The Lee Family Tradition
By Ken Cook, Special to BLAZe magazine from Outdoors with Ken Cook
A
n outdoor writer never really
knows for sure
what will greet
him at the end of a dirt
road, but in this case,
White Tail road led me
through densely planted
pines and green food
plots to the lovely home
of Loretta and geoffrey
Lee. The couple and
their two sons, Bryce,
11, and gage, 7, live
near nicholls, georgia
in Coffee County.
The Lees are a closelyknit, religious family,
passionate about hunting, not only as individuals, but also as a family.
each year they travel
out-of-state in search of
big game animals and
the entire family makes
the trip. And they have
been doing it that way
since the boys were
very young. Loretta
once wrote in her diary,
“Bigger and better things
can be accomplished
when a family works
together as a team.”
Loretta grew up in a
hunting
household
where their hunting
heritage was valued and
protected. As a youngster, Loretta went on
deer and hog hunts with her father and
his pack of dogs. geoffrey’s family did
not hunt but friends introduced him to
hunting deer and turkey.
a bear, hog, and two turkey gobblers.
gage, no doubt, will not be far behind.
“Sharing the shot” is also something
practiced by the Lees. if one of the family
members took a bear on their last trip,
another is given “first dibs” when a bear
Their shared love of hunting likely drew
is spotted on current trip.
Loretta and geoffrey closer during their
engagement. On the morning of their
Loretta Lee has taken a remarkable numwedding day in 1997, geoffrey and
ber of game animals on their annual
Loretta went deer hunting.
hunts. Here is a list:
•
Corsican ram in the gila mountains
One of the great things hunting families
of new mexico in 2014.
do is pass the heritage down to their
mountain Lion in utah in 2009.
children. Bryce, at 11, has already killed •
Accept No Limits | outdoorwomenunlimited.org
• Black Bear in Canada
in 2000 and a second in
2013.
• Javelina in Texas in
2001.
• White-Tailed Deer in
pennsylvania in 2005
and 2006. measurements
were 164 and 159.
• Alligator in georgia
in 2004, 2008, and 2012.
Largest was 12’6” and is
listed in the SCi record
Book.
• Feral Hog in georgia,
numerous; one with 4”
cutters.
planning the annual
hunting trip falls on
geoffrey’s shoulders and
he is apparently very
good at identifying the
best locations for certain species, vetting outfitters, and provisioning
the firearms. geoffrey’s
rifles are custom-made
by champion shooter
and gun maker John
Whidden of nashville,
georgia. not only are
Whidden’s rifles works
of art but both Lees have
made 1000 yard shots
with one of them.
in a family so unified
by their values and love
of hunting, you would
think there was no room for philosophical differences. But geoffrey admits, “i
like to hunt animals that fight back--like
hogs, gators and bear; and Loretta likes
to pursue record book animals.”
geoffrey is already thinking about the
2014 family hunt and he says, “We’ll
probably go back to new mexico for a
bear/mountain lion combo; maybe for a
Coues deer.” Whatever the destination,
you can bet it will be another memorymaker in the Lee family tradition.
Spring/Summer 2014 | BLAZE | 23