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) sits down with Ben Bieri (Digital Content Specialist) and Matt O'Connell (Regional Conservation Officer, now retired) and discuss how one Wisconsite wound up enforcing wildlife crime in Idaho for close to 31 years. 

Other Topics: Becoming a "Senior" Conservation Officer once your hair goes grey; "junior baby game warden"; 5 years in Yellow Pine; packing out a deer on your mountain bike; bucks in boats; the Mighty Pointers; stumbling upon a caged bear in Shenandoah National Park; busting an elk poacher in the Frank Church Wilderness; bone-headed tourists in national parks; Yellow Pine's world-renowned golf course; putting on your biologist hat as an officer; community relationships; Free Fishing Day; pros and cons of technology; Game Warden Magazine; processing 35mm film for evidence; when a selfie becomes evidence; capturing bighorn sheep in the Owyhees; why you don't have to be a "hard ass" as a conservation officer; fighting off hypothermia on Monumental Summit; when Ralphie (from A Christmas Story) stops by the Nampa Regional Office for an elk tag; urban poaching; the psychological burden of dealing with bad people; 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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