Adventures in Alabama!

[CouesWhitetail]

 

 

Well, the guy that makes the CouesWhitetail.com stickers for me is from Alabama (he goes by the name Bubba --- yes, I really did go hunting in Alabama with a guy named Bubba!) and goes back there for two weeks every year to hunt deer. He invited me along and so I got to experience what it's like hunting there. I wasn't sure I would like it since it's not glassable country...it's pretty much all thick forest where you either still hunt or stand hunt and you can generally only see 50 yards or so.

 

But I really enjoyed it. The forest is predominantly planted pines with hardwood bottoms. The deer seemed to bed in the pines and feed in the hardwoods. I couldn't believe how many deer there are out there. You couldn't take a step without seeing deer tracks, rubs and scrapes. We got there around New Years and it was pre-rut with lots of activity at scrapes. The second week we were there the bucks were chasing does. So, like our Coues, these deer seem to rut in late Dec and January. I was surprised too how small these deer were. They were larger than coues, but not that much larger. I was able to pack out the boned-out meat in my pack without much trouble. But then I didn't shoot a really big buck either....

 

The deer season in Alabama is a few months long and you can shoot two deer a day! Those can be two does, or one doe and one buck. Up to three bucks a season, but pretty much unlimited on does. The hunters out there told me the insurance companies have put a lot of pressure on the game and fish to reduce the deer population in order to reduce collisions with autos. The hunters also told me the deer population is nothing compared to what it used to be so I guess the intended reduction is working.

 

I ended up shooting three deer and a hog. One deer I snuck up on and shot at 15 yards. Another I was sitting on the ground tucked in some brush and shot her at about 30-40 yards. And then the third deer was a buck that I shot from a ladder stand at about 250 yards (it was a regenerating clear cut so you could see pretty far).

 

I am not so much into treestands so I spent alot of time still hunting or sitting on the ground waiting for the deer to come by. When I got too cold or bored, I would go for a walk to warm up or to hunt another spot. The views were almost always limited to small sections of the forest, so of course I set up in places where deer trails merged or there was a rub line or something like that.

 

 

 

I took a couple days off from deer hunting to pursue a hog. One of the local guys out there was kind enough to take me to some private property that he knew had hogs. We spent one day walking all over looking for sign. Hogs do a ton of digging up of plants and can leave some big turned up areas. They also wallow in mud and then rub on trees. I thought this sign was pretty amusing. They essentially are painting the trees with red mud!

here are some pics:

 

 

That evening we caught up to the hogs but there were in such thick stuff we didn't get a shot and eventually they smelled us and moved off. On a different day we had just a short time to find them and started near that same area we had heard them before. We walked the creek bottom until we saw them grazing out in a field adjacent to the hardwoods. Snuck up and shot one at less than 100 yards. It was a young boar and he weighed maybe 130-150 lbs. The meat is supposed to be excellent, so I am eager to try this!

 

 

 

 

There were deer rubs and scrapes all over the place. Here are some pics of some of the largest.

 

 

 

this rub was on a fairly large magnolia tree and if you zoom in you can see tine marks about 5 inches above the main rub.

 

I very much enjoyed all the southern food and great hospitality while I was out there. Fried chicken, fried okra, collared greens, biscuits and gravy, boiled peanuts, etc. All great and interesting food. I made a new hunting buddy out there in AL and he invited me for dinner at a couple family gatherings and we enjoyed some great venison backstrap and all kinds of excellent food. What a treat.

 

I was invited to stay with Bubba's dad at their nice house in Eufaula. It was a nice luxury to get to take a hot shower and sleep in a warm bed every night since the temps were sometimes 18-20 degrees at night.

 

Eufuala is a beautiful town and they have some amazing mansions there. here is one that I drove by everyday on the way to the hunt area.

 

 

And here are some deer pics.

 

a doe I shot:

 

 

and a buck I shot:

 

 

and here is one of the bucks Bubba got, it had some nice mass to it:

 

 

 

I had a blast on this trip! The hunting was excellent, the hospitality outstanding and it was just fun to try something very different. I enjoyed hearing and seeing all the different birds they have out there. They also had different critters like opossum and armadillos out there. I am hoping to get back there to turkey hunt this spring. Saw lots of turkeys while I was there, but mostly hens and young ones. Many thanks to Bubba, Bill, Sandi, Jeff, Bobbie, Tom, Denise and others for making my trip so successful! You all were so welcoming that it made my trip that much more enjoyable. Thank you.

[C.Shoemaker]

Sounds like a great trip. A ton of meat to haul home!

[CouesWhitetail]

Sounds like a great trip. A ton of meat to haul home!

 

 

Exactly! That's what the point of the trip was, to load up on meat for the freezer. Alabama whitetail is quite tasty and I can't wait to try the hog.

 

My buddy (Bubba) let me fly back since he wanted to stay some extra time, but he is hauling all the meat back in the coolers we brought out there with us. I think he got six or more deer and he shot a couple more back in Nov. So that boy has a couple freezers full now!

[Outdoor Writer]

Lots of deer there, huh Amanda?

 

I hunted there several times at the annual Buckmaster's Classic. We were at the about Southern Sportsman Lodge, which is between Selma and Mongomery, quite a bit west and north of where you were. The area is known as the "Black Belt."

 

Like you, I hate hunting from stands or even just sitting somewhere. Thus, I did mostly still hunting, even in the thicker stuff.

 

This photo with the late Jim Varney -- Earnest, "you know what I mean Vern" -- is one of the bucks I killed there over the years.

 

[Browning'sCustomMeat]

Great write up Amanda! Sounds like an excellent time and plenty of action. Were all the animals taken with your rifle?

 

 

@ Tony, that is awesome!

[CouesWhitetail]

yes, all with my .270. I almost brought my bow too, maybe next time. This time I wanted to make sure I took home a lot of meat, so rifle was the best for that. I was shooting the same bullet I use on Coues...130 grain hornady SST. I gotta say, I LOVE that bullet. It is so devastating that almost everything I shoot with it drops in their tracks. That buck and doe I showed above never took a step after the bullet hit. It's amazing how much shock it delivers into the animal.

[WFGinNM]

What a fun hunt, the area looks as thick as what we hunt in PA. I on the other hand I really like hunting out of a tree stand, although it took years to accept it.

 

Enjoy that whitetail,

--Bill

 

 

[Basser15]

Looks like a great trip!

[stanley]

Cool Amanda!!! Looks like an awesome experience, and it sounds like the folks treated you great out there!

 

S.

 

[Pine Donkey]

Great story. I remember years ago when we could buy leftover tags in AZ and shoot a second deer. Still far short of many of the Southeast states. I look forward to reading a post about how good the pork was.

[tjhunt2]

Glad to see you home safely. Great writeup and the woods in the pictures look really thick. Sounds like you had an awesome time. Let us know how the pork turns out.

 

TJ

[willhunt4coues]

Sounds like you had a great time Amanda. And that buck is a stud congrats on some great animals.

[bonecollector]

Looks like you had a great trip and brought home a lot of meat. Thanks for sharing your photos.

[willhunt4coues]

Amanda you have to take your bow next time. That sounds like archery heaven.

[Chef]

Great write up Amanda!

I bet all the food you got to try was amazing.

I wonder how long it will be until you lose that southern drawl.