Blog Entries from the WeHuntSC.com blogging crew
The WeHuntSC.com crew is excited to announce that Evan Peterson will be blogging on WeHuntSC.com! Evan hails out of Blythewood, SC and is very passionate about the outdoors and hunting. Evan is an aspiring outdoor TV show host and is very connected in the industry.
We recently met with Evan and from speaking with him one can feel the energy and motivation he has towards hunting and the outdoors. We look forward to the good hunting stories, experiences, and videos that Evan will bring to the site in the coming hunting seasons. Join us as we welcome Evan to the site and to the blogging crew.
Regards,
Clint
Just recently, the Lancaster County Ducks Unlimited had their 1st annual ?Green Wing? event which consisted of 57 kids.
We had four different educational staging locations, where the kids rotated through each one gaining not only valuable lessons but a ?butt? load of fun. We had DNR, who brought their Laser Gun Trailer and went over gun & boat safety and allowed some laser shooting. Lancaster Co. Soil & Water District, who provided land conservation tips and some ?wood crafts & painting? session. Oak Ridge Kennels of Monroe, NC came and brought two trained labs and allowed the kids to throw out the ?bumpers? or fake ducks, to retrieve for them and to catch a lot of water being shaken off by the dogs!
The last location was our ?Wrecking Crew? calling & decoy placement area.
We put out several different species of duck decoys in the water for a game called, name that duck. We also used full body Mallard & Goose decoys in the field, along with our ?lay out? blinds, which the kids loved getting in and covering up! My dad Daryl, would circle the spread of decoys and lay out blinds, flapping one of our goose flags, while I was calling. This really excited the kids and most of them remained motionless, until he said ok, ?Take ?em?! Even the girls came up quick looking for geese!
During one of my goose calling demos, I had a pair of geese come over and actually landed on the pond and started swimming towards our group. I was thinking, man how cool is that?
I used a RNT MVP duck call for a Competition calling demo, a Hobo World Championship duck call for a hunting demo, and a Tim Grounds Goose call for both Competition and Hunting scenarios.
The kids just loved blowing their lungs out on the calls and I?m sure their parents and grandparents haven?t forgiven me yet! Oh well, that?s how we roll!
After leaving our area, everyone had lunch which consisted of hamburgers, hotdogs, baked beans, chips, cookies and drinks. All the kids received t-shirt, and a gift bag to take with them, as they left the event.We handed out green duck calls to the boys and pink to the girls which were donated by Ducks Unlimited. Drew Winn of Winntuck Waterfowl, donated duck call lanyards for all the kids too. Ricky T. of Decoy Outdoors, donated t-shirts and stickers as well. Wehuntsc.com donated stickers, and as everyone knows you can?t have too many stickers. Love to put ?em on everything!
I would like to give a big ?shout out? to these people for this special event, it definitely put smiles on everyone?s faces.
Hal Crenshaw ? for the use of his land.
Robbie Boone- Lancaster Co. Ducks Unlimited Chairman and committee members.
Drew Winn of Winntuck Waterfowl Lanyards, Ricky T. of Decoy Outdoors ,Wehuntsc.com and Ducks Unlimited.
Good Calling & Hunting- Blake
I always enjoy seeing the deer mounts from the prior season so I figured I would follow up on my ?Wall Hanger? post.
Tucked away on a little road called Split Trail in Clover, South Carolina you?ll find Whitetail Taxidermy. Joe Spearman started taxidermy as a hobby years ago and now he has turned it into a full time passion. On the morning of October 16th, 2010 our paths crossed based on a referral from a buddy of mine. With this being my first experience of having a deer mounted I didn?t have a clue of where to take it, so I called my buddy for advice. After a short conversation, I think his words were ?I wouldn?t take it to anyone else?. With those words spoken in confidence I was sold and therefore I made the trip to Clover.
As I drove up that morning and made the turn onto Split Trail I didn?t find any big business signs or fancy buildings. I almost wondered if I had pulled into the right place. As I stepped out of my Dad?s truck it didn?t take long though to figure out that I was in the right place. I spotted several mounts hanging in the garage and immediately started to envision what my mount would look like. I didn?t get to meet Joe that morning because he was out hunting but looking at some of his work I was pumped.
When this process started I didn?t realize how much taxidermy had evolved and the numerous options that I had to choose from. I meet Joe back at his house in January and decided on a ?full sneak? mount. I was itching to see my deer (rack) again so Joe took me down to the shop behind his house and I soon realized as I gazed at the racks hanging that Joe had the confidence of numerous other hunters. As I talked to Joe that morning and realized his passion for what he does my excitement was raised to another level.
Fast forward to May 18, 2011. I received a call that morning that my deer was ready. It was like Christmas in May. I was really excited and made the trip that evening to pick it up. As I stepped from my car I had flashbacks to October 16th as I spotted my deer hanging in the garage. Joe did an awesome job. Joe and I talked for awhile and I continued to be impressed by his humbleness and passion. Although Whitetail Taxidermy may be settled off the beaten path with little flash it is not hidden from the world. Joe let me know that some of his clients have included Ken Cobb from Huntin' the World Southern Style, and NASCAR Crew Chiefs Greg Zipadelli and Drew Blickensdurfer. Pretty impressive Joe! Hopefully, I?ll be back!
I didn't realize until after I got my deer back home that I actually had found the sheds from this deer before. I found his 2007 matching sheds and based on conversations with Joe about his jawbone we figured this deer was about six and a half years old. The sheds that I found would've been his three and a half year old rack. I'm trying to figure out how to display his sheds now. Check out the video below of my son Riley and I goofing around with my "Wall Hanger". Riley loves the mount so you can guess where it's hanging in the house. Check out the video below.
I know there were some awesome bucks posted on WeHuntSC.com during the past season. Lets see your "Wall Hanger"!
The following blog is a guest blog submitted by Andy Belk...
After a year of discussing a hog hunt, my buddy Michael Rodgers of Latta,SC and I were finally able to put together a June hog hunt. Michael recently purchased a two man boat so we decided to turn the afternoon into a combo fish/hunt. The crappie cooperated with us catching a nice mess of crappie in less than two hours. Afterwards, we loaded the boat and headed to the stands. The videos tells the story of the hog hunt. Truly, a great day to be in the outdoors, a rare day when everything comes together.
Andy Belk
Thanks for the the submission Andy!
I recently met our 2011 Montana Decoy Turkey Competition winners to give them their prizes. As you are most likely aware, our site audience voted and Mark and William emerged as our winners. After the announcement we had to schedule and coordinate a meeting place to deliver the prizes. Since Mark and William hail from areas distant from each other we had to line it up for different days and it even was raining as Mark received his prizes. Nevertheless we still got it done, but we didn?t shoot much video? just pictures. It was definitely a good day for William Babb and Mark Cody when we met and they were all smiles as I got the prizes out of my car.
Below are the pictures and videos from the winners receiving their prizes.
Below is a video of the winners receiving their prizes
Thanks again to our sponsors and to everyone for participating in our 2011 Turkey Competitions! Without our sponsors and participants none of this would have been possible!
I just returned from a weeklong trip (where I didn?t have much connectivity) and one of the things I was interested in seeing when I returned home were the results from our 2011 SC Turkey Competitions. When I looked at our site metrics and checked the results from the competitions I saw a big surge from one city which correlated with a ton of votes for one of our entries in the Montana Decoy 2011 SC Turkey of the Year Competition! Then in our Montana Decoy Youth Turkey of the Year Competition we ended up having a pretty close finish.
So without making you read a long entry I?ll get to it! Our winner of the 2011 Montana Decoy Turkey of the Year Competition is Mark Cody from Chester SC! Mark obviously had some loyal voters because he won by a landslide with 458 votes with the nearest competitor only having 30. We saw big traffic spikes out of certain cities where Mark received votes.
Then in our 2011 Montana Decoy Youth Turkey of the Year Competition William Babb edged out Alex Carnes in a close race. William received 60 votes and Alex received 42. William hails from Marlboro County and the bird he won the competition with was the first gobbler he?s called up and harvested by himself.
Thanks to everyone for entering this year?s competitions. Without your entries and participation we wouldn?t be able to host these competitions on the site. And congratulations to Mark and William!
Now we?ve got to deliver the prizes to Mark and William so? when you read this?send me an email (clint.patterson(at)WeHuntSC.com) and we?ll work out the details!
See the results of the competitions
While standing behind an old fence row, a series of yelps triggered a gobble from a distance. After a few minutes contemplating our next move we hit him with another series of calls. This time his gobble was closer. He was coming. We scrambled back and decided to set up on the tree line along the fence.
April 15th, 2011 is a day that I won?t forget and neither will my cousin JD. I am a novice turkey hunter and am thrilled anytime I get to go, but this day was special for another reason. This was JD?s first turkey hunt. A couple friends, Robert Abell and Rick Currence, invited us to tag along and attempt to get JD his first bird. Robert and Rick are seasoned turkey hunters so the thought of tagging along with them had us fired up. We meet them at 6:00 a.m. and the action was heart pounding from that point forward. Now back to the story.
As we scrambled to get set up we spotted three birds truckin? it across the field. It was three jakes to be exact. Rick was attempting to get a decoy out when he realized he was stuck. Robert and JD were able to get set up on a tree but I was stuck somewhat out in the middle of this tree line. Knowing that these birds were moving in fast we all sat tight. The birds moved into the tree line at about 70 or 80 yards out. I thought these birds were going to come right up the fence line so with me stuck out in the middle I was really going to be putting my Crossover Camo to the test. It did its job and the birds moved out into the field, but they seemed to get hung up just outside of gun range. They moved on and we regrouped. My heart was pounding and I know JD was pumped. Robert chuckled and said that when those birds were coming JD?s gun was just a shaking. He told JD ?alright buddy you gonna have to calm down? with a laugh. JD was worried about missing and said, ?If I miss you we?re gonna go again!? No doubt he is hooked. That?s what it?s all about right there!
We moved down the tree line and got set up on the back field that the birds exited. With the decoy out and everyone set, Rick assumed the calling. Within minutes the three Jakes stormed out of the opposite tree line like a freight train. JD clicked off the safety and got ready. They were headed straight at us. We thought this would be quick, but as the birds topped the little knoll they seemed to hang up again. They were gobbling like crazy but seemed to be weary of the decoy. As they moved around just outside of gun range boy did they give us a show. As we sat there I thought to myself that there isn?t a whole lot that beats listening to a turkey hammer out a gobble over and over. These birds were definitely not shy about stretching their necks. The birds finally moved out of the field. Check out the video below.
Although JD didn?t get his first turkey that morning I could see the fire in his eyes when we headed home. There was so much to soak in about that hunt that I know I will never forget and I?m 100% sure JD won?t either. Being able to listening to Robert pound out the meanest owl hoot in Chester County without the assistance of a manufactured call was pretty neat. Being able to listen to the reactions of the jakes to Rick?s yelps and purrs was also awesome to witness. Thanks to Robert and Rick for the invite and awesome calling. I had an absolute blast! JD hasn?t quit talking about it so I know he?s hooked. This should be fun!
