Blog Entries from the WeHuntSC.com blogging crew
This past weekend we had a great time at our youth duck hunt give-away! If you?ve seen the home page at all then you know that we hosted a youth duck hunt give-away this season. Youth had to submit essays about why they liked duck hunting & why conservation was important for the sport of water-fowl hunting. By the end of the weekend our 2 winners, Austin Bagwell & Luke Humanik, said that the pain of writing the essays was well worth it.
I should probably back up and say that this hunt wouldn?t have been possible without some extremely generous guys from the watershed hunting club who not only donated their hunting hole, but who also donated their cabin & even cooked 2 meals for the kids and everyone involved. A big kudos and thanks to them as well as WinnTuck who donated some really neat prizes to our winners. We should also thank Darryl & Blake Hodge for coming by and giving some calling demos & pointers to our winners.
Friday afternoon we all arrived to the cabin & hung out overlooking the lake. It was a very relaxed environment. Early in the afternoon Mr. Dale Knight did some work with his dog ?Shine? and it was really neat to watch the dog work. Shine is very trained and disciplined. It?s almost a work of art to see him listen & respond to all the calls and signals. Dale has definitely spent some long hours in training that dog.
After Shine put on his show we started building a fire in front of the cabin. It had been warm, but the temperature was starting to drop. The fire burned from the afternoon and kept it warm as the sun set. During the daylight we could see some ducks swimming around on the pond, but when the sun started to go down the ducks & geese really started coming in. We could hear the mallards just cackling on the water throughout the evening.
As it got dark Dale fired the grill up and started cooking. Some of the other members of the hunting club pitched in and helped cook as well. We had a big time eating and talking smack about duck hunting while we ate. One of our youth winners even brought a pecan pie that made for a great dessert. After we ate we went back outside to hang by the fire & Darryl & Blake Hodge stopped by. They did some calling demos and worked with Austin & Luke on their calling giving them some tips on making certain sounds with mallard, wood duck, & goose calls. I can tell you that Blake has some strong lungs with some of the notes he was holding on his competition calling demo set. Before it was over the guys were taking calls apart & looking at reeds & getting flashlights out to see more clearly than the light of the fire provided. After Blake & Darryl left the boys were practicing calling for a while.
It didn?t take long after that for everyone to wind down and get ready for bed. We would have an early morning & the quicker we went to sleep the quicker we would be in a swamp the next morning. Though, sleeping for some of us wasn?t as easy as we?d planned ;-) Let?s just say that we had multiple lumberjacks in the cabin sawing logs at different rates throughout the night! Eventually 5:30 came and it was time to roll out and get ready.
We all got up and got our gear on and headed to the swamp. It was cold, but not as cold as I thought it would be. We made our way into the swamp and Shine, the duck dog, was really anticipating the hunt. He was fired up and energetic to get out in the swamp (and we were too). I got situated to the right of where the hunters were in hopes of getting some footage & pictures of the hunt as it happened. Dale guided our youth hunters and their fathers deeper into the head of the swamp and got everyone set up in position. It was just a matter of time.
Mallards were already on the water when we arrived. We could hear them cackling as we walked in. For this reason we were as quiet as possible while entering. It was a little overcast and there were clouds in the sky which made it a little darker than normal. Though, as soon as I could barely see we had ducks flying all around us. There were 2 initial groups of ducks that got up and left the pond and then more groups started coming into the pond. I had hoped to get some footage of all this, but it was way too dark to get any of this on camera. The kids started firing shots and no one made a connection.
As it got lighter out the ducks continued to come in. Wood ducks were the majority of the early morning action then mallards & geese got into the mix. At one point one of the hunters hit a bird because we saw feathers come out, but it wasn?t good enough to bring it out of the sky! Shine was just itching to go retrieve something & would get worked up every time Dale started calling. We had a lot of mallards circling us and then they would land just on the other side of the area we were in. I bet there were 50 mallards over there just over a wood line. I watched piles of them come in there from all directions. That?s not to say that our boys didn?t pull the trigger on a few as they circled, but we only had a few come right down the pipe. One wood duck even slipped right down the middle of all of us while we were watching some other ducks circling behind us. It was ?Murphy?s Law? I guess.
Eventually we called it a day and started out of the swamp. As soon as the kids unloaded their guns, you guessed it, another group came circling in. The kids loaded up their guns, but it was too late. Everyone then re-unloaded and headed out. I got the guys to stop on the edge of the swamp for a picture & then we headed out. As we walked along the edge of the swamp we saw those coots out there again and were almost about to let them have it, but decided not to go after them as they were headed the other direction.
We then returned to the cabin for another great breakfast and more hunting stories. Nothing like having a hot breakfast waiting on you as soon as you get off the water. We all sat around for a bit and talked about the morning?s hunt. As we finished eating the youth hunters were back outside practicing their calling. We cleaned up the cabin as much as possible and then we all said our goodbyes.
Even though the youth hunters weren?t able to get any ducks it was still a great overall experience. We met some new friends and shared some great times out by the pond, by the fire, eating some good meals, and in the cabin. Dale & the guys from the watershed hunting club were kind enough to donate their resource to help put this hunt on in hopes of helping to pass on the love of the outdoors & the importance of wildlife conservation to younger generations. Hopefully these youth hunters that won the hunting trip and joined us will continue to value these principles as they grow and become adults. I also encourage you to do the same and find ways to help pass the love of the outdoors on to younger generations.
Thanks again to everyone who helped put this hunt on and to our 2 youth winners Austin & Luke!
Regards,
Clint
This past season was another great hunting season and we had some really nice bucks posted to the site! Thanks again to everyone who entered the competitions as well as our sponors who made it all possible.
I always enjoy giving out prizes to the competition winners. It's fun to see them smile and finally get their prizes. This year I had a tough time getting all of our schedules lined up so it took me a little longer to get the prizes to the winners, but I finally tracked them down. I made a quick video showing the winners getting their prizes. We had some happy campers on hand!
Giving out prizes also signifies the end of another good hunting season. Stay tuned as there will be more to come on WeHuntSC.com!
The 2nd Annual WeHuntSC.com Predator Challenge was this past weekend and it was another great event. This year?s Predator Challenge showed a lot of growth in both the number of competition entrants as well as sponsors. We had over 100 hunters participating in SC, NC, & GA and minus a little bit of wind on Friday night, the conditions were great!
Hunting started at 3pm on Friday and hunters had to bring any predators they bagged over the weekend to the check-in on Sunday by 4pm. Every few minutes shoppers from the Sportsman?s Warehouse came by the check-in to see what was going on and slowly but surely hunters brought their predators to check-in. It was really neat to meet a lot of the guys (and gals) who participated in the weekend challenge and get to know the people behind the avatars/posts we see online. I learned a lot simply from talking with these hunters and feeling them out for helpful tips/info on predator hunting. There was definitely a synergy at the check-in and one could feel the passion for predator hunting among those present at the Sportsman?s Warehouse.
One thing I can tell you is that the sport of predator hunting is growing fast in our area. Everyone we spoke with, whether they currently hunted predators or not, spoke of how they wanted to start predator hunting or how they?d heard about it and were really interested in it. A lot of people we spoke with are really focusing on predator hunting and are putting more energy into it. Collectively we feel the need to hunt predators as coyotes are killing livestock that farmers depend on along with drastically reducing deer & turkey populations in our state. Just read DNR?s latest report to see some statistics.
Below is a video with some pics from the check-in
One neat thing I?d like to mention is that one of our teams even had sponsors for their hunt. David Pruett & Todd Davis? ?Team Upstate? was sponsored by Golf Cart Service of Roebuck, SC. David & Todd brought a Stealth Electric Vehicles Apache 4x4 EV to the check-in and I?m telling you what... that thing was slick. It?s electric & extremely quiet. Todd & David said they even tried to get it stuck and couldn?t? and didn?t even have to put it in 4 wheel drive. If you think being electric means no power and no speed? then think again because this unit was stout.
Challenge Results
Congratulations to Terry, Mike, & Chip for going back to back and really representing by bringing in a truck load of predators. I also thought it was a very kind act when Terry, Mike, & Chip turned around and gave the majority of their prizes away to the other hunters and attendees at the check-in. Because many of the prizes were duplicates from last year they decided to share their winnings with those in attendance. So we put names in a hat and drew them out & gave most of their prizes 1 by 1 to everyone present at the check-in. So kudos to Team Defending Champs for not only winning, but for being gracious with their prizes as well. (I think everyone at the check-in would agree).
The big winner of the day was Team Black Coyote who won both 2nd place and the Big Dawg award. Winning both categories doubled their prizes winnings. Mr. Jesse Dean and his son drove away with some really big smiles on their faces and with a truck full of prizes headed back to Lincolnton, NC. Jesse was pumped up and rightfully so!
Thanks again to all the sponsors who donated prizes so that we could host the challenge again. We?ll be back next year at the same time to do it again so from now until then? keep shooting coyotes!
Another deer hunting season has come and gone and now it?s time to vote this year?s deer competition winners. Thanks to everyone who participated and posted pictures. Keep in mind that the 5 finalists are selected by a committee and only pictures that had the date in them were considered. The selections were based on the biggest deer, best picture combination. Now the winners will be determined by your votes.
I recently received an emal from someone at Ammo.net asking me if I would be interested in sharing this info here on our site. After looking at the info I thought you all may like to see some of this so I'm reposting below. You can see this info-graphic + more info on their web site at this link.
The threat of a U.S. double dip recession coupled with this summer's debt debacle in Washington - and the subsequent failure of the so-called "debt supercommittee" - has many ordinary Americans looking at gold as a safe store of value. However, there's another commodity that historically has risen in price along with gold - and is potentially more useful in the event of a global crisis: Ammunition.
Via: Ammo.net
Just wanted to make sure you knew about Schofield's Duck Hunter Extravaganza that's going on this weekend. If you're into waterfowl hunting, and you like good deals, then you'll want to check this out.
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.