Blog Entries from the WeHuntSC.com blogging crew
Have you ever heard about Carolina Adventure World? If you haven?t, then you?re missing out?especially if you?re into ATV?s, dirt bikes, or any type of off-roading. I had previously heard of how awesome Carolina Adventure World was from some of my friends, but had never actually been to the facility. I was finally able to check it out and the place truly is awesome! After visiting the site, I now understand why my friends raved so much about it.
Carolina Adventure World is located in Winnsboro, SC so no matter where you may be in the state, it?s not a bad drive. I headed down from Rock Hill and it was a really easy drive straight down 77. It only took me about 45 minutes to get there. You take one turn off the exit and 2 miles later the next turn is into the huge gates out in front of the park. When I saw the front gate, I could easily tell that the park was a nice size operation. You know how an entrance kind of signals the scale of the development that you?re entering...it was the same way with this facility. The entrance had a big gate and 2 huge signs that can easily be seen from the road. If you?re on the right road, you don?t have to worry about missing the place because there?s no way you could ride by it with the entrance.
As we descended down the hill Jim took me to the storage and maintenance buildings where we picked up our ride for the day. While we were back there I saw a huge building where they keep a lot of their rental ATV?s, dirt bikes, helmets, shin guards, boots, and other gear. In case you?re interested, Carolina Adventure World rents Yamaha Rhino Side by Sides, Yamaha Grizzly ATVs and Honda Dirt Bikes. The building where they store their rides was a nice and clean facility.
Just next door the guys were working on a 4-wheeler that had something wrong with it. Jim mentioned to me that Carolina Adventure World offers assistance with repairs to any visitors that happen to have a problem with their ATV while they?re at the park and that CAW can also stow ATV?s should visitors desire to leave them there for a while. So, if you?d like, you can store your machines at CAW between visits and they can have it cleaned, gassed, and ready to ride and waiting on you! CAW has staff on hand that can also provide any repairs or service needed before you return to the park.
After talking with the guys at the shop for a minute we got our ride for the day, a really neat vehicle called a ?Razor?. We then headed back to the main entrance and to the Welcome Center. We stopped at the Welcome Center to check it out and it is first class. It was very clean and had anything you could possibly want if you were looking to ride, eat, or even shop for clothes! The Welcome Center serves multiple purposes to Carolina Adventure World visitors. The Welcome Center is where you get started at the park. You purchase your passes there, find information about the trails, buy anything from food, to coke, to wenches, goggles, vinyl stickers, t-shirts, to hats, and on and on. They also have large bathrooms in the back and a big kitchen. The Welcome Center has an open-aired wraparound porch feel too it where rocking chairs and ATV?s that can be rented are located.
Beside the Welcome Center is a shower room where you can go and get washed up after riding if you?d like. We weren?t riding too fast or for too long and I still got pretty muddy and was tempted to go in there, but didn?t! The wash room is definitely a good resource to have on location, but its primary use is for visitors who come to stay the whole weekend. Carolina Adventure World is RV & Camper friendly and encourages families and/or groups to come up and stay for multiple days. The park is structured so that RV?s and Campers both can have access and they provide electricity, water, and an on-site dumping station for those wishing to come and call the park home for a few days. I was pretty impressed with that. And if you don?t own an RV?Carolina Adventure World has RV Campers for rent that sleep up to eight people. If you?re interested in that, be sure to call early to make reservations as they book the RV?s early for weekends.
Across from the Welcome center is a huge parking lot where visitors park and unload their ATV?s and dirt-bikes. If you?re like me and are not good at driving a trailer you don?t have to worry because the parking lot is plenty big enough and makes it?s easy to make wide turns. The Welcome Center is also just up the hill from the main mud bog.
The mud bog is just past the Welcome Center to the left and appears to be the location of where a lot of fun takes place. Though, Jim mentioned to me that most ATVs that get in the mud bog are equipped with snorkels and gear ready to be submerged beneath the water. The mud bog has a small section of bleachers beside it and is oval-shaped with an island of land in the middle of it. The island has some lights on it so I assume you can ride through the mud at night there as well. Beside that mud bog is another mud bog on a lower level that is similar except it doesn?t have an island of land in the middle. The first mud bog leads to the next mud bog in a stair-step-like manner with regards to the lay of the land. Beside the mud bogs is the much needed wash-off area. It?s kind of like a car-wash, but for ATV?s. The area has pressurized water hoses that can give you the necessary PSI to get the mud off.
After passing all this we continued down to the dirt-drag-strip which was really neat as well. The strip is fit with the digital clock that shows accurate times and the starting line had starter lights too. We pulled right up to the track and gave it a whirl. Jim noted that the track was a little muddy due to all the recent rain, but that normally it?s pretty solid and you can get a better grip which gives more speed and better times. It?s very similar to a regular drag-strip, but is just on dirt and is smaller and shorter. I believe Jim said the track is around 300 feet long.
A mother and daughter riding through the park
After we checked that out we went riding a little further around the facility and started riding on the trails. Not too long after we were down a trail some huge bull dozers, backhoes and large machinery came into vision. Jim informed me that Carolina Adventure World crushes rock on site to help with the maintenance of the trails. They pack the rock on the trails where erosion occurs and sometimes use it to elevate trails when necessary. I was impressed with the level of commitment to the on-going maintenance of the facility.
Along the way of the miles and miles of trails we crossed a nice wooden bridge that ran over Big Wateree Creek which is like a small river. We also saw many mud holes that were primed and ready to be ridden through, and we scaled a lot of steep hills and slopes. You may think that SC is all flat, but I?m here to tell you that this place has some major hills and rugged terrain. You can literally find any kind of riding trail that you can imagine there. We rode all the way to the back and ended up at a really swampy looking pond. It was nice looking and when we rode up to it about 7 wood ducks flew off. I imagine that the duck hunters would love to have been in this swampy area.
After riding on a few of the trails and service roads some more, we headed back up to the front of the facility. By this time I had a good bit of mud on me and had taken 151 pictures and 52 videos and both cameras had mud on them as well. I was worried if the footage would make it out alive, but everything came out just fine.
Other bits of information that may be interesting to you is that Carolina Adventure World holds several competitions and events throughout the year. From mud bogging competitions, to events for hunters, and even organizational retreats and dinners, CAW is in the mix in a lot of ways.
Jim noted that Carolina Adventure World holds several Championship Mud Bog Races throughout the year. See www.ChampionshipMudRacing.com for more info on that. Along with hosting the championship races CAW has held the Brian Fisher Weekend Event several times, has rides where they?re open until midnight, bon fires, and even a poker run.
I would definitely recommend this place to anyone interested in 4-wheelers, ATV?s, dirt bikes, mud bogging, or off-roading. The scale of the operation is huge, there are tons of trails (2,500 acres to be exact), safety measures have been taken, they have on-site repairs and rentals, and everything you need is at the Welcome Center. If you?re into the outdoors and off-roading, then you won?t regret giving Carolina Adventure World a chance. While we were there we saw people from multiple states and some were there with their families enjoying the park. If you do go out and see the facility and ride, let me know what you think about it. I?m not aware of anything else like it in the area. Much like True Timber Camo, this place is a hidden gem right here in our own back yard.
Below is a video I made of the day at Carolina Adventure World
For more information you can stay tuned to CarolinaAdventureWorld.com for details of upcoming events. Should you want to be ?in the loop? all the time, CAW also sends out an E-Newsletter with details of upcoming events that you can register to receive. Still planned for the rest of this year is a Big Labor Day Weekend Ride, another Poker Run, the famous Red Neck Nationals and the year?s final Championship Mud Racings Event to determine the CMR?s End of Year $18,000 payouts! I didn?t know you could make that much money slinging mud! Maybe that can be my second career :)
Regards,
Clint
* I will continue to update this blog entry and the competition pages as more sponsors become involved. So keep checking the list because the prize packages will continue to get better.
We?re pumped up to see what everyone around the state will be seeing and harvesting this coming hunting season. As usual, we are hosting a couple competitions on the site and hunters from all over the state will compete to win prize packages and we?ve got some really good prizes to give away! This year we have removed a competition and added 2 new ones to the mix. You should also notice the rules for the competitions before posting any images because we are changing how the competitions work a little.
The Rules and New Changes
Again, see the rules for each competition before posting
The Competitions & Prizes
We look forward to seeing what happens around the state again this year!
* If you?re an organization interested in being a sponsor and would like to get involved, see the Sponsor FAQ page.
This blog entry has nothing to do with hunting or the outdoors.
I see all kind of videos on YouTube and I?m sure you do too. Though, every now and then I?ll see something that?s extremely funny, unbelievable, or creative. When I see those kinds of videos I will normally forward the link on to some of my friends. This past week I saw 2 related videos that encompassed funny, unbelievable, and creative at the same time. While the nature of the crime isn?t funny, the guy in the video is.
Video 1 ? The News Story A news show in Huntsville Alabama covered a story as seen in the below video
Video ? The Remix Apparently some guys saw the interview and did a remix of the story, turned it into a song, auto-tuned it, shot some more video to mesh with the clips from the news station, and posted it to YouTube as seen in the below video. The video went viral and is still circling the web.
After I saw the remix video I realized the creativity of the guys who created it. I don?t know how people come up with stuff. To see the first video alone, I would never have been able to envision what they did. To think of the idea, edit the videos, get the lyrics right, and make it all time out and look good took some brilliance. Creativity like this is what makes a video go viral. The remix video already has over 8.5 million views and has only been out for a couple of weeks. Other people are covering the song now and posting their own versions of the remix. The song is also already available on I-Tunes and you can even get it as your ring-tone! Run and tell that homeboy!
This coming deer season several hunters around the state will be the lucky winners of a McKenzie Scent Fan Duffle Bag. If you read the blog about the Pee Dee Deer Classic then you saw the pics and footage where we covered the idea and concept of the fan bag. It really is a neat concept that I think will give hunters an edge with covering their scent as well as eliminating moisture in their clothing.
McKenzie Outdoors is partnering with WeHuntSC.com to sponsor all 5 competitions that we?re hosting this deer hunting season! Looks like the prize packages are rounding out to be very nice. A big thanks to McKenzie Outdoors for working with us to reward hunters around South Carolina.
Find out more about McKenzie Scent Fan Duffle Bags
Below is a video of Eddie McKenzie, creator of the scent-fan duffle bag, where he explains how the bag works.
This past weekend the wife and I went on a quick vacation to the beach?yes, Myrtle Beach! We had planned this trip for a while and it turned out that Scott Ledford of Ledford Outdoors was going to be at the Bass Pro Shops store in North Myrtle having sign-ups for their upcoming, annual, Youth Dove Hunt. Since we were going to be in the area, I told the wifey that she could shop while I looked around BassPro and talked with Scott about the details of the event. It wasn?t hard to get her to say ?yes? to going to any kind of mall.
We caught up with Scott around mid-day on Saturday and got some details of Ledord Outdoors? upcoming event. On September 11th, 2010 Ledford Outdoors, along with several sponsors, is putting on a very neat youth dove hunt in Horry County, SC. Youth ages 9 ? 15 are eligible to win this exclusive dove hunt. Ledford Outdoors is going to draw 15 winners from the entries and these 15 youth & teens will be the ones who win and get to go on the dove hunt. So how do you enter?... you either sign up on Ledford Outdoors? web site or you fill out the form and register at Bass Pro at Myrtle Beach if you?re in the Myrtle Beach area. Keep in mind that, to participate, a parent or guardian must be on hand with the youth and the parent/guardian must hold a valid South Carolina hunting license! Youth and teens can register for a chance to win a spot on the dove hunt from August 6th ? 22nd. Also, you don?t have to be from SC to register, you can win from another state, but you would have to buy an out-of-state license for the hunt if you win from another state.
The best part about this event is that it is directly geared towards the youth and there will be give-aways, food, entertainment, and tons of family fun. Scott even mentioned where they will be giving away a shotgun and maybe more than one. This event has been backed by some good sponsors who are enthused about encouraging youth to hunt so I?m sure it will turn out to be a positive event that 15 lucky youth/teens will really be happy to win.
Below is a quick video I shot of Scott talking about the event. If you are a youth/teen or if you know a youth/teen who would love to get in on a hunt?then forward them the link so they can register for a chance to win!
This week has been very busy with all that we?ve got going on, but that is fine by me. As we continue to monitor the food plots, we have to get ready to plant the fall plots as well. So, when we got back from the Pee Dee Deer Classic, we journeyed out to the woods to check up on the remote food plot. We also went and took a new soil sample at a location where we?re going to try to plant a different fall plot to get an idea of the composition of the soil. Since this will be the first time we?re planting a food plot in this location it will take us some time to get the soil in the best conditions possible, but you have to start somewhere.
Soil Sample Earlier in this series, I covered the reasons why one needs to take a soil sample. You can see that blog entry here: Collecting a Soil Sample in case you haven?t been following along. Even at the Pee Dee Deer Classic, the Tecomate Seed representatives and other food plot experts presented and spoke about the importance of the soil and how the composition of the soil directly affects your food plot?s success. They talked about the ?pieces of the puzzle? necessary for a successful food plot. I may be leaving some pieces out, but what stuck with me were three main pieces: the soil, the seed, and the knowledge. In order to have success with a food plot you?ve got to have soil that is ready and conditioned to foment the growth of plants, good quality seed, and most importantly?you?ve got to know what to do! (That last part is what I?ve been working on for some time now). So it?s the week of August 1st and we?re taking a soil sample and intend to plant a fall food plot in late September to early October.
If you?re in South Carolina and want to know where you can get a soil sample analyzed, just find your local Clemson Cooperative Extension by clicking here. For a small fee, you can send off your soil sample and they will return you a read out with detailed information about the makeup of your soil. If you have trouble understanding the pH and all that, then you can take it to a seed and feed store and they can assist you with interpreting the results. The staff at the local coop can also help you with that as well.
Remote Food Plot Update The remote food plot continues to grow well. As I continue to be clueless about this all, I was wondering why all of this stuff wasn?t eaten already. I know there are deer out there, but yet some plants continue to grow untouched by the deer. I knew that the seed was a mixture of plants (milo, clover, peas, etc), but I didn?t know that the deer would be eating them at different times of the summer/fall. The deer are being selective about what they eat as they walk through the food plot. That is, they are eating some specific types of plants and not the others. You can plainly see where they are passing through the plot and also which plants they are eating. It appears that they are eating the peas and the lab lab and leaving a lot of milo untouched. I spoke with the Tecomate rep and he said that after the first frost comes the starches in some of the plants will turn to sugar. After that happens then the deer will really get in there and eat the remaining plants. I hope this is right! He also mentioned that the first time you plant a plot it kind of takes the deer a little while to figure out that they can get in there and eat the plants.
Another note to mention is that I have not been getting many game-camera pics. I thought something was wrong and it turns out that when you have dead batteries the camera won?t take pictures! So we have put new batteries in the camera and hope to have some good pictures in upcoming blog entries.
The below video is of us getting a new soil sample where we?re going to start the process of conditioning the soil and attempt a fall food plot install + a current view of the remote food plot. Sorry to spin so fast out there?it made the video a little blurry. Maybe one day I?ll upgrade cameras and get better footage.
I create sub-folders and number every blog entry that I write just to help keep things organized. With all the video, images, and text if you don?t keep it organized things can get hard to find. It just appeared to me that I had written 99 blog entries thus far. I periodically give site growth/metric updates and so figured I might as well give a site update since the 100th blog entry is here.
In football we always said "The big eye in the sky don't lie" which, while grammatically incorrect, still carried valuable meaning. This saying meant that we knew someone was filming practice or the game and that eventually we would all be sitting down with the coach and would watch the film to see what really happened on various plays. In the web world, the "Big eye in the sky" is the analytics program that runs in your site's background tracking your site's metrics. The "Big eye in the sky" always told the truth about your performance on the field and so do the metrics denote the true success of your site.
With that said, I feel we?ve made considerable progress with the growth of the site. As deer season is approaching, the numbers are already starting to climb. As many of you know, we started this site last September just for fun and have essentially done minimal marketing. It?s mostly been word of mouth, some bumper stickers, and a couple of T-Shirts. Considering the low-budget marketing, I think the growth of the site is pretty impressive?at least from a web developer?s standpoint. To have over 100,000 page views within just less than a year is a good sign and is definitely more than I initially anticipated.
So here?s the metric breakdown and some other info?
Metrics and Info (from Sept ?09 ? Aug ?10)
At the time of this 100th blog entry we are one month short of being up one full year and have had:
I mentioned the numbers have started to climb as we approach deer season?here?s an image extracted from the metrics demonstrating what I mean.
The Top 10 cities in SC that visited the site were as follows:
* I will also add that for about a month the link to our site went semi-viral in Finland due to this blog entry. So everyone from Chesterfield downward was outdone by the Finns! Hyvva Suomi!
Searching for WeHuntSC.com via Keywords
The YouTube Channel
In sum, I?ve written 100 blogs (with this entry being the 100th) and I hope you have enjoyed at least some of them. It?s neat that we cross the 100,000 page views at a time close to the 100th blog, though I don?t think they are exactly related to each other. We?ve come a long way since last September, but we?ve still got plenty of ground to cover. Though, keeping it in perspective? it?s all in fun! I?m interested to see what happens on the site this upcoming deer season with the images, competitions, videos, and ?yes? with the analytics!
Recently I was made aware of some pretty impressive achievements that a South Carolina youngster made that deserve some recognition. Lancaster?s Blake Hodge recently traveled to Houston Texas to compete in the World Duck and Goose Calling Championships. Blake competed in both solo and team competitions at both the youth and adult levels. Winning awards in multiple categories, Blake proved to be competitive on numerous levels.
Blake is just 14 years old and has only been duck and goose calling competitively for 3 years. He?s gotten pretty good with it too! You may be a skeptic, but just wait until you see the video below and it will surely make you a believer. Also, it?s important to note that while Blake won in both the adult and youth competitions.
Blake?s winnings consisted of:
Solo Championships
Team Championships
I was able to catch up with Blake this past weekend and do a quick interview with him. We were able to get him to do some calling for us a well. The boy?s got talent and I have to say that I wouldn?t mind having him in a blind with me cause he sure can call better than I can at this point!
Congratulations to Blake on his winnings and for representing South Carolina very well at the championships!
What can I say? Thermacell just keeps on giving away prizes. As you are aware, Thermacell recently partnered with WeHuntSC.com on a promotional giving away free Thermacell appliances and now they?re back at it again. Though, this time the give-away is put on by Thermacell and they are giving away a Thermacell appliance per day and the winners are entered into a bigger lot that has the chance to win even bigger and better prizes!
Thermacell sent a press release and below are the pertinent details of the Give-Away:
ThermaCELL Mosquito Repellent to Host August Appliance-A-Day Giveaway Help the hunter in your life gain protection from mosquito borne illnesses; enter to win a free mosquito repelling ThermaCELL appliance that is up to 98% effective according to tests conducted by the US Department of Defense.
ThermaCELL, the leading area mosquito repellent, will giveaway one ThermaCELL Realtree APG unit* each day in August to help hunters get ready for hunting season. Contestants can win a ThermaCELL Appliance, Hoyt TurboHawk Bow or a ThermaCELL prize package! Giveaway Details:
So yes, register to win and this time I?m going to register too!
To register simply click this link: Register in Thermacell's Appliance A Day Give-Away.
Another big thanks to Thermacell!