December 2013 Archives - Carolina Sportsman

A shooting vest, snake gaiters and shotgun shells are great Christmas gifts for the upland game hunter in South Carolina.

Sportsman’s stocking stuffers

If you are looking for a gift for a hunter in the family but really haven’t a clue, here are a few ideas. […]

Hunters Jefferson Boaz, Folger Boaz, Chase Harris, Jeremy Johnson and Frank Harris took these tundra swans hunting with guides Charles Haywood and Karl Helmkamp of Albemarle Outfitters.

Swan Hunting Permits

Tundra swans do a tremendous amount of damage to winter field crops, in northeast North Carolina, so the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission issues 5,000 permits to hunt tundra swans each year. […]

Trolling over heavy cover is a recipe for breakoffs. To combat this, anglers on Santee Cooper designed a special rig employing a slinky weight and crappie float to keep the weight on the bottom but the hook out of cover. […]

Much of Lake Marion’s dead forest is now under the surface, but blue catfish will still orient to the trees that border old creek channels.

Fixing the catfish decline

Phillip Gentry

In recent years, the Santee Cooper lakes’ population of blue catfish has experienced a decline due to almost a decade of poor reproduction. […]

Leslie Mills killed this huge buck on Clay Creek Hunting Club property in 2011.

Wildlife Habitat Improvement:

Jeff Burleson

Minutes from Charlotte and just south of the state line in Chesterfield County lies Clay Creek Hunting Club. Consisting mostly of planted pines, agriculture fields, oak ridges swamp and creek bottoms, Clay Creek has almost the perfect collection of habitat types to support a wide range of game species, but trophy whitetail bucks are the primary emphasis for this seasoned group of hunters, and they see the results of their work in a real way. […]

There’s perhaps no better bait on which to catch speckled trout than a live shrimp, typically fished under a popping cork.

Keys to fishing a popping-cork rig

Chris Burrows

Jeff Williamson of Get Busy Fishing Charters said that fishing live shrimp for speckled trout means fishing a popping-cork rig, and there are several keys to getting the before performance from them. […]

Topwater baits are a great late-fall choice for Murrells Inlet trout, especially at dawn and dusk.

It pays off big to be on top

Jeff Burleson

During the fall, trout fishermen around Murrells Inlet get a chance for redemption after a long hot summer on the water. […]

Ducks

Know your limits, regs, times

Jeff Burleson

Every year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducts aerial surveys to estimate the breeding population of waterfowl across Canada and the northern United States. […]

Juvenile redfish won’t migrate very far from the backs of coastal creeks during the winter, because they’re attracted to warm water.

Puppy drum are homebodies

Mike Marsh

Most of the red drum that David and Tammy Baxley and their charter clients catch during the winter are too short or too long to keep. […]

Keeping a school of redfish in sight once it’s been located can provide a long period of excellent action.

Keep reds in sight

Bryan Bowers

Most anglers agree that the low end of the tide is best for finding schools of winter reds; it’s hard for them to hide on a shallow flat, but once the little creeks start to fill with water and the grass starts to flood, finding reds becomes much more difficult. […]