First I see there are many WMAs. Are these areas one must draw to hunt? If so, are non-residents able to participate in those lotteries?
Is there quite a lot of public hunting aside from those WMAs? Is it heavily hunted? Anybody here hunt the month of January or February at all on public land?
I grew up hunting WMA's and nothing else. They can be great places to hunt if you're willing to work. No draw on the WMA's they are open to anyone with an AL hunting license (res or non-res) and an AL WMA license (~$16 unless they went up). They are "generally" open all season for bow hunting but only set dates for gun hunts. The dates vary for each one and can be found online.
There is not a lot of public ground outside of WMA's. The WMA's get a fair amount of pressure but it's been a couple of years since I've hunted them. It can be a bit of a race to get to where you're going at the start of the day.... Lots of people are lease members which reduces the number who hunt WMA's nowadays. Folks who are willing to put in some footwork and get away from other hunters generally have a better chance on the WMA's.
Most of AL has a January rut. Some areas like Choccolocco WMA have a much earlier late Oct/early Nov rut. This is due to where the deer stocked there came from originally. Check the hunt dates for the WMA you're considering as well as the dates for the rut in that area if you want to be there at "prime time"...which is also often the heaviest hunted times.
