# Deer restocking in Georgia



## lcopeland22 (Nov 6, 2011)

I heard that the first batch of deer reintroduced into Georgia were let off traincars in the Almon community thats in Newton county between Conyers and Covington.  Does anyone know if this is true or just an old wise tale?


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## westcobbdog (Nov 7, 2011)

this interesting topic has been discussed a few times before, including the revelation some counties got small Ga barrier island deer. Find the thread about about if ya can, some counties got Wisconsin and Texas deer, overall it was very successful.


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## Nicodemus (Nov 7, 2011)

The efforts to bring back deer, turkey, and bear in Georgia is one of the greatest successes ever imagined. Every hunter in this state should be thankful.

In the Duncan Dobie book, Georgia`s Greatest Whitetails, he has a chapter devoted to how, where, and what, when deer were restocked in the state.


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## westcobbdog (Nov 7, 2011)

Nicodemus said:


> The efforts to bring back deer, turkey, and bear in Georgia is one of the greatest successes ever imagined. Every hunter in this state should be thankful.
> 
> In the Duncan Dobie book, Georgia`s Greatest Whitetails, he has a chapter devoted to how, where, and what, when deer were restocked in the state.



I need to read that book. Wonder if the men involved in the restocking ever imagined it would lead to a multi multi million dollar industry in our great state?


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## Jeff C. (Nov 10, 2011)

That's a good book....every deer hunter in Georgia should read it.

I just wish I could find mine, it's here somewhere though.


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## Gary Mercer (Nov 13, 2011)

I always heard that Merriweather Heard Troup and Schley got Wisconsin Deer.
Not sure.


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## River Rambler (Nov 13, 2011)

Nicodemus said:


> The efforts to bring back deer, turkey, and bear in Georgia is one of the greatest successes ever imagined. Every hunter in this state should be thankful.
> 
> In the Duncan Dobie book, Georgia`s Greatest Whitetails, he has a chapter devoted to how, where, and what, when deer were restocked in the state.



Can you give us a little summary about the restocking efforts for bear in GA?

I thought this population boom was just that....a population boom. Thanks for sharing the knowledge.


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## DvilleDawn (Nov 13, 2011)

lcopeland22 said:


> I heard that the first batch of deer reintroduced into Georgia were let off traincars in the Almon community thats in Newton county between Conyers and Covington.  Does anyone know if this is true or just an old wise tale?



Okay another dumb newbie question, but.......................

Why would Deer, Bear, and Turkey need to be "reintroduced" to Georgia when there are hunting seasons and quotas which "I thought" were in place to keep these animals from being over hunted? I thought the number of tags handed out had to do with population numbers?

What part of this am I misunderstanding? All of it Maybe!


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## Bayou Hunter (Nov 14, 2011)

DvilleDawn said:


> Okay another dumb newbie question, but.......................
> 
> Why would Deer, Bear, and Turkey need to be "reintroduced" to Georgia when there are hunting seasons and quotas which "I thought" were in place to keep these animals from being over hunted? I thought the number of tags handed out had to do with population numbers?
> 
> What part of this am I misunderstanding? All of it Maybe!



Theyre talking about when they were "reintroduced" years ago, before they had the quotas and realistic seasons and limits.


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## SASS249 (Nov 14, 2011)

DvilleDawn said:


> Okay another dumb newbie question, but.......................
> 
> Why would Deer, Bear, and Turkey need to be "reintroduced" to Georgia when there are hunting seasons and quotas which "I thought" were in place to keep these animals from being over hunted? I thought the number of tags handed out had to do with population numbers?
> 
> What part of this am I misunderstanding? All of it Maybe!



Lots of folks do not realize that just after WWII there were probably only 3-5,000 deer in the entire state.  Decades  of overhunting and lax enforcement of game laws had all but eliminated deer from Georgia.

In 1947 Jack Crockford was hired as one of the first professional wildlife biologists ever to work for the state.  He was instrumental in reestablishing the deer herd in Georgia and every Georgia deer hunter owes him a debt of gratitude.  

Mr. Crockford passed away in July of this year.  His obituary is here:

http://www.ajc.com/news/jack-crockford-88-father-1030456.html


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## rvick (Nov 14, 2011)

My great-uncle, Jimmy Wiley, owned a farm in Ben Hill Co. & I've read & heard that the state released the first Wisconsin deer there.


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## DvilleDawn (Nov 15, 2011)

SASS249 said:


> Lots of folks do not realize that just after WWII there were probably only 3-5,000 deer in the entire state.  Decades  of overhunting and lax enforcement of game laws had all but eliminated deer from Georgia.
> 
> In 1947 Jack Crockford was hired as one of the first professional wildlife biologists ever to work for the state.  He was instrumental in reestablishing the deer herd in Georgia and every Georgia deer hunter owes him a debt of gratitude.
> 
> ...



Oh thats a great story! Thank you so much for sharing!
R.I.P Mr. Crockford and Thank You for the beautiful deer!


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## westcobbdog (Nov 22, 2011)

Also ,somewhere in the Woody's archives is a prior Ga Deer restocking thread with a ton of interesting data.


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## lcopeland22 (Nov 25, 2011)

DvilleDawn said:


> Okay another dumb newbie question, but.......................
> 
> Why would Deer, Bear, and Turkey need to be "reintroduced" to Georgia when there are hunting seasons and quotas which "I thought" were in place to keep these animals from being over hunted? I thought the number of tags handed out had to do with population numbers?
> 
> What part of this am I misunderstanding? All of it Maybe!


Yes you were misunderstanding my question, you kinda sounded like a dumb newbie with your reply.  Glad someone actually explained it to you. Maybe you didnt know they restocked deer in the 50-60's.


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## Jeff Raines (Nov 25, 2011)

lcopeland22 said:


> Yes you were misunderstanding my question, you kinda sounded like a dumb newbie with your reply.  Glad someone actually explained it to you. Maybe you didnt know they restocked deer in the 50-60's.



As late as 1979 in one county.
http://forum.gon.com/showthread.php?t=289286


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## doenightmare (Nov 26, 2011)

DvilleDawn said:


> Okay another dumb newbie question, but.......................
> 
> Why would Deer, Bear, and Turkey need to be "reintroduced" to Georgia when there are hunting seasons and quotas which "I thought" were in place to keep these animals from being over hunted? I thought the number of tags handed out had to do with population numbers?
> 
> What part of this am I misunderstanding? All of it Maybe!



Sustenance hunting in the depression and lack of enforcement then and after.... People were starving so you can't really blame them.  Dad used to hunt in the mountains in the 60's cause there were no deer in the Piedmont areas, and seeing a deer was a big deal.


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## redneck_billcollector (Dec 12, 2011)

There are tons of reasons for the deer population getting depleted in GA.  Market hunting for hides, cotton production through out the state (leading to deforestration) and whole sale slaughter during free range cattle days 'cause folks thought deer carried sicknesses that hurt cattle.


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## Washington95 (Dec 12, 2011)

In my area there was a man named Archer who brought 8-10 Wisconsin (?) deer in and released them.  He owned about 18,000 acres at the time.  Guess every area has a story?  That release was about 1940 or so?


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## chehawknapper (Dec 12, 2011)

In the 70's, wildlife students at ABAC under Charlie Marshall were tranquilizing deer, taking blood samples and crating them for DNR to pick up at the boat dock for restocking on the mainland. This was on Sapelo Island. I was there in ,74.


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## DCHunter (Dec 12, 2011)

I think D'ville Dawn was saying HIS/HER question was a "dumb newbie question", not yours. 


lcopeland22 said:


> Yes you were misunderstanding my question, you kinda sounded like a dumb newbie with your reply.  Glad someone actually explained it to you. Maybe you didnt know they restocked deer in the 50-60's.


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## Rackbuster (Dec 12, 2011)

Here is a thread from before that has some good information about the restocking.I read somewhere that some with money bought deer and released them in some areas and that would explain why some are not on this list.

http://forum.gon.com/showthread.php?t=289286&highlight=georgia+deer+restocking


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## redneck_billcollector (Dec 13, 2011)

Where'd yall take those lil' island deer Ben?


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## southernboy2147 (Jan 13, 2012)

i have hear from my papa that his dad (my great grand dad) real eased the first batch of deer in Jones County. Ive been told they came from Wisconsin in big trucks, im assuming 18 wheelers. my great grand dad worked for the forestry around this time so its highly possible and my papa doesnt have much of a sense of humor so I believe him.


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## chehawknapper (Jan 14, 2012)

Sapelo Island, Jay.


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## chehawknapper (Jan 14, 2012)

Oops, I went back and read it and realized you were asking where the deer were released. I don't know. They just met us at the boat dock , took the crated deer and went back to the mainland. We were staying in a small house that had electricity from a diesel fueled generator.


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## jabb06 (Jan 14, 2012)

Ive heard here in Bulloch county that Wisconsin deer were released


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## Vernon Holt (Jan 14, 2012)

The First stocking of deer in GA was done by individuals who cared, and who took the initiative to do something about it.

Arthur Woody, a native North Georgian, purchased an undetermined number of deer with his own funds.  By the way, he was not a wealthy man, but was employed by the U. S. Forest Service as a Forest Ranger.  

He released the deer on what is now the Blue Ridge WMA in the early 1930's.  A short open season was allowed about 1941 for the first time.  

My first deer was a nine point buck killed in Nov, 1943 on Springer Mountain.  This would have been an early product of Ranger Woody's efforts. 

Additionally, a Mr. Sam Tate, the marble magnate from Tate, GA, owned vast acreage in the area which now includes Big Canoe.  He was amazed that this much acreage of wild land contained no big game, and decided to do something about it.

He acquired an unknown number of deer and released them on his land holdings.  He hired private game wardens to protect the game for a number of years.

It is interesting that these two citizens took the initiative to restore deer back to an area of N.GA which had been without deer approximately 75 years.  They could have done what people do today, that is wait for the government to do it.

I know of no re-stocking efforts for Black Bear in N. GA.  May have been some restocking in the middle GA Counties which have bear today.

Stocking played no role in the population of bears in Counties around the Okefenokee Swamp.  They are native GA stock.  The vastness of the swamp offered them protection.

Few people are aware of the fact that vast areas of the GA Coast have always held a huntable population of native GA Whitetails.  These are Counties from Chatham all the way to Camden.

"Sustenance hunting in the depression" had nothing to do with the absence of deer in virtually all of GA.  We were admittedly hard on rabbits, possums, and coons, but there was no one living during the depression in all of middle GA who had ever even seen a whitetail deer.

"King Cotton" eliminated deer from most of GA, going back to the invention of the cotton gin prior to the Civil War.

GA Tech grads don't know much about GA History, do they?


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## chehawknapper (Jan 15, 2012)

Great info Mr. Holt!


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## Vernon Holt (Jan 15, 2012)

chehawknapper said:


> In the 70's,* wildlife students at ABAC under Charlie Marshall* were tranquilizing deer, taking blood samples and crating them for DNR to pick up at the boat dock for restocking on the mainland. This was on Sapelo Island. I was there in ,74.


 
Knapper: Surprised to read the name of Charlie Marshall in connection with the deer restocking program.  Charlie was a friend and classmate of mine.  Great guy. Do you possibly know if he is still living??


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## chehawknapper (Jan 16, 2012)

He is. He lives in Union Point and has a son in Greensboro. I was told Shirly passes away a year or so ago.


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## redneck_billcollector (Jan 20, 2012)

This is kind of on topic, it has to do with restocking cervids.  The elk reintroduction in Kentucky, that herd has really taken off, has anyone been lucky enough to get drawn for an out of state elk tag in kentucky?  I know I have applied a couple of times.  It is apparently one of the larger elk herds around now and is producing some really nice B&C bulls.


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## waddler (May 18, 2012)

Don't forget the Screwworms.


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## Vernon Holt (May 18, 2012)

*Deer Restocking in GA*



waddler said:


> "*Don't forget the Screwworms*".[/quote]
> 
> What about the screwworms??


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## shakey gizzard (May 18, 2012)

redneck_billcollector said:


> This is kind of on topic, it has to do with restocking cervids.  The elk reintroduction in Kentucky, that herd has really taken off, has anyone been lucky enough to get drawn for an out of state elk tag in kentucky?  I know I have applied a couple of times.  It is apparently one of the larger elk herds around now and is producing some really nice B&C bulls.



There's been a few cow tags drawn  up in the hunting forum.


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## waddler (May 19, 2012)

Vernon Holt said:


> waddler said:
> 
> 
> > "*Don't forget the Screwworms*".[/quote]
> ...


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## shakey gizzard (May 27, 2012)

waddler said:


> Vernon Holt said:
> 
> 
> > In the 50s, they destroyed wildlife with abandon across Georgia. Even a tick bite could serve as an entry. The maggots ate the animals alive. We picked the maggots from our stock and treated with benzine and *some kind of tar.* When the sows had pigs they were very vulnerable and if not caught in time had to be destroyed.
> ...


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## NE GA Pappy (May 27, 2012)

My pappy told me stories about the chesnut tree blight and how that helped to destroy the wildlife in the mountains. Within 5 years, over 70 percent of the trees in the forest had died, taking with them the vast harvest of chesnuts they produced yearly.  The wildlife died off with the trees. It took many years for the oaks to fill in the gap the chesnuts left when they died off.


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## cddogfan1 (Jul 25, 2012)

If I rember right from Mr. Pains class at ABAC.  Deer from northern states "cold weather states" were released in south and middle ga.  Deer from Tx and and the islands were released in North Ga.  Due to the screw worm.  Cold weather killed it and they were trying not to spread it around.


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## oldways (Jul 25, 2012)

Theres a old deer pen there in the swamp going towards the cow house island it may have been used during the restocking don't know good topic..


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## jimbo4116 (Jul 25, 2012)

oldways said:


> Theres a old deer pen there in the swamp going towards the cow house island it may have been used during the restocking don't know good topic..



http://forum.gon.com/showpost.php?p=3066387&postcount=1


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## waddler (Jul 26, 2012)

jimbo4116 said:


> http://forum.gon.com/showpost.php?p=3066387&postcount=1



I see the deer in Oconee Nat'l were planted in1957 from the coast. Interesting side note, my buddy found them in 1960 and was sworn to secrecy by Dr. jenkins at UGA. 

First season was about a week long sometime in the 60s, I forget exactly, but I was there.


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## king killer delete (Nov 7, 2012)

*Nic*



Nicodemus said:


> The efforts to bring back deer, turkey, and bear in Georgia is one of the greatest successes ever imagined. Every hunter in this state should be thankful.
> 
> In the Duncan Dobie book, Georgia`s Greatest Whitetails, he has a chapter devoted to how, where, and what, when deer were restocked in the state.



You forgot the canada goose


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## Nicodemus (Nov 7, 2012)

killer elite said:


> You forgot the canada goose





I purposely left them out. I remember when that program was started here in Georgia, and I`m sure you do too. Some think it was a good idea. Others of us don`t, but we all have an opinion on the Canada geese.


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## king killer delete (Nov 7, 2012)

*Looking at it just as a hunter*



Nicodemus said:


> I purposely left them out. I remember when that program was started here in Georgia, and I`m sure you do too. Some think it was a good idea. Others of us don`t, but we all have an opinion on the Canada geese.


 I do love to hunt them but they are a pest.


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