Brothers earn national wildlife management and conservation award

Bogart, Ga. – Jeff Peake, of Colchester, Connecticut, and his brother Greg, of Apalachin, N.Y., have been named the 2007 Al Brothers Nonprofessional Deer Managers of the Year by the Quality Deer Management Association. QDMA recognized them during the 2007 QDMA Awards Breakfast, held during the National Convention and Whitetail Expo in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

From Left: Jeff Peake, QDMA Board member Robert Manning of South Carolina, who presented their award on behalf of the board and QDMA membership, and Greg Peake.

The award is named for retired Texas wildlife biologist Al Brothers, who is recognized as the father of QDM. It honors QDMA members whose passion and enthusiasm for QDM result in major achievements in herd and habitat management.

The Peakes got involved with Quality Deer Management and the QDMA after attending a QDMA seminar in Catskills, N.Y., in 2001. In January 1992, they bought a 192-acre tract in Stuben County, N.Y., and developed a long-term management plan with the assistance of noted habitat-management expert Neil Dougherty, of North Country Whitetails. That plan included several habitat-improvement projects and a focus on herd management to improve the age structure and buck/doe ratio of the deer herd using the tract.

“Jeff and Greg reached out for knowledge, applied it, and became stewards of their land and the wildlife on it,” said QDMA Founder Joe Hamilton, Director of Education and Outreach for the Southern U.S., who presented the award to the brothers. “All of us at QDMA are thrilled to be able to honor them for all their hard work.”


From Left: Jeff Peake, Neil Dougherty, John Scott, Greg Peake, Jeff McCreary.

Founded in 1988, 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 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–