WeHuntSC.com Blog

Collecting a Soil Sample - The First Step in Creating a Food Plot

On January 25, 2010 in Food Plot Journey by Clint Patterson

I?ve learned that the first step in the creation of a food plot is to get what is called a ?soil sample?. This soil sample is nothing more than a zip-lock bag of dirt that is collected from the acreage where the envisioned food plot is going. Once the food plot acreage is selected, a soil sample must be collected from it in order to determine the PH levels in the soil. Since the land area will most likely be of decent size, it?s best to get a balanced soil sample. By balanced I mean that it?s best to get soil from the 4 corners of the food plot acreage + some from the middle. Once you collect all the soil, you mix it in the zip-lock bag. This way you are getting a uniform blend of soil over your intended food plot acreage.

WeHuntSC.com - Food Plot Journey - Soil Sample

Why is a soil sample necessary?

Food plot products need a good, fertile environment in which to grow. This environment will include several variables with one of the most important being a proper level of acidity in the soil. A soil sample is collected in order to find the current PH levels and to also gain other information about the soil?s composition/makeup. This is true biology type stuff.

In South Carolina talk, we?ll most likely be sending our soil sample off to a Clemson grad!

How deep to dig?

To get an accurate representation of the soil at the depth where the seeds will grow, it?s best to dig about 2 ? 3 inches beneath the surface. We are using a garden spade to collect our soil sample.

WeHuntSC.com - Food Plot Journey - Soil Sample Depth Image

After the dirt is in the bag

Now that the soil is in the bag it should be taken to the local COOP or Feed & Seed store to have it analyzed. There we will transfer our soil into a soil sample bag and complete the information on the bag indicating what we are going to plant in the food plot. The soil will be sent off and tested and in a few days the results of the sample will be returned with lime and fertilizer recommendations. The recommendations will indicate how much lime and/or fertilizer will be necessary to create fertile soil for the type of seed in the food plot.

WeHuntSC.com - Food Plot Journey - Ziploc Bag Image

When is the best time to take a soil sample?

We are taking our soil samples in January, i.e. right after hunting season is over. The reason we are jumping on it quickly is because we will be given lime/fertilizer recommendations for our soil and the lime needs time break down and dissolve into the soil. The longer the lime is down the better chances it has of balancing out the acidity levels in the soil and creating fertile ground for food plot products to grow.

Tecomate Seed Food Plot Tip from Mike Lee:
If you have a tight budget and you have to decide between putting down the lime or putting down the fertilizer that the soil sample says you need? put the lime down -- no questions asked!

Regards,

Clint

Tagged With: Food Plot Journey, Soil Sample

1st trip Coyote Hunting

On January 24, 2010 in Hunting, Predator by Clint Patterson

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?.

We met up with Terry Williams early Sunday morning to try our luck. Terry and his friend Chip frequently post images of coyotes on the web site so, after talking with both Chip and Terry, we finally lined a weekend up when Terry was able to come and educate us on coyote hunting. Terry and Chip both are active coyote hunters and have a knack for the sport.

None of the WeHuntSC.com crew had ever been coyote hunting before. We?ve seen coyotes trotting through the woods when deer hunting, got them on the game-cams, and I even had one walk up in my back yard once, but we?ve never specifically gone hunting for coyotes. Along with having a new experience, we looked to learn and see the proper way to hunt coyotes.

Needless to say, we learned a lot from Terry and we were appreciative that he came and guided/hunted with us. Terry filled us in on some details of coyote hunting. He said that coyotes? senses are keener than a deer?s senses. I?ve never really thought about it because I?ve never taken an interest in coyotes, but?coyotes are at the top of the food chain. They are predators and eat what we are hunting. In order to stay at the top of the food chain, they must rely on their senses and instincts. Thus, they can hear, see, and smell very well.

Because coyotes have sharp senses and instincts, it is important to know the track of land that you are on so that you don?t spread your scent everywhere on your way in. Of course Terry wasn?t familiar with the land and we weren?t exactly sure on what the best set up would be, so we were not the most efficient hunters on this given morning.

We arrived at the land early and got a semi-game plan together. We split up into two groups of two. Adam and I went and sat in some planted pines that is right beside of a grown up cutover. Will and Terry went and set up by the gas line and pond which overlooked the gas line, a small pond, and a different set of pine trees. Essentially, we were both hunting the same game call, but from different areas of the land. We made sure we weren?t going to be in danger of shooting in the direction of each other and we all sat at the base of some pine trees. In our group, Adam carried his gun and I had the video camera in hopes of getting a coyote shot on video. Terry did the calling and Will had the rifle in the other group.

Terry's coyote decoy

Since we had never coyote hunted before we were unsure of how it would all go down, so I will try to fill you in on the details (of how we went about it) in case you?ve never done much coyote hunting either. We got there before daylight and got into position and waited for the sun to rise. As you would imagine, Terry said it?s important to enter quietly so as to not spook any coyotes in the area. After we got in position and the sun came up to where visibility was good? Terry started his call. He had two pieces of equipment to call in coyotes. He had a decoy which simulated movement of any kind of dying animal. It basically looks like a tail that flaps around. He also had an electronic, remote control game call. This game call makes all kind of different sounds and is very loud. When he turned that thing on you could hear it for a good distance. The sounds it makes are loud, screeching, piercing sounds. Terry let the game call run for around 15 minutes and then we sat a little bit more. At one point he turned on the crow call and I mean within minutes there were at least 30 crows flying around making all kind of noise. So it definitely calls attention to the area! Off in the distance we also heard some gobblers cackling around.

Terry said that if a mature coyote hears the sounds from the game call, he will get downwind of the sound and try to get a sniff of whatever he hears in distress (i.e. the game call). Then he will work his way up to the sound. Terry and Will set the game call up at a good distance away from them so they wouldn?t draw attention to their area and spook any coyotes.

WeHuntSC.com - Custom Coyote Call Made From Cow Horns

Terry's custom coyote "Howl Call"

We hunted that section of land for 30 ? 45 minutes and then when nothing came around we moved to a different section of the land. This specific track of land is very hilly and Terry said that the sound wouldn?t carry of the bottom that we were initially in. Coyote hunting is different than deer hunting where when deer hunting you wouldn?t move around too much, but with coyotes Terry says you can move around to different areas to try to pull the coyotes out from different cutovers, thickets, or bedding areas. We moved up to the top of the hill and set up shop. This time Adam and I climbed up in a box stand overlooking a long cut food plot and Will and Terry were around the corner facing the cutover. We did the same drill of letting the game do its work and then waited, but here again nothing came up.

After the hunt was over, I had Terry set up the game call so I could get video of the sound. Terry also has a neat coyote call that a guy made from cow horns. The below video is a video montage of the different sounds + Terry blowing this coyote howl call. (At the end of the video be ready cause the last call is very loud?so turn your volume down so you won?t get blown away)

On the way out we talked about the lay of the land we realized that if we were to go coyote hunting again, we would have hunted the land differently than we did this day. Though, we knew going in that this would be a learning experience for everyone. Terry gave us some insight and now we are a little better prepared with regards to coyote hunting when and if we get to make it back out there. Also on the way out we saw some nice sized turkey tracks! And speaking of turkeys? turkey hunting season is just right around the corner!

Hopefully we?ll get back after these coyotes again at some point and be able to get some good photo/video footage for you!

Also, if you would like to in touch with Chip or Terry to come get coyotes off of your land, just Contact Us and we can put you in contact with them!

Regards,

Clint

Tagged With: coyote, hunting

Finland Experiences SC

On January 13, 2010 in Other by Clint Patterson

After I graduated college I went and played football in Finland. Yes, they do have football in Finland and yes it was very cold. To read more about my time in Finland simply go to www.ClintPatterson.net and hover of the Finland link and you can find all the info there. Anyway, I stay in touch with a lot of the Finnish guys from the team and we talk about the glory days and all that, but every now and then one of them will travel over to visit. Well Kim Gronlund traveled over to visit several of his friends in different states and he stopped in SC for a weekend to visit me.

As any South Carolinian would do, we gave him a true southern experience. He bought $30 worth of skoal at a store, ate at a Bojangles, went mud-slinging, and of course? got to shoot some guns. Kim had never shot guns like this before and he was a little nervous as we got him hyped up to go shoot. We just pulled up in the soybean field and set up shop in the corner of the field. I just threw skeet for him with my bare hands. It was a pretty neat experience for him and he wanted to dress in all camo for the experience, so I let him wear some of our camo so he could feel like a true redneck. He couldn?t even draw the bow back, but I will say that Will?s bow and arrow is set at like 70 pounds of pressure so it isn?t very easy to draw.

So with this post, we?ll get some hits from Finland and to all of my old Finnish friends I say ?Jyvva Suomi ja kiitos?! Can you guys believe that Kim came over here and shot all these guns? You all should post these videos on the Turku Trojan?s web site!

So I?ll stop typing now and just let the videos tell the rest of the story.

Tagged With: Experiences, Finland, SC

Food Plot Journey Introduction

On January 11, 2010 in Food Plot Journey by Clint Patterson


	Tecomate Seed

The Disclaimer
As we start the food plot journey I want to prepare you for what you will be reading in the coming year. You will be reading a web developer?s perspective on food plot creation and maintenance. I make no apologies for my elementary level of knowledge of food plots, soil samples, and everything else that goes along with it. The only kind of farms most computer guys get involved with are server farms. My adventure outside the box and into some level of ?farming? (because there will be tractors involved) will hopefully be a unique one for everyone.

Though, my inexperience and low level of understanding (of all things food plot creation) may benefit some younger readers or some of you macho guys out there who won?t admit that you don?t know something! I?ll gladly be your guinea pig and hopefully everyone can learn something from this? even if it is learning what not to do! For all I know, we may not even get the stuff to grow properly and we may post pictures of dirt where the food plot was supposed to grow. Though, with insight from Tecomate Seed?s Mike Lee and some others around town, I think we can get at least some roots to show through. I?ll keep my fingers crossed in the mean time.

Feel free to laugh, joke about my lack of awareness, and take shots at me on the message board or in responses to the blog entries. I?ll probably join you in mocking myself! So now that I?ve raised the bar to a new low, let?s get started with all of this.

The Plan
We plan to have 3 different food plots in 3 different locations. Each food plot will feature a different Tecomate Seed product. We will monitor each food plot and have game cameras set up to get any images of activity that these food plots receive. Throughout the year we will post blog entries about these food plots and hope to include images along with them. We are also going to try to set up and "exclusion fence" which will keep a small area of the food plot from being touched by the deer so that we can compare and contrast what the plants would look like if the deer weren't eating them.

That is the general gist of it all. When the time comes to actually put the seed down, Mike Lee from Tecomate Seed is going to come to assist us in this process. As we mentioned in the initial blog post, Mike has agreed to host a session on Food Plot creation when he comes to Pageland. We are going to host this seminar and will provide more details as the time draws near. For more info on the seminar and session, contact Adam Smith

Now it's time to stop typing and get to working. More to come...

Regards,

Clint

Tagged With: Food Plot Journey, Tecomate Seed

2009 Competition Winners Weekend

On January 11, 2010 in Hunting, Other by Clint Patterson

This past weekend some of the WeHuntSC.com team members + a friend of mine from Finland got together and went to see our 2009 Deer hunting competition winners. This proved to be a long day as our winners were from Patrick, Columbia, & Aiken. It was good to get out and meet some new people and see some of South Carolina. A lot of times we are stuck behind computers so it was a good change of pace to get out and hear the winners? stories and get a different perspective.

The competition winners received a $50 gift certificate to Bass Pro Shops, a Thermacell & carrying case, a case of Wildlife Energy Drink, and some WeHuntSC.com vinyl decals/stickers.

To see the deer that these winners harvested, visit the competition winners? page.

I?ve posted some of the images from the day and the winners below.

WeHuntSC.com - Kid's Buck of the Year Winner - Trent Burr

WeHuntSC.com - Women's Buck of the Year Winner - Shannon Smith

WeHuntSC.com - Buck of the Year Winner - Chad Rainwater

And Chad took a moment to tell us a little bit about how he shot his deer. This was his first deer of his life and he got it on the 4th time he'd been in a stand

Tagged With: Competition, Winners

J-Duck Chronicles Volume II - The Trip of a Lifetime, Stuttgart Arkansas 2009

On January 5, 2010 in General by Jduck

I?ve had a serious love for waterfowl hunting ever since my father took me to a damned up part of Black Creek when I was 8 years old. Growing up we mostly hunted in swamps for wood ducks and the occasional mallard. Then later in life I moved to, and started hunting, the coastal regions of North and South Carolina where the average bag contains mergansers and the occasional diver. The thought of the ?KING? of all ducks? the Mallard? completely filling the skies with cackles and quacks was something of which I had only dreamed.

I guess the first time I had heard of Stuttgart, Arkansas referred to as being the duck hunting capital of the world was when I was in high school. As Ducks Unlimited got more and more prevalent in the 90?s, I attended more banquets and started receiving their magazine. During this time I started to read of this great place named Stuttgart. Stuttgart is a distant location in Arkansas and by distant I mean? you can?t get there from here! If you are going there for any reason other than to waterfowl hunt, you are in for a very bad experience.

To set the background, Stuttgart is a small town in Central Arkansas located about an hour southeast of Little Rock. To give you an alternative perspective, the population of Stuttgart is around 9,500 during the 10 months when duck hunting season is out. It has been said that the population can as much as triple during the two months of duck season. It is as flat as a stepped-on-pancake and it seems as though you can see for miles. The two biggest attractions in town are the very large rice plant (Rice Town) and, the ever-so-famous, Mack?s Prairie Wings. There is nothing hardly to Stuttgart other than farming land as far as the eye can see and the occasional patch of hard woods (that I will elaborate on later).

I don?t know the story of how Stuttgart became known as the duck hunting capital of the world, but, as you can imagine, when the WeHuntSC.com Pro Staff Team got invited on a three day trip there I was very excited! We left from Florence, SC and decided to drive because if you are a serious duck hunter (as we are...or like to think we are) then you know that there is no way to fit everything you need for duck hunting into the type bags that are prohibited to take on airlines these days. Just to give you an idea (if you ever decide to make the trip), when we punched Stuttgart into the GPS, it was 740 miles from Florence. This equals about thirteen hours by truck. The trip takes you through Atlanta GA, Birmingham AL, and Memphis TN.

Stuttgart is located underneath the ?Central Flyway?, which brings most of the Mallard population, along with other ducks and geese down to their southern wintering ground. With Arkansas being mostly flat and a great place to farm rice, it just makes the perfect combination to bring the ducks out of the Jet Stream to feed and rest on their long journey south.

We arrived in Stuttgart filled with excitement around 3:30pm at the ?Feet Down Duck Club? the afternoon before we started hunting. One of my Pro Staff Members (Lee Harrelson) had been the year before and was our acting tour guide. We then checked in to the Club and headed straight to finishing gearing up at the World Famous Mack?s Prairie Wings right in the middle of Stuttgart. I am sure some of you have heard of this outfitter and probably even receive their catalog, but their headquarters is in Stuttgart and if it is made for duck hunting?they have it. As you pull in the parking lot they have the biggest Mallard statue in the world in the parking lot and boats galore. Not to mention the parking lot is full of Trucks and SUV?s from all over the country and most of them there to do the same thing we had came for. The most breathtaking thing for me was as soon as we walked in the door. They probably have one to two hundred mallards, pintails, gadwall, etc. mounted and coming down from the ceiling as if they were right in your face. We shopped for a while and got our supplies. We got the last few things we needed and headed back to the lodge.

We got back to the lodge and tried to relax before the hunting journey of that the next day held for us. We started talking to our guide and host for the next three days. He told us that the ducks had just started to use the rice fields and that we were going to hunt the flooded timber in the mornings at another club. Then, if we did not limit out in the mornings, we would hunt their flooded rice fields in the afternoon. I knew right then that we were in a different type of place that clearly contrasted duck hunting back home. We rarely, unless we have just really perfect weather for ducks, ever have to worry about limiting out. I had never had a chance to hunt flooded green timber before, but it had always been a dream of mine since seeing it on hunting videos and movies. Our guide told us that we would be hunting the flooded timber at ?Slick?s? lodge and you can check out their website at www.stuttgarthuntingclub.com. The difference in flooded green timber and swamps from South Carolina is that the green hardwoods that are rich in acorn production cannot stay flooded all year or it will kill the trees. So these land owners have to dike up around their property and manage the water level in the timber. As you can tell from this description, these guys take it real serious.

One of the problems we faced (if there were any) was that Stuttgart received 11 inches of rain (in one day) the day before we arrived in Arkansas. There is a huge amount of WMA land in Stuttgart and surrounding areas and the biggest stretch is called the Bayou Meto. The water level in the flooded timber is usually around shin deep, eleven to twelve inches. Well, to make a long story short, the water from the Bayou was starting to crest the damns to the timber and the water level in the timber was rising.

I was so excited the first morning that it felt as though if I was as if I were lying in bed waiting for my parents to come get me knowing that Santa had just visited. The guides in the timber don?t take you to the blind until the last minute because it is pretty hairy running the boat through all of the flooded trees in the pitch black dark. So, by the time we got set up, due to the higher water level and the guide set up the spinning wing decoy, there were already mallards landing in the hole. Some were landing all around him as he headed back to his standing point. I looked at the other Pro Team members that sat beside me in the blind and I can only imagine the smile on my face as the anticipation was heart wrenching.

Only thirty seconds after legal shooting time, the sky filled with groups of mallards and gadwalls that you could barely see above the tops of the hardwoods. The sounds of Gadwall Tats and Mallard quacks and cackles were almost deafening. The sound of muffled gunshots also began to fill the air.

I remember the first pair that dropped in between the tree tops in the hole like a memory etched in time. It seemed like the guide yelled ?kill them ducks? in slow motion. The next four hours proved to be something that I will never forget.

The best memory of the timber experience for me is not just the harvesting of birds but the fact that we were working groups of birds or watching waterfowl for the entire time. Most guide services that take you on a timber hunt in Arkansas usually leave the timber by ten or ten-thirty in the morning. Leaving at this time gives the ducks a chance to rest and to keep the property bountiful with waterfowl.

The Arkansas limit is 6 ducks per hunter. Of these 6 birds, 4 can be male mallard ducks and only two of those can be hens. We were hunting with a group of five during our trip and we walked out the first morning with a total of twelve mallards, eight being drakes and four hens. We got back to ?Slick?s" lodge and tagged our birds, which is the law in Arkansas, and headed back to the camp for a quick bite for lunch.

The only good thing about not limiting out that morning is that we knew we could go to the rice fields that afternoon to try to finish our limit. We ate a quick bite and had to stop at Mack?s for a leaky pair of waders and quickly headed off the fields. As we pulled up to the fields our guide wanted me to walk up to the fields first with the video camera as the fields have not been shot yet. He said the birds had just started using the fields so I thought I could get some footage.

I was nervous as could be for some reason as I approached the field video camera in hand. The wind was blowing so hard I could hardly hear anything, but as I crested the dike and the gate it was a sight that I had only dreamed about. There were no less than two or three thousand ducks that got up out of the fields and the sky almost blackened with ducks. By then the rest of the gang had caught up with me and I continued to get some unbelievable footage.

The birds mostly seemed to be working two out of the four fields and we decided to split up, which was not as easy as it seems, as you will see in one of the videos. After we got the train car split up (lol!) then we tromped off to the middle of the knee-deep flooded rice field

We reached our destinations which was a well camouflaged pit blind directly in the middle of the field. We got set up in the pit blind which is a sunken blind that puts you almost eye level with the water and has a sliding roof that cameo?s you while you are in the field.

Not five minutes after we got set up in the blind it was ?On?. The ducks that we had flushed out only ten minutes earlier started to come back in small groups. The majority of the ducks we saw on this day were blue-winged teal. I don?t know how many of you have been on a good teal hunt, but if you can imagine trying to shoot at a group of thirty hummingbirds would be an understatement in comparison to trying to shoot a teal. Blue winged teal are some of the sportiest and most fun wing shooting that a person could possibly ask for.

As we started to harvest a few teal, the Mallards and Gadwall started to come back in and we had an unbelievable shoot. Our blind of three hunters harvested thirteen more ducks and the other blind of two harvested four more giving us a total for the day of twenty nine only one short of the limit.

I don?t know how many of you have duck hunted in the afternoon, but the federal law is that legal shooting time ends at sunset which happened to be 5:04pm on that particular day. There is usually a good thirty minutes of good seeing light after legal shooting time is over and I would say a majority of the ducks fly during that time. As we left the blind and got up on the dike we just turned around and watched in awe for the next twenty minutes or so. It honestly looked like something from a Ducks Unlimited television show as hundreds and hundreds of ducks poured into the field to roost for the night.

We headed back to the lodge for a great meal, some drinks, and some much needed rest. As tired as we were from the thirteen hour drive and fourteen hour hunting day, the excitement of doing it all again was just almost too much as we drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, the water in the timber had risen and had almost entered the hunting cabins. The guides talked as if this would definitely become the last morning of the season there as it takes weeks to pump out the water that only takes hours to pour in. As the water comes up the ducks become unable to feed in the timber once it gets above eighteen inches deep or so since dabbler ducks cannot dive for their food. They will still use the timber especially on sunny days as ducks do not have eyelids as you or I, so they cannot block out the sun. Thus, they use the timber as shade to keep from their eyes from the bright sunshine. Also, as the water gets higher in the timber, the blinds flood and it gets to deep to stand in the water for paying customers.

The second morning still turned out to be more bountiful than the first as we hunted a hole that had not been hunted so far that year. We harvested fourteen mallards that morning and also returned to the rice field that afternoon to harvest another eight ducks. We ended up hunting the timber the third morning after much thought from the guides as the water did not rise as much as it did the first day. The third day proved to be a bit different weather wise and a storm system moved in bringing in heavy cloud cover and rain. When there is cloud cover, the ducks seem to use the fields more than the timber, but we still worked ducks all morning and took out another six mallards from the timber. It was a perfect ending to the trip I will never forget.

As I look back on my first trip to the ?Duck Hunting Capital of the World?, it was one that I will truly cherish forever and am glad that I have many photos and videos to remember forever. The thrill of the chase and the sky filling with the beautiful blessings from the Lord and, most of all, sharing the experience with great friends of old and new, it was truly a ?Trip of a Lifetime?.

I want to take just a minute and thank all the people who made this dream trip come true. I want to thank Owner of Feet Down Duck Club (Sly Jones) Guide and Host (Steve Jones and his son Thomas Jones) and our Guide (Mike) at www.Stuttgarthuntingclub.com. I want to also thank you for taking the time to allow me to share this wonderful experience with you and if you love waterfowl hunting as I do, it is definitely a trip that you have to take in your lifetime.

Hope you all had a Safe and Wonderful Holiday season and I will be back hunting in South Carolina to finish out the season. And remember if ?you ain?t going you ain?t show?n?.

Jduck

Feel free to write me with any questions or concerns at [email protected]

Traction Made in Initial Deer Hunting Season

On January 4, 2010 in Other by Clint Patterson

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

Tagged With: Deer, Hunting, in, Initial, Made, Season, Traction

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