Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum 12/26 Cedar creek Soa

Got moved up to hunter for this hunt. I’ve never hunted this part of the state. What should I expect?

To see a lot of deer.

I didn’t see many deer on my cedar creek hunt in January but saw 2 shooters and one made it to the truck

Is that in Sumter Co?

I think Dallas

That's because there aren't many deer there anymore.

Is this sarcasm or not? I thought that area was loaded with quality and quality. I’ve hunted the other side of cedar creek from there and the hunting was great.
Has that area gone downhill?

Between myself and my hunting partner we saw over 15 bucks in two days and we both tagged out in cedar creek unit 1.

I seen plenty of deer on my February deer hunt there about 3 years ago and my son was my guest and he saw more deer than I did. He killed a decent 7 point on that hunt. My son seen a massive covey of quail on that deer hunt. Probably around 100 birds following each other in a line. He videoed it and it was a sight to behold. There is plenty of game on Cedar Creek in general IMO.

Portland Landing has a higher deer population than Cedar Creek in my opinion. They are closely located to each other but the private landowners surrounding Portland have managed the area intensively since back in the early 70s. It is one of the most game rich areas in the state. When you have to stop your truck multiple times on a 5 mile dirt road to let multiple herds/groups of deer cross, the density is pretty high. Either one is a great hunt to draw but if I have a choice, I’m choosing Portland 10 times out of 10. Cedar Creek would be my second choice of all the SOA locations in the state Hope you kill a big one.

Slippin is correct for the most part. It is not nearly as good as it used to be. As is the case with the large majority of Dallas county and the black belt in general (other than pockets of landowners that have taken the time to properly manage their properties rather than simply setting it out in pine plantations.) Which by the way I am not criticizing, I know that is the long term game plan as far as investment.

Cedar and Portland Landing are both in Dallas county. They are right next to each other. As far as terrain goes, if you were blindfolded and dropped off into the middle of one and walked around for a minute you would not know the difference between one or the other.

The only difference would be the massive cotton/CRP/whatever fields that line the river on Portland. Not as much of that on cedar but still some very pretty black belt swamp bottoms.

All that said. The hunting is probably still a cut above 90% of the state. Although there are areas of NW alabama that are starting to outpace it and will likely take over in the future. No SOA's up there though.

All that said, I just accepted a hunt at cedar creek on opening day lol

The biologist last year told us that the majority of the bigger beer came from Cedar creek. I had some big deer on camera at Portland but the weather was hot and miserable. Not sure much was killed between both places that weekend.