Big shout out to my new friends in Tupelo. Last weekend was the Tri-State Sportsman’s Bonanza at the enormous Furniture Market there. I explained to local hunters and anglers that it is natural, when they find themselves in the field with a trusted weapon in their hands and a snake in front of them, to be significantly tempted to introduce projectile A into reptile B. Hopefully, most of them understood the logic behind leaving the ecosystem intact to support future game, and giving said reptile a break. If you have some of the food chain, you have all of the food chain - blasting holes in that always has unintended consequences. Mississippi is where all this began for me, having found my first snake in my great-grandmother’s back yard in Jackson when I was seven. Over the years I’ve made many trips there, and coincidentally there was a family reunion going on in Vicksburg during the same weekend. Mom saw Elvis sing with a band from Tupelo High at a sock hop she went to at her alma mater, Jackson High. He was a Junior at the time. I’ve been honored to return 5 times in the last seven years to the Market Street Festival in nearby Columbus, MS. Love that town. Actually, in Mississippi they tend to abbreviate it Miss on road signs, often with no period at the end. One very official looking sign you might encounter says Miss State Trooper, which sounds like a beauty pageant I do not want to see.