Just moved to Huntsville from Colorado. I am hoping to get on a whitetail this season. I hear Wheeler is a decent place as I will be hunting with a bow. What are the main things a newbie to the species should know before I start scouting, etc? Any advice is appreciated.

Also, any good reading materials or podcasts you guys would suggest to help me be successful?

Do you have any connections back in Colorado for elk?

Invest in a treestand

Find someone who knows what they are doing, and learn from them. Wheeler is how only. More than likely you will be very frustrated bow hunting public land. Find a club and use a rifle.

Now, that's better.

There are plenty of people that are much more qualified to give advice than me, however:

I have hunted Wheeler the last 2 seasons. I have not connected with a deer yet. But again, these were my first 2 seasons of hunting, so I'm still learning. I have seen deer, but haven't been in bow range yet. From what other people have told me, Wheeler can be extremely frustrating, but people do kill deer off of it.

While scouting, look for white oaks. Whitetails love white oak species' acorns.

Learn the natural preferred browse, acorns, green briar, persimmons, honey suckle.......

I'm flying back for 2 weeks in September to archery hunt elk in the rut and high Country muleys. If you have any questions about elk in colorado I am willing to help.

Except for the 2 weeks in January when you can use a flintlock. But there ain't no deer on Wheeler!

Basically I've heard Wheeler or TVA land are my best bets for public land. I can imagine how frustrating it will be with how thick everything around here is. But I'm willing to put in the time to get it done. What time of the year do deer rut around here?

How many points does it take a nonresident to draw a deer tag in the areas that you know? PM me, if you'd prefer.

Be very patient. Hunting here is tough. Not that it's bad it's just hard to kill a mature deer.

Archery, muzzleloader, or rifle?

That seems to have been the consensus I've heard so far. Seems like it's gonna be quite a few long days in a tree stand! I'm excited though.. hopefully I'll learn some things I can bring back to Colorado to help with future hunts there.

Hunting white-tails in the South is a totally different experience than anywhere I've ever been. I've grown up here hunting deer, but my success rates go way up in the Midwest. In early season focus on natural foods such as acorns, crops, and anything that's still green. Food plots are common down here. Cereal grain and clover fields are good food sources the entire season. Early in the season hunt the food itself. Locate their paths of travel, get the wind in your favor and catch them as they enter to feed. Later in the season as pressure increases back off food and hunt trails leading to and from bedding/feeding areas. Deer bed where it's thick here. And I mean thick. So thick you'd think it's uninhabitable. The rut in most of north AL is in January. Some places on east Wheeler and Red Stone arsenal are in February. If you want to hunt a November rut like out west you'll need to go southwest of Huntsville to Bankhead National Forest or Black Warrior WMA and hunt those hill goats over there. Lower deer densities but some fine deer.

I appreciate all of the great information! I wondered when you would hunt the food vs the bedding areas as you described. Does the moon play a factor into any of this as well? With elk it's real difficult to find em moving around in the day if there's a full moon about. Are the deer around here the same way?

Rifle

A lot of people swear by moon phase and movement. I don't pay it much attention. I hunt when I can and choose my stand locations based on wind direction and barometric pressure more so than moon phases. Here in the south where mild temps are common day light movement increases any time a cold front pushes in from the north. Bank on it.

If you want straight-forward truth, pay attention to every post by Matt. He and lots of other guys on here have forgotten more about whitetails that I can pretend to know.