Season assessment.

[DynamicDennis]

Now I know the 2022 GA deer season is not wrapped up, but for my family and lots of others it is. My dad, daughter, and myself all harvested good bucks which is amazing. We have a freezers full of meat, and a couple heads at the taxidermist. We went all year without filling any feeders, even though our club is loaded with them, just putting out small amounts of bait while we were hunting. I can tell you we saved a ton of $$ this year, not running feeders and we saw a lot of deer. Also we did not do any tractor work at all this season around any of our stands, just used some herbicide. Feels like we really hit the nail on the head with most of our setups, but we will have more setups for an East wind come next season. Our club has 11 members on 1340 acres, only one member has not killed a buck yet (he brought a guest that killed a nice one), but still have some time left. All in all it has been an awesome season, and hopefully some of the turkeys we saw in deer season will stick around for spring. Hopefully everyone on here has a safe and merry Christmas and enjoys some time with their families.

 

[slow motion]

Congrats to you and your family.
Merry Christmas

 

[Gator89]

I killed the heaviest buck of my hunting career this year, a 10 point, and a nice 8 point in GA. We don't feed or bait, we just take advantage of the food left over from the farming operation. But this year, we hunted close to the acorn trees.

Went to LA last week dog hunting and killed a spike.

The farmer wants some does thinned, so I hope to do my part in that next week.

A great season it has been.

 

[bnew17]

Been a real slow season for me. I am fortunate enough to have plenty of meat in the freezer, but my deer numbers are way down. I have been 29 times and seen deer on 9 sits for a total of 22 deer.

 

[earlthegoat2]

Saw more bucks this year than any other. Mostly small ones that got to walk. Shot a couple in MI. Couple does here in GA. 2nd and 3rd deer taken off my own land.

It was a wildly successful season for me

 

[ChidJ]

I'm still in my camper waiting to build the house and my camper neighbor gave me a bunch of his deer so I didn't have a reason to shoot any deer this year. I did watch a bunch of them and sorta gained a new appreciation for just deer watching as opposed to deer shooting. Sort of a new take on hunting.

Previous seasons, I scouted, made plans, executed plans, and if it resulted in a kill, success; no kill, re-evaluate and modify plans, try again.

This season, I just sat on top of my hill most evenings and enjoyed nature. Sometimes deer came by, sometimes they didn't. Not quite the same feeling but not better or worse. Just a different season. Getting the opportunity to just sit out and watch them, I'm gonna chalk that up as a season success too.

Merry Christmas and hope y'all knocked down as many as you cared to

 

[Waddams]

It's nice to feel satisfied in December before Christmas with the deer season we had ain't it? Congratz on the good season and enjoy your holidays!

 

[Otisman]

Slowest season for me in several years. Not sure why, but I’m not seeing older bucks on camera like I have in the past. I’ve had opportunities to shoot young ones but didn’t. We do have a couple dogs running deer this year. I’m guessing maybe why we haven’t seen as many good ones. Both dogs are collared and healthy. I’m wanting to see if they have phone numbers I can call before next season. Haven’t got that close to them yet. But seem to be friendly. Will see what the outcome is.

 

[sprewett]

The Lord has blessed me with an awesome season. I had stopped hunting for many years (got sidetracked) started back about 4 years ago but never got real serious until this year I have really put in the work and been able to harvest 4 . (1 good 9 point, and 3 does) Half of the deer were from private land and the other public land. I missed a buck this evening, arrgh. Get so jacked up that I can't hardly think anytime I see a deer and as a result made a poor shot.

 

[ucfireman]

2nd year I did not go in the woods.
Last year was depression, got fired and just didn't have any drive to do much of anything.
This year a new job and working more days and staying in the Stone Mtn area, made it hard to get to the farm.
We will see what next year holds.
I do hope to go walk a WMA or 2 looking for a pig in the next few weeks.

 

[antharper]

Mine hasn’t been bad or the best either . I’ve killed one mature buck and a small doe . Most importantly I’ve got to spend several hours in the woods . I do plan on putting about 3 more in the freezer before it’s over .

 

[Blackston]

Best season I’ve ever had seen more deer than I ever have , killed my 2nd biggest deer ever , killed a buck and a doe on opener with my 6 yo huntin bud with me …. It’s bout to get REALLY cold I ain’t done yet !!!!

 

[Nicodemus]

I`m having an excellent season. The best deer season I`ve ever experienced.

 

[twtabb]

My goal for the last few years was to get my teenage son more interested in deer hunting. We haven’t been much be he is getting the fever. Got me up and out there on a cold morning. Haven’t done that in a while.
He got one of the cameras that send photo to his phone. Got some nice ones on there. He saw several from the stand but no shot. They were all running does. Glad he has gotten to enjoy seeing the action.
I put one in the freezer and plan to get two more.

 

[Buckman18]

My and my daughters deer season has been glorious. I was blessed to watch my daughter shoot a very mature middle GA 10 pointer while hunting a white oak creek bottom, an Ossabaw Island buck, and a mature mountain 8 pointer hunting the edge of a clear cut. This season has been more fun than having a pet monkey. She passed up 25-30 bucks this year waiting for bucks that cranked her tractor.

If she wants a better guide next year she can hire Jim Shockey.

 

[reflexman]

My son n I both shot Two nice bucks off our 75 ac we are finished for the year. Now getting after some yotes n a hog or two.

 

[Evergreen]

I'm honestly not sure where to start, we had the best season of my life when it felt like nothing was going right, my son is 8 and my daughter is 7, he has been going with me to the deer stand and duck blinds since he could walk, she'd never shown much interest, but the week of Nov 12th she wanted to go with us, how could I tell her no, I and my son had been asking her if she wanted to go since she could talk. So we load this rodeo up at 4 a.m. on sat Nov 12th and make the 1.5 hour drive to my family's farm, took 2 hours because it was so foggy, as we are walking in they're loud and he's telling her everything thing we've ever seen and where, well at 6:50 they get a case of the giggles and I tell them let's try our best to be as still and as quiet as we can be, we'd had deer on a camera in the plot we were on every day that week around 715, as soon as I say it I turn around and a deer was heading down a lane to our plot, I tell them there's a deer coming she jumps up and gasps pretty loud and he shushes her pretty loud and the deer doesn't break stride. Its foggy so I couldn't tell which deer it was until he got into our plot, and it's our target buck, I shoot him and I'm losing my mind in disbelief this just happened with two kids in the stand with me. We recover him and he was an 11 point, 206 lbs, and taped out at 124 and 5/8ths; biggest racked buck I'd ever taken off pawpaws farm. Well my son and I continued to go every weekend with not a lot of luck, few five points, spikes, does, and yearlings, momma had more fun plans for my daughter than sitting in a deer stand, well then Dec 17th rolls around, my wife wasn't feeling to great so my daughter said she wanted to go with us so mommy could rest that morning, I set an alarm for 330, my son comes in and wakes me up at 230 the way kids do with his face 2 inches from mine, scared the mess out of me, "daddy daddy you ready to go hunting?" I mumble in my dead asleep brain, "yeah buddy what time is it?" "About 4" "WHAT!?!?" as I jump up and throw all the cover off the bed only to see its 230, well we were up then, let my daughter sleep til 330, then we make our drive back over and I really don't have high hopes for anything once the drive starts there's deer everywhere, usually if we see a lot on the drive over the mornings are just dead for us. We get there get, make our loud walk in full of giggles and whispers and excitement the way 2 kiddos can get, he's thrilled his sister went because after her first hunt he just knows shes the goodluck charm, he'd lobbied her to go everytime since nov 12th and she had other plans, get up in the stand, get settled, then right at 7 they are both thirsty, why straw plastic on juice boxes have to be so loud idk but I got them their drinks and was fiddling with that straw plastic trying to get it in my back pack, being so loud I'm thinking Lord please let these babies see some deer, and look up and a good size buck is destroying a scrape, I whisper deer and ease my rifle up, I say it's the other 11, and squeeze off the shot, he plows the ground and heads into the woods. We go ballistic, my sons going, "omg omg omg daddy daddy sissy is the goodluck charm, nobody goes twice in their life and gets 2 11 points, she's going with us every time, daddy sissy is awesuuuuuummm!!!" The first deer hit thick vines and briars and I didnt really let them help track, this deer ran into some plantation grass and they really got into the tracking, rotating back and forth with one staying at last blood and the other searching (wasn't a hard track at all but I let them have fun with it) well we get to him and I knew he was good but never in my life expected he was better than the other, he was another 11, 177lbs, and taped out at 140 and 6/8ths. Took me a minute to collect myself another personal best buck of my grandfathers farm 35 days later and darn near to the minute of the other buck, with an 8 & 7 year old in the stand, words can't express being able to share those moments with my kids, never in my wildest dreams did I expect either hunt to go the way they did. As I type this I still can't believe those events happened the way they did.

 

[Spotlite]

Couple freezer does for me. My son killed a doe and a good 8 point.

Saw a good bit of deer but not many good bucks. Trail cam said they’re there, though.

I missed our rut due to having the flu so who knows what came through. They’ll be good ones next year.

 

[uturn]

Great to hear of all the milestones and best ever seasons…congratulations to everyone!

This season has been different for me…closed my business down and took a position with a another firm…1st time in my adult life that my name is not on the top and bottom of the check..1st time I took a real or paid by someone else vacation

Least amount of time on stand in 20 yrs but, I did stick an arrow in a pretty fine 8…on my 1st sit 2 months into the season.

Different season of life for me…congratulations again everyone!!

 

[Mexican Squealer]

Haven’t hunted GA this season but SC continues to be awesome. Definitely seeing our management plan working on my farm and looking forward to moving towards the same goals on our leases.