Hunting over Thanksgiving!

Fortunately I was able to take a few days off over the Thanksgiving Holidays to spend with the family, but also to get in a little Deer Hunting! I hunted Wednesday afternoon in Yemassee, and saw a doe. Then, I was able to take my soon to be Brother in law Charlie hunting Friday morning, but neither of us saw anything. This was Charlie's first deer hunt, and he did great with the exception of peeing right by the stand. Charlie, yes, that could perhaps be why you didn't see anything!! Rule #1: Relieve yourself at the truck, not at the stand!

Here I am with Charlie-after fishing in the Paddocks Pond on Thanksgiving Day

I got a call from my friend James Wedgeworth Saturday during the Clemson/Carolina game inviting me to join him for a hunt Saturday evening. Well you know I couldn't turn that down, so I headed up to Estill and sat for the evening. In spite of the dreary conditions, the rain let up about 4pm and we headed to the stand. Also hunting with us were James' son in law Drew Hunter, a med school student in Charleston, and his father, Mr. Hunter. I was sitting in one of my favorite stands at Trowbridge, the 14 acre Pea field stand. Here's a view from yesterday.

14 Acre Pea Field

About 5pm, 3 doe came out into the field, and since I was wanting another deer for the freezer, I was more than willing to shoot a doe. Well I focused on the largest one, shot, and the deer ran off into the woods, and the other two ran into the field. I shot at another, cleanly missing it. I then decided to shoot a third time, as the other doe was still standing in the field. I hit her cleanly and she ran about 15 yds in the woods and piled up. I was sure that I hit the largest one with my first shot at 165 yds, but could not find any sign of a wounded deer. in spite of 3 shots, I only came away with 1 doe! It was a young doe, and will be great for the freezer. James, I'll hold off on taking a chance with the young ones in the future, so as not to mistake a doe for a button buck-thanks for the tip about deer that run into the field after a shot!

This one will "eat good!"

Thanksgiving!

Well we hosted the entire family here on the island for the holidays! Jennifer's family came over from Beaufort, and my folks came down from Spartanburg for the weekend. Jennifer and I did most all of the cooking-the menu consisted of:

Fried Turkey

Smoked Turkey (Smoked by my father in law, Phil)

Oyster Dressing

Sweet Potato Casserole

Creamed Collards

Green Beans

Cranberry Sauce

Biscuits

We had a great time, and everyone enjoyed time with Anderson. We had one small issue-the disposal backed up early that morning and made things a bit interesting...but we got through it!

Frying the Turkey!!

Dream Hunt!

Okay, so here's the deal-I got a call the other day from my friend James Wedgeworth inviting me to join him for a hunt at Roebuck Plantation, the personal hunting retreat of Mr. Wise Batten. Wise is a respected landowner and timber farmer in the lowcountry. As a matter of fact, he owns the 1600 acres of property our hunting club leases! I have followed him through his website for years, but it wasn't until I met James that I had an opportunity to meet Wise and his son, Wise Jr. What is also interesting, is that I have followed http://www.lowcountryhunting.com/ for several years now, and a gentleman routinely mentioned on that website is Mike Casstevens, who happens to be Wise's plantation manager. It was great meeting Mike and after following him for years on LH.com, I felt like I knew him well, even though I met him for the first time Tuesday night!

There were about 8 folks that hunted Tuesday evening, and Wise provided a nice cookout afterwards around the fire-we had steaks, baked beans, hot bread, and Ice Cream for dessert! As for the hunting, I saw a couple of cowhorn bucks, James saw three does and shot a fox, although we couldn't find him. Brian Carmines of Hudson's Restaurant on Hilton Head had the hot stand, with 20 does and 6 bucks showing up in a food plot he was hunting! He said he had a 130 class buck he was getting ready to shoot when Mike drove in to pick him up from the stand! Out of everyone that hunted, only 1 doe was shot, but what a great time at Roebuck Plantation. I hope that one day I'll be asked back-Wise is a wonderful man, and James is a great friend to ask me to join him. I felt humbled at the opportunity to hunt with a great group of people on what is argueably the best hunting property around.

View from my stand...one lone young buck

Latest Hunting News

I've been sick all week with a horrible Sinus Infection and working late, so there's not much to report. I went to the farm yesterday to put out fresh corn for the deer and good thing I did, they had eaten every bit of corn I put out last weekend! I checked my camera and had 109 pictures at my new ground blind off of the powerline, and there are a few nice bucks in there. Unfortunately, all the pics were at night. I also had a few friends enjoy the corn as well, such as a fox squirrel and turkeys. It's raining today, so I'm going to lay around the house, Help out with Anderson, get over this infection, and watch some football. Clemson is winning big as I type, and I guess I'll force myself to watch the Carolina "lamecocks" play Florida, while keeping up with the Terriers playing at Samford. Here are a few pictures of the bucks I've got my eye on at my new stand.

Turkeys!

Nice Buck

Another Shooter

Hunting Blues

Well,

I went hunting this past weekend-Jennifer let me out of the house to go both Saturday and Sunday evening! However, I have nothing to show for it. I did not even see a deer, which is very unusual. I have a trail cam up at one stand and the deer are definitely moving, unfortunately at night! All the pictures were between 10 pm and 12am. However, with the full moon this week, they should be moving, probably more during the day, but you never know. Ii hope to get out there one afternoon this week, but we'll see how that turns out. If I do, I'll post the report online.

Until Then,

Brad

Brian and Kim come to visit

my good friend brian weatherby and his girlfriend Kim Edwards came to visit us last weekend. Brian is an orthopedic surgeon completing a fellowship in Foot and Ankle surgery in Houston, and was in town to interview at our hospital-but was able to spend the weekend with us. Brian and I got in a few deer hunts, and Kim and Jennifer took Anderson on a shopping trip-FYI, I think he is ready to go hunting with the boys!

Halloween!

Anderson was a Cowboy for Halloween-his great grandmother Mommie got him his outfit before he was born-it fit perfectly (except for the hat!), and he was dressed well for the neighborhood hayride! He was a little small to join the neighborhood kids on the hay trailer this year, but next year, watch out!

Everyone on Jonesville Road gets together each halloween and the kids ride on a trailer of hay and go from home to home trick or treating-We had about 25-30 kids, and they all came at once! It's a neat way to spend time with the neighbors and we enjoyed getting to know everyone on the street.