Joe Rogan on First-Time Hunt: "I Don't Think it's Cruel at All"

After a couple decades in the spotlight, there's not a lot Joe Rogan hasn't done.

He's hosted his own TV show (Fear Factor), starred on a popular NBC sitcom (NewsRadio) and he currently has one of the most popular podcasts on the planet (The Joe Rogan Experience). When he's not providing color commentary for UFC fights, he's also a stand-up comedian, holds black belts in Taekwondo and Jiu-Jitsu, and is a full-time cannabis supporter. You heard right.

But one thing Rogan hasn't done at least not until recently is go hunting. That all changed when Steve Rinella, host of the Sportsman Channel's MeatEater, invited Rogan and his friend, fellow comedian and actor Bryan Callen, for a five-day excursion into the Montana wilderness.

The two-part episode begins with the premier of part one this Sunday, April 28 at 9 pm ET/PT and concludes with the premiere of part two on Sunday, May 5 at 9 pm ET/PT, exclusively on Sportsman Channel.

"I had always wanted to hunt. I felt like, my whole life I've eaten meat and I'd never taken part in actually killing the animals," Rogan said. "I always knew that was a big disconnect and so I'd wanted to hunt for a long time."

Once he got used to the isolation and cold of the vast Montana landscape, Rogan said felt right at home.

"Being away, completely away from all the noise of society and cell phones and Wi-Fi, and to be completely away from all that stuff was kind of refreshing. I don't want to live like that but I wouldn't mind taking breaks like that. You know I think living like that would suck. If we had to go to the way people lived before electricity I don't think that would be that fun, but to take little breaks and go camping and to be really out there and really immersed in nature was really fascinating and exhilarating."

"I really enjoyed it very much. I think it gives you an experience that's unlike any other kind of camping or even any other kind of nature experience because you're doing something incredibly primal with your time. You're not just in nature. You're in nature and you're actually doing the things people used to do, you know, back in the caveman days."

With Rinella as his guide, Rogan said he was surprised how much work goes into hunting. At the same time, he said it was eye opening to finally bridge the gap between field and table.

"You can put yourself into a situation where you're going and acquiring your own meat in a nature environment like that, like going down to Montana, and I think if you're going to be a meat eater it's the ethical way to do it. It's the right way to do it. I don't think it's cruel at all," Rogan said.

"I think it's probably the opposite of cruelty because you're allowing this animal to live a completely, totally free life and then going out and finding it. You go out and get it and in an instant, it's over. That animal has lived exactly as it would without you ever interfering in its existence and then you're eating it. That to me is, by far, the least cruel way to eat meat."

After a missed opportunity at a deer, Rogan finally connected. He was amazed how much work was involved from start to finish of the process.

"It was a pretty wild experience. We began the cleaning, the butchering of the deer. The gutting of the deer, first, that was the first thing we did and we opened it up and Steve took me step by step through all of the different parts of how to open it, how to get the organs out," Rogan said.

"It was a really powerful experience and I think that if I could, I would like to do this several times a year and get a lot of the meat that I eat in this way. It just seems to me to be the healthiest, and well first of all, it's fun."