You’re listening to Shootin’ the Bull — a podcast by Idaho Department of Fish and Game. From fish squeezers to deer muggers and everyone in between, these are the conversations with the men and women of Idaho Fish and Game.

Host Connor Jay Liess (Public Information Specialist) heads to Mackay with Tom Talley (Staff Engineer) to chat with the current and former Mackay Fish Hatchery crew — Christian Brown (Mackay Fish Hatchery Manager), Kelsey Lear (Mackay Fish Hatchery Assistant Manager), and Mick Hoover (Former Assistant Mackay Hatchery Manager). The Mackay Hatchery just celebrated its 100th anniversary, supplying fish for Idaho's anglers since 1925. And you won't believe some of the stories from back in its early days.

Other Topics: Mick's unofficial Mackay Museum; the view from Christian's porch; a "boutique hatchery"; learning to weld as a hatchery manager; 100 miles from everywhere; how you end up at a fish hatchery; living at work; visiting the Mackay Hatchery on your next family vacation; digging up horse bones; slaughter hatcheries; feeding horse flesh to fish; "meat tubs"; Connor eats a fish pellet; modernizing fish food; why hatcheries exist; resident vs. anadromous; the birds and the bees (but for fish); hand-stripping; other hatchery lingo; producing roughly 3 million fish a year; hauling fish to every corner of the state; air-dropping into alpine lakes; fish backpacks; where to catch golden trout; working in -40 degree weather; "Hay Spur" history lesson; Mick's quest for milk cans; scuba-diving an alpine lake and "fish torpedoes"; the first stocking trucks; 1925 REO Speedwagon; how hatcheries are funded; worst thing you've ever smelled on the job; what a hatchery employee smells like; a quick and dirty history of Mackay; and more.

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Have a question or topic suggestion? Drop us a line at podcast@idfg.idaho.gov.

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