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Tree tops and branches lay strewn across Sumter County in the fall of 1989, littering the landscape like broken matchsticks after one of the most powerful hurricanes in state history swept far inland from the coast.

Mooney Player, a legendary ex-high school football coach, remembers it well. Hurricane Hugo leveled much of the forested land his family had owned for six generations, costing him money from lost timber sales and causing him to wonder what he would do with the land in the future.

Player eventually settled on an idea that he never regretted. With the help of an agricultural expert, he converted the battered land into a private quail preserve, where he could hunt the coveted game birds with his friends.

Now, more than 30 years later, the 91-year-old Player has sold the 774 acres for the public to hunt on. The $1.5 million sale to Quail Forever has been finalized, and preparations are underway for quail experts to manage the property, as Player has done.

On Wednesday, officials with Quail Forever and the S.C. Department of Natural Resources will formally recognize the land transfer, with a dedication event on the property in the Dalzell community near the Sumter-Lee county line east of Columbia.

The property, to be called the Bobwhite Hills Wildlife Area, is the first Quail Forever has acquired in the eastern United States. Public hunting is expected to start in the 2023-24 season. General public access also will be allowed, according to plans. The land is adjacent to a 2,000-acre public wildlife management area.

Raleigh West, director of the S.C. Conservation Bank, said the sale by Player to Quail Forever will protect property so that it can continue to be managed for the popular but dwindling game bird. The Conservation Bank, a state agency, provided about $850,000 toward the purchase by Quail Forever.

”The bobwhite quail is an iconic game bird that even as populations declined, continued to bring together generations of sportsmen and women,” West said. “The acquisition of Bobwhite Hills represents not only an opportunity to grow the native quail populations, but also it sets a backdrop for continuing our state’s rich sporting traditions.”

The bobwhite quail, so named for its characteristic “Bob White” call, is found in many places, including the upper Midwest and the Southeast. Noticeable for white and dark stripes on its head, the brownish-gray bird can stand nearly 11 inches tall and weigh 6.3 ounces.

The birds have been hunted for decades. They provide not only a great sporting challenge, but a tasty meal for those who bag them. Bobwhite Quail are known for their distinctive call. They are found in the southeast, but their numbers have declined as habitats have been lost.

Quail thrive in grasslands and fields between cleared farmland and deep woods, but much of their habitat has been lost through the years to suburban sprawl and more intensive farming practices. Predators, such as fire ants and hawks, also threaten quail populations.

In South Carolina, bobwhite quail populations have dropped substantially since 1979, according to the state Department of Natural Resources. The decline may have started sooner than that. Federal statistics show a 60% decline in quail population in the Southeast from the mid 1960s to the mid-1990s. Populations have rebounded slightly in recent years.

According to plans, the DNR will help manage the Player property with Quail Forever. That will involve keeping the proper habitat for quail so that the birds on Player’s former land will continue to sustain themselves. Wildlife managers also will limit the quail harvest to about 15% of the population at Bobwhite Hills, according to the DNR.

The key is preventing forested floors from becoming overgrown, and making sure open fields are maintained — both habitats that quail like.

Player, one of the winningest coaches in state high school football history, said he sold the land because it was becoming harder to maintain and he had no family members available to take oversight of the property.

“There was not a sixth generation person to take over,’’ Player said. “There was nobody to pass it on to.’’

Player said, however, that West was helpful in putting the deal together, a move that allows for public access. Player said the preserve at one time “probably had the best natural quail’’ around.

State wildlife officials don’t dispute that.

“The beauty of this property is it is not going to require a lot work to get it going,’’ said Michael Hook, the S.C. Department of Natural Resources’ small game program chief. “This one is already there. You sort of jump in and go.’’

Player’s efforts to maintain a bobwhite quail preserve should come as no surprise to those who know Player as a football coach.

An intense and colorful character who once told a team manager to call the Air Force to complain about jets flying over his team’s practice field, Player won five state championships from 1957-1972. He coached at Newberry, Saluda and Lower Richland high schools. He won more than 150 games . He is a member of the S.C. Athletic Hall of Fame.

During his tenure, he was known for innovative offenses, crisp practices, inspirational speeches and the slogan “Can’t Beat the Creek’’, a reference to Lower Richland. While at Lower Richland, he lobbied to change the school’s mascot from a hornet to a diamond, thus today’s nickname “Diamond Hornets,’’ according to a 2010 story by The State’s Ron Morris.

Player, who grew up in Barnwell County, left Lower Richland in 1972, eventually seeking the vacant University of South Carolina football coaching job in late 1974. Bumper stickers around town called for USC to hire Player. But the university picked Texas Tech coach Jim Carlen, and Player never coached again.

Player said he began to hunt more often after leaving football — but only then.

“It was always football first, and I hunted a little bit after football season and after school in the afternoons,’’ he said.

Now, the public will benefit from his post-football hunting passion — and having the opportunity to maintain the land for quail will help in the fight to sustain populations of the bird, according to the DNR and Pheasants Forever, the parent organization for Quail Forever.

“For several years, coach Player searched for an entity to maintain and improve upon the conservation work he has completed, while perhaps expanding opportunities for future South Carolinians to experience a wild quail hunt,’’ the DNR and Quail Forever said in a statement, noting that the Quail organization was glad to help.

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