SOA hunt- pic heavy

Myself and 3Ffarms headed down to Uchee Creek SOA on Thursday and made it down in time to do some scouting before the afternoon hunt.




We found ALOT of buck sign but it wasn’t fresh. While scouting the afternoon hunt we saw two does and some pretty fresh hog sign. That afternoon I ended up climbing on the edge of a huge cutover in the middle of our unit and 3F bowhunted in the woods. Just before 5pm I was glassing the cutover and spotted a a buck out in the middle probably 200 yards put. All I could see was the left side of his rack and he disappeared. I kept scanning for him and a minute or two later I picked him up walking straight to me. He was a legal buck for the SOA and here I am without a buck tag left He walked a straight line to me and I could have shot him 100 times. Then he decided to stop, broadside at 30 yards for 5 minutes. I watched him for 20 minutes. He will be a real good one next year! I could hear other deer in the SMZ and the buck eased off toward the other deer. When he did 4 does walked into the cutover and I shot the biggest one.






We picked up the doe, gutted it, iced it down,and went to Waffle House for some supper. Friday was a long day of scouting and hunting with only 1 deer seen between the two of us. However if Brandon would have had an arrow nocked he could have killed a deer After the morning hunt we hung my deer up and quartered it and then headed into the little town of Seale where we rolled into the “White stop” gas station for lunch. We stuffed our face with fried chicken livers, chicken fingers and potato logs
You truly know you are brave soul when you eat chicken livers from a gas station...... but they were some count!



We both climbed the cutover that afternoon and we didn’t see a deer. Hard to believe when you can see a mile!

The rain held off Saturday morning so we tried one more time to see if Brandon could run an arrow through one, but no luck. The hunting was tough but I think we were dealing with post rut deer and no food on our unit. A few other folks hunting saw more deer than we did on other units. The SOA was well marked and very organized and it was a really well ran hunt. I have to give a shout out to the area biologist Richard Tharp. We spoke on the phone on the way down to the hunt and he explained all the rules and regulations and made sure we didn’t have any questions. He made himself accessible to us the entire hunt and It was a pleasure speaking with him. He said that Uchee Creek SOA was a work in progress and I expect that it will get better and better each year.

Nice!....I like those gas station chicken livers too.

Great trip. Might I ask, What was considered a LEGAL buck on this SOA hunt...?

16” inside spread or 20” main beam for a legal buck.

I'm assuming since there is no pics of the buck dead that this was not one of the situations where you could get an extra buck?

That’s right twaldrop no bonus bucks for the SOA’s. I never picked my rifle up.

Here is a video of the buck

Oh how the tale is woven from Mr. Public Land Killer himself. He seemed to leave out SEVERAL key components of the trip...

Matt and I checked our schedules and put in for several draw hunts way back in summer when these hunts were announced. We decided which SOA's and dates we wanted and then both put in for the same ones, hoping to increase our chances of being drawn. When he was selected for this hunt, we were both very excited. We planned our strategy around our area once we knew where we would be. We looked at topos and aerials for hours...days perhaps. And then he had the season of all seasons and was done buck hunting by middle of December. I knew we would really only be making the trip down for me, and being the pal he is, he wouldn't consider not going even though he couldn't kill another buck. I tried to talk him out of it..."oh, the weather won't be good." "Oh, we each have young kids and feel bad for leaving them for several days.", etc. Matt wouldn't hear of it. He said, "man, let me go and I'll scout for you. If I find a good buck, you can go in there the next hunt and kill it." What a pal. Friend of a lifetime. Buddies.

So we get down there Thursday and hike all over our assigned 300+ acres. Like he said, we found plenty of buck sign but it was obviously old. Still, we were very optimistic we were in a core area. I elected to bowhunt a travel corridor that first afternoon and let Matt sit on the cutover as an "observation" sit. Bear in mind, this is a good 3/4 mile hike in from the truck. No real road to get in there without going ALL the way around and right through the middle of the cutover, probably ruining it for the rest of the trip. Anyhow, back to our story.

We had left pretty early Thursday morning and about 2:00 that afternoon after hiking several miles, realized that we hadn't had lunch. On top of that, I never ate breakfast. So I'm one granola bar in and I'm a pretty good sized fellow. We had already predetermined that the after hunt meal was going to be Waffle House for dinner. We couldn't wait. Talked about it all afternoon while we were scouting. Had already decided what we were going to order. So we split up about 2:30...him hiking the 3/4 mile to the cutover to "scout" for me, his buddy....his best friend...his hunting partner. I took care of a little work related stuff at the truck and eased into the draw I was going to hunt around 3:00. All was quiet on my end and it was approaching 5:30. That time when you start planning for tomorrow's hunt. Wonder what Matt has seen? That's when I heard it. The unmistakable sound of the "WHOP-POWWWWWWWWW". I won't tell you what I thought when I heard him shoot.

So I shot him a text, "what'd ya get?" No response. "Hey buddy, you get one?" No response. Right about 15 minutes later he sends me a picture of a doe....laying out in the middle of the cutover...3/4 mile from the truck. I won't tell you what I thought when I got the picture.

So I met him at the truck and he shows me the picture of the buck...how he'd watched it for a half hour...had it at 15 yards...could have shot it with a bow. And then 4 does come out and he shot one of them. I won't tell you what I called him. So we sat there trying to figure out how we're going to get this doe out of this 80 acre cutover...which in case I haven't told y'all was 3/4 mile from the truck. We finally come up with the plan that we're going to have to drive an old road bed right through the middle of it to get this doe...A DOE...that he has shot out of it. I'm certain the buck had relocated to Lee or Macon or Bullock county by the time we got done driving through that cutover. And I'm certain that Matt hadn't thought it would be 9:00 before we got to FINALLY eat that evening...both famished. Anyhow, that's how my take on the trip and my buddy...my pal...that was so excited to go and scout for me and put me on a buck, went.

All in all it was a really fun trip. The state has a winning combination with these SOA hunts. Mr. Tharp was top notch and did everything he could to help us, even telling us where to concentrate our efforts when we got there. Two thumbs up to him. We got to see a part of the state I've never been to, saw the Museum of Wonders in the metropolis of Seale, AL and even had a mustached lady cook our chicken livers for us. It was a great trip and can't wait to go back if we're fortunate enough to get drawn again.

I think a response is warranted.
Hindsight is 20/20 but I really thought we’re were going to have deer all over us the whole trip! I also thought I could drag the deer 80 yards to the edge of the cutover and we could take the ranger up the real road and load her up without much hassle. I really wanted Brandon to kill a deer after the season he’s had this year and he hunted really hard on this trip. We both packed in climbers for every hunt and really worked our tales off to get on some deer.

I really appreciate you letting one of my breeder bucks walk. He will be a good one next year. Maybe he'll slip over to my place and let me get a crack at him. I hunt right around the corner from there. I wish I had known y'all were down there I'd have met you for lunch. Y'all had a better weekend than I did, I didn't see anything sat. Morning and my wife and I both struck out sat. Afternoon.
Your right about the bucks. They pretty much shut down about 2 weeks ago. Last year this week was prime time, but the rut ran a little early this year. Glad y'all had a good trip down. If you get drawn again next year, hit me up, we'll go get a beer or something.

Good report guys. Guess I’m going to put in for some of the hunts next year..

Glad yall got to experience south Alabama culture at it's finest

Hot and fresh with some yellow mustard and a cold Pepsi!

Looks like a good place, I gotta put in for that in the future

WELL done, very good glad you got one, go to know im not only one who still eats supper at night, and dinner at 12:00 pm, the last meal jesus ate with his deciples was supper, inot dinner !!

Some of the best fried chicken fingers and livers i have ever eat came from a little gas station in Baker Hill AL

That's what it is all about! Good hunt with a great friend. Enjoyed the pics and report. Sure enough good one you had to let walk!

Ya,were not that far from this either and it was dead the whole last week. Last year, everyone hunting this new 10 days on our place were seeing bucks everywhere. Unfortuneately,the pigs have returned to our place with a vengeance. Killed 6 this week and saw prob 50 more.

Thanks for posting the pics Southwood. Looks like y'all had a great time

Looks like fun. Guess I'll put in for some SOA hunts next year

Enjoyed reading and the pics, thanks for sharing!!