Rabun County Buck Grosses 176 Inches

A late season hunt for Brandon Hunnicutt, of Clayton, will likely land him in the No. 1 spot for the best buck ever recorded from Rabun County, located in the mountains in the extreme northeast corner of Georgia.

Brandon killed a 12-pointer on Dec. 31 that is expected to gross 176 inches. After side-to-side deductions and two abnormal tines come off the gross score, it’ll still net around 160 inches.

In early December, Brandon got a picture of the giant buck on his trail camera that he’d set out on some private land where he has been hunting for several years. He appropriately named the buck “One In A Million.”

“I knew the record up here was 147 and some change, and I was thinking he had to blow that out,” said Brandon.

Brandon is in the grading business and wasn’t even going to hunt on that Monday, but the rainy weather meant he had nothing else to do but go hunting that afternoon.

“I got out there about 1 o’clock and went to a climbing stand I already had in there,” said Brandon. “It was probably close to 3 or 3:30 when I had some does come down the ridge. They fed on past me 80 yards or so, and they were feeding around. I keep eyeballing back where they came from. I figured maybe he was behind them, but I didn’t know if the rut was over.

“I was looking down their way and just so happened to catch him out of the corner of my eye—I’m talking 15 yards behind the stand. He was at a pretty good trot going straight toward those does. I had to totally stand up, turn totally around. I got a good prop, and he was 20 to 25 yards, and I smoked him. He ran about 40 yards or so.

“I didn’t know what I’d done. I was so excited. I called by dad and my brother, and they came and helped me.”

Brandon has been the talk of Rabun County since killing the main-frame 10-pointer with unique split G2s.

“It’s crazy for up here for sure,” said Brandon. “Even me living here all my life, if I wasn’t the one who killed it and had pictures of it, I wouldn’t hardly believe.

“After I killed it, I was thanking God for letting me get him! I prayed many days for him, and He allowed me to get him.”

According to GON’s official County-by-County Big-Buck Rankings list, the current top-3 deer from Rabun County are:

1. 147 7/8, Jeff McCrackin, 2003
2. 140 3/8, Richard Bleckley, 2016
3. 140 2/8, Wayne Gipson, 1997

Brandon will not be entering his buck into the Truck-Buck contest since he didn’t have a GON Magazine Subscription.

The deer will be officially scored by a Boone & Crockett measurer sometime after the required 60-day drying period. After that, Brandon’s buck will be entered in GON‘s County-by-County Big-Buck rankings.