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The Best Episodes of MeatEater

Every episode of MeatEater ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of MeatEater!

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Hunter, author, cook and conservationist Steven Rinella treks into the world's most remote, beautiful regions, bringing game meat from field to table.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    MeatEater Season 1 Episode 1 - Into the Clouds: Sitka Blacktail Deer
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #1 - Into the Clouds: Sitka Blacktail Deer

    S1:E1

    Steve 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 at a little used landing spot. He plans to spend three days alone in the wild hunting for black tail deer. The primary challenges are steep and technically challenging terrain, drifting fog banks, and nearly incessant rain and snow. If he lands a black tail, Steve plans to cook up Rock-Pounded tenderloin to feast on before the float plane returns to bring him back to civilization.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. MeatEater Season 1 Episode 2 - The Sweetest Meat: Alaskan Black Bear
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #2 - The Sweetest Meat: Alaskan Black Bear

    S1:E2

    To find the best-tasting game meat, you have to earn it. 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 accesible terrain. The hard work and long hike pays off, as berry-fed black bears provide some of the finest tasting meat available to the American hunter. The meat is so good, that Steven Rinella plans to fry it in it’s own fat as a celebratory meal if he is lucky enough to land a bear on this trip.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. MeatEater Season 1 Episode 3 - The Water's Edge: Waterfowl in Alaska
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #3 - The Water's Edge: Waterfowl in Alaska

    S1:E3

    For a waterfowler's dream hunt, Steven Rinella joins his friend, the wildlife biologist Brandt Meixell, on a river boat journey to some untouched Alaska wetlands in search ducks and geese. Using tactics ranging from decoy hunting to jump shooting, they try to fill their boat and their bellies with a constant supply of duck meat. Featured meal is willow-spit roasted whole duck.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. MeatEater Season 1 Episode 4 - The Rugged Peaks: Alaskan Mountain Goat
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #4 - The Rugged Peaks: Alaskan Mountain Goat

    S1:E4

    Every year, a handful of hunters draw a permit to hunt the Mills Creek region 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. It’s a grueling hunt, and there’s the constant threat of losing your meat if the goat spills over a cliff.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. MeatEater Season 1 Episode 5 - Stalking the Grey Ghost: Arizona Coues Whitetail Deer
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #5 - Stalking the Grey Ghost: Arizona Coues Whitetail Deer

    S1:E5

    To hunt some of the most elusive game, the predator must become its prey. Steven Rinella drew a tag to hunt the elusive Coues Deer in the stark mountains of southern Arizona, where his spot and stalk skills will be pushed to the limit hunting these tiny, ghostlike deer. To successfully take a deer Steve will have to become equally invisible, quiet, and attuned to his surroundings...he will need to become a desert ghost. In tune with the local culture, Steve will pack a small kit of tortillas, chiles, and all the fixings to prepare fire-grilled heart tacos.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. MeatEater Season 1 Episode 6 - The New American Food Chain: Wild Pigs
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #6 - The New American Food Chain: Wild Pigs

    S1:E6

    Wild Hogs can thrive almost anywhere - just like Steve. On this trip, Steven Rinella travels to the Sacramento Valley in central California in search of challenge and seriously good food. 300 years ago Spanish settlers let a handful of pigs loose in order to turn acorns into bacon, and today harvesting a wild pig for food is nexus of wild living and seriously good food. Rinella will prepare a backcountry gourmet feast of Pork Loin roasted with Apples and Rosemary cooked in tinfoil over a fire.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of MeatEater

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  7. MeatEater Season 1 Episode 7 - Brotherhood, Badlands and Pack Llamas: Montana Mule Deer
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #7 - Brotherhood, Badlands and Pack Llamas: Montana Mule Deer

    S1:E7

    Along with a trio of cantankerous and spit-hurling pack llamas, Steven Rinella, along with his brother Matt and good friend Matt Moison camp and hunt in the arid and frozen badlands of Eastern Montana for mule deer. Freezing cold temperatures and unforgiving topography add to the already-challenging job of finding and stalking a Mule Deer buck. In this environment the deer have all of the advantage: they can spot, smell, and hear hunters long before they are anywhere near shooting range. To combat the freezing temperatures, Rinella plans to make a hunter's stew to celebrate a successful hunt.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. MeatEater Season 1 Episode 8 - The Roughest Country: Texas Aoudad Sheep
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #8 - The Roughest Country: Texas Aoudad Sheep

    S1:E8

    Steven Rinella heads into the Texas backcountry after one of the continent's most elusive feral animals -- the Barbary sheep, or Aoudad, of North Africa. For most hunters, just glimpsing one of these animals is a trophy. If Steve is lucky enough to land one of these sheep, he plans to cook them up in traditional hunter-style over a fire.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. MeatEater Season 1 Episode 9 - Canyon Bottoms and Cookouts: Texas Javelina
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #9 - Canyon Bottoms and Cookouts: Texas Javelina

    S1:E9

    Steven Rinella takes to the thorns and thickets of a West Texas canyon in search of javelina. Smelling the animals is easy, but getting a clear shot with a bow is a whole other story. Featured meal is boiled javelina with cactus pears.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. MeatEater Season 1 Episode 10 - Big Bucks and Small Game: Wisconsin Whitetail Deer
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #10 - Big Bucks and Small Game: Wisconsin Whitetail Deer

    S1:E10

    Steven Rinella heads to Wisconsin to spend a few days on his buddy’s historical family farm. He will enlist other locals to help him hunt for a big buck or tasty doe in the cold upper reaches of the state. Featured meal is Butterflied Venison Steaks and Hassenpfeffer (Peppered Hare Stew).

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. MeatEater Season 2 Episode 1 - Big Sky, Bigger Birds: Montana Wild Turkey
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #11 - Big Sky, Bigger Birds: Montana Wild Turkey

    S2:E1

    Steven and his brother Matt load up the llamas for a backcountry spring Turkey hunt in Montana’s Powder River Breaks. This rugged terrain is the brothers’ long time stomping ground and they will pack deep into the badlands to get away from people and close to some Toms. Featured meal will be camp-fried turkey schnitzel.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. MeatEater Season 2 Episode 2 - The Fair Chase: Arizona Mountain Lion
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #12 - The Fair Chase: Arizona Mountain Lion

    S2:E2

    America’s desert Southwest is a sharp, hard country of cactus, deep canyons, and big cats. Steven arrives to learn the truth about one of the hunting world’s most controversial acts—tracking a Lion with dogs until it is bayed on a cliff or in a tree. Learning from two expert lion hunters, he immerses himself in a style of hunt that is utterly new to him. He is humbled by the challenge it presents, this hunt is physically brutal and emotionally taxing. Sometimes the reward of the hunt is the thrill of success and a delicious meal, and other times it’s a more personal, and possibly more important lesson of knowledge and humility.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. MeatEater Season 2 Episode 3 - Crossing Borders: Mexican Bison
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #13 - Crossing Borders: Mexican Bison

    S2:E3

    Hunting a powerful living relic from a bygone era, Steven Rinella heads into the mountains of the Sonora Desert on a true, wild, free-ranging buffalo hunt. Steve knows Buffalo, but seeing and stalking these beasts in this dry, stark habitat is a wild experience, very different from anything he’s every done. After a careful long-distance stalk Steve takes a young bull and winds up with yards of incredible bison meat to share with his family, friends, and locals. With a little help, Steve prepares a true multicultural feast for a table of hungry cowboys.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. MeatEater Season 2 Episode 4 - Strange Hunt in a Strange Land: New Zealand Red Stag
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #14 - Strange Hunt in a Strange Land: New Zealand Red Stag

    S2:E4

    Steven Rinella flies halfway around the world to take on the mystical Red Stag in one of the most beautiful settings in the world—New Zealand’s South Island. Steve learns whether his North American hunting skills will translate for these foreign beasts.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. MeatEater Season 2 Episode 5 - Bush Pig: New Zealand Wild Boar
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #15 - Bush Pig: New Zealand Wild Boar

    S2:E5

    Steven Rinella and local Wild Pig legend, Darren Moore, spend a wild, action-packed day tracking down Captain Cook boars in the thick New Zealand bush. Their tools for the job include two little pig dogs, a knife, and some real grit. These pigs are tenacious and possibly dangerous to both the men and the dogs, and this is as visceral as a hunt gets. When success is had, Steve learns an eye-popping technique for field-prepping whole hogs.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. MeatEater Season 2 Episode 6 - The Top of the Bottom of the World: New Zealand Tahr (1)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #16 - The Top of the Bottom of the World: New Zealand Tahr (1)

    S2:E6

    Steven Rinella gears up for a massive climb into New Zealand’s Southern Alps in pursuit of Chamois and Tahr. Guide and friend, Remi Warren, will show Steve the ropes of hunting the high-country of New Zealand’s alpine. The men will travel light and hunt for food as they go, basing out of an alpine hut as they locate their quarry. This hunt turns adventurous quickly; with an impassable glacial river between Steve and his goal, things get dangerous and intense.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. MeatEater Season 2 Episode 7 - The Top of the Bottom of the World: New Zealand Tahr (2)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #17 - The Top of the Bottom of the World: New Zealand Tahr (2)

    S2:E7

    Steven Rinella continues his hunt in New Zealand working towards his ultimate goal. Featured meals will be rock-grilled Chamois, Tahr Tartar, and a mountaintop Tahr-B-Q.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. MeatEater Season 2 Episode 8 - Cooking Special: Giving Thanks
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #18 - Cooking Special: Giving Thanks

    S2:E8

    The Pilgrims didn't get their turkey at the store and neither does Steven Rinella. On this special Holiday episode Steve cooks three enticing dishes: Wild Turkey Galantine, Smoked Black Bear Ham, and his take on the traditional Mincemeat Pie. Appetites will run large as Steve makes a special meal for his family and friends.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. MeatEater Season 3 Episode 1 - True North: Alaska North Slope Caribou
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #19 - True North: Alaska North Slope Caribou

    S3:E1

    Steve and special guest, the author Tim Ferriss, travel to the remotest corner of Alaska to catch the annual migration of the famed Western Arctic caribou herd. On the open tundra they are met with challenges, wild adventures, and grizzlies. After two intense hunts for bull caribou, they feast on a stew of caribou sirloin and root vegetables thickened with bone marrow.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. MeatEater Season 3 Episode 2 - The Greatest Draw: Alaska Dall Sheep (1)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #20 - The Greatest Draw: Alaska Dall Sheep (1)

    S3:E2

    After drawing one of the most coveted big game permits in North America – a Tok Management Area Dall sheep tag – Steven Rinella heads out for a truly rare and epic Alaskan experience. Along with two buddies, Steve is dropped deep into the Tok backcountry. After a rugged hike through nasty weather, Steve’s skills and fortitude are tested against his elusive, high-climbing quarry.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. MeatEater Season 3 Episode 3 - The Greatest Draw: Alaska Dall Sheep (2)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #21 - The Greatest Draw: Alaska Dall Sheep (2)

    S3:E3

    The culmination of Steven Rinella’s Tok Sheep hunt should not be missed, and just in case the Dall Sheep hunt isn’t enough, Steve and his hunting partners head upriver to chase bears. An exciting stalk ensues, and plenty of meat eating is enjoyed. Featured meals are Dall sheep steak with wild blueberry pancakes, Dall ribs cooked over a rock oven, and willow-roasted black bear loin.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. MeatEater Season 3 Episode 4 - Sonoran Superbirds: Mexico Gould’s Turkey
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #22 - Sonoran Superbirds: Mexico Gould’s Turkey

    S3:E4

    Steven Rinella crosses the border to call in and chase some big Gould’s turkeys. Of the five turkey species in North America, the Gould’s is the largest and is heavily protected in the US. On this unique Mexican adventure, Steve will be hunting with friend and expert Jay Scott, who knows the area better than anyone. After their successful hunt Steve will use special, locally-sourced charcoal to grill up a big, brined, delicious bird.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. MeatEater Season 3 Episode 5 - Cooking Special: Wild Game for the Big Game
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #23 - Cooking Special: Wild Game for the Big Game

    S3:E5

    Steven Rinella prepares a collection of appetizers from animals harvested on recent MeatEater episodes for this "Big Game" cooking special. Featured dishes include tahr chili, Dall sheep sliders, Javelina tacos, and caribou sausage.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. MeatEater Season 3 Episode 6 - Straight Flush: Montana Mountain Grouse
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #24 - Straight Flush: Montana Mountain Grouse

    S3:E6

    Steven Rinella and his friend Ronny Boehme drive into the mountains of southwest Montana to hunt the high ridge tops for dusky grouse. Featured meal is dusky grouse jalapeño poppers and grouse fettuccine with a white wine and cream sauce.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. MeatEater Season 3 Episode 7 - Meet the MeatEaters: Montana Crew Muley (1)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #25 - Meet the MeatEaters: Montana Crew Muley (1)

    S3:E7

    In the first installment of this two-part behind-the-scenes MeatEater episode, Steven Rinella promises his crew he will provide them with some venison to share with their families for Thanksgiving Dinner.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Best Episodes Summary

"Into the Clouds: Sitka Blacktail Deer" is the best rated episode of "MeatEater". It scored 10/10 based on 1 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 1/1/2012. This episode scored 10.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "The Sweetest Meat: Alaskan Black Bear".