Ep. 899: Jim Heffelfinger, The Deer Preacher
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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This is going to embarrass you, Jim, but you know how I'm going to introduce this? I can't imagine. I'm going to say, joined today by the smartest man in the woods. Don't say that. By the smartest man in the woods, Jim Heffelfinger. You're lying right off the bat. You're lying. Okay, how about this? Joined today by the most well-informed man in the woods. Okay. Jim Heffelfinger. All right.
Thank you for coming in.
It's great to be here. Yeah. If listeners of the show know that rarely does an episode go by when someone doesn't say Heffelfinger was telling me or Heffelfinger wrote in to explain or Heffelfinger is mad about blank because he, like I said, he's the, he's the smartest, most well-informed man in the woods. And when we're talking about stuff, he likes to tell us where we, where we hit and where we miss. And, um, Jim comes on, you've been on, I don't know how many times this is maybe your third or fourth time for the regular podcast. Yeah. And what we do is we work up a bunch of things that we're going to talk about and we agree that, and we agree on what we're going to cover and we're going to cover a bunch of those today.
We're going to talk about, um, we're going to talk about Jim's thoughts and current research on a thing that we've brought up in the past is like, if you eat wild game meat, is the lead going to get you? Is the lead going to kill you? We're going to talk about this thing that pops up now and then that, um, If the argument that by having more predators on the landscape, we would see a decline in chronic wasting disease. We're going to talk about that. We're going to talk about a thing you might see pop up in the news now and then trophic cascades, particularly in the context of when wolves came back to Yellowstone National Park. People came up with all these sort of fantastical ideas about the trophic cascades that occurred in the park thanks to wolves.
We're going to talk about Javelina getting their due. We're going to talk about some ungulate stuff. But the first thing we're going to talk about is the Rompola buck. Now, first, I want to clarify a thing. I grew up near where... I grew up South of Mitch, but, but my father had, my father had met him, had known him, had handled some of the deer he'd killed in the past. He used to measure bucks for like commemorative bucks in Michigan. And somehow I had in my head, I, I, for years have said Rampala, but, um, that's a, that's a lure Rampala. Yeah. It's yeah. Cast and rock cast Rampala. Um, Rampala, uh, We're working on a project. Jordan Sillers, who you might know from Blood Trails, is working on a podcast about... We're doing a series, a long-awaited series that I've been talking about for a million years on the Ron Polo Buck.
And for those of you that just tuned in for the first time, I'll try to keep it brief, but officially... Officially, the biggest buck ever killed by the hands of man was killed in Canada by a guy named Milo Hanson. But shortly after that buck was killed, a buck that would have beat Milo Hanson's buck to become the all-time world record typical whitetail was arrowed by a guy named Mitch Rompola and then withdrawn from From consideration. So we're doing a mystery series on is the buck real or not? Which side are you on, right? And so... I've been, we've been wanting to interview, um, we've been wanting to interview half a finger about this buck. Cause you have, you spent a lot of time on antlers and antler growth and deer and everything.
And one of the questions I want to ask you about, and this will be included in the series, but just to kick it around is one of the things that people point out is that where this buck got killed, um,
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–5:13
2
What is the Rompola mystery and why is it significant?
5:13–8:04
3
How does lead poisoning from ammunition affect wildlife and humans?
8:04–9:41
4
What is chronic wasting disease (CWD) and how does it impact deer populations?
9:41–10:19
5
Can predators like wolves help control CWD in deer populations?
10:19–11:07
6
What role do trophic cascades play in ecosystems, particularly regarding wolves in Yellowstone?
11:07–11:35
7
Why are javelinas not recognized in Boone and Crockett records?
11:35–37:09
8
What is the current status of mule deer populations across North America?
37:09–1:50:06
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from The MeatEater Podcast
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