The Cypress Creek Skinning Shed

The Virginia Crew with Danny, Bubba and I

Our lowcountry weather has been pretty cool lately, and that has really helped the hog movement for our guests.

Two groups that benefited from the pigs moving so well during shooting hours were a married couple from North Carolina along with a great crew of Virginians who visited us last weekend. David and Tracy, our NC couple, and most of the Virginia group have hunted with us for the last couple of years, so they were looking forward to spending some time down on the River tract. And they were

Ricky with his monster boar

Bruce and his roaster pig

not disappointed when their time in the stand paid off with 7 good hogs and one huge 275 lbs warrior. Their two groups also had lots of sightings of sows with piglets in addition to several misses and missed opportunities when shooter hogs didn’t stop long enough for a good shot.

Ricky got things started Saturday night with his 275 pound monster at the Red Bank stand. Bruce and his dad, Donnie, then chipped in with a couple of good hogs to bring the group’s total to 3. Not content with his giant boar, Ricky then knocked down 2 more meat hogs Sunday evening when our NC

Mr. Donnie with a good-eating pig

couple shot a good-eating pig as well. Charles then capped off their 3 day trip over on our Telfair Plantation tract by shooting two nice hogs to bring their total to 7. Everyone in Stanley’s group then left with a ton of fresh pork and a lot of great memories… I may even have to tell one of them soon in its own post!

Charles with two Telfair Plantation hogsFinally on the 3rd afternoon, Charles dropped two nice pigs over on Telfair Plantation to bring their total to 7.

I also don’t want to leave out Washington Wizards basketball player Darius Songaila. He and his father-in-law were in just before the Virginia crew showed up to reek havoc on our hogs, and Darius shot a nice sized sow out of the cut over stand on the River. His hunt was then capped

Washington Wizard Darius Songaila with his nice sow

off by watching Bubba run his wounded hog down (while I ran behind him providing the light to see) and dispatch it! Darius said that even if he hadn’t shot a hog, his trip would have been worth it just to see us at play… I mean work

After such a busy, long holiday weekend of hunting, it was then time for a couple of days rest - for us and our properties! But then it was time to get back to work and put our hunters on some pigs, and we did. We had 8 hunters from Maryland join us here in the lowcountry this week, and they racked up the hogs too. However you will have to check in on Tuesday to see the results of their hunt…

Also, Everyone here at Cypress Creek would like to send a huge Congratulations out to our great hunting guide Henry and his wife. They just had their second baby boy!

Kevin and Thomas with a giant lowcountry hog

This past weekend we had the first hunters of 2009 in camp, and 3 out of the 5 killed a hog - two over on the River and one at Boggy Creek.

Just check out the giant boar that Kevin, over from Beaufort with his buddy Thomas, killed on our River tract. You don’t see many old, smart boars like that moving around unless they have too! Also, check out another South Carolinian who hunts with us all of the time, Dr. Havird from Augusta, who also shot a great hog with some good cutters over off of the River tract. That is him with the cigar in one picture, and his favorite guides Bubba and Henry in the other. And while they left before I could get their picture, our two hunters from Maryland, Garcia and Thornell, shot a 100 pounder before heading back up north over on Boggy Creek.

Dr. Havird from Augusta

Guides Bubba and Henry showing off their hard work

What is amazing is the fact that we had such good hog movement even in the warm January weather. Normally their movement shuts down if it isn’t cold enough to really push them to eat. However this just shows what the right property is capable of if it is set up correctly and the pressure is managed.

And the hog hunting should just get better and better now that we have a huge cold front coming in. Our lows are supposed to be below freezing for the next 7 days, in the teens even some nights, and only in the 50’s for our highs. So now should be an excellent time to be in the South Carolina lowcountry woods in pursuit of wild hogs, and we have a lodge full coming just in time, so stay tuned… I just wish it would have been like this for the last couple of weeks of deer season!

Jeff