Blog Entries from the WeHuntSC.com blogging crew
With 58% of the total votes John Shell has won the 2011 WinnTuck Waterfowl Competition! We had some really good entries in this year?s competition and it didn?t take long for the crew from the Charleston area to start logging a ton of votes. We had a major traffic surge in the site out of the Charleston area voting for John so I imagine that?s the area where John?s located!
John had a really nice pic of his dog on a dog-stand right over the water with the wood ducks (what I assume is a limit) hanging from the tree. Most importantly John did get the date in the picture as well! The combination of a good pic + a ton of votes = John?s about to get a bunch of free goodies!
See the voting statistics
Congratulations to John for winning and another big thanks to WinnTuck, Hobo Calls, & Lodge Creek Calls for donating products to make this competition possible! ? Oh yeah ? John, when you read this send me an email so we can figure out when we can get you the prizes.
Regards,
Clint
At some point in everyone's life you're influenced by someone or something. In some cases these influences lead us in a direction that dead ends. Other influences ignite an internal fire and will lead us down a never ending road. One influence in my life that I'm thankful for and that will burn forever is my outdoor influence.
When I was twelve I can remember going with my Dad to a local pawn shop looking for my first deer rifle. At the time money meant nothing to me, but now I realize that was no small purchase. My Dad traded one of his shotguns and a sum of cash for that rifle. It was a semi-auto .243 that seemed to weigh as much as me. It was already equipped with a scope and it was ready for action. My Dad poured a lot of sweat that summer getting ready for the upcoming deer season. Now I realize that he did that for me because he saw the passion I had and he wanted to fuel that fire.
That first season came and went without a deer. I learned a lot that year. One thing was that a semi-auto was heavy and I needed a lighter rifle. We traded the .243 for a bolt-action .270. Another thing was that we had to get the stand out of the back yard. I know Dad (probably Mom) wanted to keep me close but that just wasn't working. So we moved that stand to an oak hollow that was a good hike from the house.
Not long into that season I had my opportunity for my first deer. A four point strolled down through the oak hollow and met his match. I was so pumped that I jumped down and ran all the way back home. My Dad was at work so I pulled Mom out of the house and we made the trek back through the woods to find the deer. My Mom always joked that she passed the hunting gene to me because she was 1/16th Native American. Well after watching her find that deer I would agree. My Mom passed away this year and I will always cherish the pride she had and interest she showed in my outdoor adventures. I told her to find a good hunting spot for me in heaven. No doubt that she influenced me.
Although hunting is now my favored outdoor activity, fishing was my first love. I was lucky enough to grow up with a small pond within walking distance from my house. I can remember many a day when my Dad and I shoveled up a few worms and hit the pond. As I got older I started to let my imagination wonder. My favorite TV show was Hank Parker's Outdoor Magazine. The jingle still rings in my head. "The house needs paintin, the yard needs mowin, where's he at? He's gone fishin!" Talk about influence. Well I had a many of battles with Hank on that small pond. (In my imagination). It would always come down to the last minute. I would be down a fish in the Bassmaster Classic with 10 minutes to go. I always seemed to catch that fish, whether it took me three hours or not.
As many of you would agree, those who have been bit by the outdoor bug will never heal. An outdoor influence is needed more than ever in today's world, and hopefully I can pass it on!
Share your story of what influenced the outdoors in you.
It?s going to be like a second Christmas for the winner of the 2011 WinnTuck Waterfowl Competition! WinnTuck, Hobo Calls, & Lodge Creek Calls all donated the products that comprise a great prize package for this year?s winner so thanks to our sponsors for making the competition possible.
Thanks to all the hunters who participated and posted pics. We really had some good entries which made it tough to select the best. We had a tough time narrowing down the finalists and we decided to narrow it down to a top 5 instead of a top 3. Now the fate of the winners lies in the hands of the voters!
Voting will be live from 2/9/11 throughout 2/12/11. The winner will be announced on 2/13/11 and the prizes delivered shortly thereafter.
The top 5 pictures (in no particular order) were:
Be sure to go and cast your vote for the WinnTuck 2011 Waterfowl Competition winner!
The top 5 are below
Dale Knight
Gavin Jackson and Justin Gainey
The Wrecking Crew
Dale Knight & Travis Johnson
John Shell
It has been a while since my last blog. I have been busy with school, and baseball season starting. I have a couple good hunts to discuss that have video included with them.
I will start with the deer hunts from the last part of the season. This first hunt was during Christmas break. Our good friend Griffin Crane is in the armed forces and is stationed in Alaska. He had the opportunity to come home for Christmas and visit his family and do a little hunting. Of coarse he was excited about the opportunity to hunt whitetail. He said in Alaska there is phenomenal duck hunting, bear and moose. But whitetail do not reside in the area where he was stationed . Griffin and Rodger Pye were sitting in a box stand looking down a cut road with pine trees on both sides at "Walters" hunt club in Andrews. Ill let the video explain the outcome to the hunt.
After that successful hunt. Rodger decided to take the rifle in hope they got another chance at a doe for the freezer. Luck would have it, about 5-10 minutes later 3 does came out behind the stand, and he got his chance to take a shot at a doe.
Nick also had the chance to harvest a doe a few days later. Nick climbed in the stand before day break. He didn't see any movement until 8:00-8:30AM. 4 does wondered out to the corn pile. As nick was setting the camera up and the right angle, and preparing his rifle to take the deer 3 of the does lined up. nick attempted to take 2 with one shot. He dropped one and bloodied the next.
After nick took a doe for the freezer he wanted his girlfriend to harvest her first deer before the season ended. This was an interesting hunt. Snow is rare here in the low country. Well it began to snow so nick thought with it being so cold the deer would be moving trying to keep warm. Well he was right! Everything was walking that afternoon. Turkeys and deer.
Duck Hunting this season was a blast! Well before the season began I purchased a camera mount to fit on the end of my shotgun. I soon figured out how difficult it was going to be to film my hunts. A few problems I had consisted of having to turn the camera on and off record mode according to the birds flying over. Every time I went to throw the gun up I had to make sure the camera was recording to conserve hard drive space on the camera. Also pointing my gun up to the birds to early was a problem. I would try to film the ducks while they were flying in, but obviously the ducks would flare when I would throw the gun up.
All in all I had a good time filming these hunts to share with y'all. I learned a lot about filming and will use that knowledge for filming next season.
This past Saturday and Sunday (February 5th and 6th) were designated as Federal Youth Waterfowl Days. Youth 15 years old and younger could hunt waterfowl when accompanied by an adult and only the youth could hunt! "These hunts offer the perfect opportunity for youth to be introduced to waterfowl hunting in a positive manner" said Dean Harrigal, S.C. Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) biologist.
With a busy schedule this past weekend I wasn?t sure if I was going to be able to make it, but it turned out that I could and I was excited to see what some of our youth would do. As I drove down the night before it rained for a solid hour without letting up. It wasn?t a good sign and I hoped that it would quit before the morning, but we didn?t end up that lucky. It rained throughout the night and for a couple of hours in the morning. As ?Murphy?s Law? would have it, the rain slacked up once the hunt started winding down.
I was pumped about this hunt because I was going to be in the blinds with the guys. I knew I would be able to get some really neat footage from being right there ?in the mix?. I was glad that I was in the blind too because if I had been out in the open I would have gotten soaked even more than I did and filming wouldn?t have been possible. The blind offered some cover where I could keep the camera somewhat shielded from the rain.
In our crew we had 3 youth hunters, 2 adults who assisted, me, and a dog hunkered down in 2 different blinds. I should probably describe the blinds a little because they were unique, but the video will give you a better feel than my words can. The blinds were rectangle in shape and they were in the ground. When sitting on the benches inside the blinds, our eyes were just above the level of the water. The blinds were camouflaged really well with brush all around the top edges. The blinds also had tops on them that flip open whenever it?s time to shoot, but for our hunt we left them open so as to have increased visibility for the youth and for the camera. The blinds were situated side by side on a point in the middle of the waterway. In case the blinds flooded the blinds had small pumps that pumped the water out in the corners of them. While we were sitting in the blinds our boots were about ankle deep in water due to all the recent rains and it wasn?t letting up.
We got there early and some of the guys put out decoys while I was getting my gear situated in the blind. The rain was still falling and I knew it was going to be tough to film and take pictures in this wet environment. After a little while everyone was situated and we just sat there waiting on the sun to rise and we also listened to the driving rain pinging the roof just over our heads. With the blinds over our torso our legs were exposed to the rain and within time I got soaked! The water ran straight down from my pants into my boots and before too long I felt ?gushy? on the inside of my boots. It wasn?t fun and before too long everything from my waist down was soaked and it seemed like it weighed 10 lbs more than when I came in. I guess I should also mention that everyone except me had waders on! I?ll probably have to invest in some waders here at some point, but leave it to me to go without any and having a valuable learning experience from it.
After a little while some ducks started swimming across the waterway. I could zoom in and see them with the camera better than we could with our eyes and they were heading our way. I got some good footage of this and I told the guys that the birds were coming our way. The guys were ready and within a few minutes the shells were flying in the air and I think the kids got 5 ?Coots? in total.
We still had birds coming in even after the first round of shots and after the dog had retrieved all the ducks! We sat there for a while and I got some more footage of the guys in the blinds and the overall setup. As it got lighter out the video got clearer and you?ll that reflected in the video below. Randomly we?d have a group of ducks come in and I was able to get some footage of birds flying in and I also got footage of the guys missing some shots that were right down the pipe. We were all laughing and having a good time with it though. I couldn?t believe the number of ducks we had around us throughout the morning and it really compliments the guy?s hard work done in the off-season to that area.
By the time the hunt was over I was completely soaked and my cameras had water all over them too. I wasn?t sure if I was going to be able to pull footage off the camera, but luckily it went undamaged. After the hunt we all went up and ate breakfast and had a good time hanging out. Though it was pouring and not the best filming conditions, it was still a great hunt and a great time together in the outdoors. I?m glad that DNR has a youth day set up because it helps get the youth fired up and keeps the hunting legacy going.
The rain, mist, fog, and clouds made it a little difficult for me to film?especially when trying to pull focus on various objects. So, some of the shots you?ll see in the below video are a little blurry.
Thanks again to the guys for inviting me along!
Have you ever gone to a hunting/fishing/outdoors tradeshow? If not, you should give it a try. It?s a good excuse to get out of the house and it?s also a good way to see what the new products are for the upcoming year. If you get any kind of ?out-of-season-blues? then these expos will put you right back in the zone because it?s nothing but hunting in fishing for as many booths as you care to walk by.
When I go to these shows I always like to look for new, creative products. It?s amazing to me what people come up with and many of these products come from hunters just like you and me who see a need for something so they create it. I like to see the products and to also hear the stories behind them.
It sounds odd to say it, but going to the shows can wear you out because it?s like information overload on Wildlife Energy Drink! Around every corner and with every new booth you see there?s something else to investigate and learn about. Some products and services may interest you more than others, but either way it?s firing all of your sensory receivers as you stroll through?at least it does for me. Combine the new products, new faces, competitions, and the smell of food in the air and you?ve got a hunter?s weakness, which leads me to the next point? only take the amount of cash that you want to spend before you go. Don?t take a check book, don?t take a debit card, or more cash than you plan to spend because I can tell you that you will want to buy more than you need! It?s really hard for me to go to any show and not buy something, but then again?I guess that?s what the vendors want!
Some info on upcoming shows?
SC
The 2011 Palmetto Sportsman?s Classic is being held on March 25th ? 27th, 2011 in Columbia, SC at the state fairgrounds. If you can find USC?s football stadium, then you can find the state fairgrounds. The Sportsman?s Classic is put on by SCDNR and features products for both hunters and fisherman. It seems that this year one of the guests will be ?Twiggy? the Water Skiing Squirrel. The Sportsman?s Classic is a neat event and you can see just about anything you?d want to see from fishing to hunting at the Sportsman?s Classic.
See our review of last year?s Sportsman?s Classic
The Pee Dee Deer Classic is held in July 29th ? 30th in Florence, SC right before deer hunting season starts. This trade show is right up the deer hunter?s alley. Obviously the focus of the show is on deer hunting, but you will see some other sports represented there as well such as turkey and boar hunting. The Pee Dee Deer Classic is a good way to get your blood pumping and get you motivated right before deer hunting season gets here.
See our review of last year?s Pee Dee Deer Classic
NC
The Dixie Deer Classic is held on March 4th ? 6th, 2011 in Raleigh, NC at the state fairgrounds. I have never been to this show, but I have only heard great things about it. Everyone says that it?s the biggest show they?ve been to and has the most in attendance over the course of the show. I may try to go this year just to see what it?s like. I think all the big names will be in the house, but if I go I?m not going to stalk them?though if you?re into being ?star-struck? then I think it may be an option for you. From looking at their web site it seems that they have a waiting-list for vendors. This tells me that the demand is high and so everyone?s statements about the show must be true. Depending on where you are in SC then a trip to Raleigh might not be a long haul.
Oh and just in case you?re wondering? you?ll be able to get a McKenzie Scent Fan Duffle Bag at all 3 of these shows because I know Mr. McKenzie is planning on being in attendance at the shows.
Have you gone to any of these shows before? If so, what did you think? Which is the best and why? Also what are some of the upcoming shows that you know of in your area?
As many of you are aware, this past hunting season has been a little cooler than normal. I?m interested in knowing what you to do stay warm. You?ve probably got some good, wind-breaking, waterproof, insulated camo pants, jacket, or suit along with some nice insulated boots and thick socks?and you probably even base-layer it with Under Armor?s ?Cold Gear?. At least that?s the approach I take, but when temperatures get really low (like they have been lately) the cold still seems to find a way to cut right through all that stuff and grab me.
I usually put my gear on inside the house and by the time I?m through getting it all on I?m sweating so I rush outside to cool off. Then by the time I walk to the deer stand or to the duck blind I?m sweating again and you all know what happens next?the sweat eventually dries and you are even colder! In attempt to counter this sometimes I?ll leave my gear unzipped or untucked until I reach my location. This helps a little, but doesn?t eliminate the situation completely.
With a few weeks remaining in hunting season I was talking about how cold it was and my mom said ?You ought to just get some of the heat wraps and put them on? because that?s what they used when they had back pain or something. At first I didn?t give it much thought, but after I went on a hunt and sat on a chair covered in ice for 3 hours I decided that I would take the time to find out. When I returned home I asked her about them and she explained a little more. Later on I went to the Springs Wild Game Center where I picked up some ?Toasty Toes? and then I went to Wal-mart and got about 3-4 different brands of those Thermacare?s Heat Wraps?.and the next morning I was so glad that I did! I guess they say ?Mama?s know best? for a reason.
I started off putting my base layer of Under Armor gear on. All of the warnings on the heat packs say ?Do not apply directly to skin? so I put them on after the base layer. Back in the day you had to shake those things to make them warm up, but now all you have to do is open the package and the oxygen makes them heat up. Got to love technology! So I took the ?Toasty Toes? and stuck one on my chest (where I pressed the camera against to keep it warm) and I stuck the other one to the other side of the camera so that it had heat coming from both sides. The "Toasty Toes" are unique in that they have adhesive on them which helps them stick to your clothing.
After applying the ?Toasty Toes? I took the Thermacare Heat Wraps and put one on my lower back and one on my neck. Within minutes I could feel small pockets of heat start warming up all over me. I knew I didn?t have long before I would be sweating on the inside of the house so I hurried up and got dressed. By the time we got to the duck swamp those heat packets were even warmer.
I was so glad that I had investigated, purchased, and used the Heat Wraps and Toasty Toes because those things saved me. I could lean back in my chair and the rail of the chair would press that heat into my lower back and it felt so good. Of course I didn?t tell anybody that I was wearing them?after all, I?m a man and can endure the cold!
You may laugh and give me a hard time, but next time you have a hunt in cold weather plan ahead and give some ?Toasty Toes? or Thermacare Heatwraps a try and see how your hunt goes.
What other methods, tips, or products do you use to keep warm during your hunts?
As the sun faded and the sky darkened the sound of wings filled the air. Shooting time ended without a shot but what transpired in that thirty minute window before dark was something to treasure.
My dad and I were invited by a cousin to come hunt his farm on the outskirts of town (Chester) this past Saturday. We had a chance to hunt this property a few years ago and we were able to take a few mallards. The thought of those memories had me eager for more. The hunt on Saturday started at about 3:30 p.m. My Dad and I got set up overlooking a flooded corn field. A few decoys set the stage for the afternoon hunt. Dad and I hunkered down on the other side of the berm behind a few mature sweetgum trees. The air was cold as we waited but the thoughts of ?wings in the air? kept my blood pumping. It wasn?t long before we saw a few mallards circling off in the distance. Those birds sat down on another pond and we soon realized that our plans and the ducks plans weren?t coming together. This pattern continued through the afternoon and the shooting time started to dwindle away. Our cousin came up with a few minutes of shooting time left and said that the full moon and recent ice had changed the ducks pattern and they would more than likely pour in right after shooting time.
Sure enough probably not five minutes after shooting time the whistling call of several wood ducks could be heard as they zoomed over our set up. Then the grunt of a drake mallard and quack of the hen could be heard circling overhead. It was as if the ducks were watching a clock and knew we could do nothing. They started to pour in and I was amazed. The ducks were literally crashing into the flooded corn stalks. As a novice duck hunter just being in that moment and watching the birds work was so satisfying. Most experienced duck hunters would?ve probably been disappointed but I was in a trance and enjoying every minute of it as the sound of wings echoed through the fading sky.
Below is a five minute video I put together of the hunt. I apologize for the quality as it doesn?t do the hunt justice, but hopefully you can get an idea of the experience. Turn up the volume and listen carefully. ?Do you hear wings in the air??
Last season was my first season turkey hunting and I have to tell you? I really liked it. Mr. Bruce Puette was nice enough to take me on my first turkey hunt and it was a blast. He made it look easy and then we gave it a shot! We fell short a few times and learned a little bit, but by the end we were able to call some turkeys in and get them on camera. We even got one to talk back to us while using a shed antler! Now that I know a little bit more about turkey hunting and have a video camera that will actually zoom, I?m really looking forward to this year?s turkey season.
And speaking of turkey season, I just want to let everyone know it?s already decided that we will be having 2 turkey competitions in the upcoming season?a Turkey of the Year and a Youth Turkey of the Year. Yes, you will have to have the date in the picture again so get ready for it! Go ahead and think about how you are going to take your picture and be sure to carry your camera with you!
We are in communications with some sponsors and I can tell you that it?s looking like the prize packages will be good this turkey season as well! We'll post more information about the competitions in the weeks to come...