Christian Outdoors Podcast: One of the fastest growing podcasts in its space is pleased to announce being recognized as the 13 th Best Christian Podcast for 2022. Feedspot is the internet’s largest human curated database for bloggers and podcast’s regularly announces their Top 100 Podcast for different categories. The March 3rd release shows Christian Outdoors Podcast is currently rated as the 13th Best Christian Podcast to listen to for 2022. Podcast producer and host Pete Rogers expresses deep gratitude to all the listeners who tune in each week for a new episode of Christian Outdoors Podcast. “To see how far we have come in such a short time is nothing but a blessing from God. We have worked to bring quality programming to the listeners who love the outdoors and who love Jesus. This ranking shows that our program is resonating with our audience. I am truly humbled by God’s goodness.” Rogers says. Christian Outdoors balances a mixture of interviews with outdoor experts to discuss activities in the outdoors with spiritual guidance, biblical teaching, and spiritual insight. Christian Outdoors Podcast is available with new episodes appearing every Monday through all podcast outlets and through the website www.christianoutdoors.org
About Pete Rogers: Pete Rogers is an award-winning outdoor writer, podcast producer and speaker. To date he has published more than 1,000 articles and 6 books earning numerous literary, photography, videography, and podcast production awards along the way. Including the 2019 Outdoor Book of the Year, and the 2021 Best Broadcast Production for his podcast.Rogers is currently the producer and host of Christian Outdoors Podcast producing weekly shows for his growing audience. He is a member of several professional writing and production organizations and is a popular speaker for numerous events.If you would like to contact him or have him speak at your next event, he can be reached at pete@christianoutdoors.org, or through his website, www.christianoutdoors.org
Christian Outdoors Podcast: One of the fastest growing podcasts in its space is pleased to announce our reaching 100,000 subscribers to our podcast!Began in 2019, The award winning, Christian Outdoors Podcast is setting new heights with the 100,000th subscriber to its show. Podcast producer and host Pete Rogers expresses deep gratitude to all the listeners who tune in each week for a new episode of Christian Outdoors. “I am humbled that so many people are *nding our show entertaining and inspiring.” Rogers says.By mixing in a balance of interviews with experts in outdoor activities, and the Christian message, Christian Outdoors has *rmly established their place in the podcast space. As Rogers puts it, “some episodes are focused on an outdoors lifestyle and how we can enjoy it more, and other episodes are focused more on how we can enjoy God every day. Most are a combination of the two.” With a growth of 1,700% from this time last year, it shows that people are listening and connecting with the content. “We really seem to be resonating with people.” Rogers says.Christian Outdoors Podcast is available through all podcast outlets and through the website www.christianoutdoors.org About Pete Rogers: Pete Rogers is an award-winning outdoor writer, podcast producer and speaker. To date he has published more than 1,000 articles and 6 books earning numerous literary, photography, videography, and podcast production awards along the way. Including the 2019 Outdoor Book of the Year, and the 2021 Best Broadcast Production for his podcast.Rogers is currently the producer and host of Christian Outdoors Podcast producing weekly shows for his growing audience. He is a member of several professional writing and production organizations and is a popular speaker for numerous events.If you would like to contact him or have him speak at your next event, he can be reached at :
pete@christianoutdoors.org, or through his website, www.christianoutdoors.org
Aiken, SC — The South Carolina outdoor Press Association formally known as SCOPe held its business conference this past week in Aiken, SC. During the Saturday evenings award banquet, the Board of Directors announced the creation of a new award recognizing the Best Overall Hunting Story.
Incoming President Pete Rogers announced the creation of; The “Terry Madewell Award” This award beginning in 2022, will recognize the best overall hunting story in the Excellence in Craft competition among its members.
About Terry Madewell:
Terry Madewell earned his degree in Wildlife & Fisheries Management from Tennessee Tech University in 1972 and began a professional career in that field that totaled 30 years in Federal Service. Titles included Park Ranger, Outdoor Recreation Planner, Fish & Wildlife Specialist and Natural & Cultural Resources Supervisor.
In 2002 he was awarded Best Natural Resources Manager in the Air Force (Worldwide/Civilian) in a ceremony at the Pentagon in Washington DC.
His writing career encompasses the past 48 years and he’s still active in the field. He’s worked part-time and full-time as an outdoor communicator since he was 23 and wrote weekly newspaper columns, often two a week, for over 30 years. He was Editor of the Manning Times newspaper in Manning SC and he’s been published in dozens of state, regional and national magazines through the years. He has also self-published four books relating to the outdoor world.
One of his passions is outdoor photography and he’s had dozens of photos that appeared as magazine covers and his photography and writing has earned many awards in photography and literary competitions.
He enjoys woodworking and woodturning where he produces handmade turkey calls and many other wood products.
His great passion in the outdoors is sharing fishing and hunting experiences with youngster and introducing them to the outdoor world. He’s blessed to have six children, nine granddaughters and two great-grandsons.
Madewell has been President of the South Carolina Outdoor Press (SCOPe) on multiple occasions and is a past recipient of the Pat Robertson Award for service to the organization and was also presented the Lifetime Member of SCOPe Award.
Madewell lives in Ridgeway, SC and spends much of his time away from the keyboard chasing giant catfish.
About South Carolina Outdoor Press
The South Carolina Outdoor Press Association (SCOPe) has served the content creators of South Carolina for 34 years. Beginning in 1987 SCOPe has worked to help its members to grow in the craft of writing and photography and in recent years, in other fields of outdoor communication. Founded by some of the most well-known names in the industry, SCOPe is one of the few outdoor organizations that is growing. If you would like to find out more, please go to; www.scoutdoorpress.com for more information. Contact us at; sc.outdoorpress@gmail.com
Pat Robertson, left, presents the 2021 SCOPE Outstanding Taxidermy Award to Martin Bess, center, with SCAT President Chuck Mulkey, right.
A multimedia piece featuring a mounted cottontail rabbit in a running pose was selected as the winner of the 2021 SCOPE Award for Outstanding Taxidermy at the annual Show and Competition of the South Carolina Association of Taxidermy in Columbia.
Behind the mount created by Martin Bess of near Cherryville, N.C., was a painting of a beagle chasing the rabbit across a field.
“I selected the piece based on my own life experiences of rabbit hunting and participating in beagle field trials,” said SCOPE member Pat Robertson, who has represented SCOPE at the annual SCAT Show and Competition for more than 25 years.
Robertson told the group that he grew up with beagles and began rabbit hunting at an early age with his Dad and uncles. As an adult he began participating in beagle field trials and currently competes in field trials in the Carolinas and Georgia with his wife Jan.
He related a personal outdoor story that helps describe why he chose the taxidermy piece for the SCOPE Award that year. At this year’s awards luncheon he opened by saying”
“I’d like to tell you a story about my Uncle Earl. There were two things you could count on with Uncle Earl. If it was spring, summer and early fall he would be fishing on Clarks Hill Lake every Saturday. But from Thanksgiving tuntil after Valentine’s Day he would be in the woods with his beagles, rabbit hunting.”
Robertson said his Dad and Uncle Earl fostered that love of fishing and especially of rabbit hunting in him from an early age. As Uncle Earl neared the end of life he gave his old hunting gun to him – a Stevens 12 gauge his wife, Martha, had given him as a wedding present in the late 1940s.
“The next rabbit season after we laid Uncle Earl to rest, I went along with a group of friends on a rabbit hunt in the Lowcountry. As soon as the beagles bailed out of the back of the trucks they jumped a rabbit and carried it almost out of hearing. Most of the hunters went with them, but I sat on the tailgate and waited.”
He did not have to wait long.
“Sure enough, soon I could hear the clamor of the beagles in chase as the rabbit made a circle and came back towards where he was jumped. I loaded the old Stevens and waited. The cottontail bolted across the dirt road ahead of the hounds and I swing the old Stevens and squeezed the trigger.
“I picked up the rabbit to take home for dinner in honor of Uncle Earl, unloaded the old Stevens and put it back in the case. It has not been fired since.,” he said.
“By now, you all know I have selected the mount of the running rabbit with the painting of the beagle in chase behind it. It is interesting and certainly innovative to combine the two art forms – taxidermy and painting – to tell a story.”
Storytelling, he said, is a trait shared by taxidermy and the outdoors media.
“We both tell the stories of great outdoor experiences. We in the media tell it through the written word, pictures, videos and other means. Taxidermists actually recreate the experience through the beauty of their taxidermy.”
The story of his winning piece, Bess said, is a tribute to the best beagle he ever had, a dog named Frank.
“I’ve had beagles for as long as I can remember, at least 65 years. And Frank was the finest beagle I ever had,” he said.
“Frank lived to be 15 years old and there was no dog like him. He could jump a rabbit, circle it, work a check. He did not outrun his nose. If there was a loss, eight times out of ten he would pick up that check,” he said.
“I just wanted to pay respect to Frank for what he was.”\
When he was a youngster Bess saw a painting of a beagle chasing a rabbit on the cover of North Carolina Wildlife Magazine and he used that as inspiration for his multimedia display. A retired mechanic/engine builder, now a farmer by trade, he downplayed his artistic abilities.
“I just do one or two pieces a year for the taxidermy shows and I do it just to hang out with the taxidermists,” he said. “They are some of the finest people I have ever met.
Admittedly not a painter, he had a difficult time recreating Frank with acrylic paints, he said. While he does not consider his taxidermy talent to be on par with the taxidermists he enjoys talking the trade with and learning from, his pieces have received solid recognition at the shows.
The beagle and rabbit piece that won the SCOPE Award had been a winner at a previous show and Bess actually had won the SCOPE Award once before for an otter mount about 10 years ago.
Until this year SCAT had provided a plaque for the outdoor media award which had been termed the “Outdoor Writers Award” and even the “Pat Robertson Award” in the past. This year the SCOPE Board voted to provide a plaque for the annual award and to officially call it the “SCOPE Award.”
A wise “young” fisherman once told me, there will be a trout where a trout belongs. ” I have fished this spot many times, and pulled many trout out from under those branches and behind that rock” The next morning I was drifting worms in that same stream under the same branches and behind that same rock. The results were….Seen Above!
Pete Rogers tests out the CROSMAN ~ Pioneer AIRBOW at the 2016 SCOPE Conference. The unit was sighted in in just 4 shots and turned heads as the crowd watched water balloons get smashed at 40 yards within minutes of sighting in.
South Carolina Outdoor Press Honors Casada, Excellence in Craft
The South Carolina Outdoor Press Association (SCOPe) presented special honors to Jim Casada and others at the organization’s 29th annual conference September 17th in Edgefield, S.C.
SCOPe is an organization of writers, editors, photographers, media producers and authors dedicated to a high standard of professionalism and ethics in communicating about the outdoors in South Carolina.
Well known author and charter member of SCOPe, Jim Casada was honored with the Pat Robertson Lifetime Achievement Award at its annual conference September 17th. President Brian Carroll presented the award to Casada who was recognized for his long-term commitment to the organization, and for a career spent documenting, reporting and exhorting about the lifestyle we all enjoy as sportsmen and women. Pat Robertson for whom the award is named, gave a well-deserved roast of Casada recounting many stories from his career that has spanned over fifty years.
In addition to the recognition of Casada for his lifetime achievement. SCOPe also presented their Excellence in Craft Awards to its membership. Once again dominating the awards was Jim Casada who took top honors in Best Newspaper Feature and Best Column and best Magazine Short Feature. Other awards were bestowed as follows:
Magazine Feature: 1st – Jon Wongrey, 2nd- Jim Mize, 3rd Jon Wongrey
Magazine Short Feature: 1st – Jim Casada, 2nd – Pete Rogers, 3rd – Jim Casada
Electronic Media: 1st – Pat Robertson, 2nd – Jim Mize, 3rd – Pete Rogers
Non Game Story: 1st – Jim Mize, 2nd – Jim Casada, 3rd – Jim Mize
Bob Glendy Award for Best Overall Fishing Story: Pete Rogers
Published Photography: 1st – Jim Mize, 2nd – Pete Rogers, 3rd – Pete Rogers
Open Photography: 1st – Pete Rogers, 2nd – Pete Rogers, 3rd – Jim Mize
SCOPe would like to thank the National Wild Turkey Federation and the Palmetto Shooting Complex for their hospitality in hosting this year’s conference. The 2017 conference will be held in Florence, SC and will mark the organization’s thirtieth year as a professional organization.
For more information on SCOPe or to join, please contact; Roger Metz at rmetz@bellsouth.net 864-414-8787
