Angie and I purchased the "Diamond E Farm" as part of a dream to own a place of our own to train and enjoy our dogs. We looked all over the area and found a place only 1 mile from our home. It was grown up with briars and vines like you wouldn't believe but we knew that it was a diamond in the rough, thus the name Diamond E. After days and days of tough manual labor and several track hoe hours in the pond we started to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We'll never finish because we love projects and as soon as we finish one we start discussing and planning another.
This farm was converted from a standard row crop farm to a farm specifically for retriever training and retriever related events and competitions. The ponds were dug, pastures seeded, fields planted and natural habitat managed to enhance our capabilities and produce as near natural waterfowl hunting scenarios as possible. Several props have been added such as post with dog stands in knee deep water, duck blinds with casting platforms, adjustable height floating logs and portable 4 person blinds just to name a few. There are many bonuses that come along with the property such as the dove hunts, watching the ducks and geese come in and especially the peace and quiet.
Technical water is one of our strongest assets at the Diamond E Farm. We have a large technical training pond built specifically for retriever training (Big Tech), a small technical pond in the middle of the South Pasture built specifically for retriever training (Little Tech), another small technical pond with a tree island and scattered trees on one end (Tobacco Barn Pond), an impoundment style pond (Impoundment Pond), a beaver/stick pond with platforms/duck blinds for wingers (Beaver Pond), a green tree reservoir pond (Christmas Tree Pond), a swim by pond (Swim By Pond) and two creeks with good access all around. We also plant sunflowers, grain sorghum and corn fields for the doves and dog training. The pastures have a nice gentle roll to them and food plots are strategically placed in them to break up the big pasture effect and also add to the retriever challenge. There are also (2) tractor barns, a cook shed, a barn converted into a cabin with kennels on the side and a covered pavillion which will seat approximately 60 people and overlooks the Beaver Pond.
This is not only a training facility but a refuge for Angie and myself. We enjoy having friends over for training, hanging out at the Pavillion/Cook Shed and sharing hunting and dog stories.
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Welcome to the Diamond E Farm !
This is a July, 2010 aerial shot of the Diamond E Farm. We have 6 ponds that are used specifically for retriever training. We also have a dove field and various rolling pastures.
We have approximately 2 miles of walking path around the perimeter of our property. The terrain varies from flat to rolling and the land varies from pastures to clean hardwood forest to duck ponds. (Photo by Higher Ground Photography)
4-11-16 Work is nearing completion on the climatized "Dog Barn".
What could be more fun than sittin' up on the deck with a cup of coffee and looking out at your buddies train their retrievers?
The "cook shed" overlooks the sunflower field and the stick pond in the rear. It has a really big live oak which provides nice evening shade for both the cook shed and the fire pit. This picture is before we closed it in. The next picture shows the "after" look. There is always a project it seems.
The screen enclosure made the cook shed a lot more enjoyable during spring and summer evenings. Along with the retractactable blinds it added more shade and keeps the bugs out of the burgers.
A great place for both man and dog to relax after a hard day...........not bad for a quiet, early morning cup of coffee either.
Taking a lunch break and discussing that big water blind that's coming up that afternoon.
The cabin has heating & cooling, a full bath, a kitchenette and a great room with a pull-out couch for sleeping. The left side shelter is for kennels and the right side shelter is used as a patio. This makes a convenient place for buddies that visit and train.
One of my simple pleasures in life is going from the sunflower field to the grill with a bacon wrapped dove breast. It's a grand southern tradition.
The Pavilion will make those hot days a little more bearable. It is near the cook shed and will be a great place for our Roxy Ministry Devotions and ribbon ceremonies after Hunt Tests.
The Pavilion is 24' X 36' and has seating for 50 plus. The back of the benches flips over to make a table. You can see dogs work in the beaver pond from this view point.
Fall is one of my favorite seasons at the Diamond E Farm. The summer has ended and things get a lot busier with the cooler temperatures. (Photo by Higher Ground Photography)
Our kennel barn consist of a 36' X 72' insulated metal building. It also houses our dog trailer. The black mesh netting hanging from the front helps a lot with shade in the afternoons.
We have a "doggy door" that allows the dogs to access a climate controlled interior.
Our hay ride around the farm is the best way to see all the ponds, fields and natural habitat for retriever training.
This is a view from the other end of the large Technical Training pond which offers several challenges.
This is one of several challenging casting points on our 5 acre technical pond which is designed specifically for retriever training.
This is the "Tobacco Barn Pond" from its west end. It has several technical aspects to make it a nice little training pond to challenging any level of dog.
This is the east end of the "Tobacco Barn Pond". It wasn't quite filled at this point and should spread out into the pasture at the full level.
This is a view of the "Tobacco Barn Pond" from the north side.
12-26-10 A rare SC snow storm brought several geese and a variety of ducks onto our big tech pond.
We plant sunflowers and corn which allows us to have a dove shoot and cover to train the dogs in.
Sunflowers have become a summer tradition at the Diamond E Farm. They are a reminder that fall and the big opening day dove hunt are getting closer.
The beaver pond (stick pond) in the back has 4 of these blinds.
We have several duck blind style winger stations on the property that have walkways out to them. This makes for quicker and simpler reloads of the wingers. This one is in the beaver pond (stick pond).
This is a view from the stick pond looking back up towards the cook shed.
02-18-13 This is the "Hilton Blind" which is in the middle of the Beaver Pond. This is the only blind that has to accessed by boat. It is 8 feet wide and 12 feet long with boat access from the rear. This blind is typically only used for remote controlled wingers but it does have a dog ramp for the occasional duck hunt from this blind.
2-18-13 This is the rear view of the "Hilton Blind". As you can see, there is ample room for two wingers and a bird boy. Originally, it was 4' by 12' and we added another 4' to make it large enough to have both wingers aimed in different directions.
July, 2011 From the South Pasture you can see the Green Tree Pond and the Swim By Pond. This area offers a lot of technical training for the dogs. The Green Tree Pond has a lot of "stick pond" features.
This is a view from the North side of the Green Tree Pond which shows some of the features that are used in training retrievers.
This side of the Green Tree Pond offers a lot of opportunities to work your retriever through trees.
The water depth in the Green Tree Pond is pretty shallow and allows the dogs to run or lunge in a lot of it. We also plant millett and other waterfowl food sources to enhance the realism of the retreiver training and to also support the wildlife in the area.
in the warmer months the natural grasses grow and add to the challenges for retrievers.
Avery Pro-Staffer Dwayne Padgett and "Storm" take on the challenging down the shore/channell blind in the Green Tree Pond.
This small Technical Pond sits in the valley of a 30 acre pasture. It has several fingers, points and an island to add to retriever training possibilities.
This is a wide angle view of our south pasture.
Our pastures have small rolling hills and the grass is cut at different heights so that we can vary the difficulty of land marks and land blinds.
This is a shot from up the hill looking down across the pasture in the direction of the small Technical Pond. We have strategically planted some small food plots in various places in this pasture around the pond to provide more bird placement posssibilities in training.
Another "set up" in the South Pasture.
This is another angle of the south pasture looking over one of the food plots and the small technical pond.
This is our "impoundment style" training pond. Once the grain sorghum matures and heads out we will flood it. The dogs enjoy the running water and the ducks enjoy the grain. It's close enough to the small technical pond that you can use both in the same set up.
This is a multi-use pond for us. We use it as a swim by pond and also when we are mixing land/water marks.
More sunflowers and a reminder that Labs could be running anywhere.
