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Worth County 13-Pointer Grosses Mid 180s

John Trussell | September 23, 2021

It’s zero surprise to most Georgia hunters that Worth County makes the headlines with a giant buck. This one was taken by bowhunter Cam Williams, of Cordele. The 13-pointer was called Splits and was gross scored in the mid 180s.

Cam loves it when a plan comes together. In February 2021, he found a huge broke-off tine lying on the ground that was off Splits, a buck he had seen several times but just couldn’t get the right shot. The tine motivated him to hunt a little harder and smarter during the upcoming season.

Cam’s main-frame 10-pointer has 13 total points.

During the summer, he got many trail-cam photos of the buck as its antlers grew and matured, and he was hoping that he would get a crack at him during bow season.

Cam was hunting an 800-acre tract of private land that his father, Ronnie Williams, had hunted for many years. Unfortunately, Ronnie passed away in 2011. Cam’s dad had helped him kill his first deer, a doe, at age 8. When Cam was 13, he took his first buck.

Cam was able to continue the family tradition and still hunts the same land with his uncle Roger Williams. He has fond memories of hunting the land while growing up. His bow, a Mathews Switchback XT, was his dad’s bow, and every time he bowhunts, he feels like a little bit of his dad is on the hunt.

When Cam is not hunting, he is a certified public accountant in Cordele and lives at Lake Blackshear. He drops fishing lines in the lake, too, whenever he gets the chance.

The hunting tract is mostly planted pines with little fingers of hardwoods running in lines along the drainage areas. From monitoring his trail cams, he determined the buck was primarily running a hardwood bottom that was maybe 30 to 50 acres in size. He placed several stands in the area so he could adjust his hunting position to the direction the wind was blowing. He knew that if that old, wise buck smelled him, the hunt would be over, possibly for good.

On Monday afternoon, Sept. 20, Cam was in his tree stand watching an old logging road that ran through a hardwood bottom when six does and two fawns came down the trail on high alert. The wind was light but blowing from the deer to Cam’s location, so the setup was good.

Right behind the does was Splits, the huge buck that Cam had dreamed of hanging on his wall. He was very excited that the moment of truth was quickly approaching. The time was 7:30 p.m., and the light was still good.

When Splits got to 33 yards, Cam drew back the Victory Archery carbon arrow, tipped with a Slick Trick 100-grain broadhead. Finding the buck’s chest in his sights, he let the arrow fly and hit it perfectly, just behind the right front shoulder. It bolted quickly, but Cam soon heard the buck crashing down in the woods. He gave it a few minutes to bleed out and expire before he took up a good blood trail.

In less than three minutes, he was holding the magnificent buck’s antler in his hands. Surprisingly, Splits was still in velvet, but it was starting to fall off.

The 13-pointer is a main-frame 10-pointer with long tines and split G2s. The buck was unofficially scored in the mid 180s and will likely net down as a non-typical in the low 180s.

Cam dropped off the buck at Frog’s Taxidermy Shop (478.783.3160), operated by Frog and Sash Mullis, in Hawkinsville.

Interestingly, Cam is no stranger to big bucks. Last season he arrowed a buck they called Mr Stickers that was in the Truck-Buck contest and scored 147 1/8 inches.

 

Worth County Best Bow Bucks Of All-Time

RankScoreNameYearCountyMethodPhoto
1163 7/8 Billy Davis2011WorthBowView 
2179 3/8 (NT)Cam Williams2021WorthBowView 
3153 1/8 Gary King2004WorthBowView 
4153 1/8 Jarred Paul2016WorthBowView 
5153 1/8 Rob Rozar2022WorthBowView 
6152 6/8 Daniel Lawhorn2018WorthBowView 
7151 7/8 Eric Mullis2005WorthBowView 
8150 2/8 Shane Calhoun2001WorthBowView 
9150 2/8 Russell Merritt2017WorthBowView 
10149 6/8 Sam Brannen2005WorthBowView 

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