I recently had a terrific quail hunt with a few old friends, namely Chuck Wechsler and Brian Raley from Sporting Classics magazine. We met up at Northern Florida's Honey Lake Plantation (www.honeylakeplantation.com). It's located in the Red Hills region, an area well known for outstanding quail hunting. As a plantation, Honey Lake has been around for a century, but it wasn't until recently that it became a commercial operation.
Serial entrepreneur Bob Williamson and his son Jon have created a world-class quail hunting operation. Accommodations are tasteful and comfortable, the grounds are terrific and hold a lot of game, and the extra five pounds that I gained reflects the handy work of their Executive Chef William Mann.
The total size of the property is 4800 acres. There are five individual quail courses on the plantation and they span over 1800 total acres of upland cover, woodlots, fields and ponds. The courses are a blend of rolling hills and open fields, with food and cover crops that vary between millet, Egyptian wheat, milo, wiregrass, and lovegrass. Oats, clover, soybeans and peanuts round out the plantings. Pine trees are indigenous to the region and range from slash, loblolly, spruce, shortleaf and longleaf varieties, and the fields are rimmed by Cyprus and the easily recognizable live oaks, sweetgum, hickory, black oak and dogwood trees.
We hunted from the Bird Buggy 1 which is a custom-designed vehicle built on a Chevy 350-block engine. It is about as perfect a hunting rig as you can imagine. Dog kennels held half-a-dozen English pointers and English setters, and there were crates for two English cocker spaniels. The elevated Captain’s chairs and bench seating were comfortable, and there are covered gun racks built in that held our shotguns securely and safely. The dogs ran out front, and two guides rode Tennessee Walkers. When the pointers locked up, two of us would climb out and get into position. Then, the cockers were released to flush the birds. After the initial covey rises we'd follow up singles and then move on. There was a lot of land to hunt. While there were other groups hunting the plantation we didn't hear any gun shots.
Any hunter who has run field trial dogs knows the names of Ed and Sheila Hart. The Hart's now oversee Honey Lake Kennel. They train 32 English pointers, setters and cockers and will be launching a dog breeding and training program in the near future, so stay tuned. Hunters can bring and hunt their own dogs as part of the regular rotation. All hunts are guided.
Shooting warm ups were on a groomed skeet, trap and 5-stand field. With a series of ponds and Honey Lake on the property, there is excellent fishing for bass and bream. Chuck and Brian did some fishing and caught largemouths up to 7 pounds and a mess of big brim. Depending on the seasons, the plantation also offers hunting for ducks, deer, turkey and dove.
If you're looking for an outstanding, traditional Southern plantation quail hunt then give Honey Lake Plantation a try. You'll get a classic bird hunt, with hard-flying birds and Southern charm from the Spanish moss to the quail, shrimp and grits.
