A great place to live

Phillip Cooper has touted Franklin County as being a haven for anglers and hunters for as long as he can remember.

Cooper, an avid angler from Red Bay, calls the county one of the best places on Earth that anyone who likes to hunt and fish could live. The editors at Outdoor Life magazine agree.

In it's April issue, the popular outdoors magazine included Russellville as one of the top 200 towns in America for hunters and anglers to live.

"We don't know how fortunate we are to live around here. We are truly blessed to have so many great places to fish or go hunting," Cooper said.

Cheryl Bradford, executive director of the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce, said the county is a gold mine for people who enjoy fishing or hunting. She expects the Outdoor Life report to boost Russellville's image as one of the best places in Alabama for hunters and anglers to live.

Tuscaloosa and Sylacauga were the only other Alabama cities included in the listing. Clanton was included in a separate list of the top 10 towns for a whitetail deer hunter to live.

Lawrenceburg, Tenn., was the only other city near the Shoals that was included in the top 200 list.

Andrew McKean, hunting editor for Outdoor Life and author of the report, said a variety of factors were considered when selecting America's top hunting and fishing towns, including the quality of hunting and fishing, average income, proximity to shopping, higher education offierings, availability of public land, unemployment rate, crime rate, degree of taxation, average commute to work, and the community's friendliness toward hunters and anglers. Having restaurants that open early to serve breakfast to hunters and anglers was a consideration.

While Russellville and Lawrenceburg scored low on the amenities rating, which included having regulary scheduled air service and variety of cultural opportunities nearby, both ranked high on the availability of public land and places to fish and affordability of housing, McKean said.

Russellville and Lawrenceburg both ranked high for diversity of fishing opportunities ranging from small streams and reservoirs near the towns to the Tennessee River lakes a short drive away.

"You can drive an hour in any direction from Russellville and be in the water catching fish," Cooper said.

Both towns also earned high marks for having state wildlife management areas and other public land for hunting close by, McKean said.

"It's very important that sportsmen have access to places where they can go recreate," he said. "To have that much public land nearby is pretty amazing for an eastern town. You typically only find that much public land around western towns where you have the national parks, Bureau of Land Management property and other federal agency land holdings."

Both towns rated high in the affordability index, McKean said.

He said Russellville's average home price of $68,000 was one of the lowest of the 200 towns included in the survey. The average income of $24,000 was also among the lowest, but when coupled with home prices Russelleville was one of the most affordable towns for a hunter or angler to live.

With an average home price of $75,600 and average income of $25,000, Lawrenceburg was also one of the most affordable places to live, Mckean said.

Nathan Brewer, who operates Pop's Bait Shop in Lawrenceburg, was not surprised with the town's inclusion. He said fishing and hunting are popular hobbies around the town.

"We're 40 or 50 miles from the river, but have four boat dealers in or just outside of town," Brewer said. "Some of them are among the top dealers in the nation for the brand of boats and outboards they sell. Almost every house up here has a boat outside. "On some weekends, we will bring in $4,000 to $5,000 here at the store just from our live bait sales. Fishing is definitely big around here. Hunting is big too."

Brewer was surprised that the Shoals was not included in the listing of the best places for anglers and hunters to live. "Almost everybody around here who fishes goes to Alabama to go fishing."

Debbie Wilson, director of Florence/Lauderdale Tourism was also surprised no Shoals cities were included.

"I'm not sure how they come up with their list, but we have people from all over the country tell us all the time that we have some of the best fishing and hunting they know of anywhere," she said.

McKean expects the listing will become an annual feature in the magazine. He wants to hear from anglers and hunters around the nation about the listing and their suggestions for towns that should be included on the 2009 list. The comments and suggestions can submitted online at outdoorlife.com.

Dennis Sherer can be reached at 740-5746 or dennis.sherer@timesdaily.com