2013 Tall Timbers Field Day / Black River Plantation

Tall Timbers in South Carolina

Jerold Sholar, Charla and Dean Henderson, Robert and Sandy DeLapp

Attendees listening to Fall Field day speakers

The South Carolina Quail Project held its fourth annual Fall Field Day at Black River Plantation near Georgetown. The Tall Timbers Research Station from Thomasville, Georgia has been actively recruiting landowners in S.C. who are interested in the recover of Northern Bobwhite populations via habitat management. Jerald Sholar has been the point man on the ground for four years, racking up nearly 50,000-acres of private lands under the Tall Timbers management plan. The Field Day began with Dr. Bill Palmer, director of Tall Timbers, and Theron Terhune, game bird program manager,  sharing that Jerald Sholar would be moving on from their organization to manage Clarendon West Plantation in Allendale County. Sholar was presented a signed copy of the Tall Timbers book, and was given a round of applause by attendees. Robert and Sandy DeLapp own the 1500-acre Black River Plantaion that has recently been converted to a top-tier quail hunting property. Mr. DeLapp spoke affably about the history of the plantation, including how it used to be a under rice production until around 1900. But his message of conservation was tempered with a eulogy about a young life that was lost in 2013 that effects his family and the community where they live. Ford Henderson was a senior at Clemson University studying to become a professional in the outdoors industry, and though he has passed on recently, his memory will persist through a scholarship in his name that is being established. DeLapp made it clear that this gathering of wildlife biologists, private landowners and bobwhite enthusiasts would have been just the type of crowd that Henderson would have sought out and his parents Dean and Charla Henderson were recognized in that crowd. Topics during the field tour included the creation of brood fields during timber harvest, fuel chipping to reclaim bobwhite habitat, and how to optimize ground cover for quail on quasi-hybrid soils found in the Lowcountry. A special guest was Rhett Johnson of The Longleaf Alliance who spoke about the conversion of Loblolly dominated timber stands into Longleaf pine stands that will benefit not only Gentleman Bob, but the generations of land stewards that will come along in the future.

S.C. Quail Project stewards

Theron Terhune listens as Jerold Sholar talks

To view past blog entries from the Savannah River Turkey Invitational click 2013, 2012 or 2011. 

To view past blog entries from the Tall Timbers Field Day click 2017 - 2011 - 2010 or Independent Quail Workshop 2014