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Hunting
Latest Hunting Articles
By Ross Sparkman I normally have to work after school, but we were caught up, and I was given the evening off to go hunting. My dad and I were talking about the storm moving in and how the temperatures were going to drop and it would be good hunting weather. I had hung a…
This past Saturday I had the pleasure of attending the Georgia Trappers Association (GTA)’s 42nd annual Convention in Madison. My kids and I have become pretty involved with the GTA over the last few years, attending their Youth Field Trials and Annual Conventions, and this year did not disappoint. The event was two days of…
As I write this, it is 8:40 p.m. on Sept. 10, the day after the archery opener. I am sitting with my four oldest children during Family Movie Night after a lazy Sunday afternoon. My wife is bathing my newborn daughter, Georgia Anne. She was born five days ago. I am not hiking out of…
Poachers are despicable. When I began hunting in 1965, I thought night riders were the worst. I changed my mind the second day of bow season this year when a man I considered a friend turned into a poacher. Another close friend hunted for 50 or more years as a guest, and when his buddy became…
Nine-year-old Andrew Bruce, of Newborn, didn’t let much of the 2023 Georgia deer season slip by before he downed a nice 8-point buck. Andrew was with his father TJ the evening of opening day of archery season when he shot the buck while hunting with a crossbow. Their property is on the Morgan/Newton County…
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Deer Hunting
By Ross Sparkman I normally have to work after school, but we were caught up, and I was given the evening off to go hunting. My dad and I were talking about the storm moving in and how the temperatures were going to drop and it would be good hunting weather. I had hung a…
As I write this, it is 8:40 p.m. on Sept. 10, the day after the archery opener. I am sitting with my four oldest children during Family Movie Night after a lazy Sunday afternoon. My wife is bathing my newborn daughter, Georgia Anne. She was born five days ago. I am not hiking out of…
Poachers are despicable. When I began hunting in 1965, I thought night riders were the worst. I changed my mind the second day of bow season this year when a man I considered a friend turned into a poacher. Another close friend hunted for 50 or more years as a guest, and when his buddy became…
Turkey Hunting
A white turkey poult showed up in late July in Walker County on the camera of Dacin Lowe. Several pictures of the white bird were taken with other normal-colored poults and an adult hen turkey. We emailed one of the pictures to WRD’s State Wild Turkey Coordinator Emily Rushton to get her thoughts. “That is…
As one of the most popular fighters in the UFC—the major leagues of mixed martial arts competitions —Cody Durden is no stranger to rushes of adrenaline and heart-pumping action. The Newton County native says he never imagined he would experience the same reactions to killing his first turkey. His first gobbler wasn’t just any turkey,…
Terry Fowler comes from a long line of serious hunters, and he has no intention of letting the passion stop with him. The 51-year-old father of three is teaching his kids what his father taught him. Born and raised in Gilmer County, Terry knows the north Georgia terrain well, spending most of his hunting time…
Predator Hunting
This past Saturday I had the pleasure of attending the Georgia Trappers Association (GTA)’s 42nd annual Convention in Madison. My kids and I have become pretty involved with the GTA over the last few years, attending their Youth Field Trials and Annual Conventions, and this year did not disappoint. The event was two days of…
Tim Brown, of Covington, is a working man, so he relies on his Tactacam Reveal cell camera to get pictures of what’s going on at his Warren County hunting club when he’s not there. Tactacam offers users the option to set specific times when a camera will take a random photo and send it to…
We never came up with the Coyote Cull effort to be about numbers, but a record is a record… The purpose and goal of GON’s Coyote Cull effort is to bring awareness to the impacts of coyotes on fawn and turkey poult survival rates, which have plummeted since non-native, invasive coyotes became established across Georgia.…
Hog Hunting
When 15-year-old Wyatt Coleman downed a Harris County buck the third week of the 2022 season, he was hoping a little luck was on his side. Little did he know… The gross 124-inch whitetail, which netted 117, turned out to be big enough. Big enough, that is, to earn Wyatt a spot in the Georgia…
The long 2022-2023 Georgia deer season has nearly come to an end. For a legion of dedicated hunters, a season just as important is just beginning. The colder portion of small-game season is underway on most of the state’s WMAs, but for these hunters, they are chasing something much larger than squirrels. Hogs may be…
Wild hogs are a problem! In a multi-agency effort between WRD, UGA, USDA and some others, a series of free Feral Swine Workshops will be offered to the public. However, pre-registration is required to attend any of the six events. Topics include disease issues, biology and economics, water quality issues, control techniques, trapping demonstration, transport…
Alligator Hunting
When Will Baker drew a Zone 1 tag for Georgia’s gator season, he had high hopes that he’d be able to harvest an above-average gator, but little did he know that a much larger train was coming down the tracks. “I drew my first tag way back in 2014 and managed to harvest a nice,…
The alligator hunting team of Tony Wrye, his brother Joey and hunting buddy Tommy Sorrow have been at it since 2005. Opening night (Aug. 18) of the 2023 season almost slipped by them—but not quite. Good thing. Except maybe for a 12-foot, 8-inch monster that gave the trio all it wanted before finally being hauled…
Gator season officially closed on Oct. 3, and it was just about a record-setting year. According to WRD, 389 gators were harvested during the 2022 season. The only season that tops this year was the 2021 season when 391 gators were taken. The 2020 season witnessed 372 hunter-taken gators. DNR doesn’t have the staff to…
Bear Hunting
Normally, this is a period fraught with chaos. Never mind the ever-present and who-knows-how-deep black water, claustrophobic brush, vines and briers clawing and ripping; just hurry as best you can. Hounds are roaring out of their minds, hunters sloshing, tripping, bleeding, pushing on… Because some 987 interminable yards into the Okefenokee Swamp, a bear is…
The temperature was a crisp 38 degrees, the wind was still, and the skies were partly cloudy as the sun rose across middle Georgia for the annual one-day bear hunt in Houston, Twiggs, Bibb and Bleckley counties. The good weather meant the bears should be moving, and Sam Land, of Swainsboro, was patiently sitting in…
By Steve Platek After completing the morning chores—cooking breakfast, tending to the dog and getting the wife and kids off to their respective destinations, I packed the truck with my hang-on stand, my longbow and my rifle. I was hoping to cross paths with a nice 8-point mountain buck I had on trail camera but…
Dove Hunting
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District, has two youth dove hunts scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 16 and 23 at the Richard B. Russell Project Office. For both hunts, a parent or guardian must accompany youth participants, ages 9-16, and will be permitted to hunt along with the youth hunter. Hunters will be selected…
I watch the green glow of the numbers on the bedside clock and know that I will sleep no more on this morning. I carefully slide out of bed so as not to disturb my bride or the little brown bird dog that sleeps curled up in the crook of her legs. Today is the…
It’s getting real! 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. 2. Some of these shoots will wait until the traditional…
Duck Hunting
Editor’s Note: Tina Johannsen is WRD’s Assistant Chief with Game Management. Olivia Menard helped tell the story. I probably don’t have to tell y’all that hunters are a small group (less than 10% of the population), and in most states, our numbers are dwindling. State wildlife agencies like mine (GA DNR WRD) are funded by…
Every Georgia duck hunter knows that duck hunting can be boom or bust. You can scout out a location, set up your decoys and at the crack of dawn be covered up with ducks and have a limit in a few minutes. But unfortunately, there are days when you do everything right and the ducks…
An abundance of rain and good breeding production up the Eastern coast means Georgia duck hunters should expect a good season. However, news is not the same in other parts of the country. The Prairie Pothole Region of the Midwest and Canada has been very dry. Delta Waterfowl forecasts that poor breeding conditions in the…
Squirrel Hunting
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…
This is the way squirrel hunting ought to be—fast paced, lots of shooting opportunities and loads of excitement. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with sitting under a big oak and waiting for the squirrels to come out, but I’m telling you that hunting squirrels with a good dog is a boat load…
Quail Hunting
When I grew up in the late 50s and early 60s, my house, in a suburb of Jacksonville, Fla., backed up to a large pine forest with underbrush that was about knee high but not too thick; perfect quail habitat. I can remember waking to the sound of the northern bobwhite quail calling to each…
By Jason Dunn So there I was….. All good southern stories should start with the phrase “So there I was.” I began teaching my daughter that when she was in preschool. She never conformed to my teaching and much more preferred starting her stories with “It all started when I woke up,” yet those are…
With generous funding support from the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) Conservation Partners Program and Cotton Incorporated, Quail Forever and agricultural industry allies are excited to unveil a new precision agriculture planning partnership available now to producers in the southern United States with emphasis in Georgia. This new program—Precision Partnership for Working Lands—integrates agricultural…
Other Georgia Hunting
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…
Falling Feathers at Whitaker Farm in Harlem hosted the Georgia chapter of The Fallen Outdoors for a veteran’s pheasant shoot on Saturday, Nov. 28. The Fallen Outdoors is a national volunteer 501c3 nonprofit organization comprised of active duty and veteran military who use the outdoors as a means of therapy, and to help other active…
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…