Odd Lots

MeatEater's Steven Rinella on the Economic History of Hunting

December 15, 2025

Key Takeaways Copied to clipboard!

  • Hunting and animal products, particularly deerskins, were a major, often overlooked, economic driver in early American colonization, second only to rice in value exported from South Carolina at one point. 
  • The modern American hunting system is self-funded through excise taxes on gear and licenses, a structure designed to conserve wildlife, contrasting sharply with the unregulated market hunting of figures like Daniel Boone and the buffalo hunters. 
  • The near extinction of the American bison was driven by industrial demand for leather belting during the Industrial Revolution, resulting in the rapid depletion of 15 million animals in just 11 years (1872-1883). 
  • Pioneers developed unique, non-lethal methods for harvesting small game like squirrels, such as shooting the tree to shock the animal out, to preserve the meat due to the small size of the animal. 
  • The conversation briefly touched upon the historical importance of commodities like rope, drawing a parallel to the focus on animal products discussed in the episode "MeatEater's Steven Rinella on the Economic History of Hunting." 
  • The closing segment featured several promotional messages, including reminders to follow the hosts (Tracy Alloway and Jill Weisenthal) and the guest (Steven Rinella), and information on accessing ad-free content for Bloomberg subscribers. 

Segments

AI Advertising Intros
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(00:00:00)
  • Key Takeaway: Palantir and Okta promote AI solutions focused on elevating workers and securing AI agent identities, respectively.
  • Summary: Palantir argues that AI should elevate American workers by freeing them from drudgery, allowing them to create and solve problems. Okta emphasizes the necessity of securing AI agents’ identities to ensure they serve business interests rather than jeopardize them. Both segments serve as advertisements preceding the main podcast content.
Chase and Verizon Ads
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(00:01:06)
  • Key Takeaway: Chase offers a Business Premier card with tiered cash back, while Verizon promotes LTE Business Internet starting at $39/month.
  • Summary: The Chase Business Premier card offers 2.5% cash back on purchases over $5,000 and 2% on all others, designed for pay-in-full flexibility. Verizon advertises LTE Business Internet with unlimited data when paired with select mobile plans. These segments detail current financial and connectivity product offerings.
Odd Lots Call-In Show Announcement
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(00:02:15)
  • Key Takeaway: Odd Lots is hosting a listener call-in show, accepting questions on finance, markets, economics, and personal topics until December 17th.
  • Summary: Listeners are invited to submit voice memos containing their name, age, and location to oddlots@bloomberg.net with their questions. Topics are open-ended, ranging from market analysis to personal queries about the hosts’ lives. The deadline for submissions is December 17th.
Daniel Boone Pop Quiz
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(00:03:33)
  • Key Takeaway: The hosts’ initial knowledge of Daniel Boone is limited to his raccoon hat, highlighting a common historical oversight regarding his actual occupation.
  • Summary: Host Joe Weisenthal admits his primary association with Daniel Boone is the raccoon hat and general outdoorsmanship. Boone was actually a ’long hunter’ who hunted white-tailed deer for economic purposes. This exchange sets up the episode’s theme: the overlooked economic history driven by hunting.
Boone’s Hat and Coon Grease
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(00:07:11)
  • Key Takeaway: Daniel Boone wore a beaver wool felt hat, not a coonskin cap, and early colonial economies utilized rendered animal oils like coon grease.
  • Summary: Steven Rinella clarifies that Boone’s coonskin cap was a later Disney addition; Boone wore a wide-brimmed hat made of beaver wool felt. Raccoons were historically hunted for their oil, which was used for soap, candles, and other products, indicating a broader commodity trade beyond just skins. Davy Crockett, unlike Boone, was a showboat who wore the coonskin cap for attention.
Colonial Deerskin Trade Economics
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(00:10:18)
  • Key Takeaway: White-tailed deer skins were the second largest commodity exported from the colonies before the Revolutionary War, surpassed only by rice.
  • Summary: In the late colonial period, deerskins held immense economic value, often fashioned into preferred clothing like white buckskin breeches worn by the affluent. Black bear meat was considered the preferred food source over deer meat by both colonists and Native Americans. Daniel Boone was involved in the deerskin trade and also produced bear bacon, a popular smoked meat item.
Adoption of Wilderness Aesthetic
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(00:15:33)
  • Key Takeaway: American colonists adopted hunting practices, dress (buckskin, greased hair), and cooking methods from Native Americans as a means of survival and livelihood.
  • Summary: Unlike in Europe where hunting was restricted to the aristocracy, American colonists adopted hunting as a way to make a living on the new landscape. Boone’s adoption of Native American aesthetics, like braiding hair with bear grease and wearing buckskin, illustrates this cultural exchange. These frontier hunters often caused tension with Native Americans, leading colonial powers to view them as unreliable subjects.
Long Hunter Logistics and Trade
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(00:24:49)
  • Key Takeaway: Long hunters operated in decentralized family networks, undertaking six-month to two-year expeditions to hunt deer skins, often illegally crossing Native American claims for cash income.
  • Summary: Long hunters traveled from settlements like the Yadkin Valley across the Appalachians into Kentucky and Tennessee to hunt deer skins, which were worth about a dollar each. The bulk of these skins were shipped to England to be made into high-end leather goods. This activity was often black market, violating both Crown wishes (to avoid antagonizing Native Americans) and Native American land claims.
Formalized Beaver Trade Structure
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(00:27:38)
  • Key Takeaway: The post-Lewis and Clark beaver trade was highly formalized, utilizing investors and newspaper advertisements to hire young men as day laborers to supply the European demand for beaver wool felt top hats.
  • Summary: The beaver trade was structured, unlike the decentralized long hunter system, with financiers like Astor backing expeditions to trap in the Intermountain West. A beaver pelt was worth about three dollars, making it highly lucrative for trappers. The industry collapsed due to over-trapping and a subsequent fashion shift away from beaver wool felt hats to silk hats.
Early Conservation Ethics
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(00:31:36)
  • Key Takeaway: Early conservation efforts were motivated by resource protection for economic gain, while the modern environmental ethic emerged in the late 1800s via gentleman hunters like Theodore Roosevelt.
  • Summary: Initial colonial attempts at regulation, such as establishing hunting seasons, aimed to guard deer as a valuable resource, not from an environmental ethic. Roosevelt and the Boone and Crockett Club sought to save hunting by separating regulated sport hunting from destructive market hunting. The irony is that the Boone and Crockett Club was named after the very market hunters they sought to curb.
Buffalo Extinction and Industrial Demand
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(00:34:37)
  • Key Takeaway: The American bison population plummeted from 30-40 million to near extinction in just 11 years (1872-1883) due to demand for leather industrial belting, despite the hides having little impact on overall leather prices.
  • Summary: Hunters, who were masters of their craft, killed buffalo for hides worth $3.50 to $4, which were used to produce industrial belting necessary for the Industrial Revolution. The combination of the railroad hitting Dodge City in 1872 and massive tannery capacity compressed the resource depletion timeline dramatically. Killing the buffalo did not cause a spike in leather prices because other sources, like cattle hides, were readily available.
Bison Survival via Private Ownership
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(00:44:12)
  • Key Takeaway: The American bison survived genetic extinction primarily because a few eccentrics privately acquired and protected the last scattered animals, leading to 94% of today’s population being privately owned.
  • Summary: The survival of the bison is an anomaly in American conservation history, saved by private individuals who saved small numbers, some even moving them from the Bronx Zoo to Oklahoma. Today, bison are legally classified as livestock when they leave protected areas, meaning they lack the rights afforded to truly wild animals. This private ownership model is credited with saving the species from complete extinction.
Modern Hunting Regulation and Funding
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(00:46:51)
  • Key Takeaway: Modern American wildlife is considered the property of the American people, administered by state agencies, funded entirely by hunters and anglers through licenses and excise taxes.
  • Summary: The contemporary system rejects the European model where landowners control wildlife; instead, American wildlife belongs to the public regardless of whose land it occupies. Hunters voluntarily impose a 11-13% excise tax on guns and ammunition, which directly funds conservation efforts. This self-funded structure ensures resources are available for sustainability across generations.
Game Meat Preparation Tips
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(00:56:01)
  • Key Takeaway: Venison fat (tallow) should be trimmed before freezing to prevent it from turning rancid, and bear meat is surprisingly excellent when prepared as a pot roast.
  • Summary: Mallard ducks and properly prepared squirrel meat are recommended wild game to try, as they often surprise people with their quality. Venison has very low fat content, making it waxy and prone to spoilage in the freezer if the tallow is not removed. New hunters should start by making familiar dishes like burgers or ragu with venison to build comfort with the different texture.
Pioneer Squirrel Hunting Methods
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(01:00:17)
  • Key Takeaway: Pioneers avoided shooting squirrels to preserve meat, instead shocking them from trees to fall to the ground.
  • Summary: Shooting small game like squirrels often resulted in the bullet destroying too much meat for consumption. The established pioneer method involved shooting the tree where the squirrel was perched to shock the animal into falling. This technique allowed for the consumption of the squirrel meat without excessive waste.
Pronunciation Anecdote
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(01:01:05)
  • Key Takeaway: A common linguistic difficulty involves German speakers pronouncing the English word ‘squirrel’.
  • Summary: The hosts confirmed a long-standing anecdote that individuals of German descent often struggle to pronounce the word ‘squirrel’ correctly. One host recalled an uncle who pronounced it as ‘skvirl’. This brief interlude served as a lighthearted diversion from the main topic.
Podcast Sign-off and Credits
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(01:01:29)
  • Key Takeaway: Listeners are directed to follow hosts, guest Steven Rinella, producers, and join the Discord community.
  • Summary: The episode concluded by providing social media handles for hosts Tracy Alloway and Jill Weisenthal, as well as guest Steven Rinella. Listeners were encouraged to find more content at bloomberg.com/slash odd lots and join the conversation on Discord. Positive reviews on podcast platforms were requested to support the show.
Okta AI Agent Security Ad
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(01:02:51)
  • Key Takeaway: Okta provides identity security for AI agents to ensure they serve business interests rather than jeopardize them.
  • Summary: As AI agents become ubiquitous, establishing their identity is crucial for trust and security. Okta offers a single layer of control and trust standard for securing these agents across an enterprise. This security framework helps turn potential risk associated with AI deployment into business opportunity.
MyPolicy Advocate Insurance Transparency
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(01:03:23)
  • Key Takeaway: MyPolicy Advocate analyzes insurance policies to reveal coverage vulnerabilities often hidden from policyholders.
  • Summary: Insurance policies frequently cause financial shocks because policyholders are unaware of exclusions, creating a massive information gap compared to the insurer. For 27 cents a day, MyPolicy Advocate translates complex policies into plain language, highlighting where vulnerability exists. This service aims to provide transparency so individuals can plan effectively and avoid surprises.
MasterCard B2B Payment Solutions
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(01:04:24)
  • Key Takeaway: MasterCard offers adaptive B2B acceptance solutions to help merchant-acquiring businesses meet growing buyer demand for virtual card payments.
  • Summary: The B2B card payment landscape is shifting, pressuring large corporations to accept virtual card payments for invoices. MasterCard provides modular solutions to enhance infrastructure for high-value payments and deepen merchant relationships. This approach allows businesses to scale strategically and deploy tools flexibly.
Verizon Business Internet Offer
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(01:05:07)
  • Key Takeaway: Verizon Business offers LTE Business Internet starting at $39 a month with unlimited data when bundled with Select Business Mobile Plans.
  • Summary: Small businesses requiring reliable internet can switch to Verizon Business for connectivity solutions. The promotional offer includes LTE Business Internet at a low starting price with unlimited data. This pricing requires pairing the internet service with select Verizon Business Smartphone Plans.