After many months of discussing, scheduling, and planning I finally was able to schedule a hunt with my brother (Dondi) he loves hunting crows, and I have from time to time called them in with a mouth call. But Dondi is hard core for crows. Electronic calls, decoys, the whole works. We were finally able to get together and spend a day chasing these crows.
We had three good stands and set the caller out in a semi-open area, hiding among the trees we turned on the caller and got ready. It was not an onslaught as I pictured, but it was steady shooting, these crows come to the call like ducks, coming in circling and presenting shots, the biggest issue we faced is that neither of us can shoot worth a dang. We missed many more than we got, but it was a lot of fun.
On one setup, we stoop among some planted pines and the turned on a "come here" call. The caller blared out for a few minutes and the crows started coming in one at a time, every minute or so another crow would appear. On one ocassion, I spotted one coming from the right, drifting in very slow, Dondi was on my right, and I did not see him throw up his gun, we fired at the crow at almost the identical time and we both nailed him. There was no doubt about it, he was dead instantly, getting hit with two loads of 7 1/2's at the same time.
All in all we got 4 crows, not a big shoot, but still a lot of fun. I would really recommend it, if you have access to crows, it is worth the effort to pursue them. While the electroic calls are nice, a good mouth call is all that is needed to get some to commit to shotgun range.
Well the day finally arrived and I took my middle child, Ruth on her first hunt last Friday. We had planned this day for weeks and the weather was great, it was chilly and Ruth got a little cold, but we had a great time together. We left just before sun up and went to north Greenville county to some WMA land and did some squirrel hunting, she carried along her older brother's .410 single shot just in case we got an opportunity. After walking along a trail for a while we heard some squirrels scampering along and we sat down, after a few minutes we saw two squirrels emerge on the opposite hill side, way out of range for the .410, but she enjoyed the excitement of seeing some. We then walked for a while, and found a safe spot and tried calling in some crows, to no avail. On the walk to the car she commented that this was the best day ever, and that is what makes dad's want to take their children more. We did take the time to teach her to shoot, she shot the .410 four times, after the first shot she said; "that hurt my shoulder, can i do it again!" and she hit her target! She was so proud and I was proud of her. I am learning as I grow and my children grow that when I take them it is more about spending time together than it is hunting. Sure I spend time teaching them about the woods, of the sights and sounds, the animal sign, and tracks, but it is far more to them about being with dad. We did not get anything, but what we were able to get was a day together in the woods, doing what I love, and spending it with one of my greatest gifts. I hope more dads out there will take the opportunity to take their kids hunting and fishing, and remember it is more for them to be with you than in the harvest. Enjoy the time, because before you can blink they will be gone and you will have missed your opportunity to spend with them. Before long, she and I will again, take a Saturday and take the time to be together.
Well it took longer this year than in any years in the past for me to get my first deer of the season. On Friday, Nov. 21, I was hunting a acorn draw in my Summit, and thee doe came in to feed. After a while of watching and hoping a buck would come in, I decided to take one, I made an excellent 13 yard shot on a decent doe. Looked and the other two were still on the hill side, so when another shot presented itself I took a second one. Two doe down. Saturday morning was also good. Except it was cold, I mean real cold for South Carolina, we woke up in the tent to a temperature of 23 degrees. I went to my favorite stand and Chad, a friend of mine went to another, it was a magical morning. He saw 20 deer that morning, 19 doe and one nice 8 pointer that he tried to shoot, and had a misfire from his gun. Funny thing was the bullet had a dent in the primer, but ti did not fire. I saw 7 deer, 6 doe and a spike. That afternoon, Chad returned to his stand and saw two doe and two bucks, he shot and grazed another 8, we looked for a while in the dark and found little sign, two small specks of blood. We waited until the next morning to take up the trail, found nothing else, and no deer. Hopefully, he just nicked the deer and it will live. All in all it was a great weekend of hunting. Finally the drought is over and we are seeing some activity.
