The Cypress Creek Skinning Shed

I have continued to work on getting the original Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge video cut up and posted here to the Skinning Shed. And we are now ready to show off a couple of more great clips from it.

First we have a super informative video of how to hunt hogs with Danny Harrell showing hunters what sign they should be looking for and in what habitat when pursuing hogs. He also talks about how hogs live and what they do so that hunters understand these creatures better, and therefore are more knowledgeable when hunting them. This is a real must-see if you are new to hog hunting, especially South Carolina hog hunting!

Second we have a neat clip of a great South Carolina hog hunt with a bow. Ferrell L. of North Carolina sits quietly while a nice pack of meat hogs pile into the bottom he is hunting, then sticks a nice one.

The third video clip is of Ron Tabor, Cypress Creek’s old marketing/media coordinator, shooting a monster buck here in the lowcountry of South Carolina. Ron was even filming himself when he shot this great 8 point during the peak of the rut.

And forth we have one of Cypress Creek’s many lady hunters taking a beautiful doe. Marcey H. hides patiently in one of our big tower stands and then whacks a big skinhead.

So there, four big clips to keep everyone’s hunting itch scratched until you can make it down and hit the woods with us. And speaking of hitting the woods with us, we had a small group in camp this past weekend, and I have been told that they were covered up in hogs: killing two, wounding two and missing two more.  And this was all on top of seeing lots more!

Unfortunately I was off this past weekend, so I don’t have any pictures yet. However they took a bunch and have promised to email us copies. Of course, I will get them up along with more details of their hunt as soon as I get them. I should also have some great new trailcam pics from our new Cuddieback over on the Bow Camp too.

Jeff

As I talked about in a previous post, Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge put together a promotional video a few years ago. In it, there were a couple of hog hunts, two deer hunts and lots of great footage of the many great game animals that we have on our land as well as many of the harvests our hunters had made at the time.

Well, we have been working hard to get it edited in to short clips that we could put up here on The Cypress Creek Skinning Shed, and I am pleased to report that two more clips are ready to be viewed. First we have a 3 minute clip of our old marketing/media coordinator Ron Tabor shooting a big sow, and then we have one of the best hog hunts that I have ever seen showing Kerry Earnhardt watching two giant boars fight and then harvesting one of them. Check them out… I guaranteed that if you are thinking about hunting hogs here in the lowcountry, these videos will convince you that Cypress Creek is the place to be. And of course don’t forget that we also have the 2.5 minute intro to the video already up over on the Cypress Creek video page, and in it are lots of examples of what hunters come to us for…

I will keep working on getting some of the other clips from the promo video up over the next week or so, and then I will start uploading the tons of hunts that we have on film that have aired on the Outdoor Channel… We truly can’t wait to share them all with you!

Mike and his sow

As for this past weekend, we had two hunters at the lodge for 2.5 days and another two just for the afternoon on Saturday. The two from Indiana, Mike and Matt, each had an opportunity on a hog, and Mike shot a nice sow at Boggy Creek while Matt missed a HUGE boar over on our Sandy Run tract. However we will give Matt a pass since it was kind of a long shot with his open-sighted rifle, and he was a good enough sport to pose with Mike’s hog!

Matt is in the picture somewhere

Our two hunters over from Charleston for the afternoon, Jonas and Carl, also had a great time with us, and Jonas came close to harvesting a hog with his bow while his friend Tim filmed the hunt. However it didn’t happen when a deer eating on the corn got nervous and ran off taking the approaching pack of hogs with her… but that is REAL hunting.

Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to check back to see more of the video clips that we will be showing off as well as tons of new trailcam pics from our new Cuddieback trailcam that we just put out over on the Bow Camp.

Update: Jonas came back Sunday afternoon and had a big boar come by his stand over on Boggy Creek. But it didn’t stop and give him a shot with his bow. He said that it then trotted away, passing right under the rifle stand down at the other end of the food plot… now that is bowhunting!

Jeff

Cypress Creek's new bowhunting camp

Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge is very excited about our new bowhunting camp here in the lowcountry of South Carolina where our hunters can pursue deer, boar and turkeys with their archery equipment on over 400 acres of prime land bordering the Savannah River. And we are now booking for these bow-only hunts that will include lodging in our rustic cabin that sits on a 32 acre pond loaded with big bass and includes a full kitchen so that hunters can fix their own meals. A screened-in skinning shed and walk-in cooler are also provided for hunters to process their kill in addition to a screened-in pavilion with grills for cooking and hanging out.

Hunters will find our South Carolina bowhunting camp all set up with 20ft ladder stands hung in the best spots on the property and overlooking timed feeders that dispense corn twice a day. Bowhunters are also encouraged to bring their own climbers if they wish to set their own stands to hunt the travel trails leading to the feeders or the rub/scrape lines left by the big bucks during the rut.

Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge has been offering bow hunts in South Carolina since its start 10 years ago, and we have had great success putting our bowhunters on game on the same lands used by our gun hunters. However we believe that this will be a unique opportunity for bowhunters to come to the South Carolina lowcountry and pursue deer, hogs and turkeys with their stick and string on game that hasn’t heard a gunshot in many years. This is because the 400+ acre tract is owned by the same person that owns the 4000 acres around it, which is only lightly hunted with bows as well. The only other neighbor to this tract is Groton Plantation, the renowned quail hunting plantation that covers over 26,000 acres and is carefully managed for the best game as well.

Our South Carolina bowhunting camp will accommodate 4 hunters a day, and we encourage you to call now to reserve your spot. Prime bowhunting dates are already being filled, so check out the Cypress Creek Bowhunting Camp page for prices and more information on what the hunt includes. And please note that there will be NO vehicles allowed on the property. Hunters will utilize a provided golf cart, 4 or 6 wheeler for retrieving their harvests to keep from disturbing any game.

Also note that for an additional $25 a day, hunters can come over to the main lodge just minutes down the road to eat the fantastic meals our cook will be preparing for our other guests. Hunters can also pay an additional $45-$55 for a guide to skin and quarter their kill.

Please call Becky at 1-877-520-2245 with any questions about our South Carolina bowhunting camp, to check availability for dates or to book your hunt. We truly look forward to having YOU down to the beautiful South Carolina lowcountry for some of the best bowhunting in the South!

Big pack of River tract hogs

A torrential downpour Saturday here in Hampton County washed out our hunter’s Saturday hunt, but it didn’t dampen their spirits or keep them from having a good time with us. While we needed the rain, I wish that it had either stopped before dark or waited until after dark to start since the heavy rain kept most of the hogs from moving on the River tract. However some of the hunters did still see a few small hogs even in the horrible weather while one missed a 75 pounder and another couldn’t get a shot at a monster boar right at dark.

Pig Road stand

The 7 outdoorsmen down from North Carolina with their buddy and our good friend Joe for just a one day hunt fortunately had better conditions for their Sunday morning sit, and quite a few hogs were seen at Boggy Creek and Sandy Run. Unfortunately most of those were as they entered and left the woods, but Joe saw the most from the stand. He had several monster hogs at his feeder right at daylight, and he was just waiting until he could see better before shooting when they spooked and ran off… once again, proving that free range hogs are not the easiest animal in the woods to kill.

And while our NC group went home without a hog, Joe’s friends, who were first time visitors, had a fantastic time with us. As a matter of fact, they have already booked another hunt with us in June. We can’t wait for them to return and give us another shot at putting them on some big pigs like those that were seen on our trailcam on the River tract over the last 10 days. Check out some of the giant hogs that would have shown up if not for the weather… Also, check out the different view on each shot. The camera was in the same spot for the entire time, but the hogs kept rubbing on the tree that it was tied to thereby moving it in a 360 degree circle and getting some different, cool shots. In one you can see the top of a coon’s head and the Pig Road stand in the background while in another you get the hogs coming to the feeder instead of under it.

I also want to let everyone know about some cool new features that will soon be coming to the Skinning Shed. I have just upgraded my computer system as well as added high-speed internet out here in the boonies, so I am experimenting with getting our many hunting videos loaded on to my computer and uploaded to the site. Please check out our new page called Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge Video to see a 2.5 minute clip of some great footage with kill shots from our first Cypress Creek Hunting DVD. It is under the PAGES tab on the top right of this site, and it has a watermark in it for now, but if it works correctly, I will go back and get that off of there and then upload some more from that great video made about 5 years ago! I will then start working on getting some of our recent footage uploaded… So please let us know if it works for you and how you like it…

Jeff

Bruce, his two birds and the turkey master

We are now about half way through our South Carolina Spring turkey hunting season, and it has been marked by lots of rain and wind. As a matter of fact, this past Thursday the lowcountry received over 6 inches that completely flooded out all of the hardwood bottoms! However, while the bad weather has made the season more difficult, it surely hasn’t kept us from killing some great gobblers and hogs. And even when the hunters came away with a close call or missed opportunity, they were all still having a fantastic time, and that is always the most important thing when hunting.

Al with his great Boggy Creek hog

As for our two Maryland turkey hunters, they struck out while visiting the lowcountry, however Lee had a good look at an old bird when he slipped in quietly to my calling and only 8 yards from his hiding spot. Unfortunately he was facing the wrong way for a shot since he was preparing for another bird that was gobbling and coming quick - but that is real turkey hunting, and sometimes your best hunt is the one where you don’t bag the bird. They also didn’t leave empty handed since Lee’s good friend Al hammered a nice hog during their stay.

Henry and Brian with the broken fan bird

Bubba then quickly got more turkey kills on the board when he first called in a nice longbeard for one of our longtime guest’s son, Jim from North Carolina, then put Bruce, down from Illinios, on two nice gobblers which he took with one shot. And talk about a great hunt, Bruce, who was down for his fifth trip to Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge, finished his visit by shooting a great hog.

Mike and I with two of the wettest birds I have ever seen

However Henry and I didn’t want to be left out of all of the action so we got hard to work for two brothers, Brian and Mike, down from upstate NY to pursue the redheads here in South Carolina along with two of their good friends who have been hunting with Cypress Creek since it opened, Tom and Walt. Tom started the group’s successful trip off by killing a HUGE boar over at Sandy Run during their first afternoon, and then Henry called in a great bird with a broken fan right across from the lodge for

The Upstate New York Crew: Walt, Mike, Tom and Brian

Brian on day two - and amazingly enough, Mike had almost killed that bird the day before. Mike and I finished their trip up by killing two birds during the storm of the century Thursday morning in which it rained so hard that you could hardly see out of the blinds and the turkeys had to turn in to it to keep it from getting under their feathers.

Bruce and his lowcountry boar

Now we have some hog hunters in camp as well as Ken from Florida who hunts with us several times a year. Ken is after a big gobbler this week, however he has already taken a great boar

Bubba and Jim with his big gobbler

over on Boggy Creek during his first afternoon hunt. And according to Danny when he called me tonight, two of the other hunters put down good pigs last night at Sandy Run. So I already have more great stories and harvest shots to share with you this week. Thanks for reading.

Jeff

Bubba, Tom, Danny, Bob Jr., Marshal and Bob Sr.

Spring has come to the lowcountry of South Carolina and with it, turkey hunting season at Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge. We started off slow with no birds taken on day 1 by our 4 hunters, but the weather was really foggy and the birds just weren’t gobbling for our group down from PA. However with even worse conditions Monday, 3 of our guests killed big toms! Check out Bob Sr. and his guide Marshal, Bob Jr. with owner/guide Danny Harrell and Tom with Bubba “turkey master” Johnson. Congratulations to all of them.

Our successful turkey hunters and five more of their friends are all down for four days, and they have also been after the the hogs. As usual, lots have been seen and quite a few have been missed. But Foxy (Clarence) showed how to do it Sunday Morning on Boggy Creek when he shot two. Their friend Mike from Charleston who came over for one day also added to the hog count when he shot a big sow Sunday night on the River tract.

The elusive lowcountry swamp ape or Henry?

The PA group all headed back to the River last night, and I understand that a lot more pigs were seen and at least one more good hog was killed. The four turkey hunters also have this morning for chasing big gobblers, so I will let you know how they finish up along with some pictures of their hogs in the next day or so.  I will also be backtracking to get some of the pictures of the hogs that our guests killed over the last few days up. However I thought until I can get them up, everyone would enjoy seeing some of the trailcam shots that we got from down at the River…

Jeff

Our guide Henry with a guest from last year and his big tom

Our turkey hunting season here in the South Carolina lowcountry starts up on Sunday March 15th, and we are ready to put our hunters on some big longbeards.

The birds have been gobbling off and on for the last few weeks, but with the warm weather we have had lately, they have really kicked it into gear. The big, segregated flocks of birds have finally broken up, and our hog hunters are now hearing  lots of vocal birds and seeing quite a few gobblers with hens in the food plots, around the feeders and in the freshly burned areas.

We are pretty booked up for the first couple of weeks of the South Carolina turkey hunting season. However we still have some spots later on into April, so call now if you want to get in on pursuing some of our lowcountry redheads. Please note that we will also still be offering some great hog hunts during our turkey season as well. And we do things a little bit differently than some lodges to keep our success rate up. We do this by not hunting the same areas for our hogs as we do for our turkeys. This allows us to keep corn on the ground for the hogs without breaking the no-baiting law for our turkey hunts.

As for our hog hunters, they were still putting down the pork even in the warm weather that slowed our wild hog movement last week as well as in the driving rain this past weekend. Two of the hunters in camp were teenage ladies who were looking to kill a big boar with their bows, and they both got shots at good hogs. Unfortunately we were unable to find either one due to marginal hits. We also had a group down from Maryland, and they did harvest a couple of hogs, and I am now waiting and hoping that they will send the pics on down since I was off the day they left.

We now are back into some really cold weather (it was 20 the last two mornings!), and we have 10 at the lodge this week looking to bag a big hog. Eight are from Maryland, and two are down from Pennsylvania. On Monday night they hunted Boggy Creek and Sandy Run , and several hunters saw hogs but no one took a shot. Tuesday afternoon Bubba and Henry managed to get them down to the River tract after letting the road dry out from our weekend of torrential rains, and they killed a couple of good eating size porkers. I should have the whole story and pictures in my next post. Until then, enjoy some trailcam shots of our birds from last week.

Jeff

Cypress Creek's new bow camp

That’s right. Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge now offers a bowhunting-only camp here in South Carolina for our stick and string shooters!

We have always had a lot of bow hunters that stayed with us, and they generally had great success while hunting our deer and hogs off of the same lands our gun-toting guests use. However, as any hunter can tell you, hunting pressure can have a huge affect on their success rate. And of course the loud report of a gun always does more damage to the tranquility of the woods than does the quiet release of an arrow from a bow. Couple this with the fact that it is just MUCH harder to get any animal within the magic 30 yard window most bowhunters are comfortable taking a shot in, and a hunter using a bow has really set him or herself up against some tough odds on any piece of hunting ground.

However as committed bow hunters know, removing all of the gun-hunting pressure from the woods can really aid in keeping deer and wild boar moving freely and a little easier to coax into that 30 yard window of opportunity. And we have now done that with our new bowhunting-only camp located on 400 acres of beautiful lowcountry woods that sits right off of the Savannah River and is loaded with big deer and hogs.

Up to 4 guests who come to hunt this pristine new area will have sole access to this tract as well as to the unique, quaint old cabin that not only sits on the property, but directly on a beautiful 22 acre pond. Hunters will also have the option of bringing/preparing their own food or joining us over at our Luray lodge just minutes down the road for their meals. And no vehicle traffic will be allowed either - just a quiet electric golf cart to navigate the property or the hunters’ feet. And when you combine these restrictions with the fact that this tract has not been hunted at all in the last 3 years and only hunted before that by special guests of the owner who also owns the 4000 acres next door, you have the makings of a bowhunters dream hunt in the South Carolina lowcountry.

Please call Becky at 1-877-520-2245 if you have any questions about our new bowhunting camp or to be first to book a hunt at it.

PS: While he didn’t get it on our new bow-only tract, check out our good friend Justin with his nice 100 lb boar that he shot Monday afternoon with his bow over on our River tract - his first wild hog kill with his archery tackle. Congratulations Justin!

Jeff

We love helping to put our guests on a lowcountry hog during their stay with us. Unfortunately the fact is that since we only offer free-range, fair-chase hog hunting here in South Carolina, not everyone will go home with one. It is just not possible when factors outside of our control such as the weather and moon have such an important influence on our hogs’ movements. However we have found that there are 3 basic things that all of our hunters could do to GREATLY increase their odds of taking home some wild pork.

1. Don’t smoke in your stand. It doesn’t help if you smoke anytime and have that smell on your clothes (much less any other smell) when you hit the woods. However it is MUCH worse to actually smoke in the stand. We believe that smoke smell just floats all through the woods and sticks to everything. And when a hog has such a great nose, you can bet that he will pick it up pretty easily and not come in to your stand.

2. Take your first GOOD shot. It is nice when a hog comes in to feed and stands (fairly) still for an easy shot. However sometimes that hog will catch a scent he doesn’t like and run off or a big boar could be just cruising by looking for sows and not stop.  So always be ready to shoot once you see a hog, and then take the best shot you have at the very FIRST opportunity.

3. Don’t Miss. A hog can be a tough animal to hit when he is scurrying around eating, much less doing the fast trot that they do everywhere they go. So like I said in #2, take your first BEST shot. And that means standing still for most people in most conditions.

We also have had one of our trailcams out on the River tract this past week, and it caught some great hog movement so I thought I would share a few of those shots with you. It even helped one of our hunters bag his big boar when it flashed right at dark, alerting the hunter that something was there!

PS: This post is a variation of one that I wrote for my lowcountryhunting website. On the original article I cited 2 more ways to increase the chances of killing a hog here in South Carolina. However Danny, Bubba, Henry and I work hard to eliminate those for you: hunting the wrong area and putting too much pressure on a piece of property.

We are constantly scouting and moving stands to keep our hunters on top of our hogs’ changing patterns as well as leaving gaps in our booking and consistantly rotating the properties that we hunt to minimize the pressure we put on our land. I think you will agree that our success shows that we do a good job on both of those.

Jeff

Randy and his 290 lb monster boar

We had 8 hunters down from Maryland this past week, and they were excited to hit our lowcountry woods in search of some wild hogs.

Well, when the smoke cleared (literally), they had 6 good ones down. Randy stuck one good eater pig with his bow, then switched over to his muzzleloader to take a giant 290 pound boar off of the River tract. Ed, Ray, Rich and David then pitched in with good hog kills to fill their coolers with pork before leaving South Carolina. And as usual, the hunters also had lots of sightings of sows with young piglets to keep them entertained on the stand while they waited for the big boars.

Jamie with his 300 lb lowcountry boar

We also had our old marketing/media coordinator/cameraman Ron Tabor down from North Carolina along with Jamie, his good friend and bear hunting outfitter from Ontario for a few days. They had lots of hogs around their stands, and Ron ended up missing one while Jamie took home a huge 300 lb. boar from the River.

PS: Any of you that have hunted with us before and/or seen the old Cypress Creek hunting promo video should be familiar Jamie and Ron. Ron did much of the work on the video and killed a good hog and a giant buck for it while filming himself. He also caught Jamie shooting a big pig with his muzzleloader. Unfortunately he hit the boar’s thick shield, and the sabot literally bounced off! Check that footage out if you haven’t seen it…

Jeff