Food O’Plenty, Cooler Temps, Super Hot Hunting Action

While opening weekend was as humid as Georgia can get, it was dang near chilly at daybreak walking into the GON office on Monday, Sept. 21 as this article was being compiled. As we write this report, it’s just 10 days into the Georgia bow season, but it’s already been eventful.

Bentley Blanton, 7, made his momma proud with his first-ever buck—a beautiful deer from Cherokee County that Bentley got with his crossbow on opening-day evening.

And with all the madness in our country right now, it sure has felt great to be sitting up a tree. It’s also been productive for Georgia archery hunters! Lots of deer have been taken already, as hunters are getting in the woods and putting some early meat in the freezer.

GON has a great team of deer-hunting experts across the state, and here are their reports on the opening week of archery season and on how the woods are looking in their areas.

NORTH GEORGIA

Bartow/Floyd Counties: Greg Grimes, of Ball Ground, reports, “We have some nice land we manage on the Etowah River. The land carries lots of deer. There is both standing beans and corn across the river not cut yet, so the population will be even higher later once those crops are out. If in the right place, you will see dozens of deer. Food plots will be coming up in October and long-term the plan is to have 25 acres of alfalfa, so the deer will be plentiful here. The buck-to-doe ratio is skewed, so many does will be taken this year.

“We plan to hunt the river bottoms in the evening hours. Stands have been set up farther back into the timber for a.m. hunts. These stands near the food plots will also get earlier in the evening movement. One thing for sure is we need several stands for different wind directions. I think many properties don’t have enough stand options for different winds.

“The key for this next month will be all about playing the wind, knowing the deer are on food patterns. Identify the most popular food source, and get in between

the food and anticipated bedding. I like the Deercast app, as it takes into consideration several factors about deer movement. Barometer, wind speed and direction, and moon phase are all considered, and it seems accurate to me on when deer are likely to move in daylight hours. If your schedule allows you to, hunt when you have better chances for a kill. This saves educating deer when chances are low. If you don’t have this luxury, just get your rear-end out there. You can’t kill ’em on the couch, and you can get lucky while learning about the land prior to the rut kicking in full gear in November.”

Cherokee County: Tim Dangar, of Ball Ground, reports, “Opening day was better than past years as far as weather. The deer were not very active in the morning, but everyone saw deer in the evening, just none close enough for a shot. Things really jumped into high gear with storm Sally approaching on Tuesday the 15th. My grandson, Chase Goddard and his first cousin Caroline Goddard, both 16 years old, got their first bow-kills. Caroline got a 3-point on Tuesday evening before the storm, and Chase got a velvet 7-point on Thursday evening after the storm. We should take note that feeding activity was good just before and right after the storm. When a cold front comes in, best be in the woods!”

(Above) Caroline Goddard, 16, with her first bow-kill. She was hunting Cherokee County on Tuesday evening, Sept. 15 right before the rain came in. Her cousin Chase Goddard (below), 16, got his first bow-kill, a nice 7-point still in velvet. He was hunting Cherokee County on Thursday evening, Sept. 17 after Sally dumped 3 inches of rain. His tracking dog Athens performed a great tracking job.

“I did finally find some persimmons, but they are not ripe yet and still holding on to the tree. I am still predicting a later than normal acorn drop for north Georgia. I base that on not many green nuts on the ground after some 40 and 50 mile an hour wind gusts that just blew through.

“As the velvet comes off, we will see the bucks single out from the summer groups. Starting as early as mid October, the does will be pushing off the young in preparation for pre-rut action. I know it’s early, but I have already seen a scrape in an old roadbed with a broke limb above it. As weather cools, sign will start popping everywhere. With the number of bucks we have here around home, the woods should be torn up.

“Acorns are better here than I first thought—though small, but plentiful. Looking forward to hearing from the rest of the state. Be safe, God bless and hunt on!”

Madison County: Keith Ingram, of Comer, reports, “Well, COVID may be effecting a lot things in 2020, but it’s definitely not had an effect on the deer. This is the most deer I’ve seen in the woods in years, and they are healthy as they can be. The woods are full of fawns, so it was an incredible rut last fall. There’s even a doe on my property at my house with triplets. It seems to be shaping up to be one of the best seasons in years.

“Natural food sources are great. All the oaks from white oaks to water oaks are loaded, and as of the second weekend of season, they are starting to drop pretty good. But there is food everywhere, hardwoods, pines, it doesn’t matter, and my food plot is getting mowed down, also.

Caleb Mason, of Danielsville, took this 8-pointer in Madison County on the evening of Sept. 13. The G2s measured 11 7/8 and 12 3/8 inches.

David Keller, of Winder, took this very nice 11-pointer on the evening of Sept. 13 in Madison County. David’s buck had a split brow tine, and it’s David’s best buck to date.

“Movement has been unbelievable, except for opening morning when my son and I only saw five between us. But on the morning of the 19th we were about 300 yards apart and saw 20 between us with five different bucks. I let a pretty nice 9-pointer walk, and Zack saw one that’s on our hit list but could not get a decent shot. As of that same morning, I had been in the tree five times and saw 41 deer. The best opening week I have ever seen.

“The bucks are very active, they are putting rubs and scrapes down everywhere. The younger bucks are doing a lot pushing and shoving with each other. With the days getting shorter and these cooler than normal temperatures, I think the rut this year is going to be off the charts. With all the does in the woods, it could start a little earlier than normal and last a little longer. My plan is to stay on the food where the does are concentrating, and the bucks will be there, and try to get in the woods as much as possible. Hope everyone has a safe and successful season, and stays safe on the home fronts, also.”

Awesome Opening Week For Megels!

There wouldn’t be a Truck-Buck contest in Georgia if it weren’t for this man. John Megel arrowed this tall-tined Meriwether County buck on Sept. 15 that’s been taped in the 150s.

There was a John Megel Chevy double in Warren County the afternoon of Sept. 17! Congrats to Shawn Boyd (left) and Jonathan Megel. Shawn is general manager and Jonathan is executive manager for John Megel Chevrolet in Dawsonville. They are the ones who put the Truck in Truck-Buck!

MIDDLE GEORGIA

Monroe County: Greg Grimes, of Ball Ground, reports, “The opening two weekends found us in the woods and having mixed results. We would either see nothing or several. We use this land for ministry and rarely hunt it ourselves. Due to COVID, several deer camps were canceled, and we’ve enjoyed hunting there. Most of the muscadines are now off the vine after the hurricane storms came through. We recently cut back some overgrown sweetgums in a 5-year-old cutover. The browse that was coming out is getting hit heavily, so we hunted pretty close to these areas. The amount of acorns on the ground is much less than in years past.

“My son Wyatt was on his second solo hunt during the first cool front. He made a great shot on an old wise doe that was headed to a little scattered corn. Proud moment.”

Wyatt Grimes, son of Hunt Advisor Greg Grimes, with a big nanny doe he got with a bow on only his second time doing a solo hunt.

“We know there will be some acorns on the ground this next month, and we will look for fresh sign for the most active locations. The food plots will be coming up as well, as long as rain continues. This should draw many more deer to the property. We plan to hunt woods in the a.m. and fields in the p.m. We have an idea of bedding locations off property, and we will play the wind to our advantage on they’re on the way to food sources.

“October can be slow for some, but it seems toward the last week of October we start having mature bucks daylighting. Get out there this month if we get a cold front, and have a good time. Take a kid if you can.”

Braxton Wright, 6, of Monticello, got his first-ever deer with a crossbow on Sept. 14 while hunting in Jasper County with his dad Bubba Wilson.

Putnam County: Dwayne Britt, of Bishop, reports, “Bow season started out hot and humid. Attempted to convince myself not to hunt opening morning, but did it anyway. Crazy humidity which has eased up as the season is moving forward. Had about a dozen shooters prior to season and all but a couple vanished upon opening day. Not uncommon as the summer patterns change and all the human activity in the woods makes them a little shy at times. Seeing lots of does and young bucks over corn, but the bigger bucks seem to be moving to the white oaks as they begin to fall, and the bucks are moving early afternoon between 2 to 4:30 p.m. and right at dark. White oaks are loaded, and we’re seeing some red and water oaks. Muscadines will all be gone in another week or two. Many persimmons are still not ripe and should be around into gun season.

“We are planting the 26th weather permitting and are hoping the weather works to our favor. I’ll be hunting white oaks as we move into muzzleloader and gun season. I’ll stay close to those transition areas from thick cover to hardwoods that have acorns. You can’t go wrong with a food source near thick cover if you can get in and out without being detected and try not to walk over the area you are hunting. I have several bucks I’m after that are not monsters but mature 4- to 5-year-old deer that I’ll be happy to take and hopefully get a shot at by early November, or maybe one of those rutting monsters I’ve never seen.”

Former Truck-Buck weekly winner Thomas Vann got this buck after hunting him for two years. Thomas had a treestand accident in 2016, but he hasn’t given up hunting. Thomas currently has the No. 1 bow-buck from Wheeler County, and this crossbow buck will score very well, too.

SOUTH GEORGIA

Colquitt County: Adam Childers, of Norman Park, reports, “In the first weeks of September, things went about as expected around here. Bachelor groups were broken up, and the regulars on the trail cams turned into occasional nighttime visitors. However, as the season approached, I began to see a slight uptick in activity with the cooler weather. Opening weekend we were in the mid 80s with a nice breeze from tropical storm Sally as she strengthened in the Gulf. Seems the entire first week of the season was affected by Sally. On Sept. 15, I had a good buck come in to 40 yards, but it was too dark to see my pins. The next afternoon as Sally was creeping through, I was getting ready to go to the stand and we were suddenly under two tornado warnings at the same time. Needless to say, I stayed home, and as you would expect, he came back by at 6:15 that afternoon. Hopefully I can get another crack at him before he breaks this pattern.

“As October arrives, I will begin to focus less on food and more on buck sign. A hot food source (acorns, late persimmons, corn, etc.) with buck sign around is even better. In this part of the world, it seems that the bucks start to focus their attention on the upcoming rut in early/mid October. As this change occurs, I will begin to focus trail cameras on scrape lines and trails to monitor movement. If I start to see a buck on a consistent pattern, I try to hunt him any opportunity I get when the conditions are right. By the end of October, hot spots for does will start to be my focus. As the first few does cycle in, the bucks will not be far away. And just like that, the best month of the year will be upon us! Good luck this month, and be safe out there!”

Crisp County: Jodi Manders, of Cordele, reports, “We are well into archery season, and I have a few things to report. The deer movement seems to be at a slow pace so far around here. The sightings from our woods have been very few. I haven’t seen a lot from our local processors either. The deer we have seen from the stand have been 7 to 8 a.m. or right after daylight. The trail cameras have plenty of pictures all hours of the night and occasionally just before dark. I have found a few scrapes and rubs this week. All the bucks are out of velvet, too.

“The hot food source has still been persimmons, and we still have a ton of them. They have not been hitting the green plots very much with the exception of a few that they have eaten only the rape out of and left everything else. They surely spend a good bit of time at the feeders, also. I have a couple of trail cameras on video setting. It is very interesting to watch how the deer interact with each other and other animals. Some are so funny. Try putting your camera on the video setting and see what you get. It’s really interesting to get a good buck on video and see all views of the antlers while he is moving around.

“I hope you all are anticipating gun season coming in, I sure am. Hope you all have a safe and bountiful upcoming season. Hunt safe, God Bless!”

Early County: Sam Klement reports, “Our opening day weekend was a bust weather wise. With the Hurricane Sally moving its way to the Wiregrass area, the temps were hot and humidity high for opening day. I sat on one of my stands opening morning and saw a yearling doe feeding on wild grapes and then another single doe mid morning cruising through just out of bow range. With Sally headed our way, we decided to forgo any other hunting and finished planting our food plots and some last-minute bush hogging, etc.

“With Sally bearing down on us with rain and high winds, we’re keeping my fingers crossed that we won’t lose any significant trees like we did with Hurricane Michaal two years ago. We just got most of its remnants cleaned up this past spring. That being said, as Sally pushes through I fully expect to hunt on the back end of this system. I am guessing most of the soft mast will be blown down and gone. Our pin oak acorns are starting to drop and expect many more to be blown out from the high winds. I didn’t hear of any deer being shot in Early County by any of my adjoining neighbors opening weekend. But, I am extremely excited about the amount of great mature deer we have gotten on our trail-camera surveys thus far. I fully expect many quality bucks to be taken this year on my farms or neighboring tracts. We just need the weather to stabilize, and everyone will be spending much more time in the woods. Stay safe out there! Enjoy every single hunt and minute outdoors… there are no guarantees on another day! Good Luck to all my fellow hunters! Huntin is Good!”

Harris County: Jimmy Harper, of Hamilton, reports, “The first week of archery season in our area included a hurricane, specifically Hurricane Sally, which brought large amounts of much-needed rain to Harris County. Some relatively strong winds accompanied the rain and, just like a very strong thunderstorm usually does, this resulted in a good number of acorns being blown to the ground. This was a blessing for early season scouting because it provided a good indication of what this year’s white and red oak acorn crops will look like in Harris County, with both appearing to be set for good drops later this year. However, please remember that acorns on trees within the same species but in different geographical areas, even on the same property, will develop and drop at different times. Put simply, all white oak acorns on a property won’t drop at the same time. So, if you can, you’ll want to do some in-season scouting when conditions exist like we have now—after a strong storm has blown acorns out of the treetops onto the ground—and find the trees with the largest acorns under them. Those are the trees which will be the first to naturally drop their remaining acorns, and that’s where you want to be when they do, because they’ll become deer magnets overnight. Just on our small 44-acre Harris County farm where I live and sometimes hunt, our white oak acorns are in three very separate stages of development, with acorns from some groups of trees much larger than the others; that’s where I’ll be hunting when some other hunters start talking about the October lull.

“Daytime deer movement continues to be heaviest in the afternoons, with very little morning buck activity. But after Hurricane Sally moved out and the temperatures cooled off somewhat, many of the bucks on the Harris County properties my family hunts picked up their pre-rut activities under the cover of darkness, laying down rub and scrap lines. A couple of the scrapes we found were ‘as big as the hood of a car,’ so it won’t be long now until things really start getting good. In fact, there’s going to be a few afternoons later in bow season that we’ll spend sitting over one of those big scrapes! We’ll also continue to hunt almost exclusively in the afternoons until the last third of October, at which time we’ll start hunting in the mornings as well. We’re also hoping to have our food plots planted by the time you read this, but we won’t be counting on those producing anything hunting-wise until later in the season. Acorns will be the ticket in October, so find them and you’ll find the deer. And forget the ‘lull’ and just hunt!”

Macon County: David Keene, of Oglethorpe, reports, “We have seen several deer, but none close enough or clear enough for a shot. We’re seeing tons of turkeys, and they have been keeping the deer stirred up. My brother hunts with a long bow only and has seen several deer but none close enough for a shot. We have been finding several rubs.

“Water oaks and live oaks are dropping. I even found some white oaks starting to drop today! Some persimmons are dropping, also. Most of our roads on our farm were blocked by trees downed by Sally. Finally got them cleared yesterday. Lows supposed to be in the 60s this week and hope to try them with cooler temps. Opening morning was tough, Forgot my Thermocell, and mosquitoes almost toted us off… Have seen some large timber rattlers out. A friend’s daughter took a doe opening morning, have not heard of any more.

“Y’all be safe and stay well. Good luck… Shoot straight!”

Twiggs County: Richie Green, of Jeffersonville, reports, “The year started off hot as usual, but we should be use to it by now right? I couldn’t get in the woods till 6:30 p.m. on opening day, but I did see a momma and fawn, so it was a good way to start off.

“My granddaughter Shaye Grimes, who has turned into a pretty good hunter, stuck her a doe on the evening of the 14th in Hancock County with her new Obsession Bow that she had a hand in building when she worked there. She was hunting with her boyfriend Lane Brown and said, ‘I went to school and got home around 2:30 and got in the stand around 4:30. The first deer came in around 6 to the right of my stand and went around me, then three more does came out from the same spot, and they all came from behind me around to the corn in front of me, and I drew back and shot around 6:30 at 20 yards. The arrow passed through, and when I got down I only found one drop of blood but with bubbles. I thought I heard her crash after I shot. So I backed out and went home to change. Then came back about an hour later and she was like 60 yards from where I shot her. She has definitely got my blood in her for sure, and she keeps amazing me everyday.”

Shaye Grimes with her first deer taken with a compound bow. She got the doe while hunting in Hancock County.

“I was hunting with my cousins in Twiggs County, and Micah Smith killed his first buck with a bow. A nice spike coming to acorns and corn.

“The temps will be getting better by the end of the month I hope, but we will have one more hot spell before gun season like always I’m sure. Most of my plots are holding up, and the rain we had will only make them better. If I can get some rye grain in them and some more rain, I’ll put the nitrogen to them when they get up about 3 inches. That seems to work best for me around here. The oaks look good and the deer look healthy, so I’m ready to see my breath and hear some chasing, but let’s not get in a hurry just yet cause we’ve only just begun.

“By the looks of the deer being posted on gon.com and social media, it’s gonna be a boomer year if it holds up… but it is 2020, so nothing is normal anymore.

“Good luck to everyone and stay safe up a tree if you can.”