Alex Jordan, the president and director of Double J Whitetails, and his son Kyle, were the guest speakers at the Feb. 3 Luverne Kiwanis Club meeting.

The sprawling deer reserve is located near the Pleasant Home Community on County Road 77 and is a well-kept secret right here in Crenshaw County.

It is owned by Mike and Tammy Jordan.

The 650 acres of land were purchased in 2007, which includes a 7,400 square-foot lodge with four bedrooms, each with its own private bath.

The reserve handles everything from deer breeding and hunting, to booking hunts to places as far away as Africa. The lodge also schedules elk and fallow deer hunts, as well as turkey hunts on the property.

They also have buffalo and a yak on the grounds strictly for preservation purposes.

One of their main specialties is their big-rack deer and breeding programs. They are a reserve which is more into the breeding and preservation of the deer.

However, all hunting is arranged with professional guides.

The deer reserve handles about 500 pounds of feed a day for its animals, including a bottle-feeding program in its fawn-handling facility.

The special breeding programs can be very profitable, with certain well-bred deer being worth in the thousands. Maxbo 727 Yearling, for example, is worth approximately $800,000 as each straw of the yearling’s semen will bring $10,000 or more.

Jordan explained that the breeding program consisted of strictly artificial insemination and that there was no live breeding on the reserve.

For more information about Double J Whitetails, visit their Web site at www.wjwhitetails.com.