Apalachee Ridge
Morgan County, Georgia⁞919± ACRES
Trophy deer property in the heart of Georgia’s lake resort region. Year round Recreation for the entire family!
- 919± acre High-Quality Recreational Property in Georgia’s Lake Resort area, near Madison
- Borders 115,352+ acre Oconee National Forest and 37,500 ac Redlands WMA
- 3.5 miles of combined Apalachee River and Hard Labor Creek frontage
- Confluence forms 19,000 acre Lake Oconee
- .8 miles of internal spring creeks
- Rolling Piedmont terrain with 560 feet elevations dropping 100 feet to the river
- Trophy-caliber whitetail deer. Exceptional genetics
- Diverse wildlife including turkeys, wood ducks, and abundant game
- Ideal bowhunting and fishing destination
- 515 acres of prime statewide important farmland soils
- 332 acres of mixed pine and upland hardwoods
- 71 acres of mature planted loblolly pines
- Old-growth timber with 100+ year old loblolly pines and ancient white oaks
- No major timber harvests in over 20 years, creating excellent wildlife habitat
- Diverse timberland with mature hardwoods, mixed pine-hardwood stands, and planted pines
- 5,800 sq. ft. lodge, with 5 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms
- High-end finishes, modern kitchen, stone fireplace, vaulted ceilings, and an expansive screened porch
- 2.5-acre pasture and utility/ horse barn for equestrian or recreational use
- 809 +/- acres under a conservation easement
- Located in River’s End, a high-end, multi-million-dollar estate community
- Lodge and barn sit on a separate 10-acre parcel, available for purchase with or without the main property
- Exclusive access to River’s End HOA amenities, including a private boat launch and concrete ramp to Lake Oconee
- 8 miles from Madison, offering fine dining, shopping, and historic charm
- Close to The Ritz-Carlton at Lake Oconee, providing world-class spa and resort experiences
This is the high-quality recreational property that he dreams about and the location that she dreams about.
With 3.5 miles of river frontage, this property blends high-quality recreation with the refined lifestyle of Georgia’s Lake Resort Region
Apalachee Ridge offers an unrivaled combination of exceptional hunting, pristine riverfront, and luxury living. Located in the Lake Resort area of Georgia, just outside of Madison, yet also bordering the 115,000+ acre Oconee National Forest, this property is more than just a great hunting destination. The Ritz-Carlton, spas, shopping, and great restaurants nearby set a unique tone. Recreation is why people come to this region for its lakes, state parks, national forests, and even college football. This 919.5 acre high-quality recreational property is right in the middle of it all.
"This is the high-quality recreational property that he dreams about and the location that she dreams about. If one wants a place for the entire family, a year-round property that also has exceptional hunting, it's going to be hard to explain to the family why you passed on this one. This location will spoil anyone. Even I had no idea a high-quality deer hunting property like this existed in this location.” - Jon Kohler
“Sending the wife and her friends to the spa at the Ritz-Carlton where they enjoy themselves while I spend the day on a tractor working on habitat or exploring the woods is a win-win and an additional benefit that this property has that most great hunting places just don’t.” - Jon Kohler
It's been said that water is the new gold and this property is wealthy with flowing water on about every side. With 3.5 miles of river frontage, this property blends high-quality recreation with the refined lifestyle of Georgia’s Piedmont Region. It is located where the Apalachee River and Hard Labor Creek converge to form Lake Oconee itself. The fishing here is superb from the white bass running up from the lake to spawn here, shell crackers, crappie, bass, redbreast bream, catfish, and others. It's less than a mile boat ride to the main portion of Lake Oconee itself.
“We've got the creek and a main river that intersect right there, and it's a constant flyaway for wood ducks throughout the whole season.” - Jay Maxwell, renown hunting influencer
“The shape of the property is ideal. Having the creek and river as the boundary on opposite sides of the property is super cool and super private. The game flow is as good as it gets. The other boundary is a super high-end multi-million dollar home community. With 100 foot elevation changes with the high ridge down the middle this isn’t your typical riverfront property.” - Jon Kohler
The property is not only a bow hunter’s and fisherman’s paradise but it's beautiful! This is Georgia’s Piedmont region, where a large ridge of fertile farm soils runs through the property, creating dramatic 100-foot elevation changes leading down to the rivers. Historically, the 560-foot high ridge top was farmed. In fact, it actually has 515 acres of prime farm soils. Today, its purpose is raising wildlife and family recreation.
“I think anytime you're consistently seeing a deer in 120-inch range, 130-inch range in the state of Georgia, I think you got something special. But me going into this property, knowing that the property owners are also getting pictures of 140’s and 150’s and even 160’s and even a 170 is killed just north of here. The potential has got it all. You have thick bedding, you got big hardwoods, you got swamp bottoms, you got rivers on both sides. It's an endless opportunity to grow a big deer. So, it has the ingredients. If you're looking for growing 150-inch deer in the state of Georgia, you can do it right here on this place.” - Jay Maxwell, renown hunting influencer
Eventually, area family farmsteads of the past were sold and then assembled into the vast timber empire of Weyerhaeuser. This “higher and better use” property was groomed not for timber production but for aesthetics and recreation. In fact, it was so valuable and the location so prime that back around 2006 Weyerhaeuser built a 30+/- large lot luxury community called Rivers Edge at Apalachee. This property was set aside to be Phase 2. In fact, some of the HOA amenities such as the paved boat ramp and others are a key benefit to this land. Today, all the neighbors to the north are million-dollar+ homes, and it is one of the finest residential communities in Middle Georgia.
“It’s a pretty neat feeling driving up to this property and driving by well-groomed landscapes with multi-million dollar homes. It's really like being in the heart of some of the main plantation belts where all the neighbors have high pride of ownership and the budget to boot.” - Jon Kohler
In fact, it shares 1.65 +/- mile border with the 37,500-acre Redlands Wildlife Management Area as the direct neighbor across the Apalachee River. Across Hard Labor Creek, the neighbors average around 200+ acres each. This place has wild game. In fact, even on the WMA 140-inch B&C Whitetails have been harvested solidifying the region's reputation as a premier area for some of Georgia’s largest Whitetails.
“Having the wildlife management area next to us gives this an interesting dynamic. Once they are pressured and they find the feeders and bedding cover they are going to stay. It makes checking trail cameras for big bucks that much more interesting.” - Jay Maxwell, renown hunting personality
“The National Deer Association and others have done extensive studies on the movement of mature whitetail bucks and public hunting pressure. These bucks learn to move miles like clockwork the day before deer season starts. I would imagine the excitement here of having numerous mature bucks show up on camera that have never been seen before.” - Jon Kohler
The balance of the neighboring private properties too are also in wild game production.
“This property is surrounded by some of the best landowners you could possibly imagine, and that is what makes a property special. It's not how big the place is, it's who your neighbors are. And around this property here, we have some of the best ones. We have everything in the DMA program under conservation, so everybody around us, all of our neighbors are trying to grow big deer all the time. We're all feeding protein feeders and gravity feeders and growing deer a watching the age, watching genetics, and it is family oriented as well, but we all manage.” - Jay Maxwell, renown hunting personality
It's hard to believe that in the last two decades plus no timber has been harvested and prior to that only the pine was thinned for aesthetics. The groves of mature white oaks are something worth seeing. All of it is reminiscent of a National Park.
“It's not often for even me to see the diversity of trees such as dogwood, beech, white oak, hickory, red oak, tulip poplar, black cherry, and loblolly pine all in one place and all mature. It's gorgeous and anyone would be proud to call this their own.” - Jon Kohler
“One quickly notices the soil fertility here. One sees it in the size of the timber and the diversity of species. The current owner relies on gravity and spin feeders for deer. That’s a lot given the deer numbers here as well as drawing them off the National Forest. This is an ideal property to really put in some large food plots and take it to the next level.” - Jon Kohler
Not only is the land turn-key ready to enjoy, but the lodge is exceptional. This isn’t your typical hunting lodge either. It’s family-friendly and actually one of the luxury homes in River’s End so the property can be bought or sold with or without the lodge. The lodge is 5,800 square feet with 5 br and 4.5 ba. It has a modern kitchen with granite countertops, farmhouse sink, and pendant lighting, a grand stone fireplace in the living room with vaulted ceiling and ornate wood beams, an expansive master bedroom with tray ceilings and a large bath with soaking tub, and well-appointed finishes one would expect of a home of this caliber.
“I particularly love the enormous screened-in back porch overlooking the habitat. I also like the fact that one can decorate this home for more of a hunting lodge feel or more of a lake resort feel depending on what best fits your friends and family. Either way, it fits.” - Jon Kohler
A 2.5-acre pasture and horse/equipment barn complement the lodge. The barn can be used for horses and trail riding or for UTVs. Either way, the barn is a gateway for multi-recreational uses.
The back story is the lodge and barn are located on a separate 10-acre property that is part of Phase 1 of Rivers Edge. It can be bought with the 909 acres, or not. With it, one also gets use of all the benefits and amenities of both the Rivers Edge boat launch which gives about a 3-mile float, and a very nice concrete boat ramp to access Lake Oconee and the two rivers.
"In the surrounding area, you’ll see a pride of ownership. A landscape of fine farms and timeless architecture - it's like nothing else in the South." - Jon Kohler
“If you are interested in a place like this, and your wife doesn't like to fish and hunt with you here she can go right over to Athens and Madison and shop, she can go down to Lake Oconee and enjoy the Ritz Carlton and everything that offers. Or she can drive about 50 miles to the west of one of the largest cities in the southeast.” - Mike Purvis, Family Member
With its stunning natural beauty, exceptional year-round recreational offerings, and close proximity to Georgia’s finest lakefront communities, Apalachee Ridge is a rare opportunity to own a high-quality recreational tract in the heart of the Lake Oconee resort district.
**The property is offered divided - 909 acres with no improvements is available for $2,727,000. The House, stable and 10.28 +/- acres is available for $1,500,000. The adjoining 16-acre lot is also available for purchase.**
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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.