Letters To The Editor: February 2023

GON Facebook: Brady Bauer, 8, with his first deer, taken with a bow in Cobb County.

Five Coyotes On Redlands WMA

Dear GON,

After not being a subscriber for years, I decided to start again due to GON’s Coyote Cull.  

I was at Redlands back during the bow season, and the first thing I noticed in an area where I was hunting was that there were no squirrels. After 6 p.m. and an hour thereafter, I had five coyotes walk right in front of me.   

I did not know when the competition started, or had I read the rules yet.  Plus, who wants to put a $20 broadhead through that many dogs? I hope the first four took note.

I suggest starting the contest Aug. 15 with no limit on entries. Keep the same prizes. Let’s bring turkeys back!

James Byrnes, Bethlehem

Visit A WMA In February

Dear GON,

We have the best managed WMAs anywhere. I believe that after 40-plus years of hunting, fishing and hiking on WMAs across the state that we have a priceless resource that hunters and fishermen and women can use to pursue their sport. 

In these times when lease prices are high or access to unspoiled, often remote places are nearly impossible to find, our WMAs offer us a chance to access unspoiled rural land in some areas. How valuable is it to take a young person to experience true wilderness in these modern times? Over all these years, the memories of a moonrise in the mountains or on an island down on the coast are some of my fondest memories. In these crowded, modern times, how good is it to find an unspoiled place for the young ones to hear a hoot owl or a coyote call in camp after dark? Our state’s WMAs offer this almost unheard of chance to have a real wilderness experience.

If you haven’t been on a WMA, you are missing something you are not likely to find on a crowded deer lease. Take time to visit a WMA, and I know you will find a touch of the real wilderness experience. Take a young person to a WMA when it is not crowded and likely you will have the place to yourself…priceless. Try it, you might make some lifetime memories as I have.

Alton Powell, Chattahoochee Hills

Rainy Day Deer Hunters

Dear GON,

I wrote this on an annual hunting trip I take every year. I thought you all would like to share it in your magazine. As hunters, we have all experienced days like this one. Five days after I wrote it, I harvested a 9-point buck in the rain. 

 Larry D. Call Jr., Woodbine

As we sit in the deer blind while the rain is falling.

We hear all the sounds of nature calling.

We are deer hunters who endure the weather, hoping to have some good luck.

Thinking it will all be worth it so we can bag the big buck.

May the blessings under the whole canopy of heaven come down with every drop,

As we pray to the good Lord to please make it stop.

We fervently beseech the Almighty for grace,

That us and Bullwinkle will meet face to face.

May our wits be clear and our rifle aim true,

While he stands in the crosshairs in plain view.

We squeeze the trigger and let off a round,

Hoping the big boy will be there laying on the ground.

It’s every deer hunter’s dream, our thoughts are the same.

So that’s why we sit in the blind in the pouring down rain.

GON Social

GON Facebook: Anna Goforth with a Worth County 6-pointer that scored 122 1/8 inches.

GON Instagram: Miranda May-Horne with a Christmas buck from Appling County.