The Oglethorpe Echo
Volume 152, Number 1 October 2, 2025 ■ Oglethorpe County, Georgia $1
From Dawgs to hogs
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Smithonia's Ryne Rankin, owner and operator of Boars N' Broads, shows a 391.6-pound feral hog that he helped kill
in the eastern part of Oglethorpe County on Sept. 1. Boars N' Broads uses dogs to hunt and harvest feral pigs.
5.
blns
Former UGA football player builds business bagging feral pigs
By Jacob Harper
The Oglethorpe Echo
Ryne Rankin said he knew the hunt
that day was going to be one for the
books, and he was right. He and his
team took down a 391.6-pound hog be
tween Lexington and Rayle on Sept. 1.
Business partner Carter Shultz said
the size of the hog was impressive, but
catching any size feral pig is just as riv
eting.
“It is always awesome to catch a hog
like that,” he said. “Everybody talks
about catching the true giant, and it’s
nice to have something to show for it.
But honestly, I’m just as happy when
our dogs do the hard work to find even
a 100-pounder.”
This wasn’t a one-time event for
Rankin. He’s made a business hunting
feral pigs.
Rankin, who lives in Smithonia,
started his hog-hunting business, Boars
N’ Broads, during the pandemic.
In 2020, Rankin built a team of hunt
ers who specialize in hunting and cap
turing wild hogs. Along with Rankin,
660lb/300kg
SUBMITTED PHOTO
A scale shows the final weight of the
hog that the Boars N‘ Broads team
took down on Sept. 1.
the Boar’s N’ Broads team includes
Dave Williams, Daniel Bradberry,
Trae Lovin, Hunter Haynes and Hunt
er Bright.
He has also crafted a social me
dia presence that highlights Boars N’
Broads online. The platform has grown
exponentially across social media chan
nels, including TikTok and Instagram.
“At first, it started as a joke,” Rankin
said. “We were just posting videos to
OCHS grad
rate above
state level
Staff Report
Oglethorpe County High School’s graduation rate
for the class of 2025 was 91.7%, lower than last year’s
95.5%, but the most recent class included students at
the Foothills Regional High School, which is for stu
dents who are at-risk of dropping out of a traditional
high school.
“We were a little nervous, as for the first time this
past year, students who attended Foothills counted for us
based on the new law that passed,” Superintendent Bev
erley Levine wrote
in an email to the
Board of Education
and provided to The
Oglethorpe Echo.
“In the past, students
who enrolled in the
Foothills program
were withdrawn and
became full-time
Foothills students.”
Oglethorpe Coun ¬
AREA RATES
■ Oconee: 99.7%
■ Madison: 93.9%
■ Oglethorpe: 91.7%
■ Greene: 88.8%
■ Wilkes: 87.1%
■ Elbert: 86.5%
■ Clarke: 81.9%
Hunting HOGS
To learn more about Boars N‘
Broads, go to boarsnbroads.
com, or follow them on Insta
gram (@boarsnbroads), Face-
book (Boars N‘ Broads) and on
TikTok (@boarsnbroadsxi).
make people laugh. Then it took off.”
Boars N’ Broads has amassed more
than 150,000 followers on Facebook,
55,000 followers on Instagram and
10,000 followers on TikTok. The team
has even built a merchandise line, oper
ated hunts with brand sponsorships and
travels all over the country, all for the
thrill of the hunt.
Rankin said the hunting strategy re
lies on two types of hunting dogs.
“You hear what we call the bay dogs
light up first,” Rankin said. “Then you
send in the catch dogs, usually pit bulls
or mixes, and that’s when you know
that it is time.”
See HOGS, Page 2
County budget on agenda for commission meeting
County budget rises each year
The overall Oglethorpe County budget has increased 32% from
2020 to 2025
10 2M
9.6M
2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
7.9M
7.8M_
Chart The Oglethorpe Echo • So
Datawrapper
By Sophia Eppley
The Oglethorpe Echo
Oglethorpe County usually allocates the
majority of its budget to public safety, specif
ically to the Sheriff’s Office, jail and emer
gency medical services (EMS).
The FY26 budget, which is being final
ized and will be on the agenda for the Board
of Commissioners at their Oct. 6 meeting (6
p.m.), follows the same pattern.
The 2026 budget is projected to increase
about 9% from FY25’s $10.22 million bud
get, county administrator Jason Lewis said,
which would mean approximately $11.14
million.
The commission also plans to move the
millage rate to the rollback rate at the meeting,
Commission Chair Jay Paul said.
Since 2020, the Sheriff’s Office, jail and
EMS have accounted for more than a third
of the county’s total expenditures in the an
nual budget. In 2022, funding for these pub
lic safety areas increased, making up 45% of
the budget.
“Around 70% of each department’s bud
get is spent directly on the employee,” Lew
is said. “It’s largely influenced by the amount
of employees that the department has.”
Public safety tends to get the most money
because it has the most employees and is al
ways open. Public works was the fifth-high-
est funded department in 2025, behind the
Sheriff’s Office, EMS, the jail and the com
missioner’s office.
“Any of your emergency services, if you
think about it, they’re 24/7 (and) 365,” Paul
See BUDGET, Page 2
Index
News 2,3,5,6,7
Obituaries 3
Opinion 4
Classifieds 9
Calendar 10
Legals 11,12
Sheriff's Report 12
Sports 13,14
Classic
RIDE
David Lowe's 1965 Fo
Mustang named
'Little Blue" was one
of many vehicles at
the Firefly Cruise-
in in Lexington on
Sunday.
... Page 6
ty’s graduation rate remained higher than the state av
erage of 87.2%, an increase from the prior year, when
it was 85.4%, according to data released by the Geor
gia Department of Education on Monday.
The state’s graduation rate has increased by 19.8
percentage points since 2011.
“We are very pleased with our graduation rate,”
Levine wrote in an email. “We are particularly proud
of our five-year grad rate, which is 96%. This means
students are persevering and willing to stay to get then-
high school diploma.”
Among neighboring counties, Elbert’s gradua
tion rate was 86.5%, Greene was 88.8%, Wilkes was
87.1%, Clarke was 81.9%, Oconee was 99.7% and
Madison was 93.9%.
This year’s percentage for OCHS was based on 154
graduating students out of a class of 168.
“We attribute the strong graduation rates to a sys
tem-wide approach that begins in pre-kindergarten,”
Levine wrote.
GOING ALL OUT
EMMA PETERSON/THE OGLETHORPE ECHO
Oglethorpe County cheerleaders Lili Holt
(left) and Nevaeh Calhoun show their
exuberance with a high-flying chest bump
before the Patriots' football game against
Athens Academy last Friday night. Unfortu
nately for OCHS, the Spartans knocked off
the Patriots 43-21, sending them to their
third consecutive loss. The OCHS football
team is off this week and will host Rabun
County on Oct. 10.
— For more sports, see Pages 13-14
To start your subscription or to donate to The Oglethorpe Echo, see Page 2
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