Posts by Daryl Gay
Altamaha River Limb-Line Cats
The world moved slower a hundred years ago in south Georgia. Life was simpler; but, truly, times were hard. There was little industry. No “town” jobs to speak of in a spot as sparse as Soperton. Willie T. Barwick was struggling just to get by in the year 1920, at wit’s end. That’s when he…
Read MoreReverie Disruption
My mind races… It’s like, pick a tangent, any tangent… Guess it’s all this whirling; on the mower. Only ridden from Dublin to Waycross, in circles, this morning. My simple brain needs to get focused on a simple subject, get up on plane and head out in a single direction. Hmmm… What’s for dinner? Now…
Read MoreHouston County Gator Goes 12-8
The alligator hunting team of Tony Wrye, his brother Joey and hunting buddy Tommy Sorrow have been at it since 2005. Opening night (Aug. 18) of the 2023 season almost slipped by them—but not quite. Good thing. Except maybe for a 12-foot, 8-inch monster that gave the trio all it wanted before finally being hauled…
Read MoreEye To Eye With Jake
Maybe I’m just seeing things. Or not. My optometriskatologist, or however you spell eye doctor, can’t seem to get a handle on it. Says ain’t nothing that he can see. OK; so what’s wrong is that I can’t see. Well, some of the really important things anyways. Take 4-lb. test line and an extra light-wire…
Read MoreLiving Life As A Georgia Shrimper
“We didn’t have depthfinders. We had a lead sinker with soap on a string.” The world—including the serene, salt-flecked beauty of the coast around Darien—was a different place 60 years ago. So was making a living, off the land or water. And sometimes both. Henry Arden “Skip” Skipper, Jr. is the current patriarch of that…
Read MoreOf Raptors And Rodents
Perhaps I’ve mentioned too many times in this space my love/(mostly) hate relationship with squirrels. Yeah, that had to be how word got out. On the other hand, who knew that hawks could read? This time of year, when about all I’m legally allowed to place lead into is a nasty pig or coyote, is…
Read MoreGON Youth Shoot-Out Winner Takes Dream Hunt
When 15-year-old Wyatt Coleman downed a Harris County buck the third week of the 2022 season, he was hoping a little luck was on his side. Little did he know… The gross 124-inch whitetail, which netted 117, turned out to be big enough. Big enough, that is, to earn Wyatt a spot in the Georgia…
Read MoreUn-Pasturized Porkers
Cows are just rude. Not to mention unsanitary. There ain’t a tree within 40 yards. I ain’t quite as spry as I used to be… Sorry, but you’ve been to this page long enough to know how I think. (Warning: seek psychiatric help immediately.) All that zipped through as I stood in the middle of…
Read MoreTurkeys Can Be Tough, Not As Tough As Gracie
As is typical with 14-year-old girls, Gracie Thigpen just wants to have fun. But this Bleckley County teen is anything but typical; for Gracie, having fun revolves around hunting, fishing and the outdoors. She’s learning that this hunting business is usually anything but easy, especially when it comes to harvesting a tom turkey. Unfortunately, she…
Read MoreRocks & Docks For Reds & Trout With Miss Judy Charters
How often do we drive over a body of water, gaze out and muse, “There ought to be fish there… and there, and there…” and wish we were in a boat checking out those hunches? Motoring over Lake Sinclair on 441, past Little River and Lakeside landings, drives me nuts. I’m crisscrossing the Oconee, Ogeechee,…
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