News
This past hunting season was particularly enjoyable for Industry Habitat Manager, Jay Keck, and his sons. In addition to hunting doves and deer, they decided to try their luck squirrel hunting in order to spend more time in the outdoors together. It had been over thirty years since Jay had actively pursued squirrels with his father, so connecting his past with his present by taking both of his sons hunting, was truly a special time for him.
“Next time”, said Representative Heather Bauer after climbing out of the deer stand recently. Although she did not harvest a deer on that hunt, Representative Bauer spent the day learning about deer hunting including safety, types of gear, what to wear, how to prepare, and more. Representative Bauer, a state representative from Richland County is co-chair of the Sportsmen’s Caucus and serves on the Wildlife subcommittee of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee and sponsored the bill to designate the third Saturday in November as “Women in Hunting and Fishing Awareness Day” each year.
November is seen as the best time of year to be in the deer woods, and for good reason. Absolutely anything can happen. A big-bodied 10-point that you’ve never seen before could leave his home range three miles away and stroll by your stand at 1 o’clock in the afternoon. This is the allure of hunting the rut.
There are few misconceptions more common in the world of deer hunting than the October Lull. Ask 10 field edge hunting, rifle-toting deer hunters about hunting in early- to-mid-October, and you’ll likely hear from several of them to stay home. But within the mobile hunting community, October is seen as one of the absolute best times to tag a buck, or any deer for that matter.
Even for adults, hunting can be kind of boring at times. In the age we live in, you’d be hard-pressed to find a hunter, even a diehard, who doesn’t pull their phone out within the first couple hours of a hunt. There’s so much peace and beauty to be found in the silence and stillness of the woods, away from all the technology and noise, but we’ve become so connected to it all that it’s hard to step away from it for even just a few hours.
Busy. That’s the word that describes most Americans living in 2023; especially when you throw a family in the mix. Get up, get the kids fed and ready for school, head off to work minutes later, get home in time for dinner, put the kids to bed, watch a little Netflix, then rinse and repeat the next day. The exhaustion that comes from all that we do on a weekly basis can make it extremely difficult to find the time or energy to head off to the woods looking for deer on the weekends. But I’m here to tell you that summer scouting is one of the single most effective ways to have success in the fall.
A Different Perspective
There are some things in this life that just can’t be understood without experiencing them firsthand. Being married, having a child, witnessing the Northern Lights - all things that hold so much weight that they often change one’s view of the world indefinitely. On the surface, hunting doesn’t seem to be on such a level.
SCWF has completed a nesting box restoration project with funds from a generous grant with Duke Energy’s Habitat Enhancement Program, along with partnerships with SCDNR, the Lake Wateree Association, as well as SCWF employees and volunteers. The grant allowed installation of eighty wood duck boxes along the shores of Lake Wateree, Fishing Creek Reservoir, Rocky Creek, Cedar Creek Reservoirs, the Wateree River, and adjacent floodplain habitats from early 2018 to the summer of 2020.
