As most of our lowcountry hunters know, the last few weeks have been unbelievably hot. And the high temperatures along with the ton of acorns in the woods has kept our rut from really cranking up since the bucks have been hiding in the shade while snacking on the oak droppings instead of coming to corn or food plots. However last Sunday a nice cold front finally rolled in, and that got the bucks and does up and moving pretty good.

And during this cool weather, I was fortunate enough to have a few days off to take our boys hunting a few times as well as hunt by myself too. Well, the boys and I drew first blood when we took a nice, big doe when five of them came out to feed. Then just a few days later, I had a chance at a monster…

It was pretty late, and I was just about to get out of my stand when I saw a dark shape cross the road in front of me. I jerked the gun up and spotted a big doe walking with another doe and two yearlings behind her about 100 yards away. None of them stopped to feed on the corn, but instead just kept going. So I kept the gun up and ready to see if anything was behind them, and sure enough a big deer stepped in the road after them. I could tell it was a giant deer with a big rack, I just couldn’t tell how many points that it had.

That is when I started to regret not taking a few shots before hunting to check where my  “new” bullets were hitting -  I had ran out of my Winchester Supreme FailSafes  that I have shot for years, so I had just grabbed a couple of old powerpoints from my hunting stuff to get by the night, thinking that I either wouldn’t see anything I wanted to shoot or if I did, it would be close enough not to matter! However,  the deer was just too big to let go, so I figured that the heavier powerpoints would hit lower, aimed high and let a round go down range.

After the muzzle blast in the dark, everything went black. I waited a second, then when I didn’t hear anything running through the woods, I picked the gun back up and looked down the scope to where the deer had been. Sure enough, he was still standing there! I couldn’t believe it, my dead deer was still just as alive as he could be. So I quickly and somewhat quitely opened the bolt on my old Model 70 Winchester 30-06 and chambered the only other round I had with me. I then put the crosshairs back on the deer, this time right at the top of his back, and let my second shot go…

At the blast, I could hear the deer running through the woods. Then a crash… I couldn’t believe it. I had got him! So I ran back to my truck, grabbed my flashlight and went to where he had been. Sure enough, blood was in the mud in the road. So I just took a few steps back into the pines and shined my light right on to him. That is when I realized that I had shot the biggest buck I had seen on my trailcam since I started setting up the little spot that I had been given permission to hunt… A beautiful mainframe 8 point with 4 inch long kickers – two off of his G2s and two off of his giant bases.

I then checked to see where my shot had hit, and found that it had just barely caught the bottom of his heart. After saying a quick prayer, I called Amy to let her know that I had gotten the big one and to keep the boys up until I could get home to show them. They were so proud of me for killing a giant buck; however there were also pretty peeved that they had not been allowed to go with me. But fortunately they forgave me when I promised to take them the next time

I have lots more stories to tell about this season, so I will try to get back to writing and share them with everyone. I also hope that everyone is having a great season too.

Jeff

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I must apologize for my extended absence, however life can get in the way of even our most important activities. And that is what has happened here. However I am writing today to bring everyone up to date on this site.

First I want to address my last post about our QDMA banquet since I haven’t written anything since then. Basically, everyone had a great time and the event went off pretty well- except for not having a full house. All of the volunteers did a great job of finding sponsors, planning the event, setting up and working it. But like I said, we definitely could have used some more supporters in the seats, and that really hurt our bottom line. However we had anticipated that due to three factors, we might not get the turnout that we were looking for.

The biggest was the state of the economy right now. I don’t think anyone is oblivious to all of the people out of work or the ones that aren’t working as much as they were, causing everyone to tighten their financial belts until things get better. The second factor was that our event was scheduled for the last weekend of the summer when a ton of people who would normally attend where out of town squeezing in some more family time before school started. And the third is that the NWTF Pocitaligo chapter does such an amazing job with their banquet in the Spring, and have done so for quite a few years. They are not only a tough act to follow, but in such a small community as ours, trying to do similar events is tough. There are just only so many people/sportsmen that will attend banquets and/or sponsor, so we are all pulling from the same pool. And in this tough economy in a small community on the last weekend of the summer, that created a tough situation that I am happy to report will be rectified with some of the new plans we have coming up for our branch!

So, like I said, we had a pretty good event; it was just a tough year to do it in. However we did break even, so no problems there. We also did what the Quality Deer Management Association wanted us to do, and that was to promote QDM and the QDMA while bringing more supporters on board our group – and we did both. We also spent over $7500 with local businesses (including Have Gun, Will Sell who supplied all of our firearms and the County Line who provided the dinners), hopefully helping them during this tough time. We also spent over $3000 with national QDMA sponsors. So all in all, not too bad during a tough time. And everyone with the QDMA Salkehatchie Branch wants to thank those that attended.

The only thing that did not work out for our banquet was our newspaper promoting QDM, our branch and our sponsors. We had decided to wait until after the banquet to put the paper out so that we could not only have more time to put out a nice publication, but to also make sure we had the funds to pay for it. And due to only breaking even on our event, we had to postpone the release of our paper because of that cost.

And I hate that we were not able to fulfill our commitment to our sponsors, so I take full responsibility for it. HOWEVER, I intend to make it right, and quickly at that. First I am still looking to publish a QDMA newspaper around late October, even if I have to cover some of the cost myself, when we have the most visiting hunters to read it. Second, I will be promoting all of our local sponsors in a very unique way, and it will be obvious very soon how I am going to do it.

Which brings me to the state of this blog… There are lots of new posts on the horizon and even more big changes coming! So I hope that everyone will understand about my absence (which I will also write more about) and continue to stay with me as I get back up and running. And as always, I want to truly thank those that have been loyal readers as well as the newer ones, both of whom I have run into in town asking when I was going to get back to the business of writing about the great hunting we have here in the lowcountry…

All I can say is check back on Monday!

Jeff

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With deer season just over 6 weeks away, our family is trying to enjoy what little of the summer we have left… so I apologize for not posting regularly lately. However in-between our summer trips and activities with the boys, I have been working hard on a bunch of new articles as well as a couple of new projects. I look forward to sharing all of them with you in just a few days, so please stay tuned..

Thanks, Jeff

PS: If you are looking for something to do, head over to SimplyOutdoors… Arthur has some great ideas, and one of them has to be near you!

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I hope that everyone is enjoying a beautiful day here in the lowcountry by celebrating Memorial Day. Because without the service and sacrifice of our veterans, none of our freedoms would be a reality! Thank You to all of those that have served our great nation.

Jeff

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I have been in Florida for the last few days working, so I apologize for not letting everyone know that I would be gone and not posting. However while I was on the road, I was able to get some reading done. And one of the articles in a magazine that I read really ticked me off, so I thought that I would share my letter to the author with everyone.

I don’t always write to those that enrage me with their stupidity, but I certainly try! I also hope that this may encourage others to do so… because remember, “the squeaky wheel gets the grease”.

Jeff

Dear Cameron Bishopp,

I recently received a complimentary copy of the Professional Photographers of America‘s magazine Professional Photographer with a special offer to rejoin the organization. Thank you; I had been meaning to do so for a while now. However after reading your article Publicizing Pets on your ”Good Works” page where you encouraged members to contact The Humane Society of The United States, I will not be doing so - since I refuse to be a part of any organization that promotes that extreme animal-rights organization.

You have made the same mistake that thousands of duped supporters have - you mistakenly believe that the HSUS is an pet adoption agency or that it supports local pet adoption agencies. It is NOT and it does NOT. Your local humane society shelter may do both, but the Humane Society of the United States is not affiliated with ANY local pet adoption agencies, nor does it support any. And if you are in doubt about any of this, just reference their website where, by their own admission, you will find the following quote on their “questions” page:

“By long-standing tradition, local humane societies remain independent entities, each with its own policies, governance, and priorities.”

Instead, the HSUS is an extreme animal rights organization that promotes animal welfare over people’s. And to prove it, just dig into their website where you will find that they advocate “reducing the consumption of meat and other animal-based foods; refining the diet by eating products only from animals who have been raised, transported, and slaughtered in a system of humane, sustainable agriculture that does not abuse the animals; and replacing meat and other animal-based foods in the diet with plant-based foods.”

In essence, the HSUS wants people not to eat any animal!

In addition, on the HSUS website, you will also find information and links to how the HSUS is now partnering with the Fund For Animals, another extreme animal rights organization: “The Fund joins forces with The Humane Society of the United States, creating a new Campaigns team focusing on the issues of factory farming, animal cruelty and fighting, sport hunting, and the fur trade; a new Animal Protection Litigation section fighting for animals in the courts; and the Humane Society Legislative Fund working to pass animal protection laws at the state and federal levels.”

Not one word about pet adoption or spay/neuter, just programs to elevate animals’ needs over a human’s.

And if you had bothered to check out the HSUS website, you would NOT have found any programs that they have that helps with the adoption of any cat or dog. You would have only found a link to PETS911, where that group helps people locate an animal shelter for the adoption of a pet. You would have also found lots of information on animal cruelty, a very broad term that includes hunting and farming, and current legislation to combat it, but nothing about pet adoption. And since that was the gist of the article on Judy Stimson’s work with her local animal shelter, I am not sure why you would even include the HSUS as a resource for pet adoptions. Instead you should have helped your readers make an informed decision on how to help pets in need of adoption by pointing out that they should ONLY contact their local agencies, and not the HSUS since they do not provide any of the services that you are advocating such as adoption and spay/neuter.

You wrote a great article on how one photographer is making a positive difference in the lives of hundreds of dogs and cats in her hometown of Tampa, FL. It is unfortunate that you then encouraged other photographers looking to help local pets to contact the HSUS since they are an extreme animal rights organization and not a pet adoption agency.

Sincerely,

Jeff Hunt

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We are in late October, the rut is on and we just had a cold front move in. The deer have definitely been moving, and we are finally seeing some big bucks chasing does. The cold air is also helping to push the hogs to the corn as well.

Tonight, on Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge’s Boggy Branch property, we had 9 hunters out, and four killed animals including a 160 pound 8 point and a 145 pound sow by bow. I will try to get some pictures up of our hunters’ successes tomorrow. However just to show you what all is over there, check out all of the new trailcam shots from the last couple of days on that Boggy tract.

This past week we also killed quite a few deer and hogs, and one hunter shot a monster on Pleasant Hill Plantation on Sunday. However I was off, and so no pictures of him until I can get a copy of some others that were taken. Check back tomorrow, and I will have a more complete review of the week’s hunting as well as some new trailcam shots from my camera over on Pleasant Hill.

Jeff

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Sorry for the slow posting week, folks. We are moving in to our new house this weekend, and things have been a little busy to say the least. I am trying to get a couple of hunting stories written and pre-posted so that everyone has a reason to drop by next week, but please note that I will not be back up to my usual 4 or 5 posts a week until the following Monday.

So until then, I sure hope that everyone gets a chance to hit the woods. However don’t overdo it. The lowcountry hunting season is in its transition phase right now, so the hunting is slow. But don’t panic; the big boys are eating late at night, getting ready for the rut and not showing themselves too much. My advice, get your work done, your stands out (if you haven’t already) and the food down, and keep the hunting pressure light. That will ensure that when primetime arrives about October 15th, you will be in good shape to kill a monster.

However if you aren’t looking for a monster, then this weekend should be a great time to kill any size deer. The weather has finally broken, and it is actually cool outside for a change with little or no bugs. Therefore I have decided that it is time for Bo to go on his first REAL hunt. We are headed to a small chunk that I have set up just for us to shoot something, and boy is he fired up! I look forward to telling everyone about it…

Have a great weekend!

Jeff

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Well, my friend and I didn’t kill anything on camera over the last two days, and he headed back home this morning with an empty cooler… the weather just did not cooperate. Monday afternoon we had to bail out of our metal tower stand about 7pm when a huge storm complete with lots of lightening came by. And a similar storm came by last night too; Fortunately, it just happened to hold off until after it got dark.

We saw lots of young deer and a few does, just no big bucks or hogs. However we had a great time in the lowcountry woods, and Will was just greatful to get out of town after enduring a week of rain from Tropical Storm Fay -he lives in Melbourne where they received over 25 inches from it!

However we did pick up a nice set of antlers off of a good buck that was hit just down the road from my house on Monday. (My wife not only was nice enough to call and tell us about the deer, but to stay with him to make sure no one else picked him up.) He was a beautiful 3.5 year old buck that had already shed his velvet as well as his summer coat. And a car must have just grazed him because he didn’t have any marks on him, just one dangling antler… That is Bo proudly showing the two sides off, and please note his “toy” gun. It is a Knight and Hale muzzleloader stock with a dowel for a barrel, topped by my dad’s old Redfield wideview 4x scope. I see a lot of toy guns at Walmart, but I have yet to see one like that!

As for the hunting this week, Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge has 5 hog hunters in for two days of hunting starting this afternoon and a film crew from Hunting the World… Southern Style trying to get a monster velvet buck. So hopefully I will have some new kill shots and a story or two tomorrow.

Jeff

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Like I talked about yesterday in my post on our QDMA REACH Banquet, we had a very nice time in Virginia while up shooting a cousin’s wedding. We also got to see lots of deer in the many parks right around our hotal in Yorktown including one monster that easily went over 140 inches in the Colonial National Historic Park.

Unfortunately, while there are many special draw hunts for the local parks, they do not allow any hunting in the national historical parks. And when I called the park to ask about how they manage their herd, I did not get much helpful information from them. As a matter of fact, the park rep that I spoke to was obviously horrified that I was even considering shooting one of the park pets.

And I know I said that I wouldn’t reveal the location, but I was just having some fun and Matt over at Bright Ideas out of Virginia seemed to be on to me anyway. Of course living and hunting in Virginia, he has all of the secrets about hunting the park lands and even posted about some of the drawings for special hunts the other day. If you are interested in some great Virginia hunting info and great writing, I would check his site out.

During our trip, I was also very impressed by some of the other deer that we saw at the local BassPro Shop that had come out of Virginia. They were having their yearly “hunting special” weekend, and we had time to kill, so we spent a few hours wandering around looking at all of the great stuff, beautiful mounts and booths that were manned by local groups such as the NWTF and Hunters for the Hungry. We even bought some raffle tickets for a gun drawing to support the NWTF in addition to a drawing for a hunt at the Southwark Hunt Club. They had some great pictures of bucks that they had taken on their club so I am hoping for a call to let Amy and I know that we have won their 5 day hunt.

While there, we also got a chance to speak with Bub Jackson from the Outdoor Channel who was doing a deer hunting seminar as part of BassPro’s special weekend, and he had quite a few monster Virginia bucks with him on display. Interestingly enough, he also had a beautiful buck in velvet in his collection that he had killed right here in the lowcountry at Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge. He obviously knows where to hunt for great bucks!

Stay tuned. Opening Day is Friday, and I will have exclusive coverage of some amazing hunts at one of the premier hunting lodges in the Southeast.

Jeff

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What a weekend! We made it back on Sunday from our trip to Virginia capturing a cousin’s beautiful wedding to learn that our QDMA REACH Banquet had gone off great. By all reports it was an amazing time and everyone that I have talked to all agreed that it was a total success. We gave away tons of great stuff and raised a great deal of money for the Quality Deer Management Association as well as recruited lots of new members. So, while I hated missing it, I could not be more pleased.

I want to send out a HUGE Thank you and job well done to all of the committee members that assisted with the planning, set up and running of the night. I also want to thank all of the other volunteers that showed up to help out as well as all of the supporters and donors that contributed to our cause. Without all of these wonderful individuals, our Salkehatchie Branch could not have put on such a successful event. So again, thank you to everyone!

As for our trip, only we could accidentally get a hotel room right by a national park that held a huge un-hunted deer population. I just wish we could have spent a few more days exploring it because, while the buck to doe ration was obviously off, it was loaded with monsters. We even saw one buck that easily went over 140 inches and possibly topped 150! I would tell you the name of the park except I believe that they may open it up to bow hunts soon and a hunter (ME) swore me to secrecy

And in case you have been living on the moon, opening day is just 2 days away now! I will have complete coverage of some fantastic hunts here on LowcountryHuning, so you definitely want to check in as I get back to full-time writing.

Jeff

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