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Latest Hunting Articles
The woods were still dark when Ellie stepped out of the truck and pulled the old camo jacket tight around her shoulders. A chill hung in the early spring air, the kind that wrapped around your neck and settled in your boots. She’d worn that same jacket every season since she turned 16. It had…
Round 1 of the 2025 GON Coyote Cull is off and rolling as hunters and trappers step up to the plate to kill song dogs in an effort to save fawns and turkey poults. Listed below are all the entries of those who have found success and taken a photo with their May 2025 issue…
My name is Lora Akin, born and raised in Columbus, Ga. I don’t have any private land to turkey hunt, so I normally drive about 45 minutes to an hour just to hunt some public land. On April 17, 2025 around 7 p.m. that evening, I was blessed with a beautiful turkey. I was out…
For the next three months, GON is offering chances for readers to win some really cool prizes in our annual Coyote Cull contest. Flip back to page 16 to check out the details on how all that works. Let’s do a reality check on this. May, June and July aren’t the more relaxing months to…
When it comes to the status of wild turkeys in Georgia, we’re certainly not out of the woods yet. Reproduction remains very low compared to the glory days of chasing gobblers in Georgia in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Something changed, for sure, and hopefully answers and solutions will come soon. The good news…
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Deer Hunting
Everyone has heard some version of the phrase, “tomorrow is not promised.” It’s a concept that is easy to understand, yet many still take tomorrow’s arrival for granted. Unfortunately, it’s often not until a blessing is taken away that this truth really sinks in. The silver lining in this reality, though, is that we can…
Richard McKenzie has killed the No. 2 overall buck for Marion County with a giant, non-typical 18-pointer that he took on Nov. 17, 2024. It will end up being one of the best bucks from the 2024-25 season, which we’ll be showcasing in the Fab-40 in the August 2025 issue. Richard’s main-frame 10-pointer has 35…
A two-day, early October firearms hunt for antlerless deer might be in the cards for the majority of Georgia deer hunters this fall. If proposed new hunting regs are approved, hunters in the green, pink and purples counties (see map below) would have the option to shoot antlerless deer with firearms Oct. 4-5, 2025. Only…
Turkey Hunting
The woods were still dark when Ellie stepped out of the truck and pulled the old camo jacket tight around her shoulders. A chill hung in the early spring air, the kind that wrapped around your neck and settled in your boots. She’d worn that same jacket every season since she turned 16. It had…
My name is Lora Akin, born and raised in Columbus, Ga. I don’t have any private land to turkey hunt, so I normally drive about 45 minutes to an hour just to hunt some public land. On April 17, 2025 around 7 p.m. that evening, I was blessed with a beautiful turkey. I was out…
When it comes to the status of wild turkeys in Georgia, we’re certainly not out of the woods yet. Reproduction remains very low compared to the glory days of chasing gobblers in Georgia in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Something changed, for sure, and hopefully answers and solutions will come soon. The good news…
Predator Hunting
Round 1 of the 2025 GON Coyote Cull is off and rolling as hunters and trappers step up to the plate to kill song dogs in an effort to save fawns and turkey poults. Listed below are all the entries of those who have found success and taken a photo with their May 2025 issue…
For the next three months, GON is offering chances for readers to win some really cool prizes in our annual Coyote Cull contest. Flip back to page 16 to check out the details on how all that works. Let’s do a reality check on this. May, June and July aren’t the more relaxing months to…
It began more than a decade ago as coyotes had spread across Georgia, and this non-native, invasive species was showing up on trail cameras with fawns and turkeys in their mouths. What could GON do? A contest that’s super easy to navigate was the result. All that’s needed to enter is a dead coyote in…
Hog Hunting
There is arguably no greater feeling than when hard work finally pays off. In a flood of emotions, you reflect on the journey that brought you here, celebrate the achievement with loved ones, and sometimes even grieve the end of the path that led you. Most of the stories featured in each GON issue showcase…
Holy Southern Outdoors had the honor and privilege to team up with High Tailin Outdoors over the first weekend of March in Dougherty County on a hog hunt. The weather was amazing, and we were able to get veterans Keith Grivois, a retired ranger, and Justin Tomlinson, a retired medic, out behind hog dogs. Daylight…
‘Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered’ certainly describes the atmosphere in Wayne County at the 15th annual Hog Jam held on the weekend of Feb. 21. The Wayne County Board of Tourism hosts the annual event, known as the ‘Hog Jam,’ that invites hunters from all over to compete for prizes and to help control…
Alligator Hunting
Ever since the hype of “Swamp People,” catching an alligator seemed like something many people wanted to add to their bucket list. Well, on Sept. 22, 2024, four friends were able to check that one off their bucket lists! It took six years to build up his points, but Daniel Garrett finally got drawn for…
Gator season closed after the first week of October and ended with 408 gators being harvested. That’s the second-best year recorded since WRD started hosting a Georgia alligator season in 2003. The season with the most gators ever taken was in 2023, when 471 Georgia alligators were killed. The biggest recorded gator from the 2024…
Ashley Bowlden first started putting in for her Georgia alligator tags back in 2018, when she got to attend her first gator hunt. She loved it so much that she immediately started putting in for herself and her children every year, as well. Six years later, on the opening weekend of Georgia’s 2024 alligator season,…
Bear Hunting
By Daniel Garrett My wife, Laura, and I met just before hunting season started in 2021. She had never hunted before, but not long after we started dating, she took an interest in my favorite hobby. We started out with what I told her were “hiking” trips where I happened to point out deer, bear…
Four bears—two males and two females—were killed during the one-day central Georgia bear season, which took place on Saturday, Dec. 21. With only two females taken, a second season will be hosted on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. Central Georgia bear hunting is only offered on private lands in Twiggs, Houston, Bibb and Bleckley counties. No…
At least the Global Positioning System—so now you know what GPS stands for—kens where they are. Even from a couple hundred or so miles skyward, it keeps up, spot-on, with the race. While we, somewhere or other in the vastnesses of the Okefenokee Swamp in Clinch County, can only go from experience in attempting to…
Dove Hunting
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District, Richard B. Russell Project, will host dove hunts for youth and the general public on Sept. 28 and Oct. 5, 2024, at two fields in Elbert County, and one field in Abbeville County, South Carolina. Youth and public hunts will begin at 2 p.m. The youth hunts start…
It’s hard to believe we’ve only got about a month to go before hunters will file into prepared dove fields in hopes of collecting a limit of 15 birds for the grill. Thankfully, WRD does a really nice job of providing public fields for hunters to shoot. To the right is the latest list of…
The new hunting season is just around the corner as we print GON’s annual Pay Dove Shoots list. Dial these phone numbers, reserve your spots and shoot straight. Dove hunting will legally begin one-half hour before sunrise on opening day, Saturday, Sept. 7. Some of these shoots may wait until the traditional 12 p.m. start…
Duck Hunting
We were only a few minutes into legal shooting time when a shot rang out behind me. “What are you shooting at?” I exclaimed as I whirled around. “A duck,” Easton answers as he slips another shell into his 20-gauge Beretta A390. “Did you hit him?” I ask. “Yes sir,” he replies in a calm,…
Waterfowl hunters can head to their favorite hunting ground for the Georgia duck hunting season when it opens on Sat., Nov. 23, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division (WRD). Youth, active military and veterans should take note of an early hunt opportunity Nov. 16-17. “New this year, thanks to the…
Another season of duck hunting will roll around soon, and all duck hunters wonder how the Georgia duck forecast looks. Duck hunting here is dependent on many factors, and at the forefront is bad weather up North. Wet conditions in the spring and summer is good news in the breeding-ground wetlands, and nasty, cold weather…
Squirrel Hunting
“There’s a season for squirrels?” That was the reaction of a young kid when told of the upcoming squirrel season opener on Thursday, Aug. 15. The 2024-2025 squirrel season in Georgia runs from Aug. 15 to Feb. 28 with a daily limit of 12 squirrels per hunter. The simplicity of squirrel hunting and potential for…
Looking for a healthy, sustainable source of protein and a good woodland hike? Squirrel hunting season, which opens Aug. 15, can meet those goals, and get everyone excited about fall hunting seasons, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division (WRD). “Squirrel hunting season is a great introduction to hunting,” said Alan…
It had been 23 years since I stepped foot on Redlands WMA in pursuit of critters. A return trip was certainly overdue, and Saturday, Jan. 15 was the perfect opportunity to take a trip down memory lane. The occasion was the 2nd Annual Squirrel Master Classic with a great group of folks who run a…
Quail Hunting
In 2001, the GON team filmed and produced this video for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to profile the state’s Bobwhite Quail Initiative (BQI). For current information on Georgia’s Bobwhite Quail Initiative, go to https://georgiawildlife.com/bobwhite-quail Bobwhite Quail The GAME Lab at the UGA Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources invites you to participate in…
The FDA has approved the use of an anthelmintic drug for parasite control in wild quail populations. The FDA concluded that the drug integrated into a medicated feed is both safe and effective in controlling parasites in wild quail in their natural habitat. Research in Texas has shown that parasites are affecting quail populations. For…
Did you ever wonder what it was that inspired your love of fishing or hunting or just being outdoors? Was it a parent, a friend, a book, or movie? Maybe you can’t put your finger on one person or thing. For me, the answer is crystal clear, my Uncle Suggs. I will soon celebrate my…
Other Georgia Hunting
Hunters can get a jump on the waterfowl season with the upcoming early teal and Canada goose hunting seasons. Early Canada goose season for 2024 is Sept. 7-29, with a daily limit of five geese. The early teal season for 2024 is Sept. 14-29, with a daily limit of six teal. “Teal migrate earlier than…
In the fall of 1999 I had a bad case of the melancholy. My up-and-coming grouse dog had died and had left me feeling down in the dumps. Little Mac, our young Brittany spaniel, had died from what was evidently a brain tumor. Little Mac started having seizures in his second year which progressively became…
In the Southeast, when a person mentions upland hunting, the bobwhite quail is usually the first, and sometimes only game bird that people think about. The late Charlie Elliott named the bobwhite the “prince of game birds.” When you go into the Appalachians, the ruffed grouse enters into the conversation, but the lack of timber…
Georgia Hunters on the Road
By John Holbert Jonah and I both drew either-sex muzzleloader tags for Colorado elk this fall. Neither of us had undertaken such a challenge before, and we were eager to try. We spent all summer researching, preparing, packing and training for the safari. The rut forecast predicted we would have good timing to see some…
Gathering around the campfire at Camp Isilwane (lion) in Matetsi, Zimbabwe we look out at the vlei, which is a prehistoric river bed. The buffalo come into the dying waterhole for that last drink as the day succumbs to darkness. It is the end of the dry season, the last of the water before the…
When I think of exotic animals, I envision animals being created in a lab through experiments and test tubes. However, my husband Paul and I decided to read more and more about exotic hunting ranches and we decided to peruse the Internet for research. Although these animals are not indigenous to North America, they are…