Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
in reply to: Blackbeard Bound! #12142
lyagooshka wrote: OK, not to get too ignorant on you, but could you walk me through the trip from parking your car to getting back in it? Just the highlights. I’d like to hear how it really is. Here is how I envision it, tell me if I’m way off.
Drive 12 hours. Park the car. Get your stuff and go to the boat (guessing will need reservations). Get on the island and put your stuff down where you plan to camp (inside of the 20 acre camping area). Grab your stand and go to “mark your territory”. Find a spot, hang your stand, leave some TP and go back to camp. Pitch your tent, have some food, go to sleep. Wake up, go to your spot, climb the tree, wait for a deer, climb down, go back to camp. If you are tired, dress like a deer and lay on the main trail, and the DNR will take you back in a gator 😆 .
Now, first question is: when/where is report time/place? Is this a Friday-Sunday hunt or only Saturday to Sunday?
Next, I am guessing there will not be any hunting on Sunday as noon comes pretty quickly, so it’s really a one day hunt 🙁 ?
Is there any hunting in the evening? Sounds like morning is in a tree and afternoon is a stalk?
You mention climbing sticks, are climbing stands ok 😕 ?
Are there porta-potties or is it “bring a shovel” 😳 ?
Beyond all of the planning, this sounds like it would be well worth the 12 hour drive. Any other info you can think of would be well appreciated. Thanks for the help so far. Be well.
Alex
❓
Ill answer all that stuff when i get a chance but you scout and hang your stand on wed and hunt thurs fri and sat. You def want to be in your stand for the first and last three or four hours of daylight. There are bathrooms and showers. There is no hunting on sunday. Just wake pack and go. Ill go into more detail when my wife isnt using the laptop
in reply to: Blackbeard Bound! #11950No problem. I’ll try to answer all of them.
The second hunt is usually the first weekend in December. This year it was a little early and started on November 29, I think. It’ll be right about December 1. You need to arrive as EARLY AS POSSIBLE on the day before the hunt starts. I mean, be at the dock at daylight to get scouting and mark your spot.
Ferries are available by commercial companies and private boat owners. I’ll try to dig up the list. They’re pretty reasonable and I think you can get there and back for about $100 per person.
The island does get very crowded because the majority of it is just palmettos and totally un-huntable. Having said that, I’ve never had an issue finding an area by myself and once you mark your area with toilet paper (on the side of the trail), everybody will respect it and leave you alone. There are deer all over the island but we’ve started hunting the north end because it’s the longest walk and fewest people. It takes us about 1-1 and 1/4 hrs to get to our stands. We stay out all day and pack a lunch and a book. When you kill something, you drag it back to the main road and the DNR people will pick it up for you and drive it back to camp on a gator. They make two rounds per day.
You only need a valid GA hunting license. A 3 day hunting license will work as long as you have a big game stamp and archery permit.
As far as packing, you just need a light treestand and climbing sticks. You can’t use screw in steps. Bring your regular camping gear and a good pair of hiking boots and a daypack. Bring wet weather gear no matter what the weather report calls for. An axe and a chainsaw is very helpful as there are plenty of down live oak limbs around camp to make fires with. Campfires can only be made with dead wood that you find. The DNR does usually cut up some wood and leave it for the taking in the middle of the campground but we just take ten minutes per day to gather dead limbs ourselves and live oak burns really well.
Alcohol is allowed, you just can’t possess it while hunting. I’ve never met a ranger there that wasn’t a great and easy-going individual. You can stump shoot on the island but in camp, you can only shoot in a designated area. Stump shooting on the beach and in the dunes is fantastic!
Camping is only allowed in the designated area by the dock. Everyone stays in the 10-20 acre campground which has a deer cleaning station and cooler, showers, water, etc. Fishing and crabbing is allowed and both can be very good I’m told. I imagine surf fishing off the beach would be great if you brought the right gear.
The pig populations vary greatly from year to year. They do some pig control on a lot of the islands. I’ve never actually seen a pig there but BuckyT saw a nice boar on the scouting day this year and I saw probably 10-15 pigs brought to the skinning shed.
The ride over in the boat is probably my favorite part. You usually see a lot of dolphins and porpoises, marsh hens, eagles, untold numbers of shorebirds and sea ducks.
It’s taken me three years to walk all the roads on the island and I’ve walked the entire eastern beach. There’s a LOT to see.
It’s just a fantastic hunt and a great experience. Watching the sunrise over the ocean from a treestand is something special.
Only other things I can think about (random thoughts)
You have to be in your treestand for the first two and last two hours of daylight. You can’t be walking around.
The National Wildlife Refuge people (I’ve been calling them dnr) are fantastic. At the dock, they check your license and then give you your tags. You can kill four or five deer per hunt.
You have to be off the island by noon on sunday.
Bring your best camera and a bird id book if you’re into that. You will see lots.
If you do come to the island, make sure you see some sights and don’t focus on the hunt too hard. The crematorium, indian burial ground, savannahs, and boneyards (standing dead timber in the surf) are worth a hike in the middle of the day.
We bring easy to cook dinners because you’re usually not back in camp til late. I always make a turkey stew that can just be warmed over the fire. We do a lot of soups and stews. Sandwhiches and sardines for lunch and breakfast is usually just coffee and granola bars.
Don’t bring anything you won’t need.
Finally, this hunt is full of wonderful people. There is no competition, and everybody is respectful of each other. Usually traditional archers make up about half of the hunters and you will get to hold and see a ton of different bows. I think the extra work of going to an island, walking so much, and bow hunting only tends to weed out the lazy jerks. Very rarely have we complained about anybody and you will make new friends.
There is cell phone service on most of the island now and there are plenty of places to plug in phone chargers.
Any more questions, I’m here.:D
in reply to: Blackbeard Bound! #11728lyagooshka wrote: Etter,
I got some info from you prior. If you don’t mind, I’d like to PM you and pick your brain a little more. I hear you about the “success”. I would love to just be able to say I hunted the island. Just to have that experience. Pork or venison would just be a bonus. Let me know. Be well.
Alex
❓
PM away or ask on the open forum. Either way is fine.
I own a swimming pool service and repair business and it’s February. I got all the time in the world at the moment.:D
in reply to: It's Time Again! #10950Smithhammer wrote: I’m about to start reading Hutto’s 2nd book, “The Light in High Places: A Naturalist Looks at Wyoming Wilderness, Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep, Cowboys, and Other Rare Species.”
Looking forward to it.
Let us know how it is!
in reply to: Blackbeard Bound! #10949Also, I’ve seen deer most days I’ve hunted and shot deer 2 out of 3 years.
The success rates are often near 50 percent for the three day hunt but killing deer has little to do with the hunt. It’s just a fabulous, eery, beautiful place.
…..and there are some nasty old pigs there for those who are into that:D
in reply to: Blackbeard Bound! #10941If anybody plans trips as far in advance as I do, I thought I’d bump this back up.
It’s such a great hunt and would be worth the travel from anywhere in this country, I think.
This will be my fourth trip to the island and it’s taken that long to really get it figured out. I’d be happy to share any knowledge I’ve gained and help anybody with trip planning.
This is a trip worth doing! I got a couple pm’s about it so if you’re still interested, don’t forget about it and let it pass!
And Tailfeather: No more missing this trip!
in reply to: It's Time Again! #10908tailfeather wrote: I pored over ‘Better on a Rising Tide’ last week before sending to a friend. That book is my annual pre-Spring read.
I’ve tried to find that one several times but it is not cheap.
in reply to: Being followed #10608Lol.
Yeah, grizz would be on my mind a lot if I roamed in their hills!
in reply to: How many bows do you have? #10583bauder wrote: I have 29 custom longbows.I have been doing this for a long time and longbows flyrods shotguns and pugs are my passion. 2 pronghorn one piece three thunderhorns one two and three piece 1 kohannna 1bow river 3 northern mist 1 fox 6 morrison1 moosejaw 1 deathwish 1 shrew 2 rivers edge 4 robertson 2 big jim 1 black widow
Wow!
in reply to: Being followed #10581dwcphoto wrote: Some years ago I camped with friend in Glacier NP. When I found out I didn’t need a license to fish, I grabbed my fly rod and hiked the mile or so up to the lake. There are bear signs ( the man made type ) everywhere, so those of right mind keep an eye out. I tried to find my way through the brush to a pool under a waterfall and soon realized I couldn’t see more than five yards. I back tracked and when back to the lake. An older fellow as fishing so I talked to him about fishing the lake. He said the best time was late evening, but.. “then there’s the bears.” So after a few brave casts I started my way back down the trail. Man it was dark in the woods by then. Ever notice how hard it is to whistle with a dry mouth?
A few of us took a hike for a few miles. I noticed on our lunch break how little time there was that our group wasn’t seated in a way that we could watch all directions, without anyone having to say a word.
My hat’s off to you guys who like being in the woods where something might eat you before you’re dead. Maybe I’d get used to it. Maybe. dwcphoto
If you spend enough time with black bears, you get to where you lose the fear of em. The angry ones are a little different story, but 99.9% of them just want to go the other way.
The biggest one I ever killed climbed up to my treestand and sniffed at it. That was fun!:D
in reply to: How many bows do you have? #9765Wexbow wrote: Only my cheap and cheerful Samick Sage but I’m aiming to get Henry Bodnik of Bearpaw in Germany to make me a custom bow in the next year or so, finances allowing!
Cheap don’t mean nothing! That is a good bow. I chose to hunt with my Samick 90% of the time this year. I’m blown away by what you get for the money from that company.
in reply to: Being followed #9762The place we bear hunt in the N GA mountains is about a 3.5-4 mile hike so you have to start it about 1.5hrs before daylight to get in there on time.
The first time I did that hike in by myself, I stopped to take a break about 3 miles in, and a bear started growling at me from 30 yards off the trail. I couldn’t see anything so I just nocked an arrow and stood my ground until it got daylight.
That bear whoofed and growled for about ten minutes and disappeared right before daylight. I thought he/she was following me around all day!:D
Smithhammer wrote: Had a dream last night that I fell through a hole in the snow into a wolverine den. Freaked me out so much I woke up. No kidding.
Friend of mine saw one the other day in a canyon on the outskirts of town. Males have an average territory of 200 sq. miles. Based on that, they figure there are only about 4 adults occupying the entire Teton range. That’s some pretty low population density.
I’ve watched a few documentaries on em. Amazing creatures. There is still so much about them we do not know.
in reply to: shed huntin' #8906Sounds like an awesome day! Rabbits and squirrels are unbelievable at dodging an arrow!
Wish we still had more fox. Our coyotes have pretty much extirpated them from most areas in GA
in reply to: Please introduce yourselves, I'll start #8900Alright, I might as well jump in since my buddies just did.
My description won’t be as romantic as Bunyan’s. Not because I’m not capable of such poetry, but because I met a friend earlier for a three hour sit at a watering hole and am now chasing a good night’s sleep with a famous grouse.:D
My name is Sean. I’m 29 years old and previously lived in PA and VA before ending up for most of my life here in GA. I love this state. I’ve been hunting and fishing for as long as I can remember and for fifteen years, I got to go with my birth father to Canada to chase bears, pike, and walleye. The far north holds a really special place in my heart, but I guess all wild places really do.
I got my degree from UGA in wildlife biology, but decided that I could probably hunt and fish more if I started my own company and I now own a swimming pool service and repair business in north metro atlanta. I love being self employed and I get to do most all of my work in a 6 month period and travel the rest.
I have a wonderful wife who is a high school teacher and who apparently has infinite patience because I’m probably more immature than all of her students. We don’t have any children yet, unless you count our two Walker dogs, who we treat like our own progeny.
I have owned 5 recurve bows at this point. I bought two different bows, a bear grizzly and a pse coyote, years ago and quickly gave up on trad archery both times. My good buddy Joe (Tailfeather) switched to a longbow a few years back and killed two deer and some pigs his first season and the fire burned again. I immediately went out and bought a vintage Damon Howatt and got to hunting and I’ve never looked back.
Traditional archery feels like balance to me. It is just right and nothing has ever made me feel so close to the earth as packing a daypack, grabbing my recurve and setting my lungs against a steep hill.
I have some of the best friends in the world and I live for our hunting trips. Broadhead, BuckyT, and Tailfeather get the trouble of having to share a lot of camps with me every year, and I live from calendar to calendar, awaiting the next one.
Traditional archery has also given me hope for humanity as I’m a constant cynic and am terrified when I meet the average hunter today.
At this time, I’ve never met a traditional archer I didn’t like and I feel kindred spirits with all of them. The average hunter I meet otherwise terrorizes my thoughts.
Glad to be a part of this forum.
-
AuthorPosts
