Georgia native Durrell Smith, along with his dogs, hopes to bring the unlikely to the outdoors and to the world of hunting.
Words & Photos by Matt Odom
January 27, 2021
It may seem unlikely for Durrell Smith, a man raised on the outskirts of Atlanta, to be leading hunting expeditions in south Georgia. But on this foggy and unseasonably warm December morning, I watch as Smith deftly keeps an eye on the sky while prepping his American Pointers, Jughead and Vegas, for a day in the field hunting an elusive adversary, the bobwhite quail.
Having been on a few hunts before, I knew to keep my expectations low and to just try and revel in the moment — the natural wonder of the landscape; the beauty of the dogs instinctively working, guided by the hands and mind of a skilled handler. At that moment, I watched as Jug began to pace in his kennel and could see that his excitement was beginning to overwhelm Vegas. Finally, it was time. Jug lowered his head. Vegas shook. Uncontrollably, I did, too.
Smith explained that his mother wanted a life beyond the city for her two boys, so she connected them with a group of Black horsemen in Atlanta, where he and his brother began learning to ride.
“I think [horseback riding] was just something that she thought was kind of cool; would definitely make us more well-rounded,” Smith says. “And as I get older, I’ve started to think about some of the things that my mom was doing, and I think that lady was on to something, man. Everything that she exposed me to back then, it’s like I’m doing parts of it now.”
Five years ago, Smith’s life pivoted. Flipping through the pages of a magazine in a grocery store checkout line, a photo of an English Pointer with legendary dog handler Neal Carter Jr. astride a horse stopped him in his tracks.
“I was sold,” Smith says. “I’m looking at these photos of these guys, dogs on point, everything. And I’m like, ‘I got to meet these guys.’”
Inspired, Smith cold-called Sinkola Plantation in Thomasville, Georgia, where Carter worked. The owner, Gates Kirkham, said Carter no longer worked there, but offered to pass Smith’s number along to him.
From there, Carter became Smith’s mentor, handing him a dog leash and offering an education on working birds. Smith now owns six dogs, and is eyeing a horse. He’s putting his career as an art teacher on hold and pouring his passion into “The Sporting Life Notebook,” a podcast dedicated to inspiring others to join him in the joys of the outdoors, and the Minority Outdoor Alliance, the nonprofit he started with his wife, Ashley. Together, they work to expose outdoor career opportunities to minorities, hoping to further the narrative of the hunting world to those who are underrepresented.
“I think that we don't have enough representation,” Smith says. “Like I said, I looked in a magazine and found Neal and was like, ‘Yo, I want to be like that guy.’ What happens if more people see people that look like them? What that means is, we have to keep looking for those new stories and looking for those new voices and listening to people.”
Although the quail eluded us on this day, I was able to experience Smith in his element. I felt his passion. I reveled in the moment. I watched the dogs work. I got it. Now, I’m ready to go back.
“I like a dog to just look like a ghost just whipping through the woods. You see just a white streak run by every so often.”
Hunting in the South means encountering briars and other thorny bushes. Smith says that wild quail will often hide there to protect themselves. To get to the quail, then, Smith says you need a good dog. “You need a dog that’s gritty enough to be able to get in there, know how to navigate the cover and decide whether they need to get into it or not. But if they do need to get into it, not be scared to do it. You can’t start them like that as puppies, though, because that’ll discourage them from ever wanting to hunt.”
“I like guiding because I'm not really bent on killing birds anymore. Like, it is cool, but for me, I like to show my dogs. I like to show what they look like on point because that's that buildup. And what I like about guiding is, everyone that I've taken out, they’re cool with shooting — like, that's all fine. But there’s a moment that happens when a dog locks up and goes on point that I kind of look over and look at any of the guests and there’s this anticipation of a flush. And you’re captivated by this dog that’s handling it. It’s like putting a puzzle together. Once a puzzle is over, it looks really nice, but it's the process that I like, finding which piece goes with what piece. And that’s kind of how I see guiding. I’m looking for these very, very, very hard-to-find birds in thousands of acres’ worth of public hunting ground. … So for guiding, it's just as much of an educational experience as it is a physical and demanding and hunting experience.”
“I like long-tail dogs because down here in the South, there’s so much green, so much brown, I want my dogs white so I can see them running. And I want their tails long, so I can see them pointing. When they stop, and I see a white tail sticking up out of this wiregrass, I know it’s my dog,” Smith says. Their size is also important. Jug is about 55 pounds and leggy. In speaking about the dogs, Smith says, “You need to be able to cover some ground; you need to be able to turn over. So a dog that’s built right — got the right kind of [conformation] — will pull. You know they’ll dig and pull just kind of like track athletes.
“Everything right now is diversity and inclusion. Something that I'm really passionate about is bringing more unlikely people to the outdoors, and more unlikely stories to the outdoors.”
Matt Odom is an award-winning editorial portrait, commercial advertising, industrial, and sports photographer based in Macon, Georgia. Back in the day, he tried his hand in TV as a commercial producer and was promoted to sports reporter. During his time there, he shot local news and a little photography (he stuck with the latter). When he's not on assignment, he's more than likely watching his favorite soccer team, Arsenal FC, boxing, coaching soccer, reading, drinking hazelnut coffee, or listening to ’80s music. He's also an avid comics collector and one of the few people to hold an original copy of the 1984 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 first print … COWABUNGA! Find him on Instagram at @mattodomphoto or at mattodomphotography.com.
