Quest for the Thunder Chickens – 2011 Part 1

The Quest for Thunder Chickens has begun. This is going to be one of the funniest spring yet. This year I am starting my turkey season down in North Carolina. My best friend lives in SE NC and he put us in for a special tag to hunt, from what he says it is a prime game land area. He also has reported that we could very well have the best week to hunt, the birds really haven’t started to talk down there.

Our tag is for a 3 day hunt on a game land of about 1000 acres. The nice thing about this particular game land is that limited to only to only 6 tags per hunt period so we will almost have it to ourselves. This is my first out of state hunt for turkey and the first time I had to fly with a firearm. The process went very smoothly. Just a little tip if your going on a trip take a serious look at shipping all your hunting gear and cloths via UPS it saved me $80 bucks doing this. I found that it was cheaper and way easier to just check the gun as baggage.

All you need to fly with a gun is a hard sided gun case and some TSA approved locks for the case. When you get to the airport you have to declare the gun at check-in inside the airport(not curbside for guns).They will then walk you down to a TSA check location for the gun, then you’re on your way. I went ahead and placed a trigger lock on the gun. It is also a good idea to write all your serial numbers for your gun and have them with you just in case something happens. I have heard stories of people having their locks cut after checking the gun in so I also placed a sign on both sides asking them not to cut my locks. Not sure if it will stop them if they wanted to cut them, but hey it was worth a try.

Once on the ground(flown into Myrtle Beach) we made a stop for some lunch and quick look at the local Bass Pro Shop. From there it was an hour drive north. On the way we took a little trip through the Game Land. My buddy gave me a good tour and told me where he saw birds last year. One thing to keep in mind is that this land is gated and locked up most of the year and you can not get on it. The only time the land is open to hunting is the last 3 days of the week, so this game land gets little hunting pressure or human traffic besides the logging that takes place on it from time to time. There does seem to be a lot of undergrowth in some areas, which reminds me of the land I hunt in Michigan, so there is a lot of turkey due to the great nesting cover the land has.

After that it was on to where I will be staying. After a quick change of clothes it was time to head on down to the beach for a little surf fishing for that last few hours of light. The wind was not the greatest and the tide was very weak. We only managed to get one fish for are 2 hours of fishing. It was a fish know locally as a Sea Mullet or Whiting. The actual name is Southern Kingfish, not to be confused with king mackerel, which are typically called kingfish.

On the slate for day two is more fishing. So stay tuned for more “Quest for the Thunder Chickens – 2011”

Justin Clark

Justin runs Michigan's premier fishing and outdoor blog Out in Michigan.com. He is also a local fishing guide, tournament angler and freelance writer and manages the newest tackle shop on Lake St. Clair "Sportsmen's Direct. He has been featured in regional publications like Michigan Outdoor News, Woods-n-Waters, Great Lakes Angler and a few others. Justin has made several TV appearance in recent years.

He has a true passion of sharing his knowledge with other anglers and non-anglers alike within the communities surrounding the waters that he loves to fish. Justin is a true multi-species nut. He can be found chasing everything from Bass, Carp ,Walleye, Muskie and everything in between. His background and experiences studying Ichthyology, Microbiology, and River Ecology gives him a totally unique view on fishing.