Shoot-Out No. 31 In The Books

It wasn’t exactly a packed house of roaring fans when Luke Rountree, of Adel, won September’s Truck-Buck Shoot-Out before driving back to Cook County in a brand-new Chevy pickup from John Megel Chevy in Dawsonville. Ask Luke if he cares. Pretty sure he was happy just the same.

Due to COVID concerns from the Infinite Energy Center, GON had essentially no choice but to cancel its annual Outdoor Blast and the July Shoot-Out. Plan B was a smaller venue and a much smaller crowd in a Madison facility that required masks inside. Still, that’s not going to stop our promise to keep giving these pickup trucks away.

Above: Luke Rountree, of Adel, sits in a fully loaded John Megel Chevy just minutes after winning the Shoot-Out. Below: Luke is congratulated by Shawn Boyd, general manager of John Megel Chevrolet in Dawsonville.

And so it was that Luke’s 45-foot shot broke a raw egg, which turned out to be the best shot of the afternoon, making it the best $20 investment in a magazine of his life. If you missed it, a GON subscription—something you must have before you kill a deer and enter it—is only, yep only, $20 a year.

All Shoot-Out qualifiers were already big winners at the Shoot-Out. The four bow season weekly winners earned Mathews bows, and the 13 winners during gun season earned Browning rifles. That is 17 weekly prizes valued at more than $1,000 each! Plus, the Week 5 winner during the primitive-weapons season won a CVA Accura MR SS muzzleloader with a scope and case, and wildcard qualifiers won a $250 gift card from Agri Supply, a multi-tool from Havalon, a Hunter Safety System vest and Advanced 4S Wildlife Solutions product.

It’s already been a record-breaking year for the first part of this year’s Truck-Buck. Bow season records have been shattered. As the rut cranks up, make sure those GON subscriptions are up to date so you can join in the fun as we prepare for Shoot-Out No. 32.

Kayla Pitts, of Macon, qualified for the Shoot-Out with a 167 1/8-inch non-typical Week 4 buck.

Janie Funderburk, of Woodbury, was 9 when she shot a Meriwether County typical that scored 140 2/8 inches. She won the Youth Wildcard spot.