Anderson: Michael Waddell, a boy from Booger Bottom, is atop his game

You might be a redneck, the comedian Jeff Foxworthy once said, if you think the last four words of "The Star-Spangled Banner" are, "Gentlemen, start your engines."

Michael Waddell has another definition. If you grow up in Booger Bottom, Ga., and you have to drive 15 miles to fill your pickup with gas, well, then, by definition you're …

"Southern by birth and redneck by the grace of God."

"If I ever get a tattoo, that's what it's going to say," Waddell said.

The nation's most famous turkey caller, and perhaps its best, Waddell will be in town Friday and Saturday to appear at the Outdoor News Deer & Turkey Classic at Canterbury Park in Shakopee.

The longtime host of the "Bone Collector" TV show, airing on the Outdoor Channel, Waddell, 46, seems as surprised as anyone that a boy from a place — not even a town, but a place — called Booger Bottom could end up traveling the world, hunting and laughing.

"I never thought I would be a hunting and television personality," he said. "But I was blessed to be good on a turkey call, and I always believed in working hard. That had to do with my raising, the working hard part. It's what my parents taught me."

"Dad said, 'I'll call and you shoot,' " Waddell said. "I had an old [Remington] 870 and my dad had a Lynch Fool Proof box call. When I got a jake that first hunt, I thought, 'Me and my dad, we know everything there is to know about turkey hunting.' I hauled that bird to every town in the area to show it off."

Waddell's parents had always taken in foster kids, and they adopted the first child who came to stay with them, a girl named Jessica. When Waddell's mother died when he was 16, he grew closer than ever to his father and sister and sought refuge in Booger Bottom's hardwoods and rolling hills.

"I loved the relationship I had with my dad and my mom and my sister. It molded me in the right direction," he said.

At age 18, Waddell started entering turkey-calling competitions and won the Grand America contest. The same year he was runner-up in the Georgia state competition.

"I was on my way," he said.

Jordan offered Waddell a job guiding outdoor writers and other guests on his TV show. Sometimes turkeys were the quarry, other times deer, elk or other game. That turned into a 10-year stint as a cameraman and editor before, in 2002, Waddell pitched a TV hunting show idea called Realtree Road Trips. The program debuted the following year, with Waddell, Travis "T-Bone" Turner and Nick Mundt as hosts.

"Then in 2008, for a lot of reasons, I went out on my own," Waddell said. "I had people who wanted me to endorse their products, and in the process of working through that, I came up with the Bone Collector name, which I trademarked, with a logo. That quickly turned into the TV show, which started airing in 2009."

The show's focus is hunting. But more so, Waddell said, it's about the culture of hunting and the excitement hunters feel while in the mountains, on the prairies or in the woods.

The same excitement he felt growing up in Booger Bottom.

"If you show people you are passionate about what you do, you don't have to 'produce' a show," he said. "We [Turner and Mundt are co-hosts] are just ourselves on the show. And like everyone who hunts, we sometimes get ourselves into some pretty tough situations, or even dangerous situations. But in the end, I want people to watch the show and say, "I see that old Waddell, that redneck from Georgia, and if he can do it, I can do it.' "

" 'Bone Collector' provides a window into Michael's world, and he is exactly as the show portrays," Petrie said. "Our viewers tend to judge shows by whether they would want to be in a hunting or fishing camp with the hosts, and in Michael's case, as with [Turner and Mundt], the answer is overwhelmingly 'yes.' "

At the Deer & Turkey Classic, Waddell will listen as well as talk.

"I'll get as technical about hunting as people want me to be, because some people come to these shows to learn," he said. "Others just want to hear hunting stories, or they want to share stories of their successes. That's fine, too."

When told the Twin Cities' high temperature this weekend is expected to be in the mid-30s, Waddell cited a weather forecast more satisfactory to the boy-turned-man from Booger Bottom.

"It'll be 80 in Georgia," he said.