My family enjoys deer and duck hunting on St. Vincent Island, just offshore from the mouth of the Apalachicola River in the Gulf of Mexico. The barrier island is managed as a National Wildlife Refuge, and I enjoy hunting for different kinds of things like seashells, driftwood, and wildlife along its quiet roads made of a curious mixture of oyster shells, pine needles, and sand. The 12,490 acre island sustains ten separate habitat types, from tidal marsh and freshwater lakes to pure stands of cabbage palm and four different slash pine communities. I have to admit, I’m partial to the dunes collecting live oaks and mixed hardwoods on the Gulf side, but this bayside road calls to me as well.
