Deer hunting in Tuscaloosa, Alabama

There is a lot of information available right in this forum if you do a few searches, and do some reading.

For the field dressing, we have done several threads on it, and some of them include links to videos. Watching a video on youtube is probably your best bet.
Buy some of the shoulder length plastic gloves, and have your knife nice and sharp before hand and you will be in good shape. We have also done a couple threads on "whats your favorite hunting knife" recently if you aren't sure what kind of knife to take. I personally like to use a fixed blade with a 3 to 4 inch drop point blade, but I have seen guys use everything from small pocket knives to box cutters.


As far as hunting public land, I can't give you any advice specific to your area, but I recommend you get as many maps of the area as you can. In ohio, the public hunting areas also include trails for hiking, horse back riding etc. in most areas, and those are very helpful for figuring out where to park, and how to get into your spot. I generally follow a marked trail to get near the area I want to hunt and then head across country and try to get away from other hunters/hikers etc.

I don't know your region but in Ohio the 1st rut will be over with before the 22nd, so I would look for feeding areas if I were you. It would help alot if you could go a week early and get familiar with the area. Try to find a spot with lots of tracks, scrapes, rubs etc. Any sign of deer frequenting the area or passing through it is a good thing. If you can get that figured out in advance you can go straight there the first morning and try to be there at dawn. If you haven't figured that out ahead of time, you aren't skunked by any means but you will have to do some hiking in the morning and hope to stumble into something, or find a spot to set up for the afternoon/evening.

Here is a link to all the Management areas. I grew up in Alabama and lived there until 1985.
My favorite management areas were Hollins, Oakmulgee and Scotch. I killed a good many on Oakmulgee, my best was a 190 lb 8 pt. Good luck.

http://www.outdooralabama.com/wildlife-management-areas

Only in management areas will you need the corresponding management area license. On National Forest lands only, it is not necessary.

If you're in Tuscaloosa, you NEED HELP !!!
But help is available at the Partlowe State Mental hospital... just across the street from the U of A....!!!

(sorry, it's Auburn/Alabama week and I'm an Auburn grad ....WAR EAGLE!)

There's about 3/4million acres on the Talladega National forest, and a fair amount of it isn't in Management areas. You'll have to get some good maps so you'll know where the boundrys are. I grew up hunting between Talladega up to as far as Borden Springs. A lot more of it is in WMA now than back in the '70's when I lived there. Check with one of the NFS offices for maps and additional information. A Delorme "Gazzeter" map book is a good start. They used to be sold at Walmart, but I haven't noticed any lately.

However, the western track is better for deer. Lots' of turkey and squirrels in the eastern tract but few deer. Like another poster mentioned, Hollins (south end of eastern tract) is better for deer, and Oakmulgee is better yet.

Check with Alabama Power and U.S.Army Corp of Eng. There is a lot of public land available for hunting in Alabama.

I have hunted Fort Rucker and Fort Benning with luck. You may check about hunting military land in the Huntsville area?

Don't know if it is the same now as when I lived there, but there is a lot of paper company land interspersed with the national forest land that could be hunted for a $25 permit fee. I always hunted in the Centerville, Moundville area, IIRC there was some very good public ground on the Sipsey river area, just north of Tuscaloosa/ Northport. Good luck, and if you hunt the national forest, use a GPS or a compass and trust what it says, not what you think.
STW
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