Sitting on the Beaver Dam

I had a pretty busy weekend over this past Thanksgiving Holiday.  I spent a lot of time in the woods and swamps and don?t have much to show for it, but then again that?s why they call it hunting rather than shooting!  Though, I don?t mind getting out in nature and not shooting anything?it?s a whole lot better than being at work!

We knocked off early at work on Wednesday and I headed down to Pageland.  I wasn?t able to hunt that evening because I gave the devotion at football practice that night.  After that we had the Turkey Bowl draft and then I headed down to the in-laws!  We stayed up pretty late talking and I got to bed around 12:30.

During the day on Wednesday I gave Mr. Bruce Puette a call to see if he wanted to go hunting Thursday morning.  Just like clock-work Mr. Puette assured me that he was going.  I should have known he was going because if the sun rises, Mr. Puette is usually in a stand somewhere!  I woke up at 4:15 in order to get ready and meet Mr. Puette at his hunting club.  Though on Thursday morning he put me in a nice stand overlooking a gas line and he hunted a different stand.  I had the perfect setup and a good stand, but nothing came through.  I could hear the duck hunters wearing some ducks out in the distance though.  Those guys were shooting every couple of minutes.  There are obviously some ducks flying down around the Pee Dee River!

After the hunt with Mr. Puette I ate a very nice Thanksgiving lunch with my in-laws.  I ate enough to hold me over, but I didn?t over-eat because a big game was up next on the schedule.  That?s right?the Turkey Bowl was scheduled for 3 o?clock and I needed to be there and ready to play!  You may be wondering what the Turkey Bowl is?well if that?s the case then please refer to the blog entry I wrote for 2MinuutinVaroitus.com where I describe the Turkey Bowl in full.  Some of my Finnish friends asked me to write a blog for their web site so they sent me a shirt and I gave it a whirl.

Thursday evening we ate yet another Thanksgiving meal and this one was at my parent?s house.  If you know my mama, then you know she can cook and she puts on a big spread every Thanksgiving.  We ate until we almost couldn?t move.  I was so tired from the Turkey Bowl that I had to go and lay down at a decent hour.  I think I got to bed that night around 11. 

I was up early Friday morning to go duck hunting with Gavin Jackson and his duck hunting crew.  I got all layered up and stepped outside.  As soon as I got outside I knew something was off.  It wasn?t cold at all.  I started getting hot after a few steps.  When I got into my car I noticed that it was only 60 degrees whereas the day before it was 38 degrees.  Some kind of warm front had come through the area and I didn?t even wear my jacket in the swamp!

We made our way into the swamp and got everybody set up.  We had 3 hunters and me and I set up on the beaver dam to try to video the event.  It started to get light and we anticipated birds flying in from everywhere, but for whatever reason, nothing much was flying.  We had 4 birds come in real low very early and they got out of there quick, but it was too early to shoot plus they were in and out very quickly.  After that we only saw a handful of ducks in the distance and before too long the hunt was over.  We had our own little ?lame duck session? in the swamp.  Though, the lack of birds flying didn?t stop me from filming and taking pics.  I got some good footage of the setup and guys walking through the swamp.  Videoing while duck hunting adds another factor into the mix that is somewhat scary?water.  I was scared of dropping my camera in the water, but what can you do right?  The tripod also got introduced to swamp mud on this trip.  Even though we didn?t get any birds much less a shot at a bird, we still had a good time. 

I had to be at Central at 12 because the bus was leaving for Woodruff at 12:30.  We made our way over to Woodruff and I thought the bus we were on was going to break down before we got there.  We did end up making it and I have to say that our game this past weekend vs. Woodruff was one of the best high school games I?ve ever been a part of?coaching, playing, or watching.  Woodruff had a nice stadium and it was jam packed, music everywhere?it was the electric, Friday Night Lights environment that you read about and only experience every now and then.  The game was full of big hits, big plays, momentum swings, and it was down to the wire.  In the end we won the game and everyone was on edge until the clock struck zero.  Woodruff had a really good team and be on the lookout for their Qb next year.  He was running the show and doing a good job with it. Now we?ve got Dillon again and I hope we can break our recent trend with them!

	Rocking Safety Harness in the climber

The excitement of the game kept us wired on the way home and we made it back around 1:30.  I got to bed around 2 and then was back up Saturday morning at 5 to go duck hunting again.  I was tired, but still excited from the game and I headed back out.  I went hunting with Pete & Cole and we set up in a different swamp and here again, not many birds flew.  Pete did get one of the wood ducks, but was unable to find it.  We were positioned in a smaller swamp on this day and it was a little bit colder.  The conditions seemed perfect, but there just weren?t many birds in the air.  Here again I shot a lot of footage and pics even though we didn?t leave with any birds.  By the end of the hunt I was worn out.  I headed back to the house and sent to sleep or a few hours.

After I woke up I headed back down to the in-laws and hung out for a while.  We even did some painting for my mother-in-law!  It never hurts to keep the in-laws on the good side I guess.  Later that evening I hunted near their house from my climbing stand.  I?m not a big fan of climbing stands, but every now and then I?ll break bad and use mine.  And it took me more time to get situated because of my use of the safety harness, but I always use it when in the climber.  It can be aggravating, but the downside would be a whole lot worse than if I wasn?t wearing it. 

In this setting I was overlooking a swamp behind me and a fire break in between some planted pines and oaks in front of me.  I had some corn out beneath me and also on the fire break.  I had been putting corn out there for a while, but had never hunted there and I figured it would be the perfect set up.  I thought that I wouldn?t be able to film out of the climber, but after using it I think I could use my Irwin Grip and make it work.  We shall see in future attempts! 

On this hunt I saw everything but a deer.  I had some wood ducks fly over me and then came the geese.  Throughout the whole afternoon I had 2 squirrels running around below me.  Sitting in the stand I had my back to the swamp and I figured that if something was walking through the swamp that I would hear it and be able to turn around in time.  Well I was sitting there in the quiet when all of a sudden I hear something slurping water behind me.  I was frozen.  I knew there was no way a deer could have walked through there that quiet enough to get close to me and drink water.  I slowly turned around and 2 huge raccoons were quietly walking through the edge of the swamp.  I tried to get them on film, but by the time I turned around they had gotten behind some brush and I couldn?t get the camera focused on them.  I guess they came down from one of those trees or something.  I have no idea how they got that close to me.  Right before dark I had, what I thought to be a chipmunk, come out of some thick brush to my right.  It was getting dark and was difficult to see, but after looking at the bird it was plainly a quail.  I haven?t seen them around much, but I definitely knew what it was.  I watched it walk around for a bit and then it flew off.  It was a neat afternoon in the woods with the exception of not seeing any deer!

Below is a video with visuals from the weekend...no ducks or deer harvested, just scenery!

By the time Sunday morning came around I had to sleep in.  The weekend was wearing me out and I didn?t want to fall asleep in church!  No hunting on Sunday afternoon as we watched film at the coaches meeting and then I spent some time with the wife! 

Overall it was a good, long, weekend.  Thanksgiving, good food, the Turkey Bowl, an exciting football game and road trip, duck hunting, and deer hunting made up my whole weekend.  I didn?t bring anything home other than myself, but it sure was fun.  I was actually glad when Monday came around because with this kind of scheduling, I have to go to work just to rest.

Regards,

Clint
 

First of all, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  I have been on the road for work, so I am just now getting to my weekend blog.  I hunted Thursday through Sunday and wasn?t all that successful.  However, I did get some video to share with you guys.  And even though there was not many deer sightings, I did get to spend time in the woods and that is a gift in itself.

Thursday morning I sat in the stand across from my house and right next to my uncle?s house.  Walking into the woods I spooked some deer and felt the aftershock.  I sat from 6 a.m. until 11 a.m. and all I saw was squirrels.  I got in the stand around 2 p.m. that evening.  My dad sat in the wooden stand that overlooks a 2 acre plot of Biologic.  I sat in a 20-ft metal buddy stand overlooking a half acre of Biologic.  Again, no luck.  When am I going to see some deer!

Friday morning was no better.  I got situated in the wooden stand, in the field, about 6 a.m.  When the sun rose, all I saw was FOG!  I sat until about 10 a.m. and decided to get out because the fog was not any better.  Friday evening I did not end up going hunting because I fell asleep from 12 p.m. til 4 p.m.  So I just got ready to go watch them Eagles beat down Abbeville for the Upper State Championship.  On that note, good luck to you guys this Saturday for the State Championship. 

Saturday morning I faired a little better.   I did not see multiple deer, but at least I saw A DEER.  I went back to the lock-on stand across from my house.  When I stepped into the woods, I was praying I would not hear deer running away.  Luckily I didn?t.  It was about 5:50 a.m. when I got situated into the stand.  Around 8:30 a.m., I had all but given up on seeing a deer when I spotted a body coming out of the thicket in front of me.  As it approached the corn pile, I thought it was a doe.  I pushed the safety off of my .44 Mag because I had made up my mind that I was going to shoot a doe if I saw one.  Just to make sure the deer was a doe, I picked up the binoculars.  Good thing I did because I spotted inch long horns on top of the deer?s head.  So I put the safety back on and just enjoyed watching the deer.  I really wish I would have had a camera because it was very neat watching him eat the corn on the cob.  He would eat all the corn on one section of the cob and then roll it with his nose and eat another section.  Something I did not understand was why he was being picky on which cobs he would eat.  He literally sifted through all the corn to eat certain pieces.   At one point his nose was itching, so he used his right back leg to scratch it.  When he finished scratching, he must have irritated his nose because he sneezed.  When his belly was full, the deer started moving toward my stand headed to the road behind me.  Soon as he started my way, I reached for my phone because he was going to walk within 5 yds of me and that would be close enough for my phone to pick him up.   He passes really close to me and heads across the road.  I sat until around 11 a.m. and then got down.  Before getting down, I shot a 360° view of from my stand so you guys could see just how close it is to the road and my uncle?s house.  I am not sure if you can?t distinguish my the house, but you definitely can see the road.  The clips of the deer and the scenery from the stand are below.

This is the video of the deer walking up through the woods

This is a 360 view of what I see when I'm in the stand

Saturday evening I went hunting with the rest of the WeHuntSC Team on Will?s property.  But first, I had to watch them Gamecocks own the Tigers.  GO GAMECOCKS!!!  Even though none of us had any luck, it was cool to have a change in scenery.  Will and his dad really have a nice setup out there.  Hopefully the next time I get down, we will have a little more luck.

Sunday morning, I again suffered from the disease called laziness.  I had my alarm set for 5 a.m., but I must have turned it off and went back to sleep.  I didn?t end up waking up until close to 10 a.m.  At least I got caught up on my sleep!  Sunday evening, I went and sat in the wooden stand in the field.  I didn?t have any luck, but I did get some good footage from the stand.  Check out the video below.

My view over the field where the food plot is

 

If I get to hunt this coming weekend, hopefully I will have some footage of deer.  Not scenery!!!

Have a nice week and good luck hunting!

Adam