Can anyone tell me anything about hunting at Pelham Range? How it works? How you sign in? Safety classes? Bow hunting? Gun hunts? Maps and location of hunting areas. Any info will be appreciated.

How you been Steve? I was thinking about you the other day. Haven't seen you on in a while. Hope all is good.

What and where is Pelham Range?

You must first take a hunter's safety class there. Several are done each year. Classes are advertised in the Anniston Star news paper usually in August and are held in the fall: September, October, November and one in the spring. The class is good for two seasons. Once you take the class you can go buy a license at the Game Management Office located at Pelham Range. Maps of the hunting areas are provided with your license. You are allowed to bow hunt, shotgun slug hunt or muzzleloader hunt. No modern ammunition hi-powered rifles allowed. The hunting is very good and a bow hunter's dream. Maybe one of the best kept secrets in the state!

I have heard the same as bt. Great hunting but you better be ready to follow the letter of the law out there. I have several family members that work out there and they can tell plenty of stories of folks who got their permit revoked even for very minor infractions. Not trying to discourage any from going out there but it is a military installation and they take everything very seriously.

It's been a while since I've been around folks that hunt it so I'm sure things have changed since I last heard how they go about sign ins and all that. Last I heard they dropped off the hunters in the areas they were to hunt. Any deviation from where you are supposed to hunt is a big no no. Hope you can get on out there. Some true monsters out there.

Bucks only and four on one side. Two buck limit. No does (bow or gun) unless it changes next year.

Read the rules good and you'll be fine. No preseason scouting allowed. But you can upland game hunt.

Steve, hope your doing well. We still waiting on that first kill to send you a pic. He chasing them girls more than deer these days. Lol

They drop you off at Anniston army depot not Pelham, there are so few deer out there anymore they almost didn't hunt it this past year because of the liberal doe harvest the last 5 or six years, numbers are way down, but you are correct about the regulations out there, they will bust your tail for sure...Nitpickin bullcrap...but every now and then a blind hog will find an acorn out there...

I take it you like to hunt their as to the misinformation your publishing. Anniston Army Depot and Pelham Range have no relation. Pelham Range is control by the Alabama National Guard while the Depot rebuilds equipment. The only thing shared is some of the surface area danger zone when the Depot test fires weapons on that side. Pelham Range is just that a range, when range control and Game Management assign you an area to hunt it is in a area that will not have danger of rounds anywhere near that area. When you got out of that area and they catch you got problems. It all deals with range fans and keeping you safe.

So can just anybody hunt on Pelham Range after taking the safety course and buying the permit? Are the rules and regulations available online?

No one said they had any relation, they take you out on a bus at the depot and not many get to hunt it because of security clearances ect. On Pelaham you can drive your vehicle and hunt the area you sign up for.

Yes... not sure about the rules being online though...

[/quote]No one said they had any relation, they take you out on a bus at the depot and not many get to hunt it because of security clearances ect. On Pelaham you can drive your vehicle and hunt the area you sign up for. [/quote]

I understand what your saying now. I have no idea what the depot does only Pelham Range.

...you are right, they are two separate entity's as far as hunting and if I'm not mistaken you have to work at the depot to hunt it

At the depot to hunt in the restricted area u have to ride a bus in, if you hunt around the lakes in the controlled areas you drive your own pov in. Anyone can hunt Pelham after you take your class. As some have mentioned you better follow the rules. For a first time hunter it is hard because they don't allow any scouting. They have certain days you can go get your permits for the weekend hunts depending on if u are military or general public. It is some great hunting but can be very frustrating as well.

Do they allow small game during or outside of the deer seasons?

No deer on Pelham Range....move along, nothing to see there...



They have a class @ 9:00 this Saturday morning. That will be the last one till around late August / early September. Just about everything said above is accurate. Herd is down from several years ago, but it's been on the uptick for two seasons now since they cut out the doe harvest. You can just about bet your paycheck that you're gonna get a ticket or suspension over something when you first start (improperly displayed permit, parking in wrong spot, exceeding the 25mph limit, taking an indirect course to your hunting area, and about 642.7 other obscure "rules"). I've been hunting it for about 10 or 12 years, hunted it exclusively for 3 seasons now, and I can tell you the learning curve is steep. Once you learn how to "play the game" though, it's awesome. If you aren't willing to get in line at 5:00AM on Friday mornings to get your permit for Saturday, then get in line at 2:00 AM on Saturday mornings to get your choice of spots, don't waste your time. Several guys get in line at 9, 10, or 11 PM the previous evening and sleep in their trucks. That is all part of the "game" I'm talking about. Hunting skills are the least of your worries there. For the past two years, they have only opened the "good" areas on Sundays, so if you aren't a Sunday hunter you're probably not gonna get your money's worth. This past season they didn't even open the good bow-only areas very often, so there would be days/weeks at a time when 20 guys were vying for one or two "not-very-good" areas. Wasn't fun.
Deer permits were $90 this past year, turkey was $50, small game was $30. I think the combo was $150. It's roughly 24,000 acres, but even on the best day ever only about half of that is hunting areas. And even then, just like anywhere else, a few areas are premium, while the rest is just so-so. So for example there might be 100 guys hunting on a Saturday, and any one area might hold 10-15 guys (1 hunter per 40 acres), and even though 10 areas were open, all 100 of you are trying to go to the same 3 or 4 areas. That's very frustrating. Then, even though your area might be 400 acres, we all know that most of that acreage isn't a "good spot", so every guy who is in that area is racing to beat each other to the same roadbed. THAT is why you have to play that game of getting up so early. And then, many times, you get up at 1:00AM to be first in line, only to have another dipwad come in at daylight and walk all over you. See how tough it's going to be when you don't have a clue where you're even going?? Just trying to give you a REAL assessment of how it is out there.