Most hunting articles in Florida are written about the allusive Osceola Turkey, wild boar, or big buck, but I am going to go a different way. I want to discuss a high-end hunt that I gave my father (Dale) for his birthday. He is in his 70’s and has been hunting in Florida since he was a boy. I also wanted to introduce my son, William, to the sport. I wanted him to see a different aspect of hunting other than the sit still, be quiet, stealth mode that deer hunting requires, which is an impossible feat for a 10-year old boy.
The place I chose was on the north end of Lake Okeechobee called Quail Creek Plantation. It has thousands of acres and an array of outdoor activities for the entire family of all ages.
From Tampa we took a two hour drive to the plantation where we checked in around 11am. The check-in area is next to the sporting clay range and my son wanted to see what they were doing. When we walked over to one of the stands, we noticed that a particular stand was set up for shooting clays with a .410 pistol, aka The Judge. The range officer asked my son if he wanted to try it but William declined. My dad, who never misses a chance to shoot, took up the offer and scored a hit with one shot. Nice group of guys to offer that since we were not part of that shoot. From there we took a short drive to the lodging area where there are a dozen or so small cabins and a lodge with a lake just outside the front door.
Now, I travel extensively and I can tell the difference from a clean room and one that is not so clean. These cabins would even pass my wife’s and my mother’s clean test! After a drop off of equipment and 15 minutes of fishing with no luck, we went to a very spacious log lodge where tables were set for a fried chicken lunch. The lodge is very spacious with a massive fire place and is well furnished. In one corner there was a bar and along the wall were games of table shuffle board, ring toss, pool, darts and even a poker table. The walls are high with an assortment of hunting trophies. The dining area is just a step down where fantastic meals are served. Just outside is a screened-in porch and a fire pit to tell your lies of great hunts of the past.
Around noon the guides came in with their jeeps and dogs to pick us up. We loaded our equipment and began our journey to a field about 15 minutes out. On the way out we noticed a flock of turkeys in a field. I wish I had my .308 with me. Oh well, that’s another story. As soon as we stopped our guide showed us an emergency radio and told us what to do in case of a problem. This was the first time any guide ever said anything about this but it made me feel more comfortable. I also noticed the guide did not wear snake boots. This is something I always look at because it tells me how bad the snakes are. The guide let two dogs out of the box as dad, William and I wore our orange vests and began to load our shotguns. Dad was using a Browning Citori over-under .410 lightning and I was using a newly purchased .410 CZ Bob White side-by-side. We were both shooting 7 1⁄2 shot. William was not old enough to shoot so I gave him a video camera to get the action recorded.
I have shot the Browning dad was using hundreds of times and I love it but, I always liked the side-by-side look of the CZ and I love the .410s. The one issue I had was shooting the double triggers on the Bob White CZ. It takes some getting used to because the trigger guard is a little tight with my big sausage fingers. If I were to do it again, I would buy the CZ Ringneck. The difference between the Bob White and the Ringneck is the Ringneck has a single trigger and the Bob White has the double triggers. By the way, both guns had a modified and full choke in case you were wondering.
After the dogs “took care of business” they were on birds almost immediately. We lined up just in front of the guide and William was tight on my hip with the camera going. When the signal was given the dogs flushed the first quail of the day. There was a flurry of beating wings and birds flying everywhere then followed by the reports of the .410s. Now, if you have never hunted quail before, when a covey of quail are flushed it’s sometimes difficult to focus on one bird because there are so many coming up at one time. The noise they make sounds like ten little helicopters launching at once and that makes them difficult to hit. So, that is the excuse I am going to use to tell you why we missed a covey of birds with four shots. William luckily did not catch the misses either. Thanks son! As we made our way through the brush we watched the dogs working the area. The dogs worked close, running to the right about 10 yards one way and then 10 yards back the other. I pointed out to William how the dog is literally guided by his nose. We watched as the dog caught wind of a bird. The dog’s nose stopped first and then the rest of his body swung around as its paws were in skid mode. William and I were in position as the guide and my dad came up on line. As we were waiting I could see the dog’s eyes looking at the bird, back to us, then back to the bird as if to say hurry up guys. The camera began to record and the dog was finally released to do its job. Again the birds began to take flight. Dad and I were able to focus on a single bird and we both scored one. The dogs went to retrieve the dead birds and brought them directly to the guide ignoring us as they passed. The guide was good enough to show William the difference between the male and female birds. William shot a video of the soon to be dinner and was ready for more.
For the rest of the hunt the birds were plentiful and we shot as many birds as we wanted to. At the end of the hunt there was still enough daylight left for the guide to show William a Stag Horn Deer. We took a trip in the jeep through a swamp road and we all got a kick out of going through 3 feet of black swamp water. We arrived at a 12-foot gate and traveled through a field. We did not see any deer but did pick up our last two quail of the day. We unloaded our equipment and wiped our guns off as our guide took our quail to be cleaned and dogs to be fed and watered.
Dad, William and I took hot showers and cleaned up before dinner. The bar opened early and as a tradition, dad and I had our Crown and Coke and William had his lemonade. The bar was open and well stocked with all high end liquors. But, dad and I kept it to a minimum because William had a lot more energy and wanted to learn to play pool, darts, ring toss, and table shuffle board. You get the idea. Dad and I had a blast. The dinner was awesome! They served steak with all the sides that was worthy of any 4-star restaurant. The servers were very attentive and quick.
After dinner we played more games until after midnight and talked to other families that were there for their yearly Thanksgiving trip. Children from two years old and up were there enjoying themselves which tells you just how family orientated Quail Creek Plantation is. There is plenty to do for the kids and they can safely run around on their own. In case you were wondering, the shooting ranges are about a quarter mile from the cabins.
In the morning the guide placed our cleaned and frozen quail on the front porch of our cabin in a Quail Creek Plantation cooler without waking us up. After we were dressed and ready for breakfast, we went back to the lodge where ample amounts of coffee were available with another phenomenal meal of eggs, biscuits, and my favorite sausage gravy, just like momma used to make!
I just wanted to say that I am not affiliated with the establishment in any way and I highly recommend that if you want to take your family, friend or treat yourself to something special, this is the place.
