The Cypress Creek Skinning Shed

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!

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!