Georgia 2015 Deer Season Great For Big Bucks

While some hunters still say they aren’t seeing the number of deer they’re accustomed to seeing, based on a variety of indicators it has been a boom year for big bucks in Georgia. For sheer numbers of 130- to 160-class bucks, this may be the very best year GON has ever heard about. We’ll begin to know just how good a year we’ve had when these racks get measured at GON‘s Truck-Buck scoring event in Februray.

While individual opinions about how good or how bad the hunting was can be subjective and vary widely even within a county, there is some data to back up the consensus that we have had a great year for big bucks.

• GON Truck-Buck Contest Entries

The record for the number of GON Truck-Buck contest deer was shattered back during Week 11 of the season. The number of entries at presstime had climbed to 698. During the history of the contest, the average number of entries for a season is 456 deer. With three weeks of the season remaining, the contest entries were up 53 percent above the historical average.

• Potential Pope & Young Bucks

The number of officially-scored Georgia bucks from the 2004-05 season that exceeded the Pope & Young Club minimums was 26. This year, GON is tracking 52 deer that by green-score or in photos appear to have the potential to exceed the P&Y minimums. If those numbers hold, there is a good possibility that we will see a 100 percent increase in the number of record-class bow kills. It is almost a certainty that a new state record for Pope & Young-class will be set, breaking the record of 45 set in 2001.

• Piedmont NWR Harvest

At Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge, the hunting pressure is relativley stable and the 37,000-acre tract provides a barometer of how hunting is going. During the 2004-05 season,  Piedmont NWR hunters, like many in the state, had a down year and harvested just 339 deer, far below the eight-year average of 535 deer.

During the 2005-06 season, however, the harvest has rebounded. Hunters checked-out 465 deer this season, a 37 percent increase in the number of deer killed from the previous season.

• No Booner — Yet

Despite all the giant bucks, the one kicker is that we’ve still not heard of a sure-fire Boone & Crockett buck that’s going to net above 170 typical or 195 non-typical inches. Normally we’re able to bring you photos of one or two Booners, even in those tougher years.

Another thing that will really nail down the quality factor in the 2005 deer season will be a look at GON‘s Fab-40 list in the August issue. Last season it took 145 1/8 inches of bone to make the Fab 40. For the 2003 season, the No. 40 deer scored 147 7/8. Could we be looking at a 150-inch minimum to make this once-a-year, illustrious list? Indicators say it’s surely a possibility.

We looked around the state to see what hunters were saying about this deer season. Here’s just a sample from across Georgia.

• Northeast Georgia: Dale Thomas said the Habersham County hunting season has been slow for him, but for many other folks the 2005 season was a great year.

Dale said reports are varied from Habersham County, but most folks seem happy with the hunting season.

“It seemed like there were a bunch of big deer killed here this year,” Dale said. “There were some big bucks.”

Dale commented on how healthy the deer seemed to be in northeast Georgia this season. He attributed that to good acorn crops for the past couple of seasons.

Dale said deer in Habersham seemed to be concentrated around strong food sources, like acorn-producing oaks. He was impressed with what he saw of the rut.

“There was a lot of buck sign this year in places,” Dale said. “Lots of scrapes and rubs.”

In Franklin County, Ann Dorminey at Dorminey’s Deer and Hog Processing said that after a slow start to gun season, the number of deer coming in increased dramatically. “We have had a very good year,” she said. “And we have had some really nice bucks come in this year.”

• Northwest Georgia: Trevor McEntyre, owner of The Archery Shop in Plainville, says he’s heard about more good bucks this year than probably ever before.

“The season, at least in northwest Georgia, has been good,” Trevor said. “I saw a couple of good bucks early this season and just couldn’t get a shot.”

Trevor said hunters reported strong signs of the rut, and many were seeing secondary rutting activity right after the December full moon. That isn’t unusual, according to Trevor.

“We’ll usually see a little secondary rut in December,”

Trevor said he saw lots of deer this season, and though he didn’t get a shot at a buck he wanted to kill, he put a couple of does in the freezer.

• East Piedmont: Ricky Smith at Newborn Taxidermy said, “It’s been an exceptional year. I guess as far as quality goes this is a record-breaking year.”

Ricky has been in the business in one location since the 1980s, so he’s seen his share of good and bad years.

“I’ve had numerous deer come in that gross in the 150s,” said Ricky. “The quality is definitely improving.”

Ricky said 2004 was a slow year, but 2003 was pretty good.

“We did 265 deer heads then, and right now we’ve got 245 mounts to do,” said Ricky.

However, comparing those two years shows this year as stellar for rack size.

“I think people are finally letting small bucks walk, and they’re getting into quality managing big time,” said Ricky. “A lot of people are doing food plots and giving them food year round.”

Area manager for B.F. Grant Harry Luke said this Putnam County WMA helps prove the theory that a jam-up year is usually followed up by an average or lower-than-average season.

“At B.F. Grant every other year is a real good one,” said Harry. “This year was back to average after a great year last year. I think on the first hunt (2005) they killed 18 bucks.”

Harry said one of the bucks had a 24-inch beam and one had a 22-inch spread. A 7-pointer that was taken had real heavy mass with bases over five inches.

The primitive-weapons hunt was about normal. They took 53 deer.

In Thomson, WRD Game Management Region Supervisor Vic Van Sant says the numbers of deer killed on WMAs in the Piedmont and Upper Coastal Plain are up. “We don’t have final numbers yet, but the numbers of deer are looking pretty decent, and I am hearing from technicians who are seeing a lot of good bucks in the coolers.”

Another indication of a good hunting year according to Vic: “I am not hearing from the folks who were worried last year saying  Nelson said.

He said one deer that should score in the 150s was brought in during the season, and he processed an 8-pointer a week later that sported a 20-inch spread.

Nelson turned more than 1,600 pounds of venison over to Hunters For The Hungry, up 100 pounds over last season.

• West Piedmont: Travis Turner at GCO Outfitters in Troup County said he’s heard about some nice bucks taken this fall.

“The quality is defintiely up five to 15 inches on antler,” said Travis. “We’ve been calling this the year of the 8-pointer because we’ve had so many monster eights killed in this area. I know of seven or eight that’ll gross in the 140s easy.”

Travis said GCO Outfitters is running a deer contest this year, and the antlers in it are pretty impressive.

“We’ve got one that’ll gross in the 150s, seven or eight in the 140s and probably seven or eight in the 130s,” said Travis.

Why the increase in quality bucks for this west-central county?

“I think with QDM in effect for four or five years, and with some people taking it to even a higher level, we’re starting to see some age on these bucks,” said Travis. “Also, I associate the good year for antlers with lots of rain in the spring and summer.”

David Chastain, with DNR Deer Cooler in Palmetto said it’s been a very strong year for numbers and quality.

“After tonight we’ll be caught up, and I haven’t been caught up all year,” said David. “It really didn’t slow down until two weeks ago.

“The quality of the bucks was real, real good this year, too. I felt like it was the best rut in three or four years.”

David said the rut started in south Fulton County about November 16 and went on through Thanksgiving.

• Southeast Georgia: “There’s been some big ones killed in Emanuel County this year,” said Brad Hooks of Nunez. “My wife killed a big 9-pointer with a drop tine.”

Brad has been seeing does on food plots in the afternoon, and he said there’s still some deer feeding on the live-oak flats.

Ricky O’Berry in Waycross said this past season has been good. He said more big bucks have been killed than he can ever remember.

“I have heard about several 140- to 150-class deer, which for our area is really good,” Ricky said.

Ricky said the rut was strange around Waycross this year. Some hunters observed wide-open rut conditions with plenty of bucks chasing does, and some saw very little sign.

“I was seeing fresh sign again in late December,” Ricky said.

Ricky believes antler growth has been helped because more farmers are growing peanuts where they used to grow cotton.

• Southwest Georgia: Hunting guide Buck Davis said the hunting has slowed down at Little River Plantation in Turner County.

“Some guys did see three bucks this morning (December 20), but it’s real hard to see a shooter buck right now,” said Buck. “A few times we’ve seen doe tracks crossing a dirt road and there’ll be a big track with it, but for the most part it’s all over.”

Buck said the season as a whole was very good. The window to catch a shooter buck out searching or standing with a doe was great.

“On the Wednesday of opening gun week, we had a little cool snap come in here, and we killed several good bucks during those two days,” said Buck. “Then it was hot from mid-November until about the 28th.”

Buck said the chore of shooting does is mostly what they’re worried about now. He said they weren’t seeing deer on the food plots real heavy yet.

Stacy Keen of Ashburn got in on the tail-end of the rut in Turner County when he found a sure-enough monster on the prowl. His deer, which he killed on November 29, had 190 inches of bone and is expected to net non-typical in the 180s.

Michael Lee from Valdosta was hunting while being filmed for an episode of Southern Backwoods Adventures when he shot an awesome 150-inch 10-pointer outside of Ashburn. His mature buck was taken on November 24.

WRD biologist Steve Ruckel in Albany said the season started out slow, but quite a few nice bucks were shot.

“From what I heard it’s probably a little better than average in terms of quality,” said Steve.

WRD Tech IV Ellis Wynn said this year is as good as it has been in the past.

“Overall I’d say the quality in the counties is pretty steady,” said Ellis. “They liberalized either-sex over the last 10 years, and some counties who had real good populations has seen (numbers of deer) kicked back. The result is this increase in average antler sizes and an overall health improvement.”