The MeatEater

Jordan Sillars joins host Clay Newcomb alongside Render crew members Dr. Misty Newcomb, Kristie Spielmaker, and Josh “Landbridge” Spielmaker for a behind-the-scenes look at the making of his hit Blood Trails true crime podcast. Jordan shares stories from the field, lessons learned during production, and advice on the basics of how to avoid foul play in the wilderness.

The conversation also turns to Bear Grease episode 457, Civil War Part 1: The Seeds of War, as the crew reflects on the moments, perspectives, and historical insights that challenged them or left a lasting impact.

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The ongoing fight over Washington wildlife management has moved from combative commission meetings into federal court.

On April 2, Washington Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Lorna Smith, along with Washington Wildlife First (WW1) and its Executive Director, Claire Loebs Davis, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) Director Kelly Susewind and Deputy Director Amy Windrope. The sharply-worded, 82-page complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, alleges bullying, retaliation, viewpoint discrimination, and a broader effort by Susewind and Windrope to discredit critics of their management decisions.

“Defendant Susewind has twisted facts, ignored science, and suppressed expert dissenting viewpoints in order to serve his agenda,” wrote attorneys for Smith, Davis, and WW1.

A sitting fish and wildlife commissioner suing their agency’s director in partnership with a wildlife activist organization is highly unusual. But for Washington hunters and anglers, it's the latest red flag that some members of the commission want to nix hunter influence throughout the agency and policy drafting process.

Accusations go as far as blaming Susewind for the deaths of two WDFW employees due to “willful failure to meet state safety standards.” In 2023, fisheries biologist Erin Peterson drowned while conducting snorkeling surveys. Less than four months later, seasonal scientific technician Mary Valentine drowned while working on a smolt trap. Both women were working alone on remote river stretches and neither were wearing life jackets.

The suit claims that safety training was not provided in either case, resulting in “multiple citations from the state Department of Labor and Industries for ‘willful serious’ violations of workplace safety laws, hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, and two wrongful death lawsuits.”

The plaintiffs are seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, compensatory damages, punitive damages, and attorney fees. Davis and WW1’s science and advocacy director, Francisco J. Santiago-Ávila, are looking to take it further and strip Susewind of his duties.

“Washington’s wildlife needs leadership grounded in ethics, science, and public values,” said Santiago-Ávila during an August 15 commission meeting. “Instead, the director repeatedly shows contempt for the law, disdain for Washington values, disregard for employee safety, disrespect for the commission that oversees him, and indifference to the plight of wildlife he is sworn to protect. Washington Wildlife First is calling for Director Susewind’s removal and asking the people of Washington to join us.”

In an April 3 statement, the WDFW said the lawsuit had not yet been served on the named defendants.

The current firestorm ignited in 2021 when the WDFW Commission released the first public draft of the Conservation Policy. The policy was designed as a guiding framework for WDFW and the commission to make decisions affecting fish, wildlife, and habitat.

But parts of the draft echoed animal rights language used by orginizations like Wildlife for All. The draft referred to the “intrinsic values of non-human nature,” said “each living individual” contributes to ecosystem health, and argued that “status quo wildlife management has not kept pace with a rapidly changing world.”

“We had commissioners citing skewed surveys from WW1 as if they were scientific evidence, and public records revealed troubling behind-the-scenes coordination, exclusion of the tribes and other behaviors,” Kelsey Ross, founder of Conservation Coalition of Washington, told MeatEater. “That decision was the clearest early sign that ideology was beginning to outweigh science.”

Along with her role at WW1, Davis is also a current board member of Wildlife for All. The organization’s mission is to reform game commissions nationwide. Former WDFW Commissioner Fred Koontz also sat on the Wildlife for All advisory board during his short commission tenure. Koontz was a key architect of the commission’s early Conservation Policy work, which included the divisive language that raised eyebrows in the hunting community.

Two months after the Conservation Policy surfaced, the commission paused and then outright banned spring black bear hunting, disregarding data collected by WDFW’s own biologists that support the hunt.

Backlash from Washington sportsmen and women was swift and fierce. It drew in record numbers of camo-clad hunters and groups like RMEF, Sportsmen’s Alliance, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, HOWL for Wildlife, and the Conservation Coalition of Washington, who tore into the accused commissioners during public meetings.

“The decision to take away the spring bear hunt for 2022 has put our struggling ungulate population in specific areas under unnecessary pressure due to the increased predator population,” Washington bear hunter and author Douglas Boze told commissioners at the time.

In 2023, the Sportsmen’s Alliance filed suit against Commissioner Smith for simultaneously holding a position with the Jefferson County Planning Commission (JCPC) and Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission. As a direct violation of RCW 77.04.040, the Washington State Supreme Court sided with Sportsmen’s Alliance resulting in Smith resigning from the JCPC.

Two years later, WW1 turned the tables and sued over Commissioner Molly Linville’s reappointment to the WDFW citizen panel while she was also serving on a local school board. She has since resigned from that position.

Sportsmen’s Alliance then sued WDFW under the state Public Records Act, arguing the department had failed to produce documents it first requested in September 2023. Once in hand, those records fueled two tracks: an internal WDFW review and a Sportsmen’s Alliance petition asking Gov. Ferguson to remove four commissioners.

On May 6, 2025 WDFW criminal justice legal liaison Thomas R. Knoll Jr. received two partial boxes of records containing commissioner communications with outside groups. Two days later, Susewind asked him to review the materials and provide an independent assessment of whether they showed inappropriate conduct.

In what is now known as the “Knoll Memo,” Knoll concluded that Smith and Rowland posed “serious risks” to WDFW, especially with regards to conflicts of interest and public-records compliance. He also raised concerns about their relationship with Davis, saying they appeared to “have each other on speed dial.”

“This is a damning condemnation of commissioners Lorna Smith and Melanie Rowland,” said Rob Sexton, Senior Vice President of the Sportsmen’s Alliance, in a statement on their website. “While Smith and Rowland, and as this internal investigation shows, their animal-rights co-conspirator Claire Davis, try to brush the findings aside, there’s no hiding from the truth we’ve exposed: collusion, corruption, and violations of law have undoubtedly taken place.”

That same day, the Sportsmen’s Alliance petitioned Gov. Bob Ferguson to remove Smith, Baker, Rowland, and Lehmkuhl from the commission. The petition alleged the commissioners had violated public-meeting and public-records laws and accused them of “incompetence, misconduct, and malfeasance in office.”

Sportsman’s Alliance argued that commission decisions were already “preordained” before hunters, anglers, and other members of the public ever had a meaningful chance to weigh in.

Less than a week later, Susewind forwarded the Knoll Memo to Ferguson’s office. Susewind formally asked Ferguson to investigate commission conduct in an Aug. 5 letter. The director wrote that records produced through public-disclosure requests “call the conduct of several commissioners into question.” He said an independent investigation would give the governor the information needed to decide whether removal was warranted.

The Smith-Davis-WW1 lawsuit landed April 2, 2026, just days before the outside investigation was expected to be completed.

As heated as Washington’s wildlife fight has become, the state isn’t operating in a vacuum. Across the U.S., game commissions are becoming front lines in a larger battle over wildlife activists gaining too much influence on state wildlife policy.

Two years ago, Colorado voters rejected Proposition 127, a ballot initiative that would have banned hunting and trapping mountain lions and bobcats. Lynx were also named, which are already federally protected. The measure failed, with about 55% voting no.

It didn’t end there. In an April 2026 letter opposing two Polis appointees, the Colorado Wildlife Conservation Project argued the administration had shifted CPW’s “culture and values” by appointing commissioners with “extreme animal-rights and anti-hunting agendas.”

New Mexico rewrote its wildlife-governance structure in 2025. Under Senate Bill 5, wildlife is to be managed as a public trust resource with ecological, economic, and intrinsic value, as well as for use, food supply, and nonconsumptive enjoyment.

In Oregon, sportsmen are fighting a proposed radical ballot measure that would criminalize hunting, fishing, trapping, farming, breeding, and more. Vermont has been battling over trapping, coyote hounding, and nonhunting influence on wildlife policy. Alaska remains locked in court battles over predator control for caribou recovery.

WW1 and Wildlife for All describe their mission as making state wildlife management more “democratic, just, compassionate, and focused on protecting wild species and ecosystems.” To many hunters, however, that movement looks like a coordinated effort to supplant the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation.

“Whether someone hunts or not, this issue should concern anyone who values transparent government, ethical conduct, and decisions rooted in science rather than ideology,” Ross said.

“At its core, this is about preserving a wildlife management system that serves all Washingtonians and protects the hunting, fishing, and trapping heritage that has been the greatest funder and mechanism of conservation for the wildlife in our state for generations.”

Hunters and anglers like to strut around in well-worn gear like they’ve earned a merit badge. Scuffed-up rifle stocks, blood-stained jackets, and threadbare packs usually tell a good story in the rips and stains. Well-earned wear is one thing. Flat-out neglect is another. Worn gear may tell a story, but mildew and battery corrosion just tell on you.

Most gear failures don’t start in the woods or on the water. They start out small and quiet in truck beds, garages, sheds, and storage bins during the off-season. The good news is that responsible maintenance today can keep a small problem from turning into something that ruins an otherwise good day outdoors.

If neglect has a favorite weapon, it’s moisture. You probably know better than to intentionally leave your gear out in the rain. However, it’s too easy to stumble in after a cold, damp hunt and head right to a hot shower, a warm dinner, and your favorite pillow. That’s how damp gear ends up mildewing in the garage corner. Wet waders can turn into mildew burritos, and damp blind bags start to look like middle school science experiments. Tomorrow has a funny way of turning into July.

Moisture destroys slowly in ways you don’t notice the damage until it’s too late. It cracks rubber boots, rusts metal hardware, and infests fabric with a funk that’s nearly impossible to undo. This is when half an ounce of prevention beats a pound of cure.

Give gear a chance to dry before you stuff it in a bin. Hang your waders to dry overnight. Leave bags and cases unzipped until they air out. Open pockets. Wipe down guns, decoys, calls, and anything else that came home wet and muddy.

If you abandoned something at the end of last hunting season, it’s not too late. Open it up now and let it breathe. The problem won’t fix itself, especially after baking for three months in a hot garage.

Battery corrosion can be nightmare fuel, and trail cameras are the worst offenders. Some hunters hang them in the woods for months on end, totally forget about them at the end of the season, and then act surprised when the insides look like a crusty science experiment. (It’s me. I’m some hunters.)

But trail cameras are far from lone offenders. Headlamps, flashlights, rangefinders, GPS units, red dots, and all sorts of other electronics get shoved in gear closets, storage bins, garages, and truck consoles with the batteries still inside. Then, summer heat goes to work. A couple dollars’ worth of batteries can ruin gear that costs hundreds.

The fix takes less than 30 seconds. Pull the batteries out of your electronics before you toss them in storage. If you want, you can keep them in a small case or pouch so the terminals don’t touch metal or each other. Or you can just toss last season’s batteries and start the new one with a fresh set.

I admit that I sometimes get weirdly sentimental about filthy gear. I once refused to wash my hunting pants after killing a nice buck. I spent the rest of the season parading the bloody knees around like they were badges of honor. Like a lot of my hunting buddies, I treat mud-caked boots and blood-stained gear almost like signs of moral superiority. But dirt destroys gear.

The worst problems come from things you stop thinking about after a hunt, like mud caked into boot laces or ground into zipper tracks, boat sludge living in decoy bags, and a knife folded up still covered in blood, fat, and deer hair. Guilty as charged.

Mud silently grinds away at zipper tracks and stitching. Sand will mess up optic glass and work its way into fishing reels and firearms. And blood can stiffen and stain fabric.

That doesn’t mean you need to baby your gear. Good gear is supposed to get dirty. It’s part of the process. But there’s a big difference between gear that’s worn from use and stuff that’s been neglected.

Take a few minutes after a hunt to clean things up. Knock off the mud before it dries into concrete. Wipe blood and moisture off knives before they get shoved back in the pack. Rinse your fishing gear with freshwater.

Small things like slow leaks in waders, loose boot soles, and wiggly sling swivels are never a big deal in the moment. But ignore them for long enough, and they have a way of turning into something serious.

Gear has a special talent for breaking when you’re farthest from the truck and least prepared to deal with it. A tiny leak in your waders will morph into full swamp exposure in freezing weather. A boot sole ends up peeling away mid-hunt. A loose swivel results in a rifle taking a dangerous tumble into the dirt.

Most gear gives warning signs, but a lot of hunters just ignore them and promise to take care of it later. The off-season is that “later.” Take care of leaks, tighten screws, repair seams, and replace worn laces now. Because a five-minute fix in June can save you a whole lot of headache in November.

So don’t wait until you’re on the water to discover that your waders have completely failed. You want your headlamp to work on opening morning and your knife to be sharp, shiny, and ready for field dressing after you’ve notched a tag. Gear takes care of you when you take care of it first.

The goal of pretty much all whitetail hunters is to get close to big bucks, but they often don't - and for good reason. Proximity matters, but most hunters think about it wrong, which Tony explains in detail this week.

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Religion is often at the center of historical events in the West. The founding of modern Montana, in fact, happened when Native people famously pleaded for Christian missionaries. The question was whether the Christians actually understood what the Indians were asking for.

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Check out more MeatEater's American History audio originals "The Long Hunters" and "Mountain Men"

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If you’re like me, your collection of shotguns is kind of like a set of golf clubs. Each is a different tool for a different purpose. I have a dainty, lightweight British 12-gauge for long walks and fast flushes. I have a smooth-shooting Remington 1100 for sitting still in the marsh. And I have a short-barreled 20-gauge for turkey hunting. But the most important gun in my safe is a beat-up Mossberg 500. I’ve used it to shoot deer, ducks, geese, turkeys, and pheasants.

I’m not enough of a golfer to think of a club that would best describe my Mossberg, but it is the toughest, most versatile shotgun in my safe. It isn’t particularly good at one thing—it’s good enough at everything. If you don’t have a workhorse shotgun like mine, you should probably get one.

I bought my Mossberg used for $150. For those unfamiliar with the Model 500, it’s a simple pump-action with a rust-proof aluminum receiver and a reputation for taking abuse. The 500 doesn’t have much in the looks or handling department, but it makes up for that with reliable feeding and easy maintenance without tools.

I can take my 500 into salt marshes and hose it down afterward without feeling like I’m ruining the gun. And should anything happen to it, I don’t need to take out a line of credit to replace it. Here are a few reasons why you might want a cheap, knockabout shotgun and how to go about getting one.

A solid, working shotgun should be simple to operate, simple to maintain, and durable. It should be able to put up with neglect, moisture, dirt, and the occasional dent or scrape. Their best virtue is that they are the gun you don’t need to think about. They let you focus on what’s happening in front of you and not on what’s happening to your gun. Collectors items are out, as are older, finicky shotguns. Pump-actions, over-unders, and inertia-driven autoloaders from reputable makers are all good choices.

Your gun should also be relatively affordable and replaceable, should something bad happen to it. It should also take a variety of shot types, from lead to slugs to steel. Weight is another factor. Too heavy and it will be a drag to carry in the uplands. Too light and it will feel whippy and all over the place in a duck blind. You’re looking for something with a little weight up front to help you swing on a bird or clay.

I prefer a 12-gauge. They pattern the best, and you can load them with anything from a heavy goose load to a light target load. Don’t rule out a 20 gauge, though. You can pass them down to younger shooters, they’re lighter to carry in the field, and will get the job done on just about any game animal in the US.

A workhorse shotgun should also be the first gun you buy.If you’re new to hunting or new to buying guns, picking a simple, reliable shotgun is a great way to go. Pump-actions and over-unders are easier to operate safely for beginners. After buying that first gun, you will probably buy a second and a third, but if your first is durable and reliable, it can pinch hit in a variety of hunting situations.

Having a beater shotgun has saved quite a few hunts for me and my friends. I always pack one when I go to duck camp should my first choice break down, and more often than not, I’ve ended up loaning my Mossberg or Benelli M2 clone to someone else. A buddy gun is a great thing, because hunting with a buddy is better than hunting alone. If that gun is simple and easy to understand and operate, all the better.

Guns that are easy to maintain are easy to break down to their smallest parts. After unscrewing the barrel, my mossberg comes apart with two pins that I can punch out with a screwdriver or a stick if I need to. The bolt is chunky, and it’s hard to lose a part when I have it stripped down.

This comes in handy should I need to break the gun down in the field—which I’ve done after getting it completely covered in snow and mud on a deer hunt. Another plus to big, loose-fitting parts is the gun’s ability to clear dirt and debris. Many think a gun that rattles around means it’s lower quality, but loose tolerances are the key to unfailing reliability. Guns with small parts and intricate mechanisms don’t make good working shotguns. And vintage guns with specialized parts are not ideal either.

Your shotgun is going to have a long life of use doing a lot of different things. It should not be good at one thing. Spare barrels are easy to find and cheap on the used market for my Mossberg. I have several that I can take deer, duck, or turkey hunting, or I can throw on a short barrel to use it as a truck gun or camp gun for peace of mind. I also like that I can find cheap aftermarket stocks for it if I need to make the gun fit a smaller member of the family.

When you’re looking for a workhorse shotgun, go for the most versatile gun you can find with plenty of available aftermarket parts. I like pump-actions because I can easily switch barrels. They also have a higher capacity as a camp gun or something to carry in bear country.

Generally, American-made pumps are built to fit anybody, and their stocks can be swapped with a screwdriver if they don’t. More modern gun stocks also offer shims that are easy to change for new shooters. Your workhorse gun may not be great for one type of hunting, but it should be adequate at almost everything.

I almost never shoot 3-inch shells. Instead, I roll my own 2¾-inch bismuth duck loads and have been using a great low-recoil 2¾-inch TSS 12-gauge load for turkeys. But I do have an absolute pile of 3-inch steel shotshells should I need them, and all of my hardest-working guns have 3-inch chambers.

Think of a workhorse gun as a down-on-your-luck gun. It should have a strong, modern barrel that can eat anything from the cheapest steel shells to the fanciest custom loads. As someone who shoots a lot of vintage guns that are picky with ammo, having a couple more modern guns in the safe is a great backup. Bismuth is getting harder to find, and lead could eventually be outlawed, which would turn my old guns into wall-hangers. It’s nice to know that an ammo shortage wouldn’t keep me out of the field.

If I’ve convinced you of the merits of an affordable, durable, no-nonsense shotgun, you’re probably wondering what models to buy. Here are a few options that will serve you and your grandkids’ grandkids in the field.

This is my pick for a workhorse gun because it just works every time. Shooting a Mossberg 500 can feel a bit like swinging a 2x4, but when you pull the trigger, it goes bang, and I have a lot of punched tags to prove it. I’ve dropped my 500 from a treestand, submerged it in water, and left it cold and wet for weeks, and it always works. There are also endless options for barrels, stocks, and parts, and these guns are dirt cheap even if you buy one that’s brand new.

In my opinion, Remington 870s are better quality than Mossberg 500s, but the 500 has the 870 beat in field serviceability and simplicity of design. The 870 is still a simple, brilliant design that pretty much dropped the mic on pump-action shotguns. Remington 870s are getting more expensive, and some of the later Express models lack in quality. Keep an eye out for old Wingmasters and guns built in the late 80s to early 90s. They still have old-school Remington craftsmanship with the added bonus of swappable Remchokes.

If you’re noticing a pattern here, it’s this: Every shotgun on this list so far has seen military service, and the Ithaca Model 37 is no exception. It earned its stripes in the jungles of Vietnam, so it will put up abuse, season after season. The other upside to the Model 37 is that it’s pretty much ambidextrous—shells eject from the bottom of the receiver. It’s also widely available on the used market and gives you a lot of old-school craftsmanship for the money. The only downside is you might be limited to a 2¾-inch chamber and a fixed choke. If that’s the case, buy one with a modified choke or send the gun off to a company like Briley to put in threaded chokes.

The Benelli M2 is about as bare-bones and basic as you can get for an autoloader. They are a joy to handle and carry in the field, too. There are a lot of M2 clones out there as well that make great candidates for workhorse shotguns because they are often very cheap. It’s also easy to find parts for them. M2s don’t shoot as soft as gas guns, but they keep on shooting when other autoloaders fail.

You’ll probably spend more money on a Beretta 680 series than you would on any other gun on this list, but it is probably the most versatile here. There’s a lot to be said for choosing an over-under as your workhorse gun. They may only have two shots, but they are dead reliable. Ergonomically, they work equally well for waterfowl, upland hunting, and clay shooting. Shooting slugs and turkey loads can be an issue out of an over-under depending on how the barrels are regulated, but you can find one barrel that will hit to your point of aim. A Beretta 686 Silver Pigeon 12-gauge could be the first and last gun you’ll ever buy. If you’re looking for a more affordable, hard-working over-under, check out a Franchi Instinct L.

This week, Cal tells you about the Michael Phelps of coyotes, the worst nightmare of meat lovers, and the Mountain King of testicle dealers. Buckle up. It's going to be a wild one.

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Seeing as this episode releases on Memorial Day, Lake thought it would only be fitting to use it as opportunity to honor our the men and women who served the United States armed forces. This week, we will hear four different stories where wildlife conservation and the U.S military just so happened to overlap in some pretty incredible ways.

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Janis Putelis gives behind-the-scenes details and answers viewer questions about his “12 in '26” rifle and archery caribou hunts in Manitoba.

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