Blog Entries from the WeHuntSC.com blogging crew
The below is a guest blog submitted by Dan Berkholder
I have a kind of funny story to tell. My wife and I have been married for a long time. We have met a lot of new people, and it seems like every time we meet someone, they ask us how we met. Each time this happens, we kind of look at each other, and wait for the other person to pipe up first. We didn?t meet in the most normal of ways. I was out hunting with a few of my friends. We were all dressed in our camo and blaze looking for deer in the early part of the season. We had hiked in to this area four or five miles with our packs on, and thought that there was no chance we?d run into anybody else. We came up on some deer tracks and followed them deeper into a thick wooded area. As we followed the tracks, they became fresher. We knew we were getting close. Not long after, we had found him. This deer was going to be the next trophy of someone in the group. Only 75 yards out she stood. I looked down my rifle scope, and began to line up my shot. Before I could get my crosshairs on the deer, I heard a gun shot. The shot didn?t sound close enough to be anyone I was with, but it wasn?t far away, either. I looked around at my friends. Nobody even had their guns in their hands. I asked if any of them took a shot, and they all said they were waiting for me. I looked back down my scope at where the deer had stood. He had dropped. Someone else had taken my deer out. I was furious. As I continued to stare in disbelief through the scope on my rifle, I watched two other hunters walk into the clearing and examine the shot. As I realized I was looking at another human being down my scope, I decided to put my gun away and pull out my binoculars. I wasn?t able to see much, so I decided I?d go and give those hunters a piece of my mind. When I got to the hunters, I realized I wasn?t going to be able to say anything rude. The one who had taken the shot was a girl about my age. She was hunting with her father and couldn?t be more proud of her kill. I congratulated her on the kill, even though I was quite spiteful, and told her that I could have taken that deer out with my eyes closed. She said ?You?ll have to show me that next time we go hunt together.? The rest, as they say, is history. We are now happily married with two children. Our relationship was built on hunting, and it?s a tradition we?ve kept alive. We take our kids hunting with us as often as possible. Author Bio: Dan Berkholder is the Online Hunting Product Manager at Sportsman's Warehouse. He enjoys edible landscaping, and is a devoted big game hunter.
Two years ago Mr. Bruce Puett took me on my first turkey hunt. On that hunt he told me that the key to turkey hunting was patience. He said ?Patience kills turkeys, not calling, not decoys, but patience? and just like clockwork he harvested a nice long-beard on that same hunt.
I?ve been hunting several times with Mr. Puett since then and every time we go I learn something new and usually see some kind of wildlife. I guess by now Mr. Puett knows that when turkey season comes rolling around so will a phone call from me! I reached out to Mr. Puett and lined up a hunt with him for this past Saturday. I was to meet him at the gate at 5:45am.
The next morning I woke up at 6:15 to realize that my alarm clock didn?t go off. I woke up in a panic with my heart beating 100 miles an hour. I was freaking out and was very upset with myself. I can?t stand when someone says they?re going to do something or be somewhere and then doesn?t fulfill their word. I had broken my own rule. I peeked out the window and saw light breaking through the trees and knew I was going to be mad at myself for some time to come. I called Mr. Puett?s cell phone and got no answer. In my mind I imagined him seeing my late call and not answering because he had turkeys gobbling at him and I should have been by his side. I came back to the room and sat down hanging my head in shame for breaking my word. Then my phone rang. It was Mr. Puett. I answered (trying to talk quietly) apologizing with every other word. Mr. Puett said ?Come on out here, this place is better later on in the day anyways.? A small glimmer of hope shined into my self-shame.
I got dressed, grabbed the camera, and ran out of the house as fast and quietly as I could. It was way colder that morning than in previous mornings. It was 38 degrees outside and I wore my thick layered camo clothing. It didn?t take me long to get out to the hunting club either. I parked and speed-walked to where Mr. Puett said he had the ground blind. I arrived to a gas-line. I turned left and saw 2 turkeys and instantly froze at the sight of 2 turkeys. By now it was light outside and easy to see. Then I heard a shrieking crow call and I realized that those 2 turkeys were Mr. Puett?s decoys and he was calling a crow call to indicate his location. I continued speed-walking until I finally reached the blind. When I saw Mr. Puett I was overly apologizing for being late and Mr. Puett was laughing at me and said it was ok. He was just glad I wasn?t in a wreck.
As I got situated in the ground-blind Mr. Puett was calling out and gobblers were hammering from out in front of the blind. The long-beards were very vocal and every few minutes we heard a gobble from the left, right, and middle. Every gobble seemed distant, but eventually they sounded as though they were getting a little bit closer.
Mr. Puett said he had to leave by 11:30 and it was getting close to 9 o?clock. We had time and were hopeful that we?d have a good chance at a gobbler. Mr. Puett had a thermos of coffee so he was all set. We continued calling and along about 9:45 we had a big turkey come out way down the gas line to our right. About 450 yards out a big-bodied bird was feeding momentarily in the clear lane of the gas line. I zoomed the camera in as far as I could and could barely hold the camera still enough to video this bird. It didn?t stay out in the clear long either. After a few seconds in the gas line, the turkey vanished back into the woods. Mr. Puett made some clucks and purrs in the direction of the bird, but it didn?t seem interested.
The clock got close to 10 and we had another turkey come out way down the gas line on the opposite end. It was a hen, but initially we couldn?t tell. Though, one thing was for sure?it was heading our way. I videoed this turkey the best I could. Due to our positioning in the ground-blind I took the camera out of the tripod and only used it on a monopod. This meant that the video didn?t come out as smooth as I would have liked and is a bit shaky. This hen continued to draw near to us, but it faded into the woods about 65 yards away from us.
It was a little frustrating that we had all these turkeys gobbling around us, but we couldn?t get any of them to come out near us. It was 10:30 and Mr. Puett said he needed to give his wife a call to check in with her. He had a quick conversation from the ground blind and no more than 30 seconds after he got off the phone we saw the biggest hen I?ve ever seen before just about 30 yards to our right. The hen had returned and was staring dead at us and was frozen. As soon as I saw it I started tapping Mr. Puett?s knee really fast and I signaled to him that we should be quiet. He knew there was a turkey really close, but he couldn?t see it just yet. We both sat frozen while I tried to steady the camera.
Shortly thereafter, Mr. Puett saw the hen (at first we thought it was a jake) in my video camera. He began purring on his slate call because we still had turkeys gobbling around us near and far. I continued videoing the extremely large hen and about 20 seconds later Mr. Puett began tapping my knee extremely fast. I kept videoing, but turned and looked at him. He was grabbing his gun and I knew what that meant. As he stuck the barrel of the gun out of the front window of the blind I whipped the camera around and tried to get a kill shot on video. I was unable to get the turkey in focus but got it just after the shot.
What I didn?t see was what Mr. Puett told me after the shot. A big ?ol tom came out directly in front of our blind and he spurred the ?Thunder Chicken? decoy Mr. Puett had set out just in front of the blind. The turkey spurred the decoy then backed off and puffed up as if it was going back for more when Mr. Puett dropped the hammer on him. After the shot, the hen stuck around momentarily and I filmed her for a few minutes then she got out of there. I couldn?t believe that both of those turkeys came in so close right after Mr. Puett had made a phone call. The showdown happened around 10:45 and this proved Mr. Puett?s earlier phone call me with accurate. He knew the turkeys wouldn?t get fired up until a little later in the day and his intuition was right on?again.
Another unique thing about this turkey was that his beard was short. When we got close up to it we noticed where it had been eaten and then was regrowing. Mr. Puett said that "beard mites" had gotten into the turkey's beard and that's what caused it to be so short. I'd never seen or heard of anything like that before, but is was definitely the case.
What started out as a panicked morning where I was mad at myself for waking up late turned into another very memorable turkey hunt with Mr. Puett. I was glad that my lateness didn?t spoil our hunt and couldn?t believe how close we were to that turkey. It was another memorable outing just a few miles across the Pee Dee.
Some hunters just have a way of being in tune with nature and Mr. Puett is this kind of hunter. His knack for being in the right place at the right time, listening to, and reading nature?s signs always impresses me. I hope to be able to join him and learn more on future hunts.
Regards,
Clint
I hope this blog post finds you doing well, shooting coyotes when you can, and preparing for turkey hunting season. I'm working in the background on some updates to the site and I'm hoping to push them out this summer. It's keeping me pretty busy to be honest.
I wanted to announce some good news and ask for your support. One of our biggest sponsors on the site has been McKenzie Outdoors who has sponsored several competitions giving their Scent Fan Duffle Bags to our winners.
The scent fan duffle bag has recently gained some attention from the market and is currently in the running to be "on the shelf" at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is seeking feedback from consumers as to which products consumers actually want to see on the shelves. This is a great opportunity for a fellow SC outdoorsman to make some traction with his product and we're excited for Eddie McKenzie and his crew at McKenzie Outdoors.
We're rallying the troops to support McKenzie Outdoors by casting votes either by cell phone or through Facebook. The voting period lasts for 1 month. You can cast one vote per day so if you get a second and remember it, be sure to help support one of our most dedicated site sponsors.
Cast your vote here: http://getontheshelf.com/product/3069/Scent-Fan-duffle
More info on McKenzie Scent Fan Duffle - http://www.mckscent.com
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!
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 below blog entry is a guest blog entry by Scott Efird
It was late on a winter afternoon, and my computer screen was buzzing with unanswered emails and reminders of upcoming appointments. Just as I grab my coat, I reluctantly open the last email. It wasn?t the content of the message, but rather the memories that immediately flashed through my mind when I read the note from Mike Johnson, the general manager of Moree?s Sportsman Preserve. The hum of the computer disappeared and I had already forgotten about the stress of the day as I glanced over to a picture on my credenza of four guys standing beside a wooden cabin, laughing with a new spirit filling their souls. There are few weekends that I remember more clearly than the one I spent last February trekking through the sun drenched hills of South Carolina with my Benelli M2 twelve gauge on my shoulder and three good friends along my side. It was quail season and it was time for a guy?s trip to a place we?ve never been and for a hunt we?ve never experienced together. It all started with a call to Moree?s Sportsman Preserve in Society Hill, SC. The Preserve is about forty miles outside of Florence, so it was within range for a weekend trip. It was already late in the season and I was sure Mike Johnson, or as I soon would be calling him, ?Big Mike?, was going to turn me away within a minute or so. Luckily enough, there was a recent cancellation and we were slotted for the A-Frame cabin, which is nestled on the edge of a large pond stocked with catfish and surrounded by acres upon acres of rolling hills and straw grass. Moree?s offers all kinds of hunts ranging from guaranteed big game hunts including deer and wild boar to guide-led hunts for upland birds. We were slated for an all day quail hunt with a few Chinese ring-necked pheasants to boot. As I hung up the phone, I was already mentally rifling through my hunting gear searching for an excuse to make a run to the Bass Pro Shop. A few short weeks later, we loaded up the truck and headed out of town in search of the thrill of the hunt and the tranquility of the preserve. We pulled up to the main lodge and were welcomed by Big Mike, who was sitting on the front porch flanked by a few guys who looked like they?d spent the morning in a duck blind. If there were a hundred people in a room, I have no doubt that you could pick out Big Mike without ever having met him. With a red checked shirt, jeans and an old John Deere cap, his smile spread from ear to ear. He wears his age on his face but his grin and welcoming spirit remind you of a much younger man. He carries himself with ease and without premonition. With such a large preserve to manage including the reservations, guides and various hunts, I expected him to cut the meet and greet short, get us on our way and move on to the next group. I couldn?t have been more wrong about Big Mike and soon appreciated the humility and grace that he showed to every hunter. It was almost as if he knew something that we didn?t and I was determined to figure it out. Big Mike lined us up with an afternoon at the skeet range so we could get warmed up for the morning hunt on the following day. Moree?s sports a ten-station skeet range equipped with top of the line side by side ATVs to transport you from station to station. We were challenged by every type of shot you could imagine, including picking off skeet that sailed just above the water. After a friendly competition and a few jabs at one another for errant shots, the sun had retired for the day, so we headed back to the cabin to fire up the grill and wet a hook.
The shooting was incredible at the preserve, but standing on the dock casting a spoon in an opening by the pier as steaks sizzled in the background may be my favorite memory from the trip. The office wasn?t calling, the kids were safe and healthy, my wife was at home and texted me she loves me. A sense of true gratitude and appreciation of the blessings in my life just came over me and to this day, that is what draws me back to the preserve.
The aroma of freshly brewed Starbucks woke me in the morning and the other guys are already decked out in their bird vests and blaze orange hats. We geared up and met Larry, our guide for the day, out in the field designated for us. Immediately, I knew we had a great guide. Larry?s blaze orange was more of a faded pale yellow with worn boots and a steel whistle dangling from his neck. No doubt about it, Larry knew these hills like the back of his hand and his control of the dogs was something to admire. The birds are pen bred and placed earlier that morning throughout the hills and near the ponds. Every so often, we?d duck into the woods to spot a few of the quail that we missed on the first attempt. For the most part, the hunt is out in the open and it?s then when you realize the expanse of the preserve and its beauty. Larry ran between two and three dogs over the course of the day and the dogs seemed to have no limits. I remember as we were climbing up a hill, the dogs led us to a small pond and the lead dog pointed. In obedient fashion, the other two dogs pointed directly behind the lead dog. I flushed the covey and three quail darted left with one solo skirting to the right over the pond. No one but me saw the solo bird, so I quickly adjusted my stance and dropped the quail in the middle of the pond. Without hesitation, the lead dog leapt in to the pond and paddled all the way to the bird and back dropping it at my feet. I could see Larry smiling off to the side as he turned to help the others retrieve their birds.
As the hunt winded down, we came upon a ridgeline in the hills and Larry told us to be ready for pheasant. When you?ve spent the day shooting at 5-7 ounce birds and you see a beautiful Chinese ring-necked pheasant soar from beneath the tall grass, I?m telling you ? your jaw drops. We almost didn?t even shoot the first pheasant as we all stood in surprise and awe. At the end of the day, we bagged all 150 quail and five pheasant, mostly thanks to Larry and his dogs for their tireless efforts to track down every single bird.
Back at the cabin, we didn?t have the energy we did the first night, so we sat around the fire, cooked some Wahoo on the grill and swapped stories of the hunt. By the morning all of the birds were cleaned, iced and ready for us to take home. Big Mike helped us load the birds in the truck and saw us off. From the moment we arrived, everything at Moree?s that we experienced was first rate. As we headed back to the big city, I smiled to myself as I finally figured out Big Mike?s secret ? what he knew that we didn?t. Moree?s isn?t just a preserve for the sportsman, it?s a sanctuary for renewing friendships, remembering your core values and appreciating God?s beautiful landscape.
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!
