Mississippi Outdoors Podcast

If you've ever killed a deer in Mississippi and wondered if it might be a record, there's a program built specifically to find out — the Magnolia Records Program. In this episode of the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast, Matt Wyatt sits down with Rick Dillard, the U.S. Forest Service biologist who created it from scratch in 2001 and has been running it ever since. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy...

Caleb Covington, MDWFP's State Lakes Coordinator, joins the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast to talk about getting started fishing in Mississippi — whether you're an adult picking it up for the first time or a parent looking to introduce your kids to the water. Caleb and Matt break down what gear you actually need to get started, where you can go without a boat or private land access, and why bream fi...

America 250 celebrations are coming to Mississippi State Parks this July 4th, and there's no better time to plan your summer getaway! Josh Hinton, park manager at LeFleur's Bluff State Park, joins the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast to share everything you need to know about camping in Mississippi this summer. He covers how to stay cool when you can't beat the heat, why moving air is the key to both...

One of the world's greatest catfish fisheries is right here in Mississippi — and most people drive past it on I-20 without ever thinking about it. In this episode of the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast, Matt Wyatt sits down with Bob Crosby of Blue Cat Guide Service, a 13-year veteran of guiding on the Mississippi River out of Vicksburg, to talk about what it takes to catch truly giant blue catfish. H...

You've heard about Mississippi's growing black bear population. But how did it start — and who started it? In this episode of the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast, Matt Wyatt sits down with Brad Young, the original bear program coordinator for MDWFP, who ran the program from 2002 to 2013. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Retired biologist Mark LaSalle joins the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast to talk about something almost every Mississippian has wondered — how do you get more hummingbirds in your yard? Mark explains which native plants attract hummingbirds and why they work better than feeders alone: cross vine, red buckeye, coral honeysuckle, coral bean, trumpet creeper, cardinal flower, and salvias. He talks about...

MDWFP biologist Martin Coker joins the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast to explain something most Mississippians have never thought about — the difference between a nuisance animal and a fur bearer species, and why that distinction matters for how they're managed. Martin breaks down which animals fall into each category, why wild hogs can be taken year-round while bobcats and river otters have a regul...

You've called them skeeter eaters your whole life. You've been warned about granddaddy long legs since you were a kid. You've wondered why fire ants even exist. In this episode of the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast, Matt Wyatt sits down with Brady Dunaway, ecologist with the Mississippi Natural Heritage Program and entomology background from Mississippi State, to bust a few of those myths wide open....

Sharks stealing your fish off the Gulf Coast? You're not imagining it, and marine fisheries professor Marcus Drymon joins the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast to explain exactly why it's happening and what you can do. Marcus breaks down the science behind shark depredation, which species are most responsible (sandbar, bull, and blacktip), and why anglers have been dealing with more of it over the past...

Eddie and Becky Briggs of Mississippi are two of the best helice shooters in the world, and most people have never heard of the sport. They join the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast to explain everything. Helice uses spinning plastic targets launched from five machines in a baseball diamond layout. You don't know which machine will fire. The targets spin at 5,000 RPMs, fly unpredictably, and you have...

Anthony Ballard (Mississippi), Spencer Daniels (Arkansas), and John Hanks (Louisiana) join the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast for a rare three-state bear program roundtable. Arkansas has over 5,000 bears and has had a hunting season since 1980. Louisiana just held its second bear season after coming off the federal threatened species list in 2016. Mississippi's bear population is continuing to expan...

Melanie Boudreaux, assistant research professor at Mississippi State University, joins the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast to share what may be the first study to put hard numbers on how wild hogs and deer interact, and what it means for chronic wasting disease in Mississippi. Her team used GPS collars that could track when animals were near each other, trail cameras at bait sites, and aerial surveys...

Mississippi's turkey season is running 72% above the five-year average, and MDWFP's new Turkey Program Coordinator Caleb Hinton joins the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast to explain why — and what comes next. Caleb talks about where turkey stamp money goes, how the new physical tag system works, and what a wild turkey research lab at Mississippi State will mean for the future of turkey management in M...

Have you ever walked through the woods and wondered who figured out what all those plants are — or who's still out there finding new ones? In this episode of the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast, Matt Wyatt sits down with Dr. Mack Alford, botanist and professor at the University of Southern Mississippi, to talk about plant discovery, rediscovery, and why Mississippi is more botanically interesting tha...

Stafford Shurden has been a farmer, a duck guide, a county judge for 14 years, a restaurant owner, an author, and is now one of Mississippi's most recognized faces on social media — all from eating gas station food off the tailgate of his truck. He also tells the story of the Delta Wings Festival — a duck call competition on a floating duck blind in the dead center of the Delta — and how he convin...

Mississippi State environmental historians Jim Giesen and Mark Hersey join the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast to talk about something every hunter and landowner should understand — the history of the land they're on. They walk through how the Mississippi Delta went from dense forest to farmland after the Civil War, how whitetail deer nearly went extinct in Mississippi, and how the shift from cotton...

Malcolm Reed of How to BBQ Right and Killer Hogs BBQ joins the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast to talk about how he built one of the most recognized barbecue brands in the country — starting from a trailer in Southaven and his wife's kitchen bowls. Malcolm shares the full story: competitive barbecue in the Memphis area, a leap of faith with six months of severance money, making seasoning by hand and...

If you've seen Mississippi's 2026 turkey stamp, you've seen Johnny Granberry's work. The retired homebuilder and lifelong hunter from southern Holmes County joins the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast to talk about winning the stamp contest, his painting process, and 55 years of time in the woods that shows up in everything he paints. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hunter Farrior started Spring Legion Turkey Hunting in 2019 from a trailer in Learned, Mississippi — no internet, no warehouse, no plan. He joins the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast to tell the story of how it all happened. Hunter talks about accidentally publishing his first book during quarantine, accidentally selling his first hat before he even knew how to ship it, and somehow ending up with an 1...

MDWFP waterfowl biologists Houston Havens and Darren Hardesty joined the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast during the final weeks of the 2025-26 season to explain what was driving conditions across the Delta. It was a dry year, and these two break down exactly what that meant for bird movement, habitat availability, and hunting pressure on public lands. The conversation covers aerial waterfowl surveys,...

Henry and Lakisha Woodard of Halo Hunting join the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast to share their family’s journey into the woods. From Lakisha’s first spring turkey hunt to creating traditions like the Mississippi Shuffle and the Family Slam, they talk about how hunting became a shared way of life for their entire household. They also discuss filming hunts together, building Halo Hunting as a brand,...

Ryan Jones, Assistant Chief of Fisheries at MDWFP, joins the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast to explain what makes Ross Barnett Reservoir such a strong bass and crappie fishery. He breaks down how water levels, native vegetation, and long-term management all work together to support consistent fishing year after year. The conversation covers frog fishing in the pads, invasive plant threats like giant...

Super Bowl champion and former NFL linebacker Swayze Bozeman joins the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast to talk about life after football and the perspective that comes from spending time outdoors. Swayze walks through his journey to the NFL, winning a Super Bowl, and what came next. He explains how hunting and time outside helped him slow down, reflect, and redefine success beyond the game. The conve...

MDWFP deer biologist Carmen Campbell joins the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast to explain a new way scientists are detecting Chronic Wasting Disease — without relying on a dead deer. The conversation breaks down what deer scrapes are, why multiple deer use them, and how soil collected from scrapes can be tested for signs of CWD. Campbell explains how this method can detect the disease earlier than tr...

Joey Buchanan and his son Joe join the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast to talk about traditional bowhunting — making their own bows, building their own arrows, and hunting at distances most people never experience. Joey explains how he started crafting bows in the late 1980s, while Joe shares what it meant to grow up around the tradition and recently harvest a deer with a bow he built himself from wo...