The Cypress Creek Skinning Shed

Ruben and his 8 point

We have finally reached the last 10 days of hunting for 2009, so it is time to rap things up. And fortunately we had some nice, cold weather to usher the 4.5 month long deer season out, and that helped force the deer and hogs to move to eat and survive.

That cold-induced movement allowed Danny’s friend Ruben to take a nice 8 point buck over on Pleasant Hill and Patrick, down from Lynchburg VA, to shoot a good 160 pound hog over on Boggy Creek.

Patrick with a good Boggy hog

We also had our good friend Ken C. up from Florida the week before last, and as usual, he took a couple of nice deer. First he killed a good doe with his son in the stand with him, then shot a funky, thick-racked buck to finish his season up.

Ken with his thick 7 point

And we aren’t done yet since we still have a few hunters coming in next week after Christmas. However until they arrive,  everyone here will be taking some time off to enjoy the holidays. So from everyone here at Cypress Creek, we would like to wish everybody a very Merry Christmas.

Since the season is finally winding down, we haven’t had much going on around the lodge this week. So I thought it was about time to break back into some of Danny’s video library to see what else he had in there. And sure enough, he still has plenty of great footage to be shared here at the Skinning Shed.

This clip is of Kelly, from Outdoor Moments with Bub and Kelly, attempting to take a great buck… I thought that everyone would appreciate it since it shows that the TV personalities are no better of a shot than anyone else - they just happen to have their “mistakes” captured on film for everyone to see. I also love the fact that the buck just stands there in total defiance of Kelly after the shot as well as that the video shows why the single shot rifles are great when your first shot does the job, but SUCK when they don’t .

We also have hunters back in camp this week, so we are ready to report on some deer being put down on the ground in next week’s post. And since two have already been knocked down in the COLD, rainy weather, I feel certain that we will talking about late-season kills and not the warm weather that has plagued us this entire season. So stay tuned for more updates, and until then, check out Steve from Florida with his lowcountry double.

Also, please note that our 2010 Spring Turkey season is just around the corn, so if you are planning on pursuing the red heads with us, you had better get on the horn and make your reservations soon to ensure that you get the dates you want.

Sgt. Greg Stube and his lowcountry hog

Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge was privileged earlier this week to have a great American war hero, Greg Stube, come and hunt with us along with a couple of his friends including Kerry Earnhardt.

You can read all about Greg here in an interview with Glenn Beck, but basically he was a Special Forces field medic who was wounded horribly by an IED during combat in Afganistan in 2006 and lived to tell about it. Now, 17 surgeries later and still in the Army, Greg works with the Special Operations Command Public Affairs Office as a spokesman for the US Army. He is also a representative with the Wounded Warrior Foundation where he travels around the country working with and supporting veterans as well as promoting the use of the outdoors and hunting as part of a healing regiment for wounded veterans.

Greg’s group spent two days at our new bow camp, and they had a great time hanging out by the Savannah River and hunting the hardwoods that run along it’s banks. And after lots of sightings of deer and a few hogs, Greg came out on top when he stuck a great hog right at dark on his last afternoon sit. So congratulations to Greg, and we look forward to the next time we are are blessed to have him here with us.

We also had a small group down from VA and MD, and they too had a great time. However our winter heat wave continued to make the hog hunting tough for everyone, and while this group had a few sightings, none were taken out on the back on the vans.

We now have about a week and a half off before we have more hunters, so everyone is taking a few days to catch up on their sleep and rejuvinate themselves for some late-season hunting. However we have some new trailcam photos to keep everyone entertained, and next week we get back into some of the great video footage we have in our archives. So stay tuned!