Looking for advice here please.  I'm a traditional bowhunter, living in B'ham.  I'm selling a property in the city that I own and I'd like to use the proceeds to help fund the purchase of about 40 acres of rural hunting land. Since I hunt with a longbow, I try to get extra close to deer and hold out for good shot angles. Therefore, having adequate "shot opportunities" is what I seek above all else.  Hoping some of you can recommend specific areas in Central AL that you know are extra densely populated with whitetails where I might want to search for a property?  I'm not concerned with trophy racks....I'm looking for an area that is infested with deer and close encounters could likely be more frequent. For example, I've heard that the Camden / Millers Ferry area is just covered up in deer.  Is that true?  Are most undeveloped properties along the AL River that way?  And are there other towns that folks might recommend where the deer density is especially high?   I don't mean at a county level...I'm asking about hot spots at a more specific level please.  (I hope my question doesn't come across in any unintended way....it's just that I hear hunters in some parts of AL talk about routinely seeing more deer in one weekend than I see all year, and I figure if you are going to hunt, that being where the deer are is key.) Thanks all.

Everything will depend on your neighbors no matter where you end up and what the surrounding deer density is. Good luck searching for property

257 has a pretty good 40acres. Hes looking to sell it.

If u can find land connecting to the back of oneonta sports fields you'll do good...

Bullock county is crawling with them

I blood track deer for folks in southeast Alabama across a large area and a lot of different properties……The deer density from one place to another is all about how the understory habitat is being managed….By far the best areas are where you have a vast amount of acreage that is unbroken and managed for maximum understory forage production. Enon Plantation is a good example This the reason people always bring up Bullock Co when this question gets asked…That’s the one big thing separating it from pretty much any other area though. You could recreate that same situation or a similar one anywhere in Alabama by following the same general blueprint.

What do you mean by understory forage? Cutover or select cut?

What do you mean by understory forage? Cutover or select cut?

Stick bow the Camden area does hav lot of deer - as Somebody said earlier - having good neighbors helps lot also - Marengo county well known and Sumter area - demopolis - mertlewood areas - several Other areas I could Name but that is a start In the area I were asking about

Arrowhead community in Montgomery.

An example of understory vegetation would be the young plants you see sprouting back after a stand of timber has been cut and the overstory removed….overstory is basically your larger trees. This allows full sunshine to reach the soil. The first wave of plants that come in are called pioneer species……just like the first settlers that moved in and colonized the US……the pioneer plants are colonizing the new clear cut in a very similar manner. They were tough, resilient people who paved the way for future generations…..They may have been simple folks with few provisions but they were crucial for laying the ground work for the prosperous country that would later come from the work they did. Your pioneer plants are just the same.

There’s 5 stages of successional plant communities…..the first 3 are called early successional and they’re the ones that provide the wildlife like deer and turkey with the food and cover they need to survive…. These different plant communities are very diverse with 20, 30, 40+ species present that all preform a function in providing the animals with the cover and nutrition that they need throughout the year. These plant communities also protect the soil from erosion and maintain the fertility and overall productivity of the soil. The more quality understory vegetation you can create in one area…..the more potential you have for producing an abundance of game.

Dog fennel

Years ago I hunted in Lower Peachtree in Clarke County. The property bordered the Alabama River and was at least a mile off the dirt road to access it by. One of the members on here owns that property now, but I dont remember who it is. There were more deer there than I could ever imagine in my wildest dreams. I dont remember now how many I killed there with a bow, but it was unreal at the wildlife that was there. Alligators were everywhere in the back sloughs, turkeys were seen every hunt, and hogs were a problem that we knocked a huge dent in! Talk about a great hunting area, that was it. I was 5 hours away from it and we only leased it one year because we didnt see any really good bucks on it-all the bucks had funky looking racks! I many times would like to go back and hunt that area again with my bow. I bet there were only a couple of times hunting there that I didnt kill a deer. I literally wore my Daddy out having him help me drag them out of the swamps. I have no idea what it is like now, but in the early 90's this would have been the place to be.

At one time the area between Demopolis, Linden, and Myrtelwood had as many deer as anywhere I have ever been. I don’t know if it is still that way, I am sure some of the guys that live or hunt that area can chime in.

There are some absolute studs hanging in those woods.

Neighbors neighbors and neighbors are the key anywhere you go

Not nearly what it once was. The QDM doe massacre did a number on most areas of SW AL mentioned in this thread. Some pockets still have good numbers, but not whole counties. And some areas I would consider very poor deer numbers - even a lot of those traditional counties that hunters think about.

Little off topic but food for thought since you stated you traditional bowhunt. Consider investing in some type of camping setup and taking advantage of the 700,000 acres of public land in Alabama. I've hunted and camped Alabama WMA's for over 40 years, and have been really happy with the experience and made a lot of good friends. Most of the WMA's allow you to hunt them with a bow or crossbow any day of the season. The gun hunts only happen on specified days and you can avoid those as a a bowhunter if you don't want to gun hunt. I've hunted primarily Barbour County WMA since 1975 and can't say enough good things about it. I'm from the Brirmingham area as well and there are some really good WMA's within an easy drive. If you haven't taken advantage of Alabama public hunting land, check it out.

Deer population is still good in Marengo and Sumter counties. There are pockets/properties that are better than others.

Having a general area to start your search is a good idea. The population will fluctuate a lot with each specific property. I have been blessed to hunt several areas that had both numbers and quality deer. I hunted a club where 100 deer sighted on a day of dog drives was the norm. A few miles away there were spots that didn't hold any deer. Generally, the highest densities will be in the river bottoms. Before purchasing, look hard at the sign but be ready to pull the trigger immediately. You won't be the only person looking for high density tracts.