Official Website of the Foxhunters Hall of Fame
On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of last week Daddy and I did something that we haven't done in over a decade. We cast a pack of hounds in the wild with the intentions of running and killing a deer. We used to dog deer hunt all the time but due to changing laws and changing timber company policies we haven't really had a suitable place. It has probably been 5 or 6 years since I have even been on a deer stand. For some reason we decided to join a group of hunters who religiously attend each year the 4 or 5 days of dog deer hunting on Blue Spring WMA in the Conecuh National Forest.
About 400-500 hunters each day scatter out across the 23,000 acre WMA to try to kill a deer or at least hear a pack of hounds run. I know 47 deer were reported killed the first day and about that many again the second day. For our part we cast 9 hounds on day 1, 7 hounds on day 2, and 5 hounds on day 3 and had a lot of good running all three days. I would estimate that 20 deer were killed by our hunting party or in front of our hounds. Blue Spring has plenty of coyotes also and I know of at least 4 that were bayed or were shot in front of our hounds. One good race lasted about 3 hours and ended with the coyote taking refuge in a creek.
Here is SunSt(f)FloraBama(bd)CH J's Sir Bill H asking the coyote how his day was going...
This coyote was tired but not harmed and some time after we caught the dogs up he ran off in good spirits.
Also in the race with Bill were his son and daughter Elton and Ellen as well as their cousin Sadie.
We hunted the East side of the WMA around Cypress Tree Rd and Red Wash Hill. Take a look at the map linked below to get a better idea.
Blue Spring WMA
If you enjoy dog deer hunting come try a hunt at Blue Spring. You just need an AL hunting license and a management area license to be legal. Lots of dog hunters from NW Florida come up for the hunts every year.
This is also the site of the Blue Spring Open held in September. Last year it took almost 800 points to win the Speed and Drive with hounds scoring around 350 points per day.
Real nice picture for you to keep Heath. Tell your Dad hello for me