Blog Entries from the WeHuntSC.com blogging crew
If you read SCDNR?s page then you are aware of their recent article about hunters requesting changes to the management of deer in our state. In case you haven?t seen the article, I have pasted the text from it below.
This article can be seen on SCDNR?s web site here: http://www.dnr.sc.gov/news/yr2010/dec23/dec23_deer.html
December 20, 2010 Deer hunters request changes to state?s deer management approach
South Carolina deer hunters are asking for changes to the state?s deer management approach based on public opinion data gathered by the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
Much of the discussion among hunters is related to concern over the unregulated harvest of antlered bucks, and an estimated 25 percent decline in the State?s deer population over the last 10 years according to DNR biologists. Currently there is no enforceable limit on the number of bucks a hunter can take during the season.
Public meetings, mail surveys, and more recently telephone and internet based surveys of the state?s deer hunters indicate that a minimum of 70 percent of hunters support the concept of a reasonable limit on antlered bucks and the implementation of a tagging program that would provide for enforcement of such a limit.
Additionally, a minimum of 70 percent of hunters indicate that they would support paying a modest fee to implement such a tagging program as long as the fee was used to administer the program and for deer research and management. A complete summary of DNR?s efforts to document public opinion on future deer management can be found online.
DNR?s governing board has discussed this issue on numerous occasions this year, and at the Dec. 17, 2010 DNR Board meeting voted to support a statewide limit of 4 bucks per hunter per year, and a mandatory deer tagging program whereby all harvested deer (bucks and does) must be tagged at the point of kill with tags provided by the department. A nominal fee of $5 per tag for residents and $25 per tag for nonresidents is proposed.
Although DNR can make recommendations, any changes to the current deer hunting laws require action by the South Carolina General Assembly. The DNR Board proposal will be incorporated into the DNR?s Legislative Proposal for the 2011-12 session.
Do you want a regulation on bucks in SC and do you think this will help or hurt hunting in our great state?
Regards,
Clint
Just wanted to drop a quick blog and let everyone know that soon you will be reading the outdoor stories of a new blogger! Chester area hunter, Tommy Darby, is going to join the WeHuntSC.com blog crew and we?re glad to have him on the team. Tommy hunts a little bit of everything and also is into fishing and may post some fishing blogs in the off-season. We?re excited to add a new blogger and see what goes on in the Chester area of SC!
We are excited to announce that we are hosting the first annual WeHuntSC.com predator competition! South Carolina?s first predator competition is made possible due to some great sponsor donations and enthusiasm from some local predator hunters. We continue to push to accommodate all hunters and species and this is another step in that direction.
The winner of the predator competition will receive some great prizes from our sponsors:
In the first year of this competition we are only going to have 1 winner who will take home all prizes, but in future years we are working to have first, second, third, and ?big dog? winners. In short, as we grow we will continue to expand the prize levels.
Since there is no exact season for hunting coyotes, this competition is structured somewhat differently than our other competitions. This competition will take place over one weekend and will culminate in a ?check-in? at the Sportsman?s Warehouse in Columbia, SC. The competition will not require any posting of pictures to the web site. Hunters can hunt in teams of 3 or less and the winner will be chosen based on a scoring system where coyotes, bobcats, and foxes bring in different amounts of points. See the competition rules & regulations for more info.
Also, YOU MUST SIGN UP BEFORE THE COMPETITION STARTS TO BE ELIGIBL E TO PARTICIPATE! So be sure to register your team! If you have any questions regarding participating or sponsoring this competition, please contact Chip Humphries at [email protected].
We hope to see you at the check-in!
Regards, Clint
As you know we?ve been videoing many of our hunts this year. This is my first year attempting to hunt and video at the same time and it?s a lot to manage at once if you have a deer come out on you, but it?s very fun! The reward is worth it if you can pull it all off. I?ve yet to scare a deer away by bumping the camera or making noise while trying to video, but I think it?s inevitable. At some point?I?m going to spook a deer by moving around too much trying to video, but I?ll keep taking my chances with it though because it?s fun to watch and talk about with friends after the hunt.
Probably like most hunters, we have a couple different stands in the woods?some are box stands, some tower stands, some climbers, some ladder stands, etc. (I try not to get in lock-ons because I?m scared of them and heights) With a couple of different stands it seems like we should be getting some good footage from different viewpoints. Though, I got to thinking about that and noticed a trend in my hunts. I am most frequently going hunting in the stands that I can film from easily. Sure this may make for good footage, but what about the other stands that are in good locations, but are just difficult to film from? I have been opting not to hunt in them and electing to hunt in the more spacious stands because I can fit my tripod in them. Well this will no longer be a problem!
Last week I went to Lowes with my wife and her parents and while the ladies looked at paint my father-in-law and I walked around the store looking to devise a way or find a product that would allow me to mount my camera to the stand. Since my tripod will let me take out the center piece of it and turn it into a monopod (just one rod extending from the camera instead of 3) I had some room to get creative. Essentially I needed something to get this small pole attached to the railing around my stand, but it needed to be quiet, small, not get in my way when hunting, easy to carry in, and strong enough to hold the weight of the camera. After we walked a few circles around the store we finally found just the thing we needed.
We were in the hardware section and picked up some different types of clamps and looked at them. It turned out that Irwin made a product that was the perfect fit! I ended up getting a two-pack Irwin Quick Grip Bar Clamp and I?m glad that I did. Of course we had to test it out in the store first to make sure it would work, so we grabbed a flag pole and clamped it to a bracket on the metal of one of the isles in the store to simulate our task and ?voila? we were in business. Since the grips have rubber padding on them they are very quiet and you only have to squeeze the grip to make it tighten up so the whole process is very stealth. The grip is small and fits in my bag easily, is very lightweight, and can hold way more pounds of weight than my camera weighs. I was excited about it in the store, but still wanted to ?field-test? it and make sure that it would work. Oh and from the guy in the hardware section?s reaction to my explanation of what we were trying to do?I think we may have been one of the few who?ve ever bought clamps in hopes of using them to video deer hunts!
The next morning I went into a stand that I haven?t hunt out of much and took my new ?camera-arm? setup and was eager to try it out. I sat down in the stand and within 5 minutes I had my camera mounted on the railing around my stand and had done so quietly and the camera had full swivel and tilt. What I did wrong on my first trip in was that I clamped it down to where the slider was on the inside of my stand. This lessened the space I had to move my gun around a little bit, but I got it right on the second trip in and have been pleased with setup ever since!
Every time I go hunting someone usually asks ?Did you see anything? and I?m sure the same probably happens to you. Videoing your hunts allows you to them what you saw instead of trying to describe it to them in words. You may be thinking about trying it?and if so, I encourage you to give it a shot. This is my first year filming and we?ve been having a lot of fun with it. If you decide to try to film, there are a lot of decisions that you have to factor into videoing a hunt and one of them is the ?camera-arm? situation. If you can?t take a tripod to all of your stands then you?ll have to think about it at some point. Unless you only hunt out of lock-ons (that don?t have railing going around them, then I suggest you spend $15 at Lowes and give a clamp a try. It is cheap, gets the job done, and will save you from spending more than you should on a camera arm.
A quick view of the set from my I-phone
The next day I gave Adam the other clamp from my two-pack and he?s already used it once and is going to be able to film more of his hunts now!
Now I?m glad that my in-laws wanted to go look at paint after all :-)
Lowe?s ? Let?s Build Something Together
I just wanted to drop a quick blog entry to let the waterfowlers on the site know that Schofield?s Hardware in Florence, SC is hosting another outdoor sales event on November 20th, from 10 ? 4pm. The event will feature Echo Pro-Staffer and professional South African hunter, Trevor Lake along with Blake Hodge representing WinnTuck and Daryl Hodge representing Drake Waterfowl. If this event is anything like the last one, then you?ll want to be there and be in the mix!
Once Daryl and Blake get out of the swamp they?ll be there in no time to help with this day of huge store sales, calling demos, and even a turkey cooking seminar! If you?re into duck and/or goose hunting and want to get in on some good deals and meet others in the waterfowl industry (or if you want to learn how to cook a turkey), this would be a good event to attend!
If you are able to come by, be sure to stop by and say hey to Blake and Daryl!
Thank you and congratulations to everyone who got out and voted YES to amendment one yesterday! South Carolinians spoke loud and clear when asked if the right to hunt and fish should be written into our state?s constitution?and the answer was a very loud YES!
This vote is a big win for hunters and fisherman around the state and even more so for outdoorsmen of future generations. Because of this vote, the right to hunt and fish will be written into our state?s constitution and will legally be our natural right as South Carolinians.
The results were in strong contrast with 89% (1,094, 522 votes) voting YES and 11% (136,186 votes) voting No.
Below is a graphic from CNN demonstrating the results. You can also go to CNN?s page to see the breakdown by county.
We?re excited to announce that we?re going to have a competition for South Carolina duck and geese hunters on the site this season! The competition is made possible by WinnTuck, Lodge Creek Calls, and Hobo Calls. These organizations have donated products that will make for a great prize package for the winner!
The competition winner will receive over $400 worth of products listed below:
SEE THE RULES to find out more information about how the competition works. The most important thing you need to remember is to HAVE THE DATE IN THE PICTURE!
We?d like to give a big thanks to WinnTuck, Lodge Creek Calls, & Hobo Calls for making the competition possible.
Do you remember the blog I posted regarding the upcoming vote on November 2nd and the South Carolinian?s Right to Hunt and Fish? Well the date is just around the corner and we need to spread the word about this important vote. With enough votes from hunters across South Carolina, the right to hunt and fish will be written into the state?s constitution and ensure that future generations will be able to continue to enjoy the great outdoors.
See more data about the movement
Recently I met with Heather Clarkson from the SC Camo Coalition to talk a little bit about the importance of the Right to Hunt and Fish. Check out the video where Heather talks a little about the Right to Hunt and Fish Campaign.
Be sure to Vote Yes to amendment 1 on Nov 2nd!
If you have any questions or want more info, feel free to contact Heather.
Heather Clarkson [email protected] 803-256-0670
I just wanted to post a quick blog and relay some news. I was recently contacted by Billy Dunlap, publisher of two online news papers in the Clinton and Laurens areas. Billy was interested in re-posting our blog entries in a newly opened outdoor portal of his web sites. I checked out the two sites GoLaurens.com & GoClinton.com to see what was going on and it seemed like a good fit.
Billy and I exchanged some emails and I think it?s should be a win-win situation for everyone. Billy has already posted two of my blogs on his sites and will continue to do so. Hopefully this will give his readers more outdoor content as well as help promote our site more in his area of the state.
Last night the wife and I went down to the Lancaster County Ducks Unlimited banquet. We had a really good time and hung out with fellow WeHuntSC.com blogger Gavin Jackson and his wife and some other friends from around the Pageland area. The event was packed with waterfowl hunters and there were tons of prizes on hand being auctioned off, won, and bided on.
We arrived to the event and walked around looking at all the items that were on display. There were some nice paintings, decoys, a corn-hole set, clocks, mail-boxes, and a really nice shotgun too. Everyone was mingling and looking at the items on the tables trying to figure out what they wanted to bid on during the auction. Fellow WeHuntSC.com blogger and world champion duck caller Blake Hodge was scheduled to do some demo calling at the banquet as well.
Around 7:15 the guy emceeing the event got on the microphone and said that it was time for Blake to do some calling for the crowd. The emcee told the crowd about all the awards that Blake?s been winning and Blake made believers out of everyone there. He really made those calls sing! Everyone in the room went quiet while Blake was calling and after he finished everyone gave him a big round of applause. While Blake was calling you could see people in the audience shaking their heads and looking at each other as if to say ?I can?t believe how good he is?. The emcee tried to lure Blake into coming hunting with him so that he could use his calling abilities to draw some birds in, but Blake gave him a quick no and the crowd laughed at his quick response. Imagine being 14 and getting up in front of a crowd of grown-ups who?ve been hunting way longer than you and showing them how to call. I imagine it could be a little intimidating knowing that everyone in the room was going to critique your style. Though it didn?t faze Blake and he did really well.
The gun of the year
Shortly thereafter it was time to eat and everyone munched down on some Jo Jo?s BBQ which was really good. Then came the auction where the prizes get bided on and sold. All of the money gets donated to Ducks Unlimited so the hunters don?t mind spending their money on the products plus it?s a tax write-off. When the emcee got going I couldn?t believe how fast he was talking. He was rolling his tongue and speaking faster than Bone Thugs n Harmony can rap! It was pretty impressive to hear.
The clock started inching toward 10 and the wife looked at me and I knew what that look meant. We had to leave and get back to Rock Hill. We left as the last product was being auctioned off. It was a really neat experience and if you?ve never been to a DU banquet you should check one out. I believe Gavin said that Chesterfield County may be having one in the future too. The Ducks Unlimited organization runs deep and has roots everywhere so most likely there?s an event happening near you sooner than later.