I think if they gonna keep having them then once you get drawn you shouldn’t be able to for a few years so others have an opportunity, and before y’all think I’m jealous or complaining I have plenty of places to hunt and don’t worry about me applying. Il

Numerous states have lottery hunts for certain areas, they generate a few extra dollars and hunters get the chance at hunting above average land and game. Lets say they decide to make every WMA special opportunity…all 36 and 750,000 acres or so, you do realize there are almost a million more acres public accessible through National forests and TVA alone, right?

Having the WMA permit prior to registration actually provides a little protection to existing public land hunters. They'll already have their permit and it forces others to invest a little to have a chance at hunting prime land. You can't win the lottery then pay for the ticket.

Not a fan in its current format.

A. The drawing system is not equitable.

B. This state has very little public land in comparison to most others. There’s quite a few places (my house is one) where you can drive an hour in any direction and not reach any public hunting land. Sykes seems intent on furthering the SOA system. I’d much rather see him add small chunks of land for public use, scattered around the state. The DNR is brimming with money currently. Record license sales + corn permits. Yet our wmas are shrinking every year and SOAs are being added like crazy. It’s much more appealing to me, to have year round access vs. be drawn for a higher quality hunt once every 5-10 years.

C. Everyone acts like small acreage can’t support the pressure. That’s bullshit. It works pretty well in many states around us and I’ve often found the small parcels to be less pressured.

D. From information I’ve gathered, I believe certain SOAs are used by state bigwigs without going through the process we all have to. That pisses me off to no end.

Not a fan in its current format.

A. The drawing system is not equitable.

B. This state has very little public land in comparison to most others. There’s quite a few places (my house is one) where you can drive an hour in any direction and not reach any public hunting land. Sykes seems intent on furthering the SOA system. I’d much rather see him add small chunks of land for public use, scattered around the state. The DNR is brimming with money currently. Record license sales + corn permits. Yet our wmas are shrinking every year and SOAs are being added like crazy. It’s much more appealing to me, to have year round access vs. be drawn for a higher quality hunt once every 5-10 years.

C. Everyone acts like small acreage can’t support the pressure. That’s bullshit. It works pretty well in many states around us and I’ve often found the small parcels to be less pressured.

D. From information I’ve gathered, I believe certain SOAs are used by state bigwigs without going through the process we all have to. That pisses me off to no end.

Now we are working our way in the right direction. What is to stop ALL public land from becoming an SOA in the future? People always talk about wanting to be like other states....do you really wanna wind up with virtually zero open access public land as is the case with much of the midwest?

Do you we want to wind up with only being able to draw a permit on "public" land in some of the highly sought after areas in the black belt once roughly every 3 years(after enough preference points are garnered)

I would think vast tracts of open permit public land is actually one of the GOOD things about this state

makes me angry that people would rather the state start sanctioning off land to make it "easier" to shoot a deer instead of resolving themselves to hone skills and spend the time, and play the pressure as is required to take a deer on open access public land.


It's not any different than socialism, I want the state to allot me land that makes it easier on me to kill a deer instead of doing the work myself to find and shoot one on land that is already public. and in the process I want to remove opportunities for everyone and give it only to select few who are lucky enough to win the lottery and get drawn.

Now we are working our way in the right direction. What is to stop ALL public land from becoming an SOA in the future? People always talk about wanting to be like other states....do you really wanna wind up with virtually zero open access public land as is the case with much of the midwest?

Do you we want to wind up with only being able to draw a permit on "public" land in some of the highly sought after areas in the black belt once roughly every 3 years(after enough preference points are garnered)

I would think vast tracts of open permit public land is actually one of the GOOD things about this state

makes me angry that people would rather the state start sanctioning off land to make it "easier" to shoot a deer instead of resolving themselves to hone skills and spend the time, and play the pressure as is required to take a deer on open access public land.


It's not any different than socialism, I want the state to allot me land that makes it easier on me to kill a deer instead of doing the work myself to find and shoot one on land that is already public. and in the process I want to remove opportunities for everyone and give it only to select few who are lucky enough to win the lottery and get drawn.

My concern is that all public land would turn into an SOA or somesuch draw unit. What is to stop that from happening? The state has smelled blood in the water with how easy it is now to get people to buy a WMA permit in order to register for a selection. Where will they stop with it? What good will a WMA license be if in 10 years you have to get drawn to use it anywhere

So I am basing my comparison to MS where I grew up learning to hunt. They didn’t habe the draw hunts when I lived there but do now. They have plenty of open public hunting, just like AL does, but a handful of prime areas to hunt via draw.

The way I look at it is am I jealous of my club vs a club in say Bullock county, yes. But I paid my dues to have a decent club where I have a decent chance of seeing deer. If I were closer to a better area, I would join a club there

Either hunt the public you have access that you have to public, which there are good deer killed to those that put in the time, join a club, or apply to the SOA areas.

Quit crying

I think you’re missing it. The only thing we’re all gonna be crying about is 10 years from now when we can’t take our kids or grandkids out to the local wma on a Sunday afternoon because all wmas are draw only now.

I’m not jealous of anyone’s hunting land. I have a car I can drive to whatever public land I want. What I can’t do is hunt somewhere I used to hunt freely if it turns into an SOA.

The sky is NOT falling nightwatchman. Take a breath. Sorry you haven’t been drawn yet. I didn’t even apply this year

IMO, it’s the best approach for smaller properties that couldn’t handle the pressure of being “open” public land.

I actually have been drawn a couple times and I did enjoy it. I just don’t like the way it looks to be going. The SOA properties keep expanding. And there’s no indication that it will slow down. One of these days it’s gonna rob several of us of hunting opportunities. They’ll figure the SOA is so popular it won’t matter if open permit land gets taken away. Hear me now and believe me later

Hope I’m wrong