The trivia episode turned into an argument about childhood survival novels, which is the best thing to happen on this feed in a while.

I run Podshelf, a free site that tracks book mentions across hundreds of podcasts by reading the episode transcripts. This is the MeatEater slice for August.

The one they got most animated about was Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. "Hatchet is like the best ever kid's survival book. A kid is going to visit his dad up in Canada on a little bush plane. The bush plane goes down." My Side of the Mountain and The Sign of the Beaver came up in the same run, the latter described as exactly right for a twelve or thirteen year old boy.

Books with a real recommendation attached:

• The Sea Is My Country (Joshua Reid), on Makah whaling and treaty rights. "He did extensive research, not only at Makah but across other tribes too. It's incredible."
• Whitetail Nation (Pete Bodo), called an under the radar whitetail gem that nobody talks about
• First Ten Years in Alaska (James Carroll), already done as a Steve Reads book, so you do not have to
• Super Navigators, on how animals find their way, which is how they found this month's olfaction guest
• Neurogastronomy (Gordon Shepherd), on how the brain builds flavour

House business: volume four of MeatEater's American History, The Alaskans 1896 to 1941, lands on 20 October. Clay's American Bear came up in the bear grease conversation, and yes, he is still putting it on his face.

Also White Fang, in the same Klondike conversation, and The Codex of the Endangered Species Act, Volume 2, which its own contributor calls the worst titled book ever.

Full list with quotes and episodes: https://podshelf.io/podcasts/the-meateater-podcast

EP. 924: MRBALLEN ON SEALS, THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN, AND A CAREER IN STORYTELLING

Steven Rinella talks with MrBallen on: his Navy SEAL experience; the nature of evil; a career pivot into storytelling; aliens; and more.

does anyone have any info on ticket costs? And/or how to access the pre-sale?

Believe it or not, up to 250!

Am I the only one who has heard Clays commercial for chat GPT. I get that there is money to be made in these ads but it seems terribly tone deaf. Data centers have been a hot topic of late, many on the crew have expressed dissatisfaction and concern with the data centers, and then they have Clay come out with a commercial about Chat? I expect better.

Is this the method Steve is looking to do with bone "hooks"? Pretty dang cool.

It’s cool, but its kinda overshadowed by the fact that they have Clyde Barrow’s sawed off shotgun.

Also, thinking about getting these antlers for my office at a “Christian Company”

I don’t know who else to ask but I can’t get it out of my head. This episode they introduce the 3 Harsh Truths segment and Phil has a great intro song. I want to listen to the song he’s imitating but I don’t know how to find it.

Time stamped link for reference

https://www.youtube.com/live/LdE03ROkefU?t=3826&si=6r9OX6NPTZHXVTJR

(Now make a light hunting pair)

Not sure where u/Srgiuh went, maybe on vacation. Anyway, discuss here.

I'll start off by saying he's the penalty does feel harsh, but the victim complex and entitlement is hard to listen to at times. It might be because I'm not American, but even Jordan comes across as pushing this idea that as Americans they're entitled to special treatment. Complaining about the U.S. government not doing anything, acting like they're being targeted for being American. They all literally committed the crime they were accused of. The punishment might get feel extreme and I would agree with that, but are they just supposed to not enforce the law because you couldn't be bothered to keep track of your ammunition? I think the number of people caught like this might point to an overly casual attitude towards ammunition storage.

Fifteen episodes in July and eleven books. A good few came out of the trivia episodes, which is a slightly cursed way to generate a reading list but it works.

Posting it while there is still summer left to read them in.

What this is: I run Podshelf, a free site that tracks book mentions across hundreds of podcasts by reading the episode transcripts. This is the July slice for the MeatEater Podcast.

The one with the best pitch:

• Death in Yellowstone, Lee Whittlesey. The argument for it is that if you read a hundred and fifty years of deaths in Yellowstone, your takeaway is that people have always been stupid. Taking a cool picture, impressing a girl, winning a bet, ignoring weather, ignoring an animal. We tend to pin that on 2026. This book says otherwise. We have always been stupid.

The other one in that vein:

• Dying to Hunt Montana, Tom Donovan. Described as too painful to read, specifically the gunshot section, because the writing is too good and too sparse. The takeaway was not that people are dummies, it was that the world is a slightly dangerous place and you still have to go out and mix it up.

The book club and the western shelf:

• A Vaquero of the Brush Country (J. Frank Dobie), The Big Sky (A.B. Guthrie), and Noodling for Flatheads by Burkhard Bilger, which got a proper plug for anyone interested in southern culture and the eccentrics keeping old ways alive.

Trivia leftovers:

• Moby Dick, which somebody has on the shelf, has looked at the twenty four hour audiobook, and has been advised is terrible after a few chapters. The Odyssey got exactly the same review. Barnaby Rudge, because Dolly Varden is a Dickens character before she is a trout. The Jungle Book, via Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. The Grapes of Wrath.

Also Gigawatt, the book Ann Vaughan is writing about the AI build out and what it is doing to the energy industry and the American heartland.

I track every book mentioned on this show here: https://podshelf.io/podcasts/the-meateater-podcast

It is free and there is no signup.

Think Randall would blow it out of the park.

For the past several weeks (maybe longer) the podcast has been janky with random stops and starts, skipping around in the content, and yesterday the simultaneous audio from both the podcast and the video. This is occurring on Apple Podcasts.

Ep. 908: The Lone Star Tick and Alpha Gal Syndrome

Steven Rinella talks with journalist and author Burkhard Bilger about: the lone star tick; alpha gal syndrome; Lyme disease; treatments; cockfighting; and more!

They spent almost 15 minutes criticizing the Trump administration over the easing of the ESA . All I ever see in here is how Steve's a bootlicker, where tf are you now?

Does anybody remember the episode, possibly with Dan Flores, where they discussed the intentional destruction of the bison herds? I could be wrong, and it was possibly General Sheridan? Or maybe even General Sherman. I just remember it was one of them who allegedly gave a speech in Texas about exterminating the buffalo, but this was debunked on MeatEater. Ring a bell, by any chance?

I recently learned that Dan Flores has been involved with the anti-hunting group “Project Coyote” since 2016. Stephen Ziegler, Outdoor writer and host of Rack Junkies Podcast wrote this in his Facebook page:

The most dangerous anti-hunting organization in America is one hunters don’t suspect. Project Coyote. Author Dan Flores, who many hunters know from Joe Rogan, is one of its ambassadors. But look at what the organization actually supports. Project Coyote backed an Iowa bill to make it illegal to hunt or trap wolves, black bears and mountain lions. It campaigns against trapping and openly says wildlife agencies give too much influence to hunters and trappers.

And this is not just an organization posting opinions online. Project Coyote hires professional lobbyists. Its own report says its Illinois lobbyist helped secure 20 legislative sponsors for one of its bills. It also credits itself with helping close Michigan’s regular coyote-hunting season from April 16 through July 14. In New Mexico, it celebrated helping pass a law banning traps and snares across roughly 22 million acres of public land. Project Coyote and its partners also sued Wisconsin and obtained an injunction that stopped the fall 2021 wolf hunt by forcing the quota to zero.

But the scariest part is their long-term plan. Project Coyote openly says it is working to reform wildlife commissions by adding representatives of “non-consumptive interest groups” and lobbying for policies rooted in “compassionate conservation.” It also created a $36,955 Wild Carnivore Legal Defense Fund that its own publication says supports lawsuits to stop wolf hunts. This is how hunting rights disappear, species by species, lawsuit by lawsuit and commissioner by commissioner. Anyone in our game agencies supporting project coyote needs to be called out and looked at very closely.

If people think Steve is hard to listen to, try listening to Matt lol. I don’t disagree with everything Matt promotes, but he makes it so hard to listen to with his “gotchyas” lol.

Cal agreed to come on a friend’s (at least one time friend) podcast and he just attacks off the bat lol. Knowing how Cal can generally be defensive, I was surprised they agreed to podcast and I now see it went how I suspected.

I wish both could have just came at it without their agendas… but it did get better throughout the episode.

Ep. 905: The Life of a Crabber

Steven Rinella talks with professional crabber, Luke McFadden, about: the crabbing industry, crabbing techniques, crab biology, crab grading, and more.

Sigh......