Just wandering if anyone has any recommendations for books about South Carolina outdoors/wildlife. I’ve read just about everything written by Archibald Rutledge, at least what I can afford to buy of his. I found a book last year, “Ramblings of a lowcountry game warden”, by Ben McC. Moise. It was a pretty good little book with some funny stories.
Cant help on the book, but I really enjoy my S.C. Wildlife magazine.
Havilah Babcock…University of SC English professor wrote eloquently about hunting quail in the piney woods of SC during a magical time. Worth every penny to purchase them, or just go to the library and check them out. Enjoy!!
Sol Mate
Mako 20B
225 Optimax
Ben Moise’s book is a hoot, wish there were more like it.
Harry Hampton was one of the owners of The State and wrote many wildlife articles as did Professor Babcock.
saw Jim and Jamie Dutcher’s show this past weekend at SEWE, Living With Wolves…Nat Geo produced, but I think they also have a book on it…one of the most incredible animal documentaries I have ever seen…
The Morris Island Lighthouse www.savethelight.org
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Originally posted by DillyDallyBen Moise’s book is a hoot, wish there were more like it.
Would that be “Ramblings of a Low Country Game Warden” ? Taking a peek at it on Amazon and it looks interesting.
2013 Tidewater 180CC
115 Yamaha
Dear Greg…That is indeed Ben Moise. I’ve got his book on the shelf in front of me. His adventures in law enforcement relate to the 1970’s and 80’s when I first started hunting and fishing with passion and a general lust for the kill. Not unusual sentiments back in those days, and Ben had his work cut out for him as the local hungryneckers, geechee’s and general Georgetown County rednecks didn’t hold much affection for the revenuer in the green jacket. Ben is as local as any of them, and more so in many ways. He truly loves the lowcountry and he has devoted his time and life, and soul to it, and does to this day.
P.S. He’s owned some darn good Boykin’s. Couldn’t help but like a guy who always had one in the boat with him, even if he was writing you a ticket at the time!
Sol Mate
Mako 20B
225 Optimax
I don’t know of anything SC specific, but for good outdoor humor try some of the old Pat McManus books.
http://www.patrickfmcmanus.com/
Capt. Larry Teuton
Cracker Built Custom Boats
“Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made.” -Robert N. Rose
Not SC specific, but A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold should be required reading by anyone interested in the outdoors.
15’ Ocean Kayak Scupper Pro
Maybe not exactly what you are looking for but one of my favorite books is called “Rumbling of the Chariot Wheels - Doings and Misdoings in the Barefooted Period of a Boy’s Life on a Southern Plantation” by I. Jenkins Mikell
Its a first-person (non-fiction) account of life in the civil war era of a boy who lived on Peters Point Plantation on Edisto. Very readable and entertaining and chock full of great nuggets. I’ve read it many times. Originally published in 1923.
At the end it has a great story of crossing the St Helena sound in a rowboat rowed by slaves to a hunt on Hunting Island. I won’t spoil it but something happens on the hunt that will make you say OMG!
2000 SeaPro 180CC w/ Yammy 115 2 stroke
1966 13’ Boston Whaler w/ Merc 25 4 stroke “Flatty”
www.ralphphillipsinshore.com
If natural history is your thing you should check out Janisse Ray’s “Ecology of a Cracker Childhood”. After spending my early childhood growing up on the banks of the upper Wando near the Francis Marion NF I found it very interesting (before Hugo the long leaf pine forests were a great place to explore as a child).
Got the Kindle version on Friday and finished it today. Enjoyed it very much !
quote:
Originally posted by bossdog1Dear Greg…That is indeed Ben Moise. I’ve got his book on the shelf in front of me. His adventures in law enforcement relate to the 1970’s and 80’s when I first started hunting and fishing with passion and a general lust for the kill. Not unusual sentiments back in those days, and Ben had his work cut out for him as the local hungryneckers, geechee’s and general Georgetown County rednecks didn’t hold much affection for the revenuer in the green jacket. Ben is as local as any of them, and more so in many ways. He truly loves the lowcountry and he has devoted his time and life, and soul to it, and does to this day.
P.S. He’s owned some darn good Boykin’s. Couldn’t help but like a guy who always had one in the boat with him, even if he was writing you a ticket at the time!Sol Mate
Mako 20B
225 Optimax
2013 Tidewater 180CC
115 Yamaha
There are some classic writers from the 50’s who recount their own experiences as young boys in the company of their father’s and grandfather’s, uncles and such as rites of passage, as well as their experiences as adults when hunting and fishing was a staple of life. I often read their short stories in editions of Boy’s Life magazine, and Field & Stream, and Outdoor Life. I dreamed of hunting and fishing as a boy growing up in a family that didn’t, and I yearned for the day when I would be old enough, and on my own, to experience those wonderful adventures. As I mentioned above, I came of age and independence in the 1970’s and was fortunate enough to live here in the lowcountry, as time and luck would have it, where I could experience the fleeting passing of a bygone era. Robert Ruark, Nash Buckingham, Havilah Babcock, and later Archibald Rutledge and Gordon MacQuarrie still bring me back to those days alone in my bedroom reading with wonderment about skies filled with whistling wings, and explosions of coveys, and cock birds over rigid dogs of magnificent character. Stories of swamps and bayous and back waters, and the pounding surf of an ocean foaming at the feet of a boy bent into the surge of an unseen brute, or the hyperventilation at the sound of a screaming reel locked in the rod holder of an open boat at sea. There are times when I re-read those stories that I still to this day lament that I was born 100 years too late. Now it takes an airline ticket and a pocket full of cash to escape to a place that isn’t overdeveloped, worn out, or covered up with credit card sportsmen.
Sol Mate
Mako 20B
225 Optimax
Sunrise on the Santee by Reynolds is one you want to pick up. Some good outdoor authors would be Babcock, Rutledege, Ruark, Buckingham, McQuarrie and my favorite…Gene Hill. Most any story in those books you could fit into South Carolina…except for Ruark’s Africa. I wish there were more outdoor books on our state but the age of really good outdoor writers is pretty much over.
“The good fisherman is surprised when he doesn’t catch fish: I am just the other way around.”
Gene Hill, Passing a Good Time.
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Would that be "Ramblings of a Low Country Game Warden"
I downloaded and started this last night. Have enjoyed it so far, thanks for that suggestion.
Capt. Larry Teuton
Cracker Built Custom Boats
“Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made.” -Robert N. Rose