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Thread: Bonneau Ferry Youth hunt

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
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    SC
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    4,304

    Default Bonneau Ferry Youth hunt

    At 52 years old my own youths are grown up and gone. Last year my two sons and I had the privilege of mentoring for the SCDNR Take One Make One youth duck hunt. Due to work obligations only one son could make it this year but we had a great time!

    As expected the birds weren't nearly as thick at Bonneau Ferry as they were last duck season but the kids still had ample opportunity to harvest a duck! This was a great group of young men and to 3 of the young men it was the very first time on a duck hunt. The sights and sounds were all very new to my 17 year old hunter. Things we sometimes take for granted came alive to me while on this hunt. Seeing a bald eagle soaring, a river otter 10 feet from the blind and listening to woodpeckers were all brand new experiences for my hunter. This wasn't just about killing a duck, it was exposing a youth to the outdoors, hunter safety, boat safety, decoys, calls, gun handling, a MILLION other things.........one morning in a duck blind didn't scratch the surface of what the outdoors has to offer our youths.

    Watching in disappointment as my youth crippled a Ringneck but then in pure amazement, shock and awe as a bald eagle swooped in and caught "his" Ringneck out of the air and proceeded to eat it 75 yards from our blind.......THAT was a sight I will never forget! Of course, I had to paddle him over to see the remains after the eagle had finished eating "his" duck. I could hunt and fish every day with these kids, their inquiring minds renewed my sincere appreciation for what we all experience and many times take for granted in the outdoors.

    Hats off to the SCDNR Take One Make One, aka TOMO program and the wildlife managers and staff that make this happen. There is a tremendous amount of work that goes into preparation and planning for these hunts and everyone had a great time!

    I stopped by and slipped in on a couple of birds in the refuge. Very cool place!
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    Listen to your elders. Not because they are always right but because they have more experiences of being wrong.

    "We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give" Sir Winston Churchill

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
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    York Co
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    4,825

    Default

    like it

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
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    In a house
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    Awesome stuff!!
    "I'm just a victim of a circumstance"

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    James Island
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    3,191

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    Very good looking gadwall with a nice ring.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Posts
    2,821

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    Congrats to all. Great place there, was eat up with wood ducks back in December when we did a draw for deer. EAT UP.
    Worship the LORD, not HIS creation.

    "No self respecting turkey hunter would pay $5 for a call that makes a good sound when he can buy a custom call for $80 and get the same sound."-NWiles

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Posts
    154

    Default

    Do they hunt in corn fields, the reserve ponds that are flooded year round, or both?

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
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    SC
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    4,304

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    They hunt both. We were in a pond chock full of SAV.
    Listen to your elders. Not because they are always right but because they have more experiences of being wrong.

    "We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give" Sir Winston Churchill

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
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    Watch those eagles, they'll take every cripple.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Florence
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    128

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    That's cool

  10. #10
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    East Cooper
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    1,842

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    The big lake up there got 2 of our birds a couple years ago. We were warned about it ahead of time as well. Nothing you can do when it sees the bird hit the water & the eagle is already heading for him & you gotta paddle 100 yards to him.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Chapin SC
    Posts
    5,008

    Default

    Good stuff Cajun!

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