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On January 10, 2011 in Deer Hunting, Food Plot Journey by Clint Patterson

It was around this time last year when we got the green-light and started the Tecomate Seed Food Plot Journey. The first blog entry aired last January and I didn't know what to expect, but I knew I had a lot to learn. Around 25 blog entries and a year later, we've had some successes, some failures, some lessons learned, some memorable hunts, and some really good looking food plots.

I?ve posted some pictures below of the spring/summer and fall/winter food plots.

Spring

Fall

I'm no guru by far, but even from my little bit of experience over the last year I can tell you that the soil was one of the most important factors in our Food Plot Journey mix. We planted food plots in several different areas and the areas where the soil was best fit for the food plot were the areas where we had the best food plots. Of course rain is crucial, but rainfall is something we can't control. Essentially the soil acts as the "transfer agent" through which your plants will get the nutrients they need to thrive. One of my takeaways will be the quality of the soil. You can get a high quality seed or a low quality seed, but it's all moot if you don't have fertile soil.

If you've been following along then you've seen everything that we've done via video, pictures, and the text in blog entries. I created one last video of some of the before/after shots that happened along the way.

I've had a great time learning, creating, and documenting the food plots in our Food Plot Journey and hopefully I haven?t bored you with it all. A big thanks to Tecomate Seed & the GroundHog MAX for working with us to sponsor the Food Plot Journey.

And if you are on your own "Food Plot Journey" then it won't be long before it's time to start the soil samples again. I know that we're already making plans for the upcoming spring/summer and next fall/winter plots?

Regards,

Clint

Tagged With: Food Plot Journey, Tecomate Seed

A Few Good Hunts

On January 10, 2011 in Duck Hunting by Gavin Jackson

I was pumped to see the second season come in and for good reason. The last few weeks have been pretty awesome for me and my gang. We?ve been hunting lakes, swamps, ponds, and beaver holes. We?ve seen ducks in every spot we?ve been to. I want to tell you about a few hunts we?ve had over the past few weeks.

One hunt, that really sticks out in my mind, is the morning my buddy, Cole Lowery, put the smack down on a few geese. It was a COLD morning. The water was frozen, but we were determined to hunt either way. We headed out to a little pond- this pond holds a lot of ducks to be such a small pond. Justin Gainey, Cole, and I decided to break a section of the ice and throw out the decoys. We worked and worked to break up the ice but it would freeze back up as soon as we would get back to the bank. Getting ready for the ducks to fly in, we took a break to talk about how cold it was and how we really had no sense to be out in such cold weather. The birds started chirping and then the ducks started flying in. We busted a few wood ducks. We were pretty pumped about it. The ducks were scattered around us, so Justin and I decided to start picking them up. We laid our guns down and took off into the water to get them. While Justin and I were out in the water gathering the ducks, Cole stood on the bank and guided us in the right direction. I glanced across the field, and all I could see were geese coming right toward us. I was too far from my gun to take off to get it and so was Justin. I started yelling at Cole to get ready because the geese were coming in. All I could do was stand there and watch. Man, that made me sick. They came in pretty as could be, all but landing on the end of Cole?s gun barrel because they were so close. Cole started firing and geese started falling. After the first shot, two geese fell to the ice. Then, he shot two more times and two more geese fell. He reloaded, shot again, and another one dropped. He had reached his limit. We were all so excited. We jumped up and down like we were kids again. All three of us were pumped up about our great morning. Not to mention, it is Cole?s first year of duck hunting and he was very excited. We had so much fun that morning. I can still play it back in my mind like it was yesterday. That was definitely a morning to remember.

The next hunt that sticks out is another morning to remember. It was the cold morning of December 18th. The boys got together and headed down the long, muddy, bumpy road that leads us to the honey hole. We got our gear together and headed on into the beaver hole. We got set up, and it was just a matter of time until we would be seeing some ducks. In no time, the ducks started diving in and we started shooting as fast as we could shoot. At one time, I couldn?t keep my gun loaded. I dry fired more than I fired successfully. It is a rush that I can?t put into words. We shot close to ten minutes straight. I was keeping up with the number of ducks we hit. I yelled out to the boys that we could only kill two more ducks before we reached our limit. The last shots were fired and reaching the limits was taken care of. We had reached six limits of wood ducks. All we could do was sit back and admire them as they flew. We had EIGHTEEN wood ducks and THIRTEEN of them were drakes. We were hyped about our great hunt, but also glad we had reached our limits because between the six of us, we probably didn?t have a full box of shells left. Ducks were laying everywhere. It was such a great hunt and the first time of the season that we all reached our limit. I had to go out of town that morning for a Christmas gathering so I left the cleaning to the other guys. I?m sure they had a few choice names for me that morning.

Another impressive memory is when some friends of mine gave me a call one evening to ask if I wanted to go to Lake Wateree to hunt. Of course, I was ready to be in on the lake action, so I gathered up my lake gear that night. I arrived at their house at 4:00 AM. By 4:15, we, with our gear, were packed into the Trailblazer like a pack of sardines. We finally arrived at the boat landing and started loading all of the gear into the boat. The excitement in the air felt like Christmas morning. The boat's throttle is bad about freezing up when it is that cold. Thankfully, we were prepared for it. We had two clothes hangers ready to rig up to get us to the hole. We were determined to make the best of it and shoot some ducks. We took off across the lake with P-Nut driving the boat... with the clothes hangers. (It was worth the trip just to see this!) We arrived to the lucky log, got the decoys out, and hid away the boat. We were ready to hunt. I had my usual "break time". The set up looked good and the sun was rising quickly. We could see ducks flying above and all around us. We decided to take out a few of those ducks. We killed a few drake woodies. We sat back and were waiting on the mallards to fly in. All of a sudden, P-Nut yelled to Doug to "Call 'em in, man!" P-Nut had spotted three malley birds in the distance. Doug started calling, and the ducks started turning toward us. At first, they came in a little out of shooting range but Doug wasn't going to let them get away. He called them back in. This time they were within shooting range. Everybody sat as still as the tree we were perched on, and it was paying off. When the ducks came into land in the decoy spread, we rose up and fired. All I could see was three ducks hit the water. My heart was pounding. We had dropped all three ducks. We started yelling, dancing, and hooting across the lake. We didn't care if we saw another duck because we accomplished what we came to do. We gathered the ducks and the decoys, and began taking pictures immediately. We started our journey back across the lake so we could get our feet warmed up. We had a good time that morning. I think Doug's head may have grown a little that day, but he called them in so two thumbs up to him!

The last few mornings have been depressing in comparison to the start of the season. I can count on both hands the amount of ducks I have seen. Hopefully, whatever element has changed will go back to normal soon, and we can have a few more good hunts this season. This also proves that it?s not about duck killing. It?s about the hunt. Not every hunt will be as successful, but the time shared during the hunt makes the good hunts even better.

Tagged With: A, Few, Good, Hunts

Goose Hunting with the Wrecking Crew

On January 6, 2011 in Goose, Hunting by Clint Patterson


	The geese after the hunt

Probably like many of you, my holiday season was pretty busy. By the time New Year?s Day comes around you are kind of worn down from travel, celebrations, the festivities of the holidays, and most likely, some kind of party the night before on New Year?s Eve. Even though I was tired, I wasn?t too tired to wake up and go hunting! On New Year?s Day I rolled out of bed struggling from having only 4 hours of sleep and simply being worn down, but it was worth it with the hunt we would happen shortly thereafter.

I was heading to meet the guys from the Wrecking Crew Guide Service as we were scheduled to go out on a goose hunt. When I stepped out of the house I noticed that it wasn?t as cold as it had been in the days previous to this hunt. For some reason the weather warmed up for about 2 ? 3 days. As I drove down the road I noticed some fog here and there. I went to a store to get a drink and a biscuit. While I was in the store I noticed two guys dressed in camouflage. From the design of their camo I could tell they were going hunting for some type of waterfowl. Normally I would have spoken to them just to see if they had been having any luck, but since it was so early I opted not to because I was still half asleep and going slow at the moment. The guys checked out at the register and when they turned to leave I saw the taller one?s face and it looked familiar to me, but I couldn?t remember where I had seen the guy. I bought my stuff and headed out.


The setup on the dam

The fog got thicker as I drove closer to our meeting location. This wasn?t a good sign as we were going to be hunting geese! I?m no pro waterfowl hunter, but I do know that fog can make them change their pattern and fly at different times?normally later than usual. When I arrived I noticed that the two guys I had seen in the store 15 minutes earlier were now talking to the Wrecking Crew guys. I got out of the car and started getting my stuff and I heard the taller guy say ?Don?t worry about the crackers, my cousin works at a cracker company so we?ll have plenty of snacks?. When I heard that statement it all clicked for me and I responded ?Yeah we?ll have plenty of snacks because my wife also works at a cracker company and I brought some crackers too?and as a matter of fact, your cousin is my wife!? I remembered that I had sat in a living room with Ray Hemby only a week earlier right around Christmas?I just didn?t know that he was an avid hunter and didn?t know the connection to the Wrecking Crew. Small world. After we all figured out that I was going to be hunting with some in-laws then we already had a story to tell!

Now to the hunt?when we left I noticed that the truck we were riding in was pulling a trailer. Since it was dark I couldn?t see what was in the trailer, but knew that we were taking something along for the ride. We arrived really early and the fog was still very thick. We arrived on a gravel road along side of a winter wheat field. Upon arrival the Wrecking Crew sprung into action. These guys were taking stuff off the trailer and not asking any questions. I could tell they had done this before as it seemed routine to them?this was a good sign. The trailer was carrying a bunch of layout blinds, decoys, and bales of straw. I jumped in the mix and we all carried the gear and set up on a dam of a pond that was in the middle of a wheat field. When it was dark I really couldn?t tell what the setup was, but as the sun started to rise I came to understand.

WeHuntSC.com - The Wrecking Crew Guide Service

Daryl had previously scouted the area and had a good feel for what would happen that morning, but the fog had him worried a little bit?and rightfully so. With insight from Daryl?s scouting the location we set up the layout blinds lying on the backside of the dam of the pond. While Daryl, Robbie, & Pete were working hard setting up the blinds, Blake was hard at work setting up the decoys. After the hunt Blake explained to me that there was a method to the madness and a reason for setting them up in the certain formation that he had placed them in. Blake had read in a Ducks Unlimited magazine about a formation that was realistic and he even went and changed the formation around once later in the hunt. Some decoys were feeding, some were standing, and they were all facing the same direction. We also had decoys interwoven with the layout blinds by the time Blake got through.


	Blake blowing the Lodge Creek Mayhem Call

The final touch was to put straw on and around the base of the layout blinds. If you?re familiar with ?brushing in? a ground blind while deer hunting then this would be the equivalent. The Wrecking Crew had brought a bale or two of straw and Blake and Daryl both went around the blinds throwing it on and around them to make it blend in with the field. I told Blake he might have a future in pine straw spreading the way he was getting it done. In time we had a lot of decoys out, blinds set up, and everything ready to go. The guys went back down to the road and moved their trucks to where they were out of site. It was still dark at this point, but it wouldn?t be long.

I ended up being in between Blake and Pete and we all laid in the layout blinds and rested for a few minutes until the sun rose a little more. Two blinds down from me Robbie Boone was seemingly attempting to grunt up a buck by snoring, but he didn?t have any luck. (I guess his grunt call wasn?t as bad as the kind Hoot uses when rabbit hunting though!). I had never used a layout blind before and I can see why it was easy to fall asleep momentarily; that thing was comfortable! Faces painted, ?Drake?d out?, Decoy Outdoors logos everywhere, and WinnTuck lanyards around our necks, we were all set up and ready to roll. Daryl had scouted, the blinds had us camouflaged, the straw ?brushed? in the blinds, we had decoys all around us, and we just happen to have a world champion caller in our group who had Lodge Creek?s latest call ?The Mayhem? around his neck. It was just a matter of time.

The fog did set the waterfowl back a little. Early in the hunt we had some ducks flying over. We saw wood ducks, mallards, and mergansers circling. The mergansers landed in the pond behind us and the others kept flying. I was able to get some decent footage of the mergansers on the water too. From the way we were lying on the dam of the pond we had to raise our heads up and peek at the ducks. We were, as you would expect, just out of their sight and this was by design. We let the mergansers stay on the pond and didn?t shoot at any ducks because we were there for the geese and didn?t want to risk spooking any geese.

It started getting a little lighter out and Daryl said that it wouldn?t be long. Blake was working his call and we heard a distant goose call back at him. Blake and the goose were going back and forth with each other like they were old friends. The goose would call out to Blake and Blake would call to the goose over and over. It was as if Blake was the flight control tower guiding the goose right on in for a ?safe? landing. The goose was a solo flyer and he was getting closer. I had the camera on and got a bead on him. Just before he got overhead the boys unloaded on him and he crashed into the field. They put a hurting on him. I almost broke my back twisting and turning to get this all on footage, but I was able to get it done. The fog made it difficult to focus at first, but the footage is not bad. If you?re wondering about Robbie?he was awake by now! When that bird hit the ground Blake jumped up to go get him when he realized that there were two more geese coming in, they must have been hot on the other goose?s trail. Blake dropped back to a knee and reloaded as he said ?Daddy, there?s two more coming?. I think Blake quit re-loading and started calling. These two came right down the same pipe as the first solo flyer did. Here again I was twisting and turning awkwardly, but I got these even better on camera, but no one shot! I was wondering why no one shot, but I think everyone had unloaded on that first goose and didn?t have any shells in their guns! With the whole crew there this was hard to believe. The two geese soared on through the air calling back and forth with Blake and they made it through free due to the first bird taking one for the team.


	Daryl Hodge of the Wrecking Crew

Now our hearts were pumping and the adrenaline was flowing. If you?ve been hunting before then you know the feeling I?m talking about. The feeling when the first group has already come in and you know that it?s on and the clock is ticking. Our senses were on high alert as we waited to hear or see anything. We knew the next group wouldn?t be long behind them. Daryl had said that it would be best if the geese came in several small groups because this would give us more shots on them, but that just wasn?t in the cards for us on this hunt!

We waited and Blake randomly called out. We waited for a while and before I knew it we heard some commotion very close to us. Wings were flapping, but we had not heard one goose call out. The geese came in silently. We got them to come over our way and Blake was going to town on his call. A group of geese so large that I couldn?t fit them all in the lens of the camera was upon us and the boys unloaded on them. The geese started climbing when they heard the shots and I didn?t know which way to film because there were so many geese in the sky! You can see in the video where I?m moving the camera around trying to film it all. In that shot I?m not zoomed in at all?that?s really how close they were to us. It all happened so quick it kind of caught me by surprise. After the initial shots Blake went to town again on the call trying to get the geese to circle back. The guys had downed 3 birds, but we were only able to find 2 of them. It was an awesome moment to take in when they were right on top of us.

Below are a few pics of the hunt. Click the thumbnails to get larger versions of the pics

We waited a little longer to see if any ?late-flyers? would come through, but that was pretty much it. We had some mallards fly past us as we were talking, but no one shot at them. We all talked about the hunt and deconstructed what had just happened for a few minutes and, of course, eat some of the crackers that we had! Then it was time to shoot the post-game interview and pack up and leave. We all helped carry the stuff and then we headed out. The hunt went a little longer than we anticipated due to the fog, but when you?re hunting with the in-laws it?s hard for the wife to be but so mad!

Below is a video I created of the hunt

From spending time with family over Christmas, to rabbit hunting with the WeHuntSC guys, to goose hunting with the Wrecking Crew, my holiday season was a good one! Thanks to the Wrecking Crew for taking me along on another good hunt. If you can?t tell from the blog, these guys go all out and simply get it done! If you are interested in booking a hunt with the Wrecking Crew just visit their web site at www.WreckingCrewGuideService.com.

Regards,

Clint

Tagged With: blake hodge, Daryl Hodge, Goose Hunting, Wrecking Crew

The WeHuntSC.com Rabbit Hunt

On January 5, 2011 in Hunting, Rabbit by Clint Patterson


	Hoot, South Carolina's #1 Rabbit Hunter

This past Friday morning was New Year?s Eve and a handful of the WeHuntSC.com crew and some other local hunters got together to go rabbit hunting. We all met up near McBee, SC and Chip was even nice enough to have cooked sausage for everyone. We munched on sausage and hung around for a little bit before starting out on the hunt. There were probably 12 ? 15 people there and I met some nice guys from River Bottom Kennels in the Rock Hill area there too!

While everyone was talking and eating, ?Hoot? (the internet phenom who grunts up rabbits) showed me the new addition to his dog box. He created a piece of metal that reads ?Hoot?s Holdaline Hounds? and mounted it on his dog box. So, if you are in SC and see a dog box with "Hoot's HoldALine Hounds" on it, then you?re riding behind Hoot.

Since we were over by Hoot?s truck I grabbed Hoot and did a quick pre-hunt interview. We had to cut the first interview short as someone cranked a truck up in my ear and messed up the audio. We did a second interview, but since the camera loves Hoot so much I?m posting both below for your viewing pleasure. Shortly after the interview it was time to chase some rabbits.

WeHuntSC.com - Hoot's Hold-a-line Hounds sign on his dog box


Some of the crew out in the cut-over

We left and ended up at a cut-over within a couple of minutes. Everyone got ready to walk through the brush of the cut-over. I think the dogs could sense that we were getting close because you could hear their anticipation building in the dog boxes. Some of us parked on the side of the road and the others drove up the dirt road that went to the cut-over. Once we all got there Hoot did something that I thought was neat?he opened the hunt up with a prayer. We all stopped and paused while he lead us in prayer and then about 5 minutes after the ?amen? dogs were hitting the ground.

I?m not an avid rabbit hunter, but once the dogs got on the ground it reminded me of when we went rabbit hunting last year. Within minutes the dogs were all fertilizing the soil and a strong stench filled the air! Hoot says that?s just part of the fun though!


	Bunns on the tailgate

We started trekking through the cut-over and the dogs were sniffing all around. Some of the hunters in our group brought dogs and some didn?t. With the dogs being mixed with other hunters dogs I think it took them a bit to get in the groove. I could be wrong though, but the dogs seemed to be intermingling and checking each other out early on. Since we had a large group we talked about some safety precautions and some of the guys didn?t even carry guns. As we walked through the brush I kept waiting to hear the dogs get on a hot rabbit trail, but it didn?t happen as quick as I thought it would. We were talking, walking, and listening at random intervals.

I wasn?t able to stay too long because I still had some family holiday functions to attend so I had to jet early in the hunt. I would have loved to stay and get some more footage though. I believe the guys ended up getting about 5 rabbits in total. Hoot was kind enough to send me a pic of two rabbits on the tailgate.

It was neat to get out and meet up with some of the crew plus to meet some new faces. I hope we can do it again sometime soon! Thanks to Chip for cooking and all the other guys for making it a good time.

Regards,

Clint

Tagged With: Hoot, Rabbit Hunting

Vote for the Winner

On January 3, 2011 in Deer Hunting, News by Clint Patterson

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.


	Hated to throw this pic out

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

Tagged With: for, the, Vote, Winner

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