Blog Entries from the WeHuntSC.com blogging crew
I?ve got some good news and some bad news. Starting with the bad news, a private group of duck hunters bought out the rights to the land my hunting club was ?currently? leasing. This caused my father and me to be out of a place to hunt for about 3 weeks. Though, instead of joining another hunting club, we decided to lease our own land down in Andrews SC. For readers not familiar with South Carolina, Andrews is in the lower part of the state. I really believe that leasing our own land is going to work out best. By leasing our own land we?ll be able to do what we want? when we want to. In our previous club we had to battle for good stand locations etc...I?m sure those of you who have been in hunting clubs before have had similar experiences. The other bad news is that I broke a bone in my hand last Friday night in our football game against Bishop England. With it being my senior year, I was really bummed about being out for the next few games.... but I can still shoot my rifle! There?s always some positive in something negative?you just have to find it!
The title of this blog entry is appropriate because at my previous hunting club, the opening day was August 15th as our first club was located in game zone 6, but the location of our new lease in Andrews falls in game zone 5 and the opening day for this game zone was this past Wednesday, September 1st. Since we had a new lease, we needed to do some more work that we would have normally done in the pre-season. So last weekend we went out and set up stands, put out corn, and some game cameras. We also sat in the stands and saw 2 does, a small 6 point, and even a few turkeys. I think it will get better as time goes on, as we learn more about the land, and as the deer find the corn.
Now that we?ve got our lease together and some stands up, it?s time to start hunting. At this time of year it?s still very warm and so it?s easy to get winded by a deer. In my opinion, scent control is really crucial this early in the season. I?m a strong believer in scent control when hunting. This year, we?re using the McKenzie Scent Fan Duffle Bag (www.McKScent.com) to help control and cover our scent. You tell me what you think... I went to the local sports authority and picked up a few pine scent wafers. I put the scent wafers, along with pine needles, in the bag and let it run for a few hours the night before I hunted. The next morning when I pulled my hunting clothes out of the duffle bag they had a heavy pine fragrance and the smell filled the room. Well that happened to be the same morning that I saw deer, and the same held true for that evening. Sunday I didn?t use the bag and I didn?t see a single deer. I think the bag had, and will continue to have, a big effect on how I hunt. I think the success of my hunts will be directly related to how I manage my scent. So far the McKenzie Scent Fan Duffle bag is the ticket. Along with the McKenzie Scent Fan Duffle bag, I was representing the SC Camo company by rocking my True Timber hat?and yes, it smelled like pine straw too!
Derek
On another note, I also recently purchased my third camera. Soon, I will get a tree stand filming arm to help out with our videos. Hopefully this will help me create better videos by giving me the ability to have multiple camera angles. Filming hunts is not the easiest thing to do, so it?s important to have the correct gear and a game plan.
Hunters in my area were pumped this past weekend as opening day finally arrived! In the low country the season opens on August 15th and this year, that day fell on a Sunday. I did not hunt because I went to church. However, a buddy of mine at our hunting club killed a nice 8-point buck that was still in velvet on Sunday night.
We?re locked and loaded with our True Timber camo hats and a McKenzie Scent Fan Duffle bag to keep us from getting winded by any deer. Looks like we will be representing a SC camo company and another SC entrepreneur at the same time... just keeping my fingers crossed that we can get a nice SC buck too! I?m planning on hunting this weekend and will be posting a blog (hopefully with a video) about the hunt sometime next week.
Today I finally got the chance to ride up to our hunting club and check out my food plots. I have not been able to check on them since we put the seed in the ground so I was eager to see if any growth had taken place. When I arrived to the area of my food plots I was surprised to see how well the products had grown over the past 3 weeks! The rain sure has been a big help. This particular area is about 2 acres in size and we had previously disked it up and planted some seed. We also built corn feeders and placed them in our food plots. Nothing wrong with giving them options!
I hope you enjoyed the videos because I know I had a good time making them. I look forward to sharing more hunts and videos with you in the upcoming year.
