The Cypress Creek Skinning Shed

I don’t know where the time has gone, but we are already at Thanksgiving and near the end of deer hunting for 2009. The warm weather has truly been the big story of the season, with the highs staying in the 80 degree range right up until now. And as a matter of fact, we still haven’t even had one night of freezing weather yet, and it doesn’t look like we will before December! Add the tons of acorns in the woods this season due to our wet Spring and a long, drawn out rut, and you have the makings of one of the strangest seasons in a while.

However even in the heat, as we wrapped up the rut over the last few days, our guests killed a few more deer. First we had a crew from the Orlando Bass Pro shop visit, and while they saw quite a few deer including a few good bucks, only Chuck ended up taking a couple of does. And as real hunting usually goes, he saw a giant buck as he walked up to check on the does he had shot. His son Cory missed a doe while coworkers Anthony and Fred both passed on deer.

We also had two members so of our Armed Forces, Tom and Brian, come down for a quick one day hunt. And after enduring a complete downpour on their afternoon sit, Brian killed a tasty, young doe while Tom missed a buck and saw tons of turkeys.

We still have about a month to go, so hopefully we will still get some cold temps before long, and that should help the late-season hunting. So give us a call if you are still looking to squeeze in a hunt this year. And don’t forget that the best time of the year (Jan-April) for hog hunting is just around the corner too, so make sure and to reserve those prime-time dates now.

Happy Thanksgiving from Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge. And as you celebrate with your family, please remember those that are serving our Country.

Barry and Jack with a morning's harvest

Man, it is the middle of November, isn’t it? I could be a little confused about what month and season it is because of the 85 degree days that we have been having lately. However the one thing that I am sure of is that our bucks should be rutting and running like crazy right now. But they aren’t due to the heat. And that hasn’t helped our hunters one bit.

The ones that we have had in camp since our last cold front left us with this summer weather have hunted hard and seen some bucks. However most of them have been small to medium, with only the monsters being seen in quick glimpses like the giant buck that chased a doe right past the van as we picked up our Pleasant Hill Plantation hunters down from PA on Sunday at 11:40am. Larry and Irene, Randy and Ilene, Bob and Paul all toughed it out while they were here, and each saw does and some bucks, just mostly not what they were down for. However they didn’t go home empty handed after Paul dropped two does back in the hardwoods, then shot a great buck on their last night here. So congratulations to Paul, and we now wait for his email with some pictures.

Jack and his buck

Also, before the cold weather left us, we did have a couple of nice bucks shot including a really nice 8 point by Jack and a beautiful 9 point by his fellow NC friend Barry early last week. Danny’s son Chris also joined us for some lowcountry hunting a few days back, and also shot himself a nice 7 point.

We now have a few days off with no one at the lodge, so we can all get caught up on some needed rest. This time off will also give the weather some time to get back onto the cold side of the dial since the weatherman is still calling for 80+ heat for the next 5 days at least. So hopefully a new cold front will have time to roll in to SC by the time the Orlando BassPro group comes in on Friday to get the deer back up and moving.

Chris and his lowcountry 7 point

Then, after they leave, we still have a little over a month to hunt. So if you are looking to put some meat in the freezer before the season runs out, give us a call. The hunting should get better again as we move into December since the warm weather can’t hold out for ever, and the deer find that they must move to eat to survive!

Frank with his Pleasant Hill 8 point

What a difference a few days and a few degrees makes during the rut!

Our lowcountry weather finally cooled off after weeks of hot weather and the bucks responded by chasing does like crazy, giving our hunters the opportunities that they needed to harvest some nice deer. First we our good friends Frank and Ryan, down from upstate NY, for their annual hunting trip and Frank’s 10th year with us. Frank took a great 8 point over on Pleasant Hill along with a big doe while Ryan shot a beautiful 10 point with forked G2s as well as a spike and doe over on our any-legal buck tract.

Ryan and his 10 point

Then we had Carl and his two sons, from the SC upstate, join us for a couple of days of family hunting. And they had a great, successful time too, with Carl showing his boys how to get it done by shooting a freak 2.5 year old forkhorn and a doe while  son Chuck shot a great 8 point and a small 6 point. That only left son Scott without a deer, and he has promised to come back and redeem himself

Carl, Scott and Chuck

I also have to report that I have been fortunate in my hunting pursuits over on a small piece of land that sits right next to our any legal buck tract. I not only was able to shoot a big doe with both of my young boys in the stand with me, but a monster 12 point - a mainframe 8pt with 4 kickers - too when he followed  a couple of does by my stand last Monday night.

However, please note that the rut is FAR from over and there are lots of bucks still out there, so if you are still looking to get in the woods for a few days and harvest some tasty venison, give us a call. We still have spots open and would love for you to join us!

Jeff

Matt with his heavy Pleasant Hill buck

After a few days of cool weather two weeks ago, our lowcountry temperatures have stayed in the mid 80’s since. And that has not helped the deer movement at all and honestly has really kept the bucks from leaving their dark sanctuaries to search for does like they should this time of year. Fortunately a cool front has finally showed up with the lows everyday this week forecast to stay in the 40s, so that should definitely help get the bucks up and going.

Larry with a great 8 point

However, despite the unbearable summer-like heat, we still managed to put some hunters in front of big bucks over the last week. Our friend Matt, down from Michigan, took a huge 5.5 year old 10 point with long beams and thick bases while Larry shot a beautiful 8 point.

And we can’t forget about Billy, down from NC with his dad for their 8th year of hunting with Cypress Creek, who missed a giant buck that was chasing a doe. Fortunately he and David, also from NC, both ended up with 7 pointers in addition to a couple of nice, fat does. That meant that only our friends “old Coot” and Art went home empty handed when they passed on their opportunities at deer.

Like I said, the weather is just now getting right for the rutting bucks to go crazy, so this week should offer a lot better hunting. But even in the heat, we had bucks like the 7 point in the trailcam picture moving during shooting hours, so you can just imagine what else is out there that was just waiting on the heat to break!

But until I can get back here with this week’s updates, we have a great video clip of Outdoor Moment’s Bub Jackson shooting a beautiful velvet buck here at Cypress Creek just a couple of years back. Enjoy!

Rick with a great Boggy boar

It’s the end of October, and the rut really got started last weekend when we had several days of really cold temperatures. That sharp drop in temps really got the deer and hogs up and moving, and we saw a lot of new scrapes show up in the woods as well as some bucks chasing does.

We also had our good friend Ken C. up from Florida again to take advantage of those couple of cold days - and just like his last trip - he killed a 6 point and an 8 point! Congratulations to Ken on some great shooting, and we can’t wait to see what steps out in front of him when he returns again in just a week or so!

Ken with his fourth buck of the year!

We also had our good friends from North Carolina down for their monthly visit, and Rick R. put the hammer down on a great Boggy Creek boar that weighed over 300 pounds. However Rick and Ken were not the only hunters at the lodge during the cold weather, and a couple of others took some meat home too. Joe from NC killed two does and a buck while Richard up from Florida as well also killed a nice 5 point and a doe. So congratulations to everyone.

Then mid week the weather warmed back up into the 80s again, and the deer and hog movement slowed down a bit. However our group from West Virginia hunted hard, and they ended up taking 6 does and two spikes home (Ron and Tim C. killed the spikes while Mike killed one doe, Dusty killed two and Jeff killed three - including one with his bow) as well as missing five and passing up some decent bucks while waiting on a monster. Painfully, one of the misses was on a great buck chasing a doe… but that is hunting.

It is now Monday, and the weather has cooled off again this morning, so that should help push those bucks and boars to their feet again for the couple of hunters we have in camp today. Then the weather is supposed to warm back up again over the next few days, and that along with the tons of acorns in the woods right now, may keep the deer and hogs from hitting the corn as hard as they should be for this time of year. But with the peak of the rut getting closer by the day - typically around Halloween - anything can happen at any time! So come join us in our lowcountry woods during one of the best times of the year. We look forward to hunting with you!

Zack with his Pleasant Hill 8 point

I love October! It’s the time of the year when the bucks finally start to get cranked up and move around a good bit in preparation for breeding. And from the amount of scrapes and rubs that we are seeing in the woods, I would say that the bucks are definitely on their feet.

I also love October because its when hunters start to really have some good success in the woods on these traveling deer who are leaving all of that sign. And starting us off in October was the 3 man crew down from New York, Robert, Ron and Carl, who knocked down two does and a nice 8 point over on boggy Creek while also missing two. Then we had Zack from NC who followed up Danny’s good fortune on our Pleasant Hill Plantation tract by shooting a great 8 point.

Robert, Carl and Ron with a Boggy Creek buck

Another NC hunter was David, and he was down looking for either a monster gator or a smaller one that would fit in a certain space in his trophy room. Well he passed on a few monsters and ended up getting a nice 7 footer… Our lodge’s first gator ever!

David and his 7 footer

Hunting should just get better and better now that we are to the mid way point of October and the bucks continue to move more during shooting hours. And that should be welcome news to the big group of guys we have coming in this weekend looking to put some game down as well as for all of the other hunters we have booked over the next 6 to 8 weeks.

Jeff

Danny with his 267lbs buck

Word about great bucks killed in the South Carolina lowcountry travels fast! And when that buck weighs 267 pounds, that word literaly breaks the sound barrier as it spreads.

That’s right! You heard me, 267 pounds of whitetail! And to top it off, the deer sported a big, beautiful dark rack with 8 long points, including 10.5 inch G-2s, that scored around 124 inches and had a 32 inch neck. It was killed over on our trophy land by Cypress Creek’s owner Danny Harrell last week when he went to shoot a doe for some meat for the lodge when the monster stood up in the cotton field he was sitting on. And what is ironic is that this is stand that we don’t even put guests in because it sits so close to the highway where the noise of traffic takes away from the experience. Also, please note that the huge buck is also the first buck Danny has ever killed on our property in the 10 years Cypress Creek has been open. The deer are always left for guests to kill, but he said he just couldn’t pass him up when he saw how huge he was and since he was on a stand that we don’t even hunt.

And to go ahead and refute some of the stories I have heard in town already about the giant deer, I promise you that it wasn’t killed in Canada while Danny was up bear hunting and brought back; it also had testicles - huge ones at that So nothing fake about the buck or wrong with it, just simply a huge buck that was allowed to grow old under a great Quality Deer Management program. If anyone has any other questions or theories about the buck, you can call or email me since I was the one that helped load the deer.

PS: We have had several more nice bucks killed in the last few days by our guests, and I will be sharing those pictures and stories on Monday. Have a great weekend and good luck in the woods!

Jeff

This past Saturday night we finally had a nice drop in temperatures as well as a ton of rain, and that incoming front helped to get our bucks up and moving for the hunters we had at the lodge.

First we had Kevin down from Tennessee who whacked a monster 9 point with a great mass right behind the lodge. Then we had our good friend Ken C. that comes up several times a year from Florida drop a nice 6 point across the paved road on the Bowers property. And since he had seen so many deer even after shooting his buck Friday night, he pleaded to go right back to the same stand - and sure enough he made the right call because at 6pm, an even better 8 point stepped out for Ken to shoot. However Bubba and Danny then spent several hours following the very faint blood trail into some thick young pines until it gave out, leaving them unable to find him much to Ken’s disappointment. Fortunately, we ALWAYS make every effort to locate any animal that we believe is mortally wounded, so went back out at first light to make sure that the deer was not down… Well, three of us working slowly through the thick stuff just yards apart, finally found the beautiful 2.5 year old several hundred yards beyond the last blood drop! And while coyotes had eaten much of his hind end, since the night had been cool, the deer’s cape was fine for mounting, much to Ken’s surprise

The weather change this past weekend also had the hogs moving better, and Nelson and his two sons, Cory and Travis, down from PA on a hog-only hunt went home with pork after Cory was able to drop a nice boar over on Boggy Creek. So congratulations to everyone on a great weekend of hunting the lowcountry!

As for our cameras, they caught some great activity over on the Bowers tract this past week, including quite a few nice bucks like these two 8 pointers. And interestingly enough, the 8 in the color pic looks like the identical twin of the buck Ken shot with just slightly shorter G-3s. Also check out the funky looking doe with the huge tumor on its jaw and white-speckled hide.

It is now Wednesday, and our temperatures have dropped even more. Couple that with that fact that the acorns are falling like crazy, and we expect the deer and hog movement to just get better and better as they prepare for winter by fattening themselves up on these oak-dropped snacks. Then throw in the fact that the pre-rut is cranking up (we are starting to see lots of scrapes) as well as our fall plots coming up, and you have the makings of some great hunting.

Hope you can make it here to enjoy it with us!

Jeff

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

Most hunters know that the RUT is the best time to harvest a great buck. So when hunters call about booking a great fall hunt with us, we are usually asked about it and when it is.

Well, that is a question that has several answers depending on what you call the rut. The standard answer is that the rut in the lowcountry of South Carolina starts around October 15th and runs through Thanksgiving. So without a doubt, hunting anytime during this period should ensure that you have a successful hunt. However you really have to break the rut down to several smaller periods to truly understand it and hunt it properly. And the three main sub-periods of the rut and how they effect the deer movement are as follows:

The Pre-Rut: (usually runs from early October until about the 20th)  This is the time period when the does are normally not at all interested in breading, however the bucks are starting to feel the primal urge to reproduce. Therefore the bucks start to move a lot more through out their core areas leaving their calling cards, rubs and scrapes, to let the does know they are there and ready. And all of this traveling and increased movement means that they are out and about more during daylight than before, making them more accessible to harvest.

However please note that this increased activity does not just start on day one, but is a gradual build up, meaning that the end of the pre-rut usually sees more activity than the beginning.

Breeding: (This usually starts around October 20th and runs through November 15th)  This is the time when the majority of the does go into heat and cause bucks, who would normally be very skittish during shooting hours, to run willy nilly through the woods either looking for a hot doe or chasing her in an effort to breed her. This can be one of the most exciting times to be in the woods for a lowcountry hunter as well as one of the best times to harvest a real wall hanger since bucks are now on the move at all hours of the day and night; they are also much more prone to leaving their core areas and ranging out into new areas looking for hot does, making them even more accessible to hunters since they are not as familiar with these new areas. However this can also be a tough time too since the bucks are often running instead of walking, making it much tougher to get your crosshairs on them before they are out of your shooting lane or range. So hunters must pay close attention and be ready to shoot at a moments notice once they see a doe coming since you just never know what could be behind her.

The Post Rut: (usually runs from mid- November until the end of the season) While many bucks will have been taken during the pre-rut and the breeding period, the post-rut still offers plenty of great opportunities to harvest a good buck. That is because during this time, a few does will still be coming into heat - some because they were not breed the first time around and others because they are early-maturing fawns who are coming into their first heat - causing the remaining bucks to really have to move around looking for these late breeding opportunities. This keeps a lot of bucks on their feet during shooting hours, meaning that they are still really susceptible to harvest.

Note that the post rut will not usually have the rampant movement that the breeding period did, however it is still a great time to be in the woods. We also find that a lot of the post rut activity is dependent on the weather - the colder it is, the better.

So as you can see, answering the question, “When is the South Carolina lowcountry rut” does not lend itself to a short, easy answer. However by knowing the different periods, hunters can make better predictions about when and how to hunt during the rut. And that should help them take home the buck of their dreams!

So give Becky a call now to see what rut-hunting openings we have during the time you have off. We look forward to hunting with YOU!