Why Tonto was so Skinny

Maybe I am crazy, maybe I am to much like my daddy.  I don’t know.  I just like a challenge.  Most guys hunt with a rifle and I like that too.  Sometimes though I just want to use the bow.  Its  the challenge of it.  Anyone can drop a deer from 40-200 yards with a rifle, but to get them close, to draw without being busted and to make the shot where you can watch the arrow fly.  Now that is just awesome.

The Legend of the Great White-Faced Buck

I remember it all very clearly, even though I was a young boy, and it has been so long ago now. It was the first year I was allowed to take a stand by myself. It had been so exciting in September, the first time I was alone on a stand. The heavy morning dew soaking through my boots as the mist rose skyward, the sun warming the cool morning. In my hands the smooth wood of a well worn stock and the cold steel barrels of an aged sixteen gauge double barrel shotgun. The gun had been my father’s, and my grandfather’s before, but now it was mine. Pride swelled within me as I stood in the glory of God’s morning, turning my head towards the warmth of the sun.

Water Glorious Water

Well again it has been a while but I think it is about time to get started back up hard and heavy.  Last week Buckman and myself walked out to check the pond and we have water in it.  Now it is only a little water but with it being as bad as it was, this is a vast improvement. 

First Deer of the year… Or several for that matter.

Well Last week Buckman broke his curse and killed a good 7 point.  Saturday morning I followed suit. 

Its hard to see but there is an 8th point

Food Plots

Deer season is here.  Well for most of us it is here.  I could have been hunting since August 15 but lets face it is just too hot for that.  However we did get the food plots planted. 

Hunters Responsibilities

When we think about, it as hunters we have many responsibilities.  We have a responsibility to the land, the animals, and nature itself.  How ever I want to talk about another very important responsibility that we rarely talk about.

Hunting the Swamp

Years ago I was a member of a local deer driving club. Most of the members were family. Many family members joined the club because our family had hunted there for so long, even though they didn’t hunt very often. It was a great club. Between the land my family owned and what we leased from timber companies, we had more than four thousand acres to hunt. The time we all spent hunting there was great fun.

The First Deer

First I would like to say that I am sorry for not posting in a while.  I don’t want to make excuses but I just was not feeling it the last couple of weeks.  Now I'm back. 

Hunting the Swamp

Years ago I was a member of a local deer driving club. Most of the members were family. Many family members joined the club because our family had hunted there for so long, even though they didn’t hunt very often. It was a great club. Between the land my family owned and what we leased from timber companies, we had more than four thousand acres to hunt. The time we all spent hunting there was great fun.

Hunting the Swamp

Years ago I was a member of a local deer driving club. Most of the members were family. Many family members joined the club because our family had hunted there for so long, even though they didn’t hunt very often. It was a great club. Between the land my family owned and what we leased from timber companies, we had more than four thousand acres to hunt. The time we all spent hunting there was great fun.

Geese

They are big.  They are slow.  And for some reason I can not seem to kill one. 

Great Hunting Guns

When I think back to all the years I have hunted there are a lot of good memories there. Memories, mostly of people, places, and dogs, that have been a part of my hunting past. Also embedded in my memory are the guns that I have been lucky enough to own and hunt with. These are not the fancy high dollar guns that you see in the hands of big name hunters on TV shows, they are the common guns owned by a common man.

Why is it that as soon as I decide to go Turkey hunting there are no turkeys to be found.

 

I know it is a little late for turkey season.  But With PASS testing going on I am brain dead and this was all that I could think of to write about. 

Duck Pond Etiquette

There are rules and etiquette to hunting anywhere.  A beaver pond is no exception.  In fact private land is where they are the most important because it can cost you your hunting buddies

.

We all know the guy.  The one no one wants to hunt with because he is a pain in

the butt.  He always wants the best blind, he always takes the wrong shots, and he kills every bird he points his gun at (or at least he thinks he does).  Well this is your chance to not be “That Guy”.

The Perfect Season

You always hear of the perfect storm, the storm that happens when God decides to line everything up perfectly to show you a glimpse of his awesome power. Hunters are always searching for a perfect season, that season when God’s grace lines everything up for you perfectly, and you have an awesome season.

Kids and hunting

Bo and Cindy after a hunt.

The sun was up the dogs were running (just not to us.) Daddy and I were sitting on the side of the middle road (a dirt road on the hunting club)and he was teaching me how to whittle.  We didn’t kill any thing that day, I don’t even remember if we even saw a deer that day but I was hunting and that was all that mattered.  This is one of the earliest clear memories I have of hunting.  And one that will stay with me for a long time.

I remember waking up, going into my parents room, waking my daddy to ask if it was time to go hunting.  I returned to my bed disappointed and tried to go back to sleep but the anticipation was killing me.  Being a young boy I was unable to tell time and it was only 12 o'clock (this was only one of many trips to their room that night to ask that question).  Some of the fondest memories of my childhood involved hunting with my daddy.  In fact it is still some of the fondest memories of now, and hopefully still to come.

I started hunting with my dad when I was just a little boy.  I could not have been much more than five, probably younger.  I learned many lessons there and created many memories.  I learned to sit still and listen (although I still struggle with that, ADHD and all) how to safely handle a gun, that you only kill what you are going to eat and much more.  These lessons helped shape me into the man that I am. 
To many kids hunting is a foreign idea to them.  Many of them will not learn to love spending time in nature.  Nor will they learn to respect nature and firearms the way we did.  From a very young age I knew what a gun was and what it was capable of doing.  I was not scared of it but I knew not to mess with it. Partially because I knew what my daddy would do if I did mess with it.  But he taught me to respect it.  This generation is enveloped with video games and computers.  The only thing they know about guns is what they see on Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty. 

This is why we have to take the time and introduce hunting to kids.  Our sport is a dying one.  It is also the sport with the biggest target on its back.  Without kids learning to hunt and fish it will not last 50 more years.  Besides can you think of a better way to spend time with your kids than to take them hunting.  To be there and enjoy Gods creation with them.  To teach them the lessons they will carry throughout their lives.  To see the excitement on their faces when they see their first animal that they are hunting.  To witness their first kill.  In doing this both of you are making memories.
 

BO with Mallards from one of his first hunts.

It may not even be your child.  So many kids these days are growing up without fathers to take them hunting.  They have no one to tech them these lessons and show them how to enjoy nature.  And they so desperately need it.  Without this, they will grow up not knowing what we hold so dear.  And they very well could be the ones that grow up and try to take it away from us.  Or worse they could become the guy/gal in the tree not far from you who has no clue what he/she is doing, using their rifle scope as a set of binoculars to see what you are doing.

Over the years we have taken many kids hunting with us.  We have watched them grow from kids who have very little knowledge of the outdoors into true sportsmen.  They learned how to handle themselves and how to be safe.  Yes when we first take them hunting it means that we have to miss out on some of the action ourselves but it is worth it.  I would rather watch a kid kill a duck than to shoot one my self.  To see how their eyes light up and the pure awe on their face.  If you have never saw that then you do not know what you are missing.

Even if they are too young to hunt themselves they are amazed by what you do.  Buckman takes his son BO with us regularly.  Now BO is too young to shoot a gun on his on but he loves to watch his daddy shoot ducks.  In fact Buckman says that it is the only time you can get him out of bed without a fight.  And he is learning fast.  When we meet in the morning we ask him where he wants to sit.  He always answers “I want to sit at the fish pond, Daddy shoots better at the fish pond”.  He has also learned how to watch for ducks and that I am the resident duck caller ( I never said I was any good, I just got stuck with the job).  When he sees ducks, and with his young eyes it is usually before us he starts calling out “Blow Joe Blow”.  And at the end of the hunt he can always tell you who killed what.  Except for the green heads he normally claims those for himself.

As you may know, all of this started as us chronicling what we are doing to improve our duck pond.  What you may not know is why.  Yes we want to shoot more ducks.  But more importantly we want a place where our kids can learn to hunt ducks.  BO is already on his way to becoming a great duck hunter but we want to make sure that Bernie's girl Heyleigh and my daughter Molly as well as any other kid we pick up along the way has a place where they can learn to love the outdoors as much as we do.

I the end it does not matter what game you are chasing or what method you are using. All that matters is that we bring a new generation to the sport and make memories.  So take a kid hunting because if you don’t teach them, you never know who or what may.  That’s the Briary River Way.

Joe                 

The First Annual Briary River Boys Upland Bird Hunt

For years we have wanted to go on a hunt outside of our duck pond. We would like to go on an Arkansas duck hunt. Then of course there is my dream to shoot birds in Argentina. With almost all of us being teachers, we just don’t have the money to go on these hunts.

This year I went to the guys with the idea of hunting a quail preserve. This was our opportunity for a hunt after duck season was over. There are also preserves near enough by that we didn’t have to spend the night and at a price that was reasonable enough that we could afford it.

I did a quick search on the internet and found several preserves nearby. I compared the options available at each preserve, and their prices. I found a preserve that especially peaked my interest. Spring Grove Preserve near St. Stephen, South Carolina. Since Coach Taylor has a lot of contact in the St. Stephen area, I turned the number over to him so he could check the place out. Coach talked to several of his friends who live near St. Stephen. They all spoke highly of Spring Grove, so Coach got in contact with the owner to see what dates he had available. We ended up reserving the afternoon hunt on March 26.

A few weeks before our scheduled hunt we drove out to Spring Grove to check out the facilities. We found an exceptional clubhouse. Behind the clubhouse is a small pond. Sporting clay stations surround the pond and clubhouse. Everything was exceptionally nice.

The morning of March 26 was a cool morning. A nice change from the hot days we had been having. There was the promise of a great day of hunting ahead. Bernie, Joe, and I had planned to leave home by 9:30 am so that we could meet up with Coach Taylor in Kingstree by 10:00 am, in time to grab an early lunch before heading to Spring Grove for an early bird hunt.

As it is with most of our well laid plans, this plan was not meant to be. Joe like usual was running late. Bernie had to go get shells. Me, well, in a frenzy to try to get everything straight I locked my keys in my house. By the time we got everything together we didn’t have time to eat lunch with Coach, so we stopped by Hardee’s to grab a quick biscuit on the way to Kingstree. We finally got to Coach’s house around 11:30 am.

We reached Spring Grove shortly after 12:00 pm, well within time for our afternoon hunt. Upon our arrival we got all our paperwork straight. We then waited on the back porch where there are plenty of rocking chairs and even a porch swing. Bernie, Coach and I were entertained by Joe, who threw a tennis ball for Dexter, the friendly retriever who greets guests at Spring Grove, and Buddy, a young French Brittany Spaniel. For the next hour or so we enjoyed the back porch, the rocking chairs, the cool breeze, a lot of old stories and lies, and Spring Grove’s resident entertainers, Dexter and Buddy.

When the time came for the hunt we left the lodge and drove to the hunting grounds where we were introduced to our guide, Doug. None of us knew quite what to expect, we had never been on a hunt like this. After a short greeting Doug told us to get our vests, guns, and shells, and to get ready. Doug got a small French Brittany Spaniel from the truck and asked if we were loaded and ready to go. We loaded our guns and followed Doug into the well kept and thinned woods.

It only took a minute for the dog to point the first bird. Joe and Bernie pushed Coach and me to shoot first (not that it took much pushing). Doug showed us where to get, then he flushed the bird, which was a pheasant rooster. The bird flushed to my side, instinct took over, I made the shot, and my first pheasant fell to the ground. I rotated to the back and the other guys killed pheasant. When I made it back to the front, the pheasant never flushed to my side again, so I did not get to take another pheasant. Bernie and Joe each managed to get a clean kill on a pheasant, and the guys tag teamed three more.

We also got the opportunity to hunt chucker. Just like with the pheasant, I was up front when the first pair of chucker were flushed. I fired two shots from my 28 gauge side by side, putting both chucker on the dirt. At that point Doug, who did not know everyone’s name yet, pointed out, “Ya’ll better pick up the pace, the guy shooting the double is on a hot streak!” We ended up with twelve chucker. I killed five of the twelve.

Shooting coveys of quail was fast and furious. I lost count of how many quail I killed quickly, but we all had fun. I guess I was getting my fair share. At one point late in the hunt Doug, who knew us all by name now, pointed out that I certainly had shot in my gun. That was twice he pointed out my ability to take birds. I don’t remember him pointing that out about any of the other guys.

Doug is a great guide. He has a marvelous sense of humor he is also a wonderful story teller. At the beginning of the hunt you could tell that he wanted to figure out how precautious we were with guns. A pair or chucker flushed between Doug and Coach. You could see him cringe waiting for our reactions. You could also see his relief when everyone froze until the birds cleared. After a while you could tell, he figured out we were experienced gunmen, we understand that no bird I worth putting someone’s life in jeopardy, and he seemed to relax a little around us. In fact he would step in front of all of us to flush a bird.

What amazed me most about Doug was his ability to mark birds. When I mark a bird, if I take my eyes off it, I loose it. Doug would mark every bird we knocked down and still know where all of the singles went down. It was a real pleasure to have a guide like Doug.

Coach Taylor and Joe shot 12 gauge automatics. Bernie shot his 16 gauge automatic, while I, on a different note shot a 28 gauge side by side. Bernie and Coach shot high power 7 ½ s. Joe shot high power 6s. I shot field load 7 ½ s at the pheasant and chucker and field load 8s at the quail. When we go back next year I am going to try to find some high power 6s for the 28 gauge the shoot the pheasant and chucker and stay with the field load 8s or possibly 9s for the quail. I think a heavy field load in 6 or 7 ½ would be fine to shoot the big birds with a 12 gauge. The 12 gauge high power shells were too much shell for the quail. I think game load 8s or 9s would work well for quail in the 12 and 16 gauge guns.

All in all we had a lot of fun on our first upland bird hunt. We may not be able to afford to go to exotic places to hunt, but we were finally smart enough to figure out that we can stay close to home, take a hunt that we can afford, and still have fun, the Briary River Way.

Buckman           

The BEAUTY of the Hunt.

“Why on earth do you go out there that early to hunt a duck”?  This is a question that I am often asked.  It is also a question that I have a hard time answering.  Not because I don’t have an answer, but because I don’t have an answer that they would understand.  Anyone who has never been out there does not know what they are missing. 

As Buckman has already said hunting is not all about the kill.  For me hunting is largely the beauty of nature, God’s creation.  Every morning of a hunt, the day starts out dark with a glimmer of light in the east.  The promise of a new day.  As the sky begins to lighten nature begins to awaken.  Birds begin to call and before my unworthy eyes a new day is born. 

As I watch the sky turns red then gold as the sun begins to reach the horizon.  While for most this is a quiet time before the beauty of the sun rises, for me this is when the fun begins.  Ducks begin to fly and call, the hunt is on.  As I said the hunt is only part of what I am there for but it is the backbone for all that I witness. 

Before you know it the sun is peaking up through the trees and the day is here.  We finish our hunt and gather to eat and talk about how we did.  This only last a few minutes but it is worth  getting up early in the cold to witness. 

There is simply something magical and spiritual about seeing a sunrise while you are on the water or in the woods.  Almost every morning I watch the sun rise as I ride to work but it is just not the same.  It is missing the luster that comes with seeing it while you are in nature. 

Granted, I could watch this on most any Saturday, but without the hunt it is hard to get up and get out.  I know what I am missing but cannot rouse myself to go see it.  If you have never experienced sunrise while you were part of nature then I strongly urge you to do so.  You will not be disappointed.  Thank goodness turkey season starts tomorrow.  Another excuse to visit God’s creation.

Joe        

Sportsmen: Conservationists

Sportsmen seem to stay under fire for their favorite pastimes.  People want to bash sportsmen for killing animals, but never want to take the time to give them credit for all the positive things they do.
     Sportsmen were the first conservationists.  A hundred years ago sportsmen like Teddy Roosevelt took the time to try to save some of the last wild places before they were swallowed up by industrialization and agriculture.  Because of Teddy Roosevelt we now have national parks for everyone to enjoy.
    Each year hunters spend millions of dollars on duck stamps.  They also donate millions of dollars to conservation groups like Ducks Unlimited, Delta Waterfowl, Quail Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, and the National Wild Turkey Federation.
        Sportsmen were the first group to realize that the wild lands and wild life they enjoyed were limited resources, and that if they wanted to continue to enjoy these resources, and wanted these resources to remain for the enjoyment of future generations, they must be protected.
     For this reason sportsmen started those organizations to protect the resources they love.  Unlike so many individuals and groups, sportsmen try to give more than they take.
    It is with this mindset that we work on Briary River.  It is our desire to improve at lest a little bit of habitat for wildlife.  Many more ducks benefit from the improved habitat than the few we kill.  Ducks are not the only wildlife that benefit.  Song birds, egrets and herons all benefit, as well as many other types of wildlife.
    True sportsmen realize that it is not how much you take away from the field that determines how successful you are, but rather how much you leave behind.  Here we want to leave more for our children than we found.  That’s the Briary River Way.

Buckman            

Busting the Dam

How do you plant in a beaver pond?  This is the question that we have been working on for several years now.  We decided right away that we needed to drain the pond first. This however, posed its own question,        HOW? 

 We knew that we had to bust the dam, but no one could decide on the best option.    Given that we are a bunch of guys and that most guys love to tear things up, we started getting some really interesting ideas.  The problems with these ideas were as diverse as the ideas themselves.  Trust me if we had followed some of them, I may not have been able to type this now due to lack of fingers or worse.  In the end we decided that the best way to do this was through good old fashioned elbow grease and sweat.  So last spring (after more debate than is seen in congress) we decided that it was time to start busting the dam.  

I am not sure where beavers get their degree in dam building but it is a doctorate(if beavers had built the levees in New Orleans and had access to concrete, they would have never broke).  We decided that hoes and axes would probably be the best thing for busting this.  Oh wait, we actually decided a backhoe would be best for this, but no one could figure out how to make it float.  Looking at a beaver dam is very deceiving.  All you see is mud.  That is easy enough, right.    Just dig the mud out to the side of the dam that the water is going to go on, WRONG.  That easy to move layer of mud is just the decoration of the dam.  Inside there is a mesh of sticks, logs, tree roots, and anything else that you would wonder; just how does a beaver manage to find this, much less pick it up?  Because of this were only able to tear out about 4-6 inches at a time.  We would go in a scrape chop dig and drag until the water started pouring over what we were doing until we could not see what we were chopping and pulling on.  At this point we would have to stop and wait a day or two (usually 4-5 but that was because we just could not get back out there) for the water to go down so we could see to work again.  Funny thing about beavers, they do not appreciate a bunch of guys putting holes in their dam.  Apparently since they do not duck hunt they do not see the importance of what we were doing.  Every time we went back they had refilled the holes.  The good news was that the water had dropped some in the amount of between us busting it and the beavers filling it back in.  Also, even though beavers a master builders it takes time for their work to be permanent.  When we came back all we had to do was pull all of sticks and branches out that the beavers had packed in, and them drag the fresh mud out.  Normally the water level would be at the bottom or slightly above the bottom of this new rebuild.  Then the fun of scraping, chopping, digging, and dragging would resume.

After doing this every chance we got in the spring (which was not as often as it should have been) we had the pond down to a decent level.  Then everyone got busy (My wife thought that the birth of my daughter took precedence, and I have to agree.) and we could not get out and keep it busted.  The beavers completely rebuilt the dam and the pond refilled.  However all of this was not in vain.  While the pond was drained some natural vegetation had a chance to take root and grow.  While this was not exactly what we were hoping to accomplish it was better than nothing.  The ducks came into natural vegetation and we had a better hunting season than we have had in many years.  

Well as soon as this year ended we decided that it was time to bust it again.  We had all summer, fall, and part of the winter to get some plans made and to come up with our best idea yet, THE BRIARY RIVER WAY (Visit us at http://www.facebook.com/BriaryRiver and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/Thebriaryriverway  ) .  We jumped in on the dam as soon as the season was over with.  I was expecting what we had to deal with last year, and expected to have it down by mid spring.  Luckily though when we started back where we were working last year, we found that it was a lot easier.  Also we decided to do something about the root of the problem, the beavers.  After lots of checking, double checking, and then checking again (like we have said we are not wealthy people and cannot afford a fine and let’s face it I am to pretty for jail.) we found that we were legal and put out conibear traps.  We managed to get the dam tore out in weeks instead of months.  We caught three beavers and the rest got smart.  I went yesterday and there is only small stream of water running through the pond, and the beavers are not going anywhere near those traps.  So now the pond is drying out some and we are getting ready to put a Clemson beaver pond leveler in.

 Don’t worry we will keep you updated.

 Joe