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Coastal Georgia Buck Scored As Charlton County’s No. 2

This past deer season, Greg Boatright, of Patterson, harvested the No. 2 buck of all-time for coastal Georgia’s Charlton County. Greg killed the buck on Oct. 22, 2016, and it has now been officially scored at 149 2/8 inches. “My girlfriend and I went hunting on opening morning and got in the tree stand before daylight,” said Greg.…

Game Check Improvement Starts By Turkey Opener

WRD’s Game Check will receive a partial face-lift prior to Georgia’s spring gobbler season, a change that will help streamline the “Recording” and “Reporting” process for hunters who use DNR’s smartphone app “Outdoors Georgia.” This change will carry over into the 2017-18 deer season and be a welcome assistance to hunters wishing to drop their…

Record Allatoona Blue Catfish

After having no luck catching bait the morning of Feb. 2 and having to use bait that had been on ice for two days, Jake Herman, of Acworth, finally got that one special bite and reeled in a 43-lb., 9.6-oz. Lake Allatoona blue catfish. Jake’s blue catfish broke the existing Allatoona record by more than 7 1/2 pounds.…

Best Georgia Turkey Hatch Since 2011

Turkey hunters should expect to hear more of those half-gobbling jakes rattling the woods this spring, according to WRD’s annual poult survey. In fact, with a statewide average of “1.7 poults/hen,” it’s the best hatch success WRD has recorded since 2011. “I’m certainly glad to see poult numbers up again this year,” said GON turkey freelance…

Longer Georgia Deer Season, License-Fee Hike Proposed

Legislation that would increase hunting and fishing license fees in Georgia was expected this year during the 2017 Georgia Legislative Session, but a proposal to again change Georgia’s deer season dates comes as a surprise. House Bill 186 would change the statewide closing date for firearms deer season to the third Monday in January, and it…

Chip’s Nation Raises $85,000 For Childhood Cancer

Many of our readers are familiar with the article that GON Editor Brad Gill wrote in the January issue regarding Chip Madren and his upcoming fundraiser. Chip, now 20, was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2010 and has withstood numerous radiation treatments, surgeries and chemotherapy. After an uphill fight, Chip’s MRI scans were reported clear in June 2016. Still, Chip…

1 Confirmed Dead, Search Continues For Missing Boater After Lake Allatoona Boat Accident

Boating accidents can be deadly, evidenced by the latest horrific crash on Lake Allatoona on Thursday, Feb. 2. Two boats and three unidentified boaters, reported to all be older-aged men, were in “fishing boats,” according to authorities. All three were thrown from the boats. One angler was confirmed dead, and one was rescued and taken to a…

February 15 Deadline To Sign Up For WMA Turkey Quota Hunts

Feb. 15 is the last day for hunters to apply for 2017 WMA turkey quota hunts—both the general quota hunts and adult/child hunts. A listing of this year’s quota-hunt choices are on page 38 of the February 2017 issue of GON. These are the same choices you’ll see when applying online at www.gooutdoorsgeorgia.com. While a few…

FLW College Boating Accident Caused By Hydraulic Steering Issue

The GoPro video of two University of Florida college tournament anglers being thrown from their bass boat on Lake Seminole has gone viral. The two young men were competing in the 2017 YETI FLW College Fishing tournament on Jan. 14 when they were flung out of their boat while running at 60 mph toward their first fishing…

2016 Was Best Georgia Deer Season Since 2003

Georgia deer hunters have spoken out, and their voice is very encouraging. Through last month’s GON Rate Your Season Survey, 19.1 percent of respondents ranked their deer season as “Excellent,” which is the highest percentage of excellent rankings GON has on record since the 2003 deer hunting season. The survey appears annually on the January…