Blog Entries from the WeHuntSC.com blogging crew
This is just a quick blog entry to let you know that I?ve embedded some additional functionality in the site to make searching easier. If it?s aggravating you, then I?ll take it out, but if you like it (or don?t care) then I?ll leave it in.
It's simple, you just highlight some text and immediately after highlighting the text you?ll see a search button appear. It will look like this
After you click the search button you will see a small window open up in the top right-hand corner of the site giving you information about the term you searched for. The search is divided up into 3 sections Explore, Videos, & Images? which you can click on to get images or videos. The Explore view is the default view and gives you information in the form of text and links. It looks like this
So this is just another little something I?ve added to make the site more user friendly. Let me know if you do or don?t like it and we?ll progress accordingly.
Hoot, it may help you find rabbits online, but not in the field! I?m still working on that app :)
Regards,
Clint
This past weekend I spent a couple of hours out in the woods with my main objective being to get the soil for the fall, remote food plot disked up and prepared to be seeded. I set out with the GroundHog MAX and a 4-wheeler to get the job done and I had a blast riding this thing around the envisioned food plot.
The area where we are trying to install the fall, remote food plot is back deep in the woods, but it has had crops on it before?though none in recent years. So the soil was not extremely dense, but it wasn?t ready like we wanted it to be. The area had grass and weeds on it and when we came in last weekend we took the soil sample for the area and then sprayed some Roundup as seen in the previous videos. When I returned back to the food plot you could tell that the Roundup was going to work as many of the weeds had started turning darker colors already. This was a good sign as we are trying to get the weeds out!
I got the 4-wheeler off the truck and then had to ?attach the MAX?. To do this, I simply carried a wooden block and drove up on it and locked the brakes once I get on top of the block. The 4-wheeler was then elevated a little off the ground and provided just enough clearance to attach the GroundHog MAX to the ATV. I pulled out the pen, slid the GroundHog MAX into place, put the pen back and then got ready to roll.
Normally we go out in groups working on the land, but on this day I had to soldier up by myself and get it done as my counterparts were unable to assist. So, I did the work and documentation both (which took me a little bit longer than normal). I got the cameras and tripod ready and shot some different angles and videos. By the end, the video camera and tripod were extremely dirty not to mention how dirty I got. I had dirt everywhere on me! We haven?t had much rain recently so the dirt, especially on one end of the plot, was really dry. This resulted in a lot of dust being thrown up in the air while I was riding. You can easily see it in the video below. When I got through working I went to the truck and saw where my face was covered in orange from the dust of the clay-like soil. I washed my face in some watered-down, diet coke that I had leftover from earlier that morning. It was not the best feeling, but it got the job done and helped me regain sight! My face, shirt, and pants were just as orange as the soil was. Though, it does feel good to get out and work when often times I?m sitting behind a computer, so I didn?t mind it too much.
I rode the 4-wheeler in circles, figure-8?s, diagonally, and in straight lines trying to churn up the dirt in every way possible. It seems that the GroundHog Max churns up the ground a little better when riding in circles or figure-8?s, but then again that could be because the 4-wheeler I was using is a 2 wheel drive ATV. When you have a 4x4 ATV you have the muscle to put the MAX a little bit deeper in the ground, but since the ATV I was using didn?t have the cc?s necessary to pull through deeper dirt, I just made a few more passes and it still worked fine.
I probably rode the GroundHog MAX for around 1.5 to 2 hours and I?d say that I rode it way longer than I really needed to simply because I was having so much fun! After a while I had the top-soil so loosened up that I began sliding around and it felt as if I was playing bumper cars at the beach or something. It was really fun to get out there and ride.
All in all, I got the job done, had a lot of fun, got extremely dirty, and got the soil disked up and ready. We?ll now wait a week or so and go back in to see if any weeds have germinated from being disked under the dirt. If this is the case, we?ll spray again and then we should be ready to plant.
Again, I was very impressed with how the GroundHog MAX performed. The winner of the Big Buck Competition is going to be one happy camper!
See the video of me riding the GroundHog MAX in circles and attempting to talk over music below
We?re excited to announce that Wildlife Energy Drinks will sponsor all 5 of the 2010 Deer Hunting Competitions here on the site. Wildlife Energy Drinks was one of our very first sponsors and continues to support us in our efforts and we are very grateful for the support!
Last year I posted a review blog on Wildlife Energy Drink. See the Blog Review on Wildlife Energy Drink
This year, Wildlife Energy Drink has come out with a new product ?the Wildlife Energy Shot. The Energy Shot is suitably shaped as a shotgun shell and is designed for times when endurance is needed. Each competition winner will receive 2 cases of Wildlife Energy Shots.
Check out www.WildlifeEnergy.com for more information on Wildlife Energy Drinks, Shots, and other products.
And the prize packages just keep on getting better.
We?re excited that Founders Federal Credit Union is donating a camo Founders hat for each competition winner for our 2010 deer hunting competitions. If you?re like me, you can never have too many hats and I can tell you that these Founders hats are quality hats and some winner will be glad to win one.
As you probably know, Founders is a reputable, South Carolina based, Credit Union that has roots in the Fort Mill area. We?re glad to have any sponsors, but we especially like to help promote SC based organizations. So we?d like to give a big thanks to Founders for donating hats to this year?s competition winners.
If you?re looking for a solid Credit Union that?s got great customer service, then go to Founders and open an account?and if you?re wondering?yes, I have a Founders account!
This past Saturday Adam and I spent a great deal of time working in the heat and boy was it hot! We are preparing to put in some of our Tecomate Seed fall food plots. We went out collected a few soil samples and sprayed some round-up. At this location we're going to put in two food plots. One will be a half acre plot where we will plant Monster Mix. The other will be around 3 acres located on an old power line where we will plant Max-Attract and Ultraforage in alternating sections. The smaller plot has had crops on it before so conditioning the soil won't be too bad in that location. There are some weeds there, but not too many. The old power line, however, is slam full of grass and weeds so we've got our work cut out for us to be able to have a successful plot in this area.
While we were there, we also spent a good deal of time scouting and walking the land. We found some rubs, saw some sign, and even saw a deer as we scouted. We feel these are good signs, but we shall see as the season goes on. Our goal was to find areas where we wanted to put our food plots at this location and get the soil samples + start spraying and that's exactly what we did. I think I soaked 2 shirts with sweat and I got really dirty by the end of it all. I wore pants out this time since last time we did this I caught poison ivy. I also wore boots since I've been seeing a lot of pics of snakes lately. I had the perfect combination for being protected from the elements and also being hot and sweaty.
The Small Plot The smaller location is at the back end of the property and it looks to be a good location. Our area of SC has parts of town that are all clay, some are all sand, and then there are areas that are mixtures of both. The area of this plot is made up more of clay than dirt. The small plot is probably about 100 - 120 yards long and 25 yards wide. This should turn out to be a nice food plot and it also has a few oaks on the edge with a good crop of acorns. We'll need to trim back some of the other trees to improve the vision to all end s of the plot. This location will be the easier of the two to plant. As you'll see in the below video, Adam took the soil sample and then sprayed the field with Round-up to kill the weeds while I documented everything.
In hopes of not getting our plot overtaken with weeds (as we did in the summer at the one location), we're going to spray it with Round-up, then come back in with the GroundHog MAX to disk it up, then return a few days later to spray it again. The reason we'll spray it the second time is to kill any dormant seed that we may have turned up while disking. After we spray again, we'll give it a few days before we go back in to plant the seed.
The Large Plot The larger plot is the one that's located on an old power line. The power company use to have poles run through this section of woods, but in recent years they have removed the poles. This left a great place to put in a food plot. The only problem we have is the weeds and grass that now resides in the area. There are a ton of weeds currently in the area and so we've got our work cut out for us to get an effective food plot installed.
We are going to try to put another long and narrow plot in this location. Here again we collected another soil sample and sprayed Round-up heavily. We're going to let it sit for a few days and hopefully get a good portion of the grass and weeds killed. The weeds are so tall that I may even go back in and mow it down some. Then we'll go back in, with a tractor and the GroundHog Max, and disk. Following suit, we'll let it sit for a few days then return to spray again as we want to kill off any dormant seeds turned up while disking.
You can see the video of all this below to get a visual for what we?re talking about and attempting to do.
So you've seen the hopeful locations of 2 of our fall plots. We're optimistic that we can pull it off, but again only time will tell. In the mean time, we've got a lot of work to do. More to come.
Remember when I said that I was taking some new batteries back out to the game-cam on the GroundHog MAX, remote food plot? Well, turns out that if you actually have working batteries in the game camera that it does take pics! Also, lithium batteries work better than the regular. Looks like I?m learning about all kind of stuff this summer.
Since putting new batteries in the game camera, I?ve been able to get some decent pics of does in the plot munching on some Tecomate Seed Lab Lab Plus! Still have not gotten any bucks to walk past the camera yet though. I?m thinking about putting a camera on the other end of the plot as well since it is very long and narrow and I can tell that the deer are browsing the plot and crossing through it at various locations.
Another thing I?ll note is that at the remote food plot, the Lab Lab Plus is growing so much that it?s starting to grow to the edges of the food plot and up the sides of other trees and branches of nearby plants. It?s pretty neat to see it doing that.
Here is a pic of the remote food plot as of August 20th. This food plot made possible by GroundHog_MAX & Tecomate Seed
Below are some of the pics that I pulled from the camera of does browsing the remote food plot. I think it has taken them a little time to get use to this new food plot being in their area and again, it looks like they?re being selective of which plants they eat. Nothing amazing, but does show how high lab lab plus as well as some deer getting tangled up in some Tecomate!
Location 2 Update Pics
I also got some pics from one of the other food plots we?ve been working on. This location grew well and did not have a drastic weed problem like the other area I was documenting so thoroughly. As you can see from the pic to the right the milo is growing strong and is getting tall. I believe these plants are the ones that once they get hit with a frost that the starches in them turn to sugar and the deer will start eating them more. At this location, the deer are accustomed to having food plots in it year after year and are ready to eat as soon as the plants start growing. The deer have wiped out most of the broad-leaf plants already, but they?re still coming through to eat.
Below is one of the pics we got of some does in the plot at night. I could post several more, but it?s the same does in the plot over and over again.
It?s good to get some pics of deer in the plots and hopefully we?ll get some bucks in the pics before too long. Sure hope that I have working batteries in my camera should a monster buck come through?and if he does, I?ll post it here for you to see.
We?re excited to announce that Thermacell is partnering with us to sponsor 3 competitions this deer hunting season. Thermacell is going to sponsor our Big Buck, Archery Big Buck, and Women?s Big Buck Competitions.
The competition winners will receive:
Thermacell is a product that most hunters won?t leave home without and Thermacell recently won an award because they make such quality products. Thermacell?s outdoor Lantern won Field & Stream?s ?Best of the Best? award in the miscellaneous hunting item category. In our summer give-away, we gave out a couple of Thermacell Lanterns to registered members of the site and all the feedback that I?ve heard so far has been great about it. It?s obviously making waves in the hunting community as Field & Stream?s ?Best of the Best? is a highly coveted award to win. So congratulations to Thermacell for being selected.
If you still don?t know what a Thermacell is?let me sum it up for you by saying that it?s the best mosquito repellant out there. See the below video to get an idea of how it works:
Thanks again to Thermacell for working with us to sponsor this year?s competitions. I?m sure the winners will be very glad to win a Thermacell, a holster, and 3 refills as part of their prize package.
On another note, I also recently purchased my third camera. Soon, I will get a tree stand filming arm to help out with our videos. Hopefully this will help me create better videos by giving me the ability to have multiple camera angles. Filming hunts is not the easiest thing to do, so it?s important to have the correct gear and a game plan.
Hunters in my area were pumped this past weekend as opening day finally arrived! In the low country the season opens on August 15th and this year, that day fell on a Sunday. I did not hunt because I went to church. However, a buddy of mine at our hunting club killed a nice 8-point buck that was still in velvet on Sunday night.
We?re locked and loaded with our True Timber camo hats and a McKenzie Scent Fan Duffle bag to keep us from getting winded by any deer. Looks like we will be representing a SC camo company and another SC entrepreneur at the same time... just keeping my fingers crossed that we can get a nice SC buck too! I?m planning on hunting this weekend and will be posting a blog (hopefully with a video) about the hunt sometime next week.
Derek
As many of you have read on the site, Mike Lee has been our go-to guy at Tecomate Seed throughout the Food Plot Journey and he also spoke at our ?Hunter?s Night Out?. Mike has been great throughout the whole process and he has endured my elementary level of knowledge of all things food plot related. Mike is now transitioning into a new role with the company and we wish him well in his new role. When you wear many hats at an organization this sometimes happens and so Mike will be concentrating on a different division and will thrive there as well.
Mike?s transition into a new role helped us meet another knowledgeable resource with regards to food plots and game management. Jon Charles, out of Raleigh NC, is stepping in to be the new Southeastern Regional Representative for Tecomate. I?ve spoken with Jon several times and he was also a featured speaker at the Pee Dee Deer Classic. I can tell you that he?s very educated about game management and food plots. Jon owns River Oaks Wildlife Management which is a professional wildlife management and consulting firm specializing in deer health, nutrition, wildlife habitat development, high forage food plots, crop production, custom deer feeds, and mineral supplements specifically designed for deer and elk. Jon brings a nice mesh between science and the outdoors that we can greatly benefit from. He is a well noted speaker and writes for several outdoor publications. Jon will be our new go-to guy at Tecomate for the remainder of the Food Plot Journey and is the new contact for Tecomate Seed in the Southeast. So if you?re looking for a very knowledge resource in the Carolinas with all things food plot / herd management related?or to get some Tecomate Seed, then Jon Charles is your guy!
So the Food Plot Journey continues and we are half-way there! It?s been a while already and I?ve learned a lot since January. We?ll be starting the process again and installing our fall plots in the coming weeks/months. I?ll continue to document that as well and I hope that we can get some good pictures throughout the fall/winter. I?m excited to try to get some more Tecomate products to grow again! I think I?m learning and the deer are benefitting?more to come.
In the mean time, here are 2 updated pics from the Remote Food Plot. I?m going to try to get updated images of the other plots soon as well.
We are excited to announce that Carolina Adventure World is partnering with WeHuntSC.com to sponsor all 5 competitions this hunting season. Carolina Adventure World is an outdoor park located in Winnsboro, SC and is a must see facility for ATV, dirt-bike, and camping enthusiasts. See the Carolina Adventure World review blog entry for more details about the facility.
With regards to the contests, Carolina Adventure World is giving away 2 free day passes + a free Carolina Adventure World hat for each competition winner. After visiting the park, I can tell you that this is part of the prize package that you will definitely appreciate. A BIG thanks to Carolina Adventure World for partnering with us this year on the competitions.
And the competition prize packages just keep getting better?
Here's the video again