The MeatEater

It takes more than a single bad decision to lose your hunting and fishing privileges for life. For Tennessee resident Jerry “Trey” Truitt III, it came after years of poaching violations across western Montana.

Truitt was sentenced to a lifetime hunting and fishing ban in early April in Ravalli County after pleading no contest to five wildlife charges tied to incidents in 2024 and 2025, according to Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks.

Those charges included two counts of unlawful possession of wildlife (a turkey and a sandhill crane), hunting without a license, criminal trespass, and hunting during a closed season. Investigators say Truitt killed a wild turkey without a license and illegally shot a sandhill crane in Ravalli County, where there is no season for the species.

Truitt’s most recent case is part of a broader pattern. He was originally convicted in Ravalli County in 2025 for poaching crimes committed in 2024, including killing a cow elk and a whitetail doe in the West Fork of the Bitterroot without a license.

Truitt also pleaded guilty in a Lake County court last year for obstruction of justice, using someone else’s hunting license, and poaching waterfowl in the Ninepipe Wildlife Management Area in 2024.

“We would like to thank both county attorney's offices for all of their work through the years on these cases,” said Kyle Miller, the Region 2 warden captain for MFWP.

Earlier penalties included fines, restitution, and temporary license suspensions. Truitt’s most recent sentencing bumped his previous penalties to a lifetime ban.

Lifetime bans like this are rare. Wildlife agencies across the country handle thousands of violations each year. However, only a tiny fraction ever rises to the level of a lifetime loss of privileges. That penalty is usually reserved for repeat offenders or cases involving multiple serious offenses. In Montana, Truitt’s ban means he can no longer legally hunt, fish, or trap in the state for the rest of his life. In some cases, a lifetime ban can also come with forfeiture of equipment used in the crimes.

While Truitt’s offenses occurred in Montana, his ban will also spread to Tennessee, as both states are members of the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact. The compact states that it "includes a reciprocal recognition of license privilege suspension by member states, thus any person whose license privileges are suspended in a member state would also be suspended in their home state." So even though his ban initiated out West, it stretches far beyond Montana’s state lines.

Officials say the investigation was led by game wardens in Ravalli and Lake Counties, with assistance from local prosecutors who handled multiple cases over several years.

It’s usually other hunters who get the ball rolling in cases like this. Game wardens say tips from the public play a major role in catching repeat violators. In Montana, anyone with information can report suspected natural resources crimes like poaching, vandalism, and littering through the state’s Tip-Mont system.

A few Novembers ago, I set out for a hang-and-hunt on my favorite piece of public land in North Carolina. After over an hour of wandering, I stumbled across a hot white oak that was surrounded by fresh deer sign. Shortly after I set up, a young buck limped up to the acorns and stood perfectly for a shot.

I couldn’t have been more excited as I walked up to that scrappy six-point. But reality started tugging on my sleeve as I field dressed him. My wandering led me nearly two miles from my truck, and I was totally unprepared to pack a deer out that far. I looked up at the lights from a small rural community nearby—so close I could hear car doors slamming—and decided to give it a shot.

One phone call later, I had permission from the nearest homeowner to drag my buck out through his backyard. The following season—after requesting to drag out another deer—he gave me standing permission to access public land through his property. Soon after, he offered me permission to archery hunt on his property. It’s been five years since then, and I live more than 1000 miles from that spot now, but my dad still enjoys open access to that property every season.

Private land permission can be a game changer for any hunter, but it’s hard to get and can be easy to lose. With that in mind, here are a few things to consider before you try door knocking this spring.

Permission is a tricky proposition. In my time as a hunter, trapper, and wildlife research technician, I’ve interacted with hundreds of landowners to negotiate access. I can say with certainty that most landowners would rather not allow a stranger to set foot on their property at all, let alone to engage in a potentially dangerous activity where the goal is to harvest a desirable resource.

Some are definite no’s. Many teeter somewhere in the middle, and your approach can sway them in your favor.

On initial contact with a landowner, I always ask if it’s a good time and offer to call or stop by later if not. I want to make it abundantly clear from the start that I respect their time. Next, I explain what they really want to know: who I am and why I landed on their porch or phone line.

In my experience, landowners like to see that you’re putting in the effort to be successful and aren’t just trolling for easy pickings. Before popping the question for hunting or trapping permission, I always mention that I’ve been making good use of public land in the area but would love to hunt new ground or have a more accessible option when I’m crunched for time.

I’ve faced plenty of denials. Most of them were due to existing leases or company policies prohibiting hunting. But I’ve also scored access to some incredible land, and I’ve never had a door slammed in my face. The key is to speak as if you’re asking a favor from someone who owes you nothing, because that’s exactly what you’re doing.

Still, the game isn’t over when you get a “yes.” If you want to hold on to that access, you have to prove to the landowner that you’re not a liability. That’s a long-term commitment.

Your relationship with a landowner is an invaluable thing, but it can be incredibly fragile. One rule broken, one whiff of a bad attitude, and you might land permanently on their shit list. Remember, the landowner is taking a risk and doing you an enormous favor in letting you hunt. Show your appreciation by respecting their boundaries and behaving responsibly.

I also always offer venison or a helping hand with grunt work on any permitted property. In the case of the landowner who let me drag my buck out through his property, he declined my offer of venison but gladly accepted a case of his favorite beer. My dad carries on that tradition, dropping by the house with a case of beer at the start of each season and a few times during.

MeatEater's own Tony Peterson explained to me how he's maintained access to a farm in southeast Minnesota for over 30 years.

"I was in eighth grade when a fellow classmate mentioned I could hunt their family place, but he cautioned me against pissing his dad off," he said. "I knew of his dad from football games and figured the best way to go about things was to try to stay off of his radar as much as possible and follow the rules."

While that might seem like common sense, it’s important to consider what “following the rules” looks like for individual landowners.

"Over the years, I've watched dozens of hunters get booted from that property for parking in field drives, leaving gates open, calling the landowner during spring planting or fall harvest, and just generally inconveniencing the landowner. Hunters forget that farmers are running a business, and it's best to leave them to it," Tony said.

Tony said that farm “changed (him) forever,” and he’s maintained that relationship even now.

"I'm super grateful to not only get to grow up and learn there, but also to be able to now take my daughters there. I call him up every year in March to ask permission, and every year he says yes. It's honestly just a gift."

Tony’s takes a long-term approach, and it’s been fundamental to maintaining access. You have to follow the rules a landowner sets for you, no matter how unreasonable or arbitrary you might think they are. Ignoring them is the fastest way to lose permission and gain a bad reputation in the neighborhood.

Landowners might not communicate all the rules directly, and that’s dangerous territory. They might not outright want to tell you they’re uncomfortable with you hunting in the woodlot behind the house or that they want you to stay out during the youth deer season when their grandkids will be out.

But often, if you’re a good listener, you can pick up on cues. The key is to pay attention and always err on the side of caution. This is the best way to prove your worth to the landowner, which can expand your access and opportunities over the years. Basically, if you show your appreciation and don’t become an inconvenience, the glide path to multiple seasons is easy enough to follow.

Bob Smith stepped into the Maine woods on a November afternoon in 1997 and never came back. His wife heard a single gunshot. Then... nothing. What followed was the largest ground search in the history of the Maine Warden Service. Investigators found clues—a set of boot prints, a strange arrow in the dirt, even a dead moose nearby—but none of them led to Bob. As the search dragged on, rumors surfaced: out-of-state hunters who left early, a story about an accidental shooting, and people who may have known more than they said. Was Bob Smith the victim of a tragic accident… or something far more deliberate?

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In this episode, Rich sits down with Tyler Jones to talk whitetail hunting, training through injuries, raising resilient kids, and how adversity often shapes us more than success ever could. They get into the value of fitness for hunters, lessons learned through sport and fatherhood, and why preparation is about a lot more than punching tags.

It’s a conversation about faith, grit, and the long road of becoming who you’re meant to be.

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Steven Rinella and the MeatEater crew discuss: A toxic sulfide mine just outside the Boundary Waters Wilderness gets a thumbs up from Senate Republicans; Oklahoma lets loose its pet deer into the wild; how paddlefish anglers in Missouri are mutilating then releasing fish; a meteor shower; and more. 

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This week on the show, we’re diving into an exciting project to save 4,000 acres of prime hunting ground in the Southeastern United States and help make it public land in perpetuity.

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A Connecticut angler recently caught a rainbow trout of epic proportions. On April 11, Richard Courtright Jr. was fishing at a Spring Fishing Day fishing derby on the West Branch of the Farmington River, where the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (CT DEEP) had recently stocked trout. There was a rumor that the agency had stocked a state record—and Courtright spotted it in the water.

He threw everything he had in his box at the fish, including lures, spinners, and salmon eggs, to no avail. Then Courtright went back to his car to retrieve meal worms. It’s a good thing he did so. The fish took the bait and began running up and down the river as Courtright attempted to fight it on light tackle with six-pound test line.

“The drag was really loose, so it could do whatever it wanted to do," he told CT Insider. “It felt like fighting a piece of plywood.”

Eventually, though, Courtright managed to land the fish. The rainbow trout measured 31 inches long with a girth of 21.25 inches. It tipped the scales at 16 pounds, 7.5 ounces, easily beating the previous record, a 14-pounder caught in 1998.

One of the reasons Courtright’s fish was so big is that it was actually prized for its ability to eat. According to a Facebook post, the fish was from the Kensington Hatchery, which does not typically rear rainbow trout. Instead, the hatchery focuses on Atlantic salmon, but hatcheries apparently have a hard time getting the salmon to eat pellets, or fish food.

That’s where Mr. Pellethead and his rainbow trout buddies come in. “Captive Atlantic salmon are timid about feeding on pellets at the hatchery,” explains CT DEEP. “To solve this fish culture problem, [we] add 20 or so rainbows, who love to eat and will start to feed immediately…once the Atlantic salmon see [and] sense the splashing, they are eager to join in.”

The nearly 17-pound rainbow trout was apparently even more eager than most trout and became the state record in the process. Courtright plans to mount the behemoth.

Bob Smith stepped into the Maine woods on a November afternoon in 1997 and never came back.

His wife heard a single gunshot. Then... nothing.

What followed was the largest ground search in the history of the Maine Warden Service. Investigators found clues—a set of boot prints, a strange arrow in the dirt, even a dead moose nearby—but none of them led to Bob.

As the search dragged on, rumors surfaced: out-of-state hunters who left early, a story about an accidental shooting, and people who may have known more than they said.

Was Bob Smith the victim of a tragic accident… or something far more deliberate?

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In small towns all over America, there are remarkable and tragic stories that if not told could easily slip into oblivion. These stories must be recounted so history doesn’t get lost and the mistakes of the past are never repeated.

In Mena, Arkansas, the hometown of host Clay Newcomb there are two notable graves nearly in sight of one another.  One holds a story so unbelievable and tragic that it hardly sounds true, and one story that holds some dark history.

In 1951, Maria de Campa, the 9 year old daughter of trapeze artists was killed by an unattended circus lion outside the big top as the show performance was underway. Then the following day, as the circus moved to the next town on their tour a vehicle accident resulted in the escape of some exotic and dangerous animals into the National Forest.

Rewind 50 years before, to the story of Peter Berryman, a mentally unstable African American man who was arrested for allegedly kicking a young girl. The night before he was to stand trial before the judge, a group of masked men detained the deputy on duty, entered the jail, took Berryman, and beat and lynched him.  Despite town outrage, the perpetrators were never brought to justice.

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