Bo and I with our first squirrel

Well, if you didn’t get enough hunting in during the fall deer season and your land/lease doesn’t hold any hogs, then you may need to pick up your rimfire rifle and head out for some small game hunting this winter.

It doesn’t take any expensive ammo, nor fancy camo. It only requires you to be out enjoying the great outdoors. And if you have kids, then they will definitely love you more for taking them too.

I know the boys and I have been really enjoying some quality woods time lately by pursuing squirrels, and it has been a ton of fun. I generally walk while they ride in their F-150 so they don’t get tired during the hunt. The truck is also great for bringing snacks and extra clothing if it is cold outside -  a must to make sure kids enjoy their hunt. We then just meander around hoping for a tree rat to cross our paths.

Will napping in the F-150

Of course by making so much noise and commotion coming through the woods, we are not exactly hammering the local squirrel population. However we have managed to kill a couple -  just check out Bo and I with our very first harvest. Unfortunately, while Will joined us for the hunt too, we were unable to wake him up from his nap in the truck for the photo shoot!

So if you aren’t tired of hunting after our 4 month deer season, consider some small game hunting. And parents, if your kids are looking to keep up the quality time you spent with them in the deer stand this past fall, please consider taking them on some small game hunts as well. I know it will not exactly fill your freezer in a hurry nor make you feel like the Great Hunter with a 5 ounce kill. However your kids will truly enjoy their time with you in the woods. They will also benefit greatly from the education they receive by spending even more time outdoors as well as shooting a lot with a manageable, small caliber gun.

For those in the lowcountry, one of the best places to hunt small game is the Webb Center. It has over 26,000 acres of public land available from daylight until dark for a low, one-time WMA fee of $75. You just can’t beat that for quality small game hunting access! You can also check out the South Carolina DNR website for even more WMAs that allow access for small game hunting.

Jeff

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Buster and Reena with a couple of his recent finds

That’s right! My dog had a better deer hunting season than I did…

For the first time in many, many years, I did NOT kill a buck. I could have, but I didn’t. And while I would have liked to have killed a buck this past season, I have gotten to the point that if it is not Monster, I would rather let him go so that he can grow.

And, heck, if I am looking to just put some antlers up on my wall, all I have to do is wait for my dog to bring them to me. He loves any deer head, but he really loves the ones with nice, big antlers to chew on. And he doesn’t mind if a car hits them or a hunter loses a wounded one; he told me it is all the same to him since all rotten deer skulls taste like chicken anyway

The only problem with this method of antler collecting is the occasional theft! Buster is a 100 pound yard dog who is always hungry, therefore he is unable to tell (or doesn’t care) that a rack has been left outside by a neighboring hunt club so that the meat will rot off and it can be hung inside

But hey, we did return it… Sorry!

Jeff

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A Shooting Range Family Fun Day will be held on Saturday, Feb. 7th in Garnett at the Palachucola shooting range from 10am until 2pm.

The event is being put on by our local Quality Deer Management Association’s Salkehatchie Branch, The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and the Clemson 4-H. It is for ALL ages, and will feature expert supervision and instruction in target shooting with airguns, .22s and archery equipement as well as skeet shooting with shotguns.

All of the guns, their ammo and the necessary targets will also be provided, so there is no reason not to attend this great event with your young shooters. This is also a great event for ANYONE looking to learn how to shoot or that is interested in breaking into the shooting sports.

Please call the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources’ Webb Center at 803-625-3569 for more information or to get directions to the range.

Also, after the event there will be several hours left in the day to hike the many trails that run through the 26,000 acres of public land that surrounds the Palachucola shooting range including the Savannah River nature trail. So bring the whole family and come enjoy one of the Lowcountry’s true natural gems after a day of shooting.

Jeff

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Jeff somewhere in Panama, circa 1992

Just like I wrote last year, I don’t know where the years have gone. But somehow I have become 38 years old!

Last time I looked I was 21, surfing all over Central America and living in places that you wouldn’t park your lawnmower in. I was also trying to figure out where I wanted to be in 17 years… Today, well you know the story – Happily married, living in the lowcountry with my beautiful wife and boys, and writing, taking pictures and Hunting!

And I wouldn’t trade it for the world…

Jeff

PS. My mom is coming over to watch the boys for the afternoon while Amy and I go hiking – I would like a couple of new sheds for my birthday. Have a great weekend, and I will see you guys on Monday.

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What do you do when you have two boys that LOVE to hunt, but one of them is sick and can’t go outside? You go hunting anyway… Play-Doh boar hunting!

I know, I know. We are sick people who need help. But I tell you, when other parents ask us why our kids love the outdoors so much when they can’t even get theirs to put down the Playstation, our answer is easy – Take them hunting all of the time and make it fun…Go hiking and show them all of the sign that the animals leave in the woods…Read books that promote an appreciation of the woods… Etc, Etc!

Killing an animal only takes seconds, but creating a love of that animal lasts a lifetime.

Jeff

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Will and Bo in their hunting blind

Our house is like a comedy show all of the time… Bo and Will are always wandering around “hunting” the mounts on the wall or pursuing the different animals that only they can see such as the elusive Carabeast (a cross between a wildebeast and a caribou). And during these hunts as well as our real ones outdoors, those two are always saying the funniest things. Therefore I have decided to start a new series highlighting their greatest lines called “Kids Who Hunt Say The Darndest Things”.

And I know everyone who reads this blog doesn’t have kids, but I promise to keep them short as well as spaced out in frequency.

Anyway, I have been slowly setting up my home office just the way I want it, and one of the things I have been doing is hanging up some the best racks I have been keeping in our shed. Well, the other day I brought in a couple that I wanted to hang up, and Bo immediately comes running over, points at a great 8 point I killed on Cubbedge Hill and asks, “Who killed that MONSTER?”.

I couldn’t believe that he even had to ask, so I replied, “What do you mean, who killed this monster? The greatest big buck hunter to ever live!”

Bo looked at me, threw up his hands and asked, “Really! Where does he live? I want to meet him.”

All I can say is that words hurt! And the fact that I almost had to take Amy to the hospital due to a laughter-induced seizure didn’t help.

Remind me again why we had kids…

Jeff

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My poor 1995 Toyota Corolla. It not only has 275,00o miles on it, but it has now taken on two deer in the last year that have not helped its condition.

The latest was 4:30am Saturday morning while I was on the way to Cypress Creek. I have a 20 minute ride right through some of the most deer-populated woods you can imagine, so at that hour, I normally run pretty slow to help ensure I don’t put one of those big, brown suckers on the hood. But sure enough, I had a giant buck come running right out of the edge of the Webb Center who was determined to be on the Gravel Hill Plantation side of the Augusta Stage Coach Road and smash into me.

And while I immediately hit the brakes when I saw him coming, my low car just took his legs out from under him, and he came flying up the hood and slammed into the windshield, smashing it. But I was just grateful that he didn’t come through, especially since his large rack was aimed right at my head!

Seconds later I finally slid to a stop, and that threw him back down the hood and down and off of the car. And while I was slightly in shock at the suddenness of the crash, I was thinking that I could use the extra venison and his 120 inch rack would look good with the rest of mine on the wall… However he must have recognized me as a big buck killer, because before I could get out and whack him with my mag light, he immediately jumped up and took off.

I checked out my car to make sure that the radiator was not cracked and went on in to help get a group of hunters out for their morning sit. I then came back and searched the woods for my deer, but I never found him. And he ran off into some pretty open pines where I should have been able to see him, so hopefully he survived our encounter and can grow a bigger rack next season. I will then gladly add a $400 taxidermy bill to the $250 windshield he just cost me.

Jeff

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The End of the Trail: Savannah River

As everyone knows, our family loves to hike. With two boys, we need lots of outdoor time to wear them out. Plus we all just love being in the woods.

And one of our favorite places to hike is the Webb Wildlife Center and Game Management Area here in Garnett. It is 5,600 acres of unbelievable lowcounty woods that are home to lots of our native birds and animals including tons of deer, turkey and wild hog. The management area also includes a special nature trail that runs through roughly 1000 acres of floodplain and out to the river called the Savannah River Trail.

We have hiked parts of the 2.1mile long path before with the kids, but we decided that we would like to do the entire hike to the Savannah River this time. That “unfortunately” would mean an afternoon off from the boys, so we called over my mom from next door and drove frantically away:) Sorry, but we don’t get much time together alone anymore, so it was a rare treat.

We headed over to Webb, down the oak avenue and back to Bluff Lake. There we parked and entered the path at the far end of the field to start our journey down the old logging roadbed that winds all through the river bottom and by lots of giant, towering old trees including white oaks, tupelo, cypress and maple as well as by many of their rotting remnants. And hiking during this time of year was perfect since there were no leaves on the trees allowing one to see all through the understory of the river bottom. There were also not many mosquitos – something I can’t say for most of the year in our lowcountry swamps.

It was just truly a beautiful afternoon hike, and as we finally neared the river’s edge, a huge old buck sprang up out of his bed and took off running. He only had one antler, but you could tell that he was big and his one side of horn was decent. And as we watched him running off, I saw that one side fall off.

I told Amy and she said that while she didn’t see it fall, she definitely saw him one second with an antler and then without it. So we raced over to the small, brushy ridge that ran along the bluff of the river to recover it. Sure enough, it was lying next to a log that the buck had jumped during his escape. The pedicle was even still warm.

We couldn’t believe what we had just seen, and then as we studied it, we were even more blown away. That buck was at least 5.5 years old or more! I say that because, while its not that big of a shed, the base and pedicle are both bigger than my shed from the Webb Center/Cubbedge Hill Monster when he was 4.5 years old. All I can think is that the old buck had found a great sanctuary back in the back of the riverbottom where he subsisted on low quality forage unlike his brothers who spend their lives up in the pines where huge foodplots are scattered everywhere.

After relishing our great find and spending a few minutes at the river’s edge enjoying some peace and quiet, we hiked the hour back out to Bluff Lake and back home to the boys. There we shared our find and our story to two very interested young hunters.

Jeff

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With deer season now over, many hunters are looking for other excuses to get outdoors in the lowcountry.

Well, if your deer lease/property has hogs, one of the best reasons to get outside is to trap some of them. You will not only be helping to save your deer’s foodplots, but your wallet as well! Just check out the price of pork the next time you are in the grocery. And these two reasons don’t touch the best one – to eat them!

Bo and I with our trapped hog

I recently wrote a couple of lengthy emails in an effort to help some readers try to remove their feral swine, so I thought I would share my helpful hints here for everyone in 10 easy steps.

4. Spray Yourself Down: Before you set your trap, make sure and spray your boots and hands with NO Odor from Atsko. This will keep you from contaminating your set up with human odor or other things like gas, soap, etc. I know lots of trappers don’t worry about it, but I believe that by keeping your spot from being contaminated, you will be able to trap in that spot for longer before the hogs get too spooked to go in.

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Cypress Creek Hogs

It’s time to hog hunt!

Since deer season is over, greatly reducing the pressure on all of the forest’s animals, and winter has killed all of the natural foods in the woods, hunting for hogs during this time of year can be your best bet to take home some bacon! Some hunters choose to hunt them while others choose to trap them, but either way, late winter is often a great time to be in the woods in pursuit of feral swine.

I know we have been working hard over at Cypress Creek to get all of our properties ready for the guests we have booked starting next week, and the trailcam shows that  we have plenty of pigs waiting for them. Just check out the herd that showed up around 8pm the other day at just one of our stands. (sorry the time is off by two hours due to my incompetance

And due to the number of emails that I have received about hunting hogs, we are obviously not the only ones getting ready for them.  One hunter, Shane from Columbia, is looking to trap some of the hogs on his deer lease, and he sent me a great trailcam shot of a nice boar that he says is showing up every night along with about 5 others over on his Bamberg County lease… just check that mean sucker out!

Bamber County Boar

So, after putting together a bunch of info for others on hunting/trapping wild hogs, please make sure and check back because I am going to put all of it into one big post on how to best do both. However for now you can check the “hog trapping” category for quite a bit of hunting and trapping information.

And if any readers have any hog hunting trailcam pictures, kill shots, stories or all three, please email them on over to me… I would love to see them, and I am sure everyone else would to!

Jeff

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