Posts by Daryl Kirby
Georgia 2019 Duck Season Forecast
If you’ve seen the articles from Ducks Unlimited or Delta Waterfowl, you know overall duck numbers are down this season. The estimated duck population is the lowest it’s been in 12 years and about 5 1/2 percent below the 20-year average. Does that matter for Georgia duck hunters? Not so much. Most Georgia hunters are…
Read MorePodcast: Georgia Duck Forecast 2019
Georgia waterfowl biologist Greg Balkcom talks about the prospects for the 2019-2020 duck season. Details and info on the mallard and pintail limits that were cut in half this season, plus a look at a WMA opening up to quota waterfowl hunts for the first time. Get After The Latest Episode
Read MoreAbout Killin’ Snakes
As soon as I saw the photo, I knew two things. One, we were going to do a story on it. Two, I knew it would make some folks mad. I never thought it would make a few folks that mad. In 30-plus years of making GON magazines, this is something we come across most…
Read MoreBest Georgia Counties For Big Bucks 2019
The Top-4 Georgia counties for big bucks remained the same as last season. Worth County is still No. 1 based on the big bucks it has produced in the past 10 years, followed by Lee, Dougherty and Macon counties. There was some movement for the next grouping. Pulaski County came in at No. 5 in…
Read MoreGON’s Big-Buck Contest Back For Year 31
A buddy killed a nice buck last season and would have won a $1,200 Browning deer rifle and a chance to shoot for a new truck. One problem, he didn’t have a GON membership. Why’d he drop his subscription? “Too many fishing articles when it wasn’t hunting season…” I just shook my head and reminded…
Read MoreGON Writer Glen Solomon Passes At 52
GON writer Glen Solomon, 52, of Hazlehurst, passed away on Friday, Aug. 16 while on his way to Appling Health Care in Baxley with what he told his wife over the phone were chest pains. Visitation and funeral services were held Sunday, Aug. 18 at Lighthouse Christian Fellowship in Hazlehurst, Glen’s home church. Glen’s relationship…
Read MoreFab 40: Georgia’s Best Bucks Of 2018-19 Season
After several Georgia deer seasons in a row that fell below our state’s lofty standards for producing top-end, high-scoring bucks, last year was the rebound season we had been expecting. There were four Booners, bucks that scored high enough to make Boone & Crockett’s all-time record book. That’s the second-best year in the past 20…
Read MoreLee Ellis Wins The 2019 Shoot-Out Truck
Lee Ellis is a name most Georgia hunters recognize. He’s killed some of the best Georgia bucks ever while bowhunting Atlanta’s tiny woodlots and pockets of habitat surrounded by neighborhoods and busy streets. Some of these Atlanta bucks grow stupid huge. This year was the third time Lee won a week of GON’s Truck-Buck Contest…
Read MoreAugust Is A ‘Get-By’ Month, As Best Days Are Coming
It is hard to imagine how close we are. It’s 95 degrees, and the air is so thick I can’t walk from the front door to the truck without needing a change of shirt. Oh, but the best days are coming, and soon. Someone a lot smarter than me once said a key to life…
Read MoreGreat Moments, Have To Be There
One of the best moments in Atlanta sports history, I happened to experience in person on a sultry July night in 1992 at the old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. We were watching the Braves try to win their 13th game in row. This was the season after the Braves went from perennially last to first in…
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