Typical; non-typical: not particularly significant terms to those outside the society of deer hunters. But to those steeped in the lore and legend of the sport, just to name the two categories is to conjure up highly specific visions of mammoth bucks and the woodsmen and outdoorswomen who took them.

Last month we detailed the exploits of deerslayers who killed some of Georgia's top typicals of 2005; this month, we survey some of the year's most arresting non-typicals

BANKS FARM: FATHER AND SONS -- AND DEER
During the 1990s, those personally acquainted with Lamar Banks were aware of the intensive deer management program being implemented on his family's Morgan County farm. The rest of the state was to be dramatically introduced to the phenomenon of Banks Farm during the fall of 2001, when Lamar's son Jeff took the season's top typical whitetail, a behemoth of a 16-pointer that, grossing 189 2/8, ultimately netted a Boone and Crockett typical score of 172 3/8.

Jeff was quick to point out that the taking of the giant resulted from years of hard work by a lot of people -- that, in many ways, the trophy belonged to everyone on the farm.

Since that time, management activity on the approximately 3,000 acres of owned and leased land has continued unabated. Now, about 100 acres' worth of food plots is dispersed throughout the predominantly oak-timbered woodland.

Since graduating from college several years ago, Jeff has been intimately involved with developing the farm's food plots, concerning himself with not only the location of the openings but also the specific plant species to be used. Experiments with various seed combinations revealed that the best all-around choice for winter and spring was a mixture of oats and yucchi (arrowleaf) clover succeeded in summer by iron-clay cowpeas; that remains the predominant primary planting mix. Soybeans are also used, and where soil and moisture conditions permit, small plots of alfalfa too are set out.

A lack of row-crop agriculture on the farm has made it necessary to perform supplemental feeding between the end of hunting season and late summer. The feed is provided in covered holding troughs scattered around the property. In regard to the specific type of feed used, Jeff has experimented with a number of different formulations varying from a traditional goat-feed mix to several molasses-based mixtures.

"Obviously, we want something that is high in protein," Jeff said, "but the most important thing is whether or not deer will eat it. We have tried some feeds that look great on paper, but the deer simply ignore it. Currently, we are using a high-protein dried pellet that deer apparently find to be extremely palatable.

"A secondary reason for supplemental feeding is it helps take the pressure off of our summer food plots, especially during the period immediately after they are planted. For example, iron-clay peas can withstand pretty intense browsing once the plants become established, but not when they are just beginning to grow."

Regardless of the target species -- deer, or something else -- some hunters are going to be skeptics when it comes to any type of management program. However, anybody who thought that Jeff's 2001 record-book buck was a one-time fluke might want to consider what Banks Farm turned out during the 2005 season.