Our Gobbler
I suppose that there are other things that make a hunter uneasy, but of one thing I am very sure: that is, to locate and to begin to stalk a deer or a turkey, only to find that another hunter is doing precisely the same thing at the same time. The feeling I had was...
Quail of the Kalmias
These birds of the hills develop both a speed of flight and a finesse of dodging that are superior to anything the field birds can show.
A Fox and a Conscience
Conscience,” the negro minister had solemnly said in his sermon that Sunday, “is sho’ going to keep a man good. It will make yo’ ‘fraid to lie, or steal, or bear false witness.” Ben, the old negro who had outlived his generation and who was sheltered in his desolate...
An excerpt from The Kings of Curlew Island
It was Richard who showed me the huge antler—a dropped horn from a whitetail buck. Massive to a degree rarely seen, not less than five inches it measured around the handsome beading. Moreover, there were nine clear points, none mere craggy excrescences; they were...
A Southern Christmas Hunt
South Carolina’s first poet laureate recounts a holiday hunt on the family plantation.
Pair of Mallards
An essential tale by the South Carolina legend.
Grouse of the Little Hills
I have always felt that the ruffed grouse is the wariest, the swiftest and the most beautiful gamebird in the world. The bronzed magnificence of old gobblers allures me; so does the gleam of sunlight on the tall and craggy antlers of the whitetail. Yet a hunting...
The Lady in Green
Everybody had now gathered but Steve. When questioned, the other drivers disclaimed all knowledge of his whereabouts or his peculiar behavior. But they knew perfectly of both. For a very long time we have had on the plantation a black man named Steve. For a generation...