Gamekeeper Podcast

This week we welcome Dr. Craig Harper of UT for a general deer discussion that begins with the severe drought most of us are experiencing. Will it affect acorns or other natural food sources?  We sympathize with the many food plotters that, like us, are suffering. It doesn’t take long for the conversation turn to harvesting does, including advice on what doe to shoot, when, bullet placement, under...

This week we have a world famous musician, Mr. Chuck Leavell. While he’s been the keyboardist for The Rolling Stones for 40 years and now the musical director, he was also with the Allman Brothers in their heydays in the 70’s. There are too many more musical accolades to list.  You may be wondering why we had him as a guest? Let us tell you – Chuck has a diverse chunk of land in central Georgia th...

With deer season now on the brain, we hit up one of our favorite mature buck nerds, Dr. Mike Chamberlain aka The Turkey Doc, for tips and tricks on improving the odds of harvesting mature bucks. Although Mike is widely known for his hands-on and scientific knowledge of all things Wild Turkey, he and his harem of hunting buddies and clients are luckier than most when it comes to actually harvesting...

This week we welcome Mitt Wardlaw into the Gamekeeper Studio to talk about his expertise in applying row crop science to food plots. Mitt’s a smart guy who has lots of hands-on experience. We have a lively discussion on planting dates, cereal grains, annual and perennial clovers, myths around lime, the nutritional needs and timing of fertilizer applications, army worms, regenerative agricultural p...

This week we open our minds to the possibilities of improving our soils and more through “regenerative” food plots. Dr. Bronson Strickland and PHD grad student Luke Resop provide a deep dive into understanding the whole process. Luke is performing a 4-5 year comprehensive study comparing regen plots to those planted using conventional methods and has much experience on the subject. Will it work or...

On this BONUS episode we hear the story of the recently killed Mississippi State Record Alligator. The hunters Don Woods, Will Thomas, Tanner White and Joey Clark join us to tell the exciting story, and former MDWFP gator coordinator Ricky Flynt explains even more interesting details about prior interactions with the same individual. Imagine a 14 foot jon boat and a 14 foot 3 inch 802 pound alliga...

During this BONUS episode we talk with world-class wingshooter Tony Rosetti to learn a few tips to help make us better shots and enjoy dove season even more. Whether you’re a seasoned veteran or just getting started, you’ll walk away with something useful from this one.  Listen,  Learn and Enjoy. If you enjoy the show, share it with a friend and leave us a review wherever you listen to podcasts. ...

This week we welcome Drs. Dwayne Elmore and Bronson Strickland to school us all on aflatoxin. Aflatoxins are produced by a couple of species of fungi in the genus Aspergillus that can appear in a variety of situations, and when ingested can be harmful to the very birds and mammals we cherish. Our expert guests thoroughly explain aflatoxin, practices we can follow to help prevent it, what to do if...

This week we have a really interesting and hardcore gamekeeper named Andy Orlando, whose profession is “helicopter wrangler.” Andy works for a private firm contracted by various agencies to safely and ethically capture live animals such as pronghorns, elk, big horn sheep, mule deer, bears, and others via helicopter. From there he bails out of the chopper and performs whatever analysis is needed to...

Put your chaps on, as this week noted herpetologist Jimmy Stiles busts into the Gamekeeper studio with five venomous snakes that any of us could encounter. It’s an amazing podcast of information and education. Jimmy knows snakes, and his explanations help us understand these reptiles a bit better. It’s a fascinating look into something that strikes fear into most people. We learned Jimmy was a big...

This week we learn more about the “Slab Lab” and the quest to grow a world record class bluegill. Sarah Parvin from The Slab Lab and Shawn McNulty of American Sportfish Hatchery join us to explain the process and help teach us what they have learned.  It’s an amazing story of a father and daughter’s shared obsession and a fisheries biologist pushing the science to the edge in an effort to grow a f...

This week we all listen in amazement to the stories that our guest Trapper Mike AKA the @pythoncowboy shares. Southern Florida and the Everglades has become an invasive species nightmare with pythons, monitor lizards, iguanas and even herpes infected monkeys. Trapper Mike, a “Gladesman” is doing his part to protect the wild places he loves. In the process, he has trained an amazing dog named Otto...

This week Will from @november_south teaches us about the art of flintknapping and building self-bows and arrows similarly to the way the Native Americans did. This talented craftsman amazes us with his arrowhead/knife building skills and thorough explanations of his processes. His award winning handmade bows are some of the most amazing hunting tools we’ve ever seen, and his tapered cane arrows fl...

On this week’s bonus episode of the Gamekeeper Podcast, we re-hash a visit to the gulf coast near Corpus Christi, TX, where we helped document a team of researchers and volunteers as they successfully re-established new oyster reefs with recycled oyster shells. Dr. Jennifer Pollack, from the Texas A&M Harte Research Institute (HRI) in “Corpus,” and Pat Murray, the President of the Coastal Cons...

This week we expand our horizons and spend time with Dr. Colter Chitwood of Oklahoma State University. He is known as the @biggamedoc and has many interesting big game research projects that we learn about including one where they catch Pronghorns with helicopters and later they follow the GPS signals of the does, sneak in to try and capture day old fawns. Colter explains the mystic of the Prongho...

This week, Rob Kinney and Dudley Phelps take over the podcast studio again to hit on a few of the many habitat-related questions we get from our listeners. The questions are short, but in true “Dudley style” the answers are on point yet all over the place at the same time. We wouldn’t have it any other way! Listen, Learn, and Enjoy. Powered by Mossy Oak's Nativ Nursery - check out the nursery...

This week we have Hank Parker sitting between the turkeys in the GK studio, to answer our questions and entertain us with stories. We do a in depth discussion on what he has learned through his many years of planting food plots including:  how he picks a site, the way he fertilizes, his thoughts on lime, and how he plants his plots. Hank has figured out a system that works for him, and we can all...

This week the show goes to the birds. Literally. Our guest, Dr. Adam Rohnke of Mississippi State, explains about all the wild birds that are migrating across the country right now. We all enjoy seeing them and attracting them to our backyards but there is so much about them we never knew. Did you know many birds including the diminutive Ruby-Throated Hummingbird flies all the way across the Gulf o...

During this BONUS episode we deal with the timely subject of over-heating working dogs. Training in the summer and hunting in the early dove season can be dangerous if you don’t pay attention to the warning signs. Trusted veterinarian Dr. Matt Ryan aka the @duckdogvet joins us from the Animal Clinic of Oxford along with our own Mr. Bill Gibson, our Director of Gun Dog Operations, from Mossy Oak Ke...

This week one of our favorite Gamekeepers, Hank Parker, sits down in studio and we cover so many topics it’s hard to describe. Once we get down to business we discuss building a new pond, how to improve an existing pond, legal issues around building, managing fishing pressure, favorite lures, adding structure, and more. Of course with all of his life experiences he has a story that relates to each...

This week we discuss an aspect of Mother Nature that we all dread and hate to see, Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease also called EHD.  Dr. Bronson Strickland of the MSU Deer Lab joins us to explain the disease and its causation. Later Mark Drury joins to tell us about his experiences and they are plenty. We’re starting to hear reports of sick deer around water sources and we wanted make sure we had th...

This week we are fascinated to learn about the research and management of two different populations of black bears in Alabama. We are joined by biologists Hannah Leeper, Traci Wood and Dr. Todd Steury of Auburn University who explain it all. Listening to their stories of crawling into bear dens (a couple times while mama bear was still present) to retrieve and weigh newborn cubs will give you a wh...

On this BONUS episode we do a deep dive on planting sunflowers. Whether it’s a legal dove field or an area for your family to enjoy, we learn the latest techniques. We’re joined by Twinkie Estes of Nutrien and he explains the details of the modern herbicide resistant sunflowers that enable a Gamekeeper to grow a clean and attractive field.  Doves love sunflowers and so do we. Listen, Learn and Enj...

This week we have Andy Dumbleton from Wrightson PPG in New Zealand join us in studio to answer our questions about forages.  Besides being an avid hunter, Andy is a plant breeder at the highest level, who works in a lab and the field cross breeding plants to develop specific desirable characteristics. He is one of the top scientists behind the new Endurance Radish offering from Biologic Seed. It’s...

This week we are thrilled to be joined by Carlton Ward and Tori Linder from the Path of the Panther project. We finally found someone who loves to talk panthers more than us! It was interesting to learn the latest concerning the plight of the Florida Panther and the Wildlife Corridor that could connect the cats to the panhandle of Florida and beyond. There are so many moving pieces to manage. Carl...