QDMA Press Release
Joe Hamilton Joins QDMA –
the Organization He Founded –
as a Full-Time Employee
Bogart, Ga. – Joe Hamilton has joined the Quality Deer Management Association as the Director of Education and Outreach for the Southern U.S. Hamilton has been continuously involved with QDMA since he founded the organization in South Carolina 18 years ago, and has left the Board of Directors to accept full-time employment.
A Certified Wildlife Biologist, Hamilton began his new post July 1st. In it, he oversees the day-to-day implementation of the QDMA's REACH (Research, Educate, Advocate, Certify and Hunt) Program in the southern U.S.
“I am really excited about this new horizon,” said Hamilton, who has authored dozens of “Firepot Stories” and feature articles for Quality Whitetails, the QDMA journal.
“Since founding QDMA in 1988,” he added, “I always had to step into the background or work at night and weekends to advance the organization and its mission. I knew that I couldn’t take anything away from my responsibilities to my full-time employers. It is a wonderful feeling to have just QDMA to devote my energies to.”
A native of Elizabethtown, N.C., Hamilton holds a Master of Science degree in Wildlife Biology from the University of Georgia's School of Forest Resources. He wrote his graduate thesis, "Ecology of the Black Bear in Southeastern North Carolina," after nearly three years of field research. The North Carolina Wildlife Federation recognized his efforts by presenting Hamilton with the 1975 Governor’s Award as Wildlife Conservationist of the Year – the first and only presentation of this prestigious honor to a student.
After earning his graduate degree from UGA, Hamilton joined the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources in 1979 as Deer Research Biologist. He became Assistant Regional Wildlife Biologist in 1985, a position he held until 1997.
It was during his tenure with SCDNR that Hamilton first learned of Quality Deer Management. He founded the QDMA as a state-level organization, serving South Carolina, in 1988. Within two years, it had grown to become national in scope, and now boasts more than 40,000 members in all 50 states and several foreign countries.
Hamilton joined Ducks Unlimited in 1997 as Manager of DU's Lowcountry Initiative in South Carolina. From February 2001 until joining QDMA full-time, Hamilton served as the ACE Basin & South Lowcountry Project Director for The Nature Conservancy's South Carolina Chapter. In this role, Hamilton focused on land conservation through acquisition of critical natural areas and the protection of private property through perpetual conservation easements.
The Deer Committee of the Southeastern Section of The Wildlife Society honored Hamilton in 2000 with its Deer Management Achievement Award for outstanding contributions to deer management in the southeastern U.S. He is the fifth of only seven all-time honorees.
Hamilton also is one of only two Americans ever to be inducted as a member of The Keepers of The Hunting Spirit, in Australia. He made several trips to Australia during the late 1980s and early 1990s to provide education and support for the nation's Quality Deer Management efforts. He worked with the Australian Deer Association, and used its organization model when he founded the QDMA.
Hamilton's efforts in Australia led to the formation of the Tasmanian Deer Advisory Committee. QDMA Executive Director Brian Murphy served as that committee's project leader for four years before taking over the reigns of the QDMA.
A prolific writer, Hamilton has published chapters in three books and literally hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles. The South Carolina Wildlife Federation honored him with its Harry Hampton "Woods and Waters" Conservation Memorial Journalism Award for excellence in natural-resource reporting. He remains a regular contributor to Quality Whitetails, the QDMA journal.
Hamilton lives in Hendersonville, S.C., very near where he founded the QDMA.
The QDMA is a national nonprofit wildlife conservation organization with 40,000 members in all 50 states and several foreign countries. Membership in QDMA is open to anyone interested in better deer and better deer hunting, and committed to ethical hunting, sound deer management and the preservation of the deer-hunting heritage. To learn more about the QDMA and why it is the future of deer hunting, call (800) 209-DEER [(800) 209-3337] or visit www.QDMA.com.
–QDMA … better deer, better deer hunting– |
