The Cypress Creek Skinning Shed

A Good Buck at Cypress Creek

Deer Hunting during the late season in South Carolina is still VERY good at Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge right now. Cold temperatures and a lack of natural food on the woods have combined to keep the deer and hogs moving, and our guests killed some nice deer as well as a couple of good hogs this past week. I will have the pictures up in the next day or two, so make sure and check back.

This great late-season hunting will continue through the end of deer season on January 1st since it is not supposed to warm up for a while. And the hog hunting, which is already good, will just keep getting better since January through May is one of their best movement periods. In addition, we have even more tracts to hog hunt on after January 1st, so that will help us keep the hunting pressure down and the hogs moving for our guests.

And to keep an eye on the deer and hogs for our guests, I have just put a few more trailcams out. Check out this nice buck hitting the corn just after dark as well as a couple of fat does feeding at sunset. However don’t make the mistake of thinking this buck isn’t killable since he is on the corn after dark. I sat in this spot last week with the video camera and saw him eating acorns and checking does long before the sun went down; he just had not made it to the feeder before dark for his portrait on this day, but he is definitely still out early enough to be shot by a lucky hunter.

Like I said, I will have some great kill shots from this past week up in the next day or two, so stop back by The Skinning Shed!

Jeff

Kerry Earnhardt and his giant freak of a buck

Like I talked about on Tuesday, we had a big group of employees from Bass Pro Shops at the lodge to deer and hog hunt the South Carolina lowcountry this week. And Bass Pro hunting team member Kerry Earnhardt was with them.

The weather was perfect for their hunts, and everyone saw lots of game. Just about everyone had shooter bucks come by their stands, and those hog hunting also saw quite a few. The only problem with the hogs was that many showed up right at dark, so they only killed one nice boar.

However everyone was covered up with great deer. Several hunters passed on some good shooters hoping for a real monster while a few others had monsters come by, but couldn’t get a shot. But that is hunting. Fortunately Kerry had a great 5.5 year old buck with a giant, freak of a rack follow a doe by his stand on the final morning of his hunt while

Cypress Creek owner Danny Harrell filmed his last hunt. Craig Pond of Wolf Creek Productions was down to film as well but had to leave to catch his flight back to Michigan early Wednesday morning so Danny stepped in.

Wolf Creek films lots of hunts with us, and they are responsible for providing the footage that you see on several shows on the Outdoor Channel as well as Versus such as Trijicon Outdoor America, The Wingshooter and American Archerer. So make sure and look for this great hunt on one of these shows in the very near future.

We truly had a great time with all of the Bass Pro guys in camp, and they are already planning their next hunt with us.

I also would like to take this opportunity to talk about the hunts we film with special guests like Kerry… They hunt the same stands that every other guest gets to hunt - Period! Every hunter that visits Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge is the same as far as we are concerned, and EVERYONE gets special treatment; that is what makes us different.

And we don’t have stands that we save just for them. For instance, the stand that Kerry saw hogs at Monday night but couldn’t get a shot due to darkness was the exact same stand that an Sargeant Major in the Army, up from Fort Stewart with his daughter, missed a hog from last week. It is a great stand that gets constant traffic from hogs, and that is the type of spot we want to put all of our guests in!

We hope that you will come join us to see for yourself.

NWTF Women in the Outdoors group at Cypress Creek

Since it is always a little slow the week of Thanksgiving, I am going to work backwards over the next few days and post some pictures of successful guests from late October and early November. And we had plenty of them!

One group that really had a good time with us was the 12 women from the National Wild Turkey Federation’s Women In The Outdoors. They came and took over the lodge the weekend of Halloween, and most of them saw deer, and a few had hogs come by their stands. Dana ended up showing them all how it was done when she knocked down a great 8 point, but they all agreed that they had a wonderful time and couldn’t wait to come back… Just check out some of the emails I received after they got home.

“We all can’t thank you and the staff enough for a wonderful hunting experience! I am sure this trip will be discussed for months! Nearly everyone can’t wait to come back and do it again. Henry and Bubba really made the trip enjoyable and were very generous with information on the blinds, rules and the areas we were hunting. Becky and Danny were a joy to work with and hats off to the chef! I think we all gained 5 lbs,” emailed Jeanene, who also wrote up her experience with us on her website www.notaclueadventures.com. Please make sure and check it out.

“We all had a great time. I like going here for the weekend instead of going to the spa. It is relaxing and everyone is there to have a good time and hunt. I would like to thank the staff for being so wonderful: Becky, Danny, Henry, Bubba, and Jeff and the chef’s, Nita and Val. Can’t wait to return next year,” wrote Mari.

“Thank you so much for the story and pictures. I enjoyed meeting you and hope we see you up there next year. You can not beat the hospitality of the staff at the Cypress Creek

If you are interested in joining this group with us next year, you can find out more information on the NWTF’s Women in the Outdoors website www.womenintheoutdoors.org. Thanks to all of the women that came and hunted with us here at Cypress Creek. We truly enjoyed having you all here in the lowcountry, and we can’t wait for everyone to return next year!

Check out some of last week’s successes… Our friends Gene and Joe were down from North Carolina, and Joe shot a great boar over on Boggy Creek. His hog was the last of 22 to come out to the feeder!

Also, take a look at Allen’s nice 8 point. He was down from North Carolina with his son Craig for only one day and managed to kill himself one for the wall.

And I am almost scared to put up the pictures of Ryan with two of his great 8 pointers. He managed to kill three 8 points during his 5 day trip, and to say that his buddies were envious would be an understatement

Luckily they understand hunting, and they know that sometimes a hunter just can’t get a bad stand!

Ryan and Frank with 8 point