Live In Atalanta and could use some recomendations on any hunts offered in Bama for whitetail. Would prefer a place with a lodge and food provided. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

John

I have hunted with Alabama River Lodge. I will never hunt there again. The head guy told me 1/3 of his hunters actually take a "trophy" (defined as at least 8 points, 16 inch spread) buck.

When I was there, there were 22 hunters with overlapping hunts. Of the 22, only one saw (and shot) an 8 pointer. It qualified but the tines were only 2-3 inches long. No one else saw a shootable buck.

Out of the 6 morning and afternoon hunts, I did not see a deer of any kind on 4 of them. On the other two, I saw a spike and four does. You can say maybe this is due to my skills but I also hunt on a relative's property in Alabama and have shot good 8 pointers at very close range (thick bush prevents seeing very far).

Although the hunt rules said no smoking or alcohol in the field, there was one group there that did both in the stands. I know because I hunted behind them and saw their cigarette butts and beer cans. The owners of the land let this go on with their full knowledge. It was brought to their attention by someone else and they did nothing about it. The offending group actually asked the owner where they could go locally to buy more beer and he gave them directions. The "guides" helped them carry the beer to the stands in small ice chests.

They also had packs of dogs running deer. I counted seventeen in one pack as they went by.

There is no guarantee you will see a shootable trophy on any hunt but much more went on here.

Thanks, I'll avoid that one like the plague

The only consistantly good deer hunt I have knowledge of in Alabama is White Oak, run by the Pittman family. It is a first class lodge with excellent meals, and a decent deer population. There are places I have hunted in Alabama that I would not recommend. White Oak is one I would return to.

http://www.whiteoakplantation.com/hunting/index.html

Well, let me shed some light on Alabama. I lived there/grew up there for 27 years. Alabama SUCKS.



I've hunted private land, public land, management land, refuges, MY OWN land, and on guides places and semi guided places. I have killed only 2 bucks that were 'shooters' and they both scored about 115-120. Alabama is, IMO, WAY overhunted. The deer there are so educated, they have PhD's.



If you are going to pay a fee to hunt deer, go somewhere where your opportunity is greater for a larger buck.



You can kill one buck per day in Alabama. You can only kill ONE in Kansas, Ohio, Kentucky. Illinois has great public hunting in the southern portion and it would only be about a 7-8 hour drive for you.



My advice is, don't waste your time or money on an Alabama hunt.



If you can get into that White Oak place and they have excellent references, then go for it. But, if I read correctly, they only have a 32% success rate.



Good Luck.

Your answer was better than mine, doc. I totally agree that Alabama deer hunting is highly overrated. To your list of states I would add Texas. The one drawback is that you might be hunting a baited site in Texas, but that isn't much different than hunting a feed plot in Alabama IMO. Food is food.

I also saw some nice whitetails in Montana this past November. One hunt I might recommend is Cedar Breaks Outfitters, near Broadus, Montana. They have both mule deer and whitetails, with the whitetails being located mostly along the river bottoms. I had a very interesting hunt there. Accommodations are right decent.
http://www.cedarbreaksoutfitting.com/hunts.htm

Well, I could have mentioned plenty of other states to hunt but I was trying to keep it close to his Atlanta home. For the purposes of state recommendations, I whole heartedly recommend Texas too, but I figured that would be quite the drive.

What I will add, is that If a hunter paid the fee to hunt that White Oak place listed, which looks real nice and all, I would say, go for it. BUT, I would rather go to southern Illinois in the public hunting area and have even a better chance at killing a better deer with a BOW in an under-pressured area. Heck, the taxidermist I used when I lived in Alabama went there with his brother and 2 cousins, and all 4 brought back 150+ class deer after only 4 days of bowhunting. Cost? Nonres tag, gas, food, and their hotel which was about $40/night split 4 ways. BARGAIN!

Your chances of even SEEING a 150 Class deer in Alabama are slim. The Alabama record books have up to 180 class deer killed but that has been years ago.

I can still go back to Alabama and hunt whenever I want, but I never do because it sucks so bad. IMO, a complete waste of time for any reasonable 'trophy' hunt.

I'd hunt in Tennesee, Georgia, SC or Mississippi before I'd hunt Alabama again.

As some one who has lived here and still does.I must agree with Doc and the others.I live in Anniston AL. or should I say been stuck here for most of my 43 years on this earth and it`s the worst town in the worst state in the U.S.A.
Hunting around here is horrible!I hunt on public land national forest, management areas,and your all hunting one little skinny spike that might weigh 45lbs to 60lbs and there are over 2000 guys after this one little guy.I quit going to management area`s after nearly getting shot the last time I went.I have only taken 3 deer here in 36 years of hunting here the last one a 90lb spike 6 years ago.I went 20 years between my 1st deer (4 pt.)and my second a doe.Some of you may have read about Anniston,Al. in FORBES magazine article Titled "Toxic Town U.S.A."about all the polution pcb`s extc. around here.TIME mag said that Anniston was THE WORST PLACE TO LIVE IN THE U.S.A.
enuff said.

OK, I live in Alabama also. Sure theres not many trophies walking around but there is lots of deer. This year alone 4 of us have taken 9 on 300 acres! I've taken 4 so far this year, I shot 5 last year, 3 the year before and 10 the year before that! So thats what, 22 deer in 4 years and I've still got 6 weeks to hunt this season. Then again only 2 of those would be what most people call trophies, but we've got lots of deer and ifn your a meat hunter theres nothing wrong with that

I hunted bear here in 2002. Hal and Debbie are top notch. The deer are truly unbelievable compared to what we see in the south.

Cedar Ridge Outfitters

Your decision on where to hunt Whitetail Deer really should boil down to what quality of trophy you are after. If that is just a deer, a representative trophy, or a truely large deer.

We used to hunt Alabama years ago. We went to four different hunting camps in Alabama including some of those mentioned in this thread. Yes you can take a deer there it may be a doe or a buck, however, the quality (antler and size of deer) of deer there (based on my experience) is not comparable to most any other state. We quit hunting Alabama 9 years ago and do not intend to back....