Serious question: What makes Jackson County so special? How do they get the deer numbers they do? Anywhere else in Alabama that has mountainous terrain tends to have low numbers and average genetics. How does Jackson have so many deer with mostly open, old growth hardwoods on steep terrain?

So the Jackson County deer everyone talks about....are they down in the flat lands near the river with all the agriculture? Or are they in the forest in the northern half of the county? The ag land makes sense. The huge timber in the northern half looks a lot like Bankhead to me. And Bankhead has hardly any deer.

I've never set foot on Bankhead , but I suspect it needs a few big logging crews to work some deer habitat magic there.

No question. It looks like Smoky Mountain National Park. Beautiful land but almost no cover. So those thick woods in the mountains have a good mix of clearcuts? Just looking at google earth it looks like there is very little habitat diversity. But I suppose it is different on the ground.

Do most of your deer have Tennessee genetics as well, as opposed to the Mobile Delta cursed genetics the rest of the state suffers from?

All over the county. Bout 5-6 years ago biggest buck at B'ham Deer show came from Miller Mt. in upper PRV, can't get any farther back in the mountains than Miller. Grossed 187 I think, big mainframe 10 that will net 165. That deer lived in a large hardwood clear cut, never saw a ag field.

I have a good friend killed a monster 165" clean 10pt , across the creek from Miller Mt. on Maxwell Mt . way back in 1978.

I've never set foot on Bankhead , but I suspect it needs a few big logging crews to work some deer habitat magic there.

Serious answer:
Tenn River Valley and Paint Rock River Valley some of the richest soil in the southeast next to black belt. Mountains are not old growth, open hardwoods. It's a patchwork of landowners of all sizes, meaning a patchwork of mature, select and clear cuts. Lots of cedars in limestone , limestone = calcium. Add an abundance of cover.

Don't know why anyone would hinge cut in mountains of Jackson Co. Do some TSI via checkerboard patterns with the topography of the land, not just squares.

What is TSI?

Deer were released in 3 locations in Jackson Co. all from South Alabama. There was a pocket of a few native deer still around along the river in central Jackson. I've never seen any info on Midwest deer being introduced.

Owning your own land and being able to manicure it for hunting is a deer hunters dream. Most of us deal with leased lands and are handcuffed in what we can or cannot do. To get big bucks, you've got to get older bucks and it's no secret that older bucks love cover. But sometimes, that cover is a double edged sword. In most cases, it's hard to hunt. That is usually due to the fact of its location, size, access or whatever. On leased lands, you have very little control over these variables. But since you own it, put some serious thought into it before you go buck wild with your improvements. If you decide to cut some timber, think about how the deer will use it and how you'll hunt them based on wind and access. I cut a large tract several years ago where the landowner was concerned about it getting too thick to hunt. He had several permanent stands that had produced over the years due to good location to terrain features that the deer followed. To maintain and even improve these stands productivity, we left "shooting lanes" about 40 yards wide in the open timber. Think about that....not your stereotypical typical shooting lane that's cleared out, but a narrow strip of big open timber that the deer had to cross to get from one thicket to another. Couple that with existing terrain features that already funnel deer, and you'll have a mouse trap. This old fellow even asked us to trim out some of the small brush in his "shooting lanes" to offer clear shot opportunities. It worked like a charm. He's dead now and the property has sold but I know he had lots of success for several years with this set up. 2Dogs can vouch for the effectiveness of this kind of set up as well. CD.