Jelk’s Bayou Hunting Lodge

Jelk’s Bayou Hunting Lodge provides the opportunity for anyone to drink of that tonic of wildness, to hunt, to enhance existing bonds of friendship and build new ones, and to relish the reward of nature’s offerings.

ARTICLE BY NILS BORQUIST

PHOTOGRAPHY BY WADE SHOEMAKER

AND KELLY MOORE CLARK

The entire Mississippi Delta region holds a special place in the hearts of waterfowl hunters, especially those who live in southeast Arkansas, western Mississippi, and northeastern Louisiana. As the migratory endpoint for millions of ducks and geese seeking warmer or simply unfrozen waters, a possible chance to mate, as well as assorted and abundant food sources, the area provides hunters the chance to fulfill their desires to trek out on a chilly morning and come home with a strap full of ducks along with a good story and a cherished memory. With nearly 40,000 waterfowl licenses sold in Louisiana each year, there is certainly no lack of hunters pursuing their harvest. Many, or even nearly all, of these people have regular sites where they hunker down each year. As both public and private wetland goldmines are usually heavily populated or difficult to find, novice and non-resident hunters may find securing a fruitful location to be impossible. Fortunately, a local gem, Jelk’s Bayou Hunting Lodge, exists just north of Bastrop. With around 1,800 acres of dry and wet land and waterways to hunt, JBHL delivers aspiring and veteran shooters alike the chance to experience an exceptional expertly guided hunt while also being treated to the luxury of a top-notch, in-house chef, a beautiful rustic cabin, and unparalleled personal service, all within the boundaries of one of the most biodiverse locales in the state, the south, and perhaps even the country.

Today, Jelk’s Bayou Hunting Lodge, owned, operated, and being developed by father-son associates Ric and Andrew Wiesemann, is located at 7932 Clayton Moore Road, in Bastrop, Louisiana. Hosting groups from four to eight people, numbers that allow for ideal safety and high quality hunts for ducks, quail, and deer, in addition to the availability for corporate group or private lease opportunities for events, retreats, or bonding outings, the Wiesemanns have spared no expense to deliver a prime experience for guests. With proficient guides, an imaginative chef and their delicious food, refreshing beverages, and comfortable overnight accommodations, all visitors need to bring are their gear, licenses, and the willingness to have fun and enjoy the hunt. 

The Jelk’s Bayou Hunting Lodge came into existence over 20 years ago. In the fall of 1999, after spending time studying Bayou Bartholomew and its surrounding areas and recognizing the consistent waterways used by migrating ducks, Travis Holley, the original owner of the property, wished to buy land that was for sale nearby. With help from the Louisiana Department of Agriculture (LDA), the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and Ducks Unlimited, Holley and his wife Sara purchased the initial 1,000 acres, and then they set out to transform the space from an enormous sparse dirt patch with little undergrowth and minimal trees into an inviting area for visiting waterfowl. With so few food-yielding trees for the thousands of ducks, one of the first steps undertaken by Travis and Sara involved hand-planting in excess of 700,000 seedlings and young saplings. Twenty years later, those efforts have proven successful; the volume of both hardwood and softwood trees abounding across the acreage today has created a perfect environment of accessible sustenance for the animals traversing the land and water. 

Along with working to improve the property for hunting, the Holleys also knew that building a relaxing cabin for guests and friends was a necessary step. After Sara designed the original 2,500 square feet lodge, the Holleys had it built, and Sara even oversaw the decorating. Today, after extensive expansions by the Wiesemanns, there are six bedrooms that comfortably sleep 12 guests, three and a half bathrooms, an exquisite stone fireplace, indoor and outdoor patio entertainment areas, enormous flat screen televisions, individual full-size lockers, and spacious dog kennels. The investments made by Travis and Sara can still be appreciated today, and the first few years of the Hunting Lodge set the foundation for the current property’s growth and development.

In the late 1990’s, Travis Holley met a business owner originally from Illinois, Ric Wiesemann, who had relocated to Monroe. Although Ric did not grow up hunting, once he was introduced to duck hunting in Louisiana, he immediately fell in love with the preparation, required patience, and the camaraderie that are integral pieces of the sport. That meeting between Wiesemann and Holley became a friendship, and from there, Ric’s involvement in Jelk’s Bayou Hunting Lodge began and steadily increased over the passing years. Beginning in 2014, he began acquiring the property, which was still essentially that initial 1,000 acres, fully completing the purchase in 2017. While the hunting had improved over the 18 years of the Lodge’s existence, Wiesemann and his son Andrew realized the possibility for improvement and set out to make that potential a reality. 

After comprehensively surveying the property and carefully detailing plans for future growth, the Wiesemanns commenced their vision for the project with the goal of creating the ideal hunting environment for multiple species. Development emerged as a priority, an enterprise they have tirelessly performed, and they even recently completed the purchase of an additional 750 acres that border the southern edges of the original property. With an eye on optimizing biodiversity, the group also set in motion successful operations to include more than 300 acres of flooded timber, agricultural fields, over 200 acres of sloughs, and wetland plains. In a daunting multi-year project, the Wiesemanns expanded upon the Holleys’ tree planting endeavors by increasing the amount of foliage in addition to building roads that negotiate the grounds as well as several barns to facilitate proper crop management. Currently, the Wiesemanns are in the midst of a two-year project to redevelop wetland habitat through a partnership with the NRCS, Louisiana Wildlife, and Ducks Unlimited. This project should comprise approximately 500 acres of appealing waterfowl paradise. Complementing the 500 acres of wetlands, the JBHL property has 1,300 acres of pine and hardwood bottoms that provide varied environmental features that invite a multitude of wildlife to visit and even stay, building extensive onsite breeding grounds for the sustaining of future generations. The property is closely managed all year, and the staff oversees the multiple food plots for deer as well as the fields of corn, rice, soy, milo, and millet along with the supplemental feeding for the waterfowl. 

The inception of Jelk’s Bayou Hunting Lodge focused primarily on waterfowl hunting, with an especial emphasis on ducks. The Wiesemanns have maintained and enhanced the quality of their duck hunts by producing a trail infrastructure that minimizes the stress on the animals, constructing comfortable blinds in locations that maximize hunting in fly-over areas, and providing a variety of food spread over hundreds of acres. Over the years, coinciding with the burgeoning diversity of the property, the available animals to hunt has mushroomed. Although ducks remain the cornerstone for JBHL visitors, a bob-white quail operation has recently been initiated, and the dividends have been immediate. Clients have enjoyed this addition, taking advantage of an afternoon quail hunt after a morning of duck hunting. With the Wiesemann family starting to develop the ground bird potential to equal the success of their duck hunting, they have enlisted the further help of the NRCS to provide assistance in quail and turkey management through the Conservation Stewardship Program. Whitetail deer hunting also plays a role in future plans. With a comprehensive whitetail management program in place, Andrew stated that they have seen promising evidence of the deer herd increasing in numbers and the size of deer increasing as well. The development of food plots across the terrain provides nourishment and protection, and they allow for individual growth and herd increases, all pointing to a positive trajectory for future hunts. Along with the bird and deer possibilities, hunters may also pursue hogs and alligators, though the time frame and tag availability for the latter are limited. 

With so many ideas for future growth as well as considering the quality of the present operation, the Wiesemanns recognized the need for a year-round wildlife and property management professional, and they had the fortune of enlisting the services of Caleb Justice. An Army veteran and former professional firefighter, Justice’s route to JBHL has been circuitous, leading him from his home in Georgia to garnering a coveted position as a hunting guide at Habitat Flats in Missouri to being offered the role of Lead Guide and Manager at Jelk’s Bayou. While spending ten years as a firefighter in the south Atlanta area working ten days per month, as is the norm for fire personnel there, Justice began hunting more consistently, a pastime he grew up enjoying on his family farm but had gotten away from while in the military. He regained a love for the sport and discovered a newfound passion for hunting waterfowl, even developing into a duck calling expert. After spending several years both working in Georgia and spending off-time as a hunting guide in Arkansas, Caleb and his wife decided to take a great opportunity that sent him to northern Missouri. A fortuitous meeting during a guided hunt led to Justice being recommended to the Wiesemanns, and they eventually met Caleb. After visiting the grounds and engaging in a great conversation about the future of the Lodge, the Wiesemanns offered him the chance to incorporate his many ideas for proper wildlife and property management on the JBHL grounds, as well as being the lead guide. With the dream of running a property and continuing to meet and interact with interesting clients, Justice jumped at the opportunity, and both sides have prospered.

With over 20 years of ever-increasing focus on improvement of grounds, managing the humane harvesting of animals, and simply enjoying the incredible beauty and bounty nature provides, the legacy of Jelk’s Bayou Hunting Lodge has grown and should continue to do so under the influence of the Wiesemann family and Caleb Justice. Their constant improvements of the grounds and desire to learn the most sustainable practices and high quality techniques to guarantee a present and future for both the environment and the wildlife that call it home all year or even for a few months prove that the goal of seeking to deliver a preeminent hunting and outdoor adventure has been a resounding success. The endeavor to be ingrained in nature, to do one’s part to enjoy it, to partake of it, to respect it, and to acknowledge the smallness of each of us within it while also recognizing that we have the gift of acting as wards of its beauty and constant regeneration are all central to the overall goal of the JBHL proprietors. It isruly best summed up by the words of Henry David Thoreau when he stated that “we need the tonic of wildness,” “we can never have enough of nature,” and that “I went to the woods…to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” In the end, gathering people to spend the day hiking, wading, and waiting all while in the pursuit of respectfully harvesting wild game, animals born in and sustained by nature’s abundance, could be considered a calling of the highest magnitude. In the course of hunting, the sky, the earth, and the creatures that inhabit them are met and appreciated, and the people who join together are undoubtedly united in friendship and personhood. Jelk’s Bayou Hunting Lodge provides the opportunity for anyone to drink of that tonic of wildness, to hunt, to enhance existing bonds of friendship and build new ones, and to relish the reward of nature’s offerings.