About Us
Interested in a Private Club?
Sporting Heritage Group was created with the knowledge that more and more serious sportsmen are looking at less and less readily accessible opportunity. And, too often, what opportunity exists is either inconvenient in terms of scheduling or in terms of time commitment. Many, upon that realization, look to a personal, privately owned venue as an alternative. However, without the necessary time and relevant experience more than a few of these attempts are abandoned stillborn or orphaned after turning out to be a disappointment in one fashion or another. Sporting Heritage Group removes those impediments by providing you with all of the time that you can't afford to commit and all of the expertise that you are not inclined to acquire.
Already Have or Thinking About a Commercial Operation?
We also recognize that many commercial lodge operations do not have the breadth and depth of expertise that we are capable of providing. Frankly, to prosper financially, they couldn't afford it. And, to exist realistically, they don't normally have the time to commit to the myriad of disciplines integral to a totally top quality venue. Sporting Heritage Group will alleviate those concerns, fill in the niches, and work with those operations toward their long term success. From operations to sales and marketing we have what you need to put you in front of the upper echelon of field sport enthusiasts.
How SHG Can Help You
Our resources range from "one-time-in-and-out" consultations to "all-the-time-forever" commitments. The former could be a visit with a follow up written report which will give you a standardized, systematic evaluation of the totality of your operation — from habitat to aesthetics to amenities to staff and much more. The latter would include working with you to conceptualize your end product; site selection and acquisition; planning, design, and development; operational procedures and the provision of a management plan and personnel; and quality control, assurance, and ongoing follow up programs. So if you presently have a field sports venue, or if you want to have one, Sporting Heritage Group will help you develop a professional program in which you will take great pride.
Our Group of Professional Consultants Include:
- Architects (Structural and Landscape)
- Engineers (Conservation and Civil)
- Biologists (Upland and Forest Game, Waterfowl, Fisheries, Natural Areas, Foresters)
- Property Managers (Upland Hunting, Waterfowl Impoundment, Wildlife Management Areas, Game Propagation, Shooting Range Specialists, Lodge Operators)
- Course Designers (Field Trial and Shooting Range)
- Real Estate Specialists
- Hoteliers and Culinary Specialists
With highly varied and practically unlimited experience, both personal and professional, Sporting Heritage Group is positioned to improve your current operation or to build one for you from which you will derive a lifetime of pride and satisfaction.
Short Biographies / SHG's Managing Partners:
Jonathan D. Sherrill – Business Development
Jonathan Sherrill already has 15 years of success and experience in marketing, sales and business development. As a senior in high school in 1995, he joined an international marketing firm on a work/study program to explore the field of sales. Within two years he had a choice to make — either take a full academic scholarship (Purdue and Indiana University both offered) or accept a territorial management position with the firm. He chose the latter and never looked back. Five years later he was a member of the firm's senior management team.
While it may seem presumptuous to speak of someone so young as "seasoned", some of his former subordinates – now successful businessmen — speak highly of his talent and his character. One, a Bank of America executive, called him " . . . a valuable asset in any company, somebody that doesn't come around very often." Another, speaking of him, said he was " . . . also a very competitive individual that excelled under pressure and was great at 'delivering the goods' " and that " . . . I have tried to recruit him and work with him again." A third — an accomplished real estate developer — possibly summed it up best. "Ultimately a man's worth is not measured by his own accomplishments, but by the impact he has on those around him. Mr. Sherrill's impact on my life is evident through my accomplishments and success." Quite a set of endorsements that speak for themselves.
An avid outdoorsman since childhood, he was next pursued by a small private company in central Indiana to develop and head their outdoor recreational properties sales and management division. With his sporting background he gravitated to their field sports niche where he was not only heavily involved in the real estate acquisition and sales section but also in the R & D department's burgeoning interest in the luxury leisure and travel industry.
In that company's real estate sector he was in charge of land acquisition and disposition, property management and development, conservation easements and 1031 exchanges, and recreational land leasing. Additionally, he was actively involved in numerous real estate and conservation organizations. Among these were the Nature Conservancy, Real Estate Land Institute, and the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers; also the National Wild Turkey Federation; DU and Delta; Quail Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, and the Ruffed Grouse Society; Quality Deer Management Association, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Trout Unlimited and Safari Club International; the NRA and the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
After a time, and feeling his potential somewhat limited there, he joined the real estate heavyweight, Realogy, franchisor of Sotheby's International, Coldwell Banker and other prominent brands as a Director of Business Development. In that capacity he negotiated mergers, acquisitions, and affiliations throughout the Midwestern United States gaining invaluable experience in brand franchising.
A born entrepreneur and the quintessential self-made man, he co-founded, with Dennis Doyle, Sporting Heritage Group in 2007.
Dennis Doyle has managed to accumulate well over 40 years of both professional and personal experience in the practice of the field sports — while getting paid for most of it. His earliest memories involve hunting and fishing with his father, grandfather, and an assortment of uncles, real and honorary. And riding horses. And training bird dogs. To paraphrase Robert Ruark's introductory note to The Old Man And The Boy, anyone who talks to him is bound to realize that he had a real fine time as a kid.
After completing a B.A. at the University of Illinois and a Masters at Northern Illinois University, he spent over 25 years with the Illinois DNR developing and managing a 6000 acre field sports complex in northeastern Illinois. By the time he left, it included hunting/training/field trial grounds, seven hunting programs, a game propagation center producing 50-60,000 pheasants annually, waterfowl impoundments and fishing waters, dog and equestrian training facilities, and shooting and archery ranges.
He also founded and ran the IDNR statewide horse mounted patrol and performed the same function for the third largest police department in the state. In that capacity he trained with the National Park Service Riding School in Yosemite and with the RCMP Musical Ride in Ottawa. Later, he served as instructor at the National Mounted Unit Colloquium held annually in Lexington. As a private trainer/instructor he focused on performance horses and dressage.
Additionally, as an NSCA shooting instructor, he initiated and was the seminal influence in putting together the statewide IDNR program for beginning through advanced wingshooting clinics. There he also taught at and designed sporting clay courses for advanced clinics. And he started the practice of ongoing professional bird dog training seminars featuring top level trainers such as Delmar Smith, Cotton Pershall, and George Hickox.
After taking early retirement from IDNR he worked as a consultant for a private firm in Indiana researching and evaluating high end field sport venues throughout the western hemisphere.
Upon forming Sporting Heritage Group, LLC, with Jonathan Sherrill, the group developed a complete, private hunting/fishing facility — from conception through construction and including operations — for a Chicago area professional/medical group.
In the course of his career he has had the good fortune to hunt and fish at more than 50 commercial and private lodges and preserves from Alaska to Central America and from Hawaii to Maine.
He says he is still having a real fine time.
Sporting art compliments of Bob White