Man Killed Over Cow Argument

UPDATE: Our original story posted below didn’t fully report the story and exaggerated some points. It is never our intent to be inaccurate but we do make mistakes and as you will see in the comments below we were called out on it. As such I’ve updated our account below to try to correct any liberties we took, assumptions we may have made, etc.

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Harris County, Georgia – A dispute with his sister over a cow left one man dead.

“This is not your typical shooting that you see in Columbus like in a bar or a ride by or a burglary gone astray,” Harris County Sheriff Mike Jolley told First News in an interview about the 10th homicide in the rural county in the last decade.

According to Sheriff Jolley, 60-year-old George Bickerstaff, a descendant of the Bickerstaff Brick Empire in Russell County, was in an argument about a cow that kept getting past a fence and into the garden.

The altercation soon escalated to gunfire after Bickerstaff fired a shot at a home situated next to his sister’s on Hamilton Mulberry Grove Rd.

“George Bickerstaff discharged a firearm and subsequently after that his sister’s boyfriend exited a vehicle that she had been in and shot Mr. Bickerstaff in the head,” Sheriff Jolley said.

Bickerstaff, known as “Bick” around the small community, was taken to Piedmont Columbus Regional Hospital where he died Sunday morning.

His body was picked up by Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s for autopsy.

Charges have yet to be filed by the Sheriff’s office and Jolley says he may turn the case over to a Grand Jury to see if criminal charges against the sister’s boyfriend are warranted in the case.

“There’s not much we can say other than the fact that it was a family disagreement that went bad,” Jolley said. “It was a tragedy. At this point, we’re not sure how it’s going to pan out.”


We don’t know exactly what caused this situation to take a deadly turn but if you have a hard time keeping your ego in check and are prone to rash decisions, perhaps owning a gun is not for you. Carry a stress ball instead, it may save your life.

What do you do to de-escalate a situation? Leave a comment below to let me know.

This isn’t even the weirdest thing that’s happened in Georgia this month. Read here about a father who strangled a rabid fox with his bare hands after it went after his daughter.

11 Comments

  1. Jude Dodds on July 23, 2019 at 7:54 pm
  2. Jude on August 22, 2019 at 11:36 pm

    Like to know where you read that he shot at a residence. Straight up wrong in the first sentence.

  3. Jude on August 22, 2019 at 11:46 pm

    1. “…after he fired a shot at a residence.”
    2. “… altercation soon exploded into gunfire…”
    3. “..enraged Bickerstaff fired a shot”
    4. “…at a home located near his sister’s…”

    All wrong. Reread your original source. Better yet, quote your original source.

    I promise you there was no one more in your corner, more pro-responsible gun ownership than Mr Bickerstaff. No one. The fact that you take original source material and stretch the truth to sensationalized it infuriates me to no end. The original source states that shots were fired “…in an unspecified direction.” The only ones who know are either the perpetrators or are dead. And thank you for taking a terrible situation and skewing it to use as click bait. Classy.

    Next time, stick to the facts. Maybe just copy/paste.

    • Jacob Paulsen on August 28, 2019 at 9:41 am

      Jude thank you for calling us out on this. We have updated the article. Removed the creative liberties that we must have taken. It is never our intent to be inaccurate but sometimes we do make mistakes. Thanks again.

      • Jude on October 19, 2019 at 9:07 am

        Thank you.

  4. Vicky on August 27, 2019 at 11:12 pm

    There is much more to this story than a disagreement over cows. As usual the media loves to make ignorant statements as such. Further investigation is warranted b/c the deceased in this case is very much the victim. He wasn’t shot b/c of cows this just so happened to add fuel to an already existing feud between them. He had very much respect for firearms & wasn’t trying to shoot anyone just simply getting his point across. If he aimed to shoot anyone he wouldn’t have missed. He was distracted by argument with his sister giving so called sisters bf the perfect opportunity to take aim & shoot him in the head. Head shot is kill shot! If they feared for their lives whatsoever WHY was she outside the vehicle making herself a perfect target to be shot!!! This was not justifiable homicide at all. That is a bunch of BS! This man had too much to live for to end up in prison for shooting his sister or her bf. He was not some low class person who would chance the possibility of losing his life over COWS. I’ve known him along time & this case DEFINITELY needs further investigation & bf needs to go to prison for murder.

    • Jude on October 19, 2019 at 9:11 am

      Bic wasn’t trying to get his point across…he shot his gun across the lake in the OTHER direction BEFORE HIS SISTER AND BOYFRIEND DRIVE UP AND KILLED HIM. They came to his house and killed him. Fact.

    • Jude on October 19, 2019 at 9:13 am

      All true, Vicky.

    • Jude on October 19, 2019 at 9:31 am

      I had an inaccuracy in the last comment Mr Bickerstaff shooting across the lake – he did shot a couple across the lake away from his distress house, and then did pout of warning shots, but he was an incredible shot. He could not anything up to 1000 ft. If he was aiming at his sister, her truck or anything else while she was driving into his drive way, which was only 200′, he would have hit his mark. I promise that is true. But they did drive to HIS house, to his door, and shot him. Who is the aggressor then? Concealed Carry should, of all people, understand who the aggressor was on this case

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