Yes Realtree has deer rights. That is where Tyler Jordar shot the Louisiana record a year or two ago.
That was 2 years ago if I’m not mistaken. That rack I am holding in the pictures is a molded replica of that deer. I think last year was the first year that deer rights were given to members only. Tyler may have a membership now I’m not sure.
They use water to manipulate what plant species grow for the wildlife like we would use prescribed fire. Incredibly interesting to me.
Yeah that is pretty cool…….Can you imagine the quality of forage you could grow with that kind of irrigation and flooding power on tap…..That late summer stress period shouldn’t be an issue…… Please tell me they flood some of it during the summer to reset growth… …..They ought to have the potential to crank out the 200 inchers at that place……
I do wonder though how that impacts the soil microbiology…….If you leave it flooded for very long then you’re going to kill off the good soil microbes on a mass scale and heavily shift the system toward anaerobic bacteria……..AI says:
• Bounce-back time: Research indicates that a post-flooding recovery period of about 3 weeks to 3 months allows surviving microbial communities to adapt, stabilize, and return toward normal baseline health. [1, 2] • Full aerobic restoration: Severely waterlogged soil can take 6 months or longer to fully recover its original aerobic microbial balance
If you zap all of the good microbiology from the soil and it takes 3-6 months to recover then that would heavily impact the quality and type of forage growth produced during that recovery period…..Its part of the same reason you see heavily plowed fields growing the worst of the worst weeds that nothing wants to eat……The soil has been shifted to being heavily bacterially dominated and all of the good microbes have been killed off
This may be why a lot of those big bucks seem to be lacking tine length……
I do wonder though how that impacts the soil microbiology…….If you leave it flooded for very long then you’re going to kill off the good soil microbes on a mass scale and heavily shift the system toward anaerobic bacteria……..AI says:
• Bounce-back time: Research indicates that a post-flooding recovery period of about 3 weeks to 3 months allows surviving microbial communities to adapt, stabilize, and return toward normal baseline health. [1, 2] • Full aerobic restoration: Severely waterlogged soil can take 6 months or longer to fully recover its original aerobic microbial balance
If you zap all of the good microbiology from the soil and it takes 3-6 months to recover then that would heavily impact the quality and type of forage growth produced during that recovery period…..Its part of the same reason you see heavily plowed fields growing the worst of the worst weeds that nothing wants to eat……The soil has been shifted to being heavily bacterially dominated and all of the good microbes have been killed off
This may be why a lot of those big bucks seem to be lacking tine length……
So the part that is flooded is mostly used to manipulate the plant life for ducks, but they do deer hunt that part too. And sometimes it gets flooded whether they want it flooded or not lol. So when that happens a lot of nutrients flow in. The property sits at the south end of about 400k acres (I think that number is right) of farmland. When farmers pump water off their fields on that acreage, it flows down the system to them. They use that water plus some wells to flood the property. So imagine the nutrients off that farmland in the water coming down to them. They also plant a lot of rice and millet that they flood. And their trees that they planted gets flooded a good bit. So the soil and forage seems to be in a good place.
They are flooding it now and it will stay flooded until they drain it in the early spring.
So the soil and forage seems to be in a good place.
They are flooding it now and it will stay flooded until they drain it in the early spring.
It very well may be……I just brought is up for the sake of conversation and because its something I think is very interesting as well.....Soil microbiology is something that I’ve found few people know much about or concern themselves with no matter how much money they have……After tracking for most all of the big wig places around here for the last decade I don’t assume anymore that just because someone is wealthy that they are automatically soil and wildlife management experts……. Most of these folks made their money through other avenues and we assume that just because they’re rich and own a nice spread that everything they’re doing must be “the way”………That is not the case though from what I have seen……. That’s not meant as an insult or to throw shade on anyone…..it just is what it is…..and the very reason I don’t automatically assume that soil microbiology is a consideration when manipulating forage through flooding
I hear you about the nutrients and such……but you gotta have oxygen and the good microbes to grow the “good” plants…….Just sayin is all,,,,,Carry on
reckon how much it cost realtree to lease this place each yr?
Does Realtree lease the deer hunting??.....I thought is was mainly a duck hunting lodge........Google says $1200 per day per gun for all inclusive duck hunting
If I remember correctly they do lease the deer hunting right to Honey Brake. I want to say I saw it on one of the videos where they talked about it and they were going some work there to get ready for deer hunting. I could be thinking of something else.
The deer hunting is reserved for 6 memberships. Realtree might have a membership. I know who a few of the memberships are but they don’t discuss that part very much. I think some of the members ask for privacy as far as that goes.
reckon how much it cost realtree to lease this place each yr?
Does Realtree lease the deer hunting??.....I thought is was mainly a duck hunting lodge........Google says $1200 per day per gun for all inclusive duck hunting
If I remember correctly they do lease the deer hunting right to Honey Brake. I want to say I saw it on one of the videos where they talked about it and they were going some work there to get ready for deer hunting. I could be thinking of something else.
The deer hunting is reserved for 6 memberships. Realtree might have a membership. I know who a few of the memberships are but they don’t discuss that part very much. I think some of the members ask for privacy as far as that goes.
Marsh is this close to your part of the world?
No Sir. That’s about 3-4 hrs NE of where I’m at. I’ve been by it and fished Larto a few times. They got some good dirt over there in that Red River area.
It's hard to kiss the lips at night that chews your a$$ all day long.
I’ve got some kinfolk in that area. Near Bunkie, only about 40 miles from there. We’ve killed hogs and gators over there. Lots of good deer hunting too. I’m not a duck hunter, I can’t hit them little jet powered scooters for nothing.
I hate making a good first impression. There’s no way I can keep that shit up.
A lot of soybeans grown in that area. A guy I know has land across the lake from them. His family farms it and yes they have some absolute studs in that area. They don’t give a crap about deer all he hunts his ducks.
Damn I wish I was rich and could deer hunt places like that.
You don’t have to be rich!! There is a ton of public land in that area and they all hold lots of big deer. Limited hunting and prime river bottom habitat grows some real good ones there.
It's hard to kiss the lips at night that chews your a$$ all day long.
Damn I wish I was rich and could deer hunt places like that.
You don’t have to be rich!! There is a ton of public land in that area and they all hold lots of big deer. Limited hunting and prime river bottom habitat grows some real good ones there.
I found out real quick that Honey Brake is a special place. But you are right, you can shoot ducks and kill bucks just as dead at other places. It’s the history, the amenities, the sheer size of the operation… and most of all, the people that makes it a special place.
What an incredible place! I am not really into duck hunting, but deer hunting there would be a bucket list trip. Did you get to meet Jared Mophett? Like Gobble4me757 mentioned I would love to know the back story on how that place came to be. Thanks for sharing
So I’ll try to share a little bit but I’m definitely not the expert on it. It started out as cleared farmland. Part of a 100,000 acre row crop farm. One of the biggest row crop farms in the US. Over the years pieces were sold or whatever so this 20k acre piece is the largest piece of what is left of the original farm. When Drew Keith was hired to work there (along with Jared), it was just flat farmland. Zero trees on it besides the willows beside the ditches next to the field levees. The owner rolled a few acres into WRP program and in the first phase they planted around 350k trees on it. It took them 6 years to accomplish that. The next phase, they planted around 400k trees and it took them 6 days lol. They changed their methods lol. Now they have about 1.4 million trees. Every single one planted by Honey Brake. (I’m trying to be accurate with these numbers here but i may have gotten some wrong lol.) it is the largest piece of land in these types of programs. Of the 20k acres they flood about 8,500 acres. They pump about 3.4 billion gallons of water each year depending on rainfall. They use water to manipulate what plant species grow for the wildlife like we would use prescribed fire. Incredibly interesting to me.
I did meet Jared briefly. He was leaving taking some of their dogs to a super retriever series competition so I didn’t get to talk to him much. But he’s a character now. I met Drew Keeth as well. He’s a great guy with a great vision.
The lodge also sits on a public oxbow lake, which just happens to be one of the top crappie lakes in the US. The property basically sits at the bottom of the funnel that is the Mississippi flyway.
Appreciate the info on the history of the place. It sounds like they had a blank slate and created a mecca for wildlife! What a labor of love and unique experience to be a part of creating something so special. From the videos I have watched, Drew seems like a stand up guy with a vision, but Jared seems like the heartbeat of the place, and saying he is a character might be an understatement! This is my favorite Jared Mophett quote: 'Most people think they like it, but once they come stay with me for 360 days, they decide they really didn't love it, they just thought they did.'
i cant imagine showing up to hunt a place without doing any of the work.. Each to his own i reckon
It’s definitely a different feel. When I’ve hunted with outfitters in the past I always helped with as much work as possible. Moving decoys or dragging deer or whatever. I enjoy the work as much as I do hunting. If not more. But it is fun to just go and relax and enjoy it. Like a vacation with hunting.
What an incredible place! I am not really into duck hunting, but deer hunting there would be a bucket list trip. Did you get to meet Jared Mophett? Like Gobble4me757 mentioned I would love to know the back story on how that place came to be. Thanks for sharing
So I’ll try to share a little bit but I’m definitely not the expert on it. It started out as cleared farmland. Part of a 100,000 acre row crop farm. One of the biggest row crop farms in the US. Over the years pieces were sold or whatever so this 20k acre piece is the largest piece of what is left of the original farm. When Drew Keith was hired to work there (along with Jared), it was just flat farmland. Zero trees on it besides the willows beside the ditches next to the field levees. The owner rolled a few acres into WRP program and in the first phase they planted around 350k trees on it. It took them 6 years to accomplish that. The next phase, they planted around 400k trees and it took them 6 days lol. They changed their methods lol. Now they have about 1.4 million trees. Every single one planted by Honey Brake. (I’m trying to be accurate with these numbers here but i may have gotten some wrong lol.) it is the largest piece of land in these types of programs. Of the 20k acres they flood about 8,500 acres. They pump about 3.4 billion gallons of water each year depending on rainfall. They use water to manipulate what plant species grow for the wildlife like we would use prescribed fire. Incredibly interesting to me.
I did meet Jared briefly. He was leaving taking some of their dogs to a super retriever series competition so I didn’t get to talk to him much. But he’s a character now. I met Drew Keeth as well. He’s a great guy with a great vision.
The lodge also sits on a public oxbow lake, which just happens to be one of the top crappie lakes in the US. The property basically sits at the bottom of the funnel that is the Mississippi flyway.
Appreciate the info on the history of the place. It sounds like they had a blank slate and created a mecca for wildlife! What a labor of love and unique experience to be a part of creating something so special. From the videos I have watched, Drew seems like a stand up guy with a vision, but Jared seems like the heartbeat of the place, and saying he is a character might be an understatement! This is my favorite Jared Mophett quote: 'Most people think they like it, but once they come stay with me for 360 days, they decide they really didn't love it, they just thought they did.'
Rhino have you seen Jared’s boy that they post on social media sometimes? He’s on their reels. Funny as crap and is definitely a talker like his dad.
…..They ought to have the potential to crank out the 200 inchers at that place……
