Their videos are pretty good honestly. Beats the hunting videos of guys in a blind on 500 acres of unpressured private.

However, I'm pretty sure they did an Alabama hunt once and got completely skunked. They have most of their success in the midwest.

Its funny this thread popped back up. Im almost only hunting public land this year and did a gun hunt earlier in the year. ( Weekend after opening weekend) It was not terrible. I will be going on the gun hunts in January and Im sure it will be a lot more crowded.

Skyline is busy… A and B . Wear all your orange at all times. Lock your vehicle.

If you didn't cut your teeth on hunting management areas, i guess I can see where it could be intimidating. My dad taught my brother and me how to deer hunt on management areas in the 80's. Not only did we learn how to read deer sign, we also learned how to hunt off of other hunters, and also how to setup and let hunters work for us better than a pack of beagle's. I can remember going to some management area hunts, and being disappointed cause not enough hunters showed up to get deer up and moving.

I re read my above post…i wouldnt go back rifle huntin at skyline for nothin..but you got to think about where it is…they aint no place else to hunt up here

I hunt several public land areas including WMAs and Bankhead Forest. Drive around during a gun day and get a feel for it. I hunt Mullberry a lot, I see the same people hunting the same areas on a regular basis. I would imagine other WMAs are similar. Use that to your advantage.

I have hunted WMA gun days in the past. Had lots of success filling the freezer. Hunters are very predictable and you can use that to your advantage.

If I had nothing but public land in Alabama to hunt, I would give up hunting. Definitely not worth the hassle!!

If you have a good attitude and don't go out in the woods to seek confrontation, public land is fine. The odds will be lower than shooting one coming to get breakfast out of the feeder. 99% of the people out there will be just like you. Sure there's that 1% but it is the woods, they will mostly let you avoid them. The worst thing I seen during a gun hunt in 3 seasons is a couple of guys trying to man-drive at dusk by driving a truck with loud exhaust around in low gear. All they ended up accomplishing was bumping a doe 20 ft in front of my stand that bedded down. Could have just as easily been a trophy buck and I'd be thanking them. It's usually the guys that look they spent their grocery money on cheap whiskey, cigarettes, and a bit of meth doing that crap. Most everyone else I see are just middle-aged fat guys like me trying to enjoy the outdoors. On average I'll take a public land hunter over the average Wal Mart Customer.

lol thats what I like to hear now that I've been hunting mainly public land this year, I wish everyone thought like this! Public land is a lot different from Private. Private land there is a lot more work before hunting, planting food plots, maintaining roads, hanging stands, cutting shooting lanes, putting out corn, cleaning out shooting houses, cleaning up camp etc. Public land the work is done for you, you just have to show up, scout and hunt. There is more work involved during the hunt, you usually have to walk a lot further, can't put up any nice warm shooting houses so you have to sit in the cold and rain, you are going to have to drag or pack out your deer in some way ( cant just drive an ATV through the woods to get it like you can on private land).

I have missed being a part of a lease this year but I am enjoying the public land grind. I am going to try my best to find another lease for next year for me, my dad and his friends, but I do think I will continue to hunt on public land. I think I have become a better hunter this year because of it. I have not filled a buck tag yet but I am about to start hunting hard during the next month!

I am going to try some of the gun hunts, If it gets to crowded I will drive to another WMA thats not having a gun hunt or go hunt a corp property or some other public land thats bow only.

the great thing about where I live is I can drive 1/2 hour- 1/12 hours in any direction and run in to public land. Got 4 WMAs with in an hour drive, 2 more within a 2hour drive, 1000s of acres of corp land, and 1000s of acres of national forest land with in 2 hours of me as well.

I miss the having a lease and a camp to go to, but I am very grateful that public land is available. At the end of the day I love deer hunting, having public land available to me has allowed me to enjoy my favorite hobby this year.

I hunt TVA from a flat bottom. Everyday is gun day. I don't have any issues.

This. Hunt the pressure BUT be in sections where big deer exist. That’s the key. Don’t waste your time hunting blocks where there ain’t a biggin living. That comes from scouting prior to the gun hunts.

Best comment I’ve noticed lol

I actually started hunting public some a few years ago to reduce pressure on the lease and for a change of scenery. I typically hunt some of the nastiest, thickest or hard to reach areas and see and shoot deer yearly. Learn to read a topo map, speed scout by driving dirt roads after a rain looking for crossings, put boots on the ground. It’s making me a much better hunter and quite honestly it’s been a lot of fun. A different type of challenge.

Is there anything that you don't bitch and complain about?

Public land sucks. Just don’t do it.

Hunted skyline in the late 70's when it was bad. Learned how to hunt deer and how to let other hunters move deer to you. We would be set up on pruit ridge and off in bear den hollow long before daylight. My buddy that hunted with me killed some good deer in there and i killed a lot of meat lol. The funny thing is we would just be 200 yards apart. I seen a big 10 during bow season one year that spooked when i tried to draw on it. I had to work on the gun hunt in January that year and it was bitter cold . He took a sleeping bag and sit on the ground at the hollow that deer used, he was about asleep he said when the big 10 came slipping by. He killed him naturaly. lol Man we lived for them hunts back then. I hav'nt deer hunted on skyline since the first year they annexed the Jacob farm and i actually have land leased that joins skyline

Why, was that you? Just relating a relevant story. I shot some nice bucks out of the Oak in the 80's and 90's. Haven't been down there in years. I would recommend staying put and not walking around, those 9:30 am walkers will move the deer. My brother and I both shot a buck over 140 down there.

Turkey season is 10x worse than deer season… don’t even think bout it..

I hunt my private property on the farm, I hunt my club property that’s a hour from my house and I also hunt public. I enjoy hunting public a few times a year. Choccolocco and skyline is the two I hunt mainly far as public, but venture down to lowndens and Barbour some as well. I’ve seen some absolute grown deer on all of em, but skyline and choccolocco has the bigger of the big ones. They some studs out there, but they sure hard to hunt. It humbles me and makes me appreciate what I have at home and the club everytime lol.