Archibald Rutledge (1883–1973) was South Carolina's most prolific writer and the state's first poet laureate. His nature writings garnered him the prestigious John Burroughs Medal. Jim Casada has written or edited more than forty books and authored some five thousand magazine articles on the outdoors. He has been honored with 250 regional and national writing awards.

“Believing that a mutual contact with nature bred closer human relationships, Rutledge lovingly describes hunting and nature over the first 60 years of this century. Hunting and Home in the Southern Heartland is a good introduction to a wonderful storyteller and careful observer of people and the natural world.” - Library Journal“Though Hunting and Home in the Southern Heartland does not include the poetry for which Rutledge was known, the grace of his prose style and his talent for the perfect word, le mot juste, suggest that the poetic imagination was always there.” - Greenwich Time