Kaleo Hills-Property Tour

andrew bullard

A good 3 year old buck
I've been on this site for several years, it's probably about time to start a land tour thread. We purchased our first ~102 acres in NW North Carolina in 2017. Since then we've added to it twice for a total of ~172 acres. We're in zone 6b with an elevation between 2600' and 3400'. Our County has a 50+ deer per square mile density but lots of hunting pressure so the age structure isn't great. We have lots of game and it's beautiful country.

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Most of our improvements over the past few years have involved repairing logging roads, adding access roads, planting trees and roughing in a few food plots. I've been stationed 4600 miles away most of that time so it's been slow going but extra fun when I'm on the property. My crews first visit to the property, July 2018.

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Another plot goes in March 2019. Flat land is not plentiful on our property.

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My original September 2018 planting during the spring turkey season 2019. No chemicals were used on this plot until September 2020.

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I've planted 75+ apple, pear, crabapple and chestnut trees from Northern Whitetail crab, The Wildlife Group, and St. Lawrence nurseries. This apple from NWC was planted in May 2018, picture taken October 2020.
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I haven’t been able to hunt as often and exactly when I might want to living so far away. I did kill a doe in 2018, a Turkey in 2019, and two deer so far in 2020.

2018 doe
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Good thread. Cool to see differing terrain from what I'm used to.

Good to see you get the family involved too. Love to see that.
 
Good thread. Cool to see differing terrain from what I'm used to.

Good to see you get the family involved too. Love to see that.

Our property is definitely not the typical deer property, that’s for sure. You won’t see high country Appalachia on the Outdoor Channel very often!

I love introducing the kids to the outdoors and hope they will grow up to have an appreciation for the things I love.


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That is a nice looking place. The hills are a nice back drop.
 
Updates coming soon, headed for the hills to spend a little time in a tree.
 
Good looking place!
 
Just returned from a week on the mountain. I hunted a few days before rifle season opened and a few days after.

I shot this buck over a scrape on November 18th. Long recovery but happy to have found him. I have quite a few trail camera pictures of this buck.

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I shot this doe at 12 yards (also over a scrape).

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Habitat update:

This is a Dunstan I planted fall 2017. The bigger trees are ~12’.

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Lots of native warm season grass on this logging road. I hope to burn a few areas in the future to increase diversity.

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Food plots are looking good. I sprayed this year for the first time so I’m sure the lack of competition helps. That’s not a funny angle, our hills are steep!

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Mountain scenery:

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I like your terrain, very different from mine. Congrats on the deer!
 
I did a little maintenance around my apple plantings this year. Young forest has started to take over this section but it’s now cleared out enough I’ll be able to easily maintain it going forward. I tried to burn a thick section between my food plot and the apples but the conditions didn’t support.

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I’ve been wanting to remove this poplar from my plot for a while.

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Fast forward another month (April 10th) and things are starting to green up in the mountains. I’ve been really impressed with my trees, especially those from NWC. This group was planted in May 2018 and definitely not babied. A few are 12’+.

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Thanks to this exclusion cage I can see deer are definitely using this plot right now.

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I really hate finding destroyed turkey eggs but it’s more motivation to improve the habitat.

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North Carolina’s season is open, Turkeys won the first round.

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Ramps (wild leeks) for dinner.

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Spring in the mountains.

I shot a nice long beard with my bow Wednesday morning. This was his view of the blind.

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His buddy stuck around for pictures.

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I called in these jakes with my oldest daughter the day prior.

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Quality family time exploring the hills.

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