|
| Key Feature Homepage Stories |
|
| Mark Willingham Wins New Chevy Silverado 4x4 Truck! |
| |
| By Daryl Kirby |
|
|
|
Originally published in the September 2012 issue of GON
|
| |
|
|
Mark Willingham poses with the mount of his Cobb County bow-buck in front of his new pickup truck after winning the Truck-Buck Shoot-Out on Aug. 5.
|
|
|
|
View All Images (4)
|
|
There was a new venue, and there was new star power hosting the event, but it was the familiar excitement and drama unfolding as GON’s Truck-Buck Shoot-Out was held Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 4-5. This year the event was held during the Outdoor Blast at the Gwinnett Center near Duluth. Moby from the syndicated Moby In The Morning radio show kept the crowd laughing and entertained as he hosted the event finals.
The Truck-Buck Shoot-Out was the finale to GON’s 2011-12 big-buck contest, where 41 hunters qualified for the pellet-rifle competition with a brand-new truck and a 4-wheeler on the line. The contest is divided into scoring periods that coincide with the weeks of deer season. Each week, the best buck entered from the Northern Zone and the best buck from the Southern Zone win prizes and earn spots in the Shoot-Out. Those folks competed heads-up on Saturday, North vs. South, with the 17 winners moving to the finals on Sunday. There was a standing-room-only crowd to watch the Shoot-Out events on Saturday and Sunday.
During the finals on Sunday, you could feel the tension build as the rounds ticked by, the targets got progressively more difficult and shooters were eliminated. By the start of Round 6, a 45-foot shot at an egg, only four shooters remained: Mark Willingham, of Powder Springs; Jason McKenzie, of Savannah; Toby Warr, of Blakely; and Earl Fain, of Helen. First up was Toby, who missed. Mark busted the egg, sat back down and watched the next two shooters miss, giving him the truck. Earl then stepped back to the 45-foot stage and won the second-place 4-wheeler.
The road to the 24th grand-prize truck from Georgia Outdoor News magazine and John Megel Chevrolet begins at daybreak on Sept. 8, the opening day of bow season. Turn to page 76 for more information.
SEEDS Shoot-Out Won By Mason Howard, 12
We said before how kids always seem to shoot better in the high-pressure situation of the Shoot-Out. That was never more true than this year at the Gwinnet Center. On Saturday evening, Aug. 4, 15 youth hunters competed in the SEEDS Big-Buck Contest Shoot-Out, and while the Truck-Buck main event only made it to 45 feet shooting at an egg, the kids took it to 60 feet to determine a winner.
Just like in the Truck-Buck contest, there’s a SEEDS winner every week of deer season. Kids qualify for their own Shoot-Out (see page 77 for details).
Mason Howard, of Dexter, was just 11 years old last Sept. 29 when he carried a compound bow and went hunting with his dad, Tracy. Mason arrowed a Laurens County 8-pointer, the best youth deer of Week 3. The Howards are no strangers to killing good deer, or to the Shoot-Out. Both Mason and Tracy have competed in the Truck-Buck event, Mason as a Youth Wildcard winner several years ago.
That experience may have been the difference as Mason never missed a shot and hit an egg at 60 feet to win the SEEDS event.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
|
|
