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Deer Poor to Spoiled Brat

By Ben Smith: As the sun set on my final hunt of the trip, frustration began to kick in. As I climbed down from the stand I muttered a few choice words under my breath and threw myself a little pity party. Looking back on it, I feel more like a spoiled brat than ever... Continue Reading →

Rifle Season on the Beach

By Ben Smith: It’s come to my attention that I have entirely too many people running my life these days. And forget work, I’m not even counting that. I’ve always took pride in doing things my way…for the most part, anyway. Lately, I find myself taking orders at every turn. It all started several months... Continue Reading →

Entomophobia: A Rational Fear

By Ben Smith: A brisk breeze blows in from the Northwest ripping the already dead leaves from the drought ridden trees in my yard. Acorns drop and pelt my driveway like ice from a hailstorm. There’s still no rain in the forecast, but the first good frost of the season is well on its way.... Continue Reading →

An Unlikely Companion

By Ben Smith: Hot. This simple word describes my first hunt of the season. Sure, I could have chosen some different words to sum it up. Successful, peaceful, unlikely, and bountiful all would have sufficed. Yet, hot is the one word that sticks out the most when looking back on my hunting opener. A little... Continue Reading →

Governor Reeves and Pinstripes to Camo

By Ben Smith: Aside from the occasional political jab here and there, I’m not much into politics. It’s not that I don’t care, it’s just not something that I want to spend much of my life worrying about. See, elected officials are put in place to serve the people, not rule them. Somewhere along the... Continue Reading →

The Straw That Stirs the Drink

By Ben Smith: Over the last several years, William Carey and winning have become synonymous. The athletic program has established itself as one of the premiere NAIA programs in the country. And not just in a couple of sports, in almost every single one. Obviously, I’m partial to baseball given my role, but it brings... Continue Reading →

A Few Bucks For a Few Bucks

By Ben Smith: If you haven’t noticed, the price of pretty much everything has shot through the roof over the last few years. The cost of groceries, clothing, and medicine have all increased dramatically. And gas prices? Gas is so high that Louisiana Senator John Kennedy even joked that, “it would be cheaper to buy... Continue Reading →

5 Common Mistakes Deer Hunters Make

By Ben Smith: If you hunt north of Highway 84, the day you’ve been waiting for is almost here. With the way the calendar falls this year, archery hunters in Mississippi get the opportunity to begin the season in September. Even though it feels nothing like deer season, I doubt many hunters will pass up... Continue Reading →

Time, Why You Punish Me

By Ben Smith: Darius Rucker, formerly of Hootie and the Blowfish, sang “Time, why you punish me.” Last week, I wrote that I’d hunt until I killed a big gator, or until time ran out on me. After coming up emptyhanded in my final hunt, I cranked my truck up at 4:00 in the morning... Continue Reading →

Meat Secured, Still Looking for a Trophy

By Ben Smith: Last week I said records are meant to be broken. My feelings haven’t changed, I’m just disappointed that it wasn’t me. By now, most of you know that the Mississippi state alligator record was broken this past weekend. If you didn’t know, let me enlighten you. Four guys fought the 14’3” monster... Continue Reading →

See You Later Alligator

By Ben Smith: Growing up most of my life in South Mississippi, I spent plenty of hours on the river. We fished on pretty much every river around the Pine Belt area and sometimes we’d make our way over to the Alabama River, or the Tombigbee River. I always liked fishing the bigger rivers because... Continue Reading →

Man’s Best Friend: A Tale of Ripken

By Ben Smith: Over the last couple of years, I’ve written on just about everything associated with my life. I’ve written about hunting, fishing, and baseball. I’ve written about my family, politics, and my childhood. I’ve shared about debilitating stomach issues and old friends that have passed on. As time passes, it gets harder and... Continue Reading →

If I Were President

As I rolled up to the polling station for Tuesday’s primary elections, a wave of madness came over me. It began with just a simple view of the lake where my polling station is located. Looking out over that water while melting from the parking lot was just too much to take. It took everything... Continue Reading →

Take Time to Relax

By Ben Smith: Ball outside. Ball inside. Hit batter. Ball in the dirt, runner advances to second, catcher launches ball to centerfield, runner advances to third. Wild pitch, runner scores. Repeat process over again. That was my weekend. Nothing like a travel ball tournament to put an exclamation point on baseball season. You guys all... Continue Reading →

How Old Is My Fish?

Field and Stream was always a magazine that I enjoyed as a kid. With the way the world is now, who even still gets magazines? The internet edition of this magazine is updated daily with new interesting facts and features. Most of their daily articles get posted on social media, as well. My favorite ones... Continue Reading →

Camping On the River: What Do You Need?

A while back (September 2021) I wrote an article regarding what type of equipment that I used for deer season. It wasn’t anything special, just what works for me and my situation. Some of the items were necessary tools to do the job, while others were merely creature comforts. That said, I thought I’d put... Continue Reading →

A Season to Remember

By Ben Smith: Before the season, and during the early season, different people would often ask, “How do you think you guys are this year?” Usually, I gave the same answer as most years, “Ask me again in May.” May arrived and we were playing pretty well, but in all honesty I still didn’t know.... Continue Reading →

Jackson Is Killing the Pearl

By Ben Smith: I love fishing, boating, or swimming in the Pearl River as much as anyone. Ever since I was a young kid, I can remember going there with my uncle to run trot lines and camp out. Some of my favorite memories of camping out on sandbars are from the Pearl. Some of... Continue Reading →

The 37 Year Drought Continues

By Ben Smith: At the beginning of March, I boldly proclaimed that this would be the year. The running joke of having an outdoor columnist that can’t kill a turkey would be over. I even went as far as saying that I’d think seriously about quitting my job if that meant I’d kill a bird.... Continue Reading →

The War on “America’s Rifle”

By Ben Smith: Sometimes this column is an outdoor piece and other times it’s about baseball, but it’s always about something that folks in Mississippi and the Southeast can most likely relate to. Mississippians love the outdoors, we love baseball, and we’re really good at both so why wouldn’t we? It’s just a way of... Continue Reading →

No Birds, Just Long Bus Rides

By Ben Smith: Rolling into the end of March, I’d really hoped to have an article written about killing a turkey by now. I’ve played the scenario over in my head multiple times. I get to the woods early, get set up, and just as the sun begins to break a gobbler hammers down from... Continue Reading →

Baseball Stats That Matter Most

By Ben Smith: In baseball, we have statistics for everything. The most talked about of these is probably batting average and ERA (earned run average). But it’s much more in depth than that. We have stats for what batters are hitting in every count, what pitchers are doing ahead in the count versus behind, and... Continue Reading →

Boating Mistakes to Avoid This Spring

By Ben Smith: Spring, or first summer, has officially arrived in Mississippi. Everything that I own is yellow and my eyeballs feel like they are going to pop out of my head. Turkey season is upon us…not that I have much to offer in that department (this is going to be my year, though). Largemouth... Continue Reading →

Remembering My First Opening Day

By Ben Smith: If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it at least a hundred times: I love Opening Day. The sights, the smells, the anticipation, all get my adrenaline flowing. I love to watch the guys hit the field after months of practicing and playing each other. There’s no doubt that by the time... Continue Reading →

Tips For Late Season Bucks

By Ben Smith: It wouldn’t be far-fetched, I don’t think, to say that most whitetail deer hunters in Mississippi look forward to the rut more than any other time of the year. Obviously, the rut is when the majority of bucks mess up and let their guard down. You might go the entire month of... Continue Reading →

Daddy’s Guide Service

By Ben Smith: It never fails. Around this time every year I become an emotionally unstable individual. It’s not for no good reason, but nevertheless, I’m somewhat of a train wreck. Most could agree that coming off of the holiday season can make one crazy, but the holidays ending is only the tip of the... Continue Reading →

Waterfowl in the Flatlands

By Ben Smith: The sound of the alarm clock startles me. My heart is racing from being abruptly awakened by the annoying ringing as I fumble around to turn it off. It’s still dark outside and will be for another hour and a half. The smell of fresh brewed coffee makes its way down the... Continue Reading →

Battling Addiction to the Woods

By Ben Smith: Addiction. Merriam-Webster describes addiction as the following: a compulsive, chronic, physiological or psychological need for a habit-forming substance, behavior, or activity having harmful physical, psychological, or social effects and typically causing well-defined symptoms upon withdrawal or abstinence. Self-admittedly, I am an addict. Fortunately, I realized my addictive personality at a young enough... Continue Reading →

2022: The Year in Review

By Ben Smith: Each passing year brings new excitement, as well as new challenges. 2022 was certainly no different. Keeping with the theme of the last couple of years, I thought I’d do a year in review for my final article of the year. Here’s to hoping 2023 brings more opportunities to keep churning out... Continue Reading →

The 12 Days of Outdoor Christmas

By Ben Smith: For what seems like the first time in a long time, I’m in the Christmas spirit early this year. Maybe it’s because I didn’t have to suffer from getting all of the decorations down from the attic. The girls had everything put up and decorated during my Covid quarantine in the woods,... Continue Reading →

Opening Day Kung Flu’d

By Ben Smith: I don’t miss many opening days. I’ve yet to miss an opening day of baseball season. I rarely ever miss the opening day of archery season. And you can bet on opening day of rifle season I’m usually in the woods. However, sometimes things are beyond our control. For far too long... Continue Reading →

Gear Up for the Holidays

Last year, I admitted to being a little bit of a gear snob. What can I say? I like cool toys just as much as the next person. I still haven’t quite come around to cell cameras and a few other fancy gadgets, but maybe this time next year I’ll be singing a different tune.... Continue Reading →

Send Us Among the Pigs

By Ben Smith: You ever get yourself involved in something and before too long you think, “I have no idea what the heck I’m doing?” Not sure about you, but this tends to happen to me pretty frequently. Chalk it up to trying new things. If there’s something, especially in the outdoors, that I haven’t... Continue Reading →

Kill Him From the Couch

By: Brandon Parker There is an old saying when it comes to outdoor pursuits. Depending on the target, the exact phrase can vary a little bit. But when it comes to deer hunting, we have all heard someone say, “you can’t kill him from the couch.” I’m here to dispute that phrase as being absolute... Continue Reading →

Bow Season Flashback

By: Hunter McCool The air is getting crisp and the days are getting shorter, this makes the wait for bow season for the unfortunate souls south of Highway 84 that much harder. Our season starts October the 15th, so we have to watch our friends in the North begin their crusade from the sidelines for... Continue Reading →

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