Rutting Bucks Showing Up

The first week of November is always exciting around the GON office as reports of rut-crazed bucks out and about pick up noticeably.

One GON subscriber said he was hunting on Sunday evening and watched a nice buck run a doe so hard in a clearcut that it finally sat down and put its head all the way down on the ground. Another GON reader reported a panting buck sitting beside a busy road in absolute exhaustion after chasing a doe. It eventually got back up and started chasing again.

For GON subscribers with an early November rut, now is the time to be in the woods—just ask Jarrett Allen, of McDonough. He shot a beautiful Henry County 14-pointer on Nov. 1 that reportedly grosses in the low 170s. Jarrett was hunting with his 12-year-old son Cameron when he killed the deer.

“Cameron is my No. 1 man, we are always together,” said Jarrett.

In fact, Cameron had the gun in his hands with the safety off while Jarrett was coaching him through taking a shot at the monster buck. However, the buck was moving quickly in and out of narrow strips out in front of the stand and was fixing to get away.

“I said, ‘Daddy, I can’t shoot him. You shoot him,’” said Cameron.

With years of experience in the deer woods, Jarrett was able to make the shot on the escaping deer, and the buck went straight down.

“My son is one unselfish young man,” said Jarrett.

“I knew I couldn’t get a shot, and I wanted one of us to get it,” said Cameron.