Quick Food Plot Update

As promised, I wanted to let everyone in on the progress of our new food plots. The month of June has been more than cooperative. Our new tract of land has been getting hit with afternoon rain nearly every day. It was like someone flipped the switch following an extremely dry April and May. All of the seeds are really taking off. The Browntop Millet popped first and aided in protecting the other delicate seeds. The Iron/Clay Cowpeas and the Hulled Aeschynomene are really starting to come in and anchor the majority of the plots nutrition. All in all, the plots are a couple feet tall and the deer are starting to take a liking to them. I will have more pictures soon.

30 days after planting, no rain, no growth.

Following the rains!

Large Main Plot

The game cams are showing signs of life following the rains. We are regularly getting photos of mature does with newly dropped fawns and small bachelor groups of good bucks, all roaming the plots and all growing antlers. This is a great sign for our new property. Hopefully with this new found food source the once migrant herd of whitetails will stop and take up home in our low pressure scrub.

With the spring/summer plots going well, the guys and I will start the planting of our 10+ acres of dove field on the other end of the property. Check back soon to see the progress of this project.

If any of you all are in search of quality wildlife seed blends, check out Hancock Seed. They were extremely helpful and informative while we were making our food plot decisions.

Adam, SD ProStaff

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2012 Southern Draw Preview!

The boys are from the south, the hunts are from everywhere! Preview several hunts that you can expect to see soon at our official website TeamSouthernDraw.com.

JT – SD Prostaff

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2012 Alligator Random Drawing – “Successful”

The 2012 Florida Alligator season is just around the corner.  In Florida, we depend on the ever so reliable lottery system for residents and non-residents alike to draw annual alligator harvest tags.  Each year the guys and I throw our names into the basket to try our luck.  This year I prevailed in Phase I!  I got my first choice…Polk County, Week 1!  As for the rest of the team they were not so lucky.  “Unsuccessful” is the word of choice used by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.  Now the rest of the guys will have to sit by their computers and wait for Phase II, which by the way is, first come, first serve, in hopes to scoop up a leftover tag.  Let’s just hope the FWC website doesn’t crash as they are entering their credit card numbers.  

With my tag paid for and it slowly making its way to Lakeland, I can now start to prep for the upcoming season.  I already have a great lake picked out to hunt.  The guys and I tagged out on this lake last year; it truly is a hidden gem that seems to have very little pressure.   Central Florida has been in a drought this year, so lake levels across the state are very low.  Over the next couple of months I will make several trips out on the water to make sure there are no new obstacles.  The majority of our hunting is done under darkness so, it is always good to do some scouting during the day prior, not only to find where the bull gators are hanging out but to pin point any obstructions.   

Now is the time to start slowly but surely auditing my gear.  Bow lights need to be dusted off and mounted to the boat, snatch hooks need to be sharp and wire leaders inspected, harpoon and driver needs to be strong and most importantly the .357 bang stick needs to be operational.  Better to do this inspection now, rather than to find out on the first night of my hunt.  Would hate to have 12’ footer on the line and not have a bang stick that was working!

 Needless to say, I cannot wait for the August opener. I wish it started tomorrow!

Brock – SD Pro Staff

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New Beginnings!

The guys and I probably didn’t need to wait until the first of April to start planting our spring food plots.  This year it was warm enough in late January for seeds to start hitting the ground.  To be on the safe side we waited until any chance of a late winter freeze had passed.  Once that threat was gone watching the radar became as popular as the ESPN iPhone app.  I was tuning into the weather everyday in hopes that a front filled with rain would move in off the Gulf.  We all kept watching the radar, and watching the radar, and watching the radar…..NOTHING.  In fact we didn’t get a single drop of rain in the entire month of March.  The 31 consecutive dry days had me and the guys in my hunting group feeling a bit of anxiety.  We had been waiting to plant these plots since the New Year.

You see, we signed on to this lease at an odd time, first of January to be exact.  PJ happened to score this piece of property through an old realtor buddy that he always has in his back pocket.  It’s a small tract, perfect for our small group.  It is close to the home, which we all love.  The wildlife on the other hand…..is present, but hardly plentiful.  The property has potential.  It actually butts right up to a really large tract that has tons of prime habitats and our scouting trips confirm that the deer and turkeys just seem to pass through our section.  On the plus side, our land has a permanent water source, but its missing one thing, “FOOD”!  So the idea of food plots began.

Trail cameras were deployed, feeders were filled and we started taking inventory of the animals that were using our section of woods as a cut through.  We watched their habits and mapped out three food plot locations based on water sources and potential bedding areas.  Next we brought in the heavy equipment.  We sprayed and tilled the areas that we desired to plant.  Soil samples were pulled to determine nutrient availability and soil pH.  The samples concluded that our current pH was a 4.0 and nutrient levels were poor, not much likes growing in these conditions.  To correct the low pH we applied two tons of lime/acre in order to hopefully raise the pH two points (around 6.0) and we decided to use a complete fertilizer that contained a micro nutrient package during planting.  All of this prep worked was completed back in mid-February.  This is why we were all antsy.  It’s a lot of work prepping the plots and it’s a huge victory when you compete the planting.

So to get back to watching the weather…… We all decided that April 7^th was the day we would begin slinging seeds.  There was no rain in the three day forecast but waiting any longer was going to drive us all crazy.  Everyone showed up to the lease, and we all had the specific tasks of spreading, fertilizing, dragging or rolling.  For the plots we chose to use a local seed company’s blend of seed.  Hancock’s Spring & Summer Food Plot Seed Blend.  This blend was developed for use in the south, especially Florida.  We seeded at a rate of 50lbs/acre and the 10-10-10 fertilizer went down at 200lbs/acre.  The seeds and fertilizer went down as planned and it was a huge accomplishment getting all the plots finished on our new tract.  The pictures of deer standing in lush green fields can’t escape my head. Now all we can really do is pray for rain!

 

If you have any questions about food plot preparation, soil issues or plant fertility we’d be happy to help.  Shoot an email to….Adam@TeamSouthernDraw.com. We’ll keep you posted on the progress of the plots and hopefully the deer and turkeys move in real soon.

Adam, SD Pro Staff

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Bow Fishing the Waccasassa

It was another typical Monday night when I got the call.  Dave, a buddy of mine who is an archery coach at the Easton Newberry Sports Complex asked my girlfriend Stacey and I if we would like to go bow fishing.  Without hesitation I told him to count us in, instantly I knew the night was about to get a whole lot better.

I had never been bow fishing before and up until this point I had no idea what to expect.  The excitement was through the roof.  As we hustled to get to the Waccasassa boat ramp, we quickly realized that through all of the anticipation we had forgotten the most essential part to the hunt, THE BOWS!!  After a short laugh, we raced back to the house and grabbed the bows and soon returned to the water.

 

Ah at last! We are on the water.  After a little coaching, I felt ready to head out.  At this   point I am itching to let the arrows fly.  The conditions couldn’t have been more perfect, the weather was great, bow fishing is at its best at low tide because it makes it easier to spot fish lying on the river bottom.  With all that being said, we headed up the river towards Wekiva Springs; to an area Dave has been successful in the past.  This section of the river was teaming with fish.

The weapon of choice was nothing special, an old Eagle compound bow, with a draw set somewhere in the 50 lb range.  It was outfitted with a rest and fishing setup, nothing else.  A fancy sight, stabilizer, and an expensive sticker priced bow were not needed.  No need to worry about damaging this rig.

 

Here we go, Dave is running the trolling motor and the light, I have an arrow nocked, and within seconds we start spotting fish; more specifically long nose Gar.  Without hesitation I come to full draw and the next thing I know I’m letting em’ eat.  At first I was struggling with landing a fish.  What made it even harder was getting used to the refraction on the water surface and the fact that I was shooting bare fingers.  Taking all of those factors into account, I had to aim about a foot low.  Oh…. and when I say aim, I mean look down the shaft of the arrow.  No need for a sight, bow fishing is all about feel.  Once you got it, you’re golden!  One after another the fish never stopped coming.  As fast as I could shoot, another fish would come into range, forcing me to hustle to reel in my arrow and reset.  It was a nonstop adrenaline rush.

Dave is guiding the boat, I’m slinging arrows left and right, and my girlfriend Stacey is taking pictures and video.  What more could a man ask for?  The shot of the night was when I smoked a 30+ pound Gar.  This big boy was swimming deep.  We were able to troll right on top of him and, “BOOM”!  ”Smoke city”!  This was definitely a great experience and far exceeded my expectations; hopefully this is a sign of more bow fishing to come.  I cannot wait to plan another trip!

Sam, SD Pro Staff

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The Turkey’s Have Arrived!!

From the moment duck season ended, I immediately began to think about turkeys.  You see, the problem is, since the beginning of September I’ve been hunting at least two weekends out of every month.  My wife has grown tired of hearing the “H” word, so for the last month and a half, I’ve done my best to stick around the house and not say that word.  Over that quiet month, I managed to plan four solid days of nonstop turkey hunting.  

The first two days, I would spend with Adam, as he drew a quota permit for the Green Swamp WMA.  He asked me to tag along and do some scouting, calling and the heavy lifting of carrying the camera.  The fun began last Friday as we headed to the swamp to do some scouting.  The sign was everywhere!!   We also managed to see a couple stud gobblers feeding along the roads and the two us were instantly pumped!

Opening morning arrived; we walked to our spot which seemed like ten miles to me.  Got our set up situated and I immediately started running the scenario of a big gobbler strutting around the corner and coming to us on a string. Needless to say, it never happened.  We did however; hear a lone gobbler not far away.  We gave him our best calling, but he was having none of it and meandered away.

The next morning we were recharged and decided to go to another spot where we found a roost tree with tons of sign all around it.  We slipped into the woods to about 150 yards from the roost and waited.  Sure enough, at day break the ‘Ol Tom’ belted out to let us know he was on that tree.  “I knew this was it”!  I had the camera positioned perfectly to catch him coming in.  We saw and heard him fly down and he continued to gobble like crazy.  Again, we called, he responded, and unfortunately he went the other direction.  Adam and I were puzzled, “what could we have done wrong”?  I personally think those public land birds are of a finicky type.  Regardless, we had a great time, and saw some really nice birds.  It was time for me to push on.  That next morning started the second leg of my turkey trip.  As Adam and I were packing up to leave the WMA, I was so excited to get on the road.  I gave him the, “yeah yeah, well I’m going to get” routine, and off I went.  South Carolina bound!!

 As soon as I arrived, I hit the woods running to see if I could put a big boy to bed.  Sure enough, an hour before dark they started filtering in.  I had 3 gobblers roost 70 yards from where I was sitting. I had to wait until well after dark and basically army crawl out in order not spook them.

This morning felt like Christmas to me!  The other guys in camp were drinking coffee and just barely waking up.  Not me, I was as excited as a hound waiting at the back door, wondering if we were leaving yet.  We got to the woods and the fun began.  The chaos sounded like there were twenty gobblers in the woods.  I worked the group that I roosted the night before; and unlike the green swamp birds, they liked the music.  Within 30 minutes of sitting, here they come. Two rounded the corner strutting and before I could enjoy the show I fired a shot and had a tom down.  Sooner than I could even get to my bird, I heard one of the other guys, not far from me, shoot the other gobbler retreating from my shot.  A double in the first 40 minutes of day light!  

 Despite not scoring on public land, this was one of the best few days of hunting I’ve ever had.  I’ve been thinking about spring since the last season. Hunting turkeys really jacks me up and I’ve been rather lucky the last few years. The past four days went by way to fast and I’m already trying to figure out my next turkey trip!

P.J. SD Pro Staff

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Making Changes in the Off-Season

I finally broke down and purchased a new sight for my bow!  I mean…..my wife Julie bought me a new sight, kind of a late Christmas present you might say.  I am really excited about my new addition and can’t wait to have this one dialed in.  Personally I needed a new project.  Although a small one, it is definitely one that will keep me fresh during the off season.  I’ve been talking about changing my sight for at least a year, but the thought of messing with my bows accuracy bothered me.  I often find myself thinking, “if isn’t broke, don’t fix it”.  Ahhh, what the heck, I love shooting anyways and now I have even more of a reason to sling arrows after work. 

I did quite a bit of research before making my decision to go with the G5 Outdoors Optix XR.  You see when I am buying any hunting gear, especially equipment for my bow; each item has to meet certain criteria.  First, it has to be tough.  Durability is key, and for those of you that know me, you know I’m like a bull in a china shop.  I’m hard on equipment; you never know when I might fall down or fumble something.  Then it has to be versatile. Not all items can be versatile but it sure is a “plus” to know your gear is multi-functional, especially prior to hitting, “submit payment”.  The Optix XR is just that!  During shooting sessions I have the capability to make all different kinds of shots with the on demand, adjustable, hybrid floating pin.  Whether the shot be short or long, in the field or at a 3D shoot, this sight has everything I need.  Finally it has to be light weight.  The Optix XR is constructed of lightweight aluminum and although some may think this is minor, I however do not.  Personally it seems like each season I have more and more gear that travels to the woods with me.  Whether its camera gear, survival related supplies or my hunting rig, every ounce counts.  Especially when your three hours into a hike heading up to a saddle in the Uncompahgre National Forest.  That is when you have the conversation with yourself, “how can I make this load lighter”?  

Whether you are looking to get a whole new bow or just thinking about using a different broadhead, I recommend making these adjustments in the off season if at all possible.  Ideally you would like to have time to get used to a new product and see how it reacts during practice.  Ultimately this will make you more confident in your equipment and consequently a more prepared hunter.

Shoot More!

Adam, SD Pro Staff

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Are you really ready? Really?

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to take part in an exciting hunt for wild hogs with Archery Outfitters in Arcadia,FL.  This was a highly anticipated hunt that I have been preparing for over the last four months.  The trip was shared with great company and Archery Outfitters provided outstanding service, with what seemed to be nonstop action.  I look forward to returning next year, to REDEEM MYSELF!  Read on… 

Anyone out there who slings arrows knows it is just like any other sport (golf parallels greatly), practice makes perfect.  Us bow hunters spend a lot of time improving our craft, releasing hundreds of arrows all summer long.  Come mid September we trade in valuable practice time for long hours perched in a tree.  Sure, we may take some warm up shots from the bed of a truck before hitting the woods, but that typically just to check our equipment.  True practice for most, definitely takes a back seat during hunting season. 

 Knowing this exciting post season hunt was coming up; I fought through the tendency to let up on practicing.  My bow and my toss target were with me anywhere I could get some shots in.  So naturally, when I arrived in Arcadia on Friday, greeted by the boys from Red Arrow TV, I was feeling pretty dang confident.  

Fast forward to Saturday afternoon… I was surrounded by over 15 hogs, within 15 yards, at full draw with Brock on the camera.  Unfortunately that boasting confidence was not there!  Why not? I can make a 15 yard shot any day with my hands tied behind my back!  After holding my heavy Bear Bow at full pull for over a minute and a half, it hit me, my arms started to tremble; I have never practiced shooting after a long draw ever in my life!  I typically step up to the plate and take a swing the instant I have acquired my target.  I locked in on a nice sized boar after all the pigs settled down.  It was now or never!  I eased into my hairpin release and just as it was letting the string go, my dominant arm collapsed pass the let off point sending an erratic arrow down range!  Sadly a small pig took the hit as my boar ran off uninjured.  Although the little guy would surely taste good, I was highly disappointed in my performance.

 Moral of the story, practice for everything.  I may never get good at shooting accurately after holding a bow full draw for a long time, but I will at least learn my limits and know at what time I need to slowly let down and start fresh.  I do guarantee this; I will look like a hermit crab next year with one tough trained arm! 

JT, SD Pro Staff

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Who Says You Can’t Teach An Old Dog New Tricks?

Recently I have been learning to shoot a bow…ALL over again.  You see, back in January I suffered a devastating injury to my trigger finger.  Normally a broken finger wouldn’t set anyone back too far, but because of where it was broken I actually required surgery.  This unfortunate news was terrifying, only because the thought of missing the opportunity to hunt with the guys from Red Arrow was suddenly becoming a reality.  The threat of disappointment was too much to bear.

Surgery day came after what felt like months of waiting.  As the nurses continued to prep me for surgery, one question continuously tickled the tip of my tongue.  Finally the surgeon stopped by to explain what the procedure would entail.  After his explanation in some sort of foreign doctor tongue, he asked if I had any questions. “YES! How long will my recovery take?”  The doctor told me that I would have a pin in my finger for roughly ten weeks.  My heart sank.  Then a glimmer of hope came when he told me that I would have to explore my own limitations.

Three days after my procedure I called Adam and told him to bust out the Rinehart because it was time to sling some darts down range.  The first few were a little off….well way off.  I left proof in the form of ¼ inch sized holes in Adam’s fence.  Once I found a comfortable way to straddle the release with my busted finger it all seemed to come back to me.  We worked our way back to 40 yards and with every shot my confidence grew.  Now that we are only a week away from our trip to Arcadia I think I will be okay.  I look forward to putting a muzzy through Wilbur.

Brock, SD Pro Staff

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Out with Deer – In with Turkey!

Deer season is quickly coming to a close here in central Florida.  It has been a difficult year for me personally, the slowest season of my life to be honest.  Even sightings during all day sits seemed low.  Maybe it was just bad timing, maybe it was the weather?  It has been unusually warm….  It doesn’t help that work interfered with hunts, I was up and down for about a month with West Nile Virus, our new lease in central Georgia had a lot of problems, mostly lack of organization and quite frankly, I just ran out of time.  I know these are just excuses but they make me feel better.  Isn’t that what’s most important? 🙂  As bittersweet as the whitetail season coming to a close is, it is also a time for me to get excited.  It’s time to talk Turkey!!

Turkey hunting is an awesome time for me personally.  I get to run all over the woods, hunting with different people, chasing Eastern and Osceola birds, and did I mention that I don’t have to worry about scent control.  I set the Scent-A-Way to the side my friends. It is also one of the only times I can get my wife in the blind with her shotgun or her bow.  During most hunts she prefers to film rather than to be on the hot seat.  Hopefully this season we will be able to get her a bird within range. 

Hunting turkey this season is going to be interesting.  I have a few different hunting locations for the first time in a while and can’t wait to put the boots to the grind chasing some feathers.  One of my first hunts will be a public land 2 day quota hunt that will take place in the Green Swamp WMA.  I’m looking forward to this hunt and the running and gunning on this giant tract.  I also found a flock of birds on our new central Florida property and all I saw on stand this year at our Georgia lease were chickens.  One would think that the opportunities should be there.  We will see.  Hopefully my luck will change following a very uneventful whitetail season.  I’d better go get my diaphragm calls warmed up, it’s time to start annoying all of my employees for the days to come.  I’ll keep y’all posted.

Adam, SD Pro Staff

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