By Matt Winter
The Post and Courier

Scott Hammond, 31, has been calling and hunting wild turkeys since he was 8. He’s bagged about 75 gobblers so far, and tagged out — shot the maximum five birds allotted per hunter per year — each of the past 11 years.

Impressive stuff, considering most Lowcountry hunters would be proud to score just one mature bird each year.

Turkey hunting season cranks up March 15 on private lands in Game Zone 6 (April 1 on public land and private lands in other game zones), and Hammond plans to be out there at first light. Having just wrapped up preseason scouting and blind prep on his hunting properties, Hammond took a few minutes last week to share some tips. Continue reading “Talking turkey” »

Very good to hear that the effort to establish one of the nation’s deepest artificial reefs off Charleston is still very much alive and well. According to the group’s latest news release, Johnson & Johnson, Inc., based in Mount Pleasant, has contributed $25,000 — the single largest monetary donation by an individual or business in the history of the Reef effort.

The check was presented to the SC Memorial Reef committee this week and was presented by Fran Johnson, president of Johnson & Johnson to Steve Leasure, one of the original founders of the SC Memorial Reef effort.

Most of us who have hunted for a long time in the Lowcountry have a few horror stories about finding starving, injured or otherwise awful-looking hunting dogs. This story in The Post and Courier documents what one dog rescue worker described as “one of the most horrific situations I have ever seen.”

Here’s an Interesting article from the folks at The State newspaper on a move to allow paid hunting on Hobcaw Barony, a 17,500-acre wildlife refuge just north of Georgetown. Worth a read.