GON Outdoors Georgia Outdoor News

Meet GON turkey hunting freelance writer Donald Devereux Jarrett as he talks about his latest turkey-hunting article, When Turkey Calling, Sometimes Less Is More.
From Overcalling to a game of Cat-and-Mouse, sometimes just learning to shut up and be patient is what'll kill that Georgia longbeard. 

What in the heck is that man thinking? Why do these things seem to only happen to him? If you're a regular reader, heck if you've ever read Life On The Back Page these questions may have escaped your lips. On this episode of the GON Outdoors podcast we visit with outdoor writer Daryl Gay with the hope of finding some answers to these questions. Join us for an entertaining look into Daryl's adventures with Jake The Hermit and his Life On The Back Page.    

Hunting season is over. Bucks begin to shed their antlers. Now what? On this episode we talk with Bruce Swearingen from 4S Wildlife about feeding programs, mineral sites and how hunters can establish programs that will enhance the deer herd on their property. 

A head-turner of a buck was taken from Oconee National Forest on Saturday, Nov. 2 by Tony Jones, of Locust Grove. Although an estimated gross score isn’t known, arguably the most impressive feature of the Jasper County buck is its 22-inch inside spread.
“I really appreciate everyone from GON for helping me get this recognized. This is definitely the best buck for me so far,” said Tony.
Tony, who has hunted ONF for 10 years, said a hunting area near a powerline was where he wanted to hunt that morning, but somebody had already beat him there. Being a good public-land hunter, Tony had plenty of other places to try.
“I knew there were a bunch of scrapes in the area (I ended up hunting) from being in there a couple of weeks earlier,” said Tony.
Tony hunts from a ground blind, and it was after daylight when he arrived in an area of hardwoods surrounded by bedding thickets. He got his blind set up and had just gotten settled into his chair when he heard a deer walking.
“I take a look out the blind window, and I see the deer walking down the hill from the pine thicket,” said Tony. “I got a good look at him with the binoculars, and I saw one side of his rack, so I knew it was a buck. I grabbed my rifle, and I put the scope on him, and he’s facing me at this time, so I see how wide he is. I immediately get on his shoulder, squeezed the trigger and down he went.
“It took me more time to walk in than to sit there and take the deer.”
Tony was hunting with a Savage .308 that was recently given to him by his father-in-law.
“He wants to pass the gun down to my son, who is only 2 years old now,” said Tony. “My father-in-law actually requested that I take the gun hunting and kill a deer with it, and I was able to do that. It was a pretty special deal to take that caliber of deer with the rifle that was given to me.”

Scott Hodges, a taxidermist who lives in Byron, Ga., has long been a friend of GON and the people who work here. Editor Daryl Kirby catches up with Scott just before the primitive-weapons deer season and youth week to talk about Scott's background in the outdoors, his relationships with GON, and how the 2019 hunting seasons are going.
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Just days after this podcast was recorded, Scott's son Ross did end up killing a buck. See his pictures and hunt story here.   
Southern Reflections Taxidermy
 

Dylan Kirkley, of Covington, has killed a deer that would make any midwestern hunter proud. His Newton County 17-pointer, only the second buck he’s ever killed, grossed 183 inches.
“This is the second year we had him on camera,” said Dylan. “He showed back up in July (2019), and then he just disappeared for like two months. We didn’t know what happened. I believe it was the week before dove season when he showed back up.”
Dylan and his buddies bowhunt, and one of his friends did see the deer one time in bow season.
“We went bowhunting for him a few times,” said Dylan. “It was one of those things where you go and you get down out of the stand, and 20 or 30 minutes later he was on the camera, and it would be dark. He was messing with us pretty much.
“A friend of mine saw him early one morning. It was too dark to do anything with him, but he could tell what it was,” said Dylan. “We saw him two times out of the stand in rifle season and couldn’t get a decent shot on him, and we didn’t want to take a chance on it, so we just waited him out.”
On the afternoon of Oct. 27, Dylan was in a tower stand with his buddy Josh Skaggs, of Covington, and they were overlooking an old, grown-up bean field. Around 6:30 a group of does showed up in the field.
“He tapped me on the leg and said, ‘I see some horns coming out of that bottom down there,'” said Dylan. “I got my glasses on him and looked, and it was him. I really didn’t know what to do. It was a long shot, so we waited and waited until he came up and bumped those does, and once they ran off, he just milled around eating some acorns out there on the edge of the field. He was quartering away from us, and I said we’re just not going to do it right now. We waited a few more seconds, and he turned broadside and gave us a good opportunity, and I took it.”
Dylan was shooting a 6.5mm Creedmor, a caliber that has been growing in popularity in recent years.
“We get within 100 yards of him, and his horns are sticking up out of the grass. We knew we had something pretty special there. He got bigger the closer we got,” said Dylan.
Dylan’s 183-inch deer will not be in Truck-Buck, but he will be having it officially scored after the required 60 days of Boone & Crockett drying time expires. It’s still unclear if the buck will score better as a typical or non-typical.