The Cypress Creek Skinning Shed

Bob and Mitchel with their Pleasant Hill Plantation velvet bucks

Despite 100 degree heat and thunderstorms every afternoon, Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge had one of its best Opening Weeks in the last few of years when three guests shot a big velvet buck each of the first three days. They were all hunting around one of Pleasant Hill’s big clear cuts full of bachelor bucks. Mitchel got things rolling on the very first afternoon by shooting a tall 9 point, with Bob then taking a heavy 8 point the second day that scored 118 B&C and Jimmy hitting and unfortunately loosing a big buck on the third afternoon. It was our best start in the last few years, so congratulations to our hunters as well as our guides that had been working all summer to get everything set up. And adding to the cool fact that our guests had shot these great bucks was that we had caught all of those bucks on our trailcams just days before the season - along with some other bucks that are still out there!

Sgt. Stube and Terry with a Boggy Creek buck that scored 126 2/8 B&C

However our trophy property wasn’t the only tract holding big bucks opening week. Boggy Creek also produced several good sightings for several hunters, allowing Terry to shoot a great buck for the new “Coming Home” TV show hosted by our good friend Sgt. Greg Stube. The buck, which scored 126 2/8 B&C, was also the deer in the trailcam photo featured in last week’s post. So a big congrats to Terry and a big “good luck” to Greg on his new project.

Pleasant Hill Plantation bucks

And along with these four bucks being shot by our guests, we also had two families with their kids hunting with us this past weekend, and many of them saw deer along with a few hogs. And out of these sightings and opportunities, we had one miss and two lost deer, which while frustrating for our hunters is just an unfortunate part of REAL hunting. But since everyone had a great time and has made plans to return soon, we will just look forward to them coming back so that everyone can try again. And hopefully the nice shed that 11-year-old Hayden found while on the way to his stand will keep the hunting fire in him burning until he has another chance to get his deer.

Another Pleasant Hill buck - waiting for you!

Now, after a week of craziness with the start of deer season, we will have a few days without hunters while we wait for the moon to move past its full phase that often makes deer movement slow. Then, toward the weekend, we will crank back up with a couple of new guests trying to put a velvet buck down before they start to lose it around the first of September. We look forward to bringing you all of the details right here at the Cypress Creek Skinning Shed!

After 8 months of patiently waiting, our South Carolina lowcountry deer hunting season has finally arrived. It opens this Sunday August 15th, and we here at Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge can’t wait to get our hunters in the woods to get it started. The guides have been working all summer on moving stands to the best possible locations, adding roofs to block any bad weather, cutting shooting lanes to better see the big bucks, planting food plots to bring in the big bucks, servicing the vans that take our hunters out as well as redoing the hardwood floors in both lodges and painting some of the rooms to make sure that our

guests have the hunting trip of a lifetime.

But after months of prep work, it is now time to hit the woods to see how all of our hard work pays off for our guests. And since we have been seeing lots of good bucks as we did our work out in the woods, we feel pretty confident that everyone will have a great hunt. We have even captured some of the big buck activity on our trailcams. Just check out the great buck over on Boggy Creek that has been enjoying the peas we planted as well as the corn from our feeder (note the date should be 8/2). He will look great on one of our hunter’s walls, and we would love for that hunter to be you. We still have a few openings during the first couple of weeks of the season when the bucks will be in velvet, so please give us a call to let us know when you would like to come and hunt.

Also,  since our last post about the great success we have had on our hog hunts this summer, our hunters’ good fortunes have continued. We had 13-year old Cici and her dad down for just two days, and she was able to harvest a nice meat hog over on Boggy Creek to get her first hog ever. We also had Jamie down from PA for several days over at the Bow Camp, and she was able to take a nice meat hog over there with her crossbow in addition to going down to the River for an afternoon sit where she killed a monster lowcountry boar with her rifle. So congratulations to both ladies on showing everyone how it is done. And since Jamie was nice enough to drop us a quick note about her hunt, we thought we would include it here as well - Because if anyone can tell you about the quality of the hunts we offer, it is Jamie who has been hunting at Cypress Creek for 10 years.

I really enjoyed my week long stay at the bow camp. It was like the ultimate ’summer camp’ for hunters! I absolutely loved being surrounded by the woods and the solitude it offered. I had many opportunities to observe deer, alligators, egret, owl, fish, insects, hogs, and other animals in their natural environment.  Despite the excessive heat and humidity, extensive walking, numerous snakes, spiders, and countless mosquitoes, it was an awesome experience!  All of those challenges made winning the ‘prize’ of a boar with a crossbow, MUCH more rewarding! I’m sure Justin already told you that I finished the week by harvesting a nice boar, with some exceptional cutters, at the river property. Attached are some pictures. Feel free to use the pictures or any information from this e-mail on the web site.    Regards,   Jamie

Thanks Jamie for the nice words about Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge, and we look forward to having you back again just as we look forward to

having all of our guests here again or for the first time. Good Luck to everyone on Opening Day!

Danny with his 267lbs buck

Word about great bucks killed in the South Carolina lowcountry travels fast! And when that buck weighs 267 pounds, that word literaly breaks the sound barrier as it spreads.

That’s right! You heard me, 267 pounds of whitetail! And to top it off, the deer sported a big, beautiful dark rack with 8 long points, including 10.5 inch G-2s, that scored around 124 inches and had a 32 inch neck. It was killed over on our trophy land by Cypress Creek’s owner Danny Harrell last week when he went to shoot a doe for some meat for the lodge when the monster stood up in the cotton field he was sitting on. And what is ironic is that this is stand that we don’t even put guests in because it sits so close to the highway where the noise of traffic takes away from the experience. Also, please note that the huge buck is also the first buck Danny has ever killed on our property in the 10 years Cypress Creek has been open. The deer are always left for guests to kill, but he said he just couldn’t pass him up when he saw how huge he was and since he was on a stand that we don’t even hunt.

And to go ahead and refute some of the stories I have heard in town already about the giant deer, I promise you that it wasn’t killed in Canada while Danny was up bear hunting and brought back; it also had testicles - huge ones at that So nothing fake about the buck or wrong with it, just simply a huge buck that was allowed to grow old under a great Quality Deer Management program. If anyone has any other questions or theories about the buck, you can call or email me since I was the one that helped load the deer.

PS: We have had several more nice bucks killed in the last few days by our guests, and I will be sharing those pictures and stories on Monday. Have a great weekend and good luck in the woods!

Jeff

This past Saturday night we finally had a nice drop in temperatures as well as a ton of rain, and that incoming front helped to get our bucks up and moving for the hunters we had at the lodge.

First we had Kevin down from Tennessee who whacked a monster 9 point with a great mass right behind the lodge. Then we had our good friend Ken C. that comes up several times a year from Florida drop a nice 6 point across the paved road on the Bowers property. And since he had seen so many deer even after shooting his buck Friday night, he pleaded to go right back to the same stand - and sure enough he made the right call because at 6pm, an even better 8 point stepped out for Ken to shoot. However Bubba and Danny then spent several hours following the very faint blood trail into some thick young pines until it gave out, leaving them unable to find him much to Ken’s disappointment. Fortunately, we ALWAYS make every effort to locate any animal that we believe is mortally wounded, so went back out at first light to make sure that the deer was not down… Well, three of us working slowly through the thick stuff just yards apart, finally found the beautiful 2.5 year old several hundred yards beyond the last blood drop! And while coyotes had eaten much of his hind end, since the night had been cool, the deer’s cape was fine for mounting, much to Ken’s surprise

The weather change this past weekend also had the hogs moving better, and Nelson and his two sons, Cory and Travis, down from PA on a hog-only hunt went home with pork after Cory was able to drop a nice boar over on Boggy Creek. So congratulations to everyone on a great weekend of hunting the lowcountry!

As for our cameras, they caught some great activity over on the Bowers tract this past week, including quite a few nice bucks like these two 8 pointers. And interestingly enough, the 8 in the color pic looks like the identical twin of the buck Ken shot with just slightly shorter G-3s. Also check out the funky looking doe with the huge tumor on its jaw and white-speckled hide.

It is now Wednesday, and our temperatures have dropped even more. Couple that with that fact that the acorns are falling like crazy, and we expect the deer and hog movement to just get better and better as they prepare for winter by fattening themselves up on these oak-dropped snacks. Then throw in the fact that the pre-rut is cranking up (we are starting to see lots of scrapes) as well as our fall plots coming up, and you have the makings of some great hunting.

Hope you can make it here to enjoy it with us!

Jeff

Most hunters know that the RUT is the best time to harvest a great buck. So when hunters call about booking a great fall hunt with us, we are usually asked about it and when it is.

Well, that is a question that has several answers depending on what you call the rut. The standard answer is that the rut in the lowcountry of South Carolina starts around October 15th and runs through Thanksgiving. So without a doubt, hunting anytime during this period should ensure that you have a successful hunt. However you really have to break the rut down to several smaller periods to truly understand it and hunt it properly. And the three main sub-periods of the rut and how they effect the deer movement are as follows:

The Pre-Rut: (usually runs from early October until about the 20th)  This is the time period when the does are normally not at all interested in breading, however the bucks are starting to feel the primal urge to reproduce. Therefore the bucks start to move a lot more through out their core areas leaving their calling cards, rubs and scrapes, to let the does know they are there and ready. And all of this traveling and increased movement means that they are out and about more during daylight than before, making them more accessible to harvest.

However please note that this increased activity does not just start on day one, but is a gradual build up, meaning that the end of the pre-rut usually sees more activity than the beginning.

Breeding: (This usually starts around October 20th and runs through November 15th)  This is the time when the majority of the does go into heat and cause bucks, who would normally be very skittish during shooting hours, to run willy nilly through the woods either looking for a hot doe or chasing her in an effort to breed her. This can be one of the most exciting times to be in the woods for a lowcountry hunter as well as one of the best times to harvest a real wall hanger since bucks are now on the move at all hours of the day and night; they are also much more prone to leaving their core areas and ranging out into new areas looking for hot does, making them even more accessible to hunters since they are not as familiar with these new areas. However this can also be a tough time too since the bucks are often running instead of walking, making it much tougher to get your crosshairs on them before they are out of your shooting lane or range. So hunters must pay close attention and be ready to shoot at a moments notice once they see a doe coming since you just never know what could be behind her.

The Post Rut: (usually runs from mid- November until the end of the season) While many bucks will have been taken during the pre-rut and the breeding period, the post-rut still offers plenty of great opportunities to harvest a good buck. That is because during this time, a few does will still be coming into heat - some because they were not breed the first time around and others because they are early-maturing fawns who are coming into their first heat - causing the remaining bucks to really have to move around looking for these late breeding opportunities. This keeps a lot of bucks on their feet during shooting hours, meaning that they are still really susceptible to harvest.

Note that the post rut will not usually have the rampant movement that the breeding period did, however it is still a great time to be in the woods. We also find that a lot of the post rut activity is dependent on the weather - the colder it is, the better.

So as you can see, answering the question, “When is the South Carolina lowcountry rut” does not lend itself to a short, easy answer. However by knowing the different periods, hunters can make better predictions about when and how to hunt during the rut. And that should help them take home the buck of their dreams!

So give Becky a call now to see what rut-hunting openings we have during the time you have off. We look forward to hunting with YOU!

The South Carolina alligator hunting season is now open for the second year, and we are fortunate to have a limited number of tags available for our guests. You can read all about the alligator hunts that we are now offering on our South Carolina alligator hunting page, but the most important detail that you need to know is that the season only runs until October 15th! So if you are interested in pursuing an ancestor of the dinosaurs, you had better give Becky a call ASAP to book your dates.

And along with the South Carolina alligator season opening, we are now just a few days away from our doe hunting season that starts on Sept. 15th and runs through the end of the year. This gives our deer hunters even more opportunities to harvest some fresh venison while waiting for a big buck. Or like I talked about before, to put some additional meat in the freezer or possibly introduce a youngster to our amazing sport for a VERY reasonable amount on one of our doe-only hunts.

As for us here at Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge, we are taking September easy. This month is traditionally a transitional month for us as we get back to work on our fall food plots and prepare for one of our busiest times of the year - The Rut. So while we have the time off, Danny and our master guide Bubba “I think like a deer” Johnson have escaped the lowcountry to visit Ontario, Canada to see if they can’t kill a couple of bears. We sure wish they had room for Henry and I, but someone had to stay and keep working and checking the trailcams. We also wish them lots of luck since they were unsuccessful on their last hunt together for Elk out in Colorado last year… But that’s real hunting, and it just proves that “hunting is just that - hunting. And sometimes you get one, and sometimes you don’t”.

Well, one of our guests that did get “one” was Thomas. He and his buddies visited us just a few weeks ago, and they sent a couple of shots of their group with Thomas and his boar. Congratulations to Thomas, and thanks to Waymon for sending the pictures and the nice email… Glad you guys had such a fantastic time with us, and we look forward to having you all back.

Jeff

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.

And that should really help out our rut that typically starts around October 15th but doesn’t really get cranked up until almost Halloween when it cools off. So with cool weather already here, and hopefully cold weather just around the corner, the deer should really be moving great soon. Therefore anyone looking for some great hunting this fall better go ahead and call Becky to get their dates on our calendar.

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!

Jeff

It is hard to believe that the 6 months since the 2008 South Carolina deer hunting season ended has gone by so fast… but it has. And we are now just days away from hitting the woods again with some of our lucky guests to pursue big, velvet antlered whitetails.

Like I have reported before, we have been working right along to make sure everything is ready to go for opening day, and we are now all set. We finished up the last few food plots of peas on Pleasant Hill Plantation last week as well as checked/fixed all of the remaining stands. And I did get one trailcam moved over to our trophy property too, but I just haven’t had a chance to check it yet.

However I do have a couple of big buck sightings to report, both on our trophy land and behind our lodge. First, several hog hunters as well as all of us have been seeing several LARGE bucks and a couple of monsters in the bean fields that they planted around the lodge after they took up the sod. Second, I saw two really nice bucks and one 20 inch wide MONSTER over on Pleasant Hill while checking a stand on Wednesday… They were bedded up less than 100 yards from it! And these sightings do NOT include the over 50 deer that our hog hunters saw this past Friday night alone…. Oh, deer season is going to be GOOD!

However one  monster buck that will NOT be around this year to be hunted is the buck that our good friend Kerry Earnhardt shot last December on Pleasant Hill while he was here with a group from BassPro. Danny filmed Kerry shooting this freak of a buck on his last morning with us, and what a deer. The 8.5 year old buck had almost no teeth left and his rack had gone crazy, resembling something between a pronghorn and a caribou. Check out the video to watch the whole thing in real time! And please note that this is the FIRST installment of some of our newer videos that have NEVER been seen before on TV… so enjoy.

As for our hog hunting group this past weekend that saw so many deer, they had a great time even though the hogs were not very cooperative. Several members from the Ashe County Wildlife Club came down for a one day hunt, and the heat and lack of rain really took a toll on the hog movement. Fortunately they did manage to kill the couple of hogs they did see, including one 150 pound sow with a broken leg and another hog that the guides saw at 2pm in the afternoon while filling feeders - Henry and Bubba were able to race back to the lodge, grab Scott and get back to the feeder before the hogs moved off - now those are some hard working guides :)   Now hopefully the ACWLC will email us some pics of their kills for the site!

Again, hunting season is almost here, so stay tuned for lots of action, more videos and tons of trailcam pics!

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