Kicking it old school with an episode from 2013, Steven Rinella, esteemed hunter and a valued JRE guest across his multiple appearances over the past 7 years.

The podcast back then was something else, low quality, Joe wearing a backward cap and Joe was noticeably less experienced in this podcast but the heart of the show is still there and that is the awesome guest appearances.

Steve, despite his career and hobby both being hunting lived in New York at the time of this podcast, he thinks it is actually quite education because when you live out in the country you are less connected to the world and have a reduced understanding of how/why things happen that you see in the news. So having toes in both worlds gives him a better perspective.

The first bow and arrow was said to be invented multiple times throughout the world, spears came first then at some stage we figured out how to launch these spears with device. Quite a fascinating little snippet from the podcast.

Joe pointed out how there is miles of rain forest being chewed up by farming every year, it’s actually visible from space and very fascinating to look at on google maps. Check it out here.

Steve spent a period of time staying with primitive a primitive tribe and realized that at the start he felt bad for them but by the time it came to leave after a couple week that he actually felt bad for himself. Living a primitive lifestyle isn’t always all or nothing and doesn’t have to be we cutthroat as people imagine it to be. The tribe Steve stayed with had access to internet but at the same time had to hunt for their own food, it must have been quite fascinating to meet someone who hunts for their own food to survive but then can add him on facebook. Steve did some hunting with them which involved shooting fish with a bow and arrow which is was quite difficult because you have to account for the refraction of light as well as heavy drag applied to the arrow once it hits the moving stream. These primitive hunters made arrows using feathers from birds they kill, Steve happened to nail one of these birds and they were stoked because it was enough feathers to make arrows for the next year! Awesome stuff.

Overtime the friendship between Steve and Joe became quite lucrative with Joe appearing multiple times in Steve’s content and vice versa, turns out the two have potential for a lot of cross over audience.

Steve also put forward an adamant stance on the podcast wherein he doesn’t enjoy a hunt if it’s handed to him, using feeders or other means to make the kill easier does not feel right to him. It makes sense, the journey is more valuable than the destination and when you get that kill it feels way more worthwhile if you went through hell to get it.

I’d absolutely recommend checking out Steve’s podcasts if you have any interest in hunting content, he also has his own podcast https://www.themeateater.com