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877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // JANUARY 2021 3
HUNTING & FISHING IN ALABAMA & THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE
8
CONTENTS Guntersville Winter Bass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 by Greg McCain Alabama Trophy Deer Hunts for Every Budget. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 by John E. Phillips Trout Trolling Rigs for Wintertime Specks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 by Capt. Bobby Abruscato Firepit - DIY Build or Buy Ready-Made. . . . . 22 by Ed Mashburn Hunt Does to Take January & February Bucks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 by John E. Phillips Annual Boat Maintenance Checklist . . . . . . . . 34 by David Strickland
12
18
Dealing with Four-Legged Game Poachers. . . 38 by William Kendy How to Make Money Subdividing Land. . . . . 46 by Joe Baya
In Every Issue
26
4 JANUARY 2021 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
38
Best Bets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 by William Kendy Camphouse Kitchen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 by Hank Shaw New Gear for Outdoorsmen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 by William Kendy From the Commissioner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 by Chris Blakenship From the Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 by Charles Sykes The Gun Rack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 by Craig Haney Paddle Fishing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 by Ed Mashburn Coastal Outlook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 by Chris Vecsey Pier & Shore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 by David Thornton Regional Freshwater. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 by Ed Mashburn Prime Feeding Times, Moon, Sun, and Tide Charts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Pensacola Motorsports Trophy Room. . . . . . 76 Great Days Kids Corner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Classifieds & Fishin‘ Guides . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Fishing Tips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 by William Kendy A Great Day Outdoors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 by Jim Mize
Broadhead Axe Farm
Alabama River Uriah Tract
Lowndes County, Alabama, 38+/-Acres
Less than 20 miles from Montgomery city limits awaits a unique secluded retreat with beautiful views, excellent hunting and solid investment opportunity. This property is loaded with potential for the outdoors and has been intently managed for deer since 1997 with established food plots, lots of hardwoods and is surrounded by large responsible land owners. Another positive feature is that the tract is next to the historic town of Lowndesboro and is accessed by a county road. There are 2 fully restored historic mid-1800’s log cabins with underground electricity, city water, and high speed internet. The 3+/- acre bass pond with boat dock will provide hours of enjoyment. This tract is located in the rich fertile Black Belt soil region of Alabama, an area known for excellent deer and turkey hunting!
Monroe County, Alabama, 44+/-Acres
This diverse waterfront hunting and timber investment is a rare find, with 400+/- feet of frontage on the Alabama River and a huge sandbar. Located between Chrysler and Perdue Hill, an area well known for quality fishing, deer, turkey, dove, and duck hunting, just over an hour from both Mobile and Spanish Fort, enjoy easy access using the Bailey’s Creek Road frontage, utilities available nearby, and timber types including mature, unthinned hardwood and pine plantations that are ready for their first thinning. Land of this quality is rarely available in this area, much less with both road and river frontage. ADDITIONAL ACREAGE IS AVAILABLE, UP TO 279+/- ACRES TOTAL.
FL Panhandle Listings
Alabama Listings COUNTY Autauga Autauga Autauga Autauga Autauga Baldwin Baldwin Baldwin Baldwin Baldwin Barbour Barbour Barbour Barbour Barbour Bibb Bibb Bibb Bibb Bibb Blount Blount Bullock Bullock Butler Chilton Chilton
ACRES 545 371 230 189 185 1995 1236 900 695 555 884 342 215 92.7 37 425 416 188 168 152 60 9.3 4000 167 85.16 421 164
COUNTY Chilton Chilton Chilton Clarke Clarke Clarke Clarke Clarke Cleburne Cleburne Coffee Colbert Colbert Colbert Colbert Colbert Conecuh Conecuh Conecuh Conecuh Conecuh Coosa Coosa Coosa Coosa Coosa Covington
146 73 21.65 620 176 54 41 40 856 128.16 200 294 161 133 92.4 80 142 40 40 35 22 430 161 128.5 120 112 360
ACRES 140 72 63.04 22 163 876.25 96 63 30 20 20 1283 860 782 555 510 338 264 158 111 97 83 1287 672 640 484 473
Covington Covington Covington Covington Crenshaw Cullman Dale Dale Dale Dale Dale Dallas Dallas Dallas Dallas Dallas DeKalb Elmore Elmore Elmore Elmore Elmore Escambia Fayette Fayette Fayette Fayette
COUNTY Fayette Franklin Franklin Franklin Franklin Franklin Greene Greene Greene Greene Hale Hale Hale Hale Hale Henry Henry Henry Henry Henry Houston Houston Houston Houston Houston Jefferson Jefferson
344 244 234 76.76 46 10 490 105 38 2.78 329 223 80 70 55 200 151 100 47 26 325 66.8 31 20 17.5 633 108
Jefferson Jefferson Jefferson Lamar Lamar Lamar Lamar Lamar Lauderdale Lauderdale Lauderdale Lauderdale Lee Lee Lee Limestone Lowndes Lowndes Lowndes Lowndes Lowndes Macon Macon Macon Macon Macon Marengo
ACRES 78 75 65 373 202 192 142 92 159 108 1.17 0.78 4505 171 53 111 1013 783 656 500 38 2370 486 483 232 163 6214
Marengo Marengo Marengo Marengo Marion Marion Marion Marion Marion Marshall Mobile Mobile Mobile Mobile Mobile Monroe Monroe Monroe Monroe Monroe Montgomery Montgomery Montgomery Montgomery Montgomery Perry Perry
3000 1164 558 551 286 88 80 77 63 535 1800 439 308 299.1 260 279 150 129 85 44 3314 926 858 788 768 330 240.75
COUNTY
ACRES
Perry Perry Perry Pickens Pickens Pickens Pickens Pickens Pike Pike Russell Saint Clair Saint Clair Saint Clair Shelby Shelby Shelby Shelby Shelby Sumter Sumter Sumter Sumter Sumter Talladega Talladega Talladega
151 120 116 837 513 450 430 240.36 521.95 112 50 656.08 66 62 200 195 159 135.84 126 740 550 530 350 45.7 320 115 65
COUNTY Tallapoosa Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa Walker Walker Walker Walker Walker Washington Washington Washington Washington Washington Wilcox Wilcox Wilcox Wilcox Wilcox Winston Winston Winston Winston
160 500 280 280 203 160 203 100 85 82 61 1320 455 240 213 120 2365 522 436 310 196 160 140 2.3 1.3
Escambia Santa Rosa Santa Rosa Walton Walton Walton Washington
ACRES 257 680 95 52 45 22.5 22.5
Over 700 more tracts across 47 states available...
® 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // JANUARY 2021 5
BEST BETS
BEST BETS FOR JANUARY These are our top targets for hunters and fishermen this month! BY WILLIAM KENDY
TAKING CARE OF BOAT CHORES
While some may be in the woods stalking that elusive whitetail of their dreams and others are bundling up and getting out on the water to extend their fishing season, for others, January is a good time to hunker down and just get some stuff done. For boat owners one of those chores is taking care of business when it comes to boat maintenance and care. David Strictland interviewed the folks at Buck’s Island Marina in Southside Alabama to get the expert advice for his article on “Annual Boat Maintenance Checklist”. He outlines what you need to pay attention to in order to make sure that the trailer, engine, boat hull, electrical, canvas and upholstery and plumbing are up to speed to allow you a great time on the water.
VOLUME 25 ISSUE 1 JANUARY 2021
PUBLISHED BY: Great Days Outdoors Media, L.L.C. PUBLISHER/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Joe Baya EXECUTIVE EDITOR Butch Thierry GENERAL MANAGER: Samatha Hester MANAGING EDITOR: William Kendy
FOLLOW THE DOE TRAIL TO CONNECT WITH BUCKS
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Wendy Johannesmann
While this isn’t a huge surprise to any deer hunter, if you want to shoot a buck during the Alabama rut, it makes sense to keep track of and follow does. Hunting around scrapes and rubs and trying to ambush bucks on their journey to and from feeding and bedding areas makes perfect sense but during the “season of love” sometimes it doesn’t hurt to pursue other tactics. Unlike the northern climes where the rut is compacted into a shorter season, Alabama is all over the board in terms of timing of the rut. John Phillips, in his article on “Hunt Does to Take January and February Bucks” outlines the things you need to consider in order to harvest that whitetail who is out looking for romance.
COLD WEATHER FRESH WATER HOT ACTION For those diehard freshwater fishermen who are willing and able to brave frosty weather Alabama lakes offer some darn good bass and crappie fishing opportunities.
In his feature,” Guntersville Winter Bass”, Greg McCain outlines how anglers can connect with some hefty bass in January on Lake Guntersville. Aside from the fact that the lake is pretty “lonesome” in terms of general boat traffic and competition, it is a great time for “trap” and lure anglers to toss and play with their hardware. Moving down the road to Weiss Lake Captain Lee Pitts in our “Fishing Tips” column, shares some expert insider advice on how to cash in on the Weiss Lake crappie bite. He says that “slabs” are ready and willing to bite despite the cold weather. 6 JANUARY 2021 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
Great Days Outdoors (USPS 17228; ISSN 1556-0147) is published monthly at P.O. Box 1253 Santa Rosa Beach, FL 32459 Subscription rate is $30 for one-year, $54 for two-years, and $72 for three-years. Periodicals Postage Paid at Mobile, Ala. and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Great Days Outdoors Media, LLC PO Box 460248 Escondido, CA 92046 SUBSCRIBERS: All subscriptions begin the first issue for the month following receipt of payment, if payment is received by the 15th. Great Days Outdoors assumes no responsibility for delivery after magazines are mailed. All delivery complaints should be addressed to your local postmaster. CONTACT US: EDITORIAL | JoeBaya@greatdaysoutdoors.com ADVERTISING | SamHester@greatdaysoutdoors.com SUBSCRIPTIONS | greatdaysoutdoors@pcspublink.com Great Days Outdoors Media LLC PO Box 460248 Escondido, CA 92046 877. 314. 1237 info@greatdaysoutdoors.com www.greatdaysoutdoors.com All rights reserved. Reproduction of contents is strictly prohibited without permission from Great Days Outdoors Media, LLC.
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LIME APPLICATION
When the weather warms over several days in a row, a lipless crankbait is often the best ticket to bass success on Guntersville.
8 JANUARY 2021 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
FISHING
Guntersville
Winter Bass BY GREG MCCAIN Photos by Greg McCain
The bass on Lake Guntersville never stop feeding. Largemouth, spots, and even smallmouth bass gorge on baitfish and other food sources through the fall and early winter periods. When colder weather arrives, the feeding frenzy slows as the metabolism of the bass adjusts to the changing water temperatures. Having said that,even on the coldest winter days in north Alabama, usually January and early February, the bass still put on the feed bags. When the weather trends warmer over multiple days, the bite can be absolutely torrid. “It’s a great time to fish on the lake for several reasons,” guide Mike Carter said. “The fish bite extremely well on the best days, bass and other species, and the pressure on the lake is limited in the winter months compared to other times of the year. You may see a few boats on the lake but nothing like you start to see in later February and through the spring and summer. Many people don’t know what they are missing.” Another veteran Guntersville guide, Tim Chandler, echoed those comments on a New Year’s Eve trip some years ago. Chandler and I were searching for crappie at the time, but he kept talking about the bass bite. “The trap bite has been incredibly hot,” he said. “We need to check it out for an hour or so before dark.” His words were prophetic. The trap bite, a condensed reference to the time-honored tradition of throwing lipless crankbaits in the winter months on Guntersville, was beyond hot. We tossed traps on shallow ledges in the mid-lake area and caught multiple largemouth over four pounds in a prolonged flurry before dark. We never caught anything over about 5 ½ lbs., but the lunker parade proved indicative of Guntersville’s potential given the right weather conditions in the winter.
“THE TRAP BITE IS ON” Fishermen long to hear those words. Some special attraction exists among the Guntersville black bass population for the type of lure generically known as a lipless crankbait. Whether it’s the traditional Rat-l-Trap, a discontinued XCalibur model, or even an old-fashioned Cotton Cordell Super Spot, Guntersville bass like the rhythmic cadence of the streamlined lures. Some variety of red often has the most appeal. Key areas to focus on are shallow ledges leading into flats in four to eight feet of water with deep water access nearby. The bass will at times feed actively on the top of the ledge or hit just as the lure drops over the lip. “If you have open water that’s not super shallow, it’s some of the easiest fishing there is,” Chandler said. “You can alter the retrieve at times, stop and go, but a steady retrieve is usually all that is needed.” Carter finds fish in the mid-lake area with a Rat-l-Trap. While a little more color often triggers the bite in winter, traditional favorites of chrome/black or chrome/blue are hard to beat. One key in maintaining a consistent trap bite is finding water not covered with floating eelgrass. The invasive is found all over the lake and totally foils long casts with fast-moving baits in some areas. Finding a choice spot with little or no eelgrass promises a good bite, however. TRAP ALTERNATIVES While the lipless crankbait bite is a go-to option in the winter, Guntersville is not just a one-lure lake. Almost 10 years ago, bass pro Paul Elias introduced the Alabama Rig to the fishing world while winning a fall tournament on Guntersville. For several years, the A-rig dominated fishing in the cold-water months, and many anglers threw nothing else. The multi-hook rigs remain an option but probably don’t produce the consistently big bags they once did. Chandler suggested the trend is now back to more traditional lures. In addition to lipless crankbaits, he said squarebills and jerkbaits have 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // JANUARY 2021 9
Guntersville Winter Bass
A squarebill crankbait fished around dead grass, rocks, or wood is a good winter option on Lake Guntersville for guide Tim Chandler.
Guntersville through the years. “A key in the winter is identifying what the bass want on a given day,” Chandler said. “Just because they hit the trap one day doesn’t mean they’ll be in the same mood the next. I usually have several different baits tied on and will use all of them until I figure out the bite that day.” MOVING ON UP While most anglers recognize main-lake Guntersville, focusing on fishing the roughly 30-mile stretch from Scottsboro downstream to the dam, there’s an entirely different part of the lake that draws much less attention. “If you’ve never fished it before, the area from above Mud Creek all the way to Nickajack Dam can be really good,” Carter said. “It’s not what people typically think of Guntersville. There’s some grass up that way, but it’s dominated more by rock and concrete structures. Current is also more of an influence upriver.” Also atypical of the lower end of the lake, the upper reaches feature much more variety in terms of bass species. Spotted bass and smallmouth, in fact, typically outnumber largemouth on most days. Carter said a visitor is as likely to catch a five-pound smallmouth or spot a similar-sized largemouth on this section of the lake. Carter typically throws crankbaits around the rocky structure. Depending on water depth, Carter uses different models in the Bill Lewis line that dive from shallow to mid-depths to the deepest water. A favorite is the MR-6, a shallow diver that catches bass all over Guntersville.
returned to his regular winter rotation. Big jigs are another consideration when the bass shun moving baits. “Fishing changed when the A-rig came out,” Chandler said, “but I think it’s changed back to normal.” Normal for Chandler means digging a squarebill or other shallow-running crankbait into a shallow grass bed and ripping it through or letting it float back up. Either retrieve prompts strikes. Chandler demonstrated that technique on a trip years ago amid the grass beds in the back of Roseberry Creek near Scottsboro. Even though freezing rain was falling at the time, he convinced a steady stream of quality largemouth to strike the erratic retrieve of the crankbaits. Chandler throws a variety of models, including those produced by Bomber, Bandit, and Rebel. “The squarebill is a good winter bait whether you fish it around dead grass, around rocks and shallow bluffs, or even around wood,” he said. The jerkbait is also an effective cold-water weapon. Chandler fishes them around bluff walls and rocky areas, changing the cadence of the retrieve from trip to trip to fit the mood of the bass. In general, the coldest water demands the longest pauses between twitches of the rod tip. Smithwick produces quality jerkbaits that have fooled plenty of bass on 10 JANUARY 2021 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
A ChooChoo Lures Custom Carter Shaker, a vibrating jig that Carter helped design, is another good choice, especially if any grass remnants remain upriver. “Going upriver is never a bad option,” Carter said. “In its own way, it can be every bit as good and sometimes better of how people generally think of Lake Guntersville.” Regardless of the time of year, Guntersville remains one of the ultimate destinations for bass fishing, and the fishery is potentially just as good in the winter months as in more traditional fishing periods. “People don’t have to limit their bass fishing to just the spring and summer,” Carter said. “Of course, they probably want to pick their spots in the winter. It can be brutally cold at times. “But fishing from late fall to early spring can be excellent. Most people just don’t get to experience it.” Important Contact Information Tim Chandler Tim Chandler Pro Guide Fishing Service www.mildrillafishing.com (256) 655.8292 (Also on Facebook) Mike Carter Mike Carter Fishing www.mikecartersguideservice.com 423-802-1362 (Also on Facebook)
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A buck like this is a hunter‘s dream, and you can see these types of bucks at enclosures like Soggy Bottom Lodge. (Photo courtesy of Soggy Bottom Lodge)
12 JANUARY 2021 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
HUNTING
ALABAMA TROPHY DEER HUNTS FOR EVERY BUDGET BY JOHN E. PHILLIPS
Like many Alabama deer hunters, Brandon Smith once thought that hunting in an enclosure to take a trophy buck was too expensive for him. “But if you’ve checked, the price of leasing land to hunt has gone up drastically. If you have a trailer or a clubhouse on the property or stay in a nearby motel, purchase your food and gas for your four-wheeler and count the costs to maintain that four-wheeler, your vehicle, the green fields on that land and the money you’ll spend for plowing, herbicides, fertilizer, lime and seed blends, you’ll probably spend more money than what you’ll pay for two nights lodging and three delicious meals per day and the opportunity to harvest a buck scoring 140-149 inches on Boone & Crockett (B&C) at an enclosure. That buck may be bigger than any buck you’ve ever seen on Alabama’s public or leased lands. Also, on each morning and afternoon hunt, you’ll get to see more trophy bucks than ever before in your lifetime with racks scoring 200-300+ inches.” Today, Alabamians are seeing more trophy bucks being taken throughout the state – from enclosures and also from public and private lands. In 2020 already a hunter took a 198-inch Boone and Crocket buck with a crossbow on a Tallapoosa County family farm; and a bowhunter harvested a 217-pound, 11-point buck with a 27inch inside spread at Black Warrior WMA in Lawrence and Winston counties. HERE’S WHY: • Dispersal of Bucks – If every morning during the rut, you knew you’d probably get beat up by a bigger, stronger, more-mature buck deer than you, chances would be that you’d move out of the neighborhood to feed, water and breed elsewhere. Two-year-old and older bucks do move when there’s an overabundance of bucks on a property. • The Use of Quality Deer Management – More and more landowners are practicing the philosophy of letting little bucks walk to grow bigger bucks, even on state WMAs. • The Practice of Hunting Trophy Bucks – Most Alabama deer hunters who have been hunting several years or more already have taken spikes, 4-pointers and small 8-pointers. Now they’re searching for bucks with racks that will score more than 110-120 inches. • The Establishment of Deer Sanctuaries – Setting-up sanc-
•
•
tuaries for deer is a key ingredient to consistently producing big bucks on the lands you hunt. Sanctuaries include the very-thick places on the land you hunt that hunters seldom go into, unless they’re blood trailing a deer. New Breakthroughs in Producing Enclosure Trophy BucksAlabama is one of the fastest-growing states for building enclosures, breeding and raising trophy deer. Because so many enclosures are in Alabama, the price of taking an older-ageclass buck at them has dropped dramatically. Many breeders now can produce 200-inch buck deer in 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 years by artificially inseminating monster-sized bucks’ genetics into does with a history of producing bucks with large racks and heavy body weights. The Use of Trail Cameras – Because of the extensive use of trail cameras by hunters, they can learn before they hunt whether a trophy buck is on the property. Trail cameras have allowed today’s deer hunters to selectively harvest the older-age-class bucks they want to take.
PLACES TO HUNT ALABAMA’S TROPHY BUCKS • Public Land Hunting The least-expensive way to take a trophy buck is to hunt public lands. Today wildlife biologists on WMAs around the state are helping to produce bucks that will score 150-plus inches. Each year a steady increase of bucks this size have been harvested by hunters who put in the time to study the land, learn where the deer are on the land and hunt and scout as often as they can to pinpoint the places where their chances are best for taking a trophy buck. According to statistics from the 2019-2020 deer season, the top WMAs for producing quality bucks are: Uchee Creek SOA in Russell County; Black Warrior WMA in Lawrence and Winston counties; Freedom Hills WMA in Colbert County; William R. Ireland Cahaba River WMA in Bibb and Shelby counties; Mulberry Fork WMA in Tuscaloosa and Walker counties; Autauga WMA in Autauga County; and Barbour County WMA in Barbour and Bullock counties. Other public lands include U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (https:// www.sam.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Recreation/Alabama-River-Lakes/Hunting/) and U.S. Forest Service lands (https:// www.fs.usda.gov/alabama).
877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // JANUARY 2021 13
Alabama Trophy Deer Hunts for Every Budget
• Leased Land If you’re hunting deer on leased land, there’s a catch-22. When hunting a large tract of land in good deer country, the price to hunt that land may be over $1,000+ per year per person. Paying this rate, you still may have 30-100 members on the lease, which means higher hunter pressure. You’ll be less likely to take an older-age-class buck on this lease. Or, you can belong to a lease for a smaller tract of land with five to 10 hunters. But once more, you’ll have to endure high hunting pressure and may or may not see a mature buck there. • Lodge Hunting Alabama fortunately has numbers of hunting lodges where for a fee a deer hunter can hunt land that not only homes a good population of older-age-class buck deer but also numbers of green fields, open spaces and stand sites. The hunting pressure on those lands is rotated, so the bucks aren’t hunted as heavily as they are on public lands and leased lands. The lodge owner has spent the money to plant green fields, build shooting houses, hang tree stands, feed the deer supplementally, provide sanctuary for the bucks and scout the land to put the hunters in the very-best places to try to take an older-age-class buck. Alabama Black Belt Adventures (https://alabamablackbeltadventures.org/outfitters-lodges/), Phone: 334-343-6173, offers a list of hunting lodges. • Enclosure Hunting Because Alabama has a number of enclosures that breed and protect their bucks until they reach the older-age classes, the price of harvesting one of these bucks has dropped dramatically, since the first enclosures were built in the state. “Great Days Outdoors” has interviewed Brandon Smith, the general manager of Soggy Bottom Lodge in Linden, Alabama (https://soggybottomlodge.com/).
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“Soggy Bottom, established in 2013, was opened to the public in 2015,” Smith reports. “The property is a little over 1,200 enclosed acres and homes trophy whitetails, elk and fallow deer and four fishing lakes. We hunt quail, ducks, pheasants, deer and turkeys. We have an 18-station sporting-clays course, a Five-Stand range, and two of the finest lodges you’ll find in the Southeast. We also serve a five-star menu.” “Our primary customers are corporate businesses and large family groups. I’m often asked, ‘Why do hunters come to enclosures to take whitetails?’ Corporate customers often bring their clients here to hunt because they know their clients will be successful, and our prices are reasonable. If I’m honest, I think they come primarily for the lodging, the meeting rooms available and the outstanding food. This setting gives the corporate people and their clients a chance to have a good time, harvest deer, turkey, ducks and/or quail and also get to know each other. They realize their clients probably will see more big bucks in a couple of days than they’ll see anywhere else in a lifetime.” The minimum-size bucks that Soggy Bottom allows its hunters to harvest are 140 inches, but one hunter took a buck that scored 370 inches B&C. To take bucks that will score 140-149 inches, the cost is $4,500 and includes a three-day lodge stay with two nights and food during that time. A buck that will score 150-159 inches costs $5,500, which includes three days of food and two nights lodging. Also remember, if you’re hunting on a lease, you have to control the property to keep it from being poached and protect the deer herd from the natural predators on the land. You never may see a buck that scores 150-inches or better. Enclosure owners put up high fences to keep predators out, stop poaching and be able to better control the genetics of the deer herd and the hunting pressure inside that enclosure.
Alabama Trophy Deer Hunts for Every Budget
Metal roofsLodge provideprices hurricaneSoggy Bottom wind proof protection, and include a two night stay, three roofs come in astar wide daysmetal of hunting and five variety of styles, colors, cuisine.and designs. (Photo courtesy of Soggy Bottom Lodge)
At Soggy Bottom Lodge, you can see trophy bucks like this one and can choose to harvest a buck like this. (Photo courtesy of Soggy Bottom Lodge)
According to Smith, “In our area around Linden, hunting-lease prices are $15-$18 per acre. Also, most people will want to put green fields on that lease, so the lessees either will have to own or rent a tractor to plow, buy lime and fertilizer and plant crops for wildlife. Enclosure hunting is probably the least-expensive way to take a buck that will score 140 or 150. Some of our customers tell me, ‘I’m tired of paying a really high lease price and never seeing a buck that’ll score even 110-120 inches B&C.’ Just to have the opportunity to see 8-20 bucks that will score 140 to over 200 inches in two days, stay in a fine lodge and eat delicious food is worth the price of our enclosure hunt. All of our hunters hunt with guides experienced enough to field judge each of the bucks they’ll see.” Smith also mentions that since many hunters don’t hunt more than two or three days a year due to a lack of time, they want to enjoy a nice stay and also have the opportunity to take a buck bigger than they’ve ever seen on the places they hunt. “Great Days Outdoors” isn’t promoting one type of deer hunting over another but rather wants to show the different options Alabama hunters have to take the bucks of their dreams.
877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // JANUARY 2021 15
Alabama Trophy Deer Hunts for Every Budget
Locate Trophy Buck Deer Where You Hunt •
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Study to Find Big Bucks: Study Buckmasters (http:// www.buckmasters.com/hunting/big-buck-central) lists and Alabama Whitetail Records (https://alabamawhitetailrecords.com/) and (https://www.facebook.com/pg/ AlabamaWhitetailRecords/posts/) or visit the Alabama Whitetails Records Museum in Thomaston, Alabama. Also, talk to people who have the opportunity to see big bucks like farmers, the rural mail carrier, the local conservation officer, the deputy sheriff, highway patrolmen and WMA wildlife biologists. Locate the Buck Deer No One’s Seen: You may have to wear waders, carry a canoe and paddle to remote spots and/or cut brush in the summertime to get into thick-cover areas, hunt behind a club house or within sight of a major interstate or in a small patch of cover out in the middle of a 100-acre cow pasture to see a big buck. Develop a Game Plan for the Off-Season: Scout more in the off-season than you hunt during hunting season. You may spot a trophy buck and learn the most about its habits and haunts before or after hunting season than at any other time of the year. Create a Place to Take a Trophy Buck Deer: Make sure you have the landowner’s permission; then move 8 to 10 yards inside a thicket, and cut a trail 4-5 feet wide you can walk into the center of that cover and set-up a ground blind. Cut shooting lanes that spoke out from your ground-blind site. Also, a hunting friend of mine had seen a fine buck staying in a high sage field between his family’s garden and the woods. He used a lawnmower to cut a path through the sage to the vegetable garden and set-up a tripod stand 30 yards from the woodline. He bagged a bow buck there scoring 142 2/8-inches. Don’t Bet on Your Memory: Build a database on a buck with a GPS receiver. Every time you spot that big buck or his tracks, scrapes or rubs, take a GPS reading. Number that GPS reading, make it a waypoint, and name it. Or, consider using apps like onX (https://www.onxmaps. com/) to make this process easier. OnX allows you to use your cell phone to download maps, even if you have no cell phone service. Don’t Act Stupid When Hunting Deer: Don’t be someone who refuses to learn. The hunters who bag the most big bucks every season constantly try-out new hunting strategies and new equipment. Change Times You Hunt Deer: Go to your tree stand an hour before other hunters move to the woods. Or, stay in your tree stand an hour longer than other hunters. Learn to go to and leave from your stand in the dark with a hand-held GPS receiver. Remain in your stand all day. Learn Places to Bag Big Deer Including Croplands: The majority of hunters prefer to hunt woodlots instead of fields, which means less hunting pressure exists around the edges of the croplands than in the woodlots. Where you find less hunting pressure, you usually can locate more and bigger bucks. Hunt Openings: Identify woods roads, firebreaks, old logging roads, trails, powerline right-of-ways or some other type of paths and/or clear-cuts through the woods. Hunters typically won’t hunt these open regions. Make notes on where the deer cross, which wind direction you need to have to hunt, and where you can put your stand.
16 JANUARY 2021 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
The hunters who hunt and scout before, during and after deer season will take some nice bucks like this one from Choccolocco WMA.
ALABAMA DEER ENCLOSURES Dream Ranch, LLC Guntersville, AL 256-571-7355 https://www.dreamranch.org/ Hurricane Creek Lodge Between Russellville and Red Bay, AL 256-366-7910 https://hurricanecreeklodge.com/ Soggy Bottom Lodge Linden, AL 334-295-5430 https://soggybottomlodge.com/ Stone Creek Preserve Auburn, AL 334-319-2285 https://www.stonecreekpreserve.com/ Willow Oak Lodge Spruce Pine, AL 256-810-5946 https://www.visitwillowoak.com/ Alabama Black Belt Adventures 334-343-6173 https://alabamablackbeltadventures.org/outfitters-lodges/ - Information here covers a variety of deer-hunting opportunities in Alabama.
877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // JANUARY 2021 17
Trout Trolling Rigs For Wintertime Specks
BY GREG MCCAIN
BY CAPT. BOBBY ABRUSCATO
The right speckled trout trolling rig and lure will let you cover more water, when you are out on a cold winter’s day. 18 JANUARY 2021 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
FISHING As the temperature starts to drop, anglers may want to try a different technique for catching speckled trout. Trolling for specks can be a nice way to mix things up and it can allow you stay warm as you drift along. Pulling the proper trout trolling rigs, outfitted with the best trout tolling lures, can certainly make your day on the water successful. The air temperature just before dawn on this winter morning was in the upper 20s. That was cold enough, but the 20-minute run up the tidal river at more than 50 knots in my Skeeter was going to take our breath away. The other option was to take it slow, so as not to make it too miserable. I finally decided that it was better off to do it like you’d remove a Band-Aid – quickly and be done with it. After slowing and hearing a few “oohs, aahs and man that was cold,” I started passing out rods and giving instructions to my clients on how to work the jigs. It didn’t take long to figure out that casting for our quarry wasn’t going to work. The rod guides were icing over and after only a few casts our hands were so cold that we had to take a break and warm them up in our pockets. “Okay, let’s try something a little different.” I told them. “Just flip the rods out and I’ll get on the trolling motor. We’re gonna try trolling for specks. Keep your hands in your pockets until your rod bends over. When it does, grab it and start reeling.” Moving along at about 1.5 knots in the same direction of the current, it didn’t take long for things to start happening. First, the port side rod doubled over. Shortly thereafter, we had a double then a few more singles, a couple more doubles and then a quad. The bite was best when we were trout trolling lures going with the current, but I did manage a few by trolling against the current through a few of the areas that had been most productive. By the end of the trip, we had landed about 30 nice-sized trout and two redfish. Most importantly, though, all of it was done while being comfortable – or at least as comfortable as one can be on the water in 30-degree weather! EASY AND DEADLY Trolling for specks is not a technique that I use very often, but, as with the above trip, it can be deadly – especially during the coldest months of the year. Here are few of the things that I have learned – both on my own and with the help of people who troll often. These tips have helped me put more fish in the boat during coldest months of the year. As water temperatures reach their lowest on the northern Gulf Coast, the metabolism of cold-blooded creatures like fish slow to almost nothing. This is the same as with their prey. The trout aren’t going to – or can’t for that matter – chase down fast-moving bait. Moreover, because their forage is also slowed, it doesn’t look natural for it to be hopping or darting all over the place. Therefore, a big key to successful winter fishing is to limit the amount of action that you put on your lure. Also, when the water cools to the winter levels, the trout are going
to gather in the deepest water in the area where they are living. For example, in West Fowl River, that might be eight feet whereas, in the delta it may be 20 feet. You are going to most successful targeting in those areas. These are reasons why trolling for specks can be so effective during the winter. The trout trolling rigs are just dragged along with little or no action, which allows you to cover ground to locate the schools. For my trout trolling lure, I like to use smaller jigs. Until I find out what color works, I run at least a couple of different patterns. If one starts to out produce the others, I quickly make adjustments. More often than not, I have found that the direction I am trolling in relation to the current does make a difference. This makes sense as the trout will be feeding facing into the current, expecting the prey to flow toward them with the current. GEARING UP My rods for my trout trolling rigs are the same as what I use for casting during the winter. I like 7- to 7.5-foot medium-action rods spooled with fluorocarbon line. The soft action of the rods really helps keep the fish on when he first bites and someone is reaching for the rod. Because I am not worried about “feeling” a subtle wintertime bite, I don’t need a sensitive rod either. Fluorocarbon line has become a must for my trout trolling setup during the winter. The biggest advantage that I see is that it sinks, which helps me stay in touch with my lure as it is sinking. In a trout trolling rig, the hook-ups with fluorocarbon line are much greater than with monofilament because the fluorocarbon has less stretch. I’ve seen people effectively trolling for trout with a small outboard. With the quiet 4-stroke outboards on the market today, I can see why that could work fine. I still like to use my trolling motor though. The quietness certainly is not hurting anything and with my 36-volt Minn Kota, I have never had any trouble trolling all day – especially when spending most of the trip trolling for trout down current. DO NOTHING DRIFTING A long time ago, I was introduced to a technique that is a version of trolling, but with no motor. It is called the “do nothing” drift and it’s the prefect trolling speed for trout. Aptly named, because you literally do nothing with your lure except let it drag along behind the boat allowing the current to pull you along. Once, I was drifting along in the Tensaw River in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta 50 yards or so behind my buddy Bruce Howell and his crew. We watched as they had multiple hook-up after multiple hook-up. That’s not too big a deal – except that we hadn’t even had a bite! As he idled by on his way to set up another drift, in his usual way of always wanting to help, he tossed a bag of the lures he was using over to us. “You’ve got to stop jigging,” he told us. “Those aren’t even going to help unless you just let them drag behind the boat.”
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Trout Trolling Rigs For Wintertime Specks
Sure enough, after tying on one each, we just allowed the current to pull us along as we fished. Soon, we started catching fish as fast as we could get the trout trolling lures in the water, all on the exact same drift that we had unsuccessfully been making all morning. I have since used the “do nothing” drift on numerous occasions with incredible success. A few things that I have learned about it are that first, it works best during the coldest months when the fish have dropped off the flats and into the main river channels. Secondly, the trolling speed for trout seems to be a key factor. When I get my first bite, I immediately check the GPS to see how fast I am drifting. By turning the boat either sideways to long ways to the current, I can control the velocity of the drift. Also, it’s important to keep your trout trolling lures very close to bottom when using this technique. You will want it just “ticking” – not dragging the bottom. This can be controlled two ways. First, you can vary the jighead weight. I prefer either 1/4- or 3/8-ounce jigheads. Second, you can let out or take in line as necessary. When it’s cold on the water, trolling for specks can be a great way to stay warm while still catching fish.
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20 JANUARY 2021 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
As mentioned, trolling for specks is a technique that has been effective for me during the coldest months. It allows the anglers to enjoy catching nice trout while not having to endure the lack of comfort that wintertime fishing can inflict. If you decide to do some winter fishing, I hope that some of these tips help you towards a more successful trip.
BY ALTHEA
Recipe and image courtesy of www.allreceipes.com
Trout Amandine While this recipe is designed for rainbow trout it will work fine with speckled trout. You may have to proportionally change the ratio of ingredients.
CAMPER CITY TRUCK ACCESSORIES
Prep: 15 mins • Cook: 20 mins • Total: 35 mins Ingredients
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2 pan size trout or fillets, 20 ounce total Salt and pepper to taste ¼ cup all-purpose flour 4 tablespoons butter ½ cup blanched slivered almonds 2 tablespoons lemon juice 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, for garnish 8 slices lemon, for garnish
Instructions
1.
2.
3. 4.
Rinse and pat dry trout. Season inside and out with salt and pepper to taste. Dredge trout in flour. Heat 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over high heat until melted. Add trout and brown both sides. Lower heat to medium and cook for about 5 minutes on each side or until cooked through. Remove trout to a serving plate and keep warm. Wipe out pan and add 2 tablespoons butter. Cook butter over medium heat until it just begins to brown. Add the almonds and brown. Pour sauce and almonds over fish and sprinkle with lemon juice and parsley. Garnish with fresh lemon slices.
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The Breeo firepit can be placed just about anywhere to provide pleasant surrounding for family and guests.
22 JANUARY 2021 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
LIFESTYLE
Firepit - DIY Build or Buy Ready-Made BY ED MASHBURN
It’s nice to be able to bring a little light and warmth into our evening and nighttime hours, and it’s not hard to do either. With the right accessories, some great outdoor cooking can come from a firepit in the yard. Installing a fire pit is well within the abilities of nearly every homeowner, and with just a few tools and easy to obtain materials, a very attractive and functional fire pit can be built in a weekend. Also, homeowners can inexpensively obtain a ready-built free-standing firepit such as the Breeo-X system which allows great outdoor cooking and enjoying the flame of a firepit with minimal setup and preparation. LOCATION The first and perhaps most important step in placing any fire pit in the yard \whether it is an owner-built unit or a ready-made metal form, is determining where the pit will go. Make sure that local regulations allow open fires. Some communities don’t allow it. The fire pit needs to be away from the house, but within easy walking distance. Try to find a level spot that is not under trees or near bushes. Look and make sure there are no overhead limbs or power lines. Don’t locate a fire pit over underground utilities, either. Having the fire pit within reach of a water hose or source is also a good idea and maybe required. PLAN IT OUT NOW TO SAVE TROUBLE LATER Now comes the sweat work if you choose to build a firepit. You’lll need a spade to dig good straight walls and either buckets or a wheelbarrow to remove dirt. Most fire pits are circular, they don’t have to be, but a circle fire makes sense in most cases. A four foot diameter pit is right for most uses.
Take the cement blocks that can be purchased at any hardware or big box store. These will become the walls of the pit. Lay out a circle of them to make the four-foot ring. Blocks can be trimmed using a chisel and hammer if needed, but most of the time, they’ll fit well as they are. A metal inner-ring is a good idea for a fire pit, and it can be used to lay out the circle. Metal rings can be found at most big hardware stones locally or they can be ordered online. The rings often come with wire screens, and this is a great idea for safety reasons. Once the circle looks right, mark the outside edge of the circle to guide the digging work. Stack the blocks used to plan the circle out of the way. Chalk powder or spray paint can be used to mark the ring. GET TO KNOW YOUR SPADE With the spade, dig a six-inch deep trench all the way around the marked circle. Keep the sides of the trench as straight as you can, and keep the bottom flat and smooth as this will make laying the cement blocks much easier. Once the trench is dug and the inside dirt is removed, the blocks should fit in the planned circle near the dug walls with a little room for adjustment. If an inside metal ring is used, it must fit snugly to the cement blocks. KEEP IT LEVEL Once the first ring of blocks is laid and the ring looks good, we can move on. Remove the first row of blacks and fill the trench with about six inches of gravel. Walk on the gravel to compact it. When the ring of gravel-filled trench looks level and the gravel is set, we can lay the blocks permanently.
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Firepit - DIY Build or Buy Ready-Made
Lay the first row of blocks and use a bubble level to make sure it’s level and square. The top of the first row of blocks should be right at ground level. Then continue to lay the first row off blocks and level as you go. We can use a masonry adhesive to hold the rows of blocks together, but dry-laid blocks will work well, too. When the first row is laid, leveled, and squared, we can lay the next row. Make sure to crisscross the blocks so that joints are staggered and don’t fall in a line which is a very weak structure. We will only want to build the fire pit up a foot or so above the ground. This is enough for protection to the fire and is high enough to keep people and pets out of the pit. When we have the blocks laid to three layers, we can fill the inside of the pit with gravel and the metal ring. This gives good support to the inside of the ring. DIY firepits are a lot of work, but they can be very attractive when finished.
MAKE A NICE FINISH ON TOP The final layer of blocks will need a cap of some kind. We can use the same blocks used for the circular walls, but flat paving blocks look very
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24 JANUARY 2021 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
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nice on top, and a cap of same-thickness rocks laid on the blocks can be very attractive. Make sure this final cap of material whether it’s blocks, pavers, or fieldstone is well attached to the blocks with masonry cement. Let the adhesives cure for a couple of days, and we’re ready for a fire. EASY FIREPIT IDEAS Of course, if heavy home-construction is not what a potential firepit owner has in mind, there are some very attractive options. Professionally designed and built firepits are easy to install, attractive, and they can be used the same day they are assembled at home. The Breeo-X Series of USA-built firepits offer folks X Air Flow technology which gives improved air flow in the pit unit which reduces smoke, and the steel outside wall of the unit takes color as it ages beautifully. This unit is fifteen inches high, has a 19.5 inch opening, and it weighs 78 pounds. This ready-made firepit is a great option for folks who want the beauty and functionality of a firepit without the sweat and effort required to build one.
THERMAL NIGHT
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And firepits are not just for ambiance and atmosphere. With the addition of a grill grate and support, a firepit can also become a firstrate cooking tool. Burgers, steaks, hot dogs- anything that cooks on any other barbecue grill can be prepared on a firepit grill, also.
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www.HOGRUSH.com 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // JANUARY 2021 25
BY JOHN E. PHILLIPS
No rules exist that never change for hunting deer, but you can have a good shot at harvesting a big buck in January or February Taking mature bucks is easier today than ever before. Trail cameras and hunting apps like onX can be used to find a nice buck and to mark the spots where and when he frequently shows up. Be sure to designate the places where older bucks are most likely to be during the rut. When thinking of hunting the rut, don’t say, “Well, I only see does there.” During the rut, the number-one influencer on predicting where a buck is most likely to be is in the location where you’ll see the most does. So, be sure to drop waypoints where you spot does concentrating at any time during deer season. KNOW WHEN THE RUT OCCURS ACROSS ALABAMA Alabama, like many other states, has spent money and time learning when the rut occurs in different sections of the state. One of the reasons that Alabama has so-many different rut zones is because when the state was being restocked with deer, the state purchased deer from all over the country. The good news is that Alabama’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) has a wildlife division that has marked the areas where you can look at the timing of the rut. If you’re planning to hunt the rut, make sure you go to https://www.outdooralabama.com/node/3171 where there’s a rut map for the entire state showing the months when the rut is in at various sections of the state. For instance, from January 9 – 24 each year the rut happens in some areas of north and central Alabama but not most of Jefferson, Cullman, Pickens, Tuscaloosa, Bibb, Greene
26 JANUARY 2021 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
Hunt Does HUNTING
to Take January and February Bucks
At this time of the year, mature bucks are searching for does to breed, so find the does.
877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // JANUARY 2021 27
Hunt Does to Take January and February Bucks
Before the rut, bucks may spar, but in the rut, they’ll fight more vigorously and often to the death to protect an estrous doe.
and Lamar counties. The primary rut counties at that time are in a line across the center of the state and south. The January 25 – February 8 rut occurs mainly in southwestern Alabama in Marengo, Wilcox, Clarke, Monroe, Conecuh, Escambia, Washington, Mobile and Baldwin counties. IDENTIFY WHAT DEER EAT AND WHEN In the early season, we usually hunt food sources, bedding areas and the trails between those two locations. To narrow down our search even more, mark the food sources deer most prefer during certain times of the year, including January and February. You can go to https://game.dcnr.alabama.gov/Home/FeedingTimes to learn the major and minor feeding times for a month. HUNT DOE CONCENTRATION ZONES TO BAG A LATE-SEASON BUCK A buck’s nature changes during the rut, which occurs at various times and in Alabama during late deer season. The buck expands his pre-rut territory and often goes into new lands to look for more does to breed. During the late season, a buck may trail an estrous doe a distance away from his normal home range. Before the rut, you’ll encounter bucks at food sites, bedding areas and travel trails. However, during the rut, you’ll spot bucks in regions where before you’ve mainly seen does. Also in this hunt-the-does-to-take-the bucks formula, does often will embark on extended journeys outside their home ranges when they come in estrus. Perhaps this is nature’s way of pre28 JANUARY 2021 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
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Hunt Does to Take January and February Bucks
venting in-breeding. If the doe attracts and breeds with another buck, she may lead that buck back to her home range. Then a fight may break out between the new buck and the buck that’s the most dominant in the doe’s home range. A situation like this gives you two opportunities to harvest a nice buck - either the dominant buck in the area or the dominant buck of another region that an estrous doe has brought home with her. HUNT CLEAR CUTS During the rut, the older-age-class bucks don’t lose their minds. The bigger bucks have learned to survive in thick cover like the numerous clear-cuts in Alabama. Although some hunters prefer to see and bag their bucks in the open woods, many of the hunters who take trophy bucks during January and early February have learned the best ways to hunt clear-cuts. In January, the trophy bucks that survive more than two seasons will spend most of their time in these thick-cover areas. Effective Ways to Hunt Clear-Cuts: • Climb high in a tree with a climbing tree stand. Use either binoculars or a spotting scope to look down into the clear-cut for a trophy buck. Although bucks will bed-down in clear-cuts during daylight hours, they also will stand-up, stretch, feed and walk there. Often you can spot the buck of your dreams in the thick foliage. • Travel access points like creeks, drainage ditches or paths into a clear-cut to hunt bucks. You won’t find solid foliage from one side of a clear-cut to the other. Walk only a little, move slowly and quietly, and look carefully.
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•
Make your own access into a thick-cover region or a clearcut two to three weeks before you plan to hunt there. From a ground blind, cut shooting lanes with a small hand saw 30 to 40 yards long and two to three yards wide, spoking-out in three directions.
SET ASIDE GREEN FIELDS TO HUNT ONLY DURING THE RUT One of the easiest ways to take an older-age-class buck is not to hunt one or two green fields on your property at other times of deer season. Save those places to hunt in the rut or the post rut. If you don’t allow the harvest of does over a specific green field, then those green fields become sanctuaries for does. During the rut, those green fields that haven’t been hunted all year long may pay off in big buck dividends during the rut. Let’s be honest though, not hunting over green fields until the rut is extremely difficult for sportsmen who lease property and plant green fields. However, green fields aren’t the only sites where bucks will show-up during the rut. If you’ve marked waypoints where you have only seen does and possibly young bucks, those regions should pay buck dividends when the rut arrives. CALL DURING THE RUT Bucks and does are often very vocal during the rut. Many different sounds that bucks and does make in the rut can be made by the various calls on the market today. Bleats, snort wheezes, grunts, roars and rattling antlers all can be key calls to bring in a buck. Although these calls can be used when you are blind calling (not
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For more info on the events or CCA Alabama www.ccaalabama.org 251-478-3474 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // JANUARY 2021 29
Hunt Does to Take January and February Bucks
able to see the bucks you’re attempting to call), they are usually most effective when you can see a buck that may be out of range and want to call him closer to you. LEARN FROM EXPERTS Here are some deer-hunting experts with tactics for taking older-age class bucks during the rut. According to Dr. Larry Marchinton, retired professor of wildlife science at the University of Georgia, in Athens, Georgia, “I think funnel areas, particularly those with scraping activity on either end of the funnel, are the perfect places to take an older-age-class buck during the rut. Bucks will chase does through those funnel areas. You should have the best chance to see the most does with older-age-class bucks following them when you hunt small necks of woods where the terrain funnels down from two large tracts of woods on either side of the funnel.” Marchinton also mentioned that funnel areas would provide the most-productive places to hunt deer at any time of the year because the bucks and the does had to use these narrow corridors to travel between woodlots. A longtime hunting friend of mine - one of the best hunters I’ve ever met, consistently takes older-age-class bucks every year during the rut. “I stay with does during the rut. If I can find does moving and feeding through the woods,” he explained. “ I attempt to walk as quietly as I can following the does to locate the bucks. I’ve learned the older-age-class bucks that want to breed either will be bedded down 30 to 50 yards from the does or will move through
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the woods with the herd of does on their downwind side to be able to smell when a doe comes in estrus. “I believe these bucks won’t expose themselves to the open woods like the does will. However, they want to stay close enough to the does, so that when they get a whiff of a doe in estrus, they can move in and breed her. I’ve taken many bucks by seeing an antler move or an ear twitch and then recognizing a bedded-down buck close to a herd of does.” “During the rut, dominant bucks expand their home ranges to search for does to breed,” explains Dr. Keith Causey, a retired professor of wildlife science at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama . “A buck’s normal home range may be only a mile. However, during the rut, he may expand that home range to five miles to find more does to breed. At the same time the buck expands his home range, estrous does leave their home ranges to search for dominant bucks. The does may go on these journeys in an attempt to prevent inbreeding. During the rut, does look for bucks, and bucks look for does. The does will lead you to bucks, or the bucks will be in pursuit of the does. Where you find does, you’ll often find bucks.” UNDERSTAND THE POST-RUT AND HUNT DOES THEN Thirty days after the peak of the rut has ended the does that bucks haven’t bred during the peak of the rut may come in estrus again. Since the second estrous cycle has fewer estrous does, the older-age-class bucks that want to breed become much more
Managing Wild Turkeys Through Teamwork
aggressive at chasing does. At this time of year you’ll have a good opportunity to take a buck by hunting the does. You need to understand only two things to know whether to hunt bucks or does - the area’s usual hunting pressure and the timing of the rut. The more intense the hunting pressure on a property, the less likely that you’ll see bucks with does. With less hunting pressure, you may spot olderage-class bucks feeding and moving in the same places as does more often. Remember that no rule of deer hunting applies all the time. Bucks have individual traits, habits and haunts. But if you know when to hunt the bucks and when to hunt the does, you’ll increase your odds of bagging bucks. During the month of January, many deer hunters already have bagged their bucks and have given-up the cold and dampness of the woods for the comfort of home and hearth. To bag a late-season trophy, brave the bad weather, and tailor your hunt with these tactics.
42 APRIL 2020 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
Hunt Does to Take January and February Bucks
the money spent on turkey permits, which is part of the licensing requirement to hunt turkeys in Florida, goes into that fund. “Many hunters and NWTF members are heavily involved in raising funds for the wild turkey and its habitat by participating in NWTF hunting heritage banquets, whereby a portion of those funds raised goes into the cost-share program,” Nicholson said. “Hunters’ purchases of hunting equipment also helps support wildlife conservation through the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program, which brings federal grant funding to state wildlife management agencies such as the FWC.” Through this combined effort from the NWTF, FWC, FFS and Florida turkey hunters, the wild turkey population is healthy and flourishing in Florida. And, if you’re a turkey hunter, then you must be getting excited because spring turkey season and the youth turkey hunt weekends are just around the corner.
Contact Information Wild Turkey Cost-Share Program Florida State Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation During the rut, mature, dominant (NWTF) bucks often will leave thick-cover Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) bedding areas to pursue an Florida Forest Service (FFS) estrous doe,Area making those bucks Green Swamp Wildlife Management (WMA) vulnerable to a hunter. Gulf Coastal Plain Ecosystem Partnership Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program
877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // JANUARY 2021 31
BY HANK SHAW Photo by Holly A. Heyser
Roast Leg of Venison with Bavarian Dumplings You will want to do this only with a young deer or antelope, preferably a doe or yearling. For non-hunters, a leg of lamb or goat also works well. Don’t try this recipe with larger, older animals, which will be too large and too tough. A good gauge is weight: The leg should never weigh more than 8 pounds. Prep: 30 mins • Cook: 3 hours • Total: 3 hours 30 mins Ingredients
• • • • • • •
1 hind leg of venison, shank removed Salt 6 to 8 garlic cloves, peeled and cut into thick slivers 1/4 cup squash seed oil or other flavorful oil About 1 cup of red wine, stock or water 2 tablespoons minced sage 2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
Dumplings • 10 ounces stale bread • 1 teaspoon salt • 1 1/4 cups milk • 3 slices bacon • 1/4 cup minced shallot • 1 tablespoon minced parsley • 1 teaspoon marjoram • 2 eggs, lightly beaten Instructions
1. Take the venison leg out of the fridge and salt it well on all sides. Let
2.
it sit on a cutting board for 30 minutes before proceeding. After 30 minutes have elapsed, preheat the oven to 450°F. Take a sharp knife with a narrow point and jab holes all over the leg of venison, tucking a sliver of garlic into each hole. You can use more or less garlic, depending on your taste. Pat the venison dry, then massage the oil all over it. Set the leg of venison on a rack in a roasting pan and pour enough wine, stock or water into the bottom of the roasting pan to just moisten the bottom
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-- don’t cover the bottom or the meat will steam. You just want to limit the amount of smoke you will be producing. Put the venison in the oven and roast until it is nicely browned, but no more than 20 to 25 minutes. 3. Take the venison out of the oven and drop the temperature to 350°F. Carefully sprinkle the minced sage and black pepper all over the roast; use tongs to pick it up if it is too hot. If you want, drizzle a little more oil over the top of the roast. Adding the spices at this point prevents them from burning. 4. Set the venison back into the oven and roast until the deepest part of the meat reaches the temperature you want: If you pull the venison at 125°F, it will be rare once it has rested. I pull mine at 130°F, which is closer to medium. Do not let the venison cook past 145°F under any circumstances, or it will get tough and gray. How long will this take? At least 25 more minutes, and up to another hour. Check the temperature after 25 minutes, then every 10 minutes after that. A general rule is about 20 minutes per pound at 350°F. 5. When the venison has hit the temperature you want, move it to a cutting board and tent it loosely with foil. Don’t carve it for at least 10 minutes; I wait a full 20 minutes. Carve and serve. DUMPLINGS 1. After you take the venison out of the fridge, break up or chop the stale bread and put it into a bowl. Pour the lukewarm milk over the bread and let it stand while you’re getting the venison ready to roast. If it looks like there is not enough milk, add a little water. 2. Fry the bacon in a small skillet and remove when crispy. Chop it fine. Sauté the onion in the bacon fat until it’s nice and brown. Mix the bacon and onion in a small bowl and allow to cool. Once it’s cool, mix in the parsley and marjoram. 3. When the venison goes into the oven, set a large pot of salted water on the stove to boil. Once it boils, drop the heat to a simmer. If there is any milk still in the bread bowl, pour it off. Mix the bacon, onions, parsley and marjoram in with the bread. Make sure to break up any large pieces. Wait until the venison is resting to cook the dumplings. 4. When it’s time, add the beaten eggs and mix well to combine. If the batter is too wet to form dumplings, add breadcrumbs a tablespoon at a time until you can roll the batter into a ball with your hands. Make sure your hands are wet when you do this or the batter will stick all over them. Gently lower each dumpling into the simmering water. Cover the pot. Once they float back to the surface, let them cook for another minute or two, then remove with a slotted spoon. Serve hot with the venison.
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877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // JANUARY 2021 33
Annual
Boat Maintenance BY DAVID STRICKLAND
Checklist
Replacing spark plugs can save fuel and ensure easy starting
34 JANUARY 2021 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
FISHING I recently spoke with Angela Britt, the service manager at Buck’s Island Marina. She is part of the family that continues the legacy of Buck Lumpkin, who started the family-owned and operated business in 1948. They are located on Neely Henry reservoir near Southside, Alabama, and know a thing or two about boat maintenance. The six-acre facility has 19 service bays staffed with factory-certified mechanics. They have serviced over 60,000 boats and sold more than 10,000 watercraft to customers from all over the southeast and even Canada. “Combining routine and annual maintenance items at the end of the year can offer added protection during the cold weather,” Britt said. “Owner’s manuals are a great place to start when prepping a boat for storage or year-end maintenance, but there are a few added things to consider.” Britt said that pontoon boats need an acid wash at year-end and that boats with covers can benefit from moisture absorbing desiccants placed in the front and rear. She also recommends adding a fuel stabilizer midway through the summer for added protection during the offseason. “Saltwater use can add a few items to the list, but the majority of boats will benefit from having a good checklist,” she noted. Below is a list that can help keep those trips on the water enjoyable and trouble-free: TRAILER • Wheels- Most boat trailers use grease for lubricating axle bearings. Inspecting and repacking them is a relatively simple process that many owners perform themselves. Many tournament fishermen have trailer bearings lubricated by oil. This system dramatically extends maintenance intervals, but many sight windows are plastic and require frequent inspection. Check tires (including spare) for tread wear and proper inflation. If equipped with brakes, check pads for wear and fluid reservoir. • Wiring- Inspect wiring, connectors, light covers, and gaskets. Use dielectric grease on plug ends. Test the running, brake, backup, and signal lights to verify they are working correctly. • Coupler- Ensure the locking or screw mechanism works freely and lightly lubricate pivot points, ball socket, and clamp face. Clean and grease tongue jack. Check that safety chains, pins, and connecting links are in good shape. • Winch- Clean and lubricate the mechanism and inspect the rope/ strap and bow hook. Make sure all tie-down straps are in good condition. • Frame- Clean and check runners, rollers, bolts, clamps, and welds on the trailer and its suspension system. Wire brush any rust and repaint. ENGINE • Propeller-Inspect your prop for blade symmetry, bends, and dings. Examine the leading edges for rolling. Light filing is acceptable. Remove the propeller, check the shaft for straightness and fishing line. Inspect the inner hub for deterioration and the shaft seal for leakage. Lightly grease the shaft and reinstall. Tighten the nut and install a new cotter pin. • Lower Unit- Drain gear lube and check drain screw washers for brittleness and cracks. Replace the drain screw and fill the foot with oil. If you often navigate in sandy or shallow water, replacing your water pump is a good idea. Check sacrificial anodes and replace if needed. • Trim & Tilt- Clean, then check the fluid condition and level. Check for seal leaks and grease rod tips, and contact points. Keep piston rods fully retracted when in storage.
Loosen starter wires annually and flex. If stiff or crackly, replace
•
• •
• •
Steering- Both mechanical and hydraulic steering units need annual cleaning and maintenance—grease all fittings on the motor before proceeding. For mechanical units, detach, clean, inspect, and grease cable ends before reattaching with new marine locknuts. Hydraulic units require taking a fluid sample and looking for contamination before confirming the proper fill level. Inspect hoses and fittings for wear and leakage. Clean cylinders, lube and look for seal damage. Check for any slack in the steering after maintenance. Saltwater use requires biannual inspection. Fuel Filter- Locate and change the fuel filter. Inspect all the engine fuel lines and clamps; replace if cracked or damaged. Fuel Tank- Wipe down the fuel tank’s exterior and check the fuel fill cap for proper fit. Locate and trace each section of fuel hose from the filler neck to the engine. Check all lines and clamp connections and look for deterioration or cracks. If equipped with a primer bulb, pressurize and check for leaks. Squeeze all hoses, and if soft, replace. Oil/Filter- Clean around filter, dipstick, and drain plug. Check engine hours since the last change. Spark Plugs- Fresh plugs will ensure good starting and conserve fuel. Check the gap on the new set before installing.
BOAT HULLS • Fiberglass- Wash and dry your boat’s exterior and inspect the gelcoat for any scratches, cracks, or blisters. Apply a good coat of wax. • Aluminum- After cleaning, examine welded hulls for excessive wear or damage. Riveted models require inspection of the rivet seams and braces for any looseness or deformity. Mark and reseat or replace any loose rivets. 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // JANUARY 2021 35
Annual Boat Maintenance Checklist
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36 JANUARY 2021 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
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Annual Boat Maintenance Checklist
ELECTRICAL • Battery- Remove the cables, clean both posts, and apply petroleum jelly or other corrosion preventative. Use a good battery tester or carry them for a load test. Clean connectors and replace them if damaged. Remove the starter cables at the motor and flex. If they are stiff or make a crackling sound, replace them. • Wiring- Inspect all wiring for cracked or damaged insulation. Look at all connections at switches, instruments, and gauges for signs of corrosion. Locate all fuses/breakers and verify each is correctly labeled. Verify an adequate supply of replacement fuses with the proper amp ratings. • Instruments/Switches- Switch on the power and make sure all gauges and switches are working correctly. Verify all running lights, electronics, trolling motors, and pumps are in working order. CANVAS/UPHOLSTERY/HINGES • Snaps/Zippers- Clean snaps and zippers using a small brush. Inspect snaps for damage or corrosion and replace them as necessary. After cleaning, apply a lubricant designed specifically for zippers and snaps. • Fabrics- Yearly cleaning can maintain the appearance and extend the life of fabric tops, covers, and upholstery. Mild soapy water and a brush are adequate for most cleaning. Check your owner’s manual for stubborn stains. • Hinges- Clean hinges with a paste made with baking soda and water. For stubborn stains, use a brush and add a little vinegar to the paste. When dry, use a corrosion-resistant lubricant such as CRC. PLUMBING • Bilge Pumps- Thoroughly clean the bilge area and strainer to remove any oil or debris. Inspect the pump’s impeller for wear or
• •
broken blades and spin it by hand. Feel rubber diaphragms for flexibility and check for tears. Ensure wire connections are secure and watertight. Test its operation by adding a few inches of water to the bilge. If there is room, store an oil pad near the unit. Tanks- Most boats have at least one live well. They consist of a fill pump and a recirculating pump. Clean, rinse, and check the pump operation of each tank and check through-hull fittings. Freshwater- Fill your system with clean water, open all taps (hot & cold) and pump till the system is empty. Check for any leakage and verify all connections have two clamps. If contamination is suspected, then sanitize.
A boat is a collection of mechanical and electrical components that weather and wear over time. The average boat owner can perform much of the preventative maintenance necessary to avoid breakdowns and costly repairs. For owners who lack the time or expertise, a marina with factory-trained mechanics can bridge the gap to ensure your time on the water doesn’t include greasy hands Now is a perfect time to take a close look at your boat and trailer and make a little list of things you may have put off. If you’re in the market to upgrade your boat or have any questions, give Britt and her team of service professionals at Buck’s Island Marina a call.
Important Contact Information Buck Island Marina https://www.bucksisland.com/ (256) 442-2588
877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // JANUARY 2021 37
38 JANUARY 2021 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
HUNTING
Dealing with Four-Legged Game Poachers BY WILLIAM KENDY
877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // JANUARY 2021 39
Dealing with Four-Legged Game Poachers
Whether you own or lease property, the reality is that poachers do trespass and infringe on your land and steal your wildlife. That isn’t a good thing. Of course, we are all thinking about and have an image in our minds about “two legged” poachers and trespassers, who trespass and rob property owners of their wildlife. The term “wildlife” generally means whitetail deer, turkey, gamebirds and small game. Oops…that isn’t what this article is about. What we are talking about here is our “four legged” poachers. That means those poachers who silently, stealthy and efficiently eat quail and duck eggs and chicks. Those cagy hunters also enjoy the taste of rabbits and other small game and fawns.
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Dealing with Four-Legged Game Poachers
There is a pecking order in the four-legged hierarchy. Those larger four-legged poachers, as in coyotes and bobcats, target and consume whitetail fawns, much to the chagrin of those hunters who embrace the Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA) game plans to grow and nurture trophy bucks. Overall, the “poacher clan” includes coyotes, racoons, hogs, foxes, bobcats and all of those other animals who are out hunting to fill their stomachs and provide for theirs. What they are doing isn’t wrong by any means as they have to eat and provide for their families, which is what they should be doing. Having said that, there needs to be a balance between supply and demand based on the “carrying capacity” of the property and resource so that everything is in sync, in terms of prey and predator. The goal is to build a healthy mix of wildlife that works to all of the individual species best interest. When things get a little bit “out of whack” it is time to start considering tools such as trapping to maintain the equilibrium and slow down the predator theft of wildlife.
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To that end GDO interviewed Mike Sabering, conservation director of the National Trapper Association and the president of the Alabama Trappers and Predator Control Association on a Huntin’ Land podcast. Sabering spent 30 years working for the state of Alabama as a fur biologist so he knows whereof he speaks and has “boots on the ground” knowledge of how predators operate and the effects on the game population. “Several years ago, there was a study done in East Alabama and portions of Georgia where trappers caught a number of coyotes and put radio collars on them,” Sabering said. “They found an active den site on one of them and put a camera up on it.” “During fawning season in July and August, in a 30-day period, there were 17 to 18 fawns taken into that den site, so it’s pretty substantial,” he said. Sabering’s comments dovetail with what appears to be a public hunter perception that turkey and deer populations are down. That could be from the loss of habitat, the lack of forage. predation, hunting pressure or any number of other variables. So, let’s say that you are facing an aggressive predator presence in your area. What are your options? First off you can get out in the field and spend a bunch of time hunting these problem animal kids but the reality is that most hunters don’t dedicate their efforts to cull predators. They shoot them when they see them when they are out hunting other game and it is a “catch or catch can:” scenario. On the other hand, if you are serious about getting your property in balance between predator and prey, then you may want to consider trapping.
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Dealing with Four-Legged Game Poachers
One of the things that Sabering found in his networking and working with deer clubs across Alabama is that they were spending a lot of money on habitat improvement and providing protein and substance to build big deer, but pretty much ignoring predator control. When the conversation drifted over to predator maintenance, Sabering asked them how many predators they were taking out as part of their management plan and the first response he’d get is, “What do you mean, taking them out?” “My first response to them was that they were feeding their predators and their deer fawns are going out of the window,” Sabering said. “It’s great that they were doing all of this for the deer but managing that predator base has to be part of their game plan.” Predator control doesn’t just mean coyotes and other large predators preying on deer, it also means “nest robbers” like racoons and opossums. In addition to benefiting your wildlife game inventory, one of the ancillary benefits of trapping is that you may be able to make a little bit of money by catching some of these predators.
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Kind of and maybe. Trapping used to be a relatively lucrative endeavor but times have changed and the current fur market isn’t very 42 JANUARY 2021 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
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Dealing with Four-Legged Game Poachers
robust. In fact, it is dismally low.
trapping and how many you think there are hanging around.
“When I was in college forty years ago, a stretched and dried “Southern Coon-Tail” was selling for $40 to $45 and now it is going for about $1.25, so prices have dropped dramatically,” Sabering said. “This has led to coon population increase
“As far as cost goes, the DP traps from Duke out of West Point, Mississippi are good traps, they cost about $12 each and are very effective on racoons,” Sabering said. “Depending on the habitat and what kind of population there is, I’d buy a dozen just to get started.”
In his recent conversations with hunters, Sabering is hearing that they are killing less turkeys and also hearing less birds gobbling when they are out in the field. He feels that reducing predator pressure may change that scenario. “It seems to me that if a guy is truly worried about turkey populations and he’s not trapping, that controlling and limiting how many birds he shoots is one method,” Sabering said. “But if you would just trap more coons and possums you may be able to shoot more turkeys.” If trapping is on your radar, whether it be racoons, opossums, coyotes or other predators, you need to recognize that it isn’t a short-term proposition and you will be in for a bit of a “long haul”. “Controlling predator populations is not a short-term fix. You may go out and catch a few right off the bat and think that you are golden, but there are 30-40 waiting back in the wings to fill that available habitat,” Sabering said. THE QUESTION OF TRAPS AND COST Sabering points out that the investment in traps depends on the habitat that you are dealing with, what predators you are
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When it comes to coyotes, Sabering opts for a MB 550 (Minnesota Brand) that is an offset jaw live market trap. “It literally holds the animal’s foot and it has a gap there to allow for blood flow,” Sabering said. “These traps run about $210 - $225 a dozen and they are truly an investment.” Sabering notes that by law, foothold traps have to be checked every 24 hours and that equates to a significant commitment of time and purpose. If a person can’t fulfill that obligation, then it may make sense for them to hire a professional trapper to deal with the predator issue. “You can go to our website, www.atpca.com (Alabama Trappers and Predator Control Association) where we have a list of nuisance trappers available by county. These are guys that do this for a living,” Sabering said. Sabering suggests that if you are interested in taking trapping classes, go to www.outdooralabama.com, and in the search box type in “trapping”. It will bring up available classes for both youth and adults with locations.
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BY HANK SHAW Photo by Holly A. Heyser
Rabbit or Hare Curry I made this with jackrabbit, which like most hares is a dark meat, but unless you are a hunter, hare can be tough to buy. My advice is to either go with rabbit, which is a white meat, or use a similar red meat, i.e., venison or lamb. More or less everything else is easily found in a decent supermarket, so this is not an especially challenging curry. Prep: 15 mins • Cook: 45 mins • Total: 1 hour Ingredients
• • • • • • • • •
1/4 cup ghee, clarified butter, or vegetable oil 2 pounds hare or rabbit meat, cut off the bone and into chunks Salt 2 cups yellow or white onion, sliced root to tip 2 tablespoons minced ginger 2 tablespoons minced garlic A 14-ounce can of tomato puree 1 cup plain yogurt, Greek style is best 2 cups water
44 JANUARY 2021 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
• • • • •
2 bay leaves 1 heaping teaspoon turmeric 1/4 cup Madras curry paste, or 2 tablespoons Madras curry powder 1 tablespoon Garam Masala 1/4 cup chopped cilantro for garnish
Instructions 1. Heat the clarified butter in a wide pot (like a sauce pot or high-sided frying pan with a lid) over medium-high heat. Pat the hare pieces dry with paper towels and brown them well. Salt the meat as it cooks. Remove to a bowl once browned. 2. Add the onion and sauté until it begins to brown at the edges, about 5 minutes. Add the ginger and garlic and cook for another minute. 3. Return the meat to the pot and add the tomato puree, water, bay leaves, turmeric and Madras curry paste. Stir in the yogurt and bring to a gentle simmer. Add salt to taste and simmer for 30 minutes. 4. Finish by stirring in the Garam Masala and the cilantro. Serve over rice.
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877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // JANUARY 2021 45
How to Make Money
Subdividing Land BY JOE BAYA
“To Be or Not to Be, that is the Question.” While that quote comes from William Shakespeare’s play ‘Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark” the mirroring question for land owners is, “I own a sizable tract of land. Should I sell it as one big piece or should I subdivide it and, if I do divide it, what are the considerations and steps.” In today’s real estate environment, people buying a piece of dirt to call their own is a hot market. That demand stems from many things: people who want to escape the hustle and bustle of urban living, people who want to start living a “self sustaining” life on their own chunk of land and grow crops and livestock, those who are concerned about civil unrest and have safety concerns for their family, and those looking to live a kind of “off the grid” lifestyle to enjoy nature and a little bit of all of the above. The bottom line is that the demand for acreage is high. Interestingly enough, the Covid-19 virus hasn’t had a negative effect on the demand. In fact just the opposite. To find out are the major considerations in subdividing your property and the “dos” and “don’ts” Clint Flowers and I interviewed Cailein Campbell, a managing broker for National Land Realty based in Wilmington NC on a recent Great Days Outdoors Huntin’ Land podcast. “While hunting is still important, we’ve found that it isn’t the highest demand in terms of popular use today,” Campbell said. “A lot of people want to get out of the city and town and have a mini-homestead where they can be somewhat self-sufficient. They are starting to think that they don’t want to be in a neighborhood where they have a lot of people around them. It has dawned on them that they may be able to sell their quarter acre lot and take the proceeds and buy 10 acres 30 minutes away from their job.”
“I think that really a piece of property is worth what a buyer is willing to pay for it,” Campbell said. “When you subdivide larger tracts into smaller pieces, it not only creates a higher value for the property but also expands the potential buyer base.” “If you have a buyer that comes from an upscale urban area who had a $200,000 quarter acre lot and can flip it into a 40-acre piece of land which was previously valued at $2,000 an acre and now suddenly it’s now worth $5,000 an acre because that is what the buyer feels comfortable in paying.” In addition, subdividing a larger piece of property also expands the universe of prospects. “There are more buyers that can afford a $50,000 piece of hunting property versus a $200,000 piece of hunting property” Campbell noted. Campbell emphasized that while traditionally larger tracts of land are often valued by a price per acre basis, each piece of property needs to be judged on an individual basis. A tract may have a certain type of field, a stand of timber and different features or even improvement that can fluctuate the price. In addition, if someone wants a parcel for a homestead or some sort of small farm, he may switch from a price per acre measurement to a total parcel price scenario.. He also pointed out that the decision to subdivide is dependent on the local market and the inventory of properties in that price and size range.
“We also have purchasers who are taking money out of their stocks and other investments since the market has been a roller coaster in the last year and put that capital into a safe timber and land investment,” Campbell added.
“A real life example would be 100 acres in eastern North Carolina for hunting and recreational use be worth $2,500 an acre but a 10 acre homestead could be worth $50,000 and a seller has just doubled his money,” Campbell said. “I also work with a lot of manufactured and modular home builders who offer land and home packages that require one down payment and that dovetails well with the parcel concept.”
Campbell points out the value of a piece of property is based on perception, how badly someone wants it and the purchaser’s frame of reference.
“It’s important to know the area and know that you can’t just go out there and subdivide a tract into 100 lots and then expect to get rich,” Campbell noted. “You’ll hit a point where you will sell what you are go-
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LIFESTYLE
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How to Make Money Subdividing Land
ing to sell and then you may be stuck with the remainder. Subdividing has to be done in a manner that doesn’t decrease the value of the remaining parcels. That is where having a local agent who knows the market and won’t give you rainbows and fairy tales to make you feel good about your property but be realistic with the selling price.” According to Campbell one of most lucrative ways of increasing the value of a piece of property aside from reducing the total acres and subdividing it is to create a water presence. “While nothing really sells land like acreage, I’ve found that with the majority of the buyers I work with, one of the first things on their list of wants for property is a river, creek, stream, lake or pond. It is huge,” he said. “Most buyers also want to have paved road frontage or at least frontage on a state or locally maintained road and a proper deeded right of way or deeded access easement that allows for ingress, egress or utility for a power line.” “So if you are dividing a tract make sure that it’s done in a manner where you want to make sure that every individual parcel has access to a state maintained road and enough width so that they can run a power line to their property without having to reach out to neighboring landowners.” Campbell says that subdividing a tract of land may make the offerings more attractive to potential buyers and increase the pool of prospects and exposure to people who would never have seen it. While it is key to get the word out regarding smaller parcels, it also makes sense to promote the larger tract for those buyers interested in more acreage. “A lot of buyers search multiple land websites and if they are searching for property between zero and 50 acres, your 20 acre parcels will pop up but your large 100 acre listing won’t,” Campbell said. “We’ll do our 20 acre
pieces but also have the 100 acre master listing so that we are covering the whole market. Why limit the sellers to a smaller buying pool?” Campbell emphasized that it is in the best interest of all parties when subdividing a parcel to work from one end to the other. He also said that it is best to sell the offerings in phases as to not oversaturate the market and increase the time the market. “If a seller has 1,000 acres pf contiguous land and you subdivide it, it makes sense to work through it from one end to the other so that, when it is all said and done, the owner isn’t left with 50 acres in the middle of the tract,”Campbell advised. “Also by selling it in phases you’re continually getting current interest, you aren’t saturating the market and you avoid the risk of your listings getting stale by being on the market too long.” “If your listings are out there for 200 days buyers will start wondering why they haven’t sold and what is wrong with them,” Campbell noted. When it’s all said and done, subdividing can pay real dividends if it is handled and marketed correctly. The real key is to work with a local land professional who knows what is selling locally, knows what the market will bear and be able to judge the demand for the type of property offered. Campbell believes that vision and stewardship also come into the equation. “It’s really about educating the public and giving people the opportunity to have a piece of the American dream,” Campbell explained. “We work to ensure that people understand what the land truly has to offer, not only from a return on investment , but also more importantly, from all the benefits that come from being able to get into the outdoors and say, ’This is mine. I can invite my friends and family out to it and we can enjoy what God created’.”
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48 JANUARY 2021 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
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Serving gardeners, farmers and everyone in between
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BY HANK SHAW Photos by Holly A. Heyser
Kentucky Burgoo Burgoo is a Kentucky classic, done with a menagerie of wild game, including pheasant, squirrel, venison and more. Since the Civil War, the main concept of burgoo is of a very thick stew, one thick enough to stand your spoon in. Having eaten dozens of versions of burgoo, and having read scores of recipes, they all seem to have the following in common:
• • • •
At least three meats, typically of different characters, i.e., venison, pheasant and squirrel, or chicken, mutton and pork. Lamb, rabbit, hare, duck, muskrat and other game birds work. Some form of tomato product, whether chopped fresh tomatoes, tomato paste or whatever. Beans, usually lima beans or black-eyed peas Corn and potatoes
Beyond that, go for it. Add some bourbon, or some offal. Maybe some collards, or that groundhog that’s been sitting in your freezer. Prep: 20 mins • Cook: 3 hours • Total: 3 hours 20 mins Ingredients
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3 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 to 2 squirrels or rabbits, cut into serving pieces 2 to 3 pounds venison, 3 to 4 inches wide, cut into large pieces 3 to 5 pheasant legs/thighs, bone-in 1 green pepper, chopped 1 large onion, chopped 2 carrots, chopped 2 celery ribs, chopped 5 garlic cloves, chopped 1-quart pheasant or chicken stock 1-quart beef or game stock 1 28- ounce can crushed tomatoes 2 large potatoes 1 bag of frozen corn, about a pound 1 bag of frozen lima beans or canned black-eyed peas, about 14 ounces Salt and pepper ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce Tabasco or other hot sauce on the side
Instructions 1. Pour the oil into a large Dutch oven or soup pot and set the heat to medium-high. Working in batches, brown all the meats. Do not crowd the pan or the meat will not brown well. Salt the meat as it cooks. As they brown, move the various meats to a bowl. 2. Add the onions, carrots, celery and green pepper to the pot and turn the heat to high. Cook the vegetables until they are well browned; you might need to add a little more oil to the pot. When the vegetables have browned, add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add back the meats, along with the chicken and beef broths and the tomatoes. Stir to combine and add salt to taste. Bring to a simmer, cover, reduce the heat and simmer gently for 2 hours. 50 JANUARY 2021 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
CAMPHOUSE KITCHEN
3.
4.
5.
Fish out the meat pieces. Strip the pheasant and squirrel off the bone. Tear the large pieces of venison into bite-sized pieces. The reason you did not do this right at the start is because venison will stay moister when it cooks in larger pieces. Return all the meat to the pot and return the stew to simmer. Peel and cut the potatoes into chunks about the same size as the meat pieces. Add them to the stew and simmer until they are tender. Add the Worcestershire sauce, mix well and taste for salt. Add more Worcestershire sauce to taste if needed. Finally, add the corn and lima beans. Mix well and cook for at least 10 minutes, or longer if you’d like. Serve with cornbread and a bottle of hot sauce on the side.
Grilled Whole Fish Grilling a whole fish is not difficult, but there are a few tricks to doing it without having the fish stick to your grill grates. Any whole fish will do, but you generally want them less than about 20 inches long. Make sure they are well coated in oil, well salted and make sure your grill is nice and hot, and you will be fine. Prep: 20 mins • Cook: 15 mins • Total: 35 mins Ingredients
• • • •
1 or 2 whole fish, scaled, gutted and with gills removed Olive oil Salt Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions 1. Wash the fish well and make 3 to 5 slashes in the meat perpendicular to the backbone on each side of the fish. You are doing this to open the interior of the fish to the heat, so it will cook evenly. Make more slashes closer to the head, where the fish is thicker, than toward the tail, which cooks first. Snip off any sharp fins with kitchen shears or scissors if you want. Leave the tail, as it will crisp up and taste wonderfully nutty. Seriously. Try it. 2. Coat the fish with olive oil and salt it a little more than you think you ought to; salty fish tastes good! Let the fish sit at room temperature for 20 minutes to an hour. 3. Get your grill crazy hot, at least 500°F, and scrape the grill grates well to clean them. When you are ready to lay the fish down, dip a paper towel in some oil and grab it with tongs. Wipe down the grill with the oily towel and then immediately lay the fish down on the grill grates. Let them sizzle nicely for a minute or so. 4. Turn the heat down to medium and cover the grill if you have a gas grill, or just leave the fish on the open grill if you are using wood or charcoal and the grill is very hot. Let the fish cook for a total of 5 to 10 minutes on this side, depending on how thick it is. A general rule is a fish will need 10 minutes per inch of thickness. Estimate this thickness measuring to the fish’s spine - remember you are flipping the fish. 5. To turn the fish, have your tongs in your “off” hand and a big spatula in your good hand. Gently turn the fish over. It should come off the grates cleanly. If not, don’t force it. Let the fish back down and come back at it with the spatula, using pressure to pry it off the grates. You don’t want to pull the fish away from the grates and have half the skin and meat stick to the grill. Once the fish is flipped, let it cook for another 5 to 10 minutes. 6. Once the fish is ready -- check by making sure the meat closest to the bone in the slash that is closest to the head of the fish is fully cooked -- put it on a platter and serve, with a sauce or not. 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // JANUARY 2021 51
Camphouse Kitchen
Duck Fried Rice Duck fried rice is a fantastic way to use leftover duck meat, or to make good use of otherwise “off” ducks that you have to skin, like divers, sea ducks and spoonies. My favorite way to make duck fried rice is with leftover leg and wing meat, shredded. Many times you will find yourself with skinless duck breasts. In this case, dice the meat and stir fry it at the same time you are making the rice. The effect is mostly cooked breast meat that is a little pink inside, but not overcooked and livery. Use this recipe as a template, not dogma and feel free to mix and match ingredients. Note that this recipe assumes leftover meat. If you are using fresh duck breasts, add them right after the scallions, garlic and chiles go in. Prep: 15 mins • Cook: 5mins • Total: 20 mins Ingredients
• • • • • • • • • • •
3 tablespoons duck fat or peanut oil 3 scallions, chopped, white and green parts separate 3 cloves garlic, chopped 1 to 3 small, hot chiles, chopped 1/2 pound leftover shredded duck meat (see above for duck breast option) 3 cups cooked, cooled rice, jasmine if possible 2 carrots, peeled and diced small 1 cup peas, fresh or thawed 2 eggs, lightly beaten 2 tablespoons soy sauce 1 tablespoon sesame oil
Instructions 1. Get a wok or large frying pan very hot over a strong burner. Add the duck fat or peanut oil, and the moment it begins to smoke, add the garlic, chiles and the white part of the scallions. Stir fry for about 30 seconds. 2. Add the duck meat, rice, carrots and peas and stir fry for 2 minutes. Push everything to one side of the wok and pour in the beaten egg. Swirl it with a chopstick or somesuch until it sets, then stir fry it into the rest of the rice. This helps keep it in largish, recognizable pieces. 3. Let the stir fry sit for 1 minute without touching it. You want to develop some browning and crispiness on the bottom. After the minute has elapsed, pour the soy sauce in around the edges of the rice, then mix well. Turn off the heat and drizzle the sesame oil over it.
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Camphouse Kitchen
Southern Fish and Grits You can use any firm, white fish here. Grouper or striped bass are ideal substitutes, but snapper, catfish, walleye, redfish, sea bass or Pacific rockfish or lingcod are great, too. Get the best grits you can afford. Prep: 20 mins • Cook: 30 mins • Total: 50 mins Ingredients
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
2 cups grits 2 cups fish or chicken stock 3 cups water salt 4 tablespoons butter 1/4 cup cream 1/4 cup shredded cheese (I use white cheddar) 1 1/2 pounds tripletail fillets, or similar fish 1/4-pound bacon 1-pound fresh mushrooms, chopped 5 or 6 plum tomatoes, diced 3 or 4 green onions, chopped zest and juice of 2 lemons Worcestershire sauce to taste black pepper to taste
Instructions 1. Boil the water and stock and add salt to taste. Start stirring it and pour the grits in slowly; this prevents lumps. Drop the heat to a simmer and cook, stirring frequently, for about 20 to 30 minutes. 2. Meanwhile, salt the fish fillets and set aside on the counter. Fry the bacon in a large pan to render the fat. Remove the bacon, chop and set aside. 3. Pat the fish dry with paper towels and place in the hot bacon fat, the flattest side down. Keep the heat at mediumhigh. Use a spoon to ladle bacon fat over the top of the fillets until they turn opaque. Keep doing this for about 1 minute. Do not flip your fish unless the pieces are more than 1 inch thick. When you have a nice sear (see picture above), remove the fish from the pan and set, seared side up, on a cutting board. 4. If you have less than about 2 tablespoons of bacon fat in the pan, add some more. Add the mushrooms and sear them well. They’ll sear, then give up their water. Let this happen without moving the mushrooms. This should all take about 3 minutes or so. 5. Right before serving, stir the butter, cream and cheese into the grits until the butter and cheese melts in. 6. When the mushroom water subsides, add the remaining ingredients and stir-fry them about 90 seconds. To serve, give everyone some grits, then some fish, then pour the mushroom-tomato mixture over.
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NEW & COOL GEAR BY WILLIAM KENDY
Academy H2O XPRESS Ethos HD Baitcasting Reel The lightweight and durable H2O XPRESS Ethos HD baitcast reel from Academy Sports and Outdoors is built with a 1-piece aluminum frame, incorporates 10 bearings and Hamai precision cut gears that allows smooth casts. and retrieves. The carbon fiber drag washers increase power and the centrifugal braking system allows for longer casting distance. The reel features an adjustable drag system of up to 20 pounds. Suggested Retail Price: $79.99 www.academy.com
EOTECH® Vudu 3.518x50 SFP Rifle Scope
The EOTECH® Vudu 3.5-18x50 Second Focal Plane scope provides clear, sharpedged images whether up close, far away and/or all points in between. It provides true color representation allowing a hunter to see differences between similar colors even at a distance. Built on a 34mm lightweight, aircraft-grade aluminum tube, the Vudu 3.5-18x features tactical turrets with removable covers and side-mounted parallax control and a removable throw lever. Suggested Retail Price: $1,599 www.eotechinc.com
Barnett Now offers Pre-Installed CCD’s on Selected Crossbows
Crossbow manufacturer Barnett is now offering pre-installed crank cocking devices (CCD) on their Whitetail Pro STR, Raptor STR, Whitetail Hunter STR and the new HyperTac 420 and TS 380 models These ambidextrous devices can reduce cocking tension by up to 93 percent with no pulling required. Using the CCD ensures centered and evenly aligned string pull when cocking which centers the string resulting in more consistent shot group. www.Barnettcrossbows.com
Co-Pilot Backpack Offers Efficient and Discreet Outdoor Parenting Solution
With a built-in front-side baby carrier and diaper bag, the Co-Pilot from the JP Outdoor Co. is ideal for taking your child on any adventure. It includes a fully incorporated changing station that can be removed when not needed. An easily accessible cooler compartment and two removable food and closing bags are housed within this 420D Ripstop 40-liter day pack and ASTM/CPSIA certified infant carrier. Suggested Retail Price: $189.00 www.jpoutdoorco.com
Breeo Introduces the Ultimate Campfire Grill
The Breeo Outpost is a self-pounding, post-locking camp grill grate that fits with all Breeo firepits and also can be used as a stand-along grilling machine for on-the-go outdoor adventurers who savor the experience and flavor offered by open-flame cooking. Crafted of high-grade 304 stainless steel the Outpost is corrosion resistant and can be securely anchored in sand, dirt or grass. Available in two sizes. Suggested Retail Price: $119.00 -$189.00 www.breeo.com 54 JANUARY 2021 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
NEW AND COOL GEAR FOR OUTDOORSMEN
Elimishield® offers Home & Outdoor Hand Sanitizer
The new alcohol free ElimiShield® Home & Outdoor Hand Sanitizer helps prevent over-drying of hands and has added aloe vera to keep hands soft and moisturized. The sanitizer does not soak into the blood system and it doesn’t need to be reapplied constantly throughout the day because it bonds to the outer layer of the skin and is both sweat resistant and wash resistant. Suggested Retail Price: $5.99-12.99 www.hssvest.com
BF Goodrich/Cabelas Partner for Performance Hunting Boot
The Cabela’s Treadfast Zoned Insulation Boot allows avid hunters to focus on the target by providing breathability from the inside and grip on any terrain they encounter. Featuring self-cleaning abilities with large voids and lower “stone-ejector-studs” between traction-sculptures, the hunting boot prevents pebbles and gravel from sticking in the sole. It features an easy, one-handed lacing adjustment system, moisture-wicking linings and Gore-Tex waterproof/breathable membranes. Suggested Retail Price: Starting at $159.00 www.Basspro.com
Savage/Stevens Announces New Thumbhole 320 Turkey Shotgun
The new Stevens 320 thumbhole turkey shotgun combines a 22-inch matte black chrome alloy steel barrel with an OD green synthetic stock and forend, an ambidextrous cheek riser and rugged grip texturing, with adjustable fiber optic turkey sights. Available in 12 and 20 gauge with three-inch chambers, the 320 has a 5+1 capacity bottom-loading tube magazine and comes with an extended extra full choke tube. Suggested Retail Price: $323.00 www.savagearms.com
New Room Clean by Scent Crusher
The Scent Crusher® Room Clean will rid odors with one touch of a button. Whether it’s in your closet or mudroom at home or the hunting cabin in the hills, the Room Clean will effortlessly remove odors and leave your space fresh and clean. It plugs into any standard 110-volt AC outlet and can clean rooms up to 500 square feet, removing scents from your hunting gear. Suggested Retail Price: $59.99 www.scentcrusher.com
Boker Plus Compact Nessmi Pro Knife
Named after George W. Sears who wrote about life in the wilderness in the 1800’s under the pen name Nessmuk, this knife sports a full tang build of rugged D2 steel. Layers of red fiber under the handle scales of brown Micarta and a delicate satin finish of the leaf-shaped 2.64 inch blade gives the Nessmi pro an extraordinary look and the hollow rivets serve as lanyard holes. Suggested Retail Price: $89.95 www.bokerusa.com 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // JANUARY 2021 55
Be Mindful of
Widow Makers While Hunting
BY CHRIS BLANKENSHIP Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Conservation & Natural Resources
usual route to the deer stand is safe.
To say 2020 was an unusual year would be a gigantic understatement. With the COVID-19 virus disrupting our everyday activities, followed by two hurricanes, life in Alabama has been far from normal.
January is also the time when many hunters with full freezers start giving their harvest to friends, relatives and neighbors.
Hopefully, hunters in Alabama continue to enjoy the great opportunities our state offers. However, I would like to offer a word of caution.
I want to remind hunters who plan to gift their harvest that new rules are in effect regarding the transfer of whole or part of white-tailed deer and wild turkeys.
With wind events like the two hurricanes, timber takes a significant hit. Hurricane Sally made a direct hit on the Alabama Gulf Coast and moved at a snail’s pace over south Alabama. The saturated ground contributed to many trees hitting the ground.
Under the new Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) Division regulation, hunters who harvest big game animals must maintain proper paperwork when transferring possession of that animal to a processor, taxidermist or any other individual.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Zeta was a fastmoving system that zipped across the middle of the state so quickly that it maintained tropical storm strength all the way across. Areas around Citronelle, Camden and Thomasville had significant damage, and residents were without power for days. The trees that weren’t toppled may have hanging branches that are commonly called “widow makers”, describing the result of one of those hanging limbs unexpectedly falling. Hunters will be out in force in January to take advantage of the whitetail rutting activity. With a couple of months of deterioration of the widow makers, please make sure you look up for any dangerous limbs and don’t get complacent that your
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The recording and reporting requirements remain the same in Game Check. The updated regulation concerns possession of the game by someone other than the hunter. The person in possession of all or part of a deer or turkey that is not their own must retain written documentation with the name of the hunter, the hunter’s Conservation ID number, the date of the harvest and Game Check confirmation number. The information can be documented on a piece of paper or on a transfer of possession certificate, available both in the Alabama Hunting & Fishing Digest and online at outdooralabama.com. The documentation must be retained as long as that person is in possession of
FROM THE COMMISSIONER that deer or turkey. The hunter who harvests the deer or turkey is responsible for entering that animal into the Game Check system and maintaining in his or her possession a valid confirmation number for that animal. Hunters have a 48-hour window to report the harvest through Game Check to attain a confirmation number. Just remember that the game cannot be transferred to another individual until a valid Game Check confirmation number has been acquired. The Outdoor AL smartphone app is the easiest way to comply with the requirements. With the 1-800 number no longer available, the only other way to comply with the reporting requirements is to go to www.outdooralabama.com and click on “Game Check.” For those who don’t have internet access, WFF has self-service kiosks at all district offices. Go to www.outdooralabama.com/transfer-possession for more information. Our WFF staff is also asking for the public’s help in monitoring Alabama’s abundant deer herd for chronic wasting disease (CWD), a debilitating malady that always results in death for the animal. WFF set up self-service stations last year with freezers for hunters to drop off deer heads for sampling and testing. To use the self-service locations and aid with the CWD testing, hunters should remove the deer’s head with 4-6 inches of neck attached. For bucks, antlers can be removed at the base of each antler or by removing the skull plate before bagging the head. The deer head should then be placed in the provided plastic bag and tied closed. Hunters dropping off the samples will need to complete all sections of the Biological Sample Tag and attach the tag to the bag with a zip tie. Hunters should remove and keep the Biological Sample Receipt located at the bottom of the Biological Sample Tag before placing the bagged head in the freezer. All materials needed
to drop off a sample are provided at each CWD Sample Collection Station. Hunters can check the results of their tests by visiting www. outdooralabama.com/cwd-sampling-results and entering the sixdigit number found on the Biological Sample Receipt. Go to www. outdooralabama.com/cwd-sampling for an interactive map of selfservice locations throughout the state. The time to receive test results was significantly shortened in 2018 when WFF provided funds for the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries (ADAI) to purchase CWD testing equipment that is housed at ADAI’s Thompson Bishop Sparks Diagnostic Laboratory in Auburn. The equipment and technician have been certified to test for CWD by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and can test up to 90 samples per day. For hunters or anyone from the public who sees a deer that is not acting normally, WFF has created the “Sick Deer Report”. If a deer is acting abnormally or has died for no apparent reason, the people who observed the deer can go to www.outdooralabama.com/wildliferelated-diseases/report-sick-deer and follow the instructions to report the incident. The public can also call one of the WFF’s district offices to report the deer. Visit www.outdooralabama.com/wildlife-section for information on the five WFF district offices. Sick deer reports should include contact information for the person making the report, location of the deer and the symptoms observed. A member of the WFF staff will contact the person making the report to determine what may have caused the illness or strange behavior and see if the deer should be tested for CWD. Enjoy our great hunting this January, but be mindful of your surroundings and be safe during your time in Alabama’s great outdoors.
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Thoughts from the Wild Turkey Committee
Gerry Martin with a nice gobbler taken on April 1 2020.
The population trends in our turkeys do not look promising or sustainable. Last month I gave everyone my opinion of the perceived turkey decline in Alabama and what I thought was needed. This month, I’ve asked our upland game bird coordinator, Steven Mitchell, to share the WFF turkey committee’s opinions. The 2020 turkey season will long be remembered as the Covid-19 season. Stayat-home orders, closed businesses, canceled events, and travel restrictions forced many people to forgo normal plans and search for other activities as a way to follow rules and distance themselves from others.
BY CHARLES “CHUCK” SYKES Director of the Alabama Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF)
Fortunately, there is no better place for social distancing than the great outdoors, and Alabama has a wealth of outdoor opportunities. Many people took full advantage of their unplanned extra time through hiking, camping, fishing, and other outdoor activities. But for many folks I know, springtime in Alabama means turkey hunting, and they were more than happy to take advantage of the extra time Covid-19 allowed
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them to social distance in the turkey woods. Although we encouraged folks to social distance in the outdoors, we had concerns as to how the pandemic would affect overall turkey hunter numbers and subsequent harvest in Alabama. Our concerns centered around hunters having a lot more time to hunt. Would the increase in hunting time result in significant gobbler harvest compared to past seasons? Game Check and post-season survey numbers answered our questions. There was a 54% increase in turkey harvest reported through Game Check during the 2020 season compared to the 2019 season. Gobbler harvest also increased with 16,851 reported in 2020 compared to the 10,948 Game Checked in 2019. However, in 2020 there was also a 47% increase in the number of unique hunter IDs that Game Checked birds in 2020 compared to the 2019 season. Additionally, the harvest distribution (i.e., bag per hunter) in 2020
FROM THE DIRECTOR Alabama is the second week in April, and most of the state’s spring turkey hunting season opens nearly a month prior to this peak. Every season, over 43% of our total season harvest occurs before April 1, well before peak nest initiation. Ongoing research suggests moving the season opening toward peak nest initiation date to maximize the potential for gobblers to breed with hens prior to harvest. Maximizing opportunities for breeding is extremely important, particularly when populations are declining. More ongoing research in the southeast is investigating the impact of high gobbler harvest in the early part of turkey seasons and the resulting effect on breeding and reproduction. Much of this research suggests too many gobblers are being harvested before females are bred and begin initiating nests (laying eggs), thereby negatively influencing reproduction. Recent research by Auburn University also indicates low hunting pressure and disturbance during peak breeding time contribute to increased survival and recruitment. Given the reported harvest numbers in 2020, Alabama hunters had a great turkey season. Covid-19 definitely played a part by allowing more hunters more time to hunt. However, with any great success there often comes sacrifice or consequences. Hopefully, the 2020 increase in harvest will not precipitate the already declining statewide turkey population causing long-term negative effects. However, current research suggests high percentages of gobbler harvest before hens are bred may be a limiting factor to turkey population growth. Pete McCoy with a beautiful bronze phase gobbler taken on April 13 2020.
remained consistent with 2019. In both years, approximately 75% of hunters harvested 3 birds or less, and only 25% of our hunters harvested more than 3 birds. This data collected through Game Check indicates the harvest increase was likely due to an increase in the number of hunters and/or increased compliance with Game Check rather than an increase in harvest success per hunter due to increased effort. In other words, it wasn’t just our same year-to-year turkey hunters who killed more turkeys; other hunters who normally don’t turkey hunt or don’t have the time were able to hunt and contributed to the increased numbers. Lending support to our Game Check numbers and resulting assessment, our annual post-season harvest survey also showed an increase in hunter numbers, estimating 59,946 hunters harvested approximately 35,000 male turkeys in the 2020 season. That is a 24% increase in hunter numbers and 36% increase in harvest compared to 2019 estimates.
We know a large percentage of gobblers are harvested early each season during peak breeding time in Alabama way before peak nest initiation, and productivity declines have been observed in our surveys for a decade. Given that information, a high harvest season from a turkey population already in decline cannot be perceived as positive in any way. The declining population data trends and current Alabama research suggest we need to make changes before turkey populations drop to levels that culminate in drastic reductions in hunting opportunity, or worse. We must fall in line with what the science is telling us and structure season framework and bag limits that benefit our wild turkey resource to ensure healthy populations prevail for future generations to enjoy. Too much is at stake to do less.
The significant harvest increase in 2020 continues to heighten our concern with declining trends in population productivity and harvest numbers. Analysis of trends in turkey harvest data over the last 10 years indicate a 3% decline in harvest numbers but less than a 1% decline in the estimated number of turkey hunters, concluding that approximately 2% of harvest decline is not likely attributed to a loss in hunter numbers. Comparably, data from the statewide brood survey conducted annually since 2010, also continues to reflect a declining trend in poult productivity. Trend analysis of productivity over the last ten years indicates a two percent (2%) decline in poults per hen (pph) and a three percent (3%) decline in brood size (poults per hen with poults). Results from the 2020 statewide wild turkey brood survey indicated the gradual decline in productivity continues, as averages decreased to 1.6 poults per hen (pph) and 3.09 brood size from the 2019 average of 1.8 pph and 3.2 brood size. Harvest index to population trends and productivity measurements are both showing a ten-year decline in growth rates, substantiating warranted concern for the persistence of a sustainable wild turkey population in Alabama under our current season framework. Wild turkeys are the only gamebird hunted almost exclusively during their spring breeding season. The statewide average for peak nest initiation in
Parker Gallion with his gobbler taken on April 4 2020. His second bird all time. 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // JANUARY 2021 59
RED RYDER, GRANNIE’S CHICKENS & DAISY Red Ryder became famous first as a comic strip followed by comic books, radio shows and movies.
The Red Ryder BB Gun still comes with the wooden stock and forearm and has the red Ryder logo branded on the stock.
I felt like the luckiest kid anywhere or at least on my block that Christmas morning. I had received for Christmas the Red Ryder BB Gun, a stack of official Red Ryder targets and several round tubes of bb’s that I was hoping to receive. After opening the other Christmas presents, my parents and I had our traditional Christmas breakfast of country ham, cat-head biscuits and a gravy bowl of steaming redeye gravy. “What’s the hurry,” my Dad asked as I ate like I had not eaten in a week. “I was hoping we could go out and shoot some targets,” I replied. BY CRAIG HANEY Photo submitted by Craig Haney
“Lucky for you, I have been saving newspapers and a couple of boxes to stuff them in for a backstop so we can tape a target to them. Help your Mother clean the table off and I’ll fix the target boxes, then we’ll head outside,” he said with a smile. “But first, we are going over the
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safety rules of handling and using the Red Ryder BB Gun.” He patiently showed me how to load and unload the rifle, went over all the safety rules he could think of and then repeated the process. Finally satisfied that I had absorbed his training, we headed outside and set the target up in a safe place in the backyard. He enjoyed watching me shoot and get excited as I slowly got better. He shot some targets also and probably had as much fun as I did, a Red Ryder on Christmas Day will do that for you no matter your age. The first weekend in January, we went to Morgan County to visit Grannie Holmes who lived on a dirt road several miles out from the small town of Falkville where my Mother grew up. I was really excited to go because I could roam her fields and look for targets such as stumps, fence posts, and pine cones.
THE GUN RACK As I headed back to her house Saturday afternoon from the patch of woods next to her fenced-in garden spot, I walked by several of her hens along with the rooster. The rooster seemed to take offense at me walking by them, started fussing and coming at me like he might eat my leg off. I kicked at him and chased him away then a case of stupid fell on my head and I shot at the rooster with my trusty Red Ryder. Fortunately for the rooster I missed but unfortunately for me my Dad had seen me shoot at the rooster. I didn’t actually know he had seen me until I heard a very stern voice say “Craig, Jr. hand me that BB gun right now!” I handed the rifle to him and he pointed it away from us and fired a bb into the ground. “You did not, I repeat did not, make sure the gun was unloaded before you handed it to me. And what are you doing shooting at Grannies’ chickens?” The evidence was presented quickly, the judge found me guilty and I was sentenced. He told me I could not use the Red Ryder for a month and I was crushed. He was a man of his word. The first Saturday in February, my Red Ryder BB Gun was returned to me and life lessons were learned through that experience. I was glad Red Ryder wasn’t there to see my embarrassment when the case of stupid clung to my brain like a tick on a bird dog and I was caught. I was a big fan, to say the least, of Red Ryder comic books, comic strips and movies. I was reminded of this story a couple of weeks ago as several of my grandsons and I were shooting targets at the farm. One of the boys asked to know more about Red Ryder so I explained what I had learned about him some time ago.
The iconic Red Ryder BB Gun was introduced in the spring of 1940 and named for the character who appeared in comics and in numerous films between 1940 and 1950 and on television in 1956. The comic strip was cancelled in 1963 but the Red Ryder BB Gun continues to be a best seller to this day. It is literally the first gun for millions of people. The inexpensive series of air rifles from daisy include the Red Ryder, Youth 105, and the Model 25 Pump. The next step up is the Powerline series featuring the 880 high power pneumatic pump rifles which have been continually upgraded since their introduction in 1982. Powerline pistols are multi-shot double action designs powered by CO2 powerlets or spring pistons. BB versions are smoothbore while pellet models are rifled. The Avanti line consists of Daisy’s target guns which are manufactured to much higher standards. They have high quality sights and some models use barrels from Lothar Walther, a top European barrel maker. Daisy also sells a line of spring-air rifles marketed under the Winchester name. These are moderately priced CO2-based designs with break-barrel and semi-automatic CO2-based designs with wood or composite stocks. They also manufacture a line of youth archery products and a line of slingshots as well as ammo as part of their product lines. PARTING WORDS Daisy has an enviable record of being an iconic brand world-wide with the Red Ryder BB Gun being the best-selling air rifle in the world. With a simple BB rifle, Daisy has made it possible for countless people to get started in shooting sports inexpensively and learn gun safety rules and responsibility at an early age.
RED RYDER AND FRIENDS Red Ryder was a fictional cowboy in the 1890’s era when lever action rifles were standard gear for cowboys who might use it to protect their cattle from wolves, coyotes or mountain lions or desperados. He lived on the Painted Valley ranch in the Blanco Basin of the San Juan Mountains with his aunt and young NativeAmerican sidekick Little Beaver who accompanied him on their adventures. The Red Ryder comic strip character was created by Fred Harman in 1938 and who was years later acclaimed as one the finest Western pen-and-ink artists. Harman left Red Ryder in 1963 and contributing artists and writers from Stephen Slesinger, Inc.’s New York Studio worked on the drawings and story lines. Slesinger pioneered the concept of synergy between radio programs, films, commercial tie-ins and licensed products such as the Red Ryder BB Gun along with rugged outdoor, work and casual clothing. DAISY OUTDOOR PRODUCTS (DAISY) Daisy was started by inventor Clarence Hamilton as a manufacturer of vane-less steel windmills in 1882 in Plymouth, Michigan. Hamilton also owned the Plymouth Air Rifle Company and on March 6, 1886 showed a new air rifle of his own design to the windmill company board. General Manager Lewis Hough test fired the gun and exclaimed, “Boy, it’s a daisy!” The new gun was named the “Daisy BB GUN” by unanimous vote. In 1895, the company name was changed to Daisy Manufacturing Company. In 1958, the company’s manufacturing and corporate offices moved to Rogers, Arkansas. In 1993, Daisy was acquired by private equity firm Charter Oak Partners and in 2016 was sold to another private equity firm, Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill & Co, who combined it with Gamo Outdoor.
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Store That Kayak and Do It Right!
In some parts of the world, kayak anglers face horribly cold and windy wintertime fishing conditions, including hard-frozen water, which makes kayak fishing not only unpleasant, but dangerous. These folks will need to store their “yaks” for the winter and pray for spring to come early. Here on the Gulf Coast, winter is much better to deal with than the frozen north’s cold season. Still, most of us have to store our kayaks from time to time and how we prepare and store our paddle boats can make a big difference when it comes time to take the boat back on the water. TAKE A STAND AND SOME HANG-UPS Whether we’re looking at long-term storage of a kayak or just short term “in-between” fishing trip storage, if the owner has room for the kayak to be stored inside say in a garage, the best storage arrangement will likely be either a free-standing rack or a wall or ceiling mounted hanging system. There are many ready-made storage racks for kayaks which can be found on-line or at local kayak shops and with a little time and study, owners can make perfectly suitable and functional stands for their kayaks out of 2X4s and some hardware.. These floor-racks are really easy to assemble and, if done properly, can support kayaks well. The purchased racks often have rollers so the entire rack with kayaks loaded can be moved from location to location on a smooth floor. These free-standing racks can be purchased for between $150 for single kayak racks to around $325 for multiple-kayak racks. Many times kayak owners don’t have floor space available for kayak storage, but walls in garages or sheds are an option. There are many inexpensive wall or ceiling mounted hanging systems which support a stored kayak quite well. The systems mount either to the wall or ceiling structures, and they provide good, solid support for kayaks. These inside storage systems are not elaborate, and as long as they support the kayak from end to end and on both ends, they will do just fine.
BY ED MASHBURN Photos by Ed Mashburn
Indoor stored kayaks need to be well-removed from any source of heat. Furnaces, space heaters, even exhausts from motors can create enough heat to severely damage a kayak.
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OUTDOOR STORAGE Kayaks are tough boats, and they don’t have to be babied. With proper precautions, kayaks can be stored outside with no problems. Basically, kayaks stored outdoors need to be protected from sunlight while in storage. Long-term exposure to the UV rays of even our wintertime Southern sun can damage the finish of both fiberglass and plastic kayaks. Kayaks stored outside need to be covered totally. The kayak needs to be protected from rainfall, blown rain, and leaves while in storage. Kayaks that are allowed to fill with rain water can be permanently deformed and warped from the weight of the water if it fills the hull, and even just a little water in a kayak can create problems if allowed to sit for long periods. And while outdoor-stored kayaks need protection, they don’t need to be tightly wrapped in a tarp or other cover. This allows moisture to collect from rain and condensation, and this can be hard on kayaks especially those with foot steering or pedal drive systems. Some good airflow is best for outdoor stored kayaks. Kayak owners who have to store their boats outside can look at places which offer some protection. Under decks can be good as can below the eaves and overhangs of roofs- just make sure the kayak does not receive a lot of water run-off from rain storms if stored in these locations. It doesn’t hurt a bit to store a kayak upside down. This can help prevent hull-warping, and an upside down kayak can’t collect rain or other water. Even a hanging systems between two trees will work if the kayak is fully supported in the middle as well as at the ends. A tarp suspended above the hanging kayak will keep it dry and shaded. SOME THINGS TO CONSIDER For short-term kayak storage, just about any
PADDLE FISHING place that has the kayak out of the way and secure will work. A kayak won’t come to much damage if the time between trips is short- just a few days or a week. However, for longer term storage. There are some things to keep in mind. First, don’t leave the kayak flat on its bottom unsupported on the floor or ground. This can flatten out the kayak’s hull and damage its paddling performance. Next, don’t hang the kayak by its grab-loops for long periods of time as this also can warp the hull. Have straps which properly support the kayak amidships as well as the ends. If the kayak is to be stored long term, it doesn’t hurt to take it down and relocate the support straps from time to time. Make sure the supports are padded so the kayak hull is not resting on a sharp edge. There’s no reason to have a stored kayak tightly strapped. Any kind of tight binding can again warp the hull if the boat has to bear the pressure for a long time. And don’t pile tools or other heavy gear on top of a stored kayak. When getting a kayak ready for long-term storage, clean it up. Wash the hull with mild soap and get all of the dirt and fish slime off before storing it. And use some lubricant on any moving parts. This is especially needed for pedal-drive kayaks and kayaks with cable-system steering. For us kayakers who live on the Gulf Coast during hurricane season, take a little advice from me about kayak storage. I made a really neat multi-kayak storage rack in my boathouse for my paddle boats to safely rest away from wind and water from the tropical storms. And it worked, up until the point the massive sweet gum tree located next to the boathouse decided that it was time to die and so fell during the wind of Hurricane Sally directly across my boathouse. What had been a nice safe rack of four kayaks became a horrible flattened mess of smashed fiberglass and plastic. When storing that kayak, try to put it somewhere away from potential fallen trees.
AND PERHAPS THE BIGGEST THING TO KEEP IN MIND While most Southern kayak anglers will not have many problems from their stored kayaks suffering physical damage, there’s something else to really keep in mind. A kayak left exposed and unattended is a very attractive target for thieves. I’ve had a kayak stolen, and it seems that a stolen kayak is next to impossible to trace and locate. So the best thing we can do is make it very difficult for a low-down kayak thief to access our stored boat. Try to locate a storage spot that is hidden or locked up. Don’t store the kayak in the front yard, front porch, or other obvious spot. Behind the house or in thick cover can be much better. Also, make sure the kayak can be easily reached. A place away from the road or street is good, and having trees, bushes, or other obstructions to make a quick “Grab and go” difficult is good. Of course, the most obvious thing to make a stolen kayak less likely is to have it locked. A strong cable-lock is good. Just don’t run the cable through a grab-handle and assume it’s secure. It doesn’t take long to cut through a handle cable, with a pocket knife, and with the lift-cable cut, the cable lock is useless. Instead, run the lock-cable through a scupper in the hull and then around something very solid- like a tree or a solid building support. If a potential thief has to work too hard, he probably won’t steal your kayak. Both free standing and ceiling mount storage racks provide good service for multiple kayaks.
Even though we’re looking primarily at the kayak itself, we need to keep everything else used on kayak fishing trips in mind. Paddles and other important kayaking gear needs a little attention, too. Take all soft material elements, seat covers, tackle bags, storage bags and other accessories off the stored kayak,and if possible, wash them up. Paddles can always use a little lubricant applied to the joint so the parts will slide apart and together easily. Of course, any electronics such as depth finders, GPS units and so on should be removed and safely stored.
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Gulf Coast Fishing Outlook
There’s no better way to start off the new year than hitting the water and bending some rods. Your New Year’s resolution should be to go fishing more! MISSISSIPPI The start of the year in MS waters means a lot of things; sheepshead being one of them. Many anglers will be baiting up with fiddler crabs and live shrimp to target “convicts” around nearshore structures through the month. The best structures are usually in five plus feet of water and with a decent current. For Captain Kyle Johnson of Coastal Waters Outfitters based in Biloxi, this month has him seeing spots. “January is a great month for big speckled trout along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and honestly one of my favorite times of year to fish for them. Not only is the boat traffic nearly non-existent, but the big trout are relatively easy to find if you know what to look for,” Johnson said. BY CHRIS VECSEY
Johnson makes it no secret as to what he’s looking for.
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Captain Kyle Johnson with Coastal Waters Outfitters with a beautiful wintertime speckled trout
“I love fishing structure. To be more specific, concrete structures of any kind.” Johnson noted that deep water structures like bridges to shallow water concrete rock piles will do the trick on big winter trout. “Hard baits like MirrOlure MirrOdines and lipped jerk baits work wonders around these areas and don’t be afraid to throw topwater lures,” he said. Johnson pointed out that along with finding and identifying key structures, you need to keep your baits or lures close to said structure to get bit. When asked about peak feeding periods, Johnson said it’s a matter of tides, more specifically, an incoming tide. “I always tend to do better on incoming tides during the winter months. These tides usually push some fresh bait into the back bay systems and really get things going.” Johnson feels that finding bait is the second most important thing during this time. ‘
FISHING OUTLOOK “It’s key to finding the big trout. If there isn’t any bait in the area or hasn’t been than chances are you are wasting your time. Bait gets scarce this time of year and as the old saying goes,,’find the bait, find the fish,’” Johnson said. With bait being the second most important thing to, Johnson asserts that no matter what time of year it is, it’s extremely important to pay attention to the solunar activity. “This is the single biggest factor. Watch for key times like majors and minors to enhance your chances ten fold. This is what tells those big trout when to get out to feed. If you are going to be out chasing those big girls and freezing your butt off you might as well be doing it during the best possible time of the day,” he concluded. ALABAMA Speckled trout will be a top target through January throughout the coastal rivers and Mobile Bay delta system. Anglers will target deepwater areas during cooler periods and move to flats adjacent to these deep water areas on warmer weather spells. Popular lures include soft plastic jerk baits and paddletails like the Matrix Shad and Slick Lure. For those throwing live bait, nothing beats a live shrimp. How you present your live bait will depend on several conditions. Many will fish baits deep on slip floats when the trout move into the rivers and channels. In shallower water, freelining baits or using a single split shot keeps the bait natural and in the strike zone. Redfish will be a constant this month as well. Expect to find reds in the shallow marshes in lower Mobile County, in the shallows along the Fort Morgan peninsula and in large groups off of the beaches. In the marsh, reds can be taken via sight-casting with baits, lures and flies. Along the shallows of Mobile Bay, a variety of plugs like the Mirrolure 17MR, Rapala Twitchin Minnow and Rapala Rip Stop work well in covering water. Another great tactic for finding shallow water reds is to throw popping cork combos with both soft plastic lures or live baits. Off the beaches, big schools of bull reds can be found by looking for birds on the surface or finding bait schools or fish on your depth finder. If surface fish aren’t present, troll deep diving plugs like the Rapala X Rap Mag 30 or a spoon/ planer combo at speeds of 3-4 knots and in 20-30ft of water. Many offshore enthusiasts will be watching the forecast like a hawk in anticipation to make a tuna run. The tuna bite can be on fire through the month and many boats will head offshore to the rigs and to significant bottom structures like the lumps to battle with big tuna and wahoo. Chunking will be a top tactic for tunas as well as trolling small ballyhoo and drifting live baits. For wahoo, covering water around offshore platforms with deep diving and lipless plugs will produce many of these tasty torpedoes. FLORIDA PANHANDLE Variety is always a good thing and presents a plan B, C, D for fishermen in the FL panhandle. Captain Brett Tennant takes full advantage of this through the month. Tennant runs “Bout Time Charters” out of Pensacola Bay and offers his clients full inshore and offshore options aboard his 26’ Twin Vee. “Inshore trips this time of year will mainly focus around bridges and deeper inshore structures throughout the Pensacola Bay system. Sheepshead, white trout, black drum and redfish are my main winter targets but many other species get in on the action as well,” Tennant said.
Tennant uses a few different tactics for targeting these fish around structure, but his two favorites are shaky-head jig tipped with shrimp or a drop shot rig, both rigged on 25-20lb fluorocarbon. “The shaky-head jigs allow my anglers to drift baits through the column at a slower rate and are deadly on sheepshead in particular. Reds and drum will also take these jigs readily.” This style of fishing allows Tennant’s clients to keep direct contact with the bait to feel the softer taps of sheepshead better. When Tennant wants to fish deeper and control depth better, he moves to a drop-shot style of rig and a #1 J hook for fiddler crabs and a 1/0 circle hook for live shrimp. The drop shot rig allows him to fish deeper depths more accurately. For clients wanting to go deep, Tennant says that the bottom fishing along the edge will be on fire this month and that scamp, almaco jacks, vermilion snapper and others will be biting well in depths of 130-280ft along the edge. The “edge” as we refer to it, is the initial drop along the continental shelf and the natural bottom structures along its drop, coupled with the current upwellings it creates, makes it a hot spot for fish. “I start out every offshore trip trying to load the livewell with cigar minnows, small hardtails (blue runners) and various other baitfish. I’ll also keep my eyes out for schools of bonito as we head offshore. If we run across bonito, we will troll spoons or small feathers around them. Bonito make excellent bait for bottom fish and deep dropping,” Tennant said. Tennant targets vermilion snapper with two-hook rigs baited with seafoodgrade squid or chunks from the bonito. “The seafood quality squid make a huge difference in getting the bites from bigger fish. Make sure to use squid that is high quality,” Tennant will drop his live baits around structures in 200+ft for scamp and big lmaco jacks but advises that it always pays to drop live baits on shallower structures as well. “Big red grouper thrive around the same places you will find vermilion snapper so it’s always a good idea to send down a bigger bait.” For hitting some of the tastiest fish the Gulf of Mexico has to offer, Tennant will move into depths of 500+ ft to target snowy and yellowedge grouper, golden tilefish, Barrelfish and others. “I like to use a fresh cut bait like Bonito as well as whole squid.” There’s no better way to top of the box than with some of these deepwater bonuses,” Tennant said.
Important Contact Information Coastal Waters Outfitters Captain Kyle Johnson 228-669-3553 www.fishcoastalwaters.com Bout Time Charters Captain Brett Tennant 850-512-3334
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Pier & Shore Fishing Outlook
Perdido Pass has been a historically good spot to fish for sheepshead in January.
Dress for the Chill to Experience the Thril! So the new year begins for “from shore” anglers and just like everyone else they are full of hopes that catches in the coming season will be a harbinger of continued angling success and growth. Historically, this month would be about the coldest time along the Emerald Coast. Occasional intrusions of arctic air may plunge southward into the Gulf and give us a taste of real winter, at least for a few days. But NOAA is predicting a La Nina event this winter, which would mean above average temperatures and below average rainfall. That translates to another mild winter. BY DAVID THORNTON Photos by David Thornton
But don’t be dismayed, because if the water temperature is warmer than the middle to low 60s we typically see, our resident fish species may well be more active. Also, milder weather would bode well for fishermen, who dress in layers to take advantage of more moderate conditions. Still it is always best to
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dress for the coldest conditions you are likely to encounter through the day, especially if the wind possibly picks up. It sure is more comfortable to “peel off” than to “put on”. While larger “bull” redfish and “big ugly” black drum are distinct possibilities for pier and shore fishers to encounter, they are much less prevalent and active once the shallow surfzone waters fall below 65 degrees. Your best bet then is to turn to FRESH dead cut fish such as mullet, croaker or whiting. Or better yet, a fresh crab cut into quarter sections. Fact is, water this cool tends to slow the metabolism of all our resident fish species, which directly influences the degree to which they need to eat. So if you make your bait something they really like to eat, your odds of catching them will likely improve. Some species, such as sheepshead seem less affected by cooler water than the drum species. So this month often notes a shift for anglers to target that sheepshead more often.
FISHING OUTLOOK Sheepshead move toward the Gulf, to winter over in the relatively warmer water temperatures there. In fact, the shallow open bays are practically deserted by most inshore fish this time of year. They seek deeper places that offer protection from the cold, waves, currents and especially predators while they may be able to get a meal from time to time. Hard structure is often the key to success as more of these fish gather around the Gulf beach piers, jetties and seawalls. On cooler days, fishing the afternoon incoming tide may improve your odds of success because the water is often a few degrees warmer. The same goes for sunny days as opposed to gloomy, overcast days, or those when the water is dingy. That is not written in stone though, especially when the temperatures turn mild. Choosing the right bait and set up is often a toss up to determine if sheepshead prefer eating fiddler crabs or small live shrimp. Either way, the angler needs to be prepared with tackle that presents the bait in a stealthy enough manner as to not tip off their awareness. But it needs to be stout enough to maneuver this scrappy fighter away from barnacleencrusted piling or rocks. Plus it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have a landing net to lift the three to six pound fish, as many are only lip-hooked. They are very good eating. And very tough fish, which makes them good candidates to catch, photo, and release as well. Check the regulations wherever you are fishing, because states have differing creel and size limits.
their cause tremendously to add more fish into the cooler. Note that whiting and ground mullet are not regulated in Florida or Alabama and often abundant. But they are fairly slow growing once they reach sexual maturity at around 10 to 12 inches long. While an eight inch kingcroaker is only a year old, it takes over 5 years for one to reach 15 inches in length (about a pound and a half). That just means anglers should exercise good judgment in how many and what size they keep in order to help protect the stocks from overfishing. Localized depletion commonly occurs in some easy to access areas where a lot of angling pressure can quickly take many fish out of the resource. Let’s do what we can to keep this fishery healthy for the future! Despite the limited target species available to from-shore anglers in midwinter, there still exists a good variety of options and locations for them to enjoy. So layer up and venture forth to enjoy your great days outdoors!
For sheepshead tackle, most anglers seem to prefer a seven foot medium or medium heavy conventional or spinning rig with 8-12 pound monofilament line or 15-20 pound braid with a mono or fluorocarbon leader. Either way, a moderately light drag setting may work best to prevent the hook from pulling out of the fish’s mouth. They fight hard, making multiple short downward runs in attempts to escape. But they tire quickly against a steady, moderate drag setting. And lay on the surface when they are pretty much ready to be netted. Just be prepared for that last ditch effort to try and get away from the net. DOES THIS MAKE SCENTS? Once the water temperature falls below 70 in the surf zone, anglers using artificial scent strips may want to consider their favorite “go to” flavor and color may not be quite as effective. Cooler water not only slows the metabolism of their target fish, but it may affect the dispersion of the scents they are using along with the fish’s ability to detect it. This is a “double whammy” for anglers having to get used to not getting near as many bites as they were in previous weeks or months. Fishbites does offer a “Fast Acting” formula in several flavors and colors (see the red packs) which may help in cooler waters. And the relative newcomer Fish-Gum is claimed to work well in cooler water too. Pompano are still available this month, though their numbers and feeding activity are relative to water temperature and conditions of surf and sky. Look for locations six to nine feet deep near breaks in the beach sandbar or longshore sandbar within casting distance. Pompano have excellent sense of smell, and seem to be able to search out the scent of beach ghost shrimp even in cooler winter waters. Since these baits are soft and easily cast off the hook, a product like Magic Thread can be used to help keep it on the hook. It can be an effective combo with the hand-tied pompano rigs that come with colored floats. Especially on cloudy days, or in rough surf when the water is a bit dingier. Of course whiting (Gulf and Northern kingcroakers) are still the most prevalent fish in the surfzone this month. They tend to school up tighter as the water gets cooler, especially if mergansers and other diving waterfowl are pressing them. They will usually still bite, but often become quite skittish when being assailed by feathered or finned predators from below or bombarded by flung lead from above. In this situation a stealthier presentation by the angler (light line with small hook and weight) will aid
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REGIONAL FRESHWATER Fishing Outlook BY ED MASHBURN Photos by Ed Mashburn
Bass anglers who work soft plastics near deep water structure will find bass ready to eat.
68 JANUARY 2021 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
FISHING OUTLOOK
ALABAMA WATERS
MILLER’S FERRY Joe Dunn from Dunn’s Sport Shop in Thomasville says that the best technique for cold weather crappie at Miller’s Ferry is bottom bouncing. Put a one ounce sinker at the end of the line and then tie a 1/0 hook about 18 inches above the sinker. Put a live minnow or a soft tube body on the hook, and then tip the hook with a minnow. The preferred colors of the plastic jig will vary from day to day, but sometimes having the little extra attraction of the soft plastic jig can make a big difference. Bounce this rig right on the bottom and feel for bites which may be pretty soft this time of year. One thing that Dunn advises crappie anglers to be aware of is that if a lot of current is moving through the lake, the crappie may relocate to the larger sloughs and creek to get out of the strong current. “The largemouth bass will be found not too far from their spawning areas, but they won’t be up in spawning water yet,” Dunn said. “Secondary ledges and points up the big sloughs can be good. In January there can be a good crank bait, spinnerbait and chatterbait bite in eight to ten feet of water.”
MOBILE DELTA “What we’re looking at, if the upper and middle Delta has flood waters, the bite shuts down. On the lower Delta, cold fronts combined with strong north winds can produce phenomenal fishing because the low waters concentrate the fish in creeks adjacent to the bays,” says Captain Wayne Miller from Mobile-Tensaw Delta Guide Service. “South of Gravine Island is a maze of creeks which will help concentrate the bass. Navigation at this time can be a problem, but the low water helps show anglers where the deepest water of the creeks and channels lies.” In January the water will be in the 50s, and medium to deep diving crawfish pattern crankbaits can be very good. Plugs that run three to eight feet deep are good. Anglers might try a jig and shaky head for a slower presentation. Darker colors are good and work well most days. Anglers should look for creeks with deeper water and some tidal movement.
If we get a few warm January days, the bass will pull a little shallower, but they are waiting for steady warmer water in their spawning areas.
LAKE GUNTERSVILLE In the cool conditions of January, bass anglers should work Guntersville along the bigger creek channels and the old grass line. Anywhere that narrows the creeks down and creates pinch points is a good place to look.
As far as colors and patterns for Miller’s Ferry cool weather bass, Dunn said that ninety percent of the time, bass lures need to be in some kind of shad color and pattern.
Captain Jake Dabis at Mid-South Bass Guide Service makes his living connecting bass with anglers. He points out that January is a good time for bass hunting anglers to fish crankbaits.
“Toward the end of the month and going into February and March, crawfish will start to emerge, and then a crawfish pattern is good,” Dunn concluded.
“In January, there will be a pretty good crank bait bite, Rat-L-Traps will be good, and jerk baits will also work. These hard baits should have some red or chartreuse accents on them. Red is always good at Guntersville,” Davis said.
SIPSEY FORK Randy Jackson of Riverside Fly Shop says that in January, there can be a good midge hatch, and often stone flies and blue wing olives will start coming off, too. This can produce some very good fly fishing for the rainbows. “From January to March to a good time for nymph fishing on the Sipsey Fork. The nymphs all have different configurations, and the flies to match them have bread heads and some have wire to help sink them quickly,” Jackson said. “Other natural imitations sink slower. The fish will tell an angler what sink rate and color they want.” One good thing about fishing the cold waters of Sipsey Fork is that when the air temperatures get as cold as they ever do in Alabama, the water is still the same temperature it was in summer. The trout don’t care how cold it is, either. The river stages and water flow will vary depending on the amount of rainfall and water released from the Smith Lake dam to maintain the desired lake level above.
Davis says that the bass will generally be holding in eight to twelve feet of water but that there will be some shallow bass in Guntersville at nearly all times and all conditions. Crappie will be schooling up on the bridges- anglers can have good luck with big crappie using small jigs and live minnows around the bridge structures. Fish the shadow lines of the bridges. A good thing about January fishing on Guntersville is that most fishing trips won’t need to start until late in the morning. According to Davis, at this time of year, afternoon fishing after the sun gets up and warms the water a little is best. EUFAULA “1/16 ounce jigs in chartreuse, pink and white are all good colors to use, but each day is different, and the bigger fish will soon show their preference for color. Slow trolling with multiple rigs is probably the best way to find where the crappie are holding now,” says Captain Sam Williams of Hawks Fishing Guide service.
Spinning gear anglers will have good luck with bubble-rigs using the same flies that fly rod anglers use. Four-pound test line works best for the sharp-sighted rainbow trout.
Anglers should look for the best concentrations of crappie in Sandy Branch, Taylor Creek, White Oak Creek, Barber Creek, and Cowwikee Creek. All of these creeks offer lots of cover for crappie- work the drop-offs and ledges in these creeks.
Riverside Fly Shop will be running float and wade trips all through January, and since the river is stocked well every month, there will be fish eager to bite.
White bass will be very good in the open main lake body. Try trolling with deep running crankbaits to find the actively feeding schools, but
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Regional Freshwater Fishing Outlook
be ready. Very often some very big hybrids and even some really big stripers will be mixed in with smaller white bass.
and shad pattern crank baits are good. This is also a good time for slow-rolled spinner baits worked around the rock structure.
Slowly worked soft plastics will be best for bass on Eufaula right now. The bass will be bunched up in creek channels, so when they are found, it can be very good fishing.
WILSON LAKE According to long time expert fishing guide Captain Brian Barton, in order to find the biggest catfish, anglers will need to use electronics. The deep-water holding cats will be in 60 to 70 feet of water. Drop a skipjack or big chunks of shad to the deep fish and give them time.
WEISS LAKE “About the second week of January, we start our spring season. We will be long-line trolling for some great crappie,” says veteran Weiss Lake guide Captain Lee Pitts. The lake is still at a low-winter level, so the fish are funneled into the bigger creeks and tributaries to the main lake body. The crappie are getting ready to spawn. Big Creek, Cowan Creek, Spring Creek and Little River are some places to look for early season crappie. “The crappie will winter here in these creeks, and we’ll catch crappie fairly shallow- five to eight feet deep,” Pitts said. Pitts likes using 1/12 ounce Bobby Garland Mo-Glo jig heads with Baby Shad Swimmer soft plastic bodies and feels that Blue Grass, Ice Out and Monkey Milk are all good crappie jig colors. Weiss bass are generally slow and lethargic in January, but on warm days, they can move to four to six feet of water with wood cover, and they will be active then. “Anywhere there’s riprap in the water, that’s a good place to find winter bass,” Pitts said. Both spots and largemouths will be on roadbeds, bridges with riprap,
Finding schools of shad is crucial this time of year and the fish we’re after will be around the shad. Most shad schools will be holding at 45-55 feet of water and the bigger fish will be working below them. Fishing sunny bluffs, mostly on the north side of the lake, can be very good in January. The sun will warm up the water on these bluffs, and this can draw the big fish to the warmer water to feed. Even if the really big catfish are hard to find and catch this time of year, anglers can count on catching an ice chest full of delicious cold-water catfish below the dams now.
FLORIDA WATERS
WAKULLA RIVER Bill Goodroe of Wilderness Way in Crawfordville, Florida tells us, “It’s a matter of getting on the river and getting after it.” Warm January days can be more pleasant for anglers who go on the Wakulla, and January is pre-spawn for the bass there, so they are usually feeding.
Goodroe recommends frogs, trick worms, and particularly wacky
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Regional Freshwater Fishing Outlook
Crappie will be pre-spawn gathering in many southern reservoirs and lakes in winter.
Important Contact Information Capt. Sam Williams Hawks Fishing Guide Service 334-355-5057 www.hawksfishingguideservice.com Capt. Lee Pitts 256-390-4145 www.pittsoutdoors.com
worm rigs drifted past the massive weed beds and drop offs. The water level of the river can vary somewhat with the state of the tide down at St. Mark’s where the river joins the St. Mark’s River emptying to the Gulf. The usual best tides to fish up on the river will be spring tides where the water backs up all the way past the Highway 98 Bridge. A falling high tide can be very good, also. Bass anglers who fish below the Highway 98 Bridge should expect to encounter some good sheepshead and redfish which will jump on live shrimp or soft plastic jigs. LAKE TALQUIN Jeff DuBree of Whippoorwill Lodge on Lake Talquin says January is traditionally a good month for the big bass as they are feeding up for the spawn which begins in February. Fishing in six to twelve feet of water with big live shiners can be good.” The bass at Talquin will be moving up in the creeks by the end of the month, and anglers can have good results fishing with spinnerbaits and swim jigs. Crappie will be very good in January, also. Anglers looking to fill the ice chest with big slabs should try trolling in the mouths of creeks. A variety of 1/16 oz. jigs in different colors will work well. The weather will be the determining factor of where the crappie will be. If we have a warm, mild winter, the crappie will go on the spawning beds earlier in the month. The traditional hot months for crappie spawning on Talquin ranges from early February to late March. Catfish will be consistently good at Talquin in January in deeper water.
Randy Jackson Riverside Fly Shop 17027 Hwy 69N Jasper, AL 256-287-9582 Riversideflyshop.com Joe Dunn Dunn’s Sports 334-636-0850 33356 Highway 43, Thomasville, Al Capt. Jake Davis Mid-South Bass Guide Service 615-613-2382 www.midsouthbassguide.com Capt. Brian Barton 256-412-0969 Brianbartonoutdoors@aol.com Bill Goodroe\Wilderness Way 850- 877-7200 3152 Shadeville Road Crawfordville, FLA 32327 Captain Wayne Miller Mobile-Tensaw Delta Guide Service 251-455-7404 Millewa12000@yahoo.com Jeff DuBree Whippoorwill Lodge 850-875-2605 Fishtalquin@gmail.com
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MOON & FEED TIMES
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FISHING TIP
Catching Winter Weiss Lake BY WILLIAM KENDY
Crappie
While January means some frosty weather for Alabama, it also equates to some hot crappie action, especially on Weiss Lake. To get the inside track on this new year fishing action I asked veteran Weiss Lake crappie guide Lee Pitts for some advice. “Weiss Lake is typically a shallow lake but it has three different rivers and some major creeks that run and dump into the rivers and that provides great habitat for crappie,” Pitts said. “In January the crappie migrate back towards the river and they hold in the deep creeks, like Cowan and Yellow and hang around structure in deeper water.” Pitts advises anglers to use a jig with soft plastic trailer, a jig tipped with a minnow or even a pre-rigged drop shot rig in deeper water and structure, dock poles and creed ledges and drop offs. “A 1/8-ounce jig with a soft plastic Bobby Garland trailer, in a Monkey Milk blue or Baby Shad Mayfly pattern from drop offs that ‘step down’ works well,” Pitts said.
Pitts pointed out that late season crappie hunters need to keep in mind that “dock shooting” is a viable technique for cashing in on crappie. He targets docks that are in four to eight feet of water (10 feet at the deepest) and utilizes jigs that weigh 1/24 to 1/32 ounce. Pitts says that Weiss Lake is very current orientated and, depending on the water action, crappie frequently move to areas that provide cover and the opportunity to ambush food. He also said that if it is a sunny and warm day they will start to migrate. “Depending on the current and the volume of water released from the dams I’m going to hit some of the same places three or four times a day,” Pitts shared. “Some of the fish start going from 20 feet of water to six feet quickly, depending on the weather.” Captain Lee Pitts www.pittsoutdoors.com leepitts@live.com (256)-390-4145 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // JANUARY 2021 81
A GREAT DAY OUTDOORS
My Steel Shot Rusted
BY JIM MIZE
Since the early days of duck hunting, most of us have been waiting for steel shot though we might not have known it at the time. Sure, you’ll hear guys talk about the good old days, shooting lead in a 10 gauge, having to carry it for two hundred yards and dropping a duck stone cold. But admit it. Steel is better, because now you have an excuse. All of us have missed ducks we should have hit, even with lead shot. Before, we could blame the sun, the fog, the wind, poor visibility from the blind, the dog’s disposition, or the bad coffee. Yet all these excuses eventually came back to our skill under adverse conditions, or at least, conditions we could adapt to. We could have moved, sold the dog, waited for it to clear off, clear-cut the blind, bought a new gun, or not brought yesterday’s coffee. But now, there is no solution for steel shot. It’s the government’s fault. Remember the people who brought us taxes? These are the same people who told us to use steel shot. It’s the law and we have no choice. So who gets the blame when I miss a duck? The Government. Now, when that occasional duck blasts through your spread and shrugs off every pellet you can unload at it, you can explain to any witnesses exactly who is to blame and just what’s wrong with steel shot. In case you haven’t identified its faults on your own, allow me to share a few of my observations. For starters, on a rainy day, who will argue when you look out from under a dripping hat brim to exclaim, “I think my steel shot rusted.”
Who would have remembered to oil their shells?
how can I be expected to hit anything with shells that shoot straight?
And everyone knows that steel is recycled, which is a good thing. It’s just odd to think we’re shooting with old railroad tracks or junk cars. Maybe we’d have been better off trying to run over the ducks.
Steel travels faster, too. You never know if your shot missed the duck or outran it.
Also, everyone knows that steel is drawn to magnets and magnets point toward the North Pole. Are steel pellets drawn to magnetic north just as ducks are heading south? Maybe my shot’s not even going in the right direction. Hunters are also advised to shoot larger pellet sizes when using steel. This means in the same gauge, compared with lead, we have fewer pellets per shell. From my experience, every time I move up in shot size, it gets worse. I might be shooting slugs. Maybe I’ve been doing this all wrong. Instead of shooting larger pellets, maybe I should have been hunting smaller ducks. To make matters worse, the patterns are so tight my gun squeaks. In fact, if the pattern were any tighter, I could shoot a gnat, though I’m not sure it would drop. Maybe I should say I could shoot at a gnat because I can’t even hit something the size of a duck. This whole thing with steel could just be a matter of density. Not mine, the shot’s. I might not be missing; it’s just that the pellets are bouncing off. Maybe steel shot is the hunter’s solution for catch and release. I might not be a poor shot as much as a great sportsman. On the other hand, lead shot is so dense, I might not have been killing ducks as much as I was making them too heavy to fly. The good thing about steel, however, is that it’s lighter, so I can carry more shells. The bad thing is that I have to. Let’s face it. Steel and lead just shoot differently. For instance, lead pellets deform and when they do, they fly crooked. So after all these years of shooting crooked shells,
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Lead also leads differently. So you have to consider the range, the windage, the density of the pellets, and their speed. Heck, by the time a fellow can do the math, the duck’s gone. To adjust to all these differences, some hunters just focus on shots at close range. Then, after they miss three times and cuss, they can try using their guns as clubs. As an aside, steel shot has greatly expanded my vocabulary so I have to be careful when duck hunting with children. They have better memories than elephants and will rename your gear without your knowing it. For instance, if I send one of the kids to get my shotgun they don’t know what I’m talking about until I remember it’s the Bang-Dangit. Other hunters just give up on steel and switch to more exotic metals. You practically have to be a metallurgist now just to hunt ducks. I mean, what exactly is tungsten-nickel-iron alloy? Judging from the price of the shells, I’d say it was made from gold. Possibly, these new shells were designed by the same jewelers who brought us cubic zirconium. In any event, the shotgun shell business looks more lucrative especially the way I shoot. Last but not least, you should take special care shooting steel in vintage shotguns. The reason is that old guns can’t shoot steel. Apparently, the same goes for old hunters.
JIM MIZE agrees that hunting with steel shot is better for the ducks, primarily because he misses. You can find his award-winning books of humor at www.acreektricklesthroughit.com.
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