00:00:09 Speaker 1: From Meat Eaters World Headquarters in Bozeman, Montana, this is Cal’s Week in Review with Ryan Cal Callahan, presented by First Light. Here’s Cal. Florida finished its annual Python Challenge in July, and one fellow went absolutely berserk. Tom Rahill won this year’s challenge with a record-breaking 96 pythons. For those of you who are uninitiated in the ways of the Sunshine State’s invasive species management tactics, the Python Challenge is an annual 10-day event that provides incentives for both novices and professionals to find and remove as many invasive pythons from the Florida Everglades as possible.…

00:00:08 Speaker 1: This is the meat-eater podcast coming at you shirtless, severely bug-bitten, and in my case, underwear-less. 00:00:15 Speaker 2: We hunt the meat-eater podcast. 00:00:18 Speaker 1: You can’t predict anything. Brought to you by First Light. When I’m hunting, I need gear that won’t quit. First Light builds no-compromise gear that keeps me in the field longer. No shortcuts, just gear that works. Check it out at firstlight.com. That’s F-I-R-S-T.com. L-I-T-E dot com. All right. Hot damn, everybody. Joined today by John Allen, known as Mr. 00:00:46 Speaker 3: Ballin. 00:00:47 Speaker 1: And I finally…

Honest historical research and analysis still matter. The Bruen test, a legal standard the U.S. Supreme Court established in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen (2022) for evaluating whether a firearm regulation complies with the Second Amendment, has put an exclamation mark on this point; but then, the high court’s Second Amendment decisions leading up to Bruen would not have been possible without the historic research done by the NRA and others before the Heller (2008) decision. In a recent example, a paper titled “The American Tradition of Self-Made Arms” was cited by a court in an important ruling on…

Earlier this year, I took a weeklong long-distance precision rifle shooting course at the famous FTW Ranch in Barksdale, Texas. This property is nestled in the state’s mountainous region and situated west of San Antonio. It’s a destination for shooters and hunters alike. The acreage holds scores of steel target arrays set out to distance while also taking advantage of the natural environment. This creates realistic shooting scenarios that cause the shooter or hunter to carefully take the wind and other environmental factors into consideration. I specifically attended the FTW SAAM/Impact Precision Advanced Course, which leans heavily into helping students…

The 2011 market of hybrid-framed, double-stack, 1911-pattern handguns has grown immensely over the past five years, with the design moving from high-end and pricey competition guns to affordable models that are at home in a duty holster or in a nightstand. In this crowded sphere, manufacturers are adding their own innovations to the design in an attempt to stand out from what has become a rather large crowd. European American Armory (EAA) Corp. introduced its first 2011 design with the company’s Witness2311 in 2023. Last year, the company brought out the CMX, a handgun that took the 2011 design a…

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One Tennessee man recently lost his hunting privileges for life. A tip to a wildlife hotline led game wardens to Austin Hale’s home, where they found 18 deer mounts, 52 turkey beards, 84 turkey spurs, and one fan mount. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) says the vast majority of the wildlife parts were obtained illegally. They were confiscated as evidence and later ordered forfeited when Hale pleaded guilty to six counts of possession of illegal wildlife.TWRA received a tip in March about two wild turkeys they believed were killed illegally near Alexandria. The concerned citizen gave game wardens photos…

The Nordic Police, comprising of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland, recently selected Federal Ammunition’s 62-grain Tactical Bonded .223 Rem. load for duty ammunition. Terms of the agreement include the firm supplying the agencies with up to 35 million rounds over seven years. In addition, Federal’s 5.56 NATO 55-grain Disintegrator Jacketed Frangible was selected as the reduced-hazard training ammunition for the Nordic Police. “Federal is proud to supply duty and training ammunition to police, government agencies and militaries in America and to key allies around the world,” said Peter Gillette, senior director of international and DoD sales at Federal. “The…

The FBI just released its final 2025 national crime statistics. The numbers from 2024 to 2025 are striking: Violent crime fell 9.3 percent Murder and non-negligent manslaughter fell 18.1 percent Robbery fell 18.5 percent Rape fell 7.6 percent Aggravated assault fell 7.2 percent The murder rate fell to 4.1 per 100,000 in 2025, which the FBI says is tied with 1955-56 for the lowest national rate in its historical estimates. The FBI actually describes the 9.3 percent decline as the largest year-to-year drop in violent crime since national estimates began in 1936.  An important caveat is that these are national statistical estimates based…

For more than three decades, Friends of NRA has been bringing communities together in support of a shared mission: preserving our hunting and shooting heritage while advancing firearm safety, education, training and youth programs. Today, that mission has reached a remarkable milestone as Friends of NRA celebrates reaching more than 5 million attendees through events held across the country. Those 5 million attendees represent far more than a number. They represent families, first-time shooters, lifelong hunters, volunteers, sponsors and supporters who have become part of the Friends of NRA story. Every event has created new friendships, strengthened communities, introduced future…