Blog Entries from the WeHuntSC.com blogging crew
Raised by honest parents who could admit their first-born son was a klutz, I was shielded from firearms and sharp objects as a child. It wasn’t until I moved to Chesterfield County and befriended the son of a gun shop owner that I was really introduced to shooting and hunting.
My first three years have been quite adventurous thanks to JR Joyner of Patrick and Leigh and Paul Branch of Bennettsville. I should also thank Clyde Watson of Chesterfield, who allowed me to hunt his property and helped me celebrate killing my first deer, while also breaking the news to me that most respectable hunters don’t kill deer that weigh less than 100 pounds.
After three years and three kills … and not quite that many horns, I finally felt comfortable enough to venture off and hunt my own land. Failing to factor in the amenities that come along with hunting other people’s property, I found myself without a deer stand, sitting in a bright blue beach chair in a briar patch just off a cornfield with a dead tree limb above my head to use as a gun prop.
My first few hunts were peaceful as I tried to become one with nature, while also taking advantage of the quiet time to work on the newspaper. Most days at dusk, a group of does and two fawns would enter the corn field about 150 to 300 yards away. While the does ate, the fawns would romp and I would type away on my laptop.
My strategy was to allow the does to become very comfortable with me sharing their field in hopes they’d stick around to attract some large bodied, multi-horned suitors during mating season. Although I don’t know much about hunting, I am keenly aware that wild men chasing women usually leads to trouble, so the idea of the baddest bucks dropping their guard and becoming easier targets during “the rut” made perfect sense to me.
My plan finally came to fruition Oct. 26 shortly after I finished typing a story about the Chesterfield Rams defeating my alma mater in football. As I was putting away my computer and considering calling it a night, I heard a rustle in the woods beside me.
Propping my gun on my killing limb, I watched as a buck stepped out in search of the doe scent I’d placed about 50 yards away from me. A few steps later, he entered the sights of my scope and went down.
My loving wife, Wylie, sweeping our front porch a quarter mile away, heard the shot and began thinking of words to console me, assuming I’d missed. I on the other hand was standing over the body of a 9-point, 220-pound buck that I naively assumed would weigh about 100 pounds, just as every other “big deer” I’d previously shot wound up weighing.
As members of the horseback hunting group Carolina Marsh Tacky Outdoors, Wylie and I planned on using one of our steeds to haul any deer I killed home. However as we tried to lift the deer onto the back of her horse, we quickly realized this deer was going to be a little heavier than any I’d killed before.
Recruiting another friend and trading Wylie’s horse for my pickup truck, we finally got the deer loaded and hauled to Welshneck Wildlife for processing. It was there where respectable hunters stood around admiring the size of my deer that I realized I’d done something impressive. Of course that still led to some confusion, as I found myself surrounded by a bunch of men talking about “scoring my rack” while also taking photos for Facebook. Feeling a little sleazy, I headed home.
The following day was spent fielding calls from friends and family, most of whom expressed disbelief about my kill. The best call was from my mom, chastising me for telling her I’d killed “a moose” when all her church friends clearly saw on Facebook I’d killed a deer.
Life lessons learned from the hunt: The smell of a strange woman usually leads to trouble and never, I mean NEVER, lie to your mama.
Leighton Bell is editor of The Link whose rack scored 120. Whatever that means.
I got my very 1st deer this past week on Veterans Day and I am pumped up about deer hunting! I’m relatively new to hunting, but I visit the site frequently and stay up to date with everything. Clint asked me to share the story of my first hunt so I’m posting first blog below and I hope there are many more good stories to come in the future.
I have a good friend that took me hunting this past week at his farm. We got in the stand around 5am in the morning and man was it cold. I heard a buck running a doe down the river bank around 5:30am, but it was still too dark to see anything. Shortly thereafter around 6:15 what I believe to be that same buck came out of the tree line, but again it was still too dark to see the full size of the buck. My friend told me not to worry because the buck would be back at some point later in the morning. Seeking that buck got my heart beating and holding off wasn’t the easiest thing to do, but I knew it was the right thing to do.
Around 6:45am my friend hit a grunt call and 10 minutes later I was checking my iPhone (new hunter) when my friend hit me on the arm, he said "Get the gun ready, he is coming out!” I put the phone down, my breathing got heavy, and I was nervous and cold because I was under dressed (again pointing at my inexperience). The Buck came out and I had the muzzleloader up and ready to go. I had the gun positioned right over the lane and was ready for the buck to walk into it. The buck started marking his territory and strutting around messing with the limbs. My friend told me "Get ready because I will stop him once he gets going". At this point all I was thinking about was I couldn’t believe he is going to let me shoot this nice buck and what happens if I miss him?!?
By this time it was around 7:02am because the sun was just coming over the ridge in front of us. My heart was beating out of my chest, but I got as ready as I could be. My friend said “Can you see him?” I responded “I don't see him". At that moment I couldn’t see him because I was fixed on the lane that I thought he would move too. However, the buck was moving on towards the wood line instead of where I was looking. So, I moved the gun, got the scope on him perfect, and my friend got him to stop. My friend said “Take him now” and I pulled the trigger.
I felt nothing as I pulled the trigger, but I did began to notice blood, not from the deer, but rather from my own forehead, start to drip. Smoke was everywhere and I looked up and asked my friend "Did I get him?” and my friend responded “Yes he is down!!!!!!”
I couldn't believe it. Blood was coming down my face, I was shaking so much I could not stop both from nerves and from the cold, but I had got my very first deer on my very first shot!!!! I got “scoped” pretty good, but it was worth it.
This past weekend I checked my game camera on Friday to see if I was getting any action at one of my stands. When I got back to a computer and checked I had 885 pics within a one week time span. Needless to say, this was a good sign. The pics had some bucks, does, fawns, and squirrels in the mix. With the cool front moving in over the weekend I felt like it should be a good weekend to hunt. Though my weekend schedule would only allow me to hunt in this specific stand on Sunday afternoon. I looked forward to the hunt all weekend.
Let me back up and say that I hunted this same stand two weekends ago and had a deer bust me. I had been in a hurry to get to the stand, didn?t have time to spray down or use my scent control products, and I rushed out to the stand. I was sitting in the stand when all of a sudden I heard a deer blow at me from behind my stand. The deer was alone & bounded away into the woods. I never saw it, but only heard it as it fled my area of the woods. The fact that it was alone makes me think it was one of the bucks I?ve got on camera. I was not a happy camper.
This stand sits back in some dense woods and early in the year it?s really tough to see due to all the leaves on the trees. It?s a good stand for later in the season when visibility is better, but with so much activity on the game camera I figured I should try my luck. Though, knowing that a deer would be in really close to me before I would see it meant I should take better care of my scent or else I?d get busted again. This time I would be prepared.
I spent some time with my Atsko Scent & UV Control System 4-pack over the weekend. I washed my clothes in the Sport Wash, then applied the UV Killer, took the soap to the shower, and mixed the activator with the N-O-dor spray to get it ready for spraying down before entering the woods. After washing the clothes and ridding them of my scent I dropped them in the McKenzie Scent Fan Duffle Bag and let them marinate in the earth scent wafers that I had in the bag. Before hunting I took a shower with the Atsko Sport Wash, got dressed, and sprayed the rest of my gear down. Even if I didn?t see a deer I was going to have my scent better under control on this hunt.
I got into the stand a little early because I didn?t want to be rushed & because I had pics with deer over the corn pile early in the afternoon. I got set up with my Irwin Quick Grip Redneck Engineered Camera Arm and was ready to rock. I still wish Irwin would come out with a camouflage quick grip, but I?d settle for a black one? if they don?t I guess I?ll have to spray paint my current one. I had quietly clamped the camera to the right side of my stand and had it in position. The camera wouldn?t be falling off this time!
As I sat in the stand the squirrels were driving me crazy. They were everywhere and as they raced around the woods I thought back to Andy Hahn?s blog and wished he would have had them cleared out back there because they were getting my heart rate up every now and then! I sat for a long time without moving. I tried to be as still as possible because, like I said, a deer can get in on you at this stand (early in the season) without you even knowing it. I didn?t want to get busted again. I sent some text messages to other friends who were hunting and sent a few tweets on Twitter as I scanned and listened to the woods around me.
It got to be ?the time? right before dark when you feel like you should see something. I was starting to think I was going to be unsuccessful again and I couldn?t figure out why with all the pics I?d been getting at this location. Then I heard leaves cracking at a slow and steady pace. My first reaction was to cut the camera on. I slowly moved my hand to the camera and hit the power button. I could hear something walking, but couldn?t see it. It was getting closer to me and my heart starting going. It kept on walking through the woods at a slow pace and I finally saw movement. When I saw the movement and was sure it was a deer I hit the record button. Right after I hit the record button I slid my safety off, but left my gun lying in my lap. I had the camera pointing toward the corn in front of me, but the deer was to the right of me. I wasn?t going to swirl the camera and risk getting busted so I just recorded the whole time until the deer got close enough to the viewport of the camera.
With the deer?s next step I saw its leg through some leaves. There was still plenty of light to see, but it was just so thick I couldn?t see well. Finally I saw the outline of the deer and it was only about 25 yards from me. The deer stood still and ate some acorns and while it stood still I heard even more leaves cracking behind it. There were more deer.
It didn?t take long before I could tell that the lead deer was a doe and a good sized one. I watched it as it got closer to me. This deer crossed in front of me at about 15 yards, broad-sided and I could have probably knocked it down with a football?well maybe a couple of years back I could have, but it was really close. I didn?t want to shoot a doe if it had fawns with it and I also wanted to see if the deer trailing behind were any decent bucks. The doe crossed in front of me and I filmed it as much as I could. At one point the barrel of my 243 got in the way of the lens and blurred the video shot, but I wasn?t going to move it just for the sake of the camera. I filmed as best as I could while l kept looking to the right to see what kind of deer the other sound I heard was.
The lead doe had worked her way across the front of me and was over to my left. She didn?t seem interested in the corn I had only 10 ? 20 yards to her right. I was finally able to see the other deer that was making the cracking of the leaves behind the lead doe. It was another doe, a little bit smaller, but not a fawn. It seemed there were as another deer off in the distance, but the sound of it was getting smaller as it got further away. At this point I had all the information I needed in order to make the decision to take the lead doe if I got a good shot.
With where the doe had walked there were now leaves and a few small trees in between us, but to my surprise the doe turned back to the right and headed toward the corn pile. It was only a matter of time. This doe ate corn for what seemed like forever?though it was probably only a couple of minutes. The good part was that she had her butt facing toward me while she ate. This gave me the opportunity to lift my gun up and get it situated. I had her in the crosshairs and was waiting on her to turn and give me a good angle. As she ate corn I waited and waited and eventually pulled my face back from the gun for a moment because I got tired of squinting for so long. I was glad I did because the barrel of the gun was right under the viewfinder of the video camera and had I shot it would have probably jumped up and hit the camera. I slid the gun over and leaned back in. The doe ate and finally popped her head up to the side. I guess she saw me because she perked up real quick and stomped her foot at me. I didn?t have a good angle with her first stomp, but when she looked at me harder she turned the rest of her body and it gave me a good angle. I took the shot and saw her back legs jump up in the air. I knew I had made a hit. I heard her run about 40 yards and crash.
One of my rules that I use after I shoot a deer is to sit in the stand and for a little while and calm down and collect myself. I don?t want to pressure the deer and I don?t want to do anything dumb by being in a rush. I sat there and took some deep breathes and tried to get my heart rate down some. As I sat I could still hear the other deer over in the woods. It didn?t scatter off like you might imagine a deer to do. For a moment I thought I might be able to get 2, but then I decided against it as it was starting to get darker. I put my gun on safety and started taking the camera down from the stand. I turned my light on and climbed down.
Even though I saw the deer jump & heard it crash I still wanted to go to the point of contact to make sure I saw blood because stranger things have happened before when trailing deer. I saw a drop of blood and knew I had contact. I sent some text messages to friends saying I would need help shortly. I walked in the direction that I heard the deer run in and shined the light up ahead and saw a white belly. It didn?t take me but about 5 minutes to find it. Help arrived soon thereafter and we got the deer out of the woods and to the processor.
* Had a problem with my camera & was unable to get any pics off the camera :-(
It was a great early season hunt and I?m glad that I took care of my scent before going in this time because those deer got really close to me. The doe weighed 120lbs and was a good sized doe by South Carolinian standards. I will probably return to this stand at some point and try to get one of the bucks I?ve been getting on camera back there.
Do you self film your hunts? If not you should give it a try?it is challenging, but pretty rewarding to be able to re-live the hunts.
Regards,
Clint
There?s nothing I enjoy more than a slow grilled slice of venison backstrap, wrapped in bacon and glazed with sweet honey barbeque sauce. I often think about how lucky we are these days to have all of these ingredients at our finger tips, because not too far back in history figuring out which seasoning we put on our food wasn't the main concern.
On a cool evening in late October, the hoot of an owl echoed through the oak hollow I was hunting and quickly faded as a swift breeze rustled the leaves under my stand. It was as if I wasn?t alone. I started to think about an arrowhead my Dad found earlier in the day. These little treasures are hidden throughout the countryside. They have become harder to find, but occasionally when the land is tilled they can spring from the earth as if they had been planted many years ago. It was definitely evidence that this land had been hunted before. Not for sport, but for survival. I was immediately hit with a shivering chill.
This thought got me interested in hunting with more primitive weapons. My dad had an old re-curve bow that we dusted off and got in shooting condition. Although, much more advanced than what an American Indian would?ve used, it was very primitive to me. We also have an early Virginia flintlock rifle (circa 1770) that I intend to take hunting. (see video below) Having handled these weapons, I?ve gained a tremendous respect for the challenges that hunters faced years ago. These days my survival might not be in question, but I?ve got a sneaky suspicion that if the clock was turned back I wouldn?t have trouble turning into the whisper of wind that sent chills up my back that day I was hunting. Today?s technology is truly impressive, but sometimes it?s fun to step back and follow in the foot-steps of hunters many years ago.
The area where these arrowheads have been found was probably a dividing line between the Cherokee and Catawba Indians, so I'm unable to say for certain the origin of the arrowheads. Also, many arrowheads were traded from other regions which makes their origin even harder to pinpoint. The ones we've found are made of quartz and chert rock and come in all shapes and sizes. Some were probably used as spear points and others true arrowheads.
As the temperatures begin to rise and plans are being made for the summer crops the time is right to get out and search for these treasures. You never know what you might find. Check out this video of my collection.
It's not too often that WeHuntSC in the SNOW! I made a little extra time to get in the stand on Sunday because there was a little white stuff on the ground. A good bit had melted during the afternoon but it was still enough on the ground to get me excited.
The wind had picked up during the afternoon which made it the coldest hunt I had been on this year. As I sat in the stand I thought about how cool it is that in South Carolina our deer hunting season extends from late summer to early winter. Thunderstorms to Snow is how I like to think about it. Well this season has definitely provided both ends of the spectrum and everything in between.
The hunt was successful in my book because I saw deer. Four doe eased out of the cut-over and into the hardwood funnel my stand was in. They seemed very cautious as they entered the hardwoods. I'm not sure if it was the wind or if they were wondering why the woods had been highlighted in a blanket of white powder. They definitely stuck out like a sore thumb against the white backdrop. Well they moved on and so did I. It was a pretty fun hunt. Did anyone else have chance to get out and hunt in the snow? How did it go?