Natural Bridge

Anybody hunt near? Does the rut seem alil behind this year?

I hunt in Addison and ours went early according to the locals, it’s my first year with the lease

Week before last, there were deer running everywhere and getting hit by cars from Natural Bridge to Nauvoo. There were bucks with does on the side of 13 that entire week.

Yes, the rut seems a fuzz later than normal, but I think the warm, wet weather has affected the rut more than anything (happening at night)

I have a buddy that hunts between DS and NB. He killed a nice 10pt this morning. It stunk real bad. They feel like rut is going on now in their area. President of the club has had the land for 15yrs. , just to give you an idea of how familiar he is with the area.

We must have a bunch Catelyn Jenner's bucks then cause they are still running together, becks not swollen hocks have a slight color to them.

Our club is on the Winston, Walker and Marion county line

I'm pretty sure that they rut the same time every year. You might not see it for whatever reason. But it's about like clockwork.

Killed a buck at Buttahatchee lake yesterday and he was swollen and stinking. Two does came through after I shot him with nothing trailing them tho. It’s usually good there this week but that’s 3-4 miles west of natural bridge.

We aren't really that far away, I hunt close to 30 on the other side of New river

Gotcha, I don’t hunt at the lake much a couple times a year as it’s a pain to put the boat in and get to my stands. That and some a—hole stole one of my ladder stands from the back side of the lake. That a—hole worked for it, it was a about 1/2 mile by boat 200 yard hike from the boat and a climb up a bluff. I put it there when I was 16 and honestly not sure I got it in me to replace it. I have killed a truck load of coyotes out of it way more of those than deer but did shoot a good one out of it a few years ago. Anyways we will be up that way tomorrow maybe I can catch one swimming the lake. It’s crazy when the bucks get the does up and going they will swim the lake to get away from the bucks. I have seen 3 bucks swim the lake after one hot doe. It’s fun to watch for sure.

Shotts, is that lake off of state highway 278 around the whitehouse community?
I’ve always been curious who owned the house Down bye that lake if it’s same place I’m thinking.

That’s it, we bought it in 1987 and built the house or rather it’s a two story modular there in 1990. My dad owned it until 2002 and then sold it to a family member and I recently bought it back.

The house has been stripped everything of value stollen, we will burn it down and I will clean the place back up in the next year or two and build a cabin back there.

I worked for a local city nearby as a police officer several years ago, yea alot of thieves and addicts around those parts, hate that happened. But it’s a beautiful place. Good hunting to you both Whitetails and trespassers!

I have always wondered about the history of that place. I grew up not far from there and we hunted coons and gigged frogs many a night back in the late 70s early 80s. Only two things I know for sure is that there use to be some of the biggest water moccasins I ever seen in that place and the Buttahatchee river basin contains monsters.

A little history, my great grandfather was one of the surveyors that helped construct the earthen dam that turned the river there when they were building 278. The lake went straight where 278 is now before winding around and heading west crossing about 400-500 yards down. The state blasted a spill way parallel to 278 to turn the river so they could build the road. This will eventually cause problems because since we have had it there has been considerable erosion but it will take a long time. My great geandfather took my dad fishing there when he was little and my dad in turn took me. He remarried after my mom and him separated and told my brother and I if we would change schools he would try to buy it so we could half way between Hamilton and Haleyville. So in 1987 he bought it from the timber company who had wanted to sell it as it’s very unproductive timber property. They literally drew a map around most of the lake and told him he had to buy 100 acres of nothing but water front, and lake so he did for a heck of a deal. We cleared the property which had been kind of a community party location for years. We went through every trespasser nightmare imaginable, from torn down gates, to stolen cars, to public petitions for the county to declare imminent domain for everything from a brilliant water supply, to a water station for the local volunteer fire department. We actually woke up one morning to the county commissioner pushing a road across private property with a dozer. My dad ended up halting the dozer at almost gun point, until the county attorney was finally reached who informed the commissioner that if my dad would be so kind to let him get the dozer out of there and not press charges that we would never have a problem with them again. From this we went to finding an airplane that crashed into the lake when I was 14 and sank on New Year’s Eve. It was there 31 days before we found it, and it had killed a dentist and his husband in the crash. Their plane was in the lake the entire time not 100 yards from the road and no one knew. My dad ultimately remarried and his wife was a city girl and hate being out there, so he decided he needed to sell it. I was heart broken but as I had just finished college and was working in Auburn and really didn’t need to buy it although looking back I should have I could have bought the property and a 3300 sq ft house for $125k but didn’t see how in the world I could make that work. Fortunately a family member bought it, my dad told them upfront the locals would tote you off if you didn’t stay there and be meaner that the devil him self to those who trespassed. Well they didn’t so the house was stripped and completely destroyed in short order. I traded another piece of real estate for it as my cousin who had it doesn’t have the stomach to deal with thugs that try to run over you and such. I will begin working on it in the next year. Or two to get it cleaned back up the house burned down and a cabin,barndo, or something built back there for the weekends.

Over the years we have killed a few deer there(the largest probably wouldn’t score 90 inches) caught hundreds of pounds of catfish, bass, crappie, and some huge gar. The snakes there are indeed something, I was bit by a cotton mouth getting into the boat when I was 15 it was a dry bite lucky. Shortly after we bought it my grandfather wanted to go night fishing for crappie so we hung two Coleman lanterns on poles from the boat. Shortly after dark there were snakes everywhere and they were all swimming toward the light. I shot a box of 20ga shells through a single shot shotgun before we could get off the water it was truly crazy. We have had everything from central units, to race cars, to bullets stollen from a gun there. I have game camera pictures of a couple of nice ones over the years but the lake throws them off as there is nothing to draw them down unless it’s a dry year. The lake is surrounded by cutover and set pines so the only deer we kill are usually ones that have been spooked by the surrounding landowners or hunters. We get a few does swimming the lake this time of year when bucks are chasing but they are always running 900mph or in the water it seems.

I know the argument rages here about black painters but we have legitimately saw a big cat there, 40 yards 7 am broad daylight climbed down out of a tree and walked through a green field. I have a game camera picture of what the best we can tell is a black bear, but it’s not a great picture was from the days of film game cameras. There are river otters and beavers a plenty if anyone is interested in trapping them shoot me a pm.

A little more, there is an old cemetery east of the house on top of the hill north of 278. It has 8 graves in it I think 4 adults and 4 children with rock markers. It’s right off our property line we found it when we were looking for a way to build a road in to get the modular in easier. It is kinda weird as the timber company left an almost perfect ring of trees around it when they cut it years ago. I am not sure who might know or be related to the graves but it is always cleaned off it seems kinda creepy would like to know more about it. Also curious who leases the properties around the lake if any of you guys are affiliated with them?

Man that's a cool story!!

" From this we went to finding an airplane that crashed into the lake when I was 14 and sank on New Year’s Eve. It was there 31 days before we found it, and it had killed a dentist and his husband in the crash. Their plane was in the lake the entire time not 100 yards from the road and no one knew."


Hmmm

I will look it up and send a FAA link when I am back in the office. Basically they were from Tupelo, Ms and we’re flying to Atlanta for New Year’s Eve. The pilot wasn’t IFR certified and was flying VFR, following 278 to 65 and on to Atlanta. When he got to the lake they think visibility was poor so he dropped a little lower to see the road better or something and clipped a huge pine tree which dumped him into the lake. The little airplane sank and only a small section 4-5 inches of the tail was showing above the water. We saw the little white and blue tail section on Jan 5th but you couldn’t see the plane in the murky water from the shore. It’s crazy because when we told my dad he didn’t believe us and actually took us out to eat breakfast before coming to look. When he got there we found the nose wheel on the bank and then the first body which had floated up and onto the bank. He called the brilliant police and they sent fire and rescue. D.D. Reel iversaw some of the plane recovery which incidentally used the road or the part of it remaining that the rogue commmisioner started to get the plane out at the spillway of the lake.

Shotts, thanks for sharing. Very interesting

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