"Come as a Customer......Leave as a Friend"
To schedule your next hunting getaway, please call us at: (803)584-7363 or email us at: redblufflodge@wildblue.net. Our mailing address is: 130 Boone Trail, Allendale, South Carolina, 29810, and our fax number is (803)584-1717.
Sadly, today is the last day of turkey season, but it sure has been a great one! All of our pictures are posted in the 2008 turkey harvest photo album to the right of this page. Check it out to see all of the great birds our hunters took this year.
John K. (PA) with the last bird taken of the year - here gets no respect from our kids (that is Ashley's hand in 'bunny ears' over his head). We had a blast with John, who got to be here with us for a whole week.
Our new favorite brand of beer - Pork Slap - brought a father/daughter duo some luck on their March hunt. (Note: Pork Slap is brewed by Butternuts Beer and Ale, New York)
Donna Waliky shows us her hog secret - if you look closely, you can see the little pink piggies doing double high fives on the can. She got this hog on the evening of March 6th.
Here are Donna and her father, Dick, with a hog taken on March 3rd.
We also had a corporate group here that night - Bolivia Lumber Company - that had some luck:
Fred Garner got this great hog on March 6th - he always has great luck with us!
Rounding out the evening, Reed Garner got this coyote while hunting down along the river.
Hogs are usually pretty thick this time of year, beginning in February or so. They've been a bit scarcer than usual. Our trail cams and corn spots make it obvious that we still have plenty out there, but they've been a bit shy at hunting time.
Our hunters have still had a bit of luck - here are some shots of what they've gotten:
Tom Dennell got this hog on the evening of February 15th.
Dexter Gale got this hog a few nights later, on the evening of February 21st.
Ricky Russell was lucky enough to spot a bobcat from his stand, also on the evening of February 21st.
One of our most fearless hunting warriors, "Captain" Jack Morgan is on his way to the lodge as I type this. Stay tuned for hog hunting results!
Here's what he got in December:
It's a little hard to see because it was a very dark hog, and it was an evening kill, but this boar weighed 140 pounds and had nice 1.5 inch tusks. Let's just see what he and his crew, along with Gil Bailey and his guest, can cook up on this trip!
December here at the lodge is always a good time. The holidays mean that kids are out of school and can come hunting with (usually) their dads. It gets pretty festive around here and we have lots of fires in the fireplaces and fun all around. Some highlights:
Here's a great deer that Mark McCloud (MA) took on the 16th of December. Nice!
Erica Love and here father, Roger (PA) had a fun night - she got her first ever deer at the tender age of 9!
Here's Heather Finley with her dad, Scott. She got her first deer on December 27th.
Paige Allison also got her first deer with us this year, in November.
This good-looking boy, Lawson Schumacher (FL) got his first deer while hunting with his father Wayne on December 17th.
Now they're ALL killers! Suellyn Kostukovich (PA) showed her husband, John, how it's done on the evening of December 21st. Thirty minutes after this was taken she was transformed back into the Suellyn we all know and love, glitzed up and ready for a cocktail party.
Here's Trey Bailey (SC) got his first deer with his father Gil on the 14th of December. These are our favorite kinds of hunts. Families spending time together, enjoying the outdoors and each other!
Another cutie pie, Will Thomas (FL) poses here with his dad Billy. They always have the cutest pics. Will got his first deer with us here on December 29th. We love watching these guys grow up.
This November has certainly lived up to its billing. Just look at what our hunters have been lucky enough to harvest:
Wayne Urps (SC) got this nice buck on the morning of November 6th. It had a spread of 17 inches and weighed almost 170 pounds. Here's another view of this great 7 point:
Two nights later, on November 8th, our good friend Jack Morgan (SC) scored with this non-typical buck:
This 9-point had a 17 1/2 inch spread. It would probably have been a 10-point or more, but one of its beams was nontypical, and had some neat kickers instead. As you can see, Jack was so excited that his head caught on fire!
How's this for an introduction to hunting? John Cella got this great duo on the evening on the evening of November 8th. The 7-point buck had a spread of 15.25" and the hog weighed in at 150 pounds. Nice first couple of shots with a hunting rifle, huh?
Our great friend from Joisey here proudly shows off his best buck ever; he took this shot on the morning of November 9th. It was a nice 8-point that had a 16.25 inch spread and weighed 149 pounds. Way to go!
Since deer season started this year on August 15th, we have harvested 225 deer. Of those, 158 were bucks and 25 of those bucks were 8 points or better. We've also harvested over 60 hogs during this same 3-month period.
The rut continues to be hot here at Red Bluff, and we've had some great buck action this month. A few were posted on the last post; here are few of the rest:
Chris Roberts, shown here with his father, Keith, got his first deer on the evening of November 2nd. It was a nice 6 point, and a great shot.
The next morning, Keith took his turn with this 14" 8-point. Pretty good one-two punch for the Roberts, huh?
That same morning, Mr. D scored this nice 12" 10 pt. that weighed in at 150 pounds.
A great smile, for a great buck! Rich McCandless got this really nice 8-point on November 3rd. That morning, Rich harvested a 4-point, so this was a big day for him! This 8-point, which had some marvelous symmetry and detail on its rack, had a 16" spread and weighed just over 150#. Good job!
Another shot of this great buck with the whol Florida gang; Rich, Bud and Bobby. We always enjoy it when these guys come for a hunt. Whose turn will it be next year?....
The next morning, November the 4th, David Alexander got this buck that had - get this- 12 points! It had a couple of really nice kickers on its G2 tines. The spread was 16:, and it weighed 153 pounds.
Jacob Fulford got his first buck with us on the evening of November 4th. It was a spike that had a broken tine. Our whole family enjoys hosting Jacob and his father, Jimmy.
Audie Newman rounded out our first five days of November with this 12.25" 7-point, taken on November 5th that weighed 141 pounds. Stand by...Jim just left with Zeke to find another 8-point that was shot at this morning in the A section.....
The rut is heating up, and the animals are really starting to move. Even Jim feels a little frisky in the cool fall weather! Here are some animals our hunters brought in the past couple of days:
Randy Williams had an interesting hunt this morning. First a nice boar, then a deer and finally a great looking coyote came by during his hunt.
After watching this buck browse around this morning for almost a half hour, John Stowe got a shot at it. It has to be the biggest 5-point rack I've ever seen - since there were no brow tines, the tip count was low, but the mass, width and height made it a beaut!
Al Keith proudly shows his deer from this AM's hunt. He and the other three 'wire guys' always entertain us in November. We're glad that Mr. Stowe actually let Mr. Al get one this year, rather than keeping them all for himself!
Randy Williams also had some luck yesterday with this nice 8-point. Seems like he always makes it happen when he's here at the lodge!
I couldn't find these pictures yesterday for our 'Feast of Firsts' post, but have realized now how to access the camera's internal memory (oh, technology...sigh). The pictures are GREAT! This night was even greater; I don't think that Mr. Darrell (Stewart's grandfather) has stopped smiling yet...
Stewart Teal (GA) got his first deer with us! It was a nice 5-point. The BEST part of the evening was that he was in the stand with his grandfather, so the memory and the experience is even more special. As you can see above, Mr. Darrell is administering the first deer rites.
The whole clan poses proudly with the deer Grandfather Darrell holding back wildman Nathan and Scott behind a proud Stewart. GREAT MEMORY and a great group.
We always have lots of interest in the more unusual animals that live around here. Maybe not so much from our Florida hunters (whose climate, etc.) is so similar, but definitely from our northern friends. A few of our hunters have taken some great shots during their hunts and have been generous enough to share them with us (thanks goes out to Matt and Mark Miller and to Charlotte Crider).
I thought that this was a dreamy action shot of our 'possum on the half shell' - an armadillo. Hunters often beg for a chance to see one of these - alive, that is. Most are spotted legs up on the side of the road. We've even been known to take hunters out on armadillo safaris in the efforts to spot one. For a laugh, it is always fun to watch our black lab, Zeke, try to chase and catch one. His teeth slip off of the scales - it puzzles him so.
Here's our neighborhood gator, Albert, who lives just 300 yards or so from the lodge. He's usually pretty shy, so I was glad to get such a great shot of him. The kids always like to drive over in a golf cart in the efforts to spot him.
Even though this shot is a little bit blurry, I love it. Here is a barred owl, who makes the distinctive, "who cooks for you" hoot.
I'm pretty sure this is a black pine snake. What a good eye to get this shot!
The oh-so-elusive vertical rattlesnake. VERY rare to catch one of these on film!
A picture here of our ultimate cleanup crew taking a break between meals.
Finally, a flora pic. This is a swamp tree that appears to be sleeping. Charlotte Crider spent the morning with it while hunting and got a good shot for us.
