Ep. 804: Santa (!) and the World Record Rock Skipper | MeatEater Radio Live!

Hosts Spencer Neuharth, Seth Morris, and Randall Williams don their Christmas Spirit in hopes of a visit from St. Nick, interview Kurt Steiner, who holds the record for most consecutive skips with a single rock throw, and bring back some Gear Talk. 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

  This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.

• 0:04Speaker 01

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• 1:48Speaker 04

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

• 2:11Speaker 05

  Welcome to Meat Eater Radio Live. It's 11 a.m. Mountain Time. That's 1 p.m. for our friends in Machias, Maine on Thursday, December 11, and we're live from Meat Eater HQ in Bozeman. I'm your host, Spencer, joined today by Seth. Randall was supposed to be here, but for some reason he had to bail. Hope it was a good reason. Now, on today's show, we'll interview Kurt Steiner, the man who holds the world record for skipping a rock 88 times, and we'll have Gear Talk, where Seth and I review hunting and fishing products. But first, Seth, I just killed the biggest whitetail in my life.

• 2:45Speaker 04

  Oh, I know. I know. I, when I got that, I, I love when my friends send me deer pictures, but yours, your picture was the best one I got all year. I was just like overrun with, with joy when you sent me that.

• 3:01Speaker 05

  I'm tickled, I'm tickled to hear that.

• 3:02Speaker 06

  It's also like the biggest whitetail deer of most people's lifetimes, not just yours. Like, that's a really big deer, right?

• 3:10Speaker 05

  Uh huh. Yeah, yeah. For some reason, we have Ryan Callahan, Brody Anderson, and Max Barton also in the room.

• 3:16Speaker 06

  What did everyone have? You introduced us at the beginning, didn't you?

• 3:19Speaker 03

  No, he didn't. No, he didn't.

• 3:21Speaker 06

  He actually specifically said, "We will not be acknowledging you." No, spoiler alert.

• 3:24Speaker 05

  We're live, we're live.

• 3:25Speaker 06

  Merry Christmas, everybody.

• 3:26Speaker 05

  I, I was in the Golden Triangle of Illinois. That's Pike County, Adams County, Brown County. Those counties are second, third, and 10th in Illinois for Boone and Crockett whitetail entries. And it's just like, if you got to play Sims or play God with, with the earth and be like, "I'm gonna make the best whitetail ground I can fathom," that's what you would get in the Golden Triangle. It's just like the perfect mix of timber and egg. And since the invention of outdoor magazine, outdoor TV, the Golden Triangle has been a place on a map that the whitetail hunters fantasize about.

• 3:59Speaker 04

  Oh, yeah.

• 4:00Speaker 05

  I'd, I'd put it with like, you know, like Buffalo County, Illinois, the Milk River in Montana, South Texas, South Iowa, the Bread Basket of Saskatchewan. You know, it's, it's just like notorious is all those places for like big giant whitetail bucks.

• 4:15Speaker 04

  Yeah, it's like, it's like what Nashville is for country music.

• 4:17Speaker 05

  Exactly, yeah. Analogy Seth. Mm hmm. So my, my buddy invited me out to hunt his farm this year. Uh, it was, it was like the most excited I've been about a hunt in, in 2025. And going into the hunt, I, I had told my buddy this. I was like, my anticipation is so high that there's no possible way it can meet my expectations.

• 4:36Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 4:37Speaker 05

  Like I'm just, I'm expecting too much at this point. Um, and then the, the biggest buck on the farm showed up.

• 4:43Speaker 04

  So did you, did you go into this? Did you know, did you have like trail cam pictures of, of the deer that you could potentially be seeing there?

• 4:50Speaker 05

  Yeah. My, my landowner buddy was, was aware of like four or five bucks. They thought that were like five plus years old. Uh, this, this was the biggest buck of them all. They had three years of history with him when he was a three year old, a four year old, and this year a five year old. They had seen him during archery season in October, uh, never gave him a shot. And then he disappeared at the end of October. They didn't see him again. They didn't get any trail cam photos of him.

• 5:15Speaker 04

  The old rut.

• 5:16Speaker 05

  That's right.

• 5:16Speaker 04

  Took him away.

• 5:17Speaker 05

  So this landowner was hunting this deer. He was hunting. Yes. They, they tried to kill him. Uh, didn't happen this year. Uh, but then December rolled around and they got like eight inches of snow.

• 5:26Speaker 06

  And they had to call in Spencer to get it done.

• 5:28Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 5:28Speaker 06

  We just can't kill this.

• 5:30Speaker 04

  Getting another invite there. Look at this thing up on the, up on the TV.

• 5:33Speaker 05

  We have a picture of him.

• 5:35Speaker 04

  Oh, it's beautiful.

• 5:36Speaker 05

  He's, he's a mainframe five by five, but he's got a lot of junk. Um, I think he has 19 scoreable points. A lot of it is around his bases that are, are hard to appreciate.

• 5:46Speaker 06

  You just think you're kind of guessing he's got 19. He didn't look at him that hard.

• 5:49Speaker 05

  Well, he's, he's got, he's got stuff going on around his bases that are like crawling across into his hide. Um, and some of it's going to be close to that inch. I haven't put a tape measure on him yet. Um, but I, I think it'll come out to 19 points. And if you look, I've got sheds here of the buck. Um, he's got like, they're not really dirty sheds, but it's called a dirty shed when they break off some of their pedicle with it. And typically that means they're going to throw a funky rack when you have a dirty shed. And this buck, he has a few dirty sheds. His three year old sheds were dirty. His four year old sheds were, were kind of dirty. Um, and so then you know you're going to get some abnormal points. So you're talking about those little bumps there? Um, at, at the white stuff on the body. Yeah. That's like part of his skull that's coming with, which isn't ideal, um, for a deer.

• 6:34Speaker 05

  They, they want to make it a nice, clean break off.

• 6:37Speaker 04

  Seems pretty ideal.

• 6:38Speaker 05

  Ideal for him. Ideal for him. Yeah, it was working out. Um, so he was a mainframe five by five, uh, nineteen points. Um, very excited.

• 6:47Speaker 04

  This landowner that that you got this little connection with.

• 6:51Speaker 05

  Is this like a draw tag?

• 6:52Speaker 04

  What a great guy.

• 6:53Speaker 05

  It's a draw tag. It's a draw tag, but it's like, you know, the golden triangle is mostly private land. And so it's not that competitive for a non-resident to be able to go there and hunt. Um, yeah, the buck disappeared for five weeks. Showed back up. They had like eight inches of snow the week before I got there. And they were saying it's been a very long time since the second gun season, which was what I was there for. Had that much snow on the ground. So it just worked out perfect where it made deer show up in some places real heavy and disappear from others. And it just happened that they had the right soybeans, uh, to pull in the bucks.

• 7:27Speaker 04

  That's fantastic.

• 7:28Speaker 05

  Perfect.

• 7:29Steven Rinella?

  Crazy.

• 7:30Speaker 05

  We got there.

• 7:31Speaker 04

  Whoa, what's this?

• 7:32Speaker 05

  Do you hear that? I hear something. You look giddy.

• 7:38Speaker 05

  Something is afoot in the Meat Eater studio. I feel like it's.

• 7:42Speaker 04

  Whoa, there I see a shadow coming.

• 7:44Speaker 05

  The door is opening.

• 7:45Steven Rinella?

  Oh. It's Santa.

• 7:47Speaker 05

  Santa Claus.

• 7:48Steven Rinella?

  Santa.

• 7:48Speaker 04

  Santa.

• 7:49Steven Rinella?

  Santa.

• 7:50Speaker 05

  I wasn't ready for that. He was not ready. To that story. Indeed. Ladies and gentlemen, Santa Claus has just stepped into the Meat Eater podcast studio.

• 8:00Speaker 04

  He's got a big sack full of gifts.

• 8:02Speaker 05

  He did, I would assume.

• 8:04Steven Rinella?

  Hello, boys and girls. Hello, Santa.

• 8:06Speaker 05

  Hello, Santa.

• 8:08Speaker 04

  Uh, how are you doing?

• 8:09Steven Rinella?

  I'm doing very well. Thank you very much, Seth Morris.

• 8:12Speaker 04

  Where'd you park the reindeer?

• 8:14Steven Rinella?

  Oh, they're outside.

• 8:15Speaker 05

  No, they're not.

• 8:19Steven Rinella?

  Now, don't be a, don't be a Grinch there, Brody.

• 8:22Speaker 05

  I'm just telling truth, buddy.

• 8:24Steven Rinella?

  You're full of humbug.

• 8:26Speaker 05

  Now Seth has observed that you have a giant bag with you.

• 8:29Steven Rinella?

  I do, I do. I thought I'd swing by my favorite Thursday live podcast that airs at eleven Mountain Time to spread a little Christmas cheer.

• 8:39Speaker 05

  Perfect, okay. That's amazing, Santa. Uh, and, and now, uh, it also appears that Cal, Brody and Max have shown up in the studio.

• 8:47Steven Rinella?

  Yeah. Let's see who's been naughty and who's been nice.

• 8:50Speaker 05

  Mm-hmm.

• 8:51Speaker 04

  You sound like Daniel Day-Lewis from There Will Be Blood.

• 8:55Steven Rinella?

  Give me the bloody lie.

• 8:58Steven Rinella?

  You're a false prophet, Seth. Someone told me.

• 9:02Speaker 04

  whose gift this was and I've forgotten it already.

• 9:05Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 9:06Speaker 04

  To whom does this go?

• 9:08Speaker 05

  That's for Phil the engineer. Phil the engineer, wow. I wonder who it's Phil. Must have been good. Pillar-like rectangle box. I'm not a great rapper. Oh wow, it does indeed.

• 9:20Speaker 04

  Now, there's a series of gifts for Seth Morris that are numbered.

• 9:25Speaker 05

  Wow.

• 9:25Speaker 04

  Open this way. Number one, you're supposed to open them in order.

• 9:30Speaker 05

  Geez, my goodness.

• 9:32Speaker 04

  This guy.

• 9:32Speaker 05

  Wow Seth.

• 9:33Speaker 04

  This is for Spencer Neuharth.

• 9:35Speaker 05

  Oh, okay. Have you ever seen that Spencer? What is it? It's good, it's good and cold. Uh huh.

• 9:41Speaker 04

  Maxwell?

• 9:43Speaker 05

  Oh, Santa, you shouldn't have.

• 9:47Speaker 05

  What else is in there?

• 9:48Speaker 04

  Ryan Callahan hat.

• 9:50Speaker 05

  Ryan Callahan, hmm.

• 9:51Speaker 04

  Oh.

• 9:53Speaker 05

  Looks like a man wrapped that present. Brody doesn't have anything. Nope.

• 9:58Speaker 04

  To Brody Anderson.

• 9:59Speaker 05

  Oh, alright. Same wrapping paper as Cal's.

• 10:03Speaker 04

  This is a Tupperware that the Williams household borrowed from you?

• 10:08Speaker 05

  Thank you. Okay.

• 10:11Speaker 06

  I may have been very specific that I wanted it back.

• 10:13Speaker 04

  Randy's not here, but I'll open that.

• 10:15Speaker 05

  Oh, alright, perfect.

• 10:19Speaker 05

  Is that all the gifts? Is that everything? Okay, I think so. Oh wait. He's not done yet. Also have a lot of candy canes and.

• 10:28Speaker 04

  Mini bottles of Fireball.

• 10:31Speaker 05

  Ten baby bottles of Fireball whiskey have just been dumped onto the table. If you need more, I have more. There's a lot of it at my house and I don't like it. I can't believe that.

• 10:41Speaker 04

  The Fireball keeps Santa defrosted in this.

• 10:45Speaker 05

  I want a gag just thinking about that. Now, what doesn't Santa like about Fireball? That's kind of an upset. I assume that'd be right in his wheelhouse.

• 10:51Speaker 04

  It's too sweet.

• 10:52Speaker 05

  Too sweet, okay.

• 10:53Speaker 04

  I drink it too fast.

• 10:56Speaker 05

  You need to go ice fishing. Well, Santa, last year Santa went one minute fishing on our show. I don't think he was successful.

• 11:03Speaker 04

  We have great fishing weather today.

• 11:05Speaker 05

  We do.

• 11:06Speaker 04

  It's nearly sixty degrees in Bozeman. Not, not ice fishing weather. No, no, sorry.

• 11:12Speaker 05

  Okay, Santa has handed out the gifts. Let's start over with Phil the engineer. Phil, let's open up that gift. It looks like the, uh, the internet at MeatEater HQ dropped out for a sec.

• 11:20Speaker 04

  Shit!

• 11:22Speaker 05

  I think.

• 11:24Speaker 06

  Santa, Santa, we're live.

• 11:26Speaker 05

  Oh, right.

• 11:27Speaker 06

  Chat, let us know, let us know if the, if the stream's back. I believe it is.

• 11:31Speaker 05

  Yeah, it looks good.

• 11:32Speaker 06

  Okay, okay, I'm opening my, my gift now. It's, it's on the floor since it's a little bit large to do in my lap.

• 11:42Speaker 05

  Santa, people are asking if you've been drinking already. No, not yet. Not yet. It's the middle of the day. I'm drying out. A commute back to the North Pole later. Phil, you were supposed to read that whole card.

• 11:57Speaker 06

  The, the whole card. Do you want me to read it live on air here?

• 12:00Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 12:00Speaker 06

  Okay, here we go. It says, because you mean so much.

• 12:03Speaker 05

  Hmm.

• 12:04Speaker 06

  At Christmas and always.

• 12:08Speaker 05

  It's kinda romantic.

• 12:10Speaker 06

  I'm, I'm feeling things. The holiday season isn't really about gifts and decorations. It's about reaching out to the people who mean the most to us and letting them know how much we care. Remove wrap before placing in envelope.

• 12:24Speaker 05

  No, did you, did you write that or was that on the card?

• 12:27Speaker 06

  No, that's on the card.

• 12:28Speaker 05

  Beautiful.

• 12:28Speaker 06

  And whoever gave you this gift, I mean, they were kind enough not to write in the card so you can re-gift that.

• 12:35Speaker 05

  Oh, thank you.

• 12:36Speaker 06

  That's why the wrapping was left on.

• 12:39Speaker 05

  Very conscious. Very thoughtful. There's a guy who cares about the environment.

• 12:43Speaker 06

  You're such a special person and you're, uh, you're wished every little happiness long after the holidays are over. Merry Christmas. Wow. Thank you to my secret Santa, whoever they may be.

• 12:53Speaker 05

  So true.

• 12:53Speaker 06

  P T, thanks for keeping it all together. FYI, extra lean beef is 7.22 a pound.

• 13:02Speaker 05

  Now, open your present.

• 13:03Speaker 06

  Hugs and kisses. Merry Christmas, Cal. P S.

• 13:06Speaker 05

  Well, yeah.

• 13:07Speaker 06

  Am I supposed to read that?

• 13:08Speaker 05

  Yeah, go ahead.

• 13:08Speaker 06

  You can read the first part of the P S. Okay.

• 13:11Speaker 05

  Only the first part.

• 13:12Speaker 06

  I'm gifting you a BHA family membership, Cal.

• 13:15Speaker 05

  Whoa.

• 13:16Speaker 06

  The gift of public lands.

• 13:18Speaker 05

  That's great.

• 13:18Speaker 06

  Couldn't ask for anything better.

• 13:20Speaker 05

  Damn.

• 13:20Speaker 06

  So much. Uh, but that's not all. There's also a bottle of some kind.

• 13:26Speaker 05

  Hmm.

• 13:27Speaker 06

  Oh, here we are. Sailor Jerry's Spiced Rum.

• 13:31Speaker 05

  Oh, there you go. Get the sailor in yourself.

• 13:34Speaker 06

  That was the go-to for my rum and Coke back in college. Thank you so much, Cal.

• 13:37Speaker 05

  Very good.

• 13:38Speaker 06

  And look at this. We've got, we've got frozen beef and I'm glad that I now know the exact value. Uh, at least.

• 13:45Speaker 05

  Beef? No, that's ground ale. Ground ale. That makes more sense. Four pounds of ground ale.

• 13:52Speaker 06

  You're letting me know how much money I'm saving.

• 13:54Speaker 05

  Yes. If you were to go buy ground ale. Probably more than beef. Twenty bucks a pound on that.

• 13:59Speaker 06

  Right. I just, there's context. Some people need context.

• 14:03Speaker 05

  Not that it's about the money, Phil. That's right.

• 14:05Speaker 06

  Secret Santa, thank you so much.

• 14:06Steven Rinella?

  No, it's the thought that counts.

• 14:08Speaker 06

  This will all go to use, including the VJ membership.

• 14:11Steven Rinella?

  That's what people who give shitty gifts say.

• 14:13Speaker 05

  Phil, I think we've lost our bed of music.

• 14:15Speaker 06

  Oh, yeah. We'll bring it back. Sorry. I've been, I've been busy opening gifts.

• 14:18Speaker 05

  Now, Cal, how, how did you pick Sailor Jerry's when you were looking at the rum shelf?

• 14:22Speaker 06

  It's, it's because Phil and I had a conversation a long time ago about like,

• 14:29Speaker 06

  because there's like scary high-end rums. But I believe that the tiki crowd feels like Sailor Jerry and Captain Morgan are, are totally fine for most things. Is that correct? Uh, for, I'd, I'd say for, for mixing cocktails, like, like, like, like, uh, like into a soda mixer. Um, but if you're gonna make a Mai Tai, I mean, honestly, Cal, Sailor Jerry's and, and, uh,

• 14:54Steven Rinella?

  Kraken.

• 14:55Speaker 06

  And yeah, that's, that's, that's a cardinal sin. But I love Sailor Jerry's and I'll use it.

• 15:01Speaker 05

  Phil, have you ever tried Mount Gay? That's some good stuff.

• 15:03Speaker 06

  I have, yeah. They got, they got a lot of barbeque.

• 15:07Speaker 05

  What a gift. Okay. Well done, Cal. That's, that's fun for you, Phil. Max, you're up next. I'm up. Open that thing up.

• 15:16Speaker 06

  It's supposed to be a little something for everybody in the Taylor house.

• 15:19Speaker 05

  That's a pro level rapping job. This is a rapping job. I, I suck at rapping.

• 15:25Speaker 05

  What do we got there, Maxwell? Is this a puzzle? Uh.

• 15:30Steven Rinella?

  The puzzle has puzzled him.

• 15:32Speaker 05

  No, it has puzzled me. Phil, what is this?

• 15:37Speaker 06

  How do you know that was me? That's a ga- that's a, that's a board, a very easy to learn board game called Cascadia where you create wildlife corridors and habitats for different.

• 15:48Speaker 05

  Cool. When I saw that game existed, I was pissed off. I didn't come up with that idea, you know? Uh, isn't this very similar to like, what's that? Game with the squared.

• 15:57Speaker 06

  Risk.

• 15:58Speaker 05

  No.

• 15:58Speaker 06

  You talking about Catan?

• 15:59Speaker 05

  Yeah, Catan.

• 16:00Speaker 06

  I'd say it's easier than Catan.

• 16:01Speaker 05

  Okay, good.

• 16:02Speaker 06

  It's more pick up and play, which is, which is why I. Hey!

• 16:05Speaker 05

  Sweet! Many fun nights to come at the bar to household.

• 16:08Speaker 06

  It's board game season. Board game night!

• 16:10Speaker 05

  Love it. Yeah.

• 16:11Speaker 04

  That's great.

• 16:12Speaker 05

  Thank you, Phil.

• 16:13Speaker 06

  Oh, you're welcome, Max.

• 16:14Speaker 05

  For Maxwell. Next up, we have Brody. Who has handed a fireball to Max. He's now opening his gift. Also a swell gift wrapping job here.

• 16:27Steven Rinella?

  Someone said Santa's language is going to demonetize this video. Hope the suits don't notice.

• 16:36Speaker 06

  They definitely won't, Santa, don't worry.

• 16:38Speaker 05

  What do we got over there, Brody? Oh, wow. Someone really knows me. Although, those are ladies glasses.

• 16:48Speaker 05

  Pog Bog like it, jig heads, oh yeah.

• 16:51Speaker 06

  Heck, yeah!

• 16:53Speaker 05

  My kids were just asking about ice fish and I was like, man, it's gonna be a while, but we'll get those in use this year. Nice.

• 16:59Speaker 04

  Are those really ladies glasses?

• 17:01Speaker 05

  Oh, yeah. No, they're for you to sex. I think they're used to sex. How do you know? Look, they're just round. Do you need glasses to look at them?

• 17:08Steven Rinella?

  Look at the shape of them, for Christ sakes.

• 17:12Speaker 05

  So Brody got a three pack of readers from the drugstore and some ice fishing lures.

• 17:17Speaker 06

  That's a good gift!

• 17:18Speaker 05

  That's a great present.

• 17:19Speaker 06

  That's a good gift.

• 17:20Speaker 05

  But you know, I scatter these things everywhere.

• 17:22Speaker 04

  Well, yeah, that's what I was thinking when I, when I picked those up for you, Brody, that, uh...

• 17:27Speaker 05

  They'll just leave a pair in the studio.

• 17:28Speaker 04

  One, you're gonna need to wear those to tie knots.

• 17:31Speaker 05

  Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 17:32Speaker 04

  And you just leave those things everywhere, so.

• 17:35Speaker 06

  That's great.

• 17:37Speaker 05

  Uh, next up, we have Ryan Callahan, who had the same wrapping paper as Brody's gift.

• 17:43Steven Rinella?

  That's because we all use the office wrapping paper.

• 17:47Speaker 05

  It appears so. Uh, what do we have there, Cal? Wow, CEOs need ties, Cal.

• 17:54Steven Rinella?

  Suit for a suit.

• 17:58Speaker 06

  Oh, that's great.

• 17:58Speaker 04

  That screams America.

• 18:00Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 18:01Speaker 06

  Yep.

• 18:02Speaker 05

  He has a tie. Fire up the YouTube video so I can learn how to tie. Freedom isn't free.

• 18:06Speaker 06

  That's great.

• 18:06Speaker 05

  A tie for ya. With some bald eagles on it.

• 18:11Speaker 06

  Got some, some warm up juice?

• 18:13Speaker 04

  Nice.

• 18:14Speaker 06

  And what's this one say?

• 18:19Speaker 05

  He has a shirt.

• 18:23Speaker 06

  Says, "Sorry, I'm late." "I didn't want to come."

• 18:32Speaker 05

  Now, who do you think gave that to you, Cal?

• 18:34Speaker 06

  I have so many occasions where this is a wonderful, wonderful shirt.

• 18:39Speaker 05

  He would have worn it today if he already had it. Who do you think gave that to you?

• 18:45Speaker 06

  People who pay attention.

• 18:47Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 18:50Speaker 04

  I'll give you a hint. That tie used to belong to my father-in-law.

• 19:00Speaker 05

  Very good.

• 19:01Speaker 06

  Wow.

• 19:02Speaker 04

  And he didn't wear it as a novelty tie.

• 19:05Speaker 05

  Give me an example of a place he would wear that tie.

• 19:08Speaker 04

  To work.

• 19:08Speaker 05

  To work. Very good. That'll work well for the future CEO of VHA.

• 19:15Speaker 06

  Thank you.

• 19:16Speaker 05

  All right, I am now going to open my gift, which was wrapped in a Meat Eater Trivia Collector's Edition ammo box.

• 19:22Speaker 06

  Oh.

• 19:23Speaker 05

  Oh, all right, we have some halibut labeled 2025.

• 19:27Speaker 06

  Nice.

• 19:27Speaker 05

  In here, that is great. I do not have any halibut in the freezer, nor do I have king salmon.

• 19:33Speaker 04

  You got a nice gift.

• 19:34Speaker 05

  Also, 2025. That is phenomenal. I had to line up the gift exchange, so I know this came from Brody. And Brody even warned me, said, "Well, you drew the short straw by having..." By me, or by Brody having my name, but that is a phenomenal gift.

• 19:51Speaker 06

  Oh, I gotta tell you, Spencer, I was real torn about giving you that piece of king salmon.

• 19:58Speaker 05

  What do you think I should do with this king salmon? Give me a recommendation.

• 20:02Speaker 06

  Well, are you gonna let your wife eat it with you, or just you?

• 20:04Speaker 05

  She's uninterested in...

• 20:06Speaker 06

  Is that right?

• 20:06Speaker 05

  That's right. This is gonna be for me.

• 20:10Speaker 05

  This is just gonna be for me. How do you think I should cook that?

• 20:13Speaker 06

  Very simply.

• 20:14Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 20:14Speaker 06

  You could grill it, you know, butter, lemon, whatever.

• 20:19Speaker 05

  Yeah, don't overdo it. Yeah, as you say, don't overdo that. Don't overdo it. Yeah. Good advice. Brody, that is a wonderful gift. Great gift. An excellent gift wrapping choice. Well done. Very efficient. Uh, next up, we have Seth now, who has, how many gifts are in front of you, Seth? Three. I got a pile here. Someone must have been a very good boy this year. They're numbered, so I gotta... Okay, I assume then you should start with number one. Yep. It looks like. All right, here we go. This one is wrapped like, uh, as though a... A candy, maybe? Giant piece of candy, sure. A baseball bat would fit in there. What could this be? Wrapped in butcher paper. A carrot? My dogs have the same thing. Oh, okay.

• 21:04Speaker 05

  I didn't, I wouldn't, I wouldn't recognize that as a dog toy. Uh, is that what it is? Oh, okay. Wily would like that. Giant dog. That's the size of your dog. That thing is enormous. It's a Boone and Crockett carrot right there. Do your dogs like it? Will my dog like it?

• 21:22Speaker 05

  Santa. What? Do your dogs like that toy? No, they're scared of any toy that squeaks. Okay. Uh, now he's got a t-shirt. Hey, that's my shirt!

• 21:35Speaker 05

  What the?

• 21:37Speaker 05

  That's my shirt, too! What the, what the hell is this? No!

• 21:46Speaker 05

  No, this is from my own house! This is cultural appropriation! Seth is now open. There's a t-shirt with a... I hope this isn't a gun!

• 21:56Speaker 05

  An ape on the front, the other is a LeBron James jersey. Uh, now he's on to gift number three. That's not yours, Randall. This is mine. It is mine. Oh, look at these. A new pair of shoes I've been wanting.

• 22:11Speaker 05

  What the hell?

• 22:12Steven Rinella?

  Hit this.

• 22:16Speaker 05

  Some very well-used shoes that look familiar.

• 22:19Steven Rinella?

  These are all my most treasured possessions.

• 22:22Speaker 05

  Seth, I didn't know you were gonna start playing basketball.

• 22:24Speaker 04

  Well, I'm starting now.

• 22:25Steven Rinella?

  What demonry?

• 22:27Speaker 04

  What is this shirt?

• 22:28Speaker 05

  That is a great shirt.

• 22:30Steven Rinella?

  I was just wearing that the other day.

• 22:32Speaker 05

  Well, that's, that's kinda weird you would give him all this stuff then.

• 22:35Steven Rinella?

  Who did this?

• 22:35Speaker 04

  Did you give all this to me? Thank you.

• 22:37Steven Rinella?

  I didn't, no. I don't know how this got here.

• 22:41Speaker 05

  You better talk to Mrs. Claus then.

• 22:42Steven Rinella?

  Was it you? Was it you?

• 22:45Speaker 06

  Pointing fingers is not a very Christmasy thing to do, Santa.

• 22:49Steven Rinella?

  Jackson.

• 22:49Speaker 05

  Since, since Randall's not here, you might wanna consider re-gifting those to Randall.

• 22:54Steven Rinella?

  Yeah.

• 22:54Speaker 05

  I think Randall would really like these things.

• 22:56Steven Rinella?

  Thank you. Jackson Hayes of the Los Angeles Lakers gave me a fist bump and said, "Sweet jersey, bra."

• 23:05Speaker 04

  That's mine, thank you.

• 23:05Steven Rinella?

  Legit.

• 23:06Speaker 05

  Very good lore.

• 23:07Steven Rinella?

  Legit.

• 23:08Speaker 04

  Put your hands off my jersey.

• 23:08Speaker 05

  And now it belongs to Seth.

• 23:10Steven Rinella?

  Son of a...

• 23:11Speaker 05

  That is Seth's story now.

• 23:13Steven Rinella?

  I'm bewildered by this. This is a horrible prank.

• 23:17Speaker 05

  How about you open up Randall's gift now there, Santa?

• 23:20Steven Rinella?

  Okay. He's gonna need a gift card to pay for all the stuff that he's lost.

• 23:27Speaker 05

  Again, we have a dog toy, a jersey, a t-shirt, and a pair of sneakers that Seth got.

• 23:33Steven Rinella?

  This is a gift card to D O G.

• 23:36Speaker 05

  D O G. Oh, that's a pet place in town, right?

• 23:39Steven Rinella?

  That's good. I have three... Randall has three pets.

• 23:46Steven Rinella?

  And they're all very needy, so he will be most appreciative of this.

• 23:51Speaker 05

  Uh huh. Now, Santa, let's try to solve the crime of how these gifts wound up in Seth's possession. What do you think happened here?

• 23:58Steven Rinella?

  My wife was in on it. I know that, but also we don't lock our house very often.

• 24:06Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 24:07Steven Rinella?

  Let's not, let's not...

• 24:09Speaker 05

  Look at Onyx.

• 24:09Steven Rinella?

  Can we cut that, Phil?

• 24:12Speaker 05

  Uh, I think your full name is on your landed Onyx.

• 24:14Steven Rinella?

  She hates these shoes.

• 24:16Speaker 05

  Oh, does she?

• 24:17Steven Rinella?

  My dog hates this toy.

• 24:20Speaker 05

  Does she hate that shirt?

• 24:21Steven Rinella?

  Who hates the shirt?

• 24:21Steven Rinella?

  Sidney hates that shirt.

• 24:25Steven Rinella?

  But I didn't know that she didn't like these shirts. I was literally wearing... hearing this just the other day. It's from the San Diego Zoo.

• 24:32Speaker 05

  Oh, wow. And it made her angry.

• 24:34Steven Rinella?

  Juvenile orangutan.

• 24:36Speaker 05

  Okay, so you've accused Cal for thievery. It was not Cal.

• 24:40Steven Rinella?

  I only know, I only think of Cal because he often is in and out of my home.

• 24:46Speaker 05

  Was not Cal.

• 24:47Steven Rinella?

  Who else? Well, I suppose anybody could have slid into her DMs on Instagram.

• 24:56Speaker 05

  Who's the next suspect?

• 24:59Steven Rinella?

  Phil the engineer.

• 25:00Speaker 05

  It was not Phil.

• 25:04Speaker 06

  It's like he's just lashing out.

• 25:07Steven Rinella?

  Spencer Neuharth.

• 25:11Steven Rinella?

  Maxwell Bart.

• 25:12Speaker 05

  It was Max.

• 25:14Speaker 04

  Yeah, it was Max. I slid into Sydney's DMs, yes.

• 25:19Speaker 04

  I did, I actually did.

• 25:20Speaker 05

  Max was so proud of this idea. He hasn't done a thing at work all week, just preparing this gift.

• 25:26Steven Rinella?

  I'm impressed that I recognize this toy.

• 25:29Speaker 04

  And you said it right away. Oh, my dogs have the same toy.

• 25:32Speaker 06

  Mrs. Claus gets lonely this time of year.

• 25:34Steven Rinella?

  Hey, watch your dirty mouth.

• 25:38Steven Rinella?

  Oh, I'm having so much, I didn't wear much of a layer under this suit because it was so warm last year, but I'm having so much fun. Sweating again.

• 25:47Speaker 05

  Yes, Max and Sydney, you guys had to meet up in town, I imagine, this week.

• 25:52Steven Rinella?

  Well, that's fun.

• 25:53Speaker 05

  Very good. Now we have a real gift here for Seth to open.

• 25:59Speaker 05

  Pull that bow, there you go. This is our final gift of the day that Santa has brought in.

• 26:05Steven Rinella?

  I hope it's something you treasure. Someone's taken out of your home without your knowledge.

• 26:12Steven Rinella?

  Apple butter.

• 26:13Speaker 05

  Got a jar of apple butter.

• 26:15Steven Rinella?

  Okay, that's great. Some salsa.

• 26:20Speaker 05

  Mmm, okay.

• 26:21Steven Rinella?

  Spicy restaurant style.

• 26:23Speaker 05

  There you go.

• 26:23Speaker 04

  My favorite.

• 26:25Speaker 05

  Your favorite? Wow, okay.

• 26:26Steven Rinella?

  You like restaurant style? I do.

• 26:31Speaker 04

  Oh! Oh! Wow! Some big old cookies. Oh my! Who's this from?

• 26:39Speaker 05

  That's from me. Uh, went in the pantry last night, made you some cookies. I'm trying to get good at baking a few things. So, made you some cookies. And then, uh...

• 26:48Speaker 04

  Let's try him. Let's try him live.

• 26:50Speaker 05

  Mm-hmm.

• 26:51Speaker 04

  It's got some salt on there, I believe.

• 26:53Speaker 06

  You can share it.

• 26:54Steven Rinella?

  That makes for a good cookie.

• 26:55Speaker 05

  Yep, yep. Seth also has a pregnant wife at home, so maybe we gotta leave one for her as well.

• 27:02Speaker 04

  Yeah, leave one for, for Kelsey.

• 27:03Speaker 06

  Sorry, no, no milk, Santa.

• 27:05Speaker 05

  Yep.

• 27:05Speaker 04

  Oh, these are fantastic.

• 27:06Speaker 05

  Oh, thank you. I'm, I'm, I'm just getting into baking. I'm trying to be like, not a one-trick pony, but like a three-trick pony. So I want to learn how to make cookies first, and then, you know, I think I'm gonna move on to banana bread soon. Uh, the apple butter, that was made with apples I found on my Idaho deer hunt this year off in the mountains.

• 27:23Speaker 04

  So you ma- you made this?

• 27:25Speaker 05

  I made that, and I made the salsa. The salsa ingredients, those are just from, uh, from Albertson's.

• 27:30Speaker 06

  Nice dude, that's great. That is great.

• 27:32Speaker 05

  The cookies though, the eggs came from my neighbor. So, uh, some, some Gallatin Valley eggs there for you.

• 27:38Speaker 06

  So did you make the labels?

• 27:40Speaker 05

  Uh, my wife did. That's the perk of being married to a graphic designer.

• 27:44Speaker 04

  It even got...

• 27:45Speaker 05

  Married, married, made the labels for us.

• 27:46Speaker 04

  It even has the ingredients on here.

• 27:48Speaker 05

  That's right. Then, then you know, in case you're, uh, you're allergic to anything. Very good gifts this year, Santa.

• 27:54Speaker 04

  Yeah, everybody did great.

• 27:56Speaker 06

  That's stealing from Santa now.

• 27:57Steven Rinella?

  I'm really in the mood. I, this was a terrible mistake. It doesn't breathe.

• 28:02Speaker 06

  Well, Santa, Randall, uh, didn't show up today. If you wouldn't mind filling in for him.

• 28:06Steven Rinella?

  Yeah, so I suppose I'll sit in on this.

• 28:09Speaker 06

  Santa, your Leatherman jacket from high school is upstairs in my office.

• 28:12Steven Rinella?

  Oh shit, that one's awesome too.

• 28:14Speaker 06

  Yeah, I was, I was gonna add that up too, but... Would've given it away.

• 28:18Steven Rinella?

  This jersey, interestingly enough, has several typos on the back.

• 28:23Speaker 05

  Oh, very interesting.

• 28:24Steven Rinella?

  There's an extra digit under one of LeBron's, uh... Oh...

• 28:29Speaker 05

  Oh, where is that? Where is that? I'll find it. Okay, good stuff from Santa Claus. Yes, yes, good stuff. That is the 2025 Meat Eater Radio Gift Exchange. Oh, it says he won the most valuable player in the year 20010, which as we all know is in the distant future. That's right.

• 28:52Speaker 06

  Santa, will you still be around then?

• 28:54Speaker 05

  Yes, Phil, I'm immortal.

• 28:57Speaker 06

  I wasn't sure if there was like a Santa Claus Tim Allen situation where someone would take your place.

• 29:01Speaker 05

  No, there's no plan for succession in my line. Okay, Meat Eater Radio will still be going on as well.

• 29:06Speaker 06

  That's right.

• 29:07Speaker 05

  Oh, I hope not.

• 29:11Speaker 05

  And Santa's gonna stick around for the rest of the show. Yes, I will do that for you, my friends. Thank you, Santa. And Seth, thanks for joining us for this holiday cheer.

• 29:22Speaker 04

  Merry Christmas, everyone.

• 29:23Speaker 06

  Merry Christmas.

• 29:23Speaker 05

  Merry Christmas. Brody Maxwell and Cal are going to disappear. Phil, thank you very much.

• 29:29Speaker 06

  Oh, yes, of course, Max.

• 29:30Speaker 04

  I expect all this Fireball to be gone when I check in later.

• 29:33Speaker 05

  Yeah, we'll work on it. We'll work on it. All right. Thank you, boys. Merry Christmas, everyone. Merry Christmas. We will see you later.

• 29:39Steven Rinella?

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• 30:23Steven Rinella?

  We get a car, we throw the mats out and put in WeatherTech. That way, when there's a mess, it's like your kid's fault, your dog's fault, it's the weather's fault, doesn't matter. You take them suckers out and hose them off, and you're back to being good as new. I'm telling you, if you got a vehicle, put WeatherTech in there. You're gonna be happy you did it. And check this out, American-made floor liners and cargo liners, okay? They laugh in the face of all weather. Go take a look for yourself today at weathertech.com. In military families, service is more than a job, it's a legacy. At American Military University, that legacy can help open new doors through education. If someone in your family served in the military, you could be eligible for reduced tuition.

• 31:07Steven Rinella?

  Take the next step with flexible online programs built for real life. Learn more at amu.apus.edu/military.

• 31:20Speaker 05

  All right, let's take a break for some listener feedback.

• 31:22Speaker 06

  Oh goodness.

• 31:23Speaker 05

  What's the chat have to say?

• 31:25Speaker 06

  Okay, Hunter says, ask Santa if he thinks anybody is going to stop the thunder this year.

• 31:30Steven Rinella?

  They're too damn good. But if recent NBA history tells us anything, it's that Shay Gilgis Alexander will rupture his Achilles tendon. Because that's what happens to the best players in the league.

• 31:42Speaker 05

  Very good. Well, Nikola Jokic is the best player in the league.

• 31:46Steven Rinella?

  Oh, sure.

• 31:47Speaker 05

  So you take that back.

• 31:48Steven Rinella?

  Well.

• 31:49Speaker 05

  The Nuggets are going to stop OKC this year. That's what's going to happen there. Hunter's hot.

• 31:54Speaker 06

  Jonathan Wahlberg asks, what is your recommendation for processing deer shanks specifically for Asabuko? I struggle to make clean cuts through the bone when thawed and don't have a bandsaw to use when frozen.

• 32:05Speaker 05

  Saulzol.

• 32:06Speaker 04

  Yeah, I use Saulzol.

• 32:07Speaker 05

  Mm-hmm. Cut through the meat that you can with a knife and then do the rest of it with the Saulzol and you'll be just fine. Or go to a butcher and ask if they can bandsaw it. There you go.

• 32:18Speaker 04

  Um, like the Saulzol too, specifically the ones that you can just like, you grab on to the kind of the top of it.

• 32:25Speaker 05

  Mm-hmm.

• 32:25Speaker 04

  It's easier to to hold that one, that kind, and then be able to hold the shank too and just zip through them.

• 32:31Speaker 05

  You know pretty quickly if you have the right blade on your Saulzol when you're going through bone.

• 32:35Speaker 04

  Yeah, and you can go on Amazon too, or wherever butcher products are sold and buy stainless steel Saulzol blades, specific for that.

• 32:44Speaker 05

  Do they, are they labeled like steel or wood, or do they say bone on them?

• 32:48Speaker 04

  Um.

• 32:49Speaker 05

  I'm always using ones that are labeled for wood or steel.

• 32:52Speaker 04

  Yeah, no, I just, I just went on, on, I think I got them on Amazon and they're like specific bone saw.

• 32:58Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 32:58Speaker 04

  Like butchering blades.

• 33:00Speaker 05

  Add that to the tool chest.

• 33:01Speaker 06

  Um, you know, those are pretty much the only real substantive questions. I think people have been distracted and I would hope entertained.

• 33:10Speaker 04

  Fun questions are fun too, Phil. Hopefully entertained.

• 33:13Speaker 05

  Uh, chat, maybe, maybe brew up some questions for Santa for the next time we check in with you. Uh, if you want to know if someone's on the naughty or nice list, um, what Santa does in the off season, uh, please shoot those questions over well and we'll address them in about a half hour.

• 33:27Speaker 06

  Oh, this one's very substantive. Uh, Seth Jones says, uh, he was skeptical at the start of the D and D episode. Me and you both, Seth. He did thoroughly enjoy it though, and would like to see more interesting comments, Seth. Thanks for writing in.

• 33:38Speaker 05

  Okay. Good stuff. Uh, we'll try to get more of that in 2026.

• 33:43Speaker 06

  Spencer, come on.

• 33:44Speaker 04

  If you had to eat Randall, how would you cook him?

• 33:48Speaker 05

  Uh, well, what do you think, Santa?

• 33:50Speaker 04

  Oh, well done. Well done. Who knows what he's got? He probably has trichinosis.

• 33:58Speaker 05

  Yeah. He's an old ruddy buck. Um, we probably gotta marinate him overnight, go low and slow. Um, not the hot and fast kind of meat.

• 34:08Speaker 04

  And you're gonna have a lot of rendering to do afterwards.

• 34:11Speaker 05

  Okay, that'll, we'll sort that all out in the crock pot.

• 34:15Speaker 06

  How about one more, Spencer? Cause this one, it's, it's, it's a, uh, gun to deer season. What does that mean? Does that mean something?

• 34:21Speaker 05

  Um, it means they have multiple gun seasons and this is number two.

• 34:24Speaker 06

  Oh, gun to deer. Gotcha. This weekend in Iowa, and the daily highs are three and one degrees. You think it's worth my time in the woods to go out? Or should they wait until Monday when the highs are in the thirties?

• 34:35Speaker 05

  Absolutely.

• 34:36Speaker 04

  That is the best time to go out.

• 34:37Speaker 05

  Especially if you have access to agriculture, um, in Iowa, I assume it's going to be beans or corn for you. Even if that field has been harvested already, the deer gotta eat every day. They're gonna be out there, uh, they're gonna pile into agriculture in your neighborhood if you have it. Be out there, PMJ. I would be very excited about those temperatures rather than pessimistic.

• 34:58Speaker 04

  Yeah, and I, I wouldn't, I wouldn't, uh, be shy about sitting all day if you can, if you can handle it. Yes, when it's very cold at the North Pole, my friends are on their feet all day. If I were trying to shoot them, that's when I'd go out.

• 35:12Speaker 05

  Very good. And what cartridge would you take if you were trying to shoot them?

• 35:15Speaker 04

  Oh.

• 35:17Speaker 06

  What Santa's gun safe look like?

• 35:20Speaker 04

  I'm a traditionalist.

• 35:23Speaker 04

  As you know, I'm a traditionalist. Frequently I sh- if I were. To call my herd, it would most likely be with a thirty thirty.

• 35:32Speaker 05

  Okay, that is a traditional, wow.

• 35:35Speaker 04

  There's a lot of guts in reindeer. So, you know, they're big, they're bigger animals, but you really don't need to shoot them with a big magnum or anything. Just get a nice, a nice, uh, expanding bullet and put it in the front half.

• 35:48Speaker 05

  There you go. Alright, we will do some more listener questions at the end of the show. Yeah, I'll try to pay more attention this time. For Santa. Alright, joining us on the line now is Kurt Steiner, the man who holds the world record for skipping a rock eighty-eight times. Kurt, welcome to the show.

• 36:06Speaker 04

  Good to be here.

• 36:09Speaker 05

  First thing, Kurt, thank you. Uh, take us back to that day in twenty thirteen when you set the world record. Where were you at? And what was it about that particular throw that made it the greatest throw of all time?

• 36:23Speaker 04

  Yeah, well, can I give you just a brief bit of context here?

• 36:26Speaker 05

  Yes, please.

• 36:27Speaker 04

  I had actually, I set the record, uh, originally in two thousand two. Uh, where, uh, I kind of introduced some new, uh, power kind of, uh, attack methods to stone skipping. And, uh, that held for about five years and, uh, a guy, uh, buddy of mine, he since, since passed. But, uh, he, uh, he, he took the record in two thousand seven. Uh, so then it was on, you know, we, we were been fighting each other for ten years, kind of developing this whole sport, really. And, uh, twenty thirteen came and I've been saving stones probably for, uh, ten years, just waiting for the day. Yeah, yeah, cause you know, uh, mother nature never seems fit to like make exactly the right stone. So you, you, you,

• 37:12Speaker 04

  you put it aside, you save it for a tournament or in this case, a record attempt. And so I had about five hundred stones set aside, which was enough, was enough for two, two attempts. And, uh, the first one I kind of blew early in, uh, twenty thirteen in July. Uh, cause I didn't get a good camera angle on it. So, uh, September rolls around, uh, the, the, the long story short, uh, I was ready for a second attempt. And so, uh, I had, uh, my, my wife, uh, put her up on a bridge. Uh, and, uh, so he could look. Down on the stones and you could count the ripples much better uh and uh

• 37:53Speaker 04

  And it was uh it was it was a bit of a magical day, I won't lie. I kinda had things lined up for me. Uh I had a bit of a tailwind, uh which helps, but I also had a little bit of a a low uh onshore kind of ripple coming at me. So uh it was a good combination for various technical reasons and uh and I just threw the hell out of that stone. And uh you know, I went through, I probably threw a hundred that day and uh and I I narrowed it down to you know, looking at looking at them frame by frame. Finally sent it out and I uh you know, I had a a group of counts between eighty-eight and ninety. So I just took the lowest one figuring uh that's kinda like everybody agrees on that.

• 38:38Speaker 04

  And uh and and it's held up.

• 38:40Speaker 05

  Very good.

• 38:41Speaker 04

  Wow.

• 38:42Speaker 05

  Eighty-eight skip throw, it's still the record to this day. Now, you've been competing in stone skipping competitions around the world for twenty-five years. Explain to us how these competitions are set up and how they differ in the US versus Europe.

• 38:56Speaker 04

  Right, uh well, the US, yeah, what, oh oh. Okay, yeah, yeah, I thought you lost me. Uh in the US, we basically count uh skips and that's what's stone skipping is. Uh in Europe, uh they actually uh count uh distance. They they measure the distance you throw and then to distinguish it, they call it skimming. So uh I've been in both tournaments, uh I went to uh UK in uh twenty eighteen and and I threw uh three hundred seventy-three feet.

• 39:30Speaker 05

  Wow.

• 39:31Speaker 04

  And uh it it and that and that was at that time, the longest uh recorded throw of a natural stone. Uh but then the next day, uh twenty-four hours later, Scottish guy came down and uh Doogie Isaacs and threw four hundred feet, so so I'm still uh he he he still got the record at four hundred there, but uh I'm I still got the skip count and I'm uh and I'm and I'm well placed in the in the skimming category. Uh the other thing is that the Japanese, I happen to also be a bit of a hotspot. So it's kind of New England, uh US. Uh, the British, uh, and then, uh, and then Japan and, uh, Japanese, uh, kind of combine

• 40:13Speaker 04

  everything and they just, they have two guys throw and, uh, decide, they just judge who, who threw the better rock on that throw and they just kind of go through that and a kind of round robin thing and a best of three format and, uh, eventually, you know, it, it, they spit it out, a, a good winner. Uh, it's kind of a combination of the aesthetic, uh, appearance of it, distance, skip count, all of it together. So they're all different flavors and we've all kind of cross pollinated each other over, uh, the decades here and, and I kind of take, uh, you know, I would take a little bit of pride in being kind of pushing all that, uh, sacrificing a lot of my life to do, uh, you know, playing, playing, you know?

• 40:52Speaker 05

  That's great.

• 40:53Speaker 04

  And then make them a thing, you know?

• 40:55Speaker 05

  You usually bring your own stones to competitions. Where do you gather your rocks from?

• 41:00Speaker 04

  Yeah, I, I get about 90% of my stones from, uh, the southeast, uh, coast of Lake Erie. Uh, I grew up in Erie, you know, which is between Cleveland, Buffalo there. And the geology and the water, uh, you know, the waves of Lake Erie kind of combined to make a really good skipping rock. Uh, that's where I grew up right there. Now, nowadays, of course, I'm living up on a mountain off grid here in Appalachia, PA. And, uh, so I have to drive three hours to get my rocks. I got all the water in the world, but the, the stones are shit, you know? But, uh, I thought I'd go up, I'd go see my mom, get some rocks, come back and have, have some fun.

• 41:43Speaker 05

  That's great.

• 41:44Speaker 04

  But, uh, yeah, and, and, uh, the, the, uh, the Scottish have a place up in North Scotland, uh, with some really great slate and there's a place up in North, uh, Vermont with some really, really beautiful rocks. But, uh, I put the ones I go to, they're accessible and they're kind of like, uh, number four on my world best list, you know?

• 42:06Speaker 05

  That's, that's amazing.

• 42:08Speaker 04

  So I kind of got lucky.

• 42:09Speaker 05

  Uh, describe for us the perfect rock.

• 42:14Speaker 04

  Uh, it kinda depends like, that's like saying, what's the perfect tool, you know? It's, it's, you, you gotta know what, what is it you're trying to do? And then, and then you look for those features in the stone. And, and it takes many years of kinda being, imagine, imagine if you were a, you know, I don't know, a pitcher or a bowler or a hockey player or something. And every time you went to take a whack at the thing or throw the thing, it was a different size, a different shape, different weight, out of bounds, you know? So, so the skill is in learning how to look through all the junk and find the one that's gonna do what you want. And, and so, uh, with that preface there, uh, what I would say is in general,

• 43:00Speaker 04

  you're gonna want something that's got a very flat bottom. You're gonna want something that's kind of got a very smooth texture. Those are kinda the obvious ones. Uh, something to look for is between the bottom side and the, the edge, that kind of transition edge right here. Uh, what I would say is that the, the, the flatter the water, the sharper that edge can be. And so you, you, it's a lot of experimentation, a lot of, um, trying this, seeing what happens and then, and then adapting your next throw to that. And what I would say though is, um, you know, I, I generally throw four to six ounces, uh,

• 43:43Speaker 04

  you know, we're throwing probably around 70 miles an hour and maybe a 25, maybe 2, 2,500 or 3,000 RPM, right? So, uh, a, a distance thrower will back off the spin a little bit and go for more velocity. Um, you know, I spent like five years, you know, figuring out like that kinda whip right there, if you can see that, where I'm pulling down to the ground and then driving back up against my, my, uh, my body and then letting my hand snap out and that really generates, uh, some good spin. And that, and that spin in turn with all the, will kind of chop the water, uh, kinda like a, like maybe a hydroplane boat propeller, kinda, you know, chopping at it.

• 44:28Speaker 04

  And that adds up. So, uh, so basically flat bottom, kind of a maybe a radius of curvature on that bottom edge of maybe, maybe an eighth of an inch, uh, you know, something about the size of your palm, maybe four or five ounces, uh, and, and, uh, smooth, you know, the main thing is that bottom edge, you just can't have any jaggedness in it, or it will bite the water, just like, uh, like trying to run a radial saw backwards, right? It's, you, you, you need, you need all the, the sharpness on your, the bottom edge of that stone to be kind of feathering the water rather than biting into it. You can understand what I'm saying. Sure. Yeah. Um, Kurt, you mentioned when you, the day that you threw the record there,

• 45:13Speaker 04

  you had some ripples in the water. Do you prefer that over flat calm or, or what do you prefer there? Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think of, uh, think of driving over rumble strips, right? Uh, your tire gets in kind of a harmonic there and, uh, and so you're, you're kind of, it's the same kind of deal where if you're running over the tops of just very regular, uh, ripples, it kind of creates a, like a, uh, stones running over rumble stick strip. So, and, uh, the way I, I mean, I had some lucky waves coming out. I say wave. I mean, I'm talking like that much of a wave. Yeah. That regular, like one, one foot intervals was just enough. But I also, uh, did a kind

• 45:57Speaker 04

  of a trick where I threw like a real deep stone, uh, out. And then if you wait just the right amount of time, those ripples, right? They kind of leave a nice, uh, wow, that was a little bit of a, you know, a veteran trick there, but, uh, yeah. And, uh, so, uh, yeah, because if the water's too flat, what will happen is it The stone will eventually bog down, just like uh like a ba- you throw a baseball and it'll bounce, bounce, bounce, like a grounder, but then it'll kind of roll on the ground. Uh this is just like having the a bumpy ground, so it kind of keeps kicking up, you know, and it keeps kicking it up. And so you can get more count out of it, the power. There's usually enough power in your throw.

• 46:39Speaker 04

  You get a lot of skips, but uh once it bogs and sticks to the water, like Guinness basically uh will only count. The the the basic rule for counting in a in a in a in a in a world record is. You have to have a distinct evidence of the water and stone contacting the water. And then in in whatever next frame, at some point, you have to show clear water between each contact point. So if you have a stone that hits and and and slides ten feet, even though it might look like ten or twenty skips in there. And it comes out as like one, right? You have one water contact. And so.

• 47:18Speaker 04

  The the great thing about that throw I did in thirteen with it had very distinct separated skips and uh. You know, and I won't lie, it's it's been kind of hard on the old body here. Uh I'm I'm starting to age out, I won't lie. Uh I got some veteran tricks, but uh you know, I I've had um. Uh it'd be like a rotator cuff surgery and uh I I in uh in twenty in twenty eighteen when I threw that. Three seventy-three, I ripped a an oblique muscle.

• 47:48Speaker 05

  Cool.

• 47:49Speaker 04

  And uh blew up like a football and that was a that was a nasty.

• 47:53Speaker 05

  Oh geez.

• 47:54Speaker 04

  Made my knees on that one. Yeah, but uh and uh now now I need knee injections, you know, from coming down hard, because um. If you imagine, it's like a baseball player, maybe starting real high, like maybe seven feet up. But we're letting the stones leave our hand, like maybe only a foot off the ground.

• 48:14Speaker 05

  Huh.

• 48:15Speaker 04

  But you're really coming down into that shot and uh it just, you know, it just, it's it's it's. It's it's uh, you know, I I took this fun little thing and turned it into like this, you know.

• 48:27Speaker 05

  It's great.

• 48:29Speaker 04

  Brutal, brutal, uh like sports science kind of thing and uh, you know, oh, it's it's great, you know, it's great now. It's it's uh.

• 48:37Speaker 05

  Kurt, we we wanna, we wanna be better at skipping rocks ourselves. So please, walk us through the perfect form. What should our feet, our arms, our hands be doing to make the best throw?

• 48:50Speaker 04

  Difficult question to answer, uh, but what I can do is give you some pointers, right? I'm not gonna tell you, here's how you throw a stone at 30,000 RPM, you know, but uh, but a- as a rule of thumb, you know, you wanna stand more per- you don't wanna, you wanna kinda stand maybe 45 degrees, almost perpendicular to the water, right? With your, your, your follow foot uh to the water. But the main thing is, you're gonna wanna come down uh at the water, right? There's like, there's five things to think about, I guess.

• 49:21Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 49:22Speaker 04

  The angle of the stone is coming at the water, right? Uh, if you let go from around your knees and hit the water, maybe 10, 10, 12 feet out, that's a, that's a good all-around angle, right? So figure leaving, the stone leaving between your, your waist and your knee, and hitting, you know, maybe 10 feet out. And, and then there's the tilt of the stone, right? The front edge of the rock. You want something that's hmm, maybe 10 degrees, uh, 10 to 20 degrees coming out of your hand. And, and the rule there is if, if the stone bounces up too high off to that, after that first skip,

• 50:06Speaker 04

  then lower the edge down, right? So the most people will throw with too much of an angle, it'll bounce high. And, and the pros tend to throw with a real shallow angle, so it comes down and then takes off horizontally. So uh, if it bounces up, lower that tilt, come in, you know, maybe like that. And then uh, other things is the spin, the spin's just gonna come out naturally, but you are gonna wanna hold the stone at, at what I would say is, if you look around the perimeter, it's gonna have different uh like radii, like it's, it's got different lengths, depending on the irregularity of the rock. You wanna grab, grab the longest point on the rock, like put it right in the middle of your pad of your finger.

• 50:49Speaker 04

  Uh, or, or your middle finger, which, which I have developed also for different throws. But uh, but right in the middle of that, that tip of the pad on the point, down at that angle, and then uh, if you want a little throw. Tip or secret when you when your rocks leaving your hand right this direction. I usually throw it just a little bit of right hand roll in it, right? Like the stone is spinning clockwise for a right handed person. And I'm leaning that right edge, the outside edge, if you will, of the stone down toward the water a little. Because as the stone flies through the air, if you notice it'll roll over. Uh, counterclockwise.

• 51:34Speaker 04

  So just kind of loading that stone a tad with just maybe two degrees of of of roll. Pre-roll, pre-loading the stone. By the time it hits the water, it'll come down a little bit flatter. And it makes it a little more stable and sticks a little better. Uh, you know, it's it's it's subtle stuff.

• 51:53Speaker 05

  A lot of physics, it sounds like.

• 51:56Speaker 04

  It is, it is, and it and it does come down a lot to uh, the difference between a natural and an artificial rock. Uh, I'm kind of a purist, uh, natural rocks are much harder to uh, master. So there's a little bit more prestige, I think.

• 52:11Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 52:12Speaker 04

  In throwing what, I won't lie, I mean, we have, especially in in Europe where they're they're just looking for distance numbers, right? They they they'll go, they'll make artificial rocks and they'll blast them. Guy just last month threw a stone over 500 feet.

• 52:27Speaker 05

  Wow.

• 52:28Speaker 04

  You've been, as I understand it, using an artificial stone. Uh, so that that's all well and good, but uh, you know, Isaacs, when he beat me, he threw, he threw 400 with a natural rock. And I consider that actually uh, even more impressive because he went out and dug it out of the ground, you know?

• 52:47Speaker 05

  Good stuff.

• 52:48Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 52:50Speaker 05

  All right. Well, good luck to your next competition, Kurt. Congrats on that 88 skip, uh, world record throw. Uh, thank you for educating us and thank you for joining us.

• 53:00Speaker 04

  Yeah. Hey, thanks for the opportunity, dudes. Go have some fun. Thank you, Kurt.

• 53:03Speaker 06

  Thanks, Kurt.

• 53:06Speaker 04

  I I think that's the best interview we've ever done. It's not often we have an interview where I.

• 53:12Speaker 05

  Just sit there and watch and I'm fully entranced by our guest, but that was, that was something special.

• 53:19Speaker 06

  It means a lot that you're saying we Santa, like you just kind of feel like you're a part of the crew.

• 53:23Speaker 05

  That's a good point, Phil. Do you, uh, you boys fashion yourself good rock skippers? No.

• 53:29Speaker 06

  No. I, you know, I grew up, uh, it sounds like not too far from, from where he's at.

• 53:35Speaker 05

  It's in your blood.

• 53:36Speaker 06

  Yeah, and, uh, I, you know, I never really hit the banks of Lake Erie to find a good skipping rock, but I've skipped some rocks in my day.

• 53:43Speaker 05

  You missed out on your calling.

• 53:45Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 53:46Speaker 05

  I guess. Could have been you Seth. I prefer to find the biggest rock I can get one skip out of. That's, that's also fun. That's my approach. Mm-hmm. Yep, see how badly you can hurt your arm for the rest of the week. That was fascinating.

• 53:58Speaker 06

  That was, that was good.

• 54:00Speaker 04

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• 54:31Steven Rinella?

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

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• 55:41Speaker 05

  Alright, our next segment is Gear Talk.

• 56:09Speaker 06

  The problem with that one is that Yannis isn't here today.

• 56:11Speaker 04

  No, but that's brilliant.

• 56:12Speaker 05

  And he rewrote that jingle. You must have been feeling inspired to give us a new version.

• 56:17Speaker 06

  The true story Spencer is I forgot that I had a jingle for that.

• 56:20Speaker 05

  Oh!

• 56:21Speaker 06

  So how there are two Gear Talk jingles.

• 56:23Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 56:24Speaker 04

  Phil, I don't mean to tell you how to do your job, but Kurt's name is still at the bottom of the screen.

• 56:29Speaker 06

  I put the wrong one up. I meant to do that one. Thank you, Santa. This is, you are a part of the crew.

• 56:33Speaker 04

  Thank you, yes.

• 56:34Speaker 05

  Please start us off with some Gear Talk today. What do you got?

• 56:38Speaker 04

  Well, hold on one second.

• 56:40Speaker 05

  Okay. He's, uh, he's not fully prepared. Now he's grabbed something from the shelf.

• 56:45Speaker 04

  I, uh, I brought two items today.

• 56:48Speaker 05

  Alright.

• 56:50Speaker 04

  The first is this hat.

• 56:52Speaker 05

  Beautiful hat.

• 56:53Speaker 04

  Now, folks out there might say, "Oh, he's plugging first light again."

• 56:57Speaker 05

  He's plugging first light again.

• 56:58Speaker 04

  He's not. This is the best hat I've ever worn outside. It combines a almost full-sized brim that you'd find on a baseball cap with a very warm wool. Much like the wool in our heavy, heavyweight sweaters and things of that nature, whose names I'm not remembering. But I often wear two hats. When I, I have two hats when I go outside. I'll have a lightweight hat in late season that I can hike in and get sweaty. And then I like to have a heavy hat that I can put on when I'm gonna get cold. The problem is, I don't want to carry a third hat. So if I need a brim,

• 57:40Speaker 04

  it often requires me to either, uh, bring a baseball cap or, um, bring a third hat, which I don't want to do. So, this is my first piece of gear.

• 57:51Speaker 05

  Very good, okay.

• 57:53Speaker 06

  Where's this hat fit in your kit?

• 57:54Speaker 04

  Oh, this isn't performance kit. This is just the uniform.

• 57:59Speaker 05

  Uh huh.

• 58:00Speaker 04

  Ceremonial, really. The second is this Asiak tripod head.

• 58:06Speaker 05

  Now, I'm I'm in the market for a new tripod, so I'm going to need you to sell me on this one.

• 58:10Speaker 04

  Well, I'd like to focus just on the head.

• 58:12Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 58:13Speaker 04

  I have never, never liked lightweight tripods very much. To me, they don't serve the the purpose of a tripod, which is stabilizing your gear.

• 58:22Speaker 05

  Mm hmm.

• 58:23Speaker 04

  Your glass, what have you. And I find a pan head to be the most useful type of head. Uh, for for glassing large areas because you can work your way methodically across the landscape as opposed to a ball head where you simply loosen it and tilt it around.

• 58:39Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 58:39Speaker 04

  Especially when using a heavy pair of binoculars like, oh, a size eighteen with a fifty-six-millimeter objective or a spotting scope. And so this head, uh, typically you you need a heavier, uh, pan head. But this head, which I just got this year, is extremely white lightweight. It's extremely compact and it allows a much lighter tripod to function as with the same performance as a heavier tripod. So I'm now a light tripod man.

• 59:09Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 59:09Speaker 04

  And and it's all due to the quality of this head. It it has very fine adjustments so you can have it so you can cut it. Use your nose to knock your binoculars around if you've got your hands in your pockets. Uh, it also locks up tight if you're in a windy environment and trying to glass something far away.

• 59:26Speaker 05

  Mm hmm.

• 59:27Speaker 04

  And I just can't say enough about this pan head. It's just fabulous.

• 59:33Speaker 06

  That is fantastic, Santa.

• 59:34Speaker 05

  Gear talk review.

• 59:35Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 59:36Speaker 05

  This year on a uh, my South Dakota deer hunt, I had pulled up to an approach for the property I was hunting. I'd gotten out, I was glassing some deer off of my spotter, uh, that I that I could see, you know, about a half mile away. Messed around for a while, got in and out of the truck, looking at on X, looking through the spotter, uh, probably sat there for like a half hour. Uh, went to leave, pull away and crunch. I run over my tripod with the spotting scope on it.

• 1:00:00Speaker 04

  Oh.

• 1:00:01Speaker 05

  Did not damage the spotting scope luckily, but I crushed my tripod that I've had for like a decade and it was a crappy tripod. So now, like conveniently, I just get to get a new tripod. There you go.

• 1:00:11Speaker 04

  That's fantastic. Highly recommend this.

• 1:00:13Speaker 05

  Okay, okay.

• 1:00:14Speaker 04

  I ran over a pair of binoculars last year, did the same thing. Got back to my truck in the dark, leaned my tripod and binos against the truck while I fumbled for my keys. Got in the old truck and drove home and thought, damn, where's those binos? Went back the next day. I didn't run them over, someone else did, but they were just toast.

• 1:00:34Speaker 05

  How do you know you didn't run them over?

• 1:00:35Speaker 04

  Well, you could see the tracks.

• 1:00:36Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 1:00:37Speaker 04

  And I wouldn't be happy with myself if I were responsible, so I blame it on whoever peeled in there after me.

• 1:00:43Speaker 05

  There you go. You gave it a quick death. There was no suffering.

• 1:00:45Speaker 04

  Yep.

• 1:00:47Speaker 05

  Alright Seth, what do you got for gear talk?

• 1:00:50Speaker 06

  What I got is very inexpensive, in fact, it's free and it's very effective. It's not the bino harness, which this is a great bino harness, FHF gear, but it's what I keep in the side over here.

• 1:01:01Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 1:01:01Speaker 06

  And this is, you know, this has become, I would say, more and more popular over the years. But instead of having one of them like, you know, the little puffer bottles for my, for my wind indicator. This is milkweed.

• 1:01:12Speaker 05

  Love it.

• 1:01:13Speaker 06

  Oh, this is just natural material.

• 1:01:16Speaker 05

  Send some of that into the atmosphere for us.

• 1:01:18Speaker 06

  Look how, I don't know if you can see this. Look how it just floats.

• 1:01:22Speaker 05

  Uh huh. It's wonderful. Love milkweed.

• 1:01:25Speaker 06

  It just floats.

• 1:01:26Speaker 05

  You can watch that stuff float away for a hundred yards.

• 1:01:28Speaker 06

  Yeah, yeah, especially if you're in a tree stand where you're elevated, you drop a piece of that, you can see exactly. Where your scent's going and like you said, I've sat there with my binoculars and watched it go a hundred plus yards out. From where I was sitting, you can, you can see exactly where your scent's blowing.

• 1:01:43Speaker 05

  You just keep some in the side pouch of your bino harness.

• 1:01:45Speaker 06

  Yep, yep, keep it right there and it's just always ready to go when I need it and it's very cheap. Cause it's natural and I get it right off the landscape.

• 1:01:54Speaker 05

  And I know Seth did this, I'm just reminding others, but leave the seeds where you found them, just take the, the white stuff. What, what does it even call? Does it have a name? Just like that, whatever that hair.

• 1:02:03Speaker 06

  Yeah, probably.

• 1:02:03Speaker 05

  Substances.

• 1:02:04Speaker 06

  Probably, it's, it's, yeah.

• 1:02:06Speaker 05

  That way you're not spreading, not spreading milkweed all over the continent. But the best wind indicator nature could give you.

• 1:02:12Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 1:02:12Speaker 05

  It's good stuff. All right, for Gear Talk today, I am revisiting the gas can dilemma. Last month, I had declared that I haven't used a good gas can in a decade and all the best gas cans in my life came from my dad that are, you know, as old as I am. So I asked folks to write in with gas cans that they really liked. I got 161 emails from listeners recommending gas cans and there were four brands that were recommended far more than the others. Those four brands made up 64% of the emails I got. So here they are, starting at number four. That is the no spill gas can. I had 14 folks write in about this one.

• 1:02:54Speaker 05

  A five gallon no spill can is $39 at Walmart. They claim to have one of the fastest cans on the market. They say it drains three gallons a minute, has a thumb controlled fuel spout, and view stripe. Jay Hatrup, he said, "If you're filling something that's filled from the top, like a lawnmower or snow blower, there is nothing better than a no spill can. These are dead simple for top filling, but are basically worthless for filling a vehicle." So that is the no spill can. That is fourth place, 14 people.

• 1:03:27Speaker 06

  That's a good can.

• 1:03:28Speaker 05

  Well, you're doing four of these. Four of these. Number three is the Sure Can. 19 folks wrote in about this one. A five gallon Sure Can is $80 at Ace. That is the most expensive one from our list. It's got a spout at the bottom, thumb control on the top. They say this design gives you the best control when filling large machines. Ethan Lindquist specifically said, "I highly recommend Sure Can gas cans. I have six and have never spilled. Best of all, you can fill most things while standing up instead of bending over." So that is the Sure Can at number three.

• 1:04:03Speaker 06

  I've never seen that.

• 1:04:04Speaker 05

  Number two, we have the Tough Jug. 21 folks wrote in recommending this. Five gallon Tough Jug is $42 from their website. They use an auto stop technology that instantly shuts off flow when your container is full and has internal venting that helps prevent leaks. John Foley, he said- There's a reason these are on back order. They're worth every penny. No leaks or glugs. I'm a fire chief and after replacing my personal ones, every gas can at the firehouse for small engines is now a tough jug. So that is number two. 21 folks recommended that. Number one, this had a dominating lead in the polling from our listeners.

• 1:04:46Speaker 05

  Forty-eight folks wrote in recommending this one. Everybody seems to love this. It is the VP Racing gas can. Five and a half gallon VP Racing can is $48 at Lowe's. They have a wide grip and deluxe hose that won't spill. Now here's the kicker. These are not sold as gas cans. They explicitly say on their website that this is only intended for non-fuel products. Instead, they advertise them as quote, "motorsport containers" that can also pour auto fluids, bird seed, deer corn, and water. But clearly, most customers are putting gas in them. And by skirting some EPA regulations.

• 1:05:27Speaker 06

  That's what I was about to say.

• 1:05:28Speaker 05

  Like the best gas can on the market. Justin Bowman, he wrote in to say VP Racing gas cans are by far the best on the market. They'll make you feel like you're pouring gas in 2005, which is about the strongest endorsement somebody could give to a gas can. Forty-eight folks wrote in recommending that. About 33% of our audience said that is an amazing gas can from VP Racing.

• 1:05:52Speaker 06

  That's great. I like how they use terminology to skirt the whole gas can thing.

• 1:05:57Speaker 05

  Yeah, it's not for fuel. Very clear. It's not for fuel. And somebody actually wrote in saying they live in one of the states where you can't pump your own gas, which I think New Jersey is, Oregon used to be. They said they pulled up to a gas pump with one of these VP Racing and the attendant will not fill it. So you might run into that.

• 1:06:14Speaker 06

  You may only use this bong for tobacco.

• 1:06:17Speaker 05

  Exactly, yes. Very similar thing. VP Racing, $48 can, uh, everyone seems to love them. That is probably the can I'm going to get. Uh, and there is your gas can roundup for Meat Eater listeners.

• 1:06:31Speaker 04

  That's great. That is great. Fantastic.

• 1:06:34Speaker 05

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

• 1:06:39Speaker 06

  Oh, let's do it. Get these in. Folks, uh, you have a trapping question. I thought since Seth was here, we tackled it. But it's specifically, uh, northern Minnesota trapping. So let's see what you can do here. So, uh, crack at, crack at Washington asks, what terrain slash features or terrain features would you look out for during, uh, his first northeast Minnesota bobcat, uh, slash Fisher trapping season? He's got a 220 cubby set, by the way.

• 1:07:06Speaker 04

  Uh, well, that's a good start. Um, Fisher, so Fisher trapping, which I've done in Pennsylvania and if, I've actually caught one.

• 1:07:18Speaker 04

  I was tra, I was trapping an area that was heavy with, uh, some porcupines, which they like to feed on.

• 1:07:25Speaker 05

  Oh, I didn't know that about that.

• 1:07:27Speaker 04

  Yeah, they'll, they can, they can somehow roll them over and, and get at them without getting stuck, um, from what they say. But, um, and I, you know, I had some trail cameras in that area and was getting, uh, getting fishers on my trail camera. So I knew that they were there. So, um, but like terrain features, I, I was just in hard, like hardwoods mixed with some white pine that, that just had like the right forage for them, I guess. Um, lots of porcupines, lots of squirrels. Um, so basically hardwood timber, uh, mixed with some conifers. Um, and then bobcats,

• 1:08:08Speaker 04

  they like, uh, rocky stuff. Um, so if there's any sort of outcropping or, um, you know, big boulders, they like to work those edges.

• 1:08:20Speaker 05

  Hmm.

• 1:08:21Speaker 04

  Um, or we, Steve and I actually just caught a bobcat yesterday here in Montana.

• 1:08:26Speaker 05

  Oh.

• 1:08:27Speaker 04

  Um.

• 1:08:27Speaker 05

  Good one?

• 1:08:28Speaker 04

  Yeah, 33 and a half pounds.

• 1:08:30Speaker 05

  Oh, whoa.

• 1:08:31Speaker 04

  Yeah. That's a. Big kitty.

• 1:08:34Speaker 04

  That was River Bottom, thick brushy stuff that had plenty of pheasants and birds around.

• 1:08:41Speaker 05

  Yeah, here's some insight from someone who's never trapped a bobcat or tried. So this doesn't mean anything, but I grew up in southeastern South Dakota, a place that is pretty marginal bobcat habitat. But when I would come across bobcats, it was in my places that were also the best spots for turkey hunting. Whether it was because the turkeys were there or the bobcats and the turkeys just liked the exact same thing. I imagine northern Minnesota is not crawling with turkeys. So maybe if you come across pheasants, like Seth said, or turkeys, which is something I observed in eastern South Dakota. Maybe you're primed for a bobcat there.

• 1:09:15Speaker 04

  Yep. Good luck.

• 1:09:17Speaker 06

  Cool. Steven Mullet says, please more, no more D and D episodes. Wow. Interesting. Couldn't agree more.

• 1:09:23Speaker 05

  Steve, Steve Brunello didn't even try to come up with a good burner for that. He just had his own first name in there and everything.

• 1:09:32Speaker 06

  Hayden Fiddy, when rifle hunting for big game, do you value full penetration or energy expansion of your bullet?

• 1:09:38Speaker 05

  Hmm. Santa, what do you think?

• 1:09:41Speaker 04

  Well.

• 1:09:44Speaker 04

  I have a couple of answers.

• 1:09:48Speaker 04

  I would go for a bullet that creates a wider wound channel. And the way I would begin thinking about projectile selection. Is I would find whatever you're looking for, figure out what the minimum terminal velocity you need to make that bullet expand as fully as it can. And then determine which cartridge is going to launch that bullet at that speed. To get to the given range that you'd like. I think you want big wounds. Wounds are what kill. Energy doesn't kill. Big wounds kill. Full penetration. I think there aren't very many bullets that you don't have to worry about penetration. So that's a.

• 1:10:30Speaker 04

  Rambling answer, which sort of skirted around your question, but I like a bullet that upsets violently. And I'm not too worried about shooting through, you know, four feet of wood.

• 1:10:41Speaker 05

  There you go.

• 1:10:41Speaker 04

  It's just bones and skin and muscle. In Africa, when Steve was buffalo hunting, the first, the first round in the, in the magazine. I guess the first round that would come out of the magazine, um, was a bullet that would expand well. And then the other ones behind that were, were penetrating rounds. Um, that way, the first bullet went in, expanded, created that good wound channel. And then the follow up shots, you just keep shooting until you, you don't have shots anymore, you know?

• 1:11:11Speaker 05

  Do you know how deep you were penetrating those critters?

• 1:11:14Speaker 04

  I had no clue. It's all depends on the angle.

• 1:11:18Speaker 04

  So that's just, that's for buffalo hunting in Africa, but you know.

• 1:11:24Speaker 04

  No, I would just say, uh, I would just say, I don't think that energy is a good measure of a bullet's efficacy.

• 1:11:31Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 1:11:32Speaker 04

  It's, it's all about what that bullet mechanically does when it hits an animal at a given speed.

• 1:11:39Speaker 05

  Good answer, Santa. What else you got, Phil?

• 1:11:41Speaker 06

  Uh, Cliff is wondering if, if Randall and Phil are going to release any footage from the big buck hunter world championships. Uh, yes, look out for it early next year.

• 1:11:50Speaker 04

  Oh, oh, oh.

• 1:11:52Speaker 06

  Q one as in.

• 1:11:53Speaker 04

  That sounds like a fun little video.

• 1:11:55Speaker 06

  It'll be a fun little, again, it's going to be like a short thing. It's not going to be like an episode of Meat Eater or with that production value either.

• 1:12:02Speaker 04

  I heard a rumor, I heard a rumor in the office that there's some sick footage of Randall.

• 1:12:07Speaker 06

  Spoil it, don't, Santa.

• 1:12:13Speaker 06

  Very sick footage.

• 1:12:15Speaker 05

  Very good.

• 1:12:15Speaker 06

  Uh, Mark asks, what's the worst injury each of you, uh, have endured during hunting or fishing?

• 1:12:22Speaker 05

  Hmm. Uh, I, I, and this was in 2018. I was coming out of a tree stand one night in South Dakota after a bow hunt in late October. Um, my like third to last step was not a step. It was a tree branch that I had trimmed down to be like six inches that I had put a lot of faith in over the years. Uh, and that night it broke and I fell. And it was a very short fall, like I landed on my feet, but on the way down I hit uh, a metal tree step that I had also put in, uh, and it opened up my side and I drove to the ER. Ooh. Yeah, they, they took some scans, uh, stitched me up and I went on my way home and I was, um,

• 1:13:02Speaker 05

  most devastated because one, like I was now going to worry my wife, um, who I'm always telling like, ah, it's gonna be fine. I'm good. You know, like it's, I'm by myself. It's all gonna be whatever. Uh, but then also the rut was coming up and I had a rifle tag. I was excited about it. And I was like, I'm gonna miss, um, some rut hunts. Uh, about two weeks later, I was back to hunting again. So it was all, it was all fine. And I still got that scar. Seth, worst injury?

• 1:13:28Speaker 06

  I don't really have anything good. Cuts from knives and whatnot, uh, hooks in hands.

• 1:13:35Speaker 05

  Hmm.

• 1:13:35Speaker 06

  I, I did something, I tweaked my knee this year when I was packing out my bow.

• 1:13:39Speaker 05

  Uh oh.

• 1:13:39Speaker 06

  I've kind of been suffering with that ever since, but I don't know. I don't know if I'd call that an injury.

• 1:13:45Speaker 05

  Santa?

• 1:13:46Speaker 04

  Oh, outside of the usual cuts, um, the first thing that comes to mind is I was driving a jet boat. That was, it had a poor design, very steep chimes. And occasionally when you're power sliding it, it would grab. And, uh, I was coming around this big log.

• 1:14:06Speaker 05

  Where at?

• 1:14:07Speaker 04

  Up in Alaska, going full tilt, you know? And, uh, it grabbed. And I was thrown forward in the boat and gave myself a concussion. We're pretty sure I didn't go to a hospital, but I was pretty sick and nauseous for the next day or so.

• 1:14:25Speaker 05

  Felt sleepy.

• 1:14:26Speaker 04

  And, uh, hit my head on the floor of the boat. Yep. I didn't like that boat. We eventually, uh, we eventually put some floats on the back to try to alleviate its handling characteristics because again, the geometry of it was all off, but I never really trusted that boat.

• 1:14:43Speaker 05

  Santa made it here today, though.

• 1:14:45Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 1:14:45Speaker 05

  He's doing fine.

• 1:14:46Speaker 04

  Stung by bees, too. I swell up quite a bit.

• 1:14:49Speaker 06

  Free crank asks, or says, first, I've gotten two roadkill deer this year. If you guys get roadkill, do you treat it differently when processing? Santa, do you snag roadkill in the sled?

• 1:14:59Speaker 04

  The only roadkill I've ever taken was a buck that my dad hit driving home from work when I was a senior in high school. I had a broken leg at the time, so my buddy picked me up and we went and the cop shot the deer in the head because it wasn't dead yet. So then we euroed that skull, but we took the deer to a processor because I wasn't hunting that year. There's a man named Patterson. He had a tattoo on his arm of a castle with a dragon flying over it.

• 1:15:25Speaker 06

  Oh, sick.

• 1:15:26Speaker 04

  And then he skinned it up and he said it was too bruised to eat, so he wouldn't accept it. So that's my roadkill story.

• 1:15:34Speaker 05

  I hit a doe last year, um, driving home from a hunt in South Dakota. Um, and that thing had too much trauma as well to like take most of the meat. So I took, I had the back straps. I took the tender loins, um, and then like a roast on the back ham, but otherwise it was just like, you know, pretty well ruined, uh, that you wouldn't want to be eating that. A lot of trauma, a lot of blood. Seth, any roadkill in your day?

• 1:15:59Speaker 04

  Um, mm, I don't think I've picked up a roadkill deer. I've, I've picked up some roadkill, uh, fur bears and skinned them.

• 1:16:08Speaker 05

  Mmm.

• 1:16:09Speaker 04

  Um.

• 1:16:10Speaker 05

  Do you treat them any different than one that was in your trap?

• 1:16:13Speaker 04

  No, just, I mean, try each, you know, try to avoid picking something up that's

• 1:16:18Speaker 05

  Sure.

• 1:16:19Speaker 04

  full of trauma, but no, I don't treat them different.

• 1:16:22Speaker 05

  Phil, one more.

• 1:16:24Speaker 06

  Uh, okay, first?

• 1:16:25Speaker 04

  Phil, I've seen a few suggestions in the chat that I've had. I've been over served today, and I'd just like to address that. I haven't had anything to drink yet.

• 1:16:35Speaker 05

  He hasn't yet.

• 1:16:36Speaker 04

  Yet.

• 1:16:37Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 1:16:38Steven Rinella?

  I'm just full of the Christmas spirit.

• 1:16:40Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:16:41Speaker 06

  It's intoxicating.

• 1:16:42Speaker 05

  Uh huh.

• 1:16:43Speaker 06

  Uh, Santa, what was the mascot at your high school?

• 1:16:45Steven Rinella?

  The Warriors.

• 1:16:47Speaker 06

  Oh, that's, I thought you'd be a little bit more, you know, theme.

• 1:16:50Speaker 05

  Was it portrayed as like a Native American or what was it?

• 1:16:52Steven Rinella?

  Yes, but they changed it. They changed it in recent years to fit more of a Spartan theme.

• 1:16:59Speaker 05

  Hmm.

• 1:16:59Steven Rinella?

  With a, with a gladiator type helmet with a nose shield and a sword and people were very upset about it.

• 1:17:05Speaker 05

  Sure.

• 1:17:06Steven Rinella?

  Yes, yes.

• 1:17:07Speaker 05

  That's a good one to end on.

• 1:17:08Steven Rinella?

  Merry Month Warriors.

• 1:17:09Speaker 06

  Okay, last one. This is from Mr. Hunterman69. Santa, is Brody on the naughty list because he wins more in trivia than Randall? Or is Spencer on the naughty list for asking all those fishing questions for number 10?

• 1:17:20Speaker 05

  Good question.

• 1:17:21Steven Rinella?

  It's all about the questions for me. It's like playing golf. You're really playing against yourself, trying to pick up a stroke here and there on your opponent. But if the course is shitty, there's not much you can do.

• 1:17:32Speaker 05

  That's right. Santa, thank you for joining us today.

• 1:17:36Steven Rinella?

  Oh, it's so much fun to be on radio live.

• 1:17:39Speaker 05

  Very warm in here too, I'm.

• 1:17:40Steven Rinella?

  Yes, yes. My face itches tremendously.

• 1:17:44Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 1:17:44Steven Rinella?

  No, I need to get this off.

• 1:17:46Speaker 06

  You're about to be real busy here.

• 1:17:48Steven Rinella?

  Oh, yes. Yes, it's coming up quickly and there's all sorts of boys and girls all over the world who made their gifts, so. I better, uh, better sign off and get back to the workshop. The elves are busy.

• 1:18:00Speaker 05

  Speaking of the holidays, we have some pre-recorded episodes for radio coming up. Uh, send us your questions to radio at the meat eater dot com. So we can interject those where the live chat normally participates. Uh, radio at the meat eater dot com. Send your questions our way, uh, very soon. One last thing Seth about that apple butter.

• 1:18:17Steven Rinella?

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:18:18Speaker 05

  I was driving by a rancher's place. I had picked some apples that day while I was hunting on the mountain and then they had some beautiful apple trees in their driveway. I swung in and asked for, uh, permission to pick their apples and they let me. So that's the first time I've ever gotten apple hunting permission.

• 1:18:32Steven Rinella?

  Oh, that is.

• 1:18:32Speaker 05

  Now I turned in that apple butter.

• 1:18:34Speaker 06

  That's the new heart, the king of permissions.

• 1:18:35Speaker 05

  That's right. All right. See you back here next week. Same time and place. Bye now.

• 1:18:40Steven Rinella?

  Oh.

• 1:18:53Steven Rinella?

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• 1:19:38Steven Rinella?

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• 1:20:19Steven Rinella?

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• 1:20:43Speaker 00

  This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.