Speaker 1: Smell us now, lady, Welcome to Meet Eater Trivia podcast.
Speaker 2: All right, we're on. Welcome to the June twenty sixth
Speaker 2: episode of Media to Radio Live. It's eleven o'clock here
Speaker 2: in Bozeman, Montana. It's eight o'clock eight pm for Steve,
Speaker 2: who's currently in Tanzania, Africa. My kid's got a MOA's
Speaker 2: lawn tomorrow for him. I'm your host, Brody Henderson, and
Speaker 2: I'm joined by Seth Morris and Corey Calkins. Today we're
Speaker 2: gonna chat with a Vermont Forrester about logging and shooting.
Speaker 2: Wait till doze. Then we're gonna do a little public
Speaker 2: lands throwback Thursday, and we're gonna follow that up with
Speaker 2: some regional fishing reports and a first ever meat Eater
Speaker 2: live at fishing tournament between Seth and Corey. You guys nervous?
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I'm not at all.
Speaker 2: You shouldn't be. No, it's just gonna this is like
Speaker 2: like just trail breaking stuff here. That what you guys
Speaker 2: are gonna do today.
Speaker 3: Someone's ever done.
Speaker 4: I'd be nervous if I was a fish in that
Speaker 4: pond right now.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 4: They don't know what's coming.
Speaker 2: Unlass. We're gonna finish everything up with a funny trailcam
Speaker 2: photo contest, which should be really really cool to look at. Uh.
Speaker 2: Before we get get to all that, we're gonna do
Speaker 2: a little chit chat like we usually do. What do
Speaker 2: you guys went up to?
Speaker 3: Well?
Speaker 4: I got a quick question, how well does Steve pay
Speaker 4: your kids for mowing this lawn?
Speaker 2: That was unclear? I asked, asked my kid, like, what
Speaker 2: did he tell you were getting? He's like, he didn't
Speaker 2: say anything. Mmmm, so it might be based, it might
Speaker 2: be performance based pay.
Speaker 4: We'll see, well naturally, Yeah, what he's gone for a while.
Speaker 2: But then I found out he's got to bag up
Speaker 2: a bunch of grass because Steve needs to like mulch
Speaker 2: his potatoes or something.
Speaker 3: Oh that's I hope he charges extra for that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll see. So, yeah, we got to go over
Speaker 2: there and do that.
Speaker 3: See what your what your boy needs to do is
Speaker 3: just give him an invoice. I know, don't don't like,
Speaker 3: let Steve set the price.
Speaker 2: You know, that's a good idea.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's great on that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Seth, you're about to go on a really long
Speaker 2: plane ride.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm heading to where Steve's at right now Tanzania
Speaker 3: tomorrow morning.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know how many hours exactly, like thirty
Speaker 3: thirty some hours to travel.
Speaker 2: Where's it? Where are your stopovers?
Speaker 3: Minneapolis, Amsterdam, kil Minjaro.
Speaker 2: That's not so bad.
Speaker 3: It's like, uh whatever, from here to Minneapolis is what
Speaker 3: to and some change. Then it's eight hours, nine hours,
Speaker 3: and then I think there's some little type of bush
Speaker 3: plane flight we take into where we're going to be.
Speaker 2: Wow, I can We'll see you at the end of
Speaker 2: the summer.
Speaker 3: I'll yeah, yeah, gone all summer.
Speaker 4: That'll be an adventure.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 3: You guys have to do some fishing for me.
Speaker 2: Oh, we're heading out this week and we're going after
Speaker 2: some walleye purchase.
Speaker 3: We just don't send me any photos because I don't.
Speaker 3: I'll be jealous.
Speaker 2: Seth would rather see a picture of a big walleye
Speaker 2: than like a lion or a dram Yeah, that's true story.
Speaker 2: Corey been doing anything.
Speaker 4: Fun, lots of fishing and camping, trying to get my
Speaker 4: seven year old kid into the lifestyle.
Speaker 2: I saw that video of him hauling in a trout. Yeah,
Speaker 2: not too long ago. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 3: Yep, he's pretty hooked.
Speaker 4: Now we got him echos Gecko. It's this little kid's
Speaker 4: flyer out. It's got a little fighting butt, fiberglass, four weight,
Speaker 4: super easy for the kids to cast. High recommend it
Speaker 4: if anybody wants to get their kids into fly fish.
Speaker 4: And it just makes anybody a professional angler.
Speaker 3: You can.
Speaker 4: I was shocked that it could land these super heavy, stout,
Speaker 4: healthy fish on the Missouri.
Speaker 2: Bendy fiberglass rod.
Speaker 4: Yeah, very easy to fight.
Speaker 2: You can use it today in the tournament.
Speaker 4: You should, I should, But no, I got my kid's
Speaker 4: other rod. Actually, I'm just a little seven foot seven
Speaker 4: and a half foot four weight cool should do the.
Speaker 2: Trick, Philt. We got our interviewee ready to go.
Speaker 5: He is in the waiting room. Yeah, he's ready to go.
Speaker 2: Let's let's talk. Uh, let's talk logging and stuff.
Speaker 3: Let's bring him in.
Speaker 2: Okay. Today we're joined by a former met Eater podcast guest,
Speaker 2: Mike's Mike Snyder. Mike served twelve years as the commissioner
Speaker 2: of Vermont's Department of Forest, Parks and Recreation and also
Speaker 2: as State for Forrester. Today is the owner of Green
Speaker 2: Fire Enterprises, which is an operation that consults on forrest conservation,
Speaker 2: forestry and outdoor recreation. And he's also a writer who
Speaker 2: wrote woods Wise, an expiration of forest and forestry. So, Mike,
Speaker 2: thanks for joining us.
Speaker 1: Man, happy to be here.
Speaker 2: Like your shirt.
Speaker 3: Yeah, apport shirt for here.
Speaker 1: We had to wrap today for that, chefs. Good to
Speaker 1: see you again. Last time we chatted we were comparing
Speaker 1: notes on the old dendrology class.
Speaker 3: Yes, sir, good to see you again.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 2: Right on, Mike, Just in case anyone missed the podcast
Speaker 2: that you were on, can you give us just a
Speaker 2: brief rundown of your experience in the field of forestry
Speaker 2: and then we'll move on to some current events stuff.
Speaker 1: Sure. Yeah, I'm a forester. I live here in Vermont.
Speaker 1: I've been practicing forestry now just forty years here in
Speaker 1: a variety of capacities over time for science forest management,
Speaker 1: start working with private landowners, and then, as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: I was tapped to philip role as Commissioner of the
Speaker 1: Department of Forest, Parks and Recreation, working closely with the
Speaker 1: Department of Fish and Wildlife unrelated matters and so a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago I stepped down from that and
Speaker 1: have gone back into private practice with my company Green
Speaker 1: Fire as you say, consulting in a variety of forestry, conservation,
Speaker 1: outdoor recreation related topics. I also spent time teaching at
Speaker 1: UVM University of from teaching forestry for decade and a
Speaker 1: half and have been writing for various magazines over time
Speaker 1: as well. So it's a mixed bag, but pretty much
Speaker 1: everything I've ever done has been related to the woods
Speaker 1: one way or another.
Speaker 2: So, like, for all those city folks out there, like,
Speaker 2: what does a forester do? Is it just like looking
Speaker 2: at a chunk of land and being like, how do
Speaker 2: we make this healthy? How do we keep this forest healthy?
Speaker 2: Like just like what like say as the state for well,
Speaker 2: you said state forest was political, but like's what's an
Speaker 2: on the ground forest are doing?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a good question because there is a lot
Speaker 1: of it seems overtime definitely learned that there's misconceptions. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of ways to be a forester. Uh And
Speaker 1: but the sort of boots on the ground, as you
Speaker 1: describe the basic field forester is as you say, it's
Speaker 1: the folks who kind of take care of the woods, understand, map, inventory, describe,
Speaker 1: and make decisions and choices about how to get what
Speaker 1: people need from the woods, well, taking care of the woods.
Speaker 1: One good analogy I would I would draw that's very helpful,
Speaker 1: I think is it's rough, but it's reasonable. Particularly where
Speaker 1: you think about forester is differentiated from the lagger. So
Speaker 1: like the forest think of like architect and builder. The
Speaker 1: forester is more like the architect, design input on the
Speaker 1: front end, and then the lagger is more like the
Speaker 1: builder who actually does the tough work of harvesting trees,
Speaker 1: you know, getting them out of the woods in a
Speaker 1: careful way. And so you know, that's how I would
Speaker 1: describe it. Foresters are responsible to the landowner and to
Speaker 1: the land and kind of agent for land and for landowner,
Speaker 1: trying to hold it all together. And you know, forest
Speaker 1: health is the root of it, but also the practical
Speaker 1: realities of people needing stuff from the woods. We use
Speaker 1: an enormous amount of wood products, a wild range of
Speaker 1: wood products in our daily lives, even if we don't
Speaker 1: really know it. And foresters that's the core of what
Speaker 1: forestry and foresters are all about.
Speaker 2: Cool. Well, since you're a forester, and I'm assuming you
Speaker 2: worked with a lot of logging operations, so like we've established,
Speaker 2: you got some subject matter expertise. I wanted wanted to
Speaker 2: get your thoughts on the recent repeal of the roadless
Speaker 2: rules that in national forests that are going to open
Speaker 2: up tens of millions of acres of national forests a logging.
Speaker 2: There's definitely, like I believe, some legitimate concerns around this
Speaker 2: surrounding like threats to critical wildlife habitat and threats to
Speaker 2: the headwaters of river drainages that supply clean water to
Speaker 2: millions of people. But the logging part, it's not so
Speaker 2: cut and dry.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: Some folks feel like all logging is gonna end up
Speaker 2: being this like ecological disaster, and there's others that are like, man,
Speaker 2: it's national forest, like every single acre of it should
Speaker 2: be used and logged. So you know, we're not so
Speaker 2: reliant on Canadian lumber and you're creating jobs. And then
Speaker 2: like that's legitimate too, So like give us your perspective
Speaker 2: on this and try to help our listeners understand like
Speaker 2: when logging is good and when it's bad, like both
Speaker 2: in practice and in location.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a lot too much. So we've got a
Speaker 1: couple hours. Yeah, there's a lot there, right, And so
Speaker 1: it's like so many things particularly in nature or wherever
Speaker 1: biology or ecology involved. People and policy seem to really
Speaker 1: want black and white, one size fits all kind of
Speaker 1: policies and approaches and statements and forests all biological systems.
Speaker 1: They just don't do that. And so here where we're
Speaker 1: talking about logging, habitats management, you know, it's complicated. So
Speaker 1: I would start there and then says it's nowhere near
Speaker 1: as simple or black and white as any of us
Speaker 1: might want to say when we go to our respective
Speaker 1: corners and sort of anchor down. Let's start with I
Speaker 1: would start with the forests are are incredible. They're complex,
Speaker 1: they're diverse, they're dynamic, and they don't need us. They're
Speaker 1: just fine and they're gonna be fine. But the fact
Speaker 1: is we need them, and we have been involved with
Speaker 1: forests for forever. There's never been a time in the
Speaker 1: history of people when people weren't utterly dependent on on
Speaker 1: wood for a variety of things basic needs, and that continues.
Speaker 1: There's not there's no reason to think that's ever going
Speaker 1: to change. So we have this relationship and on the
Speaker 1: one hand, we'd like to say, let's set it aside
Speaker 1: and leave it be. And then there's the more Leapolean
Speaker 1: kind of approach of like, we're part of this community. Uh.
Speaker 1: And and that's where forestry comes in, and that's where
Speaker 1: we have to start thinking with with public lands national forests.
Speaker 1: The intent is very clear for this multi use mandate
Speaker 1: uh and for wood supply.
Speaker 6: UH.
Speaker 1: And so then we just further get into like, well,
Speaker 1: what where when, for what reasons and and uh proposals
Speaker 1: to generally speaking, whether it's roadless rule or doing away
Speaker 1: with pesky regulations as that's been called, but just basically
Speaker 1: an executive order that says, let's increase the on of
Speaker 1: timber supply, domestic supply. On his face, I'd say, there's
Speaker 1: there's good good there's some good stuff there. Like it.
Speaker 1: It's reasonable to up our, you know, production of domestic wood.
Speaker 1: We have the resource, we have the wood base, we
Speaker 1: have the the technology, we have the the expertise to
Speaker 1: do it really well. And so any given place where
Speaker 1: there's a proposal on public lands for logging, it's not
Speaker 1: logging just because somebody doesn't like trees or once enjoys
Speaker 1: cutting them down. It's to meet massive demands, uh, societal
Speaker 1: demands and economic needs. And so you got to look
Speaker 1: at each one, and I would I would also just
Speaker 1: say that the public lands managers, the foresters and biologists
Speaker 1: and hydrologists you know that work on public lands that
Speaker 1: propose and and vet logging projects there, they're more than
Speaker 1: logging projects. They're forced management projects. And logging is a
Speaker 1: tool to affect various changes in the forest, to to
Speaker 1: tweak forest health, to reduce fuel loads, to enhance habitat,
Speaker 1: to protect water quality. And the wood that comes off
Speaker 1: is this wonderful byproduct. But these are the most regulated,
Speaker 1: the most that scrutinize the quality of silver, cultural planning
Speaker 1: and then implementation. It's it's the best anywhere, certainly more
Speaker 1: than on private lands or industrial lands. And so you know,
Speaker 1: I would encourage folks to relax a little bit and
Speaker 1: then look into the details of any given proposal. And
Speaker 1: then lastly, I would just say this idea that well,
Speaker 1: let's just increase domestic supply. That's for me. That would
Speaker 1: that make as I said, that makes sense on the surface,
Speaker 1: but that's not what is wrong with or what plagues
Speaker 1: rural communities where that depend on harvesting. Like we've lost mills,
Speaker 1: we've lost workforce, the loggers, the truckers, we lost the mills,
Speaker 1: the secondary manufacturing facilities, and we can dump a lot
Speaker 1: of wood back into the system, but therefore aren't loggers,
Speaker 1: there aren't truckers, there aren't mills and processing facilities to
Speaker 1: process produce material from those. Then it doesn't do us
Speaker 1: any good. So that's my big point in all this
Speaker 1: is we can get all hot and bothered about any
Speaker 1: given logging project, but it doesn't matter if we don't
Speaker 1: have the real policy shifts are in workforce and education,
Speaker 1: rural redevelopment, investment in these facilities that have this conservation
Speaker 1: effect on the landscape. That's my big point here would
Speaker 1: be that forestry is a conservation tool that keeps forests forests.
Speaker 1: And it's counterintuitive to most people that we can save
Speaker 1: forest by cutting trees, but we meet our needs with
Speaker 1: wood being better than all the alternative materials plastics, steel, concrete.
Speaker 1: And that's what we got to get over is that
Speaker 1: people survey after surveys show that people really truly love wood,
Speaker 1: and people say that wood is the most sustainable material
Speaker 1: of all they're right, but then they say that logging
Speaker 1: and forestry are the least sustainable. So this is where
Speaker 1: we gotta we gotta lean in. People love wood, but
Speaker 1: they don't like how we get wood, and that's a
Speaker 1: big problem. Public lends can play a role in supplying
Speaker 1: wood and helping us realize that it's done well. It's complicated.
Speaker 1: Uh and yeah, I guess I'll cause there. Just sure,
Speaker 1: I know, I spit out a lot there.
Speaker 2: We had plenty of time there, We had plenty of time.
Speaker 2: Let's let's jump into hunting next, Mike, if we can.
Speaker 2: Vermont recently expanded dough hunt hunting opportunities in order to
Speaker 2: dress some overpopulation issues. I'm assuming and state biologists and
Speaker 2: a college just kind of agree that keeping deer numbers
Speaker 2: in check would lead to healthier herds, healthier for us.
Speaker 2: We've seen a lot of states go this route in
Speaker 2: the past couple of decades, and the hunting community, like
Speaker 2: in general, I would say, has embraced killing more white
Speaker 2: tailed dos as a management tool. But I heard that
Speaker 2: some for my hunters were very opposed to increasing dough harvest.
Speaker 2: So we're gonna get your thoughts there. Like when I
Speaker 2: was a kid in Pennsylvania, a lot of the old
Speaker 2: timers frowned on killing does because they thought that meant
Speaker 2: less bucks In the future. I don't know if it
Speaker 2: was that way for you, Seth, but again, like I
Speaker 2: feel like in the last couple of decades, last decade,
Speaker 2: for sure, I think most white tail hunters have turned
Speaker 2: the corner on that. So it's interesting to me that
Speaker 2: there's still, you know, a widespread stigma against killing does
Speaker 2: in Vermont.
Speaker 1: It's yeah, you nailed it, and this is it's so Vermont.
Speaker 1: As of now, we have antlerless you know, with archery,
Speaker 1: and there's a lottery system for antler liss tags for muzzleloader,
Speaker 1: but it's verboten. There's never you know, you don't shoot
Speaker 1: those during the rifle season. And that's what has recently
Speaker 1: looks like it's changing. So and Vermont is the only
Speaker 1: state in the Northeast, i think, all the way through
Speaker 1: Pennsylvania down in Virginia that doesn't still doesn't allow any
Speaker 1: antlerless rifle hunting. And so the Fish and Wildlife Board,
Speaker 1: the Vermont Fishing Wildlife Board, that is charged with setting
Speaker 1: regulations and developing and enacting those regulations for hunting and
Speaker 1: fishing and trapping things like seasons, bag limits, methods of
Speaker 1: taking license fees. That's the body that makes these decisions
Speaker 1: and they've last time, it's been forty years since there
Speaker 1: was any dough season, and that's back in the mid
Speaker 1: eighties during rifle and it was highly contentious. Then there
Speaker 1: were more deer and more hunters than and so you're right.
Speaker 1: Now they have this these deer density targets for various
Speaker 1: management units around the state and they're finding that we
Speaker 1: have fewer hunters and more deer and that's a problem
Speaker 1: for habitat and for healthy forests. And so they've been
Speaker 1: suggesting this and it's been no, no, no, no, no no.
Speaker 1: The philosophy, the traditional philosophy is you don't shoot up.
Speaker 1: And so a couple weeks ago, at its last board meeting,
Speaker 1: the department proposed about seven changes to the deer management
Speaker 1: rule and the board, well, so this was the second
Speaker 1: vote they in February, they voted, that's the first vote
Speaker 1: to say, okay, this will let's go forward with public
Speaker 1: comment and the process. And that opened up this can
Speaker 1: of worms. And it's very contentious and many of my
Speaker 1: buddies hunting pals, they're dead set against it, but they
Speaker 1: went for it and they came back and then two
Speaker 1: weeks ago they had a meeting they had a vote
Speaker 1: and it was highly contentious, and it's a fourteen member
Speaker 1: board and this component passed eight to six and so
Speaker 1: and with quite a lot of controversy and contention. So
Speaker 1: that's the second vote, that is the most important, meaningful vote.
Speaker 1: It now goes to the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules
Speaker 1: and then it'll go back to the board for the
Speaker 1: third vote, which is usually kind of pro forma.
Speaker 2: So is it not a done deal yet?
Speaker 1: Right, That's what I'm trying to say. This is the
Speaker 1: big step just happened, which I spoke with the Director
Speaker 1: of Fish and Wildlife yesterday and indicated this generally means
Speaker 1: it's going forward. But yeah, there are a couple more
Speaker 1: steps and then it would go into effect if passed
Speaker 1: fully and as it is expected to do. Now, this
Speaker 1: was the last big hurdle. It'll be a fall of
Speaker 1: twenty six where these go into effect. And there's a
Speaker 1: number of related rules, but this was the big one.
Speaker 1: The antler permits to be used during the regular sixteen
Speaker 1: day rifle season in November.
Speaker 2: Has has Vermont experienced like is there deer herd? Like
Speaker 2: on a big upward climb, like there's like is there
Speaker 2: too many. I mean too many is obviously, you know,
Speaker 2: it depends on who you're talking to.
Speaker 1: And it's amazing, right, this is a small state. You
Speaker 1: guys are in Montana. This is a really small state.
Speaker 1: And yet even here we have wide ranging habitat conditions
Speaker 1: and populations. So by management unit around the state, there
Speaker 1: are some that have the biologists even indicate that we
Speaker 1: foresters have been kind of whining about this for some time.
Speaker 1: Locally over abundant leading to significant over browsing, which is
Speaker 1: not good for forest, but it's certainly not good for deer, right, yes,
Speaker 1: in some places, and that's why they want to do
Speaker 1: this these deer density unit targets by unit and it
Speaker 1: but this this rag would apply to all but the
Speaker 1: far northern northeastern portion of the state because as generally
Speaker 1: the population trends are going up, dear effort, a hunter
Speaker 1: effort is down, winter severity is down. You know, the
Speaker 1: various factors they put into their model which are all
Speaker 1: pointing to our increased herd size, decreased hunting, and wanting
Speaker 1: to get this back in balance with their habitat.
Speaker 2: Right, Well, myself, I hope it goes through. I think
Speaker 2: people tend to forget about this kind of stuff fairly quickly,
Speaker 2: and you know, in ten years, if the dough hunting
Speaker 2: thing goes through, it won't be an issue anymore. That's
Speaker 2: that's my take on it anyway.
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, like you say, it's contentious
Speaker 1: and there's a lot of folks that are not into it.
Speaker 1: There have been lens made at this over the last
Speaker 1: few decades, and they do surveys and it's been slowly
Speaker 1: changing where hunters are saying. You know, before it was
Speaker 1: everybody was against it, and then there's some for it,
Speaker 1: and now it's about half. And the board heard from
Speaker 1: their constituents ultimately, and I think for some of them
Speaker 1: it was really hard. But there's still a bunch you say,
Speaker 1: it's really a safety issue. They you know, Vermont was
Speaker 1: behind in this regard as well. We don't require hunter
Speaker 1: orange and so they're sort of brown is down fear
Speaker 1: and it's going to be crazy out there come rifle season. Uh.
Speaker 1: And as I understand that that's a big piece of
Speaker 1: the the the concerns against even because because the culture
Speaker 1: has shifted, as you suggest to, we get this a
Speaker 1: little bit more now that maybe we need to shoot
Speaker 1: some does a bit more than just with bow and arrow.
Speaker 2: Yep, all right, Uh, I understand that that you're going
Speaker 2: on the hunt of a lifetime. This fallout in our
Speaker 2: area and one of one of our country's most impressive
Speaker 2: public land destinations, the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Are you are you?
Speaker 2: What are you going after? Deer?
Speaker 1: Elk?
Speaker 2: Are you going? You're doing this on your own? Are
Speaker 2: you getting a guide?
Speaker 3: This?
Speaker 1: I'm so excited. And you rightly called it a hunt
Speaker 1: of a lifetime. This is not something I've done done.
Speaker 1: I've hunted in Montowna and in the West elsewhere, but
Speaker 1: this is a pack string hunt guided fully you know, outfitted.
Speaker 1: We're going in the Bob Marshall uh of seven days
Speaker 1: of hunting gear elk. Three good buddies, excellent hunters that
Speaker 1: I have been. We're more trackers here in the Northeast.
Speaker 1: We don't, you know, sit sit on stands and and
Speaker 1: so this is just going to be super different. And
Speaker 1: I have to say each one of us is completely
Speaker 1: freaked out at the prospect of being lame for three
Speaker 1: or four days. After I know which which end, I
Speaker 1: know which end the food goes in, and I think
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure which end, the food comes out. That's
Speaker 1: the end of my horsemanship knowledge.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean it's the The Bob is a super
Speaker 2: cool place, so that alone will make the trip worth
Speaker 2: it for you, I think.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's how we see it is like, you know,
Speaker 1: no matter what, this is going to be great, right,
Speaker 1: I mean just great. Watch out that you guys have
Speaker 1: for getting ready for this.
Speaker 4: Well, Corey here used to guiding the Bob, So yeah, Mike,
Speaker 4: I guided in there for a decade. I'm not going
Speaker 4: to ask for you're going because it's all gnarly and rugged,
Speaker 4: but yeah, I get ready for the toughest hunt of
Speaker 4: your life.
Speaker 1: I'm ready. I'm gonna be ready. It's this is super motivating, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, and then you're talking with the outfitter, just
Speaker 1: like I don't know most of I don't shoot at
Speaker 1: four hundred yards very often. I don't even know how
Speaker 1: to train for that. So that's my biggest fear is
Speaker 1: sort of being ready for a good shot at at distance,
Speaker 1: because that's just not something that I have a lot
Speaker 1: of experience with.
Speaker 4: Well, yeah, depending on what end of the wilderness you're in.
Speaker 4: The area I was in, our average shot was sixty
Speaker 4: to eighty yards with a rifle.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm talking.
Speaker 4: Because we're hunting in during the rut, as you know,
Speaker 4: so right, yeah.
Speaker 1: This is just so I don't know if I dropped
Speaker 1: that to somebody. I'm really glad you brought it up.
Speaker 1: It's just like you can imagine my excitement, right yep.
Speaker 2: Well, Mike, thanks for thanks for checking in with us,
Speaker 2: and good luck on that hunt.
Speaker 3: Yeah, good luck, Mike.
Speaker 2: Thanks guys, take care, take it easy.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 2: Unless you've been living under a rock and like Senator
Speaker 2: Mike Lee's backyard, you probably know what's going on with
Speaker 2: his attempts to sell off our public lands. It's like
Speaker 2: ever changing it. So there's been like three different versions
Speaker 2: of it this week, but it's still he's still going
Speaker 2: after that stuff. But just in case you're not aware
Speaker 2: of what's going on, like, hop on our website, read
Speaker 2: the article, follow Cal on Instagram, and he'll keep you
Speaker 2: up to date. But it just to show people like
Speaker 2: how important this stuff is and what's at stake, Me
Speaker 2: and the boys here are going to remind you about
Speaker 2: it and share some of our favorite public land hunting.
Speaker 2: Did you guys do fish any fishing or just hunting?
Speaker 3: I just did hunting slash.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yours through a little twist, a little little
Speaker 2: hike and bike and kind of stuff.
Speaker 4: Hiking, Ye, not a bike, gotcha.
Speaker 2: Anyway, we're gonna share some pictures and tell a little
Speaker 2: story and kind of let you know why public lands
Speaker 2: are important to us. Corey, since since you're not a
Speaker 2: hunter anymore, why don't you start off?
Speaker 4: Well, I'm gonna throw this all the way back to
Speaker 4: last n I.
Speaker 2: Screw up there Phil by having Cory go first.
Speaker 3: Probably, Oh no, it's fine. I can. I can change
Speaker 3: things on the fly.
Speaker 2: It's all right.
Speaker 4: It feels like a chameleon. He can adapt. H Anyway,
Speaker 4: I'm gonna throw this all the way back to last week, last.
Speaker 2: Wednesday, long time ago.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: A few colleagues and myself teamed up with the Station Foundation,
Speaker 4: which is an amazing organization made up of Special Operations
Speaker 4: vets and other highly trained professionals that help transition our
Speaker 4: nation special ops forces and their families get back to
Speaker 4: normal civilian life, which includes a multi day retreat here
Speaker 4: in Montana, which includes one day of high making this
Speaker 4: ten thousand foot peak just south of Bozeman, So three
Speaker 4: of us from meat either.
Speaker 2: Is that within the five mile corridor or whatever border
Speaker 2: thing that like, Oh, not quite close to town.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and from the top, I mean, you can see
Speaker 4: one of our busier towns in this city. Ear excuse me,
Speaker 4: in this state of Montana, not Bozeman. But anyway, it
Speaker 4: was a really amazing experience. There was thirty of us
Speaker 4: that summit did this peak, kids ranging from eight to fifteen,
Speaker 4: I think, and then a bunch of their dads and
Speaker 4: some of the other volunteers for the Station Foundation climbed
Speaker 4: this ten thousand foot peak. Hats off to all those kids.
Speaker 3: You made it up there.
Speaker 4: My seven year old kid wouldn't have made it halfway
Speaker 4: up there, and there were these eight year old kids
Speaker 4: who just kicked its ass. Last Wednesday, a beautiful day.
Speaker 4: Couldn't have had better weather.
Speaker 3: There's a view.
Speaker 4: All that that you can see right there in that
Speaker 4: photo is public land, So keep your hands off of it.
Speaker 2: Nice seth. What do you got for us?
Speaker 3: Oh, I got a photo of a mountain lion. This
Speaker 3: is the first mountain lion I've ever encountered in my life.
Speaker 3: I have seen multiple since then, but this was twenty seventeen.
Speaker 3: I believe was hunting this during Archer season September in
Speaker 3: Montana here hunting some public land National forest, and we
Speaker 3: weren't hearing many bugles that day, so we're kind of
Speaker 3: just still hunting through some timber and kind of out
Speaker 3: of nowhere, a few cows and a couple calf l
Speaker 3: kind of filtered past us. So we kind of honkered down, thinking,
Speaker 3: you know, there might be a bull behind them or whatnot,
Speaker 3: and we're.
Speaker 2: This was all pretty new experience for you.
Speaker 3: This was like, yeah, this was my first archery season.
Speaker 2: Like all this public land to just go Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I moved in twenty sixteen, but this was the
Speaker 3: first time I had like my resident license for our
Speaker 3: tree season. And so these these elk kind of moved
Speaker 3: past us, and we hunkered down just to see what
Speaker 3: was gonna happen next. And I kind of look over
Speaker 3: and I see something brown like moving kind of on
Speaker 3: the same trail where these elk could just come by.
Speaker 3: It's probably I don't know, maybe a minute later, and sure, shit,
Speaker 3: it was this mountain lion. And it was like hunting
Speaker 3: those elk, which was cool. And this photo here was
Speaker 3: taken through a pair of binoculars with a cell phone. Cool.
Speaker 3: It turned out pretty Yeah, it turned out pretty good.
Speaker 3: And uh so this thing it came, it came to
Speaker 3: about fifty yards of us, and once it like noticed
Speaker 3: we were there, it like did the like the cat
Speaker 3: just like hunker, like it just sunk to the ground,
Speaker 3: like put its belly on the ground and just sat
Speaker 3: there for a couple of minutes, just staring at us
Speaker 3: and like we weren't moving, so it I don't think
Speaker 3: it really knew what we were at first. And then
Speaker 3: finally it just like got up and ran off. But yeah,
Speaker 3: it was that's when it was so cool. Yeah, it
Speaker 3: was awesome experience. Sweet all in public land. Yep.
Speaker 2: I guess that leads me this year is going to
Speaker 2: be It'll be twenty years I've been out west hunting,
Speaker 2: and man, I don't know, like I like, let's say
Speaker 2: I've got in twenty years I've killed I don't know,
Speaker 2: let's say, like fifty big game animals or something like that.
Speaker 2: I think only four or maybe five of those animals
Speaker 2: were killed on private land. I've got nothing against hunting
Speaker 2: on private land. That's how I grew up. But when
Speaker 2: I came out and to the west and was like
Speaker 2: I have all this stuff to hunt and twenty years later.
Speaker 2: Here I am. These pictures are my older boy, his
Speaker 2: firsts that he's had on all on public land in
Speaker 2: the last few years. So like this is his first
Speaker 2: ever dear Mule deer buck that he got on public land.
Speaker 2: I don't know what Phil has has teed up next.
Speaker 2: So this was his first elk last year on public land. Antelope,
Speaker 2: that's his first anilt with his little bro there with him.
Speaker 2: And then I think the last photos me and him
Speaker 2: he did. We we doubled on Turkey's last year. The
Speaker 2: reason I picked these photos is because like those firsts
Speaker 2: are super important, and like that kid only knows hunting
Speaker 2: on public land, Like we don't have a bunch of
Speaker 2: friends with big private ranches and access to a bunch
Speaker 2: of private land. Like this is how this kid hunts.
Speaker 2: And if that stuff gets taken away, that get that's
Speaker 2: getting taken away from him. I'm not so worried about myself,
Speaker 2: you know, but like those opportunities will be taken away
Speaker 2: from him and a bunch of other kids and first
Speaker 2: time hunters, and you know, on top of that all
Speaker 2: the other people that that recreate on public land. So
Speaker 2: that those are the pictures that I chose and that's
Speaker 2: why I chose them.
Speaker 3: Yeah, good point. Yeah, yep, it's not worth it.
Speaker 2: Nope, Nope. What's what's the chat have to say about
Speaker 2: all that? Phil?
Speaker 5: A lot of people yelling about protecting public land, calling
Speaker 5: your senator a bunch of a bunch of a handful
Speaker 5: of Canadians who are who are worried for us?
Speaker 2: Bill Brent? Are you still lurking in there not working?
Speaker 5: He hasn't said anything for a while, so I think
Speaker 5: he's probably I don't know, doing something with a knife
Speaker 5: for recording a podcast.
Speaker 3: But uh, let's see here.
Speaker 5: We've gotta gotta get your questions in. This has been
Speaker 5: questioned l a question light episode. But you have any
Speaker 5: questions for the crew, let me know. But Colton asks Seth,
Speaker 5: what's the plan for yeall's time in Tanzania.
Speaker 3: Where I know Steve's buffalo hunting, so spend the big
Speaker 3: chunk of time doing that? And then I think he
Speaker 3: wants to kill a warthog two other than I don't know.
Speaker 3: I think we're just gonna be hiking around the bush
Speaker 3: a bunch and you guys are.
Speaker 5: There for a long time, right, yeah, almost three weeks.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's quite a chunk of time. So yeah, I
Speaker 3: don't know. I don't know if he If he gets
Speaker 3: those things early, we're gonna go after other things.
Speaker 2: I got a question for you. If one of those
Speaker 2: water buffalo charges Steve and you're right over his shoulder
Speaker 2: with that camera, what are you gonna do.
Speaker 3: Oh, I'm gonna drop the camera.
Speaker 2: That's what I was wondering. That's what I get.
Speaker 5: I will also say too, that we are going to
Speaker 5: have a handful of bonus podcast episodes coming out around
Speaker 5: the African.
Speaker 3: Buffalo.
Speaker 5: So they're gonna be kind of sort of diaries from
Speaker 5: the field with Steve and and various members of the
Speaker 5: crew that are gonna be on the trip. Seth included
Speaker 5: Dirt Myth as well, so look forward to those ones,
Speaker 5: and then we're gonna have a big, old normal podcast
Speaker 5: episode at the end of the trip. And then I'm
Speaker 5: sure you guys can look forward to some video content
Speaker 5: down the road, but that stuff takes a few months
Speaker 5: to put together.
Speaker 3: But yeah, this is all for season thirteen and media. Yes,
Speaker 3: So yeah, I'm gonna stick to stick close to whoever
Speaker 3: has that double barrel rifle.
Speaker 2: Yeah that's a smart plan.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Noah asks Brody, what was your favorite thing to
Speaker 5: do outdoors wise in Pa?
Speaker 2: Well, I mean I can never answer these questions like
Speaker 2: hunting and fishing, but I did more fishing just because
Speaker 2: I was younger when I was there. But I did
Speaker 2: a lot of hunting too.
Speaker 5: This guy's asked this question before, and I don't remember
Speaker 5: if you guys were in the room when he asked it,
Speaker 5: but he wants to. He wants an answer from everyone
Speaker 5: on the crew, and I'll give him that opportunity. But
Speaker 5: he says, what animal do you shamelessly wish was a
Speaker 5: game animal but is and will never be?
Speaker 3: Mm hmm, whales?
Speaker 5: That's a good answer.
Speaker 2: Well, they're game animals for some people. I guess.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 2: I that's not something I've ever even like considered.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a tough one. Tourists, that's pretty shamelessly, but
Speaker 4: it's tourists season here in Montana. But I can't seem
Speaker 4: to find a tag, so.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, what else would be good?
Speaker 2: Trying to think wild horses?
Speaker 4: Yeah, here in Montana.
Speaker 5: To the dads, this is from Alaska High boy Any
Speaker 5: books for kids, and I mean, I think it goes
Speaker 5: without saying. Uh, some of the ones that Brody wrote that.
Speaker 5: I'm sure he'll mention, but yeah, those are pretty good.
Speaker 5: Those are solid. He says he's got an almost one
Speaker 5: year old and he's tired of all the cutesy, far
Speaker 5: from accurate wildlife books.
Speaker 2: That's a tough one for me. Man, Like, I like
Speaker 2: it's so little, Like I don't even like we just
Speaker 2: read our one year old all sorts of stuff. I
Speaker 2: don't know that there's like outdoor specific books that we
Speaker 2: were reading to our kids at that age. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Same, I know there's some out there, but we didn't
Speaker 4: read any. Now he's too old for those little kids books.
Speaker 2: Yeah, tough.
Speaker 5: One question for Corey. It's from figure Nit out Doors.
Speaker 5: Solid name there. This guy he got too excited and
Speaker 5: didn't even finish his question. He says spring Bear scope
Speaker 5: magnification SFP, or FFP and best all around cartridge and
Speaker 5: then he stops. But I think you can answer some
Speaker 5: of those if you would like to.
Speaker 4: Oh, yeah, I like the second focal plane four to
Speaker 4: fifteen is plenty. If you're shooting anywhere over three hundred yards,
Speaker 4: you might want to zoom in a little bit more
Speaker 4: than twelve power, but you certainly don't need it, depending
Speaker 4: on where you're hunting to if you're shooting close quarters,
Speaker 4: you might not even need a scope. And then best
Speaker 4: all around cartridge is the three hundred winch mister magnum period.
Speaker 2: Gotcha, there you go.
Speaker 5: Corey's spoken, Uh, let's see here, just kind of these
Speaker 5: are these are coming in hot, hot and heavy, trying to.
Speaker 2: Pick them out?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 5: Dan the outdoorman question for the crew, any unwanted interactions
Speaker 5: with the environmental police while hunting or fishing? Any complicated
Speaker 5: laws gotten you in trouble before?
Speaker 2: Nope. All my interactions with game wardens have been very
Speaker 2: pleasant because I haven't had any reason to be in trouble.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Same as a fishing guide. We'd get pulled over all
Speaker 4: the time, making sure we I was licensed in my
Speaker 4: anglers were had their fishing licenses and we had enough
Speaker 4: life jackets in the boat. But it was always a
Speaker 4: pleasant Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I never had any bad There's one time we
Speaker 3: had a weird interaction with a park ranger in a
Speaker 3: spot where we were hunting. Yeah, I remember, well, still
Speaker 3: a park and he seemed like the guy just didn't
Speaker 3: like hunters.
Speaker 2: Right, But that was like that wasn't a game work.
Speaker 3: No, it wasn't a game war and it was just
Speaker 3: a yeah, weird interaction with authority.
Speaker 5: I we'll do one more Africa question then we can
Speaker 5: we can move it along. Max says, question for Seth,
Speaker 5: will you get any opportunities to hunt in Tanzania?
Speaker 3: I don't think so. Yeah, it's usually the Steve.
Speaker 5: Show down there is Yeah, shoot with you.
Speaker 3: It's too expensive, I think, yeah, get creators over there. Cool.
Speaker 2: All right, we'll check back in with those guys towards
Speaker 2: the end of the show. Our next segment is new.
Speaker 2: We're gonna do kind of a regional summer fishing report.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so if you got a handful, you got a
Speaker 5: couple remote check ins from some some crew members.
Speaker 3: Let's take Phil.
Speaker 2: It says pause for sound. Here, do you got a
Speaker 2: song or not?
Speaker 3: No, I don't have a sound. I don't know.
Speaker 2: Come on, that was going.
Speaker 3: Up right now, Phil?
Speaker 4: That was somebody cast in a line and open something
Speaker 4: would bite.
Speaker 2: All right, we'll come up with a song for that one.
Speaker 3: In the dark.
Speaker 7: There you go.
Speaker 5: We didn't play this one.
Speaker 2: Oh we didn't. I didn't give you time to play
Speaker 2: it earlier.
Speaker 6: All right, we're live, We're to start out.
Speaker 4: But I've just been getting hotter.
Speaker 7: The rivers, they've been shrinking down obviously, and the fish
Speaker 7: have been getting more concentrated. I've noticed that the smallies
Speaker 7: they've started to run in big groups, going after baitball,
Speaker 7: some minnows, any sort of streamer.
Speaker 4: Those have been working well. Crawdads.
Speaker 7: Also, this time of year, if you're looking to catch
Speaker 7: a big trophy smallly uh. Night fishing is super effective.
Speaker 7: On the trout side of things. The soul for hatches
Speaker 7: in full swing. I've been hearing from some of my
Speaker 7: guide buddies that they are going more after the dry
Speaker 7: flies and the emergers, and then this time of year
Speaker 7: you will find the long ear sunfish are in full bloom.
Speaker 7: They're as vibrant as ever, looking like something straight out
Speaker 7: of the Amazon rainforest. So get out there, go get them.
Speaker 7: Good luck to everyone this week who's going out there
Speaker 7: to fish.
Speaker 3: Stay safe, and hey, keep it public. Yeah, buddy, god,
Speaker 3: he sounds like Clay.
Speaker 2: He's way better angler than Clay.
Speaker 3: I'll pay that. Well, that sounds pretty good.
Speaker 5: I'll let your tea this one up, Bertie. I apologize.
Speaker 2: We're bringing in thank you because I came up with
Speaker 2: a good one. Okay, we're bringing in Chester the walleye
Speaker 2: Molester from Wisconsin to let us know what's going on
Speaker 2: out there.
Speaker 8: Hello everybody, Chester Floyd coming at you from northern Wisconsin.
Speaker 8: Here's your Northern Wisconsin muskie fishing report. With the weather
Speaker 8: being so inconsistent in northern Wisconsin, the fish have kind
Speaker 8: of been inconsistent too, but big fish are being caught.
Speaker 8: Once you find them one day, they could be gone
Speaker 8: and move the next day. So the key is to
Speaker 8: move around a bunch until you find those fish. I'm
Speaker 8: going to focus on main lake points, kind of main
Speaker 8: lake humps. If I can find weeds on those, all
Speaker 8: the better. Some baits that have been working have been
Speaker 8: top water baits, jerk baits like a squarely tailed hellhound here.
Speaker 8: Soon enough, the rubber bite and the buck tail bite
Speaker 8: should should pick up with the weather, you know, leveling
Speaker 8: out and being more consistent. I haven't been out a
Speaker 8: lot recently, so I got this information from my buddy
Speaker 8: Gus Manti with sugsfishing dot Com.
Speaker 2: He's a guide up here.
Speaker 8: But I hope you guys can get out on the
Speaker 8: water and hopefully this information helps you catch a big ol' musky.
Speaker 2: See ya, very professional report.
Speaker 4: Nice yeah, thanks boys.
Speaker 3: Wow, he's in his new fancy. I'm jealous of that boat.
Speaker 2: Said, I know you don't got a report because you're
Speaker 2: all mad that you haven't been fishing.
Speaker 3: Well, I have been fishing. It's not worth a report,
Speaker 3: so got you. So it's been tough, it's been tough
Speaker 3: for me. Oh yeah, Cory.
Speaker 2: Uh man.
Speaker 4: I've been fly angling on some of our local waters
Speaker 4: around here and it's been amazing. Really runoffs over with
Speaker 4: a little earlier this year. Water temps are just right
Speaker 4: for now getting it. River temps just right. I wish
Speaker 4: it was end of July and not the end of June,
Speaker 4: talking like right now is the time because in three
Speaker 4: weeks there might not be a lot of angling to
Speaker 4: be done.
Speaker 2: We've already got some Houdau restrictions going on. But it's
Speaker 2: just good shutting stuff down.
Speaker 4: It's really good right now.
Speaker 2: I've been out a little bit, uh planning on heading
Speaker 2: out this weekend to one of our favorite lakes for
Speaker 2: perching while I hear it's picking up. So I'll have
Speaker 2: a report for yeah later after that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we'll have to do this again.
Speaker 3: Wuld I do kind of have a report all right?
Speaker 3: I guess you call it that. I've been keeping track
Speaker 3: of what's going on with the local Montana walleye circuit,
Speaker 3: and holy crap, some big numbers this year.
Speaker 2: I saw the numbers from Tiber. Holy cow.
Speaker 3: Yeah, big numbers.
Speaker 2: One hundred and forty pound bags.
Speaker 3: One hundred and forty three pounds for the winning bag.
Speaker 2: So that's ten fish.
Speaker 3: Yeh fish? Whoa, that's do the math in your head there, yeah,
Speaker 3: figure out a lot. Cool.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, sounds like the walleye fishing other than where I've
Speaker 3: been fishing has been good.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 2: All right, we're gonna stick with the fishing theme for
Speaker 2: this next section. Uh, We're not doing one minute fishing
Speaker 2: because it never seems to work out. I'm really over it.
Speaker 2: We're so different where this is gonna be really exciting
Speaker 2: for everyone. First of its kind live fishing contest between
Speaker 2: Seth and Corey. We've we've got our own trout pond
Speaker 2: right out here behind Meat Eater h Q. Seth is
Speaker 2: gonna be out there with his spin pole and Corey
Speaker 2: it's gonna take his fly rod. But I am picking.
Speaker 2: I'm picking their lewer slash fly for them.
Speaker 3: I'm nervous too.
Speaker 2: You shouldn't be I didn't get I thought about being mean,
Speaker 2: but I'm not going to be mean. So I actually
Speaker 2: I am going to give you a choice.
Speaker 4: I like options, Corey.
Speaker 2: If you can't catch fish with one of these two things, like,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna be really embarrassed, olive or blackly bugger, and
Speaker 2: then seth a little panther Martin or a little cast Master,
Speaker 2: both of which are pretty good choices.
Speaker 3: Oh. I like that. We did a little pre fish yesterday,
Speaker 3: and I'm a little worried I need the heavier one.
Speaker 2: That's what you get.
Speaker 1: I get it.
Speaker 4: I was ready for whatever. They're pretty aggressive out there,
Speaker 4: mostly brick trout that we can find. I know there's
Speaker 4: well somebody caught a cutthroat in there at one point.
Speaker 3: Right, I caught a sucker in there one time.
Speaker 4: Okay, you don't know, Okay, so.
Speaker 2: So choose your weapon, man, Yeah.
Speaker 3: Okay, I'm going with the panther Mark.
Speaker 4: I'm going with the olive wooly bugger.
Speaker 2: All right, run out there and here we go.
Speaker 3: Time or goes? Is it is this like.
Speaker 1: First fish?
Speaker 2: I guess I just got to sit here while they're
Speaker 2: they're out fishing.
Speaker 5: Hello, audio listeners, Phil butting in to let you know
Speaker 5: that I'm cutting this entire segment out of the podcast
Speaker 5: version that you are currently listening to, because, frankly, it
Speaker 5: wasn't very exciting for audio only listeners. We didn't get
Speaker 5: a lot of banter from Seth and Corey out there
Speaker 5: at the pond. So let's just cut right back to
Speaker 5: the moment where they come back in the studio and
Speaker 5: Seth wins the competition with one fish.
Speaker 3: How I look Phil terrible?
Speaker 5: So you have to tell us about it.
Speaker 3: When I was releasing that fish, I don't know if
Speaker 3: you could hear it, but there's a lady behind me
Speaker 3: saying release it nicely, gently gently that yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we had some spectators, there are some lawnmowers.
Speaker 2: What was your challenge out there? Your biggest challenge?
Speaker 4: Course, mine was just the weeds that I had to
Speaker 4: deal with managing my line.
Speaker 2: Which you should have waited right in there.
Speaker 4: I thought about it, not really. Uh, yesterday we went
Speaker 4: and tested the water just to make sure there was
Speaker 4: actually fishing.
Speaker 2: I saw it like you're doing a little pre fish
Speaker 2: and beating them up out there. You could have caught
Speaker 2: those fish today.
Speaker 4: That could have been what happened. I think I caught
Speaker 4: four yesterday. There you go pretty quickly, or it was
Speaker 4: all of the selection fly. Maybe I should have went
Speaker 4: with the black one. But either way, nice work.
Speaker 3: Set I thanks. I wasn't catching anything until I sent
Speaker 3: one all the way up into where that yep, and
Speaker 3: then I could see him. He missed it a few times.
Speaker 3: I could see it flashing, oh yeah, and then he got.
Speaker 2: A rush, a bit of an upset, I'd say, Seth,
Speaker 2: nice work.
Speaker 3: I was kind of nervous because yesterday Corey was crushing
Speaker 3: him on the on the the fly.
Speaker 2: Can't be sure, but my guess is is there's probably
Speaker 2: like ten or twelve fish in that.
Speaker 3: Entire games like that might be over overkill. Actually, yeah,
Speaker 3: that half a dozen. I keep saying I'm gonna win
Speaker 3: during the winter. I'm gonna drill hole and get the
Speaker 3: the live scope down in there and just see what's
Speaker 3: going on. But it's just hard to motivate me to
Speaker 3: do that for a couple of Brookies for sure.
Speaker 2: All right, Well, that good job, boys. We're gonna move
Speaker 2: on to our trail cam photo contest. Man, here we go.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be big. It's brought to us by our
Speaker 2: friends at Moultrie and For the first round, we ask
Speaker 2: you guys to send us your funniest photos. We got
Speaker 2: hundreds of submissions, so choosing the top five was difficult.
Speaker 2: We saw shots multiple folks taking a dump in the woods.
Speaker 2: That's that's like not I don't know, I don't find
Speaker 2: that funny. Dear raccoon, squirrel, bear fornication, that's funny. Topless
Speaker 2: female hiker not funny, but you know whatever. Anyway, Corey,
Speaker 2: you looked through all these, didn't you.
Speaker 4: I looked through all of them last night with a
Speaker 4: tall glass of whiskey. So thanks for everybody for putting
Speaker 4: all these in. I'd say there were like three hundred
Speaker 4: and fifty submissions.
Speaker 3: Are you damaged from it? Or you're doing all right?
Speaker 3: I mean.
Speaker 2: This made you laugh out loud?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: There were like are we gonna see them?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: The couple that made me laugh out loud it made
Speaker 4: it in here. There was a lot that should have
Speaker 4: made it in here.
Speaker 3: But it was tough to select five. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Again, next to everybody for submitting. We're gonna do this
Speaker 4: again next month, maybe with a different themes. So stay tuned.
Speaker 2: But so let's like I'll tell people what let's like
Speaker 2: announce what they're getting after we look at the picture,
Speaker 2: build up the excitement.
Speaker 5: All right, are we ready to see photo number one?
Speaker 1: Here?
Speaker 4: Photo number one? Now the chat. If you guys can
Speaker 4: give us your thoughts on the your funniest picture please.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you guys are going to decide the winner. We're
Speaker 2: not deciding the winner. So like Phil's gonna do some
Speaker 2: quick math as you guys.
Speaker 5: Vote for them, I'm going to try to start a pull.
Speaker 5: I think I can add five five options on the
Speaker 5: poll that I might be limited to this one.
Speaker 2: Exist you can say these people's names, right, yeah, Branson McAtee.
Speaker 2: He's calling this the Ninja squirrel.
Speaker 4: I mean, look at that capture.
Speaker 3: I wonder what is he trying to land on the
Speaker 3: turkey's back or what? I wonder what's going on?
Speaker 4: It looks like he's going full American Ninje warri or
Speaker 4: on this turkey.
Speaker 3: I wish that was ael video we do.
Speaker 4: I know that would be a mat we can do that.
Speaker 4: What happened after? But I cracked up to this one.
Speaker 4: I mean, what a great shot. Yeah, what a capture.
Speaker 3: Just squirrel. You know, squirrels just do weird stuff when
Speaker 3: you're yep, they're funny when you're sitting a tree stand
Speaker 3: back east. You just watch squirrels do weird stuff, which
Speaker 3: is cool, Okay, Ninja squirrel?
Speaker 1: All right?
Speaker 2: Number two this is from level nineteen. Uh, late night Talk.
Speaker 2: It's really hard to tell what come on? Is this real?
Speaker 4: I was worried we had some AI generated photos, but
Speaker 4: it's so it's hard to say what's happening here.
Speaker 3: But that's just it's like a bug that's yeah, close
Speaker 3: to the camera and it just just happened to be
Speaker 3: a right right spot right time.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna show. I'm gonna I'd like to think that's
Speaker 2: what it is. Seth, I'm gonna.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna not be a Debbie Downer and say this
Speaker 2: was this was like.
Speaker 4: This one had the second most likes on the website.
Speaker 3: It looks like that Is that a palmetto right there? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Somewhere south?
Speaker 3: Good call? All right?
Speaker 2: Number three, number three weeks coming from Michael hammondry kid Menace.
Speaker 5: I think he's doing the Shocker. I can't tell.
Speaker 2: This kid is just driving by a camera. He knows
Speaker 2: is there that his dad how's has out and he's
Speaker 2: just like trespassing.
Speaker 4: So, yeah, we had a lot of you know, wild
Speaker 4: game images, but some really great, like home security photos
Speaker 4: that were hilarious, and this one just seemed like it
Speaker 4: was obviously set up maybe for turkeys or deer. And
Speaker 4: this kid who's supposed to like.
Speaker 2: In a neighborhood, there's like houses and stuff back there.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and I remember the guy mentioning that this kid
Speaker 4: is supposed to be on the street and he keeps
Speaker 4: kind of like taking a short.
Speaker 2: Cut, and then he found that camera. He's just brutalizing
Speaker 2: that guy.
Speaker 4: Know, I couldn't help.
Speaker 2: Maybe it's more funny.
Speaker 5: Now, all right, here's number four, Brian cal Yoda. This
Speaker 5: is the one that I do not think is a
Speaker 5: trail camp.
Speaker 4: Okay, so Brian said, and Brody, you've met Brian before,
Speaker 4: for he made sure to mention this. Yeah, i'll forward
Speaker 4: you the email. But he was doing a Purdue University
Speaker 4: project where they were learning how to scientifically survey wildlife
Speaker 4: populations using trail cameras. And this trail camera was a
Speaker 4: thirty five millimeter film camera that they were using.
Speaker 2: But Bud just set up as an yeah gotcha.
Speaker 4: Yeah, But a buddy of his played a joke and
Speaker 4: put on the Yoda mask and obviously captured something other
Speaker 4: than what they were going.
Speaker 3: For here, but I that's creepy.
Speaker 4: I thought it was funny.
Speaker 3: It was that phill. That one was for you. Oh,
Speaker 3: I appreciate it. Thanks for the shout out. I like
Speaker 3: to feel included. You know, someone was having fun with
Speaker 3: that one.
Speaker 1: All right?
Speaker 2: Number five, like, how can this not be funny?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Like a bear shitting in the woods is just fun.
Speaker 4: If you zoom in close to you can really.
Speaker 3: I think I wish I wish I had a zoomed
Speaker 3: in one.
Speaker 2: People's vote, but this one gets my vote.
Speaker 5: I like it not because he's shitting, but his facial
Speaker 5: expression looking into the cameras.
Speaker 2: Embarrass and he's like, up on. I feel like he's
Speaker 2: working pretty hard because he's up on hind legs man,
Speaker 2: like he's really getting after.
Speaker 4: I was impressed by that too.
Speaker 5: Okay, so here are the limitations of the poll. I
Speaker 5: can only give four options, so I think as a room,
Speaker 5: we eliminate our least favorite Yoda.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm sorry, Brian, I understand we met, but that
Speaker 2: pictures I don't like it.
Speaker 5: All right, So I am we are eliminating Yoda. I'm
Speaker 5: going to start the pole here in a few seconds.
Speaker 3: So one two, here we go, three or four.
Speaker 5: One two, three or five. Pole is going live right now.
Speaker 5: Please vote in the live chat and we will do.
Speaker 2: We want to mess around with. Can we do a
Speaker 2: little feedback while of course please do people are voting.
Speaker 2: That'll give us something to do.
Speaker 3: Let's see.
Speaker 5: We got a question from mote. Hey says Hi Seth,
Speaker 5: what camera are you currently using? Do you bring a
Speaker 5: lot of photography gear when you travel or just one
Speaker 5: reliable setup?
Speaker 3: Thank you? A seven R five for the main camera.
Speaker 3: Backup is in a seven R four. I got a
Speaker 3: seventy to two hundred lens, twenty four to seventy and
Speaker 3: sixteen to thirty five. Yeah that's my setup, A bunch
Speaker 3: of batteries, some filters. Yeah, it's about it. Not super complicated,
Speaker 3: but sounds complicated to me. Wow, you're a professional.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Spencer not our spencer in the chat has an idea.
Speaker 5: He says, we should do an outdoor obstacle course. Catch
Speaker 5: a fish, catch a loose chicken and a fishing net,
Speaker 5: then pluck a duck.
Speaker 2: First we got to catch a fish, like the other stuff.
Speaker 2: It'd be great to do the other stuff first.
Speaker 3: We but we never get there.
Speaker 4: Yeah, this was an idea last winter. Actually we're gonna
Speaker 4: like ice skating, drilling holes in the ice and then
Speaker 4: like first one to drop their line in the ice.
Speaker 4: But it would have been too much. We would have
Speaker 4: needed more than a couple of minutes.
Speaker 5: The question from Matt He says, how do you like
Speaker 5: to answer non hunters who ask you did you catch
Speaker 5: a big one when you get home from hunting season?
Speaker 2: I don't. I just like I just tell them, like
Speaker 2: I'm not going to like try and make him feel stupid,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would just say we kill them, not catch them,
Speaker 3: unless you're like lying hunting or something. Yeah.
Speaker 5: Captain Texas says Seth. What is the most challenging part
Speaker 5: about filming other people hunting?
Speaker 6: Hmm?
Speaker 3: I would say just trying not to be the guy
Speaker 3: that ever spooks the animal, you know, ye, which over
Speaker 3: time you learn you just I typically I don't move
Speaker 3: unless Steve's Steve moves, so there's never like a you know,
Speaker 3: he can't turn around and be like you spooked it.
Speaker 3: I'd be like, well, I was doing the same thing
Speaker 3: you were doing.
Speaker 2: So do you notice the difference between because like Steve's
Speaker 2: very aware you know, I used to work on the
Speaker 2: camera crew way back, and like Steve's very aware of
Speaker 2: the camera guys and how the whole thing works, and
Speaker 2: like there's got to be like you've got to have
Speaker 2: expectations for the hunters too, right, do you notice like
Speaker 2: a way big difference between like filming Steve and filming
Speaker 2: a guest hunter has never been filmed before, Like as
Speaker 2: far as challenges they present to you.
Speaker 3: I mean, yes, and no filming someone that's never been
Speaker 3: filmed before, Like they they just think. I feel like
Speaker 3: most people just think it's like impossible to kill something
Speaker 3: with that many people. And you'll get guys there like,
Speaker 3: you know, don't move, don't It's like, yeah, we know
Speaker 3: what we're doing. So that's kind of like one thing
Speaker 3: with with new people. And Steve's like it depends on
Speaker 3: the animal too, but he's like I think he we
Speaker 3: always use guys that have been with us forever and
Speaker 3: know the game and know how to be quiet, and
Speaker 3: so he's he typically doesn't like yell at us or anything.
Speaker 3: Sometimes he does, but yeah, it all depends.
Speaker 5: Mark says, guys, I want to send a mule deer
Speaker 5: hide off to get processed hair on it's currently wrapped
Speaker 5: and in the freezer. How long is that going to
Speaker 5: be good for before I need to ship it off?
Speaker 2: As long as it's frozen.
Speaker 3: Yeah, for a long time, forever cool.
Speaker 5: I'll do one more, then we'll see how the pole
Speaker 5: is going. Max, not our Max says, how did y'all
Speaker 5: get started with meat Eater? Was there an application, an
Speaker 5: interview process or we all picked because of your individual skills.
Speaker 5: I think we each have like a different path to
Speaker 5: how he got.
Speaker 2: I'll start since I'm the oldest. I used to guide
Speaker 2: with Giannis in Colorado. Jannis moved to Alaska through a
Speaker 2: mutual friend, got hooked up with Steve and became a
Speaker 2: production assistant. A few years later, they needed help on
Speaker 2: the Stars in the Sky shoot. Joannis approached me. That's
Speaker 2: how I got my start, and one thing led to
Speaker 2: another and I started writing with Steve. That was ten
Speaker 2: years ago.
Speaker 4: Yeah, mine was semi similar. Good friend of mine and
Speaker 4: also one of our colleagues presented the job offer to me.
Speaker 4: It was during COVID, when I was guiding fishermen and hunters,
Speaker 4: when I wasn't quite sure if that industry was going
Speaker 4: to last. A whole lot longer. Just we weren't letting
Speaker 4: out of staters in the States, so things were really weird.
Speaker 4: So I tried to get a different job, I guess
Speaker 4: more steady job. And yeah that was five years ago.
Speaker 3: Now, nice. Yeah, mine was meteor. Was just looking for
Speaker 3: a pretty auction assistant to help out on shoots and
Speaker 3: haul gear and make time.
Speaker 2: Can you find out a mutual friend.
Speaker 3: Recommended a mutual friend that knew Yiannis and Steve and
Speaker 3: whatnot recommended me to them, And yeah, just kind of
Speaker 3: got on a phone call with The Honest and rest
Speaker 3: was history. That was twenty eighteen, Washington. El Khunt was
Speaker 3: the my first shoot ever.
Speaker 5: Phil Oh I got burnt out working in TV and
Speaker 5: applied via indeed dot com. Nice yeah, and yeah I
Speaker 5: had audio experience and I was worried they wouldn't want
Speaker 5: me because I didn't hunt and the Honest. My first
Speaker 5: interview was with The Honest. He said that does not matter.
Speaker 5: I said, thank God. And that was six years ago now,
Speaker 5: so yeah, there we go. All right, let's see who
Speaker 5: had the best trail camp photo in last place with
Speaker 5: six percent of the vote, we have number three, biker Kid.
Speaker 4: Oh well, yeah.
Speaker 3: We get rid of it. But that shit, look at them.
Speaker 3: You probably needs slapped.
Speaker 4: Is that an e bike?
Speaker 3: Oh it might be, it's.
Speaker 4: Hard to tell you a little motorcycle.
Speaker 5: Yeah, possibly, all right. And then in third place, with
Speaker 5: twelve percent of the vote, we have deer fart.
Speaker 4: Oh see you had high hopes for that left.
Speaker 3: I agree with that.
Speaker 4: Hard to say what's going on in that photo, but yeah,
Speaker 4: nobody else.
Speaker 5: Cared and we only have two left. Now it's between
Speaker 5: Ninja squirrel and bear shitting, and I will announce the
Speaker 5: first place winner. The first place winner with sixty eight
Speaker 5: percent of the vote.
Speaker 3: It was a landslide. We've got bear shitt.
Speaker 5: There we go, congratulations, Yeah, yeah, yeah, all.
Speaker 2: Right, So who was that fine at a Pain?
Speaker 3: A pain?
Speaker 4: Yeah, we'll reach out to you for this so massive collection.
Speaker 2: Yeah, gear the winner at a Pain you're going to
Speaker 2: receive a uh what's is it? T w O or
Speaker 2: two two two? It looks like it's part of the Okay,
Speaker 2: it's like written weird two of the Moultrie Edge, two cameras,
Speaker 2: So two of those suckers. Two ten watt solar pack
Speaker 2: or is that ten watt ten watt solar power power packs?
Speaker 2: An MKC knife, the saw two slicer. You want to
Speaker 2: show them what that one is.
Speaker 4: Well, it's pretty packaged up here.
Speaker 2: Oh then, don't worry about it all. Geez man, this
Speaker 2: just this list, just this is a long one. The
Speaker 2: list just keeps going. Two hundred and fifty dollars Meat
Speaker 2: Eater store gift card and a two hundred and fifty
Speaker 2: dollars First Light gift card.
Speaker 4: That's five hundred dollars.
Speaker 3: Fake Pride. Didn't know who's this big. I would have submitted
Speaker 3: a photo.
Speaker 2: A fair ship in the woods for all that stuff.
Speaker 4: Yeah, stay tuned again. We're gonna try this again next
Speaker 4: month and maybe the month after.
Speaker 2: Sounds I think we should. It's kind of fun as
Speaker 2: long as Moultrie is gonna kick down and we keep
Speaker 2: getting cool prizes. All right, hope you enjoyed it. That's
Speaker 2: the end of today's show. Join us next week everyone,
Speaker 2: and have a great weekend.
Speaker 3: Take it easy later.