Upper Delta WMA

Hunting is something I've never really gotten into, but this year I believe I want to use it as a means to feed myself.  With more and more crap filling the super market shelves and the not so friendly fast food, what better way to know where it is coming from than to go and get it yourself.  Living in Alabama we daily pass up the opportunities to provide for ourselves, an art that I believe is dying more and more everyday.  I long for knowledge and try to use everyday as a learning opportunity to better myself and family.  I also think it is a way to become a better outdoorsman.

Today a friend and I would ride past Stockton Alabama on HWY 59 to check out one of Alabama's wildlife management areas.  They have been established to conserve and manage natural resources such as wildlife and aquatic life in Alabama.  It is generally private land available to the public.  With the right permits you can hunt, fish or trap.  Some areas have designated camping sites and even shooting ranges.  Outside of hunting season they are also great places to hike, canoe or just roam around and enjoy the wild.  There is over 775,000 acres of this land in the state of Alabama available to the public.

We decided to go and scout out a few places for the up and coming hunting season.  This wasn't my first time in the delta, and it will not be my last.  We have the second largest delta in the United States.  It is filled with bottomland hardwoods such as oaks, cypress and tupelo.  It contains many wetland habitats as well.  I have red that 70% of Alabama's waters flows through the Mobile-Tensaw Delta.  With this it can also flood so be aware of what's happening up river and generally they will have the gate closed at the WMA when the area is flooded.  The closer to the Alabama river we got I could notice the water line on trees being well over my head.  During highwater it is said that in a very short time it can rise to over eight feet.

Most of the roads on the property are accessible by a vehicle with only two-wheel drive.  Then there are also trails or roads that you can only go by foot.  We drove down most of section A of the upper Delta WMA, which then we would park and make our way to the Alabama River.  I haven't laid eyes on this river in very long time and took me back to when I was kid learning how to fish on it from my grandfather.  Making our way to the river wasn't the easiest task over, under and through a little swamp land but it was quite the sight when we made it.  Tracks everywhere, mostly deer and hog just what we wanted to see.  On the way back we checked the shooting range out and I also found a nice little canoe trip down majors creek, the WMA  property would be the take out point and there is a nice parking area under the bridge on hwy 59 for the starting point.  As calm as the creek was today you could have probably went and came back, but I am not promising anything since I was on foot and not in a canoe.  This would be my first trip out to the WMA, but  it definitely will not be the last.  I look forward in the months to come bringing home some food that this earth so graciously provides for us and also exploring this strange but beautiful land.

The delta is merciless and very unpredictable.  This is probably what draws me the most to it.  You never know what is going to happen in the delta, me and my wife found this out the first time we went canoeing.  It is definitely like no  other place on this planet and plays a very significant part to our region and ecosystem.  With the right knowledge and respect I believe it can be used to benefit us; mind, body and soul.  This earth is not ours, I learn it more and more everyday, but she treats her guests nice if you let her and have respect for her.  Until next time live to wander.