‘I would call him a hybrid between a smoke phase and a red phase. He’s not a true smoke phase because of all the red in him.’

• A Mississippi hunter bagged a rare, reddish-colored turkey after a frustrating start to his hunting season.
• The turkey’s unique coloration is described as a hybrid between a smoke phase and a red phase.
• According to a wildlife official, this genetic mutation is exceedingly rare, especially in male turkeys.

A Mississippi turkey hunter’s season wasn’t off to a good start, but with a change in plans, a little scouting, some luck thrown in, he bagged a rare reddish-colored turkey and it’s considered a bird of a lifetime.

“I’d been hunting the same bird since opening day,” said Barrett Clark of Strong, which is located near West Point. “He finally frustrated me enough to where I just needed to go look for another bird.”

Clark wasn’t able to connect with the gobbler he was after. So, on Friday, March 20, he decided to check another property. He located a few gobblers that afternoon, but one looked different. It appeared to have a lighter color than normal, but Clark figured it was just the way the sunlight was hitting the bird.

The following morning, Clark and his father, Larry Clark, returned to the area in hopes of getting a shot at one of the birds.

A turkey hunt that was almost ruined

“We met and went in early Saturday morning,” Clark said. “We were probably 300 yards away from him when he started gobbling. It was right at sunrise. He was gobbling off the roost.”

The gobbler flew off the roost and continued to gobble. Clark said he lightly called the bird. Then, a gunshot rang out from a nearby property and the gobbling stopped. To make matters worse, minutes later a coyote appeared and it looked like he was after the turkey that had been gobbling.

“That coyote came within 15 feet of my dad and ran straight to where the turkey had been gobbling,” Clark said. “We thought our hunt was boogered up.”

More: Why the 2026 turkey hunting season in Mississippi may be longest ever

• A portrait of former Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn was unveiled at the state Capitol.
• Gunn was the first Republican Speaker in Mississippi in over 130 years, serving from 2012 to 2023.
• The portrait, painted by Jason Bouldin, includes details like the new state flag, which Gunn championed.

Another portrait of a Mississippi Speaker of the House is set to grace the walls of the chamber.

More than 200 family members, legislators and Capitol staff came together March 25 to see the new portrait of former Speaker Philip Gunn. Gunn, who became the first Republican to occupy the position in more than 130 years when he was elected in 2012, served five terms in the body before opting not to seek re-election in 2023.

Gunn’s portrait is the sixth of the speaker series, and it was painted by Oxford-based artist Jason Bouldin, who also contributed the portrait of Gunn’s predecessor, former Speaker Billy McCoy. Bouldin and his father, Marshall Bouldin III, painted all six of the Speaker of the House portraits hanging in the Capitol.

“Painting contains an inherent challenge for us as the viewer,” Bouldin said at the portrait unveiling ceremony. “By its very nature, it lacks words. That doesn’t mean that paintings are necessarily silent.”

Bouldin brought viewers’ eyes to details in the painting, like the new Mississippi state flag, which Gunn led efforts to change in 2020, emblazoned in the corner. He placed Gunn on a simple, armless chair, he pointed out, the same chair that House junior pages use.

A timeline of change: What were the key moments that led up to Mississippi flag change vote?

“I wanted this portrait to capture him as more of a person than as a speaker,” Bouldin said. “The goal for any portrait is not simply to look like somebody… That’s a relatively easy thing to do. It’s more important to get the feelings of a person.”

Gunn, he said, was surprised when Bouldin requested a day and a half to paint his portrait.

“I said, ‘My God, what are we going to do for a day and a half? Just take a picture and go paint,’” Gunn recounted at the ceremony. “But no, he wanted to get to know me and Lisa (Gunn’s wife). He wanted to find out what our values are and who I am as a person.”

Gunn thanked countless people in his speech, including his family, former colleagues in the House and Gov. Tate Reeves, who sat alongside him during the ceremony. He singled out the members of the Senate in attendance, emphasizing the importance of cooperation between the chambers to turn bills into laws.

Governor vs. Senate: Mississippi governor vetoes winter storm help bill, calling it ‘possibly criminal’

He also touted what he considered the biggest successes of his tenure as speaker, including the change of the state flag and the legislation that led to the reversal of Roe v. Wade.

“Brighter days are ahead for Mississippi, but that bright future is not guaranteed,” he told the audience. “It took leadership for us to get here, and it’s going to take leadership for us to get there. I want to be a part of that.”

Bea Anhuci is the state government reporter for the Clarion Ledger. She has covered the Mississippi state legislature, and the people who make it run, since the start of the session. Email her at banhuci@usatodayco.com.

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Independent pharmacists packed the State Capitol Tuesday, urging lawmakers to take action on pharmacy benefit manager reform before Thursday’s deadline.

Pharmacists say the next step for House Bill 1665 could decide whether some local pharmacies can stay open.

Pharmacy benefit managers are the middlemen between pharmacies and insurance companies.

“You’ve been dealing with these folks since they were babies. I mean, it’s about patient care. It’s not just about the pharmacies. I mean, we just need to be paid well enough that we can stay in business to support these people,” said Joe Mohamed, president of the Mississippi Independent Pharmacy Association.

Business groups oppose Senate changes

Business groups are pushing back against a dispensing fee added by the Senate.

They claim the fee could raise costs for employers and employees. Pharmacists argue other states have done the same without increasing costs.

“States all around us have done this exact same thing… they haven’t raised costs,” pharmacist Fair Jones said.

Sen. Jeremy England said it’s a complex issue, but he hopes lawmakers will figure it out.

“A lot of our legislators have issue fatigue with this. We want to get something done, like get it to the finish line. We’ve talked about this. We’re ready to have it done,” England said.

England is among those who didn’t think the dispensing fee should have been added in the Senate version.

“It ends up being a big cost when you have a big employer…with thousands and tens of thousands of employees,” he said.

White House weighs in

In an unusual move, the White House sent a memo last week asking the House not to concur with the Senate changes.

The memo said the changes risk undermining key administration priorities, particularly those related to expanding access to affordable prescriptions.

Rep. Stacey Hobgood Wilkes questioned the memo’s validity.

“I give that letter zero credibility,” she said. Hobgood Wilkes said she worries history may repeat itself.

“If it goes to conference, with everything in me, I believe the bill is dead,” she said.

Pharmacists are making their final pleas for the House to concur with the Senate version.

“It is enough to keep my pharmacies from closing, yes, and probably most everybody behind me too,” Mohamed said.

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