Even more important, the giant deer is now Georgia’s new No. 1 non-typical whitetail taken by bow and arrow, topping the state’s previous record of 185 7/8 P&Y taken in Jones County during the 1973 season -- by over 27 points, in fact!

However, this story has yet another quite remarkable twist. Amazingly, 62 days before Maxwell took his giant state-record non-typical, bowhunter Brian Stephens of Cumming arrowed a huge 16-point non-typical in neighboring Forsyth County. That buck’s final score of 186 7/8 P&Y also topped the old record. Granted, 62 days may be a short period of time to hold a state-record title, but that still exceeds the expectations of most hunters. And a No. 2 state ranking isn’t exactly the worst thing in the world.

Editor’s Note: Photos and the full story of Brian Stephens’ short-lived state record will appear in the October 2008 edition of Georgia Sportsman.)

In April, Jay Maxwell attended the annual Georgia Outdoor Writers Association’s awards banquet at George T. Bagby State Park in Fort Gaines, and was presented a plaque and certificate for taking the best non-typical whitetail in the Archery Division of the Georgia Big Deer Contest for 2007. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Georgia Sportsman, and the Georgia Outdoor Writers Associa-tion are joint sponsors of the competition.

Last year’s two record-breaking non-typical whitetails represent an amazing streak of big bucks taken over the last few years by Atlanta-area bowhunters. A year earlier, Bob Coombs of Roswell used a crossbow to take a giant non-typical buck in Fulton County. That whitetail, which scored 182, ranked as Georgia’s top non-typical of 2006, and now stands as Georgia’s record whitetail taken by crossbow.

During the 2004 season Taylor McCann dropped a monster 16-point non-typical, scoring 174 7/8 P&Y, while hunting DeKalb County. Chuck Birchfield of Dallas arrowed a super impressive Fulton County 10-point typical that same year that scored 151 3/8 P&Y.

Considering the facts that a healthy whitetail population continues to roam the suburbs of Atlanta, and that firearms hunting is not allowed within the metro area, local bowhunters should continue to see plenty of big older-age-class bucks. Georgia’s current archery records will be hard to top -- but if they are surpassed, odds are good that the buck that does it will come from the Atlanta area.