My 2013 Deer Season In the Lowcountry of SC - Update - 1/4/2014

[WildmanSC]

This afternoon I drove about 45 minutes to my friends farm to deer hunt.  This was my first time in the woods for 2013.  I arrived about 2:45, found my hunt location by 2:55, placed my climber on the tree and then realized I left my safety harness at home!      :(                  

So, I stayed at near ground level for the hunt.  I had started sweating while setting up my treestand on the tree, so I took my hearing aids out and laid them on the climber seat.  Before I got ready to get in the stand, I put my hearing aids back in my ears.  As luck would have it, the battery in the left hearing aid died from excessive moisture.                          

I didn't have spare batteries, so I hunted with one functioning hearing aid.                   After setting about an hour and a half, I noticed a horizontal line about 22 yards away on the other side of a thicket directly in front of me.  The deer walked about 5 yards from right to left and turned directly toward me.  It then turned and walked another 4 or 5 yards and I couldn't see it anymore.  Although I never got a look at its head, it had a large body and for a Lowcountry SC deer I suspect it was a buck.

Then three more deer proceded to walk from right to left the other side of the thicket on the same trail the first deer travelled.  Then a deer off to my right blew and the four deer the other side of the thicket ran off deeper into the woods.  It was a great hunt, I saw four deer and heard a fifth blow at me!  I'll be going back up to the farm Saturday evening!

Bill

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Good Luck Bill, I am glad you made it out!

Keep after them Bill!

Good luck,

Bisch

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Good Luck Bill, I am glad you made it out!

[BDann]

Sounds like a good time, dead batteries and all!

[far rider]

[WildmanSC]

Living in the Lowcountry of SC, we are accustomed to a long warm season.  Even though our season opens August 15th each year, I always wait for a couple of hard frosts before going hunting.  Then I'm pretty confident the chiggers are out of the woods before I go in to hunt.

These are the first deer I've seen on the farm while hunting in four years.  I see lots of sign, including rub lines and scrape lines, but no deer sightings until last night.  Four years ago I did see a nice 8 pt buck on a morning hunt just after first light.  This feels like it's going to be a good year!

Bill

[Jayrod]

GO GET EM BILL!!

[WildmanSC]

I had a game camera out last year overlooking a logging road and a big scrape.  I didn't see any deer on my camera during the deer season, but I did pick up several does and a buck a couple of weeks after the season closed.

Bill

[Mudd]

Sic'em Bill!!

Thanks for sharing your hunt with us!

God bless,Mudd

[Gator1]

Good luck

[DEATHMASTER]

That first time you learn what you need and do not need for the hunt. Each year seems to be a learning  experience.

[WildmanSC]

I went back up to my friends farm to hunt this afternoon.  I arrived in the field around 2:30.  By the time I got to my hunting location and climbed up with my climber, it was 3:00.  

I was sweating like crazy by the time I got to my hunting area.  I had placed my hearing aids in my left shirt pocket before I left the truck and stuffed my face mask in the pocket on top of the hearing aids.

After I reached my hunting height I waited for about 20 minutes before taking my face mask out of my shirt pocket so I could quit sweating quite so heavily.  Unfortunately, when I pulled the mask out, one of the hearing aids came with it.  I didn't realize it had until I faintly heard something hit the mat on my platform.  I leaned forward and looked down and I could see the hearing aid laying on top of the leaves, PTL!!

I took the other aid out of my pocket and inserted it in my right ear.  At least I had one ear to hear with, at least I did for about 30 minutes when I heard in my right ear "battery".  Then a minute later I heard "beep" and complete silence.

I decided I could finish the hunt using my eyes to detect deer.  I had climbed a tree about 10 yards from the one I climbed Thursday afternoon and 10 yards closer to where I saw the four deer. I didn't see a thing until about 5:15.  Then I saw a nice doe, approximately 100 lbs, walk past the tree I had been in Thursday night and it proceded to walk from my right to left and was feeding on acorns in the thicket.

When it got to about 25 yards I lost sight of it.  So I blew a couple of soft doe bleats to see if I could get it to come back to me.  Soon, I detected movement and I could see the doe walking back the way it had come.  It was eating acorns and stopping and looking frequently for the "other doe".

It finally took a step and its head went behind a large oak tree.  I stood and got ready to take a shot, if the opportunity presented itself.  I came to full draw and when the doe's shoulder cleared the tree, I released the arrow.

Unfortunately, the doe dropped to turn and the arrow sailed over its back.   :(    I've seen 5 deer and gotten one shot hunting my friend's farm two evenings this year.  I'll be back up there next Thursday evening when we're supposed to have cool weather again.

I had a great hunt again tonight despite the bad luck.  I had squirrels all around me this afternoon in addition to the one doe I saw and shot opportunity I had.

Bill

[WildmanSC]

I'm leaving shortly to go to the farm to build a ground blind for a hunt Thursday afternoon/evening, when it will be cool, again.  I sweat too heavily using a climber.  I'm wet from head to foot by the time I get up a tree, cinch the two sections together and secure my safety harness to the tree.  

I may leave my hearing aids in the truck for future hunts.  The perspiration eats the batteries too quickly for them to be useful to me in a hunting situation.  All 5 deer I've seen thus far I never heard them walking, I picked them up visually.

Bill

[WildmanSC]

I got the ground blind built Monday.  While at the farm I also searched for and found the arrow I shot at the doe on Saturday evening.  I was surprised two of the three fletches stripped off of and laying alongside the arrow.  I was pleased to find that the Woodsman Elite broadhead resharpened quite easily.  

I'll be going tomorrow afternoon to hunt again.  While searching for the arrow I discovered several heavily used trails the deer are using to criscross the area where I'm hunting.  If the weather cooperates, it'll be deer down tomorrow evening!

Bill

[rwbowman]

Good luck Bill!

[WildmanSC]

I went to the farm to hunt yesterday afternoon.  It was a warm day, but I went anyway.  I saw a ton of squirrels, but no deer.

I'm going back up to the farm Monday and take my ladder stand and put it up.  I can comfortably climb higher with it than I can with my climber.  I get to about 11', at the platform with the treestand, I get to no more than 6' or 7' with the climber.  It's going to be a high of 53 on Monday, so it should be a great day to hunt!  

Bill

[WildmanSC]

I went hunting yesterday afternoon.  I didn't see anything, but I did hear deer walking behind me and a bit deeper in the woods.  I did have a deer blow at me around 5:15 off to my left and deeper into the woods.

I'm going out Friday afternoon to do some scouting to see if I can determine where they are walking/feeding.  If I can find a clearly defined trail, or other sign, I'll relocate my treestand deeper in the woods.  I've got a bit over a month of deer season left here in the Lowcountry of SC and I'll be out hunting if it's not raining, too warm, or a church night.

Bill

[WildmanSC]

I'll be going back to the woods tomorrow to hunt.  It should be a great day to hunt.  We had a hard hunt here last night and the farm is about 35 miles further inland, so I'm sure they had a good frost, too.

Bill

PS  Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

[WildmanSC]

I went up to my friend's farm yesterday afternoon to go hunting.  When I came around the curve to the first field on my left I saw 5 orange hats spaced along the far edge of the front half of the field.  Three trucks were parked close to the road at the entrance I normally use.

I drove on past the field, saw another orange hat entering the woods midway between the first field and the second field and when I came to the second field I saw 3 more orange hats spaced along it.  They were in the midst of a man drive.

I called my friend's son and asked if there was a man drive hunt in the two fields.  He told me "Yes, but they won't be able to drive the back half of the field so you can go on back and hunt your stand.

I turned around, drove to the first entrance and parked there.  I got my bow and all my gear and headed to the back of the field.  I was moving the stand deeper into the woods, so when I got to my stand I dropped off my gear and walked deeper into the woods looking for sign.  

I had gone about 40 yards when I heard some noise to mt right.  I stopped and looked and saw 3 deer dogs running with their noses to the ground.  They continued past me and looped back and headed back the direction from which they came but about 20 yards deeper into the woods.  

After they went out of sight I continued walking and found a lot of deer sign and a heavily used trail.  Then to my amazement a fourth deer dog went past me and looped back on the trail the first 3 dogs took.

I relocated my treestand to a tree 12 yards past the trail I found, secured it to the tree, tied my bow to my haul up rope, put on my safety harness, climbed up into the stand and secured the strap to the tree.  I screwed a bow hanger into the tree, pulled my bow up, took the quiver off the bow and hung it on the hook and turned around and sat down.

I "hunted" for about two and a half hours.  I didn't see any deer, but I did see a lot of squirrels and I had a red headed woodpecker pounding away on a dead tree about 8 years away and over my right shoulder.  The woodpecker drilled on that tree for at least an hour.

After all of the commotion of the man drive and the deer dogs, and me moving and erecting my ladder stand, I didn't expect to see any deer.  But I still had a great hunt and a great evening in the woods.

Bill