Hey guys,
I’ve been putting a lot of time into freedom hills this season and not seeing or hearing any deer! My camera has turned up empty after 3 different spots and I am losing faith in this area fairly quickly. I have never hunted public land due to my family owning land and have been used to seeing high deer numbers in Lamar county on our farm. With all that being said does anyone who have hunted these areas have a preference over the other? Seems the quality of black warrior deer are much better I’m sure due to the transplant from the north in the past. Good luck to all and any advice would be appreciated! Very interested in the black warrior area living 30 minutes from it.

Never hunted Bandhead so can't give any info on it. However I grew up on Coondog Cemetery Road and there are some nice deer in freedom hills, not big as the ones I have seen taken from Bandhead though. It borders my family land there for the last 10 years or so.

You have to get off the beaten path in Freedom Hills from my experience hunting there when I was younger and lived up there. The hollers of Buzzard Roost were always good to me but it will have to be a monster because it's a long drag to get one out. Used to ride the bus to school through it and count 150 vehicles on the guns hunts.

I know nothing about either tracts,but have had the opportunity to hunt in Lamar co a few times last year.I'd spend my time on the road,getting my butt back down there if I were you

You have an unequalled opportunity to kill a true once in a lifetime deer on Bankhead. There are some giants out there. The age structure is very good. Do not expect to see deer like you did in Lamar county on either area. Not gonna happen. Bankhead takes time. You need to spend a lot of time scouting. Look at aerials and then go investigate with boots.

If high density is what you want, Bankhead definitely has some of the lower density in the state. I hunt these WMAs: Lauderdale, Riverton, freedom hills, and black warrior. Best chance to see a deer in my experience has been Lauderdale but it’s not my favorite to hunt. I enjoy black warrior more. Maybe it is the prospect of the bigger deer, but I truly think it is just a majestic place to me. I enjoy scouting it in the off season the most because I can walk for miles upon miles and never see another human being.

The problem is that you've never hunted public land. It is a different animal and you must actually know how to hunt, both people and deer. You have to hunt near thick impenetrable cover in over-looked places on only good winds. You also have to realize that no matter where you hunt, the majority of the property is not as good as those 10% of areas that hold pockets of deer. Eliminate the the big, pretty stuff. Elimate the places with old sign. Eliminate the places with lots of trucks and boot tracks. Scout what is left and pick your wind.

Listen to this man. I've never stepped foot on freedom wma but hunt black warrior wma for 5 or 6 years now. There's deer there but not like what your going to be use to and your going to have to put in some leg work to find them there is monsters that get killed out of there every year. The first year I hunted out there was mostly scouting,wondering around, trying to learn. The second year I finally started seeing deer out there the 3rd year I was determined to shoot the moby dick of deer out of there then I realized that was a pipe dream that might one day happen eventually. The 4th year I was dead set on shooting a decent buck out of there and they started the 4 point or better rule that year and I seen several nice 6 points but they wasn't legal. Last year was my 5th year and I had a decent 8 pt. that was 2.5 yrs old that took a ride home with me he wasn't no monster but I was tickled to get him as my first buck out of there after. This year I haven't had as much time to hunt it since I changed jobs and was off work from Thursday till today and we had a thanksgiving family function every day since Thursday till today. But I was out there last weekend and seen some does and a spike but he wasn't pestering the does that weekend but it was probably on pretty good this weekend. But if you hunt that black warrior wma you might as well get use to walking straight up and straight down and repeat

I have only been to Freedom Hills once this season. If I had to guess you have been hunting in the “No Acorns open hardwoods or brown cutover????? Find you some green stuff in the 4’ to 10’ small pines and then scout. Ride the roads till you see a ton of trails and tracks in the mud then get out and scout. Get out of the Mature Hardwoods! Don’t come to Bankhead if you are aggravated from not seeing deer, because Bankhead has made a lot of people quit hunting due to low deer density. Hope this helps and good luck.

I know a few old timers that were hardcore grew up huntin bankhead. They all quit waisting their time there. They talk about how good it use to be decades ago. They refuse to spend their time there. This is my first year where im not hunting it. I didnt buy a wma licence this year due to bankhead sucking. When you have hundreds of hunters on a gun hunt and there are 2 or 3 killed....thats your sign!

I moved up to NW bama this summer and I've been to most of the areas you mentioned although I have mostly hunted on freedom hills cuz its a short trip from the shoals area, i've heard good things from the locals, and most importantly; I'm seeing deer. I hunt mostly on the mountain mills road side where there are planted fields, but I tried hunting around the food plots near coondog cemetery. I saw a few standing right out in the most obvious field next to the camp ground at daybreak last week as i drove by. I shot a doe last night during the gun hunt, and the weather was shitty. I only saw one other truck on my way in and he was leaving.

Sometimes it's the person who is doing the hunting

Access from private land to remote areas would be the key. The locals have this allowing them an advantage on some prime spots. Bankhead has lot of land with few deer plentiful in coyotes. If you could camp and live in the forest all season long I bet you could find areas with some wallhangers. A few outside people may get a deer, but I would bet 9 out of 10 are locals.

No reason not to hunt both. As mentioned in the OP, the genetics are clearly different. Bankhead deer are in rut, some years even chasing does, during the Thanksgiving gun hunt. By mid December, the best (easier) hunting on Bankhead is done, and Freedom Hills isn't even warmed up!

I've hunted family land within a few miles of Freedom Hills since the late 1980s, plus I commute the Natchez Trace every day. Trust me, late December and on is the best time to be at Freedom Hills.

Very well said! I appreciate the advice. I have to do much more scouting to find those areas. The cut overs look great and hardwoods. But no deer in the ones I’ve been around. Made me start realizing I must find thicker cover and hunt the edges and where the vegetation changes. Maybe my luck will change!

Good to know!

Starting to lean back to my old stomping grounds! Th particular tracts of land where we hunt in Lamar hold large numbers but low quality. Every now and then there will be one worth getting excited about