Blog Entries from the WeHuntSC.com blogging crew
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!
Regards,
Clint
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
SCDNR would probably have wished for a little nicer weather but my son, Riley, and I didn't let the rain put a damper on our time at the 27th Annual Palmetto Sportsmen's Classic. If you're like me these events are an adrenaline rush. I guess it's just being surrounded by things that get me fired up and this year the rain couldn't put out the fire on this event.
As noted earlier, I had Riley with me so I didn't have too much of a plan for how we would explore the event. He is 4yrs old, so I figured we would play it by ear. Just a few minutes into our journey through the vendors we came up on a pop gun that Riley had to have. I thought this was a good idea because it would keep him occupied. Well, after a few pops from this thing I was searching the vendors for a silencer! He was in heaven, so I didn't stop the popping, although we got some evil looks. Riley made sure he gave those evil eye lookers an extra pop. Oh boy!
As we made our way down the isles of vendors, I had my eyes peeled for products that not only caught my eye but ones that would make me a more efficient hunter. A few of these that I noted were as follows:
McNett Camo Form
This protective camouflage wrap caught my eye as I am always looking for ways to conceal my gun, camera, and stand. This is a stretch fabric wrap that reminded me of an ankle wrap or ace bandage. It is not tape so it doesn't leave a residue and it can be reused. I found this product at the Shooter's Choice of West Columbia stand and after the gentleman with them wrapped my arm with it I was sold.
Hammock Seat
If you've ever hunted on the ground you know that the ground is not so forgiving. Well, when I sat in the Hammock Seat I was ready for a nap. This thing was very comfortable and swiveled to allow a shot at any angle. I've killed a couple deer from the ground and I wish I would've had this seat then.
Buck Smoke
As I stopped to take a picture with Riley and a wild boar, I caught a whiff of a deer scent that put me in search mode. Man this stuff was strong. I finally found the source and it was a scent called Buck Smoke. It was a wax looking substance contained in what looked like a shoe polish container. I was intrigued because this was a no liquid and therefore no mess scent. This scent was being sold at the Big E Outfitters stand. They had some amazing animals displayed at their stand.
Mckenzie Scent Fan Duffle Bag
Scent control is a must in the deer woods and I am definitely going to try this bag out this coming season. I often find myself searching on the way to the stand for some pine or cedar to rub on my clothes before a hunt. That is definitely not an efficient way to control my scent. For me this bag is going to make it much more easy to seal my clothes up and control my scent before a hunt. Definitely a must have for me. The Mckenzie Scent Fan Duffle Bag vendor stand also was displaying the Jake Intimidator and Crossover Camo. A dangerous looking combination.
F2 Outdoors
Gator hunting has been the new rage in South Carolina the past couple years and this vendor caught my eye with the gator skull mount sitting ready to chomp. Not that talking gators could get any better but they also were displaying custom truck seat covers. This was a pretty neat looking set up that I'll have to check out this coming gator season.
A couple other vendors that caught my eye were Pin Oak Taxidermy with the Camo Skulls and Hunter's Comfort with the Rack Shack hunting houses. I was also impressed with the versatility of the Hunt Pac and the guarantee made by the X-Factor crew on their bow sound and vibration dampeners. Riley got a picture with Brad Hoover of the Carolina Panthers at the Buck Yum stand. I also picked up a Winn Tuck t-shirt and hat. Winn Tuck had a really neat set up as you will see in my video. I am also a sucker for things that are handcrafted. A couple that stood out were the longbows made by Saluda River Bows (Doug Warren (803) 924-4285) and the kayaks made by Pledger's Craft. These looked like works of art made for the great outdoors.
Overall, we had a great time. We closed the day with some cotton candy and a few more pops from the pop gun. Did anyone else get out in the rain and check out the Classic? Check out the recap video below.
As hunters we?re always looking for new products, ideas, concepts, and gear. I guess it?s just our nature to want to know what the ?next best thing? is or to be able to see trends just around the corner because we want to better ourselves and be well rounded outdoorsmen. Having a lot of hunters on one site allows us to learn from each other and to share information. Through information sharing we make the most out of our time in the field. And on the information side of things?I?ve got some info on a new camo that is just coming out that I would like to share with you in case you like to try out new products.
CrossOver Camo is a new camo that has a really neat pattern that I think will mesh well in some of the outdoor backdrops of South Carolina. CrossOver Camo is a Christian based organization that aims to take the Gospel around the world and share in its fellowship. CrossOver Camo is based out of Delaware and is already making a splash in the outdoor industry.
CrossOver Camo?s pattern is based off a design called ?Reactive? Camo. I took a quote off their web site to explain a little bit about their ?Reactive Camo? pattern? ?Hunters know nothing hides like a deer. The deer?s hair absorbs and reflects light to aid in their ability to blend so well in the environment. Our New Reactive ®Camo pattern evolved from two and a half years of research and field testing. Designed utilizing five different deer hides which provide various colors, sizes and patterns, enabling you to be disguised in the environment like never before, getting close and staying undetected.? One neat thing that I like about the camo is that the cross is integrated into the pattern. Also, the pattern has some dark, vertical lines in it that are similar to the lines in the bark of a pine tree.
I've been checking out CrossOver Camo for a little while and have been testing it to see how it blends in with a couple different backdrops here in SC and its done well. I?m going to wear it turkey hunting this spring and see how it goes and will try to keep you posted via future blog entries. You can decide for yourself after you see the below video.
If you?re interested in seeing the pattern up close for yourself then you can find it this coming weekend at the Palmetto Sportsman?s Classic in Columbia at the McKenzie Scent Fan Bag booth. Be sure to stop by and check it out. If you?re not going to the classic then check out CrossOver Camo?s web site at www.CrossoverCamo.com.
Last night I made a trip to Hartsville, SC to Kellytown Baptist Church. The church put on a ?Wild Game Banquet? that had a little something for everyone! The event was neat and I wish I would have arrived a little bit earlier than I did. To start off with they had skeet shooting competitions and as I walked up I could hear the final shots being fired in the tie-breaker rounds of the competition. I didn?t expect to know many people at this event, but before I even got in the door I saw a couple guys I know and even a guy who played on the state championship team with me back in 1997! The good ol? days just never die I don?t guess.
As I got close to the door I could see a Ducks Unlimited chapter breaking down a booth that they had set up outside of the church. I made my way into the church?s multi-purpose room and could hear music as and smell food as I entered. It?s always a good sign to smell some country cooking when you enter a room! The multipurpose room was big in size and there was a band playing on the stage. There were a couple of tables and displays set up around the room and I made my way to the back to where the Wrecking Crew & Blake Hodge were set up. Blake was on schedule to do a calling demonstration as part of the program. When I got to the back and talked to all the Wrecking Crew I noticed that my local taxidermist Carlyle Sutton had some displays set up and one of the deer looked awful familiar too! Since I knew a couple of people at the back I hung around there and put some WeHuntSC.com stickers on the Wrecking Crew?s table.
Once the skeet shooting competitions were complete and everyone made their way inside the emcee started making some announcements. He gave information on the door prizes and talked about the schedule for the evening. The preacher then blessed the food and everyone got in a line to eat the food we had smelled for some time. The buffet line consisted of catfish stew, catfish, rice, and alligator meat. It was the first time that I had ever eaten any alligator and I have to say?it wasn?t that bad! (It all tastes like chicken right?) I snapped some pics of the food and the line in the kitchen and then made my way back out. They also had a dessert table too. The dessert table had a bunch of cookies and cakes on it, but I was able to be self disciplined enough to pass it up this time.
After we ate Blake went up and blew his calls for the audience. I shot some video of Blake shooting, but I?ll have to say that I did a terrible job of filming it. I kept bumping the camera and I had the tripod head so tightly screwed into place I couldn?t budge it without being rough with it. So my apologies for the bad filming on this one!
After Mr. Patterson spoke the emcee gave out the rest of the door prizes to the audience. It seemed very fitting that a young kid won the shotgun that someone donated to the event since Mr. Patterson mentioned several times in his speech the notion of how it?s important for a boy to have a gun as he grows up. He always quickly followed that up with how it was also important that the father guide and instruct the kid on how to use the gun. It seemed like a good ending to a good night.
I was glad to have gone and met some new people, eat some good food, and hear a good speaker.
Below is a quick video I made from the event...sorry for the bumpy footage