Gadsden Co.

Let's hear from you hunters who hunt South Georgia's best kept secret-- Gadsden Co., Florida! Anybody seeing signs of rut activity? I just scouted a small tract about 10 miles west of Quincy that I got permission to hunt, and found tracks and saw a medium doe, but no scapes... Any ideas on when the big boys roam free?

I live in Gadsden but hunt Brooks county Ga.

Mockingbird

I got your PM. I hunt a small tract over off 270, near the river. Our rut, (chasing) usually occurs mid December- Jan 1 or so. Having said that, I have seen scrapes and hooked trees in August, all the way through to March I can put money on it though that they will be chasing around Christmas. It seems to vary some when we have dry vs. wet seasons. That probably just means they are staying closer to water when it is dry and we don't have much on our place. I saw a buck chasing a doe, Nov. 3 of this year, and I mean hard, if he could have kicked out in front of himself, he could have tripped her up. However, I have only seen one scrape, that I believe was made by a small 5 point I've been seeing in the same area, and he is very young. I've not seen many deer this year(dry) so far. But I have not been able to go as much this year either. Good luck to ya, and if you got too many deer to handle on your small tract, I'll help you thin them out. You are hunting in big buck territory. I believ the county record was taken in your neck of the woods several several years ago. A friend of mine took a huge 9 pt off a 60 acre tract of planted pines last year in Greensboro.

Thanks for the info, Havana Dude! I just got permission to hunt this little patch off of 270A last night, and I'll be sharing it with the owner's son-in-law, who only hunts ocassionally. Its tiny, but surrounded by cutovers, planted pines and lots of patches of big hardwoods. It does have a natural spring (actually a seep out of a ravine), but its year-round water.
I've never hunted Florida before, and its a bit daunting trying to figure out when you can shoot does, when you can use a rifle, etc.-- compared to GA.

Has anyone hunted Joe Budd? The WMA info sheet mentioned you needed a landowners permit. What the heck is this and where and how do you get one? Seems like a lot of WMA land within a couple hours of Tally.

Mockingbird

Joe Budd requires a special quota permit, obtained through a random drawing, usually done over the summer sometime I think. If you read the info very carefully, you can show up on Thursdays at the checkstation for a special quota permit drawing also. It is good for the following 3 days.I believe it is held at 2:00pm. Check on this though, don't go by my word. It is also primitive weapons only. I did it 2 years ago, so it may have changed. Read the pamphlet carefully and you should be OK. It can be a little confusing until you do it one time. Good luck!! You will probably do just fine on your small tract. The only thing i don't like about small tracts(and thats what I hunt) is your limited to such a small area, DUH . I like to scout and find new places, hunt different terrrains.

Deer movement

You can scratch what I said about not seeing many deer. I botched a shot at an 8 point this morning at 8:20 . Problem with release, shot wide right!! Saw 8-9 turkeys and another deer after the miss, that appeared to be a buck, but could not get a clear view, about 80 yards out.

Havana Dude, sorry about that missed shot-- but I reckon it'll fire you up to get back out there! I know small patches suck, but a week ago, I had NOWHERE to hunt! I'm thankful for this little piece right now- and you can bet I'm gonna pull a monster 10-point off of it (dreaming a bit here...). How was your hunting experience at Joe Budd? Did you see/kill a lot of deer? Was it crowded with other hunters? Where did you get the pamphlet with the rules? Is it available online?

Havana dude, Just found the joe Budd rules and map online. Decent hunting out there? might try on Thursday.

Havana Dude said:

You can scratch what I said about not seeing many deer. I botched a shot at an 8 point this morning at 8:20 . Problem with release, shot wide right!! Saw 8-9 turkeys and another deer after the miss, that appeared to be a buck, but could not get a clear view, about 80 yards out.

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Must have been a Seminole release!

Katelyn missed a doe this morning over in Jefferson County

Oh Yea!

mockingbird said:

Havana dude, Just found the joe Budd rules and map online. Decent hunting out there? might try on Thursday.

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I have never taken a deer out of there. I have seen a butt load of em though. Never deer hunted it much. We used to shoot skirls in there years ago. It is considered to be one of the best public areas in Fl.

I don't think small tracts suck, I just enjoy exploring new ground once in a while. We consistantly kill deer on our 40 acres.

Pro Hunter

pacecars said:

Must have been a Seminole release!

Katelyn missed a doe this morning over in Jefferson County

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The ball bearings had a little corrosion on them after looking at them closer. I put some WD on em to see if they will loosen up.

Tell her to hang in there, it will happen. I guess that means you got in the lease?

Yep.

I hunt Joe Budd everyweekend when it's open. I checked a lot of my stand sites in there this past weekend and didn't see too much sign compared to the beginning of Jan. last year. I think they're just starting to get going. I found smaller rubs and two scrapes. I'm guessing that in the next week or two more and bigger rubs will be showing up. Around the end of Dec. last year they were everywhere.

He's right about being there Thursday at 2. You go with your license and you can also bring a buddy's (one person can bring two and get drawn together) and then you get put in a raffle and pick which zone you wanna hunt until the spots in the zones all fill up. G will fill up fast and you more than likely won't get in, it seems like a lot of the old timers somehow have a system where they all get in. But, there are bigger bucks shot in other zones, but more deer come out of G overall. It borders a plantation and they're mostly older guys that have been hunting that area forever.

It's the best public land that I've ever hunted for deer, and really great for turkey too in the spring. It opens this weekend and is archery only until the first week of Jan. then it turns into archery/muzzleloader. There are food plots around every corner and a few corn fields with some millet in them too for doves. I saw piles of doves last weekend. It's also full of squirrels but small game just ended.

I'll tell you that nice bucks mainly get shot in G, A, D, and C. A lot of deer get shot in B but it seems like I've seen smaller bucks and mostly does out of there. There are some really nice creek bottoms with white oaks in them but all the acorns gone for awhile now.

I mainly hunt the bottoms but have some trails that I hunt that are in the pines that border some oaks. If you sit on fresh trails and hunt the whole weekend, I think you'll get offered a few shots at some deer. Me and a buddy usually sit the same bottom when we hunt together and sit a couple hundred yards apart and in one evening we sometimes see 6 different bucks, turkeys, and does. One evening last year was one of my best hunts and I didn't even shoot something. I saw 16 does, had a small 4 pt. hang around my stand for about an hour feeding all under me and I got video of it, then had a pretty decent 6 pt. walk by me right at dark, and also had a group of turkeys come by. I felt like I was covered up in animals and just had a good time videoing it all.

I got a tag every weekend last year. I think there was once when I didn't get the zone I wanted, but other than that I've had no problems for me and friends. I could help you out some more if you PM me sometime.

Also last year I saw probably 30 different spikes get shot the whole season and finally this year they changed it to bucks have to have 3 pts. on one side, so it should help out. I bet in two more years, there will be a lot of nice deer taken out of there.

Thanks Outdoorsnole! I pm'ed you with a couple questions. If I asked them here, everyone would know I'm a novice!

I hunt in Havana and the week after Xmas/first week Jan. seems to be when the rut is kickin, my place got cut last year so its a total different hunt this year, haven't seen much buck sign, comes back in tomorrow morn(and it's goin to be cooooollllddd) we'll see what happens.

Slipper-- Keep us posted!

Sat. morn had 4 does run by me and min. later could here a single deer running towards me, a six point came running by me, stopped less than 10 yards from me, let out a soft grunt and paced back and forth nose to the ground where the does ran through, thought something had spooked them, but the way he was acting looked like a little pre-rut.Ended seeing 15 deer total (12 of them from 10:15-10:45), all from the gound just slippin' through the woods.

Saw a guys trail cam he had out at Joe Budd, couldn't believe some of the bucks in the pics, said he had it so far from the road he wasn't worried about someone taking it, said people wouldn't get that far from the road. 25 yrs or so ago my dad used to hunt out there, but mostly only scrapped horn bucks were shot, evidently Joe Budd has changed.

mockingbird said:

Let's hear from you hunters who hunt South Georgia's best kept secret-- Gadsden Co., Florida! Anybody seeing signs of rut activity? I just scouted a small tract about 10 miles west of Quincy that I got permission to hunt, and found tracks and saw a medium doe, but no scapes... Any ideas on when the big boys roam free?

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AHHHHAHHahahahhahhahahahahhahahhhahahhahahahhahhahahahhahaahahahhahahhhahahaha....

Best kept secret?? hahahahha..not anymore. I was born in Gadsden (Quincy), and have hunted it since I was 6, along with many of my friends, and TRUST me, Gadsden county is no longer a secret...it has been "INVADED", encroached upon, and infiltrated by "hunters" from the North, South, East and WEST, and it "ain't no fun" watching it happen.

Just don't know why every outsider has to pour into Gadsden county to hunt. It won't matter in a few years, though, it will all be developed, and it won't be anywhere for outsiders or insiders alike, to hunt...

Nossir. Greed takes it all.

Please stay in Joe Budd.

hambone44 said:

Just don't know why every outsider has to pour into Gadsden county to hunt. It won't matter in a few years, though, it will all be developed, and it won't be anywhere for outsiders or insiders alike, to hunt...

Nossir. Greed takes it all.

Please stay in Joe Budd.

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I'll stay in Joe Budd and some private property I hunt there. There's been some big bucks, including one of the top ten biggest bucks in FL shot on that property. The development does suck though. I know some property that is being built on right now that I know for sure had some great genetics on it with some great deer in Gadsden County. Unfortunetly where those woods used to be are huge buildings for people to sleep in when they're on vacation.