Mississippi Outdoors Podcast

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 when hummingbirds arrive in Mississippi, why they return to the same yards year after year, and what most people don't know — that 80% of a hummingbird's diet is insects, not nectar.

He also breaks down the one key rule for native plants: get them through the first year, and they'll largely take care of themselves after that. Good episode for anyone with a yard, a feeder, or a curious neighbor who keeps getting all the hummingbirds.
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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 regulated season, and why the stretch between deer and turkey season is actually a great window for hog management. He also talks about how CITES tags work, why muskrats have been rebranded as "marsh hare" in some markets, how raccoon calls are increasing as suburban areas expand, and why you need to remove nearly 80% of a hog population annually just to hold it steady.
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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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 20 years. He also explains why healthy shark populations are actually a sign that the Gulf Coast fishery is doing well — and why that's a harder message to deliver to a fishing guide who just lost a red snapper to a shark.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.