Would-be hunter in NW Alabama

the hawken shop
L & R
Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I've been looking for a spot worth to post..

All day walking. I didn't see nothing for good sign. Really just that rub and nothing fresh anyway nothing. 😕

My friend came out texted me.. I was like there is nothing anywhere here here and there.. so he was like OK ill go over there.

He found what sounds like what I'm looking for.
A really fresh good worn trail
a bunch of fresh scrapes. one scrape was big he says.. so

That's betters the odds now..

my camera where that is.. no pictures not even at night. So moving that tomorrow.

He's going to post me at this spot in the morning. I'm kinda excited. We got snow coming and all..
 
Deer drives..

You mentioned stalking. Still hunting. This is both for you to learn. If your going in there you plug an exit with your buddy.

Only need 2 hunters.

The red line is the active good trail leaving to where they should bed..

The purple dot is your friend that you dropped off there..

Yellow are deer bedded

The green is you.. flank around the bedding area.. then move in still hunting it..

Zig zag back and forth in there..
Your trying to find them
You want them to jump
When they jump and see those tails you stop and post.
If you're buddy shoots it sends them back to you somtimes.
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20241204_231844_Maps~2.jpg
    Screenshot_20241204_231844_Maps~2.jpg
    413.5 KB
Baiting.. I'll try to keep it simple..

One cup. Big McDonald's cup size
Corn is king.
If your stand is good spot active deer
You hunt it almost everyday day.
One cup same spot everytime you go.

It's not legal for you on public land to bait don't do it. Just a little corn at your stand is a big problem with the warden.
The deer will dig around it. So even if there's no bait left. You can see it was there.

Is legal on private land I think for you..

You can add a little pure vanilla extract on the corn.. it's good.

This one cup doesn't work if you hunt ounce a week.. it's a cup a day..

Or 2.5 gallons every couple days.

5 gallons ounce a week. Maybe a little extra.. couple apples couple sugar beats couple carrots. That should work.

A pile and a half of everything truck bed full load.. A month or longer before you hunt.. it's really worthless kinda but that's what city hunters do.

Don't buy any bait near a gas pump.. they don't eat it.

Don't get busted for bait.

That's baiting
 
Last edited:
Jokes..

I was hunting with my cousin.. I reset all the clocks. Woke Him up at midnight. had coffee and breakfast with him.. it was so hard not to laugh.
we were hunting our property backyard at the time..

I read that in a magazine.. it works.


Another time big group..

Always they fight over stands..

I made a couple scrapes. Fresh ones. Right around these two stands..

The two buddy's in the group went all around see all the stands.. they had to hunt those stands.. all week they hunted those stands.. that worked
 
Heater hunting..

That's what they do in Maine. Drive around with the heat on.

I was hunting down a side trail. Drove down it.. it was off a main trail. Walking back to the truck

Walking out. I heard more that a few shots over there. Every 10 mins or so.

It was the Decoy and North wood law...
 
Heater hunting....

You know it's legal too. if you are not going to shoot that deer on the road or from the truck.. right..

You need snow

You can drive all night and day all week.. looking for that buck...

If you find him on the road.. you know that's fresh tracks and you know what your chasing.

unless you see the buck make the tracks.. there just foot prints. That's all.. you can't tell if it's 10pt.. or a 200lbs spike horn.

Is real hard to do..

your going to wait for daylight.. jump on the tracks.. and in Maine.. ooo boy your going to need all day to catch up to that thing.. no joke. You will need more gear its dangerous.. dark comes fast. It's cold.

Usually.. if lucky. Usually.. the buck like that. Runs you in a big circle.. big circle. So you end up back not far from the truck.

New Hampshire is different.. the buck is on top.. all the way.. so it's not easy either. you drag it all the way down in the snow.. mountain bucks..

to post hunt for them and wait.. you have to get up the mountain in the dark.. so you're walking early to early.. it might take till noon for the deer to get up there..
 
Last edited:
It's tuff here in MA kinda too get one..

Here's today..

My friend walked everywhere. No deer sign prints nothing. With all that snow. Saw nothing.

I walked to... I found this little spot of fresh sign.. I posted there a while..

I think there in there not moving...

I wanted to go for a better look.. but that being the only sign around.. I don't want to mess up the area.. im going to post right there early tomorrow..

In the pictures..

You see the wall of laurels.. the deer usually are on the edge.. not in the open.. that's where that sign was.. it come out the cover made a little mess and went back in..

I keep thinking that deer was bedded right there.
 

Attachments

  • 20241205_120656.jpg
    20241205_120656.jpg
    3 MB
  • 20241205_120649.jpg
    20241205_120649.jpg
    3 MB
  • 20241205_120522.jpg
    20241205_120522.jpg
    3.3 MB
  • 20241205_120511.jpg
    20241205_120511.jpg
    1.5 MB
  • 20241205_112009.jpg
    20241205_112009.jpg
    1.4 MB
  • 20241205_120454.jpg
    20241205_120454.jpg
    3.5 MB
One old timer I hunted with story..

He found woodcock.. he stuffed a few in his sweat shirt hoodie front pouch pocket..

He wanted to shoot more so.. he put those under a log and went back in..

Came out to the warden..

He had blood. Sweat shirt had blood on it..

Right away. Where is the deer.

I'll just end it with they went nuts.. just a little blood was is all they need.
 
I could use a better picture..

I mentioned you find the deer between the thick and thin.

My gun is scope. I sat back further but..

That's usually where you would find them.. right on the edge of that thick.

I highlighted it blue.. you would maybe want to be half my distance to that thick stuff if your iron sights.
 

Attachments

  • 20241205_120522~2.jpg
    20241205_120522~2.jpg
    2.5 MB
If your right handed. If you sit down. Point your left shoulder in the direction your hunting watching when posted.. you have more gun swing.
 
Trophy ranches!!! A fence

Your no longer hunting. It's not hunting.

Those animals have been A pet domestic livestock for over 4.5 years at least.

Just to add my opinion on them places.
 
A birds presurve is different.
Fun and nice.
To expensive. usually
That birds going to fly away that cost money..

It's really all for the dog.. the dog wants to go.
 
Last edited:
Sebaney said:
Hey all,

I set a goal for myself to take a deer this coming season (next year) with my .54 Hawken. I’m new to hunting, and to Alabama, and am hoping to get some advice from this knowledgeable community as to how to go about finding land to hunt and tips for stalking whitetail with a muzzleloader.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...


Welcome too Alabama!

I was born and raised in the NW corner, around the Florence area.
I hunted mostly Lauderdale WMA and Freedom HillsWMA just SW of Florence as a young man. Both held decent deer populations at that time.

Black Warrior WMA I have also hunted but not as much as the other two..

I have been gone from the area for quite some time now and couldn’t give you any sound advice on those areas now other than pay close attention too where you are going….

BW WMA at one time contained 98,000 acres of land plus it adjoins the Sipsey River wilderness area and Bankhead National Forrest. Another 350,000 acres!

A Friend of mine lives in the Bankhead and has all of his life, he’s a member of the local rescue squad.
I’ve heard numerous stories of his adventures making rescues from lost hikers and hunters.

Enjoy your time in Alabama, it’s really a Sportsman’s Paradise if you look around some.
Plenty of great fishing and hunting and lots of public land too be hunted.

I do believe the Wheeler WMA, just out of Decatur is walk in only ( No Motorized Vehicles) and if im not mistaken it’s bow and /or flintlock only.

Hopefully I’ll make it down to Sparkplug’s shoot again this Spring, looking forward too meeting some more of you Guys..

Im still kinda local… about 3 hours away, due North! 👍
 
Am I on topic still kinda?

Here goes one more..

If you're new trying to still hunt around.. you'll probably just jump them from there bed and you have no shot don't try..

Go anywhere from 50 yards to 150 yards to the right.. it's a 50/50 right or Left. To be simple go to the right.

Post for an hour give them an hour..

They might just bump a loop and try to get-away around you and back into there bed. Object is just to catch them trying to get around you.

There's a good chance after an hour or longer.. it's bedded where you jumped it right where you jump it. They like there bed. Before you leave you check that and then you can continue or quite.. it's a long day.
 
Last edited:

Similar threads

TheDividQ
Traditional Hunting Gear
Replies
10
Views
832
smo
smo
A
PA Conical vs 54 RB Advice
2
Replies
37
Views
1K
planefixer da50
P
D
Beginner Percussion Rifle
2 3
Replies
44
Views
2K
flconch53
flconch53
Caleb Foster
Advice for a new ML hunter
2
Replies
23
Views
1K
morehops52
M
N
Unsuccessful yet happy
Replies
5
Views
399
NMHawken
N

Latest posts

Back
Top