The MeatEater

This story begins in the wild, unforgiving mountains of Montana.

In September of 2014, 38-year-old Aaron Hedges set out with friends for a weeklong elk hunt in the Crazy Mountains. But when he left camp to retrieve supplies from a nearby cache, those friends never saw him again.

But instead of searching for him, they went home--right as a snowstorm hit. Search and rescue teams were unable to locate the missing hunter. All they found were a few pieces of gear, including his boots, but no trace of Aaron Hedges.

His remains were eventually found miles from where he was supposed to be, but the mystery only deepened: did Aaron lose his way in the vast, punishing wilderness, or was something far more sinister waiting in the shadows?

In this episode of Blood Trails, we explore how the line between accident and foul play might be thinner than you think.

Click here to listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.

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

This week, Tony breaks down some bad dog owner behaviors, and how we should all try to do better with our four-legged counterparts.

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This week on Rut Fresh, we're covering the first week of December with updates from three completely different whitetail worlds. Michael Perry of 18 Outdoors breaks down the ramping Southern rut in Alabama, where daylight activity is just starting to climb and winter food sources are becoming key. Reese Johnson checks in from Kentucky, sharing how the post-rut lull is shifting deer toward predictable food patterns and what hunters can expect as cold weather settles in. Then Alex Comstock of Whitetail DNA gives a Minnesota perspective, where late-rut behavior overlaps with harsh conditions and target bucks begin locking into survival mode.

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Thanks to our sponsor Land.com

In December 1971, Oklahoma Game Warden Melvin “Bucky” Garrison was found drowned in just two and a half feet of water in the Tiger Mountain area of Lake Eufaula. The circumstances surrounding his death remain a mystery. Was it a bizarre accident—or something more?

Join host Clay Newcomb as he sits down with retired Oklahoma Game Warden Ed Rotabush and Hank Jenks, 1st District Chief of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, to explore what is known, what remains uncertain, and the boundaries of the law that shaped the investigation.

If you have comments on the show, send us a note to [email protected]

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Spencer Neuharth hosts MeatEater Trivia with Brody Henderson, Nate Mason, Cory Calkins, Alyssa Smith, Logan Dove, and Sarah Delany.

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Guns aren’t always a great financial investment (though they can be), but this is one firearm purchase you can definitely feel good about.

Lot 1 at the Rock Island Auction on December 5th is a one-of-a-kind set of five Purdey & Sons side-by-side shotguns. Valued at a whopping $800,000, the proceeds from the sale will benefit five conservation organizations: Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, Ducks Unlimited, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, National Wild Turkey Federation, and Pheasants/Quail Forever.

The guns are currently owned by legendary hunter and turkey caller, Will Primos. As he explained to Steve and the crew on a recent episode of The MeatEater Podcast, this set of guns isn’t just rare: you’ll never see another like it anywhere in the world.

“There will never be another set. It’s one of a kind,” he explained, adding that he hopes others will consider selling valuable items to benefit conservation. “Hopefully this will start a ripple effect.”

In 2012, Primos asked Purdey & Sons to create a bespoke set of hammer/ejector shotguns with consecutive serial numbers in five different gauges and calibers: 12, 16, 20, 28, and .410. In its 200-year history, Purdey has never produced a consecutively-numbered set of hammer/ejector guns in all five gauges, making this collection incredibly valuable despite its relatively young age.

They’re also pretty easy on the eyes. The sides of the actions feature a brushed bright finish with traditional English scrollwork, and the bottoms depict various wildlife scenes, including a rock pigeon perched on a desert cliff with two more pigeons in flight behind it, three drake mallards, and a Mearn’s quail.

The auction is set to take place on December 5th. Bids can be made at the Rock Island Auction facility in Bedford, Texas, online, or over the phone. For more information and images, check out the Lot listing here.

Of course, Will’s shotguns aren’t the only interesting firearms being sold at the auction this weekend. Also on tap is a Deluxe Evans lever-action rifle that may have been owned by Buffalo Bill.

This Transition Model lever gun was manufactured by Evans Repeating Rifle Company of Mechanic Falls, Maine. This one is chambered in 44 Evans and features a walnut stock. The Evans rifle was one of the more novel repeating arms of the 19th century and had the largest capacity of any repeating rifle ever mass-produced. Various famous western figures used Evans repeating rifles, including Texas Jack and Buffalo Bill.

True to form, this rifle features a presentation plaque on the left side of the forearm that reads, "This Rifle Presented to/William F. Cody/May 12, 1877/By the Evans Rifle Co./Mechanic Falls, Me."

You might think that’s enough evidence to prove this rifle’s provenance, but forgeries abound when it comes to Buffalo Bill. Rock Island notes that there isn’t any official documentation to prove that the western showman once owned this Evans, but that doesn’t mean it’s a fake.

In fact, author Dwight Demeritt, Jr. wrote in his 1973 book, “Maine Made Guns and Their Makers,” that the Evans company would often present specially made rifles to famous personalities (not unlike the five-shotgun set presented to Will Primos).

“One such presentation made by the Evans Company was to William F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) on May 12, 1877. A rifle, allegedly the rifle that was presented to Cody, still exists and is what the author has described as the transitional model gun. It has the old model action with the two-piece buttstock,” Demeritt wrote.

That description matches the Evans rifle in this auction, so it’s not unreasonable to believe this rifle is the real deal.

Whether or not this is a genuine Buffalo Bill rifle, it’s still valuable as an antique firearm. Rock Island estimates this rifle will sell for $70,000 to $110,000, so get on the phone with your financial advisor today to discuss ways to empty your 401K! (Just kidding, don’t do that.)

Other auction items of note are Bat Masterson's Sharps Model 1874 Buffalo Rifle, a Dalton Gang Colt Single Action Army, and the last dangerous game gun of African author and professional hunter Peter Capstick.

Several years ago, I sat down to dinner at a high-end restaurant in Indianapolis while attending the Archery Trade Association Show. Seated next to me was a fellow who has made a name for himself as a hardcore, backcountry western hunter. He has earned his reputation, and then some, so I thought it would be an interesting conversation.

It was, until we got on the topic of whitetails. Almost as soon as our chat drifted from the mountains to middle America, he said that he didn’t think we needed anyone filming whitetail hunts because they were all the same, and they were all boring. To his credit, at that time in the industry, the managing deer thing was coming on way strong, and a lot of the shows did follow a similar formula. Either show up at an outfitter’s place to be put on a deer, or set up on a food plot to hunt a buck with a name and a history.

I couldn’t fault him for his opinion on the content front, but he went further and mentioned that the deer game just didn’t require the skill or the physicality of western hunting. The skill thing is highly debatable, but the physicality aspect really isn’t. The belief that no one has to burn a single calorie to kill a deer is wrong, and it’s pervasive. It’s also holding a hell of a lot of whitetail hunters back because many of us believe that whitetail success is totally disconnected from individual fitness.

The variance in situations between deer hunters is as large as it is for western hunters. While someone looking for an elk might carry their camp and food on their back deep into a national forest to hang out for five or six days, another will pay 25-grand for a premium ranch tag that all but ensures unpressured bulls that can be (and are) accessed by side-by-sides.

The whitetail geek who has a large farm, tractors, four-wheelers, and a series of food plots punctuated by box blinds is a far cry from the mobile hunter with a saddle and sticks who wades into public land on a daily basis to scout sign and set up over fresh scenery. There are a lot of folks stuck between those two extremes, and the idea that because they are whitetail hunters, they don’t need to do any real work is not only wrong, but detrimental to their success.

Scouting, at least beyond the deployment of trail cameras, requires effort. Hanging stands, setting blinds, cutting shooting lanes, and a host of other deer duties come at the cost of some sweat equity. Shooting a deer and then getting it out to the truck, at least for a lot of hunters, also involves a real buy-in as far as effort is concerned.

For example, I shot a buck in South Dakota several years ago on public land that chased a doe past me while I sat over a pond at the bottom of a draw along the Missouri River. It was Halloween, and I knew if I got him packed out quick enough, I could make the seven-hour drive home to trick-or-treat with my daughters.

It was a brutal, solo mission and certainly didn’t feel like I was taking the easy way out. A few years after that, I killed my first bull elk in an over-the-counter unit in Colorado. Packing that bull out was easier than packing that buck out, because it was all downhill, and he just happened to die in a really convenient spot. My last bull was a much different story, and about 25 times as difficult to pack out as that South Dakota buck. That’s how hunting goes, but in both styles, there is a rule that I believe to be true no matter what.

You don’t need to be in shape to kill whitetails. You don’t need to be in shape to kill elk or mule deer, either. But you will be a better hunter for deer and western critters if you are. Western hunters know this because their style requires them to do more on a general basis. There are plenty of out-of-shape western hunters, but they don’t fill a lot of tags deep in the wilderness.

There are plenty of out-of-shape whitetail hunters, too. Depending on their ground and experience level, they kill plenty of bucks. But a lot of hunters don’t, and almost all of them would benefit from getting in better shape. I know that sucks to hear, but it’s true.

This revelation hit me hard a few years after I sobered up and started running and hitting the gym. I found myself wanting to scout new areas. I wasn’t bothered by stand hanging missions, and didn’t feel the need to cut them short when a good-enough amount of work was accomplished. I had the energy to keep going, and when I traveled for whitetails and slept in a tent for a week at a time, I felt more rested and ready to go than I ever had.

It honestly was like hunting with a cheat code enabled, which only became more evident when me or my daughters had a deer down. I realize that hunters are sick of hearing fitness influencers talk about this, but it’s fundamentally true. The better shape you’re in, the more tags you’ll fill and the more you’ll enjoy your hunts. On paper, it’s simple. To put it into practice, is not.

There is a general disconnect between folks who give fitness advice and the folks who really need to hear it. There are fad diets, fitness trends, and a whole lot of people who profit off of the general public’s desire to look better naked and feel better clothed. What I learned as I went from functioning alcoholic with almost zero fitness base, to someone who ran 1000 miles the year he turned 40 is this—you just have to do something.

Half an hour on an elliptical three days a week is better than nothing. Walking and jogging your way through a 5K is a million times better than not doing anything. Lifting weights, whether at a gym or at home if you have them, is never fun at the beginning.

However, a few months of consistency, and that view will change drastically. You don’t have to work toward six-pack abs or a sub-two-hour half-marathon. You don’t have to work toward losing X amount of pounds. Just work toward feeling better, and with enough days in the rearview mirror, you will.

The benefits of just doing something are incredible, and they stretch way beyond the whitetail woods. But they will also follow you to your stand, and they will make you more lethal out there. That might not be the best reason to take fitness more seriously, but it’s certainly a welcome sidekick to the journey.

This week Reid and Dan host God's Country Artist to Watch, Mae Estes, out in God's Country! It's a riot of an episode that starts off covering the topic of AI in the music industry and how it is affecting young artists like Mae. The three of them chat through Mae's 10-year journey in Nashville and how her upbringing has instilled the work ethic she has to maintain the grind. Mae chats through why her husband's deer camp is her favorite deer camp, and when they renew their vows one day why it will be in a Mud Bogg. She covers an array of iconic songs on the episode and ends it with a gravorite that will leave you a long way from over her.

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This week, Tony explains how much money is involved in the whitetail industry, and why it paints such a disingenuous picture of big deer.

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Present on the continent for nearly half-a-million years, the American bison’s numbers and near perfect adaptation to the Great Plains made it one of the evolutionary marvels of Earth. For more than 10,000 years, Native people in the West had intertwined their lives with bison herds to create the longest sustained economies and religious traditions in American history. Then over two centuries of whirlwind change in Native America, the bison was suddenly and mysteriously gone from the wild.

Thank you to our sponsor Velvet Buck.

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

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