Blog Entries from the WeHuntSC.com blogging crew
"We're going to get one tonight" JD whispered as we settled in for the evening hunt. I was a little more skeptical because as I cut a thread on the burlap surrounding the stand with my CRKT "Brow Tine" knife a bead of sweat dripped from my forehead. It was a very warm October 15th. The double stand that we have set up faces west and with little shade the bright sun had JD and I squirming for any available shade.
The deer seemed to have similar thoughts as well. Just as the shooting lane filled with shade the deer started to ease in for an evening snack. With a little less than an hour of shooting light and deer already starting to move into the food plot I started to believe in what JD told me earlier.
The first two deer that entered the food plot were a doe and her fawn. We watched these two for a few minutes when the doe shook her head and then darted through the food plot as if to signal that something had her on edge. As the fawn followed the doe out of the food plot I whispered to JD, "There might be a buck behind them." Before I could barely finish that statement a buck entered the food plot. "There's a buck!"
JD and I had hunted several times during the week and had seen a good number of deer on those hunts. On those hunts we really put our Mckenzie Scent Fan Duffle bag and Atsko scent products to the test as a front moving in off the coast had the wind blowing at our backs. On each hunt we had deer in close and not one time did a deer wind us. On this hunt though we had the wind in our favor and with plenty of daylight left I thought to myself, "We are going to get one tonight".
For this to be true though I knew that we were going to need the buck to close the distance before I would give JD the green light. The buck entered the food plot a good two hundred yards out and would need to get within a hundred yards for a comfortable shot. The buck seemed to be torn between the doe and the oats and turnips we had planted. He would drop his head and chase the doe but soon lose focus and start to eat again. With this patterning continuing it seemed likely that he would soon be within range. As the buck made his way closer JD filled my ear with questions. "How much do you think he weighs?" "How far away is he?" "What do you think?"
As I watched the deer move down the food plot, my words to JD were, "I think he would be a great first deer." JD took a deep breath and I could tell he was starting to get really excited. The buck finally had made his way to the bottom of the hill and now he stood at one hundred yards. I whispered to JD to get ready and ease the safety off. I told him when the deer took a step forward to put the cross hairs right behind the front shoulder and squeeze the trigger. As the buck took that step forward my heart was pounding because I knew this was the moment we had been waiting for. Without hesitation JD squeezed the trigger and the buck dropped. As I watched through my camera's viewfinder I could tell that the buck was down but I quickly told JD to load another cartridge. To my surprise the buck jumped up. JD fired another shot just over the bucks back. The buck turned and sat on the right edge of the food plot. "Load another round!", I exclaimed. It was at that point I thought the first shot might have hit him high. The buck staggered up again and headed for the cutover. JD fired another shot and the buck disappeared.
Every deer hunter knows that feeling that overwhelms you after you shoot a deer. I think JD and I both were shaking like a leaf as we tried to plan our next move. I replayed the video and JD's first shot looked like it hit high and back some. We waited about thirty minutes and then walked through the food plot to mark the spot of where the deer entered the cutover. We found a little bit of blood where the buck had sat down but as we searched the edge of the cutover there were no signs of blood. If any of you have ever searched for a deer in a cutover you know how hard it is to navigate the briars and thick brush. With the darkness set in and no sign of a blood trail, I thought it would be good to go to plan B. We went back to my house and reviewed the footage over and over again. With the shot being high I thought it would be better to give the deer time instead of pushing him out and eliminating our chance of recovery. We decided to wait until daylight and get some help from my neighbor.
My neighbor had always told me that if we couldn't find a deer to call him and he would get his Labrador Retriever to help. So I called him the next day, and in a moments notice he had Haley ready to "Hunt Dead". I picked JD up and we headed over to the food plot. Haley got on the trail quick but we couldn't keep up so we decided to start over. This time my neighbor stayed right on Haley's tail and within a few minutes we recovered the deer. A sigh of relief from me and big "Woooo!" from JD echoed through the thicket.
JD had just harvested his first deer. A four point, 120 pound buck! The buck had three points on his left side and a cowhorn on its right side. Definitely a great first deer! I couldn't have been happier and I think JD feels the same.
Words can't really describe the feelings of sharing this experience with my cousin JD. I think this will be something that he will always cherish and I know I will. I was really impressed with his patience during our hunts and I think he is officially a deer hunter. He has learned so much not only through the things I've tried to teach him but also from all of the others who have helped us along the way. And I can't thank everyone enough.
JD, you did a great job and I can't be more proud! I think you got a pretty cool birthday present this year buddy! Check out the video below of the hunt.
As part of the Intro to Game Management blog series we discussed how food plots are one tenant of game management. This blog entry shows us preparing the soil for our food plots by spraying weed killer.
If you were around last year then you probably joined us in the Tecomate Seed "Food Plot Journey" where we detailed food plot creation from a novice?s perspective. Part of that journey was to start getting our food plots ready to be planted. We talked in depth about soil preparation and one thing we did to get the areas ready for food plots was to spray round-up to kill the weeds. You can see the blog entry "More Food Plot Soil Samples + Spraying" for a more in depth look at where we started.
This season we're planting food plots again and are not going into as much detail about our steps I this blog series, but we are posting videos to show the progress.
The below video shows the starting point for this year?s food plots where we sprayed round-up.
In the woods behind me, I heard the unmistakable sound of a deer approaching. The leaves on the forest floor crunched with every step that he took, and I wondered how close he would get before sensing my presence. It didn't take long. The deer snorted twice and bounded away with the sound of his hooves pounding out a rhythm as he ran. I threw another log in my backyard firepit and grinned in the darkness, surprised that the deer had gotten as close to me as he had. He would have had to have smelled the smoke from my fire, and I hadn't been particularly quiet whenever I poked at the logs in the pit. I took a sip of wine and turned my attention inwards. I was in a reflective mood tonight and wanted to take the time to "recover from the past and store up for the future," as Robert Ruark's Old Man once put it.
A month and a half into deer season, and I've only gotten one doe so far. That's a little unusual, but the season has been a busy one for me and I haven't gotten in the woods as often as I normally do. My job, more than anything else, has kept me busy with more work and longer hours than I've had to do in years. I've had to do a good bit of traveling, which is fairly unusual in my computer programming job. I've also been seeing less deer than usual this year. I had some good bucks on camera back in September, but they vanished when rifle season opened on October 1. A couple of days ago I saw a two and a half year old eight pointer, but he was a good bit smaller than what we've been looking for.
I'm also trying to write two books at one time, which is probably a mistake. I had hoped to finish "Daily Bread for Deer Hunters" in time for Christmas, but it looks like I'm not going to make that self-imposed deadline. In that new devotional, I'm reading through each book of the Bible and am relating it to the outdoors. That's pretty difficult, and I've only gotten twenty-some chapters done so far. There are at least forty more to go. The second book, a novel called "The Cabin", is the more important one as it deals with spiritual warfare and will reach a wider audience than the devotional. Hunting plays a background role in "The Cabin", but is still an important part of the story.
My son Paul is approaching his first birthday, and it's a great joy to watch him grow. We bought him some camouflage clothes a few weeks ago at Bass Pro Shops and has his picture taken in them. He says three words right now... "Mama", "Dada", and "Deer". Whenever I hold him up to one of the whitetails on my wall, he says "deer!" When we take him to someone's house who is not a hunter, he'll give the walls a puzzled look and ask "deer?", wondering where the heads are at.
Although he can't say anything else at this point, if I ask him "where is the turkey?", he'll turn his head and look at the gobbler that we have mounted in one of our upstairs rooms. He also knows who "Mr. Kudu" is, but has not yet attempted to pronounce that exotic word. It's difficult to want to take him hunting so badly, and yet know that there are several more years in front of us before he'll be ready to go. I certainly don't want to rush through his babyhood, but I am really excited about his first hunt, whenever that will be.
We're in the process of moving him from his smaller bedroom to a larger one, which is also taking up a good bit of time. We'll be painting it in the next few days and having some furniture delivered. We just finished up with all of the repair work from the spring hailstorms, so at least we've got that behind us.
In our club, around a dozen deer have been killed so far. While most of these have been does, one of the guys got a nice eight-pointer this past Saturday. He said that there was a smallish ten point with the bigger buck, and that they were trailing after some does. That's exciting to hear, and I look forward to see some action in the coming weeks.
I found some big buck tracks in my side yard the other day, and I've got my backyard feeder full of corn, hoping to get a look at what comes in. We don't shoot them in the yard, but they sure are fun to watch. I'll have to stick a trail camera back there sometime this week to see how many deer are coming in each night.
There are so many things to think about during this, the best time of the year, that it's often worthwhile to walk out to the firepit in the cool of the evening after work and just take some time to relax. And look forward to the next opportunity to get into the deer woods, of course.
The below blog entry is a guest blog entry posted by Andy Hahn
When friends work together toward a common goal we can accomplish amazing things. I have severely limited mobility because of ALS, but my good buddy Ron Wagner always finds the time and energy to help me enjoy the outdoors. In April 2009 we were hunting at Bang?s Paradise Valley Hunting Club in Ehrhardt, South Carolina, when I told Ron I wanted to take a hog with my Horton Hunter HD 175 crossbow. Our timing was perfect because another guest at the lodge was Matt Miller of Covington, Virginia, who works as a pro-staffer for Horton Crossbows. Although he was at Bang?s to pursue turkeys, he gave up his own hunting time and volunteered to help us that morning. Another friend, Matt Lindler (editor for National Wild Turkey Federation publications), joined us to take photos. Our guide, Tom Collins, mapped out a game plan in the dirt like a sandlot quarterback.
?There?s a game trail here...Set up the blind on this side of it. The hogs bed down in the swamp here. I?ll give you guys 20 minutes, then I?ll come in from this end to push the hogs your way.?
Matt M had the pop-up blind open by the time Ron had wheeled me through 50 yards of mud and deadfalls. Ron quickly assembled my BE-Adaptive gun support and stood by to aim the crossbow with my scope camera/monitor system. Tom tromped through the swamp and his plan worked?sort of. Several hogs went past us, but they ran by too quickly for a shot. Then Tom called on the radio to tell us he saw two hogs hiding in a brushpile. Knowing that hogs tend to sit tight when burrowed into cover, he asked, ?Can you guys get Andy over here?? If the hogs hunker down, we?ll go after ?em; we call this method ?squat ?n stalk hunting.? Ron grunted my wheelchair through 150 yards of palmetto scrub, over logs and around fallen branches while Matts L and M carried the crossbow and other gear. One of my tires went flat from a thorn we picked up somewhere along the way. When Ron apologized, I told him flat, muddy wheelchair tires are much better than clean ones that never go outside.
When we found Tom, he pointed at a nasty brushpile and said, ?One of the hogs is right there.? Where??? Oh...There! All I could see was a dark spot through a 10-inch-diameter opening in the tangled branches. Ron affirmed he could thread the needle at a range of 20 yards and send a bolt through the narrow gap. I trust my point man, so we set up for the shot.
Studying the image on my scope cam, we held a powwow with Matt M to determine where to aim. We estimated where the ribs would be, but the shadows made it a tough call. I squeezed the cable release and the bolt disappeared in the brush. We saw the hog?s rear legs twitch, but we couldn?t see the bolt. Had we hit it?
Our second bolt deflected off a branch and careened away harmlessly. The third one stuck the pig but we couldn?t tell exactly where. We had no more bolts, so somebody would have to walk up and check things out. Matt L stood to our right, with his pistol drawn. Tom stood 20 yards to our left, holding his .44 mag revolver. Matt M, carrying Ron?s 9mm pistol, went behind the brushpile.
?I see tusks on that boar,? he warned.
Then he jammed a 7-foot branch in the pile to flush the hogs. I said, ?Somebody yell PULL! When the pig runs we?ll have pulled pork.? A 130-pound sow stepped out, looking for a victim. She paused, chose Tom and charged directly at him. He tried to sidestep but the hog veered to keep him in her path. POW! Tom fired at a range of 3 feet and closing fast. He hit it between the eyes and had to jump aside as the hog, dead on its feet, tumbled under him. The other hog, which turned out to be a 135-pound boar, never moved. We discovered that the first broadhead had penetrated the skull just behind the right ear for an instant kill. (I guess we can call that shot a ?no brainer.?) Our third shot had struck the hip of the already immobilized hog.
Back at the lodge I almost fell off my wheelchair when Ron asked, ?Hey Bang, do you think Jeremy [of Three Mile Creek Taxidermy] can mount that boar with the arrow stuck in its head?? When we returned to Bang?s later that year, we found that Jeremy had indeed prepared the mount to meet Ron?s request.
Here?s how it looks: Our Squat ?N Stalk Arrowhead Hog.
We?re excited to have Michael Lord as part of the WeHuntSC.com blog team. Michael is a very talented singer, speaker, hunter who uses all of his skills as a ministry. Michael hails from Spartanburg, SC and runs Michael Lord Outdoors which is a ministry that seeks to engage outdoorsmen with the life changing message of Jesus Christ. Michael Lord is an avid outdoorsman who loves God and the people He created. This is Michael?s 20 year anniversary in ministry.
Michael speaks and sings at outdoor events, wild-game banquets, camps, and everywhere in between. If you need a speaker or worship leader for an event, you can get in touch with Michael at his web site, on Twitter, and on Facebook. If you went to the 2011 Sportsman?s Banquet at Second Baptist Church in Lancaster, Michael was on hand leading worship at the event.
Michael?s blogs are going to be somewhat different in that they will mostly be video blogs?which some refer to as ?vlogs?. I know that I?m pumped to see what Michael will bring to the site. I won?t spoil Michael?s own introduction for him, but I just wanted to communicate the addition of a new blogger to the team. Join me in welcoming Michael to the site.
Regards,
Clint
On the morning of August 16th I was heading into hunt. Here in the low-country deer hunting season comes in earlier than in most area. On this particular morning I was running a few minutes behind.. I rushed to grab my Cross Over Camo from of my Mckenzie Scent Fan Duffle bag. The unique pattern of CrossOver Camo combined with the scenting abilities of the McKenzie Scent Fan Duffle bag meant I would be well camouflaged and smelling strongly like the scent of a pine tree. I also sprayed my snake boots down with Atsko?s scent killer to help minimize any human scent or scent from my vehicle.
My scent and gear were under control I was ready to head in. I grabbed my flash light and headed out in to the darkness. As I was walked down the edge of a corn field toward my stand I heard a loud crash just ahead of me. I shinned my light in the direction of the sound and there were two does standing in the edge of the corn looking back at me.
As I continued walking I thought to myself that this early encounter was a good sign that the deer were moving.
I arrived at my stand at 5:45. By this time I could see into the wide open field, but it was that time where the light was bright enough to see but not bright enough to make out exactly what I was seeing. Objects looked somewhat fuzzy as I scanned the edge of the field. I thought I could see movement but I wasn't sure what it was. The sun finally began to peek over the tree tops when I looked straight in front of me. I saw something moving about 150 yards away. I was getting excited to see movement since it was the second day of the season and the sight of a deer walking out in front of my stand was a sight I had not seen since in a long time. I flipped the camera on and zoomed in on the object. It turned out the animal was actually a coyote. I have never seen a coyote when I?ve been deer hunting before. I actually had to take a double take thinking maybe it was a house dog, but as it moved closer toward me I was sure it was a coyote. As I was picked up my rifle the coyote started to lie down in the field. I decided to watch it for a minute to see what it was going to do. After a few minutes of lying on the ground, I decided I was going to take the shot. Just as I was about to pull the trigger it got up and darted into the woods after the other coyote standing in the edge of the woods. I was thinking to myself I should have shot earlier while I had the chance. About 5 minutes later a bigger coyote emerged from the woods. The first coyote returned and they started playing with each other running around in circles. They played for a bit, but when the big one stopped I took the shot. I reloaded and tried to stop the other one as it ran straight toward me but I couldn't get a shot on it. I enjoyed watching them, but I?m also glad I got the opportunity to take one out. They are a big problem around the area I hunt.
I have also been filming a few deer since the start of the season. The problem I?m facing this year is the deer are walking right at dark. I can see them through my scope but it?s too dark to film a lot of the deer I have been seeing thus far. I?m going to keep after?em though and hopefully I?ll be able to get some good film in the near future.
Derek
Yellow Cape Communications is a communications firm based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Yellow Cape specializes in television production, multi-media for web, still photography, communications consulting, marketing communications services and all things web. You've seen Yellow Cape?s work before when you first come to the site and see the girls in camo introducing our site. You may also have seen the 2010 Central Eagles State Championship Documentary or the Chesterfield County Career and Technology Education video. I also had Jason produce a DotNetNuke SuperFan Video for me and it turned out really good!
Jason Fararooei and his team at Yellow Cape Communications create top notch multi-media communications - so if you work for an organization that may need multi-media creation, photography or communications consulting services, give Jason a shout http://www.YellowCapeCommunications.com.
Yellow Cape Communications has partnered with WeHuntSC.com on 5 quick-tip video segments to promote the basics in hunting and outdoor safety. Over the course of this deer hunting season we will be releasing the videos in this blog series. I can already tell you that the last segment in this series is by far the best! Below is the first in the series.
There are several facets of Game Management. The first one we're going to investigate is the notion of food plots. Food plots are great resources for managing game on your land and are commonly found as a staple in any game management strategy. The core definition of a food plot is "A planted area set aside to act as a food source for wildlife" (Wikipedia). Given that definition a farmer's large field of crops such as soybeans, corn, and peas sometimes serves the same purpose that a food plot does even though that is not the intention of the farmer! Though, farmers will eventually harvest their crops whereas when hunters install food plots they are usually not as big, are of more variety, are located in different areas, and wildlife are the intended consumers of these crops.
It's important to begin by saying that food plots are not a solution to a problem, but rather a supplement that can be beneficial for the game on your land. If you do not have deer on your land, planting a food plot will not make them magically appear. Planting food plots will also not instantly create "monster bucks" on your land or instantly increase the number of deer in your herd. If you expect these kinds of miracles to occur as a result of planting food plots then you're going to be disappointed. Managing your own expectations is important when installing and maintaining food plots. After putting in a lot of work and time with food plots it's easy to feel like "I've worked hard so I should reap the benefits of my work", but this is not immediately accurate. The benefits and effects of having food plots on your land become more prevalent over the course of time. As you might imagine from this blog series, food plots are just one tenant of game management and they are probably one of the most well known in the game management matrix.
Hunters often install food plots in areas that farmers wouldn't, in areas that are deep in the woods or out in some remote location. Creating food plots in these remote locations gives deer easy access to food sources that they need and also provides hunters with ideal hunting locations. Thus, food plots offer both nutritional benefits to the deer as well as benefits to the hunter. Let's look at the nutritional benefit of creating food plots first.
Having food plots on your land during the spring, summer, and fall months ensures that the deer in your area have protein which is important during this time of the year when bucks are growing antlers and does are pregnant and lactating. Adequate nutrition helps the reproduction process, increases the birth weight of fawns, foments larger body size, & raises the likelihood of the doe having multiple fawns. The healthier the doe is the more she can lactate. A healthy adult doe directly helps the fawns out as they mature. Also, during the rut, bucks expend a lot of energy & valuable resources. The availability of nutritional resources helps reduce post-rut mortality rates of these bucks when they run themselves ragged during the rut.
During the winter months a deer's food sources are not as plentiful as Mother Nature naturally reduces the available supply of forage. During this time of year deer don't need as much protein for growing antlers or nursing, but rather they use the nutrients they consume for pure energy. Having food plots available helps deer not have to use fat they've stored up for their internal energy demands. When they can find forage to browse on during winter months it aids in keeping them healthy and decreases the amount of time spent recovering from the rut period. The sooner they can recover from the rut and winter the healthier the bucks will be when the time comes to re-grow their antlers and the more fit the does will be to carry and nurse the fawns. Keep in mind that these benefits won't be noticeable initially as it takes time for these cycles to occur.
Keeping food plots going year round is the best case scenario, but sometimes, for various reasons, we may not be able to manage food plots throughout the full year. If I had to pick one season to install food plots, I would definitely install a food plot during the winter months when the deer's food sources are minimized. Providing deer with ample food sources during this time is more critical for them and will also help you locate deer during winter months.
Food plots also offer hunters some benefits.From a hunting perspective food plots normally increase the number of deer you see during the hunting season, that is as long as you don't disturb them too much. I have friends who want to go and "check on' their food plots all the time & go switch game camera cards out at their food plots way too often. Going out to food plots repeatedly only counters the desired goal and the reason you put them in! I've put in a lot of hard work on our food plots and I still have to remind myself not to overdo it when hunting and checking game cams. Mature deer pick up on these disturbances really easily. I try to be mindful of the pressure I put on our food plots and I don't shoot at every deer I see in our food plots.
On a side note, if you're a turkey hunter, food plots also benefit turkeys. Turkeys will come out and pick at the crops (depending on what you've planted) and also get bugs from around them. I got video just this past weekend of a turkey browsing a food plot. In this respect food plots can serve a dual purpose for hunters if you hunt both deer & turkeys.
From what I've read (and heard) it seems that general ratio is to have 5 - 10% of forested land as food plots. There are tons of different crops you can plant and there is a whole industry ready to sell you any kind of food plot seed and gimmick imaginable. I try to keep in mind the end reason of why I'm creating and maintaining food plots because it's easy to get overwhelmed with options. I try to remember that legumes such as clover, peas, & soybeans are all rich in protein and are great for deer.
We've chosen to work with Tecomate Seed for our food plots because they make quality seed that grows well in our area. Tecomate Seed is coated with a coating called "Yellow Jacket" that helps absorb a large amount of water so the seed can germinate. Tecomate Seed has a trusted brand that's built on years of research and testing. If you've ever seen the TV show "Bucks of Tecomate" then you know what I'm talking about. Hopefully in time we'll have some good deer like that around the areas we hunt, but the same rule applies patience is the key.
We are installing food plots on some areas of our land this year and I'm going to be posting some brief blog entries with videos and pictures of our food plots to keep you posted on our successes & failures with regards to our 2011 food plots. We're planting Tecomate's Max Attract in all locations. Regards,