The Wilmington morning star., 1940-12-01
Northern Newspaper Men Find
>. Brunswick Sportsman Paradise

. = i.tfr . f'.
country is almost unkno vn. al
though it can be reached from Bal
timore, New York, or Washington
in nights journey.
"I6 have just come back. from
there and believe me it has wilder
looking 'jungles' than I ever. saw in
Florida. Honestly, I believe it holds
more wild life to the square mile
than any other section in the east.
But more about that a bit later.
Acting as a sort of metropolis
of this section is the town of South
port, situated on the Inland Water
way at the juncture of the Cape
Fear and Elizabeth rivers with the
Atlantic ocean.
ut is wild country in a ray,
but a country filled by a kindly
people who are about the most hos
pitable people I have ever met; a
country holding a thousand and one
delights for the hunter, the fresh
anu salt water angler and the
naturalist. .
"Unlike most of the coastal
plains to the north and south, its
vegetation and woodlands come
right down to the ocean beaches.
Here the live oak is triumphant,
with its festoons of hanging moss.
The same lake nesting deep in
woods will harbor both prodigious
black bass and eight to ten-foot al
ligators.
THE surrounding woodland
gives shelter to many herds of
deer. and more wild turkeys than 1
ever saw in one place anywhere.
Out in the more open country,
bob-White sent out their CHEEKY call
from every covert and down there
they really have cover for the wild
things. Railbirds in the marshes
and doves in the sycamores COM
plete a picture that is capable of
making any man who lowest to take
a gun afield, thrill with delight.
strangely enough, the natives
hardly ever hunt bob-white or doves
at all They get their hunting thrills
tracking deer, or hunting the thou
sands Of racoons, opossums and
foxes that appear to overrun the
whole country.
THAT is the woodland side of
the story. Within a mile or so and
you get in the wild waterfowl sector
With its ducks and geese in season
and its fishing that reminds you OF
Florida at its best.
BARRACUDA, dolphin, cero, alba.
core, channel bass, ssheepshead, a
score of species intact, all waiting
for the fisher of the salty. waters.
There are marlin off shore and
now and then a sailfish1 courses
the waters just off Bald Head.
-"'Actua1ly this rich and virgin
territory is Just on the verge of..be.
ing discovered Personally, I do
not know whether to be sorry or
glad It willsbe great for the many
fine people down there but l hate
to see sitsse naturalness spoiled by
visiting hunters and anglers.
S"Just: within the past. ten days
the North Carolina Conservation
Commission has started with the
view. of. both publicizing it and
stocking with different species OF
game. However, all it needs is a
concerted drive against predators,
to my mind -
Nov, I;hear the government has
become interested in the country
down there, but for a different
reason. The juncture: of the Cape
Fear and Elizabeth rivers form a
harbor right on the present Inland
Waterway, that even now can care
for large yachts and with a mini
mum Of dredging could take in a
whole flotilla Of lesser. warships.
Two long islands, a sort Of con-
t~inuation Of the outer banks to the
north, give full protection to this
harbor. It is an open secret that
the government is looking over both
Smith Island on the outside and
Oak Island on the inside, where
during the first World war, Fort
CasWeu was located.
1T seems strange to say that
this territory is about to be dis
covered because it contains the
oldest; plantation in America, that
is, the Oldest plantation that has
been constantly worked. Orion
Plantation, about eight miles from
Southport, was first established
back in 1725 and has been a going
concern ever SINCE" Z