Finding Success While Hunting Public Property

Central Alabama

Mulberry Fork Wildlife Management Area

Hunting public management are in Alabama is very challenging. Most of the hunting property in the state is personally owned and leased. Majority of hunters can’t afford to pay the high fees of a hunting lease and resort to hunting publicly managed properties. Most public management areas are severely over hunted and lack the proper management to grow trophy animals. Mulberry Fork Wildlife Management Area is an exception because it has a unique strategy for managing its deer population on its 35,000 acres. The state only permits bow hunting on this property with the exception of a few days where gun hunting is allowed. These gun hunts attract hunters from all over the state to try their luck on a low pressure, public hunting property. I have had decent success during one of these gun hunts and here is the story.  

November 25, 2011

We had an entire hunting party in the woods this morning. Jonathan, one of his family members, Jake, and I all went on the November 25th gun hunt this morning. I took Jake to one of my favorite hunting spots on the management area called one shot. I shot a 98 pound button buck at 7:00 AM. My 270 caliber Winchester Ballistic Silvertip did its work on the animal and he did not take another step after the shot rang through the woods. Jake was hunting close to me so I went and guided him for the rest of the morning. I was able to put him on a doe walking through a hardwood bottom shortly after killed my deer. He managed to make a great shot on one of the branches but not the deer.

Jonathan's girlfriend, now wife, let us bring her dad and brother along with us for the hunt. No one saw any deer except Jake and myself. We took my deer back to Whitney's house and processed it for the meat. The hunt continued that afternoon at a different part of the management area. This marks one of the best days that I have had hunting on the Mulberry Fork property. Jonathan and I split up on the same hunting spot and Jonathan was able to kill a big, cow-horn spike right before dark. It is a rare day to shoot a double on public property but we were able to pull it off. The success we had today was due to a combination of preparation and opportunity. We spent countless hours scouting this property, finding the best hunting spots and mapping the deer activity. We also spent countless hours in the deer stand waiting for shot opportunities on these deer.