Blog Entries from the WeHuntSC.com blogging crew
Hey folks, my name is Sean Jeffries, and I'm glad to be a part of WeHuntSC.com! I want to thank Clint for giving me a chance to write for the site, and I'm looking forward to sharing my outdoor experiences with you. In this first entry I'm going to tell you a little bit about myself and what you can expect in my writings.
I'm 44 years old and live in Clover,SC. My wife and I have been married since 1998, and last year we had our first child on the day after Thanksgiving. We named our son Paul after the Apostle, whose writings I have always loved. I'm a computer programmer for a living, and have been with the same company since 1992, although our company name has changed a couple of times over the years due to various mergers and acquisitions.
I've been hunting deer since 1985, but got my start with birds and small game a few years before that first deer hunt. I grew up in a small neighborhood outside of Charlotte in what was then pretty far out in the country. My street bordered the Rea farm, and a few of us neighborhood boys used to sneak out into their fields and woods to shoot at birds with our BB guns. It was obvious from an early age that I was into guns and hunting, so my dad gave me a little H&R 20 gauge shotgun for my 13th birthday.
That gun sat in the closet for close to a year. It was mine, but we only went out and shot it a handful of times. Then, one September afternoon, the phone rang. On the other end was a friend whose back yard sat perpendicular to my own. He was my age, and of all of the kids in the neighborhood, the two of us were the ones that liked hunting more than just about anything else, and we had previously spent a lot of time together in the woods with our BB guns. This young fellow shared a name with a famed Scottish poet: Robert Burns.
When I answered the phone that day, Robert asked me if I wanted to go hunting. "Sure," I answered, "but I don't have any BBs." "No," said Robert. "With shotguns." I paused for a second, excited. "Let me ask my mom," I said.
Mom and I had a conversation which ended with her calling my dad to get his permission for me to go hunting with Robert. Dad gave it, and thus started my first real hunt. Robert and I hunted squirrles that day on a little seven acre tract of land that his father owned. I don't remember whether or not we got anything, but man, I was hooked.
My first deer hunt took place during my Christmas break from college in 1985. Robert and I went to a tract of land in Weddington, NC that he had permission to hunt on. We didn't see any deer that day, but I saw plenty of tracks, and I knew that this was something that I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I went back to college when the break ended, and Robert went on to start his own business selling tree stands. He's still in that business today, and in addition to my day job as a computer programmer, my passion is writing books about hunting.
In the mid-90s, I started a website called "Sean's Outdoor Almanac". There weren't many websites around in those days, and mine was one of the first personal hunting sites on the net. Over the years it morphed into a site called "Wingshooters.net", and on that site I have documented every one of my hunts going back to the year 2000.
I'm also a Christian, and you'll be hearing a lot about that in this blog. For many years now I've felt like my calling has been to minister to Sportsmen in one way or another. That calling has led me to begin writing a series of books that fall under the title of "Hunting for the Heart of God". The first book, Deer Hunter's Devotional, was published late last year just before my son was born. My two other books are secular in nature, but both deal with hunting.
In 2007, I went on my first safari to Africa. That safari was documented from start to finish in a book called Eight Days in Africa. My other book is a collection of stoies and essays on hunting, and is called Always Take Your Rifle. All three of my books are available in print and on all major eBook platforms. You can also order signed copies directly from my website at the Wingshooters Store.
In addition to the three books that I've already published, I'm currently working on the next two entries in the "Hunting for the Heart of God" series. The first is a novel called The Cabin, which is set in the world of the outdoors and deals with spiritual warfare. The second is another devotional entitled Daily Bread for Deer Hunters. From time to time I'll be posting excerpts from my books here in this blog.
It?s going to be like a second Christmas pretty soon for the winners of our competitions?but first someone has to win! Last year we selected the winners, but this year we?ve narrowed it down to 3 entries per competition and are letting the site audience vote on our winners. Voting will be live for 7 days and run through Jan 10th. On Jan 11th the winners will be announced and the prizes will be delivered shortly thereafter. Stay tuned for the winner?s blog when we post pics/videos of the winners receiving their prizes.
As you know, this year we implemented the ?have the date in the pic rule? and that made many pics ineligible for the competition. We had to enforce this rule because site users were uploading pics of deer shot in previous years. Forcing hunters to put the date in the pic removes the question as to when the deer was harvested. In this year?s GroundHog MAX Buck of the Year Competition we had to make a ruling on a pic that was a tough decision.
Ryan Lyle posted a game cam pic of a deer (with the date in it) then posted a pic of the harvested deer right beside of it. It was a great deer! It seems Ryan found out about the competition after he harvested the buck so he created a side by side pic showing the game cam pic of the deer and then the pic of him and the deer after he shot it. While the rack in both pics looks very similar, we threw this pic out from judging because we want to abide by our own rules, we want to be fair to the entries that did have the date in the picture of the harvested deer, and we also don?t want to have to compare any racks with game cam pics in future entries. It?s just too fine of a line to walk and could lead to unfair decisions and future scrutiny. While this deer is one of the biggest deer I?ve ever seen shot in SC, we?re sorry that we can?t accept the photo as an entry. Feel free to complain in the comment section below.
With all of that said, thanks to everyone for participating and thanks to our sponsors for donating such great products to WeHuntSC.com & to our winners.
Go and Cast Your Vote
Regards,
Clint
I would like to introduce you guys to a personal friend of mine, Gavin Jackson. Gavin is a childhood friend of mine that resides in Jefferson, SC, which is where we grew up. He fits in very well with the WeHuntSC crew because he has a great passion for the outdoors. If he isn't working or hanging out with his family, he is in the woods hunting or fishing. Gavin is like me, it's not as much about killing the animal, but the work and homework you put in beforehand. To me, that is what true hunting is all about.
Gavin is going to help us blog about deer, turkey, boar, coyote, and ducks, but he will mainly be blogging about duck hunting and coyote hunting. He said those two are his favorite types of hunting. I just got off the phone with him a little while ago and you can tell he really loves to duck hunt and coyote hunt. By the time he finished describing duck hunting and coyote hunting, I was ready to go and I don't really hunt either. Anyways, I will let you guys learn more about him when he post his first blog tomorrow. We are thankful for him helping us out and we look forward to reading about his hunting experiences this year. Good luck hunting and be safe!!!
Join us for our Hunter's Night Out
WeHuntSC.com is excited to host the WeHuntSC.com Hunter?s Night Out which will take place on Saturday, May 1st, 2010 at First Baptist Church Fellowship hall in Pageland, South Carolina. We received a lot of feedback from the ?Food Plot Journey? with people wanting to know more so we?ve asked the organizations involved with the Food Plot Journey to come and present and they?ve all agreed! The subject matters for the evening will be food plot creation + maintenance and game management. So if you?re interested in food plots or quality deer management, then round up your hunting buddies and come on out and join us. The event is free! The event will start at 5:30 and will last around 1.5 hours given the # of questions that get asked. We will also have some food and drinks afterwards for anyone interested. Featured Speakers Background: Keith Frachiseur ? Keith is the inventor of the a new concept in ATV plows..., his very own GroundHog MAX ATV plow. Keith is from Georgia and is an avid hunter. Keith invented the GroundHog MAX ATV plow while thinking of creative ways to get food plots in those remote places where the big bucks hide out. The GroundHog MAX ATV plow is owned by Monroe Tufline. Keith is also knowledgeable about tractors & tractor parts. QDMA Representative ? The QDMA representative will discuss the following:
Mike Lee ? Mike is the Southeast Territory Manager for Tecomate Seed and hails from Alabama. Mike is very knowledgeable about all things food plots! Mike has years of experience planting food plots of all types and has an in depth understanding of how it all works.
Event Summary Event: Hunters Night Out Location: First Baptist Church Fellowship Hall, Pageland SC ? Google Map to Location Time: 5:30 Cost: Free Featured Speakers: Mike Lee (Tecomate Seed), Keith Frachiseur (GroundHog MAX), & a QDMA representative Subjects Covered: Food Plot Creation + Game Management Event Contact: Adam Smith ([email protected])
If you plan on attending the event, please submit the form on the Hunter's Night Out page so we can get a head count on the # of people so that we can have the correct amount of food on hand! - Tell Us You're Coming Here
We are excited to announce that GearFrenzy has partnered with us to sponsor this year?s ?Turkey of the Year Competition?! GearFrenzy is an up and coming online marketplace for all things hunting gear. GearFrenzy has a lot of video from some of the outdoor pros on their site and they specifically talk about the products they use within the site. If you haven?t checked out their site, you should give it a look at www.GearFrenzy.com An excerpt from the GearFrenzy web page:
At Gear Frenzy, we believe choosing the right gear shouldn?t be hard, but with so many options, it can be difficult to know exactly what to buy!
To help you get ready for your next trip, we are teaming up with the best hunters in the industry, bringing you expert advice straight from the people you know and trust. Not only can you see the gear they use, but you can also see firsthand how and why they use it. It?s an experience like no other.
Get invited into Michael Waddell?s hunting shed, sit in the stand next to Tiffany Lakosky and do laundry with Mark Kayser! These are just some of the experiences you will have while at Gear Frenzy. And the best thing about it? We are just getting started!
So now that you know a little bit about them, feel free buy products from their web site and tell them that WeHuntSC.com sent you!