Imagine a crisp morning of cobalt blue skies, the leaves beginning to turn a crimson color, the weather beautiful and pleasant – perfect for the state fair, high school football and days outside in the pursuit of game. October is upon us.
Now, many of you may be wondering what "days outside in the pursuit of game" means. Not too long ago, just about any South Carolinian understood the phrase and conjured up past experiences sitting in a deer stand, hunting behind a pair of bird dogs or hunkered down in a duck blind. Unfortunately, even South Carolina, with one of the strongest hunting heritages in the nation and home to USC hunter/poet laureate Havilah Babcock, is becoming more urbanized and out of touch with the cathartic exercise of days outside in the pursuit of game.
Babcock's great book, My Health Is Better In November, explains that he has an extra bounce in his step in November because it is the month that bird (for any urbanites, that means quail) season opens. To me, however, October begins the time of year when just stepping outside and feeling the cool air accelerates my pulse, and my mind preoccupies itself with thoughts of woods and field. Even though bird season hasn't opened yet, dove and deer have been open for some time. And as an hors d'oeuvre excites the palette for the main course eminently on the way, so the start of dove and deer season excites the hunter for the main course of quail and duck season in November.
Hunters have always been the greatest and most important conservationists, starting with Teddy Roosevelt around the turn of the 20th century. Since 1923, hunters have contributed more than $9.1 billion through licenses, tags and permits toward wildlife management and habitat acquisition and enhancement in the United States. Last year alone South Carolina license sales generated $13 million for conservation. In 2003, there were 272,752 people hunting in South Carolina with an economic impact of $712 million. No other group comes even close to preserving and enhancing South Carolina's wildlife as hunters.
You would hardly know, however, the importance of hunting in this state from the communications arm of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. Go to its Web site (www.dnr.sc.gov) and you will notice a glaring lack of emphasis on the conservation benefits from hunting and more on "politically correct" conservation efforts such as beach and river clean-up projects. Of course these projects are worthwhile and should be promoted, but they have far less impact than the $13 million in conservation funds that hunters produce in one year. Under the Web site's conservation button, there is nothing on the contributions to conservation by South Carolina hunters.
As South Carolina becomes more and more urbanized, hunting may have less of an economic impact, but it will always play a huge role in the preservation of our wildlife and wild places. We should be cautious not to neglect a group that has done and will continue to do so much for our state.
Sincerely,
Henry Clay
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