September 2015 Archives - Page 2 of 7

MidCoast’s Evolution popping cork is heavy enough to make it easy to cast in windy conditions.

How to pop off

With all the popping corks on the market, it is tough to see how any of them are better or even different than the next, but guide Rick Percy said some are definitely more suited for his style of fishing. […]

Tanner Jackson lets fly at a passing dove near the airstrip on Suggs Mill Pond Game Lands on a permit-only hunt.

Four dove fields planted on Suggs Mill Pond Game Lands

Mike Marsh

Suggs Mill Pond Game Land covers 11,030 acres in Bladen and Columbus counties, with 27 acres in four areasdesigned as dove fields. Field No. 1 (Owens) consists of 5 acres of millet. […]

Squirrels, like these taken by the author, are abundant across South Carolina, especially on some larger WMAs with plenty of bottomland habitat.

Squirrels are abundant statewide

Terry Madewell

Biologist Billy Dukes of SCDNR said that the squirrel population is still super-abundant across South Carolina. […]

Know when a trout’s a speck

Brian Cope

Fishermen in the Hilton Head area have three excellent nearshore reefs to fish that are close enough to the beach and close enough to each other to be visited in one trip: the Fish America Reef, the General Gordon and the Parris Island Reef. […]

One nostalgic part of an opening day dove hunt at The Mill Pond Hunt Club is riding in a horse-drawn wagon to the fields.

Mill Pond has stayed rural despite the creep of development

Mike Marsh

The Mill Pond is an oasis of yesteryear amid the encroaching desert of modernity. […]

South Carolina has great hog hunting on many WMAs, but it’s only incidental to open seasons for other species.

Hog hunting on WMAs

Terry Madewell

Biologist Charles Ruth said hog hunting is a bonus opportunity when deer hunting on WMAs and is often very good. […]

A whitetail’s sense of smell is thought to be a thousand times more sensitive than a human’s, able to detect pheromones among common scents.

Make mock scrapes

Jeff Burleson

Before the rut arrives, bucks are confined to bachelor groups, traveling together and very close to groups of does. When the mating season begins, hormones fly, and the entire deer herd busts out of the frame, going out in all directions. […]

A retriever can make a huge difference in the number of doves you shoot that wind up in your game bag, because the real hunt often begins after the shot.

The basics of retrieving doves

Jim Casada

Doves can be devilishly difficult to hit, and national statistics suggest roughly five shells are spent for every dove that flies for the final time. […]

Clinton Bardner shows off a flathead catfish, many of which will exceed 30 pounds and at times push 80 pounds.

Location is everything

Craig Holt

Large flathead catfish hunker down during the day in deep holes and in undercut river banks and don’t feed much when the sun is out, but they become active during evening hours in the narrower sections of the Neuse River south and west of Kinston. […]