With the onset of Thanksgiving, hunters everywhere are celebrating. Everything is open now…….well, most everything. Thanksgiving has traditionally been the opening of many of the small game seasons. Rabbit hunters are running beagles, quail hunters are following pointers, and the rare grouse hunter is chasing a spaniel through brambles in the mountains. Fox, bobcat, and a few other small game seasons open as well.
For many, Thanksgiving is the celebrated day of the year. As Havilah Babcock said, “My health is better in November” true to sportsmen everywhere who are now unsheathing shotguns, un-leashing dogs and celebrating the cold mornings and cool afternoons.
In certain parts of the Carolina’s big game season takes a hiatus while small game is ushered in. Allowing small game guys the opportunity to run dogs, and listen to the music of hounds echoing through the hills and valleys.
Thankfully, many WMA lands hold a lot of rabbits and excellent quail habitat. Areas of the SC Piedmont from Laurens through Newberry and Fairfield County are full of planted pines, thick areas where rabbits roam. These same areas hold few pockets of quail also. Areas within the Sumter National Forest are excellent places to try. For those living along the coast, Francis Marion national forest also holds plenty of excellent rabbit and quail habitat.
As November begins to wane and the year is drawing to an end, the opening of small game seasons reinvigorate many hunters who have filled deer tags but are not ready to lay by for nine to ten months waiting to get back into the woods. Take advantage, take a kid hunting for some squirrels, rabbits, or anything else you can think of to find a reason to get afield and enjoy creation.
