sounds great

When are you going to locate south of Montgomery? I think you did last year.

i thought i would follow the rut,but i am staying mobile,were ever i get a call,i will go there and get a room,hang out there until i get another call,then go there and get a room etc...
anyone have advice were i should be located now?i dont know how the rut moves around in bama,i thought maybe ut starts up here north and moves south, people im staying with here in huntsville watch the deer every day from their house and havent seen any rut activity yet..

Jackson and Madison the next couple of weeks should be on fire.

Central and north Alabama now and south Alabama in about 2-3 weeks

Scrapes and rubs are starting to show up everywhere on our property in Chilton county. Alot of the deer I am seeing now their tarsel glands are darkening up.

Dallas County area around Selma will be firing up very...very soon. Usually the first 3 weeks of January are very good in my area as well as down Hwy 41.

Cullman or a little farther south would be a good starting point right now. You would be a little more centralized to go north or south.

There have been a bunch of tracks going unanswered around B'ham to Tuscaloosa and to the north of that area. Somebody needs to catch the slack in that area for sure. Welcome to Alabama.

I would stay where you are, no competition from other trackers, so more should come your way.

Casey should be little to no competition for Mike from Dallas Cty north.

I was just going by this map and it seems saturated towards the areas below Birmingham. I don't think Tom Munoz likes to travel very far from Madison County and there's a whole bunch of folks in Jackson County that can't shoot worth a damn.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c276/itscoldoutthere/img008.jpg

PM charles (Artistic Whitetails Taxidermy) he can tell you where most are coming from now. Area between Brent and Marion will be wide open this week until about Jan 10.

I think the lists of trackers that are out there is a little deceiving. There�s not a lot of competition in Alabama period from the best I can tell. There may be a bunch of folks with their name on a list but there�s only a small handful of people across the whole state who are tracking to the extent of being able to show up on a Wed morning or on a cold Sat when they had plans to hunt themselves, etc. I�ve seen a good number of tracks go unanswered this year all over the state to my north. I�ve also heard multiple hunters say that they called every number remotely close to them and no one could come out. The only place there is any competition at all it seems like is unfortunately right where I tried to start up. I�m in Macon Co and AJ has everything to my south wrapped up for the most part. To my north is my best opportunity to expand. I�ve passed out several hundred business cards and it seemed like every hunter I gave one to had a story about AJ tracking for them. Fortunately though, he and I have been able to become friends and we�re working with one another instead of against each other. He�s 70 years old and I�m 36 so it�s a good fit and makes sense.

With the low number of trackers and large amount of lost deer in this state�..there�s no reason why us trackers should compete with each other at this point in time. The rut may peak around the state at slightly different dates but for the most part the whole state is about to get good for the rest of the season. There�s no need to travel 3 hrs to track one that�s 15 minutes from my house while two other tracks above B�ham or Tuscaloosa go unanswered. It hurts the hunters who don�t have a tracker in their area and it hurts the next generation of trackers like me by not being able to work Otis on the tracks in my area. I would respectfully ask Mike to respect that there are a few other trackers out here who are truly serious about the hobby as well. From my perspective it seems like the most important thing right now for him is putting �numbers� on the tailgate with no regard to the guys like me. Maybe I�m wrong about that and it�s just the perception I�m getting from only following things across the interwebs or listening to other trackers who have been rubbed the wrong way.

Like I said though, it would be different if there was more than only a small few across the entire state who are actually tracking hardcore. I could see there being an every man for himself mentality if there was a tracker on every corner��.But when you can count us all on one hand then I think their becomes a �right way� to do things that respects the other few trackers. Knowing that I�m trying to track too, but still driving 3-4 hrs to track deer #128 in my backyard I think is a little bit bad form. I�ve said my peace though and I won�t continue to whine about it or hate on Mike regardless of what happens. I can adapt and play ball by whatever rules are set. I�m just attempting to call for a little �etiquette� in the game amongst the tracking community moving forward since there are so few of us. I hope this isn�t taken in an inflammatory way.

Good post CNC. If you haven't already, contacting IdahoMike directly might be the easiest thing to do. He could give you first right of refusal if he gets a job close to you. Worst he can say is no.

I don't personally know the man at all, but I do know that it's a good thing to have multiple trackers in the same area. It'd be hard for one man to cover 4 or 5 counties by himself when things got hot. I've needed a dog a few times for me and family members. If that one guy is busy, your sol.

CNC are you serious?
A man that shows up in Alabama to track because he loves it and does it for free and has probably one of the best tracking dogs in the country and you're telling him he needs to stay out of your area because you got a puppy trying to learn how to track deer? And you're trying to charge people to come out???
Don't you think it should be up to the hunter to decide who he wants to call?

CNC,

Ive talked with Mike on several occasions and can tell you this, he is a good guy with a wealth of knowledge on tracking. I realize that tracking in your area may be a sore subject, but Ill say this I have a dog that tracks, Ive taken off work several times to help track when I can. Im not retired and I like to hunt myself. Matter of fact I had a guy call me the evening I killed my buck and I told him that I was busy with my own track. He understood, heck I even gave him names of guys in my area. The fact is we all have lives with jobs and some of us have kids, and some have wives. But to be critical because Mike may come into your area and track is like getting mad cause a 150" buck wanders off your property and your neighbor kills it.

I think that all of the trackers are doing a good job. Not many people willing to drop what they are doing and go trudge through briars for a deer that they didnt shoot.

MIke isnt competing with anyone, he just loves to track like you and I and seems he has a lot more free time that both of us combined. If Mike was to come into my area and I was available Id tag along to learn a few things as well as help.

Just my two cents and not bashing you at all just saying.

I agree. A guy just starting out isn't going to get the same volume of calls as a proven tracker. If I was CNC I would delete my previous post.