This past year has been one of wins for the hunting and conservation community. Over the course of the last year, there have been multiple public battles that have brought the community together to educate and stand up for the places, animals, and traditions we know and love. From hunting bans to land sales, we saw hunters band together and share their voices better than ever before—and their voices won out.
As I reflect on these wins, I can’t help but be grateful that our industry has grown as it has. Sure, I grumble and gripe when I see a boot track on a remote chukar hill, or another truck parked at the trailhead I was planning to hunt; but when it comes down to it, I am grateful that there are more of us to fight for this way of life. The truth of the matter is that there are people who want to take hunting from us, and there are fewer people in the general public who have enough experience with hunting and its heritage to sympathize with us. Each generation has less people personally associated with hunters. Less people who grew up in rural areas where nature and its cycles of life and death grounded them to the reality of the outdoors.
While we have made great progress in the number of people in the hunting industry willing to stand up and fight for our way of life, it is important we help those who don’t hunt have experiences that enable them to relate to and sympathize with our way of life. We need to provide opportunities for them to see “the why” behind hunting, and to see and understand that it is the backbone of wildlife conservation in North America.
So, with a showman’s flourish of hands and a spotlight swinging to stage left, ‘Enter SCWA .’
SCWA introduces kids to hunting, fishing, and conservation through camps, outreach programs, and community events. (Photo courtesy of Tanner Smedley) South Carolina Waterfowl Association The South Carolina Waterfowl Association (SCWA) is an organization of note in its ability to provide these opportunities in a way that introduces people to hunting, not in an effort to turn them into hunters, but in an effort to help them understand and sympathize with sportsmen and women and science-based conservation.
SCWA was founded in 1986 and later expanded to its current wildlife center in 1994, and the growth hasn’t stopped there. Their mission is to “enhance and perpetuate South Carolina’s wildlife heritage through education and habitat conservation.” And with other states adopting their model, that mission is not limited only to South Carolina.
They do this primarily through camps, outreach programs, and community events. Their focus is to give kids the opportunity to have outdoor experiences and learn about common sense and science backed wildlife conservation practices. These experiences take place at their wildlife conservation camps as well as through school outreach programs. Through these camps and programs, tens of thousands of kids will be reached each year, and tens of thousands of people will have experiences with the outdoors.
In addition to those camps and programs, SCWA also hosts events and hunts focused on sharing the heritage aspects of hunting, fishing, and trapping. At these events, kids and adults are given the opportunity to go hunting and fishing, shoot guns for the first time, and take part in the outdoor community. Thousands more people are reached through these events each year in addition to those reached through the camps and outreach programs.
I was introduced to SCWA and their work this past year when I had the opportunity to hunt ducks with the organization in rural South Carolina. It was an amazing opportunity to see the wildlife center and the work they are doing. Our first night, we took part in a community gathering for the next morning’s hunt. Dozens of youth hunters and adult mentors gathered for an evening meal and to hear the game plan for the duck hunt.
Before first light, the groups dispersed to hunt divers, and it made for fast paced and action-packed shooting. After a good shoot, all the groups gathered back at the center for breakfast and to swap stories and reports on the morning's hunt. Group hunts like these are common at SCWA, and the community it fosters is noticeable. SCWA’s Wildlife center now includes around 1,600 acres, with access to thousands more acres of private lands, so the opportunities they can provide for the community with that amount of access are great. We were staying in one of SWCA’s camp lodges, and we got a quick tour and rundown on Camp Leupold and Camp Woodie, both of which are run by SCWA. These camps are set up to provide a safe place for kids K-12 to have hands on experiences with nature. They have ropes courses, ATV and boating areas, fishing structures and platforms, shooting ranges, and more.
A morning of hard shooting on fast flying ducks had everyone ready to hit the sporting clays course for a quick tune up. It was a great chance to get some time behind both the Beretta A400 Xtreme Plus and A300 Ultima that I had brought along for the trip. With their new True Timber finishes, they fit perfectly with the hunting we would be doing during the trip. Both guns shot great and ran smooth.
While both guns are great shooters, by the end of the course I leaned toward the A400 Xtreme Plus for the next day’s hunt. The soft comb and pad made recoil manageable, and it kept my head positioned properly for a perfect swing on the moving targets.
Wood duck hunting can be a fast and furious hunting endeavor. (Photo courtesy of Tanner Smedley) Wood Duck Hunting in South Carolina Birds danced in my mind as I drifted off to sleep that night, and I awoke the next day ready for another great morning. We were lined up for a traditional South Carolina wood duck hunt on the edge of flooded timber.
Being from out West, we don’t have a lot of opportunity to hunt wood ducks, and definitely not in numbers that make for a full hunt. They are beautiful, though, and I was excited to experience the hunt in an area where wood ducks abound. As the sun started to warm the sky to the east, above the timber, the birds started flying and I tucked into the trees, waiting for the call to start shooting.
As we sat waiting, the ducks continued to pile in. I stood, fascinated at how different it was than back home. Back home, most of my waterfowl hunting is big ducks, and they work the spread. We will wait for a few passes until they come straight down the line, cupped up and offering easy shots. That was not my experience back East. Hunting divers and woodies was a different game; they came zipping in like fighter pilots. It took a bit to get used to on day one, but by the second hunt, I was dialed in and ready to go as legal light hit. Almost as fast as it started, it was over, having filled our three bird limits.
As we picked up decoys and chatted in the trees, we watched the sun continue its rise and straggler groups of birds pass in search of a spot for the morning. We grabbed all the gear and made our way back to the trucks, grateful for slightly heavier loads than when we walked in not long before. We loaded the trucks up and talked about the morning’s hunt, remarking on the beautiful coloring of the birds. We noted the way the blues, greens, and reds run together like oil, yet contrast so wonderfully against the white in their head and body.
From the timber to open water, SCWA's conservation efforts have created great habitat and substantial bird numbers. (Photo courtesy of Tanner Smedley) South Carolina Waterfowl Association Conservation Efforts Later that evening, SCWA’s CEO David Wielicki had a special treat for us before we left the following morning. He took us out to see some of the habitat work they had done for the birds in the area, providing flooded fields for feeding and rest areas.
What followed was nothing short of spectacular. As the sun set, the sky came alive. Tens of thousands of ducks circled to roost for the night as the sun set a brilliant orange against a timber skyline. As the light faded out of the prime picture taking window, I sat tucked in the reeds, listening to teal buzzing past and enjoyed the moment, witnessing the beauty of great habitat and good bird numbers.
A sendoff like that reminded me of why groups like this are so important. There are multiple reasons really, the first being that the birds are worth it. Conserving these wonderful waterfowl species and flyways for others to experience is a worthwhileendeavor in and of itself. The second, to share the beauty we get to interact with regularly as hunters with those who wouldn’t otherwise get to experience it. If we share those experiences with the general public, there will be a greater understanding of why we love it and why we want our right to hunt to be protected. The third is to preserve and share our heritage.
I visited with Will who guides for SCWA and accompanied us while we hunted their property. He told stories of growing up with wood duck hunts just like we had that morning, and he shared why that was important to him. It doesn’t matter how many times he does it or how many people he takes to experience it; he still lives for those first minutes of light when the woodies are thick in the air and whistling by overhead.
There is a heritage to that hunt and to other hunts like it, all across the country. Hunting is part of who we are. It is in our blood. If we want to keep it, we have to share it. Hunters are a small percentage of the population. If we want our voices to matter, we have to help the rest of the country understand our why and our heritage.
