Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Land, Leases, and Hunting Clubs West Alabama paid hunts

Hi everyone, new member here. Is anyone familiar with Water Valley Lodge in Gilbertown? My season in Louisiana wraps up pretty early around Christmas and I was interested in trying out a January rut hunt in the black belt. There's several lodges in that area that offer hunts around the same price and I'm not sure which ones have the best reputation. I'm not looking for a guaranteed kill, just something different with the possibility of a decent buck. TIA

Did not know that it was there but from online it looks real good... my cuzs live over there.

Yes there are some others like Bent Creek and Pushmataha plantation that seem more popular. Water Valley seems much more low key and lesser known. I’m always wary of online reviews because friends and family can flood them with good reviews.

Save up a bit more and go to Kentucky.

Ky is on my list but I have a much easier time taking off in January than I do in November

If you’re just dead set on going on a paid hunt in Choctaw County, go to Bent Creek.
DO NOT go to the other places that you mentioned.
Personally, I’d just go to Texas.

Can I ask what’s negative about the other places mentioned?

I considered Texas at first but for a quick 2 day hunt I rather make a 3 hour drive instead of 10

Id go to Texas if I was spending thousands. Some of our private schools have hunts you can buy that time of year. I think one is marengo academy

I looked into a few of the school hunts. I have some family that does the Wilcox Academy hunt every year but they have a waiting list.

I’ve looked at hunts in Texas and for a management buck and accommodations, most places start around $3k. The Alabama lodges include room and meals for half that price so that’s what caught my attention. I understand it probably isn’t a sure thing like Texas hunts.

Most of what ive seen on the alabama lodges you mentioned has been decent. Here is the thing- 1. They are going to run as many people as they can through them. 2. Its Alabama. Yes, there are some nice bucks here but they definitely ain’t behind every tree. If I had to guess I would put your odds of a 125–135 inch buck at about 20%. The “Black Belt” thing is a advertising tool to help sell hunts here. Once they quit growing soybeans here years ago the Black Belt aint what it used to be.

It’s a classic “you get what you pay for scenario”. If you really want to kill a 125-135” buck, go to Texas. On the good ranches out there, it’s pretty much a guaranteed hunt. If you just want to shoot a deer with horns, for as cheap as possible, go to Alabama. I’d rate your chances of killing a 125-135 at one of these commercial lodges in AL on a 2 or 3 day hunt at less than 10%. If you do, it’s basically pure luck. 90-100” buck is probably 30-35% at the better commercial lodges in AL. A lot of the commercial lodges in AL have just as much pressure as hunting clubs. Some have more. At most big acreage commercial lodges, there will be a few good deer a year killed and most people that do kill, paid their money to hunt and go home with a doe, hog, or if they are lucky, a marginal buck. A lot go home without releasing an arrow or firing a shot. I certainly wouldn’t look at any commercial operation in AL without at least 3000-4000 acres.

Abolt speaks the truth on this subject.

I totally understand what you are saying. That being said, for reference, I currently hunt at a small “brown it’s down” lease in Louisiana. A 100” buck is a rarity and 4 and 5pt bucks is the norm. But it’s also cheap, $800/year. I know I most likely come home empty handed, but for the money and distance I have to drive, I figured what the heck. Anything can happen during the rut.

I’d say go for it man. I have heard good things about bent creek though as they said also

If I was going to go on a paid hunt in AL, with the sole intention of actually trying to kill a good buck, I'd look at Westervelt Lodge in Aliceville. Might be a little more than the others mentioned above but you've, in my opinion, got a much better potential to accomplish your goal there. They've got 12,000 contiguous acres right on the river (this why I'd recommend it), pines, big hardwoods, river bottoms, big fields, nice lodge, good southern cooking, good guides and some really good bucks on the property. It's fully fair chase in AL so there is no guarantee that you'll see or kill what you're looking for, but it's gorgeous property, they do limit the number of hunters annually, and most importantly they have harvest restrictions in place on the bucks they allow to be taken. Looking for a 125-130" buck, I'd time my hunt to try to be there between Jan 1 and Jan 15. While it is a rarity for anywhere in AL, you've actually got a legitimate chance to kill a buck pushing 150 or 160 there because they do actually have them on that property.

Look at the Morgan Academy Deer Hunt. Good people.

I think Marengo Academy has been closed for 10-15 years.

It is closed.

Several of my friends and I took our sons to Westervelt a few years back. The Accommodations were out of this world. Food was some of the best I have eaten and rooms were great. The hunting was about as good as hunting a Wal-Mart parking lot in the middle of summer. There was only 1 deer killed out of a total of over 30 hunters. They booked as many folks as they could to pay the bills. Beautiful place that I would love to own though. The odds of killing a deer at Westervelt just aren’t very good. I would pick a WMA over these overpriced lodges.

My $0.02

That’s a shame. I had the privilege of hunting Westervelt lodge several times in the 70’s and most of killed decent bucks on every trip. The accommodations and food was amazing.