Hunter: Jonah Abraham
Points: 9 (4L, 5R)
County: White
Season: 2019-2020
Hunt Story
I had never stepped foot on Smithgall Woods / Dukes Creek WMA. I recently purchased a cabin in Blairsville, Ga. and my fiance wanted to spend the weekend there. I looked the regulations and noticed that Smithgall Woods State Park had a rifle hunt opened and Saturday was the last day. I did some map scouting of the area and found a saddle about 3/4 of a mile from the road I wanted to hunt. I got there super early and parked at the road. I waited until daylight to walk in. Once it broke daylight, I made my way to the saddle. I did not see any buck sign at the saddle of the ridge, so I crossed the saddle and went about 400 yards down into the next bottom. I found a tree I wanted to get set up in, and began to get my stuff ready to go up the tree. I was moving very slow and quietly. I heard something trotting down the ridge behind me, and looked up and saw this buck headed my way. I crouched behind my tree and prepared for a shot. I took the shot and the deer ran about 40 yards and crashed. I was in shock! Once I got the buck back to the truck, a DNR officer was there waiting on me. He congratulated me, and said this was the biggest buck he had seen come off of the WMA in the past few years. WHAT A HUNT!!
