08/08/2026 - West Virginia Outdoors with Chris Lawrence

Chris Lawrence opens with a tribute to DNR Commissioner and West Virginia Trappers Association legend Janet Hamrick Hodge, who passed away overnight after a private battle with advanced cancer — read her resignation letter to the commission just days earlier. The show then tells the remarkable story of West Virginia's first-ever state record pumpkinseed sunfish, set by Ken Neher of Morgantown from a public pond in Preston County after a year and a half of targeted pursuit — a record that was broken within two weeks by Sierra Adamson of Beverly, who caught hers on a nightcrawler in the Tygart River in Elkins, and has since been broken a third time at Cheat Lake. DNR furbearer biologist Holly Morris closes the show explaining the science behind the Natural Resources Commission's decision to increase the otter trapping bag limit from one to two — stopping short of three due to population modeling showing the risk of regional extirpation — and addresses how the agency handles otter nuisance complaints and accidental catches above the limit.