Alabama's gun deer hunting season on privately-owned lands is scheduled to open shortly. If you are in the market for a rural property and plan on heading out to take a look at land during the winter months, it pays to exercise a few precautions to make your excursions safer and more successful.
Here are a few tips to follow when heading out to the winter-woods.
1. Schedule an Appointment. A "for sale" sign on a property does not constitute the right to enter a property: it is an announcement, not an invitation. You should call the landowner or listing agent before walking onto any rural property in Alabama. All listings with AlaLandCo are shown by appointment only.Calling first will help ensure that you do not surprise someone who is hunting, and will minimize the possibility of being shot by accident.
2. Wear Blaze Orange or other Bright Colors.The goal here is to be conspicuous. In the event there are others in the woods, you will be readily identifiable. November 20 to January 31 is a bad time to field test your new buckskin jacket on someone else's land. Wear a blaze cap or better still an orange vest.
3. Stay with the Agent. Generally sticking with the agent will keep you within the boundaries of a property. Hunters may be using adjoining lands, so hanging close to your guide is a good idea. I don't do much exploring of new ground during this time of year.
4. Keep it between 10 and 2. Your driver's ed teacher hammered this home in highschool, so apply that same lesson to previewing hunting properties and timber tracts during deer season. Most hunters are in the woods early in the morning and mid-afternoon. Hunters often break for lunch and come out of the woods for a brief respite during the middle of the day. This is a good time to look at a property so as not to disturb a hunter who is in the stand. If you can't visit a property in the middle of the day, try to avoid dawn and dusk situations. You can't see the qualities of a property in low light conditions and a hunter isn't able to discern what is moving down the trail as easily either.
If you will follow these tips you are more likely to be safe in the woods and also get more from your time previewing the land. If you are looking for a quality hunting property or recreational tract in West Alabama, please contact me to see how I can be helpful.
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