Blog Entries from the WeHuntSC.com blogging crew
I woke up early Saturday morning in order to get setup in the field in plenty of time. Mr. J.E. Aldridge met me at the house and we headed out. We got to the field about 30 minutes before daylight. With the Thermacell, 2 decoys, some diaphragms, and a slate call, we set out to get a long-beard. Since most of the turkeys have come from the same general area, we positioned ourselves in a location that is different from where we normally sit. We hoped to be closer to turkeys as they entered the field. We set the decoys out about 15 yards in front of us and to the left.
I?m not turkey hunting expert by far, but so far, every time I?ve been we?ve at least heard some turkeys gobbling from the trees as we got there before daylight. Well, on this day we didn?t hear anything. I was hoping to get some up close and personal footage of a turkey since we were sitting a little closer, but not hearing any turkeys calling out early in the morning gave me a bad feeling about what the day would bring.
There was a front coming in and cloud cover was moving in and out throughout our hunt. The wind was blowing and we could feel the temperature dropping throughout the hunt. Since I?m clueless about turkeys, I don?t know if changes in weather messes with them or not, but I know it can affect the movement of deer some. I hoped that it would get better or that at the least we would hear a gobble somewhere.
In time the sun had completely risen and still we hadn?t heard or seen anything. I randomly called, but nothing seemed to work. Then around 7:30 a hen walked out into the field about 120 yards away to our right. She was walking to our left and this meant she was going to cross our face. I thought she would get a little clearance from the tree line and get out in the field more, but she hugged close to it the whole time. Though, she was by herself and she didn?t stay long. She walked about 20 yards and then flew back up in the trees. I had barely even called at her and she was gone. The thought of a big tom following her was just entering my mind right before she flew away. I don?t know if she was spooked or what. She didn?t respond to my call and left within about 5 minutes of entering the field.
We sat a while longer when another hen came back out in that general area. It could have been the same one, but I?m not sure. This hen did the exact same thing. She walked down the tree line about 15 yards out from it. This time she walked from our far right all the way to our far left and it took her about 20 minutes to make the journey. During these 20 minutes I called and made every sound I could without trying to ?over-call? as Mr. Puette had mentioned to me. No matter what sound I made, the turkey just kept on strutting. I don?t think she really acknowledged any of the sounds as she walked and pecked at the ground and passed by nor did she care about the decoys. We weren?t going to shoot a hen, but it would have been nice to at least get some more footage for the site. After she passed by, Mr. J.E. and I were talking and I told him that I think that turkey might be deaf, thus the title of this blog entry.
That pretty much sums up our hunt. We stayed a little bit longer and then eventually left. We did see a hawk that was chasing after something in the field and that was neat to watch. We also noticed on the way out that the farmer had seeded the field. Looks like there will be some corn around next year. I bet the deer will love that. So there is no really good footage or turkeys to brag about, but we did come across some turkeys that didn?t hear well. Though, maybe the lack of attention to us is a sign about my calling abilities! I guess I?ll keep practicing.
Regards,
Clint
If you read the blogs, then you know I went to Washington DC last weekend. On Saturday Will took the guys from Southern Outdoor Experience hunting and they get a good turkey on film. Will and Adam had planned on going turkey hunting the next day with some friends from up the road. They met Chip and Terry and got in the woods early. Bear with me as I try to re-tell the story of their hunt, which is a little difficult given that I wasn?t there in person.
From the story I heard, the guys got in the woods early at one of our hunting locations. Adam and Will went and set up in one direction and Chip and Terry went in the other. Adam said that when they sat down they started calling a little just to see if they could locate any birds. It didn?t take long before they heard some turkeys that were still in the trees. They sat and waited as the sun began to rise. The area they were hunting on this specific trip is more of a wooded area than the other location where we?ve been turkey hunting this year (which you may have seen on some of the films). The woods gives the birds a little more cover and it makes it more difficult to see them coming! Will and Adam were glad to hear a lot of turkeys gobbling in the distance. Since they had located the birds, they didn?t want to call too much more and they just waited in anticipation. At about 7:30 and they heard a loud boom come from the other side of the tract of land. This meant that Chip and Terry had a made a shot. Shortly thereafter, they went to check on the boys and they had already bagged a good turkey. Chip and Terry were excited about getting a good gobbler! So in the beginning of the video, you?ll see Chip holding the turkey that he shot. We don?t have any footage of this hunt because the camera was in the other location and my camera was with me in DC.
So then what do they do?... They move shop and go to a different location and set up. I think he said they arrived around 8:15 or so. They went out to the field and put a hen decoy up and this time they all sat together. Terry started calling and it wasn?t long before turkeys at this location started yapping back at him. The guys were really impressed with Terry?s turkey calling abilities. Chip always says that Terry?s really good at calling and the boys got to witness it firsthand. They were able to capture some of the footage of this hunt. If you listen in the video, you can hear where Terry?s calling and also hear some turkeys call back in the distance. It?s pretty neat, but you?ll need your volume up.
Will said they had been sitting there for a while and then a hen came out down to the right of the field. The hen came all the way to where they were and got within 15 yards of them. (This is the hen you?ll see in the video) Terry was talking to the hen and it had no clue that they were even in the world. She was just gobbling right away. It?s neat to see the hen that close on video and I know the boys had ice in their veins with it right there on them. Will just held still on the gun as the hen wasn?t going to be shot.
Not too long after that they said a tom came into the far opposite edge of the field. He was a few hundred yards away and terry worked his magic and started calling him in. The turkey didn?t ever see the decoy and didn?t really get within shooting range though, but they said the turkey made a long journey to get near to where they were. They told me that the turkey call was echoing and confusing the turkey. This may have been the reason the turkey?s walking path was irregular. End result of the hunt was no shot, but some good footage of a hen and a sighting of a nice tom.
And here?s the footage
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I must be the bad luck charm or something because when I leave these guys have birds all around them. 2 turkeys in 2 days + 1 within 15 yards?I?d say that was a good weekend of turkey hunting. Maybe I?ll keep going on road trips so good things will keep happening, but I think the wife-to-be may have something to say about that.
This past week Adam and Will were fired up about turkey hunting. They had been going turkey hunting with some soon-to-be mentioned hunters earlier in the week and I believe the boys are starting to get ?turkey fever? if there is such a thing. They had been sitting with some experienced hunters and watched them call in some birds and I believe it got to them. Their enthusiasm mixed with my recent luck of being in on a successful hunt made a combination for three rookies wanting to go turkey hunting. We decided that we?d go about mid-week.
As the end of the week approached, Adam and Will had been making turkey calling, decoy setting up, and game-planning plans for our hunt. On the Friday night before hand I had to go to a shower (which was a very enjoyable one for me). I got a bunch of grilling stuff! While I was at the shower, Adam and Will were at home practicing their calls, watching instructional videos, reading up on the web on exactly how to call correctly and the best positioning of decoys. Will had also gone and watched where the turkeys went to roost the night before. By the time the shower was over I was exhausted and ready for bed. We agreed to meet at my place early the following morning in order to get set up before daylight. Will was to be the hunter, Adam was to be the caller, and I was going to document the whole thing.
Will arrived to my house first and he showed me the decoys he bought + he was striking the slate call showing me how it sounded. Will said that Adam had practiced with the diaphragm and was bringing it with him. As we waited in the drive way on Adam, we loaded some stuff up. Adam arrived shortly thereafter and we all piled into the truck. As we sat in the truck, Adam told us that he?d forgotten the diaphragm call at his house as he rushed to leave his house. He also told us that he stayed up until 1am researching and getting ready to be the caller for the hunt. We could tell he was excited?like I say, these boys have caught turkey fever. Even though Adam forgot the diaphragm, we thought we?d be ok because we still had the slate call and figured that would be good enough.
We got to the field really early and got all our stuff out of the truck. We headed down to the field and I led the way because I had the bright light on my head. As we walked in the dark, we heard a gobble in the trees really loudly which meant they were really close. We were excited that they were already up and gobbling so early. We had to walk about 350 yards to get to our location. About 3/4?s the way in Adam noticed a ?shed? antler on the ground. We stopped and looked at it for a moment. It was a pretty nice shed?about an 8 point. After pausing for a moment, we continued to our location. We set up in a section of woods that is really like an island of woods out in the middle of a field. Will put the decoys out and then all of a sudden Adam says ?Where is the slate stick?? and we all stopped and thought for a moment and in one instant a sense of worry took us over. Will told Adam that he?d handed it to him back at the truck. Adam remembered and somehow, in between the truck and the island of woods, Adam had dropped/lost the slate striker. The immediate panic mode set in and we searched the ground for the striker. The growth in the field was wet from the early morning dew and the more we walked the wetter our pants legs and boots got. It was not a good situation. We literally had turkeys gobbling at us from the not-too-distant trees as the sun was just starting to come up? and we were looking all around for the striker. Adam thought he may have dropped the striker at the shed rack where we paused for a moment, so we turned around and went back and couldn?t find it there either. We were running out of time. We needed to get situated. We were posed with the situation of hearing turkeys gobble at us, the sun coming up, decoys on hand, but no way of making any sound to get any turkey?s attention. What would you do in this situation? Well, what we did was grab the shed rack and used it as the slate striker. It was not the best scenario in the world, but it was our only hope. I mean hey, you have to get creative in scenarios like this!
We made our way back to the edge of the woods and sat down. Believe it or not, the turkeys actually responded to the antler-against-the-slate combination a few times throughout the morning. In the video below (if you turn the volume up real loud) you will hear one response that a turkey made to the antler/slate call. I told the boys that Bruce Puette said you didn?t have to be a great caller to get a turkey, but somehow I thought we were pushing the limits with our shed antler stunt we were currently pulling. We knew the odds were against us, but we remained hopeful as we continued to get random responses from gobblers across the way.
We had one hen fly in the field really early. She flew down into the very middle of the field and slowly but surely she worked her way towards us. She remained solo the whole time. Eventually she went on past us, but it was fine with us as, by this time, the antler call didn?t seem to be working like we wanted. Though, we could still hear turkeys gobbling off in the distance in the trees across from us. We decided to move closer to the other side and set up at the big oak in the middle of the field. Since we were going to move we wanted to look for the slate striker for a second. We looked for a few minutes and couldn?t find anything, so we pushed on ahead to the big oak tree in the middle of the field. We sat there for a while, and nothing seemed to happen. We ended up moving one more time and we heard the turkey gobbling a lot, but in the end nothing happened.
Since I like to draw positives from any situation, I?m chalking this hunt up to a lesson learned?and that lesson is: Be sure your slate call striker/diaphragm/any necessary hunting gear is secured in a bag before you leave to go hunting! Initially Adam was upset because he dropped the striker, but in the end he was a good sport about it and even gave an interview about what happened that you?ll see at the end of the below video.
I post this blog because we aren?t professionals and don?t claim to be, but we sure do like to hunt! Instead of not mentioning it or being ?ultra-cool?, I like to keep it real and therefore I posted the blog to let you know how our hunt went. We?re not above messing up and it will probably happen again. I?m sure you may have ended up on a frustrating hunt or two in your day and, well, today was one of those days for us. I don?t guess our chances at getting a turkey were too high this morning, but sometimes in life you have to be able to look at a situation, smile, and not take yourself too seriously. Sure the boys practiced calling all night and sure we woke up early only to scratch a slate with a piece of an antler, but I mean look at the bright side?at least we were able to wake up and to go out and hunt somewhere. That?s a blessing in itself! I try to learn my lessons and be able to laugh about it. So feel free to give us a hard time when you see us, there probably will be more material like this to come and we?ll keep on learning our lessons! Every once in a while a not-so-perfect hunt happens and today was that day for us, but we still went to Bojangles afterwards!
Well the day has finally arrived. Turkey season is in full force in South Carolina. God bless all the wives, girlfriends, and friends of the die-hard turkey hunters around the state as they embark on a month long turkey hunting frenzy!
I?ll admit that I?m no turkey hunting guru, but I am excited about getting out in the woods and seeing what happens. With all the excitement and buzz building toward turkey season, I hope it?s going to be a good one. The weather seems like its just right and we?ve been getting some really good pics on the game camera.
Just a few weeks back Adam and I were in some sporting goods stores in Rock Hill, SC and the turkey hunters were out in full force stocking up for this turkey season. You could feel the enthusiasm from the turkey hunters that we encountered. It was neat to see everyone out and about and to feel the sense of excitement in the air.
Somewhere in the Florence area, J-Duck and Lee are game planning on some gobblers as well. Hopefully they?ll be able to bring back something to the blog that will be fun to read and see. I?m sure you frequently get tired of what I have to say.
We?ve got a lot of gobblers all over one of the WeHuntSC.com properties. We put the game camera out one week and came back with over 900 pics of various wildlife, but the majority were turkeys. We?re working on a neat project that we?ll post about soon that just might involve one of these gobblers?at least I hope it does. More on that later.
While Hoot is somewhere drying the tears from his eyes after the ending of rabbit season, a lot of turkey hunters around the state are getting prepared for a hopeful turkey season. The WeHuntSC.com crew is in that same boat. In between food plot work, getting the Hunter?s Night Out lined up, and the joys of wedding planning ?we?re trying to get everything lined up to go turkey hunting as much as possible. Our main man Lee Harrelson is getting ready and the WeHuntSC.com duck hunter, J-Duck, may even make some guest cameos on a blog or two (or at least hold a camera somewhere). At this point in my life, I?ve never actually been turkey hunting, but I believe I?m going to give it a shot this season and see how it goes. Adam and I recently had a conversation at the Sportsman?s Incorporated in Rock Hill, SC with a gentleman about turkey hunting and the guy told me that turkey hunting is addictive and even worse than ?Buck Fever?. I?m going to try to test his theory at some point during the next month. It would be neat to see one strut his stuff across a field or in some pines. We?ve got some things lined up for this turkey season and we hope to post blogs about everything soon. Remember, If you?re entering a bird in the turkey contest be sure to have the date written on a piece of paper in the picture or you won?t qualify! Don?t forget your cameras? Regards, Clint
This past weekend some of the WeHuntSC.com team members went coyote hunting with Terry Williams. Last deer hunting season we got a lot of coyotes on our game cameras and frequently see dead coyotes in the road on the way to and from a certain track of land. So, this year we decided to try to hunt some of these ?Wylie Coyotes?.
Terry's coyote decoy
Terry's custom coyote "Howl Call"
In case you didn?t know the story, WeHuntSC.com launched in September of 2009. We weren?t exactly sure as to how the site would take among the hunting audience in SC. We have been surprised at the growth of the site and energy surrounding it. We are working hard on the back end to keep the site up and going and keep sponsorships coming in. It?s fun to do and we are trying to keep it interesting as much as possible. I wanted to communicate some of our web metrics to you all so that you can get a scope of the audience following the site & so that the competition winners know that there were more than 2 people looking at the site! Lol
Anyway, in the State of South Carolina we had 2,537 unique visitors from 70 cities
If you are curious as to which cities the dots represent or you want to know the frequency of visits per city, just DOWNLOAD THE STATE METRICS REPORT HERE We also got some attention of states other than South Carolina. To see which other states (40) that visited our site and the frequency with which they did, just DOWNLOAD THE NATION METRICS REPORT HERE Overall we had over 37,000 page views from 3,995 visitors.
So we are off the ground! We?re going to keep pushing and marketing and hopefully the site will grow even more. I?m going to update the site to a new, updated version of the site before too long. I?m excited about it, but still have some finishing touches/updates to get configured. Maintaining 2 sites at once is not an easy task! Also, we announced the competition winners today! Congratulations to Chad, Shannon, & Trent for winning our first annual competitions. We?re going to deliver their prizes to them next weekend and shoot some video of the winners to include in a future blog. Now back to the grind? thanks! CBP
First and foremost I would like to say that I hope you and yours had a very Merry Christmas! We had a good one and it?s always good to get to see family and be able to give gifts to the special people in our lives.