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Hunting
Latest Hunting Articles
GON’s team of Hunt Advisors is spread out across the state. That’s pretty important when you consider Georgia’s widely varying rut. Depending on what part of the state you’re hunting, you could be experiencing anything from the post-rut doldrums to pre-rut cruising. Not to mention the secondary rut… Fingers are always crossed for that bonus…
Have you seen this Pike County buck? We recently got a call from the hunter who shot him in November 1984. The gentleman’s name is Randy Cook, and he’d simply like to have his buck back if it’s floating around out there somewhere. GON published an article in September 1994 called “Georgia’s Stolen Boone &…
December now, over half the whitetail season behind us, and yours is likely in one of three phases: full freezer, still waiting on that ONE—or cluelessly wondering where all the deer have gone. In the latter case, think maybe it might be time for a change? I’ve watched the evolution of Georgia deer hunting from…
A Crawford County sportsman made a great shot and thought he bagged the biggest racked buck of his life. He did, but this one came with a surprise. With all due respect to the late radio great Paul Harvey, “… and now for the REST of the story.” Justin Buchanan, of Roberta, hunts a 53-acre…
Sumner Powell is no stranger to the deer-hunting limelight. At age 8, the now Tift County High School junior became one of the youngest participants ever in the GON Truck-Buck Shoot-Out. He didn’t win, but he was a crowd favorite as he advanced through the single-elimination rounds and made it to the final 10 shooters.…
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Deer Hunting
Jimmy Collins, of Hamilton, was climbing down from his Harris County deer stand on Dec. 13, 2003 when his wedding ring caught on a screw-in step above him. “I let loose with my right hand and was going for the next step,” said Jimmy. “When my ring hung, it threw me off balance, and…
A Booner stepping out was the last thing on the mind of a newcomer to the area. Gary McMahan, of Franklin, N.C., was enjoying his first year in a Hancock County club during the 2003-04 season. On the evening of Nov. 22, Gary made a decision that would place him in Georgia’s deer-hunting annals forever.…
How many white-tailed deer should we have in Georgia? The answer varies depending on whom you ask. Management of Georgia’s white-tailed deer herd can be a challenging and, at times, controversial topic. According to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division (WRD), the white-tailed deer is Georgia’s most popular game species. Currently, management…
Turkey Hunting
As a 19-year-old turkey hunter in just his second season, Grant Tucker was just hoping to finally claim that he had killed his first turkey. Killing a gobbler that was one of the rarest in history wasn’t even in his wildest dreams. “I had been chasing this bird on my father’s blueberry farm for two…
Talbot County’s Michael Barnes was just looking to get his first turkey of the season last Sunday morning. He never dreamed he’d get a turkey that even the experts say the likes they’ve never seen before. “When I shot it and got to it, the first thing that I noticed was that it didn’t have…
The 2023 Georgia turkey season marked the second year for the state’s shorter, more restrictive season structure, and according to WRD’s Game Check data, the statewide harvest increased more than 21% from 2022. That sounds like great news for turkey hunters, but don’t start celebrating a return to the good old days of Georgia turkey…
Predator Hunting
“God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Genesis 1: 28 You can’t wait to plug in your SD card from the trail camera…
The Georgia Trappers Association (GTA) hosted their ninth-annual Youth Field Trials event Dec. 30 to Jan. 1. This year’s gathering hosted a record 43 kids between the ages of seven and mid-teen. Kids and their parents were paired up with experienced trappers and spent two days on private properties learning to trap. Trap lines were…
As I watched Annabel Wilson walk up and down a woods road that led into a Jefferson County cut corn field, I knew exactly where I would put a dirt-hole set. “That little tuft of grass right there,” I whispered to Mike Wilson, Annabel’s dad. A minute later, the confident 20-year-old wildlife student at Abraham…
Hog Hunting
It’s dark now. DARK dark. Like a bear down a well. Without a flashlight. The sun went down hours ago on this second January Tuesday. Turbid clouds are rolling ominously overhead, fleeing a tornado-spawning system headed my way. The wind moans and, at times, howls. Limbs click, clatter and thump to the ground. The ground…
If you’re looking for a comprehensive guide to Georgia hog hunting, you’ve come to the right place! In this article, I break down when and where you can hunt feral hogs in Georgia, what licenses you need, what weapons are legal, and which wildlife management areas (WMAs) offer you the best chance of putting fresh…
When 15-year-old Wyatt Coleman downed a Harris County buck the third week of the 2022 season, he was hoping a little luck was on his side. Little did he know… The gross 124-inch whitetail, which netted 117, turned out to be big enough. Big enough, that is, to earn Wyatt a spot in the Georgia…
Alligator Hunting
When my friend Garrett Harrison, of Hazlehurst, texted a photo of him and his wife LeeAnn standing beside a giant dead alligator, I was impressed. Garrett is not a small man, and just the gator’s tail was longer than Garrett was tall. I was curious as to whether he got it with a guide on…
Gator season won’t officially close until Oct. 2, but this season has already been highlighted by some really big Georgia alligators and happy hunters. As we always enjoy doing in October, we show off the ones who took the time to send in pictures and info. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get all of those photos on…
By Jeana Quirk I patiently waited seven years to draw a gator tag in Georgia. After a year-long debate on which zone to apply for, we decided to proceed with Zone 2 (Lake Seminole). We currently live in Harris County on Lake Harding (Zone 1), which is where “Big Al,” a 12-6 gator, was taken…
Bear Hunting
There’s no accounting for the bug that bites you. Or when it happens. For some, it’s a process of growing into whatever activity they eventually fall for and become consumed. Others are suddenly smitten. Like Don Butts. His parents didn’t see it coming during a vacation trip to the Great Smoky Mountains all those…
Normally, this is a period fraught with chaos. Never mind the ever-present and who-knows-how-deep black water, claustrophobic brush, vines and briers clawing and ripping; just hurry as best you can. Hounds are roaring out of their minds, hunters sloshing, tripping, bleeding, pushing on… Because some 987 interminable yards into the Okefenokee Swamp, a bear is…
The temperature was a crisp 38 degrees, the wind was still, and the skies were partly cloudy as the sun rose across middle Georgia for the annual one-day bear hunt in Houston, Twiggs, Bibb and Bleckley counties. The good weather meant the bears should be moving, and Sam Land, of Swainsboro, was patiently sitting in…
Dove Hunting
Of a morning, stumbling to perform my ablutions, the framed photo is likely the first thing bleary eyes are able to focus upon. Father And Son, it’s entitled. It’s 15×19, shot from the darkness of what appears to be a cave cut through a mountainside. With the camera at their backs, the subjects are a…
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District, has two youth dove hunts scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 16 and 23 at the Richard B. Russell Project Office. For both hunts, a parent or guardian must accompany youth participants, ages 9-16, and will be permitted to hunt along with the youth hunter. Hunters will be selected…
I watch the green glow of the numbers on the bedside clock and know that I will sleep no more on this morning. I carefully slide out of bed so as not to disturb my bride or the little brown bird dog that sleeps curled up in the crook of her legs. Today is the…
Duck Hunting
“Do you love it?” That is the question that startled me awake. It was asked by Grayson Crews. To give some back story to that quote, it’s 5:01 a.m, and the first good duck hunt is on the horizon. To say I was excited is an understatement. However, when he asked me that, I still…
Editor’s Note: After this article was published in the October 2023 print edition of GON, WRD announced that all Butler Island waterfowl hunting would be closed for the 2023-24 due to recent storm damage. See WRD Release. I knew the ducks were roosting in the back of a local farm pond because I saw them…
Editor’s Note: Tina Johannsen is WRD’s Assistant Chief with Game Management. Olivia Menard helped tell the story. I probably don’t have to tell y’all that hunters are a small group (less than 10% of the population), and in most states, our numbers are dwindling. State wildlife agencies like mine (GA DNR WRD) are funded by…
Squirrel Hunting
Looking for a healthy, sustainable source of protein and a good woodland hike? Squirrel hunting season, which opens Aug. 15, can meet those goals, and get everyone excited about fall hunting seasons, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division (WRD). “Squirrel hunting season is a great introduction to hunting,” said Alan…
It had been 23 years since I stepped foot on Redlands WMA in pursuit of critters. A return trip was certainly overdue, and Saturday, Jan. 15 was the perfect opportunity to take a trip down memory lane. The occasion was the 2nd Annual Squirrel Master Classic with a great group of folks who run a…
This is the way squirrel hunting ought to be—fast paced, lots of shooting opportunities and loads of excitement. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with sitting under a big oak and waiting for the squirrels to come out, but I’m telling you that hunting squirrels with a good dog is a boat load…
Quail Hunting
Now that the white-tailed deer season has ended, hunters will likely turn their attention once again to small game like rabbits, squirrels and the bobwhite quail, although quail hunting is nothing like it once was. When fence rows from small farms and family gardens crisscrossed Alabama and the Southeast, the bobwhite flourished. Since large-scale farming…
When I grew up in the late 50s and early 60s, my house, in a suburb of Jacksonville, Fla., backed up to a large pine forest with underbrush that was about knee high but not too thick; perfect quail habitat. I can remember waking to the sound of the northern bobwhite quail calling to each…
By Jason Dunn So there I was….. All good southern stories should start with the phrase “So there I was.” I began teaching my daughter that when she was in preschool. She never conformed to my teaching and much more preferred starting her stories with “It all started when I woke up,” yet those are…
Other Georgia Hunting
In the fall of 1999 I had a bad case of the melancholy. My up-and-coming grouse dog had died and had left me feeling down in the dumps. Little Mac, our young Brittany spaniel, had died from what was evidently a brain tumor. Little Mac started having seizures in his second year which progressively became…
In the Southeast, when a person mentions upland hunting, the bobwhite quail is usually the first, and sometimes only game bird that people think about. The late Charlie Elliott named the bobwhite the “prince of game birds.” When you go into the Appalachians, the ruffed grouse enters into the conversation, but the lack of timber…
Falling Feathers at Whitaker Farm in Harlem hosted the Georgia chapter of The Fallen Outdoors for a veteran’s pheasant shoot on Saturday, Nov. 28. The Fallen Outdoors is a national volunteer 501c3 nonprofit organization comprised of active duty and veteran military who use the outdoors as a means of therapy, and to help other active…
Georgia Hunters on the Road
By John Holbert Jonah and I both drew either-sex muzzleloader tags for Colorado elk this fall. Neither of us had undertaken such a challenge before, and we were eager to try. We spent all summer researching, preparing, packing and training for the safari. The rut forecast predicted we would have good timing to see some…
Gathering around the campfire at Camp Isilwane (lion) in Matetsi, Zimbabwe we look out at the vlei, which is a prehistoric river bed. The buffalo come into the dying waterhole for that last drink as the day succumbs to darkness. It is the end of the dry season, the last of the water before the…
When I think of exotic animals, I envision animals being created in a lab through experiments and test tubes. However, my husband Paul and I decided to read more and more about exotic hunting ranches and we decided to peruse the Internet for research. Although these animals are not indigenous to North America, they are…