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 expand. These three biologists explain where each state is, how their seasons work, and what Mississippi biologists are watching closely as its bear population continues to grow.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 across the state. What they found: hogs move between deer social groups like a bridge, connecting populations that would otherwise stay separate.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 Mississippi.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.