Mississippi Outdoors Podcast

You know Mossy Oak for deer and turkey hunting gear — but did you know they have a tree expert on staff? In this episode of the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast, Matt Wyatt sits down with Dudley Phelps, known around Mossy Oak as "the tree guy," to talk about growing trees for wildlife habitat.

Have you noticed it's a little harder to see the stars at night lately? That's light pollution, and it turns out it's doing a lot more than dimming the night sky. In this episode of the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast, Matt Wyatt sits down with Murray Burgess, ornithologist at Mississippi State University, to talk about how artificial light is affecting migratory birds.

If you've got a pond on your property — or you're about to dig one — this episode is for you. In this episode of the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast, Matt Wyatt sits down with Larry Bull, retired MDWFP fisheries biologist, to walk through exactly how to stock a pond and get it right the first time.

If you've driven the Natchez Trace on a rainy night south of I-20 and seen someone out there with a safety vest and a flashlight, that's zoologist Tom Mann — and he's been out there for over a decade studying Webster's salamanders.Tom joins the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast to explain what Webster salamanders are, why scientists thought they didn't migrate, and how he and his wife Deb proved them wrong by spending years watching what the animals actually did instead of what the textbooks said.

Mike Strickland from the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources joins the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast to talk about what marine patrol actually does — and it's a lot more than checking fishing licenses.

When you buy a hunting or fishing license in Mississippi, where does that money actually go? Russ Walsh, Director of Conservation at the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, breaks down why your license isn't just "permission to hunt" — it's a direct investment in the conservation work that brought deer, turkey, and other species back from near extinction.

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.

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 fishing with a cork and a cricket is still one of the best ways to fall in love with the sport. They also talk about patience when introducing kids, why a push-button spincast reel beats a baitcaster for beginners, and why it's okay to leave early the first few times.MDWFP has a whole resource page at mdwfp.com/justaddwater with knot guides, bait recommendations, an interactive fishing spot map, and bait shop locations across Mississippi.