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!

Hank and his 130 incher

Believe it or not, we only have 6 months until the South Carolina deer hunting season starts again for the lowcountry. So if you are thinking of finally putting a great buck in velvet on the wall, you had better call and book your hunt now. Opening day is August 15th, and we only take a limited number of hunters during this time. And many of our spots are already filled with returning guests.

The first two weeks of the deer hunting season in South Carolina is usually the best bet for such a hunt since bucks start losing their velvet around the first of September. Also, the bucks are usually in bachelor groups for those first few weeks of the season, so if you see one buck, you usually see a bunch together. And while it is unbelievably hot here in August, the bucks are in their summer coat which helps keep them cool, allowing them to move earlier in the afternoon. As a matter of fact, it is not uncommon to see 4 to 8 good bucks standing in a field as early as 4 or 5pm, and it doesn’t get dark until after 9pm!

Ken with his beautiful 8 point

And in case you need some encouragement to come join us for some of these early South Carolina deer hunts, take a look at three of the great bucks our hunters harvested last year. Ken from Florida shot a very nice 8 point that grossed over 110 inches, Hank from NC killed a monster 130 inch 8 point and Monster Plot TV cameraman Craig harvested a good 100 inch 8 point. All three of these deer were taken over on Pleasant Hill Plantation where we only kill bucks with at least 8 points and a minimum of 16 inches of antler spread. We also only hunt that tract the first two weeks of the South Carolina deer hunting season; we then don’t allow any more hunts on that piece until October 15th when the pre-rut starts up. This allows us to really keep the pressure off of those deer so that we have great rut hunting for our trophy bucks, but it also means that we don’t have a lot of time or spots for hunters looking for that trophy velvet buck. So like I said, call NOW if you want to get in.

Craig, Monster Plots TV cameraman, with his nice 8 point

We are also running out of spots during the early season on our other tracts that we hunt as well, so call about those hunts too. We offer great velvet buck hunting on land where you can shoot any legal buck (2 inches above their hairline) as well as on land where the bucks must have 4 points on a side. Hunting on tracts with these rules is only $400 a day, so it is quite a good value for a sportsman looking to get a jump on the deer season and put some fresh venison in the freezer.

We look forward to sharing camp with you!

Jeff

The last week has been a busy one for our hog hunters at Cypress Creek, and I am just now getting a chance to get caught up here on The Skinning Shed with all of their ups and downs, kills, misses and sightings!

Tommy with his great boar

Last Sunday through Tuesday we had a group of 8 hunters down from Virginia, and they were covered up in hogs. The final tally was 3 down, but they sure had plenty of opportunities to harvest many, many more. As a matter of fact their group took a total of 20 shots during their stay which included the

Black Coyote From Behind The Lodge

harvest of one beautiful black coyote from behind the lodge as well as their pigs. And out of their kills, Tommy won their group’s big hog contest with his great boar off of the River.

After the VA group, we had a great couple of guys down from Pennsylvania, and they knocked down 4 hogs between the 5 of them. John and Jason both shot

Pennsylvania group

nice hogs over on Boggy Creek while Lamar killed two good eaters over on Telfair Plantation.

Then for this past weekend’s hunt, we had two small groups in camp, one from Tennessee and the other from North Carolina, that had quite a lot of opportunities as well. And this was despite the extreme warm spell that showed up with them! There were several misses, one wound, one kill and tons of sightings of pigs either running by or of big sows with lots of young piglets. Kent with the NC group was the lone gunman that made his shot count down on the River.

Note: We discourage the killing of our sows with very young piglets that will not survive without their mother and then leave it up to the individual hunter if the piglets are older. Most of our hunters choose to pass these as well since sows that are still nursing do not provide the best-eating pork, and many of them are looking for a monster boar anyway!

So, as you can see, the pigs keep moving and our hunters keep knocking them down. And now with a few days off and no in at the lodge, we have some time to let all of our properties rest so that we can keep up the number of opportunities our hunters will get during their stay with us. Now we just need the cold weather to return to help push the hogs to the corn.

Kent with his hog

We have truly been blessed this Winter with some great hunting for our guests, but we have been even more blessed to have such great people hunt with us. We look forward to having more of them in camp, and I look forward to sharing their stories here.

Jeff

The Virginia Hog Killers

The hogs continue to fall here at Cypress Creek, and this past weekend our hunters dropped 6.

Wes with his nice boar

We had two groups down, one from Michigan and one from Virginia. The guys from MI have been hunting with us for the last 7 years, so they are very familiar with the program and were anxious for another shot at our lowcountry hogs. They ended up taking one nice pig when Wes dropped a good boar over on the River tract. His son, Chris, saw quite a few hogs, he just didn’t shoot them (sows with young piglets) Only David got skunked. It is rare, but it does happen - and that is just one of the possible

Nathan and his HUGE boar

outcomes when you go after free-range feral hogs under fair-chase conditions, and that is what makes it “hunting” and not “killing”.

However the young guys down from Virginia went 5 for 5 for 4 - That is 5 shots to kill 5 hogs between 4 hunters! A great round of shooting for sure, and a feat that has yet to be matched by any of our groups so far this year… Joe killed two nice meat hogs, Eric shot a

Check out the teeth on Brian

150 pound boar, Nathan blasted a monster 275 pound boar with some huge teeth and Brian

Eric and his boar

Joe with his meat hogs

whacked a great 240 pounder with good cutters just moments before shooting light ran out.

The 6 wheeler loaded up at the River!

And I normally don’t take my camera with me to the River due to all of the mud and rough going. However the guys had a couple of small ones with them, and they were having such a good time while Henry and I loaded up their take that I couldn’t help but to steal one to snap a couple of shots of our 6 wheeler at maximum capacity before we “mudded” back to the van! Joe then sent us the shot along with the following email:

Jeff - Here are the pictures you wanted, we had a GREAT time, a blast!  We will for sure be back, and remember, never underestimate the ability of the “VA Boys” to get it done!  Thanks again, Joe

We truly enjoyed having both groups in camp, and we can’t wait to have another chance to share our woods with them.

PS: I just got word that our latest group had quite a time down on the River too! I will try to get their pictures and story up as soon as I can.

Jeff

One of the best parts of working for Cypress Creek is introducing new people, especially young ones, to hunting.

Heidi, Addy and their grandfather with their first deer

While we certainly have lots of experienced hunters who stay with us, we are also very fortunate to have a great deal of new hunters who visit looking to break in to the sport. And everyone at the lodge always enjoys these new hunters because it gives us a chance to share our years of experience with them, teach them some of the most productive methods of hunting here in the lowcountry and hopefully encourage them to become life-long hunters who will then introduce their children to our great past time.

During this past deer season, we had quite a few young, new hunters stay with us, and two of them were Heidi and her older sister Addy. They were down in late September with their grandfather and uncle to try and kill their very first deer. I am proud to report that both girls were successful over on our “any legal deer” tract called Sandy Run. Heidi killed a very big doe while Addy harvested a great 6 point. And as any hunter would be, they were both very proud of their accomplishment and even took their “bloodying” like champs! - although I believe they did use up all of the hot water in the lodge trying to get it off

Bo and I with our first deer

Another young hunter that we introduced to hunting was my own 4-year-old son, Bo. We squeezed in a few hunts right at the end of the season to help meet our doe harvest quota over at Pleasant Hill, and we were able to kill two nice does together. It was truly an amazing experience to sit with him, answer all of his questions about the outdoors and then shoot two deer with him next to me - And I know that I will never forget those hunts!

I also know that not all hunting lodges are family friendly, but we are! And we take great pride in being able to provide a great hunt for everyone from our very experienced guests to those who are brand new to the sport. So if you are a new hunter or have a new hunter, we encourage you to come and “pursue the experience” here first at Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge.

Jeff

Rocky with his Boggy Creek Boar

Last Wednesday, we had three hunters kill three hogs in just one day. And the fortunate hunters emailed the pictures of their kills to me just like they promised - so here they are!

Rocky started the shooting off with a great 190 pound boar over on Boggy Creek. And he killed it during the morning hunt which is always tough since the hogs have been out all night eating, so they are usually heading back to their bedding area before daylight making them very hard to kill in the AM hours.

Anthony with his 160 pound boar

Matt and Anthony then followed up Rocky’s success by each killing one a piece that afternoon over on the River tract. Matt’s hog should eat great since it was in the meat-hog category at 75 pounds while Anthony’s nice boar pulled the scale down to the 160 pound mark. However, as Matt pointed out, they could have gone 3 hunters for 4 hogs if Anthony’s other shot had found its mark :)  But hey, that is true free-range wild hog hunting!

Matt with his meat hog and Anthony with his boar

Thanks Matt for sending those shots, and we are all so glad that you guys came down from New Jersey and had a great time with us. We truly look forward to having you all back!

PS: Matt has also been doing some cool hunting over in Europe during the last few years for REAL Eurasian hogs as well as Red Stag, and he has some great pictures of them up on his website www.mattmatarazzo.com - Check them out!

Jeff

We have had a lot of North Carolina hunters at the lodge lately, and they have been really hammering away at the hogs. Our latest two groups this past weekend were no different.

Randy, Joe, Gene and Rick from the Ashe County Wildlife Club

One of the two groups hunts with us all of the time, a weekend a month to be exact, and as usual most of the four from the Ashe County Wildlife Club were all over the hogs. Unfortunately Rick did not see any while Gene and Randy had problems shooting straight (unusual for them!), so only Joe took home a monster boar… I understand that his walls are now barely holding up with great-looking mounts from their many trips down. But as hunters, we all know you can NEVER have too many, so his latest 230 pounder should go nicely with the rest.

The other three hunters down from North Carolina also saw quite a few hogs, but only took one home as well when Jeff shot a nice meat hog down on the River Friday afternoon. So, for those of you keeping tract, that makes 12 big South Carolina hogs killed and 17 missed in just the last 14 days! And four of those misses were on Saturday evening when they saw over 70 wild hogs between the 7 hunters!

Joe and his 230 pound boar

Jeff with his great meat hog

We have a couple more small groups coming in during this week, so stay tuned to see how they do.

PS. I haven’t forgotten about the 3 hunters that shot the 3 hogs last Wednesday; I was off and didn’t get the pictures, so I am waiting on the lucky sportsmen to email them to me. As soon as they do, I will post them! HINT, HINT :)    I would also love for some of our deer hunters from this past fall to send me pictures of their deer if I didn’t get them either.

Jeff

Our hogs are still up and moving in search of food during all of this cold weather that the lowcountry has been having. And that has meant more happy, successful guests leaving the lodge with lots of pork.

We had a group of 9 down come down last Saturday afternoon and replace the group of 10 that had just finished having a “hog of a good time“. They hunted through Monday morning and killed two great hogs while missing 6 and seeing countless more. And while their tally wasn’t quite as big as the last group, they also had to contend with a bunch of COLD RAIN that didn’t help the hog movement at all on Sunday.

Ron with his huge boar

And just to show you how nasty it was for their hunt - Just check out the damage our white van sustained when it slid off of the muddy road that winds 6 miles down into the swamp to the River tract… Bubba drives that course all of the time and is always so careful, so you know it was horrible weather conditions to land the van in the ditch and knock out the back window while throwing everyone around a bit. Luckily with a big group on board, they were able to rescue the vehicle from the gooey, red clay and get on the stand and back to the lodge again without further problems!

Michael with a nice pig

The two fortunate hunters out of this group were Michael and Ron. Michael shot his great pig Saturday afternoon while the largest boar we have killed recently was not deterred by the duck weather and came by Ron’s stand over on our River tract Sunday afternoon. That giant South Carolina wild boar had lots of Russian blood which showed in his thick, curly black coat that covered his massive 280 pound frame. And thank goodness that Ron decided to mount him because that hog had to be 6 years old or better, and you just don’t kill many like that. Hogs are very smart animals, and old boars that have been around for a long time just usually don’t make many mistakes that can land them on a sportsman’s wall. Congratulations Michael and Ron!

Also, please note that I will have some more great South Carolina hog hunting stories and pictures up by Monday since the couple of small groups that have been here all week have had pretty good success too. As a matter of fact, Danny called last night and told me that while I have been off, the hogs have been moving great and that 3 hunters killed 3 hogs on Wednesday alone.

Have a great weekend!

Jeff

The North Carolina Group with their two-day take

This past weekend, we had 10 hunters down from North Carolina looking for a shot at some wild hogs. I think 5 kills, 6 misses and an untold number of sightings and close calls proves that they got what they were looking for!

And what is funny is that this group would have had a great time even if they hadn’t have seen a thing - they were just a fun bunch of guys to be around and guide! But like I said, most of them were covered up in hogs during their stay, and that always makes it easier to enjoy your trip. Thursday afternoon alone, the group that went down to the River property’s lower half killed four hogs and had several misses while Friday produced even more sightings and misses along with one more kill

Mike with his two meat hogs

Mike with his nice boar

on the upper half of that tract. We also alternated a couple of them over on Boggy Creek, but unfortunately that tract only produced some sightings and misses - but that is hunting.

Now for a story to illustrate what it is like to hunt with these guys… Check out Mike in his picture with his two great meat hogs. If you look closely, you will see a “Sow in Heat” bomb sitting on the head of one of them. They brought several cans of that stuff with them and put it out at every chance they got. And it may have helped bring in the swine, but I know for a fact that it will also empty a vehicle in a hurry.

James snuggling his hog

Allen with his good boar

The weather was freezing all weekend, and that definitely helped get the hogs up and moving. However it also froze up one of their “empty” cans, so that when one of them (Trent I think) got in the van Friday morning, it warmed up in the heat and then started to shoot out of the top everywhere… Let me just tell you how fast everyone was looking for a way out of that van! James and I bailed out the front and started running, but unfortunately the back doors only open from the outside on that one, so the rest were trapped in the back, and I truly believe that if the can had not run out when it did, they would have shot the windows out for some fresh air

Man, I can’t wait for this group to come back!

Giant Boar on our River Property

Now that our South Carolina deer season is over, we are preparing for a big Spring of hog hunting here in the lowcountry at Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge.

All week, Danny, Bubba and I have been out at our River property, 1000 acres sandwhiched right between the Hamilton Ridge WMA and Crab Orchard Plantation, clearing roads, trimming shooting lanes, setting up feeders and erecting stands in preparation for all of the hog hunters that we have booked for 2009. Danny has also been out setting up another 500 acre tract down near Roebuck Plantation that we will be hunting this Spring for hogs while Bubba and Henry kept working behind our Luray lodge and on our Boggy Creek property to keep the wild pigs coming to those stands as well.

River Property giant hog herd

And you wouldn’t believe the amount of hog sign on all of these tracts. I will have to take my big camera with me the next time I am out there to capture some of it for the blog - the rubbed trees, the muddy wallows and the rooting as well the unbelievably beautiful setting our hunters will have to look at while in the stand. However since I had a trailcam with me last week, I stuck it up and in just two days had several hundred photos of hogs! Just check out the giant herd as well as the monster boar hanging out all by himself.

And while most of those were after dark, they were just shortly after shooting light (my camera’s clock was off by two hours, so it looks like they are out later than they were). But with our timed feeders now running to help encourage daylight feeding and no deer hunters in the woods, which removed a lot of the hunting pressure around us, the hog movement should just get better and better on all of these pieces. As a matter of fact, Danny ran in to a huge herd of pigs already on the corn as he was leaving the other afternoon at 4pm!

Boggy Creek Hog Herd

And don’t forget, the South Carolina Spring turkey season starts March 15th, so there is still time to book a hunt during that short 6 week season. We will be hunting those red-headed, feathery ghosts from daylight until noon, then eat a great lowcountry lunch so that we are ready for the afternoon hog hunt on one of these great tracts.

Please call or email us for more information on these South Carolina hog hunts and turkey hunts. We would love to add YOUR picture and story to The Skinning Shed.

Jeff