The Cypress Creek Skinning Shed

The South Carolina deer hunting season finally came to a close on January 1st, and we couldn’t have asked for a better ending. The warm weather that had plagued us for much of December was replaced by a nice cold front for the last few days, and that helped get the deer and hogs up and moving. That allowed our guests to see lots of animals during the final week and kill quite a few of them.

Rod and Payton with his first deer

Payton S. was over from Charleston hunting with his dad, Rod, when he killed his first deer ever! And as you can see, dad welcomed him in to the hunting fraternity by “bloodying” him up.

We also had Jeremy Jenkins, the grand prize winner of the North Carolina Sportsman Magazine’s annual hunting contest, in camp for the last week of the season, and he killed a beautiful 8 point with a 17 inch spread over on Pleasant Hill Plantation. He was at the fuller field stand, and shot his buck during an afternoon hunt.

Grand Prize winner Jeremy and his 8 point

However the deer were not the only animals moving during the final week of the season. The hogs were still out too, and Jason L. from Stanfield, N.C., down with his son Little Zack and his good buddy Big Zack, killed a nice boar over off of Boggy Creek.

Jason, little Zack and Big Zack

Please note that we also had several other hunters with good kills, including Frank and Bobby with his does, that we didn’t get pictures of as well as a 12 year old young lady who killed her first deer during the last week. I am still waiting for those pictures, and I promise to get those up as soon as I receive them.

We have also been working on getting some new properties set up for hog hunting this Spring, and I will have more on that tomorrow!

Jeff

The West Virginia Group

I have been working like crazy to send out all of the pictures that I took of our guests during this past South Carolina deer season. And as I went through my shots, I realized that I hadn’t yet put up a post about our group of hunters from West Virginia. They came down during the first week of November and had a fantastic time with us. The weather was nice and cool, and the deer and hogs were moving good while they were here.

Mr. Lynnie and his Pleasant Hill Plantation Monster

Joel got on the board first by shooting a nice hog over on our Boggy Creek property with his bow. And during the same afternoon, Ron shot a good 8 point just around the corner from Joel. Then a day or so later, Ron continued on his successful way by killing another beautiful 8 point on our Old Harper tract.

Ron with his two 8 points

But the group from West Virginia wasn’t done. Dusty’s dad, Mr. Lynnie, decided it was time to show all of the younger guys how to hunt, and he put dropped the hammer on a MONSTER over on Pleasant Hill Plantation. The deer went around 130 inches, which is truly a great lowcountry deer; but what was even more amazing was the size of the deer - he weighed 215 pounds on the hoof.

Joel and his bow-killed boar

We had a great time hunting with the group from West Virginia, and we are already excited about their return this coming fall.

Jeff

Keith and his nice 8 point

Since we didn’t get the Skinning Shed up and running until just a few weeks ago, I am working on going back and posting some of the great kills our guests had during this South Carolina deer season. In this post I would like to highlight a few of the harvests we had during the rut that ran from mid October until mid November.

Keith was down from New York right at the beginning of the rut, and he managed to kill his two does and one buck in one day over at Pleasant Hill Plantation! Check him out here with his nice 8 point that he killed during a morning hunt.

Walt and his 8 point

Walt was also down from New York, along with his buddy Crazy, and he also took a nice 8 point.

Tony and his young 7 point

We also hosted a couple of hunters that had yet to take their first deer, and we managed to get one of them a beautiful buck. Tony, down from West Virginia along with his father-in-law from Columbia, is pictured here with his young 7 point.

And I also want to spotlight Mel and his good 8 point that he killed right behind the lodge. He

Mel and his father with a good 8 point from behind the lodge

was down with his dad, and they had a fantastic time with us too…

I still have plenty of deer to go to catch up on all of the great deer we killed and the friends that hunted with us this past season. However I wasn’t always there when the deer were brought in, so if you have a picture of a deer or hog that you killed that we haven’t put up, please email it to me!

Jeff

A great 21 inch wide 6 point

I promised in my last post to get pictures up of some great early December kills, and here they are…

We had a bow hunter, Dave from Jamestown, NC, arrow a nice hog over on Boggy Creek last week as well as a rifle hunter, Jeff down from Rock Hill, SC, over on the Old Harper tract who killed an unbelievable 6 point (7 if you include the forked G2). And on that tract we allow guests to kill any legal buck, so it just shows that while the deer season is winding down, there are still some great opportunities left before it ends on January 1st.

Boggy Creek Bowhunter

As for the weather, the rain has finally stopped, but the temperature has gone WAY UP. And it is supposed to stay that way for the next week. So that will have the deer and hogs holding a little more tight to cover since they will not be as forced to move and eat, but I believe that if hunters stick to the thick stuff, there will be plenty of chances for a good kill. However that will only be true if the property you hunt has had VERY LOW hunting pressure over our long deer season here in South Carolina.

Danny and Two of his sons

And that crucial point is illustrated here in this great picture of Danny and two of his sons with Ryan’s great Pleasant Hill Plantation buck. He killed this one a few weeks ago, but well after the rut had run most of its course. I just seriously doubt that most hunters are killing mature bucks like this on most tracts after four months of hunting. But again, it just shows that big bucks will keep moving well into the season if you just keep the hunting pressure down as well as pass on all of the little ones!

Keep checking back, and I will keep working on posting some of our great harvests from earlier in the season now that The Skinning Shed is fully up and running! And while we are not taking any hunters until after Christmas, guides Bubba, Hampton and Henry will also keep putting out the corn in preparation for all of the hunters that will be here starting the 26th.

Jeff

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

Danny and Becky Harrell

Welcome to our new “News Blog” for Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge. First we want to thank all of our many friends and guests that have hunted with us over the past years. We have been blessed and honored to share many great hunting experiences together. Hopefully there will be many more in the future.

We have been working to put together this new blog that will be called “The Skinning Shed”. It will be used to post all of the latest news, events, photos and will also be open for all our readers to make their own comments. This should help keep everyone well informed of all the latest activities happening at Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge.

We look forward to keeping you updated, posting your comments and photos while we all “Pursue the Experience” at Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge.

Sincerely,

Danny, Becky and all the staff

Jeff Hunt

My name is Jeff Hunt, and I would also like to welcome you to The Cypress Creek Skinning Shed. I am the marketing and media coordinator as well as a guide here, and I will be the one keeping this blog updated with all of the latest happenings here at our hunting lodge.

We chose to name our new blog “The Skinning Shed” due to that facility’s importance at any hunting camp. Because it is there you will find hunters cleaning their latest harvests, swapping hunting stories, sharing their outdoor experiences and planning for the next hunt.

It is the same here at Cypress Creek’s online Skinning Shed. Here you will find the latest pictures and stories of our hunts as well as weather and hunting forecasts for the coming week. I will also be posting articles to help educate all hunters on how to successfully deer, boar and turkey hunt the beautiful lowcountry of South Carolina while they are here visiting. And considering that we have 100 years of lowcountry hunting experience between Danny, myself, and our guides, Bubba, Henry and Hampton, I believe that we can provide that kind of information with no problem.

We truly appreciate all of our guests that have hunted with us, and we encourage everyone that hasn’t to come “pursue the experience” with us here at Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge.