Meat Eater

Steven Rinella wants to hunt where few have hunted before. To gain access to pristine ground, he charters a float plane to drop him high in the Alpine zone of Alaska’s Coastal Rainforest. He spends three days alone in the wild hunting for blacktail deer and cooks up rock-pounded tenderloin.

As the cold Alaskan winter approaches, bears flock to the high country of Alaska's Chugach Range while feasting on cranberry and blueberry. As summer turns to fall, the bears have exhausted low-elevation fruit and their quest to fatten up pushes them into higher and less accessible terrain. At the end of the hunt, Steven Rinella fries the black bear meat in its own fat as a celebratory meal.

Steven Rinella draws a tag to hunt Coues Deer in the mountains of southern Arizona. In tune with the local culture, Steve packs a small kit of tortillas, chilies, and all the fixings to prepare fire-grilled heart tacos.

On this trip, Steven Rinella travels to the Sacramento Valley in central California to hunt wild hogs. He prepares a back-country gourmet feast of pork loin roasted with apples and rosemary cooked in tinfoil over a fire.

Along with a trio of pack llamas, Steven Rinella, along with his brother Matt and friend Matt Moison camp and hunt in the arid and frozen badlands of Eastern Montana for mule deer. To combat the freezing temperatures, Rinella makes a stew to celebrate a successful hunt.

Steven Rinella heads into the Texas backcountry after the Barbary sheep, or Aoudad, of North Africa. He cooks them up in traditional hunter-style over a fire.

Steven Rinella heads to West Texas in search of javelina. Featured meal is boiled javelina with cactus pears.

Every year, a handful of hunters draw a permit to hunt the Mills Creek region of Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. Steven Rinella holds one of the permits this year, and he and his brother Danny backpack into the mountains, into country they’ve never seen, in hopes of finding a billy goat.

Steven Rinella joins his friend, wildlife biologist Brandt Meixell, on a remote trip to some untouched Alaska wetlands in search of ducks and geese. With a big spread of decoys and a loyal retriever, they try to get their limit and fill their bellies with a constant supply of duck meat. Featured meal is willow-spit roasted whole duck.

Steven Rinella heads to Wisconsin to spend a few days on his friend's historical family farm. He enlists other locals to help him hunt for a big buck or doe in the famed Driftless area. Featured meal is grilled butterfly venison steaks and Hassenpfeffer.