Lake Hartwell Topwater Collision

If you’ve ever come out of the canal in Mexico Beach, Fla. and run 3 miles south into the Gulf of Mexico along the buoy line and experienced fish busting on top as far as you could see, that’s what it reminded me of—even if I was hundreds of miles from the salt. The scene…

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Plotmaster Systems Great For Fall Food Plots

As food-plot planting season has arrived, Plotmaster Systems offers several great pull-behind implements to help hunters install food plots that range in size from 1/4 acre up to 20 acres. GON recently met with Plotmaster Systems President Blaine Burley in Hancock County for a demo using the Plotmaster 300 unit. One of the things that…

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Georgia’s Best Bow Bucks For 2023-24

The 2023-24 season has tallied up 96 record-book bow bucks officially scored so far. When last year’s September issue went to press, we had recorded 99 P&Y bucks (currently at 111). Based on the Georgia’s Best Bow Bucks By Year chart below, the last four years of Georgia’s archery season have been pretty much cookie…

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WMA Bow Special

This may be a record. We’ve got 142 WMAs, state parks or VPAs that hosted public-land bowhunts last year. Some are headliners—like Flint River and Sapelo—but some of them are obscure, small tracts you probably have never heard of. Where is Echeconnee Creek anyway? OK, so last year we had a pink elephant. Sapelo Island’s…

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GON’s Trophy Room – August 2024

Since Georgia Outdoor News magazine started in 1987, we have continuously enjoyed sharing the accomplishments of others. Some months we’ll receive hundreds of pictures of happy hunters and anglers every year who just want to share their accomplishments. We are truly blessed that so many loyal Georgians think enough of GON to share with us about what they’ve accomplished.…

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WMA Deer Hunting Special

GON’s WMA Special is the only place in the world to look for easy-to-read tables and charts designed to guide Georgia public-land deer hunters for their upcoming seasons. In this year’s WMA Special, we have deer-hunting stats on 100 pieces of public-land dirt. Top quota and non-quota bonus deer hunts from last year are listed…

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WMA Youth Hunt Schedule

Deadlines are nearing to participate in a WRD youth hunt. First up is an Aug. 15 deadline to put your kid on a dove field. Of the 13 quota dove hunts that were offered for kids last season, seven of them required no priority points for a spot. Go online to georgiawildlife.com/hunting/quota to see which…

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The Bellyachin’ Doe

In the wild, animals come down with ailments, just like people, but there’s no treatment at a hospital or animal clinic. Nature’s way is to heal or become a meal. A pair of trail-camera photos of a doe with a big belly problem were captured in southeastern Bartow County about a mile from Red Top…

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John Kilpatrick Wins Youth Big Buck Contest Shoot-Out

John Kilpatrick, 16, of Thomaston, collected a $3,000 shopping spree from Adventure Outdoors after winning GON’s Youth Big-Buck Contest Shoot-Out on July 26 at GON’s Ag-Pro Outdoor Blast. In addition, John won a dream deer and hog hunting trip with Woods-N-Water outfitters in Wilkinson County. John was the only shooter who hit the Round 6…

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Shepard Wins Truck-Buck 35

It took seven rounds and a busted egg at 60 feet for David Shepard to win GON’s Truck-Buck 35 and collect his grand prize, a fully loaded Chevy pickup from John Megel Chevrolet. The event unfolded Sunday, July 28 at the GON’s Ag-Pro Outdoor Blast Shooters qualified for the 2024 Shoot-Out by having the highest-scoring…

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