Daddy, Tell Them We Don't Shoot Bambi

“I wouldn’t get out of the electric chair to go deer hunting,” my closest friend and fishing partner, the late Gus Singley, reacted when he read my account in The Newberry (S.C.) Observer in 1956 of the stocking of deer in the Newberry County section of the Enoree Division of the vast Sumter National Forest, a section of which is located in the upper region of South Carolina and extends into the northern extremes of this rural county where dove shoots, rabbit hunting and bream and bass fishing combine to produce one of the best hunting and fishing climates available in America.

I remember agreeing with him one hot August afternoon as we sat lazily on his homemade pontoon waiting for catfish to grab our worm-laden hooks. Routinely, we bass fished and that requires a lot of physical energy. This occasion on his pontoon, however, was one of the few times we had opted to relax and enjoy the peaceful pleasures Lake Murray offers, that of baiting a hook and not really caring whether anything bothered it or not.

His recollection of some accidents involving dangerous encounters with hunters using shotguns in the lower part of this state, where deer hunting with dogs was developed about mid-way of the 20^th century were chilling, and influenced his thinking.  Gus confessed to me that he had hunted on limited occasions on the popular dog-man drives in the low country, but he no longer would do that because in his opinion, he was risking his personal safety.

I agreed with him then because I had no knowledge of hunting or firearms or safety precautions. Since, I have learned that while deer hunting can be extremely dangerous, most hunters survive. Annually, thousands upon thousands of hunters seek deer across America, carrying their weapons of choice, and most return safely. It’s safer than driving an automobile, given today’s crowded road conditions. Unfortunately, there are some hunting deaths each year, most of which are the results of carelessness and not observing safety basics.

In South Carolina, the Wildlife Management Area Program (WMA) and its attendant restoration of historic deer and turkey populations date back to 1948 when the Waterhorn Unit of the Frances Marion National Forest in the lower sandhills and coastal areas of South Carolina was declared a deer and turkey refuge by Presidential Proclamation.

An early report made available by the National Forest Service reveals that a hog-proof fence was erected around the 17,000-acre unit and hog eradication was begun. That report further documents that during the 1950s, 317 wild turkey and 226 deer were trapped and relocated. At least 112 of these deer and 26 of these turkeys were released on approximately 35,000 acres of land in Edgefield and McCormick Counties in the Western Piedmont Hunt Unit of the Sumter National Forest.

It was in 1956 that the restoration effort was expanded to the Central Piedmont Unit of the Enoree Division of which a portion lies in Newberry County.

I was only 21 years old then, had never picked up a firearm of any kind and hunting was not then nor had it ever previously been a topic that held my interest. I was sports oriented, mind you. I had just arrived at The Newberry Observer, a twice-weekly newspaper published in Newberry (S. C.), the county seat of rural Newberry County, from Anderson (S. C.) where I had spent four years writing sports for The Anderson (S.C.) Independent, a daily newspaper. Just before I moved to Newberry, I had been promoted to sports editor of The Daily Mail, an afternoon newspaper owned by the same company, and wrote a daily sports column and traveled with The Clemson Tigers during the l955 football season.

I never dreamed I would ever hunt and kill anything, not because I was anti-hunting. My interest in hunting just had never found its way into my mind.  Not long after I came to Newberry, I had the opportunity to do an article for The Newberry Observer on the stocking program for deer in an area of the U.S. Forest Service. Bart Kennedy was District Ranger of the Enoree District of the U. S. Sumter National Forest, and Brick Hunt Camp was located in the newspaper’s circulation area. I was responding to duties accompanying my job rather than any obsession I might have been holding for hunting deer. Although this might have been responsible for embedding the desire in my subconscious to learn more about deer and to eventually hunt them, I credit my eventual entry into the exciting world of deer hunting to causes cited elsewhere in the pages of this book.

Twelve years of my life slid by after writing that story about the stocking of deer in upper Newberry County before I made a decision to get involved. To do so, I had a lot of “learning” to accomplish because at that time I knew absolutely nothing about hunting or firearms or target shooting or, for that matter, that natural habitat claimed by wildlife.

I haven’t regretted the decision to educate myself in what became an exciting and fascinating experience in Mother Nature’s special world of outdoor living, during which time I have been privileged to share abundantly in experiences not otherwise available in the fast-paced life in America during the past 50 years. Nearly four decades of hunting deer have entrenched within me a better knowledge of the animal, a keener appreciation of the great outdoors and a broader understanding of man’s relationship to the animal kingdom.

I have come to truly believe that including time in the wild observing Mother Nature enriches one’s existence and actually strengthens a bond with our creator. I suggest that those who commune with nature through hunting and fishing actually develop a closeness with God few other outlets in life offer. This makes the time we allot to the great outdoors all the more worthwhile.

Indeed a bonus, I have come to realize, is that the refreshing calmness and special serenity one finds associated with the great outdoors cleanses our minds as well as our souls. I am convinced this adds years to one’s life. Many times I have found that breaking away from life’s treacherous moments for a more relaxing visit to the woods in search of deer or an outing on the lak