Hunt Club
BY ANDREA M. GALABINSKI
PHOTOGRAPHY BY VANESSA ROGERS
Back in the days when the Pelican Bay area was known as a great place to clam, fish and hunt, Naples high school boys would take their hunting rifles to school, leave them in the back of their trucks, and anxiously await the final school bell. “It was amazing how my grades improved right before hunting season,” says Neapolitan Vernon “Bucky” Flowers. “Hunting was a part of life growing up in Naples.”
Today, he and long-time friend and fellow Neapolitan Cottie Morse travel to Africa, throughout the United States and to Canada to hunt. Both are part of an active Naples hunting community that often hunts together at private ranches nearby and throughout the world.
Miles “Rocky” Scofield’s family has been in Naples for a long time. “My family has been in Collier County forever, and my grandfather, Lewis Thorp, was Sheriff of Collier County from 1927 to 1953,” he says. Scofield’s grandfather acquired a vast cattle ranch, so big it is part of two counties, which several generations have enjoyed. “My father was a big hunter and fisherman,” he says. “Hunting at the ranch was his passion.”
Scofield now owns the ranch along with his two brothers, who work the cattle ranch full time. Scofield is a marine consultant, whose work takes him often to the Bahamas.
His wife, Mimi, is a marketing consultant and vice president of Bosom Buddies, a local breast cancer support group. “Rocky’s mother died of breast cancer,” she says, and working with the group is her way to help.
The couple met through fellow local hunting enthusiast Fred Hill. “Fred and my father were hunting buddies,” Rocky says. They know fellow local sportsmen Morse and Flowers; the men all went to high school together in Naples. “When they talk about hunting at Pelican Bay they mean Parkshore too,” he says. “The woods all around were great for hunting. People used to bird hunt, quail hunt, and we were always back there, clamming and fishing.”
Rocky Scofield’s interest in hunting is more than a hobby. He has appeared on two television shows for Suzuki’s Great Outdoors series. One was a tarpon fishing trip to Islamorada and the other a turkey-hunting trip, both with friend Bert Jones, a former quarterback for the NFL’s Baltimore Colts who had his own hunting show on ESPN. Through Jones, Scofield met sports TV host Jim Crumley, who invented the tree-bark camouflage that sparked the camouflage craze 20 years ago. Scofield is now an investor in a new company called Outfitter Tuff, a clothing line of outdoor wear for hunting, fishing and other sports created by Crumley and sportsman Wayne Pearson.
Today, the Scofields enjoy the ranch and love to hunt together, with Mimi learning from Rocky. “We would go out to the ranch, and I would go with him when he was hunting and I got so interested in it,” she says. “It’s very special to be able to share something that he’s so passionate about.”
Mimi doesn’t look the part of a hunter—she looks more like a petite model. “When I told people who know me that I went duck hunting, they rolled on the floor [laughing],” she says. She even wore Rocky’s father’s hunting boots once when she forgot hers, stuffing newspapers into the toes to help them fit her size-six-and-a-half feet.
The two have a ritual when they go turkey hunting on the ranch. They take a swamp buggy out on the vast property the night before, camp with a good bottle of wine, and get up while it’s still dark to find where the turkeys have roosted. “I just love it,” Mimi says. “It’s very spiritual in the morning. It’s just you and God’s creation.”
Rocky knows it is rare that his wife shares his passion. “She loves the out-of-doors, hunting and fishing, and everything about it,” he says. “I’ve been very blessed. For me it’s a real thrill and joy to teach her and be with her.” Besides, he adds with a laugh, “she’s a lot nicer to look at in camp than a big, sweaty guy.”
For a glance at the additional features and departments in this issue, visit our Table of Contents.
Please click the link to purchase the current issue, back issues or to subscribe. The circulation department may also be reached at 561-472-1910.
