Sam in Full (ePub)

Ed Oliver is a teacher/coach in the Harris County School System in Harris County, Georgia. Previously he spent eight years at Columbus High School in Columbus, Georgia, where he was assistant baseball and football coach to Bobby Howard. He was also head coach for fast-pitch softball. Coach Oliver's teams have been state contenders many times and five of Columbus High's baseball teams were state champions while Coach Oliver was on the Howard staff. His 2000 fast-pitch softball team won the first state championship ever for the Harris County school system.

            Ed's passion for wildlife has been a lifelong affair. He is a conservationist first and foremost, and a longtime student of the white-tailed deer. Ed shot a huge buck in 1989 that appeared on the cover of Georgia Sportsman magazine. He has also been featured in several other wildlife publications. Having long been a pioneer for what he calls, “Give the young one's a chance,” Ed was an early proponent of Quality Deer Management (QDM).

            “I'm not a great hunter by any stretch of the imagination,” Ed says. “Instead I'm a man who has a great appreciation and love for whitetails and for the great outdoors. The chase, the challenge, and the associations I've had with other hunters are the things that are most important to me.”

            Ed has been married for 43 years to Martha Jo Reese, of Cordele, Georgia. They have four children: Susan (deceased), Spence, Sim and Bess. The two boys have been very much a part of Ed's deer-hunting experiences and he declares, “There is absolutely nothing more rewarding than hunting with your sons on a cold crisp morning. Sharing the peaceful solitude of daybreak and the world of nature coming alive around you, builds bonds that are difficult to equal.”