Clay Newcomb, 44, is host of the Bear Grease podcast, which is part of the MeatEater Podcast Network. He has worked for MeatEater since October 2021.
Newcomb grew up in the Ouachita Mountains of western Arkansas, and is a seventh-generation Arkansan. He’s a hunter, naturalist, mule skinner, storyteller and observer of rural culture. He’s also a writer, filmmaker and podcaster, and was owner/publisher of Bear Hunting magazine from 2013 to 2021.
The Bear Grease Podcast is known for storytelling and documentary-style episodes that explore the culture, traditions, and history of hunting and rural America. Newcomb travels the United States to interview hunters, biologists, hillbillies, historians and anthropologists to explore human nature and our myriad connections to land, water and the outdoors.
Newcomb and his wife, Misty, have lived on “Newcomb Acres” near Fayetteville their entire marriage. They’ve raised two girls and two boys, ages 16 to 22. Newcomb recently discussed his love for hunting and storytelling with Outdoor News.
Outdoor News: Tell us about Newcomb Acres.
Newcomb: Anyone looking for property in northwestern Arkansas wouldn’t start with our seven acres. We bought it during college, and still can’t believe the bank loaned us the money. We built our house in 2005. We raised our kids here and keep my mules here. I killed my biggest deer here.
About 2018-19, I decided to build a traditional Arkansas barn from red oak and white oak. My son Bear and I built it. We cut trees off our land and I bought the rest from a logger. I had a portable sawmill come here to cut the logs into lumber, and we hung the boards green.
It has native stonework, too, which came off our place. It measures 20-by-26 feet and its footprint is 40-by-26, so it’s not huge. We don’t paint the oak, but it has an 80-year lifespan if we keep off the mud and water.
READ MORE QUICK CHAT FEATURES FROM OUTDOOR NEWS:
A quick chat with Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever lobbyist Ariel Wiegard
A quick chat with Dr. Bronson Strickland of the Mississippi State University Deer Lab
A quick chat with wildgame chef Andrew Zimmern
Outdoor News: How did you get started in outdoor media?
Newcomb: I killed a big deer in 2007, and wrote articles about it for three magazines. That put me on the outdoor-writing track for five years, but I kept working full-time as a landscaper. I was fresh out of college at the University of Arkansas, and earned my degree in environmental soil and water science. The most articles I published in one year was 25. I thought I was on the moon and really doing something.

Outdoor News: When did you quit your landscaping work?
Newcomb: I ran my landscape company fulltime until 2013. The money I made writing helped me acquire Bear Hunting magazine. That was my first fulltime job in the outdoor industry. I wrote, ran the magazine, gave bear seminars, and recorded the Bear Hunting Magazine Podcast. I also started the Arkansas Black Bear Association, a 501c3 nonprofit, but it no longer exists.
Outdoor News: What makes you so curious about the rural lifestyle, its history, and how hunting weaves through it?
Newcomb: Telling people’s stories is something I take seriously, and hunting is a valuable part of North America’s story. You can’t interpret people and their lifestyles unless you’re curious about them and why they live and work where they do. As a group, hunters have rich histories. Whether it’s historical figures like Boone, or a good hunting story someone experienced last fall, I try to frame and share it in meaningful ways.
Outdoor News: You started your career as a writer, and then learned editing and publishing. Now you’re making videos, TV shows and podcasts. How do you succeed at all of them?
Newcomb: People say I’m a good storyteller, but if I were one of five people around a campfire, you wouldn’t say I’m the group’s best storyteller. My dad sure wouldn’t. But when I make a Bear Grease podcast, I want it to be like I’ve written a poem or song, and I’m performing it live.
Outdoor News: So, podcasting just merged with your skills, interests and personality?
Newcomb: I guess so. I never set out to be a podcaster. I don’t identify as a podcaster. I don’t take pride in it. It’s not a noble profession. (laughs) But I’m passionate about communication and storytelling.
Storytelling runs deep in our Southern culture. Good stories are gold. In Arkansas, we live to be part of a good story we can tell our friends and family. Sometimes I hear a story from someone who never recognized its value. It’s cool when we can craft those stories into podcasts, and share something they never knew they had.

Outdoor News: Your father, Gary Newcomb, often joins you on the Bear Grease Render podcast. Why do you insert “Believer” as his middle name?
Newcomb: My dad believes in the myth of the southern mountain lion, and claims he saw one. I believe he really saw one. And when I asked if he believes in black panthers, he said, “Yes. Of course!” My own dad! So, he’s now Gary “Believer” Newcomb. My dad’s a passionate whitetail bowhunter. He was a banker and knows how to talk to people about their life, their work, their family. As a little kid, I liked listening to him interview people. By the time I started the Bear Grease podcast, it was second nature for me to sniff out stories.
Outdoor News: What’s the average prep time for putting together Bear Grease episodes?
Newcomb: My research for most episodes takes six months to a year, but that’s not all I do those months. Sometimes it takes a year just to find the right person to interview. Other times, podcasts fall into your lap.
When I visited the Buffalo National River in northern Arkansas with a guy from the National Park Service, he described people losing their homes when it became the country’s first national river in 1972. I was only two hours from home, and I’m hearing great stories for a series that came together quickly. A homefield advantage gives you big bang for your buck.
Outdoor News: Have you always liked history?
Newcomb: No. Not as a kid. I was interested in hunting and the natural world. I started learning about history as an adult. I don’t have the breadth of real historians, but history fascinates me. It began with learning about frontier heroes, native Americans, and things that happened to them. I’ve worked outward from there.
Outdoor News: Rank bears, deer and turkeys as your favorite thing to hunt.
Newcomb: I prioritize bear hunting above all else. While growing up, I put bears and white-tailed deer together. But 20 years ago, bears took over. Deer are next, with turkeys a close third. That’s what we have in Arkansas. I also like hunting the West and Alaska. If I could hunt moose every year, I would.
Outdoor News: You often sing and play guitar on your podcasts and at MeatEater events. Are you a lifelong musician?
Newcomb: I play and sing, but I’m not talented. I learned to play guitar in college, mostly for playing worship music. After college, I almost forgot I played guitar. When COVID came along and kept everyone home, Misty learned to play banjo. So, I found my guitar, put on new strings, and we went to playing folk and bluegrass music, which is cool here in the Ozarks.
Outdoor News: How can young people today find full-time work in outdoors media?
Newcomb: My route into this industry wasn’t necessarily traditional, and I got some breaks that no longer exist. Lots of companies still make outdoor products, so go work for one of them. Once you start meeting people in the industry, you figure out where you can contribute. Not everyone is a writer or personality, but many people start with obscure work in a company’s backroom. They eventually learn they can write, run a camera or edit videos.
Outdoor News: The hunting industry has been driven mainly by white-tailed deer since the mid-1970s. Are whitetails losing that grip? If so, which animal is “next man up”?
Newcomb: Whitetails remain the king, but chronic wasting disease and other diseases could impact the herd the next 20 years. If that happens, bears could step up. North America’s bear populations are exploding in some places, and every researched bear population is stable or increasing. We’re seeing more overlap between people and bears than ever, so we need a well thought-out, sustainable solution for managing bears.
America’s bear story is just beginning.