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Blog Entries from the WeHuntSC.com blogging crew


Unseen Dangers of Hog Hunting

Hello everyone! It's been a while since I have posted and just this past week something hit very close to home.  The article below happened right across the river from our hunting land in Laurens County.  We have killed a few hogs on our own land so this was very scary.  My Dad called the Laurens County Department Health Department to confirm this and called our Game Warden we are friends with who said this type of disease 'brucellosis' is all over the state of South Carolina with hogs. I highly recommend you all read it and take the necessary precautions when hog hunting.  What are your thoughts?

Man Hospitalized With Illness After Hog Hunting Trip

 

 


2011 South Carolina Deer Competition Winners Announced
It was another great hunting season and we saw some really good deer & photos posted to the site. Thanks again to all who participated. I really enjoyed seeing the entries come in this year.
 
Let?s cut to the chase? 

WeHuntSC.com - The 2011 Buck of the Year Competition Winner  
The results of the 2011 GroundHog MAX Buck of the Year competition were:
 

WeHuntSC.com - 2011 Buck of the Year Competition Results

 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 

 
WeHuntSC.com - 2011 Archery Buck of the Year Competition
 
 
 
 
The results for the 2011 Muzzy Archery Buck of the Year Competition were:
 
WeHuntSC.com - 2011 Archery Buck of the Year Competition Results
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Blake Hodge won our McKenzie Scent Fan Bag Youth Buck Competition by default! Congrats Blake!
 
WeHuntSC.com - 2011 Youth Buck Competition Winner Blake Hodge
 

 
The results for the 2011 CrossOver Camo Game Camera Photo Comeptition were
 
WeHuntSC.com - 2011 Game Camera Competition Results
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
WeHuntSC.com - 2011 Game Camera Competition Winner - Berkeely County Buck
 
 

 
If you were selected as a winner please email me ( [email protected]) ASAP as I'd like to get you your prizes soon!
 
Regards,
 
 
Clint 
 
 
 

 


2011 Deer Competition Finalists Announced

Another deer hunting season has come and gone and now it?s time to vote this year?s deer competition winners. Thanks to everyone who participated and posted pictures. Keep in mind that the 5 finalists are selected by a committee and only pictures that had the date in them were considered. The selections were based on the biggest deer, best picture combination.  Now the winners will be determined by your votes.

 
The finalists for the GroundHog MAX Buck of the Year Competition were:
 
WeHuntSC.com - Ryan McLemore  WeHuntSC.com - Steve
 
WeHuntSC.com - Dipstick  WeHuntSC.com - Leslie Mills
 
WeHuntSC.com - Jimmy
 
The finalists for the Muzzy Archery Buck of the Year Competition were:
 
WeHuntSC.com - Ben Sullivan  WeHuntSC.com - Dale Knight
 
WeHuntSC.com - Michael Mills
 
 
WeHuntSC.com - Berkeley County Buck  WeHuntSC.com - Huge 8
 
WeHuntSC.com - Tall 10 point  WeHuntSC.com - Backyard Bucks
 
WeHuntSC.com - Pageland Swampdonkey
 
And Blake Hodge has won the McKenzie Scent Fan Duffle Bag Youth Buck Competition by default as he was the only youth hunter to post a picture of a buck with the date in it to the youth page. Congratulations Blake!
 
WeHuntSC.com - Youth Competition Winner Blake Hodge
 

 
Be sure to venture to the VOTING PAGE in order to cast your vote for this year?s winners.
 
Regards,
 
 
Clint
 

Goose Hunting with the Wrecking Crew - Early Season
Wrecking Crew
Team WC with 19! 

This September weather has been brutaly hot and really tested our endurance and love for the sport. Though, with plenty of crackers, gatorade, and bug spray, we've managed to do pretty good this season. We were able to get some more youth interested in the sport of waterfowl hunting while having their parents spending more time in sporting good stores, purchasing their needs, and some of their wants! We worked with them in the field, discussing firearm safety, decoy placement, conservation, and of course "calling". As we always say, youth are our future!  

We hunted lakes, grain fields, and pastures/ponds this year with pretty good success and utilized these type of decoys: shells, full bodies, and floaters. When field hunting, we used "layout blinds" to stay hidden, especially while trying to video.
 
I would like to thank everyone who hunted with us, and look forward to "getting down", and doing some more "Wrecking"!
 
I would also, like to thank our continued sponsors, Drake Waterfowl, Winntuck Waterfowl Lanyards, and Decoy Outdoors.
 
Below is a video showing our team in action: Wrecking Crew early season episode 1. 
 
 
 
I hope everyone enjoys it and is looking forward to colder weather, with wings committed.
 
Good Hunting
 
Blake 

Guest Blog - Gifford Watkins' Hunting Adventure

The below entry is a guest blog from a friend of mine from Nova Scotia, Mr. Gifford Watkins

When I was a seminary student at Southwestern Baptist Theological School (Fort Worth) I took at job as an intern at Park Cities Baptist Church.  After working there a few weeks I got to know the mailman, who said due to his recent divorce he had extra room in his house.  I thought since most of my life was in North Dallas it would be a good idea so I moved in.  My fiance at the time thought it would be ideal for us to spend Thanksgiving at their ranch in South Texas.  As I packed a weekend bag, I heard the door slam and the footfalls of my new housemate.  I really didn't know that much about him at the time, but after I mentioned heading to a ranch for the weekend, he asked if I was going hunting.  I said I was not planning to, I didn't have a gun, or bullets, or a license to hunt in Texas, to which he said, "Puh, you don't need a license, do you want to borrow a gun?"  I asked what sort of gun and that was when the fun began.  His name was Troy.  Troy led me to a wall in the living room where he pushed and out came a door; the door to his cache. A huge steel cabinet with decals I cannot describe (Death from Above might ring a bell with some) was unlocked and inside, was well, the inside.  I chose a Smith and Wesson .41 caliber hand cannon with a scope and 6 bullets; three hollow points and three full metal jackets. I loaded these into a stainless steel carrying case and headed out the door.

 
The ranch was 100+ acres of Texas scrub; mule deer and turkeys ran rampant as I surveyed the surrounds looking for the right place to hunker down the next day.  Train tracks ran through about 300 yards away from the ranch house and I thought it a good vantage point being about 15 feet above the fenced fields to the south, so I returned to the ranch, sat with the family and drank with the grownups til twilight.  It was time.  I grabbed my silver kit and headed toward the tracks, taking a round about route so I could approach downwind North.  I loaded the cylinder and sat down to wait.  Within a half hour I heard the pift, pift, pift of footsteps approaching down below west of the open fields.  The gradient slope down from the tracks was heavily grassed breaking only at the nearest fence line, about 150 yards away.  A small rack of horns emerged and out stepped a mule deer about 140 pounds or so.  I braced off, still sitting, one knee up to rest my right elbow and sighted in.  Not wanting to spoil the kill I took aim at the front of the right shoulder and drew in a breath, held it, waited for the lilt and gently squeezed. The recoil was enough to jumpstart my heart and the sight of the buck dropping enough to move my legs into action. Running with the .41, I scrambled down the hill, through the tall grass, grabbed a post with one hand and hopped the fence (feeling a little bit like Mel Gibson in one of his crazy cop movies), eager to investigate the damage.  In a few seconds I was next to the deer kneeling down.  I put my index finger into the hole as far as I could and grinned wide looking around to see if anyone had seen this magnificent feat.  I didn't have a holster so I transferred the .41 to my left hand and grabbed the horns.  With about 250 yards to drag, I started lugging the carcass to the ranch.  Still trembling, excited, and glad to have something to show the freezer at home, I dug deep and pulled and pulled until I was about 100 yards out still hugging the fence line.
 
Suddenly, and I mean in a split second, I wasn't dragging the buck... it was dragging me; I held on for a few seconds before realizing what was happening and let go. Now I was on the ground and the deer was above me, disoriented and panicked. I tried crabbing backwards but the buck was running round in circles and the .41 was near useless as I tried to sight it in at 5 yards BAM miss, 10 yards BAM miss, back to 5 yards BAM another miss; I was now a Nova Scotian matador with nothing to hide behind.  Finally it straightened out ran full tilt into the barbed wire fence, toppling upside down and if it could have been any more panicked, it was, as it bolted up and over the train tracks where I had just been lying 5 minutes ago.  I stood in my place alone, not grinning, so glad there was no one around to witness this horrible twist of fate.  I hung my head, walked back to the tracks looking for blood, but found nothing except the case I had left behind; the walk back to the ranch was very long and as I approached folks came out to see what I had accomplished on my outing.  My fiance said, "So how did my hunter man make out this morning, we heard shots fired."  I held up one bloody finger and said, "I got one, I was dragging it home when it got up, scared me and ran away."  The seasoned hunters were soon laughing so hard that my ears burned, my face reddened and my shoulders slumped even more.  They didn't have a good dog, so tracking was out of the question.  As the laughter died down, I said, "Well, I shot the thing, other than that what was I supposed to do?" The response: "gut it." But I didn't have a knife.
 
That Christmas as we opened gifts, I was surprised to see a box from the soon to be in-laws. Pulling off the wrapping paper revealed a tidy brown box with gold embossed letters: KASUNA. Inside was a buck knife.
 
Thinking back on that day I can only offer one explanation.  The first bullet out of the chamber must have been a full metal jacket, a bullet that passed right through the neck of a 120 pound 6 point buck.  It was a great shot indeed, but unfortunately the wrong ammunition.  I did go out later that day (in the evening) and bag a 100 pound doe; this time I aimed behind the right shoulder from high atop a tree.  It seemed completely uneventful after the morning's incident though.  I returned home to Dallas and every time I opened the freezer, thought about the buck that got away.
 
The moral of the story is... don't borrow a gun from a disgruntled, divorced, African-American Viet Nam vet turned disgruntled postal worker. Just my humble opinion. Happy hunting South Carolina :)
 
Gifford

The Huntress' First Blog
   Me waiting for that big buck
   Me waiting for that Big Buck

Hey y?all! Let me start by introducing myself.  My name is Jamie Barnes, I?m 25 years old and yes I am a huntRESS.  When asked to start blogging for Wehuntsc.com I jumped at the chance.  The world needs more huntresses and I was eager to share my outdoor adventures with you all! 

I grew up in Greenville, SC as one of three girls (my poor Dad, bless his heart).  I am considered to be the ?country one,? out of the girls and probably the biggest Clemson fan you will ever meet.  My two sisters are the type who loves clothes, fashion, etc., but for me I prefer to be a little outdoorsy.  I?m not your typical girl.  Sure I love to look cute, wear cute things, etc., but I love nothing more than to be outdoors. Hunting, fishing, being around animals, watching the sun set on a fall evening in the woods, country music, camo,  anything John Deere, my dog, Jimmy Buffett, laughing, and Clemson football/sports are some of my favorite things.

I received my undergrad degree from the best college in the world, Clemson University (Go Tigers!) with a BA in Psychology.  I then tortured myself and went against my religion when I was forced to go to "that other school" in the state to get my Masters degree in Social Work (MSW).  Currently, I am a counselor for kids with mental health issues for the South Carolina Department of Mental Health.  

My Dad is the one responsible for giving me my ?love-for-the-outdoors gene?.  He always took me hunting, instead of my sisters, since I was the only one that could be still, be quiet, and took it serious.  I?m thankful he did.  I grew up tagging along with him on his hunting trips and at 5 years old I remember running as fast as my little legs could go, with my tiny fishing pole in hand, trying to catch up with him before he took off in his boat without me to go on one of those ?man fishing trips? with the boys.  On one of my very first hunting trips with my Dad on our hunting land in Laurens County, I was about 7 years old and a small fawn came out at the edge of the field.  It looked so big to me and I begged, literally begged, my Dad to shoot it.  I kept whispering, ?Shoot it Daddy, shoot it!?  We still laugh about this to this day. 
 
My First Deer  
   
I started using a gun in 2004 and killed my first doe in October of that month on our land.  Since I started using a gun for the first time I still hunted with my Dad at this point and let me tell ya, he was more excited than mewhen that doe dropped right where I shot her.  She came out about 100 yards to my right with some other does.  She  was the biggest one of the bunch so I put my rifle (30-30 Marlin at that time) on her as my Dad kept saying, ?Okay, just take your time, and just squeeze the trig-? BAM! I shot her before he even finished his sentence.She just fell right over and that?s when my obsession really began.  
 
I started hunting by myself after that and Dad bought me my very first rifle after my first kill: A Remington 7mm .08 and I absolutely love it.  I have killed 10 deer with it since my first doe kill including two bucks.  I have been stalking two ?bid daddy?s? on our land that I hope to kill this season (if I don?t shake so bad I can?t pull the trigger when I see them).  My goal is to kill a bigger buck this season with my new bow I bought myself: A PSE Chaos. This will be my first season bow hunting and I?m looking forward to killing a deer or a wild hog since we are being overrun with hogs, unfortunately.  I enjoy turkey, dove, duck, and coyote hunting but nothing compares to my love for deer hunting.  Being in a deer stand sitting close to God on a fall night as the sunsets is one of the greatest pleasures in life.  I?m counting down the days till the season comes in like I?m sure most of you are.
 

  Me and my bow
 
 
My Features/Spotlight:
  • Outdoor Girl of the Month for 'TheLodgeman.com' for the month of May (see below)
  • Contestant for South Carolina in 'Miss Huntress USA 2011'
  • Featured in the 2011 'Backwoods Barbie Clothing' Calendar (see below)
  • Featured in the upcoming 2012 'Wilderness Babe Productions' calendar 
  • Blogger for 'Huntressworld.com'
 
Please check out the following links featuring me:
I look forward to sharing my adventures with y?all and I?m honored to have this opportunity. Happy Hunting!!
 
 

Jamie

 

 


2011 Deer Competitions Announced
    WeHuntSC.com - Last year's Big Buck Winner Brantley Barfield
  Last year's Big Buck Winner Brantley Barfield
Thanks again to the contributions of some great sponsors we?ll be hosting 4 competitions this year on the site. We?re going to host the following competitions:
  1. Big Buck of the Year Competition
  2. Archery Buck of the Year Competition
  3. Youth Buck of the Year Competition
  4. Game Camera Competition ( The game Camera Competition is already accepting entries)
The winners of these competitions are going to receive some great prize packages again this year.  To see what each competition winner will receive, just go to the competition page and read the prize package list.  We hope to be adding a few additional prizes to the list in the next few weeks as well.  
 
REMEMBER TO PUT THE DATE IN THE PICTURE in order to be eligible to win!  Take plenty of pics in case one of them comes out blurry and be sure the date is readable. 
 
Following the same pattern as we did last year, we?re going to narrow the entries down to the top 5 photos and then let the site audience vote for the winners.  Voting will be live for 3 days and then we?ll announce the winners and give out the prizes.
 
We look forward to seeing what gets posted in the competitions!
 
Regards,
 
Clint
 

Hunting for the Heart of God

Hey folks, my name is Sean Jeffries, and I'm glad to be a part of WeHuntSC.com!  I want to thank Clint for giving me a chance to write for the site, and I'm looking forward to sharing my outdoor experiences with you.  In this first entry I'm going to tell you a little bit about myself and what you can expect in my writings.

I'm 44 years old and live in Clover,SC. My wife and I have been married since 1998, and last year we had our first child on the day after Thanksgiving.  We named our son Paul after the Apostle, whose writings I have always loved.  I'm a computer programmer for a living, and have been with the same company since 1992, although our company name has changed a couple of times over the years due to various mergers and acquisitions.

I've been hunting deer since 1985, but got my start with birds and small game a few years before that first deer hunt.  I grew up in a small neighborhood outside of Charlotte in what was then pretty far out in the country.  My street bordered the Rea farm, and a few of us neighborhood boys used to sneak out into their fields and woods to shoot at birds with our BB guns.  It was obvious from an early age that I was into guns and hunting, so my dad gave me a little H&R 20 gauge shotgun for my 13th birthday.

That gun sat in the closet for close to a year.  It was mine, but we only went out and shot it a handful of times.  Then, one September afternoon, the phone rang.  On the other end was a friend whose back yard sat perpendicular to my own.  He was my age, and of all of the kids in the neighborhood, the two of us were the ones that liked hunting more than just about anything else, and we had previously spent a lot of time together in the woods with our BB guns.  This young fellow shared a name with a famed Scottish poet:  Robert Burns.

When I answered the phone that day, Robert asked me if I wanted to go hunting.  "Sure," I answered, "but I don't have any BBs."  "No," said Robert.  "With shotguns."  I paused for a second, excited.  "Let me ask my mom," I said.

Mom and I had a conversation which ended with her calling my dad to get his permission for me to go hunting with Robert.  Dad gave it, and thus started my first real hunt.  Robert and I hunted squirrles that day on a little seven acre tract of land that his father owned.  I don't remember whether or not we got anything, but man, I was hooked.

My first deer hunt took place during my Christmas break from college in 1985.  Robert and I went to a tract of land in Weddington, NC that he had permission to hunt on.  We didn't see any deer that day, but I saw plenty of tracks, and I knew that this was something that I wanted to do for the rest of my life.  I went back to college when the break ended, and Robert went on to start his own business selling tree stands.  He's still in that business today, and in addition to my day job as a computer programmer, my passion is writing books about hunting.

In the mid-90s, I started a website called "Sean's Outdoor Almanac".  There weren't many websites around in those days, and mine was one of the first personal hunting sites on the net.  Over the years it morphed into a site called "Wingshooters.net", and on that site I have documented every one of my hunts going back to the year 2000.

I'm also a Christian, and you'll be hearing a lot about that in this blog.  For many years now I've felt like my calling has been to minister to Sportsmen in one way or another.  That calling has led me to begin writing a series of books that fall under the title of "Hunting for the Heart of God".  The first book, Deer Hunter's Devotional, was published late last year just before my son was born.  My two other books are secular in nature, but both deal with hunting.

In 2007, I went on my first safari to Africa.  That safari was documented from start to finish in a book called Eight Days in Africa.  My other book is a collection of stoies and essays on hunting, and is called Always Take Your Rifle.  All three of my books are available in print and on all major eBook platforms.  You can also order signed copies directly from my website at the Wingshooters Store

In addition to the three books that I've already published, I'm currently working on the next two entries in the "Hunting for the Heart of God" series.  The first is a novel called The Cabin, which is set in the world of the outdoors and deals with spiritual warfare.  The second is another devotional entitled Daily Bread for Deer Hunters.  From time to time I'll be posting excerpts from my books here in this blog.

    


Hens Near and Far
     WeHuntSC.com - The Hen way out in the field
  A blurry pic of the hen way out there
Last Saturday morning I went turkey hunting with Mr. Dale Knight.  If you remember, the weather this past weekend in our area was pretty bad.  We had really strong winds, rains all around us, tornados around, and hail in some places.  Initially we weren?t sure if we would even be able to go hunting as the weather forecasted rain.  We decided to make a game-time decision and wake up early to check the weather.  
 
We anticipated rain, but to our surprise the next morning?s news said the rain and bad weather had just missed our area.  The wind was still blowing, but that wasn?t going to keep us from going out chasing a long-beard.  Dale called me and we met up shortly thereafter and headed out.
 
If you?ve heard of Pageland before then you?ve probably heard of football, watermelons, or the drag strip, but some still don?t know where we?re located. Pageland is right on the NC/SC state line in Chesterfield County.  A lot of people in our area cross the state line to work every day and spend about as much time in NC as we do SC.  As you would imagine, every now and then we hunt up in NC too.  Dale and I went just across the line to NC on this turkey hunt.  We were so far out in the country that I don?t think this place even had a name, but I do know that it has turkeys!
 
WeHuntSC.com - The ThermacellWeHuntSC.com - The ThermacellAfter a short ride we ended up walking by moonlight down a dirt road that lead to a field?and the field was situated kind of in a bottom.  It was in a low spot and didn?t get as much wind as some of the higher ground.  We were hopeful to get some turkey action and we got setup underneath some trees just on the edge of the field.  I cleared some small brush in front of us to give the camera a clear view.  I was able to locate some nice briars just in front of us as a bonus and those briars were thick!  It was still a little dark and the wind was blowing, but it felt pretty good to me.  The wind would blow hard for a bit, then die down some, then blow again, then die down some.  I initially didn?t turn on the Thermacells because the wind was keeping everything away, but when it died down the mosquitoes were on us so I quickly turned on the Thermacells and put an end to the buzz in my ear.  Talk about a life-saver!
 
As the sun rose we listened for gobblers, but didn?t hear anything.  Dale felt confident that turkeys were in the area because he?d scouted there previously and killed plenty of turkeys there as well, so the lack of hearing anything wasn?t a negative sign.  Dale didn?t do a lot of calling, but nothing responded to the calling that he did do.  It became lighter and it was about the time you would expect to hear or see something happen.  The field was pretty big too? I would say around 300 yards long or so.  We were sitting near a corner of the field looking long ways at the field as if you were standing underneath a field goal post on a football field looking down the field.  When it was completely light out Dale whispered ?There?s a turkey? and I immediately perked up and scanned the field, but I didn?t see anything.  The turkey had its head down when I first looked, but soon enough it popped it back up.  It was in a low spot of the field and was walking toward us, but it was way on the other side of the field.  Shortly it came to a high place in the field which exposed itself even more and we could tell that it was a hen.  It was just feeding out in the middle of the field.  I turned the camera on and zoomed in as far as I could go with the camera and still couldn?t see it really clearly, but the camera provided a better view than my eyes did.
 
We watched this hen for a while and it was heading our way slowly.  Dale whispered to me ?Any respectable hen ought to have a Tom close by? and I chuckled at his statement and responded ?You?re right!?  Shortly after that the hen got startled by something and headed back towards the woods it came from.  It didn?t run directly back there, but it was heading in that direction.  Dale called a little bit, but with the wind blowing so strong combined with the distance at which the bird was from us, the hen couldn?t hear our calling.  After a while the hen disappeared back into the woods.  
 
 
We sat there for a while just waiting to hear anything or see anything, but nothing came out. It was getting close to 9 and it looked like it was about to start raining so Dale and I started talking a little bit.  We were whispering earlier in the hunt, but now we were talking a little louder because the hunt was coming to an end.  We were making small talk when all of a sudden a commotion about 10 yards to our left was upon us.  I heard something get spooked and turned my head to the left quickly only to see the flapping wings of a hen flying away with the direction of the strong winds!  The hen came in silent on us and didn?t hear us because of the loudness of the wind.  Then when it got just to the edge of the field it heard us talking and got spooked.  I was glad that it was a hen because if it had been a Tom I would have been mad at myself.  We were both surprised at this and Dale said that the turkey had heard the calling and started coming our way without making any noise.  I think we both learned a lesson on this hunt!  It was an exciting and startline end to the hunt for sure.
 
We?ll be back out after?em again hoping for better weather.  Thanks to Dale for taking me!
 
Regards,
 
Clint
 

Deer in the Turkey Hunt
   WeHuntSC.com - My view at the first setup
  My view at the first setup

After a successful first weekend of turkey season hunting with Mr. Puette I was looking forward to, and hopeful about, the next weekend I would be able to turkey hunt.  The weather had been tricky a little lately, but it turned out to be a nice day on Saturday.  I would be venturing out with Jason Love and Mark Turner trying to track down some gobblers.  And after seeing the pic of JDHeatmag?s snake that struck at him, I went and got me some snake proof boots so I was ready to roll.

We met and headed out to the hunting land.  We got there a little later than when I had arrived the week before.  We parked near the entrance and headed out.  We walked in along some really white looking sand which made our journey in really stealth.  We were listening as we walked in hoping to hear a gobble from afar.  We made it in near to the area we would be hunting and we stopped and listened for a bit.  We gave the turkeys plenty of time to call if they were going to call.  We held up at the edge of the woods in hopes of not spooking the birds by walking in early.  The crows were calling and owls were hooting, but we hadn?t heard any turkeys.  Jason made some louder calls with his crow call and still nothing responded.  The initial thought was that the turkeys were deeper in the woods.

We walked further into the woods and set up.  Mark put two hen decoys out while Jason put a short blind around the area where I would be sitting.  We all sat at the base of 3 different pine trees.  Jason was to my right and Mark was to my left.  Mark had a better angle on the decoys and better vision.  Both Jason and Mark brought their guns just in case the turkeys came from either direction, but Mark was the ?shooter? as he was kind of out on a point overlooking the cleared out area of the woods.

WeHuntSC.com - Mark Turner scanning for a gobbler    
Mark Turner looking ahead for a gobbler  

As we sat down we listened for a while and Jason randomly called.  We still heard no gobbles anywhere.  Even though I don?t know a lot about turkey calling, Jason?s calling was sounding really good to my ears.  Our senses were on high alert as we listened for any sound and scanned the floor of the woods looking for movement.  About 15 minutes after we had been sitting there all of a sudden a loud sound came from behind us and to the right.  The area behind us and to our right was thicker and difficult to see through, but the sound we heard was a great sound to hear!  We heard the wings of a bird flapping as the bird came out of the tree.  A turkey had flown down to the ground and he was close enough for us to hear his wings, but yet we couldn?t see him and he had never gobbled.  I say ?he? because I?m assuming/hoping it was a big ol? gobbler.  When we heard this it got us fired up, but still we couldn?t figure out why we hadn?t heard anything.  I looked at Jason?s and Mark?s faces and I could tell they were paying close attention trying to figure out what was going on.  They both knew we had a bird somewhere near us that was on the ground and that wasn?t making a sound. 

We continued to sit patiently and waited on anything to clue us into where the bird was.  He had to have heard our calling if we were able to hear his wings fly down to the ground.  After a while both Jason and Mark started calling?some overlapping each other and sometimes right after each other.  It sounded really good and sounded like multiple turkeys in the woods calling out.  They didn?t over do it, but made enough sound to entice any big boy to come on over. 

        WeHuntSC.com - Jason Love to my right calling on the slate
  J-Love to my right calling on the slate & rocking the Thermacell

A couple of minutes later we heard a stick pop really close behind us.  At first thought this was kind of a jolt that makes you cringe because you know something is there and you really can?t move to see what it was.  It didn?t take long to figure out though.  We heard a dog growling!  Two dogs had run through the woods and when they saw the decoys they started growling at them.  Jason saw them first and when we heard the growl we all turned around to see what was happening because they sounded mad and in a hurry!  When we quickly turned around and made commotion the dogs got scared and high-tailed it out of there.  And that was pretty much the gist of our hunt.  We left shortly thereafter. 

After talking about the situation we think the dogs are in that area and are bothering the birds.  This may be why the bird never gobbled? because he had been chased by a dog before!  Who knows, but it was a frustrating end to a good hunt!  I had some really good footage of the guys calling and the setup and I was just waiting on the turkey to get in the picture too, but it never happened.

We started walking back out to the trucks.  On the way out we saw some turkey tracks in that same white sand that we had walked in on earlier.  Jason even noticed a turkey track that had stepped in Mark?s boot track.  This meant that a turkey had crossed the same path that we walked in on and had done it after we went in the woods.  The turkeys were in the area?and so were two punk dogs!

Mark headed home and as Jason and I rode back we figured we give another area a shot.  We drove down the road and saw 3 different turkeys out in random fields as we drove.  The turkeys were moving and we hoped for better luck and a hunt without dogs interfering!  We arrived to a new location and walked down the edge of the woods alongside a dirt road.  There was a field up ahead to our left that where we believed some gobblers were out strutting.  So we set up in the edge of the woods hoping to call the turkeys our way instead of going out in the open and spooking them.

WeHuntSC.com - Me wearing CrossOver Camo on the 2nd Hunt

Me wearing CrossOver Camo on the 2nd Hunt

    WeHuntSC.com - The Deer didn't like the decoys
  The Deer didn't like the turkey decoys

We sat down in some white oaks that were really near a creek bed.  Jason sat to my right again and we both leaned on two oaks that were side by side.  This time we had the Jake Intimidator set up hoping to cause a reaction by showing movement simulating a tom puffing up.  We had him lying beside a hen decoy.  We sat there and Jason started calling.  We listened and listened and never heard any gobble.  We were waiting patiently to hear a turkey when out of our left we saw a flicker.  The flicker ended up being the movement of a doe just across the dirt road.  I instantly turned the camera on and moved it to film the deer.  This doe was the first of 5 deer that were heading our way.

I knew that we would have to be extremely still because the deer were coming our way.  It was nearly 9:30 in the morning and the sun was out and it was shining right in there faces.  The wind was blowing across our faces which meant the deer would have a tough time smelling us because they weren?t down-wind of us.  The bad part was that I had my arm extended all the way out to my camera and the deer weren?t in a hurry.  These deer slowly walked across the dirt road and came up the embankment where we were.  It seemed to be 3 does with 2 yearlings.  They walked closer and closer as they browsed the ground for stuff to eat.  When they got closer one of the does saw the decoys and she didn?t like it.  She started stomping the ground and got all tensed up.  If you?re a deer hunter then you?re familiar with this site.  I still couldn?t believe the deer got this close to us without detecting us yet. 

Jason and I were whispering to each other this whole time.  He said that he was going to start calling the turkey call just to see what would happen.  Surprisingly when he started calling the turkey calls it didn't instantly scare the deer off.  I think it may have calmed them some, but they were still in question of the decoys, but it seemed to relax the one just a bit.  This whole time I was getting some great footage of these deer?and my shoulder and arm were shaking and burning about kill me!

A few minutes later I think the deer knew something wasn?t right and they bounded off back across the road.  It was difficult to keep them all focused in the camera the whole time they were there.  Just looking at the video you would think it should be easy, but when you?re sitting in the woods having to look in the small screen finder that was at a terrible angle for viewing since the camera was turned hard and to the left, it kind of made it difficult.  Also, I?m normally able to smoothly move the camera head around when pivoting, but the I didn?t want any extra movement so the pivots are kind of jumpy because I didn?t want to spook the deer off.

So you?ll see more deer than turkeys in the video below, but nevertheless ? it was a good time in the outdoors and that?s what it?s all about!

 

Regards,

Clint
 

 


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