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For me, opening day of dove season marks the beginning of the fall hunting season.  There’s something magical about sitting behind a freshly cut roll of hay; or enjoying the shade beneath a huge live oak that stands guard over a field of millet or sunflowers.  It brings back fond youthful memories, and the promise of bacon-wrapped dove breast on the dinner plate. 

Some would say squirrel season really kicks off hunting season in the south, and they would be correct.  But I just can’t muster up the moxie to hunt in August’s 95 degrees and 90 percent humidity.   I much prefer squirrel hunting with less foliage on the trees, and a cooler climate to walk the woods.

Of course opening day of dove season can also be hot and humid.  But you don’t absolutely have to be on the field in the heat of the day.  Many times, we will hang around under the shade until late afternoon when things begin to cool down a bit.  And quite frankly, late afternoon is when the larger groups of dove start to dive into the fields.  So it all works out.

One thing I should mention before I go any further, is this.  I’m an outdoor guy, but I’m a whole lot better at fishing than I am at wing-shooting.  I have a high degree of respect for hunters who can calculate flight trajectory, speed and distance, then determine amount of lead necessary, properly shoulder their shotgun, pull the trigger and knock down a dove in less than a second or two.  I’m not always that proficient.  For me, dove hunts are as much about the camaraderie and overall experience as they are about taking home a bucket of birds.

Opening day is also a ritual in many areas.  It always starts with the ‘gathering’ around 9 o’clock in the morning.  All the hunters show up to claim their spots on the field by placing a bucket or chair along the edge or next to a hay roll.  Then it’s time to re-connect, tell fishing and deer stories from last year, and ultimately line up for a huge lunch.  And lunch comes early…about 11 o’clock.  Traditionally,  it must include barbeque, baked beans, cole slaw, dill pickles, banana pudding and oatmeal cookies, with lots of sweet iced tea.   You load your plate, find a tree to lean against, or a tailgate to sit on and fill your belly.   A little before noon, you make your way to your spot and start gazing upward.  Careful to distinguish doves from ‘tweety birds’.  If you’re lucky, you’ll have an hour or so for shots at a few birds that chose to hang around the field since morning.  But by 2 o’clock the action starts to wane.  Time to find some shade and more iced tea.

The wardrobe for dove hunters covers the entire gamut, from simply jeans and a camo t-shirt to the full ghillie-suit and camo face paint.  I usually just go with something lightweight and cool, with a camo that is more reminiscent of duck hunting patterns than deep woods foliage.  In my opinion, it tends to blend better with the fall colors of millet, sorghum or corn stalks.  Bug spray is a must, and good boots keep the freshly cut grain stalks from digging into your shins.  Polarized sunglasses, and a hat with a longer brim round out the ensemble.

Now for the big question…what do you shoot?   That’s a question that is regularly debated, and one that will probably never have a definitive answer.  When someone asks me, I simply say, ‘Shoot what you’re comfortable with’, and leave it at that.  If you’re pretty good at sporting clays, then you ought to be pretty good at dove hunting.  The key is getting on the bird early, set your lead, and swing through with your barrel as you pull the trigger.  And I still miss a lot of birds.  Doesn’t matter if I’m shooting a 12 gauge or a 28 gauge.  These critters are usually on afterburners when then swoop down into the field, and you have literally a second to find the bird, line up the shot and pull the trigger.  On the fields I hunt, most birds run the gauntlet and make it through the volleys unscathed.

This year, I decided to do something a little unique, at least for me.  I swapped out the 12 gauge for a .410.  And here’s the twist.  The gun I chose was a Henry .410 lever action shotgun.  Yep, a cowboy gun.  I acquired it at the Georgia Outdoor Writer’s auction last year, and wanted to see how it would do as an upland shooting iron.

The Henry .410 reflects the classic lever action look and feel.  Mine has the 24” barrel, tight-grained American walnut stock, sling studs and a very comfortable integrated recoil pad.  The tube magazine can hold six 2 1/2” shells.  This length shell is not the most popular .410 round and can be a little harder to source.  But the shorter shell enables more rapid cycling and a short lever throw.  As I shot a few rounds, I found cycling the lever equated to the amount of time it would take to cycle a pump shotgun.  I could fire two shots as quick as any pump shotgun.  And the looks I got from fellow hunters as I ejected and loaded the next round was remarkable.  I was actually shooting doves with a cowboy gun! 

The Henry shouldered as nicely as any upland over-under or automatic.  The balance was spot-on and the sight picture was like most shotguns with a flat top rail and one bead at the end of the barrel.  The barrel is threaded for invector-style chokes and I shot with an improved-modified, which had no problem reaching birds at distances I would normally take with a 12 gauge.  I did have to create a make-shift plug to make the gun ‘bird-legal’ with only 2 shells in the magazine.  And with the tube load/feed magazine, it was a bit awkward; but there were very few times when I needed to be in a hurry to reload as the birds weren’t coming in hot and heavy. 

Overall, for knocking down birds (within the range of a .410), the Henry held its own.  I did shoot my 28 gauge for a while, and missed just as many birds.  I was pleasantly surprised how quickly I could follow up with a second shot.  Not as fast as an auto, but fast enough. And honestly, I probably wasted fewer shells as a result.  Everything about this gun said quality too.  It shows in the workmanship, in how it feels, and how it shoots.  The checkering on the stock and forearm was crisp and precise.  So high marks there as well.  Henry simply makes a great long gun.  The current iteration of this model now features side gate loading, thereby eliminating the need to slide the tube out to reload.  And it will make using a plug for hunting birds a lot easier as well. 

The .410 lever action is just one in a storied line-up of Henry rifles and shotguns.  Each one is made in the USA, and that means a lot to me.  I own several Henry’s and this one now holds a special place in my gun safe.  I’m looking forward to taking it on a squirrel hunt, and maybe even a quail hunt.  But, for the moment, the best thing about this gun…and that day…was the ‘cool’ factor.   I mean, when would you imagine walking on the dove field with a lever action cowboy gun?  I did.   And it was a hoot.

For more information on the .410 Lever Action and all their other excellent long guns, visit their website Henry Firearms

Tight lines and calm seas…and happy hunting!

Capt. Cefus McRae

The Legacy of Okefenokee Joe – The Man Who Loves Snakes

By Duncan Dobie

He may the best friend a snake ever had in Georgia and one of America’s greatest snake hunters ever. But he’s so much more. He’s a self-educated naturalist, an expert on animal behavior and a gifted singer and storyteller who has enthralled audiences young and old with his popular snake and wildlife programs for well over 40 years. During those 40 years, the man most Georgians recognize today as “Okefenokee Joe” became an institution in Georgia, standing up for numerous conservation issues and always teaching respect for wildlife and nature.    

Born in Philadelphia in 1932, Joe attended a YMCA camp in the Blue Mountains of Pennsylvania from the age of 8 to 18. It was here that he developed his love for camping and the great outdoors. He spent his days catching snakes and studying nature and his evenings strumming his guitar and singing to his cabin mates. After high school, three years of roughing it in the Army in hotspots like Korea helped cement his love for Mother Nature.

For 19 years, from 1954 to 1973, Joe made his living in Nashville as a singer and songwriter. In those days he went by his given name of Dick Flood, and he wrote a number of successful songs and traveled internationally with his own band. During those Nashville years he was highly respected by his peers and became good friends with many of the country greats of that period. Several of his pop and country songs were recorded by the likes of Roy Orbison, George Hamilton IV and Porter Wagoner. Joe was a frequent guest on the Grand Ole Opry and in 1956 was given a regular spot on the Jimmy Dean TV Show. One of Joe’s proudest achievements in music occurred in 1962 when his song, “Trouble’s Back in Town,” recorded by The Wilburn Brothers, hit the charts as the No. 1 song of the year.

            It might seem like he had the world by the tail, but in early 1973, at the age of 41, all was not well in Music City. Although he had supported two wives and five sons through his singing and song writing and by his own words earned a “pretty good living,” his first marriage had broken up two years earlier, and his second marriage was on the rocks. The country music business had its rewards, but Joe never got that big break everyone always talks about. When his second marriage dissolved, forcing a divorce he did not want, he was disillusioned and heartbroken. Joe packed up his meager belongings including his guitar and headed as far south as he could go, leaving show biz and 19 years of his life behind in the dust. 

A few days later he found himself deep in the Everglades near Homestead, Florida, where he camped out alone for three months. For a man with a broken heart, being out in the wilds of the ‘glades alone for that period of time proved to be a breath of fresh air. Joe realized he had a real affinity for living off the land – fishing, catching crabs and shrimp, shooting an occasional deer during deer season, and finding other edibles. He relished every minute of it.

A good friend who operated the Okefenokee Swamp Park near Waycross had offered him a job working with the animals in the park, and after his self-imposed hiatus in the Everglades, with no better prospects in sight, Joe, and an energetic mixed-breed mutt that had taken up with him he named “Swampy,” decided to head north to the “land of the trembling earth.” He had nothing to lose.

Goodbye Dick Flood, Hello Okefenokee Joe

Little could he imagine that he would find his true calling working with wildlife in the vastness of America’s largest swamp wilderness. A long abandoned cabin in the swamp that needed considerable work served as home to Swampy and Joe for the next nine years, along with a stray cat named Skeeter that Joe and Swampy adopted.

“In hindsight, taking that job was probably the best thing that could have happened to me,” Joe said later. With his diverse skills and his love of nature, Dick Flood the Nashville country singer/songwriter became Okefenokee Joe the naturalist, conservationist and resident snake expert. Within a few months Joe became a high-profile and popular ambassador for the park and its wildlife. He easily worked into the multi-faceted positions of animal curator, animal keeper, and resident herpetologist.

The list of animals under Joe’s care in the park included a small deer herd, four black bears, 13 alligators and a variety of local mammals including raccoons, ’possums and bobcats, as well as a variety of snakes, both venomous and non-poisonous. At the time the park’s best-known animal celebrity was Oscar, the free-roaming alligator nearly 14-foot-long that hundreds of tourists had come to know and love and look for on a regular basis. Oscar was a fixture at the park from its inception in 1946 until his death in 2007. He was thought to have been nearly 100 years old when old age finally caught up with him. Oscar’s legacy was insured thanks to Don Berryhill, a friend of Joe’s and noted authority on the ecology of the Okefenokee Swamp, who along with Jim Brewer and many other volunteers gave of their time and skills by piecing Oscar’s bones together like a massive dinosaur and putting them on display in the park.

  By being with the animals every day, Joe became well-versed in wild animal behavior. Slowly but surely, the one-time singing star came to believe that the creator made every living thing from the smallest insect to the largest alligator for a reason. With his natural gift for storytelling, performing and sharing knowledge, Joe began doing numerous programs about snakes and other park critters. He always tried to instill a message of respect for nature and its creatures. He became the park’s good-will ambassador for preserving not only his beloved snake friends, but wildlife everywhere. Within a few years, people started referring to him as the “Johnny Appleseed of the Okefenokee.”

 Catching Them When They’re Asleep

Joe’s hands-on job at the park evolved into one of the most unusual and unique sidelines in the South – he and several like-minded snake experts began going on snake-hunting expeditions in parts of South Georgia, Florida and South Carolina. Often he went by himself, catching both poisonous and non-poisonous snakes alike. The non-poisonous snakes, mostly king snakes and rat snakes, were sold to pet shops and collectors. Poisonous snakes were sold to research labs. It was hardly a profitable business, but each expedition was a true labor of love and a true joy for Joe and his friends.

Interestingly, Joe always tried to catch most of his snakes while they were sleeping or inactive. “They seek out warm dry places like underneath old sheets of roof tin near old barns, and when you find them in these situations, they are usually asleep and very easy to catch. Once they wake up and start moving, they are much harder to catch.” That goes for both poisonous and non-poisonous snakes alike.

In those days, cell phones were still a few decades away and Joe frequently spent all day by himself in very isolated areas, often on remote coastal islands accessible only by boat. If he got into trouble, he had only himself and Swampy to depend on. Joe became an expert at catching Georgia’s three most common venomous snakes – the cottonmouth, the canebrake rattler and of course, South Georgia’s diamondback, largest of the rattlesnake species in America. Occasionally he got lucky and caught a coral snake or two. On his best day ever he caught seven eastern diamondbacks.

Once, while snake hunting on an isolated island in southeast Georgia in knee-high grass, he walked right up to the tail-end of an alligator lying partially hidden in the grass in front of him. Thinking the ’gator was dead because it hadn’t moved or spooked upon his approach, he reached down to grab it by the tail and turn it over. With lightning speed, the “dead” four-foot alligator suddenly came to life. It twisted around and grabbed him across his midsection. Thinking quickly, Joe jabbed the gator in the ear opening, a very tender spot to ’gators. It let go and he was able to throw it off before any real damage could be done. Joe wasn’t sure whether he, or the alligator, had been more surprised. For the man who later coined the term “Swamp Wise,” “that was not very swamp wise at all,” he says with a smile whenever he tells this story.

You Don’t Want to Get Bitten By a Poisonous Snake

Although he has been bitten dozens of times by harmless snakes, of the hundreds of poisonous snakes he caught and handled, he was only bitten once. That occurred early in his snake hunting career in the mid ’70s. He had captured a cottonmouth while on a snake hunting trip to Florida. The snake was safely tucked away in a cloth bag on the floorboard of his van on the passenger side. He reached down to grab something on the floor and the snake bit him on the hand through the cloth bag. He drove himself to the nearest hospital and spent one night there. He was never in any serious danger, but it proved to be an expensive mistake.

“You don’t ever want to get bitten,” he says with authority. “My hospital bill was close to $50,000.”

 After nearly 10 years of working in the park, Joe developed a widespread reputation as a speaker and advocate for snakes and other swamp creatures. He decided to leave the park and become a full-time spokesperson for snakes and other wildlife. He soon had a thriving business doing his unique brand of programs at schools, hunting shows, Indian Festivals and numerous other outdoor events across the South where wildlife was featured. “From the first day, I fully believe that God wanted me to do what I was doing,” Joe said.

Admittedly,  many sportsmen are afraid of snakes and either kill them on sight or keep their distance, and Okefenokee Joe became a relentless ambassador for their conservation, teaching young and old alike about the “joy” of these much misunderstood creatures. His mission always was to foster an appreciation for wild places and the creatures that lived there. Often he would pick up his guitar and sing one of his amazing songs about swamp creatures and taking care of Mother Earth.

By the late ’80s, Joe had endeared himself to countless thousands of Georgians who attended his programs, and he was asked to host a TV special on GPTV about the Okefenokee Swamp. The Emmy Award winning production of “Swamp-Wise,” was so popular that he soon did a second special for public television called “The Joy of Snakes.” Over the next decade, both shows were aired dozens of times to Peach State viewers.

One of Joe’s famous catch phrases often mentioned in songs is: “If you don’t need it, leave it.” In other words, if you’re going to cut down a tree, have a good reason. Try to always leave nature as you found it. And when it comes to snakes, probably the world’s most persecuted species since Adam and Eve, Joe has these words of wisdom: “God created the snake to do exactly what he does. The snake doesn’t want to bite you; he just takes from nature only what he needs and nothing more.”

Facing several health issues, Joe officially retired from doing programs in 2014 at age 81. After over 40 years of doing countless nature and snake programs across the South, it was time to take a well deserved break. But the important messages he has shared with so many people continue to inspire. In one of his recent albums, he sings a moving ballad titled “It’s only a Tree.” It begins, “It’s only a tree, Just one more tree, Who cares if it lives to dies? It’s only a tree, What’s one less tree, Who’d miss it? You’d be surprised.” Of course, Joe’s underlying message is that everything in nature has its purpose and is tied together in some way. He goes on to say, “Life is intertwined, And somewhere down the line, Somehow we’re all connected to that tree.”

  Over the years Joe has received numerous awards and citations. On November 2015, at the age of 83, under his given and stage name of Dick Flood, he was inducted into the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame, and in 2019, at 86 years young, Joe was inducted into the Georgia Outdoor Writers Hunting and Fishing Hall of Fame. When you talk to this amazing man about his favorite subject – snakes – his spirit and enthusiasm is reminiscent of a teenage boy preparing to go on his first deer hunt. It may well be that Okefenokee Joe is the greatest snake hunter alive. He’ll always be young at heart, and he’ll always continue to inspire those around him about the wonders of nature.    

Dick Flood/Okefenokee Joe has produced seven CDs containing many of his original swamp songs. His book, SwampWise, tells about his life in the swamp as Okefenokee Joe. His audio book “SwampWise – Secrets Songs & Stories from the Land of the Tremblin’ Earth!” is a collection of “swampwise” secrets with 42 original songs. His book Snake Hunter, Snake Talk tells about his amazing adventures as a snake hunter. His soon-to-be-published autobiographic book, Walk Among the Stars, tells all his 19-year singing career in Nashville. For more information go to  www.okefenokeejoe.com.  

By John Trussell – GOWA

J. Wayne Fears is somebody special in the outdoor field. He has lived a life full of outdoor adventure, and I see him as an outdoor writer’s outdoor writer. Basically, he’s a cut above the average outdoor writer who just writes occasionally and has to really work hard to put the bones on a good story. I have read his stories for many years and several of his books are sitting on my bookshelf, as this guy knows his stuff! It comes naturally to Fears because he has lived the outdoor dream for 80-plus years.

 A former Eagle Scout and son of a trapper who grew up in north Alabama, Fears grew up hunting and fishing to put food on the table. He joined the Army National Guard while in high school because, his bio says, “He could not believe the government would furnish him with ammo to shoot.”

After graduating from Auburn, he worked as a wildlife specialist with the University of Georgia. As the years went by, he would host a weekly radio program, get a master’s degree, oversee 500,000 acres as chief wildlife manager for Gulf States Paper Corp., and he would write some 6,000 magazine articles for Field and Stream, Outdoor Life, Backpacker, Canoe, Whitetails Unlimited, Bowhunting World, North American Hunter and many others.

He was the former editor of Rural Sportsman magazine and in his “spare time” he has written more than 30 books on a variety of subjects ranging from cabin building (including “How to Build Your Dream Cabin in the Woods”) to survival (“The Pocket Outdoor Survival Guide”) to cookbooks (including “The Complete Book of Dutch Oven Cooking”).

 Fears knows how to get by in the woods with just his wits and knowledge acquired over the decades. Many years ago, he had to survive in the wilderness for 15 days without food and supplies. It all happened when he was scouting hunting locations near the Yukon/British Columbia border in Canada, and the person who dropped him off didn’t come back as agreed. A grizzly stalked his camp every night. Fears had to fashion something crude to cook with and survived mostly on rainbow trout. He finally used a red shirt on a long pole to flag down a supply plane—that was off course due to a storm—to rescue him. As they say, a country boy will get by!

Fears has taken all sorts of people on paid hunting expeditions, including Hank Williams Jr., baseball players, actor Patrick Duffy of “Dallas” and former Vice President Hubert Humphrey, to name a few. I didn’t see a single poor redneck hunter anywhere on the list, so I’d like to volunteer for that duty!

Recently Fears was called to Rome, Ga. to receive a very prestigious honor from the Georgia Outdoor Writers Association (GOWA). After a rigorous review and a secret vote by the members of the Georgia Outdoor Writers Association, Fears was inducted into the Georgia Outdoor Writers Fishing and Hunting Hall of Fame, which is housed in the Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center near Mansfield.

Charlie Elliott was the first person inducted into the Hall of Fame, but others include Jack Wingate, Steve Burch, George Perry, Jimmy Jacobs, Arthur Woody and others. The Hall of Fame was started many years ago by Dean Wohlgemuth, who many consider to be one of Georgia’s finest outdoor writers. He worked for the Georgia Game and Fish Commission back in the 1960s and wrote many stories for the Game and Fish Magazine, a small color magazine that was one of the few outdoor publications available to outdoorsmen at the time. As a young man, I recall making many trips down to the mailbox at the end of my long driveway to anxiously await the latest issue arriving to read Dean’s latest hunting and fishing adventure. Dean, now 88, lives in Jesup and loves to read books and magazine stories by J. Wayne Fears.

Now in his 80s, Fears still has many excellent ideas for books and magazine stories percolating through his mind that we will soon see in print. I, for one, can’t wait! Fears lives in Cross Creek Hallow, Ala. in a cabin he built with his own two hands, and he still enjoys living the outdoor life.

By John Trussell – GOWA

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources, in conjunction with the Georgia Outdoor Writers Association and sponsors The Southern Company and Glock, announced the winners of the 2021 Georgia Big Deer Contest. The competition is the oldest continuous deer contest in the state, with the first awards being handed out in 1967. The contest is managed by retired Georgia DNR biologist Bill Cooper, along with a host of volunteer deer scorers and with the assistance of GON. The winners were recognized at the recent Georgia Outdoor Writers Association (GOWA) annual awards banquet, which was held at the Neely Center in Rome on June 18, 2022.

Awards are presented in four categories. The divisions are for the largest typical and non-typical racks taken by archers, and for bucks taken by firearms hunters. Judging is based on the rack’s score using the Boone and Crockett scoring system for firearms kills or the Pope and Young Club scores for bucks taken with a bow and arrow. Both systems measure the antlers using the same formula in increments of one-eighth of an inch.

 The winners for the 2021 season are:

TOP TYPICAL BOW: 165 2/8 Adam Lomax, of Cumming. Taken: Sept. 29, 2021 in DeKalb County 

TOP NON-TYPICAL BOW: 222 4/8 Benny Overholt, of Marshallville. (Velvet) Taken: Sept. 13, 2021 in Macon County

 TOP TYPICAL GUN: 179 4/8 Jason McGovern, of Tifton. Taken: Nov. 4, 2021 in Worth County

 TOP NON-TYPICAL GUN: 192 1/8 Cory Croft, of Pine Mountain. Taken: Nov. 12, 2021 in Harris County

Any Georgia buck that is officially measured by a certified scorer—and the score sheet provided to GON or Bill Cooper—is eligible for the Georgia Big Deer Contest and awards ceremony hosted by GOWA.