2025 Mississippi Outdoor Hall of Fame inductee Steve Brown. Brown is a native of Noxubee County and resides in Starkville. Photo by Brent Lochala

Dropping out of the rolling hills along Highway 82 and down into the Mississippi Delta has always been a special feeling for this Hill Country boy from Northeast Mississippi.

 

I can think of no better description of this experience than that provided by writer Willie Morris in “North Toward Home.”  The abrupt drop from the hills in “…one long, final descent…” serves as a clear line of demarcation indicating the start of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain.

It is, as Morris writes, an experience that I’ve found hard to forget.  I’ve never forgotten my first descent into the Delta.  In fact, each time it still feels special, as does encountering the land itself, a land that “…is flat, dark, unbroken, sweeping away in a faint misty haze to the limits of the horizon.”

 

My past trips to the Delta, or at least the great majority of them, have involved hunting, both duck and deer.  I’m still waiting on my invitation for a Delta turkey hunt.  Are you listening flatland friends?

 

I’ve also made the trip for work, for the storied “Delta Wedding” (here’s to you Ms. Welty), and for the occasional road trip with G, which always includes a stop at McCarty’s Pottery in Merigold.

 

However, my voyage Saturday was for a special reason, to celebrate the induction of one of my best friends into the Mississippi Outdoor Hall of Fame at the Mississippi Wildlife Heritage Museum in Leland.

 

That friend, Steve Brown, has become, in the years that I’ve known him, more like a brother than a best friend.  He also happens to be one of my turkey hunting mentors, one of two, and as my wife will attest, there are few things in this world that I love more than turkey hunting.

 

Brown, a native of Noxubee County, resides in Starkville with his wife Kristi.  He has been a professional guide for over 40 years and owns and operates Brown & Company Outfitters.

 

Brown & Company offers big game hunting experiences in the United States, Mexico, and the Yucatán Peninsula, with an emphasis on helping turkey hunting addicts like me achieve their Grand, Royal and World Slams.

 

Driving over Saturday, I thought a lot about Brown’s accomplishments (many of which I’ve been able to experience firsthand).  I also thought about his skill as a turkey hunter and woodsman.  I’ve never seen better.

 

When he agreed some 25 years ago to take me under his wing as my turkey hunting mentor, I immediately began receiving my PhD in the art, skipping both undergraduate and graduate studies as I sat at his side in the turkey woods.

 

To say that many of my favorite turkey hunting memories have been shared with Brown would be an understatement.  Moreover, we’ve also shared many of life’s greatest moments together, both the sorrows and the joys.

 

When Billy “Pop” Hull, my second father and the man who called up my first turkey, passed away, Steve was there for me, and when our daughter Tate, the girl that Steve had watched grow from a toddler into a woman, was married, Brown was one of the handful of friends that I asked to be there for the entire day, start to finish.

 

I still remember the reassuring feel of his hand patting me on the back from his pew as I walked Tate down the aisle to take Jake’s hand in marriage.

 

Saturday night at the Mississippi Wildlife Heritage Museum as I sat listening to the accomplishments of Brown and his fellow inductees, I noticed a consistent theme.

 

Aside from all their accomplishments in the outdoors, each inductee had made it their mission to share their God-given talents and their time with others. Each, in turn, had mentored others, both young and old, into the outdoor pursuits which they themselves loved, and in the process had forged lasting friendships.

 

The ceremony and the speeches from each inductee were wonderful reminders of something that I have long known.  As much as it’s about the turkeys, deer, ducks and fish and as much as it’s about the marksmanship, woodsmanship and stewardship, it’s always about much more.

 

Each of these Hall of Famers has accomplished amazing things in the outdoors, but their legacy, what will be here long after they’re all gone, is what they have passed along to other generations.

 

Brown’s qualifications speak for themselves.  His multiple World Slams (including 11 Archery World Slams) speak volumes about his skills as a turkey hunter, and his numerous big game trophies both with rifle and bow do, as well.

 

When it comes down to it, I’m not sure that there’s much this Mississippi outdoorsman can’t do.  In fact, I can attest from personal experience that he’s an outstanding tracker, wing shooter and fisherman as well.

 

However, it’s his legacy of shared time and talents that has shown me, again and again, that Steve Brown was a Hall of Famer long before this induction ceremony.  The group of family and friends from all over the country that gathered in Leland last Saturday night to support and celebrate him was further proof of that fact.

 

Until next time, here’s to Steve Brown and the fellow members of the Mississippi Outdoor Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025, here’s to their accomplishments and their willingness to share their time and talents with others, and here’s to seeing you out there in our great outdoors.