MeatEater's Back 40

We bought a farm. Sixty-four acres of possibilities in the heart of Michigan with the potential to become the perfect wildlife haven and deer hunting spot. In the first episode of the show, Steven Rinella and Mark Kenyon lay out a plan to turn this run-of-the-mill chunk of dirt into prime habitat for everything from whitetails, to squirrels, to pollinators. Along the way they find out ex kwhunting

In episode two of our new series, Back 40, Mark is making the first habitat improvements on the hunting property. He calls in some help, but gets varying opinions on what to do. He also battles a stubborn mower, rutted up trails, and a group of angry bees. kwwhitetail

After spending August working his ass off on the Back 40, Mark Kenyon is ready to get the heck off of the property and let it rest. Michigan is one of the most heavily hunted states in the country for whitetails, which gives our crew the opportunity to be one of the few small properties that doesn’t spook every mature buck into the next county. As it turns out, Steven Rinella and Janis Putelis hav

With all of the preseason commotion on the property now behind him, Mark Kenyon can finally start deer hunting. After kicking off the season with little action, Mark welcomes his first guest to hunt the farm. Luke Macaulay is a professor and cooperative extension specialist at UC Berkeley, an unlikely spot to find a guy who is thinking about hunting and habitat fragmentation. Macaulay’s recent res

Fall has settled across the Back 40, and deer season is in full swing. With a few target bucks identified, Mark Kenyon has invited Doug Duren to hunt the late October pre-rut. Both Kenyon and Duren are disciples of conservation writer Aldo Leopold, who famously advocated for Americans to develop a new land ethic. Leopold challenged us to shift our relationship with the land, to act as stewards ins

With October in the rear view mirror and two great hunts in the books, Mark Kenyon is ready for the early-November whitetail rut. Mark is rejoined by MeatEater colleague Ben O’Brien for a week of all-day sits in hopes of taking home one of the few mature bucks that have been spotted on the property. It seems like all the sweat and stress of the last five months has led up to these crucial days.