Do you own at least five acres in Barnwell, Allendale or Bamberg County that has a history of crop planting? If so, your property may be eligible for a cost-sharing program that will basically pay you to plant and maintain turkey habitat.

The following is a press release explaining the program:

The USDA Farm Service Agency is now offering the State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement (SAFE) Initiative under the Conservation Reserve Program to enhance high priority wildlife habitat in Allendale, Bamberg and Barnwell Counties. The SAFE Habitat Initiative will provide technical and financial assistance to install and maintain up to 2,300 acres of wildlife habitat. Habitat establishment will require planting a mix of three types of native warm season grasses along with two types of forbs while managing for natural vegetation diversity.

To enroll in the program, land must be located in Allendale, Bamberg or Barnwell counties, contain a minimum of five acres and have a history of crop planting. The program potentially pays rental rates, sign-up bonuses incentive payments and cost share. Contracts run between 10 and 15 years, and require active management including light discing, herbicide application and prescribed fire, all of which are eligible for cost share.

For more information on the SAFE program see the attached pdf or contact the Farm Service Agency or Natural Resources Conservation Service offices in the participating counties:

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Congratulations go out to my friend and fellow Salkehatchie QDMA board member Michael Greene who just returned from Montana where he killed a Merriam’s turkey to complete his grand slam.

Michael runs Greenefield Hunting Club as well as works for Morrison Forestry, and he sent these pictures of his trip out West. I hope to get the full story out of him soon in addition to some of his other grand slam kill pictures.

It looks like he and his buddy had a great trip, enjoyed some amazing scenery and killed a couple of fine birds. It also looks like they had some inclement weather to deal with!

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Well, it just didn’t happen for me. Our turkey season closed Thursday afternoon without me killing a big gobbler. I have signed up for some counseling, so I should be OK. However I am going to have a long wait until next season to make those darn birds pay. I still would love to hear how everyone else’s season went, so feel free to leave any stories or email any pictures.

As for the picture of the scantily clad girl with the huge rack, I thought that I would include that this morning for all of the googlers that are looking for “bowhunting bikini girls”. I made the mistake of using that term in a my post last week about the crazy searches that will land you at the Hunter’s Wife, and now it seems that Google has decided that I should get some of that traffic too!

And even funnier, and more disturbing, is the fact that I am now getting search engine traffic from swingers. Again, the post I wrote about also talked about how if you Google the swinger’s club down in Florida, called the Hunt Club of Brevard, you will be directed to this site. I assume that is because I am from there, and I have written about Florida hunting clubs.

Now, since Google has picked up on the fact that I mentioned “swingers” in one of my post, it has decided that I may be an authority on swinging in South Carolina as well. Therefore, if you search for “lowcountry swingers clubs”, you will be taken to this site. All I can say is, watch what you write about. And be even more careful about what you search for, especially if you are looking for a new Florida hunting club this season… Because if the swingers are ending up here, hunters are probably ending up there.

Hope everyone has a great Monday!

Jeff

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Well here we are… the last day of turkey season here in the lowcountry of South Carolina. And unbelievably, I still have not killed a big gobbler.

To say that it has been a tough season would be an understatement: quite a bit of rotten weather to make the hunting tough, lots of wedding work to keep me out of the woods and of course the Gobblinator. I guess that I could whine about it, but instead I think I will take comfort in the fact that I have been in this situation before and managed to shoot one with time running out.

I killed the thunderbird four years ago, and it was truly one of my greatest hunts ever. I can only say that every once in a great while, the stars align and everything in the hunt somehow goes perfectly. It so rarely happens that you can’t ever count on it, you just have to spend enough time in the woods for something like this to happen occasionally.

My wife stopped our Toyota corolla at the head of the dirt road leading to our 180 acre lease. Ahead lay two miles of muddy, torn up trail full of giant potholes that sometimes came close to claiming my Jeep Cherokee 4×4.
It was already 4:30pm, and the last day of turkey season was quickly coming to an end… without me having killed a turkey. I needed to get to my hunting area quickly, but the four wheel drive was out in the truck, so even attempting the drive in was out of the question. The only option left was to have my understanding wife drive me the mile and a half from our home to the road’s entrance and put me out with my Cannondale mountain bike. From there I would ride when I could, hike around the muddy craters when I couldn’t.

I unloaded my ultralight racing bike that I had converted into a hunting machine by adding an atv gun rack, and quickly assembled my gear. The sweat poured off of me in the South Carolina lowcountry’s May heat, but I was determined not to let my tag go to waste - No matter what it took!
I had already blown a chance with two big gobblers right at daylight near the back of the property by taking one too many steps towards them before deciding to set up. After that it was pretty quiet (if you discount the swarms of mosquitoes circling your head with their incessant buzzing) until 10am when I rode out, again on my bike, to shower and attend a small family reunion for a few hours.

Now I was back. I peddled to the far front corner and called loudly a couple of times. I figured that I needed a hot bird looking for some late season love to pull off this miracle, so why not give it all I had.
Nothing.
I didn’t even hesitate, I had already made up my mind that if one didn’t respond immediately, I was headed to the very back of the property. To the exact spot that I had squandered a sure thing this morning.
The mud was flying off of my knobby tires all over my back as I tore down the old logging road the split the property; I had to hurry since, not only was time running out, but the sky turning black with impending rain and the lightning was getting closer along with its booming thunder.
At the far end, about two hundred yards from the line, I ditched my bright yellow two-wheeler and grabbed my gun. While walking towards the corner, I pulled out my MAD high-frequency diaphragm, said a small turkey hunters prayer (you know the one, where you promise anything, just to hear that gobble), threw it into my mouth and prepared to call once I got into position.
My plan was to stalk up near the line so that I could glass the neighbors fallow fields for a strutting bird before calling. I always like to be able to see a bird I am calling to if at all possible; that way you can watch his reaction and adjust your tone or cadence accordingly as well as move to intercept them if they don’t come right in. I also hoped to possibly hear one sound off to the now startlingly loud claps of thunder.
I eased up to about 50 yards from the line, glassed the grown over field ahead of me and strained my ears after each burst.

There it was! A gobble… about 350 yards away, just off to my right but far enough down the road and out into the tall weeds so that I couldn’t see him.
My heart almost leaped out of my chest. It was all coming together perfectly. I had located a bird without even calling and that eliminated the possibly of getting busted while trying to set up closer. I was mapping out the rest of my plan when another, closer burst of thunder made him gobble again. Then again! I knew he must be fired up already, so I gave him what he wanted. I sent a string of moderately loud yelps his way followed by a quick cut.
Grrrobbb-grrrooobbble he fired back. I called again, this time with even more passion. Another double gobble. If this bird was any hotter, he would burn up I told myself as I dashed forward towards the other line that lay about 100 yards ahead. A little over half way there I called again. Grrroooble. This time he was definitely moving closer.
I unhooked my Bucklick creek vest and plopped down against a small pine 35 yards from the line, where I could see out into this grown up field and hopefully watch my bird’s progress. And what I really needed him to do was take a few extra steps beyond the field on to our side, and into the range of my old Winchester 1400 12 gauge.
And it sounded like he just might do that since he was really coming now. I knew because he was gobbling almost incessantly at the cracking thunder, giving his exact path away and keeping me from getting impatient and over-calling.
I just sat there in total amazement, drunk off of the sounds of this gobbling gift, waiting to unwrap him with some #4 heavy shot while he closed the distance. Finally I could see his tail feathers over the weeds. He was strutting down the road about 125 yards out. He was coming, but not as fast as the rain drops were starting to fall.
I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to do something if he was going to make it to me before the bottom fell out and ruined my hunt. I called one last time, pleading with him and surely making all kinds of dirty promises in turkey lingo.
He hammered back, but continued his crawl my way. I just knew the rain wasn’t going to hold off long enough. But then, there he was, 40 yards out into the field, but still technically 75 yards from the barrel. I tightened my grip, eased the safety off and waited while he just basically stood there, strutting back and forth.
There was nothing I could do. So I waited, and waited. Finally, after what seemed like an hour but in reality was probably only another 10 minutes, he started to slowly strut my way. A step here, another step there. I was getting nauseous just watching him.
He eased up to the edge of the field and peered deep into the woods for his lover. I was afraid to even blink. My red-headed savior was now just feet from the line and a mere 8 yards out of range.
Gooobbblle, he hollered into my face, still burning holes into the brush with those beady eyes. I held fast, knowing one small mistake would cost me everything.
He dropped out of strut, took a few more steps while cautiously scanning his surroundings, then caught a face full of tungstonalloy, knocking him right down.
I was up instantly, gliding over the humps in the planted pine rows towards my trophy. I was in total disbelief as I snatched him up and tried to admire his 11 inch beard and 1 inch spurs. But I couldn’t. The heat and excitement had gotten to me, and I crumpled to the ground on the verge of a heat stoke. I just sat there in a total daze while memories of so many hunts on the tract flashed through my mind. One of the most important ones was just to listen to the turkeys with my dad.

Just then the rain started coming down heavy and that helped me cool off enough that I regained my thoughts, packed up my bird and started peddling back to the highway. Once there I rode right down 321 with my bird bird sticking out of my vest and my gun on my handlebars. I just couldn’t wait to show my wife. She was as happy as I was and couldn’t believe that I had managed to kill a turkey on the last afternoon of the season. She grabbed the camera and we took some pictures before the sun disappeared. One of the shots was of me walking my bike down the old oak avenue by our hose. It is one of my alltime favorites and it now hangs in our den. On the opposite end of the house hangs the Thunderbird.

What an incredible hunt. Let’s see if I can do it again!

Jeff

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Just when I thought my season couldn’t get any worse, the Gobblinator shows up to prove me wrong.

It was last Thursday, and I had decided to sleep in after working late on some pictures and then hit the woods midday. I had run into a couple of big gobblers right near the gate, but usually later in the day, so that was my plan. I got to my spot at noon and quietly set up on the edge of a burn right by the property line. This was also the same spot that I passed on a jake a week earlier while trying to get a loudmouth older one to come in, so I knew if I just sat tight, a bird would show up eventually.

I did a series of soft yelps every twenty minutes or so, and waited. And waited. I had been there about 2 hours and was just about to run through another set of calls when I noticed a red head bobbing along about 70 yards out in the burn to my left. I eased my Winchester 1400 up and tried to figure out what my bird was going to do. I could see that he was looking for me, however he was going to pass on by since he couldn’t see my decoys in the fire break due to a row of brush. I quickly picked out two openings through the row of brush as well as through the planted pines out in the burn and got ready. He was at 30 yards when I let off a load of #6 heavyshot as he hit the second opening.

He immediately went down, but I knew better than to count on it. And sure enough, we both got up to run about the same time. I could see that he was going to try and sprint by me, so I took a few steps, jerked the gun up just as he took off and tried to get my barrel out in front of him. However I only managed to find his back as I pulled the trigger on my 35 year old gun. The shot knocked him out of the sky, but he was up and running again as soon as he hit the ground. He was now heading towards the corner of the burn right where it gets thick, so I started running parallel to him in an effort to head him off. When I was about 30 yards from the corner I slammed on the breaks, shouldered my gun and got ready for my last chance to remove the gobblinator from the flock.

As soon as he hit the road, he turned and tried to take off again, however my third and last shot knocked him back out of the air. The big gobbler rolled and flopped around for 2 seconds, just long enough for me to make it within 5 yards, when the old bird regained his composure and started up the road at a good but wobbly trot. I threw my empty gun down in one last ditch effort to catch him, turned on the afterburners (at least that is what I needed in my Rocky snake boots), and stayed close for about 100 yards. But then I started to lose ground as he continued to pick up speed. However since I just knew he was going to run out of gas at any moment and drop dead, I kept running so that I didn’t lose sight of him before he did.

However he never ran out of gas. I did! I finally pulled up at about the 200 yards mark and just stood in complete disbelief as the toughest longbeard I had ever seen did his best Carl Lewis impersenation. He never left the logging road, and I could still see him hauling ass at about the 400 yard mark when he finally rounded a curve to disappear!

Still in complete disbelief about what just happened, I backtracked to my gun, then retrieved my vest that had two more shells in it and followed up my turkey’s trail. I looked and looked, but to no avail… My season-saving limbhanger, the Gobblinator, was gone.

I hate to even tell this story since, while entertaining, is so at my and the turkey’s expense. I hate looking like a kook, and I hate even more that I lost an injured bird. However both things occasionally happen in life. Fortunately, looking like a kook happens much more than losing a turkey. As a matter of fact, until this one, I had never lost one that I hit. Sure, I have missed one or two, but I had never knocked one down and not been able to get another shot or my hands on him before he escaped. In retrospect, I should have clucked hard one time as he hit the opening to make him pick his head up more. Then I would have had more pellets hit him in the kill zone. Instead, with him walking with his head kind of tucked in, he took a lot of it in the upper shoulder/wing. I also may have to break down and buy one of those 3.5 inch mags along with a scope since I believe more power and a better aiming device could have helped even with his head tucked in. And a gun that holds FIVE shells would have allowed me to hit him one more time as he flopped around that last time. As usual, there are always lessons to be learned in the outdoors.

So, where does that leave me? At the second to last day of the season without a turkey! I am finishing this post and then I hitting the woods for the day to try and remedy that. I was hoping to give it hell yesterday, but bad weather and work projects put an end to that. I also had to stay close to my rat terrier who became deathly ill on Saturday and required an emergency room visit on Sunday as well as an overnight stay for observation. It turned out to be a intestinal virus that mimicked parvo symptoms. But $200 later he is doing much better.

However while my dog had made it, my toyota’s AC didn’t. I was on the way to pick him up from the vet Monday afternoon when smoke started pouring from under the hood - it had seized up. The mechanic down the street from the vet said that it would be $800! And since I had to replace it a few years ago and it was exactly $800, I definitely believe him.

So my bad luck just keeps on coming. First I was having a tough time finding time to hunt with our busy spring workload, then I hit the neighbor’s cat, followed by the deer. Next my wife and kids left me home alone for a month to care for the dog, who immediately got deathly ill and cost me $200 dollars. Now the AC goes out too! I just can’t seem to catch a break.

But what can I do? Sit here and ramble on, or suck it up and hit the woods in an effort to salvage my season and my credibility. Luckily I know from past experiences that I can sometimes do amazing things when I have to, like kill a turkey on the last day of the season. And since I started turkey hunting 10 years ago, I have only gotten to the end of a season twice without my bird.

One of those two times I managed to come through at the very last moment. That is my next post!

Jeff

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I wanted to congratulate my friend David on the killing of his great gobbler this past Friday morning. It was only his third bird ever and to say that he was thrilled would probably be an understatement. And what made the giant limbhanger even more memorable is the fact that we heard him most mornings and David had even come close to killing him once before… however I will let his words tell the short story.

got a limb hanger today in South Carolina..0650am, had two others gobbling with him..Thank You Lord..
This is my 3rd bird and first in SC..
11.5 beard
1 3/8 spurs. this is my biggest bird
whew I have been chasing this one for three weeks, had a disinct triple gooble. Had him at 70 yds last weekend and a hen flew down and stole him away..

I borrowed the picture and his blurb from his post on the GON forum that the Georgia Outdoor Network magazine hosts. David is in one of their gobbler hunting team contests, and that was his entry.

I love the GON magazine, and can’t believe SC doesn’t have one like it (YET!), and the forum is one of the best local ones that I have seen. If you hunt anywhere in the South, you should really check it out. You can find lots of hunting talk, available leases, club openings, custom turkey calls, etc. Again, a great place for southern hunters to gather.

Please note that I also had a run in with a big bird, however mine didn’t turn out so well. You will have to let me finish the big project that I have to deliver today, then I will tell the WHOLE story… See you soon.

Jeff

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I must apologize to TheHuntersWife, since I am really borrowing her idea about highlighting how certain google searches send people to her site. She calls them “goofy googlers“, and it is always funny what unanticipated search terms will direct readers to her. For instance, if you type in “bikini bowhunter”, her site will come up #4 on Google. However she doesn’t bow hunt, and to my knowledge has never shown the net a picture of herself in a bikini. So you get the idea…

Well lately, I noticed that I had started receiving a few hits from readers looking for “the hunt club of Melbourne, FL”. I just thought they were looking for one of the Mormon tracts down there, and since I am from there and write about their hunting occasionally, I figured it was great to be getting search traffic for hunting in Melbourne. However I was wrong, very wrong. I see that in  yesterday’s Florida Today, the paper that covers Melbourne, that it is a swingers club! I guess the neighbors are tired of their parties and/or the the things that go on there and want them out. You can check out their website here to see if its something you would be interested in; It sounds like the craziest hunt club you can imagine!

The other interesting google searcher was looking for “turkey hunting didn’t see or hear anything”. What the hell? I haven’t had a bad enough season already, but now Google has decided that I am the most relevant site to searchers looking for fellow hunters that “haven’t seen or heard anything” while turkey hunting… Now I know life is kicking my ass! I gotta go kill a bird.

And that is where I am at this morning, so check back later for some more updates on my “turkey hunting didn’t see or hear anything”.

Jeff

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Twenty five mobility-impaired turkey hunters will have a unique opportunity to hunt the 198,000 acre SRS site on April 19th through the NWTF’s Wheelin’ Sportsmen organization. Hunters will be paired up with Savannah River Site employees that are familiar with the giant tract to try their hand at harvesting a trophy lowcountry longbeard. There will be a registration on April 18th along with a safety briefing and time to scout the property; an appreciation dinner will follow that night.

For more information on the SRS Turkey Hunt or about the Wheelin’ Sportsmen program, contact Illana Burkhart, Wheelin’ Sportsmen NWTF assistant national coordinator at (803) 637-3106.

You can also check out the full press release on the NWTF’s website for more information on this great hunting opportunity.

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I managed to hunt several times this weekend, however I am still birdless. I went with two friends Saturday morning (team approach), and we were able to get VERY close to a roosted gobbler. Unfortunately we pushed a little too much and bumped him. We then moved a few times trying to get another one fired up, but without any luck. By 9am the wind had picked up to 30mph, so we left the woods pretty early.

The big storm that was being pushed by the high winds then rolled in around midday and dropped a couple of inches of rain, so I thought the weekend was going to be a bust. But it passed on by pretty quickly and the wind died, so with my wife’s encouragement, I hit the woods again about 4pm. We both agreed that the birds would be hitting the fields to dry off…

It was perfect conditions for an afternoon hunt, so I was pretty excited as I pulled through the gate at Jericho. Unfortunately, I immediately realized that I should have gotten in the woods as soon as the rain stopped, and not an hour later, because the birds were already out! There were two gobblers standing right past the gate, and they ran off as soon as the spotted the car.

I decided against trying to get around them, and instead just went further in to the property to set up for a couple of hours. However nothing came in, EXCEPT the mosquitoes! My thermocell would not stay lit (heavy use and abuse had taken its toll), so the bugs just had a field day with me. I toughed it out until near dark, but then went right to my friends store for some gas and a new thermocell.

I was then back up and running by 6am on Sunday morning so that I could meet a friend at Jericho by 6:45. We hiked around for a while as the sun came up, waiting and listening for any birds sounding off on the roost. It took a while for some reason for the gobblers to get cranked up, but sure enough they did about 7:30.

Out of the couple of birds we could hear, one was within striking range. So we kicked it in to gear and headed towards him. He gobbled every couple of minutes without any calling or locating, so we just kept moving in. We managed to take a road around him that brought us within about 100 yards or so of his tree, and that is where we set up. Unfortunately, I believe we got a little too close, and bumped him as well. However we had decided to give it an hour just to make sure he didn’t sneak in quietly, so we just called lightly and listened to the woods to see what the other birds were doing. Sure enough we could hear a couple of other birds about 300 yards away going nuts. One bird must have gobbled 50 times or more, often firing back a triple gobble when the bird near him did his half gobble!

Maybe we should have picked up and moved on them, but we didn’t. For one, we were in a good spot for the first bird who may have been coming in silently. And two, the loudmouth birds answered my calling several times, so I thought them may jog on over to see what was going on where we were. But no such thing happened….

We finally gathered our decoys up around 9:30 and headed off to another good burn for a mid morning set up. There we spent about an hour calling lightly, hoping for a lonely bird to wander over, but again no such luck. And by noon the wind had picked back up to around 25mph, so we called it a day. I then headed home for an afternoon with the kids in the yard.

I am taking today off to finish some more of the work I have stockpiled, however I will be hitting the woods bright and early tomorrow morning again. So check back - One of these days a bird is going to be modeling for my camera and this sight!!!

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You would be wrong if you thought that since you haven’t seen any new posts that I have been too busy hunting. I haven’t even seen the woods except out of my home office’s window.

Between working out of town the last few weekends and then trying to get all of my jobs in the mail to the anxiously awaiting brides, I have fallen WAY behind. And for some reason, my brides probably don’t think that turkey hunting is a legitimate reason for not having their very important pictures in their hands ASAP…

Don’t get me wrong, I will never complain about having consistent jobs to bring in the money for my family. However it is really putting a damper on this season’s turkey hunting as well as my spirit… I NEED to be in the woods!

The azaleas are blooming, the wisteria is going crazy and the woods are alive with the smells and sounds of Spring - the most important of which is the mating call of the mighty longbeard. I just don’t feel whole when I have to go extended periods without enjoying that beauty, and I certainly don’t look like the master hunter without a nice harvested bird on my blog.

However I am working hard today to change all of that by getting caught up. I am going to get a couple of jobs out today, and then I am going to take a break for the weekend to put some time in out in the turkey woods. And if I finish in time, I may even try to break out this afternoon for a late hunt.

I would like to thank everyone for not abandoning me during this busy time as well as Kristine, Kris and Adam for stopping by to leave some comments of encouragement. I also had two hunting stories left by a reader, Skwerl, and Blessed over at A Blessed Crazy Life. I have included both of them below… Thanks again and please continue to leave me some turkey hunting stories!

Blessed’s story: Spring turkey season seems to be tough! Our season isn’t in yet but a few years ago my husband and I took the first three days of season off to turkey hunt - first day it was beautiful, we hunted, we set the tent up and then we fished in the afternoon (we have to stop turkey hunting at 1 PM here) that night we slept good, got out the next morning and it started storming and it stormed until the afternoon of the third day - we hunted in the rain but didn’t see anything, the rain had changed the pattern the turkey’s had been keeping. Fortunately we have a good backpacking tent - it isn’t very big but it did keep our stuff dry!

Skwerl’s story: Went Thursday the 4th in Santee section of WMA. Stopped raining about 7:15 no gobbles. Started raining about 8:30 or so. Went riding got over to Wambaw and saw some tracks in a wet road, must have run them off driving up. Went back next AM (friday) saw 2 and missed one at 35 yards .2nd missed bird in 25 years, boy was I sick over that. Went back the next AM (sat) someone beat me there. Sat somewhere else heard the gobbler putt and fly off .. he saw me i guess. Went to the spot I wanted to sit at first , feathers everywhere !! Found out the guy got there a 2 AM to hold the spot.

OK rest of the story.. went to a little place up near Cross SC Sunday AM before daylight, we had already killed 2 nice birds off this hill… one the 2nd Saturday and one last Wednesday. Got set up and at first light one gobbled twice in the tree and 4 times on the ground….it started raining hens , they all went to him and left town..Arrg ! OK went back yesterday ..sat down, at light he flew down out of a tree 50 ft from me, lit 50 yards away & strutted out of sight to my right. 20 minutes later gobbled twice, the hens flew down, walked off and left him there alone.

OK , the hens left him. 15 minutes later I saw him still struttin come over from the right to about 50 yds in front of me in some sand , draggin wings all blown up goin round an round it was a great show !!after missin friday no long shots for me . kept cluckin and soft yelpin and prayin please walk down here. After 15 minutes of this he strutted within 20 steps, went behind 3 pines between us ,came out and POW!! Boy was I relieved. I was dern near exhausted. 5 days saw plenty of birds, missed one and finally got one. Back to work tomorrow.

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