The Alabama Black Belt Adventures Association (ALBBAA) is sponsoring its Big Buck Photo Contest for the 13th year, with the winner selected exclusively through online voting.

“We encourage all hunters to submit photos into the Big Buck Photo Contest this deer season,” said ALBBAA director Pam Swanner. “Alabama’s Black Belt has earned its reputation as one of the best places in America to bag a trophy buck, and our contest celebrates the amazing deer-hunting opportunities available throughout our region.”

The winner of the year’s contest will receive a $150 gift card and a copy of “Black Belt Bounty,” an award-winning coffee table book filled with amazing wildlife photography and artwork, entertaining stories by award-winning writers and mouth-watering wild game recipes.

Alabama’s deer hunting season began last month for bow hunters, and the gun deer season starts with special youth hunts Nov. 15-18. The full gun season runs from Nov. 23 to Feb. 10, 2025, in most parts of the state.

How to enter

To enter the Big Buck Photo Contest, hunters must upload, through the ALBBAA website, a photo of a buck harvested from within the 23-county Black Belt region. The buck must be harvested during 2024-2025 whitetail deer season. The Black Belt consists of Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Choctaw, Clarke, Conecuh, Crenshaw, Dallas, Greene, Hale, Lee, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Monroe, Montgomery, Perry, Pickens, Pike, Russell, Sumter, Tuscaloosa and Wilcox counties.

Contest entries are submitted and all votes cast online via the same web page: https://alabamablackbeltadventures.org/news-more/shoot-the-black-belt/big-buck-photo-contest/.

Contest rules

Visitors to the contest webpage may vote once per day, per entry, per IP address. In the case of any dispute, the decision of ALBBAA is final. Photo contest winners from the previous two years are not eligible.

The winner is selected exclusively through online voting.

ALBBAA reserves the right to approve or reject any photo submitted. Cause for disqualification of a photo can include, but is not limited to, the following:

• The photo content presents the subject in an unethical or disrespectful composition.
• The photo content is perceived to cast a negative perception of hunters and their contribution to the management of wildlife.
• A voting violation imposes an unfair advantage to others.

Deadline for voting

Voting will conclude at 11:59 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025, which will give voters additional time to cast ballots for any photos submitted after the final week of the season.

“People from all over the country flock to Alabama’s Black Belt to take advantage of our incredible deer hunting,” Swanner said. “Each year, in our Big Buck Photo Contest, we see photos of children on their first hunt with family members. Seeing these photos is especially gratifying because they show how an outdoor adventure in Alabama’s Black Belt quickly turns a family outing into a lifelong memory.”

Reminders

All sportsmen and sportswomen should purchase a hunting license online through the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) before heading afield and remember to wear orange for safety measures. Successful hunters are reminded to report all harvested deer through Game Check.

Hunters are also encouraged to take part in ADCNR’s free Hunters Helping the Hungry program and/or Venison Provisions program, which provide ground venison to needy families and individuals with the help of deer processors and food banks around the state.