Bear Grease

This week is open mic night at the Bear Grease home fire and Clay Newcomb is givin’ the stage to some of the best turkey hunters he could dig out of the spring woods. You'll hear from Cauy House, authors Robert Hitt Neill, Jr and Hank Burdine, Garvin Gibbons, and Richard Campbell. And Bear Grease veterans Andy Brown, Moe Shepherd, and Hall of Famer Roy Clark. These stories give a glimpse into the joys, tribulations and passions of the American turkey hunter. On this episode,  we’ll hear about a white Tennessee turkey, a hunt where a hunter catches on fire, a turkey that had the gobble shot out of him, and we’ll end with a somber story that might bring a tear to your eye. I really doubt you’re going to want to miss this one....

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On this episode of the Bear Grease Render, Clay Newcomb is coming at you live for the second time from the Black Bear Bonanza in Northwest Arkansas. This time Clay is joined by render regulars Misty Newcomb, Josh "Landbridge" Spielmaker, and of course Brent Reaves, as well as Arkansas BHA Chapter Chair James Brandenburg and the state of Arkansas's Large Carnivore Biologist, Myron Means. The crew discusses hunting black bears in Arkansas, misconceptions about hunting bears over bait, and the importance of shooting mature boars to ensure the earlier season remains. Maybe most importantly, however, the gang premieres a brand new song, written by Clay about Bear Grease Hall of Famer James Lawrence, featuring Josh on Mandolin and Myron on Banjo. If you're a real Bear Greaser, you're not gonna wanna miss this one...

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What do you think of when you hear the state, Arkansas? This is Clay Newcomb’s beloved homeland, and on this episode he dives deep into the long-standing national image of Arkansas. It hasn’t always been great. Scholars say it was the most picked on state in America in the 20th century and to this day remains the most “hillbilly” state per the internet. But is that truth, or just the results of branding and strong stereotypes? Clay interviews Dr. Books Blevins, Dr. Jeanie Whayne, and Dr. Bob Cochran to get to the bottom of this image. It’s fascinating, entertaining, and in the end you may wish you were bare-footed and grinning ear-to-ear, living the highlife in Arkansas. Clay visits one of the nation’s premiere American art museums, Crystal Bridges, in Arkansas. He visits the Walmart museum to talk to Sam Walton’s hologram, and lastly, he’ll release a never before heard interview with Arkansas’s first son, Bill Clinton -- for real. All this will prove that there are really two Arkansas’s -- the stereotype and the real thing. We really doubt you’re going to want to miss this one.

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On this week's episode, Clay Newcomb is all business. After introducing the render crew - Misty Newcomb, Gary Newcomb, Brent Reaves, Josh "Landbridge" Spielmaker, and Ben Lagrone - Clay gives a quick recap on the Bear Grease Hall of Fame, emphasizing its seriousness and immutability, before introducing not one, but two new candidates! Following the vote, the discussion turns to Clay's Magnum Opus, the most recent episode on "the Big Bear of Arkansas." The gang dissects a few topics like the nuance in culture, language, and accents even within a given region, the importance of the written word, and how remarkably media can impact culture. And stick around, because you're not gonna wanna miss Josh's take on why angling is better than hunting...

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On this episode Clay Newcomb is going to take you on a journey to explore an uncanny bear hunting story written in 1841 called “The Big Bear of Arkansas.” Its influence almost single-handedly branded Arkansas as the “Bear State” and paved a path for some of America’s greatest Southern authors.  Clay Newcomb and the crew will talk about the remarkable and pretty-durn-new-to-planet-earth power of media to influence our imaginations about people we’ll never meet, places we’ll never go, and how it can influence who we think we are. We'll hear from three of the greatest guests known West of the mighty Mississippi - renowned Ozark historian & author, Dr. Brooks Blevins, University of Arkansas Folklorist, Dr. Bob Cochran, and like a hickory nut between two acorns, MeatEater’s own Steven Rinella. This is one of Clay’s favorite stories our all time. If you’re a Bear Greaser at heart, I really doubt you’re going to want to miss this one… Sent from my iPhone

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This week the Bear Grease Render is coming at you from camp in the Arkansas Delta on the Cache Bayou. Your fearless host, Clay Newcomb, is joined by the incomparable Brent Reaves as well as render veteran and owner of Sunspot Outdoors, Michael Rosamond. Cameramen Loren Moulton and Dave Gardner flew in for the render as well and decided to stick around and shoot some Coon and Squirrel Hunting for an upcoming Bear Grease project. As the river level rises, the crew discusses relevant topics like how river gauges work, where to hunt when your prime woods get flooded, and the importance of a good, bright coon light. The gang then dives into the last Bear Grease episode called "Tecumseh's Death," where they discuss the nuanced implications of the great orator and Shawnee leader's life and death. Stay tuned cuz you're not gonna wanna miss Clay's announcement for a special event...

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We’re on the third and final episode in our series on the Shawnee leader, Tecumseh. He’s been called the greatest Native leader in American history, but we’ve found ourselves backed against the bedrock of inevitability. On this side of mortality, all great men and their stories must come to end. On this episode we’ll talk with Peter  Cozzens, Robert Morgan, Dave Edmunds and Shawnee Chief Ben Barnes about that fateful day in October 1813, but perhaps more relevant to us today, we’ll explore the ways in which we remember history sometimes playing tricks with our conscience to console an uncomfortable past. Was the image of the Shawnee reflected back to America really him all? And we’ll contrast the way different cultures view their great men – not everyone does it the same. Lastly, and on the wild meter of interest it’s pinned in the red, Shawnee Chief Ben Barnes will tell us the vision and mission of modern-day Shawnee Nation. Boys, I really doubt you’re going to want to miss this one. 

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This week on the Bear Grease Render, a very special crew braves the elements to meet up to talk about the famed orator and Shawnee leader of the pan-indian confederacy, Tecumseh. Misty, Clay and Josh are joined this week by first time guests Jessica Jessica Lewallen and Kristie Speilmaker, as well as returning favorite Terrell Spencer. Topics discussed include an AI generated biographic article that struggles with the Newcomb's first names, the APPA rooster calling championship, and the importance of language. I really doubt you're gonna want to miss this one...

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This is the second episode in our Tecumseh series were we’ll look at his life from 1775 through 1812. Originally, I planned to title this one, “Uncommon Genius” which is what US President William Henry Harrison called the Shawnee. I decided, however, to use a declarative statement made by “the panther crossing the sky” himself. In response to intolerable encroachment, while many of his own tribe were leaving and heading West, Tecumseh said,  “we shall remain.” We’re going to learn the details of Tecumseh’s involvement in the War of 1812, but most interesting to me, we’ll explore the worldview differences of the Indians and Europeans and how it was destined to fail, and we’ll see that change is the only constant and predictable thing on planet earth. I wish I had good news for you, but the waters continue to be murky, but this time with blood. I really doubt you’re gunna want to miss this one…

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On this episode of Bear Grease, most of the regulars, Clay, Misty, Josh, Gary, and Isaac, gather at the Bear Grease Global Headquarters to discuss the great and enigmatic leader of the Pan-Indian Confederacy Movement, Tecumseh. But not before the crew, who is joined by James Brandenburg, Chair of the Arkansas chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, talk about the upcoming second annual Black Bear Bonanza which will take place March 4th from 9am to 5pm and feature, among other things, an owl hoot contest MC'ed by our very own Brent Reaves and judged by Clay Newcomb. Misty then dives into talking about her first duck hunt, before the outfit jumps back into discussing perhaps one of the most underrated, forgotten, and earliest American Folkheros - of whom was said "If it were not for the vicinity of the United States, he would perhaps be the founder of an empire that would rival in glory Mexico or Peru." We really doubt you're gonna want to miss this one...

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