My name is Bunyan Morris. I’ve lived In Georgia all of my life. Teaching art is my passion. Connie is the love of my life and my daughter is my joyful pride.
I’ve hunted or fished all of my life. I am fortunate to have been reared and to have worked on a farm whose southern border is Echeconnee Creek. My father was was hard on his brood. But, he instilled a love and respect for the outdoors in his children. While he ruled at home, he gave me freedom in the woods.
By the time I was twelve years old, I knew almost every tree, slough and tadpole in the swamp. To cool off on hot summer days, my friends and I jumped from the nearby highway bridge into its cool muddy waters. In July 1970 naked “hippies” from The Atlanta Pop Festival swam and bathed in my favorite swimming hole. Echeconnee creek had introduced the naked female form to a boy of eight. For this if nothing else, my buddies and I will forever be in debt to that body of water.
Free time on Saturdays and evenings after school were spent fishing, listening to my pair of beagles chase rabbits or just exploring. Sometimes I would take my Dad’s recurve just to shoot the arrows aloft to see how far they would go and to see how far across our pasture they’d land.
I was interested in song birds, snakes, pitcher plants ferns and any oddities or ancient artifacts that I could find and study. That swamp was a source of wonder for a young boy.
Later, I went off to college and spent more time hunting college co-eds than fur and fins. The next decade brought marriage, graduate school, a beautiful daughter and a divorce. During this time I’d taken a break from hunting itself. However, I never left the woods. I spent time fishing, camping, hiking and paddling on public lands and waters.
The property that borders Echeconnee Creek is still in my family. I’m privileged to continue my visits to the swamp. I occasionally take a deer from there. But, mostly I spend my time enjoying its beauty. I can’t help but write romantically about the wonders of the swamp. Because if a place can define a person, Echeconnee Creek Swamp is the nature of who I am.
In the second half of my life, I’ve developed a similar affinity for a Carolina Bay that lies in the low lands of southern Screven County. It is here that I made a new beginning in traditional archery.
Another view of Horse Pen Bay. This is a 300 or so acre wetland loved by deer, turkey, small game, fish, alligators, waterfowl and this hunter.
Horse Pen Bay in Screven County Georgia. Etter and I hunt some of the same hallowed grounds.
Ancient muscadine vine in Southeastern Georgia.
hunting hard from a limb on the edge of the maritime forest. Love live oaks.
Coastal sunrise from the stand on a Georgia barrier island, Black Beard