HUNTING
HUNTING PRESERVES ACROSS FLORIDA BENEFIT ENVIRONMENT, ECONOMY
Quail Creek Plantation
20
FLORIDAGRICULTURE | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020
GUESTS TRAVEL TWO hours outside of Orlando – some even flying in from overseas – to experience Lightsey Family Ranch and its guided hunts for wild hog, quail, turkey, deer and alligator in southern Florida. Wildlife thrives among pines, bays, palmettos, oaks and rare cutthroat grass on the ranch’s fenced-in 2,000-acre hunting preserve near Lake Placid in Highlands County. The family business has grown to include an upscale lodge with 10 guest rooms and an esteemed in-house chef to host groups of friends, relatives and often business professionals who seek a thrilling hunt or natural retreat. While orange groves and tomato fields may headline Florida’s agriculture industry, the state is also home to more than 175 hunting preserves licensed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Like the Lightsey Family Ranch, those preserves complement local land conservation efforts, diversify rural income, preserve land from development and offer sustainable hunts in habitats that support a diverse array of species. “So many people never get to experience natural Florida, and that’s what we have here,” says Lee Lightsey, a Highlands County Farm Bureau member. “To be able to ride through my preserve to see 50 head
PHOTO: FRED FANIZZI
Havens
By Joanie Stiers
