Posts by Daryl Kirby
Fourth Case of Flesh-Eating Disease in Georgia
Just prior to one of the biggest boating and lake-destination weekends of the year, reports of another person fighting serious infection from a flesh-eating bacteria is not what folks want to hear. A Lake Sinclair man is the fourth reported Georgia case in the past several weeks of necrotizing fasciitis, a serious infection often referred…
Read MoreCoyotes Could Drive Deer Into “Predator Pit”
Deer managers and hunters now know for certain coyotes in Georgia are taking a bite out of fawn numbers. Top deer researchers studying fawn mortality are finding survival rates significantly lower than they used to be, and coyotes are the primary fawn killer. Studies in the Southeast are finding only 20 to 25 percent of…
Read MoreThe State of Hybrids and Stripers
Wondered lately why the hybrids have all but disappeared from your favorite lake? Would you be surprised to hear that some years Lake Lanier has been stocked with fewer striped bass per acre than Seminole, High Falls and Sinclair? Few anglers, even guides who make their living going after these fish, know much about the…
Read MoreWhich Forest Service Roads Should Stay Open?
Food plots on WMAs, access to a favorite camping spot, getting a hatchery truck full of trout to a stream—those are just some of what could be affected—or lost—as the Forest Service looks to downsize its road system. Every national forest in the United States must complete a Travel Analysis Process (TAP) by 2015. The…
Read MoreDeer Farming Debated By Georgia Lawmakers
As reported last month in GON, the discovery of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in wild deer near a deer-farming operation in Missouri has increased the scrutiny of an effort to legalize deer farming in Georgia. If passed, House Bill 1043 would legalize importing whitetails into Georgia for breeding farms. Those in favor of HB 1043…
Read MoreSeason Of The Book Bucks
Some end-of-the-season good fortune added another Boone & Crockett class buck to the long list of giants killed in Georgia this past deer season. On Dec. 29, Ray Thigpen, of Fort Valley, went to some family land in Crawford County. He’s killed plenty of deer there in the past, but he hasn’t hunted it much…
Read MorePheasants Fly, Vets Thanked
Thank you and job well done — those were common words during a special tower pheasant hunt, and it was going both ways. Veterans were being thanked for their service, and organizers and volunteers were being thanked for putting on a great wingshooting event. High Point Quail, a shooting preserve near Locust Grove, hosted the pheasant…
Read MoreBest Bucks Sneak Peak
This is the time of year the phones at Georgia Outdoor News ring off the hook with reports of huge bucks. Our editors, writers and hunt advisors have been busy tracking down the rumors, sniffing out the hoaxes — and putting the GON stamp of confirmation on some giants. We’ve already confirmed enough to believe…
Read MoreBrier Creek Fish-Kill Latest Blow
Where next? Anglers have to be wondering as two more significant fish-kills have occurred in Georgia, on Brier Creek in Burke County and Commissioner Creek in Wilkinson County. As fish were dying in these two creeks, state officials finally concluded an investigation of the worst fish-kill in state history. In May, the Ogeechee was devastated…
Read MoreGeorgia Counties Ranked For Big Bucks In 2011
It’s tightening up at the top of GON’s rankings of Georgia counties for their big-buck production. Topping the list for years with scores that approached 200 points were Dooly and Macon, neighboring counties along the Flint River long known for being the best trophy-buck counties in the state. The latest numbers have been crunched, and…
Read More