After hunting Skyline for 30 yrs I've met a few characters to say the least.I came up on two fellows out on Summerstop one time that were sitting about 20 yds of the road in lounge chairs. They had a radio on listening to a game and were watching a big holler below them. I saw a fellow set up on a plot in Little coon with a decoy dressed in a blaze orange jump suit. The road ran right thru this plot and he waived and went back to rattling his horns.

that was me rattling and I killed a huge 12 point just as you got out of hearing...

Wow, more good stories about Skyline. I'm hunting there a lot this year and have hardly seen anyone else hunting ... Not looking forward to gun season as much as I had been ...

If you've never gun hunted Skyline, you are in for a real eye opener. CD.

LOL, that's what I hear. I'll be waayyyy down the canyon at Jericho, hopefully there will be fewer idiots there

You should be safe, because all hell will be breaking loose on Jacob's Mountain. By the way, does anyone know if any bigguns have been killed on the new tract yet?

We were standing in line before daylight to get our Primitive Weapons permit at Little River WMA one time and I had my dark RayBans on and was holding on to my buddy's jacket sleeve. I could hear people whispering, "that sumbitch is blind". A couple of times I'd say something like, "Man, I just hope I hear something today". 3 different guys asked my buddy, "Where are y'all hunting?" No one was gonna hunt anywhere close to the blind dude with a muzzleloader.

Another time we were standing in line about 5am and when we were about 2 people away from the Warden's shack there were 2 rifle shots maybe a mile away. One of the Warden's looked at the other and said, "Somebody's getting an early start", and just kept handing out permits.

dang. that where i was going to setup with my new 338 lapua!

Trying to pull out of my driveway about 4:30 till daylight AM on Skyline hunt mornings ya better have yer eyes open. Crazy out of county folks will flat run you over. They pass in front of my house to get a good head of steam to get up the mountain.

State Troopers could get their monthly quota in front of my house in about 2 hours.

I went on a gun hunt at the old butler county wma. There were guys from Fla there that were sitting on the main road in lawn chairs. They were 75 yards apart with high powered rifles. We left lucky to be alive IMO.

Old Butler county WMA, they use to put on a lot of deer drives down there, thru the pine plantations. Run a nice 8ptr over to me, lot of shooting on those deer drives. Me and my brother doubled up that morning and as we were dragging our deer back to the truck, a truck was driving by, and asked,"Ya'll seen anything"? We said, "Nothing, how bout ya'll"? "he said we ain't seen nothing either, we headed to the house", and drove off. I just looked at my brother, both of us, with a deer antler in our hand and just started to laugh my ass off. Real observant guy.

Several years ago I was at Freedom Hills on a gun hunt. I was in my early twenties and dumb. I went in blind and carried a climber what I thought was far enough to be out of harms way. I setup on a spot where two hollers met and I had a bluff to my left with a wind hitting my face. About an hour after daylight I hear something coming. Low and behold the first thing I see is an orange boggin so I tell myself I'll let them pass and keep sitting. The hunter stops between me and the bluff, looks around then starts kicking leaves. I had never hunted from the ground so I had no clue what he was doing then it hit me as he plumped down at the base of a tree looking the direction he just came from. I let everything get calmed down a few minutes then I whistled at him to let him know I was there. He perks up looks around digs in his bag and (wait for it wait for it wait for it)he pulls out a grunt call and blows it. I cant believe what just happened so I whistle again. He answers with another grunt while spinning his head. We repeated that again and the last time I whistled I was waving my orange and he still had no clue where I was. I don't know if he thought the God was letting him know a buck was coming or what. I was not mad at him for hunting on top of me due to being public land but I was scared for my life so I threw my pack 30 feet to the ground and started down. I never said a word, just left. I then took a nap in the truck waiting on my buddies. About the time I get to sleep I hear a knock on the window. I raise up, roll the window down and an older gentleman apologizes for his son coming in on me. I told him there was no need to apologize I wasn't upset for him doing that and to tell his son than you for me. Thanks to him I'll more than likely never hunt a WMA gun hunt again. Not long after the man left the boy came by in a truck so I know he was atleat 16. I stuck to my word for a few years but I dang sure am aware of my surroundings when I go to a WMA now.
Brent was you at Freedom hills in early 2000 wearing dark RayBans. If not I think this boy must have borrowed them.

The one and only time I hunted Skyline was in the late seventies. Me and my best friend were still in high school and he had talked me into hunting it with him. We hunted the morning and did not see anything, so we headed out. After walking a half mile or so, we both spotted a red bandanna laying on the ground. We both spied it at the same time and he said "Hey, a bandanna!" and he picked it up. At that same time, I saw a big steaming pile of what someone had eaten the day before. For the next twenty minutes I laughed at him washing his hands in the creek.

Way back then Skyline muzzelload was the only place you could shoot a doe. I remember when it would be bumper to bumper going up the valley. It was nothing short of a blood bath you would hear a couple hundred shots easy in a days time.

In the early 70's I tried hunting the Barbour Co Management Area a time or two. Way too many people. One day I had to take a dump and honestly couldn't find a place to go without seeing orange. That was about the time you couldn't pick up an outdoor magazine without a story about the numerous big bucks available there.

I remember waiting in line at Rash store to get our permits on those hunts. Trucks would be lined up for what seemed like half a mile. I've also seen the days when hardly anyone could get up Smoligans Steep or even up behind the church. This was probably 25 years ago, before everyone had atvs. CD.

Several years back my buddy and I were on a gun hunt at the Cahaba WMA. After getting our daily permit we drove to the spot we were going to hunt. We had about a 1-1/2 to 2 mile walk from the truck and as we are walking we are talking about our plans for the day. We both agreed to meet back up at the trucks around 11:30 to eat lunch, and then we would get ready for the afternoon hunt. So after an unsuccessful morning, as discussed we meet back up at the truck, and are sitting on the tailgate eating lunch. There are no vehicles of any kind besides ours mind you, and as my buddy is telling an old hunting tale, I thought I heard something walking behind us. I told him to hold on a minute, and as we listened closer, we realized it was a person walking toward us. About the time he hits the road, I spot another person pop out of the woods straight in front of us, as well as another person from the opposite side. All total there was four of them, 3 of which had been hunting within 200 yards of my truck, and one who apparently had been hunting down around where we had been. These people never said a word to us, they all congregated and talked amongst themselves for several minutes until a truck pulled up, they got in and left without ever saying a word to us. That was the last time I have ever been hunting on a WMA during gun days.

I used to set up in a plot on little coon with a decoy dressed in blaze orange,the plot had a road running through it so I could just watch people drive by,sometimes I would even wave at em.

Not really a funny moment, but a memorable one.

A few years ago my brother and I were on a WMA gun hunt and made it to our spot about 2 hours before daylight. There was a small fire break where we were going to enter the woods, so I backed my truck into it and was going to get about an hour's sleep before walking in. There was just enough room between the brush to back the truck in (was not enough room to even open the doors and I was going to pull up some before we could get out).

Anyway, after about 30 minutes 2 guys pulled up and parked about 10 steps from my truck. They both get out and started getting their gear together. I thought surely they're at least going on the opposite side of the road, but nope, both of them walk right up to the front of my truck. They then notice how tight it is between the truck and brush so they take their stands off and one starts squeezing by on my side and the other on the passenger side. At this point I'm thinking "unbelievable". They both finally worked their way beside the truck until one was at my window and the other was at the passenger window (all lights were off in the truck and they didn't know we were in there). When the guy was right at the window I reached over and rolled it down about 1/2 way. He had this surprised look in his eye that I'll never forget and I asked him "How's it going?". He said fine and that they were just heading in to their spot. After questioning them a little about where they were going, we soon realized it was the same little draw we were going to hunt. The guy at my window then started getting an attitude and went on to say that it was public land and people could hunt wherever they wanted to. I said "your're right so I guess we'll all 4 just climb and watch that same bottom". They both got pissed and made their way back to their truck, slung the stands in the back and tore out spinning gravel everywhere.

Unfortunately this is not the only time I've had something similar happen and it seems to be coming more and more common on public land hunts.

I made the mistake of reading your post, while hunting. I literally laughed out loud. I couldn't help it. Haha