White County’s Best Buck Ever Taken By A Hunter

The new No. 1 hunter-killed buck from White County is a big 10-pointer killed last season by Charles Allison, of Cleveland, that netted 156 even.

While it’s the best buck ever killed by a hunter in White County, Charles ranks No. 2 on GON’s all-time White County Deer Records because our all-time records include pick-up (found) racks. A pick-up rack found in White County by Earl Fain in 2012 netted 161 even. But for a buck taken by a hunter, there’s never been one that scored higher than the symmetrical, tall-tined 10-pointer taken by Charles Allison.

Charles Allison, of Cleveland, Georgia, with his White County 10-point buck that netted 156 even. That’s the highest-scoring buck ever recorded by a hunter in White County.

Charles killed his buck on Nov. 13, 2019.

“That’s early for around here,” Charles said. “I have never done good before really Thanksgiving.”

Charles has been hunting the north Georgia mountains his entire life, but he said at 65 years old he doesn’t roam like he used to, hunting closer to home these days.

“I don’t walk for miles in the mountains to look for sign like I used to,” Charles said. “I killed my first deer back when I was 9 years old. There were very few deer around here in the 60s. They kind of blossomed out in the late 60s, but you had to go into the mountains to get where there was enough deer to hunt.”

On Nov. 13 last season, Charles said he got to his first place a little after daylight. He was hunting on the ground, and he watched a couple of smaller bucks pass by that morning.

“Then I started stalking into the wind and moved about a quarter mile fsrther up, and I was sitting, resting on a log there,” Charles said. “Some time after 11, a pretty good 8-pointer came by chasing a doe, and I was going to shoot him, but he didn’t give me much of a chance. He was a decent deer to shoot.

“About 11:45, I saw a shadow way up there—it was pretty open woods. I think he may have been bedded down up there, and it’s like he just got up after that commotion of the deer running around, I guess. It was well over a hundred yards. He stepped out, and I could see his rack but couldn’t really tell. Then I saw enough to know he was a good one. I’m sorta like my daddy in that I can tell kind of the way a deer carries himself his age, the way he carries his head.

“When I walked up on him, I wasn’t thinking about a record or anything. I’ve seen deer that seemed bigger, deer that seem way bigger than what they score. Back when I was a kid, they killed a big old 10-pointer—I’ve seen big deer come out of the mountains in the 60s and 70s, and they look bigger, gnarly and thick but wouldn’t score good because they didn’t have these long tines,” Charles said.

The rack on Charles’ buck was very symmetrical, with only 2 7/8 inches of side-to-side deductions that took the gross score of 158 7/8 down to a net score of 156 even. The buck has amazing G2 tines that are both 13 2/8 inches long. The G3s are 10 6/8 and 10 4/8 inches. The buck’s score is even more impressive when you consider that it didn’t have exceptional mass. The first circumference measurements were 3 7/8 inches—bucks that score this high often have mass measurements over 5 inches.

Charles said he was surprised and thankful for that mid December day in the White County woods.

“That was awful early for chasing for here, but it was time for what I call the young buck harassment,” Charles said. “This big one, his glands weren’t even barely starting to turn dark. He smelled like he’d just taken a bath. It was early. It’s usually around Thanksgiving when they find a doe and start hanging out with them, not chasing yet or anything, just staying with her. Does come to him when it’s a big one. First of December is when the rut really gets going on around here.

“Most of my bigger deer, five or six that I can remember, have been killed between 11 and 12:30,” Charles said. “Most people are out of the woods. I always stay until 1 or 2 if I can. Those bigger bucks feel safe when they haven’t been disturbed all day, they feel safer moving in the middle of the day than they do early.

“I don’t think he was that old, maybe 4 1/2, but he hadn’t reached his full potential maybe. He was 140 pounds—people don’t think that’s a big deer, but that’s a big deer up here. Biggest I’ve ever killed.”

GON’s Official All-Time White County Buck Rankings