Stream It Or Skip It: ‘MeatEater Season 8’ on Netflix, a Reality Series About Hunting and Eating Your Own Food, Even if it’s Squirrel

MeatEater‘s eighth season debuts on Netflix with a new batch of host Steven Rinella’s hunting excursions. Over dozens of episodes, Rinella has hunted and eaten wild game from Alaska to New Zealand; his latest season kicks off with a trip to Missouri, focusing specifically on bagging flathead catfish and gray squirrel. Can he meet the challenge of presenting squirrel meat in an appetizing manner? Or will he just test your capacity for watching someone shoot fuzzy animals out of trees?

MEATEATER SEASON 8: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A beautiful postcard shot of the Missouri River.

The Gist: Rinella and wildlife biologist Parker Hall gear up for a few passes up and down the Missouri River, hoping to snag some highly desirable flathead catfish. It’s a shockingly simple fishing method: tie nylon line to a pole, skewer live bait on a hook, jam the pole in the mud, come back tomorrow and hope something took a bite. Carp are jumping out of the water the next day when they head back out. Rinella pulls up a bunch of empty lines. Turtles and such tend to burgle the bait, so it’s a low-percentage harvest. They land a sizable blue catfish, not what they want — it’s not as delicious — but Hall will settle: “That’ll make a taco,” he says. Soon enough, they haul in a whopper of a 45-lb. flathead, big enough to feed a village. Final total? Three fish. Not bad. Hall feeds his family with three-to-five flatheads a year.

Next, they hit the Mark Twain National Forest with Hall’s hunting dog to score some squirrels. Method: Dog flushes squirrel. Squirrel scampers up a tree. Hunter squints up into a mess of foliage, somehow manages to spot squirrel, somehow manages to shoot squirrel without missing. Squirrel tumbles out of tree. Dog retrieves squirrel. Not a surprise: Rinella and Hall are good shots. They bag eight, and head home. How many squirrels do Hall and his family eat annually? Does 200 sound like a lot? Yes. But it’s true.

Back at Hall’s house, MeatEater shifts into cooking-show mode. Hall slow-cooks the squirrel meat nice and tender, wraps it in a croissant with fresh mozzarella, herbs and vegetables, and bakes it golden brown. Is this a manner in which you’d eat squirrel meat? Hell yes. Next, he takes strips of flathead catfish belly — it’s firmer in texture than fillets — dredges it in straight cornmeal and fries it. That’s it. Simple. He shares the crispy catfish with people young and old. Too bad we live hundreds of miles away, because it’s probably amazing.

Our Take: In books, podcasts and many episodes of MeatEater, Rinella stresses how he hunts to eat, not to acquire trophies. His tone is reverential towards nature. Somewhere in the margins of his work, there’s subtext about how killing ironically sustains life, and how death is essential to sustaining ecosystems. But he tends to stick to the basic joy of the hunt and subsequent meal. It’s simple and effective. If you want to argue about the philosophies and politics of hunting, go find Ted Nugent.

Of course, watching MeatEater demands a strong-ish stomach — lots of bangs, lots of dead squirrels, and unlike other episodes, this one doesn’t feature the death of a large animal. I found it funny how Rinella and Hall discussed their highly specific and unique methods of shelling sunflower seeds with their teeth, but didn’t get into the details of what type of guns and ammunition they use. Shotguns, I think, but I’m no expert; perhaps the assumption here is, if you’re watching this show, you already know what shot size to use for small game. Rinella’s down-home, slangy narration makes him relatable while also displaying his knowledge of the natural world. He’s a low-key charismatic TV host.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: Friends and family gather at Parker’s home to eat his crispy fried catfish.

Sleeper Star: Hall’s dog Ruby is a GOOD GIRL. She just does what dogs do. (It evoked a memory for me: As a kid, I had a fox terrier that treed squirrels in our suburban backyard. The neighbors are probably happy we didn’t shoot them, and the squirrels too, one assumes. We fed them saltines. The squirrels, I mean.)

Most Pilot-y Line: “You’ll find yourself growing tired of making the same ol’ classic squirrel recipes over and over,” Rinella says, very much speaking for himself, and Hall for sure, but probably not you or me.

Our Call: STREAM IT. If you’d rather compartmentalize all thoughts about the source of that chicken nugget in your hand, by all means, watch something else. Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, maybe. Ethical vegans haven’t made it this far into the review. Hunters and fishers who aren’t already clued in to Rinella’s media empire would likely eat it up.

Your Call:

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

Stream MeatEater on Netflix