Hunting the McGraw Ford Georgia WMA

I had the pleasure this weekend to visit the McGraw Ford Georgia WMA, and found it to be a nice small Georgia WMA. The only thing I really didn’t like was the fact that there were literally no places to stay overnight nearby. This whole Georgia WMA is only around two thousand two hundred acres, so it’s not a real large Georgia WMA. The roads on the Georgia DNR map were fairly correct, however, getting there from I-75 coming from Atlanta proved to be a chore. I did put very specific directions on my enhanced Georgia WMA map clarifying some roads that had no names, and also a showed a few of the food hot spots on my enhanced map.  

One thing I did like was that the Etowah River runs straight through this Georgia WMA, and there was very easy access and parking right along the bridge going over the Etowah River where hunters could park, and walk all along the Etowah River to locate good hunting spots. I ate at two different BBQ joints while I was there, and one was ok, and another was awesome. I ate first at Two Brothers BBQ just outside of the Georgia WMA. I had a BBQ sandwich and was not that impressed. For starters there were very few choices on the menu, and you could only get chopped pork, which I personally prefer sliced pork, they bring your sandwich out wrapped in thin paper, and you don’t get a plate to put it on. The Brunswick stew was a mush style, which I prefer more of a stew style as opposed to real mushy. I can say that Two Brothers BBQ had friendly staff, and a nice environment with hard wood floors, and country collectibles lined the walls. You do need to know, that they are only open Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from ten thirty a.m. to nine p.m. They are closed Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  

The second BBQ place I found was a very small ma and pop joint called Amos BBQ. Amos’s BBQ was to die for, the stew was perfect, and the pork was very juicy. They had a large menu of items to choose from, and most important to us hunters, is that they serve an insanely awesome breakfast. They had a variety of fresh homemade biscuits including steak, chicken, tender loin, hot link, sausage, bacon, and gravy. The BBQ is true smoked in a smoker and not exposed to open flame, so all their meats had that great classic smoked flavor. I have to say that there prices were very reasonable. They have been there for five years, and the owners name is Paul Johnson. There hours of operation are Monday through Thursday five thirty a.m. to eight o’clock p.m., Thursday through Saturday five thirty a.m. to nine o’clock p.m. They are closed on Sunday, and they stop serving breakfast at ten thirty a.m., or until all of the breakfast foods are gone.  

I put both of the BBQ places on my enhanced Georgia WMA map for future reference. Outside of these two BBQ joints, I didn’t find any other places to eat that seemed worth mentioning. I did see one small like sandwich shop right in the middle of the small town, but it seemed really expensive. I walked in the door, and just saw a wine menu with like really expensive wines and sandwiches, and turned around and walked back out. Not my kinda place.  

To wrap things up, this Georgia WMA made the perfect day trip for me, I had breakfast at Amos’s BBQ, got out in the woods around nine o’clock, hunted till lunch, went to Two Brothers Pit BBQ for lunch, went back and hunted along the Etowah river for a few more hours which even though I didn’t see anything, it was a nice hike with good views, and then went and ate dinner at Amos’s BBQ, and then called it a day. Overall this is a perfect place to get to early, with good food, and easy access to many hunting areas, and would give it a good grade of a Georgia WMA I will definitely return to, but just no overnight facilities.