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Quality Deer Management Association’s Founder Featured Speaker At Fort Stewart Wildlife Gala

Quality Deer Management Association

FORT STEWART, Ga. --(Ammoland.com)- Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA) founder Joe Hamilton was recently the featured speaker at the Fourth Annual Wildlife Gala and Venison Cook Off at Fort Stewart Army Installation in Georgia.

The Wildlife Gala, held at Club Stewart in late January, was organized to promote hunting, fishing and many other outdoor recreation opportunities at Fort Stewart, Hunter Army Airfield (HAAF) and the surrounding areas. Attendees included many active-duty and retired soldiers along with their families, and the event was also open to the public.

Hamilton, a certified wildlife biologist, founder of QDMA and current Director of Development, addressed the crowd of more than 225 people on key issues involving white-tailed deer, Quality Deer Management and the QDMA.

Fort Stewart-HAAF currently has nearly 250,000 acres open for hunting, and the area is home to over 350 species of wildlife. Fort Stewart-HAAF receives approximately 50,000 hunter-attempts annually with most hunters trying to fill a white-tailed deer tag.

In 2003, Fort Stewart-HAAF began implementing QDM by designating a Quality Deer Management Zone (QDMZ). In order to produce an even adult sex ratio, older bucks and healthier deer, the QDMZ includes a greater law-enforcement presence, antler restrictions and an intense food plot regime to include both cool- and warm-season plantings. Additionally, Fort Stewart-HAAF monitors its deer herd through check station data collection and an infrared camera survey.

The Wildlife Gala also featured several vendors, food samples, live animals, a shooting simulator and taxidermy displays. The Venison Cook Off had categories for venison chili, miscellaneous venison dishes and a children’s venison cook off. Prizes were awarded to the top three places in each category.

The event was sponsored by USAA, Bass Pro Shops, Navy Federal Credit Union, Critters, Budweiser and Coca-Cola.

For more information on Fort Stewart visit www.stewart.army.mil. Fort Stewart hunting information can be found by navigating to the “About” tab and selecting “Hunting on Fort Stewart.”

About QDMA
QDMA is dedicated to ensuring the future of white-tailed deer, wildlife habitat and our hunting heritage. Founded in 1988, QDMA is a national nonprofit wildlife conservation organization with nearly 50,000 members in all 50 states and Canada. To learn more about QDMA and why it is the future of deer hunting, call 800-209-3337 or visit www.QDMA.com.

Media members wishing to join QDMA’s Media Outreach Network can contact Tanner Tedeschi at tanner@qdma.com or by calling (800) 209-3337 ext 1017. If you are already subscribed to the Media Outreach Network but wish to be unsubscribed from the list, please inform Tanner and you will be removed.

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New group educates hunters and anglers on biggest threats to outdoors opportunities, natural resources.

Conservation Hawks

BIGFORK, Mont. --(Ammoland.com)- Sportsmen have a new resource to protect fish and wildlife populations and hunting and fishing opportunities: Conservation Hawks is a new conservation group dedicated to educating hunters and anglers on the most important threats to our natural resources and outdoors traditions.

A non-partisan group run by passionate, dedicated sportsmen, Conservation Hawks’ mission is to “defend our sporting heritage and pass on a healthy natural world to future generations of Americans.”

Conservation Hawks believes climate change is this century’s most important threat to sportsmen. The group’s initial efforts will focus on informing and mobilizing the sporting community on the issue.

“It’s time to stand up and show we give a damn about our kids and our grandkids – and about our hunting and fishing,” said CH Founder and Chair Todd Tanner. “If we don’t get a handle on climate change, we’re putting everything we care about at risk.”

Conservation Hawks supports a science-based approach to climate change and climate change mitigation. The organization is convinced that America’s conservation legacy will evaporate and benefits from past habitat projects will disappear if future greenhouse gas emissions can’t be controlled.

Wildlife biologist William Geer, the climate change initiative manager for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and a former director of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, sits on the Conservation Hawks board of directors.

“As a biologist,” Geer stated, “I can tell you that climate change is real and that it’s already impacting our fish and wildlife. As a father and grandfather, I can tell you that global warming scares the hell out of me.”

Conservation Hawks is registered as a Montana nonprofit public benefit corporation and has received tax exempt status from the Montana Department of Revenue.

Learn more about Conservation Hawks and its vision for the future of hunting and angling.

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