AL is a good place for out of state hunters. A year hunting license isn't very expensive. Long season with pretty much unlimited doe harvest and 3 bucks. If you're a turkey or small game hunter it opens more opportunities to take advantage of a year long license.
Jackson County is a good location for the January rut. Skyline WMA is worth looking at there. Hunts are scheduled for certain dates for gun/muzzleloader. Most of the season is open access for bow hunting. It's got some fairly rough/steep land in it. ATV or 4x4 and being in shape will be helpful. Info for Skyline can be found here:
https://www.outdooralabama.com/site...-2023/2022-2023%20-%20D2-Skyline-APP.pdfFairly close in Dekalb County, Little River WMA would be worth looking at. It has an earlier rut than Skyline. It's got some up/down in it but not to the same extent as Skyline. Same idea of scheduled dates for gun/ml. The dates used to be set up so a person can alternate between hunting Skyline and Little River for much of the season....I haven't hunted the WMA's enough the last several years to know if that's still the case.
https://www.outdooralabama.com/site...2022-2023%20-%20D2-Little%20River-s2.pdfLinks to most of the AL WMA's can be found here:
https://www.outdooralabama.com/hunting/wildlife-management-areasThere are other public lands, WMA's are the ones I'm most familiar with as I grew up hunting them so I mentioned them.