The MeatEater

There's no better time than now to set some new year's resolutions. In this episode, we are going to learn about how you,me, and really anyone can get involved in conservation. We'll learn about the Farm Bill and how it effects wildlife, wild habitat, and even hunting quality. We'll learn about conservation incentive programs like CRP and EQIP. Most importantly, we will learn how all of us can get involved and get some actual, tangible conservation in motion.

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Steven Rinella talks with New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich, Ryan Callaghan, and Randall Williams. 

Topics discussed: Corner crossing and the Supreme Court ruling; stream access; the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, mining, and caribou; the Roadless Rule; where to develop and not develop renewables; relative bipartisan support for nuclear energy; reintroducing pronghorn back to an area of New Mexico; the breadth of the coalition that came together around keeping public lands in public hands; and more. 

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In this episode, Cal sits down with Wired to Hunt's Mark Kenyon to take stock of the conservation landscape in the United States and look forward to the challenges and potential victories we can expect in the coming year.

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On December 15, the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) announced the end of a controversial CWD control program: a sharpshooting initiative that involved baiting and spotlighting deer in areas where CWD has been detected. MDC Director Jason Sumners announced the news in an open letter.

“As CWD has spread in Missouri over the last decade, MDC’s objective has been and continues to be to keep CWD infection rates low to protect the long-term health of the deer herd. This extensive undertaking can only be accomplished by working collaboratively with hunters and landowners,” he wrote. “At this time, MDC will be pausing our post-season targeted removal efforts to work with hunters and landowners to adapt and identify a more sustainable path forward.”

According to the CDC, CWD, or chronic wasting disease, is a prion disease that is spreading in deer, elk, moose, and reindeer. The government agency calls it a “serious disease in animals” and notes that it is “always fatal in infected animals.”

Kip Adams, Chief Conservation Officer for the National Deer Association, told MeatEater that while MDC’s targeted deer removal program may not have been popular among some sportsmen, it was effective.

“Missouri has been a leader in keeping CWD prevalence on the landscape low because they’ve been so aggressive at removing additional CWD-positive deer from known hotspots,” he said. “The single best-known way to make that happen is strategic sharpshooting cull programs…It’s unfortunate that now they have lost that ability.”

Prior to the action, Adams participated in an MDC-organized public event to engage local hunters on the issue. He said that many of them had qualms with MDC using bait for its post-season targeted deer removals, while forbidding hunters from doing the same. He also understands the frustration of there being fewer deer to hunt.

“I get it. Nobody wants additional deer to be removed if it’s in their backyard,” he said. “However, the science is very clear…you can look at other states and provinces where once strategic removal programs were removed, CWD prevalence rates climbed precipitously. Unfortunately, the same thing is probably going to happen in Missouri.”

In his open letter, Sumners pointed to the success of a recently launched Hunter Harvest Initiative, which encourages hunters to kill more deer in CWD “core zones.” Adams said that efforts like this, which involve local hunters, are important, but they should complement, not replace, more precise culls.

Adams noted that folks downplaying CWD, particularly on social media, has created a narrative that the disease is not as harmful as experts make it out to be. However, recent studies show significant population-level impacts from the disease.

“The detractors often say there’s never been a population that’s been reduced by CWD. That’s just not true. We have more evidence of CWD causing population declines in whitetails than ever before,” he said, adding that he’s worried about other states following Missouri’s lead.

“Hunters in every state whose state wildlife agency uses [targeted culls] can see Missouri has gone away from it. The ones that don’t like it will say, ‘Hey, Missouri stopped doing it.’ The ones that aren’t sure if it’s a good thing or not will look at it and say, ‘Well, if MDC quit doing it, it must not have been effective,’” he said. “This is going to have ramifications far outside of The Show-Me State.”

I live in a part of the South known as the Pine Belt. Most of the public lands in this part of Mississippi and Alabama consist almost entirely of old-growth or managed pine stands. There’s a running joke that the deer in this area survive on a diet of pine cones. If you’ve ever hunted in some of these places, you might actually start to believe it. Unlike the big bucks of Mississippi’s delta or Alabama’s Black Belt, a mature buck down here might tip the scales at 160 pounds while sporting 115 inches of headgear, save the exceptions.

Still, there’s good hunting (and good deer) to be found in the pines. And, no, it doesn’t just involve sitting on a food plot. Pine country might not look like typical deer woods, but deer live, feed, and travel in them just like any other landscape. Here are a few ways you can find success in the pines.

E-scouting pine country might seem daunting. Most of the woods look like a green blob on a screen, especially if you hunt flatland. Still, in that sea of green, there are edges within edges where deer travel.

I like to start with the obvious spots while e-scouting. Look for recent clear cuts or where two different pine stands meet. For instance, you might have an old-growth pine forest that meets a six or seven-year-old cut or a fifteen-acre block that was thinned in the past few years. These may not seem immediately apparent, but you can use recent satellite imagery to determine what current habitats look like before getting boots on the ground.

You’ll definitely have to scout these places in person. Start with the hard edges. From there, look for trails that parallel or run into younger pines where deer might bed. Depending on the size and age of the pine stand, you might be looking for a couple of specific trails or an area where deer are currently traveling/feeding. In young, thick pine stands (three to seven years old), there might only be one or two trails that deer use to access it for bedding. These trails usually look like highways or wide openings in the pines. If you find a community scrape on one of these travel routes, consider hanging a set or at least a camera.

For older growth stands or thinned cuts, the trails might not seem as consistent or apparent. You might find a ton of trails going in or through them. These areas make for excellent gun hunting setups. Deer love to travel through screening cover, and these types of thinned stands make excellent travel corridors even if they don’t look like it.

They can also provide a ton of browse for deer, but it takes an observant eye to spot the fresh sign in these soft edges. Don’t just look for droppings or tracks. Pay attention to the vegetation. You might notice privet hedge, honeysuckle, green briar, or other plants that have been nipped off at knee or waist-high. Deer might not spend a ton of time in these places, but they’ll definitely travel through them.

Jokes aside, there are such things as pine deserts. They’re typically located on large, private leases where timber companies spray herbicides underneath the trees as they grow. This practice kills any competition and vegetation beneath the pines, giving them the most efficient growth potential and schedule. You can see why timber companies might be incentivized to do this.

Rather than natural browse or cover, you’ll find pine straw beneath these trees, and that’s about it. The deer have no reason to eat, sleep, or travel there. I’m not saying you’d never see a deer, but you probably wouldn’t with any regularity. If that’s what you’re working with, you might want to turn your attention to another area.

One of my favorite features in pine country is an SMZ (streamside management zone). You can read more about it here, but it’s essentially a narrow stretch of hardwoods that snakes through a young pine stand or clear-cut. Timber companies leave these to promote habitat diversity and because they’re typically only cutting and selling pine. It’s both a water and a terrain feature.

An SMZ offers excellent cover, travel, and feeding for deer in the surrounding pine plantations. Essentially, it’s a pinch point, edge, feeding area, and a focal point on the landscape for deer anytime throughout the season. While an SMZ may or may not have a substantial stream or creek running through it, they typically stay wet, which is where you’ll find a lot of oaks. When you’re dealing with an overabundance of bedding, finding an SMZ can help you narrow down deer travel.

As the late season drags on, pines become increasingly important for deer hunters. After the leaf-off and most of the cover has been depleted, deer will hunker down in young pine plantations. These become easier to narrow down as January rolls around, and doe groups will gravitate to these areas.

That’s great news down South, as bucks are still looking for any remaining does in heat. I’ve killed some of my best deer during January, hunting the edges of pine thickets or road beds between plantations. You might have to hunt in places where your visibility is low, but that’s also where you’re likely to catch a buck slipping through the cover.

This mustardy venison and wild mushroom stew is hearty and rich, perfect for a cold day after a successful hunt. While you’ll often see this flavor combo with beef, it works even better with venison. The trick that sets it apart? The mushrooms are roasted separately and added at the end, giving them a toasted, earthy flavor and a firm texture—they won’t turn rubbery or mushy after a long simmer.

For a serious umami boost, I like to use a mushroom rub from my cookbook Wild + Whole, but you can easily make your own by grinding dried shiitake or porcini into a coarse powder. It’s an easy way to crank up the flavor and make this stew unforgettable.

Brent's out with the boys this week and they're all chasing rabbits. Well, more like following the dogs that are chasing the rabbits. He's giving insight into how a rabbit hunt with dogs is done, why it's so special to him, and where it ranks on his list of favorite things to do. The results may surprise you. Bubba, it's time to cut the pups loose on MeatEater's "This Country Life" podcast.

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Hosts Brody Henderson, Ryan Callaghan, and Cory Calkins go deep with Dr. Phil Lavretsky about turkey mutations and his latest citizen science project, throwback to their favorite hunts of 2025, make some New Year's resolutions, and answer listener questions.

Watch the live stream on the MeatEater Podcast Network YouTube channel.

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Join Rich Froning and Pat Spinosa on this episode of In Pursuit, as they sit down to talk rural America, agriculture, and the “Like a Farmer” brand Pat built with NFL QB Josh Allen. They cover the pillars behind the movement—outdoors, sports, food, and country music—plus why the next generation is crucial for keeping farming strong in a changing world.

The conversation also digs into rancher-athlete culture, direct-to-consumer meat, processing realities, conservation, and a few fun detours—duck hunting stories and the never-ending chicken debate.

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This week on the show we’re discussing some of the top hunting and fishing related conservation issues and opportunities to keep an eye on in 2026, and joining me are Chris Borgatti and Devin O’Dea of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.

Check out the new Wired to Hunt vintage hat!

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