By John E. Phillips

In the Cotton State, small-game hunting has a long and revered history going back at least a century. Part of that is the result of a lot of sportsmen simply enjoying the pursuit of rabbits, squirrels and quail. On the other hand, it can also be attributed to the lack of other options.

More than 50 years ago, as far as we knew, no deer or turkeys lived within 100 miles of Birmingham, where I grew up. So hunting for smaller critters was the only "game" in town.

My history of hunting in Alabama is probably representative of many other hunters today that are past the ripe old age of 45. Unlike today's youngsters, we started out on small game, evolving into turkey and deer hunters when that game became plentiful. But along the way, many of us never lost our love for hunting squirrels, jumping rabbits and flushing quail.

On the other hand, small-game hunting in Alabama has declined dramatically in participation over the last 35 years, while some of the game we hunted has fallen on hard times as well.

Keith Guyse, the assistant chief of Alabama's Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries within the Department of Conservation and Natural Resource, is in a position to have an overall view of these resources, where they have been and where we are headed in the future. Here's what he has to say regarding our small-game resources.

Because Alabama's squirrel population has remained constant for a long time, a few years ago, officials in the Wildlife Division extended the squirrel season through the month of February to take advantage of this underutilized resource.

"This practice has generated more interest in squirrel hunting," Guyse noted. "We've had more participation in squirrel hunting now with the longer season. We've found the public is quite interested in hunting squirrels after deer season closes. We've also seen a renewed interest in hunting squirrels with dogs."

Up through the mid-1960s, just about every rural family seemed to have a squirrel dog. As more people moved into cities, a squirrel dog became a rarity. However, in the last 10 years, hunting with squirrel dogs, especially the small feist breed, has made a comeback.

PUBLIC LAND FOR SMALL GAME Alabama’s wildlife management area system provides a lot of land for hunting small game, and much of it is underutilized. To hunt these lands, you need only a valid Alabama hunting license and a WMA permit. You can find maps and directions for all of the WMAs online at the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Web site, at www.dcnr.state.al.us/agfd. Lands owned and managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the Tenn-Tom Waterway basin of West Alabama can also be hunted for small game. To learn more about permits for hunting this property, visit http://tenntom.sam.usace .army.mil/Wildlife.html on the Web.

If you want a challenge that can improve your overall hunting skills, then head out after squirrels with a .22-caliber rifle. Each year I try to hunt squirrels two or three times before bow season for deer arrives. Squirrel hunting helps train the eye to identify movement in the woods. You will relearn the lessons of moving slowly, walking softly, using cover and aiming accurately in the thick foliage. All these lessons come in handy for larger game, but again come into play in January and February for squirrels again. In fact, with the leaves gone from the trees, getting a crack at a bushytail becomes even more of a game of stealth.

After a successful shot, don't assume you have bagged the squirrel in that area. Rather look around for landmarks to pinpoint where the squirrel went down, then keep an eye out for more movement. These animals often exhibit a curious nature and check out unusual commotion. But, don't expect them to hop on top of a limb in plain sight. More likely you will see the twitch of a tail as one peeks around a tree trunk. One way to make such a scenario more likely is to use .22 short ammunition. Though you may lose some range on your shots, the soft report from a shot is not going to carry far and is not as likely to send other squirrels scurrying for a hollow tree.

Of course, if you become so proficient at bagging bushytails that it seems too easy, you can turn to using a squirrel call to try and bring them into you. Or perhaps you'd like to give me a few lessons in the sport?

According to Keith Guyse, the best squirrel hunting on any of these public lands is found along large creeks or rivers. That is because these are usually areas holding plenty of hardwoods that offer the animals forage and den trees.

"Black Warrior WMA is a large wilderness area with many mature hardwoods," Guyse reported. "Although you may not want to hike out to the middle of this WMA, you can enjoy plenty of productive squirrel hunting around the edges.

Other overlooked sites for a squirrel hunt that he mentioned are the waterfowl WMAs scattered along the Tennessee River. Crow Creek, Mud Creek and Raccoon Creek WMAs, along with Crow Creek and North Sauty refuges in Jackson County have small wood lots with mature hardwoods and lots of squirrels. Also, Mallard-Fox Creek WMA in Lawrence and Morgan counties, Mallard-Fox Creek WMA in Lauderdale County and Swan Creek WMA in Limestone County fall in this category.

Many squirrel hunters in the west-central section of the state find plenty of action for squirrels at Demopolis WMA on the floodplain of the Tombigbee River. You may need a boat to reach some of the prime spots on this WMA.

Also, in this same western part of the state, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers owns land along the Tenn-Tom Waterway that contains numerous river-bottom hardwood stands. These get very little hunting pressure.

Rabbits like the ones the author bagged are still plentiful throughout Alabama. Photo courtesy of John E. Phillips

Back then, five or six of my buddies and I would put on bunny drives near my home on Saturdays throughout hunting season. We'd spread out about 15 to 20 yards apart, stomp woodpiles, kick through fields, briar patches or cutovers and jump a number of cottontails.

It was only later as a young adult that I met Mel Stuart of Dora, who introduced me to the mesmerizing cries of a pack of beagles running a jumped rabbit in full circle back to our hunting party. I've loved to hunt bunnies with beagles ever since.

Unfortunately, changing land use and farming practices eliminated much of the edge habitat rabbits need, and urban/suburban living made keeping a pack of beagles pretty impractical. For those reasons, along with the rise of interest in bigger game, rabbit hunting activity declined.

But according to Guyse, the bunnies did not disappear and even have made a bit of a comeback.

"We still have plenty of rabbits within the areas that always have held rabbits," he offered. "Rabbits like to stay near covered areas in field edges, small wood lots, grown-up fencerows and for the first few years in areas where timber has been clear cut. Rabbits need early successional grasses and plants that are low to the ground that they can eat."

It is the need for this type habitat that explains why rabbits are on the rebound. As more hunters have started planting food plots for deer and turkeys, these green fields have become rabbit magnets.

"However, not all green fields provide really good rabbit habitat," Guyse cautioned.

The food plots planted on the edges of clearcuts, open fields or pastures, along woods roads produce more rabbits than plantings deep in the woods. The open areas put the new food sources close to more natural rabbit habitat.

"But if you plant green fields for deer and turkeys," he went on to concede, "then regardless of where you plant them, you're also producing lands for rabbits and providing good places to hunt them."

"Any of the WMAs where the state has extensive farming operations, as at the waterfowling areas, will be good for hunting rabbits.

"All the Jackson County areas should have good populations of rabbits along planted field areas. You can find good populations on any wood roads, briar thickets and clearcuts there. Some of my favorite places to hunt rabbits are fields and croplands close to the edges of streams and rivers where you find cottontails and super-sized swamp rabbits," Guyse concluded.