2004-2005 News Archives

     The 2005 spring turkey season ended in a disappointing but fitting manner---stormy. Bowseason began in the fall on the heals of a terrible hurricane and we have been plagued by dismal, wet and stormy weather all spring. Such was the weather on Saturday as well. The big line of storms rolled through Wilcox County about daybreak and a light rain persisted for much of the morning. I kept thinking I would go out for a last afternoon hunt but I never did.
      I did go back to the woods on Sunday. Though the season was over I swapped my shotgun for a camera and went back to where we had worked two gobblers on Friday morning with no luck. We had only gotten a few ground gobbles from them after their silence in the trees, however, I felt they would be in the same place and likely offer a good photo opportunity. I hauled all my gear to the location, set up a blind and several decoys and settled in to anticipate the birds covering me up in due time. After all, the season was over and it was time for them to let down their guard. I never heard from them.
       Before I left for home at mid-morning, I did one walkabout through the property and got one bird to respond. He answered about 8 times as I continued to move closer. I sat down by a tree, got one more answer from him, then never heard from him again.
        We killed only two gobblers on the property this season, the fewest in about 12 years. Certainly we do not presently have as many birds as we did, however, they really had a poor spring for gobbling. There were many mornings that one would not believe a turkey was in the area due to the silence in the woods.
        I may give it a few more tries with the camera, but it will soon be time for the ceremonious "retiring of the camo," a time to clean out the truck from a season's worth of hunting, wash and pack away all the gear for another season. I have certainly had my fill, though I hunted less mornings this season than any season in the past twelve years. The lack of action in the woods certainly dulls one's desire to give up that hour or two of sleep each morning.

       Next turkey season will be a lot different for many of us hunters who have enjoyed ample time to hunt turkeys before work each morning. The energy bill working its way through Congress and expected to be eventually passed and signed into law this summer, will move Daylight Saving Time to the first weekend in March and the last weekend in November. Therefore, we'll lose an hour of hunting that we have enjoyed the first three weeks of turkey season.
       On March 15, 2006, the birds will begin to gobble about 6:30 to 6:40 and fly down fifteen to twenty minutes later. To get to work near 8AM, I have to leave the woods by 7AM. That does not leave much time for a hunt. In my occupation I can likely arrange to be a little late some days. For those that can't, this new Daylight Saving Time might as well be called "Turkey Saving Time."

        Thanks for stopping by all season for weekly updates and thanks to all who have shared photos and stories. It has been a fun season for me, though certainly not all that productive in harvesting deer or turkeys. We had a strange year. The fall and winter were warm at times and bitter cold at others, seemingly falling in two week blocks through December and January. February was cold and dismal and the spring was much cooler than normal and a little wetter as well. We endured the aftermath of a hurricane and experienced a flooding river as well. Sometimes the hand that nature deals plays well for the hunter and at other times it plays well for the hunted. I believe the hunted was dealt a good hand this season and that can only mean one thing---there are going to be lots more deer and turkeys in the woods next season!
        Have a good summer, folks. See you back here in late September. I leave you with a parting shot of little Alexander Malone, an ace that I was dealt in February.

The big late season burst of gobbling that I was holding out for is not materializing. We are hearing a few turkeys that gobble a few times on only the best of mornings. Ground gobbles are rare. They are not responding well to our calls. Just a few days of the season remain. I'll have a big update next week to close out the updates for this season. Maybe I'll have one more successful story to tell you. Stay tuned....

     We heard a little gobbling from a few turkeys on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. The clouds of Tuesday and the fog of Wednesday put an end to their noise making. They have gobbled very little once on the ground and we have not had any success in calling them.
      I do believe old Spooky has been located, right back in the spot where I left him at the end of the season last year. On Sunday morning we witnessed a gobbler stay in the tree, gobbling, until past 7:30 AM. You may remember that I tangled with this bird for the last few weeks of last year's season. He has been known to gobble in the tree as late as 9AM.
      I still think there is a lot of gobbling remaining. Once the season closes I look forward to trying to get some pictures of them as long as they are still gobbling and fun to hunt. The end of the season is closing in on us. The weather forecast is mixed and there appear to be only a handful of good days left, at the most.

     We spent much of last week cut off from the Swamp when the backwaters of the Alabama River rose above our only access road. We finally got back to the Swamp on Friday. We heard a turkey gobble about three times on the roost and fly down in the piney woods. We worked our way around the floodwaters now draining from the Swamp at a rapid pace, yelping to the gobbler as we advanced. We sat down just in time, almost walking too close to the bird. As it turned out there were two gobblers in the group rather than just one.
      My father was in front and I was a few yards behind him. A few yelps and momentarily I was looking at the birds as they walked our way, stopping to gobble as they came. My father got an open shot at the 2nd bird and took it, downing him without a hitch at about 25 yards. The lead gobbler, the one I suspect was the dominant one and who sported a very red head, was allowed to walk away for another day's hunt. The hunt was a quick one, which is necessary on the days we must get back to work on time.
       The gobbler is the heaviest we have killed in the Swamp in a long time, tipping the scales at 21.5 pounds. I suspect he has benefited from one of the new chufa fields. He had good, sharp spurs and I would guess he was in the 4-year old range.

     Friday night I traveled to Ozark, Alabama to Judd's Lisenby's camp and the 5th Annual Wiregrass Invitational Turkey Rodeo. Twelve 2-man teams would be competing to take the best bird on lands scattered throughout the southeastern portion of Alabama. Judd's camphouse is the headquarters of the event and he was also to be my partner for the hunt.
      Saturday morning began with a heavy fog that did not burn off until 8:30AM. We were hunting a tract of land consisting of two ages of pines. The lower, bottomland area contained pine trees I would guess to be in the 20-25 year range and have just gotten their second thinning. The upper areas of the property have pines that are about 10 years old and are just beginning to shade out and provide more areas for the turkeys.
      We stopped in the edge of the younger pines and decided to wait out the fog in silence, not disturbing the birds in hopes they would begin gobbling once the fog lifted. But the morning dragged on and we heard not a single gobble. We eventually moved into the bigger pines and set up for several hours of yelping, to no avail.
       Rodeo hunters are supposed to hunt no later than 1PM on Saturday. We gave up an hour early and returned to the camp. Six birds were brought in Saturday morning including one sporting 5 beards. According to the NWTF scoring method, this turkey scored a bit over 111 non-typical points and if entered into the NWTF records would be the 7th best in Alabama in that category.

       No hunting is conducted in the afternoon during the rodeo. The afternoon is a time for cooking and socializing. Five wild turkeys were fried for lunch and later in the evening we feasted on chicken wings, ribs, and crawfish.

       Sunday morning Judd and I returned to the same place we hunted Saturday. At first light we heard three different turkeys begin to gobble and soon heard as many as two more. We moved into position and set up. All but one of the birds got quiet once on the ground. One gobbler continued to rattle the woods and we eventually decided to move closer in hopes of calling him in. For an hour he answered our every plea but would not come our way. Apparently some hens must have joined his company and he began to move away in the other direction. We set out to circle him.
        Something went wrong. We may have gotten too close. He mysteriously closed his mouth in the midst of a tirade of gobbling and we never heard from him again. As we sat a bit disgusted, discussing the events of the morning up to that point, we heard the gobble of another bird, most likely one that we originally set up on at first light. We offered some loud yelps and he answered and we quickly moved his way.
       Forty-five minutes later we were in another stand off. The bird was answering well but was not coming any closer than 100 to 125 yards from us. Judd moved back to call for a farther distance as I, silently, crawled forward. I realized that a steep ditch lined with thick briars separated us from him. Slowly, I crawled across the ditch and through a trail in the briars and finally got a glimpse of the gobbler and two hens. I decided to do a little clucking. He answered and moved a bit closer and in better view. He was 40 to 50 yards from me, pacing back in forth in full strut. There were a lot of short briars and other obstacles between us and at that range and I would not risk a shot. We continued our stand off for about 30 minutes, him never coming any closer and I never able to get a clear shot at him. Judd continued his calling and the gobbler kept responding, but he had two hens with him and a ditch and briar patch discouraging his forward advance. He finally moved off and I retreated.
        The time was now 11:15 and the hunt would end at noon. I walked back to Judd's position about the time we heard yet another gobble from the opposite direction. This other bird must have heard all of our yelping and was moving in. We sat down behind yet another small briar patch as the gobbler closed in. We heard drumming as he got closer. Judd was poised to take him if he appeared on the right side of the briars and I would shoot if he appeared on the left. We listened as he drummed nearby. After a little scratching in the leaves I saw him pop out on my side of the briars at about 20 yards. My 870 Express 12-gauge roared to life. In our 12th and final hour of the hunt we had a gobbler down.
       He was a two-year old but we were not complaining. It had been an incredible hunt even without this last encounter. This was nothing but icing on the cake.
        Back at camp there were three other birds awaiting, bringing the total to 10 gobblers taken by the 12 teams. Not a bad weekend for turkey hunting.

         The Swamp turkeys, what there is of them, are not gobbling well. Monday morning we heard nothing. We have not been back but will return the latter half of this week and through the weekend.

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     Tough birds and rising waters were the stories for the weekend. Barnett Serio from Natchez, MS joined me in the Swamp this weekend, taking part in the Wilcox Academy Benefit Turkey Hunt. Expert caller, Don Lauderdale, accompanied us as usual.
      We were fortunate to get in a good hunt Saturday morning before the high winds began to blow. We found a bird on the ground and got him to answer our yelping but he was stubborn in gobbling much on his own. He got real close at the first set-up and even closer after we repositioned. In fact, he was standing at about 50 yards behind some brush when another gobbler came within his sight. A fight ensued just out of our vision but certainly within our hearing. Both birds disappeared for the morning.
       Sunday dawned a calm and cold 37 degrees. We found likely the same bird a couple of hundred yards from where he vanished Saturday morning. This time he gobbled well on his own along with any seducing yelp we floated his way. Yet, he did not seem to move 20 yards in either direction over the course of 2 hours. We moved and tried him from another location to no avail, then moved again and he shut up. We may have gotten too close that last time and he may have seen us. What we do know is that this is one wary bird. He is likely one of the ones I butted heads with many mornings last season and possibly even the one that developed a habit last season of staying in the tree until past 9AM many mornings.
      We heard nothing else but the birds I mentioned. Though we saw lots of turkeys in the fall, our turkey numbers seem well below the recent spring seasons of the past.
      Overall the benefit hunt went very well. 27 hunters killed 8 gobblers and missed 2. There were numerous close calls. Believe it or not, 5 of the 8 birds were killed on Saturday morning and two that afternoon. Only 1 was killed on Sunday morning in the best weather we experienced. This was the first year that our hunter did not kill a turkey in the past 8 years. Our streak was finally broken.
       The river is still rising here and when it will crest remains somewhat of a mystery. The information put on the internet by the Corps of Engineers is confusing and conflicting so I would guess they have no idea either. It will be certainly be sometime this week. We have a lot of ground underwater in the Swamp. I went over this afternoon late to look around and saw lots of deer and some hogs, all pushed out of the low lands. The water had covered the access road, built up 10 feet through the Burford pasture off Highway 10. I drove through about 2 feet of water a short distance. By tomorrow, such driving would be very dangerous. More rain is coming at mid-week and that will not help the situation one bit.
      The water is already a little higher than I have seen it since 1990, but about 5 feet less than that flood.   Our property is in a large bend of the river. The floodwaters back into the property on the downstream side, but once the river reaches a certain level, it begins pouring over the upstream bank and the current begins to flow across the property. As you can guess that makes quite a mess. In 1990 we lost a shooting house to the flooding and now have even more stands in the low areas than we did. So far so good but let's hope it does not rise any higher.
       This weekend I will heading down to Ozark, Alabama to attend the 5th Annual Wiregrass Invitational Turkey Rodeo. A group of guys get together for a weekend of fun and turkey hunting. They have a lot turkeys in that area and those guys have been hearing lots of gobbling this spring. I'll let you know how it went next week.   I'll be leaving the Swamp turkeys to my Dad and hopefully he will have some luck with them.

Fog boiled up over the "25-Acre Field," now more of a pond than a field. We saw a few dozen ducks swimming around the flooded field.

Don and Barnett, with decoys in hand, are moving to our 2nd set up on Sunday morning. The gobbler wasn't far away but was not giving up any ground. Our 2nd set up did no better, but as least we tried!

Flood water rising: This is the view from Highway 10 overlooking the Burford pasture. Pasture land recently plowed for cotton growing is now under water.

About 15 years ago the road leading across the Burford Pasture and Dunn Creek was built up, about 10 feet, to allow for passage to homes on the other side during high water. We have benefited from the improvement and can now get to our property during most times of high water. But this time the water has crossed the road and is rising. In 1990, the water went about 5 to 6 feet over the road.

The access road is barely visible and Monday night will disappear from view as the water rises. Knowing where the road is I made it across for one last venture into the Swamp until the water recedes.

This is the Dunn Creek marker on the Burford property showing a level of 51 feet. I believe in 1990 the water went over the marker by about a foot.

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     Saturday morning's hunt was a keeper, one of those that will be remembered for a long time. Looking back over my years of turkey hunting there are some hunts that are forever etched into my memory and some that have somewhat faded from memory. I could not tell you the story of each bird I have killed over the years, even though the total number is only somewhere in the upper 30s. In the years to come when the turkey hunting memories come to surface, this is one morning's hunt that will surely rise to the top.
       My father had set up on a threesome of gobblers on several occasions last week and I joined him on these birds Friday morning. They gobbled well earlier in the week, then began to get silent once they hit the ground later in the week. The woods where they are roosting are very open and moving close after daylight is impossible. They have a number of hens with them and calling them away is something we were struggling to do. These birds are not two-year olds and not easily fooled by the call of an imposter.
      We hatched a plan to get to the woods a good 30 minutes earlier on Saturday, giving us time to sneak into position in the pines before daylight crept into the swamp. We successfully completed the task but when the first gobble came our efforts were all for nothing---the birds had moved.
      They didn't gobble much from the tree and quickly hit the ground in an area we could not sneak into position. We did the best we could, getting one to buzz by in full strut at about 80 yards. They soon disappeared in sight and sound.
       We decided to make a big loop around them, hoping to run into them again if they had gone the direction we thought. If not, maybe we would find another turkey to work.
        As we rounded a corner in the road, my father spotted three turkeys right in front of us at less than 50 yards. I was looking down at tracks in the road and had he not seen them and stopped us, I would have put these turkeys into flight in just a couple more seconds.
        We moved off the road and into a 14 year old pine plantation where we would hunt the rest of the morning. I yelped once and several gobblers, appearing together, answered. This was certainly the trio that evaded us earlier. They were close.
        After a few minutes in that set up we agreed that we needed to move to another spot, that the turkeys were not likely to come to where we were. So we moved, flanking the birds, and sat down for the 4th time that morning.
        I yelped and heard a turkey gobble real close. I felt certain I would see him in a minute or two. Ten minutes passed and we heard them again. They apparently were exactly where we just left from!
        They continued a migration through the pines and we decided to again make a circle around them. Certainly they were following the hens and it was going to take some doing to ever get one within range. I hoped that if we could keep up with them deep enough into the morning that maybe the hens would move on and they might become more interested in us.
        So again we go on the move. A short way into the semi-circle I heard the drum of a gobbler. I stopped immediately. Sight is limited in these woods. It is possible to catch glimpses at 40 to 50 yards in some areas but most views are limited to 30 and under, therefore, walking right up on the turkeys without being seen was possible. That is what we did. We almost ran right over them again. While still standing we saw one gobbler and then another in full strut. Luckily, due to the dense cover, we were able to sit down.
        The birds stayed in full strut the whole time for the next 10 to 15 minutes following a couple of hens but not coming any closer than about 45 yards. They soon moved off to about 75 yards and though I could still hear their distant drumming I could no longer catch glimpses of them through the woods.
        I shifted around a bit to get a little blood flowing in my legs, after sitting cramped from quite some time. A hen had slipped up to our left and saw this movement and began clucking. Thankfully she did not spook, walking toward the gobblers but not putting up too much of an alarm.
        A few crows and a hawk soon got into a disagreement nearby and the ruckus they made finally drew a round of gobbles from the trio along with the gobble of another bird off to our left. I had about given up on our prospects of shooting one of the trio this morning but when the additional gobbler entered the stage I began liking our chances of success.
       I again gave a little soft yelping and the new gobbler responded. I soon saw him moving our way, in and out of strut. A few moments later he crossed an opening in front of me at 30 yards, came half way out of strut and looked our way. I clocked him.
       He hit the ground, flopped twice and lay motionless in the pine straw. I cackled and yelped and the trio answered back from 75 yards or less. We remained seated.
        Another minute passed and my bird began flopping. My father suggested I might better go get him before he got way, if he happened to not be hit as well as needed. I stood up and began trotting toward him and suddenly I see turkeys running my way.
        I had made it over half the distance to the flopping gobbler and was now only 10 yards from the turkey. I fell the ground on my all fours looking out from around a small pine top that had fallen to the ground, just as the trio of gobblers got to the flopping bird. One by one they took turns hopping on top of the less fortunate gobbler, spurring him and blowing up right on top of him. They gobbled in unison several times. All this right in front of me. I had the best seat in the woods to witness the event.
        Now I have seen this happen lots of times but never have I witnessed it so up close and personal as this. I felt like I could have lunged at them and at least caught a feather before they either ran off or worked me over as well. I was that close.
        They were in no hurry to leave. I was between them and my father so there was no way he could have shot one. We could only watch.
        Finally they moved off into the pines and I recovered my gobbler. I was excited to see his long spurs, one measuring an inch and a quarter and the other an inch and three eights. For someone that is used to taking 2 and 3 year old birds, I was excited to get this one. This is one of the best birds I've ever killed as far as spur length and age. He weighed 18 lbs. and had a nine and a half inch beard.
       On the long walk back to the truck, we reminisced a hunt a few years ago when my father killed a really long spurred gobbler. We were calling to a couple of birds that were gobbling well but firmly holding their ground. An hour or more into the standoff a bird appeared out of nowhere from behind us, gobbled for the first time that morning, and came right in looking for us. It seems to me that sometimes these old gobblers are not the ones making the most noise in the woods. They gobble when they need to and otherwise keep their mouths shut. Maybe that technique is not characteristic of just old gobblers, but gobblers that have survived to be old!

I took Sunday off for Easter and Monday off due to the wind but as soon as this update is finished I'll be headed out for a Tuesday morning hunt. Looks like the weather is improving and will continue to be good for hunting through the weekend. We have our private school benefit hunt this weekend with 27 hunters expected, the largest group of turkey hunters to come on the hunt in quite a few years. I'll let you know know how it goes next week.

     The first week of the season has been a very slow one for me. I have been hunting three mornings and on one of those mornings I heard a turkey gobble about 15 times. Three out of four hunters I have talked to are not hearing much right now but expect things to pick up within the week. A few hunters are hearing a lot of gobbling but they are in the minority at this point.
       It seems to me the gobbling is about 2 weeks behind where it has been the last few seasons. We have not had a good streak of warm and sunny days to fire up the turkeys. Once these storm clear out today the weather of the next week should move the turkeys to a little more gobbling.
       I do have good news from two young hunters. My cousin Hunter Capell got his turkey last Tuesday while hunting in Wilcox County with his father, Art. Hunter downed his gobbler with a single shot 20 gauge. Dent Stallworth from Beatrice also got his first gobbler on March 19th. Congrats to both of you!

     Early Saturday morning I was awaiting daylight in the Swamp with hopes of hearing a little gobbling to further fire me up for the season. It was a beautiful start to the day, though the wind would pick up around mid-morning. And I did hear a little gobbling---a very little. I heard a couple of birds sound off twice each. I saw a few hens on their way to what remains of a chufa patch.
      I have talked to several hunters who have heard turkeys gobble a few dozen times in the last week, but it remains early for any serious action. I know our birds don't start the season on a gobbling terror. It will get better.
      For the past week I've been watching the 10-day forecast, wondering what kind of conditions we will have for opening week. The forecast seems to change by the day, but it does appear we are going to have some rain to deal with the first three days or so. A little rain is OK for turkey hunting. It sure beats this 20 MPH wind we've had all weekend. A string of warm and sunny mornings would help jump start the gobbling. We have have to wait a week on that though.
       For the first time ever hunters will be able to legally use decoys in Alabama this spring. Here's the regulation governing their use, straight out of page 41 of the Regulations Book. "It shall be unlawful for any person while engaged in turkey hunting in this State to use or have in his possession a decoy which has mechanical or electronic parts which makes the decoy capable of movement or producing sound or which can be manipulated to produce movement or sound. It is further, however, that no turkey decoys shall be lawful except during spring turkey season in the area of use."
        I spoke with a game warden this past week and he confirmed that it is OK for decoys to move with help from the wind, however, you can not use a string or other device to provide movement for the decoy.

     I have been thinking a little recently about the fact that there seem to be so many more deer hunters in the world today than there are turkey hunters. Why is that? On the surface it would appear so because there are more deer and more lands to hunt deer. Deer are also believed to be easier to hunt with no skill of calling required. One can just climb into a shooting house overlooking a green patch and wait for his or her arrival. But there are so many reasons why I like turkey hunting more and some valid reasons why turkey hunting isn't really that much harder after all.
      With this comparison of difficulty, bear in mind this involves the difference in skill required to kill a 2 year old or better gobbler with the skill it takes to kill a mature buck. For me, I don't care to kill young bucks and a mature buck is nearly a completely different species than his younger counterpart. I am simply comparing between my pursuits of mature bucks and my pursuits of 2 year old or better gobblers and the obstacles and pleasures that accompany such adventures.
       First and foremost, turkeys don't go nocturnal. No matter how much you hunt them they will not resort to feeding at night. They always have and I believe always will, spend their nights in a tree. During the day they will be in the game and available for your pursuit.
       With turkeys, Alabama hunters get to pursue them through the entire breeding season. Those that set the game laws in Alabama say we could never do such with deer (as they do in most other states). They say that hunting deer during the entire rut would severely damage the herd. So we only get to hunt the first half of the rut. With turkeys, we hunt the beginning, the middle, and the end of the breeding season and today there are more turkeys in Alabama than there have been in a long time.
       I like turkey hunting because turkeys can not smell. What a pain in the rear it is to have to go to such great lengths to prevent being detected by the keen nose of a deer. You reduce your scent as much as you can and then get downwind of where the deer should come from and guess what? The wind swirls and you get busted anyway! Turkeys have better sight to make up for the lack of smell in their defenses, but with today's camo it isn't that hard to hide. You can take your own blind or make one on the scene from natural materials or just sit by a large tree and remain motionless.
       I like turkeys because they will actually respond to your calls----most of the time! With deer, you can rattle, grunt, and put out all the scents you want. How many times have you had a deer actually respond to such? I would bet a very small percentage. Turkeys will answer your calls and sometimes they will even walk right to you and beg to be shot.
       I like turkey hunting because we conduct it here in the springtime, an absolutely fine time to be out and about in the woods. The winter woods are cold and desolate. But there is a sense of joy in the woods during the spring. The animals have made it through the toughest part of the year. Food is beginning to return and there seems to be a joy out there that wasn't present during the winter. Wildflowers are blooming and so are the dogwoods. Cool mornings give way to warm afternoons. How can anyone not like spring more than winter?
      I like turkey hunting because I can go out early in the morning, have one heck of a hunt, then get on with the day's work. I hunt most mornings before work and one only needs an hour or two to have an adventurous hunt. I might sit 7 hours a day in a deer stand and see very little action. In the turkey woods if the action is slow after the first couple of hours, I go home and get ready to come back the next day!
       I like turkey hunting because turkeys give away their position. Mature bucks never do this. You might be able to narrow down which 100 acre thicket he is bedded in but if he has all the food he needs in there, he might never leave until the rut. Turkeys don't bed up all day long. They like to mill about, feeding on seeds and bugs and socializing with other birds.
      We don't seem to need as much equipment to turkey hunt either. Sure, most of us carry a sack full of calls to the woods but it isn't necessary to have treestands, ATVs, and such. A turkey hunter needs a few calls, a shotgun, a few shells, complete camo, and a good pair of snake boots.
      Turkey season is a great time to get in shape. We don't drive all over our property during turkey season. We walk to the birds and if one is killed, we carry him out. In deer season, you can not afford to stomp all through the woods and leave scent everywhere. The big bucks will lock down on you. In turkey season, you are free to move about as you choose. Health experts say it is good to take a mile's walk every day. The best walk there is can be found in the turkey woods.
       And the last but not least thing I like about turkey season is that I always see a lot of deer! All winter long I'm out there wondering where the deer have gone. Did we have a die off? Did they all come down with blue tongue? Did they move to the neighbors property or to the neighboring state? Then along comes turkey season and I'm quietly slipping toward a couple of treed gobblers at first light. Suddenly four or five (or was it forty five?) deer jump up and run right through the action. The gobblers shut up and I eventually head home with one good thought in mind. At least I finally saw some deer!


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     February has been a great month so far. The first Saturday of the month we had an exciting rabbit hunt. Several of my customers and friends along with a pack of 5 short-legged beagles rounded up six rabbits during the morning hunt. We listened to some great chases through the briar thickets of the Swamp on this cold, crisp and clear morning. These small game hunts are some of the most enjoyable of the season and I often regret we get so caught up with deer hunting that we miss out on these quality adventures.
      I was amazed at all the buck sign I saw that morning. Areas that were void of rubs and scrapes just four weeks earlier were torn up with sign. We saw several nice bucks during the morning's hunt.
      The next weekend I completed some after season chores in the Swamp and around the house. Those things tend to pile up through the long deer season and just don't seem to go away.
       The third weekend was by far the tops. This past Thursday my first child was born, a little boy. Yes, I am now looking forward to having someone to follow me into the woods and waters of south Alabama. He is absolutely precious. We got home with him Saturday evening. He and his Mama are doing well and we are all adjusting to the new member of the family.
       Hence the reason I missed the last---the best---weekend of January. I was in Birmingham attending a baby birthing class with my wife. Though being away from the deer woods on the final weekend of the season wasn't easy, the excitement of the days to come outweighed any negatives that could be counted.

This next weekend the Wilcox County Longbeards Chapter of the NWTF will be hosting a Hunting Heritage Banquet in Camden, of which I am in charge. I have lots of great help on our committee and thanks to the great support of the local community for the premier wildlife based conservation organization, we are expecting another great event. Anyone within an hour's drive of Camden should get a ticket and join us. We pre-sell all tickets and usually sell out (300+) several days prior. If you are interested, give me a call at 334-525-0462 as soon as possible. It is a couples event so plan to bring your wife if possible. The banquet starts at 6PM on Saturday evening.

We are inching toward turkey season. I'm hearing reports of turkeys everywhere across the entire state. The turkey population seems to be at levels not seen here in a very long time. That's good news. Hope you are preparing for the season. We're just under three weeks away from the start.

     I have always enjoyed being out in the forest on the last day of deer season. I like to be there to see the last sunset. I like to be there as those last fleeting traces of daylight fade to the west, counting down the seconds and never giving up until there is no light left to hold any hope of killing a deer. It is something about the first day of the season and the last day. They are bookends, each with its own significance. I missed them both this season and the hunting that occurred between those days will not be remembered as very productive in the sighting or killing of deer.
      I rarely get to the woods on the very first day of bowseason but the first weekend is often productive. I missed it this time around as we were cleaning up the destruction left by Hurricane Ivan. The last and final day of the season saw rain move into the area in the late morning and continue well past dark. I didn't hunt. I could have sat comfortably in a shooting house but bowhunting was not possible. I stayed away, somewhat glad for this season to be over. I'm ready to wipe the slate clean and forget about the lack of success this season. Next year will be better. I'm going to put an arrow in every slot in my quiver next season. When my luck takes a hard turn to the upside, there might actually be hundreds of deer under my stand and I would expect most will be Pope & Young quality animals! I best be prepared.
      I missed the last weekend too. But that's another story I'll save for an update later this month.
      My cousin Curtis and his friends hunted the Swamp the last week and weekend, taking two bucks and a doe but no hogs. That brought our total harvest to 7 bucks and 7 does.

       February is a great month to take a breather and catch up on a few chores that have been set aside to allow more time to deer hunt. I have always enjoyed small game hunting and I am looking forward to a rabbit hunt Saturday morning, a great February activity. I would love to squeeze in a squirrel hunt as well before the month closes. February is also a great time for wildlife photography and as time permits I plan to shoot some game with the camera between now and turkey season. So, though deer season has closed, those of us that enjoy the woods will just change our stride and keep up the pace down the same old track.

       Anyone interested in a hog hunt during the second half of February, my friends at Pursley Creek Guide Service have some openings. Give Brad Powe a call in the evenings at 334-682-5811.

       I've gotten many pictures of nice bucks taken around the area in the final few weeks of the season. I've included as many as I could. If I left you out and you would like to see your picture here, please let me know. Congrats to all the successful hunters.

        Please note, the updates will be sporadic from now until turkey season. I'll include a new post when there is news. Keep checking in but don't fret if a week or two goes by without an update.

Kirk Talbot and a 210 lb. hog from Wilcox County, AL

Frank Glass took this big 8 point in the final minutes of the season. The buck was killed in Baldwin County, AL.

These bucks came from Frank Glass's club in Baldwin County.
The buck in the middle grossed 130.

The picture above and the four below are of bucks killed in the final weeks of this season at the Malone Creek Hunting Club in southwest Alabama.

Malone Creek Hunting Club

Michael Stacy killed this buck in Monroe County on Jan. 21.
This buck was peeing in a scrape when Michael dropped the hammer.

Unconfirmed but believed reliable reports are that this buck
was killed south of Montgomery, AL.

This buck was killed in Wilcox County during the Monroe Academy Benefit Deer Hunt the 3rd weekend of January. He grossed 133 B&C.

Tanner Livingston killed this non-typical in Pleasant Hill, AL

This buck was taken on the Talbot lease in Wilcox County, AL.

     Lots of quality bucks have been taken around the area in the past few weeks. I've gotten lots of emails from successful hunters along with photos to share with you. Keep those pictures coming! I plan to post them all next week.

      Tommy, Wes, Billy, and Randy had a good hunt last week in the Swamp. They saw some nice bucks but never one quite as big as they wanted to pull the trigger on. They saw more activity on Wednesday and Thursday than they did Friday when the warm-up began. By Saturday afternoon the wind really kept movement to a minimum. The hunters did see a lot of hogs, killing at least eleven.
      I hunted a different piece of property on Saturday and saw just a few small bucks. All were working through the woods with their noses on the ground like a hound. I had to hold tight to the tree Saturday afternoon as the wind really began to blow. Sunday morning was just too windy and cold. I stayed home.
      Sunday afternoon I went back to the Swamp with plans to hunt from a makeshift groundblind on the edge of a greenfield. I was also looking for a white hen turkey that had recently been seen. I wanted to shoot her too----with my camera that is.
      On my way to the property I saw a different white hen in a flock of hens just off the state highway (Hwy 10) in Possum Bend. I turned around and went back and snapped a few pictures of her. (see below).
      When I got to the Swamp the turkeys were in a different greenfield that I had to pass through to get where I was going. The white hen was among the flock and I got a picture of her. I look forward to getting some better pictures in the near future of this unique bird. I know of at least three of these white hens with a few miles' radius of the Swamp.

Directly above and below.....the hen I photographed
from the road off Hwy 10 in Possum Bend, Alabama.

Eventually I did make it to the greenfield, setting up on the edge. I saw one small buck early and then a nice buck late. He would have been a nice bow kill but he never came closer than 100 yards. He came out at 5:40, twenty minutes after the wind, which had howled for a day and a half, finally died.

This little buck passed by me at about
50 yards Sunday evening. He was in search of a doe.

     We have just one weekend remaining. My cousin Curtis and his friends will be hunting the Swamp this week. There's never a better time to see a old, mossy horned buck. That buck has but one more week to avoid hunters and he will be safe from all law-abiding sportsmen for another 9 months.

      Keep the pictures coming and stop by next week for a deer season wrap-up and a big picture party!

     What a difference a week makes. The cold weather has returned and just as the deer calendar suggests, the bucks are on the move. I'm hearing lots of reports of big deer taken around the county in the past week. These last 14 days of the season are going to be very good.
      I hunted Saturday, Sunday, and Monday but had no luck. I saw a few deer but nothing close enough to fling an arrow at it. Sunday afternoon and Monday were quite windy as another front pushed through the area. The wind never helps but I did talk to a few hunters that saw good bucks despite the wind.
       My cousins and fellow landowners will be hunting the Swamp these last two weekends and I expect a few good bucks will be taken. At least we hope so. And we'll have the pictures here to show you.
       Good luck. Get after them. They are moving. It is that time of year. Let the rut roll on!

      I snapped this picture below near the State Park in Camden on Sunday morning. This bald eagle was perched in a tree overlooking the backwater of the lake, not far off the public highway. In the lower photo, I zoomed in and digitally enhanced the photo to get a better look at the eagle. We have several pairs of bald eagles in the county and it is always a great site to see one of these majestic birds.

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As I suspected deer movement was very slow this weekend and my guest hunters taking part in the Wilcox Academy Benefit Hunt saw very little. We ended up taking a doe and 4-point cull buck. I was shocked that nobody, including me, saw a single hog. We've seen hogs almost on command and they have been very frequent visitors to the greenfields. I put down the bow and pulled out the carbine and went in search of hogs. I spent quite a bit of time looking for them in areas covered with fresh rooting. They were nowhere to be found.
Overall the school's hunt saw about 75 animals brought in, including hogs. There were very few nice bucks taken this year. Seems to me the rut is slow in taking shape this season. Scrapes have been slow to show up in the woods, though I'm seeing a good many now in certain areas.

      On Sunday I got back after them with the bow. Finding lots of scrapes and rubs along with plenty of droppings in a pine thicket near one of the areas I've been hunting lately, I decided to move my ground blind into these woods in hopes of having some luck. Taking a big buck from the ground will not be easy, however, I like the chances with this set up.
      I'll need a steady north wind, preferably, or a northwest wind. I've got three shooting lanes ranging from 20 to 30 yards each. There are lots of trails intersecting through these woods and lots of scrapes and rubs along those trails. The youpon and privett that is in these woods is a food source for the deer and by the numbers of droppings they are indeed feeding here a good bit. I would rather hunt from a tree but I'm going to give this a try this weekend and see what happens.

Here's a couple more pictures that I took this weekend. These three does walked right across the road in front of me on the way home Sunday morning. I stopped and snapped this picture of them before the disappeared into the thicket. And squirrels, good grief....it seems like I see a dozen or more on every hunt. This one was chewing up a pine log and allowed me to walk right up to him.

I saw on the news last night where we have tied the record for the warmest start to January since records have been kept. We'll likely break that record by the time the day heats up on Tuesday. Thankfully for deer hunters the weather will take a nice turn later this week and the coming weekend is going to be very nice for deer hunting.
The season is winding down. It now comes the time for those of us that hunt regularly, that we begin to wish it was over. Then sometime in the closing days the big bucks will start showing themselves and the passing of the last few days of the season will be mourned, rather than rejoiced. It happens ever year. The best of the season is the last of the season. It is almost here. Don't let your guard down!

     Another weekend and more of the same for me. It is hard to believe the difference in the weather in just one week. Christmas weekend the mercury would not rise past the 30s and by New Years we topped 76 degrees.
      I got after them for a while Friday afternoon, shooting a hog from the ground late. I found part of my arrow but did not find the hog. I spend Saturday morning in my climber but deer movement was very slow. Saturday afternoon I tried slipping up on hogs in our hardwood areas. The shifting winds kept getting me busted before I could slip within range. I saw several groups of hogs in my afternoon adventure. By Sunday I gave up. It was just too hot.
       We'll be taking part in the annual Wilcox Academy Benefit Deer Hunt this weekend. It appears the weather is not going to cooperate, with highs near 70 and lows in the 50s. That is nice weather for April and May but not what deer hunters want to see in January.

        The photos below of Jerry Middleton and Kevin Rawson were submitted by Pree Middleton. The bucks were taken in the Tensaw River Swamp in southwest Alabama.

Not everyone is deer hunting these days. What do Camden residents Johnny Webb and Billy Johnson do when January and the rut arrives? They go catfishing! Here they are again with two more big ones they caught this past Sunday on trotlines.

We'll get after them again this weekend as my guest hunters will be in search of a rutting and roaming buck. My guess is that we'll have a lot of luck with the hogs. I have no idea what to expect with the deer. Warm days in January don't seem to help the hunting.

     I spent a total of 10 hours in the tree this past weekend and saw just two deer, though both were bucks. I first heard them knocking antlers together and eventually saw them in a young pine thicket bordering my stand. That was on Friday morning, a very cold day indeed. I managed to sit in my climber for 3 hours before calling it quits due to the cold wind. I hunted again on Sunday but saw not one deer.
     In the Swamp on Sunday afternoon, J. B. Travis successfully carried out a plan we had recently concocted. One of our best greenfields has few good ambush points from large, climbable trees. We determined the best way to hunt these deer would be from the ground, using the portable, Ameristep blind that I used this past turkey season. On J. B.'s first hunt from the blind he managed to arrow a doe.
      After a very cold week it appears a big warmup is on the way. This weekend's weather looks to be less desirable for hunting. Overall I still hear many complaints from area hunters that they aren't seeing many deer at all. The rut is almost upon us and as the season's end nears, I think things will pick up. I really have not stirred out much in the woods and can't say how much scraping is going on. There doesn't appear to be a lot of buck sign in the woods right now from what others have told me but I expect that to change real quickly as we move into January.
       I have gotten some pictures sent in from our readers but was pressed for time this week and don't have them ready to post. I'll be sure to put them up next week. Keep them coming!

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I managed to see just a single deer after a day and a half of hunting during the weekend. I am beginning to see some scrapes and the rut isn't far away at this point. Hopefully we'll see some of this cold weather throughout January and that will really help bring the rut to life.
More next week............Merry Christmas!

     Winter weather has arrived! I really like the looks of the 10-day forecast as I see nothing above 70 degrees. It appears we are moving toward a more normal weather pattern for this time of year. And we could use some weeks without rain and it appears we will have a little break there as well.
      Each year we exchange a hunt of some kind with our NWTF banquet auctioneer and his son. This year a deer hunt was on tap and it was my turn to handle the hunt, which we scheduled weeks ago to take place this past Saturday. It just so happened the weather turned off well. Though a little more windy than I would have ordered, the temperature was good for deer movement.
      After a slow morning hunt I put Matthew in our best stand. Having only killed two bucks in his life, I knew his chance of taking a good one was pretty good today. Some days the deer pour out into this greenfield and sometimes they stay away for no apparent reason. This was one of those days when the poured out. Matthew had a great hunt and ended up shooting one of the best bucks we've taken in the last few years.
       This buck was a 9 point. He had one real good antler with 5 total points. The other antler was a bit smaller and sported only 4 total points. This deer had huge brow tines which is strange for our deer, which normally seem to come up short on that particular tine. One of this deer's brow tines was 7 inches and the other 5 inches. If you took the best antler and multiplied by 2 (including spread), this buck was have scored 130 B&C. Due to his smaller antler on the one side, he ended up grossing 121. Nevertheless he was fine buck and sported the 10 point genes that are common in the deer in this area. Matthew was excited to have a buck for the wall.

      Bucks like this one are abundant in the Swamp, but seem to only appear in the greenfields on the absolute best days weather-wise. There had also been 2 weeks of no hunting activity in this field. If you are fortunate enough to be there when the weather is right and hunting pressure is minimal, you never know what might appear.
     I hunted the big hardwoods on Saturday, seeing nothing in the morning and one doe in the afternoon. Sunday afternoon I migrated back to the edge of our best greenfield and set up overlooking a few of the trails that enter the field. One big doe came past me in the last few minutes of shooting light and I made a successful shot, collecting my 2nd doe of the season.
      We did not get as many green plots planted this season as I had intended and now I'm really regretting having so few. With the acorns scarce and the browse soon to be on the decline due to some potential heavy frosts, the plots are going to be the places to see deer.

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     It was yet another slow weekend in the woods for me. I hunted both Saturday morning and Sunday morning, in the hardwoods, and did not see a single deer. I took Saturday afternoon off to do chores and then settle in to watch the SEC Championship Game. Sunday afternoon was a wash out. The rain ran me out of the woods about 10AM Sunday morning and it continued until dark.
      We are now into the slowest and toughest month of hunting----December. The deer are now well aware they are being hunted and the peak of the rut is still a month and half to two months away. There isn't much incentive for the deer to stir about. We did have our first two frosts this past Thursday and Friday which likely knocked back some of the browse.
     One of our local deer processors told me they have only taken in 60% of their usual business by this time of the year. Seems that I'm not the only one that is having a down year.

      This week I share a story and photos of two deer killed just across the Wilcox County line in Dallas County on the second Saturday of gun season.

     David Thibadeau writes, "Saturday night November 27^th, my stepdaughter Bailey Price (9 years old) went hunting with me with the new youth model 7mm-08 that I purchased for the kids earlier this fall. Stuart (4 years old) went with my Dad (John Thibadeau).
     Bailey and I sat for about an hour and watched a young spike come into the field. We saw three does pass by.
     But then an 8 point stepped out on the field initially at 125 yards. I looked at it and said that it was a good buck and asked her if she wanted to shoot it. (She told me earlier that she would only shoot big bucks, no mommas and no babies, those were her rules). She looked at me like I was crazy for asking the question.
     She put the rifle up and she patiently waited until the deer came into range (50 Yards) which took about 10 minutes. She was shaking a good bit at first but the longer she waited the calmer she became. The deer turned broadside and she said that she was ready and so was the deer. I asked her where she was going to shoot it and she replied middle of the body, right behind the shoulder. I had my 270 up and was aimed as well if a follow up shot was needed.
     Bear in mind that she has only shot this gun three times before at 50 yards. Each shot was about 6 inches off to the left and right but the elevation was always perfect. The gun is really light and I had light magnums loaded with a 139 grain bullet. It does not kick like a 270 but it will jump up on you. Especially if you are 9. She has practiced with my 17 caliber a few times and she had also practiced with her Dad earlier in the week with a 22. Like her mother, she can flat shoot a gun. No fear.
     I turned the safety off her gun and mine. I said whenever you are ready. She fired and through my scope I saw the deer buckle and then take off into the pines. From my vantage point, there was no need for a follow up shot. She immediately started to get upset and said she missed it. I told her that she nailed the deer and asked her why she thought she missed it. She said because the deer did not fall down and that she closed her eyes when she pulled the trigger. I told her that everyone does that and that I saw the buck get hit. Until she saw the deer dead, no reassuring from me would work.
     We went to look for it but we did not have any lights with us. After about 5 minutes of looking, and her getting even more upset, she stated that we should go and get some more people to help look for it. I agreed and told her that I needed my spotlights to find the blood trail. I also did not want to get too deep into the woods with her and a wounded deer. We went back and told everyone. White Smith and I went back to look for the deer and she stayed with her Mom. She was devastated at that point and did not want to go look for it when she missed it anyway. I think White and I would have looked all night for the deer after we saw her on the porch when we left.
     White and I went in with lights and he found the blood trail. 50 yards into the pines was her deer. It was a lot bigger than I thought. Her shot was perfectly in the middle of the body, about 4 inches behind the shoulder. A text book kill.
     White and I pulled up with the deer to the Grain bin and everyone was standing on the porch. You could hear Bailey squeal from inside the truck. She was so proud. I will honestly say, that as long as I have been deer hunting, and even when I shot my biggest buck, I have never been so excited and happy in my entire life. I was so proud of Bailey. I now realize that this was what hunting was all about. Passing on the outdoors to your kids.
     The buck weighed 195 pounds and had a 16 inch inside spread. We guessed that it was about three years old. People can hunt all their lives and never kill a buck like this. What a first deer!

     Stuart and Dad shot the 11 point in the picture. It was an old deer with a lot of mass on the antlers but not a huge spread. It weighed about 175 pounds. Dad said Stuart was amazingly calm in the deer stand. His turn is next for his first buck as soon as he can get his arms around the rifle. He did not even act jealous when he saw Bailey's deer. He was really happy for her. He has been hunting with me many times and has been looking for "his buck". This was only the fourth time Bailey has been hunting. The first time Bailey went hunting she was 4 and I shot my first buck ever. It was an 8 point as well but it was nowhere near the deer Bailey shot.
     Ian (18 months old) would not let go of the deer's antlers. Every time we pulled him away he started crying. I think Ian will try to go after a deer with only his teeth. We will have to watch him.
     I hope all of you had a good Thanksgiving. Ours was amazing. If you think the ultimate rush is you putting the crosshairs on a monster buck, try watching your kids do the same. I promise you it is more of a rush than anything you can imagine.

This next photo was submitted by another regular follower of this website, George Null. George, who hunts in Sumter County, says this has been the slowest season he can remember. However, he did take this fine buck this season. He says, on his way to a stand, he came upon a bachelor group of bucks feeding in a stretch of oaks along a logging road. This buck was the best of the group, an 18" wide 6 point.

Thanks to all for sharing with us. Keep the stories and pictures coming. Maybe I'll have more to share next week from my adventures in the woods. It does appear this coming weekend is going to bring some great hunting weather. Hope you get in the woods and get one.

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The Thanksgiving holidays have always been a favorite time of mine to be in the woods. It is an especially good time for bowhunting. The weather has usually cooled off a bit and the leaves, though falling, are still thick enough on the limbs to provide some cover to a hunter perched 25 feet up a tree. Acorns are usually falling well at this time and the deer are developing a pattern.
This past weekend I again had a fun time in the woods, spending a good portion of 4 days in search of a deer. I did manage to get one, just one. A doe. But with the dismal start to my season, I was mighty proud to have finally drawn blood and put some venison in the freezer and in my belly.

I got my doe at 11:18 AM Thursday morning. I had scouted a few areas early, at daybreak, a little reluctant to climb a tree yet as the wind was really whipping. It calmed by mid morning and I climbed a tree in the hardwoods near the river at about 9:00. Just after 11 AM I saw a skinny doe headed my way and I took the 18 yard shot just a short time later. I hit this deer low, right behind the shoulder. I waited 30 minutes and then began trailing a very good blood trail for nearly 200 yards. It was an easy trail to follow and for much of the way I saw the foamy blood characteristic of a lung hit. I was surprised with the distance the deer ran before eventually falling. And I later learned I had indeed clipped the lower portion of one lung, just missing the heart.

X marks the spot where I was sitting in my Ol' Man climber,
about 25 feet high, when I shot this doe.

During the weekend I had several small bucks under my stand. These young bucks are the least wary of any deer in the woods and some enjoy spending time with me when they are young. Unfortunately, when they grow older---and larger racks---they get so unsociable!

My cousin Josh and his friends, Clay, Greg, and Sammy hunted the Swamp as well this weekend. Both Josh and Clay took nice bucks. Josh got his on Friday afternoon, a typical eight point with an additional kicker point at the base of one antler. Clay's buck was another very symmetrical 8 point.

We had one rainy spell on Saturday morning as a fast moving front passed through. Seems we are getting rains about twice a week now. The woods are really wet these days. All of our low areas are full of water at this time. I had a long way to drag that doe Thursday morning, but it went smoothly as much of the way I was actually floating her through a shallow pond, about a foot deep!
I cracked open dozens and dozens of acorns over the weekend as I moved about to different areas of the Swamp. I was looking for a tree dropping good acorns. I found a few. Most everything that I picked up was rotten. The acorn looks good on the outside but when you crack it open you quickly find it rotten. I expect our deer are continuing to feed on browse as we have not yet had a hard frost to kill that back. They are beginning to frequent the green plots. Our plots are looking better and better.

We planted Dwarf Essex Rape in our plots this year, along with wheat. The rape is a turnip-like plant that provides lots of forage. Our late planting date will work against its effectiveness, however, the seed is cheap so we went ahead and included it anyway. I'll keep you posted regarding how well the deer like this plant. You might be interested in planting some yourself next season.
We're covered up in hogs this year. Seems there is more sign in the Swamp right now than I've ever seen. I saw one big hog in a greenfield Thursday afternoon and saw a few more in the woods over the course of the weekend. I never got a shot at any with my bow. Clay killed one hog and that was the only one we did away with this weekend. I do expect it is going to be a big year for hog shooting.

Elsewhere around the area, Jess Martin took this nice buck on the outskirts of the town of Beatrice in Monroe County. He shot him Thanksgiving afternoon just prior to dark.

We concluded another warm and wet weekend in the deer woods. For the gun hunters, it was their first outing into the forest of mosquitoes. For us die-hard bow hunters, it was more of the same.
I hunted Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon and did not see a single deer. The only deer I saw over the weekend were in my yard Sunday morning, eating right beside my truck. I snapped the following pictures of them. These are two yearlings, evident by the signature short neck.

     The woods have really gotten wet. We had near record rainfall in October, normally one of the drier months of the year. And the rains have kept right on coming into November. There are going to be a lot of messy roads through the deer woods this season, at least on the roads that are passable through the fallen timber.
      The Swamp will see a lot of hunting over the Thanksgiving weekend. We will hopefully have some results to present next week. After hunting lots of new ground on other tracts of property this season, I'm going back to the Swamp and some favorite areas during the Thanksgiving holidays. I've got several days to hunt and hope to have better luck real soon.
      Have a good Thanksgiving. Eat some turkey and get out in the woods!

I never made it to the woods this past weekend or week for that matter. On Saturday, I went to Auburn for the football game and then slept late Sunday morning. After church, I performed some needed work in the yard of a house we are selling. Overall it appeared to be a good weekend for hunting, weather-wise, though a bit breezy at times.
So that wraps up "bowseason" and here come the guns on Saturday. For the first time in quite a few years I did not get a deer with my bow in the period of time before gun season. Of course, I will continue to bowhunt through the entire season so don't count me out yet! I'm ready to get back in the woods Saturday morning and if that rain chance will hold out long enough maybe I can finally get some fresh venison.

     I put in a hard weekend of hunting, having my best hunt Saturday morning. However, I still failed to get a shot at a deer. Saturday morning, hunting a large hardwood bottom, I saw several small bucks along with 5 does. The does came close, winding their way between downed trees, but not quite close enough for a shot. I had strategically located in what I hoped would be a funnel created by the many downed trees in the bottom.
      This was the first time I had been to this spot this fall. I've had good results here in the past when there has been a good white oak acorn crop. Again this year a good crop was on the limbs but the hurricane knocked most of the big acorns to the ground and they stayed very wet in that low bottom and have all rotted. There are acorns everywhere but all are rotten. I found evidence of a few fresh ones that had fallen from the trees. The deer seem to be wandering through the woods with no particular pattern, searching for whatever good acorns remained.
      And that place was full of hogs. It was evident as soon as I settled in the tree Saturday morning. I heard them squealing in all directions. I had two come by while I was in the stand, just out of range. After I climbed down just before lunch I took the long way back to the truck and intercepted a large group of hogs. I had chances to shoot some small hogs many times but was trying for one of the 175+ pound hogs in the ground. I never got an open shot, though several times I crept well within range. There's just so much debris blown down in the woods that it is not as open as it once was.
      The rest of the weekend was uneventful for me. Saturday afternoon the only action came from a hog that passed through my hunting area but did not offer a broadside shot. I hunted a different tract of land Sunday and did not see a single deer, though I was hunting over a lot of sign and lots of red and water oak acorns.
       It was a beautiful weekend for being outdoors. The mornings were very pleasant though the afternoons heated up enough to bring the return of the swarms of mosquitoes.
       So we're 4 weekends deep into the season and I have failed to get the first shot at a deer. I'm itching to shoot! Sooner or later the shot will come. I hoping for sooner.
       I have not yet made that early morning--before work--hog hunt. Maybe I'll get that in within the next few days.

This pig weighs about 25 pounds, just right for the grill.
I was trying to get a shot at a big one, not wanting to waste an
expensive arrow on a little one. I saw many of them this size.

It is hard to capture in pictures the devastation to some of the hardwood areas that I hunt. In the lower areas that hold water, the shallow root systems of the oaks fell victim to the rain and high winds of the hurricane. Some areas are so thick with large, fallen trees you can't begin to pass through. There are so many down that they have created barriers in some areas that might can be utilized as funnels to get close to the deer. What took 50 years to grow, the hurricane downed in just a few hours.

     The third weekend of the season saw even hotter temperatures than did the second weekend. I hunted until nearly lunch on Saturday, took a break, and got back in the tree at 3PM and stayed until dark. I did not see a single deer. The other hunters I spoke with Saturday had the same results. At 85 degrees, the deer just don't move much at all. And to top that, the moon was nearly full.
      My cousin Josh and his friends Clay and Clay hunted the Swamp. They saw few deer but plenty of hogs feeding on acorns. It was a warm weekend to spend at the cabin, a place with no electricity and likewise, no air conditioning!
      Josh and I planted our food plots early Sunday morning. This is the latest we've ever planted, delayed a month and half by the hurricane and rains. We planted wheat and rape. Rape is a turnip like plant without the "turnip root." It's leafy and provides lots of forage. I don't know how well it will do planted this late. It appears the warm weather is ending and the cool weather is upon us. Time will tell.
       Speaking of that, it does appear we are about to turn a corner in the weather pattern. November is our "fall" month. It's upon us and the cooler weather will be here in time for a great weekend of hunting. Expect the deer to really move this weekend. Hope you get a chance to get after them.

Richard Manry, of Birmingham, took this fine buck pictured below on the second weekend of the season while hunting in south Dallas County. Though it was hot and Richard said he saw very little during the weekend of hunting, he did get the best of this buck and also a doe on the same hunt. It goes to show you that even when the conditions are not perfect you can have a lot of success. You can't kill them at home or back at the camp. Congrats on the buck, Richard, and thanks for sharing with the Horn Swamp Online!

I can't wait for the weekend and the arrival of the cool weather. Hope you have some luck real soon. Keep those pictures coming!
Now that the time has changed, I'm hoping to squeeze in a weekly, before work, hog hunt in the Swamp. I'll have an hour or so to hunt them before work and there seems to be lots of them feeding on the acorns in the Swamp. I'll let you know how those adventures work out.

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     Saturday morning at daybreak I attached my Ol' Man climber to a skinny oak and headed up the tree to begin my first hunt of the season. It felt good to finally be in a tree with an arrow nocked. It was warm and I had worked up a little sweat on the walk into the woods and the climb up the tree. The light breeze that stirred for much of the day helped to make the hunt more pleasant and to also keep down the mosquitoes.
      Just 30 minutes after settling in a doe and a spike came from over my left shoulder and were following a path that would lead them past my stand, but behind me. They got real spooky before they got in range and eventually tipped off the other way.
      I stayed until 11AM and then returned to the truck for lunch. At 2PM I was back for the afternoon hunt. About 5PM a doe slipped in behind me. As I was trying to twist around for a shot, another doe approached from in front of me. She stopped at 20-25 steps and I was about to draw for a shot when she quickened her pace and moved off through the trees. One window of opportunity had opened and closed in a span of 15 seconds. There's no room for hesitation when bowhunting. When a shot is presented you must draw and fire. I hesitated and left the woods without fresh venison.
       Sunday was just too hot for me to hunt. The mercury was back to 82 degrees. I've said here before, anything over 75 just gets me out of the mood. Overall the weekend was slow for the hunters I talked to, much unlike opening weekend that saw cool and pleasant hunting conditions.
        We've gotten a couple more rains in the past week and conditions are still soggy for planting our food plots. I've had to cancel planting with the buggy and will just get a load of seed in bags and spread it with the cyclone seeder. I don't want to take a chance in getting that buggy of seed/fertilizer stuck. I hope to take care of our planting later this week. I would like to take advantage of this warm weather to get the seed up and growing. Cool weather will eventually arrive (let's hope!) and the growing will slow.

This week we share a picture of Tami Madison and her first buck with a bow. This picture was submitted by one of our regular readers, Hayden Olds. Tami killed this buck in south Alabama. The buck ran only 50 yards before falling. Congrats to Tami on a fine kill.

I'll be back in the woods this weekend. It looks to be another warm one. We can't do much about the weather, just sweat through these warm days knowing some cooler weather will arrive eventually.

We had a productive weekend of work in the Swamp and are nearly ready to go for hunting season. Walt and Randy, friends and hunting companions of my cousin Curtis, put in some hard work cutting debris from roads in the Swamp early last week. My cousin Josh and his friend Clay arrived to help through the weekend and we picked up where the others had left off. With the help of J. B. Travis and his Kubota tractor (with front end loader), all roads are now passable on the property.
Our two biggest obstacles involved large oaks blown across the road. We could only cut our way around it. The other one---a 50 year old tree---we were able to saw in half and hook two tractors to the trunk and move it from the road.

We killed a number of deer under this huge red oak over the years.
It will now provide us with firewood for our campfires.

We were able to hook a 80-hp John Deere to the front and pull, while a 40-hp Kubota pushed with its front end loader. It took both tractors to move this trunk out of the road.

The rings tell the story. This tree lived in the Swamp for 50 years but couldn't resist the high winds from Hurricane Ivan.

     We were fortunate that all of our tree stands survived the storm. I have inspected all but one at this point. I have talked with other local hunters and many stands in the area did not survive as well as ours. We were fortunate in that respect, as these shooting house stands have lots of time and money invested in them.
     The mosquitoes were awful this weekend, particularly in the afternoons as the temperature rose. The big gallinipers blown in with hurricanes are always much larger and aggressive than the native mosquitoes. I remember how vicious they were in 1995 after Hurricane Opal. I do imagine bowhunters had a time with the pests this weekend.
      Speaking of bowhunting, I did hate to miss this opening weekend. We couldn't have asked for more perfect weather to start the season. I will pull out my bow this week and get in a little practice and when the sun rises Saturday morning I aim to be in a tree somewhere in Wilcox County.
       Next week I'll let you know how it goes.

     In three short days bowseason will be upon us. The last month has really flown by. We'll be working this weekend to clear the roads in the Swamp. My season will be delayed one week.
      Six tenths of a inch of rain fell in Camden over the weekend. That was much needed rain for already planted and soon to be planted food plots.
      It is going to be an interesting season. I wonder what effect the storm will have, particularly in the area of the acorn crop. Lots of acorns were knocked to the ground but many remain on the trees. We'll have to see how this plays out.
      Next week I'll have pictures of our weekend of work and the following week I'll have a first hand report from the deer woods.

     Hard to believe but it has been three weeks since Hurricane Ivan passed over us. The long dirt road leading to the Horn Swamp was cleared today by a dozer. We plan to get to work on our roads next weekend, the first weekend of bowseason. Hopefully soon thereafter we'll get our plots planted.
       It is getting pretty dry here. The 8 inches of rain that fell during the hurricane seems long gone. There's a chance of rain this weekend which would be good for food plots and such. It will be bad for folks with roofs damaged and yet unrepaired.
       When the storm hit, we were in the process of moving into a new house and getting our other house ready to sell. So I've had two yards to clean up. Needless to say I've not had a moment to shoot my bow. Looks like I might have to pass up the first one or two weekends of the season but I really look forward to things settling down so I can get into the woods. I have been very fired up about this season.
        Hang in there with us. The updates will get more interesting very soon. I'll have plenty of pictures from the Swamp once we can actually drive in.

We're slowly getting back to some degree of "normal" here in Camden. Power has been restored to most parts of the county. The clean up of debris along the right of ways is underway and will take several months to complete. We're busy assisting customers with insurance claims.
A month ago I had expected to be enjoying some lazy afternoons right now, checking on the deer using the freshly planted greenfields, doing some last minute scouting, and honing my technique with the bow and arrow. Hurricane Ivan rearranged those plans. But things will eventually get back to normal and we'll have some time to concentrate on the deer. But for now, hunting continues to rest on the backburner.

     Hurricane Ivan clocked us pretty good here in Wilcox County, Alabama. As an Independent Insurance Agent, I can tell you we have or will have claims on at least 80% of the structures we have insured here. We lost a zillion trees and many fell on houses, causing interior water damage and messy cleanups. Only the newest roofs survived without at least some shingle damage. The eye of Ivan passed right over us delivering winds estimated from 90 to 110 MPH.
      Our power went out at 4AM Thursday morning and at my house we got power restored 6 1/2 days later. That is not bad considering the twisted and mangled power lines and poles that we emerged from our homes to find after the storm.
      My wife and I weathered the storm at her parent's house about a mile from our home. I didn't feel too comfortable in our house as we have lots of large pines within range of the house. We got a little sleep Wednesday night and awoke to the power going on and off just after 3AM. At 4AM it went off for good and at 5AM we heard the first tree come crashing to the ground. Looking out their front window we saw several pines snap in the neighbors yard, one falling onto the neighbor's house.
       When daylight arrived we began to get a better look at the storm that was pummeling us. The worst seemed to hit from about 7 to 8AM and then the winds shifted from the east to an eventual west wind. The worst had passed. But more trees continue to fall due the ground being so wet by now, soaked with 6+ inches of rain.
      Around 10:30 folks began to emerge from their homes to survey the damage, though a stiff wind remained. The rain let up for several hours and the townspeople began the task of clearing the roads, using personal chainsaws, tractors, and any available equipment.
       Power returned to downtown Friday morning and continues to be restored around the county at this time. I would think less than half the county's homes have power tonight, one week after the storm hit. We are very thankful for the power crews from Oklahoma, Louisiana, Georgia, and Virginia (and elsewhere) that have helped us in recent days.
       Saturday evening I hiked into the Horn Swamp to survey the damage. There were 23 trees blocking the road in the 2 1/2 mile stretch leading to our gate. More trees were awaiting on our roads but overall it wasn't quite as bad as I feared. The greatest relief was to find all our structures intact and without any noticeable damage, including the cabin, tractor shed, and shooting house stands. As far as I can tell we didn't lose a single roof to the 100+ mile winds! We did lose some great hardwood timber in the low areas of the Swamp and it appears a good portion of the acorns were blown to the ground.
       It will take some time to cut our way back to the property and there is lots of work to do before any hunting can be thought of this fall. But we'll get there little by little.

        Several random thoughts....I replaced my Alltel phone with a Southern Linc phone 3 weeks before the storm. We lost long distance service to our area during the storm and it was out for about 36 hours. The Southern Linc phones stayed up through the entire ordeal and were the only communication outside of Camden available. I don't know how they made those phones so bulletproof but they did. I'm glad I got one when I did.
       And speaking of that Southern Linc...we were listening to a radio station in Montgomery throughout the early morning trying to find out details of where the storm was in order to gauge if we were or were not getting the worst of it. I won't mention the station's credentials but I can tell you they must have picked the dumbest people in Montgomery to be on the radio that morning. They knew nothing. Once they said the storm was 100 miles south of Greenville and later said the eye was somewhere near Georgiana. With speculating idiots on the airwaves we turned to the Southern Linc and called family in Birmingham. They were watching the radar on TV and gave us accurate updates on the storm's progress. Too bad that folks in radio in Montgomery don't have the technology and connections that this country bumpkin has.
       Early Friday morning the clouds had cleared out and here in the middle of all this mess and under a cloud of darkness one could look up and see the biggest starry sky that has been seen here in a long time. No longer dimmed by the light from earth, it was quite a spectacle.

     We're waiting and watching this big Hurricane Ivan. Unfortunately we are right in the middle of the projected path, just 125 miles from the Gulf Coast. We are certain to see some damage here with the only question being---how much? I'm sure we'll lose power for some time but as soon as it returns I'll let you know how we fared.
     My original intentions of planting food plots Thursday afternoon have been put on hold. That will have to wait several weeks at a minimum.
      You have likely heard that the changes to Alabama's hunting regulations allowing crossbows, scoped muzzleloaders, and turkey decoys have passed the final hurdle. Like it or not, it is time to move on. I keep hearing that these changes are going to help sell more hunting licenses and bring needed revenue to the department. I hope those in command really don't believe that. If so, they might be interested in investing in some of these diamond mines we have scattered around Wilcox County.
      Again, I will post an update as soon as electrical power resumes in Camden.

     I spent the long weekend productively. I turned under the food plots again and they are now ready to plant. I spent some time on the limb saw clearing overhanging limbs from roads. And I also took some time to scout a few areas of the Swamp.
     Without a doubt we have another big acorn crop. Sometimes it is hard to see the little acorns high on the limb but I found plenty of fallen limbs down in the big woods that were full of acorns. I also found some white oak acorns in our one group of four trees on the property.
      Most likely we'll plant our plots in two weeks. There's good moisture in the ground now but I would like to see another little rain before we sow the seed. We missed any rain from Hurricane Frances but will have to wait and see what becomes of Hurricane Ivan.

      The Legislative Review Committee will meet Thursday to make the final ruling on the proposed hunting seasons for 2004-2005. The changes includes some controversial issues.   This summer the Conservation Advisory Board (CAB) voted to legalize crossbows with the beginning of archery season, to allow scopes on muzzleloaders, and to allow the use of turkey decoys. We continue to see a shift in the regulations to make it easier to harvest game, giving more and more tools to the hunter. Let's look at each of those regulations and the effects they might have.
      I think most people will agree that a crossbow takes less skill to shoot accurately than does a bow. It doesn't have to be drawn in the presence of the animal. Due to the design, correct shooting form which is so important in shooting a bow is not necessary. You can buy a crossbow today, sight it in today, and hunt with it today.
      Will this regulation help sell more hunting licenses? I don't think so. Folks that will crossbow hunt already have a lease and likely plan to be there on opening day of rifle season anyway.
      Will this regulation harm the deer population? I don't see how. It is already legal to kill every buck on your property during the two and a half month rifle season. You are either managing your property or you aren't. Crossbows will not change that.
      Will it give some hunters more opportunities to get in the woods? You bet.
       Will it stimulate the economy? You bet. A good source told me that after the regulation was approved by the CAB one large outdoor store in Birmingham began selling over $20,000 in crossbows each weekend!

        And now let's discuss the legalization of turkey decoys. Alabama was the last state to allow them and I somewhat enjoyed being able to tell others that we didn't need decoys here to get our limit. We are just better hunters here! But again, the shift is to give hunters every advantage so that in this "instant society" we live in one can have success as much as possible. No doubt about it more turkeys will die in future seasons. We already have a 5 bird limit on the honor system which is more liberal than most anywhere else in the nation. Time will tell if the turkeys can stand this additional pressure. I will admit that decoys have been used to hunt turkeys in Alabama for years. They have been on sale in every sporting goods store in the state for a long time and you can bet they were not on the shelves to just take up space!

      I've not jumped on the muzzleloader bandwagon, likely since I rarely pick up a gun to hunt deer these days. A scoped muzzleloader is quite lethal out to 200 yards and I imagine a vast majority of the deer killed each year throughout rifle season are within that range. So it seems to me that by buying this special gun a hunter can basically extend his season one more week. That's good for the hunter and certainly good for the manufacturer and seller of the muzzleloader. Is it good for the deer? I think that depends on if the hunter is a good conservationist and if he uses the muzzleloader to manage the herd effectively or not.

      Alabama is a state with liberal regulations---long seasons and large bag limits. The hunter is given the tools to manage the herd or destroy it. Thankfully we have overall seen good management. Hunters will hit the woods this fall with more tools than ever to have a successful hunt. Hunters are also more educated than ever about the proper way to manage the deer and turkeys. I think education is the key here.
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     The arrival of September always signals the turning of the corner of summer. The brutally hot days will not cease for several more weeks yet but the talk has certainly turned to hunting season and the anticipation of opening day increases by the hour.
      Football season is upon us and likewise the feverish preparation of deer plots, tree stands, and camphouse cleanups is underway. Most of you, like me, want everything complete so that when the first day of the season arrives we can do one thing-----hunt.
      I'm looking forward to updating this site each and every week as fall turns to winter and winter turns to spring. If there is one thing I would like to do differently it would be to have more input from our hundreds of readers each week. Let me know what is happening in your woods. Send me a picture, a story, a tip, or whatever you would like. Don't be shy!
      The summer has not be without controversy in the area of hunting regulations in Alabama. It appears that crossbows will be legal this year from Oct. 15th to January 31st. Muzzleloader season will be lengthened a day or two and scopes will now be allowed as well. And Alabama will be the last state in the nation to legalize turkey decoys. For what it's worth I'll give you my opinion on those topics with the next update in about week.
      Overall it appears the summer has been good one for south Alabama. Ample rainfall has been received in most areas and the browse has been plentiful. I'm hearing reports of good numbers of acorns ripening on the limbs of oaks in the area as well. I have recently witnessed some water oak and live oak trees in the Horn Swamp that are simply loaded.
      I completed my annual building project in the Swamp this past weekend, putting the finishing touches on this new shooting house stand. The original stand here was built in 1984 and though it remains in good condition this new stand will be better positioned to cover the entire field and avoid the possibility of a long shot. For those familiar with the Swamp, this new stand is in what we call the "Front Field" on the northern end of the property.

I have October 15th circled on my calendar. That's opening day of bowseason, now just a month and a half away. I have begun practicing and hope to maybe get in an archery hog hunt before deer season opens.
I'll have more next week. See you then....