Big-Browed Banks County Buck Will Rank High In Records

Brad Patterson, of Homer, with his Banks County 8-pointer killed Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022.

There are 159 counties in the state of Georgia, and each is quite different when it comes to the quality of deer hunting and the quality of bucks it might produce. That’s one reason GON’s Georgia Deer Records are so valued. Banks County in northeast Georgia isn’t known as a top trophy-buck county. The No. 1 buck of all time netted 157 6/8 and was killed in 1983, and a 135-inch buck is No. 10 all-time. But that Banks County Top-10 list could look a little different when a buck killed yesterday is measured by a certified scorer. 

Brad Patterson, of Homer, killed a tall and wide 8-point buck in Banks County on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022 that has been green-scored at around 152 inches, and as a clean 8-point the side-to-side deductions shouldn’t knock the net score down significantly. Update: Brad Patterson’s Banks County buck was officially scored and netted 139 7/9. 

Brad had been getting pictures of this buck for several years. “He blew up in 2020 and since then has been about the same,” Brad said.

“I took off work Wednesday to Wednesday for a ‘rutcation.’ I’ve never done that before in my life and told myself last year that I wouldn’t put myself through sitting at work getting trail-camera pictures again,” Brad said. “I was supposed to do five days in Kentucky at our lease but ended up killing one there on Saturday morning, so I immediately packed up and headed home. My wife and I purchased our first piece of property in Franklin County last year, so I wanted to spend a lot of time there. I actually woke up to a text from my dad that he’d killed his biggest buck ever at that place on Sunday morning. I hunted 10+ hours a day over there Monday and Tuesday.”

Brad’s attention turned back to the property he hunts near home in Banks County, but it wasn’t looking good for his final day of his hunting vacation.

“The wind was all wrong to try to go to the Banks County spot, and I had only gotten one picture of this buck back in late October, so I wasn’t very optimistic. Not to mention all the rain. I noticed Tuesday that we were finally getting a west wind on Wednesday morning, which we haven’t gotten in a while. I told my wife that night that even though I didn’t have any recent pictures of him that I was going to go try it anyways. Conditions were too perfect with wind direction, wet leaves for easy access,  plus it was my last day off work.

“I woke up yesterday morning, and wouldn’t you know it, he was in there with a doe on a scrape at 11 p.m. The way this property lays out I decided to get in a hardwood draw on the side of a thick bedding area in a perfect pinch-point and roll all the dice that he’d pushed that doe back up in there. I jumped a doe on the field edge walking in and was nervous it was the doe that he was with. I slipped in super slow and quiet, and around 7 a.m. I told myself I was going to try one rattle-grunt sequence because I felt like it was the only way he’d leave that doe and that thick stuff. He had to come out of the thick bedding area and circle me in order to check my wind. About 2 minutes after I rattled and grunted he popped out of the thick area and started trying to circle me. He stopped broadside at 40 yards and gave me an easy shot. He ran directly toward me and went down almost right under my tree. It took me 20 minutes to calm down enough to climb down!”

The buck has brow tines that are 8 7/8 and 8 5/8 inches long, and its longest G2 is 10 7/8 inches and it has a 10 2/8-inch G3. The spread is around 22 inches wide.

“I had one guy say he’s 6 1/2 years old, and my taxidermist said he’s at least 5 1/2 and maybe 6 1/2.”

Banks County All-Time Record Bucks