SOA Selections

WooHoo - I'll be going as a guest to Thigpen Hill gun hunt on 12/2.
What did yall get?

No dice on my end.

Nothing between me, Mrs Nightwatchman or dad.

Nothing here. Guess I burned my luck with a gator tag.

Nothing for me but didn't expect to after getting one last year. Hoping my friend draws one, he won't be able to check till alter today though.

I lied, I am an alternate for the blackwater river hunt on New Years eve.

If you drew this hunt, holler at me.

Who drew the cedar creek January hunt? It still says pending

Nothing for me!

Anyone know how many alternates are drawn per hunt before you can bump up to hunter?

Nothing...

Bout damn time. Uchee creek 10/14. And two alternates.

Well my email said I was not selected but when I login it shows I have been selected to Portland Landing.

Anybody been to Cedar Creek? Looks like i got selected for the 12/2 hunt.

Same thing happened to me. I showed as having drawn the 10/28 Crow Creek hunt though. Then a few minutes ago I got an email that I had been drawn.

Has there been a year yet where they didn't screw something up with this draw?

Yep, I just got my email saying I was drawn.

I drew thigpen hill in February, anyone know anything about it?

I drew Uchee Creek for Jan 20. Hopefully it turns out better than my turkey hunt there did last year.

Nothing between the 4 of us.

Nothin for me. Waiting on Mrs. Bamaeyedoc to check her email.

New SOA. I looked at map. Looks good and I applied for 4 hunter choice hunts.

Drew the 12/30-1/2 gun hunt on Uchee Creek

I got Oak Mountain on 01/24
Wife got Thigpen Hill PW on 11/16
And my dad got Upper State on 11/11

Got drawn for Uchee Creek on 12/30!

How many times have each of you been selected over the years? And do you have any copies of those naked pics of chuck that the rest of us can use for next year?

Fred T Stimpson youth 11-6.

Anybody get selected for crow creek on 10/15. I got selected for alternate on that hunt.

I’ve been selected for a deer hunt every year since it opened except last year but I got a turkey hunt though lol. Katy just started putting in last year and got Uchee creek last year and Thigpen this year. I think my dad has been drawn three times now.

Drew a thigpen bow hunt.

Maybe I should change my last name to Phillips lol.

I drew Uchee gun Dec. 16-19. We shall see how it goes

Check that. Original email said not selected. Went and checked again and got drawn for Thigpen on 12/2 hunt! Alternate on Portland for 12/30 and Uchee on 12/16. If Bama makes it to the game, I guess the kids will get the SECCG tickets this year! Best thing is this new SOA is 15 minutes from my hunting camp. I’m pretty pumped!

Mrs. Bamaeyedoc didn’t get selected. She’ll get some preference points though.

👎 nothing again

Got Upper.State for 1/6

Congrats, I was hoping for that one

I got Portland Landing on 1/20. I'm fired up about this hunt.

I got an email saying I was selected for a hunt but when I went to hunts I registered for, I got selected for nothing.Correction, the email said I was not selected for any hunts. I missed the word not 😀

Thigpen Jan 20. Bout time. First draw and I’ve been applying since year 1. Coosa1 is a LSOG

If the weather will cooperate, it could be incredible that time of year.

I got selected for Cedar creek 12/2. I’m looking forward to it!

I didn’t get to apply because I’ve been arguing with the state of Alabama for the last week over whether or not I’m a resident of the state even though I’ve been living here for 10 months. Registration closed 30 minutes before they got it straightened out.

Portland Landing for the 12/16 gun hunt. Not the best time of the season but I guess my 65 preference points finally paid off.

I got Cedar Creek Archery on 10/21

2 of us applied and neither got selected for anything.

Coosa needs to buy lottery tickets!

need info on where to stay for cedar creek. also fred t simpson 11/6 youth hunt

Portland Landing 11/16 Primitive Weapons. I'll have to buy a muzzleloader now.

We camped at the ranger station last year at Fred T Stimpson.

Nothing for me.

I accepted an Oak Mountain hunt as a hunter, Dec. 6-9. My first time to be selected as a hunter (my son got a youth hunt last year).

I’ll probably be on that one as a guest

Thanks for the information. I drew the Cedar Creek 1/20 hunt

I got selected as hunter for Uchee Creek 10/21. Anyone have any insight they’d like to share?

Selected for Thigpen Hill Gun on 12/30. Alternate for Portland Landing 01/22.
Gf got Portland Landing PW 11/16.

I had 28 preference point going in. I have applied every year and was selected as an alternate one year but didn’t accept.
First year applying for my gf.

I got selected for Uchee Creek 1/20-1/23.

Squadron77 Have you hunted Cedar Creek? Any insights you can share? I drew the 1/20 hunt.

Any info appreciated.

Thanks

I haven't had the chance to hunt there yet but anything along the river south of Selma should be good. With the antler restriction I would think you should see some good bucks in late January.

Appreciate the feedback.

Thanks

Didn't you and I meet there on this exact same hunt last year? You told me your username on here and I vaguely remember it having a "T" and a "G" in it lol

Does anyone remember when the SOA scouting weekend has been in the past? I was thinking it was that first weekend in October.

It was the weekend before bow season started.

Just got confirmation that it’ll be October 9th and 10th

So after all the initial selections are made for each draw area and someone backs out or doesn't accept a hunt, do they choose alternates and select others that didn't get selected during the first selection stage?

I got unit 3 at Oak Mountain. I'm looking forward to seeing the map once they send it.

How’d you find out your unit?

I paid the registration fee ($40) this morning and got that info in return. She said the map would be out end of this week or maybe she said next week.

My buddy (who I'll be hunting with) got unit 4 for Dec 6th. The updated map is already out

Was surprised how much was cut out of Oak MT this year. Guess those other zones just didn't see much activity. Which is funny that two of the zones that were left out were zones that I and Cleckler both killed deer out of...

From what I heard it was due to tornado damage but I’m not sure if that is true

Maybe so. My friend and I were talking and figured A. There weren't enough deer seen in those units and/or B. There really weren't the number of deer they originally thought there. I know the week I hunted there were only 3 deer killed, quite a few guys didn't see anything. I killed a nice buck but it was the only deer I saw while hunting. Basically, if you weren't on the golf course, you were going to have a much harder time.

I was in Unit 10 last year. It’s still there, just been re-numbered to Unit 5 this year.
Looks to me they cut out the units with high hiking/biking traffic, and re-numbered.

That said, If y’all get Unit 5 let me know. I’ve got a killer spot for you.

You guys that have been there before. How did the deer move? We’re they going to/from the bordering neighborhoods at all? I figured people might be feeding them there. And is there any bedding cover to speak of there?

Yeah I see that now. Good point! Doesn't matter to me, I didn't get selected



Coosa, the buck I killed was in the MIDDLE of a spaghetti of hiking trails. I had scouted the week before and found huge scrapes on the side of the hill. The top of it was young THICK pine trees. Not saying I knew exactly what was going to happen, but it worked out exactly how I had hoped. I snuck in to one of the scrapes, and set up downwind. The park opened, and when people started hiking, the buck left bedding and started checking scrapes. I watched him check a couple and then grunted at him and he came over to mine, and shot him.

They live with people hiking every day, I figure they have the people patterned better than anyone has them patterned. That was the strategy I went with, anyway.

Not sure how much help that is, I don't think those units have as many trails. Cleckler might know better.


EDIT number 2. I do know guys that hunted zone 1 and 2 talked about seeing feeders in peoples back yards. Those guys saw tons of deer.

How’d you find that out?

I 100% feel I wouldn’t have gotten my buck at Oak Mt. without the HuntStand app. There is a map overlay called “Public Lands” that had all the park trails and topo on one view. After hunting for 2 days with Mountain bikes and ppl walking their dog by me, I found the trail that would take me the farthest I could go and get away from the main road and main bike trail. I ended up walking 9/10 of a mile (according to the apps trace feature). I didn’t see a single person for the rest of my hunt.

The best part about hunting a State Park SOA is that it’s open everyday for hiking. You don’t have just one weekend in Oct to scout for your hunt in January like other SOAs.

OnX has the trails and such too. My unit is basically void of trails. Can't wait.

Holler at me I shot a doe the first afternoon last year and stuck a buck that I made a bad shot on the day after. I saw 5 bucks

So have some people gotten an email yet with all the details? I haven’t seen anything regarding the hunt as of yet. Just making sure I’m not missing something here.

I drew Cedar Creek for 1/20. I haven’t received any additional info.

I haven’t seen any additional emails for Upper State hunt on 10/14. Less than a month away so I hope to hear something soon.

Oak mountain info, unit 4 has some tornado damage, but will still be hunted. They closed off the units with the most hiking trails so there will be less human interaction on the hunts, that’s why there is less units this year. Also, the units are supposed to be about 800 acres each. I’m drawn for unit 2 on 11/29 hunt.

Will do! Thanks.

Unit 4 is what we got. I'm actually glad it got some tornado damage. Maybe there will be some blowdowns in there for the deer to bed in.

Question, on the soa hunts do they have hunters in every unit every hunt ?

Correction on acreage, I was told they were 800 acres each, but in the email that I got it says that unit 2 is 360 acres.

No. Half or less of the units are hunted on draw weekends. Got to keep it fresh for adult mentor hunters and government officials.

No

I drew unit 7 at Uchee Creek for October 28. Not sure what to expect but Im ready for scout days

I got Uchee Creek
unit 7 for the Dec. 30 hunt. Any info appreciated.

Im trying to find out more info. At this point im not 100% sure how to get there but im gonna wing it. My guest hunts Illinois regularly so hes accustomed to these travels

Thanks

Any updates on cedar creek or Fred t stimpson ?

heck I guess I missed it this year- didn't even notice sign up time had arrived

Any input on unit 1 in oak mountain I get to go as a guest with a buddy