MeatEater

Steve hunts for elk in Montana with Garrett Long and Cory Calkins.

Steve takes Randall Williams and Clay Newcomb to his fish shack to hunt for black bears.

Steve and Greg Fonts spearfish for red snapper, cobia, and triple tail off oil rigs in the Gulf Coast.

Steve and Karl Malcolm explore the Gila Wilderness while hunting for wild turkeys.

Steve and Jean-Paul Bourgeois visit Ronnie Collins in Louisiana for some backwater duck hunting.

Steve and Clay Newcomb visit Jordan Budd for a guided Nebraska whitetail trip.

Steve and Evan Hafer struggle to find blacktail deer on Alaska's Prince of Wales Island.

The targets abound when Steven hunts feral goats on the Big Island of Hawaii, then picks up a rod to fish for wahoo and gray snapper offshore.

In Northwest Arkansas, Steven travels on muleback into the Ozarks with Clay Newcomb and Janis Putelis to hunt squirrels by day and raccoons by night.

Steven embarks on what he deems a "humbling, humiliating" hunt for deer during Pennsylvania's flintlock season, using 18th-century firearms.

At a South Texas ranch, Steven and Clay Newcomb host wild-game chef Jesse Griffiths, who turns their white-tailed venison into five flavorful dishes.

On an alpine mountain goat hunt in the Rockies, Steven and guest Kurt Racicot discover that whiteout conditions make their elusive prey tough to spot.

Accompanied by country music star Luke Combs, Steven stalks pronghorn on the plains of Wyoming but encounters an unusual obstacle: a flock of sheep.

In the flooded cornfields of northeastern South Dakota, Steven finds the ideal conditions for duck hunting with Cal and waterfowl expert Sean Weaver.

Steve draws a coveted muzzleloader elk tag in Colorado's San Juan Mountains. But the expedition is sabotaged by the gear, wind and rival hunters.

Still looking for game in Wyoming, Janis resorts to a mule deer drive. The trio use a discarded oven rack to help them prepare venison ribs.

On horseback, Steve heads into the Wyoming backcountry to stalk mule deer with Janis Putelis and Adam Weatherby. Snowfall complicates the hunt.

Now on dry land, Steve and Jesse hunt nilgai, a large Indian antelope. The successful duo butcher a beast and dig into unique nose-to-tail dishes.

Steve and chef Jesse Griffiths target redfish and sea trout with guide JT Van Zandt and flounder with Captain David Dupnik and end up with a feast.

Steve flies with his brother Danny to the alpine ridges of Alaska, where they stalk Dall sheep while marveling at the stark beauty of the landscape.

The Coues deer hunt in Mexico continues, and the ranch chef shows the crew how to make fresh chili colorado tamales with venison.

Steve heads south of the border into the mountains of Sonora in Mexico to hunt for the elusive Coues deer with buddies Mark Kenyon and Ryan Callaghan.

Steve and Janis serve turkey pâté and tacos before taking first-time hunters Tracy Crane and Maggie Smith into the hills of Montana for wild turkeys.

The sika deer hunt in the marshes of the Chesapeake Bay yields better results -- and some delicious venison -- once muzzleloader-rifle season opens.

Steve and some local experts visit the marshlands of the Chesapeake Bay to hunt non-native sika deer and set a chicken-neck trotline for blue crabs.

Steve and Janis hunt the forests of Washington for bull elk, but a bad arrow shot results in a slightly spoiled harvest and Steve feeling remorseful.

Steve joins wildlife biologist Parker Hall as they set lines for flathead catfish on the Missouri River and hunt gray squirrels for a unique recipe.

Steve and his friend Remi Warren stalk Roosevelt elk on Afognak Island in the Gulf of Alaska, but inclement weather proves a significant obstacle.

In Colorado's White River National Forest, Steve and his friend Brody Henderson chase mule deer through aspen groves, then taste-test their harvests.

In the third and final leg of his Guyana journey, Steve and his party portage their boats around rapids to bow-fish for pacu, an herbivorous piranha.

Continuing on his Guyana voyage, Steve, with guides Rovin and Dennis, goes deep for redtail catfish then learns to craft arrows with curassow feathers.

On an angling expedition along the Rewa River in Guyana, Steve and his Macushi guides catch exotic species such as black piranha and vampire fish.

During the cold closing days of elk season, Steve ascends thousands of feet into the Bitterroot Mountains of Western Montana, seeking a legal bull.

Steve and his buddies Ryan and Mark have better luck splitting up as they continue their quest for a Sitka blacktail deer at the start of the rut.

Steve hunts Sitka blacktails on Prince of Wales Island with his friends Ryan and Mark but ends up with a dinner of fried sea cucumbers.

Steve and his buddy Ronny Boehme head to southeast Wyoming, where they shoot clays with Gov. Matt Mead before heading out on a sage grouse hunt.

On Prince of Wales Island in Alaska, Steve and former producer Morgan Fallon go fishing, stalk Sitka blacktail deer, and prepare a delicious feast.

After early success on their moose and caribou hunt in Alaska, wild game has eluded Steve's party, so he and Janis decide it's time to take action.

Steve's friends Janis and Papa Janis join Steve on a moose and caribou hunt in east-central Alaska that's the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.

Actor and comedian Joe Rogan joins Steve on a bowhunting expedition to the Great Basin of Nevada for skittish quarry: the high desert mule deer.

Steve explains what goes into beaver trapping while retelling stories of the mountain men who depended on this animal, for both its surprisingly delicious meat and incredible hide.

Steve joins ranch manager and wildlife biologist Ben Binnion for a couple of days during his annual pig roundup to learn about the other side of the Texas hog story.

Steve and Janis head to the Sonoran Mountains of Mexico to hunt the elusive Coues deer & javelina.

Kentucky hunters and their dogs take Steve hunting for gray squirrels and cottontails, yielding a meal of biscuits, gravy and fried small game.

Helen and Brittany both get shots at Duren farm whitetail bucks, followed by a campfire hobo dinner that brings a close to their Wisconsin adventure.

After tuning up their shooting skills by taking aim at squirrels, Helen and Brittany hunt whitetail deer in Wisconsin with Steve and guide Doug Duren.

Steve walks viewers through the complex process of breaking down a whole whitetail deer, transforming it into steaks, roasts, shanks and more.

The quest for a giant mule deer buck in Idaho continues as Steve and Ryan get closer to their prey -- and the slow-cooked roast of their dreams.

Steve and Ryan head into the mountains of Idaho to backpack hunt in their quest to bag a beast with a mighty reputation: the giant mule deer buck.

While hunting in Wyoming, Steve disproves common myths about antelope and shares information about proper hunting and meat preservation techniques.

Steve joins a grizzly bear hunt in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia and prepares a delicious feast, despite inclement weather.

After a day practicing on clays with shotguns before hunting for game in Virginia, Steve demonstrates easy grilling techniques for dove and pigeon.

On a wild turkey hunt in California, Steve demonstrates ways of bagging and cooking the beloved bird, and makes his favorite turkey dish: schnitzel.

Beating the odds, Steve draws a muskox tag to replace the one he forfeited years earlier, and departs for chilly Nunivak Island in the Bering Sea.

With fellow bird hunter Ronny Boehme and wildlife biologist Ed Arnett, Steve hunts surprisingly delicious sandhill cranes near Lubbock, Texas.

Steve embarks on a quiet solo hunt in southern Arizona to stalk the wary and elusive Coues deer and savor some rare alone time in the desert.

After two years working on the show, "MeatEater" producers Brittany and Helen get licensed and trained for a cow elk hunt in northern Montana.

After gathering venison and fish by bow, Steve learns about meat care in a hot and humid locale, then bids farewell to the Tsimane with a banquet.

Steve heads into the jungle for exciting nighttime hunting with the Tsimane that brings him face-to-face with a threshold he vowed never to cross.

Deep in the Amazon of Bolivia, Steve joins the region's tribal Tsimane people for hunting, foraging and catfish wrestling along the Casare River.

Tackling the subject of ground game meat, Steve shares recipes from his "Wild Game Cookbook" sure to improve any chef's burgers, meatloaf and more.

Comedians Joe Rogan and Bryan Callen keep the mood light as they join Steve for some Sitka blacktail deer hunting in the mountains of Alaska.

After ten days, Steve and Brandt have taken just one missed shot, but fortune smiles on them during their last day in the Alaskan wilderness.

Alone for 10 days in Alaska's Brooks Range, Steve and wildlife biologist Brandt Maxwell hunt their primary target, the big-antlered Yukon moose.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but is often overlooked by wild game cooks at home. Following a series of successful hunts across North America this past fall, Steven Rinella demonstrates how to cook a variety of breakfast classics using wild game ingredients—including black bear bacon, which Steve has never tried before.

Steven Rinella scratches his spring turkey itch this year as he visits Southeast Wisconsin to call in some big eastern Toms with his buddy Jerod Fink. The guys plan to do some serious cooking, and have plans to serve and enjoy a real Midwest turkey and fish fry.

Set against his annual muley hunt, this year in southwest Colorado, Steven Rinella takes to the lectern and fills us in about his favorite critter, the mule deer. As Steve hunts he will share his vast knowledge about the species, how to hunt it, how to butcher it, and most importantly, how to cook and eat it.

After a spring bear hunt near his cabin on Prince of Wales Island in Alaska, Steven Rinella sets out with traps and rod in hand to reap in the wealth of seafood in the waters nearby. There, he catches Dungeness crabs, spot prawn, and rockfish and takes some time to dig clams on the shore near his cabin. Before returning home, Steve demonstrates how to clean and prep the seafood to freeze and store. Back in the kitchen, Steve creates a handful of dishes—both traditional and not-so-traditional—that take full advantage of that irreplaceable flavor of wild-caught seafood.

Steven Rinella is invited by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to hunt elk during the rut in the coal country of southeastern Kentucky, a place once roamed by his hero Daniel Boone. This is Steve’s first eastern elk hunt, and he quickly realizes that the rules of the game here are different. If he manages to bump into one, he’ll prepare what was supposedly Boone’s favorite meal: elk liver.

Steven Rinella and his friend, Robert Abernathy, head to southern Florida to hunt Osceola turkeys. Steve hopes to finish off his royal turkey slam, achieved by bagging all five subspecies of the American wild turkey—a quest that’s been a decade in the making. Featured meal is a grilled and stuffed turkey breast.

The Wisconsin hunt with comedians Joe Rogan and Bryan Callen continues as the hunters attempt to thin Doug's deer herd by culling some does. The cold just won't relent and the guys get a real taste of northern air. Steven Rinella checks his traps in hopes of giving Joe and Bryan their first taste of beaver meat, and Joe learns an important and fundamental lesson of the hunting lifestyle. After a weekend of hard hunting, they all converge on the kitchen to partake in the spoils and eat their fill of fresh meat.

Steven Rinella and his buddy Doug Duren give comedians Joe Rogan and Bryan Callen their first taste of Midwest deer hunting culture by sitting in freezing ground blinds on opening day in Wisconsin. The biggest challenge isn't the cold, it's the temptation to shoot a young, immature buck on Doug's well-managed farmland. It just wouldn't be a trip to the Duren Family Farm without a little trapping and duck hunting thrown in, rounding out the larder for a big wild game feast.

Steve and his buddy Ryan Callaghan continue to search for grizzlies but don’t want to go home empty-handed. When they spot a sizable black bear, Steve decides to pursue it -- keeping an eye out for that elusive boar grizz.

Steven Rinella and his buddy Ryan Callaghan, a British Columbia guide, hike into the steep backcountry of northern British Columbia in search of grizzlies. This alpine adventure includes some intense and up-close bear action – almost too close.

Steven Rinella gets brutalized by bad weather and fierce competition during a late-season central Montana elk hunt. Guided only by waypoints shared by a buddy of his, Steve encounters plenty of elk but is plagued by other hunters at every turn – leaving Steve with a tough, ethical decision that hunters sometimes face: to pursue or not to pursue?

Steven Rinella and his buddy Ryan Callaghan float a remote river on a moose hunt that results in some of the most dangerous moments in Steve’s life as a hunter. The two hunters travel far from civilization in a raft to search for the massive moose that call the area home.

On a spring hunt in Florida Steven Rinella got his hands on a wild barred hog. In the field Steve demonstrates the best way to break a hog down and bring him home. Later, Steve and his good friend, chef Matt Weingarten, cook four preparations from the hog’s head, skin, trotters, muscle, and guts.

Steven Rinella ventures out to his hunting and fishing shack on a remote coastline of southeast Alaska’s Prince of Wales Island. While hunting bears from a skiff and a canoe, Steve gathers a variety of prime seafood and makes a discovery about his own motivations as a bear hunter.

Steven Rinella returns to his cherished boyhood stomping grounds in Michigan’s Muskegon Marsh to bow-fish for sucker, bowfin, and gar. Along the way, he demonstrates the rich bounty of wild foods that can be found in this freshwater paradise. Featured meals are salt-packed sucker and fried gar.

While Steven Rinella has had multiple experiences with spot-and-stalk hunting for javelina, in this episode he’s shown an entirely new tactic when his buddy Remi Warren demonstrates how to use a predator call to bring the peccaries in at a full run. The results are surprising. After the hunt, the javelinas get turned into a local delicacy, Chorizo de Javelin, with help from an experienced Mexican ranch cook. In addition, Steve and Remi hunt for coyote with the intent of roasting a whole animal. You won’t believe your eyes.

The second installment of a two-part episode covering the first hunt taken by comedians Joe Rogan and Bryan Callen. If all goes well, Steven Rinella will treat these newbies to traditional camp meals such as buck liver cooked with onions and a whole venison head roasted in a bed of coals.

In this two-part episode, television personality Joe Rogan and his best friend, comedian Bryan Callen, join Steven Rinella on a float trip for mule deer through the rugged Missouri Breaks, hunting and camping along the way. This is as adventurous of a first hunt as anyone could hope for, and Steven’s special guests are in for a memorable experience in some gorgeous country.

The behind-the-scenes special of MeatEater continues. Will Steven Rinella be able to provide his crew with venison from a Montana mule deer for Thanksgiving Dinner?

In the first installment of this two-part behind-the-scenes MeatEater episode, Steven Rinella promises his crew he will provide them with some venison to share with their families for Thanksgiving Dinner.

Steven Rinella and his friend Ronny Boehme drive into the mountains of southwest Montana to hunt the high ridge tops for dusky grouse. Featured meal is dusky grouse jalapeño poppers and grouse fettuccine with a white wine and cream sauce.

Steven Rinella prepares a collection of appetizers from animals harvested on recent MeatEater episodes for this "Big Game" cooking special. Featured dishes include tahr chili, Dall sheep sliders, Javelina tacos, and caribou sausage.

Steven Rinella crosses the border to call in and chase some big Gould’s turkeys. Of the five turkey species in North America, the Gould’s is the largest and is heavily protected in the US. On this unique Mexican adventure, Steve will be hunting with friend and expert Jay Scott, who knows the area better than anyone. After their successful hunt Steve will use special, locally-sourced charcoal to grill up a big, brined, delicious bird.

The culmination of Steven Rinella’s Tok Sheep hunt should not be missed, and just in case the Dall Sheep hunt isn’t enough, Steve and his hunting partners head upriver to chase bears. An exciting stalk ensues, and plenty of meat eating is enjoyed. Featured meals are Dall sheep steak with wild blueberry pancakes, Dall ribs cooked over a rock oven, and willow-roasted black bear loin.

After drawing one of the most coveted big game permits in North America – a Tok Management Area Dall sheep tag – Steven Rinella heads out for a truly rare and epic Alaskan experience. Along with two buddies, Steve is dropped deep into the Tok backcountry. After a rugged hike through nasty weather, Steve’s skills and fortitude are tested against his elusive, high-climbing quarry.

Steve and special guest, the author Tim Ferriss, travel to the remotest corner of Alaska to catch the annual migration of the famed Western Arctic caribou herd. On the open tundra they are met with challenges, wild adventures, and grizzlies. After two intense hunts for bull caribou, they feast on a stew of caribou sirloin and root vegetables thickened with bone marrow.

Steven Rinella flies halfway around the world to take on the mystical Red Stag in one of the most beautiful settings in the world—New Zealand’s South Island. Steve learns whether his North American hunting skills will translate for these foreign beasts.

Hunting a powerful living relic from a bygone era, Steven Rinella heads into the mountains of the Sonora Desert on a true, wild, free-ranging buffalo hunt. Steve knows Buffalo, but seeing and stalking these beasts in this dry, stark habitat is a wild experience, very different from anything he’s every done. After a careful long-distance stalk Steve takes a young bull and winds up with yards of incredible bison meat to share with his family, friends, and locals. With a little help, Steve prepares a true multicultural feast for a table of hungry cowboys.

America’s desert Southwest is a sharp, hard country of cactus, deep canyons, and big cats. Steven arrives to learn the truth about one of the hunting world’s most controversial acts—tracking a Lion with dogs until it is bayed on a cliff or in a tree. Learning from two expert lion hunters, he immerses himself in a style of hunt that is utterly new to him. He is humbled by the challenge it presents, this hunt is physically brutal and emotionally taxing. Sometimes the reward of the hunt is the thrill of success and a delicious meal, and other times it’s a more personal, and possibly more important lesson of knowledge and humility.

Steven and his brother Matt load up the llamas for a backcountry spring Turkey hunt in Montana’s Powder River Breaks. This rugged terrain is the brothers’ long time stomping ground and they will pack deep into the badlands to get away from people and close to some Toms. Featured meal will be camp-fried turkey schnitzel.

Wild Hogs can thrive almost anywhere - just like Steve. On this trip, Steven Rinella travels to the Sacramento Valley in central California in search of challenge and seriously good food. 300 years ago Spanish settlers let a handful of pigs loose in order to turn acorns into bacon, and today harvesting a wild pig for food is nexus of wild living and seriously good food. Rinella will prepare a backcountry gourmet feast of Pork Loin roasted with Apples and Rosemary cooked in tinfoil over a fire.

To hunt some of the most elusive game, the predator must become its prey. Steven Rinella drew a tag to hunt the elusive Coues Deer in the stark mountains of southern Arizona, where his spot and stalk skills will be pushed to the limit hunting these tiny, ghostlike deer. To successfully take a deer Steve will have to become equally invisible, quiet, and attuned to his surroundings...he will need to become a desert ghost. In tune with the local culture, Steve will pack a small kit of tortillas, chiles, and all the fixings to prepare fire-grilled heart tacos.

Every year, a handful of hunters draw a permit to hunt the Mills Creek region Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. Steven Rinella holds one of the permits this year, and he and his brother Danny backpack into the mountains, into country they’ve never seen, in hopes of finding a billy goat. It’s a grueling hunt, and there’s the constant threat of losing your meat if the goat spills over a cliff.

For a waterfowler's dream hunt, Steven Rinella joins his friend, the wildlife biologist Brandt Meixell, on a river boat journey to some untouched Alaska wetlands in search ducks and geese. Using tactics ranging from decoy hunting to jump shooting, they try to fill their boat and their bellies with a constant supply of duck meat. Featured meal is willow-spit roasted whole duck.

To find the best-tasting game meat, you have to earn it. As the cold Alaskan winter approaches, bears flock to the high country of Alaska's Chugach Range while feasting on cranberry and blueberry. As summer turns to fall, the bears have exhausted low-elevation fruit and their quest to fatten up pushes them into higher and less accesible terrain. The hard work and long hike pays off, as berry-fed black bears provide some of the finest tasting meat available to the American hunter. The meat is so good, that Steven Rinella plans to fry it in it’s own fat as a celebratory meal if he is lucky enough to land a bear on this trip.

Steve wants to hunt where few have hunted before. To gain access to pristine ground, he charters a float plane to drop him high in the Alpine zone of Alaska’s Coastal Rainforest at a little used landing spot. He plans to spend three days alone in the wild hunting for black tail deer. The primary challenges are steep and technically challenging terrain, drifting fog banks, and nearly incessant rain and snow. If he lands a black tail, Steve plans to cook up Rock-Pounded tenderloin to feast on before the float plane returns to bring him back to civilization.

With a full freezer from a long and successful fall season, any big sporting event is the perfect opportunity to cook up a pile of game meat and invite over some friends to watch the game. Steven Rinella prepares a collection of killer appetizers from animals harvested on recent MeatEater episodes. Featured dishes include tahr chili, Dall sheep sliders, Javelina tacos, and caribou sausage. These recipes are easy to make at home. With Steve’s help, your next party will truly be a wild game.

First described by J. Gould in 1856, the Gould's wild turkey is found in portions of Arizona and New Mexico, as well as northern Mexico. The population estimate in the U.S. in 1989 was fewer than 150 birds. The reintroduction of the Gould's wild turkey in Arizona occurred over a 30-year period and resulted in the current population exceeding 1,000 birds. Due to the success of this restoration effort, a limited hunting season is now in place for the Gould's wild turkey in Arizona. For more information on Gould's wild turkeys, please visit the below sites.

- There are four subspecies of North American wild sheep: Thinhorns which consist of the Dall's and Stone's sheep; and Bighorns which consist of the desert and Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep. - More than 90 percent of North American wild sheep reside on public lands. - State, federal, crown land agencies as well as tribal entities play an important role in wild sheep management. - Disease transmitted from domestic sheep to wild sheep is the No. 1 limiting factor to successful recovery of wild sheep populations. - Some public lands allow domestic sheep grazing in suitable historic wild sheep habitat causing large scale die-offs with many years of poor wild sheep lamb recruitment.

Located on Alaska's North Slope, the 22.8 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve comprise the largest single block of federally managed land in the United States. - The habitat provided by the reserve supports abundant migratory bird populations and the largest caribou herd in Alaska as well as numerous other game and non-game species. - The Bureau of Land Management is currently developing an Integrated Activity Plan and associated Environmental Impact Statement to plan for the future management of the reserve. - The TRCP supports Alternative B-2, which proposes a no lease designation that would account for protection of habitat on a mere 13 percent of the 22.8 million-acre NPR-A while still allowing for future oil and gas development in the majority of the reserve.

The Pilgrims didn’t get their turkey at the store and neither does Steve. On this special Holiday episode Steve recounts the adventure of his first hunt for a Gould’s Turkey and demonstrates how to roast a big wild bird to perfection. The Turkey will be packed with Caribou Sausage Stuffing—made from the back hams of Steve’s big Alaskan Caribou. Appetites will run large as Steve makes a special meal for his family and friends.

Hunting and fishing in North America, and the management of our wildlife and fisheries, are characterized by a unique and successful system of management called the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. Underlying principles behind the North American Model include the ideas that 1.) wildlife is owned by the public, 2.) wildlife can be killed only for legitimate purposes and 3.) the management of our wildlife resources should be accomplished through science-based management. The model is a concept that distinguishes the U.S. and Canada from many other nations where the opportunities to hunt are restricted to those who have special status, such as land ownership, wealth or other privilege.

Hunters and anglers are learning how to make a difference in the critically important battle against invasive species. Sportsmen should be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Waterfowl are so universally revered that the North American Wetlands Conservation Act was passed to fund wetlands and waterfowl conservation efforts in Canada, the United States and Mexico. However, the NAWCA program is subject to constant need for approval and funding in the congressional cycles. In 2012, the programs budget was down 26% from just 2 years ago. It’s important for sportsmen to speak up for this essential program.

Steven Rinella discusses the importance of the Blue Range Primitive Area to hunters and anglers while hunting mountain lions.

Some of the nation’s best public lands hunting and angling are being jeopardized by irresponsible energy development. Steven Rinella talks about what’s at risk in southwestern Montana’s Powder River Basin.