Letters To The Editor: June 2025

Reader Contributed | May 27, 2025

Trout Fishing & Missing Dad On Father’s Day

Dear GON,

Thanks to my dad who has passed on and took me and my brother trout fishing in the north Georgia mountains so we could both lose ourselves and find ourselves at the same time.

Everything changes all the time and not always for the better. How do we get back home? For me, it’s taking my son or grandson down dirt and gravel roads where my dad used to take me, the ones that wind among the hemlocks, poplar tulips, oaks and hickory trees along the creekside. As the water washes the rocks and cascades and tumbles, we stop, sit and listen to time and feel a gentle, cool breeze. Even as beautiful as this is, it’s not exactly the same as when my dad took me and my brother. However, I can still feel close to him in the shade and know I’ll be home with him again one day when He beckons me to finally cross the river Jordan to the Promised Land, our real home with the Lord and the many mansions He has prepared.

Happy Father’s Day, and make the most of the time you have, and spend as much of it as possible in the outdoors.

Rickey Thomas, Athens

WMA Mountain Monarch Buck Goes 10.5 Years Old

Dear GON,

I killed a buck this past season off Chattahoochee WMA that showed heavy teeth wear. At the check in station, they said he was at least 7 1/2 years old, so I sent the teeth off to DeerAge.com to get him aged, and he came back 10 1/2 year old! I thought this was kind of cool and thought maybe y’all would, too.

Attached are some pictures (below) and the official age results. The picture of the jaw bones show my buck on top compared to a 5 1/2-year-old deer they had at the check station. Just wanted to share. Thanks for a great magazine.

Kaefus Abernathy, Lula

Editor’s Note: Kaefus, we appreciate you sharing this. It’s neat to think about a mountain buck living for more than 10 years on a rugged WMA, avoiding hunters and fighting cold winters. Kaefus, your buck is the No. 10 buck of all time for Chattahoochee WMA, according to GON’s Georgia Deer Records program.