QDMA fete slated Friday at Elks Lodge

Published 9:42 pm Tuesday, August 5, 2008

It’s possible a conversation between two hunters at a Huddle House changed the course of hunting forever in Northwest Georgia.

Bob Mathis of Sugar Valley was on a hunting trip and ran into fellow hunter Joe Hamilton, who in 1988 founded the Quality Deer Management Association — a non-profit organization that works to preserve a high quality standard of life for white-tailed deer for the purposes of hunting.

Mathis, already a member of QDMA, began discussing with Hamilton the idea of locating a QDMA branch in Northwest Georgia. The preliminary discussions that took place at the Huddle House soon shifted to a full-fledged meeting hosted by Dalton Utilities. The meetings led to the eventual decision of establishing a QDMA branch in Bogart — near Athens — which was launched in February of this year.

The branch in Bogart, also known as the Region Valley branch, covers the Dalton area, which Mathis believes will benefit all local hunters immensely.

“We’re all about quality management,” Mathis said. “Everybody is getting more involved in quality management in terms of having a balanced and healthy herd, as well as a balanced and healthy habitat. Being educated on all of this can only help the herd, as well as the hunting experience.”

The QDMA, which originated in South Carolina, has over 40,000 members in all 50 states, as well as internationally, according to its Web site.

On Friday, Mathis and the QDMA will host a banquet at the Elks Lodge at 1300 Elkwood Drive in Dalton, with tickets going for $55 an individual or $75 for a husband-wife couple. Included in the price is a meal and a QDMA membership. Also taking place at the banquet are live and silent auctions and prize raffles for hunting and fishing trips and guns. The doors open at 6 p.m.

The QDMA membership will allow a hunter to learn more about the ins and outs of quality deer hunting. There are many factors that go into quality management that a novice hunter may not take into account and Mathis regularly holds seminars to educate hunters on different techniques and terms, such as “early succession growth.”

“Early succession growth is the first three years of growth of land,” Mathis said. “That’s when the land is most beneficial for wildlife and deer. If you maintain a certain amount of property in that type of growth, it will produce healthier deer that will be less susceptible to disease and predators. It also allows you to balance the herd and the herd’s age structure.”

Another important element to quality management is the better quality of food for deer. There are certain foods for certain climates, such as lab beans in the summer, buck oats or crimson clover in the winter and year-round food sources such as Pennington’s Durana white clover.

Mathis teaches methods such as plowing and prescribed burning, which can eliminate undesirable trees for sunlight, as well as clear a path for forbes and seeds, which produce non-woody plants that deer use as a rich source of protein.

“High protein levels are very important for deer,” Mathis said. “For the time they’re carrying their babies and nursing them, it helps for stronger bones and better antler growth.”

In addition to educating hunters, another big goal of QDMA is to involve youth. Mathis said the average age of a deer hunter is 45, but he has strategy to get younger people interested.

“You have to get them involved not just in deer hunting, but any hunting,” Mathis said. “Get them involved in small game hunting first. In deer hunting, you can sit for hours and not see anything, so you have to start them out slow and let them get to know the woods.”

With the Internet and high-tech video games, its no surprise that interest has shifted from the great outdoors. But Mathis’ message is to not forget about the woods.

“As they say, it’s all in the eyes of the beholder,” Mathis said. “Just to be outdoors in God’s creation and to see all the beautiful things He’s made and the changing of the season, the skies, leaves and plants — that’s what I get into. In some countries, people don’t have the option of hunting or fishing, so we in America are blessed. You should enjoy the outdoors.”

For more information about Friday’s banquet, contact Mathis at (770) 548-2140 or bobusacarpets-@msn.com