06/17/2026
In November of 2004, deep in the forests of Sawyer County, Wisconsin, what should have been a routine opening weekend of deer season turned into one of the most shocking crimes in American hunting history. Six hunters were killed and two others were wounded during a confrontation in the woods near the tiny community of Meteor—an event that would later become known as the Wisconsin Tree Stand Murders.
In this episode, we walk through the full story from start to finish: the early morning hunt, the confrontation over land and boundaries, the chaos that followed in the timber, the massive manhunt that crossed state lines, and the courtroom battle that ended with a life sentence. We also revisit the decades-long aftermath and the recent news of the killer’s death in prison more than twenty years later, bringing renewed attention to a case that still echoes through the hunting community today.
This is a story about deer camp tradition, conflict in the woods, and how quickly a normal day outdoors can turn into something unthinkable.
