Days GON By – March 2016

Each month we turn back the clock to see what was being reported in the pages of GON, both 20 and 10 years ago. Here’s a look back at what appeared in GON.

20 Years Ago: March 1996

Rabbit Hunting Year-round and No Limit?: Twenty years ago Georgia Rep. Jay Shaw introduced H.B. 1657, a bill that would remove rabbits from Georgia’s list of game species with a closed season, making it legal to hunt rabbits year-round and without a limit. Rep. Shaw was inspired to remove the season on rabbits when he learned that his constituent and neighbor has been fined $900 for killing a rabbit out of season in Jeff Davis County.

At a Game, Fish and Parks committee meeting, Rep. Shaw’s bill was placed in a study committee for the summer, where it died.

Rep. Shaw said, “It’s gone for now for this year, and I probably won’t pursue it again. I was really just making a statement to DNR. If someone’s crazy enough to fine a man $900 for killing a rabbit on his own property, then we need to do away with the law.”

Then WRD Director David Waller agreed that $900 seemed like a heavy fine for one rabbit but said if the county residents wanted to lower the fine, that could be done at a local level. It was stated that this problem was not one that should be addressed through changes in the game laws.

10 Years Ago: March 1996

Youth Takes Two Locked 10-pointers: Dillon Sapp, 14, of Cordele may live to be 100, but he isn’t likely to ever experience a hunt like the one that occurred on Oct. 29, 2005. That morning, Dillon was with his dad Jimmy hunting from an enclosed tripod stand in Crisp County.

On Oct. 29, 2005, Dillon Sapp and his dad were hunting in Crisp County when Dillon collected these two big 10-point bucks with locked antlers.

“At first we saw something white,” said Dillon. “Then we saw some dust kick up, and then a deer stood up.”

Dillon shot with his .243 and missed, and his gun jammed. His dad shot twice and also missed. Dillon cleared his gun and shot again and hit the deer.

Dillon and his dad climbed down and hurried across the field expecting to find one big buck. But when they approached the downed deer, they noticed the mass of antlers and two big bucks. The buck Dillon had shot was still alive. The other buck was dead of a broken neck, and their antlers were locked tightly together. He finished off his buck with a shot in the neck. The two bucks were loaded onto a trailer and taken to town.

“There were a bunch of guys doing double takes,” said Dillon.

The bucks were mounted separately, and the mounts were hung facing each other in Dillon’s bedroom, along with a drawing of two big bucks battling.

In 1996, GON freelancer writer John Trussell (left) presented Zebco 33 combo rods and reels to the Houston County Library for the “Fishing: Check It Out” program. The reels were loaned out to kids who wanted to try fishing but didn’t have any tackle.