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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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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Have you been dying to eat some gator tail or to make yourself some gator-skin boots? Now is your chance!

This year South Carolina will have its first alligator season since they were removed from the endangered species list. Applications are now being accepted through the SCDNR’s website, and it is $10 to get on the list. If you are drawn, the tag itself will cost $100. You can also find out all about the new season as well as the methods allowed here.

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We took the day off yesterday to have a little fun fishing with the boys at the Webb Center here in Garnett. It’s just too bad that you can’t eat fun, because we sure didn’t catch any fish!

However that wasn’t really the point. The objective of the day was to get outside, hike around the woods and enjoy the beautiful lowcountry. And what self-respecting fish would come to Bo’s pole when he is stomping on the dock, throwing sticks in the water by his bobber and yelling with excitement every time a ripple moved it like a biting fish would? But the boys had a great time running back and forth on the dock while pointing out all of the birds flying around. Bo also wanted to take a few pictures with my “special” camera, and that is his image of Bluff Lake below.

When they finally ran out of energy, we loaded up the van and cruised some of Webb’s back roads checking out all of it’s beauty. The neat looking old oak stump with the amazing flowers growing out of it was just one of the many of the sights you can encounter on the 26,000 acres that makes up Webb, Palachucola and Hamilton Ridge.

We then headed home to spend the rest of the day in the yard picking up sticks and burning them in our fire pit - truly a redneck’s favorite past time!

We are having our QDMA’s deer management workshop tomorrow at Webb, so I will have a full recap of the educational event on Monday. I will also get back to work on some of the other promised posts by then as well. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Jeff

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I have not finished some of the other posts I have promised, and we are headed out the door for some family fishing right now. So instead of some deer management or hog trapping articles, you get a couple of shots of trapped beavers provided by Gillian Casstevens. I don’t know the guy in the second picture with his beaver, but the first shot is of Jack Belles.

Jack is one of the most knowledgeable outdoorsmen in our area, and he traps beavers for many local landowners who have problems with the buck toothed critters chewing up their valuable timber. Jack also ran the tri-county sportsman’s lodge for many years and has probably killed more big bucks in the lowcountry than anyone. In addition, Jack is well known for his turkey hunting skills and was even mentioned by Ronnie “Cuz” Strickland in his book on turkey hunting published by Mossy Oak titled THE TRUTH about turkey hunting according to “Cuz”.

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This morning’s post is more of Gillian’s great big buck photographs along with examples of how to manage for deer like those pictured. Also included in these shots is some behavior that many hunters will NEVER see - a whitetail buck breeding a doe.

Let me just say that the most important part of growing big bucks is passing up young bucks! However once you have gotten control over your trigger finger, the next thing you need is to keep those deer on your property as much as possible so that they can grow healthy and old. To do this, you must provide the right habitat so that they have everything that they need on your land and never want to leave (or at least less often).

The two most important pieces of habitat is a good deal of thick cover for deer to bed in along with a lot of food for them to eat. However the one mistake that I often see that keeps deer from fully utilizing all of the food that the property manager has provided is not putting the food where older, wiser big bucks will feel comfortable eating. A lot of food plots that I see are planted along the edge of a big fields where it is easy to plant and easy to hunt. That is fine for killing some deer, but it will not work that well for those big boys.

For those, hunters are far better off if they spend a little extra time and effort to put those plots deep in the woods, preferably right next to the thick cover where big bucks like to hang out. Check out Gillian’s pictures of some of their food plots. Those nice green strips run down through the thick pines and clear cuts where big bucks bed. They are also long and narrow, not big and open. This allows big bucks to feed VERY close to thick cover, making them feel safer to come out to eat.

I understand that it is tough to put these types of plots in, so you must work with any areas that are conducive to it. That probably means planting fire breaks and reclaiming logging decks. You can see the pile of timber leftover from a cutting being burned in order to clear the area to be planted. Not only does the fire clear the brush piles, it also helps fix the soil with some much needed nutrients from the ash. You will still want to fertilize your new plot, however this should reduce the amount needed. Please note that it will not reduce the amount of lime that should be applied, and only a soil test will be able to accurately detail the exact amounts of each that will be required to bring the soil up to optimum condition.

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In this morning’s post are all lowcountry big buck photographs taken by Mike Cassteven’s wife, Gillian. As I have told you before, Mike ran Pleasant Hill Plantation for many years, and probably has forgotten more about managing for giant deer than most hunters will ever learn. He now works for Wise Battan, helping him manage some of the best tracts of big buck landscape anywhere in the country, and they really know how to implement a quality deer management program that is second to none.

That is Mike in the first picture with a monster velvet buck… just check out that deer’s neck; they just don’t get that fat that early in the season unless it is at least 4.5 years old or older!

And I’m not sure who the second hunter is (except that he is one of Mike’s friends), but I sure know what he is… out $500 bucks for a mount of his fantastic deer! Again, look at the giant neck on him, his old face and those long main beams. Truly a fantastic lowcountry buck.

The third picture is of a really nice buck that Gillian took off of one of Mike’s stands. Check out the great spread on him along with his sweeping main beams. Another awesome buck that most lowcountry hunters would have a hard time passing up!

And do you know what happens when your quality deer management plan starts producing a balanced age structure and bucks like these - you find monster rubs. Look at that oak that Mike is standing by… it is literally torn to shreds. And Mike said that these are all over the properties they manage; he even said that he has one rub line that goes on for over 1 mile!

You definitely won’t find that on your property if you are shooting all of your young bucks before they can put some serious age on. And you probably won’t find it on your property if you are not working closely with your neighbors since most hunters do not control enough land to get this type of result without some serious cooperation!

Mike is a board member on our Quality Deer Management Association’s Salkehatchie Branch, and he will be the first to tell you that producing big bucks is all about cooperation - Cooperation among land owners and hunters in their management plan to achieve a good buck to doe ratio within a herd that is under the carrying capacity of the land. He will also tell you that you can find lots of information about how to achieve this at the Quality Deer Managment Association’s website.

Stay Tuned! Tomorrow I will have more of Gillian’s great photographs along with the management practices required to grow unbelievable bucks like these. And later this week I will get in to the hunting techniques that best enable hunters to harvest those bucks.

Also, don’t forget to check out the previous post I did of Gillian’s big buck photos if you haven’t already… Just click on the link to go right to it. You can also click any of the other hot links to go directly to any of the other websites that I have mentioned.

Jeff

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This is going to be a great week of posts featuring some amazing photographs of our our lowcountry’s spectacular outdoor scenes.

Mike Cassteven’s wife, Gillian, has been kind enough to send me a huge batch of unbelievable photos including some great shots of hogs feeding, deer mating, food plots growing and deer management practices being implemented. If you remember, I posted a few of her big buck pictures two weeks ago, and I can’t wait to share more of her work with you.

However this morning, I am going to highlight Mike’s daughter, Faith, and her wonderful pictures of a brand new fawn. I will let her Bonus Mom tell the story…

Jeff,

Here are a few pictures Mike’s 13-year old, Faith, took the other evening while out on a ride with her Daddy. Mike and Faith love to take rides together and she loves animals. She has learned so much from her father and growing up in the country, Pleasant Hill. Mike’s deer hunting buddies joke that Faith was “raised by wolves” because she is the female version of the Jungle Boy. Much like her father, she has no fears and probably could tell a few tales of her own in the woods of the lowcountry.

Mike said this fawn was probably born the day the saw it and Faith was quick to point out it will be a buck. Makes you wonder if he’ll make it that long…..whose wall he may end up being a trophy on….and whose “deer tale” he will make. You know what I’m hoping for!

Anyway, spring has definitely sprung in the lowcountry!

Enjoy!

Gillian

Thanks Faith for allowing us to see your beautiful photographs. You are a true inspiration to young outdoorsmen and women everywhere.

And to everyone else, make sure to stay tuned all week for Gillian’s amazing lowcountry photos.

Jeff

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Check out these unbelievable lowcountry big buck photos that my friend’s wife took this past season. Her name is Gillian, and she is married to Mike Casstevens; he ran Pleasant Hill Plantation for many years and helped grow some of the biggest bucks South Carolina has ever seen. Mike now works for Wise Batten, Inc and helps manage the many properties that they are responsible for. And let me tell you, they are some serious practitioners of quality deer management, and shots like these show their success in helping their clients produce great deer.

Along with the pictures, Gillian also sent along the following short story about them…

Thanks for the compliments! I have to admit that I am not really comfortable in the “outdoors” like Mike and I was a nervous wreck taking those shots. Mike left me in the middle of nowhere in the stand and made me promise not to make any noise. Within 15 minutes the deer started arriving. I actually have several porno shots of the full “rut”……the experience was awesome and I caught the deer fever through the camera, not a gun. Anyway, I have tons more I would love to share with you that I think are great.

I don’t mind you posting them on your website at all….I am most proud of them and think they are an awesome glimpse of our SC wilderness. As for where they were taken, I am sure Mike would be protective of his honey hole! Give him a call to discuss…..

Well, I don’t need to discuss it with him since I am positive that he wouldn’t want his secret spot given away. Needless to say, it is somewhere here in the lowcountry! And I am working on getting some of her other photos up… like she says, she has some shots of the full “rut”, and by that she means them actually breeding! How many of you guys have ever seen that here in the lowcountry? Well, you will as soon as I can get part II up.

Gillian proves that you don’t need a gun to enjoy the outdoors and that there is a lot more to “hunting” than just killing. Thanks again Gillian for sending those!

Jeff

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I should have let everyone know that I would be in Florida for a few days and would not be posting until today… Well, anyway, I am back so I thought I would finally put up a few of the shots I took a two weeks ago during a quail hunt over at Pine Acres Plantation.

Pine Acres is owned by the Copeland family (that is Brady Copeland with his dog in the Mule), and they also provide hunts for the Buckmasters American Deer Foundation that I talked about in my last post.

And don’t forget, QDMA’s Quality Whitetial TV will be airing an episode tomorrow night showcasing the 2007 National youth hunt. It will be on the Outdoor Channel at 8:30pm - You don’t want to miss it!

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