Georgia’s Best Bow Bucks For 2019-20

The 2019-20 season has tallied up 68 record-book bow bucks so far. However, as is the case every year, more bucks will trickle in over the next few months as hunters get their bucks officially scored and their score sheets are sent to GON. Last year at this time 65 bow bucks from the 2018-19 season had been scored and reported to GON, but that tally has now grown to 80 bucks. We’re expecting last season’s tally to reach more than 80 when the dust settles, which would make it the all-time best year for Pope & Young class bucks. The 2018-19 and 2010-11 seasons are tops for now, with 80 P&Ys per year.

The map below represents the number of P&Y bucks taken in each county. The counties in orange had at least one P&Y buck taken last year, while the two counties in red—Floyd and Thomas—saw their first P&Y bucks taken last year. The counties in tan have never had a P&Y buck recorded.

For a complete listing of the P&Y bucks taken last season, all 68 of them are listed  below.

In all, if you look at GON’s Georgia Deer Records at gon.com/deer-records, Georgia has 1,419 Pope & Young bucks recorded—1,369 typical and 50 non-typicals. These numbers are a true testimony to Georgia, its hunters and the kind of bucks we’re growing in the Peach State.

To make it all even sweeter, we’re adding photos and hunt stories online to GON’s Georgia Deer Records nearly every day. We’re still going through old drawers and folders from the 1980s and discovering some really cool old photos and stories.

If you have old photos of the bucks you see listed online, or maybe you’d like to write your story of a buck killed years ago, that’s what gon.com is for. We want you to have a place in our online record book for your great-great grandkids to look at one day. Send what you have to me at [email protected].

For now, we’re going to celebrate below with the unique hunting story of last season’s No. 2 non-typical buck. Taken by Keith Almand in Morgan County, official B&C measurer Bill Cooper does a marvelous job of putting you right in the stand with Keith as he takes his first—and second—shots at the giant buck.

No. 3 Non-typical: Kayla Pitts, Houston County, 167 1/8 inches.

No. 7 Typical: David Campbell, Lee County, 145 6/8 inches. This is Georgia Pope & Young buck No. 12 for David.

No. 19 Typical: Sylvester Bailey, Burke County, 138 1/8 inches

No. 21 Typical: Drew Owens, Floyd County, 137 7/8 inches.

Deer Hunting Odyssey

By Bill Cooper

Approximately 25 years ago, Keith Almand, of Madison, was invited to join a small group of friends who were interested in establishing a private deer hunting club on a tract of land in Morgan County. What made this group somewhat unique was all of the men were dedicated bowhunters and hunting on the club would be archery only.

“During the first few years we experienced the same growing pains that most clubs go through,” Keith said. “At that time, our primary management involved creating and annually planting about 75 acres of food plots. But for the most part our harvest strategy was basically, ‘If it’s brown, it’s down.’ Everyone was taking deer but no real trophies. After a few years, the light bulb finally came on, and we made some changes.

“There was no doubt that our primary problem was shooting young age class bucks,” he continued. “Everyone was confident that genetics wasn’t a factor. The best genetics in the world are worthless if bucks aren’t living long enough to reach their potential.”

During that same period, food plot acreage was also gradually increased to slightly more than 100 acres. In addition to regular seasonal plantings such as wheat, oats, purple-topped turnips, iron-clay peas and soybeans, an equal amount of perennial clover plantings was established. Chicory was included in many of the plots because it was one of the few plants able to withstand the summer heat.

“Additionally, after consulting with Outdoor Solutions Services, we decided to provide the deer with an additional supplemental food source in the form of a high protein pellet,” Keith said. “The supplemental feed was made available from March to August, which corresponds to the annual period of antler growth.”

The difficulty in making these types of management decisions is that it’s not simply flipping a switch and everything is suddenly changed. It takes time to see results, but the club members understood this and were on board for the long-term plan. Now, several years down the road, the quality of bucks being taken speaks for itself; there’s no doubt the management is working.

“Once in a successful program, the hardest thing for me, from a hunting standpoint, is deciding whether to hunt a particular buck or allow it another year of growth,” Keith said. “Understanding, of course, there is no guarantee the buck will be there to hunt the following season. I think that’s a tough decision for bowhunters everywhere.”

In late summer of 2018, Keith had made the decision to hunt a buck with a rather unique non-typical rack. However, Keith’s son, Matt, believed the deer had great potential and eventually persuaded his dad to wait another year.

“I had a lot of second thoughts about that decision,” Keith said. “But the following summer when the buck showed up on our trail cameras, I was so very thankful Matt had persuaded me to pass on the deer. The buck’s additional antler growth was amazing.”

By opening weekend of early bow season, the big non-typical was primarily using an area surrounding a food plot planted in iron-clay peas. Keith elected to hunt from a small elevated shooting house that overlooked a section of the plot.

“Late opening day afternoon, I spotted the buck approaching,” Keith said. “Couldn’t have asked for anything to play out any better. The deer came straight in, turned at 32 yards, and I released.”

The moment he released the arrow, Keith knew something wasn’t right, which was immediately confirmed when he saw it strike the deer’s shoulder, 6 inches high of his aim point. The big deer immediately mule-kicked backward with both hind legs and bolted out of sight.

“At the time, I had no idea what happened,” Keith said. “However, I still believed it was a lethal shot. Not wanting to rush things, I left the deer alone for five hours, returning later that night with Matt and a close friend. There was a pretty fair blood trail and easy to follow. But after walking a considerable distance without finding the buck, I decided to back out and wait until morning. The last thing I wanted to do was push the deer an even greater distance.”

By the following morning, Keith had discovered the serving, or horizontal thread that wraps tightly around the vertical strands of the bowstring, had snapped during the shot, slightly altering the arrow’s flight. Additionally, efforts to continue trailing the deer also produced negative results.

“We found where the buck had finally laid down,” Keith said. “But at some point, it had gotten back up and continued on. Unfortunately, that’s where the blood trail completely ended. We walked over a large area but were unable to find any additional sign. That afternoon I contacted a friend with a trailing dog, but he explained that with the hot weather and amount of time that had elapsed, there was little chance it would do any good.”

For two weeks, whenever he wasn’t working, Keith continued to search the area and watch for buzzards, but there was no sign of the deer. He wanted to think the buck had somehow survived, but that wasn’t what he believed.

“I was physically sick over what had happened,” Keith said. “I’m not sure anyone, with the exception of another bowhunter, can fully relate to how bad I felt.”

Approximately a week later while routinely checking trail cameras, Keith suddenly paused. Staring back at him in a nighttime photo was a very familiar buck, a big non-typical that he never thought he’d see again.

“It’s fair to say I was shocked,” Keith said. “I really didn’t think the buck was still alive.”

The deer, with a fresh wound clearly evident in its shoulder, was back in the same area it had frequented prior to the season. Over the following days and weeks, photos, all taken during the night and at the same location, continued to be recorded on a fairly regular basis.

“I was hardly surprised the buck had switched to a nocturnal activity pattern,” Keith said. “While the extent of the deer’s after dark movements were unknown, the fact remained that it was never recorded at any other site. Although I knew my chances of encountering the deer were slim, I took advantage of every opportunity to sit and watch, hoping for a break.”

By the end of November, Keith realized that in all likelihood his one remaining chance of the big deer being triggered into daylight moving was the secondary rut, which normally occurs around mid-December. So, near the end of the second week, after hearing rut activity reports, he made plans to spend Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the stand.

“On Friday and Saturday, I hunted daylight to dark, followed by half a day on Sunday,” Keith said. “However, just before noon, I received a text from a friend of mine in the club, saying he had five guest hunters coming in that afternoon and could I help getting them into stands. While we are an archery-only club, we do allow guests to gun hunt when they are assisting us with removing an adequate number of does each year. I agreed to help, thinking I would have time to return to my stand before late evening.

“But these types of things seldom go smoothly, and this one was no exception. We had to wait on a couple of the guys who were running late, and it took a while to get everyone positioned. By the time I had dropped off the last hunter, it was too late for me to get back to my stand for the rest of the evening.”

After three straight days of hunting, Keith, admittedly was pretty worn out. Since there was one remaining stand near his location, he decided to sit there until it was time to pick up the hunters.

“After getting settled, I could tell from the hunters texting back and forth that it wasn’t going really well; two had missed shots and another had accidently bumped the side of the blind, scaring off deer,” Keith said. “As I was sitting there, I noticed a big adult doe at the back edge of the food plot walking in my direction. I stood up and took my bow off the hanger, thinking if she kept coming, I’d shoot her for one of the hunters.”

The doe continued its approach to about 30 yards, paused and began to turn. At that point, Keith came to full draw. But before he could shoot, the doe suddenly bolted straight ahead and ran out of sight.

“I’m thinking what in the world just happened,” Keith said. “I hadn’t made a noise. She couldn’t have gotten my scent. I was baffled.”

Keith was positioned at the front window of an elevated shooting house built for bowhunting. After taking a step backward, he turned to look out the right window and what he saw literally took his breath. About 35 yards away, two does were heading toward the food plot, and right on their heels was the big non-typical buck.

“Words such as shocked or disbelief would be totally inadequate for that moment,” Keith said. “Had a pink elephant been standing there, I couldn’t have been more stunned.”

After having spent countless hours in the stand for the past three months, this was the second chance he had hoped for. Because of the deer’s position, Keith had to wait briefly until the group moved to within sight of the front window. The does appeared first, pausing momentarily about 30 yards away. As the buck walked into view, Keith, at full draw, mouth grunted to stop him and released. The big deer instantly mule kicked backward with its hind legs before disappearing into the woods.

“This time I wasn’t really concerned,” Keith said. “I saw the arrow pass through and bounce along the ground on the other side. I knew the trailing would be pretty short.”

Keith’s impressive buck has a unique 19-point rack, with nine of the points being abnormal. The deer grosses 181 6/8 non-typical inches before reaching a final non-typical score of 177 5/8 inches. The buck ranks as the second largest non-typical bow buck in the state for the 2019-20 season. Within Morgan County, it is the largest non-typical bow-kill ever recorded.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever have another opportunity to take a deer of this class,” Keith said. “But regardless, this buck, this hunt, this season, has been an experience I will always remember.”

Keith Almand’s 177 5/8-inch non-typical buck is the best non-typical taken by bow in Morgan County.