West Virginia Outdoors Audio Playlist

Chris Lawrence opens October with two big buck stories from Lewis County. Eleven-year-old Gavin James and his father Todd describe the 11-point buck Gavin took at 24 yards on the first weekend of the season, a deer they had tracked for three years and expect to green score in the 160s. Upshur County hunter Kyler Doss recounts his 14-point typical, with double and triple brow tines, taken on his an...

Chris Lawrence opens the first Saturday of bow season with three major stories. Investigative outdoor writer Stephen Ziegler of Rack Junkies details his reporting on DNR wildlife resource specialist Jeffrey Brinker, who pleaded no contest to three game law violations in Hampshire County Magistrate Court — including illegal possession of a 20-plus-inch trophy buck — but was fined just $1,119 rather...

Chris Lawrence broadcasts live from Stonewall Resort State Park in Lewis County for the DNR's annual National Hunting and Fishing Day celebration. DNR Director Brett McMillan and Wildlife Chief Paul Johansson join Lawrence to break down the economic weight of hunting and fishing in West Virginia — 598,000 licensed hunters and anglers generating more than $41 million in annual spending and 2.1% of...

Chris Lawrence marks opening day of squirrel season with a full hour alongside Dave Arnold, co-founder of Class VI River Runners — which became Adventures on the Gorge — and one of the pioneers of the commercial whitewater rafting industry in West Virginia. Arnold traces the history of Gauley Season from its scrappy origins in a 1956 Safeway trailer to the congressional legislation championed by C...

Chris Lawrence opens the show with Tyler Harmon of Ravenswood, who recounts landing a new state record blue catfish — 72.75 pounds — from the Ohio River's Ravenswood Pool on a spontaneous Friday evening trip with his four-year-old son and father, kept alive overnight in a tackle shop tank before being officially weighed and released. DNR wildlife biologist Keith Krantz then joins for a wide-rangin...

On this episode of West Virginia Outdoors, Chris talks with Ron Bierstine on the current state of fishing in Lake Ontario (or Lake America), and Colin Carpenter from the DNR Bear Project talks about the opening day of bear hunting season.

On this episode of West Virginia Outdoors, Chris talks with Steve Rauch from the WV DNR about the upcoming hunting seasons for doves and geese, and Larry Nibert with West Virginia Experience talks about the impact of excessive rain on commercial rafting and fishing.

Chris Lawrence continues the summer's remarkable pumpkinseed sunfish story, interviewing Robert Glover of Morgantown — the third angler to break the state record in less than a month — who caught a 9.76-inch, three-quarter-pound fish at Cheat Lake using a long-rod drift technique with a nightcrawler. Lawrence notes the record has now changed hands three times before it could even make the full new...

Chris Lawrence opens with a tribute to DNR Commissioner and West Virginia Trappers Association legend Janet Hamrick Hodge, who passed away overnight after a private battle with advanced cancer — read her resignation letter to the commission just days earlier. The show then tells the remarkable story of West Virginia's first-ever state record pumpkinseed sunfish, set by Ken Neher of Morgantown from...

On this episode of West Virginia Outdoors, Chris talks with Katie Zipfel from the WV DNR on the Ohio River carp populations. Plus, a previously enjoyed fishing trip off the coast of North Carolina.

On this episode of WV Outdoors, Chris talks with Sergeant Dennis Feazell from the Natural Resources Police about their swift water rescue operations in Lewis and Upshur counties, and Shon Butler from Longspur Tracking talks about using drones to assist in rescue and recovery efforts.

Chris Lawrence welcomes two guests covering major upcoming outdoor events in West Virginia. Captain Dwayne Duffield of the West Virginia Natural Resources Police Association previews the Northwoods Throwdown, a charity softball game pitting WV game wardens against their counterparts from Maine on August 1st at GoMart Ballpark in Charleston — with proceeds benefiting the association's R3 youth recr...

On this episode of West Virginia Outdoors, Chris talks with Eddie Ferrari from Appalachian Camping Experience on camping preparation, and Ethan Barton, Wildlife Disease Specialist for the DNR, discusses recent cases of Rabies and Mange in West Virginia.

Chris Lawrence broadcasts an entire episode live from the deck of Ed Powell's bass boat on Lake Erie near Buffalo, New York, during a Memorial Day weekend pre-spawn smallmouth trip. After enduring miserable 48-degree, windy, rain-soaked conditions on day one, the pair land an extraordinary haul on day two, boating over 50 smallmouth with five fish topping four pounds, including a 4-pound, 11-ounce...

On this episode of West Virginia Outdoors, Chris talks with Colonel Bobby Cales about his upcoming retirement and his career at DNR Law Enforcement, and Randy Kelly talks about the elk herd in Southern WV and their calves.

Chris Lawrence broadcasts an entire episode live from the deck of Ed Powell's bass boat on Lake Erie near Buffalo, New York, during a Memorial Day weekend pre-spawn smallmouth trip. After enduring miserable 48-degree, windy, rain-soaked conditions on day one, the pair land an extraordinary haul on day two, boating over 50 smallmouth with five fish topping four pounds, including a 4-pound, 11-ounce...

On this episode of West Virginia Outdoors, Chris Lawrence talks with Jeremy Simon from the West Virginia Taxidermy Association about a show they are hosting this weekend, Frank Williams talks about Free Fishing Weekend, and Bill Curry talks about the upcoming Tour de Coal.

Chris Lawrence opens with news that Natural Resources Commissioner Lauren Winans has resigned her seat to join the Morrissey administration, leaving District 3 open for a gubernatorial appointment. Tournament director Sean Douglas then joins from the water to preview the 43rd annual West Virginia Bass Festival at St. Mary's — the state's most prestigious bass tournament with a $20,000 top payout —...

Chris Lawrence previews an upcoming episode documenting the best fishing day of his life — a two-day Lake Erie smallmouth trip with Ed Powell that produced 75 to 100 fish, including multiple bass over four pounds — before settling into two guests with West Virginia river news. Pete Runyon of Friends of the Tug Fork River joins to update listeners on the group's annual Tug of War tire cleanup, whic...

On this episode of West Virginia Outdoors, Chris opens the Memorial Day weekend with several stories of record-breaking fish catches, and a discussion of boating etiquette just in time for the summer boating season.

Chris Lawrence covers three stories from West Virginia's fishing world. Preston County angler Matt Bourne recounts landing a new state record chain pickerel — 27.95 inches from a private flood control pond — breaking the record he set himself in 2019, this time from a kayak using a homemade hybrid spinner lure with no net and a five-attempt battle to land the fish. DNR Eastern Panhandle fisheries...

Chris Lawrence opens the show fresh from emceeing the West Virginia Trout Festival in Franklin before welcoming two guests with major fishing and wildlife news. Wood County angler Ed Powell breaks down his seventh-place finish in the Bassmaster Open at Lake Norman — a 43-pound, three-day performance built on a precisely dialed-in dock skipping pattern targeting floating docks at creek mouths, comb...

On this special episode of West Virginia Outdoors, Chris broadcasts from the West Virginia Trout Festival in Franklin. Chris talks with presenters and organizers about everything related to trout fishing.

Chris Lawrence opens spring gobbler season with two guests covering very different sides of outdoor life in West Virginia. Kelly McCurdy, district biologist for the National Wild Turkey Federation, details a new $820,000 multi-year agreement with the West Virginia DNR to improve public land access and habitat — beginning with road improvements on Sleepy Creek WMA — and covers the NWTF's plans for...

On this episode of West Virginia Outdoors, Chris talks with John Terry who set a new state length record for Tiger Trout, Mike Peters from the DNR talks about the upcoming Youth Spring Gobbler season, and Newman Brown from Run and Gun Game Calls showcases some of their turkey calls.