Summer 2024
By Ben Baker
An Irwin County whitetail buck is the 2023-24 season’s biggest non-typical kill for Georgia.
A nontypical deer means the rack is not symmetrical. This buck had 17 points, an uneven number, and one tine was also broken. Two of the main antlers also had “kicker” tines coming off the side.
Josh Grantham with the rack of his 17-pointer at the Georgia Outdoor Writers Association Awards Banquet in Milledgeville. Photo by Jimmy Jacobs
The 17-point buck killed in eastern Irwin County near Wray was taken by Josh Grantham, a farmer who lives near Willacoochee. He leases land in Irwin County. He took the buck, which is the biggest on modern record for Irwin County on Nov. 10.
Grantham started that morning taking down trail cameras in preparation to head to Texas to hunt. For whatever reason, he decided to get in a stand. Around 8 a.m. that morning, the buck stepped out at 200 yards.
The hunter’s shot was a hit, but the deer ran off, which is usual. Out of the stand, Grantham went and looked for blood to trail and track the deer. He did not find any. Matt McCallum from Fitzgerald and his tracking dog found the deer about 100 yards away piled up in broom straw.
Grantham shot the buck with a 7mm Magnum, which will generally shoot through a whitetail’s shoulders. This time, the bullet stopped just under the hide of the far side shoulder, which is why they did not find a blood trail.
“He turned and went the opposite way we thought,” Grantham added.
The Texas trip? It happened. Grantham and hunting buddies left that night. “It was hard to tell my wife I was going on a hunting trip after I got that deer. She didn’t understand. The trip was paid for,” he said.
He got an Axis deer in Texas.
Ben Baker is the Executive Editor of B&H Publications, including the Wiregrass Farmer Newspaper in Ashburn. He also is a member of the Georgia Outdoor Writers Association. Ben can be contacted at redneckgenius@gmail.com.