Turkey Hunting Legend Larry Proffitt Hunts With Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010
Danny with Larry Proffitt and two big lowcountry turkeys
Like I told everyone last week, Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge was blessed with a visit from turkey hunting legend/master Larry Proffitt during the opening week of our lowcountry gobbler season. And while here, the man with 30 Grand Slams and 20 Royal Slams, was able to use his vast experience to call in and harvest three nice longbeards during his stay.
Danny and his video camera joined Larry for his last morning’s hunt down near the Savannah River, and while he didn’t get the shot on camera, he was able to get some incredible footage and audio of Larry working the bird. So join us in a 3 part series as Larry first tries to coax a big bird to him right off the branch with some incredible tree talk. Then sit close during the second video, and watch and listen as Larry works ALL of his calls until he finds just the right sound that the big gobbler likes, and brings him in close. Finally listen in as Larry puts the double-bearded bird down and then spends a few minutes sharing the techniques he used to bring the gobbler in for a shot. So whether you are a novice turkey hunter or an old master, you will truly want to watch and LISTEN to these videos to learn how to improve your calling as well as your turkey hunting success rate.
As for this past week’s hunting, all I can do is talk about the tough hunting conditions for both hogs and our turkeys. First we had a bright full moon all week that really seemed to keep the pig movement under and after dark. Then henned up gobblers that barely wanted to talk much less come in was the norm for the turkey hunts over the last few days. However that is real hunting. And fortunately, most of our guests know that real hunting is just that - Hunting and only sometimes killing - so everyone had a wonderful time. And when you are pursuing wild animals under fair chase, free range conditions - that is all you can and should guarantee!


Having hunted in South Carolina for most of my 38 years, I can tell you that 60 degree mornings are not the norm in August. Neither are having bucks out of velvet on opening day or leaves falling off the trees before late September. So that can only mean one thing, and that is that we are going to have an early Fall.
However, just because our Fall is coming a little early this year doesn’t mean that the deer and hogs aren’t killable RIGHT NOW. The movement of both animals has definitely been better after a slow start to the season, and lots of bucks are being seen on all of our properties by our guests. As a matter of fact, Orlando from Goose Creek, SC and his brother visiting from the Phillipines, left the lodge last week with two nice bucks off of our any-legal-buck tract. So congratulations to both of them on their FIRST deer, and we look forward to you guys sending us some pics to put up here on the Cypress Creek Skinning Shed!
In addition to our guests and guides Bubba and Henry seeing lots of bucks while out prepping our properties for the rut, we have also had lots of activity on our trailcams. Both have been hanging over on the bow camp for the last few days, and both caught some unbelievable trophies just wandering around without a care in the world during the night and in daylight hours. First we have some beautiful bucks frequenting a feeder, then we have a giant boar hanging out in a wallow near another stand on the same tract.
And don’t forget that our doe season starts on September 15th if you are just looking for some tasty, healthy meat along with a fantastic hunt. Rates are just $225 a day with all meals and lodging included for our doe-only hunts that run from the start of doe season until October 15th. So again, just give Becky a call to book. We look forward to hunting with you!

The other hunters we had at our main lodge did see some good bucks, but most were on the way in to the stand in the dark or on the way out after dark. And the couple of good bucks that were seen during shooting hours didn’t stop long enough for clean shots! AGHHH… But again, that is REAL hunting.
And I promised to put up pictures of any kills our guests have made lately that I didn’t get, and we have one shot that just came in from E.T. who was in the group from Ashe County, NC and killed a sow with a broken leg. Just check out that happy hunter!
Now we just need to get the trailcams moved over to Pleasant Hill so we can get some great new pics of our trophy bucks our guests will be looking to harvest. We are also hoping to find some time to actually get out and sit in a stand with the video camera too so that we can get some great new footage up here of those monsters! So definitely keep checking in with us as kick into high gear for the coming August opener.
We also have a couple of new trailcam pictures, despite the best efforts of our hogs to rub against the tree it was tied too and spin it around so that it looked into the bush. As I have said before, some of them are just downright shy about having their picture taken. First we have a giant sow moving through the woods behind the feeder, second we have neat looking hen turkey cruising around and finally we have the leader of the trailcam revolution - Mr. Squirrel - there checking to see what needs to be done to disable the camera so that it doesn’t get any good shots of his friends the hogs 


I also promised some new trailcam pics this week, and our new cuddeback over on our bowhunting-only tract didn’t disappoint us. We had lots of deer and hogs on it as well as a gray fox, and they all seemed to come by at all hours of the day and night. Fortunately many of the visits were during shooting hours. You can see one nice boar was at the feeder right
around 6am and the start of legal shooting time while another wandered by around 7:30pm. We also had a couple of good sows with their piglets that stopped by quite frequently too - and what was neat about getting them on camera was the fact that you could see the stripped young hogs. FYI: piglets that are mostly feral are a solid, single color while those with stripes have more Eurasion hog genes in them. So obviously some good hogs over there just waiting to be stuck
So there you have it… a recap of our week of hog hunting along with some new trailcam pics. Now to get back to working on getting some more video clips up on here! See you in a few days…


As for our summer hog hunting, our guests are still having good success even in the unbearable heat. I told you how we had a group down last weekend that saw tons of hogs, killed two hogs, missed two hogs and hit two more that we couldn’t find. Well, I haven’t gotten any pictures from them yet. But I do have some great pics of Tim and his two sons Jake and Jared. They came down from Ohio for a few days of hunting and bonding, and what a time they had with us. Tim shared his stand with Jared, and Tim shot a beautiful coyote behind the lodge on a morning hunt while Jared shot his first hog ever over on the River. Jake also got in on the action by watching tons of deer just feet from him and then sticking a big hog with his bow and arrow; unfortunately he hit it a bit back, and we couldn’t find it in the dense cover that surrounds the River tract… But that is hunting, and if it wasn’t difficult, it wouldn’t be any fun!





















