The Cypress Creek Skinning Shed

Kendyl and her dad Gary with their two longbeards

At sunset on Saturday, the 2010 South Carolina turkey season officially ended for us after 6 weeks of hard hunting, but not before producing two more big, mature gobblers for our last two turkey hunters Kendyl and her dad Gary.

Justin with his limbhanger

Down from NC for their second attempt in just two weeks, the father and daughter team  joined us again for the last two days of the season in hopes that they could harvest a big bird together. And after two full mornings of hunting with Justin, they had come close but still not sealed the deal. So their chances at getting a turkey were pretty much over as everyone drove out of the woods and back towards the lodge - when 7 big gobblers walked across the dirt road in front of them and towards a small watering hole full of tall grass. That small brake gave them a chance to get out of the van and circle around in front of them for a couple of calls and a shot as they came up and out of the small depression… two shots to be exact, which produced two nice longbeards! So congratulations to Kendyl and Gary on two nice birds, and to Justin for helping us and our guests to finish up the season on such a high note.

Jeff with his boys Bo and Will Hunt and his big gobbler

And since we were winding up the season this week and only had two hunters left, Justin and I also had a chance to hit the woods to see if we couldn’t get a gobbler too. And after some hard hunting and a few close calls, we each were able to harvest a nice bird a piece. So after calling and hunting without a gun in hand most of the season, it was a nice change for us to hit the woods ready to do business ourselves.

A 400 LB boar from behind the lodge

Our only other hunters this past week were two down from Greenville, SC to bow hunt some hogs. And while they didn’t take any pork home, one was able to get a good opportunity at a big hog right behind the lodge. Unfortunately he couldn’t capitalize on his chance after his arrow fell off of his rest and spooked the pig. But as we always say, that is real hunting; and if it was always easy, it really wouldn’t be as much fun

And I don’t know if it was the same hog or not that was missed, but I just got a text message from Justin that one of the hog hunters here today just shot a HUGE 400 pound boar on the power line right behind the lodge this morning! Just check that massive sucker out in the camera-phone pic! I promise to have the full story and better pictures of the monster for next week’s posting, so make sure and check back to see more.

What a MONSTER HOG!

Now after 6 weeks of almost non-stop hunting, we have a few days to do some work around the lodge to get caught up on all of the to-do list items that have been put off. Then it is time to start moving stands and trimming shooting lanes in preparation for the deer season that starts in just over 3 months. However while we will not have near as many hog hunters joining us during these hot, buggy summer months, we will also be working hard to keep the pigs fat, healthy and undisturbed so that on the days (mostly weekends) when we do have hog hunters, we can make their time in the woods as productive as possible. And when our hunters are dropping 400 pounders and the trailcams are catching big packs of meat hogs running around in the middle of the afternoon as well as other giant pigs hiding in the night, we will be eagerly awaiting  you for some great hunting!

Meat hogs at 3:30pm...

Justin's mom Jamie with her Boggy Creek hog

With all of the hot weather lately, the hogs have been keeping the majority of their movement confined to right around dark when it finally cools off. However early in the week several hogs at the River didn’t wait quite late enough and found themselves in the crosshairs of Tim who hammered two nice ones while WV’s Smiley (Nathanial) killed one. Then a nice downpour Saturday afternoon dropped the temperature considerably, and the hogs rolled out even earlier and right in front of all of our hunters. Joe and Gene, two of our NC crew that come down once a month, dropped good pigs while Jamie, our guide Justin’s mom, shot two and his dad Dave missed one.

Justin's dad Dave with his River gobbler

But hogs weren’t the only thing moving in the woods this past week; our turkeys were working pretty good as well. So Danny took the Hunting the World Southern Style TV camera crew

Hunting The World Southern Style with their big gobbler

and their shooter down to the River where they got some incredible footage while harvesting one big gobbler and missing another. Our other turkey hunters this week were Justin’s parents who were doing the hog/turkey combo, and Dave missed one before connecting on a giant bird while Jamie missed one of the three that her son called in for her right behind the lodge. She then tried to make up for it by hunting super hard in the driving rain and wind with me down on the River on Sunday, but to no avail.  But just let me say that many hunters could learn a thing or two from her about hunting hard and not letting bad conditions keep you out of the woods!

Now we have less than a week to finish off the 2010 South Carolina turkey hunting season.  So in addition to our two hunters this weekend, the guides get to hunt a few mornings too. And we can’t wait to see how the Cypress Creek crew finish the season out and then let you know how everyone did.

NC's Joe and Gene with River hogs

Also please note that if you haven’t contacted Becky about attending our long-range shooting class in May, you had better call ASAP to reserve your spot. Because once we reach a reasonable number of students, we will be cutting off registration to ensure that everyone gets lots of personal attention. Hope to see you there!

Smiley with his big hog

Tim with one of his two River hogs

Cypress Creek Long Range Shooting Class:

Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge will partner with Tactical Rifles, Inc. to host a free long range shooting and firearm class with a True American Hero;  Special Forces Sgt. Greg Stube.  This event will take place on May 21 & 22 at our Luray lodge.

Tactical Rifles, Inc. will be at Cypress Creek with their guns, ammunition and expertise for all interested participants.  Guns will be provided for instruction / use, and the ammunition can be purchased at a very reasonable price for the event.

Guests who wish to stay overnight for this event can lodge at Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge for $100.00 per night which will also include meals.  A pig roast is planned for  Friday night May 21 at the lodge. This will be offered on a first come basis and all others can lodge at one of the local motels if needed.

This event will start at 1:00pm on Friday May 21 and end at 5:00pm on Saturday May 22.  Don’t miss such great opportunity for the development of your long range shooting capabilities; or the fellowship to be enjoyed in such a patriotic environment with hosts, Danny and Becky Harrell.

Please make reservation by calling 877-520-2245 if you plan to attend.

Hope to see you there.

Art from DE with a giant lowcountry limbhanger

Now to catch up on the hunting here… We had a few guests in camp this past week including Art Goldstein, a long time NWTF member from DE and now a Wheeling Sportsmen participant due to a bad fall 5 years ago. He was able to take his best longbeard ever with me on Thursday morning at the Blount Place when two birds worked right into our decoy set up around 10am. The 19.6 pound limbhanger with 1 and 3/8 inch spurs and an 11. 5 inch beard will now grace Art’s wall, and the hunt to get him will forever be one of my greatest turkey hunting memories. Art’s friend, Gary, also had a great hunt and saw tons of good birds with Tater, but he just couldn’t get a bead on one.

Ken Cobb and the Huntin’ the World Southern Style TV show also joined us for some great lowcountry hunting action this past weekend, and while they couldn’t ever get a turkey to cooperate enough to become an Outdoor Channel movie star, their shooter, Dr. Fuller of Rock Hill, SC, did get a nice River boar hog in fading light to keep the trip productive.

Dr. Fuller from Rock Hill with his River boar

Now we have a few days off for Easter, but a couple of guests will start arriving tomorrow night for a weekend of hog and turkey hunting. We look forward to sharing those hunts with everyone next week.

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!

Rosie and Foxy with her first bird

Rosie with her pig

Spring in South Carolina means one thing: Turkey Season! And it officially opened last Monday morning at sunrise here in the lowcountry at Cypress Creek, and we have been hunting hard for the giant red-headed birds ever since.

Rosie, after missing two on opening day, knocked down the first bird for us (and her first ever) when she tagged a giant gobbler that her guide Tater called in on day two. She then further redeemed herself by completing the lowcountry Spring slam by hammering a nice hog that same night. So a huge congratulations to her. Then Jim, down from NJ with his fellow NYPD buddy Rob for their 6th year of hunting with Cypress Creek, followed Rosie’s lead and leveled a great longbeard after Danny sweet talked the bird into range on Sunday morning. And even with the windy conditions, Mike, down from NY, managed to shoot a beautiful bird with one inch spurs and a 10 inch beard over on the Blount Place with me that same afternoon to round out an ugly, rainy day that just happened to produce two nice birds. We also had lots of close calls that didn’t work out for one reason or another, but that is hunting. And we still enjoyed every minute of the hunt, and we hope that our guests did too.

Mike and his Blount Place longbeard

Jim and his great gobbler swinging a 10.5 inch beard

Cypress Creek also had a very special guest to start the season with, Larry Proffitt. He is widely known as the best turkey hunter in the country and has 30 Grand Slams to his credit as well as 20 Royal Slams. He spent a couple of days working our lowcountry birds, and left our flock missing three members when the smoke cleared. Danny was fortunate enough to join him for a morning and captured some great video footage of Larry hunting along with an interview, and we look forward to sharing that with you next week. You don’t want to miss it.

Jamie with his river hog

Gary and a Boggy Creek sow

And while we have been spending a lot of time on the turkeys, we have still been after the hogs too. And George, down from NJ, was able to shoot his first hog ever during his first boar hunt ever. And George wasn’t alone in this feat, since Derick from MD also shot his first hog during his first hunt too. Unfortunately Derick’s friend Dan didn’t get one since he missed, but considering it was his first time not getting a hog in 8 years of coming down, that isn’t too bad. We also had lots of sightings of young hogs too small to shoot as well as some bigger hogs that hunters just couldn’t get a shot at. However a couple of other guests that did see good hogs and didn’t miss were Richard from PA, Gary, also visiting from PA, Jamie from Canada and Johnny from North Carolina, all of whom hunt with us annually.

So you can see, we have been busy reaping the bounty of the lowcountry with many of our great friends lately. We truly appreciate everyone that has hunted with us, and we look forward to doing it again. We would also love to have you join us and experience hunting with Cypress Creek, so give Becky a call. We still have a date or two available during late April if you want to get in on some great turkey hunting and the weather should be nice for some hog hunting too.

Richard with a good Boggy hog

Derrick with his first hog

Ken with his 2009 Spring gobbler

We are now just 3 weeks away from the start of our South Carolina lowcountry turkey hunting season, and the big red-headed birds are starting to get fired up. The nice, warm weather has finally arrived after almost 3 months of nonstop rain and cold, and that has got the gobblers gobbling. And while we are still seeing the big winter flocks still holding together, we are already seeing many of the hen groups being joined by strutters, so you know that the breeding is about to begin. That means that it is almost time to pull out the vests, the snake boots and the thermacells and hit the woods in search of giant longbeards.

Hank with his 150lb Boggy Creek boarsearch of giant longbeards.

And whether you are an old hand or just a newcomer to the sport of turkey hunting, you don’t want to miss the opportunity to hit the South Carolina woods with us since turkey season provides our guests one of the most unique hunts South Carolina has to offer - the Spring gobbler/Hog combo. Because while you have the option of hunting turkeys all day, many of our hunters choose to chase the redheads in the morning and then switch gears and guns to pursue hogs from a stand in the afternoons. This really works out great since the mornings usually provide the most vocal time of day for gobblers, making for an exciting hunt that usually includes quite a bit of walking, while the PM hunt offers the best time of day for big hogs and is done from stationary tree stands where you can relax and recover from the AM hunt. So give Becky a call to see what dates we still have open, and come join us for some great South Carolina turkey hunting.

Hogs working to replenish what we kill :)

Lowcountry hogs enjoying our rare snowfall

As for this past weekend’s hog hunt, it set a new record: Most Fun During Most Disappointing Hunt :O  Our West Virginia group came in after our properties had sat mostly undisturbed all week only to find that the hogs were mostly holding tight to the cover during daylight hours. The hogs just weren’t moving well due to the bright  moon, and the VA boys only got three chances at hogs - which they all missed - and one shot at a coyote - which was grazed. Fortunately the VA posse has been to the South Carolina lowcountry many, many times and know exactly how the hog movement can be. They are also not a group that lets ANYTHING stand in the way of them having a fantastic time, and this trip was no exception. They truly had a great time, and we can’t wait to have them back again so that we can give them another shot at our porkers.

Fortunately right before our VA group rolled in, we had two hunters in camp from LA, and Hank managed to knock down a nice 150 pound pig over on Boggy Creek for our only hog kill of the week. We now have another couple of days without hunters, so we are giving the woods some more quiet time and us some more rest while we get things ready for our Spring gobbler season. Hope to see you here for it.

Rob with his BBQ pig and Ted with his big gobbler

The excitement of turkey season continued this week as we pursued big gobblers with four of the NYPD’s finest. For three mornings we hiked them around our beautiful lowcountry, called like crazy and really had a blast. Unfortunately it was a rough couple of days for turkey hunting, and between the wind and the fog, it just really kept the birds tight lipped. Only Ted killed a longbeard when Marshal, our Quaker Boy pro staff guide, used his best tricks to pull his first turkey in on their last morning. All of the others heard and saw birds, and a there were a couple of real close calls; just no other kills. But that is turkey hunting.

Bob finishing his lowcountry hunt with a nice hog

Along with the NYPD crew, we also had four NC hunters as well as two bow hunters down from MN who spent their afternoons going after the hogs. Jack from NY was the first to shoot a big pig followed by Rob who killed his while we were turkey hunting when a pack of 25 come trotting by. Quite a few others saw sows with small pigs while Jerry, our MN bowhunter who was down with his son Jason, had several shot opportunities on hogs but just didn’t drop the string… he said that he was enjoying his hunt to much!

I also need to congratulate Henry on putting Jeff with our PA group that started turkey season with us on a nice bird before they left. That put that group 4 for 4 on the redheads! Congrats to PA group member Foxy as well for killing a couple of real nice boars over on Boggy Creek during a morning sit and to Bob Jr. for shooting a nice hog on the River tract while they were here.

Foxy with his wife Rose and his two nice boars that he killed over on Boggy Creek during a morning sit.

I am now waiting to get the pictures of a couple of real nice hogs that a young man and his dad killed on Saturday night, and I will get those up along with the details of our two Maryland turkey hunters as soon as I can.

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