New lands and rules for upcoming hunting seasons
Sportsmen will see some changes for the 2026-27 hunting seasons, including the addition of more than 9,400 acres of new public hunting lands.
In 2020, the state acquired about 11,000 acres of Monroe County for the Red Hills Wildlife Management Area north of Monroeville to preserve habitat for the rare Red Hills salamander. The state amphibian only lives in parts of Butler, Conecuh, Covington, Crenshaw, Monroe and Wilcox counties. This year, the state received a $12 million grant to purchase another 4,719 acres for
the salamander.
Since 2020, the state gradually increased the acreage in Red Hills WMA. Now, the property totals 18,649 acres. The area allows public hunting for white-tailed deer, squirrels, hogs and other game.
“The WMA grew out of trying to protect habitat for the Red Hills salamander,” says Seth Maddox, assistant chief of the Wildlife Section for the Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division. “It benefits us to protect the habitat for that species. Once we get enough property in that area, we can delist the salamander and better protect it. We’re always looking to add more land to give people more opportunities and access for hunters.”
The state also created two Special Opportunity Areas that people can apply to hunt for the first time. Shelby SOA covers about 1,200 acres near Columbiana in Shelby County. Chalk Hill SOA includes 3,510 acres near Reeltown in Tallapoosa County. To hunt on an SOA, sportsmen must apply to hunt specific game on designated dates. If selected, those sportsmen get a section of land to themselves for those days.
“SOAs are typically smaller than WMAs and are more suitable to limited or random draw permit hunting,” Maddox says. “This reduces pressure and increases the quality of the hunt. Usually, those selected get a dedicated 300- to 400-acre unit to hunt for two to four days.”
Shelby SOA consists of three hunting units. Sportsmen can apply to hunt deer or small game. The habitat consists mainly of mixed pine forest and hills.
A hunting club leased the Chalk Hill area for years. It sits on the eastern side of Yates Lake. The 5,616-acre Yates WMA sits on the western side of the lake in Elmore County.
“Chalk Hill SOA has been managed pretty well by the hunting club, so we were excited to get it,” Maddox says. “We have 10 units on that area. Each unit averages about 350 acres. We’ll allow hunting for deer, small game and turkey. The habitat is hilly with mostly pines, but it also has a lot of bottomland hardwood drainages on it.”
Earlier turkey season in 2027
In the spring of 2027, turkey hunters can begin hunting earlier than in past years. The season dates in all three turkey hunting zones will begin a week earlier. Zone 1 opens March 20, 2027. Zones 2 and 3 will open a week later. In addition, turkey hunters may use decoys all season long if they wish. In the past few years, the state prohibited the use of decoys for the first 10 days of the season.
“We received a lot of input from the public about moving the turkey season dates so that’s what we decided to do,” Maddox says. “For the decoys, we found that prohibiting the use of decoys for 10 days had no impact on the turkey population. Some hunters were confused when they could and couldn’t use turkey decoys, so we just rescinded that restriction.”
In other changes for 2026-27 hunting season, the state rolled out a new hunting and fishing licensing system. People can still buy licenses online or wherever they purchased them previously.
In addition, hunters can now wear fluorescent pink as well as hunter orange safety clothing. People who wish to hunt deer with dogs in the Talladega National Forest will need a new permit. The state also closed the harvest of all fox squirrels in the Tuskegee National Forest.
“We started to see a decline in the fox squirrel population in Tuskegee National Forest,” Maddox says. “The habitat changed some and we want to protect that species and let them rebound. We’re watching the fox squirrel population in the rest of the state. We have a little bit of concern about the species.”
For a long time, Alabama prohibited the harvest of fox squirrels statewide during February and March. That’s the time when most of the fox squirrels breed and give birth to young ones.
For more information on Special Opportunity Areas, see outdooralabama.com/hunting/special-opportunity-areas.
John N. Felsher lives in Semmes, Ala. He also hosts an outdoors tips show for WAVH FM Talk 106.5 radio station in Mobile. Contact him at j.felsher@hotmail.com or through Facebook.
