Man I've seen some pics of some nice deer being killed over there already.......Must be nice.

GA has some underrated deer IMO.

Guy I know killed a nice one on the opener Saturday and sent me another pic of a good one today, said he saw 15 deer , 8 bucks the first day, that's 3 years worth for me here in Ms.

There’s some great deer in GA.

They got better genetics than we do........

You on call for tracking in west GA?

I could be if someone needed me but I havent actively tried to advertise over there

They were restocked with some of the same subspecies as Bankhead.

I'm thinking that the truth lays more in the fact that they have managed their herd better and have a much better age structure than we do. GA has had an antler restricted, two buck limit in place since 2002. One of those two bucks must have at least 4 points on one side. 7 GA counties, require that any buck harvested must have a minimum spread of 15". In fact, If I am not mistaken, the buck limit has always been 2 per season in GA. I know that prior to 2000, you were allowed only 5 deer in total, per season, and only 2 of which could be bucks.

Here in AL, we've only had a buck limit for around 15 yrs and ours is still currently 50% more lenient, quantity wise, than Georgia's. Prior to that it was one buck per day from Oct 15 through Jan 31. That would equate to a 118 buck season limit plus whatever quantity of does you wanted to shoot. At one point it was 2 per day so that would equal a 354 deer per season limit at that time. We currently have the exceptionally restrictive harvest limit of 118 total deer per season.

Pretty sure the regs are why GA is producing better bucks on average than Bama. Age Age Age Age which every state but Bama accomplishes through forced trigger restraint, be it shorter seasons, or lower limits.

They got them Wisconsin genes........

GA deer hunting has become very good in the past few years. Had a 140” 9 point killed off our property last year. Have some nice deer on camera this year too. Nice to hunt an area where it’s not brown it’s down.

Ga stocked a lot more places with Northern deer than Al did and it shows.

Definitely more northern genetics than Alabama, but it is heavily diluted with average NC mountain genetics, and poor GA coastal barrier island genetics. There is also debate as to how many of those restocked Wisconsin deer actually survived and out-competed the Southern deer. Georgia has a better age structure than Alabama, and row crop agriculture in South GA on a scale that Alabama simply doesn't have. Most of the best soil in Alabama now has pine trees or cattle pasture on it.

Bankhead in Alabama is a true anomaly due to there being virtually zero native deer in the forest when it was restocked, and the restocking being done with only Michigan deer. So even if those restocked Michigan deer struggled to adapt at first, there was nothing else there to compete with them. Almost everywhere in GA got a blend of northern and southern deer and I would bet you the Southern genetic traits eventually won.

Matt dont they mostly have a similar Nov rut as well

There's something to this. There was a restock in our area back in the late 50's or early 60's with Wisconsin deer. Every so often you see one that somebody took and it looks like it didn't come from here. I've noticed this many times over the years and age is not the factor as the local gene pool doesn't produce the antlers regardless of age. I'm sure the gene pool has been diluted over the years but once in awhile it pops up. The body weight is much more for the age, the antler size much thicker and wider with great G1's, etc. I'm no biologist but I have to think there's a connection. Same herd, same ground, and it seems like they are 2 different animals.

Just like in Bama, rut in GA is totally dependent on what county and where in the state you're hunting. Early (Nov) in some counties, Dec in others, late January in others.

I believe its certain doe lineages giving birth to male offspring with better genetic potential……Then sometimes that genetic potential overlaps with great resources....a little age......and bada boom bada bing…….

Where in the state was you ever allowed to kill 3 deer per day?

One buck and two does a day with the DMAP.

I remember 30 years ago when you weren't allowed to kill a doe in this county. Then in about 5 years time it went to 1 buck and 2 does a day. Talk about overcorrecting.