Deer Hunting Reports: Great Bucks, Plenty Of Deer Mark Start To Season

Unseasonably cool temperatures made the first weeks of archery season more than bearable—it was crisp and cool some mornings, a welcome respite from the hot, buggy bowhunting we’re used to in Georgia.

Something else we’re now used to is a fantastic first week of archery season for huge Georgia bucks. Bowhunters have figured out how to pattern mature bucks and make it happen opening week. We’re also hearing that antler growth is very good this year, likely a result of abundant rainfall during the normally stressful summer months. 

Some bowhunters are now reporting a bit of an October lull in deer activity and big buck sightings. But that will quickly change as cold fronts, falling acorns and frisky bucks begin that mid-October magic in the Georgia deer woods.

GON has a great team of deer-hunting experts across the state with our Hunt Advisors. Here are their reports on the opening weeks of archery season and on how the woods are looking in their areas for the upcoming firearms season.

This is a great buck from anywhere, and from the mountains of Fannin County with a bow, it’s a giant! Congrats to 15-year-old Carson Callihan for his buck taken on Sept. 18.

Tristan Abbot and Landon VanSant, both 18 years old, with a Pickens County full velvet buck that Tristan took on Sept. 11.

NORTH GEORGIA

Cherokee County: Tim Dangar, of Ball Ground, reports, “We had a great fawn drop this year, and the herd is looking good here in north Cherokee. Because so many spots are still on milk, we declared no does until October. The bucks are beginning to break up as velvet comes off and should help with more being seen in daylight hours. Acorns are good this year, mostly in the tops of trees—red and white oaks the same. For whatever reason, the nuts seem to be falling early, with normal main drop occurring in mid October. I was concerned about our mast crop this year due to the late frost that occurred in mid April. However, it seems this far south we must have been past the blooming season and the mountains at 3,000 feet and above were pre-bloom when frost happened. I have checked both locations and we seem to have dodged a bullet that could have been devastating for all game which depends heavily on acorns as a winter food source. 

“The last few days have felt great with temps in the 40s a couple of mornings and no humidity. I’m looking forward to some WMA specialty hunts coming up, some north and some south. Next month I should have a comparison as to what’s happening in the deer woods between the two areas. Hey, if you like bowhunting an autumn olive patch for bear and deer, this is the year, they are loaded.

“Hope everyone is tuned in and doing well. We are so blessed to have an opportunity to hunt and enjoy God’s creation. Until next time stay safe and hunt on!”

Elaine Hoyt, 74, made a perfect 31-yard shot with her crossbow to down this 9-point buck in Forsyth County on Sept. 15. This is Elaine’s fifth buck in five years.

Madison County: Keith Ingram, of Comer, reports, “Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the season so far. The cool morning temps opening weekend had the deer on their feet and moving. Saw close to 30 deer in three sits. I’ve seen a lot of bucks, three of them being nice bucks the first week. One of which was a very good, big-bodied 8-point on the evening of the 24th that was very tempting, but I held off hoping he can see one more year. As I sat watching him from a ground blind, another buck a lot smaller came in, and they spared for about five minutes. I couldn’t believe the smaller buck stood up to the big 8. He did get pushed around, but he never ran from him. 

“The bucks are making rubs and scrapes and are continuously working the scrapes, not just making them and leaving them alone. 

“The does and fawns are fat and healthy, as I have been keeping them full of protein all summer. It’s a good thing I have, because unless the white oaks and red oaks are just not falling yet, they seem to be few and far between this year. There are a lot of water oaks, and they are already falling heavily. 

“As we go into October, I plan to stay on the food sources and hunt as much as possible. The evenings do seem to be better than the mornings right now. Also, food plots are doing great with all the rain we’ve had, and they are being hit hard. The deer are in great shape, so it should be another awesome rut, but that’s probably still at least a month away, if it goes as normal. Whatever food sources you have, get on them, especially in the evenings.”

This Fulton County buck showed up opening morning in full velvet. The next evening, he was slicked out! Congrats to Dylan Rogers on his fine bow-buck.

MIDDLE GEORGIA

Fayette & Meriwether Counties: “Lots of deer to report, deer numbers look good. I have seen lots of fawns this year with a few does having two fawns. I’ve been seeing lots of buck sign, as lots of rubs and scrapes are showing up all over. The red oaks are falling good, as well as muscadines. With all the rain we have had, it’s helped the honeysuckle and browse.

“Been seeing a lot of bucks this year on trail cameras, and a few from last year that have thickened up in both Fayette and Meriwether. With the cooler mornings, opening week was awesome. Saw lots of deer, several bucks, and the mature bucks are starting to bust up from the bachelor groups. Bucks are starting to spar a bit getting their necks tuned up for November.

“I was fortunate enough to take a nice 12-point buck opening week in Fayette County. Passed on him last year as a 3.5-year-old, and his rack grew and added a few points from last season. He was taken Sept. 15 in the  afternoon. Had several bucks come in and three does. Broadside shot at 25 yards with my Hoyt Carbon Matrix and NAP 100-grain Thunderhead did the trick.”

Hunt Advisor Jeff Scurry with his beautiful 4 1/2-year-old Fayette County 12-pointer that he passed up last season.

“With all the early sign and the number of sign seen, buck numbers are up where I’m at in both counties. October should be a great time to catch a buck on their feet looking for an early doe. Food plots are also coming in nice from all the rain past few weeks.

“Good luck, and talk soon.”

Hancock County: Matthew Gilbert, of Loganville, reports, “We are loaded up with food this year. Most all hard and soft mast is going to be plentiful. This is going to keep the deer in the woods during daylight hours, and will make food plot hunting productive closer to twilight minutes. In the past, we have learned to hunt staging areas for deer in the early season when food is abundant in the woods.

“The best chances to kill an older deer will be in areas of transition with food. Any type of funnel that contains food can be a great spot to catch an older deer either in the mornings or evenings. Staging areas with acorns just off of food plots are great places to see deer holding up, filling their stomachs, prior to using a food plot. Paying attention to scrape lines and rubs in these areas are the best ways to see if they are being used by bucks.

“In our area, scrapes and rubs are showing up in the typical places for this time of year. Over these next few weeks, the buck sign should blow up and give better ideas where a target deer is moving. Any scrape line in the woods is a great place to spend a morning.

“With food sources changing over these next weeks, travel areas will change, and being in the woods is the best way to keep up with what is going on. As you see sign, it is best to pay attention to the activity. If something seems to go cold, we will move on to the next best areas we have. If a food source gets depleted, we will change tactics to the next preferred feeding area. In a year with lots of food, it is often difficult to find concentrations of deer, so finding the right deer becomes a fun challenge. 

“At our place, the age of our kids, and how busy they are, feels like chaos. Family time, slowing down, and enjoying friends is difficult to do at home. When we are at the hunting land, all of those things seem to come together! It’s very important for us to carve out a few weekends, and holiday time, to get together for these relaxing moments. The kids need it, us adults need it, and we all look forward to it! We are looking forward to these next few months of better weather, good eating, excitement for each other’s success, and the memories that will be made!”

Dylan Dobbs, of Locust Grove, with a super Clayton County buck he killed this season with his bow.

Putnam County: Dwayne Britt, of Bishop, reports, “This is our best year for quality and quantity of bucks—lots of deer from multiple age classes. 

“Bucks recently moved off their summer patterns and have scattered. Deer are walking over corn to find the acorns right now. A few trees have begun to drop, but this year appears to be spotty with acorns. I checked out more than a dozen white oaks and only two had any significant amount of acorns, and we’re basically seeing the same thing with red and water oaks. We just planted our plots the last week of September and are hoping we continue to get some rain.

“We are just started to see scrapes, but we’re expecting buck sign to pick up with the changing weather. I believe we will have a new moon heading into the muzzleloader opener. Early and late deer activity should be good with the new moon. On a full moon, I like to get as many hours as I can between 10 and 2 p.m., especially once the pressure increase from hunters. Pre-rut activity in mid to late October seems to be heavy around transition areas near hardwoods holding acorns. This could be planted pines or clearcuts with hardwood edges, hardwood drains and ditches that turn into pinch points with easy deer crossings. 

“Once the rut gets closer, as usual, find the does on plots, hardwoods or any other food source that gives you an opportunity to get a shot at that buck chasing. Good luck everyone and be safe.”

Connor Dickerson, of Jackson, with his Butts County 8-point bow-buck arrowed on Sept. 14.

SOUTH GEORGIA

Colquitt County: Adam Childers, of Norman Park, reports, “It’s finally here! As I write this I’m about 18 feet up a bushy oak tree on a very pleasant south Georgia evening. With all the rain we’ve had, I’ve been able to hunt a good bit in the evenings since the beginning of the season two weeks ago. I’ve had a couple of close encounters but no luck yet! The deer seem to be right on schedule as they begin to shift from their summer to fall pattern. Now that peanuts are finally being dug, I’ll jump at any opportunity to hunt near a fresh-turned peanut field, especially if I have an idea of where the deer are bedding close by. 

“I’ve seen a decent persimmon crop around this year and that’s never a bad option either. As of the last week in September I’m beginning to see a few scrapes here and there. Over the next few weeks I’ll begin to move cameras from food sources and focus them more on scrapes and trails. I like to position these cameras in spots near good trees for a stand so that if I begin to notice a pattern of daytime activity, especially a good buck, I’ll be able slip in quick and not have to search for a tree. As November approaches, it seems like the bucks get much more difficult to pattern, however they begin to get a little more visible as they begin to search for those first does cycling into heat. This is when I’ll start hunting both mornings and evenings when I have the chance.

“Overall, I’d say the deer herd in this area is very healthy. There seems to be plenty of deer, and quite a few giant bucks have hit the ground in these first two weeks. Hopefully that’s a sign of things to come as we approach sweet November!”

Crisp County: Jodi Manders, of Cordele, reports, “To say we are excited to get into the woods is an understatement. We haven’t had a lot of opportunity to bowhunt this season but have been out scouting and looking for sign and getting things ready for gun season, getting some limbs trimmed on some shooting lanes. I’ve found a few trees dropping some acorns that the deer are munching on along with plenty of deer candy—persimmons. We have a few persimmons dropping, but for the most part they are still pretty green and look like they are gonna be around for a while. We were able to get our food plots planted just before the rain and they are looking really good and green. They seem to pay off in the later season.”

Green acorns, and plenty of them, are a sign of good hunting to come in Crisp County. Hunt Advisor Jodi Manders also reports a great crop of persimmons that are still green, and food plots are looking great.

“We have been seeing rubbed trees for a while now and bucks have shed all velvet. The scrape lines are also being established. We have seen a couple of mature bucks but mostly young ones so far. Hopefully we will see more when the pre-rut starts. We normally start seeing more movement of the more mature bucks and deer activity in general around the middle to toward the end of October. I have also got a few pics of fawns that survived, so that’s a good sign. The doe herd looks promising, too. We will definitely be hunting those known travel routes with good food sources. We hope you have a great season this year. Good luck, hunt safe, God bless!”

Early County: Sam Klement has hunted his tract referred to as the Hooch for 25 years. Sam reports, “As I type this I’m enjoying a beautiful sunrise service on Sunday, 20 feet high in a lock-on. I’ve got longtime friend Ricky Joe Bishop down for our first Georgia hunt of the season. Our bucks are still running in bachelor groups. Saturday I filmed two shooter bucks coming back to bed up off of peanut fields in a thick grown-up clearcut. Both bucks were less than 75 yards. I then had another small buck that caught eye as he worked his last bit of velvet off on a small sapling. This morning I’ve seen three bucks as well on a different tract basically doing the same thing—coming back to the thickets to bed up. Here’s a tip for you. I’ve watched and filmed all three of these bucks browsing on the chest-high leaves and berries of the American beauty. With our spring burning and tons of rain, these plants have shot up everywhere. Great early season desired food source! 

“Looking at food sources overall, the farmers have cut and harvested their corn fields. Peanuts and soybeans look great, and we like to hunt these food sources on our p.m. sits. Our persimmon trees look good with fruit and are dropping now. Muscadines have played out, and red oaks and pins are starting to drop now, as well. One item I would like to recommend especially for bowhunters is the Ozonic. I bought mine and wanted to try it on a recent trip out west to Montana and North Dakota, where I was blessed to take a solid archery buck in both states. I had many deer come in downwind and never checked up. Thinking this may just be midwest deer, I was anxious to see how Georgia deer responded. I’ve been blown away this weekend on how this fools the nose of finicky southern deer! Again not a paid endorsement— just sharing what I’ve learned over the last few weeks. Definitely a must-have in pack moving forward. 

“My strategy has always been hunting very tight to thick areas back off agricultural fields, focusing on timber changes and close to bedding. I never hunt the same stand or area back to back, keeping pressure off our deer. This time of year with bucks in hard antler, I’m not afraid to lightly tickle the rattle horns and always have my grunt call handy. I use Voodoo spray as my cover scent and curiosity lure and have had great success with this product as well in recent years. 

“We also are planting our food plots this next week and will be hunting these spots primarily as p.m. sits. One last thing, southwest Georgia has had a great year for antler growth due to the high volume of rain this spring and summer. Our camera surveys are showing a good jump in antler growth this year on the Hooch as well as my QDMA surrounding neighbors. Good luck to all my Georgia hunters this fall. Enjoy every trip outdoors. Life is so short and precious these days! Stay safe… Huntin is Good!”

Cade Croft, 16, with his 140-class Harris County bow-buck.

Harris County: Jimmy Harper, of Hamilton, reports, “Abundant rainfall throughout 2021 has resulted in the Harris County woods being filled with quality deer food, and the local deer herd went into the current season in very good shape overall. Muscadine vines were loaded down with large wild grapes this year, so archery hunters were able to key in on that food source throughout the month of September.  

“Now that October is here, acorns will quickly become the primary deer food source in the areas I hunt, topping both food plots and corn. Unfortunately, the biggest yearly food draw of all for deer—the white oak acorn crop— appears like it will be below average in Harris County this year, at least on the properties that I’ve scouted. On a more positive note, the red oaks look to be in the process of producing a bumper crop of their large acorns on all three Harris County properties where I hunt. Additionally, while white oak acorns are only available to the deer herd for a relatively short period of time during the month of October each year, red oak acorns remain available throughout the entire fall and winter after they drop. Because of that, I’ll be spending most of my pre-rut October hunts in areas where mature red oak trees are prominent and squirrels are active in their treetops.

“As I do every year, I’ll continue to deer hunt almost exclusively in the afternoons until the first cold front moves through after Oct. 20, at which point I’ll start hunting both mornings and afternoons. Once those cool temperatures hit and trigger an increase in morning deer movement, as well as continued deer movement in the afternoons, I’ll also ramp up my deer calling. Instead of the soft grunts and tickling antlers that I’ll use during the first part of October, I’ll try my best to sound like a full-blown buck fight by using loud grunts, antler rattling, and snort-wheezes during the latter part of the month. 

“And as the calendar moves even closer to the end of October, I’ll start throwing in some doe bleats and tending buck grunts, because I want one of my target bucks to hear it and think that the first doe of the season has come into heat and another buck has found her before he did. Finally, if I had just one day to hunt in October every year, I would pick Halloween every time. That’s because the cruising phase will be kicking off in Harris County by then and, if the weather isn’t too warm, the bucks should be more active and visible during daylight hours than at any time up to that point in the season. So, hopefully you’ll be able to play ‘Trick-or-Treat’ on your own buck this month—maybe even on Halloween!”

David Keene reports a good crop of persimmons in Macon County this season. On Sept. 22, these were just starting to turn from mostly green to orange—many should be ripe and falling early to mid October.

Macon County: David Keene, of Oglethorpe, reports, “Water oaks are dropping—sounds like popcorn popping so many are dropping. A few white oaks are dropping. They are early. We have a good crop of persimmons. Still have lots of honeysuckle. Food plots are liking all of the rains. Several nice bucks have been posted on Kountry Sporting Goods’ wall in Montezuma. Hoping for a good year. Also a lot of timber rattlers have been seen crawling, so be safe out there, and good luck.”

Twiggs County: Richie Green, of Jeffersonville, reports, “Wow, could opening day have been any better? Nice temps and absolutely calm as a sleeping kitten. Well it was for my kinfolk Andrew Thompson. He got his first buck with his bow right at first shooting light. He saw the deer in the plot but could not see what it was, but it stayed there long enough for it to get light and he saw it was a shooter. So the shaking began. He made a great shot on the 8-point and it piled up just out of sight.

“I couldn’t help but think back to 20 years ago on Sept. 11 when I was at the gate of my club about to unlock it when the first plane hit. I thought, “How do they not see a building” unless it’s foggy or something. It turned out to be “or something” and changed the way we think about life, or lack of respect for life. And I have tried to live life the best way I know how, in the woods, and I thank God every day He lets me do it.

“Deer season is here, and if you have fruit trees anywhere around and they didn’t make three times the fruit each limb could hold, well I don’t know why. Mine and everyone around here are ridiculously full of fruit. 

“I’ve got white oaks acorns falling from the storms so I don’t need my binoculars to see them, and the water oaks are doing what water oaks do. Food plots are good if you planted them with all the rain we’ve had, so it’s looking to be a great year.

“I’ve got does with fawns on every camera and some with twins, but the one thing I haven’t gotten yet is a shooter buck. But I do have some bucks laying down paw marks this early, and it doesn’t look like a young bucks scrape so I put a camera on it to see what comes in. I’m looking forward to being back in the woods to hunt and see some normal in my life, if you know what I mean.

“I’ve said it every year since I started using the stuff, and the roasted corn and soybean mix worked again this year with one exception. T. Lee’s Feed & Seed now makes his own roasted mix, and when I put it out after using corn for weeks without seeing any bucks, the first deer to come in was a group of young up-and-comers and they stayed for three days. And it happens at every spot I put it, so it’s no coincidence. And to be honest T’s smells better to me, and he’s local which is even better.

“My granddaughter Shaye Grimes got on board first with a doe she killed right behind my youngest daughter’s house on Sunday the 19th, so now I have some catching up to do. Good luck to everyone, and please stay safe out there.”

Hunt Advisor Richie Green submitted some Twiggs County photos to get bow season started off right. Andrew Thompson (below) got an 8-pointer with his bow, and Shaye Grimes (above) got a doe.