Explore Nature – Hunt Hard – Eat What You Kill

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Published In Maryland Hunting Quarterly
Published In Trapper’s World Magazine

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Spent my weekend looking for ruffed grouse (and failing) while getting distracted by mountaintop lakes . . 📸: @_morgan_catherine . . #PhotoOp #MorganTakesTheBestPhotos #SouthCarolina #SCDNR #JocasseeGorges #RuffedGrouse #ClemsonUniversity

This mallard hen will be the last animal I harvest in New Jersey for a long while. She came in hot, fully cupped, over a spread of black duck decoys. The only duck that took to our spread that cold morning. It seems like the older I get the more time I spend in the deer stand or out fishing, but all roads lead back to duck hunting. That’s where it all began for me, shooting my first mallard drake at 10 years old and not picking up deer and turkey hunting till late in high school. Now I’m moving to the mountains of South Carolina. There won’t be duck hunting there like South Jersey’s salt marsh, but there is room to explore. Heres to hoping this next chapter of my life provides as good of hunting as my last. See you later Jersey, onward to South Carolina as of tomorrow! . . . #DuckHunting #SouthCarolinaHunting #scoutdoors #NJHunting #newjerseyhunting #ClemsonUniversity #wildlifeandfisheriesbiology

At 3 o’clock yesterday afternoon, this buck chased off two fawns right in front of my tree stand. He’s put up multiple scrapes, chased several does, and crossed just out of bow range many times over the past two weeks. Yesterday though, he came by at 20 yards, chased off two fawns, and turned broadside just enough for me to slip in a shot. The blood trail was fickle but he dropped dead 40 yards in the brush - a clean, quick kill. Last night I roasted his heart over an open fire. Today, I quartered him, sawed away the ribs, removed the tongue, and stripped off the backstraps. The waste pile hardly had any bones, they’re saved for bone stock. One of the cool things about hunting is through this whole process, you get to debate the merits of hunting itself, dissect where meat really comes from, and contemplate life and death. When you do it that way, you won’t waste much. I’m damn thankful for this deer. . . . #DeerHunting #BowHunting #whitetaildeer

It’s official! Starting this January I will be attending Clemson University’s Wildlife and Fisheries graduate school. There, I will be leading a research project with South Carolina Department of Natural Resources to determine the occupancy, distribution, and abundance of both Ruffed Grouse and Golden-winged Warblers in South Carolina’s Blue Ridge mountain region. The project will help state biologists to better understand the population of both species and will have greater ramifications on their management. Like most states in the East, South Carolina is beginning to understand the value of young forest management for species like ruffed grouse, golden-winged warblers, bobwhite quail, turkey, white tailed deer, and many other species. Morgan (@_morgan_catherine) and I went down to check out the area, the campus, and the mountains of my study site this past week. We also locked down an apartment. Southern BBQ cooking, long hikes in the southern Appalachians, hunting and fishing in the Blue Ridge, and one M.S. degree. The future is looking bright. . . . #ClemsonUniversity #PublicLandOwner #BackcountryHuntersandAnglers #WildlifeBiology #WildlifeManagement #YoungForestHabitat #RuffedGrouse #GoldenWingedWarbler

Headed upstream on South Carolina’s Middle Saluda River to find Jones Gap Falls and dinky wild rainbow trout. After a couple hours of leisurely hiking, we found both. . . . #RainbowTrout #SCWildlife #SouthCarolina #AppalachianMountains #TroutFishing #FlyFishing #BackcountryHuntersandAnglers #PublicLandOwner

Join us for some striper fishing followed by a beach clean-up! . . . #BackcountryHuntersandAnglers #Striperfishing #Fishing #SurfFishing #PublicLandOwner

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