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The Worst Episodes of MeatEater

Every episode of MeatEater ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of MeatEater!

The Worst Episodes of MeatEater

Hunter, author, cook and conservationist Steven Rinella treks into the world's most remote, beautiful regions, bringing game meat from field to table.
  1. Background image for The Sweetest Meat: Alaskan Black Bear
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    #1 - 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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  2. Background image for The Water's Edge: Waterfowl in Alaska
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    #2 - 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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  3. Background image for The Rugged Peaks: Alaskan Mountain Goat
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    #3 - 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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  4. Background image for Stalking the Grey Ghost: Arizona Coues Whitetail Deer
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    #4 - 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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  5. Background image for The New American Food Chain: Wild Pigs
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    #5 - 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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  6. Background image for Brotherhood, Badlands and Pack Llamas: Montana Mule Deer
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    #6 - 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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
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  8. Background image for The Roughest Country: Texas Aoudad Sheep
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    #7 - 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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  9. Background image for Canyon Bottoms and Cookouts: Texas Javelina
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    #8 - 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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  10. Background image for Big Bucks and Small Game: Wisconsin Whitetail Deer
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    #9 - 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).

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  11. Background image for Big Sky, Bigger Birds: Montana Wild Turkey
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    #10 - 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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  12. Background image for The Fair Chase: Arizona Mountain Lion
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    #11 - 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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  13. Background image for Crossing Borders: Mexican Bison
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    #12 - 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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  14. Background image for Strange Hunt in a Strange Land: New Zealand Red Stag
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    #13 - 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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  15. Background image for Bush Pig: New Zealand Wild Boar
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    #14 - 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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  16. Background image for The Top of the Bottom of the World: New Zealand Tahr (1)
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    #15 - 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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  17. Background image for The Top of the Bottom of the World: New Zealand Tahr (2)
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    #16 - 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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  18. Background image for Cooking Special: Giving Thanks
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    #17 - 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.

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    Director:Unknown
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  19. Background image for Sea Bear: Alaska Spring Bear and Seafood
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    #18 - Sea Bear: Alaska Spring Bear and Seafood

    S4:E1

    Steven Rinella ventures out to his hunting and fishing shack on a remote coastline of southeast Alaska’s Prince of Wales Island. While hunting bears from a skiff and a canoe, Steve gathers a variety of prime seafood and makes a discovery about his own motivations as a bear hunter.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  20. Background image for Full Boar: Whole Hog Cooking Special
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    #19 - Full Boar: Whole Hog Cooking Special

    S4:E2

    On a spring hunt in Florida Steven Rinella got his hands on a wild barred hog. In the field Steve demonstrates the best way to break a hog down and bring him home. Later, Steve and his good friend, chef Matt Weingarten, cook four preparations from the hog’s head, skin, trotters, muscle, and guts.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  21. Background image for Bull By Boat: British Columbia Moose
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    #20 - Bull By Boat: British Columbia Moose

    S4:E3

    Steven Rinella and his buddy Ryan Callaghan float a remote river on a moose hunt that results in some of the most dangerous moments in Steve’s life as a hunter. The two hunters travel far from civilization in a raft to search for the massive moose that call the area home.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  22. Background image for Local Motion: Montana Bull Elk
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    #21 - Local Motion: Montana Bull Elk

    S4:E4

    Steven Rinella gets brutalized by bad weather and fierce competition during a late-season central Montana elk hunt. Guided only by waypoints shared by a buddy of his, Steve encounters plenty of elk but is plagued by other hunters at every turn – leaving Steve with a tough, ethical decision that hunters sometimes face: to pursue or not to pursue?

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  23. Background image for The Northern Rockies: British Columbia Grizzly (1)
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    #22 - The Northern Rockies: British Columbia Grizzly (1)

    S4:E5

    Steven Rinella and his buddy Ryan Callaghan, a British Columbia guide, hike into the steep backcountry of northern British Columbia in search of grizzlies. This alpine adventure includes some intense and up-close bear action – almost too close.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  24. Background image for The Northern Rockies: British Columbia Grizzly (2)
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    #23 - The Northern Rockies: British Columbia Grizzly (2)

    S4:E6

    Steve and his buddy Ryan Callaghan continue to search for grizzlies but don’t want to go home empty-handed. When they spot a sizable black bear, Steve decides to pursue it -- keeping an eye out for that elusive boar grizz.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  25. Background image for Opening Day: Wisconsin Whitetail (1)
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    #24 - Opening Day: Wisconsin Whitetail (1)

    S4:E7

    Steven Rinella and his buddy Doug Duren give comedians Joe Rogan and Bryan Callen their first taste of Midwest deer hunting culture by sitting in freezing ground blinds on opening day in Wisconsin. The biggest challenge isn't the cold, it's the temptation to shoot a young, immature buck on Doug's well-managed farmland. It just wouldn't be a trip to the Duren Family Farm without a little trapping and duck hunting thrown in, rounding out the larder for a big wild game feast.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  26. Background image for Opening Day: Wisconsin Whitetail (2)
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    #25 - Opening Day: Wisconsin Whitetail (2)

    S4:E8

    The Wisconsin hunt with comedians Joe Rogan and Bryan Callen continues as the hunters attempt to thin Doug's deer herd by culling some does. The cold just won't relent and the guys get a real taste of northern air. Steven Rinella checks his traps in hopes of giving Joe and Bryan their first taste of beaver meat, and Joe learns an important and fundamental lesson of the hunting lifestyle. After a weekend of hard hunting, they all converge on the kitchen to partake in the spoils and eat their fill of fresh meat.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

Worst Episodes Summary

"The Sweetest Meat: Alaskan Black Bear" is the worst rated episode of "MeatEater". It scored /10 based on 0 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 1/8/2012. This episode scored 0.0 points lower than the second lowest rated, "The Water's Edge: Waterfowl in Alaska".