The biologist advised hunters new to the area to arrive a day early to scout out a spot or two to hunt. "I can't tell you how many times I've seen hunters show up on the area for the first time at 4:30 the morning of the hunt when it's pitch black and ask me where's a good place to go," he recalled. "There's no way I can point them in the right direction under those conditions."

Whether you want to travel or stay close to home in the 2007-08 season, plenty of public action awaits all over the Cotton State. If the weather's favorable, good hunting should be just ahead for Alabama's sportsmen on both private and public grounds.