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.

Cypress Creek's new bowhunting camp

Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge is very excited about our new bowhunting camp here in the lowcountry of South Carolina where our hunters can pursue deer, boar and turkeys with their archery equipment on over 400 acres of prime land bordering the Savannah River. And we are now booking for these bow-only hunts that will include lodging in our rustic cabin that sits on a 32 acre pond loaded with big bass and includes a full kitchen so that hunters can fix their own meals. A screened-in skinning shed and walk-in cooler are also provided for hunters to process their kill in addition to a screened-in pavilion with grills for cooking and hanging out.

Hunters will find our South Carolina bowhunting camp all set up with 20ft ladder stands hung in the best spots on the property and overlooking timed feeders that dispense corn twice a day. Bowhunters are also encouraged to bring their own climbers if they wish to set their own stands to hunt the travel trails leading to the feeders or the rub/scrape lines left by the big bucks during the rut.

Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge has been offering bow hunts in South Carolina since its start 10 years ago, and we have had great success putting our bowhunters on game on the same lands used by our gun hunters. However we believe that this will be a unique opportunity for bowhunters to come to the South Carolina lowcountry and pursue deer, hogs and turkeys with their stick and string on game that hasn’t heard a gunshot in many years. This is because the 400+ acre tract is owned by the same person that owns the 4000 acres around it, which is only lightly hunted with bows as well. The only other neighbor to this tract is Groton Plantation, the renowned quail hunting plantation that covers over 26,000 acres and is carefully managed for the best game as well.

Our South Carolina bowhunting camp will accommodate 4 hunters a day, and we encourage you to call now to reserve your spot. Prime bowhunting dates are already being filled, so check out the Cypress Creek Bowhunting Camp page for prices and more information on what the hunt includes. And please note that there will be NO vehicles allowed on the property. Hunters will utilize a provided golf cart, 4 or 6 wheeler for retrieving their harvests to keep from disturbing any game.

Also note that for an additional $25 a day, hunters can come over to the main lodge just minutes down the road to eat the fantastic meals our cook will be preparing for our other guests. Hunters can also pay an additional $45-$55 for a guide to skin and quarter their kill.

Please call Becky at 1-877-520-2245 with any questions about our South Carolina bowhunting camp, to check availability for dates or to book your hunt. We truly look forward to having YOU down to the beautiful South Carolina lowcountry for some of the best bowhunting in the South!

Ken with a lowcountry double

We are fortunate to have lots of friends who hunt with us every year here at Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge. We even have some friends who hunt with us several times a year, and one of them is our buddy Ken from Florida.

You should recognize Ken because he has been featured several times here at the Cypress Creek Skinning Shed in just the last few months, once for his great velvet buck from this past August and once from late October when he shot a good buck in rut. Well, he has just been back to the lowcountry where he first shot a monster boar over on Boggy Creek, then killed a giant longbeard with Bubba at Roebuck Plantation. Congratulations to him on another great trip, and we are already looking forward to his next visit.

And that brings me to the point of this post. We truly enjoy each and every guest that we get to hunt with here in the lowcountry, and most of those guests we now consider friends, just like Ken. Friends that we look forward to sharing our woods with whenever they can get away for a few days and join us for some great South Carolina hunting.

Lem with his good boar off the River

That is also why we love to get emails like the one we received a while back from Scott out of Virginia talking about how much he and his friend Lem loved their visit, and how they would be back. Again, visited as a guest and will now be returning as a friend.

Danny,

Just thought I would share that. And a big thank you to everyone that comes back time and time again to “pursue the experience”.

Jeff

Bruce, his two birds and the turkey master

We are now about half way through our South Carolina Spring turkey hunting season, and it has been marked by lots of rain and wind. As a matter of fact, this past Thursday the lowcountry received over 6 inches that completely flooded out all of the hardwood bottoms! However, while the bad weather has made the season more difficult, it surely hasn’t kept us from killing some great gobblers and hogs. And even when the hunters came away with a close call or missed opportunity, they were all still having a fantastic time, and that is always the most important thing when hunting.

Al with his great Boggy Creek hog

As for our two Maryland turkey hunters, they struck out while visiting the lowcountry, however Lee had a good look at an old bird when he slipped in quietly to my calling and only 8 yards from his hiding spot. Unfortunately he was facing the wrong way for a shot since he was preparing for another bird that was gobbling and coming quick - but that is real turkey hunting, and sometimes your best hunt is the one where you don’t bag the bird. They also didn’t leave empty handed since Lee’s good friend Al hammered a nice hog during their stay.

Henry and Brian with the broken fan bird

Bubba then quickly got more turkey kills on the board when he first called in a nice longbeard for one of our longtime guest’s son, Jim from North Carolina, then put Bruce, down from Illinios, on two nice gobblers which he took with one shot. And talk about a great hunt, Bruce, who was down for his fifth trip to Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge, finished his visit by shooting a great hog.

Mike and I with two of the wettest birds I have ever seen

However Henry and I didn’t want to be left out of all of the action so we got hard to work for two brothers, Brian and Mike, down from upstate NY to pursue the redheads here in South Carolina along with two of their good friends who have been hunting with Cypress Creek since it opened, Tom and Walt. Tom started the group’s successful trip off by killing a HUGE boar over at Sandy Run during their first afternoon, and then Henry called in a great bird with a broken fan right across from the lodge for

The Upstate New York Crew: Walt, Mike, Tom and Brian

Brian on day two - and amazingly enough, Mike had almost killed that bird the day before. Mike and I finished their trip up by killing two birds during the storm of the century Thursday morning in which it rained so hard that you could hardly see out of the blinds and the turkeys had to turn in to it to keep it from getting under their feathers.

Bruce and his lowcountry boar

Now we have some hog hunters in camp as well as Ken from Florida who hunts with us several times a year. Ken is after a big gobbler this week, however he has already taken a great boar

Bubba and Jim with his big gobbler

over on Boggy Creek during his first afternoon hunt. And according to Danny when he called me tonight, two of the other hunters put down good pigs last night at Sandy Run. So I already have more great stories and harvest shots to share with you this week. Thanks for reading.

Jeff

Rob with his BBQ pig and Ted with his big gobbler

The excitement of turkey season continued this week as we pursued big gobblers with four of the NYPD’s finest. For three mornings we hiked them around our beautiful lowcountry, called like crazy and really had a blast. Unfortunately it was a rough couple of days for turkey hunting, and between the wind and the fog, it just really kept the birds tight lipped. Only Ted killed a longbeard when Marshal, our Quaker Boy pro staff guide, used his best tricks to pull his first turkey in on their last morning. All of the others heard and saw birds, and a there were a couple of real close calls; just no other kills. But that is turkey hunting.

Bob finishing his lowcountry hunt with a nice hog

Along with the NYPD crew, we also had four NC hunters as well as two bow hunters down from MN who spent their afternoons going after the hogs. Jack from NY was the first to shoot a big pig followed by Rob who killed his while we were turkey hunting when a pack of 25 come trotting by. Quite a few others saw sows with small pigs while Jerry, our MN bowhunter who was down with his son Jason, had several shot opportunities on hogs but just didn’t drop the string… he said that he was enjoying his hunt to much!

I also need to congratulate Henry on putting Jeff with our PA group that started turkey season with us on a nice bird before they left. That put that group 4 for 4 on the redheads! Congrats to PA group member Foxy as well for killing a couple of real nice boars over on Boggy Creek during a morning sit and to Bob Jr. for shooting a nice hog on the River tract while they were here.

Foxy with his wife Rose and his two nice boars that he killed over on Boggy Creek during a morning sit.

I am now waiting to get the pictures of a couple of real nice hogs that a young man and his dad killed on Saturday night, and I will get those up along with the details of our two Maryland turkey hunters as soon as I can.

Jeff

Bubba, Tom, Danny, Bob Jr., Marshal and Bob Sr.

Spring has come to the lowcountry of South Carolina and with it, turkey hunting season at Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge. We started off slow with no birds taken on day 1 by our 4 hunters, but the weather was really foggy and the birds just weren’t gobbling for our group down from PA. However with even worse conditions Monday, 3 of our guests killed big toms! Check out Bob Sr. and his guide Marshal, Bob Jr. with owner/guide Danny Harrell and Tom with Bubba “turkey master” Johnson. Congratulations to all of them.

Our successful turkey hunters and five more of their friends are all down for four days, and they have also been after the the hogs. As usual, lots have been seen and quite a few have been missed. But Foxy (Clarence) showed how to do it Sunday Morning on Boggy Creek when he shot two. Their friend Mike from Charleston who came over for one day also added to the hog count when he shot a big sow Sunday night on the River tract.

The elusive lowcountry swamp ape or Henry?

The PA group all headed back to the River last night, and I understand that a lot more pigs were seen and at least one more good hog was killed. The four turkey hunters also have this morning for chasing big gobblers, so I will let you know how they finish up along with some pictures of their hogs in the next day or so.  I will also be backtracking to get some of the pictures of the hogs that our guests killed over the last few days up. However I thought until I can get them up, everyone would enjoy seeing some of the trailcam shots that we got from down at the River…

Jeff

Our guide Henry with a guest from last year and his big tom

Our turkey hunting season here in the South Carolina lowcountry starts up on Sunday March 15th, and we are ready to put our hunters on some big longbeards.

The birds have been gobbling off and on for the last few weeks, but with the warm weather we have had lately, they have really kicked it into gear. The big, segregated flocks of birds have finally broken up, and our hog hunters are now hearing  lots of vocal birds and seeing quite a few gobblers with hens in the food plots, around the feeders and in the freshly burned areas.

We are pretty booked up for the first couple of weeks of the South Carolina turkey hunting season. However we still have some spots later on into April, so call now if you want to get in on pursuing some of our lowcountry redheads. Please note that we will also still be offering some great hog hunts during our turkey season as well. And we do things a little bit differently than some lodges to keep our success rate up. We do this by not hunting the same areas for our hogs as we do for our turkeys. This allows us to keep corn on the ground for the hogs without breaking the no-baiting law for our turkey hunts.

As for our hog hunters, they were still putting down the pork even in the warm weather that slowed our wild hog movement last week as well as in the driving rain this past weekend. Two of the hunters in camp were teenage ladies who were looking to kill a big boar with their bows, and they both got shots at good hogs. Unfortunately we were unable to find either one due to marginal hits. We also had a group down from Maryland, and they did harvest a couple of hogs, and I am now waiting and hoping that they will send the pics on down since I was off the day they left.

We now are back into some really cold weather (it was 20 the last two mornings!), and we have 10 at the lodge this week looking to bag a big hog. Eight are from Maryland, and two are down from Pennsylvania. On Monday night they hunted Boggy Creek and Sandy Run , and several hunters saw hogs but no one took a shot. Tuesday afternoon Bubba and Henry managed to get them down to the River tract after letting the road dry out from our weekend of torrential rains, and they killed a couple of good eating size porkers. I should have the whole story and pictures in my next post. Until then, enjoy some trailcam shots of our birds from last week.

Jeff