Days GON By December 2016

Each month we turn back the clock to see what was being reported in the pages of GON, both 20 and 10 years ago. Here’s a look back at what appeared in GON. 

20 Years Ago: December 1996

Deer Decoy Nabbed!: An opening weekend deer decoy detail in Lincoln County—aimed at catching night hunters­—instead caught a carload of North Carolina thieves bent on mischief.

Game wardens set out an $800 radio-controlled deer decoy near the intersection of Hwy 79 and Hwy 44 in Lincoln County about 1 a.m. on Oct. 27, 1996 in response to reports of night shooting in the area.

As the officers crouched in nearby woods close to their vehicles, a suspicious car approached their decoy. The individuals in the vehicle had put headlights on it four separate times and had apparently realized it was a decoy.

But instead of shining a spotlight on the deer, the driver turned off the headlights. When rangers approached the car, it sped off. Then the officers realized that Blaster, their mounted 6-pointer, had been deer napped.

During the brief chase that followed, one of the officers saw something thrown from the suspect’s vehicle, which turned out to be the decoy’s removed head. The men were soon stopped and arrested, and the rest of the deer decoy was recovered. There were no firearms in the vehicle.

Apparently, the men used military-style night-vision equipment to spot the decoy, and realizing it was a fake deer, opted to take it. 

The men offered up apologies during their arrest. 

One of the officers said, “Basically they just told me they just thought it would be cute to take the decoy.”

Published in 1996, the awful-looking warts occasionally found on white-tailed deer don’t usually harm the deer. The warts are called cutaneous fibromas, and they are caused by a virus.

10 Years Ago: December 2006

Tree Snaps Below Hunter, He Then Falls 45 Feet!: Every year GON hears stories about hunters falling from tree stands after not wearing safety harnesses. Those injuries are self inflicted, but 10 years ago Jeff Sutton, of Barnesville, found himself simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He was 45 feet up a tree covering a large area in Lamar County where he knew a buck was hanging around. His wild ride began shortly after hearing the tree crack 10 feet below him.

“It was windier than normal,” said Jeff. 

Within a few seconds the tree snapped off about 10 feet below Jeff’s stand. Jeff rode all the way to the ground holding his gun and stand.

“I never blacked out,” he said, “I remember hitting the ground and trying to get my breath. I could breathe in, but I couldn’t breathe out. I could breathe in three times before I could get one to go out.”

Jeff did have a phone and was able to call 911 for help. He broke several ribs and had some pretty serious bruising. Still, Jeff was very lucky after one of the longest tree-stand falls GON remembers hearing about.

Few sets of deer antlers come any weirder than this one from a Twiggs County buck. Tim Blizzard, of Gordon, shot the one-eyed buck with an antler beam growing out of the eye-socket on opening day of the 2006 firearms season.