Brosnan Forest hosts LOLT Annual Picnic

Brosnan Forest is the 12,000-acre corporate hunting and lodging facility of Norfolk-Southern Railroad Company. Norfolk Southern donated a conservation easement on their entire property in 2008 working with Lewis Hay and the staff at the Lowcountry Open Land Trust. Governor Sanford has called Norfolk Southern's voluntary act the single largest corporate gift to the South Carolina in state history. The grounds at Brosnan Forest are manicured to suit the outdoorsman's eye and LOLT Picnic activities allowed members to visit the property and experience some of the sporting pursuits it has to offer. Guided one-hour tours of the woodland landscape were a hit with members who rode of tractor-drawn wagons to different areas of the forest. Stops included an area recently treated with prescribed fire and a discussion by Mike Maggard why this practice is beneficial both to the trees and the wildlife, and a location where red-cockaded woodpeckers were inhabiting 100-year old longleaf pine trees. For those guests wanting to shoot firearms both the skeet range and the sporting clays course at Brosnan Forest were open for business. Children's activities included face painting, and a hay ride, but fishing for mountain trout in the pond next to the lodge looked to be the biggest hit! Nature walks for bird watchers were popular with two nesting pairs of bald eagles present on the fishing lakes. Youth activities included Pitch-n-Putt golf, shuffleboard and basketball. Many families attended the LOLT picnic and everyone attending was able to enjoy some form of outdoor activity. Brosnan Forest is a working lodge 365 days a year, and was gracious in extending this invitation to LOLT, their partner in conservation. Some numbers to note: Brosnan Forest has 200 miles of maintained roads (good for logging and hunting access), with 1000 acres of food plots scattered in 300 locations, and 80 colonies of red-cockaded woodpeckers, and a full-time staff to welcome NS employees when they come to vacation at Brosnan Forest. Norfolk Southern's leadership in the realm of conservation is sure to have ramifications that helps to protect quality of life for the future of the Lowcountry.

To view my blog entry from the 2009 LOLT Annual Meeting click here.

My photos show some beautiful camelias blooming on the Brosnan Forest grounds, a youth angler very excited about catching his first rainbow trout, women receiving shooting sports instruction on the skeet range, and LOLT's Will Haynie, Brosnan Forest's Josh Raglin and friend to nature Tom Blagden enjoying some fellowship.

Turkey Season IN - Opening day DRAMA

Hunting for wild turkey on the opening day of the season has been a family tradition for more than a decade, and Sunday March 15 was already special because it was the first ever turkey season to start on a Sunday. Due to some recent legal changes by SCDNR and the S.C. General Assembly, hunting season can now commence on a Sunday, but that's not why this hunt was so memorable. Conditions were not the best for turkey hunting with the temperature at fifty degrees and a heavy fog in the air. Nonetheless, a boss gobbler started to gobble at 7:15 (almost ten minutes AFTER other woodland songbirds began to sing at dawn's first light) and he continuously sounded off until 7:30. Taking into account how far away he was, and the fact that he was gobbling good, I decided to make a wide trek through the freshly burned woods in order to get ahead of him. After the brisk ten minute jaunt, I was in the position I wanted but there was a problem - I no longer heard the gobbler! After waiting 15 minutes and second-guessing my decision to move, I simply reversed course and made the woodland jaunt again back to my original location. Sitting on the ground against a massive pine tree on the edge of a wood lot overlooking a green field, I was now steadfast in my plan to sit tight and practice patience. From 8:15 to 8:45 - nothing. THEN, approaching from directly behind me (offering no view and certainly no shot) I heard the unmistakeable sound of a boss tom going into full strut mode over and over again. When I peeked over my shoulder I saw a hen turkey meandering through the blackened landscape, and I knew that while she was walking along and scratching, the gobbler was simply following along behind her - as if on a string. They came up behind me in the woods, rather that in the green field as I had planned, and then they turned around and walked back into those same woods, and I was fit to be tied. If the turkeys had continued for another minute in any direction but 180 degrees behind me, I likely would have seen the tom and completed the deed - harvesting a gobbler on opening day. Instead, I was the victim of some TOM-foolery because for the next hour every noise in the woods and every movement had me jumpy thinking those turkeys were going to slip up on me again. After an hour passed, at 10:00 I decided to head back to my earlier ill-fated position, because I heard a murder of crows making a ruckus over that way. (Note to the novice: crows are famous for screaming at turkeys in the woods - and can help you locate a bird from time to time.) When I completed my woodland trek again, I could see that the crows were leaving and that no turkeys were in the area. Besides the fact that the air was cool with the fog and good for walking, this hunter was getting a little thirsty and hungry for breakfast, and decided to head for home. JUST THEN the bushes in the forest next to me started to rustle, and I had visions of turkey hunting glory - had I indeed figured out these birds and were they going to appear right in front of me?! I put my gun up and was BAM-boozled when a stealthy coyote broke from cover. With not one ounce of hesitation, I squeezed the trigger on my 12-gauge shotgun and let fly a load of copper-plated number six shot. (Note to the novice: Coyotes are known predators of wild turkey and deer). Harvesting the coyote immediately took me back to a similar turkey hunt nearly ten years ago - in almost the exact same location. I had been hunting that morning, back when reports of coyotes were very new to the Lowcountry, and I came face to face with the wily predator. Hesitation was the difference all those years ago as the coyote bounded away, but experience allowed me to cull the predator this time. With some predator management completed, it was time to end the opening day turkey hunt - with two close encounters to show for my efforts. Riding out of the woods I glanced out the truck window and spied the same full strut tom from earlier still strutting for five hens in some burned woods not far from my earlier sighting. I continued on, there had been enough drama already to remind this outdoorsman why the spring turkey season opener was so grand, and why he would be back SOON. 

My photos show my father and I before a wild turkey hunt in front of spring azaleas, and what a hunter in full camo clothing looks like during a turkey hunt, two wild turkeys walking in the woods, and a coyote harvested during a turkey hunt.

Paws for a Cause - James Island County Park

The third annual American Cancer Society fundraiser for canine cancer research was held March 14 at the very dog-friendly James Island County Park. Paws for a Cause is a National Program that enjoys participation from our Lowcountry dog-loving volunteers. Organizer Rebecca Marriott said, "We hold a fun dog walk, and the registration fee goes towards cancer research." Participating dogs wore birght green bandanas to show their support for the American Cancer Society. A silent auction for dog-related goods was set up at the event registration table, and a dozen vendors were selling items like dog collars and dog toys - plus there was an awesome display of homemade dog treats at every booth. Truly the doggies were having their day! Some of the other dog activities included a bubble bath station, Paw Prints T-shirt designs, Costume dress-up station, and a doggie obstacle course. The ACS also was selling t-shirts for their new "Fight Like a Girl" campaign to raise funds for cancer research. Paws for a Cause is a great idea and since it calls for canine involvement in the outdoors, Lowcountryoutdoors.com wishes them every success. Check back later for a tally of the funds raised today.

For a past blog entry about my dog Chester click here.

 My photos show the various breeds of dogs gathered for social hour before the one-mile dog walk, Owner Pete Buccellato with his dog Bruno - a Great Dane crossed with a Cane Corso, and two hungry attendees eating Black Jack barbecue served up by catering mastermind J.B. McCarty and his dog, appropriately named CUE!!!

State Youth Coon Hunt at Webb WMA

On Saturday February 28 the South Carolina Coon Hunter's Association held their State Youth Coon Hunt at the Webb Center in Estill. SCDNR is a partner in the state hunt and furbearer biologist Jay Butfiloski was on hand to preside over the casts of hunters as they went to the woods. This state championship hosts the winners from seven previous qualification hunts all around the state, and the entire process is a first class operation that promotes youth involvement in the outdoors. Lowcountryoutdoors.com is not aware of any other program that involves so many female youth in out outdoor heritage, and is glad to support such an endeavor. A weather front pushed through the Lowcountry that day and about two inches of rain fell hard during the day, but by night it had stopped and the hunting commenced. Two divisions of youth hunters, juniors and seniors, were awarded first place through fourth place and two sportsmanship winners were selected as well.

To view past blog entries about the State Youth Coon Hunt qualifier click here.

My photos show Chloe Ireland, winner of the Youth Division with her father Phil and one of her prizes, and the sporty jacket of Aaron Todd from Summerville telling all that his dog Cooper River Rebound is a Grand Champion, and a photo courtesy of DNR showing the youth hunters on the coon hunt.

More Prescribed Fire Photos

A second day of burning by the S.C. Forestry Commission served to finish up the job at Snipe Hill, before moving on to their next landowner. Private landowners are notoriously hard to please and representatives of the Commission are truly multi-tasking when interacting with this segment of the population. My grandfather, Heyward Benton, was District Ranger for Colleton County when he worked for the S.C. Forestry Commission, and no doubt he would be pleased to know that his love of prescribed fire has carried over to the current caretaker of the family farm. The expertise of the the Commission's fire crew helps complete the overall management plan that calls for regularly scheduled burning for years to come, in order to produce better timber, increase wildlife habitat and improve rural aesthetics. My photos show a S.C. Forestry Commission bulldozer and fireplow on standby for duty, a small longleaf pine tree that has proved impervious to the prescribed fire since it evolved to benefit from regular fire, Cecil Campbell looks up to check the wind while stringing fire from his drip torch, and beneficial prescribed fire - one tool in the caretaker's arsenal to manage woodland habitat.

To view past blog entries about prescribed fire click here.

S.C. Forestry Commission - Prescribed Fire w/VIDEO

March 10 is getting late in fire season, meaning the daily temperatures are rising and prescribed fires will burn hotter than in winter. Growing season or summertime burns are an option, but most landowners are far more comfortable with a backing fire during cold weather. Nathan Rutherford with the Colleton Office of the Forestry Commission, 538-3708, called to tell me that they had my paperwork and were waiting on a south or easterly wind to burn Snipe HIll. Since our family farm is a Certified S.C. Forestry Commission Stewardship Forest - we planned on following the management plan as they drew up, calling for prescribed fire every other year. Rutherford told me that Colleton County had almost 4,000 acres in applications this burning season, which demonstrates the popularity of this conservation management technique. From managers Calvin Bailey and Pete Stuckey, to Fire Boss Michael Crosby and their heavy equipment operators, the forestry commission team is busy during winter. With the weather registering a Category Four burning day (very good) and humidity registering 44 percent (fairly low), drip torches were employed to set test fires and back fires. After making sure that my existing firebreaks were freshly tended, the fire crew set spot fires and flanking fires to take advantage of the light winds - thus creating a hot fire that burned clean the understory of the forest. Prescribed fire provides a higher quality wildlife habitat with the new growth and green-up that follows burning, and leaves pine trees with less competition so that they can grow bigger. Smoke dispersion is always a concern, but this hot fire sent the smoke up into the atmosphere and it quickly disappeared. My video shows how a firebreak and a road are used as baselines during a controled burn - using the wind to keep the smoke off the road. My photos show Micahel Crosby using the torch on the back of his four-wheeler, signs of conservation, a string of prescibed fire entering the woods, and the smoke from a woods fire dispersing into the atmosphere.

More Middleton Place Hounds photos

There was a request for more photos, and Lowcountryoutdoors.com aims to please by posting more of these equestrian fox hunt photos for all to enjoy. My photos show the hounds being rested in the shade at the Historic Middleton Greensward immediately prior to the hunt, The "first field" in hot pursuit during what Huntsman Jamie Green called the "Josh James to Blueprint" leg of the hunt, two "hilltoppers" and one female rider wearing the "colors" of Charleston Green on her jacket - taking in all of the pageantry and all set to "hack" towards the "fox den," John LaRoche and the rest of the hunt followers enjoying social time while waiting on the riders to join them for a 1 p.m. "breakfast" at Middleton Plantation.

To view another blog entry from this same fox hunt click here.