Time to Catch Up!

Yes it’s been several months since our last blog, now it’s finally time to catch up.

Since May, the Harrell family took some vacation time to go to Mexico Beach, Florida for some relaxation and great fishing.  We followed that with a trip to a much cooler part of the world known as the last frontier, Alaska.  The cool climate was a welcome change and the fishing there for salmon and halibut was unbelievable.  We can’t wait to go back in the near future!

We did manage to get back to Estill, SC in time to get our food plots in and all of the other preparations that we always have before opening day for deer on August 15th.

Before we get into our great velvet hunts of August, let us catch up where we left off in May.  The last hunt before taking some vacation time was a wounded warrior hunt that we did with Colonel Oliver North’s Freedom Alliance Group.  All I can say is “Wow.”  What an awesome time!  Each year around the last weekend in September, Cypress Creek always does a wounded warrior hunt with Freedom Alliance.  Last year they asked us if it would be possible to do two a year due to the great response they had from these outstanding warriors.  We were very excited to say “Yes.”  So now we will be doing one the first weekend in May as well.

Although hogs and predators are about all that we can hunt in May and usually not the best time of the year to hunt them.  We made it happen in a big way by adding fishing, skeet shooting, long range rifle shooting, a big Bar-B-Que and some great live music around the camp fire.

We want to thank all the people, both local and many from far away that made this event so successful.  Thank You and Thank You Freedom Alliance for all that you do!  Now for a look at some of the activities from this fine event.

A special Thank you to our friend, Frank Denicola.  He is always with us for our wounded warrior hunts.

Although the Harrell’s took some time away during the summer, the hog hunts continued at Cypress Creek.  Without all the details we will share some of the pictures that we took.

As you can see hunting is year round at Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge with the wild hogs.  We feel like our season begins with our August 15th Velvet Buck Season.  As usual our deer season begins with heat indexes over 100 degrees at times and couple that with a variety of insects and you will understand better the determination of some tough hunters.  Regardless of the harsh conditions, most of those brave hunters hit pay dirt with some very nice velvet bucks.  All in all for the two weeks of hunting velvet bucks in August, we managed to take 16 velvet bucks, and all but 2 were 8pt to 10pt bucks.  The best buck so far was a beautiful 10 pointer that scored 133″.  We have seen a few bucks out there that are bigger, but they will probably make another one of our hunters very happy in the near future.  Let’s take a look now at some of these fine bucks and the hunters that took them.

David Paszkiewica and his 2 sons, David, Jr. & Jonathan from NJ were back again this year to harvest these fine velvet bucks.

Carl Muse from SC on one of his many trips to Cypress Creek.  See you again in December.

Alan Strickland from FL is another one of our friends that hunts with us each year.  Way to go Alan!

Frank Galati from PA was on his 1st trip hunting with us.  What great velvet bucks.

Well, now that we are caught up on our hunts, maybe I can do a better job by getting a blog out at least once a month to keep everyone updated on Cypress Creek Hunting Lodge.  As most may already know, this year almost all of our hunting dates are booked up completely.  There are always a few people that may have to cancel or reschedule hunts for various reasons.  If you would like to get on our waiting list, please give Becky a call or email and we can contact you if we have some openings.  Many are already booking for the 2015 season so if you have a particular time that you would like to join us on our hunts, you will need to call and reserve your dates soon.

Can’t wait to share time with you in the amazing low country of South Carolina as we all “Pursue the Experience.”