Posts by Daryl Kirby
Eli Ingram: Athens Duck Decoy Maker Leaves His Mark
All it took was that one duck hunt. The year was 1961, and the location was a beaver swamp behind what is now known as the Kenny Rogers estate outside of Athens, although Kenny has since sold the sprawling property. Back then, it had a swamp. And it had ducks. Eli Ingram of Athens was…
Read MoreUnraveling The Rut
Read a few hunting magazines this time of year and you’d think there’s nothing to killing a big, mature buck — all you have to do is hunt during the peak of the rut. Of course, if it were that easy, we’d all have a room-full of giant deer racks. Fair-chase hunting is never that…
Read MoreAvoid Shooting Button Bucks
Itʼs a button-head dilemma. You have your crosshairs locked in on an antlerless deer, but is it a doe or a button buck? Most deer hunters would like to pass up button bucks — if they could just tell for sure which deer was and which deer wasnʼt. There are some characteristics that will help you…
Read MoreSafari Club Launches National Effort To Fight Anti-Hunters, But Who Is Leading Local Fight?
The first issue of a brand new magazine came across my desk last month. It had slick, glossy paper and a handsome buck on the cover. My first thought was… another national hunting magazine with a lot of articles on gear, Illinois bucks, and maybe a how-to article on driving a neck of woods between…
Read MoreFall Fiction: The Sanctuary Buck Part 3
Days pass under the comfortable blanket of routine. The mundane stresses seem so important, then in an instant real life hits like a sudden uppercut to the jaw… like the sound of breaking glass and the deafening wail of a burglar alarm. Jack shot straight up in bed. Loud steps pounded down the hallway, then…
Read MoreFall Fiction: The Sanctuary Buck Part 2
The sounds outside, the rain and wind and rumble of thunder, could have been a thousand miles away. There was silence under here, except for the repetitive drip of a small rivulet of water that fell through an unseen crevice to the dank floor of the cave. Jack Elliot stood like an outside linebacker set…
Read MoreFab 40 Bucks Of The 2002 Georgia Deer Season
As deer seasons go, last year was just a tad out of whack. Throughout the fall, GON reported on lower numbers of deer being brought to the coolers, lower numbers of Truck-Buck entries, and hunters repeating the same themes… too wet, too hot, too many acorns — all excuses for why they weren’t seeing as…
Read MoreThe Sanctuary Buck
Like shooting fish in a barrel, only easier. Even this buck, a mature one from what he could see so far, didn’t seem to have a care in the world as it walked through the hard-wood bottom toward the creek, approaching steadily. Pathetic deer. Time to put a little fear of man back in ya,…
Read MoreLake Oconee Rice Fed Catfish
I met Jay Johnston, of Jackson, and his 3-year-old daughter Ashley at Lake Oconee’s Lawrence Shoals boat ramp at 7 a.m. on July 18. Jay’s boat was already sitting in the water, waiting on me to arrive. I could see the dam when I packed my gear inside his 16-foot jon boat. With the assistance…
Read MoreFishing Clayton County’s Lake Blalock
Just south of Atlanta, buried in 4,000 acres of hardwood bottoms and planted pines, sits an almost untouched piece of wilderness that is just slap loaded with deer, big Pope & Young- type deer that you can hunt. Did I forget to mention that the property also has two lakes on it that can be…
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