Best Georgia Counties For Trophy Bucks 2024
Bacon County’s Big Buck Production Score has been on the rise. T.J. Taylor, of Alma, contributed to that increase with his 10-point buck killed last season that netted 146 4/8.
A joy and highlight of deer hunting is the anticipation. Each sit, you just never know what might walk under your stand. And yes, while most of us hunt primarily to fill the freezer, even for meat hunters the sight of a big-racked buck ghosting through the woods gets the juices flowing like few things.
While any county can throw out a buck that stirs the adrenal glands, not all counties are created equal. GON’s vast database of officially measured bucks and our formula to tally Big Buck Production scores provides a measuring stick. The Big Buck Production scores are based on real and reliable data.
The pocket of counties in south-central Georgia remains big-buck central—with Worth, Lee, Tift and Dougherty counties standing all as Georgia’s best trophy buck counties. The suburban giants taken by bowhunters around Atlanta keep Fulton County close behind at No. 5.
Counties rankings six through 10 are the perennial powerhouses—Macon, Dooly, Harris, Meriwether, Pulaski and Sumter.
The number of top-tier counties with scores above 100 is 15 this year, up from 14 last year. Gwinnett County is the new top-tier addiction after its score jumped almost 34% to join the premier counties highlighted in red on the map. Also in red again this year are Turner, Morgan and Colquitt.
Two years ago there were 13 counties in red on the map.
Fluctuations in scores and statewide rankings occur because our system only looks at official scores of bucks killed during the past 10 years. A county’s big-buck score will drop from one year to the next if there are more bucks from 11 years ago falling out of the equation than new bucks being added.
Charts above compare last year’s scores with the recently tabulated 2024 scores to see which counties are moving up the most and which counties saw the biggest percentage declines from year to year. Of note on the moving-up chart is Franklin County in northeast Georgia. Last year, bordering Madison and Stephens counties saw significant bumps in their scores.
Our system also factors the size of a county into the equation. We get a raw score based on officially scored bucks in the past 10 years. Then a county’s score goes up or down based on a county’s size compared to the average size of Georgia’s 159 counties.
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This data and number crunching is possible because GON compiles a huge database of Georgia bucks measured by certified scorers. It’s available online at gon.com/georgia-deer-records. Please submit your official score sheet. And for info on getting a rack measured, go to gon.com/hunting/get-your-deer-rack-measured or call GON at 800.438.4663.
Franklin County’s score has been going up after several good bucks were taken in recent seasons, including Jeff Grizzle’s 10-pointer from 2022 that netted 145 5/8.
No hindsight ip unit displayed.
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