G G UNS
Blood Sweat and Deer Your chances of harvesting a big buck in 2011. Page 5.
Drought
How a lack of rainfall can help or hurt hunting. Page 7.
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Guns & Game • August 12, 2011 • The Press and Standard
.308, 270 o
TROPHY BUCKS
Photo submitted
EARLY SUCCESS. Although difficult, the best time prior to the rut for harvesting a trophy deer might be the beginning of the season. Frequenting known natural food sources, agricultural fields and food plots such as the one shown above can tremendously improve hunter success before deer movement increases later in the year.
August can be prime time to harvest prize whitetail
A
ugust is upon us and the woods are about to become the place to be for all deer hunters who are once again looking for that elusive trophy whitetail buck. Sure, it’s hot and muggy out there but everyone knows if you don’t get a buck the first couple weeks of the season, the rut, and your next best chance is a ways away. So, you might have to fight the heat, mosquitoes, snakes and wasp, but isn’t it worth the struggle? After all South Carolina has the second longest deer season in the U.S. and I enjoy every day of it. That’s why I’m excited and ready for August 15, It can’t get here soon enough. I also we be taking on a whole different challenge this year. For Christmas, I received a bow and now will be joining that brotherhood, hoping to create a new challenge and thrill for myself. I will keep you all informed as
this year will certainly have plenty of learning curves and ‘why did I do that?’ moments with my new obsession of bow hunting. This year looks to be a tough year for the deer hunter. South Carolina, which is one of the few states to allow baiting for deer hunting, has found Jamie itself in a major drought. smoak This left a shortage of corn and higher prices. For me, this is tough to swallow and likely for many others. It means we have to think of different ways to find these bucks without finding our wallets empty.
Guns & Game • August 12, 2011 • The Press and Standard
There are many ways to find the deer without bait. It will take some perseverance though. Cut downs are the easiest place that can be used to still see plenty of deer, also a great technique is to just find the major trails deer use. These can see some of the most deer activity since the animals will use the same trails over and over. Finally the best technique for the early part of this year especially with the drought conditions would be to find water, sit and wait. The deer will come. Any of these can help you still kill that trophy buck without breaking your wallet to feed corn. The main piece of my puzzle for scouting early season would be my trusty trail camera. I never leave home without it. It is by far my most valuable tool when it comes to pre-season and even during the season scouting. Yes, every year I get my
hopes dashed by the buck that’s on camera but never shows up, but a lot of times its right on the money, especially early in the season. I’ll be interested to see the quantity and quality of deer this year along with fawn numbers to see if coyotes are still affecting deer on my hunting lease. So far, it’s not looking good for fawns, as the numbers I am seeing on my cameras are down. This does have me worried. With the rise of coyotes, deer harvest numbers seem to be on the steady decline, but even with the decline in numbers I wouldn’t trade S.C. deer hunting for anywhere else. Good luck this season and I hope the trophy buck you’re after will be there. (Jamie Smoak, a Walterboro resident, writes a hunting column for the Press and Standard.)
3
n 2010: THE YEAR IN REVIEW
Harvest, population fall again in 2010 By DREW TRIPP sportsdesk@lowcountry.com
Total deer harvest for South Carolina decreased again, in 2010, marking the eighth such occurrence since 2002, and keeping in line with what has become more the rule as opposed to the exception to it in recent years. During the 2010 deer season, it is estimated that a total of 116,755 bucks and 105,894 does were harvested for a statewide total of 222,649 deer. This figure represents a 3.9 percent decrease in harvest from 2009 (231,703) and is 30.5 percent below the record harvest established in 2002 (319,902). Colleton County fit right into the statewide trend, seeing its total estimated harvest in 2010 fall 8.5-percent from 10,182 animals to 9, 315. Still, that was the thirdbest total harvest in the state, bested only by Williamsburg County with an estimated 9,361 deer harvested, and Orangeburg with approximately 13, 495. “This decline in harvest is part of a larger trend that includes a decline in population,” SCDNR wildlife biologist and Deer and Turkey Project manager Charles Ruth said. “The harvest is down four percent, and it fell four percent last year. I don’t think that’s a big deal. It’s just a result of the natural variation in harvest and overall population. But, combined with what we’ve seen over the short term for the last six or eight years, it is part of a declining trend.” Responsible primarily for the decline in harvest has been the decline in overall deer population, as hunter effort and participation in South Carolina have barely decreased since the record harvest of 2002. Chief among the factors to the population decline is habitat change. Considerable acreage in the Palmetto State is currently
in even-aged pine stands that are greater than 10 years old — a habitat that doesn’t support high deer densities like those seen during the state’s boom period of the 1980s and 1990s. Back then, most of today’s mature timber was newly planted, and contributed to the rise in deer numbers because food and cover was more available in the younger stands. “What was good 10-15 years ago is not good — or, not as good — for producing and sustaining deer herds today,” Ruth said. “Also, we’ve harvested a ton of deer in South Carolina over the last 15 years. So, whereas we were fighting deer off, trying to get the population in check, two decades ago, we’re now seeing the population come down.” Coyote predation appears to be having a significant impact on population decline and subsequent harvest shrinkage in the state, also, according to preliminary results from a joint U.S. Forest Service-SCDNR study at the Savannah River Site (SRS) over the past five years (See related story, page 6). Initial numbers have left biologists with shocking new insight into the role of coyotes as predators in the state, particularly when it comes to the impact the canines are having on whitetail deer fawns. “We’re learning more all the time from this study about the role that coyotes are having as it relates to fawn survival and population recruitment from year to year,” Ruth said. “Cumulative data throughout the study indicates approximately a 70-percent total fawn mortality with coyotes responsible for approximately 80-percent of them. “The changes in habitat, extremely aggressive deer harvests over the years, and the introduction of a new player with coyotes have all played a role in the decrease, but it seems like the coyotes are having the biggest impact.”
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Guns & Game • August 12, 2011 • The Press and Standard
n 2011: THE YEAR IN PREVIEW
Despite last year’s dip, strong hunting season still expected for 2011 By DREW TRIPP sportsdesk@lowcountry.com
The start of the 2011 whitetail deer hunting season for Colleton County and the rest of Game Zone 6 is only days away. As hundreds of area hunters get set to turn their dogs loose or climb up in their stands for the first time a full 15 days before the rest of the state, SCDNR wildlife biologist and Deer-Turkey Project manager Charles Ruth says he’s looking forward to yet another successful season. “Like I always say, I never expect a bad deer season in South Carolina,” Ruth said. “We’ll have another highly successful year, and I expect to see about the same number of deer killed as last year (9,315), statewide. I think it’s going to be another high harvest. “We’ll probably come within five percent, one way or the other of last year’s total. We’ve been in a declining trend, so if
the harvest goes down, it wouldn’t surprise me, but it wouldn’t be much. At the same time, it wouldn’t surprise me if it went up some, too.” The declining trend mentioned by Ruth refers to the fact that the total statewide harvest has decreased in seven of the last eight seasons since a record-high harvest in 2002. Habitat loss, high harvests and the new factor of predation from coyotes have conspired to see both the population and harvest fall while hunter effort and participation have remained as high as ever. Still, Ruth thinks Palmetto State hunters have been spoiled by the successes of the past, indicating that the declining trend hasn’t been nearly as severe as it seems to many individuals. Thankfully, Ruth believes that hunters are starting to see the light. “If you deer hunted at all in South Carolina in 2010, 70 percent of folks who hunted See FORECAST, page 12
Photo submitted.
WHAT To EXPECT. Big bucks such as this may not be a common site for hunters early in the season, but over the course of the year opportunities to harvest a trophy will present themselves more often.
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Large number of fawn deaths linked to coyotes By DREW TRIPP sportsdesk@lowcountry.com
Five years after beginning a study of fawn mortality rates at the Savannah River Site, U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and S.C. Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) biologists have again released weighty preliminary findings pointing to coyotes as key culprits in the steady statewide decline of the whitetail deer population since early last decade. The study began in at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in 2006, and the first three years were devoted to establishing a baseline for the fawn survival-to-mortality rate, according to Charles Ruth, SCDNR wildlife biologist and Deer-Turkey Project manager. In those three years, Ruth says, it was discovered that
70-percent of all fawns were dying from causes prior to reaching
sexual maturity. Of those deaths, it was determined that 80-percent were related to coyotes. In the fourth year of the study during 2010, USFS and SCDNR biologists added a new layer to the study by implementCHARLES ing “coyote control� — i.e., RUTH extermination — into the experiment to figure out if whitetail fawns survived more frequently in the absence of coyotes. This population control method was based on the model of a similar USFS study jointly conducted with the University of Georgia in the early 2000’s at SRS wherein biologists discovered that fawn survival increased from 7 percent to over 75 percent without coyotes in the picture. “We had certain goals as far as how many coyotes we wanted to remove form certain areas, and we weren’t playing around when we set those goals,� Ruth said of study’s newest phase. “We were really serious about getting in there and knocking back the population, and we eventually met the goals we’d set.� With the varmints out of the way, SCDNR and USFS set to work recording data. Although the study isn’t complete, unofficial preliminary results from the 2010 leg of the trial have proved eye-opening. “What we found through the first cycle of coyote control is that fawn survival in the selected areas essentially doubled,� Ruth said. “Given what we’ve found out about coyotes and their feeding habits over the last few years, the results we recorded were pretty much what we expected after removing a bunch of coyotes.� SCDNR has spent this summer and will again spend next summer in the field at SRS replicating the study for more concrete results. So far, no useable data has become available for this summer’s portion of testing. “We’re repeating the study right now, but it’s still too early to tell what the results will be,� Ruth said. “With where we are in this year’s study cycle, there are still a lot of
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relatively young fawns out there. We’ll have wrong direction again like we did with deer, to wait another six weeks before we can ac- I think it’s something that we at SCDNR curately say how well the fawns survived in need to look into, because there are some real parallels between the decreasing deer 2011.â€? A steady decline in overall deer popula- population and harvest and the decreasing tion and overall harvests since a state record turkey population and harvest.â€? Ruth says that population and harvest year in 2002 had SCDNR biologists concerned when they began the study into the decline phenomenon in wild turkeys hasn’t effects of coyotes on the deer population. just been a Palmetto State problem, either, SCDNR maintained, however, that it didn’t but one that’s affected the entire Southeast. “Turkey research has become a top priorbelieve coyotes were having as much of an effect on the population as were habitat ity all across the Southeast,â€? Ruth said. “We haven’t done any new research on turkeys change and the massive yearly harvests. That opinion has quickly changed in re- in South Carolina or very many other places cent years as new information has come out since the 1970’s. (Wildlife biologists in the about coyotes and deer. Meanwhile, the wild southeast) want and need to be involved in turkey population has been inexplicably studying the effects of coyotes on turkeys declining at a steady rate mirroring that of as far as nesting, brood survival and predation.â€? deer over the course of the last decade. Unfortunately, inroads concerning new Ruth, who oversees both SCDNR’s deer and turkey related operations, says he turkey research are nowhere near being cleared, Ruth says. doesn’t think it’s a coincidenc. A lack of funding statewide has made “I’m starting to think that coyotes might be having an impact on the turkey popula- sure of that. “The bottom line is that we do not have tion, too, based on my experience with deer,â€? Ruth said. “At first, SCDNR really a source of funding for turkey research like didn’t think coyotes played much of a role in we do for deer,â€? said Ruth. “People don’t the predation on deer in the state. Now that have to pay for turkey tags like they do for we’ve looked at the early results from this deer tags, and that hamstrings us at SCDNR study, we’re finding out that we were pretty from a research standpoint, but we’re doing we can to get that to change. I wrong in that assumption.â€? ESTforTOcertain P that coyotes are everything “I can’tBsay think that’s going to mean charging a fee for impacting population, but in the turkey tags.â€? PERthe FOturkey RMAN CE interest of not to go in quite the 6330 Twanting ractor NOTHING RUNS LIKE A DEERE ™
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Guns & Game • August 12, 2011 • The Press and Standard
brings pros and cons for outdoorsmen By DREW TRIPP sportsdesk@lowcountry.com
A hot, dry summer marked by abnormally low rainfall and the typical South Carolina heat has left Colleton County and much of the surrounding area parched. Rivers and streams in the ACE Basin are running extremely low, agricultural fields are being scorched, and things got a little worse last week. Colleton was officially upgraded to severe drought status by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) on Aug. 2, along with Allendale, Beaufort, Hampton, Jasper and parts of Bamberg, Charleston and Dorchester counties. This upgrade comes after the county spent the end of May, and all of June and July in incipient to moderate drought status, according the S.C. State Climatology Office. With the start of deer season and peak fall fishing weather fast approaching, hunters and anglers are rightfully worried about the effects the drought might have on their catches and harvests entering autumn. Charles Ruth, SCDNR wildlife biologist and Deer and Turkey Project Manager, joined Scott Lamprecht, SCDNR fisheries biologist, last week in saying that the only certain thing right now is that more
rainfall would both be in the best interest of hunters and anglers, as well as in the best interests biologically of the species they are pursuing. “The sooner we start getting more rain, the better,” Lamprecht said. “When we get more water, everything will start thriving again. I’m actually hoping a very weak hurricane comes through here soon and drops a bunch of water on us so we can sort of get back to normal, particularly in the southeast portion of the coastal plain.”
Short-term effect for animals The central concern for Ruth and Lamprecht as biologists is the impact that the current drought here in the Lowcountry is having on the species they study. Despite what may appear to be a negative situation to everyday individuals, the two biologists agree that things aren’t really that bad for deer or fish, right now. “I don’t think it’s hurting the deer yet as far as health,” Ruth said. “It may influence fawn survival a tiny bit this year, and you’ll probably also see body weights and antler size in the population go down just a hair. It’s not going to be anything serious. There’ll just be some minor changes here and there.”
Photo by DREW TRIPP
CREEkS WoN’T RISE. Local streams and rivers, like this branch of the Ashepoo near Donnelly Wildlife Management Area in Green Pond, are at extremely levels due to the sever drought gripping the Lowcountry. It’s been so long since water has come through this dry creek bed that it’s been overrun by grasses. Deer have the luxury of not having to deal with their habitat being altered significantly by the drought. Fish and other aquatic species, don’t have that luxury, says Lamprecht. “When a river contracts during a drought, the populations of fish and other species contract with it,” Lamprecht said. “The resource supply is much smaller in rivers at low stages due to drought. Fish populations decline because, obviously, there’s no growth in the habitat, and so there’s not enough food production.” While fish suffer to an extent, inverte-
brates are the aquatic fauna affected most negatively by low river levels. “Mussels, for one, are affected pretty badly by a low river, because they’re obviously not very mobile,” Lamprecht said. “They can’t escape falling water quickly, so we lose a lot of old clams and similar species — sometimes 20 years old, or more — that grow on the bottoms of these rivers.”
Benefits for fishermen The one group that might benefit the See DROUGHT, page 11
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Guns & Game • August 12, 2011 • The Press and Standard
Fishermen could take advantage of drought conditions DROUGHT Continued from page 7 most from the drought is, in fact, the hunters and fishermen, according to Lamprecht. As he pointed out previously, habitat obviously shrinks for fish during a drought, forcing the populations to concentrate in certain areas. For an experienced angler, those areas shouldn’t be too hard to locate, and once he or she does, a great day on the water could be in store. “The fish don’t really go anywhere, other than to the deepest parts of the river or stream,” Lamprecht said. All the fish that survive are just going to move around from place to place trying to find food, staying in the deepest holes. “A lot of times, that’s around bridge abutments or pilings. Continue to fish around downed tress, but also along the bank in deep cuts. Sloughs and oxbow lakes will have a lot of fish, too, because they hold water well during droughts. Aquatic predators of all sorts — especially large predatory fish like bass, gar, catfish and chain pickerel — know this secret about fish movement, and move with their prey to these areas, offering angler a much better chance at netting a trophy.
Benefits for hunters Although habitat doesn’t shrink for deer, drought does cause the food supply for the
finicky-eating herbivores to dwindle. Thus, deer are forced to frequent certain areas more often, similar in fashion to fish in rivers. Therefore, Ruth says that hunters should try to pinpoint the locations of whitetails’ favorite food items. “If I were a hunter, I wouldn’t necessarily start changing my tactics because of the dry weather, other than trying to pinpoint the natural food sources and where they’re available in an area,” said Ruth. “The deer are going to be keying in on the good food sources that are available, and so should hunters.” The reasoning behind this comes down to whitetail biology. “Deer eat certain types of foods at certain times of the year, even at certain times of the day, and it can change from day-today and week-to-week,” Ruth said. “With the drought, there’s obviously going to be fewer options regarding the availability of certain foods deer like. “Also, the palatability of some of those foods for the deer will change. Although a whitetail eats something this week, it may not be able to eat it next week due to the bacteria in its stomach that helps in digesting food. All of that is driven by biology, and it’s constantly changing.” Finding certain foods that whitetails are particularly fond of at a certain time could yield huge rewards, but Ruth says that hunters should remember that some food remain on the menu all year long, and, if they’re readily available, make for as good
an option as any to focus on. Ruth says hunters can also benefit from the increased movement deer are forced to undertake in the search for food, perhaps leading to kills at more opportune times as opposed to late or early in the day. “The deer are going to have move around more in order to fulfill their nutritional requirements,” said Ruth. “That may effect the times of day that the deer move, especially if they really have to scratch and scrounge around for food. In that case, the deer may actually spend more time on their feet, therefore exposing themselves to hunters.”
Long-term effects on animals Both Lamprecht and Ruth agree that things aren’t so bad right now for local wildlife, although any relief from the drought would be a welcome gift. If things don’t improve, though, the drought could be particularly detrimental to fish and other species in the lower portion of the ACE Basin, Lamprecht explained. Prolonged low water levels extending into the winter throughout the estuaries of the Ashepoo, Combahee and Edisto could lead to saltwater intrusion further inland, thus altering the habitats of species like crabs and the endangered Atlantic and Shortnose Sturgeon. Anadromous fish like the American Shad, blueback herring and striped bass would subsequently suffer when it came time for reproduction in 2012.
All of that would come to fruition long before the deer herd started showing signs of serious strain from the climate, says Ruth. Eventually, though, even the resilient whitetails would begin to succumb. The first sign of that, Ruth says, would be in reproduction. “It all depends on the magnitude of the drought,” said Ruth. “If the drought continues on into the fall and next year at a severe level, the effects on the deer population recruitment could be magnified. Obviously, the food resources available to deer will continue to deteriorate if the drought continues. “That may affect fertilization and conception rates during the rut later this year, which would subsequently effect what we have next year in terms of fawns. “If we’re having this same conversation at this time next year, then I think we can start seriously discussing biological consequences.” Still, neither Ruth nor Lamprecht man is overly worried about the long term effects the current drought will have, as they each expect it to be over with sooner rather than later. Once it ends, Lamprecht says, things will be back to normal in no time. “The bright side of this all is that Mother Nature is resilient, particularly in these coastal rivers,” Lamprecht said. ““If we started getting normal rain again tomorrow, we might see redbreast back in force by the first of October. That’s about how it would go for most species. We just need a little rain.”
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Guns & Game • August 12, 2011 • The Press and Standard
Located off Hwy. 21 or Hwy 17 in Hendersonville UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT - BRANDY FARISH 11
S.C. DEER HARVEST SINCE 2003
Hunters shouldn’t expect much success early in season, according to DNR’s Ruth
HUNTER EffoRT SINCE 2003
The S.C. whitetail deer While deer harvest have FORECAST harvest has decreased decreased since 2003, Continued from 5 in nearly every year hunter effort and partici- for just one day harvested at least one deer year,” Ruth said regarding the status since a record harvest of pation has remained at a last of the state’s deer hunting. “That’s hard to find anywhere else in the country, so you’ve 319,902 in 2002. high level. YEAR
DEER HARVEST
YEAR
HUNTERS
DAYS AfIELD
2003
273,504
2003
144,291
2,404,950
2004
251,205
2004
139,437
2,275,259
2005
244,045
2005
141,307
2,078,641
2006
221,320
2006
134,965
2,068,945
2007
239,193
2007
145,236
2,201,942
2008
248,778
2008
146,388
2,319,024
2009
231,703
2009
146,939
2,289,943
2010
222,649
2010
140,462
2,271,319
DEER BY THE NUmBERS. Hunter’s have continually indicated to SCDNR that the numbers are declining. Falling harvest levels have backed up these reports. Meanwhile, hunter participation has remained about the same. The tables above illustrates this trend.
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got to put this whole discussion about seeing fewer deer and harvesting fewer deer in context when it comes to population. “We’ve still got a great natural resources available in our deer population, we just don’t have quite as many deer as we used to. In saying that, most hunters now understand that you can’t have a lot of deer, and have a lot of good deer at the same time. Most hunters I talk to now are saying that they are willing to sacrifice quantity for better quality in the deer herd.” Shifting to the more near future, Ruth says that hunters here in the Lowcountry and through Game Zone 6 need to remember to be patient through the first few weeks of the season, because even though South Carolina always has successful deer seasons, the majority of that success is the result of hunting efforts later in the fall. “The number of deer actually harvested in the Lowcountry when the season first opens up is not terribly high, and it gets even worse around Sep. 1 with that openingday phenomenon around the state,” Ruth said. “It’s like a light bulb comes on in their
heads and they know they need to make a change as soon as opening day comes. Thus, hunters shouldn’t be discouraged by a slow start to their year. Besides, it’s not as if deer have to present themselves to hunters during hunting hours, anyway, under normal circumstances from August to mid-October. Natural food sources are abundant in and around Colleton County in the late summer and early autumn, and deer simply don’t have to risk being harmed by traveling before nightfall in search of food. “It can be tough this time of year to see deer because they’re still in their summer feeding patterns,” Ruth said of the Lowcountry. “There is a lot going on at this time of the year down there in regards to natural food sources that affects deer activity. “Green vegetation and other natural foods available to the deer right now are very diverse, and a lot of it is browse as opposed to a fruit or a nut that you can really key in on. The deer may use some of these resources one day, and then others the next, making them hard to pattern.” Ruth says that situation might change some to benefit the hunter this season thanks to the severe drought that’s gripping the Lowcountry (see related story, page 7), but it will not be a significant change. So, what can hunters do then to boost their odds of success? Ruth says to frequent agricultural fields or food plots until able to pattern deer more adequately — a beneficial tactic until deer become more visible.
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Guns & Game • August 12, 2011 • The Press and Standard
briefLY Ace Basin QDMA Continues Venison Donation Program The local ACE Basin Branch of the Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA) will partner with MeadWestvaco again this year to support their “Venison for the Hungry” Program. Last year, the group donated 2,001 lbs of venison to various local groups, including Edgewood Baptist Church, Black Creek Baptist Church, and Tricounty Family Ministries. The program is set up so that any deer donated is processed—at no cost to the hunter—and all meat is provided to local charities or food banks for distribution to needy individuals. Any meat not claimed by hunters is also donated. Program sponsors pay all processing costs. “We are very happy we can give back to the community and continue to support this program,” said Nicole Garris, ACE Basin Branch President. “With MeadWestvaco’s support, we will be able to fund a larger donation this year—up to 3,000 lbs in total. We also hope that this will encourage people to implement good quality deer management practices—such as harvesting an appropriate number of does—knowing that the extra venison will be well used.” Deer must be taken to a participating processor to be eligible for the program. In Colleton County, these include Breland Deer Processing (843-844-2226) and Risher’s Deer Processing (843-893-2945). Processors in Berkley County (R&R Meat Processing; 843-688-4455) and Hampton County
(Long’s Deer Processing, 803-625-4450) are also participating.
Early-Season Migratory Bird Seasons approved The S.C. Natural Resources Board recently approved migratory bird hunting seasons for mourning doves, marsh hens (rails), woodcock, snipe, moorhens, purple gallinules, and early seasons during September for teal and Canada geese. The 2011-2012 seasons must still meet approval by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and be published in the Federal Register in order to become final. For more information, go to the SCDNR Website or write to Early-Season Migratory Birds, DNR, PO Box 167, Columbia, SC 29202, call (803) 734-3886 in Columbia. The annual Migratory Bird Hunting Regulations brochure will be available in early September after the regular duck seasons are finalized.
Forty-three fields available for public dove hunting Forty-three public dove fields will be available across the state during the 201112 season through the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Wildlife Management Area program. A county-by-county list of public dove fields and special youth hunts is available online or can be obtained by writing: DNR, Attn: Public Dove Fields, PO Box 167, Columbia, SC 29202, or by call-
Photo by DREW TRIPP
HOW TO CATCH YOUR OWN RIVER MONSTER. SCDNR will join Santee Cooper this weekend to conduct alligator hunting seminars for the upcoming hunting season. ing (803) 734-3886 in Columbia. The Public Dove Field List is available at DNR offices.
DNR to host alligator hunting seminar Aug. 13 In cooperation with Santee Cooper, the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will conduct its first alligator hunting seminar on Saturday, Aug. 13th beginning at 10 a.m. in the Auditorium at Santee Cooper’s Headquarters in Moncks Corner. The seminar is for the public alligator
hunt participants, hunting assistants and other interested persons. The program will cover such topics as alligator capture and handling techniques, rules and regulations, alligator hunting equipment, processing, and other helpful information. The seminar will last approximately two hours. This is the first in a series of three alligator hunting seminars scheduled during the month of August. Interested alligator hunting equipment manufacturers and retailers are invited to attend to display and demonstrate their equipment. Alligator season begins in October.
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