 1:20:51Speaker 04

  Well, if nobody's got anything interesting to say or ask them.

• 1:20:55Speaker 05

  See, this is a, this is a me problem. I screwed up. I should have been on it, putting these comments up as it was happening.

• 1:21:01Speaker 04

  Damn it, Phil.

• 1:21:01Speaker 05

  So I'm so sorry.

• 1:21:02Speaker 06

  You're having such a big week with the D and D.

• 1:21:04Speaker 04

  Let's, we can move on.

• 1:21:05Speaker 06

  You can find something good. Come on. This is my favorite part.

• 1:21:08Speaker 05

  Oh, no, no. I've got listener feedback. I'm just thinking of stuff in indirect, direct response to the three harsh truths.

• 1:21:16Speaker 06

  Let's get listener feedback.

• 1:21:17Speaker 05

  I've got feedback here.

• 1:21:18Speaker 06

  I knew you didn't drop the ball.

• 1:21:20Speaker 05

  No. Cal, this is from Ethan. When you kill your monster grizz, what is your plan with it? Rug mount, soft hand, sausage roast? Do you think this far ahead or is that bad, bad juju? If you feel like you're, is there any superstition around? I, well, it's, it's part of logistical planning that you do. You need to plan for being successful. And then if you're unsuccessful, you're just carrying extra stuff, right?

• 1:21:49Speaker 05

  So yeah, I am planning the.

• 1:21:54Speaker 05

  Big negative of a coastal bear in the fall specifically is they are, they're feeding on salmon. And I, I have friends that take a chunk of meat off every single bear and cook it. And I, and I believe them because they have, uh, they have the largest database, data set that they're working with.

• 1:22:15Speaker 06

  Can I interrupt you for a second? In Alaska, there's no salvage rule for those fall bears, is there?

• 1:22:22Speaker 05

  Correct. Yeah. You don't really have to take the meat. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, my, my plan is to, uh, ideally do some cooking up there if I am successful. And, uh, come up with a game plan for, uh, what I'm going to do with, uh, some big old grizzly bear meat. Uh, the other thing I, I have tags for, because I've, I've purchased them in advance are, are wolves. And in this area, um, you know, it's, it's an area where the caribou population is of concern and they're encouraging people to harvest wolves. And they feel like there's a very high population of wolves and I have always wanted to, uh, cook wolves.

• 1:23:07Speaker 05

  So, um, I'm ideally, we'll, we'll have like a, a big old grizzly bear ham and a big old wolf ham. And we'll, we'll do some fun, uh, cooking down here in the meat eater studio too. So, and then as far as like rug mount, soft tan stuff, like I have not thought that far. Like I, um, it will be utilized. I guarantee you.

• 1:23:35Speaker 06

  Great. Uh, this is just an update from Kyle who asked a question about differences between spring and fall turkey. And he's happy to report based on that advice, he got his first turkey ever yesterday. I saw that. I saw that on the damned social media that's ruining everything. Terrible. Congratulations Kyle. Yeah. Congrats Kyle. Uh, Charles says, is Meat Eater Roast still happening? Haven't seen a new episode in a while. It is. Yanni's gearing up to film the next batch of episodes. So stay tuned. Yeah. It requires coordinating a lot of schedules. Uh, Caleb, because you were mean to me and yelled, I will answer your, ask your, ask your question. If you need vision assistance, do you prefer glasses?

• 1:24:11Speaker 05

  Or contacts in the field.

• 1:24:14Speaker 06

  I can tell you what Sydney preferred because my vision is perfect. She preferred laser eye surgery.

• 1:24:21Speaker 05

  There you go. Option C.

• 1:24:23Speaker 04

  Contacts here.

• 1:24:24Speaker 05

  Yeah, I've I've seen people have issues with both. But I do feel very poorly for one of my good friends who I won't no won't name. Used to call him the pot bellied stallion.

• 1:24:42Speaker 05

  Looking at that dude with his glasses all fogged up when he's sucking wind, trying to get up the hill fast.

• 1:24:48Speaker 04

  Yeah, and it's like looking through binos in a spot and scope with glasses is kind of a pain.

• 1:24:54Speaker 05

  But do you feel like you like I feel like you should have like a little eyeball kit? If you're going to go the contact route.

• 1:25:04Speaker 05

  Like you need your solution.

• 1:25:06Speaker 06

  Sydney always did contacts and it was like contacts in the tent was just like a nightmare.

• 1:25:12Speaker 04

  Dailies are way easier. I mean, they're a little more trash to deal with, but I mean, I just bring twice as many dailies as I think I'm gonna need. Cause like dust gets in there, what you know.

• 1:25:23Speaker 06

  At one point, we pulled some dailies out of the trash and washed them to put them back in her eyes.

• 1:25:29Speaker 05

  Interesting. Improvise, adapt and overcome.

• 1:25:32Speaker 06

  Yep, the laser.

• 1:25:35Speaker 05

  Uh, I will say, Aiden, thank you for watching the show live for the first time. Uh, I I appreciate it. I I have seen your question. You have submitted literally nine times about getting a young hunter into it. I haven't picked your question because that's that's that's we've talked about that a lot and also Brody's the only dad on the panel, so.

• 1:25:53Speaker 06

  But my my parents didn't hunt.

• 1:25:57Speaker 05

  Randall.

• 1:25:58Speaker 06

  And I got into it.

• 1:25:58Speaker 05

  Get into hunting and how would you encourage other young hunters to get into hunting?

• 1:26:02Speaker 06

  Get your friends into it. Find friends who have, we had like a group of friends and one of our dads hunted.

• 1:26:08Speaker 04

  Yeah, there's ways.

• 1:26:09Speaker 06

  And we all transmitted it through osmosis.

• 1:26:12Speaker 04

  There's mentorship programs with fishing game departments.

• 1:26:17Speaker 04

  Buy our book, Catch a Carry Fish, Count the Stars. There's a great big section in there on how to do it like. There's ways to do it for sure.

• 1:26:24Speaker 05

  Yeah, I'll tell you, if you're interested in it. And you're not just actively figuring it out. Uh, you're probably not cut out for the hunting game. I say that, that, that sounds like a harsh truth.

• 1:26:36Speaker 06

  Harsh truth.

• 1:26:39Speaker 05

  But I'll tell you, like, I was surrounded by very casual hunters. And it wasn't like anything near the way people live in this office and

• 1:26:56Speaker 05

  I bugged the hell out of people to facilitate my, um, obsession with hunting without having anybody directly there to be a mentor, right? Like I just, there was something about it. I was very interested in it. And, um, I pushed and pushed and pushed and, and people, uh, kept throwing footballs and, and basketballs and baseballs at me saying like, here, play with this.

• 1:27:22Speaker 06

  You spat at them.

• 1:27:23Speaker 05

  Exactly. So, um, you'll, you'll figure it out. Like if it, if you're interested in it, you just gotta make it happen and, and don't let stuff hold you back.

• 1:27:33Speaker 06

  Yep.

• 1:27:35Speaker 05

  Great.

• 1:27:35Speaker 06

  Uh, sorry to do that to you, Phil.

• 1:27:37Speaker 05

  Well, Jordan says Phil's getting a little stern since his big trivia podcast. Jordan? Shut up.

• 1:27:44Speaker 05

  That's not the reason. I'm just a little prickly after that, uh, that, um, misunderstanding about the feedback with the three harsh truths and everyone got mad at me. And also I, I carry a little small amount of insecurity about being a non-hunter who has to pick hunting questions for a bunch of hunters to answer. It's a hard job back here.

• 1:28:01Speaker 06

  Harsh truth.

• 1:28:02Speaker 04

  There you go. There you go. Phil laying down the law. Um, all right. We're going to move on from that, Phil.

• 1:28:10Speaker 05

  Oh, let's do it, please.

• 1:28:13Speaker 04

  You know, next time you'll do better.

• 1:28:15Speaker 05

  Thanks, Brody.

• 1:28:16Speaker 04

  So we got a couple of announcements to make before we sign off. And the first one is we're opening our newest. Media to retail location in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and they got some events going on, grand opening and some tailgate tour events. Who's going to that tailgate tour? Spencer?

• 1:28:35Speaker 06

  Spencer, Mark Kenyon, and Chester Floyd.

• 1:28:39Speaker 04

  And they'll be at the store, but that'll probably all get covered. And this announcement that Phil is gonna play right now.

• 1:28:46Speaker 06

  All right, Milwaukee hunters, this Friday, September 19th, from 4 until 7 p.m., we'll be having our grand opening of this brand new Meat Eater store right here in Brookville, Wisconsin. It's a family-friendly event, so be sure to bring your kids, bring your spouse, and no matter where your adventure is taking you this season, we got you covered. From Western Big Game, to Phelps Game, calls to FHF Gear, we got everything you need to get you going further and staying longer. We also have brand new Milwaukee Meat Eater logo wear. Wow. Behind me, we got whitetail wear for the season, from cold weather to early season. We also have waterfall clothing right behind me. The event's gonna be joined by the Back Country Hunters and Anglers.

• 1:29:28Speaker 04

  Woo-hoo!

• 1:29:29Speaker 06

  Group, the National Deer Association. The Meat Eater Tailgate Tour will also be here.

• 1:29:33Speaker 04

  [laughing]

• 1:29:34Speaker 06

  Bring some of the Meat Eater personalities. With all that being said, we're happy to be a part of this community. So come on by this Friday, grab a beer, tell us some of your hunting stories, and be prepared for lots of fun. Thanks for all your support.

• 1:29:47Speaker 05

  Well, I wanna go now.

• 1:29:48Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 1:29:49Speaker 04

  No. Oh, look at that.

• 1:29:50Speaker 05

  I would have, you remember Wayne's World when they're talking with Alice Cooper, Milliwake?

• 1:29:55Speaker 06

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:29:57Speaker 05

  I, there's, there should be a corner of the store dedicated just to that.

• 1:30:01Speaker 04

  Um, yeah.

• 1:30:02Speaker 06

  And cheese curds.

• 1:30:04Speaker 04

  Try some of that.

• 1:30:05Speaker 06

  Oh.

• 1:30:06Speaker 05

  Oh, I am. What do you got there, Cal?

• 1:30:08Speaker 04

  I'm gonna talk with my mouth full. Besides opening our new store, we got a whole bunch of new products and content coming out soon. Randall, show that to the camera.

• 1:30:20Speaker 04

  That's the new jerky. We got, I think, three different flavors, maybe?

• 1:30:24Speaker 06

  Hmm. That's delightful.

• 1:30:27Speaker 04

  It was great.

• 1:30:28Speaker 06

  This is the Hawaiian teriyaki bison jerky.

• 1:30:30Speaker 04

  So if you're lame and you don't know how to make your own jerky out of deer elk or whatever you got in the freezer, that stuff's real good. It's buffalo. Um, we've also got, after a long wait, you see that, Phil?

• 1:30:45Speaker 05

  There it is.

• 1:30:46Speaker 04

  It's here.

• 1:30:47Speaker 06

  Hmm.

• 1:30:47Speaker 04

  Releases next week. The F'd up old truck's calendar. Um, I'm not going to show you what's inside. You gotta buy it.

• 1:30:55Speaker 06

  It looks good.

• 1:30:56Speaker 04

  Oh, it turned out great, man. Um.

• 1:31:00Speaker 05

  Uh, I, you know what? I, I learned a word, misophonia. You guys know what that is?

• 1:31:04Speaker 04

  That's when a sound really bugs you real bad.

• 1:31:06Speaker 05

  Yeah, when people are chewing into a microphone.

• 1:31:08Speaker 04

  You've got it.

• 1:31:09Speaker 05

  Oh, my bad. My bad.

• 1:31:11Speaker 06

  Masticating.

• 1:31:12Speaker 05

  I mean, I, I support it because we are Meat Eater. Harsh truths. Harsh truths.

• 1:31:17Speaker 04

  It's jerky. You gotta chew it.

• 1:31:19Speaker 05

  Yeah, the, we're working hard to make the jerky a super cool project. So this round, um, is sourcing, uh, you know, American buffalo. Um, and then we're working on a, a bunch of other, uh, like, uh, sustainable, um, projects that, that support our ranchers that are doing really good things for, um, wildlife and their way of living.

• 1:31:53Speaker 04

  That's right. Um, and by the way, if you like, don't know, this sucker here, if you buy it, it's not expensive. But if you buy it, two bucks from every, the sale of every calendar, we're going to donate to backcountry hunters and anglers so they can keep fighting the public lands fight. Um, so you'd be doing a great thing for, for, uh, BHA and anyone who enjoys public lands if you buy that calendar.

• 1:32:21Speaker 06

  Darn right. Well, thank you in advance.

• 1:32:23Speaker 04

  Yeah. And then real quick, as far as content, Heather Deville's new series, Our Way of Life, is coming out. I think, I don't know, I don't know the date, but it's coming out soon. And I think it's like, one of the coolest things we've done in a really long time, like for video content. It is awesome. So check that out and Meat Eater, season 13 is going to be available real soon as well. And Randall has a final announcement for everyone.

• 1:32:51Speaker 06

  Yes, on next week's show, we will once again be circling up the Meat Eater Movie Club. And the title we'll be discussing is the 2010 documentary Elephant in the Living Room, which is available for free on Pluto and Amazon Prime. It's one of my all time favorite documentaries, and I was delighted to see that it's now available to stream for free. And so I'm excited to revisit that rich, rich text about exotic pet ownership.

• 1:33:21Speaker 04

  Excellent.

• 1:33:21Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 1:33:22Speaker 04

  All right, guys, thanks for listening and tune in next week.

• 1:33:26Speaker 05

  Be kind, be courteous, be safe out there, enjoy your season.

• 1:33:29Speaker 06

  Be cool.

• 1:33:30Speaker 04

  Harsh truths.

• 1:33:44Steven Rinella?

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