By Irwin Greenstein
Talk to the young Kohler boys about their deer hunting experiences, and their faces light up.
Ten-year-old Grayson grows animated when he describes waking up his father, Jon, in the camp house on the family’s Lick Skillet Plantation in North Florida, before the sun came up in early November 2021, saying he wanted to go deer hunting.
Fifteen minutes later, father and son were in the field, with Grayson taking to a tree stand overlooking a food plot. Looking through the rifle scope, he patiently waited to take the winning 100-yard shot.
Grayson was thrilled that he killed his first buck ever with only a single shot. “I was very happy,” he said. “I want to go deer hunting again.”
His 8-1/2-year-old brother, Ashton, meanwhile, harvested his first buck only a few months later. The younger Kohler boy took his deer at Deep Creek Farm – a 2,100-acre high-fence plantation in Florida with some 4.4 miles on the world-famous Suwannee River. It had been the fourth time that Jon, Broker/Partner at Jon Kohler & Associates in Lamont, Florida, had sold the property during his 30 years in the real-estate business. Jon Kohler & Associates is the leading authority on hunting plantations, ranches and high-quality properties, representing the best land stewards in the Southeast. Ashton’s hunt took place with the new owner’s permission shortly after closing on the sale.
“We rarely hunt our clients’ properties, but Deep Creek Farm is a special place for Ashton to get his first buck,” Jon said.
Ashton had showed the virtue and maturity of perseverance beyond his years. Four deer had been attracted to the food plot that morning, but the fifth one, a buck, had appeared out of the Suwanee River swamp about 20 yards away. With Jon at his side, Ashton knew that 10-pointer was destined for him. The culmination of Ashton’s hunt was one of those life lessons that the Kohlers want to instill in their sons.
“It was hard being patient and quiet while all those other deer were looking in our direction,” Ashton recalled. “That buck took two steps, and it went down. I was very excited and happy that I killed the deer.”
Jon and his wife, Erica, who is a Director/Partner at Jon Kohler & Associates, see themselves as embodying the
lifestyle and traditions inherent in their property portfolio. Raising their two sons to hunt ensures a lifetime of self-sufficiency while bringing the family closer together, especially over the variety of venison meals stocking their freezers. Erica points out that they eat all the deer they harvest. And, every Thanksgiving dinner features a wild turkey from Lick Skillet Plantation.
“Erica and I are starting a new Kohler family hunting tradition,” said Jon, an ardent deer hunter himself. “I try to point out the reverence for nature when we’re in the field with the boys…all the animals and how the seasons change.”
The endeavor has become a bond, of sorts, for the Kohler family. Erica, who had never hunted until meeting Jon, went on to become a passionate deer hunter.
“He took me out to watch deer when we first started dating,” she said. “I had Jon’s rifle in the stand. A buck came by, and I shot it. I thought, this is cool.”
With trail cams placed around Lick Skillet Plantation, Erica will select a single buck to watch throughout the year. If she doesn’t get the buck she’s after, she won’t shoot a different one. She’ll spend as much time as possible in a blind or stand, watching for deer. But she admits that she also does some work on her phone, especially if a real estate deal is in the works.
“I work, pick up the kids from school and go directly to the deer stand,” she said. “I’m alone, I study the deer and wildlife, and I’ll do some work.”
While the Kohlers’ lifestyle sounds idyllic, behind the scenes Jon, Erica and a hand-picked team of experts have over the years developed the best way to improve and sustain high-fence deer hunting on Lick Skillet and the properties they list. Their approach requires hard work, patience and a commitment to success.
One of their key partners is David Morris, a whitetail manager biologist and game manager. David has pioneered modern food plot strategies to yield more and bigger whitetails on private lands. He’s partner and co-founder of Tecomate Wildlife Systems and Tecom-ate Seed Company, which specializes in deer food plots.
“At Tecomate, we don’t advocate bringing deer in. We like to manage the native population,” he explains. “Genetics are what you inherit in an area, but of course, we want to grow bigger deer. The traditional way is for you to manage age, genetics and nutrition.”
In addition, “Culling or select harvest in inferior deer will result in a better genetic expression of the deer,” he said. “If you have a significant culling program, the fawns will be better. You’re improving the genetic expression of the herd.”
But, instrumental in optimizing a herd’s genetics is raising the deer to their peak age.
“Age is simply a matter of holding off the deer to reach their full genetic pressure,” he continued. “That’s usually three years, but it can be five or six, when their antlers reach their full potential.”
Deer antlers are about 75% protein. Managers need to provide a higher protein food during antler and fawning season. You can do that through supplemental feeding and food plots. After that, mortality plays a role. And, it depends on what your target age is. In the South, it’s 3 to 4-1/2 years old.”
The Kohlers’ Lick Skillet Plantation is living proof that their program works. In talking about it, Jon will tell you how their expertise has enhanced the Kohler family lifestyle. “It’s all orchestration through habitat management. That means my sons are going to become deer hunters.”
And, he has similar high expectations for his clients as well.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
Cole’s dedication to land management lies in his family roots. As a fourth-generation timber expert, Cole’s earliest memories were spent with his father managing timber investments. With a degree in Food Resource Economics from the University of Florida, Cole is the epitome of an up-and-coming leader. He grew up with a hands-on approach to learning land management and conservation and has spent the last 15 years learning every angle of the real estate and forest industry. Cole is a member of the Florida Forestry Association, Red Hills Quail Forever, Southeastern Wood Producers Association and he uses this platform as an advocate for landowners and their land investments. His family has dedicated the past 60 years to providing landowners in North Florida and South Georgia with professional land management services focused on improving and protecting one’s forestland and wildlife investment. In fact, their family business, M.A. Rigoni, Inc., was one of the first to introduce whole tree chipping to the Red Hills Region.
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.