Over the weekend we attended SEWE (pronounced see-wee), the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition, held every year in Charleston in late winter, although with temperatures in the 70s it feels like late spring to me.
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| Cooking demonstration |
The city's Gaillard Auditorium is filled with booths and tables selling
and promoting all kinds of hunting and fishing gear, as well as
outdoor-themed clothes and artwork. The art center exhibits wildlife paintings and photographs. Marion
Square features bird and reptile exhibitions, cooking demonstrations,
music, food, handmade crafts and locally grown products.
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| Young owl |
I confess I am not a hunter. The last time I shot a gun was when I was
about 14 and visited my uncle up in rural Connecticut. The last
time I went fishing was with my son when he was about six years old.
And the last time I went camping was with a girlfriend in 1973. But I am
an armchair environmentalist, and so SEWE is a fun thing to do . . . although I do wonder: Is it possible to be an environmentalist and then go out and shoot wild animals to death? Well, that's a question best left to people smarter than I am.
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| Three-year-old American alligator |
Anyway, another venue over by the Ashley river offers more food, more music, plus flyfishing and gun dog demonstrations. But the capstone event, for me, is the dockdog competition.
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| The dog is launched |
Any breed can be entered. Each dog gets two tries. And the winner is the dog who jumps the farthest off the dock.
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| Going for it |
Each handler gets one minute to set the dog, throw the shuttle and have his dog leave the platform.
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| Soaring over Charleston |
They mark the distance at the point the base of the dog's tail hits the water. Most of the dogs jump 14 to 19 feet. A few jump over 20 feet. And the winner of the event I saw landed at some 28 feet off the board. That's one giant leap for dogkind!
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| Flying high |
And just so you know I am indeed in the south, here is proof:
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| Bluegrass music |
And if you're still not convinced, here is proof positive:
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| Certified Southern fare |
13 comments:
Wow those dogs!
Envious, quite, of where you are. I am dying for relief from winter. Even briefly.
XO
WWW
Crawfish...yep missing that.
Ah, yes, crawfish ettouffe. Yum!
The crawfish ettouffee got my attention too. What a great place for a winter visit.
Yes, you surely are in the South!
Of course, I am in the south as well, but the part where I am more likely to go back to VT with a Michigan accent than any kind of drawl, y'all.
That last sign doesn't seem to have anything on it I am familiar with! :-)
Enjoy it.
I'm not sure about the 'fried alligator bites'....but I definitely would have loved to see the Dock Dog Competition!
Great pictures. I also don't hunt and consider myself an armchair environmentalist.
Lucky you! Enjoy that wonderful climate, and of course, the crawfish—and the ettouffee, whatever that is!
Looks like fun! I just can't bring myself to try alligator. Charleston sounds like a nice place to visit, and maybe a nice place to live.
Hi Tom! Hmmmm....I agree? Sort of strange to think of an environmental celebration that includes hunting but I guess hunters can appreciate wildlife for different reasons that the most of it. LOVED the dog jumping contest! And I tried crawfish exactly once and didn't care for it. Still, it looked like a fun way to spend the day. Glad to see that you and B are having fun. ~Kathy
I would have loved the dog jumping. I'm not to big on the hunting fishing thing either but I do love nature and conservacy. Like you, I'll leave it to the big brains to figure out how it works together. Sounds like Charleston has been a nice getaway.
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