What an unbelievable afternoon yesterday! I was out loading all of the stands up with corn in preparation for any weekend hunters when I looked over and saw these two bucks making their way along the edge of the pasture on Cubbedge Hill. I slowly put my bucket down and eased back over to the truck to grab my camera. I then started shooting as fast as I could…One buck went over to a overhanging branch and started to make a scrape while the other one watched - All I could do was keep shooting with my camera since I did not have a gun with me!

Then I snapped out of daydream and realized that I was on the very private Fripp Island off of the coast of South Carolina. Here the deer are not hunted and have adjusted to the people that live there, so they are not nocturnal or afraid of humans!

I was on the island to meet with our wedding couple for this weekend, and I took advantage of my pass to cruise around and shoot some of the islands many mature bucks. Both of these deer were at least 4.5 years old and ready for the rut. They just do not have giant racks because of the low quality soil; the native island deer also tend to be of a smaller genetic breed. It was simply amazing to get to walk around just feet from these nice bucks as they went about their business. I even saw one buck try and make a rub on a street sign!

I definitely plan on going back to take advantage of the wonderful opportunity to photograph these magnificent animals.

Jeff

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C.J. emailed this trailcam photo of a huge Florida buck that he caught on camera in his friend’s backyard last week inside the city limits of Palm Coast. He says that while he has seen a couple down there killed that were bigger, it is the largest buck he has ever caught on camera there…

“I thought you would enjoy this big buck. Keep in mind that the camera hangs on my buddies pickett fence in his back yard.Only 40 feet from where he sleeps!!”

It really doesn’t surprise me since I have learned that the big ones always know just were it is the safest, and that is usually very close to people! Also while Palm Coast is a fast growing city, it still has lots of undeveloped land around it. However the construction boom is pushing the deer around, and soon it will be like Hilton Head where the deer live in the people’s yards and eat their flowers and gardens.

Luckily it is legal to hunt inside the city limits with a bow, and C.J. says that if his friend doesn’t get him soon, he is headed over to take him out. Good Luck!

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I caught up with Daniel and Lucas over at the Wilkinson camp in Scotia today. They were finishing up a weekend in the Lowcountry, and were having a great time over on Aunt Mary’s place. Unfortunately they said they were not seeing too many deer! But like I have said before here, that is to be expected during this transition phase.

We all agreed that the deer are not hitting the corn very hard in most spots either, but that two stands were still being hammered. (They have several big bean fields along with some good cut overs, so that is not surprising either). I had Richard’s camera on one of those two spots, and the pictures below are off of it. I will try to get my camera over to the other spot where two good bucks have already been seen in the next day or two, and hopefully we can get some good footage of them as well.

Late celebrity status and another round of congratulations also go out Derek. He did not make it this weekend, but he already has one in the bag from opening day. That is him in the picture above with his 4.5 year old 185lb 7 point. I finally got a good file of the shot today from his dad, so I definitely wanted to put him up.

As for the hunting, don’t bother. It was hotter tonight on the stand than it has been in two weeks. My cousin’s son came out to hunt with me, and he saw two does while I saw nothing. But I also let off a huge blast around 6:45 when I claimed the 30 pound devil dog as it hunted in the clearcut in front of me. And I actually flushed a covey of quail just yards from where I retrieved him - I wonder if he was working on getting one?

It is already Sept. 23, so in just three weeks we should be good to go with the big bucks. They are already starting to scrape lightly around the fields. Check back soon for more reports and pics… and don’t forget to leave a comment with YOUR hunting report if you have one!

Jeff

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I wanted to follow up on my post on Aug. 24 in which I complained that the vice president of the South Carolina Bowhunters Association said that bowhunters were the “true” hunters in a local newspaper article.

On Sept. 9, Dewey Jones, the president of the South Carolina Bowhunters Association, responded with an email to me. It is reprinted below:

Mr. Hunt,
Have you read a book written in 1877 by Maurice Thompson, “The Witchery of Archery”?
Over one hundred years ago Maurice stated, (on page 14)”necessity invented fire-arms–that terrible source of slaughter which has reduced shooting to less than a sport.”
Mr. Kearse is not the first to be displease with persons hunting with guns.
Mr. Kearse is entitled to his personal opinions.
This is one of those fine Constitutional Ammendments.
My question to you is, if this displeases you why do you place it on a blog?
Respectfully,
SCBA President
Dewey Jones
I would like to thank Mr. Jones for responding, and I apologize for not putting his response up sooner. However I wanted more time to decide how I would handle this as well as all future disagreements on this blog.

Except for covering the anti-gun/anti-hunting nazis, I have decided to only focus on what our different hunting groups agree on. There are enough people out there that would like to stop all hunting and shooting, regardless of weapon used, that I hate to waste any time or energy fighting those that we should be working with, not against.

And while I do not agree that bowhunting is superior, I can certainly understand Mr. Jones and Mr. Kearse’s attitude. Bad apples always ruin great things for everyone, and it is unfortunate that so many (but certainly not all) gun hunters tend to fall in to that category by using the advantages of a gun to mask their sloppy hunting and shooting skills. And due to the demands of bowhunting, that group tends to have the most proficient hunters so they often see themselves as setting a higher standard.

I do not see myself, or anyone else, as more of a “true” hunter because of what weapon they use any more than I think those who shoot only big bucks are “true” hunters - However I know some hunters that have that mentality too.

My take is that I am the same TRUE HUNTER with a gun that I am with a bow, shooting trophy deer or does. I work very hard to take only high-percentage shots, obey all laws, respect the land and landowner, follow QDM practices and promote hunting by introducing others to our sport.

I understand that everyone is looking to take different things away from their time outdoors - and that is what makes this such a great sport. My personal feeling is that if you obey all laws and hunt ethically, you are a true hunter. And that is what I want to focus on in this blog - true hunters hunting.

Jeff

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That’s right… the deer are really hammering the corn in thoroughfare at the Blount Place while they wait for the sorghum to dry. In the process, we are getting lots of shots. Many of the same bucks are on camera every night, but some nights you get better shots of them than others. This  2.5 year old 6 point was in the background of the other shots, but really showed himself last night. While we will wait another year to shoot him, it is always great to see lots of bucks heading up the age brackets.

And I just thought this was a great shot of two young button bucks on the corn. It is also a great picture to keep in mind when the first deer of the night pops out… many times it will be these little fellows, so don’t accidentally shoot them if you are after big does. However if you are after some of the tastiest hams and straps you have ever had, then you might want to consider one.

And in my unending quest to prepare us for the rut, I put out 1200 pounds of corn today. I also moved this camera to the other side of the pond, right between 6 and 7. I had it there a couple of weeks ago, but the flash card died;  lets hope it turns up some more good bucks that we haven’t seen yet when I check it Sunday. However I will check my friends camera over at Aunt Mary’s tomorrow, so we should have  a few new shots then.

Jeff

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After only three nights up, the camera over near the Combine on the Blount Place has produced 200 images - and there are bucks in about 50% of them. As far as I can tell, there are at least 10 different bucks ranging from 2.5 to 3.5, and possibly 4.5 years in age.

These two bucks have been on camera before, and their pictures show the difference in antlers between 2. 5 (on top) and 3.5 on the bottom.
However, this funky racked deer has just shown up for the first time on camera. He has a huge body and appears to be 3.5 years old, but it looks like he has a very mediocre right side and a really messed up left.

And as we expected, the hunting was very slow this week. Will came up on Monday afternoon, and we hunted Cubbedge Hill. He went to the top of the Bay where he saw only turkeys, while I went to 12 in Jenkins field and had a shooter come out right at dark. Unfortunately by the time I decided he was a good one, he had turned and was walking away.

We did not hunt Tuesday morning, but instead went out arrowhead hunting with the entire crew - See next post!!! Tuesday evening we went back to CH, with me at the Gate and Will at 12. This time I saw nothing, and he saw a doe and a fawn. He finished up his quick trip this morning with a hunt near the ditch at the BP 6, where he again saw nothing. We both agreed that while the hunts were slow, the weather was so nice that we couldn’t complain - it was in the low 70s and very windy, so it made for our first cool sits of the season.

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Well I finally got a new flash card for our trailcam (the other one finally died from the moisture) as well as put it up over near the combine on the Blount Place. I did that on Friday when I put out 1000lbs of corn and checked on all of our food plots. The rain really helped this past week, and the grain sorghum has gone crazy; some of their heads are as big as basketballs, so the deer should really continue to have tons to eat all fall.

I will check the camera in the next day or two, so I should have some new pics up soon. In the meantime, I am just posting a shot from last month of a really nice buck… we hopefully will have kill shot of him sometime in the near future. I know that a lot of seasons are opening up right now, and I just thought that this shot would keep everyone pumped up - you just never really know what is out there running around, and may come by your stand any minute!

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Here are a couple of the bucks that live in our backyard. The one on the left is a 1.5 year old forkhorn while his buddy is a 2.5 year old 8 point. You can even see my scent-free clothes dryer (ok, so its a clothes line) hanging above them.

Like I said in my previous post, they have not been out during normal viewing times lately. But the last two nights, they have been at the corn around 9:30pm. However this lack of movement is not to be unexpected during this time of year. Last year, from Sept. 10 until Oct. 10, we only saw two SHOOTER bucks during daylight. And both of those were seen coming and going to the stands. Don’t get me wrong, we still see plenty of small bucks and even some medium ones, but the big boys usually go underground during this 30 days.

And I know people still get lucky and kill a nice one occasionally during this time, but in my opinion, they are shooting themselves in the foot or at least the feet of their hunting buddies. Because often, one good buck and the amount of hunting time needed to kill it during this period is far outweighed by the need to not over hunt your stands while waiting until the rut. Then your stand usage and hunting time will be put to a much greater good - everyone’s good, not just the person who burned out the stands and ruined every one else’s chances for a monster while getting theirs.

Jeff

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I thought I would post this picture of a decent buck snacking on corn over on Cubbedge Hill’s new road. The deer showed up on Richard’s camera about 10 days ago, but C.J. had pulled the camera and left it in the clubhouse. I did not bother to check it again since I had just looked on its card the day before… Just shows what can turn up in just one night!

And unfortunately I have nothing to report for the deer movement. Not a thing is moving at the moment…. not even in my backyard. And if they are not moving in my yard where there is no pressure (we never shoot our pets), then they are definitely not moving anywhere else. We normally see deer every night and morning, but have not seen even one in the last week. However, just like on the plantation, the corn keeps disappearing every night.

The only thing of interest that has been seen was a flock of turkeys roaming through my yard yesterday morning. I heard the dogs outside barking, and when I looked outside, the  group of hens were just moseying across my driveway. They did not even look concerned about our watchdogs barking at them 20 yards away! However if our goat/deer/sheep eater Daisy was loose, it would have been another story.

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This is a great picture from last season showing deer dominance. I just wanted to share it with everyone, as well as lighten the mood of my post!

I promise to get right back to what I am sure most people are here to read:Big Buck Movement Report. That would be zero. I hunted tonight for the first time in a week, and did not even see a deer, just one armadillo. I did hear some hogs back off of the field, but they never showed. Amazinly enough, for no deer in the woods, a huge amount of corn was missing off of all of the roads and there were fresh tracks everywhere.

That is the problem right now. The deer just do not have to move. There is enough food and standing cover to keep them underground. They are also starting to grow in their winter coats, so it seems hotter to them now than ever. Can’t wait: Doe season starts next week- need some meat!

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