Senior Member
If you give 10 people a bag of gold, someone will complain about how heavy it is!
Senior Member
Seen a good many around the house.
Senior Member
I saw a hen with 7-8 in my backfield near Blackstock Saturday afternoon. I hope some of them make it. We have a lot of coyotes.
Senior Member
I was red fishing this morning stealth like with trolling motor, went around a bend in a creek and two hens with a bunch of poults were on the bank.
Would have been a great pic but couldn't get to my phone, went about another 50 yards and a 9 ft gator was
swimming toward them.
Senior Member
Saw three hens and I couldn't tell you how many poults in the hay field earlier this week.
Senior Member
Survey attached below for 2022
Member of the Tenth Legion Since 2004
Banned
How many of those poults will die once the entire state of South Carolina is covered in piles of alfatoxin producing corn starting in August?
Last edited by JimmyD714; 06-30-2022 at 12:09 PM.
Senior Member
JimmyD, have you come on here to post anything besides the gloom and doom of SC? All I seem to see is "SC has the worst hunting", "SC has the worst public land", "there's no mushrooms this year", "there's too many hunters on public land" and on and on...
I mean I kinda get bringing awareness to it but it gets a little old already...
Senior Member
Our place has had an excellent year which was a welcome sight. So far I've confirmed 7 hens with 54 poults that are all atleast a foot tall now. Did have one hen with only 3 poults but no hens without poults.
Originally Posted by Glenn
Banned
Not true at all, but maybe you're just the type who likes to start arguments so you want to go after the new guy? That's ok, I'll engage.
Since when is "there's no mushrooms this year" a complaint or when did I even say that? First off, I'd probably have said it properly, "there are no mushrooms this year". I started a thread to ask fellow members if they had found any chanterelles yet and, if so, what part of the state. The reason being because all the spots I found them in during these very weeks last year are completely empty. Saying "there are no mushrooms" in my area this year sounds like more of a statement based on observation than a complaint.
I made mention of Matt Rinella's podcast to see who else had listened to it. I very clearly mentioned that I do not agree with everything he says but that I do think he has valid points. Most of the people who commented agreed with my sentiment.
I stand by my statement that the public land is poor here. I have yet to run into a person who claims SC has excellent, or even good, public land opportunity. Perhaps you need to venture to some other states to hunt their public land and you'll see.
Banned
Furthermore, with studies showing that piles of corn produce alfatoxin that can kill young turkeys, any adult with half a functioning brain has to ask the question - why are we still continuing to cover the entire state of SC with piles of corn while we have one of the worst declines in turkey population of the entire Southeast?
I don't care if yall find 10 million poults this Summer, obviously enough of them aren't making it or our population wouldn't continue to decline. Is the easy deer kill really worth it?
Last edited by JimmyD714; 06-30-2022 at 12:42 PM.
Senior Member
Now that I can agree on. A lot of research is looking into that now I believe. I made that statement a year or so back on here specifically regarding the upstate when corn became legal in zones 1 and 2 .
Sounds like you need to hunt harder though if you think that SC public land is not "good"...
Banned
My man, I have hunted my freakin butt off here. Just as I did in when we lived in Tennessee and also in the upper midwest when I lived in MN for 3 years. You'd be hard pressed to find someone who puts in the effort I put in, but I do have limited time. My career is demanding, plus I lose 50% of my opportunity because we can't hunt public here on Sundays. I only have access to hunt public land. Did the hunt club thing one year, absolutely hated it.
Took me 3 seasons to finally kill a turkey here, which was this past season. I did miss one on the last Saturday of WMA season during my 1st Spring here. I about wanted to cry lol. In Minnesota we got 1 week to kill a turkey and I killed my bird all 3 seasons in that short time, on public land, without a decoy. One time even did it with a bow (NO BLIND). Some years I'd buy tags to neighboring states and had great success on public land, only took 2 or 3 days. The public land deer hunting up there, man they're like squirrels. On average I'd see more deer on one public land hunt up there than I see all season here.
I'm not the best hunter, not even a life long hunter, but I work my butt off and kill stuff. I've just had the most frustrating time since moving to SC of any state I've hunted. I see fewer game animals of every species I've pursued than I did in other state's public land.
I know I have a lot to learn but if you ever believed anything I say, please believe that I put in the effort. I'm far from lazy with anything I do. With that being said, I'll try to tone down some of my venting. We all get carried away sometimes.
Last edited by JimmyD714; 06-30-2022 at 01:05 PM.
Senior Member
Ah now I see. Sounds like your scales a little skewed then with your hunting of other states.
SC will never be on the level of certain other states, and there's nothing we can do to change that. Improve it, yes.
People who hunt here appreciate SC for what it is.
Welcome.
No Loaf'n
To see any major improvements on SC public land we will need a major shift in leadership and philosophy with the DNR.
Moderator
SC does have very good public land. What SC doesn’t have is very good hunters to hunt that public land. Instead, SC has hunters that think standing guard over a corn pile is hunting. They don’t stand a chance at killing a deer or turkey on public land because they’re scared of the dark, can’t drive to their condo stand and have no clue how to find a deer or turkey in a forest.
Banned
The reason I hated the hunt club I joined for last season was that it was full of people driving around on ATVs to piles of corn. It was pathetic. These guys couldn't find a piece of deer poop without corn.
Honestly the only reason I joined was to be able to hunt Sundays and have a spot to camp. I did kill a doe during one of my weekend camping adventures there as she came to a hot red oak tree I found.
There was so much corn that if you weren't sitting over a pile or under a feeder, you weren't seeing deer. I had no interest in shooting a deer over corn for many reasons. One is that it is teaching me absolutely nothing about becoming a better hunter. So I spent most of my time trying to find spots not near any corn, which wasn't easy, and thus saw very few deer.
I am willing to accept that I'm wrong on this - but I suspect the reason I see so few deer on public land during shooting light is because the entire perimeter of the national forest I hunt is surrounded by hunt clubs with corn all over the place.
Senior Member
Saw 3+ poults with a hen that were at least a month old. Jumped a hen that evidently had a successful re-nest with 8 poults that were just a couple days old at best. She had them covered with her wings when I saw her at about 5 steps before she flew off 50 yards or so. I snapped some pics then ushered them to some better cover and got out of there.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Senior Member
Seen quite a few last month. . Big enough to assume they will live. Also heard some good gobbling last month in the same
Places.
Senior Member
There isn’t a thing wrong with SC public hunting land.
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