Quality deer hunting

Managed habitat. Carefully hunted.

Walker’s Gut Box and Waterline Box
Burns Box

From rolling ridges to sheltered river bottoms, Carpenter’s varied terrain brings feeding areas and protective cover into close reach. Our approach pairs that habitat with thoughtful herd management, carefully selected stand locations and limited hunting pressure.

Our goal is a healthy herd and mature bucks, with a hunting experience rooted in patience, local knowledge and respect for the land.

Quality forage, secure cover and time enable whitetails to reach their potential. Bucks scoring 200 inches have been taken in the area.

Here at Carpenter Preserve, our current weight records are a 154.5-pound doe and a 230-pound buck. To date, our highest grossing buck harvested is 169 4/8 inches. Let’s set the next record together.

Full Deer Hunt — $3,500 per hunter

Hunters & nonhunting guests

Your partyBase package total
One hunter$3,500
One hunter + one nonhunting observer$4,000
Two hunters$7,000

The $500 observer fee includes accompanying the hunter, meals and the package’s included overnight stay. Please call 704-906-6074 to add an observer and confirm accommodations when booking.

Observers may accompany the hunt but may not hunt or harvest game. Anyone who hunts, including guests who take turns shooting, pays the full $3,500 hunter rate. Any applicable trophy fee is charged to the hunter who harvests the buck.

Includes three hunts over two days: an afternoon hunt on your arrival day, followed by a morning and evening hunt the next day.

Opening day: check in Friday, October 30, from 2–4 p.m.; hunt Saturday, October 31, morning and afternoon. Regular packages: check-in at 2:00 p.m. on your first day; please arrive one hour before your hunt begins.

Includes the opportunity to harvest one guide-approved mature buck. An additional trophy fee applies to harvested bucks scoring 150 inches or more, as listed below. This is a fair-chase hunt; a buck sighting or harvest is not guaranteed.

Ample doe harvest is available at no additional charge, within legal limits and the preserve’s management plan.

We carefully limit bookings to support an annual management goal of four or five mature bucks and 40 to 50 does, adjusted to the herd each season.

Meal and lodging arrangements are confirmed separately when booking.

Trophy Fees

Added to the $3,500 base hunt price when a qualifying buck is harvested. Only the fee for your buck’s score applies; fees are not cumulative.

Gross antler scoreAdditional trophy fee
Under 150 inchesNo trophy fee
150–159⅞ inches$2,000
160–169⅞ inches$4,000
170–179⅞ inches$6,000
180–189⅞ inches$8,000
190–199⅞ inches$10,000
200 inches and above$12,000

Trophy fees are based on gross green antler score, measured after recovery with no deductions. The scoring method is agreed before booking.

The base hunt price remains payable regardless of success.

For regular packages, arrive Monday through Friday at 2 p.m. for an afternoon hunt, followed by morning and afternoon hunts the next day. The October 30 arrival follows the opening-day package above. Overlapping parties are welcome, with alternate lodging when the Dunlap House is booked. No Sunday hunting.

A whitetail buck standing in a field, with the full tree line visible behind him

“Caught in the Act of Passing”

See the Hunter?
View deer photographs
Buck facing the camera in a sunlit field with another buck behind.
Deer photo 1
Buck standing in profile in a green field.
Deer photo 2
Buck crossing a sunlit clearing at the woodland edge.
Deer photo 3
Mature buck standing in autumn woodland with another deer feeding behind.
Deer photo 4
Buck standing in sunlit woodland brush.
Deer photo 5
Velvet-antlered buck with other deer at the woodland edge.
Deer photo 6
Buck with velvet antlers feeding near a feeder leg.
Deer photo 7
Buck with droptines standing at the edge of the woods.
Deer photo 8
Velvet-antlered buck near a feeder with another buck behind.
Deer photo 9
Buck walking past a feeder at night.
Deer photo 10
Buck looking toward the camera beside a feeder at night.
Deer photo 11
Buck walking beside thick woodland cover at night.
Deer photo 12
Wide-antlered buck looking toward the trail camera in a grassy clearing at night at Carpenter Preserve.
Deer photo 13
Buck in profile beside a feeder at night.
Deer photo 14
Buck approaching the camera with other bucks feeding behind.
Deer photo 15
Velvet-antlered buck beneath a feeder at night.
Deer photo 16
Velvet-antlered bucks around a feeder at night.
Deer photo 17
Harvested buck beside a tree in autumn woods.
Deer photo 18
Buck walking through grass at night.
Deer photo 19
Buck beside a feeder at night.
Deer photo 20
Bucks gathered around a feeder at night.
Deer photo 21
Deer herd gathered in a lush green woodland clearing at Carpenter Preserve.
Deer photo 22Guests may harvest as many does as they like, subject to applicable North Carolina harvest limits and tagging requirements.
Velvet-antlered buck feeding beside a feeder in a misty morning field at Carpenter Preserve.
Deer photo 23
Large whitetail buck in profile beside a feeder in a nighttime trail-camera photograph at Carpenter Preserve.
Deer photo 24
Wide-antlered buck facing the trail camera in a grassy clearing at night at Carpenter Preserve.
Deer photo 25
Large-antlered whitetail buck feeding in a nighttime trail-camera photograph at Carpenter Preserve.
Deer photo 26
Velvet-antlered whitetail buck facing the trail camera in green cover beneath a feeder at Carpenter Preserve.
Deer photo 27
Large-antlered whitetail buck facing the trail camera beside a feeder at night at Carpenter Preserve.
Deer photo 28
Large-antlered whitetail buck facing the trail camera in a nighttime photograph at Carpenter Preserve.
Deer photo 29
Three velvet-antlered bucks at night, with a large buck facing the trail camera in the foreground at Carpenter Preserve.
Deer photo 30
Velvet-antlered whitetail buck facing the trail camera beside a feeder at Carpenter Preserve, with another deer behind.
Deer photo 31
Large-antlered whitetail buck looking toward the trail camera at night at Carpenter Preserve.
Deer photo 32
Large-antlered whitetail buck in profile beneath a feeder at night at Carpenter Preserve.
Deer photo 33
Large whitetail buck with velvet antlers standing beneath a feeder in a nighttime trail-camera photograph at Carpenter Preserve.
Deer photo 34
Two velvet-antlered whitetail bucks together in a nighttime trail-camera photograph at Carpenter Preserve, one standing and one feeding in the foreground.
Deer photo 35
Large velvet-antlered buck with a spotted fawn beneath a feeder in a green clearing at Carpenter Preserve.
Deer photo 36
Whitetail buck standing in profile and looking toward the trail camera beneath a feeder at night at Carpenter Preserve.
Deer photo 37
Close view of the large whitetail buck standing beneath a feeder at Carpenter Preserve.
Deer photo 38

The neighborhood

Over 16,000 acres managed for wildlife.

You don’t need to fly to the Midwest. Here in the Rocky River and Pee Dee River basin, Carpenter Preserve and neighboring properties encompass over 16,000 acres managed for wildlife. That shared commitment extends well beyond our own property lines.

The rivers help shape this landscape: wooded bottoms meet fields and rolling uplands, bringing food, water and sanctuary together.

Over 16,000 acres managed for wildlife
Satellite map showing Carpenter Preserve highlighted in blaze orange among wildlife-managed land holdings encompassing over 16,000 acres
Carpenter Preserve is highlighted in blaze orange.

Book your deer hunt

Full Deer Hunt · $3,500 per hunter

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