high water duck hunt

Heat and fog were definitely the theme around Christmas and New Year’s here in good ol’ South Carolina, and our post-Christmas hunt was certainly no exception. Changing up the scenery, we headed northeast of Columbia to family friend’s property where my dad and some pals have a weekly duck hunt. It has been a year or two since I’ve been able to hunt there, and this one was a fantastic way to come back.

With all of the rain the region has gotten in the past few months, water levels are extremely high and many of the roads are simply not drivable. That also means that the pond levels are a foot and a half to 2 feet higher than normal… Yes, I think you can see where this is going.

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Christmas success

Did the holidays absolutely fly by for anyone else? Seriously, did Christmas and New Years even happen? If it weren’t for some awesome hunts (with photos to prove it), some great gifts and gear, and the terrifying  memory of a bad hangover (thank you, Castaways), you’d think they never happened! But, like I said, I have photos to prove it.

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ducks and deer and turkeys, oh my

Oh, and quail.

But! I completely forgot to tell you about seeing a deer in my last post. Crazy! In the middle of the duck hunt, I looked across to the bank of the pond and thought, ‘Wow, did someone bring a Great Dane as their bird dog?” No kidding – a nice sized doe was trotting past the pond. Odd, and the first time I’ve ever seen a deer while duck hunting.

The fun doesn’t stop there, either.

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hog hunt: ACE Basin

Can you believe Christmas is only 10 days away? Where has December gone? Where has 2015 gone? Craziness!

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Know what else is crazy? Hog hunting. Specifically, hog hunting on a small island in the ACE Basin where the brush and marsh grass are so thick that you can hear a hog 15 feet away from you but you can’t see him and you just hope your trigger finger is fast enough to still be the predator instead of becoming the prey. That sounds [a touch] dramatic, but I KID YOU NOT.

It. Was. Awesome.

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first split: duck season begins

Can you believe that it is already DECEMBER? Seriously! Where did November go? Whizzed past in the blink of an eye, if you ask me! And, since November is, in fact, over… Well, so is the first split of duck season here in South Carolina. Luckily, I was able to duck 3 times during that time, and it was quite a successful adventure!

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