Paul Fersen

It was exactly 2, 962 miles round trip to get Murph and he is worth every mile of it. It was a great seven days with my son Nick, road tripping through the South. I was born and raised there. Nick was born and raised in Vermont and introducing him to southern staples like pork cracklins and moon pies just made it better.

The first three days we hunted quail at Harris Springs (you can see the video in the hunting section), we shucked and ate roasted oysters South Carolina, went to Bass Pro in Charlotte, North Carolina, where I discovered to my chagrin I didn’t need anything, visited a friend of mine in Athens, Georgia who lives on a lake and watched geese and mallards drop in front of the rising sun, ate our fill of Waffle House breakfasts, spent the night near Elvis’ birthplace in Tupelo, Mississippi, and ultimately ended up in Oxford, Mississippi and Wildrose Kennels.It was exactly 2, 962 miles round trip to get Murph and he is worth every mile of it. It was a great seven days with my son Nick, road tripping through the South. I was born and raised there. Nick was born and raised in Vermont and introducing him to southern staples like pork cracklins and moon pies just made it better.

The first three days we hunted quail at Harris Springs (you can see the video in the hunting section), we shucked and ate roasted oysters South Carolina, went to Bass Pro in Charlotte, North Carolina, where I discovered to my chagrin I didn’t need anything, visited a friend of mine in Athens, Georgia who lives on a lake and watched geese and mallards drop in front of the rising sun, ate our fill of Waffle House breakfasts, spent the night near Elvis’ birthplace in Tupelo, Mississippi, and ultimately ended up in Oxford, Mississippi and Wildrose Kennels.

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I just left Harris Springs Sportsman Preserve down in Waterloo, South Carolina, deep in the pine and Harwood Piedmont region in the northwest part of the state, the transition region that buffers the Appalachian range from the coastal plain. It is a quiet and unassuming lodge in a quiet and unassumingly beautiful part of the south.

It is a small lodge. They only take eight hunters at a time at most, but if ever there was a poster child of the axiom quality not quantity, it is Harris Springs. My son Nick and I came in late Sunday night after driving 24 hours down from Vermont. No one was there, as it was the day after Christmas, but manager Mark Seay had remained in constant contact with us on our way down. The gate was unlocked and the Rock House was waiting for us.

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Saturday night, my oldest son Nick and I began a 3000 mile road trip to pick up the next member of the family: a six-week old black Lab puppy. His name will be Murph in honor of Bob Murphy, a good friend, a great sportsman, and a true gentleman, something I hope his namesake will become in the next few years.

Murph will become the fifth Labrador we’ve had in this family. The first was Mushroom, a yellow who was our first dog after Mimi and I got married. He lived up in the deer camp with us before we were married.

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If ever there was time to get your money’s worth in wingshooting, it’s now at Deer Creek Lodge in Sebree, Kentucky. In talking with Sales Manager David Krawczynski, he informed me the Orvis-Endorsed Wingshooting Lodge of the Year for 2006-2007 is offering a three-for-the-price-of-two promotion until the end of the season in March. Bring three hunters and pay for two. This is all-inclusive except for gratuities and license.

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Castle Valley Outdoors

When researching the hunting lodges for Great Hunting Lodges of North America, Castle Valley Outdoors piqued my interest. Here, great wingshooting is accompanied by the staggering scenic beauty of southeastern Utah. Massive rock buttes and bluffs surround the valley, and while great wingshooting is reward enough, when coupled with these surroundings Castle Valley is an incomparable experience.

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Harpole’s Heartland Lodge

Gary Harpole of Harpole’s Heartland Lodge and I were talking Friday, and he was pretty enthusiastic about a new 450-acre farm that he just added to the other 2,000 acres in his upland program.

“This is all CRP land in native grasses and has been managed for wild quail in the past. It has gently rolling hills and some tree lines and fencerows, and has that kind of ‘hunting Uncle Charlie’s’ farm feel to it. It’s only ten minutes away, and we’ve been improving it with food plots. Our upland hunters. . .

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Primland Lodge

The Orvis Board of Directors meeting was held in Roanoke last week. Afterward, they spent a few days at Primland, one of our endorsed hunting lodges located on the front range of the Blue Ridge in southern Virginia. Since their return, I have heard nothing at the lunch table but praises for Primland, and in particular the new lodge.

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Pheasant hunting at Highland Hills Ranch

I just got off the phone with Dennis McNabb of Highland Hills Ranch, a western wingshooting lodge located in the high desert region of eastern Oregon. A factor that plays a big part in their success.

“We only get about 10 inches of rain a year,” said Dennis, “but the location is a big plus for bird hunters as our February and March weather is no different from our October and November weather. We’re really not that high either and we have good water resources here. Contrary to popular belief we don’t get buried in snow and our hunting seasons have generally great weather throughout the fall and winter months.”

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Quail season in Georgia is getting underway and having grown up there, I was feeling a little homesick, particularly this time of year. I called Todd Rogers at Wynfield Plantation just to get a little southern accent fix and talk about quail hunting. “We’re just getting underway. I’ve got some European guests here just getting ready to go out and the hunting is looking great for this year.

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