Caryonah Hunting Lodge

[CopperHead]

I'm heading out to Crossville, TN on April 4th and 5th in search of a mighty ram at Caryonah Hunting Lodge. How mighty is still to be determined

Has anyone from the forum been there before?

Several google searches produced only good reviews of the lodge so I'm anxious to give it a try.

I'll be using the Bear/Primos Truth bow and will let everyone know how I really feel about this bow once I return. I did manage to take a deer during the late Virginia bow season but I wanted to get some more field use with it before giving my opinion. I'm also excited as this will be the first trip that I will be using the Slick Trick broadhead (125 grain magnum cut). I read the reviews on the forum here and immediately ordered a few packs. So far I am quite impressed. Thanks for putting in the time to do the review BT!!

[BT]

Love the response to the test harveycj
The head will smoke the pork so lamb kabobs are no problem at all

Your after my sons favorite animal on earth and I wish you the best of times while your there
(bring back lots of pics!!! )

I have a Video that was shot at Caryonah and they had a pretty nice looking spread
Bring back your opinion with those pics

[CopperHead]

We just returned from our trip to Caryonah. I went during the middle of the week to hopefully avoid the crowds and that strategy worked great as my wife and I were the only guests there. A large group was inbound today to hunt for the weekend.

The lodge has individual rooms with two twin beds and a private bathroom and the place is immaculate. They serve breakfast and lunch and the food is great if you like good home cooking. Breakfast is served at 07:30 and the party leaves for the hunt at around 08:00.

While attempting to get close to the rams I ran into about 25 or so hawgs and had to make a few detours here and there to get to where we needed to be. The hawgs I saw ranged from about 20 lbs piglets to 300 lbs boars. Stalking opportunities where plentiful to say the least.

We had found a group of three rams to pursue early that morning. The group consisted of a Texas dall, a merino and a Corsican ram. My wife loves the fluffy merino but I wanted a Dall. After a few failed attempts and a miss. DOOH!! I was finally able to seal the deal and harvested this beautiful ram.



Last year my cousin and I went to a lodge and were a little disappointed as it seemed to be a barrel shoot sort of place. I wanted to give the preserves one more try and was definitely pleasantly surprised with Caryonah.

The pricing is what I would consider mid-range. Corsican and Merino Rams are 750.00, Texas Dall, Black Hawaiian and Mouflon are 850.00. Fallow and Sika are 1250.00, Auodad are 2500.00, Black Buck are 2000.00 and hawgs are 750.00. This is NOT a guaranteed hunt. The price of the hunt includes the two nights lodging and four meals. Processing and Taxidermy services are available if needed. The cost to process the ram was 70.00. The meat was vacuumed sealed and placed in a walk in cooler until we departed.

On a side note the lodge also has several small lakes which guest are welcome to fish while they are at the lodge.

Now for my equipment. I had decided to change my setup completely after the Virginia archery season had ended. I did however have the chance to harvest a doe with the Bear Truth bow before the season had ended. My setup consisted of the Bear Truth Bow set at 73 lbs, 27 inch draw. My arrows are GoldTip Hunter XT 7595 28 inches long and are tipped with Slick Trick 125 grain magnum cut broadheads. My setup last year was a Mathews Outback set at 70 lbs, 28 inch draw and Beman BlackMaxx 400 arrows tipped with Muzzy 3-Blade 100 grain broadheads.

The Truth is a great bow for the price. Its quiet, almost no hand shock if any and groups well. The Outback had a much smoother draw but other than that to two bows are very similar to me. The draw cycle on the Truth is very similar to the Bowtech Tribute with a speed mod. My only complaint is the camouflage dip seems to be easily scratched. In my opinion this is only a cosmetic flaw and does not effect the performance of the bow. Would I recommend the Truth to anyone? Yes it is definitely a great bow with a manageable price tag.

After my disappointment with the Rage broadheads last year I was skeptical about Slick Trick. Let me say this, Slick Trick is the real deal and will be in my quiver from now on. I am truly impressed with this head.

[smj]

That should make a great mount! Congratulations!!!

Any chance of a few more details of the hunt?

[BT]

Thanks for the report and that great Pic
(thats a great pose )

The Rage heads are not what the rocky mountain heads were and you are better off (by far) with the S.T.

If you dont like the taste of the Ram try curry
Curry will make a pretty good dish of goat

[CopperHead]

SMJ thanks and yes I can definitely give more details on the hunt. My guide Doug would have me setup behind some of the large rocks or brush piles that are close to the trails the rams use most often then he would circle around the know bedding areas and attempt to slowly push the rams by me. Doug knew the area very well and once I told him what direction the rams were headed he would know where we needed to go to head them off. They have about two thousand acres and we focused on this one section of draws. The area is very hilly and full of hollows and ridges. IMO its a great setup for bowhunting from the ground as you can stick close to the large rocks and ambush your quarry as they pass by on the trails. As we moved about the ridges to intercept the rams as I said before I ran into several different groups of hawgs. At one point I was on the same trail as a group of sows and thought I may have to make like a squirrel and climb a tree. Every close call I have had with hawgs have always been red ones... SO my first hawg hunt will be for a red one. Truth be told I was very tempted to change my focus from rams to hawgs on this trip.

SMJ if you have any questions please just let me know and I'll do my best to answer them.

BT thanks for the advice on the curry. My guide Doug deserves the credit for the pictures. He suggested we setup on the rock and even laid down on the ground to take the pictures.

[BT]

I have wanted to try a Goat with the Recurve and have often considered it but then I'll see a hog and I end up becoming entranced by it ;D

My son is the Goat/Sheep shooter.....just loves them

[michihunter]

Great stuff harveycj!! Congrats on your success!!

[CopperHead]

Thanks michi.