The Cypress Creek Skinning Shed

If you missed the first one, you don’t want to miss the next opportunity to attend Tactical Rifles, Inc long-range shooting class that will be held here at Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge on Sept. 17 and 18.

Just like before, the class will be held on our 1000 yard rifle range and start at 1pm on Friday and run through 5pm on Saturday. All guns and ammo will be provided, and the only charge will be for the ammo used by each student. Shooting during the class will be with everything from the 204 Ruger to the 300WSM, and will be done from benches, a shooting house and from the prone position. Students attending the long-range shooting class can either stay in one of the local motels or pay $100 a night per person to stay at our lodge with all meals provided as well.

If you are not familiar with Tactical Rifles long-range shooting classes, please read about the one we had in May here. I would also encourage anyone that doesn’t know about the incredible custom rifles that Tactical Rifles creates to read some of the reviews of their work from Guns Magazine, Rifle Shooter and Special Weapons.

Registration for the class will be closed when we hit 20 students, so please call us ASAP if you are interested in joining us for this unique opportunity.

Simply amazing!

That is all most of the “students” of last weekend’s long-range shooting class could respond with when asked about the two day event held at Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge by custom rifle maker Tactical Rifles, Inc.

The class was designed to assist the 20 shooters in attendance move past the 400-500 yard mark that most were comfortable with and reach out to distances of up to 1000 yards. This was accomplished with the instruction and guidance of David Rooney, the owner of Tactical Rifles, as well as two professional snipers, Chris and Dennis. We were also truly fortunate to have our friend and special guest, Special Forces Sgt. Greg Stube, assisting them.

Shooters were able to try out an assortment of unbelievable custom rifles made by Tactical Rifles and chambered in everything from 204 Ruger to the 300 WSM, with the lighter calibers being in the M4 tactical, and the heavier calibers in the M40 sniper versions. And on these two styles of rifles were different combinations of every accessory you could think of including muzzle breaks and suppressors that made shooting Tactical Rifles’ incredible concoctions much nicer on the shoulder. In addition, all of the custom rifles were topped by prime optics from both Nightforce and Leupold with both adjustable turrets and/or range-compensating reticles..

The class started with some instruction on the theories and practices of long-range shooting and then quickly went right into the hands-on part where we were basically set up with one of the instructors and a rifle of our choosing to put some lead down range. David, Chris, Greg and Dennis then were able to share with us how to maximize the stability of the rifle on just a bipod, correct for the right amount of bullet drop for a given distance and then assess the wind to compensate for the bullet’s drift. We then shot up to our 1000 yard range’s maximum distance while the instructors critiqued our form in addition to continually helping us reevaluate the changing wind and increasing mirage that came about as the day’s heat increased.

By the end of the two day event, everyone was absolutely hammering the targets out to 800 yards and doing pretty well on the 900 and 1000 yard marks. However David, Chris, Greg and Dennis were not surprised since they contend that any experienced shooter with good form and their precision rifles carrying the best optics should be able to the same!!! And if you are curious as to what makes Tactical Rifles’ creations different from the gun you are currently shooting, please check out their website’s links to several articles/reviews that explain how they achieve their amazing accuracy - with FACTORY ammo no less! Also, please check their site out as well if you are considering purchasing a new rifle… There are 20 students that will guarantee that you will NOT be disappointed!

Cypress Creek and Tactical Rifles are already planning their next long-range shooting class for sometime in September, so if you are interested in getting in on it, you had better call ASAP and get your reservation in.

As for the hunting here in the lowcountry, things have been pretty slow due to the heat and lack of rain (until yesterday!) as well as due to not having but a few hunters at the lodge. However two of our good friends from Canada, Todd and Jamie Ford, who were down for the shooting class were both able to take nice hogs. And the week before the class, our good friends from NC who come down once a month, Gene, Randy and Joe, were in for their usual one day hunt, and Gene killed one while Joe hit a hog that the guides couldn’t find.

We are now entering June, and we should continue to have just a few hunters here and there for the summer, but at least with the last two days of rain, the few hunters we do have in camp should do well. Stay tuned!

Dennis spotting for Jamie

NC's Gene with a good Boggy Creek boar

Cypress Creek Long Range Shooting Class:

Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge will partner with Tactical Rifles, Inc. to host a free long range shooting and firearm class with a True American Hero;  Special Forces Sgt. Greg Stube.  This event will take place on May 21 & 22 at our Luray lodge.

Tactical Rifles, Inc. will be at Cypress Creek with their guns, ammunition and expertise for all interested participants.  Guns will be provided for instruction / use, and the ammunition can be purchased at a very reasonable price for the event.

Guests who wish to stay overnight for this event can lodge at Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge for $100.00 per night which will also include meals.  A pig roast is planned for  Friday night May 21 at the lodge. This will be offered on a first come basis and all others can lodge at one of the local motels if needed.

This event will start at 1:00pm on Friday May 21 and end at 5:00pm on Saturday May 22.  Don’t miss such great opportunity for the development of your long range shooting capabilities; or the fellowship to be enjoyed in such a patriotic environment with hosts, Danny and Becky Harrell.

Please make reservation by calling 877-520-2245 if you plan to attend.

Hope to see you there.

Art from DE with a giant lowcountry limbhanger

Now to catch up on the hunting here… We had a few guests in camp this past week including Art Goldstein, a long time NWTF member from DE and now a Wheeling Sportsmen participant due to a bad fall 5 years ago. He was able to take his best longbeard ever with me on Thursday morning at the Blount Place when two birds worked right into our decoy set up around 10am. The 19.6 pound limbhanger with 1 and 3/8 inch spurs and an 11. 5 inch beard will now grace Art’s wall, and the hunt to get him will forever be one of my greatest turkey hunting memories. Art’s friend, Gary, also had a great hunt and saw tons of good birds with Tater, but he just couldn’t get a bead on one.

Ken Cobb and the Huntin’ the World Southern Style TV show also joined us for some great lowcountry hunting action this past weekend, and while they couldn’t ever get a turkey to cooperate enough to become an Outdoor Channel movie star, their shooter, Dr. Fuller of Rock Hill, SC, did get a nice River boar hog in fading light to keep the trip productive.

Dr. Fuller from Rock Hill with his River boar

Now we have a few days off for Easter, but a couple of guests will start arriving tomorrow night for a weekend of hog and turkey hunting. We look forward to sharing those hunts with everyone next week.

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!