Hunting the McGraw Ford Georgia WMA
This weekend I had the pleasure of visiting the McGraw Ford Georgia WMA, and found it to be a nice little Georgia WMA. The only thing I really didn’t like was the fact that there were literally no places to spend the night nearby. All of this Georgia WMA is only about 2,200 acres, so it’s not a really big Georgia WMA. The roads on the Georgia DNR map were quite correct, however getting from I-75 from Atlanta turned out to be an arduous task. I put very specific instructions on my improved Georgia WMA map to clarify some unnamed roads, and also showed some of the food hot spots on my improved map.
One thing I liked was that the Etowah River runs through this Georgia WMA, and there was very easy access and parking along the bridge that spans the Etowah River, where hunters can park and walk along the Etowah River to find a good hunting places. I ate at two different BBQ places while there, and one was good and one was amazing. I ate first at Two Brothers BBQ outside of Georgia WMA. I had a barbecue sandwich and was not very impressed. For starters, there were very few options on the menu, and you could only get minced pork, which I personally prefer sliced pork, they bring you your sandwich wrapped in thin paper and you don’t have a plate to put it on. . The Brunswick stew was a porridge style, which I prefer more of a stew style rather than a true squishy. I can say that Two Brothers BBQ had friendly staff and a pleasant atmosphere with hardwood floors and country collectibles lined the walls. You should know that they are only open on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10:30 in the morning to 9:00 at night. They are closed on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
The second barbecue place I found was a little ma and pop place called Amos BBQ. Amos’s BBQ was to die for, the stew was perfect, and the pork was so juicy. They had a great menu of items to choose from, and the most important thing to us hunters is that they serve an incredibly amazing breakfast. They had a variety of fresh homemade cookies including steak, chicken, tenderloin, hot link, sausage, bacon, and gravy. The barbecue is actually smoked in a smoker and is not exposed to fire, so all of their meats had that great classic smoked flavor. I must say that the prices were very reasonable. They have been there for five years and the owners name is Paul Johnson. The hours of operation are Monday through Thursday from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m., Thursday to Saturday from 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. They close on Sundays and stop serving breakfast at 10:30 in the morning, or until the whole day. the breakfast foods are gone.
I put both BBQ locations on my enhanced Georgia WMA map for future reference. Outside of these two barbecues, I didn’t find any other place to eat that seemed noteworthy to me. I saw a little sandwich shop right in the middle of the little town, but it looked very expensive. I walked in the door and saw a wine list with really expensive wines and sandwiches, I turned around and walked out. It is not my place.
To wrap up, this Georgia WMA was the perfect day trip for me, I had breakfast at Amos’s BBQ, went out into the woods around nine o’clock, hunted until lunch, went to Two Brothers Pit BBQ for lunch, came back and hunted at along the Etowah River for a few more hours, which even though I didn’t see anything, was a nice hike with good views, and then I went for dinner at Amos’s BBQ and then finished the day. Overall this is a perfect place to get there early, with good food and easy access to many hunting areas, and would give a good Georgia WMA rating that I will definitely return to, but no overnight facilities.