Ep. 867: Jim Zumbo - An Outdoor Legend at 85
The MeatEater Podcast
MeatEater
4.9 • 37.9K Ratings
🗓️ 27 April 2026
⏱️ 105 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Steven Rinella talks with outdoor legend and veteran outdoor writer Jim Zumbo.
Topics discussed: Playing with insects as a kid; going to school for biology; winning a bet and and getting your first article published by Outdoor Life; how the editors always wanted bear mauling stories; "The Cow Call" and the "World Record Whitetail'; the very first rifle; having Obsessive Compulsive Firewood Disorder; philanthropic efforts with veterans; Jim's To Heck with Elk Hunting, To Heck with Deer Hunting, To Heck with Moose Hunting books; and more.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.6 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:04.3 | Listen up, Mother Scratchers. |
| 0:05.6 | If you listen to this show, you know how I feel about public land. |
| 0:08.9 | Well, right now, there are 4,000 acres along the Tucker Town Reservoir in North Carolina. |
| 0:15.7 | That could either go to developers or they could become public game lands forever. |
| 0:22.1 | We've teamed up with our friends at OnX to make sure it's the latter. |
| 0:26.5 | We want them going public. |
| 0:27.6 | Here's the deal. |
| 0:28.7 | Meat Eater and OnX have each put up $100,000 to match your donations. |
| 0:34.1 | That's $200,000 in matching funds on the table. but this only runs from April 14th to May 14th. |
| 0:40.9 | When the money's gone, it's gone. Go to savetuckertown.org. We're raising money to help keep it public. |
| 0:53.7 | The This is the meat eater podcast coming at you shirtless, severely bug-bitten, and in my case, underwearless. |
| 1:05.7 | We hunt the meat-eater podcast. |
| 1:08.4 | You can't predict anything. |
| 1:09.9 | Brought to you by First Light. |
| 1:12.3 | When I'm hunting, I need gear that won't quit. |
| 1:15.5 | First Light builds. |
| 1:16.7 | No compromise gear that keeps me in the field longer. |
| 1:20.5 | No shortcuts, just gear that works. |
| 1:23.1 | Check it out at firstlight.com. |
| 1:25.7 | That's F-I-R-S-T-L-I-T-E.com. |
... |
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