Blog Entries from the WeHuntSC.com blogging crew
We?ve received some feedback from various individuals here on the NC line and we are listening and adjusting! We are changing the ?You must be from SC? rule to ?You must have a valid SC hunting license?. Now all the NC hunters across the line can quit giving us a hard time!
Initially we decided to say that winners should reside in SC, but after hearing some other perspectives, it makes sense to change this rule. As you may or may not know, Pageland is up here right on the NC line and we border-hop a lot?and so do some of our neighbors from NC. We go there for the benefits of the city and they come down for the benefits of the country. If you head north from Pageland you start to see less trees and begin to see more concrete as you near the sprawling greater Charlotte area. There are many hunters who live in NC who come down south to hunt. I imagine this may be the case for hunters from other states traveling to SC to hunt! Now all the out-of-state hunters can compete in the competitions?just be prepared to show your SC license, should you win anything!
AND REMEMBER? PUT THE DATE IN THE PIC!
Regards,
Clint
Do you remember Blake Hodge? If you?re in the waterfowl world, then you probably already know him?if not, then you may remember him from his YouTube video we shot of him demonstrating some duck and goose calling for us. Well, we?re excited to announce that Blake is joining the WeHuntSC.com team as one of our bloggers. Blake is from the Lancaster, SC area and will contribute to the site blogging about his hunting adventures, trips, calling competitions, and any events that he is involved with.
At only 14, Blake already has an impressive resume among his peers as well as in comparison to older waterfowlers. Blake has already won several competitions (some won in the adult division). Here?s a list of some of the competitions he?s already won:
As you can see, Blake is getting it done in SC and beyond. We?re proud to have Blake on board and look forward to reading his future blog entries.
The air is getting a little cooler, football season is in full swing, and deer hunting season is upon us. If you?re like me you can smell the seasons changing to fall in the air? and it just does something to you. Sensing the temperature starting to drop and smelling the grass of the football field just makes me feel good inside!
Others are sensing it and ?getting the itch? (at least the hunting part) too! This can be noted as the activity on the message board is picking up. I imagine we?ll get some good conversations on the board this fall as well as some good pics/videos posted to the site. I look forward to seeing what everyone brings to the site this season!
Maybe we should give a prize for the first user to 300 posts or something? if we do, you boys would have to catch up to Hoot because I think he?s currently in the lead!
Remember: If you?re posting a pic in the competitions PUT THE DATE IN THE PIC!
Are you passionate about the outdoors? Do you think it?s your natural right to hunt and fish in the great state of South Carolina? If so, then let your passion motivate you to take action this coming November 2nd.
There is some legislation on the upcoming ballot concerning our right to hunt and fish. The ballot will have a question, Amendment One, asking South Carolinians to vote Yes or No to whether it should be written into the state constitution that it?s our natural right to hunt and fish. It?s important that we get this amendment written into the state constitution before any opposition to hunting and fishing arises.
I?ve created a page that will house information on The Right to Hunt and Fish Campaign here on WeHuntSC.com. We encourage you to forward it around to your hunting buddies so that everyone is aware of this important upcoming vote!
Find out more information and actual text of the amendment here: www.WeHuntSC.com/Vote
Spread the word to guarantee that your children and other future hunters will be able to hunt and fish in our great state!
With anything that you put a lot of time into, I think it?s important to stop every now and then and look at the big picture to see where we?re going and where we?ve been. So at the 1 year mark, I think it?s a good time to look at the progression of the site.
I?d like to say thanks to the site visitors, registered members, the WeHuntSC.com team, and our sponsors. We couldn?t do it without all these groups coming together. It?s neat to meet hunters across the state and beyond and to discuss hunting via the blog, message board, pic/video pags, etc. I?m glad that we are able to host an environment that facilitates sharing of information for hunters in South Carolina. We also enjoy delivering the prizes to the competition winners. It?s neat to see the winners get their prizes, especially the kids. The kids really eat it up and make a lot of the work worthwhile.
When we first started the site, I really wasn?t sure what to expect and didn?t know how it would go over with everyone. Since then there has been a lot of enthusiasm, excitement, and synergy around the site. I?m glad everyone was upbeat about it or I probably wouldn?t have continued to make edits and update the site. Throughout the year, I?ve learned a lot about this platform (the web application that our site runs on) simply from running this site. So, just as I enjoy seeing what?s going on around the state, I also enjoy figuring more out about web design and learning the ins and outs of the framework. I?ve got some more functionality that I?m trying to dream up and add to the site, but there just aren?t enough hours in the day for me to get it all done, but hopefully I will be able to make it happen at some point in the future. So it?s a constant learning process for me?and I enjoy the challenge.
As far as the site goes, in less than a year we?ve noticed considerable growth in interest from sponsors. Hunters are a tough group to reach and I think this is why sponsors are open to working with us in hopes of reaching you all! So the more you come, the better the sponsors will be, and the more prizes you?ll be able to win! We?re starting to look at some duck hunting competitions and will be adding some new bloggers soon. Hopefully we?ll continue to reach out to hunters from all ends of the hunting spectrum and be able to host more competitions. All we need is a couple sponsors and we?ll put a competition together. So if you?re reading this and want some exposure for any kind of product or service you have, just let us know. From the standpoint of metrics, we?ve been gradually rising in hits. Over the course of a year (Sept 9, 09 ? Sep 9, 10) we?ve observed the following data:
I anticipate that the hits will go up some here as deer hunting season approaches especially with the competition prizes being very nice this year! The images below demonstrate the hits from SC, NC, & the US. We only lack 2 more states before we have had a visit from every state.
So thanks again to everyone who has been part of the site whether you?re on the WeHuntSC.com team or are a registered member of the site, or simply someone who comes and reads, but never comments. We?re going to keep pushing and try to find ways to make the site better in 2010 ? 2011. (Send us your suggestions if you have any and I?ll get with my web buddies and see if we can code something up)
And don?t forget? if you?re entering a competition READ THE RULES and PUT THE DATE IN THE PICTURE!
We?re excited to announce that Wac?em Archery Products is getting on board to sponsor the 2010 WeHuntSC.com Deer Competitions. Wac?Em Archery products is based out of Utah and has donated 4 packs of 100 grain broad heads + 2 vertical seatpacks to the competition winners. I?m sitting here looking at these broad heads and seat packs and I know that all you bow hunters are going to love some Wac?em Archery products.
A little bit about Wac?em broadheads from the Wac?em Archery Products web site (www.WacemArchery.com) ?The flight of the Triton is like no other fixed blade broadhead; it truly is unbelievable. With its cut on impact head, just the right cutting diameter, and no mechanical blades to deflect, the Triton is at the head of its class in every penetration test available. The Triton, with its resharpenable head and replaceable blades, is in a class by itself. And it definitely has the ?look.?
Also, the vertical seatpacks are really neat. If you ever have an issue with stowing your bow in your vehicle, then look no further because these seatpacks can solve your problem. You simply strap these around the seats of your vehicle and store your bow right up next to the backside of the seat.
A big thanks to Wac?em Archery Products for working with us to offer the hunters of South Carolina some really great prize packages. If you?d like more info on Wac?em Archery Products just venture on over to www.WacemArchery.com.
Throughout the past year we?ve had some vinyl decals and bumper stickers printed up, but the demand for the stickers has outpaced our ability to come up with them. Fortunately, an organization out of the Charleston area has added our vinyl, site address decals into their arsenal of vinyl decals.
If you?ve ever gone into convenience stores around SC and seen a stand of vinyl decals near the counter then you?ve probably seen the display where WeHuntSC.com decals will now start appearing. These stands usually spin around and have several SC based vinyl decals on their racks. We?re pumped to have this medium to spread the word about the site.
The stickers will be available in more stores in the future, but for now you can find them in the following locations:
Should you desire a larger version of the WeHuntSC.com logo, please contact Josh Johnson of Johnson Graphics in Pageland, SC
It seems the competition prize packages just keep getting better week by week! This week we received products from Atsko that some lucky competition winners will win in the coming months. Atsko is based out of Orangburg, SC and makes wide variety of hunter friendly products. As you know, we like to promote our sponsors and we really like to promote sponsors from South Carolina!
As denoted by the Atsko web site ?Atsko is dedicated to maximizing the performance of your clothing, footwear, sporting goods, and even your skin. We bring you the best products available for a fraction of what you pay for "ordinary" products. Many of our products are based on original research and embrace concepts ignored by regular brands.?
Atsko is sponsoring the 2010 Buck of the Year Competition and the Archery Buck of the Year Competition. The winners will receive the following Atsko products:
Buck of the Year Competition
Archery Buck of the Year Competition
Again we?re excited to see another organization with SC links getting involved with WeHuntSC.com and we look forward to delivering the prizes to the 2010 Competition winners. Also, a few of the WeHuntSC.com team members will be testing out some of Atsko?s products and blogging about them throughout the year. More to come?
We?re excited to announce that Wildlife Energy Drinks will sponsor all 5 of the 2010 Deer Hunting Competitions here on the site. Wildlife Energy Drinks was one of our very first sponsors and continues to support us in our efforts and we are very grateful for the support!
Last year I posted a review blog on Wildlife Energy Drink. See the Blog Review on Wildlife Energy Drink
This year, Wildlife Energy Drink has come out with a new product ?the Wildlife Energy Shot. The Energy Shot is suitably shaped as a shotgun shell and is designed for times when endurance is needed. Each competition winner will receive 2 cases of Wildlife Energy Shots.
Check out www.WildlifeEnergy.com for more information on Wildlife Energy Drinks, Shots, and other products.
And the prize packages just keep on getting better.
We?re excited that Founders Federal Credit Union is donating a camo Founders hat for each competition winner for our 2010 deer hunting competitions. If you?re like me, you can never have too many hats and I can tell you that these Founders hats are quality hats and some winner will be glad to win one.
As you probably know, Founders is a reputable, South Carolina based, Credit Union that has roots in the Fort Mill area. We?re glad to have any sponsors, but we especially like to help promote SC based organizations. So we?d like to give a big thanks to Founders for donating hats to this year?s competition winners.
If you?re looking for a solid Credit Union that?s got great customer service, then go to Founders and open an account?and if you?re wondering?yes, I have a Founders account!