When writing for an Outdoor paper, magazine, and a web site there is so much that can be written on. It is almost like trying to come up with new words for a special book. I would almost say that on a count of 100 words to 100 words that the Aurthur Tom Kelly dose not have as much trouble of coming up with words to go into his own books.

Tom Kelly is by far one of the greatest outdoor writers of this time. I say this to you as the reader that this is my own opinion and i do not wish to change it by any means necessary. When he writes it’s like words just fall into place and you seem to read them one after another and they just make since. Some would disagree and say that he is not the best writer of this time but we are all entitled to our own opinion.

What comes to mind when you hear the word Outdoors? It can mean many things in this day and age. It is like the adds that you read on the back of some everyday outdoor magazine that is there for one reason. That reason is to promote the company that has paid for that add. The adds that I enjoy reading the most are like the one’s that just come from the heart. Let’s take a look at Mossy Oak adds and just sit and read one and think of what you may read while you read it. Here is one for example.

” Law of Nature ”
” It’s a law of nature: the more dirt gets under your fingernails, the higher your spirit gets lifted.”

There are plenty more of where this add comes from and you can find it at Mossy Oak. I have to say that even when Realtree placed add’s they never even matched up to Mossy Oak. These two companies are competing for who has the best camo. But Mossy Oak go’s further than that.

Mossy Oak also works best with Biologic, a seed blend for every type of wildlife out there that mother nature has to put forward to us. Whitetail Institute has planted over 1 million acres but I would say that Biologic is rite there with them if not equal.

Outdoor companies compete each and every year for something new to be placed on the shelf. There is still thousands of things out there to be discovered and it only take a little time in the outdoors to do it. When it comes to camo I will more than likely choose Realtree over Mossy Oak but i have had my chances to plant Whitetail Institute products and here in the south the Biologic brand is just a little better.

As Toxey Haas once said: ” It all started with a fist full of dirt.”

Alabama is a state that allows two deer a day to be taken during its entire hunting season. It’s rut can sometimes only last one week or even three or four weeks based on the weather. Alabama is a liberal state that has its game laws set up for the true sportsman. It can be a honey hole one year and then a total collapse the next. The weather here can be in the 90′s early and in the low 20′s late.

You have to know when to be in the wood’s and when that time comes you have to be there or else. Season starts mid October with bow and ends the last day of January. The rut usually here around the last two weeks of the season but has been known to come in around the first week of January and last until the first or second week of February. You may or may not see a lot of rubbing or making of scrapes until it’s too late. But when you do, get set up as soon as possible and stay there all day even.

Being ready for the rut in Alabama in advance can produce you with an excellent trophy to take home to place on your wall. I have taken some very respectable deer ranging from the 120′s to the mid 150′s during Alabama’s rut season. The one thing you have to be able to do is to set as long as possible. Stay warm, dry, and as scent free as possible. These can be your key elements to harvesting a trophy buck here in the southeast.

Over the years Alabama has become one of America’s most deer hunted places. With hunters coming in from Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, and even Arkansas. The hunting here can be a strain on a hunter’s body at times based on the weather. You never know what kind of weather you will have here so be ready for anything.

Land here can be hard to find unless you know someone or can lease it from a timber company. There is also some very good public hunting here in such places as the Wildlife management Areas (WMA). Areas such as Lowndes wma, Barbour wma, and also the Black Warrior River around the Birmingham area in the north central part of the state. There has been some Boone & Crockett bucks taken off of these areas in the past.

The Black Belt region of Alabama is mainly a favorite for hunter’s that are allowed to hunt in these places. These are places such a Demoplis wma and the range of this area is mainly from parts of the Black warrior being in north to, Monroe county in the south Dallas and Sumter counties in the west. Not a lot of the Black Belt region in the eastern side. There is little of it in Crenshaw and Pike counties. The Black Belt region has produced most likely some of the states biggest deer mainly due to the farming that use to be done in these parts. There is very little big time farming left here like it use to be. You will still see some but you will also see a lot of pine plantations also now. So when you want to have your next challenge at whitetail deer hunting then plan a trip to Alabama and hope and pray for the best.

You can also visit Outdoor Alabama for more info  on the laws and regulations here. Alabama has it all for everyone to see. From its parks and lakes to its famous Alabama Quail Trail. Hope to see you soon in the great state of Alabama.

This is no old scent here. Rex Holmes and his staff at VTS has come up with a scent that could almost be bad for a deer if he shows up. This new scent is made from all natural ingredients and no off the wall stuff.

This scent is the best thing since the grunt call. When a deer comes from down wind of you it may be too late. A scent that can stop a deer in his tracks will do the job every time. You can count on me taking this scent to the woods this season with me because my game camera doesn’t lie.

I sprayed some of the scent around and on the corn that I had placed in front of a feeder.There had not been any deer seen on this tract of land all summer long. There are no summer plantings such as beans or corn. The only thing that has been placed out all summer was a Trophy Rock which the deer had almost consumed and some corn for about a week sprayed down with the vapor trail scent.

After going in and spraying this scent there were no pictures on the game camera. Three days had passed and I went back to check the camera and there were 123 pictures in three days. All of the corn that I had sprayed was gone and the Trophy Rock was licked clean and they were starting to paw into the bare ground around it.

Lets take a look at a few photos that were taken with my trail camera. These photos were taken using the vapor trail scent.

So remember a trail camera doesn’t lie. All the corn and the rock were sprayed down with this amazing scent from VTS.

Planting can be tricky in many ways. What do I plant? How do I plant it? Where do I need to plant? Will it grow under shady areas? How well dose it hold up in the early spring?

The first question I ask is what do you want out of your food source for your deer herd. Do you want to plant an Annual or a Perennial. There is a big difference between the two.

Annuals are plants that require only one growing season to complete their life cycle. This means that if you want them to keep growing then you must replant these forges each year. Some annuals can be encouraged to reseed themselves through proper management of the food plot. This management may include mowing, fertilizing, and disking, and will depending on the forage species you have planted. Annuals such as soy-beans, corn, rye, oats, and wheat will need to be planted each year for maximum growth.

Now Perennials on the other hand can be planted one time and may last from 3 to 5 years in a single planting. Most of these forges produce their own nitrogen from their roots. Things like clovers, alfalfa, chicory, and some vetches. These are all perennials. They do this by developing specialized root systems that allow them to regenerate from their roots after the leaves and stems of the plant die at the end of the growing season. The number of seasons  you will get from a single planting depends of the specific forage species, how well you maintain the food plot, and the region you are in.

By far, the biggest benefit of planting perennial forages is that you can get more than one year of good forage production from a single planting. This will allow you to keep your seed and labor costs lower than required on annual plots, which must usually be disked and often replanted each year.

Most of the Perennial food plots will have to have plenty of moisture and some of these can be planted in an area where sun hit’s for only four hours a day. Annuals will need more sun light to produce the tonnage of food per the acre. You wouldn’t plant corn or soy-beans in a swamp.

Remember that you have two different types of annuals as well. The winter annuals are planted in the late summer and early fall. They will begin growing soon there after and go dormant in the winter and begin growing in early spring and die in mid summer.

Summer annuals are planted in early spring through early summer and will put on most of their forges in summer time and will die in early fall or early winter. This is where your grains such as beans and corn are here.

It is important to know whether the forages you are planting are annuals, or perennials. Most importantly, the life cycle of your forages determines how often you will have to replant them. There are also some situations when you might want to select to plant an annual forage instead of a perennial, and vise-versa. Also remember that the foods that you plant for you deer may even benefit your turkey as well. So the next time you decide to plant make sure your planting the right food source.

When managing for trophy deer on small acres you can still think big. You just have to manage it differently. Planting the right food source and having food there for them year round. There are many ways to take care of the small land parcels that we hunt each year.

With so many timber companies now owning land and we as the hunter having to lease the land it can be hard. But it can be done if properly cared for. See the good thing about company land is the timber is already being taken care of and managed for you. A friend and I have just recently leased 78 acres in Butler County,Alabama to hunt on for the first time.

The good thing about this land is it’s small and it’s land locked. The hunting land around it has been managed for some years now in more ways than none. The one thing I like about this land is it is close to home. The timber is being cut as I write this article and bow season starts here in like three weeks. So even though it might not be the best bow season on this tract gun season in early January will be great.

Scouting: #1

When scouting small tracts of land it is a lot easier than you think. The less land you have to scout the more chances you have at actually seeing deer. Check for bedding areas but stay out of them. The less pressure you put on the deer the better you are. Try and use a game camera to take pictures with or even get high on a hill and scope it out and find where deer are coming and going from fields to woods.

Maps: #2

Use maps to you advantage you will never go wrong by using them. A map can be your best friend. If you are leasing new land at the last minuet try and go online and use Google Earth it works great. There is no telling how many times I have looked at it over the last couple of months at the land we just got. It will really pay off for me in the end.

Hunt the Trails: #3

When hunting trails the wind can be a factor. Always use the wind to your advantage. Make sure that when you hunt deer will not detect you coming in to an area and also leaving out. If you have someone to  come and pick you up after dark,  you don’t spook any deer left around you.

Food Plots: #4

I always say plant a food source where you and your deer will only be the one’s to know about it. A 2 acre food plot can be good for feeding deer but there is a very big chance you want see deer using it in hunting hours. A hunting food plot should be no larger than a half acre in size. Even a 1/4 acre plot could be the best food plot you ever hunted over. People take this for granite and think that in order to kill and see lot’s of deer you must hunt over one to two acre food plots. Yes these plots are good just not good enough for hunting. Food source play’s a large factor when hunting small tracts of land.

Know when and where: #5

Know when and where to be when hunting for a trophy buck. Check your local states Boone & Crockett scores. If you are planning on hunting for big bucks then you have to be where the big bucks are. More than likely most of the big bucks in Alabama have been taken from the woods or swamps and not on a food plot. In my area where I hunt there are some great bucks taken each year. It is not uncommon to see some 120 to 150 inch bucks taken each year off some of the land around me. These bucks didn’t get this way by being stupid or growing over night. It takes years to produce big deer not day’s.

I enjoy the small tracts of land cause I control the pressure that is put on the herd. For every 100 acres on small tracts there should be two hunting plots and one feeding plot that dose not get hunted. As I said before hunt small tracts and you too can grow big deer.

For over 30 years Moultrie has grown to be one of the top feeder companies in the nation. I have been using their feeders for over the last 6 years and I can say one thing. “Great” I would choose no other feeder over Moultrie.

They not only have feeders but the scouting cameras to go with them. So when you use a Moultrie feeder try one of their great game cameras to go with it. What a combo they make.  But the cameras and the feeders are not all they have that are great products.

The ATV spreaders, and the sprayers are also good tools to attach to your ATV. These things come in handy when trying to kill weeds or plant a food plot that you can’t get to with a tractor. So why not go to Moultrie for all your hunting needs.

The fish feeders that they have are something that every fisherman should have on their private lake or pond. When feeding fish  like catfish and bream grows to be an everyday job you can sit back and enjoy that time on the bank to actually catch fish. Cause the fish feeder dose all the work for you.

So when you are looking for that perfect feeder to feed your deer,turkey,and fish try a Moultrie Feeder. They want let you down and you will have a feeder that will suit your needs.

Now lets take a look at a video of Dan Moultrie explaining to Jim Strelec how important it is to use a Moultrie Feeder.

North Carolina is home to some of the best eastern whitetail deer hunting you can find. Clay McPherson has worked hard to bring great hospitality and fun times to his friends that come to join him in Ahoskie, NC at Cutawhiskie Creek Outfitters. Here you can take on the challenge of harvesting one of America’s most hunted big game animal the elusive whitetail deer. You also have the chance to hunt the Black Bear, along with waterfowl that fly high through the North Carolina swamps.

You can take advantage of bow season as early as September 12. This season will last until October 2. Then Muzzle loading firearm season starts around October 3 through October 16. Gun season continue the rest of the season from October 18 through January 1 of the new year. We all know that it can get awful cold up in the great hills and wood’s of North Carolina so the closer to that last day of season it gets the colder it may get.

Hunting North Carolina will be nothing like hunting here in South Central Alabama. The weather varies to maybe even colder temperatures and possible snow. Where here in my home state of Alabama if it happens to snow here then everything closes down almost as if it was a day for Alabama and Auburn football or even a local high school were headed to a state championship game to finish their season.

The hunting at Cutawhiskie Creek could be very good for any of the hunts that they provide. So take the time and give Clay a call and visit his web site. You can find your way to his site from hellohunting just by scrolling to the bottom of the page and clicking on his site from Our Friends area. Remember a trip to Cutawhiskie could be a trip you may never forget.

It was fairly warm the evening before and I had the next day off so I told myself I would take a little hunting trip to Autauga County community hunting area which is located about 20 minutes north of our capital city Montgomery,AL.

I awoke on Dec.15,2005 about 6 am and was in no hurry to get to the hunting land mainly cause I had only herd of it but had never hunted it. The land was mostly steep hills planted in pines with very little hardwoods. The power lines on the property had been planted in green fields and there were a lot of tracks in the one field that I had set up near. I placed my climbing stand about five yards off the green field to only think to myself if I were even in a good spot.

After the hour and a half drive and then taking almost another hour to just find a place to set up where the wind would be in my favor almost told me that I was wasting my time. By the time I had actually got set up and ready to hunt it was around 11:30 am. I thought to myself I’m never gonna see a deer like this but I stuck it out and eased back against the tree and relaxed.

There was a lot of sign to be seen just didn’t look all that fresh to me. Most times I would not even had considered trying to pull off a hunt like this being that I knew nothing of the land and it being public land on top of that. What happen that day was an act of God in my book and he is the only one I could thank after what took place that day.

After sitting in the stand for about thirty minutes I kept noticing that the power pole in the power lines in front of me had larges scratching against it. As I looked back behind me there were about five to ten small pine tree’s that had been rubbed. To my acknowledge I didn’t realize that I had set up most likely where a buck was marking his territory. I knew the rut had not kicked in yet and it was still a few weeks away but there was plenty of sign of at least one buck in the area just didn’t know how big.

Around 1:30 pm I had just about dozed off until something caught my attention. It was one of those moments when you think you saw a deer and there was no deer to be seen. But in this case there was a deer and a buck at that. I just wasn’t sure how big he was until he had gotten to within 25 yards and I just had that gut feeling he was gonna bust me when I tried to draw back my bow. I was nowhere even close to being ready.

The moment of fast heart beat and the chill that ran down my back and should I say my entire body had me so shaken up. The time was now or never as the buck took about five steps to my right and got his head behind some tree’s I then pulled back settled my pins and touched the release only to see the arrow hit a little far back than I had expected.

I took a few minuets to regroup myself and climbed down and took all my belongings back to my truck. At about 2:30 pm I took off back to where I had last seen the buck and only to find about four or five specks of blood. I felt like I gave the buck enough time to bed down and sure enough after about ten minuets of tracking I had my buck’s antler’s in my hands.

As I kneel down on both knees to thank the good Lord for giving me the chance at a great Alabama whitetail. Take your time when you go to a new place to hunt. Cause the first place you set up maybe the best place.

From shooting video to taking pictures of  deer, you can learn many  things and their everyday behavior. Let’s watch as the people at Scent-Lok tell us more about understanding deer behavior. This can help you as a hunter and an outdoors-man to understand the deer better.

How do people look at hunting when it comes time to hunt a high fenced in area. There are so many places now day’s going to a high fenced in hunting area. What is the advantages and disadvantages that it may have compared to free range hunting?

I had the chance to work with a hunting lodge located in Forest Home, Alabama that was surrounded by a twenty foot high fence. Yes I will say that there was always work to do and the fact of keeping certain animals like coyote’s and bobcats and other wild dogs out of the area was just as hard. The time and pressure that is put on one person to take care of a lodge in the summer time by himself was very tiring at most times.

The fun part about this place was the fact that I can say I seen deer every day the whole time I was there. There was also a breeding operation going on inside it as well. So having the chance to hand feed deer and them walk rite up to you was amazing and fun.

I can say that in a high fenced area you are holding deer in a certain area where you can’t do it on free range land. The deer outside the actual breeding pen were just as wild as a free roaming deer. You couldn’t just walk up to these deer cause they would run in a heart beat. There were bucks on this place that exceeded 200 inches in antler easy. The site of seeing deer like this has a effect on a free range hunter.

You can manage the property better with a high fence but it can be harder at sometimes to make sure that the fence stay’s up at all times and then there are always gates to open and close where on land of free range you may not even have to open a single gate except to go into the property.

Hunting a high fenced area you can have the chance to see deer just about every single time you go hunting. Where on free range land you may not have that chance. Free roaming deer seem to be actually less skittish than a pen deer cause they have more ground that they can put in between you and them at all times where a pen deer can’t.

As the old saying go’s grass is always greener on the other side of the fence well that’s not always true. In my opinion grass could always be greener on the outside of the fence. For years now people say that a high fenced area is unethical hunting.