This week’s episode of Sporting Classics with Chris Dorsey includes General Walter Boomer, Emmy-winning actor Gerald McRaney, Walther Arms’ Cody Osborn, and host Chris Dorsey at the famed Brays Island Plantation to experience the outdoor lifestyle at its finest. World class food, amenities, and camaraderie abound in this tribute to one of America’s finest quail hunting destinations.
In addition to Brays’ famed quail shooting, the plantation’s stables and equestrian center serve one of the many passions of Brays’ residents. Sixty miles of riding trails wind through the property, and the hard-packed sand roads make the mode of transportation dealer’s choice—from horses to the more conventional.
The historic Inn at Brays is the crown jewel of a property rich in treasures. The Inn’s classic plantation architecture transports the first-time visitor back to a more gentile time when bobwhite quail and cotton were king. At Brays, Gentleman Bob still permeates cocktail conversations nightly. How did the dogs perform? Who did you shoot with? What field did you hunt? Twenty-eight or .410?
The Inn also serves as a Sunday night gathering place where formal dinner is served and where gun control debates revolve around whether or not you could hit the quail and where the only question of hunting refers to what you’ll be pursuing in the morning. Find a community where this lifestyle is so revered by all and you are instantly among friends . . . you are rich in all that matters.
Many breeds can find quail—and several do so skillfully—but the pointer stands as the benchmark dog for southern bobwhites. Watching a pointer course the thousands of acres of perfectly managed, pine-crowned quail habitat at Brays is to witness a division of labor that’s been honored across the South for generations.
More recently, the English field cocker has entered the scene, transforming the quail-shooting experience through their super-charged assault into cover to unearth bobwhites. If quail have nightmares, they must look like cocker spaniels. And if you’re ever having a bad day, take one look at a cocker and your mood will change, for they are one part court jester and one part slapstick comedy. While I’ve scolded my pointers and Labs plenty of times, I’ll be damned if I can do it to my cocker.
If I had to confess, I’m not sure I’ve ever had a great friend who didn’t hunt or fish. Of all the things that bring people together, I’ve yet to find anything that compares to the field sports. Because if we’re not in pursuit, we’re planning to be—scheming about places to go and debating the best gear. We’re working to preserve habitat, we’re wolverines in defense of our sporting heritage, and we can’t wait to share the lifestyle with our kids and grandkids.
It’s not so much what we do, it’s who we are. And when you step afield during one of those glorious southern winter days with sunshine but cool temps to keep the dogs working longer, surrounded by friends and living the full circle of field to table, you ask yourself how did you deserve this? But even if you don’t deserve it, enjoy it anyway.
At the trophy adorned Brays Island Gun Club, residents gather daily to enjoy the world-class Holland & Holland sporting clays course, five-stand, trap, skeet, flurry, rifle or pistol ranges. Shooting methods are non-denominational here. But beware that gentle ribbing over misses comes with the territory. When the tides are right, take a break from shooting and hit the water with a guide who knows the countless oyster beds that harbor hungry redfish.
Columbia, SC – Sporting Classics officials announce Chris Dorsey, host of Sporting Classics TV and co-founder of Dorsey Pictures, was given the industry’s Ray Scott Trailblazer Award by the Legends of the Outdoors Hall of Fame in recognition of his many contributions to the outdoor industry and wildlife conservation. The banquet and induction ceremony took place aboard the General Jackson showboat in Nashville, Tennessee, along the Cumberland River on August 17th. After being introduced by 4-star General Walter Boomer, Dorsey used his time at the podium to address the escalating cultural war against hunting and called for an organized industry effort to address this threat to the sporting lifestyle.
Left to right are General Walter Boomer, Sporting Classics Publisher Duncan Grant, Sporting Classics TV Host Chris Dorsey, Sporting Classics CFO Wayne Nanney.
