The History Of Little Creek Bow Club 2007-2021

[TJay]

Wow great story and a great place to hunt. I guess if you're in the leasing game long enough you'll get the rug pulled out from under you eventually. Good luck I'm confident ya'll will do well wherever you land.

 

[Jim Boyd]

Dang it, David.

Genuinely sorry to hear.

New owners are walking into a lot of equity - sweat, money, intent, discipline - you name it.

Thank goodness you have the other tract and great landowners.


Got you and Cindy in my thoughts and prayers brother.

 

[Cool Hand Luke]

I'm truly sorry David but with you and Cindy's positive attitude, I know your new place will be even better! Just so you know, your posts have inspired many on this forum to achieve what you have already accomplished

 

[antharper]

Man that was hard to read but I can sure respect your attitude . Me and my dad just went through the same thing , 39yrs , I’ve basically grown up on that place and know every inch of the 3000 ac and we didn’t put in a quarter of the work you guys did . I’m actually excited to learn the new lease I just looked at last weekend and joined . Hope you continue to share your hunting adventures with us , I know I sure enjoyed it , good luck in the future ! Just curious where the new owners are from and are they planning on some type hunting preserve, like pay hunts or a private operation

 

[Lukikus2]

Hate to hear that. Been through the same. Always enjoyed y'alls videos

 

[davidhelmly]

Sorry to hear.

Do you think all your hard work over the years was motivation for the seller?

I'm not sure if you post pics on social media, but the videos and pics posted on this website might be enough to motivate the seller and buyer.

Big bucks = Big $$$$.

No I really don’t think so, the seller owns several thousand heavily managed acres that border one side and the buyer has hunted the that several thousand acres for years. The buyer has very deep pockets also and it was easier for the seller to sell him what I was leasing than the other property that he is managing so hard and hunting.

 

[ucfireman]

Unfortunately no, it was bought as a hunting property.

At least it wont be developed for the foreseeable future.

 

[jaydawg]

Dang sorry to hear that...always enjoyed keeping up with LC...glad you’re staying positive as you have made good memories and friends...also glad you have a new place and hope it’s a new honey-hole, and maybe you’ll still get one of your “old” shooters since you’re next door?

 

[Chris 195 7/8 B&C]

Sure hate that for y’all. Your positive attitude is inspiring.
Best of luck moving forward.

 

[uturn]

Awesome as we have come to expect for you and Cindy David! And, congratulations on setting a standard that I’m sure many have and do strive for in a lease, club and membership relationship!

As we say in the Building Industry you’re always training your next competitor and so it seems in this world of hunting land leasing!

I myself have been on a similar path as you know and as well although she is not a Huntress, have been accompanied by me wife Pam every step of the way! I have learned more than I can say following along and as well the many text and phone calls with you over the years!

Wishing you and Cindy the very best on your new journey!! And, for what it’s worth you’ve always done a great job with your political correctness and of course sharing it all with us!

Thanks again and keepum coming my friend!

 

[twoheartedale]

No I really don’t think so, the seller owns several thousand heavily managed acres that border one side and the buyer has hunted the that several thousand acres for years. The buyer has very deep pockets also and it was easier for the seller to sell him what I was leasing than the other property that he is managing so hard and hunting.

Wish you the best of luck, I am sure wherever you land that property will be loaded with nice mature bucks in no time.

 

[livinoutdoors]

Sorry to hear you losing your place, i have always admired the stewardship and work yall have posted on here. I guess its a small comfort, but your hard work will live on at least. Good luck on your new place!

 

[BamaGeorgialine]

You know I was always worried someone would see your post and try to screw you over.

Unfortunate yes, screwed over? Not really. I bet the new owners motto is.....Big money talks, small bucks walk.

 

[Jim Thompson]

I guess in the back of our mind when we are leasing property we know that the day will come when we no longer have the lease, that day came for me on January 11th this year. I got the call from the landowner telling me that the bulk of our property was being sold and we would no longer have it, at first I was sort of stunned and at a loss for words but the more I thought about it and looking back I am just happy to have had it for 14 seasons.

When I leased this property I had never run a club before so it was a learning experience, I knew basically what I wanted to achieve but had to figure out the best way to do it. I'm not really a politically correct type of person, most times if a thought goes thru my brain it comes right out of my mouth so my wife (Cindy) was a huge help there, she is the type that thinks about everything and makes everyone feel more comfortable. Luckily for me she was as obsessed with bowhunting deer as I was and was right there with me every step of the way managing the property, the deer and the members. We have spent way more vacations and long holiday weekends working down at Little Creek than we have actually going somewhere to relax, we were on our way to Italy in March of 2016 and she looked at me and said "I can't believe we are going out of the country for 10 days during prime shed hunting time!!", all I could do was laugh because I was thinking the same thing! LOL

When we first got the property it was 975 acs. that had been a gun club and they found out they were losing the lease, two of the former members there told me they had killed over 40 bucks on that 975 acs the last season they had it so needless to say we were starting off in a bad spot. Luckily we have been VERY fortunate to have great members that understood our long term goal was to grow big bucks by letting the young bucks walk so we didn't kill kill a buck off of the property until our 4th season and we have done pretty well every since. our goals from the beginning were of course archery hunting only, shoot only mature bucks, give the deer as much quality food as possible and keep the pressure on the property as low as possible.

The property grew from 975 acs to 1250 several years back and one of our biggest assets was our neighbors, for the most part all of our neighbors were on some sort of quality deer management plan so we didn't have to worry about every young basket racked buck getting shot if he stepped over the property line. Our rules changed a little from season to season if it were something that benefited the deer, it was certainly a learning experience. We started with probably 10 or so acs of plots and had roughly 45 acs as of last season. We started supplemental feeding the first year because we didn't have many plantable acres and got to the point where we were feeding in excess of 30 tons or protein feed per year, about 3 years ago we cut back our feeding by about half and spent that extra money on plots instead of feed.

I'm proud of what we turned the property into, it was by far the best archery only property I have ever hunted. I'm going by memory here but some of the things I'm most proud of are, we killed 18-20 bucks that grossed over 140" with the biggest being a 168" giant, our heaviest buck was 260# live weight, our heaviest doe was around 155# live weight, Cindy killed her best buck ever on LC and I was able to video it and also I killed my 2 best bucks there also. All that being said, it took a great group of members every year to achieve what we did and we couldn't have done it without them! I don't know how it happened but we always had a great group, if we would lose a member or two I would always stress about replacing them with members that would fit in as well and somehow every year great members just appeared. We were looking at having the best group we had ever had this coming season and we were all excited but it wasn't meant to be...

Thankfully by luck Cindy and I leased a much smaller property last year that bordered LC just for us to hunt so she and I will be focusing all of our effort there this year and I'm pretty excited to see what we can turn tat property into, that is if we can finish getting up 14 years worth of stands and feeders off of LC, it's almost like selling your home and moving and realizing you've got WAY too much stuff!!

I couldn't find any pictures from 2007 but I did find some pictures and videos from the other years so I did a short video for each season rather than one long boring one, I'm also posting the story of Cindy's and my best buck because we had so much history with them on the property.

Thanks and it's been a blast sharing the LC pictures here every year!

David

Always a brutal call to take. Good luck going forward David

 

[Sixes]

I hate to hear that, but sounds like you still have a lease that will be jam up with a lot less work involved as head of the club.

If it is bordering the same property and is surrounded by other like minded hunters, y'all will still be hunting prime land.

Lemons to Lemon-aid

 

[Joe Brandon]

Man I'm certainly a "secret admirer" of yalls posts. I'd tell myself that when I finished grad school maybe I'll be able to have the money and time to join a great club like that. God bless and please keep sharing the management strategies and pics of your new property.

 

[Buckstop]

Sorry to hear that. Always a tough pill to swallow. Especially tough when you've worked so hard to improve the tract, but I know you got a lot of satisfaction from working on it along the way. Always a catch 22 leasing, as you never know when it might go away, but not near as fun to have if you just do nothing with it but hunt for fear of losing it. Good luck on your other piece and whatever you may put together in the future.

 

[Jonboater]

Well one thing for sure yall we not out with a bang 2020 season. Maybe you and the rest of the club members can find another lease and start a new chapter.

 

[bfriendly]

I love your attitude towards such a tough break.......I think y’all will do just fine on the new property. I too have always enjoyed y’all’s posts and look forward to the next ones.
Best of luck y’all!

 

[brownceluse]

I decided about 4 years ago that I’d forsake the pursuit of Georgia Hunting clubs. I was very fortunate that a family member owns a lot of land. It’s not in the best county or best region of this state. But it’s 1,200 acres and it’s paid for. David, you showed everyone what can be done with proper management and hard work. You set a standard and shared any information you could with all of us. Thank you! It’s hard to invest money and time in someone else’s property. Because this very situation is what can happen. I wish you all the luck and look forward to reading about your next journey in the deer woods.