Hunting Dawgs: Meet The UGA Athletes Behind DGD Outdoors

Former UGA defensive lineman Travon Walker, of Thomaston, now a Jacksonville Jaguar (left) and DGD Outdoors founder Cade Brock with the results of a May 2022 bass fishing trip. Travon was the first player selected in the 2022 NFL draft.

Deer hunters with a passion for college football, like me, often find themselves torn between their two favorite fall activities. In a perfect example, I’m facing a difficult decision as I write this. On Nov. 5, am I going to hunt the whitetail rut or head to Sanford Stadium to watch the defending National Champions welcome No. 3 Tennessee to Athens? 

But us fans have it easy compared to the Dawgs on the football field. Imagine being both a deer hunter and a student athlete. Class every day, practice every afternoon, and games almost every fall Saturday. If your team should make it into the playoffs, a bowl game or even the national championship, then the demands of football may not end until after deer season is over. And if you’re like Cade Brock and didn’t grow up near Athens, there’s the added challenge of finding a place to hunt close to campus.

“It took me some looking around to find a place close by,” said Cade, a junior fullback (No. 44) from the small community of Subligna in Chattooga County. “Between classes and practice, about the only time I can hunt is Sunday afternoons, or sometimes I can leave after practice during the week, spend the night and hunt the next morning before class.”

Eventually, Cade found a couple of places close to Athens where landowners gave him permission to hunt. But he isn’t the only hunting Dawg, so Cade soon started asking the landowners if it would be okay for him to bring a teammate or two. After that, he wanted to be able to take teammates along who had never hunted. Before he knew it, Cade was operating an informal network that was taking Dawgs outdoors. With the help of Dan Jackson, of Gainesville, (No. 17, junior defensive back) and Gunner Stockton, of Tiger, (No. 14, freshman quarterback), last fall Cade founded DGD Outdoors to really attack the day.

Dan Jackson, a junior defensive back from Gainesville, is one of the three-man team that operates DGD Outdoors.

Freshman quarterback Gunner Stockton, from Tiger, is also one of the three-man team that operates DGD Outdoors.

“I wanted to create a network of local places to hunt so that when there’s another walk-on who wants a place to go, we can just plug him in,” said Cade. “The goal is also to introduce all the new people who might not fit the narrative of being an ‘outdoorsman’ but are interested in trying it.”

Freshman quarterback Brock Vandagriff, of Bogart, with a Georgia bow-buck taken in early October this year.

Cade didn’t limit the network to football players.

“It’s for everybody. I’ve taken some baseball players. People don’t understand just what all goes into playing athletics at Georgia. It’s a lot hard work and a lot of stress trying to keep up with classes, so I wanted to create something that helps any athlete get outdoors for a little while, where there’s less stress.”

It’s also not just hunting. In summer, Cade took Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint (No. 1, junior wide receiver) and Kenny McIntosh (No. 6, senior running back), both of whom grew up in Florida, on their first bass-fishing trip.

“Marcus told me the next day that he stayed up until 3 a.m. watching bass-fishing videos on YouTube,” said Cade. “He loved it instantly, and that got me thinking that I wanted to be able to give him his own fishing pole. If they had their own gear, they’d be able to get more into it.”

Kenny McIntosh (left) and Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint on a bass-fishing trip guided by their teammate Cade Brock.

Cade mostly outfitted his teammates with his personal gear, including old fishing tackle and camo he’d outgrown. As we all know, outdoor gear takes a beating. Arrows and bolts are lost or broken during archery practice. Fishing reels backlash, and lures break off. And that led to the latest phase of DGD Outdoors: fundraising. 

I follow Dan Jackson on Instagram, and that’s how I first saw the DGD Outdoors logo and merchandise. The official DGD Outdoors website went live in August with a selection of shirts, hats, hoodies and other gear (dgdoutdoors.com). There’s also an Instagram page @dgdoutdoors where you can keep up with the adventures, like a nice buck arrowed by Brock Vandagriff, of Bogart (No. 12, freshman quarterback), a doe taken by Dan Jackson, and Ladd McConkey, of Chatsworth, (No. 84, sophomore wide receiver) practicing with his bow. 

The Instagram account also shares some first-time deer hunting adventures that have already happened this year, like a recent hunt with Warren Brinson, of Savannah, (No. 97, junior defensive lineman), and the first time in a deer stand for Nathan Priestley, of Los Angeles (No. 24, junior wide receiver).

When I talked to Cade, he was excitedly planning an upcoming weekend trip. The crew got very lucky this year with a bye week coinciding with opening day of deer gun season on Oct. 22.

“I enjoy watching these guys fall in love with hunting and fishing,” said Cade. “A guy might be headed for the NFL draft, but the first time he sees a deer walk out he gets nervous and shakes just like the rest of us. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from, that excitement is in all of us.”

If you’re a deer hunter and a Dawg fan, that ought to get you fired up faster than hearing the Red Coat Marching Band play “Glory.” I encourage you to help support the DGD Outdoors mission any way you can. Cade is currently applying for 501(c)3 non-profit status so the group can accept donations, but in the meantime you can buy some gear to help the group fund hunting licenses, camouflage, archery gear and fishing tackle. Or, contact Cade through the website if you can share hunting or fishing opportunities on your private land near Athens.

Knowing you helped get a Dawg outdoors, maybe even for their first-ever hunting trip, will make it a little more personal the next time you shout “Go Dawgs!” as the University of Georgia takes the field.

Junior wide receiver Nathan Priestley, of Los Angeles, California, had never been deer hunting until this fall on a bow-season trip with Cade Brock.

UGA wide receiver Ladd McConkey practices with his bow while sporting some DGD Outdoors merchandise.

Cade Brock, Gunner Stockton and Dan Jackson with a Georgia gator trapped by a licensed DNR nuisance trapper near Macon.