I dream of Alaska and the Yukon, of wild rivers and pole tent spike camps at elevations higher than our red-tailed hawk flies but I live and hunt here in South Carolina where the pines grow tall  and the deer.hogs,bear and turkey roam plentiful and free.

I have hunted doves when they flew low and slow. I have walked all day alone behind an old pointer that would point a rabbit or a quail with equal enthusiasm. I have roamed the hardwood ridges and hollows with a cur that could hear a squirrel in the bottom of a hollow and go straight to it and tree and didn't care if it took me 10 min. or two days to get there just to say,"Rocky, he went in a hole" and watch him take off with the same enthusiasm as he had with the first and do it from dawn to dusk. I've seen him trail from tree to tree until he settled on the exact tree the ghost was in and patiently wait as I searched to see the still grey form. I've seen him catch a squirrel in mid flight and shake him to a speedy death. I've watched as he held on without thought of letting go as a squirrel bit through his nose. And he did all this for the love of the hunt and a half a sandwich and a little water for lunch.

I've watched the dawn in the back of Wateree Creek and seen the waters surface rise with mallards, so many that they looked all the world like teal from a distance untill a group broke off and headed for my set as I shot so early that the longest punt gun could not have reached them.

And Oh! the deer. The day I took my first double with the bow after calling back the second one over and over as it looked for the first where it lay dying at my feet. The day I put my lockon in a tree I had dreamed of hunting out of for three years.Getting stung by angry yellow jackets as I put in the steps, shucked all my clothes to get them off of me and with 30 min. of daylight left, slipped back on my como coveralls and boots leaving every thing else in a sweaty pile at the bottom of the tree and 10 minutes later putting the perfect quartering away shot with my compound on the best buck I have ever taken.

The time 4 years ago I took my first deer with a recurve bow and my first deer a year later with a rifle.

The bow hunts we had in a State Park after many years of negotations with the state and the buck that came in behind me without a sound and stood in it's scrape 90 degrees to my left forever until it finally switched ends and left at a trot from where it came. The biggest deer I have seen while on stand yet.

The squirrel by bow only hunt I attended last year near Santee where the guys had to wait about 10 minutes and let me get too close before I could see the 10 ft. gator in it's den in Feb.

This is my state. Where I was born and will probably die. It's the place that will always hold the most memories and I know there are many more to come. I love it here and yes I will still dream of the Dungenose Crabs and the Grizzlies but I wake up here and hunt.

Very well said, and a fine tribute to your home state.  I've read Havilah Babcock and Archibald Rutledge till my eyes burned and even though I live in Alaska, I dream of hunting the quail and deer in your state.  I salute you.

I agree, that is a very well written piece and I can see it all through your words.  Almost makes me want to leave NC!

  Tell us of some good public areas for deer....I'm itchin' to go bowhunting in August...or rifle huntin' for that matter.

I think it's important for all of us to remember that every area (region, state, etc...) has it's own beauty, grace and charm. *While we may dream of Africa or some other far flung corner of the globe, each place is very special. *There's a lot to be said for the traditions and customs that hunting in the South brings with it. *I've hunted there quite a bit and do enjoy the essence of those hunts and comraderie the customs and traditions bring with it. *While filling the freezer is always a positive attribute of any hunt, many times is not primary. *It runs much deeper than that.

WAS THINKING ON RELOCATING THIS YEAR TO MURREL INLET JUST SOUTH OF MYRTLE BEACH.HOW'S THE DEER HUNTING DOWN ON THE COAST.ALSO THE SALT WATER FISHING.

Now I know why I have gone there to hunt the hogs.
very well posted.

The only hunt I will do outside my lease this year is the trophy management area down as Eutaville. If you keep going south on 6 thru Santee you will get there. That hunt is in October and is a bow hunt. The deer have to have 4 on a side to be legal. Croft State Park over in Spartanburg is another state hunt this year. We hope to have some more State Park hunts in the future.

Go to the DNR web site and look at the Game Management area hunts. There are many areas and good hunting.:D