The Cypress Creek Skinning Shed

Ken with his 2009 Spring gobbler

We are now just 3 weeks away from the start of our South Carolina lowcountry turkey hunting season, and the big red-headed birds are starting to get fired up. The nice, warm weather has finally arrived after almost 3 months of nonstop rain and cold, and that has got the gobblers gobbling. And while we are still seeing the big winter flocks still holding together, we are already seeing many of the hen groups being joined by strutters, so you know that the breeding is about to begin. That means that it is almost time to pull out the vests, the snake boots and the thermacells and hit the woods in search of giant longbeards.

Hank with his 150lb Boggy Creek boarsearch of giant longbeards.

And whether you are an old hand or just a newcomer to the sport of turkey hunting, you don’t want to miss the opportunity to hit the South Carolina woods with us since turkey season provides our guests one of the most unique hunts South Carolina has to offer - the Spring gobbler/Hog combo. Because while you have the option of hunting turkeys all day, many of our hunters choose to chase the redheads in the morning and then switch gears and guns to pursue hogs from a stand in the afternoons. This really works out great since the mornings usually provide the most vocal time of day for gobblers, making for an exciting hunt that usually includes quite a bit of walking, while the PM hunt offers the best time of day for big hogs and is done from stationary tree stands where you can relax and recover from the AM hunt. So give Becky a call to see what dates we still have open, and come join us for some great South Carolina turkey hunting.

Hogs working to replenish what we kill :)

Lowcountry hogs enjoying our rare snowfall

As for this past weekend’s hog hunt, it set a new record: Most Fun During Most Disappointing Hunt :O  Our West Virginia group came in after our properties had sat mostly undisturbed all week only to find that the hogs were mostly holding tight to the cover during daylight hours. The hogs just weren’t moving well due to the bright  moon, and the VA boys only got three chances at hogs - which they all missed - and one shot at a coyote - which was grazed. Fortunately the VA posse has been to the South Carolina lowcountry many, many times and know exactly how the hog movement can be. They are also not a group that lets ANYTHING stand in the way of them having a fantastic time, and this trip was no exception. They truly had a great time, and we can’t wait to have them back again so that we can give them another shot at our porkers.

Fortunately right before our VA group rolled in, we had two hunters in camp from LA, and Hank managed to knock down a nice 150 pound pig over on Boggy Creek for our only hog kill of the week. We now have another couple of days without hunters, so we are giving the woods some more quiet time and us some more rest while we get things ready for our Spring gobbler season. Hope to see you here for it.

Just in case we haven’t had enough crazy weather affecting the hog hunting this Winter, we now have one more condition to add to the constant rain and windy conditions the lowcountry has experienced - SNOW!

That’s right. The South Carolina lowcountry was pummeled by about 4 inches of the white stuff on Friday night, leading to quite the sight on Saturday morning for our hog hunters. However while it was beautiful to look at, it did absolutely nothing to help get the hogs moving, and not an animal (deer, turkey, hog, squirrel, etc) was seen from the stands.

The VA Crew: Bruce, Stanley, Donnie and Bobby

Fortunately, after the snow melted off Saturday afternoon, the animals were hungry and started moving again. This allowed Chris, across the road from the lodge on the Bowers tract, to kill a nice 90 pound boar while his dad Robert, in the next stand down, to first miss a hog, then graze another. The warming afternoon conditions also enabled our hunters at Boggy Creek and the Lower End tract to see some hogs, but unfortunately no one was able to get a shot due to either sows with piglets or the lack of a clean shot.

Tyler with his sow from the River

However before the snow came, the weather was a little better for the couple of hunters we had during the week, and several of them were able to put some pork down. In our group from northern VA,  Bruce shot a nice 165 lb boar during a morning hunt at Sandy Run while his dad, Donnie, hammered a big 220 lb slow over off Boggy Creek during an afternoon sit. We also had Tyler, whose wife bought him his hunt, down from Ohio with his buddy Doyle, and Tyler shot a nice sow down on the River while Doyle missed a song dog at Boggy.

Robert and his son Chris with his Bowers tract boar

The lowcountry is supposed to get even more rain with windy conditions tonight, but in honor of President’s Day, the Cypress Creek crew is taking a few days off to get some rest, allow the woods to quiet down and give the weather another chance to straighten up. So we will be back and ready to go when our next big group rolls in to the lowcountry on Friday. See you then!

VA's Steven with his bow kill boar

Boar hunting in the South Carolina lowcountry during February is truly hard to beat. We generally have nice, cold temps to keep the big boars moving and not a lot of natural food left for them to eat, so that just creates great conditions for killing one around our feeders and food plots.

David with a big feral hog

And several of our guests this past week did just that. Steven, down from our nation’s capital, stuck a great 180 lb boar with an arrow. He was part of the group at the bow camp who all had to leave a little early to get home before the HUGE snowstorm that took over their DC area. However they all had a fantastic hunt, saw lots of hogs and several others had shot opportunities but were busted on the draw… Sounds like a great bowhunting trip to me!

While they were at the bow camp, we also had several hunters at the lodge. And they too had good success on the big hogs. David, down from Il, shot a nice 160 pound hog right behind the lodge during  a super windy afternoon. And that was AFTER missing two others first!!! We also had Eric over from Bray’s Island (about 30 minutes away from us) with friends Jim and Cyril, and they all saw hogs too. Eric ended up taking a 150 pound boar over on our Lower End tract while his buddy Jim missed a huge boar down on the river and Cyril held off on shooting due to the fading light during his hunt over on Boggy Creek.

Eric from Bray's Island with a Lower End pig

Steve from VA and his 120 boar

Then we had Allen from Columbus, GA who killed a nice hog down on the River despite the heavy rain and wind. And that left Steve, from Northern VA, to clean up after everyone else had left, and he took home two. First he killed a 120 lb boar behind the lodge, then missed another one before getting the crosshairs back on a 130 lb boar that was running with over 30 other hogs down on the River. His friend Robert also had an opportunity, but just didn’t close the deal.

So, another great week of boar hunting here in South Carolina despite more tough hunting conditions. And with the lowcountry about to get some more rain and high winds, it will probably be another tough week . But we expect to keep putting the hogs down, and as soon as some better weather shows up, we look forward to doing even better! Come join us if you can.

GA's Allen and his River boar

Robert with Steve and his 130lb boar

Thomas and his River boar

Here in the lowcountry, we are still dealing with freezing temperatures along with tons of rain. And the combination continues to keep the hogs from moving very well.

We had a group from NC at the lodge this past weekend, and while a few hogs were seen despite the horrible weather, no hogs were taken. So in addition to the always uncontrollable weather, the following reasons kept the cooler bare for our hunters: sows with very young piglets, a big running boar that wouldn’t stop for a clean shot and a HUGE hog that just didn’t get inside the magic 30 yard radius that our bowhunter needed for an ethical shot… These are all just things that happen when you are hunting fair chase, free range animals on their turf ….

However, while we only had a few hunters earlier in the week, the conditions were definitely better and so was the hog movement for them. That allowed Thomas, home locally during leave from the military, to harvest a nice boar over on the River during his one day hunt. The decent winter weather also helped Tony, down from Laurens, SC, to also take a nice 130 pound sow down on the River as well. So congratulations to both of them.

And since the guides had some extra time this week, they not only were able to get up a few new bow stands, they also had a chance to get the trailcams moved around a bit as well as check what was on there from last week. Sure enough, some more great pics of life in the lowcountry woods including quite a few shots of nice pigs hitting the corn during the mid afternoon and big gobblers teasing us with images of their dangling beards.

As for the week ahead, we have 4 hunters at the bow camp for 5 days. And since the hogs have really been hammering the place, we are just hoping that the hunters will get a few breaks in the bad weather that is forecast to plague the South Carolina lowcountry for the next week and allow the big boars to move for them.

As always, we look forward to sharing their adventures with you next week. And please note, we are only weeks away from our South Carolina turkey hunting season that starts on March 15 and runs through the end of April, so make sure and call Becky to check what dates are still available… Spring is not only beautiful in the lowcountry, but it is truly one of the best times to be in the woods pursuing our big longbeards and giant hogs.

PS: Included in this post is a great shot of Matthew, down from GA during the last week of deer season.  Check out the two nice bucks that he was able to take during his visit. So not only a huge congrats on his fine deer, but a big thank you for emailing us the shots for us to share here on the Cypress Creek Skinning Shed

Mathew and his two late December bucks