Alabama Black Belt Adventures Association, ALBBAA, is sponsoring its Big Buck Photo Contest for the 14th consecutive year, and the winner will be determined by online voting.
“We love having the photos shared with us every year in the Big Buck Photo Contest,” said ALBBAA Director Pam Swanner said. “The contest showcases what we all know to be true, that Alabama’s Black Belt remains one of the best places in America to bag a trophy buck. We encourage every hunter who harvests a buck in the Black Belt to enter our contest.”
The winner of the year’s contest will receive a $100 gift card and a copy of Black Belt Bounty, a coffee table book filled with images, wildlife essays and stories on hunting and fishing traditions, wild game recipes and more.
The contest is now open and voting will conclude on Feb. 13, 2026, at 11:59 p.m.
Alabama’s deer hunting season began last month for bow hunters, and the gun deer season starts with special youth hunts on Nov. 14-17. The full gun season runs from Nov. 22 to Feb. 10, 2026 in most parts of the state.
ALBBAA encourages all hunters to follow all deer regulations for the 2025-26 Alabama deer hunting season, which can be found online.
Here are key rules and guidelines for ALBBAA’s 14th annual Big Buck Photo Contest:
All entries must be made online through the ALBBAA website, and the photo must show a buck harvested from within the 23-county Black Belt region. The buck must be taken during 2025-2026 whitetail deer season. The winner of the contest is selected exclusively through online voting.
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/.
Voters may cast one vote 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 for entry.
ALBBAA reserves the right to approve or reject any photo submitted. Cause for a photo’s disqualification 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.
- Voting violation which imposes an unfair advantage to others.
The contestant who receives the most online votes before balloting ends will be declared the winner. Before a winner is declared, ALBBAA will audit voting to make sure all contest rules were followed.
Voting will conclude at 11:59 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, which will give voters time to cast ballots for any photos submitted after the final week of the season.
“Alabama hunters enjoy bountiful outdoors recreational opportunities in the Black Belt, and deer hunting remains one of the reasons so many people visit this region during the season,” Swanner said. “The Big Buck Photo Contest is designed to showcase the abundance of wildlife found throughout all the Black Belt’s 23 counties while celebrating the heritage and traditions of hunting in our region for generations.”
“All sportsmen and sportswomen should purchase a hunting license online through the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources before heading afield. Additionally, successful hunters are also reminded to report all harvested deer through Game Check,” the ALBBAA shared.
The Black Belt includes the following 23 counties: Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Choctaw, Clarke, Conecuh, Crenshaw, Dallas, Greene, Hale, Lee, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Monroe, Montgomery, Perry, Pickens, Pike, Russell, Sumter, Tuscaloosa and Wilcox.
