Video taking off 38x its usual first day

MeatEater's Cal goes bowhunting as if he's lost his wallet

A tundra demonstration of the "no-approach approach" brings an unusually fast start and a comment section full of hunters' own experiences.

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MeatEater Story of October 27, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 340,166 views a day, 38 times a normal first day on this channel (8,901).

Cal explains the lost wallet technique for bow hunting

There is no cover to hide behind, so Ryan "Cal" Callaghan tries looking like he has something else to do. He walks at off-angles, avoids direct eye contact and searches the ground with the casual air of someone retracing his steps.

That's the "lost wallet technique," demonstrated in MeatEater's Short, "Cal explains the lost wallet technique for bow hunting." The clip drew more than 210,000 views in its first 10 hours, already far beyond the channel's usual full-day audience for a Short.

Cal calls it "the no-approach approach." Rather than creeping straight toward an animal across open ground, he explains, the hunter zigzags closer while appearing occupied with something else. He describes getting within bow range of deer, but his demonstration has feathered subjects: ptarmigan on the Alaska Peninsula. Eventually, he draws his traditional bow and releases an arrow.

The comments have become a collection of variations on the idea. Viewers describe approaching rabbits across exposed ground and learning similar methods from parents and grandparents. Others supply the joke: perhaps the birds are simply helping him look for the wallet.

The bird hunt is for camp food during Cal's brown bear trip. It also appears in the sponsored full episode "Hunting Giant Brown Bears | MeatEater's 12 in '26," where the ptarmigan detour begins at 23:08.

Published on Trari

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What viewers say

It works because the fowl start also looking for the “wallet” with you
@CE_lectricianSee it on YouTube
I have a secret technique too. I act like I'm squirrel and rabbit hunting because that's when I usually see all the deer
@IchibunsSee it on YouTube
this is how I would close up on rabbits when there wasn't any cover, glad to hear from the pros that it's a real technique
@MsNessbitSee it on YouTube

3 more comments

I've done this my entire life. My father taught me this technique and his father taught him.
@Notyourphone.See it on YouTube
I actually lost my wallet.
@jimmymorrison2491See it on YouTube
took long enough for someone to say this publicly. first ive ever seen it. used it forever on all types of animals.
@secondrandomreloaderSee it on YouTube

Public comments from the video's page on YouTube