She startles only once, when a six-foot alligator sunning in the shallows of the river thrashes loudly into deeper water. We have guests who take a kayak out in the river all the time. But not this guest. The house guns at the hunting lodge come from James Purdey and Sons of London, the finest maker in the world. My instructor, Mike Blakeley, says that several owners have their own Purdeys.
Sporting clays is like golf with a gun and earplugs.
You have to concentrate, relax, swing, and follow through. I hit just under half of the 50 targets on my round. It is immensely satisfying to reach out and dust a little clay Frisbee from 35 yards away. It makes you feel extremely competent. The Combahee River is navigable for the 35 miles that separate the plantation from the St. Helena Sound.