With opening day 2014 in SC come and gone, I have learned a few things...
- Less is more sometimes
- MREs are bad enough, much less if the heaters have gone bad
- Introduce yourself to club members and greet them at some other time than 0500
- Get to "YOUR" gate before another club member gets there
- Trying to be mobile and allow a 9 year old a modicum of comfort is tough!
I took my son opening day and really expected to have an awesome day. Some of the prettiest property I have hunted in years. Rolling pine flats with native grasses and blueberry bushes separated by a 40 yrd. fiber optic cable right of way transitioning into rolling hardwoods and creek bottoms.
Got there plenty early, and haven't seen any hunter activity on the property in weeks. I knew what gate I wanted to hunt at and no one was there! Drove to the clubhouse, dropped the tailgate on the trailer and backed the four wheeler off, loaded up our stuff and off we went.
10 minutes after I passed "MY" gate, another set of hunters slipped in before I could make it back. They suggested another spot. I drove to that spot, went around the gate, hid the 4-wheeler from the road and started walking. Now I am not opposed to walking and prefer it. They didn't bother to tell me that the turkeys are roosted on the backside of a 3 mile loop of a 4 wheeler trail.
My son and I parked our 4 wheeler off the main road to hide it and we started walking. After about 800 yards, my son who is 9 got tired. I don't blame him, I was tired too. We stepped off the side of the road to owl hoot and listen since it was 0630 by this time. Plenty of time left before legal shooting hour.
After we stepped off, and called, I noticed a set of lights coming down the trail. A Bad Boy Buggy slipped in on us and down the road it went. Those things are nasty by the way!!!!! Love them, but this broke guy can't afford one. He slipped off down the road and we started walking again.
By this time my son was pretty defeated. I told him there was plenty of property for us to hunt though, we just needed this to get a kick start.
We spent the rest of the morning trying to make something happen. Once again, its tough trying to make something happen with a 9 year old in tow, and keep his spirits up. We decided to just go ahead and ride the roads, to learn our way around, that way we would know where to go this weekend.
Sorry to be long winded. WE will hit it another lick on Friday morning this week by myself, so maybe I will have a better chance of getting on the board!
