Growing Up Southern

A brief episode to give an update on the hunting season thus far and looking forward to what's coming up the next two weekends.

I sit down with the two game wardens from my home county to discuss a wide range of topics related to being a game warden in the state of Arkansas.  Dennis Hovarter and Andrew Watson share stories from their time as wardens and answer a number of questions that I had throughout our conversation.  

A short update about a recent episode that I recorded and what to expect over the next few months on the Growing Up Southern podcast.

I sit down with Matt Bearden to talk about The Mayfly Project, a non-profit organization that introduces children in foster care to fly fishing and connects them to the outdoors.  Matt is the lead mentor for the Texarkana, Ar project and he shares some of the history of The Mayfly Project, how it was started, as well as sharing some personal and memorable stories from his time as a mentor.  

www.themayflyproject.com

In this episode we discuss losing our dads and the situations surrounding each of their passings.  We also talk about having daughters who have faced a critical/chronic illness and how those situations, along with losing our dads, tested but strengthened our faith.

Part One of my sit down with Dustin Cooley.  He talks about his time growing up in a small town and those who influenced his life.  He's also an avid outdoorsman who loves to hunt and fish, and he shares several memorable stories from hunting game in south Arkansas.

We share a lot of laughs in this episode and Dustin sets the record straight about the "Doe pee" story that the Curtis boys told in their episode several weeks ago.

In this episode, I sit down with Dusty Walker, a die hard turkey hunter and a man who makes an outdoorsman's trophy last forever.  He's the taxidermist who I trusted to mount my daughter's biggest buck of her young hunting career.  

He's a good guy who does great work.  We talk taxidermy, turkey hunting, being a girl dad and hunting with our girls.  These things and more in this episode.

A short episode about a recent fishing trip where my son landed the biggest bass of his life, and how it reminded me of a very similar story from over three decades ago.

In Part Two of my sit down with Jimmy Fry, we have a lengthy discussion about our faith and I share a portion of my testimony as we dive deeper into the faith discussion.   We also discuss friendship and his impact on the younger generation at the Hope Country Club.

The infamous story of how one of my arrows found one of his cow, unbeknownst to me, and the nearly three years of "harassment" that I've received from my "friends" since the incident happened.  This story and much more on this episode of the Growing Up Southern podcast.

I sit down with Arnetta Bradford, Regional Manager for the International Student Exchange to discuss the details of hosting exchange students.   A deep discussion on this and much, much more in this episode.

Part Two of my sit down with the Curtis Brothers.  Buckle up!  There's more shenanigans to be told and a lot more laughs to be had.

Part One of my sit down with the Curtis brothers.  They share many stories and we share many, many laughs.  

A preview of an upcoming two episode sit-down that I had with Casey and Jutt Curtis.  Part one will upload on Saturday, May 25th and Part Two will upload on the following Saturday, June 1st.  

I sit down with my two youngest kids to tell the story of the day that they each killed their biggest buck to date.

I sit down with Brad Townsend, part owner of Townsend Outdoors in Hope, Ar, to talk about a variety of topics including turkeys, trapping, suppressors, raising daughters in 2024 and the importance of sitting down at the table. We discuss these things and several other topics on this episode of the Growing Up Southern podcast.