Woody’s Forum Celebrates 20 Years!

Woody Coffee had no concept of the sleeping giant he was about to awaken when he launched his “Woody’s Taxidermy Campfire Talk” message board in 2001. For him, it was a simple way to stay in touch with his customers. Facebook would not come on the scene until 2004, and other than a message board on GON, there just weren’t that many ways to stay in touch with friends and taxidermy clients.  

Woody Coffee, an outdoorsman and taxidermist from northeast Georgia, started the Woody’s Taxidermy Campfire Talk in 2001. Woody passed away in 2009. His legacy lives on at forum.gon.com through the online community he helped create.

The computer age hit us all pretty hard in the early 1990s, and along with it came the World Wide Web. For the first time people could communicate with one from just about anywhere. By the late 1990s, two of the then young editors at GON, Brad Gill and Daryl Kirby, realized the great potential for bringing like-minded people together. They started an online message board, or forum, so GON readers could communicate and talk about hunting-related subjects.

Within a year or two the message board became so popular and so overwhelming that GON had its hands full trying to manage it. Running a magazine and website like GON is not a job. It’s a seven-day-a-week way of life. So after several years, GON reluctantly shut down their message board.

Jim Thompson was an early member and administrator of the Woody’s Campfire forum. In 2005, Jim wrote this about the early days of the forum.

“Many of us were members of a GON forum back in the infancy of forums. That forum went by the wayside, and a fine upstanding fella by the name of Woody Coffee—who also happens to be one of the finest taxidermists on the planet—said, ‘How can we keep outdoors folks together in one place and do a little advertising for my business at the same time?’

“That was in early 2001, and the forums called Woody’s Campfire opened its doors in April, ’01. The ‘fire’ has helped more people than most of us can ever imagine. Anything from just picking up a new place to hunt, raising money for a young cancer survivor, gatherings a couple of times a year, or best of all picking up new and lasting friendships that will not go away. Many of our members have entire hunting, fishing, shooting or archery clubs who belong to the campfire and use this format as a way of keeping up with each other.

“Some of the bad times were problems with our growth and our old host. A few times over the years we crashed and lost everything we had in archives and all members lost all posts! The toughest of times came back in late summer of ’04 when we found out that our old webhost has decided to not do business any longer which was going to increase our monthly costs by many, many times. So Woody, Jeff Young and myself started talking about closing the doors, although it would be a tough decision and none of us wanted to do it,” Jim wrote in 2005.

“Then Steve Burch and GON came to the rescue. They had decided to re-launch a free forum from their website and heard about our troubles. They offered to help us keep what we have by footing the bill for the host. We all sat down and worked out a few basic details, and away we went! The timing could not have been better.

“Without the insight and graciousness of Woody Coffee, we would not be here… period. Without GON coming to our rescue, we would not be here today… period.”

Woody Coffee was a much-loved taxidermist in Baldwin (just out of Cornelia). Like so many outdoorsmen and hunters, Woody Coffee was a highly principled, church-going individual who believed in God and country. He was the kind of man who would give you the shirt off his back. He wanted his Woody’s Taxidermy Campfire Talk message board to be clean and upbeat. No foul language, no name calling, no checkered subject matter. Even in those early days of the internet, plenty of toxic material was already flooding cyberspace everywhere you looked. Woody envisioned his message board as being akin to sitting around the campfire at night with your buddies and talking about the day’s hunting adventures. He wanted it to be something young hunters could read and enjoy. You might talk about something serious, or you might poke fun at somebody who missed a shot or forgot to load his rifle. It would never insult or be hurtful to anyone.

Woody was often described as being “salt of the earth,” and the forum attracted many hunters who had that same mindset. Marvin Poe, known on the forum by his user name “Milkman,” was one of those people who got involved very early on and became one of the first forum moderators.

“It’s been quite a ride these past 20 years,” Marvin says. “It started out pretty much with deer hunting, but it didn’t take long to expand into other areas. I think one of the first sub-forums was called “Wings and Things,” and it was about turkey and bird hunting. Things started snow-balling, and pretty soon we had sub-forums on fishing, religion, cooking and politics. In those early days, whenever a new sub-forum was started, we had to nurse it along because maybe only one or two people would log on. Nowadays, any new sub-forum takes off immediately with hundreds of people logging in.

“Woody was one of the most honorable individuals you’d ever want to meet,” Marvin continued. “He was always a gentleman and he respected everyone’s opinion. When you walked into his taxidermy shop, he treated you like you were the only customer on earth. He seldom talked about himself—he was much too humble for that, but he wanted to know everything about you and what you were doing. And he treated everybody that way because that’s who he was. He was a one of kind.

When GON took over paying for the server space, Woody’s had become fully run and operated by a group of volunteer moderators.

“At that point, Steve was gracious enough to allow several of us who had been involved to take it over, and he helped us in every way he could. We all agreed it would be run just like Woody had run it. It would be a family and kid-friendly forum, and it would be a resource for people to get advice and help if needed. It was basically Woody’s same forum with a lot of dedicated volunteers who gave of their time and expertise to make it work. As moderators, we loved what we were doing, and we didn’t mind putting in the time it took.

“The one great aspect of the forum was that Steve never got involved or tried to tell us how to run it. He trusted us to do the right thing and handle any problems ourselves. From time to time, we did have problem members who had to be expelled. Usually it was because they didn’t belong there in the first place.

“Woody stayed involved even after we took over, and it pretty much followed his example. Even if he strongly disagreed with you, he was always diplomatic and courteous. It’s funny, looking back… during the few occasions when he didn’t like the way something was being handled, he would let you know about it. But he always did it on such a way that you never realized he was chewing you out. But he was such a gentleman about it that I never knew I was getting my backside whipped! He was an amazing man.

“I was a moderator for 12 or 13 years,” Marvin says. “A moderator has the ability to edit posts and delete things if necessary. Sometimes deleting a word or two was all that was needed to edit an inflammatory post. Other times people went too far and had to be banned. We usually gave people a chance to clean up their act. If they didn’t, they would be banned from the forum. Once banned, always banned.”   

Many powerful stories of people helping other people have occurred as a result of Woody’s forum. One heart-felt story comes from tournament angler and guide Aaron Batson. It truly captures the spirit of doing something good for your fellow man.

Aaron writes: “My Woody’s Taxidermy Campfire Talk experience began after the original GON message board sorta fell apart. Somebody keyed me into where everybody went. I had never met Woody Coffee at the time. I was an ‘every now and then’ poster and mostly just read along. I mainly posted a few fishing reports and developed a bit of a following from other members there. Somewhere around 2003, my 8-year-old son Blake was diagnosed with leukemia. I made a simple post about our situation and asked if anybody could point us in the right direction to find a puppy for him.

“We were absolutely overwhelmed with kindness, prayers and a dog, Rooster. My family will forever be grateful for the many things this group of outdoorsmen did for Blake. Several key members did so many great things for me and my family… ‘Arrowflinger,’ Jeff Young, Randy and so many others. Everything from a family-passed-down shotgun, money for doctor bills (a huge help!), camo, boots and many other things were given from the heart to Blake. He is now 27 and doing great. He recently married and is living in Indiana.

“Blake had the chance to meet Woody for the first time when he killed his first buck, a unique 7-pointer. Woody called me and demanded that we bring him the cape and rack. He mounted that buck for Blake and gave him some hats and other things. Blake wore that Advantage camo hat everywhere for years. I know that he still has it, too. Oh, yeah—Woody mounted that buck for Blake and never charged him a dime. I’ll never forget the words he said to us when we went to Baldwin to pick it up. When I tried to pay him for the mount he said, ‘Your money isn’t any good around here.’ Blake went on to kill several bucks in his early hunting years, and Woody mounted them all—same ‘no charge’ to Blake every time! The kindness of Woody and many of the forum members made a huge impact in Blake’s life and how he lives it today.”

This is powerful stuff! In a world where so many people think only of themselves and have the attitude, “What’s in it for me?” When you read stories like Aaron’s, it very definitely restores your faith in humanity. There are a lot of good people in this world who strive to do the right thing whenever they can, and despite what some misinformed people might tell you, the gun owners, hunters, fishermen and other outdoorsmen who are members of this forum are among the finest of American patriots. And one extraordinary taxidermist named Woody Coffee somehow had the vision to bring a lot of them together and through his influence keep them together for two decades.

Sadly, Woody Coffee passed away on Jan. 24, 2009 after a short illness. He was 66. Born in Habersham County in 1942, he founded the Chattahoochee Bass Club and was a member of the Walkinshaw Hunting Club down on the Savannah River where he took a number of forum members hunting. Mostly, he was very proud of what Woody’s Taxidermy Campfire Talk message board became. Today there are more than 100,000 registered users of the forum.

“We have members from every state and eight or nine foreign countries,” Marvin Poe says proudly.   

Ten years after his death in January 2019, a number of posts were made in a forum thread remembering Woody. The posts clearly demonstrate Woody’s amazing legacy. Even a full decade after his death, the love and feelings members felt for him was extraordinary.

Marvin Poe wrote: “Woody Coffee was a fine gentleman and true ambassador of hunting. He was really kind, generous and insightful… The world needs more men like Woody Coffee.”

Here are a few other comments made in that 2009 forum thread:

• “Thanks, Woody. And thanks to the administration and moderators who keep it (the forum) clean.”

• “From the very first time that I clicked onto it, I have been completely hooked. I was very happy to join this fantastic venue and become a member here, and I have loved every minute of my conversing with so many members here that I have been able to meet face-to-face at several gatherings.”

• “This website has been one of the most wonderful things in my life as I have personally felt so much of this ‘love’ that has been given to me by so many fantastic members here…”

Shortly after joining the site around 2007, the above member had a series of horrendous personal tragedies in which he lost his wife, his mother and his mother-in-law over a several-month period. The post continued, “During all of this time period, so many members here gave me some really strong shoulders to lean upon, and with their help, it has made me a much better person that continues to do my best to help others in need.”

Woody’s Taxidermy in Baldwin is still thriving thanks to Greg Parker. Greg, who first met Woody when he was 10 years old, worked in Woody’s shop for many years and took over the business in 2009 after Woody’s death.

Lee Floyd, known by his forum user name “elfiii,” is the current website administrator—the lead moderator.

“The instant I landed on the site I joined up,” Lee said. “I remember how excited I was to find a place that was all hunters and fishermen talking about hunting and fishing and everything else under the sun. It was truly a virtual deer camp/fish camp campfire. In addition to learning a great deal about these pursuits—I thought I knew a lot when I came here, but then I realized there was a lot more to learn—I got to know a lot of very good people, and I have made many friends over the years.

“One of the most valuable parts of this place is the wealth of knowledge collectively possessed by all the members. Ask any question, and many are only too happy to share their knowledge with you and help you with your particular problem or issue until it’s resolved. I don’t know of any other place on the web that’s like that. The people who participate here are some of the most generous, friendly people I have ever known,” Lee said.

“What is amazing to me is how this place continues to echo what its founder desired it to be, even though he handed it off to GON and he is now in the great deer hunting club in the sky. That’s partly because of who he was, but to a large degree it’s the people here, including the GON guys who recognized the magic he created and wanted to be a part of something good and make sure it continued. I know this is so because I compare this place regularly to other similar sites, and in my opinion we are head and shoulders above all of them.

“I see it continuing to survive. Quality, like cream, always rises to the top. We have members from all over the U.S. and some foreigners, as well. Good people will always be attracted to quality regardless of where it’s located. This place is a magic elixir for those people. I know it is for me.”   

It is impossible to describe all the good that has come out of Woody’s Taxidermy Campfire Forum over the past 20 years. But one thing is clear—the world was a lot better place if you knew Woody Coffee during his lifetime.