.png)
Eating Wild
Hosted by three hunting and fishing buddies with a lifetime of culinary experience between them, Outdoor Journal Radio's Eating Wild podcast brings folks from all walks of life to the boat, tree stand, and kitchen to tell the stories and answer the questions around the pursuit and preparation of wild fish and game.
Eating Wild
Episode 58: Gun Guru with Mark Carew
Join us this week on the Eating Wild Podcast as we welcome the extraordinary Mark Carew, a competitive shooter who hasn't let his Parkinson's disease diagnosis slow him down. Discover how Mark maintains his precision and composure with a firearm, and get inspired by his extensive expertise in shooting competitions. We also touch on our latest outdoor escapades, from the challenges posed by recent flooding to our meticulous preparations for upcoming fishing trips, ensuring adventure is always on the horizon.
Peek behind the curtain of "Twisted Metal" Season 2, where I recount the exhilarating highs and occasional hiccups of catering for a star-studded cast, including WWE's Samoa Joe and Neve Campbell. Imagine the thrill of serving a perfectly cooked Muscovy duck breast to a wrestler or navigating the voracious appetites of a hungry stunt crew. You'll get a taste of the unique challenges and joys that come with feeding a film set, along with some amusing anecdotes and the sheer satisfaction of positive feedback from the cast and crew.
We delve into a fascinating array of topics, from wildcat cartridges and ammunition shortages to the intricacies of firearms legislation and the delicious nuances of wild game meat. Celebrate with us as we introduce Cody Chovancek to the Eating Wild family, shining a light on his dual passions for fishing and MMA. This episode is a vibrant mix of inspiring stories, expert insights, and exciting updates, all designed to entertain and inform our fellow outdoor enthusiasts and culinary adventurers.
Follow Eating Wild on Instagram! To reach out to the boys, drop us a line at eatingwild@odjradio.com
You might save 30 seconds by skipping the side, but we can save you hours of meal prep with our art solids.
Speaker 2:These almost ready to eat salad kits help you buy more time and eat delicious local fresh ingredients for delicious flavors.
Speaker 3:Art is always cooking up fresh ideas and crafting chef inspired recipes because we like to keep you inspired and satisfied. Matcha, broccoli, crunch, honey, yuzu, coleslaw, zesty, kale, caesar and.
Speaker 4:Maple Tahini Crunch. Add your own protein to the salad or balance your Friday night pizza out with it.
Speaker 1:Art also keeps the environment front of mind and supports local farms and producers, making every meal both a feel-good and a win-win. Visit makeartca art with an E to learn more.
Speaker 5:Hi everybody. I'm Angelo Viola and I'm Pete Bowman. Now you might know us as the hosts of Canada's favorite fishing show, but now we're hosting a podcast. That's right. Every Thursday, angelo and I will be right here in your ears bringing you a brand new episode of Outdoor Journal Radio. Hmm, now, what are we going to talk about for two hours every week? Well, you know, there's going to be a lot of fishing.
Speaker 2:I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and how to catch them, and they were easy to catch. Yeah, but it's not just a fishing show. We're going to be talking to people from all facets of the outdoors, from athletes, All the other guys would go golfing Me, and Garth and Turk and all the Russians would go fishing To scientists. But now that we're reforesting and letting things breathe, it's the perfect transmission environment for life.
Speaker 3:To chefs If any game isn't cooked properly Marinated. You will taste it.
Speaker 5:And whoever else will pick up the phone Wherever you are. Outdoor Journal Radio seeks to answer the questions and tell the stories of all those who enjoy being outside. Find us on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts here we go.
Speaker 3:Welcome to another episode of the eating wild podcast. I'm your host, antonio smash malecka, joining me my co--host, christopher Showtime Johnson. Siege how you doing today, buddy.
Speaker 7:What's up, I'm doing good, buddy. Thanks for asking. Great seeing you, man. It's been a while.
Speaker 3:It's been a while, brother, and you know, I know you got a big trip ahead of you. Hopefully you got your boat tuned up. You're telling me you took the boat out of the shop, you ready to go.
Speaker 7:Yes, thanks to the folks at Extreme Marine, my boat's ready to go. I just have to get the kids to pack everything. But I'm just bringing a pair of shorts and a bunch of flipping sticks.
Speaker 3:I like the sound of that. I think me and Hookset might be diving deep this Saturday as well. We might be getting the rods wet. Hopefully the weather's been holding up. People have been getting flooded out around the city, I don't know How's things going out in London. You guys getting much rain.
Speaker 7:Yeah, we had a bunch. We had a bunch and there was a lot of road. We actually had a Walmart close, and Walmart, you know them, they never close, oh wow, and it was closed down for two days due to flooding. But but I navigated around the city and I'm looking at the forecast for next week and it's looking good. Man, it's looking good. I think the rain's behind us and we're ready to cruise. My friend.
Speaker 3:Ready to cruise man, I'm excited for you and I know it's a trip that's close and dear to your heart with that beautiful property. But today we got a great episode, siege. We've been talking a lot about our guest today, mr Mark K Rue.
Speaker 3:Mark is a very unique guest and I would like to take this time to explain, before we get Mark on, a little bit of history about Mark and how we kind of met Mark and we met him at the Williams and Arms gun shop in Port Perry and it was, you know myself, who, who, who went in. I passed the shop every time on my way to my cottage and you know it was actually me who screwed up with my shotgun and not taking care of it properly Go back to hooks, that takes um taking care of your firearms properly and I couldn't get my choke out to put that turkey choke in, and I took it over there to see if those boys there can help me out. And that's where I met mark and his story was so um appealing to me because this gentleman is, since 2000 and, I believe, 17, battling parkinson's disease, yeah, and you would never know.
Speaker 7:You would never know. And the fact he's, you know, going to shooting competitions. He's like he gets into it. Well, I can't wait to ask him questions when we get into it, like how it affects his shooting and all that stuff. But like I mean, he's doing it, man, a lot of us would just probably what did they say? Just throw in the towel and just you know. And this guy it's amazing. I can't wait to hear more of his story.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and his knowledge with firearms is incredible, just from the, you know, half an hour we spent in that shop and it was crazy because top dog said to him you are a competitive, uh, uh, sniper, basically right, shooting, shooting you know a bullet-sized holes, yeah, with rifles long range up to 500 yards. I think he said we'll ask him when he gets on right, and he was, he couldn't barely write his name on the business card. And then you, you know, top Dog, asked him he's like how is this possible? Right, and he picked up a shotgun siege and he showed us he actually held the firearm, the one that he pulled from the racks behind him. It was safe, obviously we're in a gun shop, right, and when he put it to his shoulder and up against his cheek, he was still Completely still.
Speaker 3:And he couldn't even write his name on the business card. You know and it's funny because I just seen a video of Michael J Fox Everyone knows that Canadian legend, michael J Fox, who was, you know, the back of the future franchise. You know, he was the teen wolf. This guy's a legend, canadian, and there was a video of Coldplay brought him on stage, gave him a guitar, he was sitting down and this guy wailed. Yeah, he wailed at it Did you see that video?
Speaker 7:yeah, and yeah, I do believe he played I'm a back to the future nut when michael j fox played in the show, when it was the chantment under the sea dance, and I think it was. Was it, johnny, be good?
Speaker 3:johnny, be good man, you nuts. Of course he did the. Why he did the? He did the old. Uh, he'll, he'll walk, and everything yeah so he did that with uh.
Speaker 7:So that's interesting. So he did it with uh, the lead singer, cole, play at a concert. It's man, I just, it's just. You hear these stories and we've heard stories of all the other guests, that's you know, that's going through stuff and and and the outdoors and stuff like that is their, it's their, their thing. Man, it's just. It brings them. It brings them the spunk they need and I can't wait to get into the story. I can't wait. And what's going on with the world nowadays, with the guns, and he knows more of the laws and you know, obviously, what happened to Trump recently and snipers. We're not a political podcast whatsoever, but it's crazy man, it's a crazy world we're in and gun control is everything.
Speaker 3:It is. I will tell you right now. We can't wait to bring him in Now for our people listening, please, with our interview with Mark. It's very important for people to understand that he has to protect his diaphragm from this as well, so when he speaks he's a little bit slower and soft spoken as well. That's part of the problem that having Parkinson's disease. It affects a lot of things but certainly doesn't affect his sharpshooting, because this guy again he's going to explain to us but there's a part of his soul that just shuts down when it comes to looking through that scope and he can control himself. And man, what a story. And I can't wait to bring him on yeah, I can't wait.
Speaker 7:You know me, I'm a gun junkie. Um, I love the history of guns and I can't wait to dive deep into how he got into it himself and, uh, I hear he might have a little bit of a collection and oh yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Antonio, I am looking forward and it's great seeing you. It's my lord. It's been a long time, my friend.
Speaker 3:A what A?
Speaker 7:whole week yeah.
Speaker 3:Gorgeous, that's what they say. Absolutely gorgeous. Here we go yeah. It's been a crazy week. I started a new show, a new television series called Twisted Metal, season 2. Okay, and what a cast. I got to tell you, man. I got to tell you, man. You know, everyone listening knows that I'm a WWE junkie. You are. I love wrestling, you are.
Speaker 3:Hey, listen, bo Rod, if you're listening. I know you're on your elliptical right now and you're listening to this episode, but Bo Rod's a WWE junkie too. Are you challenging him right now to wrestle? No, oh, okay, he'd kill me, he never would.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but Samoa Joe is the number two or number three on the show, so I show up day one on set cooking for 183 people. We're out in Pickering, ontario, and I always do my research on the cast and I saw Neve Campbell, great Canadian legend, oh, icon. She was an icon in the screen franchise Party of five. Papa Doc from 8 Mile Are you crazy, papa Doc? This guy can I don't know. I mean, I know he's an actor and everything, but man can this guy rap? He's awesome. So you've seen guys like Papa Doc. You got Samoa Joe, you got Nev Campbell. What a huge, huge cast.
Speaker 3:And anyways, long story short, my first day on set, I ran out of food and it I ran out of food and it was probably the worst day of my life. Running out of food is very bad and I'm going to tell you why. It was all the stunt people. These stunt people look like animals and they can eat Siege. You can think of these stunt people. They can eat and, needless to say, I ran out of food but Samoa Joe got to eat and I let him know. I said, brother, I'm a huge WWE fan, it's so cool to cook for you. And he looked at me. He's like I just wrestled Chris Jericho two weeks ago in Winnipeg and this. And that I'm like wow, it was so cool. And I don't get starstruck. I've cooked for. You know, I've cooked for many people in my career from Hollywood and you know local Canadian actors and actresses and I usually don't get starstruck. But this one hit me. This one hit me, man, wwe brother.
Speaker 7:Yeah, and I believe Will Arnett's in that as well, and he's I haven't seen him yet, oh he's got a great podcast. I know, danny Martins, if you're listening, he's on Smart List Podcast. Here I am plugging other podcasts, but on Smart List Podcasts, here I am plugging other podcasts. But anyways, yeah, I can't wait to hear more stories and I just want to know what did you cook the wrestler?
Speaker 3:What did he have? You want to know what our day one was? Muscovy duck breast.
Speaker 7:Ooh, muscovy duck breast, no you didn't, I did, I did.
Speaker 3:And the only reason why I did Muscovy duck breast I got to be honest, this is a podcast here. There's no, we're not beating around the bush here. I still had about 35 to 40, 16 ounce Muscovy duck breast in my freezer, okay, and the show started. They started day one on a Friday, which means that anyone that knows the film industry you know working the weekends is very frowned upon because you know actors and actresses need their rest Right, usually the weekends and the crews. We work 18 hour days sometimes and they started day one on a Friday. So that means we work the weekend, sometimes.
Speaker 3:Working the weekend there's benefits with traffic and locations and whatnot so you know, they brought these stunts, these stunt guys, in, they blew up some shit on Saturday and you know I'm like, okay, I got 35 to 40 duck breasts that will feed about. You know, if everyone eats about eight ounces of meat 16 ounces, half a pound of meat per person I got 35 to 40. I'm thinking I can feed about 150 people. No problem, right, I could feed about 150 people. No problem, right, siege at, I'd say 100 people. I was out Really and people as I'm carving this duck breast cooked perfectly, by the way, man. I see you on the belt.
Speaker 3:Beautiful. Okay, you could take a picture, put it in the LCBO magazine and people were like duck breast on a film set Are you baked? And I'm like, yeah, I love you, man, let's go. And then I'm putting my head up while I'm carving the duck breast and the line wouldn't stop. The line wouldn't stop and I'm just like my heart starts going and, needless to say, I ran out and I called Chef Craig. Craig Baxter didn't work the weekend. He was busy with the kids and stuff. And I said, Craig, I ran out of, I ran out of duck. And he's like, well, what are we going to do for tomorrow? Because Craig was with me the next day, I said I don't know. I think we've got to up our protein by, you know, 20, 30 pounds. We did do that. We did that on the Sunday. We did the New York stripling steak and we, you know again, we're all butchers here. We buy them whole and when you take a 12-pound strip loin steak, one by one, meaning the cap on that is about one inch.
Speaker 7:Okay.
Speaker 3:And you clean that whole, so you're roasting a whole strip loin. It goes from 12 pounds to about nine. So you lose a lot after you clean that strip loin and, needless to say, siege, we made it by a hair. Craig was carving that thing so thin and it was like these people just kept coming up. So you know what it's a good thing. They love our food. We're on the first week now. We're just about to wrap up this episode. They're very happy with the service, very happy with the food and it's great to be on a new show. Is it us very happy with the food? And, uh, you know it's. It's great to be on a new show. It's. Is it a netflix series or prime one of those ones? I believe it's netflix. Um, I believe it's a netflix series and I will tell you this. I watched the trailer for season one. It's almost like a comedy. I think it's based on a, on a video game, to be honest.
Speaker 3:But okay it looks great out there and and I'm excited to work on the show and and, uh, you know, you know it's, it's great and I can't wait to see your, your name, on the credits you know I'd be honest man, it's, it'll be there, it'll be there. Gourmet craft and catering a bit should be there sometimes they put Antonio Malaka. You know, depends, but about eating wild.
Speaker 7:Would they be on the credits or Unfortunately?
Speaker 3:no, damn it. Yeah, the Eating Wild didn't make the credits, but I got huge news. I do got huge news.
Speaker 7:You always got Okay, oprah. What do you have now?
Speaker 3:Listen, listen. We got Mark in the green room right now he's waiting for us.
Speaker 7:Yes, I can't keep on getting excited.
Speaker 3:How about this? We bring in Mark.
Speaker 9:We shoot the shit with Mark for a bit and then, when we close, out this episode.
Speaker 3:I got some breaking news. I got to tell you and you're going to love this because it does involve, possibly, mma and I know you're a huge fan I'm a huge fan. Groundbreaking news coming brother. Anyways, guys, we're going to take a short break. When we come right back, we're going to be with our guest, Mark Caru. We're going to dive right into it.
Speaker 1:Stay tuned after these quick messages. You might save 30 seconds by skipping the side, but we can save you hours of meal prep with our art solids.
Speaker 2:These almost ready to eat salad kits help you buy more time and eat delicious local fresh ingredients for delicious flavors.
Speaker 3:Art is always cooking up fresh ideas and crafting chef-inspired recipes because we like to keep you inspired and satisfied. Matcha, broccoli, crunch, honey, yuzu, coleslaw, zesty, kale, caesar and Maple.
Speaker 4:Tahini Crunch. Add your own protein to this salad or balance your Friday night pizza out with it.
Speaker 1:Art also keeps the environment front of mind and supports local farms and producers, making every meal both a feel-good and a win-win. Visit makeartca art with an E to learn more.
Speaker 10:Back in 2016,. Frank and I had a vision to amass the single largest database of muskie angling education material anywhere in the world.
Speaker 6:Our dream was to harness the knowledge of this amazing community and share it with passionate anglers just like you.
Speaker 10:Thus the Ugly Pike podcast was born and quickly grew to become one of the top fishing podcasts in North America.
Speaker 6:Step into the world of angling adventures and embrace the thrill of the catch with the ugly pike podcast. Join us on our quest to understand what makes us different as anglers and to uncover what it takes to go after the infamous fish of 10,000 casts.
Speaker 10:The ugly pike podcast Isn't just about fishing. It's about creating a tight knit community of passionate anglers who share the same love for the sport. Through laughter, through camaraderie and an unwavering spirit of adventure, this podcast will bring people together.
Speaker 6:Subscribe now and never miss a moment of our angling adventures. Tight lines everyone.
Speaker 10:Find Ugly Pike now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever else you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3:Welcome back to the Eating Wild podcast. I'm your host, antonio Smashmolek, alongside my co-host for today, as always, chris Johnson. Chris, we've been talking a lot about our next guest. In fact, previous to inviting Mr Mark Carew on the show, we had a chance to meet this gentleman at the gun shop locally in Port Perry and when we left that day, we both said to each other we need to have Mark on our show, and his story is probably one of the most interesting and probably one of the most like. I was stunned when we left that shop and the first thing he said is we got to get Mark on our show.
Speaker 7:I was stunned when we left that shop and the first thing he said is we got to get Mark on our show. Yeah, he's a guru and I can't wait for our listeners to access a little bit of his knowledge. We're going to dive deep into the firearms world and it's fantastic man. This guy has a lot of knowledge and collects a lot of good stuff, and rumor has it he's a good shot too, tone.
Speaker 3:He's a pretty good shot and rumor has it he's a good shot too. Tone, he's a pretty good shot and you know, rumor has it. He's quite a good shot, with a little bit of a disability that we're going to talk to him about too, and that's what kind of was intriguing about Mark, and we're going to dive right into it and I'd like to introduce Mr Karu to the Eating Wild podcast this afternoon. Mark, thanks for taking the time sitting down with us today my privilege, so we're going to dive right into it. But me and Siege were talking off air and we want to know the history. We got to know the history of Mark and we've been shooting some emails back and forth and I was so overwhelmed when you sent me sort of like a background on yourself and there's just so much to get into. But let's start with the early age and Mark what got you started handling firearms and when did you realize you had this passion for this sport?
Speaker 9:My maternal grandmother introduced me to firearms, safe firearm handling and hunting Right. She grew up in Manitoba and she worked at the John Inglis factory during the Second World War building armaments, wow, wow. Building armaments, wow, wow. And she would come down to our family farm near Peterborough, Ontario, and she would go groundhog hunting and I would tag along at 11 and 12 years old and she had a rifle that would be desirable even today. I bet it was a Remington rifle chambered in .222 Remington.
Speaker 8:Oh.
Speaker 9:And she was quite a shot and she had hunted in northern Manitoba as a young woman and I became interested, as one is when you're that age quite impressionable, right, and the fact that it's your grandmother, mark.
Speaker 7:I mean nowadays we see we've had a lot of people on the podcast, a lot of female anglers and hunters, but like I mean, that's how it was back then, my grandmother was doing the same thing. Like I mean, if my grandfather was having a nap, my grandmother would be in the backyard popping grouse or something.
Speaker 9:it's just, that's the way it is that that's amazing. My grandmother actually fed a crew of railroad construction workers in northern Manitoba actually technically poaching wild game briefly in 1930 because they couldn't get meat up to the camp, wow yeah. So she did that a couple of times, but regardless she exposed me to firearm handling and neither my father nor my grandfather on my father's side really had much to do with firearms. So to me as a youth it was fascinating and I got involved in hunting groundhogs and I used a .22 as a rimfire rifle, as many people would at that time. Right, she wouldn't let me use the centerfire rifle until I proved some competence and I very quickly learned that there was a lot of difference between a Cooey .22 long rifle and a .222 Remington 22 long rifle and a .222 Remington and that rather set the stage for a lifelong passion.
Speaker 7:Now, with the groundhog, were you, I know, when, growing up as well, my grandfather used to shoot a lot of groundhogs. I don't know if he ate a lot of them, it was just more. They were a nuisance. They got into stuff and they did damage. Was that the same as uh your situation mark, or were you uh actually harvesting these guys uh largely?
Speaker 9:as a pest animal. But, yes, we, we did occasionally eat them. Okay, they were rather like bear. Okay, I, I don't have a sophisticated palate, as you gentlemen might but to me it seemed like bear Okay.
Speaker 3:Well, I'll tell you, I'm not as sophisticated as you think, mark. I'm a chef by trade, but you know, there are some certain things out in the world that I still might have a problem consuming, let's just say, and Groundhog might be one of them.
Speaker 7:You could do something with that, though, tony. Oh, I could probably do something, yeah.
Speaker 3:I mean, I haven't had it before but I will tell you this I love you got me into it. That show Alive, yes, or Alone. They go out alone. Sorry, alive Alone, and you know I'm watching these guys pop the red squirrels. Uh, obviously, the the grouse is the most you know common, which we've consumed many times, which is probably my favorite bush um, the bush chicken. But then now you're seeing these guys harvesting like mice and rats and stuff, because they're catching them in their camp and they're eating them and the way they clean them and stuff.
Speaker 7:I don't know if I can do that siege yeah, I don't know about that, but I'm intrigued about the groundhog.
Speaker 3:I'm intrigued yeah, the ground and and and. Uh, beaver I mean beaver is is one of those things. I'm not sure if they're you have to drop. You got a trap and you have to have a license.
Speaker 3:Guys are saying the guys are saying the back straps are are fantastic. You know what I mean. But again, something I've never tried before. But, mark, it's, it's. You know you're a young kid, you're, you're was your, were your parents. I know you mentioned it just quickly, but you're were your. So your parents didn't really have much knowledge of you handling the guns with your grandmother. When you were a kid Did you almost have to hide it from them?
Speaker 9:Not at all. I'm sure they discussed it. No, it wasn't an issue, because it was just, I guess, the way of living up there. Right, it wasn't very long. It was the next year after my grandmother introduced me to firearms handling that my father purchased a squires bingham 22 magnum bolt action rifle, which was a big step up per person of my age from a 22 long rifle, so that started the passion.
Speaker 9:That started the passion. Yes, the ammunition at that time was, I think, around $5.50 for 50 shots, when you could buy 22 long rifle ammunition for about a dollar Right. So it was five times the cost. Wow, wow, oh yeah, it started a passion, that uh fairly soon got out of hand.
Speaker 3:But like any other passion, there's always. You know we. We talk about fishing, we talk about hunting and siege. You know our, our fishing passion gets out of hand and especially hurts the wallet a little bit.
Speaker 7:You know what I mean it does like we always say okay, I got my new bait caster set up, I'm good, I don't need anything more. And then next season comes out. Next thing, you know, fishing canada is at the I cast, and then they're showing them what's new, what's hot, you know what. And then marketing gets us and this is the new and improved. And I got three of them in my boat. I'm hiding them from my wife.
Speaker 3:Yes, it never ends now, now, firearms, though, siege we so. So, mark, I gotta tell you we, um, uh, chris hooked me up, cj hooked me up with, uh, his benelli rep. Now, when I came to your store because I had a problem with my choke, uh, it was turkey season and when we met Mark, I went into Williams and I said, you know, I met Mark there. And I said, you know, I can't get my choke out of my gun. And you know, everyone on the podcast heard the story. We talked about this maybe six or seven episodes ago and basically, you put in my hand Mark I don't know if you remember it was the oh man. I don't know if you remember it was the oh man. I can't do you remember what it was?
Speaker 7:Siege it was yeah, it was the. I believe it was the Frankie.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the Frankie the Frankie and it was on sale because you guys had a sale going on and I held that shotgun and man was it. I could see how it can get very expensive because we don't go into gun shops often Siege. We go in there for purchasing ammo or other things, but you can really go into those. It's like fishing. We can go in there and break the bank easily.
Speaker 7:Oh, absolutely, and we should tell our listeners that Mark is a retired gentleman and spends. How many hours a week are you at the gun shop in Port Perry, mark?
Speaker 9:I haven't been there for about two months.
Speaker 7:Oh, okay, so you're on and off. I'm on and off.
Speaker 9:Yeah, I had some traveling and my wife hadn't been well, so I had to spend some time at home and I went to Montana for several weeks.
Speaker 3:Right, the knowledge that Mark has with firearms is incredible and you mentioned Montana. So, mark, let's talk about your competitions. You obviously you grew up handling firearms at an early age and you know we were talking a bit again at the shop and you are involved in some really, really crazy competitions and I want the listeners to know you know, before we dive into it, mark, you do have Parkinson's disease and again we're going to touch base on that after, but before people listening understand the competitions that Mark is currently in or was currently in or has done his whole career. You know, over the past seven or eight years you were battling Parkinson's disease while competing. So if we can just talk a little bit about your competitions and what got you into these competitions and also, what do you compete for, what are the competitions?
Speaker 9:well. I was competing long before I had Parkinson's. I competed in bench rest competitions, which involves shooting the rifle from, effectively, as the name would indicate a specially constructed bench. The idea of the competition is to remove as much of the human element from the actual firing of the rifle and concentrate specifically on the engineering construction of the rifle and the construction of the hand loads that are used in the firearm. The rifles are exceedingly precise. Rifles are exceedingly precise, capable of shooting five bullets into a hole about slightly larger than the diameter of the bullet at 100 yards. Wow, they're amazingly precise rifles.
Speaker 9:So I got involved in that about 1989 and competed off and on through when I got married in the mid-90s and then I had a bit of hiatus and got back into it around 2000. Off and on because I was. It was something I enjoyed. It was not something I was ever at the top of the game in. I did compete at high levels numerous times but it was. It was spotty, mainly because I had a very demanding full time job and it was hard to get the time. And if you want to do well in these competitions you have to be at every competition Right and you have to do well at every competition.
Speaker 7:Were they mostly in Canada, mark, or were they all across the world, pretty much.
Speaker 9:Some were in Canada, some were across the world Australia, france, wow yeah, hungary, oh Hungary.
Speaker 7:Oh my goodness.
Speaker 9:Yeah, it's quite a privilege. Yeah, I was diagnosed with Parkinson's formally in 2017.
Speaker 7:Okay, great.
Speaker 9:I thought my life was over, but I received medical treatment, and including that treatment was the urge to continue competing Right. And I learned that in most cases, because of the way that Parkinson's attacks the brain, it's a neurological disorder. Okay, and complex motor movements that were developed earlier in life are generally not affected by Parkinson's, with many patients Not all but many not affected by Parkinson's, with many patients not all but many. So you have Parkinson's. A person may have difficulty walking, but they can still ride a bicycle. Really. They may have difficulty writing with a pen but can still play a piano. I know it seems bizarre and it was bizarre to me and it was bizarre to me.
Speaker 9:But yeah. So I played around a little bit in bench rest, just a little bit afterwards, because although Parkinson's does not prevent me from shooting bench rest, it does prevent me from being competitive, if that makes any sense. It's like competitive in the sense of having any chance of winning or finishing high. And I haven't shot some of the other disciplines that I participated in prior to having Parkinson's. I shot in international handgun metallic silhouettes and rifle silhouettes, high power, but recently I, sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 3:I was going to say, when you say the silhouette, what are the distances? What are the distance when you're competing at those? Are they 100 yards, 200 yards?
Speaker 9:For high power rifle there's four distances. There's 100, 200, 385, and 500 yards, and you competed in all of those. Yeah, when you shoot in high powerpower rifle metallic so what? Yeah, a full competition is all four ranges Wow.
Speaker 7:Did you ever get into I know it's a big thing now the three-gun competition? No no okay, that's for listeners. I believe you start out with what like a handgun, then you go to a shotgun and then a rifle. Am I wrong on that? Yeah, and it's all timed. It's timed. You go through the course and all that stuff.
Speaker 9:I see that that involves a bit of running and jumping from position to position, and that would exclude me.
Speaker 7:It would exclude me too, mark. To be honest with you, I can't see Antonio doing somersaults in between the handgun to the shotgun, but that's another podcast.
Speaker 3:Just going to focus on the shotgun and partridge for now. Kc.
Speaker 7:I got a quick question for you, selfish reasons, when I know you're somewhat of a gun expert. When you're shooting a rifle now, are you in the long range? Are you closing one eye when you're shooting? I keep both eyes open, both eyes, okay. And that's the same as with a shotgun as well, correct? If you're shooting birds.
Speaker 9:Yes, yes, it's a learned skill Right. It's especially important when you're using a telescope on your rifle, an optical sight, if you can shift your concentration between eyes, between left and right. Now I shoot left, so my left eye is my sighting eye. Right, right, If you can image because your eyes are locked together in your head, you can actually image your target with your free eye and because your eyes are together in your head. When, then, you switch your concentration to the rifle scope, your scope will be right on the target. Wow.
Speaker 7:See, I think there's such a misconception because when you see any of these movies or anything, when I started as a kid shooting like what is the Red Rider BB gun, you know the Daisy Red Rider and you always saw, you know, in the pictures with one kind of one eye open and then the other one, and then when we started shooting birds, antonio and I into ducks, it took me forever to stop doing that and I taught myself to do the both eyes and, and I'll tell you, we let, we missed less birds if, if that's possible for us anyways, yeah, having that one eye still open and not closed, you're seeing the other birds kind of come in on the distance and we were missing those before. When you're shooting, when you're putting on literally putting on a blinder right, I feel like too.
Speaker 3:Siege, keeping both eyes open when we are, let's say, waterfowl hunting. The advantage for me is actual leading the ducks which we always had a problem with in the early stages of when we started hunting. Yes, and I found now, while I'm keeping both eyes open, I'm actually aiming but leading at the same time with my opposite eye. But yeah, it was tough. You're right, it is. It was tough to take your. You know we're all like you said. You know we learned how to shoot with BB guns and that's always what we were taught, but that's just what we took up Right.
Speaker 7:Yeah, no, that's great. And breathing, mark with breathing, when you're doing the long shots, I've always heard that you kind of exhale. You breathe in and then exhale and then pull the trigger.
Speaker 9:Is there something with that? Yes, very much so. When you take a breath in, your heart rate elevates to circulate the oxygen and then, as you slowly exhale, your heart rate drops slowly. And then, as you concentrate to let the shot off, you just gently hold your breath.
Speaker 7:Okay.
Speaker 9:And then your heart rate will drop slightly. Now someone might think well, that's not really important for the habit of closing your eye and having to relearn to keep your eye opened. It's best to develop these habits, ingrain them in your mind, and then you don't have to think about it when you're doing it right, it comes second nature, it just comes like riding a bike pretty much if you're going to have good habits when you're shooting, you might as well have them all the time.
Speaker 3:Yes, Now you have quite the collection. We're just going through my notes here. Mark, Can we talk about that? You also have a couple of rare firearms that you mentioned in the email.
Speaker 9:Well, uncommon. Yeah, I have some very early Winchester rifles. I have two digits, model 1892, and I have a three-digit serial number, model 1895, in an uncommon caliber. Wow.
Speaker 7:Three digits and two digits and uncut. Wow, yeah.
Speaker 9:I have a. I have an original sharps rifle and I have a yeah, I have a reproduction sharps rifle as well. Those are single shot rifles, right rifles. I have some early Marlins and I have several Schutzen rifles that were built by the J Stevens Company prior to World War I. Schutzen was a sport that was very popular prior to World War I, where the distance is 200 yards or 200 meters in Europe, and it's shot from a standing position, freehand, and it's a bullseye score, meaning the closer to the bullseye, the higher your score.
Speaker 9:And these rifles are single-shot rifles and they're exceedingly accurate. They were often shot with black powder and cast-lead bullets and one might think, well, they're kind of primitive, but they're really not. They're exceedingly accurate, frighteningly so, wow. So yeah, I have some of those early rifles and I have several pre-production rifles made by modern manufacturers that were never really released or they were rejected for various reasons. I just don't have a collection in the sense that a person would collect stamps or collect silverware or other things that you might follow a certain definitive track in mind. It's more something that interests me is a little bit old or a little unusual.
Speaker 7:Yeah, you're probably familiar with this gun. I was inherited from my grandfather. You're probably familiar with this gun. I was inherited from my grandfather. He's passed and it's a Savage Arms 12-gauge shotgun and it's the ones that used to have the adjustable choke that was built at the end of the barrel. So instead of putting a full choke, winding it out, you could just adjust it clockwise if you wanted, full modified, improved cylinder and all that stuff. So it was all built in one.
Speaker 7:And I'll tell you, mark, when we started picking up Waterfall, I couldn't miss with this gun. You know what I mean. And it was it just beat up. I think my grandfather used to use it as an oar when he was stuck hunting and when the canoe. It's been everywhere. And then I got myself. You know I had a little bit of anniversary through my company and I treated myself to a nice Benelli Super Black Eagle. I can't hit ducks like I can with the Savage Arms. You know what I mean. Like it's crazy. But when you're talking about the unique like I mean, I'm sure that gun I'm talking about with you now. I'm sure there's a lot of them still out there. But I tell people about how the choke, how you could turn it and all that. No one's heard of that.
Speaker 9:Have you seen those before? Yes, I have seen that particular type of shotgun. In the past. Ethica made a shotgun called the Model 37.
Speaker 7:Okay.
Speaker 9:And many of them could come factory equipped with what was called a poly choke, which is probably similar, if not identical, to what's equipped with your grandfather's firearm, and it's vented on the side rather like a muzzle brake right and uh, it has a an indexer on the uh, the bottom of the choke and you just uh, just turn it to your desired choke setting. I don't recommend using them with steel shot it says right on it, yeah.
Speaker 7:It says like it's not really, it's just lead.
Speaker 9:It might be okay with improved cylinder with steel, but nothing beyond that. I'd be concerned you could damage the firearm or yourself. Yeah, yeah, but they are. They work very well and you just don't see them anymore because manufacturers so many people are required to use steel shot.
Speaker 7:Yes, they're not safe with steel shots, so they're you just don't see them anymore very often anyways, right now that's interesting I have.
Speaker 3:Uh, I have a quick question for you as well, mark. Um, you know during, you know during COVID, I know there was ammo issues, especially me. For me I was, you know, 410 ammo was really hard to get at one point and super expensive if you were able to get your hands on it gun shop. Did you guys have a little bit of kickback from hunters or people that were just looking to purchase ammo because of how the price was so much increased? And also, did you guys have a problem as well finding inventory on certain ammo?
Speaker 9:Yeah, there were certain supply chain issues. I think they were quite complex, all the way from shipping companies having a quarter of the staff available. Many of the factories were forced to close down during certain elements of the COVID-19 epidemic. Yeah, there was price increases. I believe some of them were related to COVID. I believe some of them were just part of the cost of doing business.
Speaker 9:There's been a lot of safety regulations that companies have had to upgrade in the United States and in Europe when it comes to manufacturing powder and primers, and I think we're going to see more of that because some countries have allowed a for lack of a better term a grandfather clause where they have a certain amount of time to make these changes, where other countries or other states within the United States have just drawn a line on the sand and said it has to be done now.
Speaker 9:I think that was an element of it. I think, as you see conflicts throughout the world consuming huge amounts of resources, you're going to see continued upward pressure on prices for ammunition and components. Long prior to the COVID-19 epidemic, I was hoarding primers, powder and bullets because I felt that there was going to be just more of a feeling that there was going to be significant limitations, for a number of reasons, to acquiring these things and because I do a lot of shooting, each year I go through a lot of those components, so I don't have a good answer for your question, unfortunately. That's a perfect answer, in my opinion.
Speaker 7:Do you make any of your own ammo Mark?
Speaker 9:I make all of my own ammunition, except I don't have. I neither have nor am interested in investing in making rimfire ammunition. Okay, yeah. Yeah, I make all myfire ammunition. Okay, yeah, yeah, I make my all my own ammunition, most of my rifles, I would think, with the exception of perhaps half a dozen. One can neither buy ammunition for them, nor could you ever buy ammunition for them. Oh wow, many are wildcats and many of them are obsolete.
Speaker 7:So can you explain to our listeners? I'm pretty familiar with Wildcat. Can you explain to them? I'm sure a lot of people don't know. They just know, like the big box store, you know the heavily marketed ammunition that they can buy anywhere. Can you explain, touch on a little bit more about the Wildcat?
Speaker 9:I'll try to make sense of it.
Speaker 9:During the late 1920s and through to the 1950s, there were a lot of I would call garage gunsmiths, were a lot of I would call garage gunsmiths, who decided that they were going to go in a very small way, making their own rifles and chambering their own rifles, and many of them came up with the idea that they could make improved versions of existing cartridges, with the idea of them either becoming commercial successes at a later time or just for personal reasons.
Speaker 9:Because at that time, especially during the 20s and 30s, there were not a lot of really good gun powders available and there were a lot of economic pressures that prevented people from getting powder during the Great Depression in the late 20s through right through to the Second World War, so many people could take advantage of the existing powders by making their own cartridge that was more efficient with the type of powders that were available, was more efficient with the type of powders that were available.
Speaker 9:And then later, after the Second War and into the 50s, many people took that more from a commercial standpoint, where they felt that they could make a better mousetrap, for lack of a better expression and as a result they created cartridges that were unique and that you couldn't buy at a commercial firearms outlet. You actually had to make the ammunition through various ways, either through hydraulic forming or through a process called fire forming, where you take an existing cartridge and you either shorten it or lengthen it or expand the shoulders or reduce the body taper with the end so that it would contain more powder, more gunpowder. And many of these cartridges are very interesting for a number of reasons, number of reasons, and they in the 1940s it's kind of a generic term came up stating that they were wildcats.
Speaker 9:Oh okay, and it's kind of a generic term. It's rarely used nowadays, it's kind of an old term, right, Most of these cartridges are commercial failures. They never caught on for a variety of reasons. Others were very successful and did become commercial successes. One that your listeners might be familiar with is the 22-250.
Speaker 7:Okay.
Speaker 9:That was a Wildcat cartridge developed in the late 1920s, really, and it was used extensively by varmint hunters through into the 1950s and, I believe in the mid-60s it was made into a commercial cartridge and it's very, very successful. Wow, wow.
Speaker 7:That's something. I don't know how that happens, how that evolves. Yeah, that's something I don't know how that happens, how that evolves.
Speaker 9:Yeah, there's quite a number that have become successes A .25-06, which you don't hear a lot about anymore. No, no, yeah, that cartridge basically means .25 caliber, based on the .30-06, hence the .06 nomenclature. .270 is another wildcat. There were quite a number of cartridges that did become commercial successes, but the vast majority were commercial failures.
Speaker 7:So would they be the ones that were starting out for our listeners? Would they be much more affordable when you could get your hands on these, as opposed to the commercial ones?
Speaker 9:At the time because there were such component shortages, especially for gunpowder. Yes, there was an advantage to using them Right, mainly from an efficiency standpoint. Brass components were very short supply due to the war, especially the second war, and then the shortages during the Great Depression prior to that. So many people were able to use what they had to make something that could work a little better. So that's it kind of arose out of a need at the time and then it became kind of a quest for something better.
Speaker 7:Right.
Speaker 9:It evolved over time and it still goes on today, but it's much more focused, right? Because the powders we have for shooting are so much better? Yeah, for a variety of reasons.
Speaker 3:And going back to my question I had before for you, mark, and I'm just, I'm really intrigued with this one was the 410 ammo. Was there a shortage in 410 ammo because people during the pandemic were out, you know, grouse hunting more, or was this just a supply issue? You know what? The demand was just higher than the supply at the time In that particular size ammo because, Siege, every time you called me you're like, hey, my guy has 410 ammo, pick it up, and it was, like you know, $60 for 12 shots. Like I purchased that up north before we went hunting last season. So with that particular size ammo, mark, was there a reason why that 410 ammo was one expensive like crazy, just shot up? Is it a supply and demand issue?
Speaker 9:There was a demand issue. There were many people at home and they were home with their kids, so at the time it was inexpensive to shoot a 410 and many younger people could handle a 410 without the recoil of a 12 chain. Catastrophe happened, if your listeners aren't familiar, in a shotgun shell there's a component called a wad that goes between the powder charge and holds the shot charge like a cup, and it's a one-piece unit and it's made of a polymer. And in the 410, they would make actually rail car loads of these wads at one time and then ship them to the suppliers. Well, an entire huge production run of these wads was rejected for quality control issues. Apparently they were unusable for whatever reason For quality control issues, apparently they were unusable for whatever reason and it completely put a huge cork in the supply and, as a result, 410 ammunition just dried up Right.
Speaker 9:And then, during the early parts of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people were hoarding ammunition. I was one of them. They would buy, especially the first two months. Perhaps that March, april and perhaps into May people would come in and they would buy an entire flat of 410 ammunition. People would want to buy a skid of 410 ammunition. Wow.
Speaker 9:And then what happened is you got some people got into speculating because there was a huge growth in the Internet during the pandemic. People were at home Right and sites like GunPost or GunNuts or various other sites. People became familiar with this and realized that you could shop online and you didn't even have to go into a retailer Right. And some people got into speculation and they would buy a whole or try to buy a whole skid of 410 ammunition and then try to sell it at a 200% markup. Wow, that's crazy. That did go on. That did happen. It was all done legally with your firearms license, but it was. You know it. Basically, in that two to three month period in the early part of the plague, it just completely emptied the shelves everywhere. You couldn't buy anywhere. There were people calling from the United States looking for it.
Speaker 7:So we just thought it was a toilet paper issue. It turns out it's ammunition as well. It was ammunition as well. And paper towels, Paper towels. Yeah, I know for myself, Mark. I'm in London, Ontario, and I stocked up for myself. You didn't know, you didn't know what was happening. Is it going to be like you know? So I went to my gun shop and I got some extra 12-gauge stuff. They made it really sound like the end of the world was coming, pretty much. So I was one of those guys that jumped on that bandwagon. And a little off topic, what I wanted to talk to you about is with the regulations. Now, are you seeing with? We're not really a politics show by any means, but, like I mean, some people are really trying to clamp down on access of certain guns. And are you seeing a spike when you were at the shop of certain guns like assault rifles? I don't even know. Actually, if you could tell our listeners, can you still buy legally assault rifle in Canada?
Speaker 9:No, you haven't been able to buy an assault rifle by definition in Canada since 1978.
Speaker 7:Okay, Wow, so is it just the States? Then it was with like the ARs and stuff like that, that gun that you know has a really bad name due to certain things.
Speaker 9:Well, I think again. I think I'm getting into an opinion component here. No problem, because I don't know much about, although I travel a lot in the United States. Right, I have a lot of people I know through the competitive circuit in the States. I think perhaps one-tenth of one percent of what happened negatively around semi-automatic firearms dominated the press Right oh yeah, semi-automatic firearms dominated the press Right oh yeah. And in the United States they had the Brady Bill which limited people's access to semi-automatic rifles to some extent.
Speaker 9:It's not a free-for-all in the United States as some people in the media would try to portray. Right, a background check has to be done on every purchase. I believe it costs $2, which isn't much. But, for example, you could go into a Walmart I've heard politicians say this at the risk of sounding political saying a person could go into Walmart and just buy whatever they wanted. Well, if the clerk that handles that and you have to be a licensed clerk to do this at any retailer if that clerk isn't there, walmart can't process any firearm sales. So they have to run the background check, they have to be a bonded person and it will vary from state to state subtly, but that's a federal rule but it's implemented. It will vary from state to state subtly, but that's a federal rule, but it's implemented by the state.
Speaker 7:Okay, because I know there was almost like Trudeau went to pass something and then there was a little confusion. I know at one point in time people were worried that the 12 gauge was going to be gone and then you could only use the 24 gauge. So there was so much stuff gauge was going to be gone and then you could only use the 24 gauge. So there was so much stuff that was going on and I saw a lot of people panicked and they thought they would lose their 12 gauges of all things.
Speaker 9:Well, some of the legislation could be depending on who would interpret that legislation, whether that be the Supreme Court or a local judge. The legislation rules that the bore diameter was to not be or exceed 20 millimeters.
Speaker 7:Okay.
Speaker 9:Now, if you have a firearm that has a removable choke, if you remove that choke for a 12 gauge, your bore exceeds 20 millimeter. Correct. Now, if you were before a judge and your choke wasn't in your firearm, you could be committing an offense with a prohibited firearm, which is a very serious charge, right? So there's been again going back to the term of misinformation. Yeah, federal Minister of Public Safety at that time, I believe, was Bill Blair, and he said that that didn't affect it. But I've read the legislation through and to me there's not a really clear definition of where in the legislation where that 20 millimeter reading is to be taken. Now, I have some knowledge of this because I actually I was an expert witness against Bill C-71 before the Senate of Canada in February of 2019. I testified before the Senate of 2019. Really, wow, I testified before the Senate. Wow. So I do have a knowledge of this. So you're the guy to ask.
Speaker 7:I asked the right guy.
Speaker 9:Well again, yeah, 10 gauge, for example, would be in violation of that 20 millimeter, and yet 10 gauges are still being sold.
Speaker 7:Right, so with a 20 gauge that's what I thought all of a sudden I'd have to go to is a 20 gauge? Would that be in violation?
Speaker 9:No, no 20 gauge would be technically safe, Right. But again, that's up to interpretation and unfortunately there's a lot of misunderstanding for Canadians with respect to our laws. Many people use an American example of saying, well, that law isn't legal. Well, in the United States, laws go before the Supreme Court and then are judged to be constitutional or not constitutional Correct. In Canada, it actually takes a court challenge by somebody like you or me to challenge that, and that may have to go through a number of different court levels local courts, Supreme Court of Ontario and then Supreme Court of Canada. So it's not as linear as it is in the United States. So you could expend your entire life's work in funds fighting this. So it's a complex issue for Canadians and, at the risk of sounding political again, I think that laws should be fairly clear to understand.
Speaker 9:Yes, You're traveling down the road at 90 kilometers an hour. You're in violation of the Highway Traffic Act. Right, you get pulled over. You get a fine for doing 90. The police officer knows you broke the law. I know I broke the law. Yeah, exactly Right. Yeah.
Speaker 9:However, for doing something that you actually need a gunsmith to determine whether this is actually legal or not, yeah, I, I personally believe. That is not. Uh is not a good law. It should be transparent. Everybody should be able to understand it.
Speaker 9:Um, you come to a four-way stop when you're driving. Everybody knows the rules. Everybody gets through the four-way stop. When you're driving, everybody knows the rules. Everybody gets through the four-way stop without an accident. You come to a light, a traffic light, that isn't functioning. It's flashing, everybody knows it turns into a four-way stop. Everybody knows how to get through it. You don't have an accident. But when you have very complex firearms laws that even people from the RCMP and the Firearms Center don't understand, they're confused as well. They're confused as well. Yeah, I myself, on a personal level not through the store, but on a personal level I have received conflicting opinions from the Firearms Center in Miramichi on certain firearms rulings, In fact often diametrically opposed opinions, and in fact all of those opinions in one case five opinions from five different experts within the firearm center. All were wrong. Oh my goodness. So that to me is not a good law.
Speaker 7:No, there's so many yeah.
Speaker 9:And if you're going to be in a duck blind or stopped along the highway with your firearm and you're facing a conservation officer or an OPP officer, how can you expect him to interpret the law, or her or yourself to be interpret the law? And yet under those laws, you find yourself charged and then you're going to have to defend yourself in court, which you're going to be looking at $10,000 easily, perhaps more, and the risk of losing all of your firearms, right.
Speaker 7:Yeah, I heard rumors, right. Yeah, I heard rumors that are saying like if you?
Speaker 9:owned a 12-gauge before this. You could get grandfathered in, but then anything coming into Canada have to be, you know, a 20 can buy a 10 gauge, a 12 gauge, a 20 gauge, right. And I'm not a lawyer, so I can't offer legal advice in any way. Nor would I. But until there's a court decision made at the Supreme Court, there's no legal opinion on this.
Speaker 7:All right, Thanks for yeah, thanks for clearing that up. I know Antonio's dying to ask you about hunting and fishing.
Speaker 3:I'm holding you up with all this legal stuff.
Speaker 7:Okay, go ahead, Tony.
Speaker 3:No, and you know what Our listeners are. Probably you know CJ, and listen for me as one of the hosts of the show. That to me was you know knowledge I you know having to me was you know knowledge I I you know. Having Mark explain, you know, again, not being political or he's not a lawyer or whatnot, but you know, with the experience that Mark has, especially being in the business as well, um, you know, many people would, would ask for Mark's advice, as easy as me and you right, walk in there and that's a great question to ask, because you know his opinion would probably mean a lot more than your average joe.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean he's handled more firearms and we've probably seen in our, in our hunting career oh, that's like yeah, um, you know, touching base on uh hunting and and fishing mark, I know, uh, competitively, you've handled a firearm quite a bit. How about hunting? I know you mentioned um in our in our we were chatting through email about uh hunting in various parts of the world, including africa, central asia and north america um, yeah, I've done some hunting.
Speaker 9:I'm uh, I wouldn't call myself a big game hunter. I'd call myself more of a person who went on a big game hunting expedition. Right, I had an opportunity in 1992 to go to Africa, wow, and I hunted antelope. I didn't hunt the big five, which are lion and Cape buffalo and hippopotamus and Cape buffalo. I didn't hunt the big five, which are lion and Cape Buffalo and hippopotamus and Cape Buffalo. I didn't hunt the big five. I hunted antelope, which was an experience of a lifetime. I hunted in Central Asia, in Kazakhstan, wow, and I'd like to go back to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan for Marco Polo sheep.
Speaker 9:My main question now is just, I don't get around very well because my walking is very poor and there's a lot of walking and climbing and I just I may not. Well, there's no may about it. I'm not physically up to it. That's a reality with parkinson's is you? You have to come to a rational decision about what you can and cannot do, right, right, um, it's all right to push the envelope on what you can do, but you, you come to realization at some point. There are things you just cannot do anymore.
Speaker 7:Right, when you were in Africa and then in North America, Sorry, when you were in Africa and you were saying, what did you harvest? Any of this meat? I know sometimes they donate the meat to the villages and all that stuff. Did you have a chance to have any of these dishes or anything like that?
Speaker 9:Yes, I did. It's something in South Africa. I don't know if it's still the case, but I know it was the case because I know that I know quite a few big game hunters. I know it was a case as prior to the COVID-19 epidemic that you could go into a large grocer in South Africa and any of the major cities and they would have reasonable cuts of many game animals right in the fridges so you could sample or even eat on a regular basis harvested game in South Africa. So the rules were very much different then I don't know if they changed than they are here in Canada where in the cases of most wild game in Canada, you could give it away but you can't sell it, Right Right.
Speaker 7:Yeah, we've had a guest on our show, amanda Lynn Mayhew, and she goes to Africa. You're our second guest that's hunted in Africa. It's pretty crazy. Her favorite game is water buffalo. I guess she got there and it's pretty intriguing because she harvests a lot of different animals in Ontario and Canada and all that stuff. But yeah, it was Water Buffalo, but that's really interesting that you went there. And then, I'm sorry, what sheep did you mention that you were hunting Maricopolo sheep. Okay, now would they be more in the mountains?
Speaker 9:Yes, mountainous areas, not necessarily up in the very high alpine in the mid-alpine area I believe. They move up higher during certain seasons throughout the year, but in the hunting season they're down a little bit lower. Where there's more grass, okay throughout the year, but in the hunting season they're down a little bit lower where there's more grass. Most of the shots are fairly long and they're a relatively small animal.
Speaker 7:They're smaller than a deer but they'd be a little bit bigger than your domestic goat. Were they similar? Uh, like tasting, what did you have a chance to? To consume them? To eat them? Um?
Speaker 9:I believe I did I don't know specifically because we we would often at camp have, uh, have game meat that was prepared by the cooks. Oh, that's nice. Yeah, that's really nice. It wasn't necessarily a white linen affair, right. Right, it was often done on charcoal, on a dirt floor. That's good, but it was excellent.
Speaker 7:So they would give you all different kinds of wild game meat.
Speaker 9:In Central Asia it was more narrow. It was a narrower choice than it would be in Africa, but it was. I think as a chef you would know there'd be a lot in preparation.
Speaker 3:Oh for sure, Myself, I mean. I would imagine that you know what. It's funny because, going even to somewhere like the Florida Keys Siege and Mark I've been, you know, I've been blessed enough to go every year on fishing trips out into the Keys and you can bring your fish to any restaurant in the Keys. I'm talking any restaurant, because it's a thing in Florida, in southern Florida, that they literally tell you you catch the fish, you bring it to us, we'll cook it 10 different ways. And I was with Top Dog Lewis last year and every time we were catching fish it was like okay, let's take it to the local, let's take it to the locals. We tried it blackened, they made it fried. We had tacos, they made it on a bed of beans and rice, like they make it so many different ways.
Speaker 3:And I could only imagine, you know, when you go to a place like Africa or Central Asia and you know it might not be fish, but fish, but you know, having the wild game and stuff that they're used to preparing every day, yes, I could imagine the work that goes into it, but I think, I think, as a cook or as a chef or even a local, the rewarding part was to see your, your customers, coming from all over the world and getting to try something they probably have never tried before. And you know, for them it's just the way they live and it's the way they cook. Look, I cook for thousands of people a week. The rewarding part of my career is watching people consume it and tell me that it was the best thing they've ever eaten in their life. Or, you know, the food was great today and whatever.
Speaker 3:But you know, trying something that you've never had before, you know the must-be and enjoying it like Mark said, it was great is probably the reward for them as well. You know, it's probably what they practice every single day. And you know, for us to see somebody butchering an antelope or, you know, a water buffalo, like Amanda said, it's probably second nature to them, you know. But for us it's like wow, you know, it blows you away and that probably what feeds and fuels them up to. That means the business right Siege.
Speaker 7:Yeah, and then they have a different way of preparing it. Like, look at us, when we catch walleye, typically it's beer batter. You know what I mean? We'll have a beer batter, fish fry, fish crisp, catch and cook Right and pop and cook. And when you're in the Keys and the fact that you brought the fish I didn't know this, by the way, I didn't know that. Maybe you told me but I forgot.
Speaker 3:But one question I had for you, antonio, was when you bring your fish over, are you filleting them or are you just bringing the fish itself? No, so that's a great question. So there is different ways of doing it. Some of the restaurants will say, okay, bring in your fish whole, we'll clean it, but you have to gut it. So a lot of the times you know you can't catch like a, you know, a blackfin tuna slit its throat and then bleed it out and then throw in a bag and bring it there.
Speaker 3:They would prefer you to at least gut it, um. So when they come, it's an easy cut and fillet, um. So like if we were doing this here in Ontario and we were catching walters, it'd be like, okay, we catch the walters, throw them in the live, well, um, and then when we get to the dock, you know, you just kind of gut them like you would any other fish, throw them on ice or in a cooler and you bring them to the local restaurant and you just hand it to your server. It was that easy. It was like hey, you know what? They actually had menus for this siege. It was crazy. It was like, okay, blackened.
Speaker 3:But look at Taro, what? Taro, murata crappy. Yeah, you see that video. Yeah, he brought it right into in little. It was asiatown in toronto and he had, he brought in his net. All the crappy were in his net. He brought them right into the restaurant. He's like got the crapsters here, let's go. And next thing, you know, the next, the next thing you see is these crappy were coming out on. Steam them onto his asian style, uh, on the table.
Speaker 3:So I don't think you can do that I don't know if you can do that here unless you're Taro Murata and get away with it, but it's cool, like you know. Here's the thing, and I'm not sure, maybe Mark might even know, because he probably meets hundreds and hundreds of hunters and probably hears all the stories but I don't even think you can bring your wild game here. So, for instance, deer if you pop a deer here in September or October, november, whatever season you get them, it has to be a certain butcher licensed to take your wild game and say, hey, you know, make me some burgers, pepperettes, ground backstrap steaks and I'm going to come vaccine them up, season them up. Because I don't even think you can do that now unless that butcher shop is federally inspected, haccp approved, in order for you to process that. Mark, have you heard stories from local hunters saying they bring their whole deer to a butcher?
Speaker 9:Yeah, I would think that would be the case. You would have to take it to a licensed butcher who was HACF approved, Right? I would think that would be the case. I don't really believe that you could take a venison cut to a restaurant and say you know, cook my family a meal.
Speaker 7:Yeah, I don't think meal, cook it up for me. Yeah, I don't think it exists here. So for American listeners or hunters that come over to Canada, can they bring back like a venison back over?
Speaker 9:I think you would have to check with both US border services and ground border services. There's concerns on both sides of the border about parasites and various illnesses, so I would use the old axiom of when in doubt declare.
Speaker 7:Yeah, yeah, because I know that's a common question when I cross the border is do you have any fruits, meats or you know all that stuff? Because with the different things, oh that's interesting. I wonder if they. Yeah, because I always hear horror stories of you know some hunters come over to Canada and they just they're, you know, trophy hunters, and I'm not saying all American hunters like this by any means, but a lot of them just come for the antlers. You know they get the antlers and just leave the, the deer, which is very sad, but uh, hopefully that's not the case anymore yeah, I don't.
Speaker 9:I don't think it's the case. It's uh. When I hunted uh wild boar in alabama prior to the covid 19 pandemic, I could not bring the meat back, which, oh, you couldn't disappoint. But at that particular county in Alabama they were. The meat was being processed by state-approved butchers and then it was distributed to people who were displaced by economic or weather events. That's fantastic.
Speaker 3:That's amazing. That's actually amazing.
Speaker 7:Now you got me going. I know we're running out of time, but a wild boar in what did you say? Montana, Alabama? Now you got me going. I know we're running out of time, Wild boar in what did you say? Montana, alabama? So you got to walk us through this. Mark, mark the sniper. So you're going through, you're going for wild boar. How are you doing this, mark? I see it all the time. Now these guys are doing it from helicopters. Were you in a helicopter popping, mark?
Speaker 9:No, I was on foot with a handgun. A handgun, no, even better. Oh, gangster, gangster, mark, yeah, it was. Uh, yeah, it was something I wanted to do. Um, at one time in the 70s in ontario there was a push for legal handgun hunting in right, but it was quashed. It never happened and it was something I wanted to do many times. So I had a specific handgun, a revolver that I used, okay, chambered in 460 Smith Wesson Magnum. Yeah, it was quite an experience. I didn't have a body count like the people who hunt from helicopters?
Speaker 7:Yeah, yeah. So are you walking with dogs? Are you walking or just?
Speaker 9:I was walking and I had the assistance of several farmers who would drive the animals out of their crops with either four-wheelers or with one of their tractors. And yeah, it was in that part of Alabama and I'm sure it's very similar throughout. Wherever these animals are, is they have crossbred with domestic hogs? Yes, yes, and they've created kind of a super animal. Yes, and these crossbred swine are devastating the understory of the trees. They're eating everything amphibians, snakes, ground birds, bulbs from wildflowers, everything. Wow. And there's places I would walk along the edges of swamps and creeks where you'd think that people had gone through with finishing bulldozers and just plowed everything and the damage they do to the crops. I couldn't even estimate a dollar value, Certainly on a personal level, from where I was. The damage was extensive.
Speaker 7:That's amazing. So they're turning into like a you said like kind of like a super, Super animal, Super animal.
Speaker 3:The thing is is. The great thing about a siege, though, is that they the meat, that they do and they process, they give it to people. That you know like Mark said, you know less wealthy, and that you know it's actually doing something. So you're helping the farmers, you're helping feeding people as well, so I could only imagine that you know for people like us that enjoy the sport obviously, we live in Canada we can't bring the meat over the border. I would love to eat it, antonio, but of course I'd love to eat it, but maybe you can process it while you're there, get a rack of ribs going, smoke them up, and at least you know, at least you know siege. If you not, if you, if you can't consume it for whatever reason, it's going to good, it's going to good people. You're, you're feeding, you're feeding people with it, and, at the same time, you know, I guess, to hunt.
Speaker 3:The farmers are having issues with this super animal and, uh, you know it's, it's great. I mean, I wonder if we can, uh, we can, do a hunt like that. Get the boys out there, because I'll tell you right now, I'd like so. Can you still go and do this with a handgun? Uh, mark with your, with your knowledge. Do you know this?
Speaker 9:possibly I I. The last time I did it was 2019, so that's five years ago so that's not too bad. I don't know what's changed. We got to look into that one.
Speaker 7:Because I was in Arizona probably about six years ago and I was there for a corporate meeting and I was walking back to my. It was kind of like little condo kind of things. Anyways, I'm walking through a garden area and I'm hearing all this noise and I'm seeing all the stuff come, like all the the bushes move around. I'm like what's going on here? And sure enough, it was these wild boars and and I was talking to the greenskeeper there and he was in there like raccoons they're just multiplying, they breed so much and they're causing so much havoc. And I, to see it firsthand, and he didn't even flinch when he saw that I was ready just to bolt. I'm like I don't have my benelli, I'm out of here and but he was just like, yeah, they just get in. Like you said, mark, they just, uh, cause a lot of damage and and they're overpopulated, that's for sure.
Speaker 9:That Well they vary quite a bit from state to state for their species, all the way from what they call javelinas in the southwest to these kind of super hogs that are in the southeast. So southwest they have javelinas and then the southeast they have these kind of super hogs. But you don't have to go to the States for this. Apparently it's a problem in northern Alberta.
Speaker 7:Really. So yeah, I'm putting that on the list.
Speaker 9:Put that on the list Apparently the wildlife official supposedly had to destroy around 40 of these animals just outside of Port Perry last year.
Speaker 7:Hear that, Antonio.
Speaker 3:Well, you know me, I live seven minutes from Williams and Arms.
Speaker 7:How's your wild boar call? Do you have one of those, antonio? Maybe Williams and Arms sells one of those.
Speaker 3:No, I don't know, there's no wild boar call on this end here, so you're going to have to ask Hookset to do that one, yeah, yeah, or maybe producer Diener I know Diener's quite good with that turkey call. I'll be honest, right, but it's crazy. This is awesome. Mark, I know we're past our time here with you. We're going to invite you back on our show. We need more time Because there's a lot more stuff. We need more time with you, but before we do, let you go, competitions happening this calendar year.
Speaker 9:What's next for Mark? Nothing much left for me right now. I'm just doing a little bit of experimentation and a little bit of testing. I'm working with a rifle right now that I developed a few years ago, where I've exceeded 5,000 feet per second with the bullet, and I shot it this week at the Oshawa Club and the starting loads that I was testing were 4,940 feet per second, and I know that the other loads I was using was faster because my chronograph can only read to 5,000 feet per second and it wasn't picking up the velocity. So I want to do some work with that.
Speaker 3:Wow, that's incredible man that's like that's how?
Speaker 7:like Antonio, that's like you driving the Shelby and the radar from the cop he can't read it because you're going too fast. You know what I mean. You can't give you a ticket because nothing pops up.
Speaker 3:Well, you know, it's hard to catch me, suge, I'm going to be honest, it's hard to catch me, and it sounds like it's hard to catch Mark too.
Speaker 9:Well, I'm going to do some testing with the black powder as well. I'm going to prepare for shooting at Quigley if I'm well enough next year down in Montana. So I'd like to do a little bit more work with that, because that was quite an infectious experience. That's amazing.
Speaker 7:Mark, we got to. Yeah, we definitely have to check in with Mark more often.
Speaker 3:We're going to, we're going to, we're going to. Not only are we going to check in with him, but I'd like to come and see you. Hopefully, if you're ever up to it and put in a couple more hours in at Williams, we'd definitely like to come visit you there and see what's. You know, siege, we got to spend more time in that shop as well. Just shout out to those guys there because local shop and I'm privileged to have my house close by and you know it was. They got some great stuff and the knowledge that Mark has. You know, imagine walking into a gun shop and you get to talk to a competitor like Mark with the knowledge he has. Hopefully we get to catch you there. Is there any plans of you? You know, if you ever get to put in a few more days at the gun shop, I'd like to.
Speaker 9:I would like to. My plan is to spend a bit of time there this fall. Yep, john Lennon said life is what happens when you're making other plans, so we'll just have to see how that goes. Well said.
Speaker 3:Well said, well said, absolutely well said. Well, I would like to take the opportunity to thank you, mark, for joining us. For our listeners, mark Heru is a an amazing story. I hope everyone listening got to take in what Mark was preaching and Siege, I got to be honest, it was a pleasure having Mark on our show today.
Speaker 7:It was fantastic. Mark, thank you so much for joining us. And we just what do they say? We just scratched the surface with Mark, like I mean, I can't wait to get in there and deep dive with you, my friend.
Speaker 9:It was a privilege. Thank you so much for the opportunity.
Speaker 3:Thank you. Yeah, no problem, we'll be right back after these short messages.
Speaker 2:You might save 30 seconds by skipping this ad but we can save you hours of meal prep with our art salads. These almost ready-to-eat salad kits help you buy more time and eat delicious local fresh ingredients For delicious flavours.
Speaker 3:Art is always cooking up fresh ideas and crafting chef-inspired recipes because we like to keep you inspired and satisfied. Matcha, broccoli, crunch, honey, yuzu, coleslaw, zesty, kale, caesar, caesar and Maple.
Speaker 4:Tahini Crunch. Add your own protein to this salad, or balance your Friday night pizza out with it.
Speaker 1:Art also keeps the environment front of mind and supports local farms and producers, making every meal both a feel good and a win win. Visit makeartca Art with an E to learn more.
Speaker 8:As the world gets louder and louder, the lessons of our natural world become harder and harder to hear, but they are still available to those who know where to listen. I'm Jerry Ouellette and I was honoured to serve as Ontario's Minister of Natural Resources. However, my journey into the woods didn't come from politics. Rather, it came from my time in the bush and a mushroom. In 2015, I was introduced to the birch-hungry fungus known as chaga, a tree conch with centuries of medicinal use by Indigenous peoples all over the globe. I was introduced to the birch-hungry fungus known as chaga, a tree conch with centuries of medicinal use by Indigenous peoples all over the globe.
Speaker 8:After nearly a decade of harvest use, testimonials and research, my skepticism has faded to obsession and I now spend my life dedicated to improving the lives of others through natural means. But that's not what the show is about. My pursuit of the strange mushroom and my passion for the outdoors has brought me to the places and around the people that are shaped by our natural world. On Outdoor Journal Radio's, under the Canopy podcast, I'm going to take you along with me to see the places, meet the people that will help you find your outdoor passion and help you live a life close to nature and under the canopy. Find Under the Canopy now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever else you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3:We interrupt this program to give you today's secret passcode for the Traeger giveaway. Today's word is WOOD, w-o-o-d. Make sure you go on the Fish and Canada website under contests. Punch in this code, wood for this week's episode, to get you some extra entries into the Traeger giveaway. Now back to the episode. Extra entries into the Traeger giveaway. Now back to the episode. Welcome back to the Eating Wild podcast. I'm joined by my co-host, christopher Showtime Johnson, and AKA Siege Siege. I'm just speechless right now. Talking with Mark, we went over an hour. I didn't even think we were going to go that far, but you said it right. We got to get him back on because there's so many other questions I had for him.
Speaker 7:Yeah, he's going to be going forward our gun expert in our Rolodex because this guy he is, so he really thinks. He's not like us, he really thinks before he speaks and we just speak. You know us, we just speak. But the knowledge he has on the history of guns and the stories, the places he's hunted and battling Parkinson's, and you would never like I mean, we saw him on camera you would never really know. And he's doing like he said at the beginning he was ready to give up but he didn't, you know. And oh man, what a great story. And yeah, man, that really hit home like of how just to keep moving on and to always stick with your passion.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and how he got started by his grandmother Unbelievable. Can you imagine? You hear the stories about yeah, my grandfather or my father, yes, but this guy started popping because his grandmother was popping groundhogs. It was amazing. You never hear that.
Speaker 7:She never did that I believe he said his father and his grandfather weren't really into the firearms and his grandmother was grandmother was, and just shows you to our listeners if, if you don't have kids and if, okay, if you have kids, get them outside, get them on the boat and even if you don't have kids, everyone's an uncle or aunt or something plant that seed. And look what happened with mark like we didn't even get to deep dive into fishing and he fishes as well. You made a great point. We need this guy on more. There's so many guests that we have that we need annual check-ins and definitely Mark is one of them.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, just a quick note on the subject of check-ins. I actually was feeding on Twisted Metal. I know we mentioned it in the beginning of the podcast, the new show that I'm working on. Chef Charlotte Langley's father yes yeah, he came up to me and he's like aren't you the guy that had my daughter on the? Podcast.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, he was on. Like I said, we worked with him on the Boys Right and he's on this show now with us and I was at the Royal York Hotel and he came in and I didn't know. Again, I forget face siege. We feed, you know, thousands of people per week and sometimes when you're carving meat.
Speaker 3:You just keep your head down and sometimes I know people's voices more than their face. And he was like you're the guy that has the podcast, right? I'm like, yeah, and here I am thinking, well, we got a guy who listens to our podcast on set. That's great. And he's like you had my daughter, chef Charlotte Langley on. I was like, oh my God, and we were talking and she's doing awesome things.
Speaker 7:Oh yeah.
Speaker 3:She's another one that we'd love to get back on, because there's so much we'd love to talk to her about, you know what I mean.
Speaker 7:My goal is to arrange Antonio Smash Malecka and Chef Charlotte Langley in the kitchen together in some kind of video or whatever, but she is lightning in a bottle that one that's like putting Michael Jackson and Prince in the same stage.
Speaker 3:You know what I mean, Siege.
Speaker 7:Yeah, if you're into pop.
Speaker 3:But hey, man to each his own. You got a problem with.
Speaker 7:Prince purple rain. I don't mind it, but I'm more of uh, you know, I'm more of a harder kind of music, maybe a little bit. But hey, backstreet boys in sync I don't know where you're going with this each again with the pop, but hey, man, to each his own man. That's why we're all different.
Speaker 3:We bring different things and and yeah, well, maybe I could put it in a bow rod and angelo viola, how's that one sound does?
Speaker 7:that make sense. That's a great combo, but again I think they got different taste of music oh well, I know bow rods got his taste of music.
Speaker 7:The harder the better he's he's a metal head, that man. Well, the funny thing is with bow rod. If anyone listened to our episode it's in our library bow rod said the the older he gets, the harder metal he likes. You know, you would think it'd be opposite. It would be like the older he gets, maybe he slows down and maybe goes to like the Metallica, not Borat, he's all in.
Speaker 3:Though he chirped my entrance music, I said if I was ever coming out in an MMA ring, what would it be? And I said, if I was ever coming out in an MMA ring, what would it be? And I said Limp Bizkit. He sent me a text right away. He's like Limp Bizkit, what's your problem? I'm like holy crap man. Yes, that's right. Speaking of MMA Siege huge news I mentioned to you before the show. You know, eating Wild is officially teaming up with the unified champion at bantamweight, mr Cody Kovacek. Eating Wild is going to be teaming up with Cody, a Niagara top team. We are excited to drop this news. You will be seeing Cody drop some huge stuff. That's coming up for that guy. I'll tell you right now. If you haven't been following him yet on his fishing alone, forget him killing people in the ring, because that's what he does professionally. Watch this guy pop fish.
Speaker 7:Oh my goodness.
Speaker 3:I'm going to quote Taro on this. The genetic response with this guy is absolutely insane. He sent me videos of him hogging like 25, 25, 26 pound salmon, yes, and the week before he's popping larges. Then he's going for musky, this guy's nuts.
Speaker 7:He's doing it all man and training UFC, and then he's using eating wild prototype knives with Kakushin, and so you're telling me he's part of eating wild.
Speaker 3:He's going to be representing eating wild. He's teaming up with the eating wild family and this is for future stuff. Nothing's happening right now. You're not seeing anything, but I'm dropping the news. I like to welcome cody kovancek to the eating wild family on behalf of myself. Christopher showtime, johnson, top dog prayer, daniel hooks at martin's. We're a family the foreskins we've been to, we we've been friends for pretty much our whole lives and our families have grown together as well. And I'd just like to welcome Cody into the Eating Wild family because we will be doing a lot of things together coming up into the future with MMA and on the water Siege and on the water and hopefully we get him out at the hunt camp as well.
Speaker 7:Well, what I'm looking for the most is for selfish reasons. You know me, when I get into, uh, showtime mode, sometimes I go to a tavern, you know what I mean. And I go to a tavern and all of a sudden I think I am um, what do you want to say? Uh? Who do I want to say? An action star, right, and I run my mouth, maybe sometimes, maybe sometimes. And now I have Cody Kovacek in my corner.
Speaker 3:Wait a second. Hold on a second. Are you saying you're going to go into a tavern and start a fight because you got the champ next to you?
Speaker 7:Well, that's like having an insurance company If you get in a car accident, you don't have to pay for it. Right, you got insurance, I got the champ, I can just start it and I can just go and order another drink. I got Cody. I'm joking, by the way, listeners. I'm a lover, not a fighter. I don't start anything, it's Antonio that does all of it.
Speaker 3:But I usually finish. I usually finish the story myself. I know he's the champ and this and that, but I'm going to be honest with you. I know how to handle myself. Okay, bud. You do. Listen, I'm going to tell you right now. If anyone's got a problem, we handle it on the dance floor and I know how to move.
Speaker 7:Could you imagine I know it's off topic but the Eating Wild podcast crew and Cody, and let's say the Gray brothers Peter and Cody, and let's say the Gray brothers Peter Gray and Dave Gray. Have you seen Peter, like we talk about Dave Gray, his brother Peter? They look they're cut from the same cloth these guys are.
Speaker 3:Vikings, are you nuts? Throw in a Frank, throw in a Frank, oh Frank. And we got. I mean, let's go, I'll take on anyone. You listening boys, let's dance, I hear our song, let's go Listen, joe Rogan.
Speaker 7:You hang around with these guys, these MMA guys. You're calling fights. Well, the Eating Wild podcast is calling you out, especially Antonio. We're going to have a fish off and a hunt off, and then we're going to go on the octagon and last one standing wins. Here's the problem with that, though.
Speaker 3:Siege. I think we can definitely handle the hunting. No problem, I think we could definitely handle the fishing. Dave.
Speaker 3:Gray's a stick, frank's a stick, cody's a stick. Don't even mention the foreskins, because we'll wipe the table with anybody listening right now. We're dangerous fishermen. Okay, take me to the river, take me to the ocean, take me to any lake in the city. I'm gonna pop. You know that, yes, okay, here's the problem. If we get into an mma ring siege, it's the brazilian jiu-jitsu, it's the wrestling this is. This is shit. That we don't know how much of an art this really is. Buddy, we would get the calf slicer, are you kidding? I didn't even know what that word was until I saw Cody make that American guy tap his brains out with a calf slicer, are you?
Speaker 7:nuts oh, buddy, I'd be the first one tapping and I think, the Eating Wild podcast crew. The only business they have in the MMA is to sit ringside and watch the true talent.
Speaker 3:That's it yeah, that's all. We're good for frank cody and dave gray.
Speaker 7:I just wouldn't get into the ring with that guy at war his brother, just because, oh, peter and, by the way, shout out to peter gray, he just popped a double nickel a 55 inch musky and double nickel double news and uh props out to you. I know he listens to the show, so so yeah, antonio, what else we got going on?
Speaker 3:well, we got the. We got the traeger giveaway that we're probably, after listening to this episode, we are in mid form with this thing. We're giving away a uh, a smoker pellet, uh, smoker from traeger. Uh, let you hopefully you've listened to this whole episode because there was a bonus code that was somewhere in this episode where you can go under the Fish in Canada website, go under contests, punch in the code and it gives you 100 free entries to winning the smoker. Also, big news Siege, we reached out to Mike from Kukushkin.
Speaker 3:He will be joining us, hopefully on next week's episode as a guest to launch, officially, launch again. You mentioned cody's been using the knife, uh, our fillet knife that we've been, uh, you know, working with, uh, closely with mike, um, and I'm gonna be honest, like I can't even tell you how good this knife is because I've been using it all week. Siege, we mentioned those strip loins. I've cleaned probably 17 to 20 full strip loins with this knife. It's a fillet knife, but I used it to clean the caps and my workers here, craig, was using it the other day like this knife is incredible.
Speaker 7:That's interesting to know, because a lot of people just think with a fillet knife it can't be used as a kind of a kitchen knife. I know for myself. I'll be going Northern Ontario next week with my father, and my father's a ninja when it comes to cleaning Walters, and I'm going to see it firsthand in action. I'm excited.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a great knife and we're going to get Mike on before I can't launch the knife. Listen, the prototypes are done. Yes, we have inventory. It's limited inventory. You know that Very limited, very limited inventory. But I would love for Mike to come on and really really tell people everything there is to know about the Eating Wild fillet knife. There's again two sizes. And listen, at the end of the day, siege, you can never have a really good tool in your toolbox. You purchase one of these knives from us and I'm telling you right now, it'll be the best tool in your box. And listen to this, siege, I'm not done. You're not. I'm not done yet. Man, oh, here we go. I told you we were like Oprah. I would like, right now, for all the people listening right now, on this episode. We put on a challenge, I think a couple episodes ago, on somebody who can make the best looking schnitzel sandwich. We were going to send them a knife. Yes, and that knife is basically in transit right now to our winner. Who was our winner? Again, siege.
Speaker 7:That was Stephen Horst.
Speaker 3:I actually looked at Stephen Horst's Instagram the other day after he told me this guy's like he's the ultimate camper fisherman cook. We got to get out there. I'm glad he won that knife.
Speaker 7:I am too. I'm so glad he's got two. I believe he's got two handles on Instagram and he's got one with more of his cooking and I don't know it offhand I'm. I apologize for that, steven, but yeah, man, he he does anything anything to do with wild game and we have to, we have to do a collab with Steven down the road and back to our Instagram. Feel free to to drop into our DM, slide into our Daniel Martins, and then leave us a comment and ask for a question of the day. I know we're running out of time. I have a bunch of questions of the day and I apologize to our listeners. We're not forgetting them and we'll have a Q&A episode, I'm sure, soon.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, and we're going to skip the recipe of the week as well. This week We've gone over, but we are going to give away another knife siege Another one we're not doing it this episode as soon as our Traeger giveaway wraps up. Not only do I have a fillet knife eating wild approved, eating wild, approved, eating wild stamped we also have a chef's knife made by Mike from kukushkin, from Japan, japanese steel. We got a fillet knife and a Japanese knife we're gonna be dropping soon and this will be an Instagram giveaway, only exclusively through our Instagram. So I just want to let people know that we will be doing that shortly Again, after this episode drops.
Speaker 3:It could be one or two episodes away. So listen closely and follow us on our socials to find out when we're going to be dropping that giveaway. And listen, that Japanese knife is well worth over 300 bucks and I'm going to say our fillet knives. I can't tell you what the prices are, but it's going to be a popper. These are going to be. This is going to be a really good one to win on, and exclusively on, instagram Siege.
Speaker 7:And I'll tell you what I know our knives, our fillet knives. We can't I'm not going to say another brand's name that you see and sometimes you have to pay a little bit more, if anyone knows, with rain gear or any fishing stuff, and it's going to be a little bit more. But you buy three of these ones for $19.99,. You're always buying them and replacing them. Why not just get an E-Dub knife?
Speaker 3:Get the E-Dub man. I'm telling you, listen, from a guy who makes a career in the kitchen Siege after using the prototype of this knife. It is smash Meleka approved. I am telling you. I go through knives like crazy. I sharpen my own knives.
Speaker 3:I used to pay somebody to do our knives here at the shop. They were getting absolutely butchered. So you know I've been wet stoning my knives, butchered. So you know I've been wet, wet stoning my knives. Mike has been really, really helping me, guiding me with the ceramic wand from Kakushkin. Check those out as well. And I'll tell you, even Frank, when I when, when we had Mike on earlier on in our episodes, frank called me. I think Frank bought a whack of stuff from from Mike and you know the knowledge that Mike has the work that this guy does. I could tell you E-Dub approved. Smash Melekar approved these knives. You might have to pay a little bit more than what you're used to, but you hit the nail on it. It will be something you buy once and I'll tell you right now it'll be the best purchase you ever have in your kit.
Speaker 7:That's amazing man, and with any of our listeners, we will have video and pictures of the knife in action Awesome. And while you go to our Instagram, don't forget to leave us a review. Smash that like button. What did the kids say? Smash, like and share whatever, but subscribe Subscribe to our podcast. That really helps with the algorithm and with our sponsors, and we couldn't do it without our sponsors and obviously we couldn't do it without the listeners. So thank you so much.
Speaker 3:Awesome and I'd like to thank you again, siege, for taking the time, to our special guest, mark Heru, for joining us today on the Eating Wild podcast. Stay tuned next week, guys. Make sure you go on the Fishing Canada website, coach, get that tune started. Go on the Fishing Canada website, log on to contests. Get that trailer going. Hopefully you're smoking some meat at the end of the week or at the end of the month. Let's just say and thanks for listening in. You guys have a great time. Fish on, I'm out of here. Ciao, get the net March, we'll be right back.