Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game AL public hog hunting?

Anybody have any experience public land hog hunting in Alabama? I'm in NW Alabama Winston County. We have a few hogs but not many. My son in-laws want me to take them on a hog hunt. Anybody have a favorite management area or public access spot they can suggest? I would rather not have to travel all the way to the coast.

Hey, I'm in Colbert County, and I would highly suggest these places: 1) 7 mile Island WMA in Lauderdale County 2) Any other west Lauderdale WMA 3) Lamar-Marion County Sam Murphy - anywhere around row crop or Buxahatchee river.

I work in agriculture and travel these areas all cotton season and see plenty hogs. They are not as thick here in Colbert Riverton and Freedom Hills WMA. I have a tree farm bordered by Riverton WMA on 3 sides, and we seldom see any there. The hogs in the river bottom areas of Lamar and Franklin have just about ended growing corn, peanuts and beans in those areas.

I don't hog hunt (or haven't specifically) but will sling some lead when I run across them.

Best of luck. If you have a boat, there is a lot of land on 7 mile that is island.

Best,
Chris

Thanks a bunch. Does the 7-mile area need a motorboat or will canoes work?

I also live in Colbert County, and I'll second what 351WSL says. I hunt Freedom Hills/Riverton some and seldom see hogs there, in either the Riverton part or in the southern (Coon Dog Cemetery) part. However, my son lives close to the Lauderdale County part of Seven Mile Island WMA (just across the river from Colbert County, just down river from Florence), and they have hogs that come up into their neighborhood rooting up flower beds and ruining gardens on a fairly regular basis. You can access that part of the Seven Mile Island WMA off of AL Hwy 20, just west of the Cypress Creek bridge. If you've got a boat, you can launch in Florence or Sheffield and get out on the Seven Mile Island itself and there are lots of hogs there, and the largest ones are on the Island. The current is pretty strong in that part of the river, so you'll need a motor boat of some type.

YOU NEED TO CAREFULLY CHECK THE LATEST REGULATIONS ABOUT THE HUNTING SEASONS FOR FERAL SWINE IN THE SPECIFIC AREAS YOU WANT TO HUNT! THEY HAVE CHANGED THE SEASONS SEVERAL TIMES IN THE PAST FEW YEARS.

In the extreme northwest corner of the state is the Lauderdale WMA, north and west of Waterloo. It's supposed to have hogs, but I can't personally verify that. What he said about the river and creek bottom areas of Franklin, Marion, and Lamar counties is true. Sam R. Murphy WMA in Marion and Lamar counties. Also, Corp of Engineers land all along the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway in Mississippi and Alabama. There's some Forever Wild public hunting land in Tuscaloosa county along the Sipsey River.

Several years ago, one of my Dad's friends killed a BIG old sow that weighed over 400 lbs on Seven Mile Island. He shot it broadside through a canebrake with a .30-30 and it charged him. He emptied his rifle at it and didn't stop it. He scrambled up a tree and didn't have any more ammo with him. The sow ripped at the base of the tree with her tusks for five or six minutes then wandered off. He sat up there for about 15 or 20 minutes and thought it had died. When he came down, it charged him again from a different direction and back up the tree he went, dropping his rifle. He called Dad and Dad called me and we got in Dad's boat and went to rescue our friend. We took one of our bird dogs, that would stay close, for another set of eyes and an early warning system. I was carrying a Ruger 77 in .300 Win Mag loaded with 220gr round nose, Dad was carrying a Browning A5 with slug barrel loaded with Brenneke slugs. We eased in there on full alert. Our bird dog, Dottie, found the sow dead in a canebrake about 30 yds from the tree our friend was in. We gutted and quartered it, brought it home, and butchered it. A few days later, Mom tried to cook some of the bacon and it stunk up the house something terrible. Our friend ended up boiling all the meat in a big iron pot out in his backyard (and stinking up the neighborhood), and we divvied it up and fed it to our dogs over the next several weeks. That sow looked like only a few generations in the wild. We used to have a large hog operation on our farm and Dad was pretty sure that sow was out of Yorkshire bloodlines.

Good for you to give more details than I can, Skeezix, and also good to hear from you! I hope all is well and you had a great Thanksgiving! As Skeezix said, a boat isn't necessary, but nice to have if you want to cross over onto the actual island that is 7 miles long.

Anywhere that you can find that has crop fields nearby in Lauderdale County will probably be good. I see their wallows frequently along the edges of the WMA and fields. (Lauderdale)

I think it's actually spelled "Buttahatchee" River down towards the Sam Murphy WMA. I was going by memory . There is one farm that I work just off of River Road and Henson Springs road just south of Hamilton. It is part of the WMA. I know for a fact that there are a lot of pigs just south of it, as I've seen many and their crop damage, but the farmer does give them a fit when the sun goes down. I do not know any of the rules and regs down there, as I have never hunted it.

Good luck!

Chris

Oakmulgee wma has them and decent deer hunting, I’ll be there Monday morning myself hunting.

Skeezix - your story reminds of a ranch hand's story in OK. He went up a tree after emptying his 30-30 levergun on a big sow. He used his cellphone to call a friend who came and bailed him out. That guy always carried a pistol with him after that.