193-Inch Typical Buck From South Fulton County

Here’s the story of the typical-framed velvet 15-pointer with more than 190 inches of total antler from south Fulton County. GON had been aware of this amazing buck since soon after it was killed on opening day of bow season, and we were able to talk to the hunter this morning to get the story.  

“We called him ‘The Big 12,’ but he ended up being a 13-pointer (main frame, plus two sticker points),” said the bowhunter, Dylan Wylie, of Carrollton.

Dylan was hunting with his buddy Ben on a 40-acre tract outside of Union City that belongs to Ben’s family. Pictures of the big buck showed up on trail cameras this past summer. 

“I had found one half of a rack two seasons ago that turned out to be this deer. He was pretty elusive,” said Dylan. “We really didn’t hunt the property super hard until last year, and this year we had multiple cameras going and got a couple of pictures of him, and we realized, ‘OK, we got a deer to hunt.’”

Dylan climbed into his lock-on stand about 3:30 or 4 p.m. on Sept. 8, opening-day afternoon. One year earlier, on the 2017 opener, Dylan had arrowed a big non-typical buck from the same property but was never able to recover it. He needed his luck to change, and he was certainly situated in the right place to make that happen.

“It’s just a blend of hardwoods and pines, and over the years, it just seems to be a place they frequent,” said Dylan. “Deer always come through there in the evenings for whatever reason, I guess headed to wherever they are going at night.”

It was super hot for the bow opener, and the deer didn’t move until late. A small spike was the first on the scene, and he didn’t make an appearance until about 15 minutes before dark.

“He was there by himself forever, and then all at once, about five or six came in, and the big deer was in the mix with them,” said Dylan. “It all happened so super fast. I actually drew back and didn’t realize it, but I had a pretty good 6-point under me, and he saw me and took off running, but for whatever reason, the big deer just stayed there looking around. I thought, ‘This is too good to be true.’ I shot him at 31 yards.”

To Dylan, the shot didn’t look good and a sickening feeling settled in.

“I thought I made a bad shot, I hit him high shoulder,” said Dylan. “I saw the arrow stick in him, and when he took four or five steps, the arrow hit a tree, and it came back out of him. I thought I was going to miss another big deer two years in a row.”

Dylan did the smartest thing he could do at the time, which was relax and wait before tracking the buck.

“We gave him an hour and a half,” said Dylan. “We went to McDonalds, came back and instantly found blood. Within four or five minutes, we found him. He went 60 yards. The arrow went in 6 or 7 inches and hit the top part of his heart. He was so stiff when we got to him that he probably died within 30 seconds of when I shot him.” 

Dylan Wylie, of Carrollton, with his 193-inch south Fulton County bow buck.

Dylan and Ben caped the deer out that evening and began running some antler measurements. The buck’s main frame is a 6X7, but he has split brow and G2 tines on the left side, which makes him a 15-pointer.

According to their measurements, the deer would have a total gross score of 193 2/8 inches. After side-to-side deductions and 5 inches of abnormals, the deer could net in the mid 170s. The Pope & Young Club does accept velvet entries. If the score holds, Dylan’s buck could be the new No. 2 buck from Fulton County according to GON’s County-by-County records.

“It was as simple as it gets,” said Dylan.

“A lot of these guys hunt these deer for three or four years straight. I literally tried to stay out of there as much as I could and check the camera once a week. It was straightforward and simple, opening day, got it done.”