Ep. 862: Moose Hunting in North Dakota, Catfish Regs, and A Bigfoot Family

In this episode of The MeatEater Podcast, host Steve Rinella and co-hosts dive into a diverse array of outdoor topics, starting with a humorous and self-aware look at the Big Buck Hunter arcade game championship in Nashville, where they explore the cultural phenomenon of bar-based gaming and the ethical concerns around shooting fish and zombies in the game. The episode then shifts to a serious conservation effort in North Carolina, highlighting the 30-day fundraising campaign to preserve 4,000 acres of public hunting and fishing land around the Tucker Town Reservoir through a partnership between MeatEater, Onyx, and the Three Rivers Land Trust, with a $200,000 matching donation. The hosts also tackle corrections from listeners, including a detailed discussion on albumin in fish and the myth of moose fossils in Iowa. A major highlight is the revelation that North Dakota issues more moose tags than expected—292 in 2025—leading to a surprising abundance of moose in the state, likely due to Canadian moose migrating into Montana and North Dakota. The episode also covers Pennsylvania’s proposed catfish regulations, which would shift from a 50-fish-per-day catch to strict catch-and-release for blue catfish and a limited harvest for flatheads in the western part of the state, reflecting a conservation effort to restore native populations. Meanwhile, South Dakota’s move to deregulate suppressors at the state level sparks a debate on public health and gun safety. The episode closes with a deep dive into a spike in Bigfoot sightings in Northeast Ohio, where seven encounters occurred in five days, prompting speculation about the Bigfoot rut, full moons, or a cultural shift away from the outdoors. Throughout, the hosts blend humor, skepticism, and genuine enthusiasm for conservation, wildlife, and the outdoors.