Hunter: Michael Ballew
Points: 8 (4L, 4R)
County: Haralson
Season: 2016-2017
Hunt Story
I was hunting on a piece of private property that I am managing in Haralson County on the morning of November 17, 2016. I had to take my boys to school this morning, so I was running a little behind on getting to the stand that morning. Around 7:20 a.m. I finally made my way to the tripod I've got setup that overlooks a swampy bottom with a food plot that hasn't done well at all with no rain. The woods surrounding my stand are around 2-year-old planted pines. Deer can be very hard to pick out in this stuff. A little after 8 a.m. I thought I heard the sound of deer walking in the swamp behind the food plot. I looked hard but couldn't see a deer. I scanned around behind me and then back to the food plot and there was the buck I had been chasing. I raised my rifle as he was steadily going across the plot and tried to stop him. I finally got him to stop and made a killing shot on him. He ran out of the food plot into the swamp about 50 yards and died. I had started getting trail-cam pictures of this deer in early August and knew he was a special deer, but the first time I actually seen him in person was the morning I killed him. Deer like this one don't come around very often in Haralson County.
