The Cypress Creek Skinning Shed

As many of our regular readers and guests know, Danny loves to bear hunt. And this past week he had another opportunity to head North to Canada to hunt with our good friend Jamie Ford. And joining Danny were his buddies Mike Casstevens and our master guide Bubba Johnson.

Well, Bubba and Mike both killed great bears - over 300 pounds with great coats - while Danny filmed it all! Bubba shot his with a bow while Mike stuck his with a crossbow. They said that they had an amazing time while there and can’t wait to go back. And just check out Bubba and his bear… can you imagine having to be on the look out for that thing while looking for your wounded hog??? Yikes!

And before everyone left for Canada, two of Danny’s three sons had the opportunity to come down from NC to visit and hit the woods for the afternoon - and Chris was fortunate enough to have a nice boar trot by him just before dark. That is him sitting next to his 200 pounder along with a nice 8 point that Bubba was lucky enough to harvest before he left for Canada too.  Then, the next day, Danny, Chris and Ryan along with guides Bubba, Justin and Henry, hit our dove field for some afternoon shooting and did pretty well. Check them out doing the dirty work after the shoot…

As for the hunting here in the lowcountry at Cypress Creek, we have still been in a holding mode waiting for the pre-rut to crank up and the majority of our guests to arrive. However, we are almost there, and we have a lodge full this weekend hoping to put some meat in the freezer, so I look forward to bringing everyone some more hunting stores from the lowcountry next week.

PS: Don’t forget to check out Deer City USA on the Outdoor Channel. Kerry Earnhardt’s hunt with us from December is on this week!

Jeff

Eric with his daughter and her first hog

We knew it couldn’t last forever… our nice, cool Spring here in the lowcountry has finally given way to the hot, buggy weather of summer. And like I talked about in our last post, so has our summer hunting slow down.

We just had two small groups hunting with us this past weekend, and between the lack of rain, the intense heat and the high water in the swamp pushing the hogs to higher ground, the movement wasn’t great. We did have one good hog killed, one missed and one coyote shot. Gary, down from Pittsburgh, killed the beautiful young song dog while Lee, visiting from Tennessee, hammered the nice hog.

Lee, down from Tennessee, with his River tract hog

We also haven’t had many hunters the last two weekends, but one of the ones we did have was Eric over from Grays Court, South Carolina with his daughter to see if she couldn’t get her first wild pig. She missed one, but did get to take another home! We truly congratulate her on her first hog as well as her dad for taking the time to introduce another young hunter to our great sport.

As for us here at Cypress Creek, we are already using our summer slowdown to our best advantage. Danny has just gotten us a couple of new tracks of land for this coming deer season, so we are working hard right now on getting their roads cleaned up, the stands set up, feeders hung up and shooting lanes trimmed. And on these new tracks we will be hunting and shooting any legal buck, so they will work great for those hunters looking to take a lot of tasty venison home starting August 15th.

Gary, down from Pennsylvania, with his young coyote

We are also still working on our bowhunting-only camp, and it is really coming along as well. We now have the pond-side cabin in great shape, stands out and the feeders up and running. As a matter of fact, we saw quite a few hogs over there the other day just waiting for our first hunters to give them a try with their stick and string.

Other than working on all of our vehicles and equipment, our other big project is getting Pleasant Hill Plantation, our 3000 acre trophy property, ready to go for opening day. And now that turkey season is over, and we can put out corn again, we are working on getting all of the feeders hung back up and slinging those golden nuggets out for our monster bucks.

We still have a some openings at the lodge for the first two weeks of the season, so please call Becky at 1-877-520-2245 to find out exactly what dates we have left and on which tracts. We would love for you to join us in pursuing bucks with velvet-covered horns, especially since they travel in bachelor groups for those first two weeks. Therefore when you see one buck, you normally see several. These bucks on their summer travel patterns also tend to move quite a bit during daylight hours, making them easier to harvest… and what hunter doesn’t like those improved odds?

Jeff

Brett with his monster Lowcountry boar

All of us here at Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge have had an amazing time showing our guests the best of our Lowcountry this Spring during our hog and turkey hunts. So it is with mixed emotions that we wrap up our Spring turkey season and throttle back on our hog hunting.

We still have some groups booked for hog hunting adventures this summer. However not only do we have less hardcore hunters looking to sit in the 100 degree heat with mosquitoes the size of crows, but we use the summer months to prepare our lands for the fall. There is just so much to do before August’s opening of deer season including building and repairing stands, planting food plots and servicing all of our vehicles including our vans, 4 wheeler, 6 wheeler, golf cart and tractor; they just all take such a beating during most of the year that there is not one of them that isn’t ready for some TLC!

However while we will be working getting ready for this fall, we would still love to have anyone down that would like a good hog hunt. Like I said, it will be hot and a bit buggy, but with so few hunters in the woods during this time, it makes for a great opportunity to get after hogs with little pressure. We are also booking right up for our velvet buck hunts, so make sure and reserve your spot ASAP if you are planning on joining us… And remember that we have deer hunts where you can shoot any legal buck, trophy lands where we have lots of monsters and our bow hunting-only camp where NO guns are allowed - so we have no shortage of great early-season hunts for our guests.

The PA group: Peter, Joe, Brent and Scott

And like I talked about before, those guests will then become friends like Scott who just emailed us and included a few pictures of his friend Brett…

Danny and Becky –

Our group had a wonderful time with you last week.  You run a first class organization, and your assistance with our fallen cousin was truly appreciated.  Hunting in the south is different — very good different.  You are an organization of gentlemen.

We look forward to coming back and hunting with you.  It was a blast.

--
Scott M. Amori, Esq

Cal and Harrison (left) with their friends and Boggy Creek hogs from a March hunt

PS: We have been so busy this Spring, and with guests leaving at all hours, we haven’t gotten pictures of every hog that we have harvested. So if you have any pictures of your group’s kills, please email it to us along with any of the details of the hunt. We would love to include everyone on here!

Thanks,  Jeff

Cypress Creek's new bow camp

That’s right. Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge now offers a bowhunting-only camp here in South Carolina for our stick and string shooters!

We have always had a lot of bow hunters that stayed with us, and they generally had great success while hunting our deer and hogs off of the same lands our gun-toting guests use. However, as any hunter can tell you, hunting pressure can have a huge affect on their success rate. And of course the loud report of a gun always does more damage to the tranquility of the woods than does the quiet release of an arrow from a bow. Couple this with the fact that it is just MUCH harder to get any animal within the magic 30 yard window most bowhunters are comfortable taking a shot in, and a hunter using a bow has really set him or herself up against some tough odds on any piece of hunting ground.

However as committed bow hunters know, removing all of the gun-hunting pressure from the woods can really aid in keeping deer and wild boar moving freely and a little easier to coax into that 30 yard window of opportunity. And we have now done that with our new bowhunting-only camp located on 400 acres of beautiful lowcountry woods that sits right off of the Savannah River and is loaded with big deer and hogs.

Up to 4 guests who come to hunt this pristine new area will have sole access to this tract as well as to the unique, quaint old cabin that not only sits on the property, but directly on a beautiful 22 acre pond. Hunters will also have the option of bringing/preparing their own food or joining us over at our Luray lodge just minutes down the road for their meals. And no vehicle traffic will be allowed either - just a quiet electric golf cart to navigate the property or the hunters’ feet. And when you combine these restrictions with the fact that this tract has not been hunted at all in the last 3 years and only hunted before that by special guests of the owner who also owns the 4000 acres next door, you have the makings of a bowhunters dream hunt in the South Carolina lowcountry.

Please call Becky at 1-877-520-2245 if you have any questions about our new bowhunting camp or to be first to book a hunt at it.

PS: While he didn’t get it on our new bow-only tract, check out our good friend Justin with his nice 100 lb boar that he shot Monday afternoon with his bow over on our River tract - his first wild hog kill with his archery tackle. Congratulations Justin!

Jeff

After 4 and a half months, deer season at Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge is coming to a close tomorrow, and we have quite a few hunters in camp trying to finish the year by killing one. And fortunately the warm weather gave way to a nice cold front for these last few days, so our guests have been doing pretty well, and I expect that to continue right through the end of official shooting light on New Year’s Day.

This final week of the season, we had several hunters shoot a doe for some last-minute meat including a 12-year-old girl who killed her first deer. Another hunter shot a good 8 point with a 17 inch spread last night over at Pleasant Hill while a visitor from North Carolina shot his first wild hog ever Monday night over on Boggy Creek. So please check back, and I will have the pictures up of everything that we killed this week along with more details.

Until then, from everyone here at Cypress Creek, please have a safe and happy New Year!

Danny, Becky and all of us here at Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. We also would like to thank all of our friends that have hunted with us over the years, and we look forward to sharing the camp with you again!