Editor’s Note: Start now to manage your hunting lands for maximum wildlife production by following these recommendations from Chuck Sykes, the Director of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries in the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR). He tells how the State of Alabama is meeting the growing demand for public-land deer and turkey hunters to have opportunities to hunt lands intensively managed for wildlife like owners manage their private lands. As new public lands have become available to be purchased by the Game & Fish Division, this division has implemented land-management practices in these areas to improve them for maximum wildlife production and older-age-class animals. The DCNR also has limited access to these lands by using a drawing system similar to that of the hunting permit trophy areas in western states. These strategies, when used, can help you improve the land you hunt if you own the land or have the landowner’s permission to implement these land-management tactics.

Most hunters think that cotton fields are deserts for wildlife. When the DCNR bought Portland Landing to use as an SOA, 450 acres were used for cattle and cotton production. The DCNR wasn’t in the cattle or the cotton business, so the Department contracted with a local farmer to plant cotton on a portion of this land. At the time of the purchase, the property also had invasive grasses that weren’t native to the State of Alabama or wildlife-friendly, like Johnson grass and others. So, the DCNR removed these invasive grasses before the farmer planted cotton.

“We know that deer eat cotton,” Sykes says. “Turkeys like to strut and bug in the grasses growing underneath cotton stalks. We’re now conducting a scientific study on these cotton fields with woodcocks. We’ve put radio collars on captured woodcocks in these fields to learn their migration routes. So, the DCNR is providing a local farmer an excellent opportunity to earn a living on this land and ridding the property of grasses that are not good for wildlife. Today, these cotton fields provide a better habitat for wildlife on that land.

“Green and yellow grasses, commonly known as henbit and panic grass, are growing under some cotton stalks. The turkeys, quail, and woodcocks feed heavily on these grasses’ seeds. The deer are grazing on the grass and young cotton plants as they come up. Also, cotton and corn stalks cover turkey poults and quail chicks – protecting them from avian predators and yielding plenty of grass seed to feed on under the protection of the stalks. Most people never think of a cotton field as a wildlife habitat, and I agree it’s not the best. However, cotton fields give deer, turkeys, quail, and woodcocks another diverse habitat they all prefer.”

Although most hunters may consider leasing farming rights to farmers who produce soybeans and corn, they can rent some of their hunting rights to cotton farmers and provide better wildlife habitat.

Looking for more content? Check out our YouTube channel and watch “Three Critical Factors to Locate Deer Movement” by John E. Phillips.

How to Hunt and Take Big Buck Deer on Small Properties
In this book, you’ll hear from 14 hunters who either have gained permission or leased properties as small as six acres to as much as 250 acres, and how they consistently take older-age-class bucks off these little lands.

VERSIONS: AUDIBLE, KINDLE & PRINT

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Jim Crumley’s Secrets of Bowhunting Deer
Using a black magic marker and a gray work jumpsuit, Jim Crumley of Buchanan, Virginia, drastically changed the nature and purpose of hunting camouflage when he created the first sportsman’s camouflage – Trebark. Crumley’s love of bowhunting and his desire to be more invisible changed hunting clothing forever. 

In this hunting guide, he shares the wisdom that he’s learned throughout his lifetime about how to be a hunter, how to find a deer lease, how to scout for deer, and more.

Special features include how to:

• Have a magic 60 acres to hunt 
• Decide the best equipment to use
• Find deer year-round
• Locate land to hunt
• Know the best place to put your tree stand
• Get bucks within bow range

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How to Hunt Deer Like a Pro
How do you know if the land you hunt has a trophy deer on it? Wildlife manager Bob Zaiglin, of Uvalde, Texas and Jim Crumley, the father of modern-day hunting camouflage, tells you how to find out. GPS can make finding and taking that trophy buck easier. This hunting guide will teach you how to hunt big bucks where no one else can find them, how to call deer, and how to become versatile as a deer hunter, so that if one deer tactic doesn’t work, another one will.

In the chapter, “How to find Bucks at Scrape,” Dr. Keith Causey, retired professor of Wildlife Science at Auburn University, describes the best way to hunt a scrape.

Brad Harrison of Neosho, Missouri, is a nationally-known videographer, professional deer hunter and master at calling deer. Another master is Will Primos of Primos Game Calls. These two experts will tell the best deer calls and when to use them in this book.

And for over 20 years, Bo Pitman, lodge manager of White Oak Plantation, has been studying deer movement patterns. He explains what types of conditions are best for predicting deer movement.

VERSIONS: AUDIBLE, KINDLE & PRINT

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In Chapter 10, Jacob Lamar tells you his tactics for consistently taking older-age-class bucks on public lands in several states. Chapter 11, Bob Walker explains how to find places on public lands where you can hunt that 99 percent of the other hunters never have considered hunting. The Bonus Chapter with David Ramey tells you how, where, when and with what equipment to take big Kansas bucks on public lands by hunting in 100-degree weather when others won’t hunt.

Chapter 13, Mark Drury, his family and his guests take mature bucks every season by having more small places to hunt rather than one large property. Drury explains the strategy of having satellite farms to hunt that only may be 50-150 acres each or less. Chapter 15, Pat Reeve, who hunts far-northern states and Canada, says, “I don’t like hunting for mature bucks until the weather is 20 degrees or less.” Chapter 4, Dr. Larry Marchinton says that funnels are the most-reliable stand sites to hunt for big bucks and tells why. 

VERSIONS: AUDIBLE & PRINT

Check out John E. Phillips’ 12th book: “Turkeys: Today’s Tactics for Longbeards Tomorrow“

Tomorrow: Burn Land and Disc for More Wildlife