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877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // OCTOBER 2020 3
HUNTING & FISHING IN ALABAMA & THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE
8
CONTENTS
Taking Big Bow Bucks on State Wildlife Management Areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 by John E. Phillips Best Hang and Hunt Setups for Hunting Whitetail Early Season. . . . . . . . . . . 14 by Joe Baya Tips for Maintaining & Troubleshooting Diesel Tractors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 by David Strickland Comparing 350 Legend Ballistics in a Modern Sporting Rifle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 by Josh Honeycutt Raw Land Loans 2020. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 by Joe Baya
14
18
Choosing the Best Forage Fish for Ponds . . . 32 by William Kendy Selecting the Best Bait for Flounder Fishing. . 38 by Richard Rutland Should I Buy a Property with Wetlands? . . . 44 by Joe Baya
In Every Issue
32
4 OCTOBER 2020 // 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
PROPERTY PHOTO HERE
PROPERTY PHOTO HERE
Circle N Farms
Bank Owned Black Belt Farm Hunting and Lakes Tract
Lee County, Alabama, 4505+/-Acres
4505 ac timber & wildlife plantation in Lee Co. in the east central portion of Alabama. Ultra-turn key tract offering many options. Road system is easily navigable offering over 150 mi of aggregate improved roads. Offers many wildlife opportunities. Much of the land is suitable for quail hunting. Wild & native grass stands exist already & additional quail grounds could be utilized for bird habitat w/little effort. Consistently produced some of the best Eastern Wild Turkey hunting that exists in the country. Whitetail Deer hunting is excellent. Wild food & forage is in abundance. Deer plots exist in great number throughout the property as well great bow hunting spots. It also has a floodable waterfowl impoundment & dove field. Water features it offers is incredible boasting Mill Creek running through the property & three professionally managed fishing ponds (1.5,4,12 ac). Lgmouth Bass, Bream, & Shellcrackers can be found in all three ponds w/the 12 ac pond producing trophy bass (6-12 lbs.). Features a four BR main hunting lodge w/loft, entertainment rm, screened porch over looking the 12 ac pond graced by a gazebo. Lodge has a full concrete skeet & trap facility. Near the entrance there is a mgr’s residence, equipment sheds & workshops, kennels, grain silos, & a small grove of yearly producing peach trees and muscadine vines. Timber inventories are stacked. Proximity in Lee Co. make it ideal for potential residential development due to 8 miles frontage of public paved & improved roads. Offers many opportunities to potential buyers through the utilization of a conservation easement covenant offsetting the development, mineral, & wildlife value of the land. Also a diversity of watershed opportunities for mitigation banking & conservation capitol. It has grew, been managed, & maintained since the 1960s for upland timber production, recreation, & wildlife conservation & enjoyment.
PROPERTY TEXT HERE
Dallas County, Alabama, 73+/-Acres
This beautiful BANK OWNED farm is a rare find. Located in the Beloit Community, centrally located between Orrville and Selma, enjoy amenities like rolling pasture, three lakes totaling HERE 28+/- acres, paved roadPROPERTY frontage on CR 189,TEXT and utilities. The lakes are ideal for recreational fishing, fish farming, setting up for duck hunting, or could be converted back to fertile agricultural ground. There are abundant deer, turkey, dove, and ducks in the area, and it’s known for producing some of the largest whitetail deer in the state of Alabama. A custom brick home on 5 acres that overlooks the property is also available for purchase, and up to 1,200+/additional acres are available for purchase in whole or in parts. Don’t miss your chance at this great buy in Alabama’s renowned Black Belt!
FL Panhandle Listings
Alabama Listings COUNTY Autauga Autauga Autauga Autauga Autauga Baldwin Baldwin Baldwin Baldwin Baldwin Barbour Barbour Barbour Barbour Barbour Bibb Blount Blount Blount Bullock Bullock Bullock Butler Cherokee Cherokee Chilton Chilton
ACRES 545 535 375 371 298 1995 1304 900 555 463 884 342 215 92.7 5 30 60 50 9.3 4000 167 92 85.16 2230 5 146 73
COUNTY Choctaw Choctaw Choctaw Clarke Clarke Clarke Clarke Clarke Cleburne Cleburne Cleburne Coffee Coffee Colbert Colbert Colbert Colbert Colbert Conecuh Conecuh Conecuh Conecuh Conecuh Coosa Coosa Coosa Coosa
388 54 38 620 234 179 58 41 856 128.16 66.4 200 33 294 161 133 80 30 142 74 40 40 38 640 430 151 120
Coosa Covington Covington Covington Covington Covington Dale Dale Dale Dale Dale Dallas Dallas Dallas Dallas Dallas Elmore Elmore Elmore Elmore Elmore Escambia Escambia Fayette Fayette Fayette Fayette
ACRES 86 360 331 72 22 3 96 63 63 30 20 1283 860 782 651 463.54 282 264 111 97 83 671.6 58.5 672 473 321 232
COUNTY Fayette Franklin Franklin Franklin Franklin Franklin Greene Greene Greene Greene Greene Hale Hale Hale Hale Hale Henry Henry Henry Henry Houston Houston Houston Houston Jefferson Jefferson Jefferson
154 244 234 84 76.76 10 2590 490 165 153 105 575 329 80 55 53.2 200 100 60 20 325 31 17.5 11 633 120 75
Jefferson Jefferson Lamar Lamar Lamar Lauderdale Lauderdale Lawrence Lee Lowndes Lowndes Lowndes Lowndes Lowndes Macon Macon Macon Macon Macon Marengo Marengo Marengo Marengo Marengo Marion Marion Marion
ACRES 65 20 202 192 70 1.17 0.78 80 4505 1013 783 656 500 450 2370 930 486 396 163 6214 3000 1164 558 551 387 100 95
Marion Marion Marshall Mobile Mobile Mobile Mobile Mobile Monroe Monroe Monroe Monroe Monroe Montgomery Montgomery Montgomery Montgomery Montgomery Perry Perry Perry Perry Perry Pickens Pickens Pickens Pickens
88 82 535 1800 308 299.1 260 192 790 279 269 129 110 4023 926 858 788 768 240.75 40 36 33 31 513 450 430 240.36
COUNTY
ACRES
Pickens Pike Pike Russell Saint Clair Saint Clair Shelby Shelby Shelby Shelby Shelby Sumter Sumter Sumter Sumter Sumter Talladega Talladega Talladega Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa Walker Walker Walker
172 521.95 112 50 656.08 10 240 159 135.84 90 80 740 550 406.47 350 45.7 537 320 115 500 305 280 280 203 203 100 85
COUNTY Walker Walker Washington Washington Washington Washington Washington Wilcox Wilcox Wilcox Wilcox Wilcox Winston Winston Winston Winston
82 61 1320 455 240 213 190 2365 522 436 310 196 160 140 2.3 1.3
Escambia Gulf Holmes Santa Rosa Santa Rosa Walton Walton Walton Walton Walton Washington
ACRES 257 55 93 680 95 454 60 60 45 39.75 22.5
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877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // OCTOBER 2020 5
BEST BETS
BEST BETS FOR OCTOBER These are our top targets for hunters and fishermen this month! BY WILLIAM KENDY
PUBLIC LAND OFFERS SPECIAL BOWHUNTING OPPORTUNITIES
We all want our own little private piece of hunting heaven. While we can produce more of just about everything, the two things we can’t make more of is time and land. Still, as John Phillips explains in his article, “Taking Big Bow Bucks on State Wildlife Management Areas”, just because you’re not a land owner doesn’t mean you can’t cash in on some big bucks by hunting some of Alabama’s 1.436,000 acres of public land. Phillips interviewed Chas Moore, who is the wildlife biologist and area manager for the William I. Ireland Sr. - Cahaba River Wildlife Management Area and the Mulberry Fork WMA. Moore shared his “insider” tips and advice for how to have a successful bow hunt on public hunting property.
VOLUME 24, ISSUE 10 OCTOBER 2020
PUBLISHED BY: Great Days Outdoors Media, L.L.C. PUBLISHER/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Joe Baya GENERAL MANAGER: Samatha Hester MANAGING EDITOR: William Kendy CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Wendy Johannesmann
OCTOBER CRAPPIE ACTION
The pros say that in October, crappie will start to stack up and hold on underwater ledges, river and creek channels and the edges and deep sides of drop offs to fatten up for the coming cold weather. While tactics and techniques will vary lake by lake, trolling (or even casting) with live 1 ½ to 2 ½-inch minnow bumped along the bottom in water 8 to 16 feet can catch fish. Crappie will be holding in structures like brush piles, stump lines, docks and hanging close to deep water.
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
Dock shooting, where you “shoot” a small jig as far as you can under docks, in maybe 3 to 6 feet of water, letting it slowly sink and then retrieving it very slowly can pay off. Experiment with colors.
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.
STALKING THE WILY BUSHYTAIL
While doves and whitetails seem to get all the attention, let’s not forget the joy of hunting the elusive squirrel. First you got to find them. Then you need to be still until they forget you are there. Then you need to keep a vigilant eye out for a flicker of a tail, a little tiny movement of a head peeking around a tree or the silhouette of a squirrel lying flat and blending into the bark hoping you won’t spot him. Then, if you are using a .22, you have to hit them. More importantly, it’s an opportunity to brush up on your hunting skills, look for deer sign if you are a whitetail hunter and a perfect excuse to just get out in the woods.
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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6 OCTOBER 2020 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
FISH STOCKING
A 30-minute to a 1 hour walk and climbing hills may put a buck like this one in front of your broadhead on an Alabama WMA.
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HUNTING
Taking Big Bow Bucks on State Wildlife Management Areas Wildlife biologist Chas Moore says very few hunters actually hunt the places he recommends to them. BY JOHN E. PHILLIPS Photos by John E. Phillips
“Every season we see bucks that will score 140-150 inches,” says Chas Moore, wildlife biologist and area manager for the 35,500+ acre William R. Ireland Sr. - Cahaba River Wildlife Management Area in Bibb and Shelby counties near West Blocton and 35,000+ Mulberry Fork WMA that stretches from Walker County into northeast Tuscaloosa County near Tutwiler.” “Therefore, no Alabama deer hunter can say, ‘I don’t have a place to hunt this season.’” Alabama has 40 WMAs containing 768,000 acres and four national forests totaling 668,000 acres, for a total of 1.4 million acres of land open for public hunting during deer season. One of the reasons that trophy bucks live on many of Alabama’s WMAs is because in past years, many hunters have assumed that most bucks on WMAs have been harvested when only 1-1/2-years old. Therefore, a large number of Alabama deer hunters have leased private lands and set-up their own deer-management systems to grow bucks into the older-age classes. The number of hunters hunting on public lands, and especially WMAs, has been reduced drastically. What are the secrets for taking trophy bucks on Alabama’s WMAs? To get the answers to this question, we interviewed Chas Moore. “The largest numbers of deer hunters come to
WMAs on scheduled gun/deer hunts,” Moore explained. “So, the best time to find and take an older-age-class buck is during archery season and gun/deer season while hunting with archery tackle.” Since most gun hunters go to WMAs on weekends, weekdays are the most-productive times to hunt WMAs with a bow. Most WMA deer hunts are scheduled around the rut when bucks are moving during daylight hours. However, if bad weather occurs on the weekends when a scheduled deer hunt is supposed to take place, the number of hunters who show-up will be small. “Bowhunters while hunting during the week more than likely will have that WMA almost to themselves. Alabama gun hunters may hunt a WMA throughout the first season of deer hunting on the weekends that gun hunting is open,” Moore reported. “However, many gun hunters have access to private land they can hunt, which means often gun hunters don’t show up for the late-season WMA gun hunts.” THE DIFFERENT WAYS BOWHUNTERS AND GUN HUNTERS HUNT ON PUBLIC LANDS Most everyone realizes that gun hunters hunt differently than bowhunters do. The gun hunter likes to have a large number of people moving around in the woods during gun season to keep the deer up on their feet and moving around in the woods during daylight hours. However, bowhunters usually will hunt travel routes between bedding and feeding areas, and/or they’ll find the most preferred food on the land and will set-up near a feeding site. “There may be more than 80-100 hunters each on the Cahaba River WMA and the Mulberry Fork WMA but that hunter presence will be much lower during the week,” Moore said. “However, during the middle of the week, only 20-30 bowhunters may be hunting, and you may not see another bowhunter during daylight hours on either WMA.”
877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // OCTOBER 2020 9
Taking Big Bow Bucks on State Wildlife Management Areas
Moore also mentions that most of the hunters who hunt during the week will come into the woods early in the morning and hunt until time to leave for work. Mulberry Fork receives less hunting pressure than the Cahaba River WMA does. Moore pointed out that only about 10% of the hunters who hunt these two WMAs will have success and he believes that the reason for this is because most public-land hunters aren’t willing to walk to the areas where they plan to take their stands. Instead, they prefer to drive their vehicles and park them on a service road, so they’ll only have to walk about 100-200 yards or less. “The hunters who spend more time going deeper into the woods and are willing to climb hills to get to the back sides of WMAs are usually the men and women who consistently take the most big bucks off state WMAs each year,” Moore said. “This statement may sound strange to some deer hunters, but actually hunters often don’t go further and deeper into a WMA due to the fear of success, which may mean dragging a big buck 1-1/2-miles to a vehicle. They know they’re not in shape to drag 125-175 pound bucks a mile. And, they’re probably right.” Some of the best public-land hunters will have one or two buddies hunting with them and have ways to communicate with either cell phones or walkie-talkies. Then they’ll have help getting a big buck out of the woods. SUCCESSFUL HUNTERS USE AERIAL PHOTOS AND MAPPING SYSTEMS Moore pointed out that one of the reasons that some hunters take their bucks of a lifetime is by using aerial photos and GPS mapping systems like onX (http://www.onxmaps.com) and/or Google Earth (https://www.google.com/earth/). Hunters who download these maps to their hand-held GPS receivers and/or their cellphones can mark waypoints to note where they’ve left their vehicles and locate the routes they’ve taken to their stand sites, the areas where they’ve taken their bucks and the blood trails they’ve followed to pinpoint their downed deer. Then they can use walkie-talkies or cell phones (if they have service) to give their buddies the coordinates of their downed bucks’ locations. These navigation aids enable hunters to easily go to their stand sites before daylight too and come out of the woods after dark by following the GPS routes they’ve previously marked.
One of the best ways to take an older-ageclass buck is to hunt with a bow on the same weekends as scheduled gun hunts on Alabama’s WMAs.
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An advantage of using these two mapping systems is that both of them have the boundaries of the WMA outlined. Then you can make sure you stay on the WMA and don’t wander onto private property. The other advantage of having these maps on your phone or GPS is if you arrow a buck, and he runs off, you can use the app to mark the blood trail on your phone and see where the deer is going – a great help to find your deer if the blood trail runs out. TRAIL CAMERAS ON PUBLIC LANDS Moore said that the hunters who most often take at least one mature buck from a WMA each year have put out trail cameras
Taking Big Bow Bucks on State Wildlife Management Areas
to locate where and when a trophy buck will show-up. “These same hunters often will take more than one mature buck off a WMA because they’ve identified several mature bucks with their trail cameras,” he said.
This nice buck came from Cahaba River WMA and was taken by the hunter who went further than others and navigated the wild places there in the dark.
Of course, there’s always the concern of having trail cameras stolen on WMAs. But Moore believes that smart hunters will put their cameras on trails well away from where most hunters hunt and not place them on power lines or in open woods. Generally, the successful WMA bowhunters put their trail cameras along trails coming out of thick cover or have their cameras hidden up off the ground. These hunters will know where bucks will show-up at what time and on what days of the week to see these bucks within 30 yards, which is the range of most bowhunters. TWO QUESTIONS MOST HUNTERS ASK MOORE The two questions asked most frequently before and during deer season on both the Cahaba River WMA and the Mulberry Fork WMA are, “Where do most hunters hunt?” and, “Where am I most likely to find a mature buck?” The hunters who take mature bucks want to hunt where most hunters aren’t hunting because their chances will be better there to take mature bucks. Just before deer season begins, Moore said that his phone starts ringing off the hook, information that surprised me. In past years, most hunters never considered calling the wildlife biologist or the forester who manages the timber on the WMA to help them identify where mature bucks live. But this idea makes sense, these two men spend more time on that WMA than anyone else does. “I send them a Google Earth map with waypoint markings of the best food source on both WMAs to interested hunters,” Moore said. Although you may think these two WMAs only home pines, if you look at aerial photos like the ones on Google Earth or the onX app, the hardwood bottoms stand out. Many of the sites Moore recommends usually will be a ways away from where hunters leave their vehicles. To reach these spots in the dark, you probably need to use Google Maps or onX maps, since some of these locations may take more than an hour to reach. Hunters will go to these spots before daylight. So, they’ll need to have marked their routes earlier to easily follow the trails to return to these locations. When I asked Moore how many of the hunters actually hunted the sites he sent them and had taken big bucks there, he smiled and answered, “Very few! If they go to those spots during daylight hours, they usually decide that making that hike requires much more effort than they want to put into a deer hunt.” THE BIG LIE ABOUT NUMBERS OF DEER TAKEN ON WMAS When hunters had to check in and out at a check-in station, the Cahaba River WMA had about 180 deer bagged every season. However, now, kiosks are set-up in different locations on the WMA. If a hunter has a successful hunt, he’s supposed to go by the kiosk and report the sex and size of the animal he or she has harvested that day. But in recent years, WMA biologists are getting very-few responses using this kiosk system. Evidently, hunters aren’t checking out like they should. The kiosk record shows hunters are only taking about 10-12 deer on the
WMA each year. Hunters also may not be reporting the deer they take on WMAs, because now you can report the game you’ve harvested on Game Check by going to the website (https://game.dcnr.alabama.gov) or using the app. Even with Game Check, you’re still supposed to go by one of the kiosks on the WMA and report the animal you’ve harvested. So, the big lie is that although only 10-12 deer may be reported annually to be taken off a WMA, probably that number is more around 180 deer, which is the historical harvest. BIG BUCKS ON MULBERRY FORK AND CAHABA RIVER WMAS “We have some really-nice bucks being harvested at the Mulberry Fork and Cahaba River WMAs,” Moore noted.. “As I’ve mentioned, every year you’ll see bucks there with antlers that will score in the 140-150 class. One of the reasons that we’re seeing trophy-sized bucks being taken from these WMAs is because the buck-to-doe ratio on these areas is right at 1:1 or possibly 2:1 does to bucks.” Hunters tend to forget that wildlife management areas are intensively managed to keep the buck- to-doe ratio at least at the carrying capacity of the land, if not below it. Also supplemental food plots are planted on WMAs, and the harvest of bucks and does is being managed to let the bucks reach the older-age classes. Intensive deer management, plenty of food, reduced hunting pressure and more hunters who know how and where to find mature bucks all help to improve the quality and number of mature bucks on many of Alabama’s WMAs. The trained biologists at these WMAs are constantly working to produce bigger and better bucks on these public lands. They are also becoming much more aware of telling deer hunters how to and where to find the bucks of their dreams. 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // OCTOBER 2020 11
BY LOVESMURFS
Recipe and image courtesy of Allrecipes.com
Hasenpfeffer (Rabbit Stew) Rabbit stew made with bacon, wine, garlic, shallots, other herbs and spices. Prep: 30 mins • Cook: 1 hr 30 mins • Total: 2 hours
Instructions
1.
Ingredients
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
3 pounds rabbit meat, cleaned and cut into pieces ½ teaspoon sale 1/3 cup all-purpose flour ½ pound bacon, diced ½ cup finely chopped shallots 1 clove garlic, finely chopped 1 cup dry red wine 1 cup water 1 tablespoon chicken bouillon granules I tablespoon currant jelly 10 eaches black peppercorns, crushed 1 bay leaf ¼ teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed 2 teaspoons lemon juice 3 teaspoons water 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
12 OCTOBER 2020 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
2.
3. 4.
Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain on paper towels and set aside. Sprinkle rabbit with salt and coat with 1/3 cup flour, shaking off excess. Brown rabbit in remaining bacon fat. Remove from the skillet, along with all but 2 tablespoons of the fat, and reserve. Sauté shallots and garlic in skillet for about 4 minutes, until tender. Stir in wine, 1 cup water and bouillon. Heat to boiling, then stir in jelly, peppercorns, bay leaf, and rosemary. Return rabbit and bacon to skillet. Heat to boiling, then reduce heat to low. Cover and let simmer for about 1 1/2 hours or until the rabbit is tender. Remove bay leaf and discard. Place rabbit on a warm platter and keep warm while preparing gravy. To Make Gravy: Stir lemon juice into skillet with cooking liquid. Combine 3 tablespoons of water with 2 tablespoons flour and mix together; stir mixture into skillet over low heat. Finally, stir in thyme. Pour gravy over stew and serve, or pour into a gravy boat and serve on the side.
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BEST HANG AND HUNT SETUPS
14 OCTOBER 2020 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
HUNTING
for Hunting
L I A T E WHIT
Early Season BY JOE BAYA
When I first met Nick Williams, I thought he was who I wanted to be when I grew up. Ten years my junior, here was this fella, who traversed the Mobile Tensaw Delta year round, hunting small game, pigs, and deer with a bow and a rifle from small canoes, pirogues (small boat) and kayaks and making use of every available moment to better understand the wildlife of the region. Then I learned he was truly a student of hunting whitetail early season and how he selects the best hang and hunt setups for hunting previously scouted, or unscouted, terrain. Let’s be clear, Nick is a student of wild game, and that has brought him success in taking game, up close, all over the South and with the majority of that success coming on public land. I recently caught up with Nick over on the Huntin’ Land Podcast (https://greatdaysoutdoors.com/best-hang-and-hunt-setups/) and we discussed how to create the best hang and hunt setups for hunting whitetail early season. He had some great stories of success and some excellent tips to make you more successful this season. These are some of the highlights of our conversation. GDO: When are you going to do your scouting hunting whitetail early season and what are you most focused on? Williams: I think most people don’t scout enough. I’m a big believer in the 80/20 rule. I believe that if you’ve got the time to do it, 80% of your recreational time should be scouting and you’ll be more successful that way. I scout year round in one way or the other. Once it gets hot, I don’t walk out and bust a lot of brush. I spend a lot of time either aerial scouting or just driving the roads on new wma’s. I do that all through the summer and then once the small game season starts back I’m usually squirrel hunting and looking for deer signs and I do a lot of scouting during the season. If I’m not on anything that interests me, instead of sitting all day, I’ll climb down and go find something that gets me excited again. For those first few weeks, really all of bow season I consider the early season. I do a lot of scouting during our small game season. Our small game season starts in mid September, so that’s when I start really ramping up my scouting. Most of your rut activity there isn’t anywhere near happening so deer, if they’re not breeding, they’re either feeding or they’re hiding for the most part, that’s 95% of what they do on a day to day basis. 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // OCTOBER 2020 15
Best Hang and Hunt Setups for Hunting Whitetail Early Season
Their preferred food source early season, once the first few oak trees start dropping, that’s what I key in on. A really good way to find that stuff is on a squirrel hunt. A lot of times on a squirrel hunt you’ll be busting deer off the oak trees and that’s where I want to start looking. Anywhere I’ve got thick cover next to some of those oak trees that I know were hot for the first few weeks of season that’s what I like to key in on. GDO: Do you do a lot of E-scouting, looking at aerials, and trying to deduce what the 20% of the property is that is going to produce 80% of the results? Williams: The majority of the time is spent with boots on the ground. I think E-scouting is important and it can help you get an idea for what you’re looking at but I still like to walk as much as possible. A good example is oak trees. I hate to give away my secrets, but here on the upper Delta, a lot of your trees like your red oaks, those are evergreen trees. There’s not a lot of evergreens out in the swamp. So if you get on google images, and you dial back until you’ve got some winter imagery, a lot of times you can identify those oak trees from an aerial just just by looking for a green crown. You might be looking at 45,000 acres of swamp, most of it Tupelo and Cypress and deer don’t eat those. You can see those individual trees out there in that swamp and if you find a good concentration of those, I’ve got some areas on some creek banks where I’ve hunted and had a lot of success there and it all started with noticing those oak trees. You’ve got to get out there and walk from tree to tree and eventually you’ll find the one that has the deer tracks on it. So it’s kind of a combination of E-scouting and boots on the ground. If you just went and looked at the map and you found some trees and you just set up yet you might kill a deer but if you put in that extra effort to go verify what you’re looking at on foot, I’ve had tremendous success seeing and killing deer combined in aerial scouting with the boots on the ground approach. GDO: What are you thinking about with regards to entering and exiting where you want to hunt that day? Williams: It depends, sometimes you just get a grin and bear it, get to it the only way that you can get to it. I’ll be honest, I screw up a lot of hunts, bumping deer too hard. If at all possible I’ll approach by water, I’ll come in by boat or by canoe. If you can get water access, water access is awesome. Last year, hunting Portland Landing SOA, I was able to take a nice buck and some does using a creek for access to an SMZ that had really hot sign. I came in by chest waders, so that was a really awesome entry route. You could put your chest waders on and you could walk in. That little stream cut 6 to 10 foot banks so you’re walking on a sandy creek bottom with water that’s anywhere from ankle to naval deep and you can use your headlamp you can do whatever you need to do because you’re basically walking in a tunnel. In the early season have to hunting food plots, but
it’s kind of a catch 22 because food and bedding is all you whitetail early season. A lot of times people like to hunt I don’t hardly hunt food plots any more because it can be
The Mystery Ranch Pop-up 38 pack and load hauling system accommodates your hunting gear and a platform for meat hauling. 16 OCTOBER 2020 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
Best Hang and Hunt Setups for Hunting Whitetail Early Season
some awesome action in the early season, but there’s either gonna be deer in there when you walk in in the morning, or if you hunted in the evening you’re gonna have to walk out with deer in the plot in front of you. That’s a very hard situation to hunt in my mind. GDO: I personally like hunting out of a hang on more than a climbing treestand because I can tuck up in a tree that’s got branches below me and I just feel more concealed. You’ve gone to using a tree saddle, why did you make the switch? Williams: I started hunting more public land, started walking farther and farther and had a lot of hunts that you know, I’ve been carrying a stand all day you get back to the truck and I never found anything I wanted to hunt. I’m just carrying this 20 pound piece of steel through the palmettos and the thickets. So I started reading and came across John Eberhardt’s books and I came across Dr. Robert Sheppard and he piqued my interest because he was a local guy that using one and both of them killed way more deer than I’ll ever kill so I was very interested in it. When you start carrying a saddle, you start getting to the point where you can pack everything up and not have any metal on metal contact, and you go from hunting with 25 pounds of stuff that you’re hunting with 10 pounds of stuff and and you can crawl on your belly up or you can throw your pack up a steep creek bank and climb out of your canoe. It just completely changed my own experience. GDO: I know that you’ve tested a lot of saddles and you’ve really worked your setup down to where you got it about as light as you can go. So well tell me about the kind of saddle you think makes for the best hang and hunt setups. Williams: You’re going to need your saddle,you’re going to need your tether rope and you’re gonna need your lineman’s belt, and then you’re gonna have to have somewhere to put your feet. The Trophyline (https://www.trophyline.com/) is real solid, that’s about your cheapest option to get into it because it comes as a kit. A platform like the one Lone Wolf custom gear makes (https://www.lonewolfcustomgear.com/) or the TreeHopper tree suit platform (https://www.treehopperllc.com/).
m7-microlite/) and M250 Climbing Sticks https://millennium-outdoors. com/product/m250-aluminum-hang-on-climbing-sticks-2/. Weighing in at just 8.5 lbs and 2.6 lbs respectively, it’s not as lightweight as the tree saddle, but 15 lbs. for the total setup is not a huge penalty to pay. When I pair these with my Mystery Ranch Pop-up 38 pack and load hauling system, (https://www. mysteryranch.com/pop-up-38-pack) I can easily carry my days equipment, noise free and without fatigue. The beauty of the Mystery Ranch pack is that it converts into a meat hauler, stand hauler or tree stand hauler, and doubles as a great day pack for western hunts if you make an annual jaunt searching for elk, mule deer, and the like. There is nothing like the all out, bucks on their feet, get in the woods right now, you never know what’s going to happen feeling of the whitetail rut. As much as I enjoy hunting during this period, If you gave me a choice between this and hunting whitetail early season, I’d pick the latter every time. Hunting whitetail early season offers the most predictable patterns and every year leads to some of the best and biggest harvests of the season. Get out this season and stay mobile, burn some boot leather, and hunt fresh sign, you’ll be happy with the results. A lightweight tree stand or tree saddle is a must for hang and hunt setups.
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Treehopper puts together the Treehopper hand drills, and I use that a lot of times to drill holes in a tree and slide grade eight bolts in it to climb up the tree. You can use those to stand on as well once you get to height. My bread and butter for the past four or five years has been an Aero Hunter tree saddle. https://aerohunter.us/ They’ve been making arborist saddles for a very long time and their saddles are very well built, they’re very sturdy, and they’re very comfortable. Author’s Notes While tree saddles are the current rage within the lightweight hang and hunt minded hunting community, there are a plethora of treestand options that will also fit the bill. I’ve tried many different hang on treestand and climbing treestand setups. I choose a lightweight hang on treestand over a climbing treestand because it gives me more options on which trees I can set up. My current best hang and hunt setup is a Millenium M7 Microlite (https://millennium-outdoors.com/product/
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Diesel tractors come in all sizes. This one is a 3 cyl., rated at 17 h.p. that was manufactured for Ford in Japan
18 OCTOBER 2020 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
LIFESTYLE
Tips for Maintaining and Troubleshooting
Diesel Tractors BY DAVID STRICKLAND
Many hunters begin planning their green fields in earnest once the July page is torn from their calendar. Loading and hauling their tractor along with seed, fertilizer, implements, tools and coolers is a ritual many hunters look forward to. What they don’t look forward to is spending their time troubleshooting and working on a diesel tractor that won’t start. Diesel tractors are preferred by many farmers and landowners because they are tough as nails, and if they are halfway maintained, they last long enough to be included in a will. This is a great selling point for anyone looking to purchase a new or used diesel tractor. There are some maintenance items that are common to gas and diesel engines, but many owners are in foreign territory when it comes to diagnosing and fixing a diesel tractor that won’t start or run smoothly. Below are some general guidelines that may help with your tractor. (Always check with your owner’s manual or dealer first about your specific model.)
BY DAVID STRICKLAND
If a diesel tractor suddenly won’t crank or stay running, there is a good chance that a few things should have been checked out before loading it onto a trailer. It’s always more convenient to prevent mechanical issues than it is to break out a toolbox in the middle of a dusty field trying to fix a problem with only a hot Alabama August sun for company “Test Calibration” specializes in everything diesel and is located in Mobile, Alabama. They can supply new or rebuilt parts or rebuild your old diesel fuel pump, injectors or turbo back to factory specifications since 1976. I talked with the owner, Ted Raby, about some of the more common issues that landowners might encounter with their diesel tractors as they prepare their food plots in the coming weeks. The very first things he put on his warning list of things Not to do is use starting fluid to prompt a start. “Don’t use starting fluid for a contrary diesel tractor, it can seriously damage your engine. If you are having starting issues or you experience a loss of power, then there is something within your fuel system or engine that needs attention. Call and let us help you diagnose your problem,” Raby cautioned. Raby suggested that tractor owners should become friends with their tractor owner’s manual and shouldn’t hesitate to 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // OCTOBER 2020 19
Tips for Maintaining and Troubleshooting Diesel Tractors
contact Test Calibration before opening a toolbox. He emphasized that it’s a good idea to have a notebook or other means of recording the details and dates of all oil/ hydraulic fluid changes, filters, mechanical issues, parts replaced, when greased and any additives used in the fuel, oil and cooling system. It also makes sense to record the hours and date changed on all filters. Many scheduled maintenance items are based on engine hours, but some are performed by the calendar. Refer to your owner’s manual. If your tractor only sees occasional use, it’s a good idea to crank it up once a month and run it to operating temperature to ensure the battery stays charged and everything is in working order. This monthly cranking schedule is a good time to check fluid levels, belts, hoses, grease fittings, filters and engine hours for any scheduled maintenance. Raby pointed out that the newer low sulfur diesel fuel is subject to oxidation and moisture contamination if stored over a long period and is a contributor to maintenance issues. “If a tractor is parked too long with less than a full tank, then the excess air can cause moisture to form which can lead to tank rust and even algae in the fuel,” Raby noted. In other words, newer fuel can degrade quicker than the previous formulas and older diesel engines can be adversely impacted if additives are not used when refueling. In older model tractors this can mean a clogged fuel filter and a decrease in the life of the fuel pump and
injectors. REMOVING AIR FROM FUEL LINES According to Raby, the primary reason most diesel tractors won’t start is because air is present somewhere in the fuel system. Running a tractor till it’s low or out of fuel and a clogged fuel filter are two of the more common ways air gets into the system. Parking or operating a tractor on a steep hill or incline with low fuel can also create air in the system. The fuel system begins with the tank and ends at the injectors. Some models have a manual fuel primer to bleed air after a filter change or even an automated solution. Refer to your owner’s manual or call your dealer for the correct procedure to bleed the air from your tractor. Here are some common troubleshooting tips to find and remove that air from the system. • • •
•
Fuel tank- Verify fuel level is above the filter and ensure the fuel shutoff valve is open. Also check the position of the switch or lever that shuts the engine off. Trace the fuel line from the tank and look for any obvious fuel leaks between the tank and the injectors. Fuel filter- Loosen the bleeder valve on the fuel filter till clear fuel exits; tighten. (Some tractors have two filters inline - bleed the second one.) If there is no bleeder valve then loosen the line that exits the filter and retighten after fuel flow. (If no fuel flows then the filter may be clogged.) Fuel pump- If equipped with a primer lever, open bleed screw/ valve and prime until fuel flows with no bubbles. If there is no prim-
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Tips for Maintaining and Troubleshooting Diesel Tractors
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• •
er, then bump the starter till fuel flows; retighten. (If another filter is present between pump and injectors, bleed and verify fuel flow.) Go to the farthest injector and loosen the incoming fuel line. Turn the ignition till a steady stream of fuel emerges and retighten. Repeat the procedure at the adjacent injector and each remaining injector till all the air is removed.
At this point most people grin as their engine starts SURGING OR LOSS OF POWER If a diesel engine is running a little rough, surging, or bogging down when using the hydraulics or “PTO”, (Power Take Off) then contaminated fuel or a dirty fuel filter might be the problem. If the tractor has a glass fuel bowl, check for water near the bottom. If there is no fuel bowl, then the line from the fuel tank can be loosened and a sample drained into a clear jar. If water is present, then draining the fuel until it runs clear or draining it through a special funnel that filters out the water is an option. If the fuel is clean and if it still runs rough, then a clogged filter might be the culprit. Close the fuel tank valve and remove the filter. Install a new filter, O-rings or gaskets, and open the bleed valve on the filter housing. Open the fuel tank valve till diesel fuel exits the bleeder opening and retighten. A small amount of air might be present at startup, but it should smooth out quickly. COLD WEATHER STARTING In cold temperatures diesel fuel gels, oil thickens and batteries weaken. If these items are neglected prior to a dramatic drop in temperature, then cranking an older tractor can be a challenge. Many modern diesel tractors come equipped with block heaters and glow plugs for easier starting during cold weather. Older models can be retrofitted with a block heater that is properly sized for the engine; just check for your cat first before cranking. Older diesel tractors sometimes require a creative
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Tips for Maintaining and Troubleshooting Diesel Tractors
approach for cold weather starting, and there are several things that can be done to help them crank without using starting fluid, which should be a last resort. Before the approach of cold weather: • Add a gel preventive to the fuel. • If your tractor is equipped with a block heater, plug it up at least three hours prior to starting, to warm the engine block and keep the oil from thickening. • Inspect and clean the battery terminals and connections. • Switch to a cold weather grade of diesel fuel. • Use thinner or synthetic engine oil rated for winter use. • TIPS ON BUYING NEW OR USED TRACTORS If you are in the market for a good new or used tractor and have some questions about what kind or the size of tractor you might need, then a call to Smith Tractor is in your best interest. They have locations in Frisco City and Atmore, Alabama. and another in Jay, Florida I talked to Dewayne Williams, general manager about some of the major brands and what to look for when buying new or used. Williams has been buying and selling tractors for over 40 years and he has a wealth of knowledge that he will share to make sure your next tractor will meet your needs. “Many buyers come in with an idea of how much horsepower they need. I find that after asking a few simple questions about what type of work they will be doing, many are surprised that they don’t need the size tractor they imagined,” William said.
Williams uses the following questions to help a buyer determine exactly what size and type tractor a person needs: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
How will the tractor be hauled? How much power do you need? Which transmission fits your skill level? Two-wheel drive or four? Which implements will you need? What are your comfort and convenience requirements? Can it be serviced locally?
The primary purpose of a diesel tractor is to make difficult tasks much easier. As long as they are properly maintained, they can turn working the land and planting those green fields into some good memories.
Important Contact Information Test Calibration Company, Inc. Ted Raby 3569 Desirrah Drive Mobile, AL 36618 test-calibration.com (800) 822-0057- (251) 471-3777 Smith Tractor Company Dwayne Williams smithtractorco.com (800) 221-4052
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Comparing 350 Legend Ballistics in a Modern Sporting Rifle Which caliber is a better-suited for hunting in the AR platform? BY JOSH HONEYCUTT
Bay County Armory offers great modern sporting rifle options for hunters. (Bay County Armory photo)
24 OCTOBER 2020 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
LIFESTYLE Long has the 450 Bushmaster been king of the straight-wall calibers. Now there’s a new contender in town, and it might just be tough enough to dethrone the 450. It could even be a better option for modern sporting rifles, depending on specific consumer needs. BALLISTICS AT A GLANCE To better understand these calibers, we analyzed the ballistics of each. Generally, with a 250-grain bullet, the 450 Bushmaster sports an approximate 2,200-fps muzzle velocity, 2,675 foot-pounds of energy out of the barrel and drops 4-5 inches between 100 and 200 yards. While the 350 doesn’t have as much muscle as its older brother, it’s impressive, and still wins in certain categories. Usually, with a 150-grain bullet, it storms out of the barrel at about 2,300 fps, offers around 1,800 foot-pounds of energy and drops around 5 to 6 inches between 100 and 200 yards.
The 350 Legend doesn’t beat out the 450 in terms of energy, but it surpasses several other popular calibers. (Winchester Ammunition graphic)
Overall, the 450 certainly triumphs when it comes to sheer knockdown power. Its heavier payload delivers a higher energy transfer upon impact. That undeniably can make a difference with subpar shot placement. But in my mind, with good shots, that added energy doesn’t outcompete the numerous advantages of the smaller round. While it isn’t a large difference, the 350 round drops slower than its older brother. If opting to take longer shots, that can make a difference in whether or not a bullet strikes the vitals, or misses low. The newer caliber is also much quieter than many calibers on the market. That’s a big plus for anyone looking to do everything in their power to protect their hearing. The 350’s decreased recoil is another added bonus, especially for younger and smaller-framed shooters.
According to some research, the 350 Legend gets better penetration than the .223 Rem. and .243 Win. (Winchester Ammunition graphic)
In an age where budgets matter more than ever, it’s also important to note just how economical the 350 is to shoot. It costs anywhere from $0.80 to $1.10 to burn, while the 450 generally costs $1.25 and up. For those who shoot a lot, that’s a big difference. If bullet drop, money, muzzle blast and recoil are important to you, the 350 outperforms the 450. If energy is king, the 450 wins. At the end of the day, determine what’s important to you. If leaning toward the 350, understand that it also outshines other similar cartridges, especially in the recoil, penetration and energy departments. According to Winchester — the founder of the caliber, it’s the fastest straight-walled hunting cartridge in the world. Diving deeper, Winchester says it has nearly 63% less recoil than the 450 Bushmaster, 18% less than .243 Win, and 11% less than 30-30 Win. The 350 gets over 23% more penetration than .243 Win and 60% more than .223 Rem. It even has over 14% more energy than 300 Blackout, 15% more than 30-30 Win, and 49% more than .223 Rem.
According to some research, the 350 Legend gets better penetration than the .223 Rem. and .243 Win. (Winchester Ammunition graphic)
A GUN EXPERT’S PERSPECTIVE We also considered how these calibers would perform as sporting rifles, and consulted with Bay County Armory (https://baycountyar877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // OCTOBER 2020 25
Comparing 350 Legend Ballistics in a Modern Sporting Rifle
mory.com/) Founder Sonny Vincent. He has years of federal law enforcement and firearms retail experience behind him. He saw there was a niche in the AR market that wasn’t being filled. That’s when he decided to move a move, and began supplying custom-built ARs to retailers, rather than directly to customers. Some of his builds are in straight-wall calibers, which is huge for those who hunt in straight-wall-caliber-only states. “Muzzleloaders are fun, but at the end of the day it’s a muzzleloader and they’re dirty and slow,” Vincent said. “Slugs are effective, but not always reliable in accuracy. You can have a great group, take a break, and your next shot is a flyer.”
The author poses with a great buck he bagged with the 350 Legend caliber. (Photo courtesy of Josh Honeycutt)
26 OCTOBER 2020 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
It also has other advantages. “If you have smaller-framed, inexperienced, or recoil-averse hunters, the 350 Legend is something people are seeking out,” Vincent said. “Your advantage moving from the 450 to the 350 is ammo availability, ammo cost and recoil. In areas where you have dense brush, and areas where your shots are inside 200 yards, I think
Comparing 350 Legend Ballistics in a Modern Sporting Rifle
Bay County Armory offers great modern sporting rifle options for hunters. (Bay County Armory photo)
this is a superior cartridge out of an AR platform.”
with an AR, you need something with a little more energy.”
A DEER HUNTER’S PERSPECTIVE Personally, I love the 350 for hunting whitetails. I tagged a great Missouri buck with the caliber last fall. I wasn’t using an AR platform. Instead, it was a traditional bolt-action rifle. Still, the caliber performed well, and I brought home plenty of venison as a result.
Bay County Armory offers four different tiers of rifles. The base level rifle retails for $825-850. Its second tier retails for $1050. The third level goes for $1,450. Above that is considered a showpiece rifle, and costs vary. The 350 Legend can be built in any one of those tiers.
I spent some time on the range getting to know it, and the next day, went afield with Winchester’s .350 Legend PowerMax Bonded Bullet. No one had ever killed a deer with it yet, and I hoped to be the first. The first day offered up quite a few deer sightings, including a great buck that didn’t stop for a shot. I never clicked off the safety, though, and dreamed of big deer that night. The sun rose on the second morning, and I hoped for better luck. I saw a lot of deer early in the day, but not the one I was looking for. Things were destined to change, though. I climbed down, grabbed a quick lunch, and headed to a different spot that overlooked a standing soybean field. It was surrounded by cover, and I expected deer to emerge from the timber before dark. It didn’t take nearly that long. I was still settling in when an ancient buck pushed a doe out into the open.
When deciding what’s right for you, ask yourself three questions. What’s the anticipated use of the rifle? How much will it be used? And how much customization am I looking for? A custom-built AR platform isn’t for everyone. But for those seeking a carefully crafted modern sporting rifle, it just might be a new favorite.
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I scrambled to get my scope on the buck. I inhaled and exhaled three times. Then hold. The Legend barked, the buck ran, and it dropped just inside the timber. That’s a pretty good story for the grandkids someday. Being the first to ever tag a deer with the new bullet isn’t a bad tale, either. Stories and anecdotal stories aside, I greatly prefer the 350 over the 450. It’s cheaper to shoot, has less recoil, offers incredible speed, and comes with numerous other benefits. THE BCA (BAY COUNTY ARMORY) WAY “I view my company and the products I build more as sporting rifles than tactical rifles,” Vincent says. “Tactical has been done and everyone produces one. I try to focus on the hunting and sporting market. The 350 Legend falls into that viewpoint, while a .556 might not (it isn’t a superior cartridge for large game). If you’re going to deer hunt
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28 OCTOBER 2020 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
Raw Land Loan Rates 2020
LIFESTYLE
BY JOE BAYA The Covid-19 epidemic has had a devastating effect on many lives and certain parts of the economy. While many businesses, especially in the brick and mortar retail sector, the restaurant category and the services industry have taken big hits, the demand for raw land and larger acreages has seen a significant spike. This is due in part to the political unrest of the upcoming election but also due to the historically low land loan interest rates we are currently seeing. To find out what is happening in the land loan market and what we might expect for the rest of 2020, we caught up with Brandon Simpson, Assistant Vice-President from First South Farm Credit for his insight and a current rate update. “It’s really been surprising, how despite everything that is going on, the demand for land financing has been extremely high during 2020 and we have had more opportunities to finance land for people,” Simpson said. Simpson believes that there are two large variables that help determine an individuals land loan rate, and those are the length of terms and quality of credit. “Generally speaking the longer the terms, the higher the rates and the shorter the terms, the lower the rates,” Simpson pointed out. “It’s kind of the same thing with credit risk in that a lower credit risk may provide an opportunity for a lower rate and a higher credit risk will likely result in a higher interest rate.” In terms of land financing there are a number of variables that come into play, and while there isn’t a “typical’’ term land loan, Simpson shed some light as to what is available to buyers.
“One of the biggest benefits of the farm credit system at First South is our ability to provide long terms at fixed rates, not just shortterm balloon type notes and we’re seeing a lot of people because rates are so low when doing 15- and 20-year contracts,” Simpson said. “People have peace of mind knowing that they aren’t going to have to deal with rates adjusting five years down the road and are locking in for longer periods of time. If I had to give buyers a ballpark range of interest rates today it would be in the high three to mid four percent depending on the terms and the credit.” The increased demand for land loans can affect how long the processing and turnaround time required to close the land deal may take. Simpson said that a good rule of thumb is approximately 30 days depending upon the availability of attorneys, title companies and appraisers. It also depends on whether a buyer is pre-approved. “Once a customer gives us their financial information, typically depending on how complex the credit is within one to three business days we try to give that customer a pre-approval answer on whether or not we can do business,” Simpson pointed out. “At that point we start dealing with appraisals, title companies and the ball kind of goes in their court and once that job is done, we are ready to set a closing.” According to Simpson, being pre-approved simply entails stopping into a First South office and providing some basic information, such as tax returns, pay stubs, driver’s license, sometimes bank statements and some other data in order to tailor a program for the customer and issue a pre-approval letter. 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // OCTOBER 2020 29
Raw Land Loan Rates 2020
It’s worth noting that on some of the smaller land loans, closing can take place within two weeks. If the borrower has a good credit score and W-2 to qualify, First South may be able to handle the value assessment internally and reduce the time it takes to prepare the loan for closing. Simpson pointed out that as part of the farm credit system, First South is a member owned cooperative with 9,000 members in 44 branches in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. As a successful Financial Cooperative, a portion of First South’s profits are paid back to the shareholders (which are the borrowers) in the form of a dividend check, referred to as a “patronage refund”. That refund effectively lowers the cost of borrowing. “In 2020, based on our 2019 profits, First South distributed $19.3 million back to our borrowers,” Simpson said. “While it depends on each individual member’s situation, that may be close to a percent reduction in the stated interest rate.” What does Simpson think the future of land loan rates will be? “From what we have seen so far this year I personally believe that rates are pretty much going to remain stable and flat through the election. Now what happens after the election, I have no earthly idea,” Simpson said.
30 OCTOBER 2020 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
Important Contact Information Brandon Simpson (Assistant Vice-President ) First South Farm Credit 251-580-8678 www.firstsouthland.com 800-955-1722
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choosing the Best Forage Fish for Ponds BY WILLIAM KENDY Photos by Southeastern Pond Management
It is said that you are what you eat. While that statement is normally meant to refer to a person’s health it is also applicable to every living creature, including largemouth bass. Norman Latona is founder and president of Southeastern Pond Management (SEPond), a full-service pond management company with locations in Calera and Auburn AL, Canton, MS. and Jackson, TN. He points out that largemouth bass are extremely efficient and opportunistic predators that can quickly deplete the natural forage base of a pond if there are too many of them and not enough bait. In order to keep a good ratio, pond owners need to pay attention to harvesting the surplus bass. “Largemouth bass like to eat, eat and eat and they can eat themselves out of house and home especially if pond owners don’t make sure that there is a good balance between the predator bass population and the forage fish population,” Latona said. “With largemouth bass it is hard to keep groceries around. Research shows that a bass needs to eat 8-10 pounds of food in order to gain one pound of weight. If the goal is to grow bigger bass a pond owner needs to understand that in order to grow bigger bass, he/she needs fewer bass. It is an inverse relationship. “A common condition that we encounter is what we call ‘predator crowding’, which is where the bass are abundant but they are skinny and run in the 12-14-inch range and harvest is the first line of defense with forage fish stocking coming afterwards,” Latona noted. “Harvest removes mouths and stocking adds food to the mouths we have.”
32 OCTOBER 2020 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
FISHING
SEPond technicians introducing sustainable forage fish into a pond.
877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // OCTOBER 2020 33
Choosing the Best Forage Fish for Ponds
SE Pond stocks forage fish in ponds for a number of reasons including to establish a fish base in new ponds, to control vegetation, to increase the diversity of species composition, to just give a pond a food “shot” and to establish a sustainable forage fish population. To that end, their stocking inventory includes bluegills, threadfin and gizzard shad, trout, fathead minnows, golden shiners, tilapia and others, including crawfish, which is a healthy “snack Latona has found that the best times to stock forage fish for ponds is in the early spring in order to increase the edible nutrients prior to bass spawning and in the fall, but stocking forage fish is pretty much a yearround endeavor. The only exceptions are with “seasonal” fish such as rainbow trout and tilapia. “We stock tilapia, where they are allowed, in April and May and they will spawn multiple times all the way up to the fall but they can’t tolerate it when the water gets down to 40 or 50 degrees,” Latona said. “It is the opposite for rainbow trout which we stock in the fall because they can’t live in the summer water temperature but they do great in the winter and are fun to catch and eat and are good short-term forage for trophy bass. In the fall, Latona’s “Go To” forage fish for ponds are the venerable bluegill and threadfin shad, primarily because they spawn multiple times and can grow to become a good bass mouthful. That active reproduction and quick growth rate makes them an “enduring” forage fish that can produce a sustainable population and not have to be re-introduced every year.
34 OCTOBER 2020 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
“Forage for us in the fall is primarily intermediate size, sexually mature three to five-inch bluegill,” Latona said. “They are a sizeable piece of food for a bass and they are sexually mature and ready to reproduce as soon as they get in the pond which they frequently do” The goal is to create and maintain a balanced aquatic ecosystem to make sure that the fish are not exceeding the “carrying capacity” of the pond and that the bass have enough forage to eat to achieve the objectives of the pond management plan. That could be quality bass, which Latona describes as fish in the 16-20 inch range or even trophy bass which is anything larger than 20 inches. Latona explained that when the science of pond management was first being developed, the goal was to manage farm ponds for protein, as in “meals”, so there was greater emphasis on the harvesting of bass for food. Down through the years, with the advent of the “catch and release” movement, which makes sense for heavily fished bodies of water with a diverse species composition, harvesting fish from normally lightly fished ponds for consumption was largely replaced by the recreational aspect. Today, for the most part, people don’t eat what they catch and they fish for fun. That makes harvesting excess bass from a pond incidental and sometimes even non-existent. Consequently, because of that, the ratio between predator or “consumer” fish and forage or “consumed” fish can get out of kilter. The result is either a preponderance of skinny undersize bass and possibly an overload of “slab” bluegills, which the majority of bass can’t fit in their mouths. Or both.
Choosing the Best Forage Fish for Ponds
SEPond technicians make sure that theiy get the right mix of forage and that the fish are handled properly. 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // OCTOBER 2020 35
Choosing the Best Forage Fish for Ponds
“The concept behind adding sustainable forage, as in adding more bluegill, to create more reproduction, which in terms generates a greater abundance of forage which in turn generates a greater abundance of spawning size fish and larger bass,” Latona said. “It’s the same thing with stocking threadfin shad. We are stocking forage fish that will reproduce in abundance with the goal of creating more sustainability and that is where harvest comes in,” he said. “The more effective we can be in terms of harvest to keep those bass numbers under control the greater the results will be in terms of sustainability of the forage we stock.”
HOG RUSH “THERE WILL BE BLOOD”
According to Latona, depending on the dynamics of the pond, a normal bass harvest, in order to keep the predator/forage ratio on track is about 30 -40 pounds of bass per acre per year. “We’ve found that stocking of bluegill and threadfin shad when coupled with adequate harvesting and predator removal that we can actually reverse or prevent this trend toward a predator crowded environment,” Latona noted. So, the decision has been made to stock forage fish. Now the question is how many fish need to be stocked and the “rules of thumb” are different for bluegills and threadfin shad. “With bluegills the stocking level of sexually mature intermediate size 3-5 inch fish range between 250-500 per acre,” Latona said. “For a 10acre lake we may put in between 2,500 -5,000 fish but it depends on the pond. In some cases, we may find that 250-300 fish is adequate and others may require 400-500 per acre. We typically find that in larger bodies of water, like 35 acres and up we stock at a little lower density but some of that is just cost management.” Latona pointed out that unlike bluegills which gravitate toward shore, structure and cover, threadfin shad are not shoreline fish and pretty much hang out in open water in schools. So generally, the larger the body of water the lower the stocking density.
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“In a 10-acre lake we might stock 1,000 threadfin shad per acre or roughly 10,000 total, in a 20-acre lake we may stock the same number even though it is twice as much water and half the rate,” Latona explained. “Larger lakes tend to have more open water than smaller lakes and allows the shad to stay away from structure and habitat where ambushing largemouth bass hide and wait until food swims by.”
Contact Information Norman Latona Nlatona@sepond.com www.sepond.com 1--888-830-POND (7633)
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www.HOGRUSH.com 36 OCTOBER 2020 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
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Terry Turner with his personal best Flounder right at 6lbs caught in Dog River during a thunderstorm. 38 OCTOBER 2020 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
FISHING
Selecting the Best Bait for
Flounder Fishing BY RICHARD RUTLAND Photos by Richard Rutland
As a full-time Alabama professional Gulf Coast and Mobile Bay fishing guide I have the opportunity to help fishermen connect with a number of different inshore and offshore fish every week. I’ve found that one of the most popular and sought-after fish is the flounder. While it isn’t as sexy as some other fish, they fight hard and are certainly up on the top of “tasty dinner” meter. In addition to helping fishermen catch flounder for sport and table I’ve been heavily involved in catching, tagging and releasing flounder for the Flounder Tagging project run by the University of South Alabama Marine Sciences research program. The bottom line is that we go out and catch flounder, record all the data about where, when, the weather and water conditions and how we caught them. The goal of the tagging program is to learn more about their migratory patterns, daily existence, health of the population in order to ensure that the Alabama flounder resource is responsibly managed. Whether it is Panama City, Destin, Pensacola, Orange Beach or any stretch of the Gulf Coast (or even the Atlantic for that matter) along with the major bays, all these areas will have a migration of flounder this fall. One of the biggest questions I’m asked as a guide is what is the best live bait for flounder. My tongue in cheek answer is “whatever they are biting”. While you can catch flounder on a number of different natural baits, in my opinion, the best flounder bait is…. finger mullet. Based on my tagging experience, probably 70% of all of the flounder that we caught and tagged were caught on finger mullet. We spent between 1-2 hours a day searching for and catching finger mullet for our tagging studies. Before I get into where to catch finger mullet you need to have the right size net and know how to throw it. My normal “go to” net is an eight-footer with about 1.2-1.3 pounds of lead per foot and I prefer a 3/8inch mesh but you could go down to a ¼ inch mesh if you are looking for smaller baitfish. I use the 3/8 inch because I believe that 4-6-inch finger mullet are the best bait for flounder and, just like speckled trout, there isn’t a bait too big to present to these fish. When we catch fish for tagging unfortunately some are gut hooked so we do a gut content analysis and I’ve found a 4-5-inch baitfish in the stomach of a 14-15-inch flounder. It was kind of unreal. I like the bigger baitfish because flounder have little eyes and, especially when you are fishing in off-color water, the bigger bait profile increases the opportunity for it to be seen and jumped on. Catching baitfish isn’t that hard but the challenge is finding them. To start, remember that they like structure so you can start around rocks. They also congregate in tidal rivers and pools, feeder creeks, marsh grass areas and even boat ramps. 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // OCTOBER 2020 39
Selecting the Best Bait for Flounder Fishing
When you are out on the water make notes as to spots that look promising and make collecting bait an integral part of your fishing day, whether it be early or late. As an additional note, it is a lot easier spotting and catching finger mullet in high light conditions so make sure you have a good pair of polarized sunglasses.
These are some photos of the flounder tagging process
Once you catch your finger mullet (or whatever baitfish you want to utilize) you need to keep them alive and frisky in your live well and I have a few tricks that may help you. First off, put some ice in Ziploc bags to cool the water down a bit. You would be surprised how much heat your pump generates. Secondly, mullet like current and bubbles. I set my live wells up with a recirculating pump. That means I keep the same water in my livewell most of the day and recirculate with a pump and spray head to keep it oxygenated. I have an air pump with bubbles to add to the amount of oxygen being added to the live well. With finger mullet I like to keep the spray head directed in one direction to create a small current to keep the mullet swimming in the live well. For my recirculating pump I like a minimum of an 800 GPH pump and a FlowRite spray head. When it comes to fishing live bait for flounder, far and away, I use the standard Carolina rig with a couple small wrinkles. I use a 10-14-inch 20-pound fluorocarbon leader, with a half-ounce or less egg weight and a size #1 or #2 SSW Owner live bait hook, depending on the size of the finger mullet. Smaller mullet that are 3 to 4 inches go with a #1 and larger go with a #2 hook. In terms of hooking the mullet, while I use a lip hook setup for most fish, for mullet I hook them right at the back dorsal fin just in front of the tail. That allows the mullet to swim 1-2 feet at 360 degrees from the sinker. To retrieve, turn the handle 1-3 handle turn for every 30 seconds to one minute. It’s slow but you cover a lot of water. The cool thing is that you can tell when you have gotten the attention of a flounder and are going to get a bite because the finger mullet just starts going nuts on the rod tip. When the bite comes it is a unmistakable thump. Wait a few seconds before sharply setting the hook sharply. Deciding on whether to fish live bait or artificial lures kind of depends on what type of structure you are fishing, whether it is rocks, oyster shell or maybe a steep sandy ledge. It also is a bit of “try it and see” challenge to see which type of presentation is the most effective. When I’m fishing rocks, I definitely prefer to fish a jig over a Carolina rig and one of the main reasons is I won’t get hung up as often.
This was a 9.86 lbs Southern Flounder I caught on a live Finger Mullet in Mobile Bay last year. Cool part was that we caught, tagged and released the biggest one I have ever caught. Few folks can say that.
40 OCTOBER 2020 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
Now keep in mind that if you don’t get hung up when you are fishing rocks and tying on new hooks, sinkers, swivels and sinkers, you aren’t fishing where the fish are. Having said that I think that you can get “unhung” more often with a jig than you can with a Carolina rig.
Selecting the Best Bait for Flounder Fishing
I exclusively fish a 3/8-ounce Hogie jig head but you can step it down a little bit if you want to, but I like the 3/i size just because I feel the bottom well with that weight in most fishing situations. I also prefer a jig when fishing areas that are real steep. Flounders love real steep banks where it goes from about three feet of water down to around 20 feet quickly. It’s kind of like looking up at a steep bank and a jig allows you to fish it from the top down or the bottom up and still have control and feel the jig on the bottom. For flounder I always like to get up on the shallow side and cast out to the deep side and work your bait up and have found that to be much more effective than going from shallow to deep. I also keep my “hops” very short, probably coming off the bottom only four or five inches. I call that action “ticking” and I just raise my rod tip enough to move the jib a foot or so and allow it to come up and then fall down and make a slight disturbance in the mud or sand and since flounder have a lateral line they can sense that. As far as bait selection goes, in terms of color, I really like the bright colors Pearl white, chartreuse, pink, electric chicken, colors of that nature seem to work really well, especially those plastics with curly tails.
see and they are just sitting down there waiting for something to swim by. I think that the more you can do to make your bait stand out better the more fish you will catch. I’ve had good luck fishing with Fishbites Fight Club Curley Tails. While it sounds gaudy, I’ve also done well with using the Fishbites Fight Club curly tail grub along with the Fishbite’s Bob’s Your Uncle substitute pork rind freshwater bait. You’ve got these two little curly tails going and it almost looks like a spinnerbait. While I think color and action are key factors, scent is important and FishBites offers some options and it is best for you to experiment and see which works best for your situation. Even scent on plastics can make a difference. I’ve used jigs with a strip of a mullet, croaker, shrimp or other fish just to embellish the bait. Flounder have hard and boney mouths and are notorious for shaking their heads and throwing the hook. Pause for 2-3 seconds to make sure the fish has the bait and then set the hook.
Contact Information Captain Richard Rutland Cold Blooded Fishing (251) 459-5077 www.coldbloodedfishing.com
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Should I Buy a Property with
? s d n a l t e W
BY JOE BAYA
Great Days Outdoors Huntin’ Land podcast co-host
Developing a Gulf Coast property with a wetlands can be tricky but can pay dividends. 44 OCTOBER 2020 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
LIFESTYLE
Abraham Lincoln was once asked, “How long do you think a man’s legs should be?” His simple answer was, “A man’s legs should be long enough to reach the ground.” In other words, be able to get the job done. In other words, it is all relative based on what “job needs to be done”. That is kind of like defining what is the perfect piece of hunting land and the answer depends on what the purchaser wants to use it for and what he/she likes and what are the ultimate goals. Should it be uplands? Should it be predominately timber, fields or a combination? Should it be flat or hilly? Should it border running water, have a pond or even wetlands? The wetlands equation can be a little sticky in that there is some confusion and lack of knowledge about wetlands. If you hunt waterfowl, they are good. If you don’t, they can attract other wildlife but, depending on what you pursue, the jury is out. Some people like them. Some people think they are a waste of good space. The presence of wetlands also impacts what you can do with and how you can enjoy the property. It can also impact how to go forward with your development plans. Regulations and rules for dealing with wetlands can be a bit confusing and involved. To shed some light on this scenario, Huntin’ Land podcast co-host Clint Flowers and I interviewed Craig Martin, senior scientist at Wetland Sciences, Inc based in Pensacola, Fl and realtor Angelo DePaola from the Coastal Connection in Orange Beach, Al. Both Martin and DePaola have extensive experience dealing with property that feature wetlands and know what you can, cannot and should (or should not) do with them. Clint and I are experienced land professionals who specialize in hunting and recreational property, many times that include wetlands.
877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // OCTOBER 2020 45
Should I Buy a Property with Wetlands?
Just to clarify, I asked Martin, by specific definition, what exactly is a “wetland”?
soil, you probably are,” DePaloa said. “Sometimes your neighbors dig out back behind their house without knowing that it would effect your property.”
“The simple definition of a wetlands is really just a transition from a terrestrial to an aquatic environment from a higher land down into a river floodplain. Simplified, the regulatory definition is hydric soil that supports hydrophilic vegetation that need their feet wet some or all of the time,” Martin said. “A wetland can form as a function of a river or stream, high groundwater areas and lowlands where water comes within 18 inches of the surface for 30 consecutive days.”
“Also, I’ve learned that if you see a lot of palmettos, you’re in uplands, not wetlands,” DePaola added.
Martin said that wetlands are really the “kidneys” of the hydrologic system for the property and act like sinks and wet sponges for pollutants and help stop storm water flood events. That slowing of water movement and filtering results in less erosion and improved water quality.
“It’s only a couple of hundred bucks to go out with Craig or another WS professional, find out what you have, what you can and cannot do and get some good peace of mind in terms of what you are buying,” DePaola said.
“They sequester pollutants to make sure they don’t get into the surface water and are beneficial to streams, rivers, ponds and reservoirs,’ Martin pointed out. “Coastal wetlands act as nurseries for trout, shrimp, crabs and other commercial and recreational species”
DePaola pointed out that having wetlands, especially on coastal property, isn’t all dome and gloom and while many property owners want to put up seawalls and white sandy beaches nothing is forever on the Gulf Coast in terms of erosion and wetlands do offer certain benefits.
DePaola emphasized that prospective property owners on the coast need to be cognizant of the fact that wetlands don’t necessarily have to just be a shoreline scenario. A prospect while walking a piece of property may find a wetland that exists because of something as unlikely as someone digging a drainage ditch across the property which wasn’t wetlands before but now it is. He suggests a “shovel test” and keeping an eye out for palmettos.
“I’m a big fan of our natural flora and fauna and when you’re up on the water like that with some grasses and it makes for easy water access, better fishing, shrimping and crabbing and it is going to keep your property from eroding. I think it makes for a better overall natural environment,” he noted. “Not everyone wants white sandy beaches and seawalls.”
“You can bring a shovel and if you dig and get nice salt and pepper dirt, you are probably not looking at a wetland. If you get a lot of darker
One of the services that Wetland Sciences, Inc offers is a “walk-along” on a piece of property to identify whether it is or is not an official wetland and to bring a potential buyer up to speed in terms of future developments and going forward.”
When it comes to permitting for wetlands, the big elephant in the room is the “dredge and fill” process, which is addressed by the Clean Water Act and section 404 regulations. The guidelines and permit process is
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Should I Buy a Property with Wetlands?
overseen and enforced by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and either Florida or Alabama state departments. In addition, there are local ordinances and regulations that may or may not come into play. It can become very complicated depending on what is entailed. “If you have a waterfront lot and you want to cut a tree or two out of a wetland for a view corridor you can do that without any permit, although there may be local ordinances but there is nothing required from the state,” Martin pointed out. “When it comes to larger scale projects for agriculture and silviculture it is a different thing.” Flowers, who deals in larger tracks of agricultural land and timber tracks pointed out that it is ok to log a wetland area such as a cypress pond or area, without a permit as long as you don’t try to fill it in or stop it from being a wetland. Martin agrees but advises foresters to keep a good set of records. “The big thing with the silvicultural exemptions is that the foresters need to keep and maintain their records that designate those areas for the purpose of managing the tract. If you are managing 600 acres and cutting timber, planting trees and putting in access roads, culverts and stream crossings whose are exempt right now. Down the road, if the classification of the property changes, say to residential, those crossing may have to be permitted,” Martin said. “Agricultural property is the same but it is a lot more intrusive to the wetlands and it is very hard to come back to find those areas that have been converted.” Flowers and Martin agreed that in terms of agricultural land, often farmers can make significant revenue by working around wetlands by enrolling those areas in the Wetlands Reserve program (WRP). The program pays farmers for allowing those wetlands to remain as they are
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and even allow improvements to enhance the resource. The compensation may be more than the return from “rowing” the parcel. How about building a pond out of a wetland? Can you do a little dredging, construct a dam and push some water back and build a pond for swimming and/or fishing? Martin explained that the rules for constructing a pond in a wetland is a continuously changing deal in terms of U.S. Corp rules and is becoming more and more connected with water flow and movement on a larger geographical basis. “Within the last 10-15 years the Corps started viewing the traditional dams as being detrimental to the streams whereas you’re changing a flowing system into a lake system or an open water system. Now they are making those impoundment owners purchase credits for the streams that are lost and it can become very expensive,” Martin said. “But digging out a cypress dome, on the other hand, if it is totally isolated, will be a non-regulated activity,” Martin pointed out. “If you had a depression in your property and wanted to make that open water, you could excavate that, and that water table will still be there. There’s some confining layer that’s keeping the water there. And as long as that water system doesn’t depart, that basin, it’s not regulated.” The bottom line is that a landowner or someone who is interested in buying a piece of property, no matter the size or type, is best served to bring somebody out on their property and really look at it with “boots on the ground”. While someone can view layered aerial maps of properties, they often can’t identify wetlands. “Boots on the ground is a necessary and it’s cheap insurance and a
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For more info on the events or CCA Alabama www.ccaalabama.org 251-478-3474 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // OCTOBER 2020 47
Should I Buy a Property with Wetlands?
Who wouldn’t want to buy a property with wetlands?
small wetland can be a couple of hundred bucks for us to go out and give you actual locations of the jurisdictional wetlands and the regulatory nature of them,” Martin said. The real bottom line question is can you actually build on a wetland and, is it worth the pain and the cost? “Wetlands can generally be used for development and tidal marshes are the most difficult because they provide the most important functions in terms of the commercial and recreational fisheries and there is not a lot of mitigation available,” Martin explained. “Wetlands can physically be permitted for impact and some are more costly than others and you look at the small intricacies that either make a property worth permitting or left alone, like a stream running under your house.” DePaola points out that the bottom line for wetland land mitigation and home construction is understanding what the cost of the project is going to be and how much you are actually going to be able to mitigate and have reasonable expectations. “If a person has a lot with wetlands on it and they want to turn the whole thing high and dry they are probably not going to be able to get a permit for that,” DePaola noted. “Wetlands are regulated on the sequential review of avoidance, minimization and then mitigation. First, they want you to avoid wetlands to the most extent practicable. Then they want you to minimize your impact. And after that comes mitigation,” Martin concluded. “We can help on all 48 OCTOBER 2020 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
three fronts.” When it comes to wetlands there is no “one-size fits all” silver bullet. The one reality that we all agree on is that if you are interested in buying a property, it is in your best interest to retain a professional to walk the property and have boots on the ground for a legitimate and realistic assessment. If you own property that has a wetland it is in your best interest to hire someone who has a background in environmental science, knows how to deal with the permitting process and can keep you in compliance.
Contact Information Joe Baya and Clint Flowers National Land Realty www.NationalLandReality.com/GDO 855-NLRLAND (855-657-5263) Craig Martin Wetland Sciences, Inc 850-232-7787 Craig@wetlandsciences.com Angelo DePaola The Coastal Connection 850-287-3440
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877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // OCTOBER 2020 49
BY HANK SHAW Photos by Holly A. Heyser
Duck with Maple-Bourbon Gravy Gravy is to sauce what jeans are to slacks. A sauce can be aloof, even austere. Gravy is your mama ringing the dinner bell. Maple-bourbon gravy is about as homey and as American as it gets, a meeting of North and South on the plate in the service of duck, venison, or really whatever you feel like pouring it over. I bet it would even be good with chicken. Duck, maple syrup and bourbon are three ingredients that really ought to spend more time together. The combination is plenty rich, with a sweetness that duck really benefits from; a touch of Tabasco balances things without making the gravy overly spicy. You need to roast a duck for this recipe, and there are lots of ways to do it. If you have a typical wild duck, you can quick roast it. If you have a domestic duck or a very fat wild one, you should slow-roast it. I served this with fresh candy cap mushrooms, which taste a little like maple syrup, but any fresh mushrooms will do, Or skip them and serve with a green vegetable of your choice. Since this has gravy, you really ought to have mashed or smashed potatoes here. Prep: 30 mins • Cook: 30 mins • Total: 1 hour Ingredients DUCK • 2 wild ducks, such as mallards, pintail, canvasbacks, gadwall or redheads • Olive oil to coat ducks • Salt MAPLE-BOURBON GRAVY • Pan drippings from the duck, about 3 tablespoons • 3 tablespoons flour • 1/3 cup bourbon or whisky • 1/2 cup duck stock, beef stock or water • 2 tablespoons maple syrup • 1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce or other hot sauce • 1 to 2 tablespoons heavy cream • Salt and black pepper to taste Instructions 1. Take the ducks out of the fridge and coat them with olive oil. Salt them well inside and out. Let them come towards room temperature for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 450°F. 2. When the oven is ready, put the ducks breast side up in a cast-iron frying pan or other heavy, ovenproof pan. Make sure they do not touch each other. Roast until the breast meat hits about 135°F to 140°F, about 18 to 22 minutes. Remove the ducks from the oven and carve off the breasts. Set them skin side up on a cutting board. Return the ducks to the oven so you can cook the legs for another 5 minutes. 3. Take the ducks out of the oven again. Move the ducks to 50 OCTOBER 2020 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
CAMPHOUSE KITCHEN
4. 5.
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the cutting board and put the pan on the stovetop. Turn the heat to medium-high and crisp up the skin on the breasts. This should take about 2 to 4 minutes. Watch out for the pan handle -- it will be very hot! Once the breast skin is crisp, move it to the cutting board skin side up. You want 3 tablespoons of duck fat left in the pan. Spoon out extra or add some butter if you are short. Add the flour and mix well. Turn the heat to medium and cook the flour for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the bourbon. The roux will seize up, so be ready with the stock or water. Add it, stirring all the while, to combine. Bring to a gentle simmer. Pour in the maple syrup, Tabasco, and add salt and black pepper to taste. Simmer for hr. a minute or two. If the gravy has the right consistency, you are ready to add the cream. If it is too thick, add more stock. If it is too thin, let it boil down a bit. Once it is the consistency of Thanksgiving gravy, add the cream and cook for 1 minute. Carve the ducks and give everyone some breast meat and legs. Serve with mashed potatoes, pouring the gravy over everything
Hungarian Venison Goulash or Pörkölt This is a perfect hunting camp meal or easy Sunday dinner. All it asks of you is time, and it rewards you with a spicy, rich, meaty bowl of goodness that sticks to your ribs and makes you want to come back for seconds. Jó étvágyat! After no small amount of research, the only constants I can determine are paprika and onions. Lots of onions and lots of paprika. More than you think you’d need.
Prep: 30 mins • Cook: 3 hours • Total: 3 hour 30 mins Ingredients NOKEDLI DUMPLINGS 2 cups flour 1 teaspoon salt 4 eggs, beaten A little water or milk
• • • •
PÖRKÖLT • 1/4 cup lard, bacon fat or sunflower oil • 2 pounds venison stew meat, cut into 3 to 4-inch hunks • Salt • 5 cups chopped onions • 1/4 cup sweet paprika, Hungarian if at all possible • 2 teaspoons hot paprika • 2 teaspoons caraway seed • 1 teaspoon dried marjoram • 1 cup crushed tomatoes • 2 cups venison or beef stock • 1 cup red wine Instructions 1. Heat the lard or bacon fat over medium-high heat in a large Dutch oven or stewpot and brown the venison in batches. Salt the venison as it cooks. It will take 20 minutes or so for all the meat to brown. Remove the venison as it browns and set aside. 2. Add all the onions and caraway seeds and turn the heat to medium. Sauté the onions, stirring often, until they are browned. This will take a solid 30 minutes if you do it right. I cover the pot about halfway in. Add the venison back, then all the other ingredients. Mix well and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook over low heat for 2 hours, or until the meat wants to fall apart.
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Camphouse Kitchen
3. When the meat is ready, make the nokedli dumplings by
4.
mixing all the ingredients in a bowl until you have a thick batter. Get a large pot of water boiling and add enough salt to make it salty. Push the batter through a colander with large holes or a spaetzle maker into the boiling water. Boil the nokedli dumplings until they float, then 1 minute more. Drain and set aside. Use a pair of forks or a potato masher to shred the meat in the pot. Add salt if needed. Serve the pörkölt alongside the dumplings with some sour cream at the table to mix in.
Sichuan Catfish With Garlic What is it about Asians and catfish? The only people who can compare with the Asians in cooking these largely unloved fish are the cooks of the American South. This dish hails from Sichuan, in northwest China, and it is an absolutely great way to eat small catfish, especially bullheads. I’ve adapted this dish from Fuchsia Dunlop’s excellent book Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking. The marinade removes any muddy, fishy smell and taste, and the chile bean paste and garlic do the rest. Don’t freak out about the two heads of garlic in this recipe — the cooking process leaves the cloves nicely mellowed. I designed this dish for bullhead catfish, but any fish 8-12 inches long will work fine; small trout, rock cod, mackerel or bass, as well as big crappies or sunfish would be great here, too. Do your best to get the real Chinese ingredients here, as it makes a significant difference in flavor. If you can’t find the ingredients nearby, you can order them online (links are below) or substitute as you can. The only thing that really can’t be substituted for in this recipe is the chile bean paste. Ingredients
• • •
2-4 smallish whole fish, scaled, gutted with heads on or off 1/2 cup Shaoxing wine or sherry 1 teaspoon salt
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• • • • • • • • • •
2 heads garlic, cloves peeled but whole 1/3 cup lard or vegetable oil 4 tablespoons Chinese red chile bean paste 3 tablespoons minced ginger 2-3 cups chicken stock 1 tablespoon soy sauce 1 tablespoon sugar 1 tablespoon potato starch or cornstarch, dissolved in 3 tablespoons water 3-5 green onions, chopped 1 tablespoon Chinese black vinegar or rice vinegar
Instructions 1. Wash the fish well and marinate with the Shaoxing wine and salt for 30 minutes to 1 hour. 2. Heat the lard or oil in a wok over medium heat and gently cook the garlic cloves until they are a little wrinkly on the outside, but still white. Do not let them brown. Set the cooked garlic aside for now. 3. Turn the heat to high. Pat the fish dry with paper towels, and when the lard is hot, fry the fish in batches for 2 minutes per side. Set the fish aside as you finish. 4. Pour off all but 3 tablespoons of the lard (save the excess for another Chinese dish). Cook the chile bean paste in the oil for 30 seconds, stirring often. Add the ginger and stir-fry another 30 seconds. 5. Pour in the stock and bring to a boil. Add the soy sauce and sugar. Gently put the fish in the wok and bring back to a boil. Turn the heat down to a gently simmer and cook the fish for 6 minutes. 6. Carefully flip the fish over and add the garlic. Cook another 6 minutes. 7. Remove the fish and garlic to a platter and turn up the heat on the sauce. Boil the sauce furiously until it has been reduced by 1/3, about 3-4 minutes. 8. Stir the potato starch mixture and stir half into the sauce. If it is thick enough for you, stop. If not, stir in the other half of the potato starch mixture. Let this boil for 1 minute. 9. Turn off the heat, add the green onions and the vinegar, and pour the sauce over the fish. Serve immediately with white rice.
Camphouse Kitchen
Mushroom Pierogi Pierogi are idiosyncratic dumplings. You can fill them with pretty much whatever you want, make them as large or small as you want, alter the dough and either boil or fry them... or both. Mushroom pierogi are a very common thing in Eastern Europe, as the various Slavic nations tend to be serious mushroom eaters. These pierogi are made with fresh porcini and reconstituted black trumpet mushrooms. But you can do this with pretty much any mushroom you’d want to eat. I like having two different kinds for variety, but you could do fresh and dried morels, for example. Prep: 1 hour 30 mins • Cook: 20 mins • Total: 1 hour 50 mins Ingredients DOUGH • 500 grams of all-purpose flour, about 4 cups • A pinch of salt • 1 egg • 240 milliliters of water, about 1 cup • 1/4 cup sour cream FILLING • 1/2-pound fresh mushrooms • 1/2-ounce dried mushrooms, rehydrated • 1 cup minced onion • 2 large garlic cloves, chopped • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter • 1 tablespoon minced parsley or dill • 1/4 cup bread crumbs • 2 teaspoons salt • Black pepper
in the palm of your “off” hand. Put a teaspoon, tablespoon or whatever seems to fit in the center of the dough -- you can fill pierogi more than you can with Italian pasta dough because it’s so flexible. 8. Fold the dough over the filling. I start at the center and work towards an edge, stretching and pinching the dough at the rim of the dumpling as I go. Finish by sealing the other edge. Set the dumpling on your well-floured surface and seal it tight by crimping with the tines of a fork. Set your finished pierogi on a baking sheet that you’ve dusted with either semolina flour or cornmeal. 9. Pierogi are pretty moist, so they don’t do too well stored uncooked, unless you freeze them right away. To freeze, put the baking sheet in the freezer (or a plate if the whole sheet won’t fit), then, when they are frozen, you can put them in a freezer bag. Normally I cook pierogi shortly after making them. 10. You can either simply boil your pierogi until they float -- I give them another minute once they float, too -- or you can double cook them, which is what I prefer. To do this, boil until they float, then fry in lots of butter. Serve with caramelized onions, sour cream and dill.
Instructions
1. Make the dough by mixing all the ingredients together in
2.
3.
4. 5. 6.
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a large bowl. Knead the dough until it comes together as a sift, silky dough, about 5 minutes. Cover in plastic wrap and let the dough sit on the counter for an hour or so. You can refrigerate it for up to 2 days. To make the filling, chop the fresh and dried mushrooms and add them to a large sauté pan with the minced onions. Turn the heat to medium-high and sauté until the mushrooms give up their water, about 2 to 5 minutes depending on the mushroom. Salt them well. When the water from the mushrooms has almost evaporated, add the butter and sauté until everything begins to brown, about 4 to 6 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool for a few minutes. Add the contents of the pan to a food processor, along with the dill or parsley. Buzz to make a fine crumble, but not a paste. You want some texture in the filling. Put the contents of the food processor in a bowl and mix well with breadcrumbs. Add salt and black pepper to taste. To make the pierogi, roll the dough out by hand -- it’s too soft for a pasta roller. And you don’t want it too thin, either. About 1/8 inch is good. The reason is you stretch the dough when you make the pierogi. I use pastry cutters to make my pierogi, but you can use a glass or you can cut out squares. How wide is up to you. I used a 3-inch round, which makes smallish pierogi that are a bit more like potstickers in size. Everyone’s pierogi are different shapes and sizes, so go for whatever floats your boat. Take the round of dough and stretch it a little evenly all around, like you would with pizza dough. It doesn’t have to be too stretched out, but a little helps. Hold the dough 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // OCTOBER 2020 53
NEW & COOL GEAR BY WILLIAM KENDY
Westinghouse iGen160s Portable Power Station
Small but rugged, this portable generator charges all your electronic devices. It offers 100 running watts and 150 peak watts and can charge up to 9 devices at a time and can charge up to 40-hours of lights. It weighs only 3.75 pounds and can be charged in 6 hours via a car charger, wall charger and optional solar panel charger. It features a dual flashlight and reading light. Suggested Retail Price: $139.99 www.westinhouseoutdoorpower.com
Hunter Safety System Introduces the Heated Muff Pak
For those who suffer from chilly hands when sitting in your deer stand, this ultra-soft USB battery powered muff pak heats up in less than two minutes and lasts up to five hours. It features four pockets, features ElimiShield® Scent Control Technology and is available in black, Realtree→ Edge, Mossy Oak® Bottomland™. The web belt adjusts to multiple layers of clothing and it includes an expansion strap. Suggested Retail Price: $59.95 www.hssvest.com
Garmin Xero A1i Auto-Ranging Digital Bow Sight
Pinpoint without the physical pins. The Xero A1i auto-ranging digital bow sight automatically measures distance to the target and provides an LED pin for the shot allowing an unobstructed view. Silent, single-button trigger lets you range at rest or full draw up to 100 yards on game. Customizable for single-pin and multiple configurations or manual pin selection. Two lithium AAA batteries (not included) offer one year of battery life. Suggested Retail Price: $599.99 www.buy.garmin.com
Buck Knives Releases Upgraded Pursuit Pro Hunting Line
The new Pursuit Pro line knives sport a high visibility orange non-slip comfortable handles and unmatched edge retention due to Buck’s Bos heat treated S35VN steel. The six-knife line consists of two different sizes in both fixed and folding versions with a standard or gut-hook skinning blade. Each blade is finished with Edge2x™ technology that allows them to hold an edge longer and easier to re-sharpen. Suggested Retail Price: $105-$120 www.buckknives.com
Rapala Rap-V Blade Crankbait
The 2 ½ inch, ½-ounce Rap-V blade freshwater crankbait can be worked in variable depths and produces instant on the lift or retrieve. It offers two-line tie positions; front line tie for a slower fall swimming action and a rear line tie for a faster fall, head down action. It offers a VMC® Snap, black nickel round bend & double belly hook and a distinctive loud BB rattle system. Suggested Retail Price: $8.99 www.rapala.com 54 OCTOBER 2020 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
NEW AND COOL GEAR FOR OUTDOORSMEN
Ruger Lightweight .350 Legend Scout Rifle
Chambered for the popular .350 Legend, the Ruger Scout comes standard with a forward-mounted integral Picatinny rail for mounting a long-eye-relief scope, ghost ring/protected front-blade iron sights, a detachable box magazine, soft-rubber recoil pad and a 16.5 inch free-floated cold-hammer-forged barrel. Other features include a one-piece stainless-steel bolt, threeposition safety, a lightweight synthetic stock and three ½ inch butt pad spacers for adjusting length of pull. Suggested Retail Price: $1,239.00 www.ruger.com
Hawaiian Lifeguard Association Watches
Perfect for outdoors people who want a tough and completely waterproof watch for their outdoor adventures. The case is made of 42 mm 316L brushed stainless steel with a screw case back and a screw down locking crown. It features a thick lume on hands and dial numbers and a Japan quartz 3 hand plus date movement behind a K1 hardened mineral crystal. It comes with a single strap. Suggested Retail Price: $250.00 www.timeconcepts.net
Brella 1210 Realtree Edge Camo Microfleece
The 23-ounce Brella 1210 rain jacket offers head-to-waste waterproof protection and provides quiet upper body freedom of motion. It has a heavy-duty YKK waterproof front zipper with outer and inner storm flaps and features the BrellaVent™cross venting system for temperature and moisture comfort. It is adjustable at the waist and sides, has a retractable hood for extended peripheral vision Is packable in the pocket. Suggested Retail Price: $74.00-$99.00 www.brellabrella.com
Daiwa Tatula CT Entry Level All-Round Reel
The Daiwa Tatula CT was designed as an entry level baitcaster able to handle everything from plastics to cranks to chatterbaits. It weighs 7.2 ounces and is easily palmable. It features Daiwa’s patented Magforce Z magnetic casting and braking system which is located on the exterior of the reel making adjustments easy. It also includes the T-Wing System level-wind which results in less backlashes. Suggested Retail Price: $129.99 www.daiwa.com
Old Town Introduces New Sportsman AutopilotTM
Available in two sizes, the Old Town Sportsman AutopilotTm 136 and 120 use fully integrated Minn Kota 45 pound thrust saltwater-safe motors with GPS SpotLock virtual anchoring. Since it is controlled with the touch of your thumb using the Bluetooth connected iPilot remote, your hands remain free to fish. The UV resistance seat is durable dual-layer Textilene and it has a large open cockpit and aft tank. Suggested Retail Price: $3,999.99 www.oldtowncanoe.com 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // OCTOBER 2020 55
Alabama Saltwater Fishing Opportunities Abound in October
While many people who love the outdoors are focused on the upcoming hunting seasons, don’t forget about the excellent fishing opportunities the cooler weather provides on the beautiful Alabama Gulf Coast. October is a great month to target a number of saltwater species in our state’s fertile Gulf waters, estuaries and coastal rivers. If you have a boat, great. If you don’t, the newly renovated Gulf State Park Pier is the place to be. King mackerel is a favorite target of mine when the weather cools, as the abundant species begins its migration back to the fish’s winter haven in south Florida.
BY CHRIS BLANKENSHIP Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Conservation & Natural Resources
When we’re fishing for kings in the fall, several methods will produce fish. If the weather cooperates, you can troll at different speeds to search for fish. If we’re straight trolling at 7 to 10 knots, sometimes we’ll deploy spoons, Halco or Clark, at different depths from just below the surface to 5 or 6 feet deep. To keep the spoons down, you will probably need a planer with a lengthy leader. I’ll use a small, braided-steel leader because the kings have sharp teeth. Be sure to use quality black swivels because the fish can hit gold-colored swivels, and you’ll lose all your tackle. When the fish get a little finicky, a variety of natural baits, both live and frozen, can be used from live hardtails, menhaden (pogies) or mullet. Fresh-frozen cigar minnows or ribbonfish (silver
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eels) with a duster can work just as well at times. When you’re using natural bait, a boat technique I like to use is to drift with the wind and bump the motor in and out of gear. The bait will rise when the boat is in gear and slowly sink when it’s out. Many times, the fish will hit when the bait is falling. Fall is when popular inshore species like speckled trout (spotted seatrout) and redfish (red drum) start moving out of the open bays and into the heads of the estuaries, rivers and creeks that hold brackish water. The bait is headed into those locations, and the fish always follow the bait. Right now, two main lures are used on the trout and redfish. Live shrimp can be used to free-line with just a hook. If the current is a problem, add a split shot a foot or so above the bait. You can also float live shrimp under a popping cork down the ledges. If live bait is scarce, use a quarterounce jighead with a minnow-type plastic body and retrieve with a few “hops” for added enticement. When inshore fishing in the fall, I’m always looking for likely “ambush” points and cast up current and let the bait drift past those ambush points. The fish are moving up on the ledges in shallower water, and they will hang out on these ledges until we get our first genuine cold front. The Mobile-Tensaw Delta is a prime fall fishing
FROM THE COMMISSIONER location. In October, when we get a couple of cold fronts, those big bull croakers are thick in the Tensaw River north of the Battleship Alabama and in the Mobile River, Choctaw Pass and Blakeley River. Use cut bait and shrimp on the bottom and you can catch a cooler full of them. The croakers you catch in those areas in the fall are big enough to filet and fry. They are delicious. You can usually catch a few puppy drum as well. For those without a boat, head down to Gulf Shores and check out the amazing renovations to Gulf State Park Pier that were completed in late summer. As most pier anglers know, the treated pine flooring had deteriorated badly. The all-new decking and railings are made from a sustainably sourced hardwood called ipe (pronounced eepay). Ipe is very dense hardwood that has to be pre-drilled to secure the boards with screws. The current pier was opened in 2009 after Hurricane Ivan destroyed the previous pier. The pine decking had reached the end of its lifespan of about 10 years. The good news is the ipe has a lifespan of about 30 years, and it doesn’t splinter like pine. For all Alabama Conservation and Natural Resources projects, environmental and wildlife protections are in the forefront of our efforts. For the pier, previous turtle-friendly lights had become obsolete, so they were upgraded to the latest technology that will allow the lights to be dimmed during the turtle nesting season. Renovations included entirely new lighting at the pier and parking lot. The light poles that had extended about 18 feet above the decking were replaced with poles that are about 10 feet tall. The new lights are LED, turtle-friendly, and have six-inch shields to block portions of the light beam. As I said when the pier work started, visiting the Gulf State Park Pier is almost a rite of passage for people who come to Gulf Shores. Because it is such an important part of our park, we are absolutely dedicated to
maintaining the pier and ensuring it is safe and accessible to our many thousands of guests. We also want to make it as environmentally friendly as possible for sea turtles and other wildlife. One practice of cleaning fish and throwing the carcasses off the pier has been eliminated now that the pier has a new fish-cleaning station. The new cleaning station allows anglers to put fish carcasses into a commercial grinder, which will masticate the remains and pump them into two underground holding tanks in the parking lot. After treatment, the contents of the tanks are removed through the sewer system. If you just want to do a little sightseeing on the education and fishing pier, head down to the new 50-foot by 24-foot observation deck at the octagon on the end of the 1,542-foot-long structure. The observation deck allows visitors of all ages to watch the fishing on the end of the pier, where the action can get really frenetic when the fish are biting. Pier personnel are able to help those with disabilities to enjoy the new observation deck using an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) certified lift on one side. Stairs are located on the opposite side of the deck. Renovated customer service areas, an updated bait shop and renovated bathrooms have also been completed. While you’re out on the pier checking out the renovations, be sure to bring your fishing tackle. Fall is a great time to catch a variety of fish on the pier. The fall weather brings an abundance of baitfish that will congregate near the pier and, as I said before, where the bait goes, the fish follow. Pier anglers catch mackerel, pompano, whiting, speckled trout, redfish and flounder in the fall. Fishing and pier licenses are required on Gulf State Park Pier. Visit http://www.alapark.com/GulfState/ for more information. As you can tell, saltwater fishing opportunities abound in Alabama in the fall, so plan a trip today.
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877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // OCTOBER 2020 57
ADCNR staff doES more in the offseason than most people are aware of.
BY CHARLES “CHUCK” SYKES Director of the Alabama Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF)
The Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division (WFF) manages habitat and hunts on approximately 750,000 acres that encompass 34 Wildlife Management Areas (WMA) and six Special Opportunity Areas (SOA) statewide. This acreage includes approximately 366,000 acres owned by WFF and Forever Wild Land Trust, approximately 38,000 acres of privately-owned lease lands and 345,000 acres provided through agreements with the ACOE, USFS, TVA and USFWS. This acreage is managed by 73 WFF employees consisting of biologists, technicians and administrative personnel.
culverts were either repaired or replaced last year on our WMA and SOA properties. These two management items are the main reasons many gates are closed throughout the summer.
So, what takes place on a typical WMA or SOA once the hunting season is over? Why are the gates closed on the WMA when hunting season ends? Why can’t we just ride around? Questions like these are frequent during the late spring through early fall months. And, I can see how someone who doesn’t understand the inner workings of a WMA would ask them. For those people, here are just a couple of reasons why gates were closed and what actually happened during the “off-season” of 2019.
Other annual management activities include nuisance animal removal. Beavers wreak havoc on our ability to control water flow on the waterfowl management areas. Last year staff removed 500 beavers. Do you realize how much manpower and effort are involved in removing 500 beavers? That’s almost a full-time job as we try to keep water levels manageable for crops to grow and waterfowl and hunters to have access. Too much water at the wrong time means the crops can’t grow. Too much water in the winter may inundate the crops too deeply making them inaccessible to the migrating waterfowl. It’s a constant battle with the beavers.
First, road work must be performed during the drier summer months to repair damages made during the rainy winter months. Our staff maintained more than 2,000 miles of interior roads last year. That involved scraping and shaping the roads and adding more than 90 miles of gravel in strategic locations. In addition, approximately 350
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During this same road closure period WFF staff graded and maintained 62 parking/ camping areas, repaired 691 gates, and replaced 92 gates. Throughout these public hunting areas, staff maintained 130 kiosks and painted approximately 400 miles of boundary lines. They also replaced WMA signs during the 2019 “off-season.”
In addition to battling unwanted mammals, our staff battle herbaceous and woody invaders each year. Cogongrass, Chinese tallow tree, kudzu, and bicolor lespedeza are a few of the invasive plants and trees we
FROM THE DIRECTOR must treat either chemically or by mechanical means on our WMAs. This year, roughly 2,000 acres were treated for invasive plants. These next two management items usually get the most questions year-in and year-out: prescribed fire and food plots. Prescribed fire is an extremely time-consuming but highly beneficial and cost-effective management activity that we perform on an annual basis. We usually catch quite a bit of grief over our use of prescribed fire. Most hunters understand the need for fire and, for the most part, support its use, until it negatively impacts their hunt. We try to conduct this work around the scheduled hunts and post notices regarding the timing of upcoming burns. However, only a limited number of days with suitable conditions for conducting burns during the season, and we must make the most of those conditions even if it might occasionally impact our hunters. Last year our staff burned more than 25,000 acres and maintained or installed 240 miles of firelanes in an effort to promote or maintain quality wildlife habitat. “I don’t understand why they let these food plots just grow up in junk! Why doesn’t the Department plant something green for the wildlife? I’ve got a tractor; I’d plant it for them if they’d let me”. Statements and questions like these to our WMA biologists occur year after year, so let’s go ahead and get this out in the open as to why we choose not to plant hundreds of acres of winter food plots or allow others to do so. To positively impact the carrying capacity of a property and improve the nutritional plane for the wildlife, especially deer, approximately 10% of a property should be planted in a high-quality forage. That is the most basic food plot principle. Just looking at this point, it would be financially, logistically, and physically impossible for us to plant 10% of each WMA or SOA. For example, on Skyline WMA we would need to plant more than 6,000 acres of food plots to make a difference. Our resources are much better spent managing timber stands and wildlife openings for quality native vegetation instead of planting food plots. That “junk” that many people think is occupying a wildlife opening is, in most cases, highly nutritious native wildlife plants. Periodic thinning and burning of timber stands and seasonal disking, mowing, and burning of wildlife openings can yield a plethora of beneficial native forbs, grasses, and legumes. While it’s not the picture book food plot that most hunters envision, it’s just as beneficial if not more so to wildlife. Sticking with the Skyline example, even if we wanted to, I seriously doubt we could find 6,000 acres flat enough to till the ground to plant a food plot. However, we can come much closer to putting 10% of the property into quality forage by utilizing the practices I mentioned above. If I say ragweed, most people think of a useless plant that causes allergic reactions. However, this plant can produce tons of high protein forage for deer, nesting and brood-rearing cover for turkey and quail, and seeds for a variety of game and nongame species to enjoy. Our staff managed native vegetation on more than 4,500 acres of wildlife openings last year. Why don’t we allow members of the public to bring their equipment to the WMA and plant a food plot? At first blush, this does sound like a good deal for us, but in reality, it causes problems. In the past, this practice did occur on a limited basis. The good was quickly outweighed by the bad, however, when hunters started treating the plot they planted like it was theirs. The conflicts created between our hunters, as well as the added potential personal and equipment liability issues to the agency, forced us to suspend that practice. Wildlife and land management is a full-time job that has no “off-season.” Our staff continue to work diligently to make our WMA and SOA systems the best they can be for wildlife and the outdoor enthusiasts who use them. If you haven’t utilized them, you’re missing one heck of a bargain. 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // OCTOBER 2020 59
.3OO AAC BLACKOUT FOR ALABAMA DEER?
The Daniel Defense rifle chambered in .300 Blackout is an excellent choice for hunting deer up to 100 yards away.
“Your favorite new deer rifle is a .300 Blackout?” Yes sir! THE BEGINNING J.D. Jones, the noted firearms designer, of SSK Industries developed the .300 Whisper in 1992 as a subsonic wildcat cartridge to be used in M-4/M-16 platform rifles with short, suppressed barrels and provide a potent round with great penetration. Additionally, the .300 Whisper could be loaded to supersonic capabilities for longerrange work. The cartridge gained in popularity over the years but never gained a widespread following.
BY CRAIG HANEY Photo submitted by Craig Haney
DEVELOPMENT OF THE .300 AAC BLACKOUT Advanced Armament Corporation (AAC), purchased by Remington in 2009, was approached by the U.S. military to design a cartridge for special forces equal to or more powerful than the 7.62x39 cartridge (AK-47 round) when fired from a 9-inch barrel. The cartridge should work in the M-16 rifles and magazines, needing only a simple barrel change
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to be operational. Additionally, it was requested that the rifle work reliability with or without a suppressor using subsonic or supersonic ammunition. AAC looked at the .300 Whisper, made slight changes, renamed it the .300 AAC Blackout (.300BLK) and submitted it to Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturer’s Institute (SAAMI) for approval. SAMI approval was necessary as Remington was a SAAMI company and would only load ammo that is a SAAMI-standard cartridge. The military used the new.300 BLK in the M-16 with 30 round magazines in close quarters combat where it proved to be very effective. The civilian market soon discovered the new round and it has come into its own in the last few years as a hunting round. .300 AAC BLACKOUT FOR HUNTING Shooting game at longer distances than ever before with new cartridges developed for that purpose seems to have grabbed the attention
THE GUN RACK of hunters the last few years but the Blackout was never designed for that job. The short Blackout cartridge looks out of place when compared to the long range cartridges available now. It is like looking at the 5’9” placekicker from your favorite football team standing next to the team’s 6’6’’ offensive tackle; something doesn’t look right but it works.
your particular rifle. The Winchester Deer Season XP 150 grain data follows: Muzzle Velocity-1900 feet per second Muzzle Energy- 1202 foot pounds 100 Yard Velocity - 1,700 feet per second 100 Yard Energy- 982 foot. pounds
This is not the caliber for hunting large, expansive fields but for hunting food plots in the woods or still hunting, it will do the job nicely.
The trajectory drops dramatically past 110 yards making bullet placement an issue. Sighting in one inch high at 100 yards should put your shot in the deer’s vitals at up to 125 yards.
I have seen it in action as my son-in-law Mitchell has been hunting with a Daniel Defense rifle in .300 BLK for several years on the family property in Blount County as have my grandsons. He likes to adjust the stock to fit him when he hunts by himself and still has the option to adjust it to fit 11-year son old Davis or 14-year old son Noah as needed when they hunt with him
The ammo should be hunting rounds, not military, with properly designed bullets that will give terminal performance on deer on deersized game inside 125 yards. Bullet weights should be in the 110-150 grain range for maximum performance. Heavier bullets in the 200 -220 grain range are moving too slow to produce maximum expansion, likely passing through the deer without the terminal performance needed to do the job resulting in a wounded and possibly lost deer.
This, in my opinion, is very important as too often parents buy their child a rifle they will “grow into” but it may take years before it fits them well enough where they can fire the rifle comfortably and be accurate with it. The several deer taken by Mitchell and the boys have all been taken cleanly with one shot.
Caution, use only supersonic rounds in .300 BLK as subsonic rounds are not going fast enough for reliable expansion and cause little damage to the animal. Subsonic rounds are designed for short range in suppressed rifles and their trajectory past 50 yards makes shot placement difficult.
Another reason for the popularity of the.300Blk is that while it is a .30 caliber cartridge, it produces only 9 pounds recoil shooting a 150-grain bullet which is the same recoil as a .243 Winchester round with a 100-grain bullet. This is a pleasant round to shoot for young hunters as well as adults.
.300 BLK FOR ALABAMA DEER? The .300BLK is not the round for large Alabama soybean fields. However, the cartridge is excellent for woods hunting and small food plots or green fields where the range is less than 100 yards. It has low recoil, an adjustable stock that will fit most hunters regardless of size and is effective on deer (and feral hogs) with proper hunting bullets.
.300 BLACKOUT BALLISTIC COMPARISON The Winchester Deer Season XP 150 grain cartridge is the one that groups well and performs as it should on deer in the Daniel Defense rifle with which I’m familiar. If you purchase a .300 Blk, make sure you try several loads at the range to see which performs best in
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877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // OCTOBER 2020 61
T S E B E H T G N I K PIC
E L B A T INFLA KAYAK FOR FISHING
Sea Eagle offers inflatable kayaks that are great fishing craft.
So, one of the prime reasons we kayak anglers use traditional plastic kayaks for our fishing trips is because they are lightweight, very easy to transport, easy to load and unload, and are stable, maneuverable casting platforms. So, why don’t we think about taking the fine qualities of regular plastic kayaks and ramping those qualities up even more. How about a kayak that can be loaded into a bag and checked in at an airport for a plane trip? How about a kayak that can be backpacked to water where there’s absolutely no road access at all? How about a fishing kayak that weighs no more than 50 pounds? How about a kayak that can be stored in the closet of a small apartment? Yep, we’re talking about inflatable kayaks, and before you think about “air mattress” and turn the page, if you’ve had bad experiences with inflatable “boats” before, let me assure you that today’s modern inflatable kayaks are not the same clumsy, hard to paddle and uncontrollable things that many of us who have tried old fashioned blow-up boats had to suffer with.
BY ED MASHBURN Photos by Ed Mashburn
CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS AND SAFETY FEATURES AND SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS We’re not going to say that a modern inflatable kayak cannot be punctured by a sharp object, they can be. But most inflatable kayaks are made of multiple layers of tough, strong, flexible material that resists sharp objects very well. As far as having to worry about a hook puncturing the inflatable kayak, you’d have to work pretty hard to get a hook through the material. These modern inflatables are tough.
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All inflatable kayaks have multiple inflation chambers which give the kayak its shape, and these separate chambers provide very safe and secure fishing. Even if something catastrophic happened and a chamber suffered a puncture, there will be plenty of other chambers to keep the angler safely afloat. Inflatable kayaks come with repair kits and patch material, but most of this stuff is never used. Most inflatable kayaks sold today have skegs (a type of blade or rudder) which clip into channels built into the bottom of the kayak. These skegs help the angler keep the flat-bottomed inflatable kayak on track and make holding a good fishing position much easier. These skegs pop in and pop out quickly, and they can be removed when the boat is beached for loading after a trip. One of the biggest considerations anglers who fish from an inflatable kayak must constantly keep in mind is that each specific brand and model of inflatable kayak will have very particular inflation requirements. And it is common for different chambers on a single boat to have very different inflation needs. If the kayak is not properly inflated- and the biggest problem is over inflation and the boat’s integrity can be compromised. Anglers will need to have a good pump. Either an electric or manual will work fine as long
PADDLE FISHING as it has a gauge to measure correct inflation pressure. This is really too important an element to be left to chance or “it feels about right” inflation. Down here on the Gulf Coast where the summer sun can be brutal, a kayak which is properly inflated in the cool of the morning may become overinflated during the heat of the day if the boat is left sitting on the beach in the sun. Anglers will need to inflate their kayaks to the proper pressure and then make sure that the correct pressure is maintained. Potential buyers of inflatable kayaks will want to look to make sure their kayak is built using “drop-stitch” construction. This method of assembling the parts of the kayak involves very many tiny threads which connect the parts of the kayak almost seamlessly and allows higher air pressure for a more rigid final shape. FISHING FEATURES When we look at the present generation of inflatable fishing kayaks, one great improvement over older “blow up boats” is the seating. Newer inflatables have seating at least as good as solid plastic kayaks, and in many cases, superior in comfort and fishing ease. Many inflatable fishing kayaks have elevated stadium-type seating which puts the angler in a good position for seeing fish and making casts. Many present day inflatables have rod holders and other accessories which either come with the boat or which can be added. And many inflatable kayaks can be fitted with either a trolling motor or a small outboard.
be added to the inflatables are often built so that they can be easily applied to the hull and then removed when the boat is beached. This is a little bit of added action for anglers, but it’s not hard to do as it’s a quick operation and it makes a huge difference in the handling of the inflatable kayak. One of the biggest similarities between inflatable kayaks and plastic kayaks is that in general, when an angler buys a boat, she or he gets what they pay for. Very cheap low end kayaks, of either kind, will not offer as many features and will probably not be as comfortable and effective as a fishing tool. And while paying more at the front end of a kayak purchase may be a bit painful, the great fishing which will come from a better designed and made inflatable kayak will soon make the higher cost pain go away.
Contact Information for Inflatable Fishing Kayak Makers Sea Eagle Seaeagle.com 1-800-748-8066 BOTE 1-888-855-4450 Boteboard.com Hobie Hobie.com/kayaks 1-760-758-9100
In fact, many or not most of the inflatable kayaks designed for fishing use are strong and rigid enough for anglers to stand and fish quite securely and safely. PADDLING THE KAYAK Because of the inflatable kayak’s light weight, they tend to paddle very easily and move well. In fact, inflatables may be quite superior to larger, heavier plastic kayaks for most fishing applications. Inflatable kayak anglers will want to try out several puddles with different lengths to find the paddle which moves the inflatable kayak best. The paddle which comes with a new inflatable kayak purchase may not be the best one for a particular angler’s use.
BAY TRANSMISSION
Some kayak builders, like Hobie, sell several pedal-drive models of inflatable kayaks for fishing purposes. JUST LIKE PLASTIC KAYAKS- EXCEPT DIFFERENT Inflatable fishing kayaks are really quite similar in many ways to regular plastic boats. One of the biggest things inflatables have in common with traditional kayaks is that when we go to purchase one, there is a wide range of prices, features, and options that must be considered. Seating options, paddle and power options, and such things as rod holders and coolers can be added to both kinds of kayaks. Both kinds of kayaks can be very effective fishing boats. A big difference between the two types of kayaks is that because of the shape of the hull on most inflatable kayaks, there needs to be some sort of underwater appendage such as a skeg or fin which will help keep the inflatable kayak tracking straight. Inflatable kayaks tend to have smooth, flat bottoms whereas many plastic kayaks have built in chines and other full-run edges which help keep the kayak on track. These skegs, which can
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877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // OCTOBER 2020 63
Gulf Coast Fishing Outlook
Captain Kenny Lewis of Panhandle Charters and Guide Service with a monster Yellowedge Grouper! Photo courtesy of Captain Kenny Lewis
What a wonderful month to be outdoors! Comfortable weather, cooler nights and some amazing fishing. October could be considered the most significant month of the year for change in fishing patterns, but change is a good thing!
BY CHRIS VECSEY
water temps cool. He points out that as cool fronts cycle through the southeast, the drop in water temperatures gets the shrimp moving through the marsh.
MISSISSIPPI The inland waters of the MS coastline will be on fire this month. Cooler temps will start to flush bait into different regions of the backwaters and the predators won’t be far behind.
“I’ll target drop offs where depths go from just a couple feet of water down to 5-6 feet. Live shrimp is the bait of choice and I like to fish these under a popping cork for added noise,’ Adams said. “I keep my eyes open for shrimp skipping along the surface. Mornings are usually best.”
Captain Mike Adams, who operates Goin Coastal Charters out of Biloxi, will target slot redfish and speckled trout in marshes and bayous as the
Adams prefers to use topwater lures in these scenarios and suggests using larger topwaters like the Bomber Badonk-A-Donk in a silver mullet type
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FISHING OUTLOOK color scheme. “Larger topwaters cut down on the amount of smaller, undersized fish we catch,” Adams added. If the weather remains warmer through the month, Adams will “run-n gun” open water through the sound looking for tripletail. “October usually produces some of the biggest tripletail of the year. I look around crab trap floats, debris and channel markers,” he said. Bait and rigging choices can vary for MS tripletail, but Adams likes to stick with a live shrimp under a slip float so that he can adjust the depth at which the bait is suspended. Other options include flounder, black drum, white trout and sheepshead. Sheepshead in particular will begin making their presence known as the water temps drop further as we head into November. ALABAMA You often hear the term “Red October” as a description for the inshore bite this month. Redfish will be present in all areas and at all sizes. Fishing around Ft Morgan’s Dixie Bar will lead to success with large numbers of reds present. Many anglers fish live and dead baits along the bar on both falling and incoming tides. Huge schools of bait will begin showing off of the beaches and bull reds will be a main target around these schools. Big spoons, bucktail jigs and topwaters will produce as will fly tackle. King Mackerel, jack crevalle, Spanish mackerel, cobia and others may join in the fun as well. Inshore, Reds will be taken on virtually every kind of structure. The best areas are usually those with decent current flow. Speckled trout will start their move into the rivers and bayous. Backwaters with dark, muddy bottoms and deeper holes will hold the bigger schools of trout. Covering ground is the best approach and soft plastics like flukes, small jerkbaits and paddletails find the fish. Once located, the bite can be nonstop as long as you stay with the school. Some mornings will see very good topwater action as well. Using bigger topwaters like the Heddon Super Spook, Berkley Cane Walker or other 5 inch walking baits will weed out smaller Trout and lead to trophy specks. Offshore, many will enjoy the cooler weather while fishing for grouper, amberjack and other bottom/wreck dwellers. The trolling can be outstanding around the shelf for wahoo, white marlin and other pelagics. Pulling a mixed spread of ballyhoo and lures is the ticket. FLORIDA Variety abounds through Florida’s panhandle this month, both inshore and offshore.
well. Having a livewell full of quality live baits can pay off big in open water offshore. On inshore trips or the days where weather forces his excursions to stay closer to shore, Lewis likes to fish near the passes. “I start the morning out throwing the castnet and fill the livewells with menhaden. I don’t stop until the wells are blacked out with baits. I’ll use these as both live chum and baits to put on our hooks,” Lewis said. Lewis targets redfish, king and spanish mackerel and others just outside the inlets and just off of the beaches. “Live chumming and free lining can be extremely exciting and the action can be nonstop. It’s especially fun when the big Spanish mackerel show up in the slick. They make some of the finest fish tacos when fresh!,” he said. Get out the windbreakers and start watching the weather patterns. The fall bite is here.
Important Contact Information Captain Mike Adams 228-697-4808 www.goincoastalcharters.com Panhandle Charters and Guide Service Captain Kenny Lewis 850-712-2059 www.phcags.com
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Captain Kenny Lewis runs Panhandle Charters and Guide Service out of Pensacola and his October gameplan stretches from far offshore to Pensacola Bay. “I focus a lot of my time on offshore trolling through October, around the edge in 180-250 feet for wahoo, white marlin, mahi mahi and other pelagics. I mostly pull naked ballyhoo and small to mid sized chuggers looking for color changes and temperature breaks. I prefer small baits overall but I like to have a larger bait like a black/purple Ilander with a horse ballyhoo on the shotgun line, long down the center,” Lewis explained. Lewis said he starts each trip catching live bait before heading offshore as
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457 Dauphin Island Parkway “At the Loop” Mobile, AL 36606 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // OCTOBER 2020 65
Pier & Shore Fishing Outlook
October is the best month to target flounder and redfish from shore.
We are slipping out of the near tropical, sultry summer like weather, soon collectively sighing “ahhh” with the cooling fronts of early fall. The water temperature near shore responds fairly quickly to these changes by decreasing in stair step fashion. Down from about 80 early in the month, through the upper to middle 70s by the end of the month. Of course we will still be in hurricane season, but at least things should begin winding down in that department. Hopefully, we will again come through unscathed.
feed ravenously on any available small baitfish. These fall feeding binges are often within casting range of gulf coast anglers from piers and from beaches as well. Just about any point, pass or pier is a staging area for predatory fish to ambush hapless baitfish. Blitzes of spanish mackerel, bluefish, ladyfish (“skipjack”) and blue runners (“hardtails”) can be quite spectacular and even long-lived. As can the occasional bursts of feeding activity from “bull” redfish, king mackerel, Little tunny (“bonita”), and jack crevalle. Being in the right place at the right time with the right bait is key to success for surf savvy anglers hoping to take advantage of these fleeting situations.
The fish species also respond to the change of seasons. As daylight hours grow shorter, migratory fish species (like jack and mackerel) are triggered to gather into larger schools and
Fall fishing from the gulf beach piers can be a true delight when the weather and water are calm. Or they can be a nightmare of hardhead catfish when storms are churning the gulf and
October is truly a transitional month for fromshore fisherfolks all along the “Emerald Coast”.
BY DAVID THORNTON Photos by David Thornton
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FISHING OUTLOOK larger bays. Still, anglers with a “good Plan B” are often successful to salvage a day fishing in less than ideal conditions of high surf, hard winds, or thunderstorms. Back bay piers like those around Pensacola Bay Bridge, Bob Sykes or even Fort Pickens often provide good fishing even in nominal conditions. Others like Cedar Point Pier and Fairhope pier on Mobile Bay or the seawall at Perdido Pass can serve anglers the same way. Often it’s just a matter of locating the nearest pier on a lee shore where the water is fairly clear. Other shoreline spots along causeways or jetties that protect the waters from crashing waves may provide an oasis of hope to anglers shut out from their primary spots. THE HUNT FOR REDS IN OCTOBER Red drum (“redfish”) are considered by many to be the quintessential fall gamefish. They can be caught at most from shore venues on a variety of tackle, baits and in different conditions. They pull hard and are decent eating as well. Florida anglers can retain one redfish in the 18” to 27” slot. While Alabama has a more liberal creel limit of 3 per day. Alabama even allows one of those three to exceed the 26” maximum size limit (16” is the minimum length).
through most of the summer begin to thin out. But anglers targeting pompano will still have to deal with active slot-sized redfish and “puppy” (black) drum, along with hordes of hungry kingcroakers (Gulf, Northern and Southern) locally referred to as “whiting” and “ground mullet”. The kingcroakers are a lot of fun on light tackle (or even ultralight) in the 4# to 8# class. They are mature at 12” long, and may weigh more than a pound over 14”. They are slow growing after that, and add only about an inch in length and ¼ pound in weight per year. But they are rather prolific, spawning several times throughout the spring summer and into the fall. For that reason alone, they are unregulated. Though most ethical anglers abide by the unspoken 10 X 10 rule. 10 fish per day over 10” long. With so much variety in the weather, species and venues available is there any wonder October is such a popular month for shore fishing anglers? Often the most difficult decision is determining what to concentrate on as we venture out into our great days outdoors.
When the tackle is downsized for slot-sized redfish (8# to 12# class), they can be great fun and candidates for catch and release. Reds are pretty tough fish that can usually handle being caught. Even the oversized “bull” redfish can be caught and released from the beach piers as long as the hoop nets on long ropes are utilized. It is so neat to watch a 40+ inch redfish revive and swim out of your net! Surf anglers often target “bull” reds as well with long rods and big live or dead baits. There is a good chance of bycatch like a shark, black drum or jack crevalle so most of these anglers use 20# class tackle or even much higher. Fishing the falling tides (in the afternoons) at locations like Fort Pickens or Fort Morgan is legendary for the amount of redfish action often encountered at these locations. It happens, even during inclement weather, like a hard easterly breeze. Sometimes that just seems to get the “bulls” running all the more. Slot sized redfish can often be targeted from piers and jetties, and even from the beaches at times when the surf isn’t too large. They like to feed along the backside of sandbars on the drop off. And if that is within range of the surf caster, it should be a profitable location. These fish are primarily eating blue and speckled crabs and mole crabs (“sandfleas”). Still, they can be tricked by a well placed piece of fresh peeled shrimp, and often strike pompano rigs baited even with just Fishbites. Redfish respond well to artificial lures in clear water, even plugs when they are schooling off the bottom, but they are especially vulnerable to jigs dragged along the bottom. In years past, anglers would tip the jig with a three to four inch long strip of fresh mullet or stingray belly. Nowadays even better is the three or four inch Gulp Shrimp on a ½ ounce jig head, which often work well for flounder too. Overall though, Spanish mackerel are probably the most numerous game fish caught in October from the Gulf beach piers. They roam in huge schools, hunting prey like small herring (“LYs”), anchovies, blue runner (“hardtails”) and scad (“cigar minnows”). These all help the mackerel fatten up for their upcoming migration to south Florida for the winter. The individual fish which have survived a few years have put on a few pounds. Once they reach about 24” fork length, Spanish mackerel grow about as much girth as length and are commonly known as “ax handles’ ‘ due to the thickness of their tail. The Spanish mackerel schools are often joined by king mackerel, bluefish, ladyfish and a host of other gamefish along with the ever present coastal sharks. Blacktip and Spinner sharks are often present near mackerel schools and even steal some hooked by anglers. BEACHIN IT As the water temperature falls through this month, more pompano should become available to surf anglers. Especially once the water is below 80 and the ultra-numerous small jacks that have dominated the surf zone
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REGIONAL FRESHWATER Fishing Outlook BY ED MASHBURN Photos by Ed Mashburn
For some great fishing of a different sort, Alabama anglers should try Sipsey Fork and its wonderful rainbow trout.
68 OCTOBER 2020 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
FISHING OUTLOOK
FLORIDA WATERS
SEMINOLE LAKE Captain Pamela Martin Wells, a long-time Florida guide, advises anglers that bass fishing in October is dependent upon the weather and that, at times, the frog bite can be incredible. The Spro Frog and various spinner baits and crankbaits can work very well in both shad and bream patterns. If the weather is still hot in October, flipping jigs and punching through the hydrilla can be quite effective.
Again, the topwater bass bite will be determined by the weather. If it’s hot, then early and late in the day will be the best. If the weather and water has started to cool, the topwater bite can be fantastic all day long. Hybrid bass will still be schooling, and anglers often get into the hard-pulling hybrids when they are searching for largemouths. Some really big bream can be caught at Seminole in October if anglers work the edges of weed beds for the bream that are roaming around looking for food. Try live bait, worms and crickets, or small jigs. LAKE TALQUIN The Lake Talquin bass start to move into shallow water and feed up for winter. Topwater frogs and swim baits worked over shallow points and up creeks will be effective. Jeff DuBree of Whippoorwill Lodge on Lake Talquin tells us that as the fall weather cools, the fishing will improve. The long hot summer is coming to an end, and the fish are starting to move. In October, DuBree says that crappie fishing gets exciting again. The big slabs start feeding in the main lake, and anglers can have good results trolling jigs of fishing live minnows over brush piles and old timber. Cat fishing will continue to be very good in October. The bream bite will start to wind down as the bigger bream move into the main lake. Try worms and crickets on the bottom in eight to ten feet of water.
ALABAMA WATERS
WEISS LAKE “October is a great time for fishing on Weiss. Bass, crappie, everything is biting. Lake Weiss water is being drawn down to winter level in October, and this can make lots of good fishing places easier to find that have been hidden all summer,” says long-time Weiss Lake guide Captain Lee Pitts “Flats, humps, and other solid stuff are exposed in winter lake levels. Shad will get up in the backs of creeks, and the bass will find them and devour them.” Bass anglers should look for any kind of shallow place with structure simply because the shad will be there and that means that the bass won’t be far. Solid wood underwater stuff is the key. When wind moves bait over flats, look for rocks and rock piles where the bait will be gathered.
Weiss October crappie should be very good. Jigs and minnows will both be good. Look for shad and the crappie will be close. MOBILE DELTA Captain Wayne Miller from the Mobile-Tensaw Delta Guide Service says that we should start seeing cooler weather and cooler water temperatures moving from the lower 80s to the lower 70s as the month moves along. He recommends that bass anglers should find great fishing if they target the lower Delta. This is the time the Causeway waters are at their best. “There’s a tremendous influx of bait, mostly shrimp, in October. They will go well up into the middle Delta. It’s a phenomenal time to bass fish in the lower Delta. Any lures that mimic shrimp will work,” Miller said. “At this time, bass get so used to feeding on shrimp, so they are feeding on top. Small poppers, small buzz baits will work well.” The Delta bass will be up on flats, out in the main rivers, up creeks. Wherever the shrimp go, the bass will be there. “By far, October is the best month of the year for lower Delta fishing,” he said. LAKE EUFAULA Hawks Fishing Guide Service Captain Sam Williams advises catfish chasers to look at creek channels and main lake drop offs for good catfish action. Cut shad always works well here, and fishing with jugs can be a very effective way to fill an ice chest with cats. Crappie anglers should explore deep docks and bridge pilings on the main lake. In October, the schooled up crappie can be found at various depths, depending on the shad. Find the shad and the crappie will be close by. Williams recommends crappie anglers try open water trolling for October crappie at Eufaula, and multiple rod set ups will work best. If the mid-day is warm and sunny, anglers will want to fish ledges and brush piles in deeper water out in the main body of the lake. LAKE GUNTERSVILLE A good idea for anglers at Lake Guntersville in October who want to find some truly great bass action is to find the thickest mats of weeds possible and work dark colored frogs over the weeds. Veteran guide Captain Jake Davis from Mid-South Bass Guide Service says that anglers using good top water frogs such as the Pro Z Baits frog in Scooby-Doo color pattern will catch some good bass. Punching through the thick weeds with a Missile Baits D-Bomb will also work well. Crappie will start to get more active in October as they school up looking for smaller shad running in big schools in open water. Toward the end of the month, crappie will start moving into the creeks as the weed mats start to break up. Stripers and hybrids will be schooling up both above and below Guntersville dam.
Topwater lures in silver with orange or chartreuse accents work very well.
Some great catfish will be caught in October at Guntersville by anglers who fish creek channels and main lake drop offs.
“Anglers cannot fish too shallow. Stumps are good places to work, and sometimes bass in October will be feeding in less than a foot of water. Spinner baits can be good. Cast the spinner past the stump and retrieve it as close to structure as possible. The bass will hit as the spinner passes the stump,” Pitts said.
SIPSEY FORK Trout at Alabama’s only year-round trout fishery are still being stocked on the regular schedule, so there will be fish ready to bite for anglers. Randy Jackson of Riverside Fly Shop which sits just above the Highway
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Regional Freshwater Fishing Outlook
north side of the lake from Six Mile Creek to Wilson Dam. Concentrate your efforts in 50 to 75 feet of water in the open flats and along the river channel ledge. Troll big chunks of fresh cut skipjack two to three feet off the bottom at .3 to .5 mph. For big flatheads try dropping live bream or shad straight down along the deep straight wall bluffs. This will produce best early and late in the day or at night.
69 crossing of Sipsey Fork says that at the end of October, the last mayfly hatches of the year, mostly little yellow quill, will occur, and these flies are pretty small, so fly anglers will want to concentrate on smaller imitations. Caddis fly hatches will start, and there are always mixed midge hatches going on. Trout anglers will need to keep in mind that nymph fishing is always good on Sipsey Fork. Jackson reminds us that the weather determines what insect action will be going when anglers arrive at the river. Insect hatches so far this year have been sporadic because of the hot weather.
The tailrace of both Wilson and Wheeler Dams will be loaded up with smallmouth and every other kind of fish gorging themselves on the young shad that gather there. Drifting live bait is always your best option when available. If you’re a numbers guy. the Wheeler tailrace is probably your best bet. For trophy potential. I like upper Pickwick from Wilson Dam to Pride
Anglers who use spinning gear will have good luck on the Sipsey Fork throwing small single-hook Roostertails on four pound test line. WILSON LAKE “October can be the best month of the whole year for trophy catfish on Wilson Lake,” advises trophy catfish specialist Captain Brian Barton.
“Look for bait over channel ledges, humps, and bluff lines where cats will be hanging out. Cats can be as shallow as 10 feet in the upper sections of the lake to over 90 feet near the dam,” Barton added.
Anglers should look for catfish food if they want to find catfish. Shad will school up in large bait balls in open water. The catfish will suspend under the bait balls. “If there is one month out of the year I wish I could fish everyday, it’s October. This month is absolutely the best time to catch both trophy catfish and a cooler full of eating size fish. It’s also without a doubt the best time to catch big numbers of smallmouth bass,” Barton said. Let’s start with trophy catfish. Wilson Lake is the lake of choice. Fish the
For eating size cats there is not a bad location. Drifting the tailraces below both dams will produce plenty of catfish. Use catalpa worms or small threadfin shad for best results. For those who prefer to stay away from the dams, fish 25-40 feet of water along the bluffs and clay lined banks in the mid lake region.
“I drop large pieces of fresh cat bait on a Carolina rig and suspend it at the depth I see fish on my electronics,” he said. Anglers should remember that 69 lb. or bigger cats are very possible at this time. Barton advises anglers going after the big cats to try a B’n M’ Silver Cat series rod paired with a Abu 6500 C3 reel. Braided line is preferred for this
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Regional Freshwater Fishing Outlook
October crappie will pick up and bite fast as the water cools in later October.
Important Contact Information Captain Brian Barton Brianbartonoutdoors.com Brianbartonoutdoors@aol.com 256-412-0969 Captain Jake Davis Mid-South Bass Guide Service www.midsouthbassguide.com 615-613-2382 Captain Pamela Martin Wells Bainbridge, Georgia 229-254-6863 www.pamartinwells.com Joe Dunn Dunn’s Sports 334-636-0850 33356 Highway 43 Thomasville, Alabama heavy duty fish. A 7/0 to 10/0 Daiichi circle hook completes the trophy cat rig. Anglers should try the upper parts of the lake, Hog Island and Town Creek flats and on the lower portion, which is best for bigger cats, around Shoal Creek and the deep water bluff ledges.
Captain Lee Pitts leepittsoutdoors.com 256-390-4145
In October, the cats will tend to be very aggressive on the feed, and by trolling slowly at .5 to .7 mph, cat hunters can cover a lot of water to find the best feeding fish.
Captain Sam Williams Hawks Fishing Guide Service Hawksfishingguideservice.com 334-365-5057
MILLER’S FERRY Fall crappie fishing on Miller’s Ferry can be very good if anglers spend some time searching to find where the fish are concentrated.
Jeff DuBree Whippoorwill Sportsman’s Lodge Lake Talquin 850-726-0153
Joe Dunn of Dunn’s Sports in Thomasville tells us that anglers will want to spend some time looking in the main body of the lake. Crappie will be found by bottom bouncing both live minnows and jigs. Use a 1 ounce sinker at the end of the line. Tie a hook or jig a foot or so above the sinker, and let the rig to the bottom. Lift and drop this rig off the bottom. Crappie may be as deep as 18 feet or deeper. Dunn advises bass anglers to look in the major sloughs as water temps cool as October moves along. Shad will go up creeks and sloughs, and so will the bass. Crankbaits in shad patterns as well as spinner baits, and Rat’L’Traps worked in the bigger sloughs will produce good bass in the fall.
Randy Jackson 256-287-9582 Riverside Fly Shop 17027 Hwy 69N Jasper, Al Riversideflyshop.com Captain Wayne Miller Mobile-Tensaw Delta Guide Service 251-455-7404
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MOON & FEED TIMES
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ALABAMA TIDE CHARTS
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FLORIDA TIDE CHARTS
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PHOTO of the MONTH Steven Bramlett double fisting some fine reds!
From left to right: Michael LaBit, Darrell Townley, David Almond with their 150 lb swordfish.
Caleb Lindquist, of Mobile, AL with a sow 17lb snapper caught on a dead cigar minnow
KID'S CORNER
TROPHY ROOM 1
1
ST
ST
Snapper
Doe
Annie Knight, 5, first red snapper caught in June while fishing with family and friends
Talon Schmidt, age 16 with his first doe Levi Baggett, when draining the pond gets muddy
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Bass
Colt McGuire, 3, first largemouth bass
Isaiah Lindquist with a 15lb gag grouper caught on a live pinfish on a public reef 8 miles south of Orange Beach
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Bass
Gaddy Rice, 8, from Merengo Co., AL with his first top water bass
Snapper
Gabriel Knight, 9, first red snapper caught in June while fishing with family and friends
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FISHING TIP
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions BY WILLIAM KENDY Normally we rotate our Fishing Tips column between saltwater and freshwater angling. This October we decided to double the offering with Both a saltwater and freshwater tip. Mobile Bay Trout and Redfish Captain Bobby Abruscato from A-Team Fishing points out that in years when the Gulf Coast doesn’t get a weather system, as the salt water migrates into the Mobile Bay Delta, the shrimp move with it and the speckled trout and redfish follow. “For speckled trout look to the area south of 1-10 from the mouth of the Arlington Channel east to Daphine for flocks of birds feeding on shrimp. Early morning and low light days are best for throwing topwater plugs. Later in the day an artificial shrimp like GULP or Vudu shrimp under a popping cork will get the job done on box trout while Slick Lures will put the bigger ones in the boat,” Abruscato said. Abruscato says that slot sized reds will frequent the same areas and in the smaller bays and creeks north and south of I-10 and advises using a GULP or live shrimp under a popping cork especially over grass and shell. Freshwater Largemouth Bass Mobile-Tensaw Delta Guide Service Captain Wayne Miller says that with the onset of cooler temperatures, bass will begin their fall feed in preparation for winter and it is the time for anglers to concentrate on “finding the bait”. “That means shad migration to the back of creeks as well as shallow flats. Once the water temperature drops around the 70 degree mark a good rule of thumb is to start at the backs of creeks and work your way out while paying close attention to bait and fish activity,” Millers said. “Spinner baits, lipless crankbaits and shallow-running square bill crankbaits are some of the most productive baits to use in this situation.” “After a cold front flats adjacent to deeper water where bait is visible are great places to target,” he added. Miller points out that on the Mobile-Tensaw Delta white shrimp will be migrating up the Delta from Mobile Bay and that will trigger a feeding frenzy. Captain Bobby Abruscato A-Team Fishing Adventures 251-661-7696 Captain Wayne Miller Mobile-Tensaw Delta Guide Service 251-455-7404
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A GREAT DAY OUTDOORS
Choosing a Taxidermist Another clue you’ll want to pay attention to is how he wants you to drop off your trophy. Does he have you personally freeze it, put it in a cooler, and ship overnight, or does the local sanitation truck have a special slot for it? BY JIM MIZE
Finally. After a lifetime of pursuit, unbudging hours shivering in your blind like a naked frat pledge on an ice block, and too many alarm clocks mistaken for fire alarms, it all pays off. You’ve bagged a trophy that will make your brother-in-law stutter. And you’re about to entrust it to someone you’ve never even met. Your taxidermist. Most go to the taxidermist less frequently than they update their wills and with the same trepidation. What should you ask? What should you look for? How do you tell a good one from a bad one? I know how you feel. Over the years, I’ve discovered that taxidermists tend to fall into one of three camps. If you ask a few questions and watch for the clues, you can tell which camp yours is in. For starters, ask how he learned his craft. It’s not unusual to learn this first group did their early work with roadkill. You can determine this in a number of ways. For instance, his sign may read, “Taxi-Dermist.” That puts him in this group for sure. Likewise, his business slogan may tip you off. Be cautious if it’s something such as, “So lifelike you can still see the headlights in their eyes” or “We can even hide the tread marks.” Also, while you’re in his shop, look around at the samples on display. Hopefully, there’s something besides skunks, possums, and armadillos. Likewise, regardless of the animal type, they should not be abnormally short, wide, and flat across the top. You should also think back to how you discovered your taxidermist. Was it a bumper sticker? Road sign? Written in the dust on the back of an eighteen-wheeler?
Usually, a taxidermist will have a standard form to fill out when you drop off your trophy and these can tell you a lot about his clientele. For instance, this is a roadkill trainee if the form asks for method of capture and your choices are: A) Mack, B) Ford, C) Miscellaneous Four-Wheel Drive.
“So lifelike you can still see the headlights in their eyes” or “We can even hide the tread marks.” At the other extreme, you sometimes encounter taxidermists who fit in a second group. These are the ones who fell into the business after dropping out of medical school. Though one of these guys may do great work, he can be a bit stuffy and upscale. One way to tell is to visit his shop. You will know the taxidermist fits in this category if he requires appointments or referrals and you have to set it up with a receptionist. Once there, if you have to wait while reading out of date magazines about golf, yachts, or expensive travel, keep in mind that he does all these things with his client’s money. His fee structure will tell you a lot. Watch out if your quote is one fee to stuff the critter with a surcharge for reviving it. But with all his other expensive pursuits, a mount here may require a second mortgage even though these guys occasionally take special payment or insurance plans, such as “Blue Crosshairs.” Some of these upscale taxidermists develop programs by stealing a trick from the jewelry business. For example, you might be offered
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the head mount of a deer under the “AddA-Point” program. Every payday, just swing by and pick up that extra screw-in point until your rack not only costs enough to pay off his medical-school loans, but also makes the Boone & Crockett record look like it was off by a decimal point. Others in this group try to convince you that different levels of quality cost more. You may be charged extra to make the pose of your black bear lifelike, especially if it took your taxidermist awhile to pry the camp garbage can from its paws. Bobcats come with snarls that cost extra and his favorite is to mount coyotes in packs. These he will finance and set up with a payroll deduction plan. Finally, there’s a third group to especially watch out for. These are the taxidermists with a sense of humor. From these guys you might get something like “Inflate-A-Fish”, where you simply blow yours up until it’s as big as you want. Or he may do bear mounts that growl if you come near or Russian boars whose eyes follow you around the room. Or if he suspects you might not pay on time, perhaps he’ll put tread marks on your deer that stay until your bill is covered. Not all his ideas, however, will be bad ones. Having an armadillo with a lift up shell for a glove compartment gives you a place for your truck keys that you will never forget. Or if your buck comes with a nose that blinks red at the flip of a switch, you don’t have to decorate for Christmas. All in all, picking a taxidermist will take a lot of effort for most of you. But not me. Nowadays, I usually just hit the snooze button on the alarm, especially when those northeast winds rattle my windows. Besides, who really needs more than one “Inflate-A-Fish”?
JIM MIZE wishes he had invented the jackalope. You can find his awardwinning books of humor at www. acreektricklesthroughit.com.
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