Page 54 - South Mississippi Living - March, 2018
P. 54
SPORTS & OUTDOORS hunting galore THE
PERFECT
SH T
First Elk Bagged in Alabama
story and photos by Frank Wilem
Most folks think of Colorado, Montana,
or maybe Wyoming some 2,000 mile away at the mention of elk hunting. But near Linden, Alabama, only 200 miles from the Coast is Soggy Bottom Lodge offering 1200 acres of hunting land filled
with trophy-sized deer and elk for the interested hunter. So when my daughter, Brittany, had a chance to hunt elk there, we jumped at the opportunity. While Britt is
an experienced angler, she’s a recent entrant to hunting, having harvested white tailed deer but never elk.
We arrived at Soggy Bottom Lodge in time to enjoy a fish taco lunch. It’s worth a visit there just to tour the lodge. The massive timber beams that stretch overhead were dredged from the bottom of Mobile Bay, while some of
the wood used on the walls in the great room came from the basement of the World Trade Center. Old barn metal roofing covers the ceiling and brick recovered from a Civil War era building lines the hallway.
After lunch it was off to the shooting range to sight her rifle. After placing two rounds within an inch of the target center, she switched to using shooting sticks and placed
a third round in the same hole as her first shot. She was ready.
The elk are generally unpredictable at the time of year
we were hunting and difficult to find. The previous year, Britt had spent two weeks hunting twice each day without finding the white tailed buck she was after. So we came prepared to hunt elk that afternoon as well as the following morning and even a third time the following afternoon if need be.
We mounted one of the lodge’s ATVs to scout a few areas. While we saw a number of deer, including a couple of trophy-size white tail bucks, no elk were to be found.
So, our guide opted to switch tactics and we headed for
a shooting house at “Alabama.” Soggy Bottom Lodge is divided into areas named after various Universities. Being a Gator, Britt would have preferred the “Florida” area we passed along the way but wasn’t about to object.
We’ve been in a few shooting houses, but never one with
a Satellite Dish on the roof and a TV mounted on the wall! Of course, they’re there as a joke and neither really work... at least I don’t think they do. In any event, we weren’t there to watch the tube.
54 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • March 2018 FOR MORE REFLECTIONS OF THE GULF COAST >> www.smliving.net