Those were the days

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We called him "Bear." A big guy, bearded and imposing - with a heart of gold and a gentle manner. I don't remember when we first met, but I think it was on a local deer drive, nearly 40 years ago. His real name is Phillip Mixon, and he is an old friend.

His regular hunting buddy back in the day was Wesley Gainey. Wesley was a brother-in-law to another good friend of mine, Donnie Brown. My duck hunting partner back then was my brother-in-law, Johnny Harrington.

We all got together occasionally and hunted ducks in Sparkleberry. It was a special time, when a hundred thousand mallards flew from the refuge every day to feed on the flooded oak ridges and smartweed flats of the upper Santee Swamp.

Johnny and I would scout the swamp for ducks and call Bear if we found a good bunch. It's all public land, so somebody would have to go in there and sit in the boat to hold the spot the night before we hunted. Just a little sidebar here - I laid in the bottom of a jon boat, somewhere in Sparkleberry Swamp, many a night, staring up at an inky black sky filled with an uncountable number of twinkling stars, waiting on daylight and the hunt to come.

On one occasion, we found a big group of mallards using a remote slough a couple of days before the season opened, and we didn't think anybody else was on them. But, just to be safe, Johnny and I went in the afternoon before the opener to hold the spot. Wesley and Donnie came in later that evening. Bear wasn't able to go when they left town, so somebody had to go back to the landing later that night to pick him up. Johnny and I volunteered and headed back through the swamp to Pack's Landing after midnight.

He met us at the boat docks with a stack of gear. Waders, gun case, shell boxes and other assorted trappings. When we pulled up he said, "I can't believe y'all only brought one boat to get me." Now remember, he was a big guy and he had a lot of stuff, but we managed to get him and his gear safely loaded and slowly motored back through the swamp to our spot. We had a great hunt the next day.

In a few short years, we saw duck numbers dwindle. The refuge faced federal budget cuts, and its management work was limited. We knew that the refuge was the key to having ducks in the area. All we had at the time was the refuge and the big swamp. There were no private duck ponds around to hold ducks back then.

Phil Mixon wasn't the kind of guy that would just sit around and do nothing. He knew we would need to organize and work toward improving conditions at the Santee Refuge. Phil put together some local public meetings for duck hunters, and the Lake Marion Waterfowl Association was born.

A committee was established to run the organization and conduct fundraising banquets. I contacted the refuge manager Glen Bond, and he readily agreed to work with our organization. Glen gave our committee a tour of the refuge units and talked about where we could make an impact. They needed help with seed, fertilizer, diesel fuel and volunteer labor.

In a few short years, we raised thousands of dollars and put that money to work improving conditions for the waterfowl that winged their way south to Santee. Another project that we started was a mallard release program. We raised wild-strain mallard ducks in captivity, banded them and released them on the lake in an effort to supplement migratory populations.

At one of our fundraising banquets in 1986, I met David Wielicki. He had just started the South Carolina Waterfowl Association. It was headquartered in a store-front in downtown Charleston. Its focus was on wood duck production - primarily on the big plantations in the Lowcountry. I joined the SCWA and kept in contact with Dave.

Then one day Bear called me and asked if I would be interested in developing some duck ponds. His friend Bobby Sisson was getting clay from a landfill company to use on the track at Sumter Speedway. The company had a huge mining operation in Clarendon County near the lake. They needed to reclaim some of the clay pits and asked Bobby who could help them turn the empty pits into duck ponds. Bobby recommended the Lake Marion Waterfowl Association and called Phil.

Phil, Bobby and I met with the management team at the landfill. We got a tour of the facilities and met with the construction foreman of the mining operation to discuss a general plan. I was to oversee the construction activities for the LMWA. We all had regular day jobs at the time, and I came to realize after a while that the task was just too big and too important for part-time management.

I talked with Phil and Bobby about getting the SCWA involved. The rough construction was done, and there was a need now for more intense habitat work. The SCWA had people that could better manage that work. I called David Wielicki.

The SCWA took over the project and ran with it. It has developed the site into a world-class waterfowl habitat and educational facility. It has also relocated its headquarters to the site.

We saw after a time that the mallards would probably never return to Santee, and the Lake Marion Waterfowl Association faded away. But let me tell you. Those were the days.

Reach Dan Geddings at cdgeddings@gmail.com.