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One fall afternoon in 1992, friends took
Steve Smith and his girlfriend of only a few months to a
hunting preserve in northern Middle Tennessee. It was an
unusual but eventful date, planting an idea in Steve’s
mind. Two years later, Steve and his bride bought a
389-acre farm that is now Cedar Rock Hunting Preserve.
Cedar Rock opened for business in October 1994 with a
limited, yet very successful season. The first season was
an attempt to test the waters of this growing industry.
As we enter our 11th season, the Preserve
business has grown a lot and several improvements have
been made to the farm. We are no longer a two man
operation, cleaning birds in the kitchen of a tiny office
trailer. We now have a full staff, a bird cleaning
facility, a website, a professional dog kennel, top of the
line equipment, as well as a luxurious club house/lodging
facility. Improvements continue as we continue our growth
for additional meeting space, develop the fields, put in
new ponds and develop more effective computer systems &
databases.
Several of our hunters have
been with us from the beginning and are now a lot like
family. Our client base has grown from the typical 2 man
hunt to corporate entertaining. Our customers are
everything from a father and son to Sony/RCA Records. Most
of our customers come from the greater Nashville area but
we also have customers coming from as far away as New
Mexico, California and Alaska. Youth come by the busloads,
as we regularly have the countywide hunter safety program
here to shoot skeet.
Hunting has changed
significantly over the last 50 years. Land is being
developed at such a fast pace, there is hardly enough
public hunting land to go around. Combine that with a
transit society, the days of hunting on Grandpa’s farm are
scarce. We are preserving the art of bird hunting.
That is the reason it is called a “hunting preserve”.
Within the next 50 years, hunting preserves may very well
be the primary way for sportsman to hunt.
info@huntcedarrock.com |
