bigbendmarine
5 year old buck +
Starting a thread to share pictures & updates from my place in North Florida. If I'm blessed to live a bit longer and find time to regularly post I'll definitely be sure to make it best fit in the Native Habitat forum but barring anyone getting too bent out of shape about it I'll also use it to share pictures I capture of God's natural handiwork.
Hopeful that members outside the southeastern coastal area will enjoy the change of pace, not that our deer set world records but the weather is mild, land is beautiful, creatures diverse, and the deer herd healthy with bucks that have actually turned out to surprise me.
Bit of back story to the property. Our place is 112 acres on the edge of a plantation tract first planted in cotton almost 200 years ago.
I moved to North Florida in 2002 and until 2013 my wife and I lived 3 miles away from . I got hooked on saltwater fishing the second I arrived in FL, but didn't give deer hunting much thought until we moved to the new place. Having lived on 5 acres our first 11 years and saved up a bit of cash, my wife and I were eager to find a new house that would better hold many family members and friends who like visiting us in FL, and also were interested in investing in more acreage.
When we found our "new" place, it actually was having enough age issues it took us almost a full year to fix it up. The exterior was bad enough that you could put your hand through holes in the wall before it was repaired. BUT being a rural property a ways out from Tallahassee, we were able to buy about 2 times the square footage and 10 to 20 times the land.
I told my wife when we moved that I only wanted to make ONE other single immediate purchase... a mega-zoom camera so I could capture shots of wildlife on the place. The house has views out to 600 yards and I haven't regretted the purchase a single second.
So with all that shared here are some pictures. Hopeful some kindred spirits on the forum enjoy.
Canopy driveway. Gates came with the property but both had been hit and were down when we moved. On the canopy note, trees are bradford pears... God knows I love their looks, hate their tendency to drop limbs, overcrowd, die young.
Bradford pears along driveway in bloom during our early spring.
We're blessed to have ancient live oaks along both sides of the front yard. I know there's been debate about how palatable deer find them, but be it the easy pickings or the lack of better options, I have deer visiting them at dark every evening when dropping.
Occasionally the deer even brave eating the live oak acorns during daylight hours.
One thing that definitely adds to the wildlife diversity is a small 30 acre lake that lies on the land.
Nothing much more fun than pitching frogs into the lily pads and having big bass blow up on them.
Though lose a lot in the lily pads too...
Thankfully our mild temps do at least drop enough to enjoy a late fall change of colors, with at least a few moderate frosty mornings in the winter.
No shortage of these when temps are warm...
Or these...
Found this one at my feet when pulling a camera card from a mineral station near the pond... about 1" shy of besting the largest credible length I could find recorded online.
Hopeful that members outside the southeastern coastal area will enjoy the change of pace, not that our deer set world records but the weather is mild, land is beautiful, creatures diverse, and the deer herd healthy with bucks that have actually turned out to surprise me.
Bit of back story to the property. Our place is 112 acres on the edge of a plantation tract first planted in cotton almost 200 years ago.
I moved to North Florida in 2002 and until 2013 my wife and I lived 3 miles away from . I got hooked on saltwater fishing the second I arrived in FL, but didn't give deer hunting much thought until we moved to the new place. Having lived on 5 acres our first 11 years and saved up a bit of cash, my wife and I were eager to find a new house that would better hold many family members and friends who like visiting us in FL, and also were interested in investing in more acreage.
When we found our "new" place, it actually was having enough age issues it took us almost a full year to fix it up. The exterior was bad enough that you could put your hand through holes in the wall before it was repaired. BUT being a rural property a ways out from Tallahassee, we were able to buy about 2 times the square footage and 10 to 20 times the land.
I told my wife when we moved that I only wanted to make ONE other single immediate purchase... a mega-zoom camera so I could capture shots of wildlife on the place. The house has views out to 600 yards and I haven't regretted the purchase a single second.
So with all that shared here are some pictures. Hopeful some kindred spirits on the forum enjoy.
Canopy driveway. Gates came with the property but both had been hit and were down when we moved. On the canopy note, trees are bradford pears... God knows I love their looks, hate their tendency to drop limbs, overcrowd, die young.
Bradford pears along driveway in bloom during our early spring.
We're blessed to have ancient live oaks along both sides of the front yard. I know there's been debate about how palatable deer find them, but be it the easy pickings or the lack of better options, I have deer visiting them at dark every evening when dropping.
Occasionally the deer even brave eating the live oak acorns during daylight hours.
One thing that definitely adds to the wildlife diversity is a small 30 acre lake that lies on the land.
Nothing much more fun than pitching frogs into the lily pads and having big bass blow up on them.
Though lose a lot in the lily pads too...
Thankfully our mild temps do at least drop enough to enjoy a late fall change of colors, with at least a few moderate frosty mornings in the winter.
No shortage of these when temps are warm...
Or these...
Found this one at my feet when pulling a camera card from a mineral station near the pond... about 1" shy of besting the largest credible length I could find recorded online.
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