Jon Kohler will be the first to tell you that he is a self-professed Florida Cracker.
Greyson Kohler raising quail at Lick Skillet
While that assessment might surprise some – after all, Kohler is the preeminent plantation and land broker in the Red Hills Region and beyond – he takes it as a point of pride. To him, saying he is a Florida Cracker means he takes pride in his roots, in his connection to the land and his innate ability to see its value. He’ll be the first to tell you that value is more than the purchase price. It is the health of the flora and fauna of a property. It is the commitment to invest again and again and again in the gifts that God has given us and being good stewards of this majesty.
Always practicing what he preaches, at his Lick Skillet homestead, Kohler and his family spend as much time as possible, putting back what they harvest and enjoy. This is especially true in the hours he spends with his sons, Ashton and Grayson, raising quail. “I see this as something of a Biblical mandate,” Jon says. “Starting in Genesis, we read ‘And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’ I take that to heart in the work we do. I feel called to live this way. Erica and I raise our boys this way.”
At Lick Skillet, Kohler still uses two of the same incubators he used as a boy and today he and the boys can turn out 4,100 Bobwhite chicks every 25 days. “Raising quail is really a numbers game. You know, it has been said that ‘it is not nice to fool Mother Nature’ but it sure is fun,” Jon says. “Of those 4,100 eggs, we probably hatch out about 90%.” Most of those birds are released on his property where he notes, “The better habitat I have for them here, the longer they will survive in the wild.”
Ashton Kohler with quail chick
Kohler’s Lick Skillet quail hatchery is a repurposed horse trailer. “This is the first year it was actually too hot in the trailer for the incubating eggs. That’s saying a lot when 100º is ideal and 102º will kill them.” As a backup, he bought a small A/C unit to maintain ideal temperature. For the naysayers who turn climate change into a political construct, Kohler has a few thoughts, “God created this world to change. In fact, if the climate stopped changing, I would be concerned. For some reason, one of mankind’s biggest fears is change. We will give up a lot over this fear. The loss of personal freedoms come to mind first.” He goes on to say, ”I read recently that now natural gas stoves are the next culprit. Change is a Biblical concept.” Ever strong in his faith, he adds, “The Bible makes it very clear that we should turn to God as we navigate the changes and obstacles this world has for us. It explicitly states that he gave mankind dominion of the Earth and to steward over it. We certainly haven’t done a good job for the most part but leaving God out of the solution to any problem doesn’t make any sense.”
Beyond the lessons of conservation and returning value to the land, Jon sees raising quail as an essential part of how his boys are learning about the world around them, imparting important aspects to their character. “When we candle the eggs to track the maturation process, I am teaching Ashton and Grayson about when life begins. They can hear the chirping of the birds before they ever hatch.” When asked what they like about raising quail, Ashton and Grayson are quick to respond with how much they enjoy the whole process – start to finish. “They are so cute,” Ashton says, while Greyson adds, “I like petting them and picking them up.” Jon and Erica enjoy having the boys’ friends over to later hunt these quail, a regional pastime that builds community and fosters a firm foundation of stewardship. The two boys talk over each other in their excitement about which of their four hunting dogs – Buck, River, Lilly and Pax — has the most fun on a quail hunt.
Hearing that, Jon’s face breaks into a wide Florida Cracker grin: “The number one thing we raise here is kids – strong, healthy, happy outdoor-loving kids. Raising quail together is just a means to an end.”
About Christiana Roussel
Christiana Roussel is a Birmingham-based award-winning food + travel + lifestyle writer whose work has appeared in Garden & Gun, Covey Rise, Good Grit, Sporting Classics, Bourbon+ as well as a number of regional publications.
She is a proud member of the Birmingham chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier as well as the Industry Advisory Board of Auburn University’s Horst Schulze School of Hospitality Management.
IG: @Christiana.Roussel
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.