Did you know that there is a new camouflage on the market and ALL of the products made with that it are not only made in America, but made right here in South Carolina?

Well, there is. It’s made by Swamp Fox Products out of Andrews, SC, and the two patterns that they offer are Black River camo for deer, turkey and dove hunting and Cord Grass camo for all waterfowl hunting. These two great patterns are available in different length rolls (54 inches by 12 feet to 54 inches by 100 feet) for use on all kinds of hunting blinds. And best of all their camo cloth is strong, odor free and will not fray when cut.

Swamp Fox Products also puts their two camo patterns on many types of hunting apparel and supplies including ponchos, gun socks and game bags as well as on some great specialty items such as place mats, coasters, table cloths, tri-fold beds, curtains and even carpet tiles!

I encourage everyone to check out their website (www.swampfoxproducts.com) for more information on their camo patterns and the products they make with them.

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Kip Adams, QDMA’s Director of Education and Outreach for the Northern Region, just released a new article that he has written reflecting on how quality deer management has drastically changed the face of deer hunting over the last 10 years.

In “Deer Harvest Trends”, Adams highlights the amazing improvements in buck age structures across the country as well the ratio of does to bucks in the harvest from 1999 to 2005. For instance,

• the percentage of yearlings in the buck harvest declined from an average of 51% in 1999 to 45% in 2005

• the percentage of 2.5-year-olds increased from 28 to 32% and 3.5-year-olds or older increased from 19 to 23%

• In 2005, about 2/3 (65%) of the states shot as many or more antlerless deer than bucks

• the percentage of yearlings in the buck harvest declined from an average of 51% in 1999 to 45% in 2005

Please click below to read the entire article! You will be amazed at how QDM has positively impacted our hunting. And please note that I have included the entire article instead of linking to it since it has not been released on the QDMA website yet. Read the rest of this entry »

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What happens when you are taking care of life’s business and not hunting enough? Birds invade your hunting gear and claim it as their own!

I have written about many of the changes I am currently making in my life, and unfortunately implementing them takes a lot of time and energy. I also still have a wife and two boys, and they are a priority. So actually hunting has taken a backseat to writing about hunting.

However a pair of Carolina Wrens has decided that if I wasn’t using my gear, they would. I have posted about how I leave all of my hunting stuff on our screened in porch so that it always stays scent free. Well, after accessing a hole in the screen, the birds decided that they hated to see all of my good stuff not be used, so they took it over as a nest.

I caught them a few times about a month ago putting twigs in my backpack, so I made sure and took it out before they got finished. I thought that would do it. Well, it didn’t. It seems that while I wasn’t paying attention, they managed to sneak back in and completely build a nest, then lay eggs in their new home. And since I didn’t want to break up the happy family, I decided I would just leave them alone until they were finished raising their new family. And sure enough, when we came back from Florida this past weekend, there were the baby wrens waiting on supper to be served.

In the pictures, you can see my Scent Lok backpack hanging on a hook on the porch, then you can see the eggs laying in it, then mama bird sitting on the eggs and finally the baby birds sleeping…Hope they enjoy my Olympus binoculars in there!

As for our trip, we had a very nice time in Florida doing absolutely nothing for a few days. We took dive gear with us, but we basically ended up just hanging out, going out to eat a few times and letting the grandparents enjoy the boys. And while it is always nice to get away, it is even better to be home. I am ready to get back to work on all of my plans… Thanks to everyone for their support, and for reading this site!

Jeff

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I guess I should have mentioned that we’re in Florida this week… My regularly scheduled posts will return on Monday.

Thanks, Jeff

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This morning I wanted to update everyone on a few changes that have happened around here over the last few months. First, as I briefly wrote about a while back, I will not be managing Cubbedge Hill Plantation this year. I have run out of time to do everything that I want in my life, so some changes had to be made. Giving this up was one of them. And it was a tough decision since I have so enjoyed working with my family and having access to truly one of the best chunks of deer country in the state.

I will also not be managing Jericho either. Times are tough and filling memberships on highly managed deer hunting clubs has been even tougher. Don’t get me wrong, I would have filled up what I needed to, it just was taking longer than expected. And there was another group that was committed to treating the place right (and had the funds ready), so they have taken it over. And while I was a little disappointed in this, this development has also worked in my favor as far as my goals and time management go.

Please note that I didn’t immediately stop advertising my lowcountry hunting services since I considered leasing a smaller piece of property for just a few of the right clients. However again, this was going to take up too much time for not enough return. So a couple of us are headed over to hunt with Marion at Gohagan’s Guide Service. He is doing everything that I would have done and just as good, so I am going to enjoy the benefits of hunting a great place without expending all of the time.

Don’t misunderstand. I love managing prime hunting properties. However the amount of time required to properly do so is enormous. And so is the money. Just to give you an idea of what it takes to fully fund one here in the lowcountry, take a look at these numbers… A prime lease will run around 25$ an acre; that makes a 1000 acres worth around $25,000 a year! Then add in 500 to 1000 bushels of corn at the current $8, and that will tack on an additional $4000 to $8000. And of course everyone likes to have a nice place to stay at night along with sitting over some nice green fields that require planting with $5 a gallon diesel, good seed and fertilizer. Add that all up and you are at around $35,000 to $40,000! Do the math, and 12 members (about right for that acreage) and each one will have to pay $3500 a season. That is a lot of money for most folks right now… And that is all just to cover the costs.

I also have a family that I must take care of, so that has made me look at my life goals as well as at our finances. In addition, I have something else that I would like to do more of that requires time - writing about managing for big bucks and hunting in the lowcountry. So, since there are only so many hours in a day, I have decided to use my time for other projects including several new websites and a magazine. I will be posting much more about these undertakings very soon. However that may not be on this blog (or this blog in its current form).  I may have to switch this site over to a self-published one in the very near future, so please bare with me as I make any of these changes.

As you can see I have lots of big stuff going on, but believe it or not, there is more. Since I still want to continue to work in the hunting field, manage for big bucks and gain valuable experience, I have another exciting development to tell you about very soon…Stay tuned, and thanks for reading!

Jeff

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This was a shot I took about 12 years ago during the 4th of July fireworks in Sanford, FL.

Enjoy your holiday and please be safe!

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Look what showed up in our backyard this morning at 9am to check for fallen pears… With a month still left for his rack to grow, he should turn out pretty good. And he had better hope that I don’t sleep in and hunt the backyard opening morning!

I also wanted to wish everyone, including our great country and all of the members of our armed forces defending it, a happy 4th of July. Please be safe and enjoy some family time outdoors. With our youngest son’s birthday this weekend and my mom up for it, I know that is our plan. Next post will be Monday.

Jeff

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To view today’s article about “What Does Your Hunting Journal Tell You”, please visit Simply Outdoors where I have a guest post up. Arthur is on a great vacation and somebody had to stay home and work!

Jeff

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I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that stopped by last week to wish my mom/hunting mentor a happy retirement. I am also glad that so many people enjoyed reading one of our classic family stories!

And thanks to all of her coworkers, the party was a huge success as well. I truly enjoyed getting to meet everyone that she works with and talks about, and I can’t thank them for giving my mom such a wonderful sendoff.

It was held at Whitey’s fish camp in Orange Park, so there was a ton of great seafood. It was fried, but my mom was roasted. She has worked with her company/state-funded agency for 18 years, so her friends and coworkers really know her. And boy did they let her have it about everything from being tight with the budget (her job) to accidentally showing up on a Saturday (Friday to her) and being upset that no one else had come to work!

They also sent her off with some very nice gifts in appreciation for all of her years of hard work. The gifts included a HUGE basket of books and books on tape (she loves to listen while on the road), a rocking chair to sit with her grandboys and a giant flat-screen TV (so the boys can watch big buck videos in style when she babysits).

Of course, since my mom loves to tell stories about me, they were also not surprised that I was late for the party. However for once it wasn’t my fault. We had to sit on I95 for over an hour watching firefighters use the jaws of life to cut some accident victims out of their truck and then load them in to the lifeflight helicopter. But while that did put us behind, all of the action did keep the kid’s from getting restless during our wait and give them something to talk about. (fortunately the news said that everyone survived)

And Matt did hit the nail on the head when he commented that he hoped that my mom didn’t read my blog since it said that we were going down to surprise her. She, just like my wife, hardly ever reads it since she has to hear about all of my adventures anyway, so I didn’t think anything about putting that info up. However she “accidentally” clicked on my blog that morning, so she did know we were coming… but she says that it didn’t take anything away from us making the trip down.

As for us, we made it back home and are all now recovering from getting sick. The kids picked up something last week from daycare, and it has made its way through everyone including me. I did nothing all weekend but rest, and unfortunately I am still trying to shake it. I believe I will survive, but I hate being sick.

Please check back again tomorrow for some more important updates on us that I have.

Jeff

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One of the people most responsible for my love of the outdoors is retiring this week, and that would be my mom! Amy, the boys and I are heading to Florida this morning to attend a surprise retirement party for her, so I will have to write this post quickly. However I did want to relate a short story that, while just one example, perfectly illustrates how hard she tried to make sure I had ample opportunities in the woods as a young man. And being a single mother, that was definitely not always easy!

Normally she would arrange for me to hunt with family friends, but we were just stopping to visit here for a day on our way home from a Christmas trip up north. I was about 13, and I only had one afternoon that I could hunt before we continued on back to Florida. I really wanted to hunt so I begged her to take me. And my Uncle J.O. (sr) said that I could sit in the oak tree stand in the back of Jenkins field on Cubbedge Hill if she would.

Well, our small hatchback car was loaded down with clothes and Christmas gifts, but she said as long as I didn’t kill anything, she would drop me off. I said no problem since I figured that it was 50/50 that I would even see anything that late in the season to shoot. So she put me out, and I sat watching over the field until near dark when a couple of does (couldn’t shoot them then) came out followed by a spike. I watched them all the while trying to remember my mom’s command not to shoot anything. But, I just couldn’t take it.

I put the cross hairs on his shoulder and dropped him. I then went and dragged him over to the edge of the field by the road to proudly wait on my mom to pick me up. I don’t even want to repeat what she said when she arrived, but to say that she was not counting on me having a deer would be an understatement. However like she always does, she made the best of the situation by rearranging the entire car’s worth of luggage and presents so that the back was empty enough for my deer to fit. However the only thing we had to keep the blood out of the car was her hanging clothes bag! So down it went, in went the deer, and off we went to the deer processors.

My mom still tells this story to this day as an example of the many problems I have caused her over the years. And I wouldn’t trade the memory for anything. Thanks mom!

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