The path to Shoot Yo Leg

The woods are primitive and ancient. Giant hardwoods tower over the hillside. There is a super canopy of massive pines. In March and April, portions of the forest floor are carpeted in a thick stand of wild Easter lilies. A heavy stand of cypress trees reign over the long, narrow, watery swampland that guards this place. It is a portion of the "Upper Swamp."

Most of the Upper Swamp was logged a few years ago. This section of timber company land is tucked in between a narrow private tract that borders the Charleston-Augusta Highway and a club road named Shoot Yo Leg. The timber cutters couldn't get through the long strip of cypress swamp and couldn't get permission to access the area from the adjoining property owner. So, it was left standing.

This remnant of big timber still holds some wild turkeys, and it is one of my favorite places to hunt on this Lowcountry club. The private land along the highway is mostly cow pastures and hay fields. On the club, both sides of Shoot Yo Leg Road were clear cut, and the only way to get to the remaining timber is across a wide cut-over. No one else on the club hunts this area.

After the area was cut, I knew that it would grow up in a bramble of briars, weeds and thickets too dense to pass through. So, I marked a trail across the wide cut-over with small strips of orange flagging and reflective tacks. I sprayed the path with an herbicide to knock back the growth. I intentionally left the start of the trail unmarked so it wouldn't be discovered by other hunters.

One of the other hunters, Buck Nettles, did eventually stumble across my path by accident. Hearing turkeys gobbling in the big timber one morning inspired him to try crossing the cut-over. He found my path and just assumed it was an old abandoned logging road. At the big timber, his progress was stopped by a wall of fallen timber and flooded cypress swamps. He followed my path back to Shoot Yo Leg. He knew there were easier places to hunt on the club.

Every year in June or early July, I spot spray portions of the path. The deer and hogs use the trail and keep it well-trodden. All I have to do is treat the briars and dog fennel that come back each year. An occasional gum tree sapling gets special attention from me. They must be kept in check or will quickly take over. If I spray earlier in the year, the vegetation will come back before fall. But a mid-summer treatment will last until cool weather and the end of the growing season. I do not bother the pines that were planted by the timber company.

At the big woods end of the path, there is a narrow gap of dry land between the cypress swamps. I found the gap while turkey hunting, before the timber harvest. It was overlooked by the timber cutters. A heavy wind storm blew down a score of big hardwoods that seem to block that gap, but there is a passage around one side. It was not obvious to my friend Buck. I have done some very minor brush trimming in this area.

The big timber of the Upper Swamp runs all the way down to another club road, Ridge Road, but it is a long way, and the wet areas are hard to navigate. No one bothers. The Ridge Road end is wider and more extensive, but the turkeys seem to favor the narrower Shoot Yo Leg end of the timber.

This year my path was festooned with a variety of wildflowers and a good stand of broom straw grass. I was careful to keep the herbicide use minimized. The path to Shoot Yo Leg is now a thing of beauty.

Reach Dan Geddings at cdgeddings@gmail.com.