Posts by Brad Bailey
The Bear Hunter
“Bow season is the best time to hunt bears,” said 37-year-old Jeff Sanford, of Ranger. Jeff ought to know — in the past 10 seasons he has killed seven bears in north Georgia. Five of those bears have been bow kills, including a 335-lb. Cohutta WMA bear that exceeded the Pope & Young minimum skull…
Read MoreSight Your Deer Rifle
Nothing is more critical in deer-hunting success than bullet placement. When you pull the trigger on your deer rifle, you should be completely confident that the bullet will hit where you aimed. The only way to have that confidence and to improve your marksmanship is to shoot your gun. Shooting glasses and ear protection are…
Read MoreAll About Doves
It’s the opening day that Winchester, Remington, Federal, Fiochi, and other shotgun-shell manufacturers love — dove season. Georgia’s 2002 dove season opens September 7 in the Northern Zone, and on September 28 in the Southern Zone. From a shotgun-shell manufacturer’s point of view, doves are the perfect game bird. Put simply, they are difficult to…
Read MoreHigh Falls Bass In April
The first bass of the day was right where Art said it would be, back in thin water in a High Falls slough off the Towaliga River. Art had slowly nosed his 14-foot jon boat into the narrow slough hunting for swirls or ripples on the surface that would indicating a bass below. “Most people…
Read MoreCoosa River White Bass Run
At long last, the white-bass run is on at the Coosa River. It was late this year. The Coosa River is where the WRD Fisheries Section collects white bass for the state’s hybrid bass stocking program. On Friday, March 8, Fisheries biologists were on the river using electro-shocking gear and found no white bass. But…
Read MoreJury Acquits Turkey Hunter Who Shot DNR Ranger
The worst day in DNR Law Enforcement Ranger Leon Tucker’s life started out as an ordinary day. On March 24, 2001, opening day of Georgia’s turkey season, Leon and rangers Darrell Watson, Patrick Dupree, George Tharpe and Greg Moody met around 5:30 a.m. near a church in Echols County near the Lanier County line. At…
Read MoreBartletts Ferry March Bass
The third fish was our best bass of the day. Jim Stutts, a 15-year veteran on Bartletts Ferry, and I were dragging jig ’n pigs off rocks on a main-lake point on the south side of the mouth of Halawakee Creek. A white house with black trim sat on the point, behind a 2-level dock.…
Read MorePostspawn Bartletts Ferry Bass
We started fishing at 7:10 a.m. By 7:15, Jim was reeling in our first bass of the day — a 1-lb. spotted bass that hit a spinnerbait churning past a dock. At 3:15 p.m. Jim boated our 30th bass of the day, another 1-lb. spot that gulped up a Carolina-rigged worm. Throw in three striped…
Read MoreLake Weiss’s Number One Summer Striper Hole
The bait-clicker on one of Mark Collins’ rods began to click in a slow steady rythym — “click, click, click” as something in the lake took the bait. But as the line began to spin off the baitcaster, the clicks merged into a ripping whir. I grabbed my camera as Mark pulled the rod from…
Read More20 Days In November As A Game Warden
Doug Parker is one of 252 Georgia DNR Law Enforcement officers. Doug is assigned to Cobb County. He has been a conservation ranger for 12 months, after a stint with the Peachtree City Police Department. Doug, 31, who lives in Cobb County with his wife Stacey, has been involved in law enforcement for 10 years.…
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