New column to detail outdoors in Alabama
Please allow me to introduce myself. Each month, I’ll be writing an outdoors column for this publication.
One column might discuss a great Alabama bass fishing lake or a technique to catch more fish. Another might offer tips for bagging more bucks or ducks. Figuratively speaking, I might take you, the reader, offshore to battle large fish, watch a redfish smash a topwater plug or any number of other outdoors adventures, news, tips and topics.
Some columns might even add a bit of humor to brighten your day as we discuss the infinite list of subjects that should interest people who hunt, fish or otherwise just enjoy the magnificent and varied outdoors experiences we find in Alabama.
A little about me, I grew up hunting and fishing. My Dad loved the outdoors and started taking me with him when I was in diapers. As the youngest of four, I came along much later than my two brothers and older sister, so I spent considerable time with my Dad hunting and fishing after the older three left the house. Dad would rather watch a child catch a tiny bluegill than for himself to land a state record largemouth. He taught me how to fish, hunt and camp.
Dad made every outing an adventure, as well as a teaching experience, even if we just walked along a roadside ditch looking for frogs. Even going to pick out Christmas trees, always on cold nights, he said we headed to the “Bear Woods.” Walking among the tall Christmas trees in a suburban lot seemed like hiking through a Canadian forest for someone so small at the time.
I’ve hunted and fished for many game and fish species, mostly in the Deep South, but I have fished in Canada, Belize, Panama, Mexico, Bahrain and other places. I’ve hunted in several states. I set a goal of catching a fish in every state. So far, I’ve managed about 22 states and hunted in nearly as many.
I’ll hunt for anything, but I’m not much of a deer hunter. I go occasionally if I get invited. In my younger years, we seldom saw deer or turkeys so I grew up hunting mostly squirrels and waterfowl. I still love to do both.
For fishing, I grew up where I could smell the salt water, so I loved chasing redfish, my favorite fish, flounder, speckled trout and other species. Of course, I still fish for bass, bream, crappie, catfish and other species. I rode as an observer in several Bassmaster Classics.
As a 16-year-old junior in high school, I read an article in a major sporting magazine and didn’t like the article. My mother said that if I didn’t like the article, I should write one myself so I did! I asked my mother to drive me to the local daily newspaper where I arranged a meeting with the managing editor.
The managing editor enjoyed my hand-written article. Then, he asked me if I wanted to write a weekly outdoors column for his newspaper.
I said, “I can’t afford to do that. How much will that cost me?”
He laughed and responded, “No, you don’t understand. We want you to go fishing, hunting, camping, boating and other things outdoors and write about them. Then, WE will pay you!”
“You’ll pay me to go fishing, hunting, hiking and boating? Where do I sign?”
That occurred 48 years ago and I’ve been writing professionally ever since. Even when serving 12 years as an Air Force public affairs officer, I still published the base newspaper, wrote speeches for senior officers, fact sheets, articles and anything else needed. Back then, I appeared in many newspapers, guested on many radio and television programs as an Air Force spokesman.
I served as the outdoors editor of four daily newspapers and two weekly ones. I wrote syndicated columns in multiple states and hosted my own radio and TV shows. Currently, I host John N. Felsher’s Outdoors Tips, a one-minute show that airs several times a day on WAVH FM Talk 106.5 radio in Mobile.
Since I left the Air Force in 1996, I’ve published more than 4,000 bylined articles for more than 177 different magazines and numerous photos. Look me up on the internet and you can see lots of my works. Ducks Unlimited named me its Conservation Writer of the Year. The Louisiana Wildlife Federation and National Wildlife Federation named me their Communicator of the Year.
In 2022, I won multiple awards in the Alabama Press Association newspaper contest. These included the Willies Awards for the Most Entertaining Short Feature in the Statewide Editors Association annual competition. Magazine editors from across the nation submitted more than 300 articles and I won best in the nation in my category!
Although I’ve experienced many things in the outdoors and wrote about countless topics, I’m always looking for good sources, good subject matter and good destinations. If you know someone or something that might make a good article, I’d like to hear about it.
As I said earlier, I’m not much of a deer hunter, so I’m especially interested in good deer stories. If you or someone you know killed a big, special or a very unusual looking deer anywhere in Alabama by any legal means, especially one that might qualify for the record book, I’d like to hear about it. I’m especially interested in hearing stories about juveniles under 16 years old who killed their first deer or a magnificent animal. If it’s an interesting story with quality photos, I might write about it.
I hope I can keep you inform you about the outdoors, but also entertained. I know many people will never experience some of the things I have or will experience, but maybe I can put you, the readers, in that deer stand, duck blind or fishing boat with me, at least in your mind. Let’s take this journey together.
Feel free to contact me anytime with a good story to tell.
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John N. Felsher is a professional writer, broadcaster, photographer, editor and media consultant who lives in Semmes, Ala. An avid sportsman, he’s written thousands of articles for many publications on a wide variety of topics. He also hosts an outdoors tips show for WAVH FM Talk 106.5 in Mobile, Ala. He’s always looking for ideas or outdoors adventures that will make good stories. Contact Felsh at [email protected] or through Facebook.