The MeatEater

Twelve-gauge pumps might still rule the turkey woods, but 20-gauge autoloaders dominate the current turkey gun trend. Thanks to potent TSS loads and custom turkey chokes, hunters can swap heavier, shoulder-pommeling big bores for lightweight sub-gauges without sacrificing effective range (in a lot of cases). If you’re in the market for such a rig, you should put the Beretta A300 Ultima Turkey 20 gauge at the top of your list.

This spring I had the opportunity to test and hunt with a Beretta A300 Ultima Turkey, customized by Rob Roberts Gun Works. Aside from the lengthened forcing cone, you’ll find everything else internally is the same as a base model A300 Ultima Turkey. After patterning, carrying, and bagging a longbeard with the A300, I might have a new favorite turkey gun. Here’s a breakdown of this sub-$1000 auto-loader.

Gauge: 12 or 20

Chamber: 3 in.

Action: Semi-automatic

Barrel Length: 24 in.

Overall Length: 43.9 in.

Weight: 7.2 lbs

Length of Pull: 14.24 in.

Adjustable Stock Drop

Includes Pic Rail

Made in USA

Price: Some start at $999

During my review of the best turkey hunting shotguns, the A300 produced the best pattern of all the 20 gauges and ultimately produced the highest score of the test. It placed 363 pellets within a 10-inch circle at 40 yards with a Rob Roberts Raptor choke and Apex GT-20 no. 9 combo with an average pellet count of 359. Those would be stellar numbers from a 12 gauge but even more so from a 20.

Even with Federal Heavyweight TSS, the A300 averaged 233 pellet strikes inside a 10-inch circle at 40 yards. Again, fantastic numbers and more than double what you need to kill a turkey at 40 yards.

When it came to lead shot, the A300 Ultima Turkey averaged 104 pellets in a 10-inch circle at 40 yards with Winchester Long Beard XR (3-inch no. 5) and a Carlson’s choke tailored for that ammo. Plenty of pellets to kill a turkey at that distance, but, understandably, not as impressive as the TSS loads.

You might not get those same numbers with just any turkey choke, and the Raptor will run you $130. You might get similar pellet counts from an Indian Creek Black Diamond Strike or JEBS Head Hunter, but the Raptor will probably give you optimal results. Either way, if you opt for one of the best turkey chokes, you should expect great patterns from this gun.

The A300 Ultima includes oversized controls, like the bolt release and handle. This makes reloading quick if something goes awry in the field. Though, I never had an issue with the A300 cycling. This isn’t as big of an issue with turkey hunting, since you’re shooting heavier payloads and (hopefully) no more than once at a time.

It also comes with a Picatinny rail for mounting a red dot or other optic. However, I went with a Meadow Creek vent rib mount and topped it with a Sig Sauer Romeo-X Compact. The vent rib mount allows you to form a better cheek weld since it’s slightly lower than most Picatinny rails, like the one Beretta includes. Plus, you can carry it by the receiver if you prefer not to run a shotgun sling.

The medium-sized palm swell should fit most hands, and I appreciate that it’s not overly rounded. This makes it comfortable and easy to grip when you’re waiting for a shot with your head down on the gun. The checkering on the grip also helps with this.

Beretta’s Kick-Off recoil reduction system helps mitigate a lot of the felt recoil, especially in the 20 gauge I tested. Two shock absorbers near the butt plate and a third in the tie rod work throughout the shot process to reduce the perceived recoil. You still feel a lot of that recoil when you’re shooting a 1⅝ oz. payload in (Apex) TSS, but it’s nothing like a 12 gauge.

You get a good idea of how a shotgun carries when you tote it for a dozen or so miles in the spring, which is what I did. The receiver width makes it feasible to carry one-handed, while the barrel (24 in.), overall length (43.9 in.), and weight (7.2 lbs) strike an ideal size for the turkey woods.

This gun is easy to balance on your knee or maneuver around brush. I had to make a few key adjustments for the last turkey I killed this spring. The overall size of the A300 made it easy to duck and move the barrel into a good shooting position while I waited for that gobbler to walk through an opening.

For just under $1000, the Beretta A300 Ultima Turkey 20 gauge represents a heck of a value when you consider the patterns it produces compared to other guns (even 12 gauges) in and above this price range. Consider swapping the included rail for a vent rib mount (like I did) to get a better cheekweld for your red dot. This will give you a more natural shooting position and allow you to keep your head down on the stock for around $40.

TSS is insanely expensive right now. I get it. But if you’re going through the cash and effort to buy a dedicated turkey gun, go ahead and upgrade to a custom choke and run TSS. No, you don’t need to shoot TSS to kill a turkey, but there’s no doubt it’ll give you the most optimal patterns.

It’s hard to imagine an old house without a screen door. And even though they may mostly be a thing of the past, they still hold a significant place in Brent’s memories. A listener’s experience is outlined through his knocking on doors asking for hunting permission. Then Brent shares some observations that detail how the thought of a screen door or even a similar sound of one closing can bring on a flood of memories. 

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The Golden State is currently experiencing what experts are calling the largest known outbreak of deadly mushroom poisonings in U.S. history. According to a May 14 public safety bulletin from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), there have been 47 wild mushroom poisoning cases since November 2025, resulting in the deaths of four people and at least four liver transplants. The cases were spread throughout 12 counties across California.

A CDPH spokesperson called the number of serious illnesses and deaths “unprecedented,” adding that the cases are associated with the consumption of amatoxin-containing mushrooms, such as death caps and destroying angels, along the central and northern coasts. In a typical year, the state only reports around 5 mushroom poisoning cases.

Death caps and destroying angels are some of the most well-known deadly mushrooms in North America, as they can rapidly lead to organ failure and death. In recent years, scientists have said that invasive death caps have been spreading in California’s Bay Area and competing underground with a choice edible: chanterelles.

This year, officials say the “amatoxin-containing mushrooms are unexpectedly blooming beyond normal seasonal expectations across parts of Northern California, Central Coast California, and Southern California following recent spring rains.”

The increased presence of the poisonous mushrooms may not be the only factor at play. The CDPH report shows that cultural and language barriers may also be an issue, considering that “affected individuals are known to speak Spanish, Mam, Mixteco, Mandarin Chinese, Ukrainian, Russian, and English, highlighting the need for multilingual outreach.”

Additionally, some experts are worried that the proliferation of AI-powered technology could be contributing to people misidentifying mushrooms; a recent scientific report found that “even the best-performing [AI identification] tool failed in almost 15% of cases, with others performing worse.”

It’s not clear exactly which mushrooms people have been confusing death caps and destroying angels for, though they can be somewhat similar in appearance to matsutake, Amanita vernicoccora, small puffballs, buttons, and more.

Amid the ongoing outbreak, officials are urging caution. “Avoid picking and eating wild mushrooms or eating food prepared with wild mushrooms while risk of amatoxin poisoning is high,” read the CDPH bulletin. “If you do participate in ‘mushroom hunting’ or foraging, rely on local expert knowledge for identification rather than apps or websites. Foragers are encouraged to document mushrooms consumed with informative photos and location information.”

Feature image of death cap mushrooms via Wikimedia.

Mark's chatting with Erika Howsare, author of The Age of Deer, to get a better understanding of what exactly she means with that book title and what her experience was like diving into the world of deer and deer hunting for the first time.

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This week on In Pursuit with Rich Froning, Rich, Angelo, and Pete Nelson from SISU Sauna get into ultra running, sauna and cold plunge, fasting, faith, youth sports, and the value of having good people around you when things get hard.

Pete shares stories from a 75-mile ultra in Joshua Tree. Rich recaps the Mayhem 50-mile relay and the reality of trying to hold it together through the middle of the night. They talk recovery, discipline, competition, raising kids, and the kind of accountability that only comes from being surrounded by people who won’t let you quit.

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Steven Rinella and the MeatEater crew discuss: Steve's new baby mouse; Corner Crossing updates; the endangered jaguar hanging out in Arizona; live sonar for billfish and the end of integrity in fishing; Louisiana's National Forest land transfer; the first ever detection of CWD in Wyoming's largest elk herd; South Dakota sets an unprecedented elk hunting management plan; Michigan's major buck hunting rule changes; and more.

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When Bill Roland went missing from Lake Sam Rayburn in 1997, nothing about the case made sense. Weeks later, his boat turned up hidden in a cove, shot multiple times with a shotgun in an apparent attempt to sink it. His truck was found burned. His trailer was somewhere else entirely. And Bill was nowhere to be found. Investigators were left to piece together a puzzle with missing parts: a fisherman who may have had no enemies… or may have had more than anyone realized. Was this a random encounter on the water or something that started long before he ever launched his boat?

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No one needs an introduction to chronic wasting disease (CWD) at this point, or the recounting of its history and incurable nature. It is now found in 37 states and its footprint in some locations is growing. The disease is not caused by a bacteria or virus, but by a prion (“PREE-on”), a type of infectious protein that is not folded the way it should be. When these prions come into contact with the normal form of the same protein, those normal proteins also misfold in a cascading effect.

We are fortunate that teams of disease specialists and managers are working together to learn as much as they can about all the ways CWD is spreading to more deer and more areas. The same abundant deer and elk populations that are affected have also allowed the recovery of large carnivores in many locations, so perhaps it can be expected that we find ourselves talking about these issues together.

Although there is no evidence carnivores can contract this disease of the deer family, there recently has been a lot of very bold and definitive assertions they are controlling it in deer and elk. In this case, “control” could mean anything from slightly reducing the rate of increase, holding it stable, or decreasing the prevalence rate (percent of the population testing positive). Carnivores preying on or scavenging CWD-positive deer or elk could potentially either reduce the amount of infectious material available in the environment or spread that infectious material around the environment through their feces. Of course, both can also be true at the same time.

The message that wild carnivores will reduce or manage CWD for us is an increasingly popular narrative. The loudest sources of this idea are predictable segments of the public who are always looking for reasons to make large carnivores out to be saviors of the environment.

Those on the other, equally predictable end of the spectrum who see large carnivores more as Satans of the environment would like you to think about carnivores spreading CWD and making it worse. Scientists have investigated this topic, but the messaging has been mixed and confusing.

Let’s look at what science can tell us about carnivores cleansing, or accelerating, CWD so we can craft—or temper—our messages accordingly.

Increasingly, we hear large carnivore protectionists promoting fanciful stories about why their favorite animal is restoring ecosystems, curbing climate change, changing the course of rivers, cleaning up CWD, or otherwise saving the world in general.

Wolves, in particular, have a very effective and relentless volunteer public relations team. There is no need to justify the restoration of large carnivores, we saved their prey and as conservationists we have an obligation to finish the job while recognizing some places they formerly existed are no longer suitable or appropriate. Besides the constant carnivore cheerleaders, some legitimate studies have been conducted to look into this topic of mountain lions and wolves controlling CWD.

Research in Colorado found mountain lion-killed adult mule deer were more likely to be infected by CWD than hunter-killed deer, and infected deer were more likely to be killed by mountain lions than uninfected herdmates. This could be from infected deer being less alert or being less able to get away when attacked. Carnivores killing CWD-infected deer and elk at a higher rate than healthy animals is the kind of information that underlies statements about them cleansing our herds of CWD. Some selectivity of CWD-positive prey animals doesn’t automatically translate to the control or management of CWD at the population level.

If you build a simple population model where diseased animals are killed at a higher rate than healthy animals, it would be unusual if the model didn’t predict that carnivores will control the disease. However, there are many complex ecological forces that can dilute and counterbalance any cleansing effect of carnivores selecting CWD-positive animals out of the population. Researchers in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem built a population model, not to predict CWD trends, but to learn more about the relationships between predation and CWD. They summarize their study by saying the model suggests cougar and wolf predation may decrease CWD outbreaks and delay the rise in prevalence.

The focus of this research was not to document carnivores controlling well-established CWD outbreaks, but on whether it is theoretically possible and, if so, under what conditions. The model aggressively increased how intensively the infected animals were removed from the population in later stages of CWD infection compared to healthy animals.

As infection progressed, CWD-positive deer and elk were preyed upon at an exponentially higher rate, assuming that is what happens in the wild. Researchers reported that the model does indicate carnivores could control CWD under the right conditions; however, those theoretical conditions don’t currently exist in their Greater Yellowstone study area. Their results show that predation and disease relationships would have to be different than they currently are before we would see carnivores significantly changing CWD disease dynamics in a population.

In the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, wolves and mountain lions tend to select fawns, calves, and old-age individuals, but the model indicates that to control CWD, predation would have to focus more on adults—especially on infected adults—than on young animals.

This paper is often cited as scientific evidence that carnivores can control CWD, but the researchers programmed the model to conduct many different scenarios describing which animals are preyed upon the most, when during the course of the infection cycle they are killed, and when the animals are transmitting the disease to other deer or elk. Some of these scenarios resulted in various levels of control of CWD and still maintained viable deer and elk populations, and some scenarios did not control CWD effectively but still reduced deer and elk populations dramatically.

In some cases where CWD was maintained at a very low level in prey populations, the overall abundance of deer and elk was cut by more than half. As with all modeling exercises, they made reasonable assumptions and reported under what conditions predators may be most effective in controlling CWD, but they did not confirm that they actually were. It seems that reporters looking for a flashy headline and carnivore protectionists are only promoting the scenarios where it looks like CWD control is possible as if that were the scenario happening in the wild.

Researchers reported that to eradicate (not just control) CWD, predator densities would have to be some of the highest ever recorded in North America, they would have to prey upon at least 10 infected adult deer or elk for each healthy one, and that doesn’t consider continued infection from all the prions in the environment.

In model scenarios with those unrealistic conditions where CWD was mostly eradicated, deer and elk populations were cut in half in 10 to 15 years, and there were no deer and elk left after 30 years. Obviously, predation is not the solution to eradicate CWD from our herds.

For carnivores to clean up CWD and reduce the amount of infectious material in the environment, they would have to neutralize the infectious prions during digestion and not just spread it around in their feces. As it turns out, carnivores are very good at digesting protein (including prions) because that’s the way their digestive systems work.

In a recent study, researchers fed two captive mountain lions a meal of CWD-infected mule deer tissue and then collected and tested their feces for a week after. They only found infectious prions in their first feces after the meal three days later and estimated that the lions passed less than 4% of the CWD prions they ate. Some of these same researchers later reported variability in CWD detection in coyote scats with this same method, which is why in science we like to see a sample size of more than two mountain lions fed one meal.

If large carnivores deactivate most CWD prions they consume, that would reduce at least some infectious material in the environment, but is it enough? Throughout the course of CWD infection, a deer or elk releases thousands of infectious doses of CWD prions in its life. CWD-infected animals release infectious prions through saliva, feces, urine, antler velvet, and birthing fluids, then they die and release even more.

These prions can last a very long time and accumulate by binding to the soil and minerals and may even be taken up into plants. This means there are abundant potential points of infection all around in the environment in CWD-endemic areas, and that is too complex to include in a model of CWD disease dynamics and predation. New infections from environmental sources could not be included in the Greater Yellowstone model, and that complicates the idea that most infection is occurring from animals in their last few months when the model ramps up exponential predation rates on those animals.

Disproportionately killing and consuming infected animals in the last few months of their life when symptoms start to show up is a good thing. However, the crux of this discussion is: what scientific evidence do we have to say that large carnivores are controlling CWD at a population or game management unit level—or statewide for that matter?

Despite arguments that carnivores “could” control CWD, evidence that they actually do has been elusive in the real world. In 2008, Colorado researchers reported that in their study on Table Mesa, CWD-infected mule deer were nearly four times more likely to be killed by mountain lions, but that selective predation was not controlling CWD infection. They concluded: “Remarkably high infection rates sustained in the face of intense predation show that even seemingly complete ecosystems may offer little resistance to the spread and persistence of contagious prion diseases.”

Some of those same researchers returned to that study area in 2018-19 and found that even though the deer population was far from healthy, deer abundance, CWD prevalence rate, and mountain lion predation were still about the same. CWD prevalence rate only changed from 29% to 34% of the deer population in 13 years despite mountain lions killing 4.5 infected deer for every one uninfected deer, which led them to conclude that "some combination of predation by mountain lions and perhaps subtle genetic shifting in the mule deer host or unidentified environmental factors may have contributed to the net absence of measurable change, at least on the surface.” Another interpretation might be that mountain lions continue to be unable to meaningfully change the percentage of the population that is infected by CWD.

Other research in Colorado provides strong support for the use of hunters to control CWD in wild, free-ranging mule deer populations. When hunter harvest was high enough and sustained, CWD was kept lower. From 2002 through 2018, those areas with the lowest deer harvest levels had the highest increases in infection rate. Those areas with stable or increasing harvests had stable CWD infection trends. In light of this, it is curious that carnivore protectionists are not standing in line to speak at commission meetings, asking for more deer and elk hunting opportunities.

Wild carnivores kill and feed on members of the deer family and then leave their feces around containing infectious prions. CWD-positive prions have been detected in the feces of crows, bobcats, mountain lions, coyotes, wolves, black bear, raccoon, and eagles. That is a lot of potential prion spreaders and has sparked concern that predators and scavengers may not be cleaning up CWD, but instead just spreading it around the landscape—especially those with large territories.

As a carnivore species, humans have contributed to the spread of CWD more than any other through live animal translocation, captive and wild animal concentration, and the transportation and dumping of hunter-harvested deer species. Deer and elk are spreading CWD in the environment every day. The question is to what degree are carnivores involved, and is their role significant enough to have any effect on the local transmission or geographic spread of CWD in the wild? Just like the idea that carnivores can control CWD, we don’t want to get ahead of the science and make unsupported statements.

Coyotes normally roam about five to 20 square miles annually, but transient coyotes may cover more than 100 square miles. Mountain lions typically have home ranges of 50 to 250 square miles, so that is a lot of ground that could be the recipient of a prion-laden turd. However, remember from the CWD meal fed to two captive mountain lions, researchers were only able to detect less than 4% of the prions originally fed to them in their CWD burger. Despite this small sample size, we can probably assume meat eaters are pretty good at digesting proteins, including infectious prion proteins, with their stomach acid and digestive enzymes.

Importantly, studies also showed coyotes shed infectious prions for only three days after the meal and for mountain lions, only the first feces after a meal contained infectious prions. Since they both likely stay close to a food source for a few days, they probably don’t spread them far from the source. Considering human movements of live and dead deer and elk, as well as massive big game migrations of hundreds of miles in the West, how important to overall CWD disease dynamics are the prions remaining in predator feces?

In 2024, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine assembled a panel of leading experts to report on the state of our knowledge of CWD. On the topic of carnivores spreading CWD, they noted, "…there is currently no evidence of such….”

Advocacy should be based on science, but our science should not be based on advocacy. Beyond the evidence that infected deer are relatively vulnerable to predation and that most of the consumed prions are deactivated in the digestive track of carnivores, questions remain about whether, and to what extent, predation can slow, stabilize, or reduce CWD in a wildland setting.

Whether carnivores are controlling or spreading CWD are not mutually exclusive scenarios—they both can be true, and they both can be happening at levels that are inconsequential to population-level trends in CWD disease dynamics.

Carnivores are neither destructive monsters nor saviors of the environment; they are simply meat eaters trying to make a living. We should refrain from crafting exaggerated stories about both ends of that spectrum. Our focus should always be on what science, not advocates, tell us.

The continued interest in CWD and predator research assures that more people will be looking into this topic in the years to come. We do not know all we will know in a few years as we continue to learn more about how carnivores might influence the spread and prevalence of CWD. In the meantime, it is important that we curb the temptation to only discuss large carnivores with a saint or sinner narrative.

Images via Wikimedia.

When Bill Roland went missing from Lake Sam Rayburn in 1997, nothing about the case made sense.

His truck, boat, and trailer were missing, but there was no sign of a struggle at his lake house. Searches of the surrounding woods turned up empty, and his family and friends said he'd never leave without telling anyone.

Weeks later, his boat turned up hidden in a cove, shot multiple times with a shotgun in an apparent attempt to sink it.

His truck was found burned.

His trailer was somewhere else entirely.

And Bill... was gone.

Investigators were left to piece together a puzzle with missing parts: a fisherman who may have had no enemies… or more than anyone realized.

Was this a random encounter on the water or something that started long before he ever launched his boat?

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Know something about this case? Submit a tip through the Texas Rangers Cold Case website or through the Texas Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-252-8477.

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Got a tip about this case or know about another you think we should cover? Send us an email at [email protected].

Future Wild is a one-on-one interview podcast pairing host, author, and outdoorsman Mark Kenyon and world-class subject matter experts to explore topics relevant to the future of wildlife and wild places, hunting and fishing, and other outdoor pursuits. Future Wild is here to answer the questions being asked by the deeply curious and passionate in the hunting, angling, and outdoor communities.

Follow now for the first episode, featuring Patagonia's Yvon Chouinard, dropping on Wednesday, May 27th on the Cal of the Wild podcast feed, soon to be called MeatEater Conservation. 

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