Freedom Hills

I started hunting Freedom Hills about 6 years ago or so. Before I first went I gathered as much info as I could about the place being it's over a 2 hour drive one way for me. I remember posting on here and some recommended a bulletproof vest due to the amount of people. Shortly after I started hunting it the Wma was broke into zones. A hunt on one zone then next hunt on other zone ect.. It has ruined the place in my opinion. To many people to be hunting half the mang area each hunt. It's not enjoyable and really just dangerous in my opinion. Who could I contact with the state to express my opinion and try and get the zones done away with?

Attend a Conservation Advisory Board(CAB) meeting and sign up to speak.

I hate to say it but i doubt they care one bit. We signed a long signature petition on a wma and they just said not a chance.

That 's what I was afraid of..It won't hurt to try I guess. No use in complaining about something if your not willing to make an effort to change it.

This is not a new problem. I grew up in the area, hunting the WMA in the 80's and 90's. (Back then it was Thomas WMA.) We mostly bowhunted. I wanted to go on a gun hunt they were having the weekend of the Iron Bowl. I waited to noon, thinking the crowd would leave to go watch the game. Between the pavement and Pope Tower, I counted 27 vehicles. I turned around at tower and went back home. Always been crowded for gun hunts.

Contact the biologist over the area and district 1 office. We do listen to suggestions but most decisions are made for a reason...

Went down hill when the last Biologist retired and they piled both WMA's on one. Dono if the last one had more input or what but it was a lot better managed then. Wished theyd get Mbrock to help the current biologist with the feral hog problem at Lauderdale before its too late. Mbrock did a world of good at Blackwarrior thinning the hogs out.

Daniel Toole is the biologist over it now. I don't know much about his management decisions and how they've affected hunting on Freedom Hills or Lauderdale, but he's always been a very pleasant guy to deal with. He responds quickly to emails or phone calls and is willing to provide as much info as he can.

Mitchell Marks was over it before and had the same experience with him, nice gentleman with helpful info for someone new to the area. He was tougher to get in touch with, but nice nonetheless.

Thanks for the info guys. Someone has gave me Mr Toole's contact info. Turkey I agree it's not a new problem with the crowds. But that's what I keep referring to is imagine how crowded it is now with half the Mang area open on each hunt.

I know not everyone's a bow hunter, and I'm not a bow only guy at all, but I bow hunt Freedom Hills a lot more than I gun hunt it just to stay away from the crowds. You'll have just about anywhere you want to go to yourself on the weeks with no gun hunt scheduled.

I was 14 hunting the youth hunt last time I was at freedom hills. We got set up in our stands and 20 minutes after day light the woods came to life. We watched 5 sets of orange hats set up around us. About a hour later. We saw a guy and his walk out into a green field and put a blind dead center of it. It seems like someone was sitting every 25 or so yards. I have never been back.

Might be safer to get a bow and hunt it when gun hunters can’t.

I spoke with Mr Toole a couple weeks ago. Talked to him about 30 min (nice guy). He said two main reasons for zones gives guys that work weekends days to hunt during week and gives the small game hunters a place to hunt (they can hunt the opposite zone on gun days). I still don't agree with it but at least I gave my feedback. I'm not driving half way across the state to hunt with a bow during the rut and during gunseason so honestly probably won't make much effort to go back.

Wow...Pope Tower, haven't heard those words in many years. Some of my first gun hunts was watching power lines on the Pope Tower side.

The tower would be s good spot to bow hunt. Only hardwoods in 24000 acres.

If you turned across the road from the tower and went to the back of that road, it dropped off into a hollow. The road went down a bluff known as the Devil's Nose. The property there was adjacent to the back of the Redwine property. My FIL grew up there and could tell you pretty much every old still site. Until his death, we had property to hunt on the Pleasant Site Road.