Deerwood Plantation
Grady County, Georgia⁞390± ACRES
Showplace Recreational Property in the Thomasville-Tallahassee Plantation Belt
- 390 +/- acres High Quality Recreational Property Grady County, GA
- Well over a dozen mapped plantation properties within a five-mile radius
- Wild and preseason quail
- 2 flooded duck ponds- 3.5 acres plantable and 4 acres manipulated
- 3 bass ponds - 7.8 acres, 1.3 acres and 1.2 acres
- Grey Branch runs for 6/10 mile along the western boundary
- Specifically managed for deer, turkey, quail, duck, and dove
Deerwood Plantation is a very well-run, well-capitalized recreational hunting property located in the high-demand area between Tallahassee and Thomasville. The current landowner has owned some of the best quail and deer properties in the Red Hills, including parts of what is now Four Oaks, Merrily and Old Fields. He demands exceptional hunting and purchased Deerwood as an alternative to a large property with an expansive budget. Deerwood's 390 acres are exceptionally diverse and offer all of what would be expected from a top Red Hills plantation but in a smaller size, making it simpler to run. It is the epitome of what most people are looking for, meaning an abundance of recreational opportunities with lower operating costs. This property is renowned in the region for its game flow and offers everything that one would expect to find on a 1,500+ acre property.
“The biggest issue with buying a property is the uncertainty of whether it really holds game year after year. Are there hidden issues? What is the deferred maintenance? This property is as solid as it gets. One of the benefits of its size is that nothing gets left behind. Everything is well-managed. Everything here is proven.” - Jon Kohler
"Its reputation in the community / for the amount of wildlife it holds is impeccable.” Jon Kohler
The neighborhood is exceptional. There are approximately a dozen named plantations within five miles of Deerwood. The property itself sits on a classic canopy road. The game flow (and management discipline of the neighbors) allows for both deer and turkeys to mature. Only ½ mile west of the Ochlockonee River, this corridor is well-known for producing some of the area's biggest bucks. A feeding program has been in place for years with a generous amount of acreage set aside for food plots. Grey Branch flows for 6/10 of a mile along the western boundary of the property and fills both the large bass pond and one of the two duck ponds.
“My first trip to Deerwood was 17 years ago. What stood out to me then, as it does now, is the mature timber and beauty. From fruit orchards to well-managed ponds and enormous live oaks at just the right places, a visit here is not a typical experience. This is one of those places that is managed not only for wild game but is also well thought out for guests' enjoyment.” - Jon Kohler
Quail:
Pre-season-released quail mixed with wild birds has been a historical favorite use. There is a morning and afternoon course. The ground cover is diverse and productive and includes both areas with wiregrass and longleaf over-story, as well as old field lands with loblolly.
“I've been operating a pre-season release program on my personal place for family for decades and helped many others with theirs. The biggest problem is that not every property is a good candidate. This one is. This is an exceptional property for quail hunting and offers a very economical wing shooting alternative not requiring an annual six-figure budget.” - Jon Kohler
“If someone is interested in having a place with covey after covey, and the ability to put a lot of hunting pressure on the birds, I would be happy to share my experience on how to make that happen economically. One doesn’t have to have an enormous place and budget to consistently have exceptional wing shooting.” - Jon Kohler
Deer:
For the first 130 years of this asset class, bobwhite quail lands outperformed all others by a huge margin. Few people are aware of just how high the demand and value that trophy deer hunting properties command in the market today. We have a saying that “while bobwhite quail may be the prince of gamebirds, it’s the trophy whitetail buck that’s king of game.” By all accounts, buyers too are happy to pay a king’s ransom for places with a proven track record, if they can find them. In fact, a recent sale we made of a 1,300-acre deer hunting property on the Flint River in Albany, GA surpassed the price others recently had made of a famed plantation on the Ochlockonee River in Thomasville by a whopping 30%. Meanwhile, sharing what we know, a recent plantation sale that we made across the street set an all-time Thomasville high. If you go to our website or read some of the articles we have published, you will really begin to see what we mean about what the trophy deer market is doing.
Trophy deer hunting here is very good with both good genetics, age, and feed being in good supply. The property consistently produces large whitetails. While it’s not Worth County, Grady County is still well respected. It is rare to find a non-high-fenced place in this price range where bucks are allowed to reach the age of their full potential. There are multiple creek bottoms, mature hardwoods, edges, and food plots throughout. The habitat is exceptional. You can comfortably hunt five or six different people.
“We sell a lot of deer properties. My own place is both high-fenced and low. It’s a passion of mine. The problem is that finding the right place can be fraught with not knowing what and even who to believe. Before someone begins to put their heart and soul into a place, we go over a four-step plan.” - Jon Kohler
1) Can it consistently raise and hold trophy bucks?
2) Is it large enough to meet your hunting expectations?
3) Does it meet your budgetary needs?
4) After all is said and done, will it also be a good investment?
Ducks:
“We’ve long shared our advice that the single #1 thing you can build on your property is a flooded duck pond. Few things, if any, compare to the recreational return of a dollar and family enjoyment when they are done right.” - Jon Kohler
Not all duck ponds are equal and not all ponds work. These do. Typically, these ponds hold approximately 200-300 birds all season. A 3.5-acre floodable duck pond with a dedicated well, along with a 4-acre manipulated wetland, produces exceptional wood duck and teal. For those wanting even more waterfowl hunting, a frost system-released mallard program has been successfully used in the past and could easily be re-established.
Bass:
Three ponds are intensively managed for trophy bass making this a year-round property. The largest pond is just shy of 8 acres. The ponds were professionally restocked six years ago with adult Florida-strain bass, not fingerlings! The forage fish are well managed. The ponds are all well-manicured and park-like. In fact, the largest pond even has a sprinkler system on the dam.
"Seeing game, the peace and tranquility of it. I use electric golf carts and I ride around, and I see game. I see deer and turkey and quail and ducks. It's just great." - Hurley Booth, Landowner, Deerwood Plantation
The owner’s cabin looks like it’s a century old with great original details in the fireplace and wood beams but modernized with details such as a Viking cooking range. One bathroom is completely walled with old tobacco stakes from local area barns. It features two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a wraparound porch.
““This is the most unique cabin we have ever sold. To me, it reminds me of Jeremiah Johnson meets Thomasville. I doubt there is a better place to enjoy a glass of bourbon in SW Georgia.” - Jon Kohler
"The cabin is classic. It's remarkable and, comfortable. You couldn’t duplicate it for $500,000 and it is a novelty for anybody who sees the place." - Hurley Booth, Landowner, Deerwood Plantation
"We found Deerwood to have everything and more, than much larger plantations. It had all the game hunting one could hope for including ducks, wild quail, deer, turkey, and occasionally a hog. We had 2 exciting spottings of Florida Panther. The ponds have produced many bass in excess of 10 lbs and numerous crappies. We had family fun picking, blueberries, blackberries, persimmons, and plums. It was truly a heavenly place for nature lovers. A feature that all enjoyed was the road system that allowed us to view 95 percent of the entire property." - Bill Mansfield Deerwood landowner from 1990-2017
Social Storm Properties:
Like out of a line from the Song "Rich Men North of Richmond"... “I wish it weren’t true but it is…oh it is.”
One of the key benefits Deerwood offers is its Social Storm™ Properties attributes. This is a term we first trademarked over a decade ago when we first recognized this new asset class…Back then, we were told it was crazy. Aside from those who shared a biblical worldview, most never considered they would need a place to go in a pandemic, war, or social unrest. Sadly, in today’s world, everyone needs or wants a getaway as more problems are added to our lives daily. The good news is that following certain tenants affords not only safety for one’s family, but it is also a safe investment, which is yet another major concern in today's world.
The Social Storm™ Properties score here is exceptionally good, providing this property with additional investment benefits, whereby it will increase in value in both good times, and in bad, is a perfect hedge. The wealth and appreciation of the merchantable timber stored here is safer than in any bank. The freedom and independence this property offers is sadly foreign to most Americans today. There is water everywhere and the crime here is almost non-existent. A smart person once defined wealth as the ability to help others in their time of sickness or need. To be able to offer friends and family a place like this to spend the next pandemic or worse, is the definition of true wealth.
“If someone has the means but doesn’t yet have a place like this to take their family during the next pandemic, or worse, they are missing the true meaning of wealth.” - Jon Kohler
We help many people add a property like this to their investment portfolio, just like it was gold. Unlike gold, a stroke of a pen can’t make it illegal. Having a safe place for one’s family to go is priceless and these lands will go up in value if tomorrow is a good day and even more if it’s a bad day. For anyone who mitigates risk, and is heavily insured, these new types of properties fill that need. While we wish we didn’t have the need, we are glad we have the means and knowledge to discretely help people mitigate their concerns in today’s chaotic world as we hope things get back to normal. Meanwhile, it’s not too late. We can still help you find them right now but even for us it’s getting harder and harder. Social Storm Properties™, like this one, are the perfect hedge for today’s uncertain times.
“This is one of those rare opportunities where you can find exceptional deer, duck, turkeys, and quail all on one property under $5M, and it’s well under even $4M. There is little to no deferred maintenance on the land which is something we do not typically see. One may want to add a downstairs master bedroom to the cabin but otherwise this property, unlike most, needs very little spent post-closing. We have now sold three properties in the region at $10,000 per acre, for just the land and timber component alone, and closed one place for $9,000 per acre literally across the street. When one considers the cost of reproduction alone of the flooded ponds, lakes, roads, and other amenities, much less that it offers more recreational opportunities than comparables, one will see that this is a very good buy.” - Jon Kohler
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Bruce Ratliff is a retired elected official (Property Appraiser Taylor County). Bruce brings years of experience in ad valorem tax knowledge. His property tax background gives JKA Associates & clients a unique insight into the complicated tax process. Bruce held several positions in the Florida Association of Property Appraisers, including member of the Board of Directors, President, Vice-President and Secretary, and served on the Agricultural & Legislative Committees for the Association. The real estate business has been part of Bruce’s life since childhood. His mother, Shirley Ratliff owned Professional Realty of Perry, Florida and his father, Buster owned Ratliff Land Surveying which Bruce was General Manager of before his political career.
From murky farm ponds to pristine glacier-cut lakes and everything in between, Knox Daniels’ expertise stems from a lifelong fascination of water and the creatures that live in and around it. He recognizes and helps clients appreciate the value water features bring to a property. “My goal is to help buyers realize and sellers maximize the value different water bodies bring to a property, not only in a recreational sense, but also for social storm reasons.” After extensively traveling the country for collegiate BASS fishing tournaments, Knox graduated and worked for the Southeast’s finest fisheries and wildlife biologist, Greg Grimes. With Grimes’ company, AES, Knox managed many of the southeast’s finest private lake estate/impoundment properties, and learned the intricacies of upscale property management. Learning from Greg and other biologists, Knox honed in on the specific conditions and habitat needed for optimal gamefish growth in private lakes. He has also worked as a property manager on several thousand acres and for a commercial developer, facilitating the dirt work and builds of several apartment complexes, but his true passion has always been in the outdoors. “I’ve always had an insatiable fascination with ponds/lakes and am grateful to be able to help to place clients on the properties of their dreams and make their personal fisheries/wildlife goals reality with JKA.” – Knox Daniels
As a landowner of his own family farm, Lick Skillet, along with family land that has been passed down and enjoyed together at Keaton Beach for 40 years, Jon knows what it means to be a steward of the last best places. As a third-generation land broker with more than 30 years of experience in advising landowners in this niche, Jon is known for his innate ability to harvest a land’s unique intrinsic value. Touting several notable sales under his belt, Jon personally closed Rock Creek/Molpus – 124,000 acres of premium timberland at $142,000,000 – which was known as the largest timberland land sale in the Southeast for eight years running. He is a co-founding member of LandLeader and achieved the real estate industry’s highest honor, “2022 National Broker of the Year – Recreational Land Sales,” by the Realtors® Land Institute.
Prior to joining Jon Kohler & Associates, Walter Hatchett served for 30 years as a land manager to several of the south’s most esteemed properties, including Rock Creek. As a former property manager himself, and a consistently ranked “Top Sales Producer” nationwide and achieved “APEX Top 20 Land Broker” multiple times, Walter has a keen eye for the best in habitat management.
With Madison County roots, Lori grew up on her family farm at Pettis Springs along the historic Aucilla River. A love of the land was instilled in Lori very early on by her father who was a local farmer. Lori understands the importance of good land stewardship and has witnessed first-hand how her own father, a former 2-term member of the Florida House of Representatives whose district encompassed many rural counties of the Red Hills Plantation Region, with a little bit of sweat equity, so lovingly worked their own family land. These are core values she carries with her today, and nothing gives her more personal satisfaction than to represent some of the south’s best land stewards.
Hailing from a long line of outdoorsmen, Tim learned a great deal from his father and grandfather. He saw first-hand what it means to be a good land steward. He believes land is so much more than a place to hunt, fish, and grow timber or crops. “It’s an identity, a resting place, a safe haven and a way of life, said Tim.” Tim’s family ties to Alabama run deep. During his grandfather’s first term, Governor James was responsible for signing into law Alabama’s first state duck stamp which helped to ensure funding for the procurement, development, and preservation of wetlands for migratory waterfowl habitat. He also established Alabama’s lifetime hunting license, so it is no surprise that Tim is an avid outdoorsman with a keen eye as to how best to improve habitat for the greater good of its wildlife.
Jason has been assisting landowners for the last 28 years in Georgia and South Carolina obtain achievements the owners did not realize were possible. His degree in Biology from Georgia Southern stemmed from the desire to know how things in nature work. His plantation roots began at just 16 years old outside of Albany, GA and the last 20 years were spent in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. His entire career has been spent developing a global approach to plantation management. That plan included sales. Sales is in Jason’s blood- his mom had a 45-year career as a real estate broker. After college, he chose to pursue his passion of making properties great. In 2011, Jason sold his first plantation. Since then, he has assisted buyers and sellers with over $20 million in sales while most of that time working as a full-time General Manager of a large Lowcountry plantation. Today, he is committed to using his unique skill set and experience to guide landowners through the many challenges of plantation ownership.