Fall Bear in GA with no baits or dogs-How to?

[The Gray Fox]

Like dirteater I'm planning to go after bear in the N. Ga mountains this fall.  Here we cannot use baits or dogs and the trees and brush are really thick.  I've gone through my bow and gun hunting mags going back 15 years and have found no insights on how to purposely (as compared with accidentally seeing one during deer season)hunt bear under such conditions.  Anyone have any experiences or advice to offer?  I'd really like to have to use one of those taxidermists.

[Frank]

I've been thinking of bear to.  We need to talk to Terry, maybe get a bear hunt up in Cohutta.  TBG does have a bear hunt up their.

I've been reading up on bear foods and habitat in N Ga.  Need to learn alot more.

Frank

[Snakeeater]

Well, I haven't gone bear hunting, but I did read about it at a Holiday Inn Express last night.    

Anyway, if doing it like the folks out west do it makes sense, then look for their denning areas and also hunt their food sources.  It will be spot and stalk, but it might work.

You might also contact a magazine called Bear Hunting magazine at  http://www.bear-hunting.com.

[Terry Green]

Tuff hunting, but very rewarding just sighting the critters.

He's what little I know.....

Hunt white oaks....big ones.  Try and find some on a Mt. top, knowl, ridge or long slopping lead.  Personally, I haven't had as much luck hunting IN the bottoms.  I think they must work their way down, and get in the bottoms after dark.  I have had luck with major leads that end up in the bottoms.

The bears will most likely be climbing the white oaks the 1st two weeks of the season, then gathering underneath the rest of the season.

Try your best to find white oaks with claw marks and white oak groves with lots of scat and other bear sign.  If more than one bear is using the area, then your odds of a sighting are increased dramaticaly.

Travel funnels between two oak groves is also a great place to set up if you can't decide which tree they are bound to hit.  Look for trails twice as wide as deer trails, and a bear trail will have a 'packed down' texture vs the crunched up of a deer trail.

Pre scouting a week or days before the season opens is much more productive than 2 weeks before.

The best tip I can give you is to hunt a single tree with lots of scat near it....BUT!!!, you must find at least one fresh pile....how fresh?  With flies on it!!!...if a pile aint got flies on it, I keep a walking.

Sparse acorn crop?...gotta wear out some boot leather to find the few trees that are producing.  Can be tuff to find, but once you do, the bears will be there.

Normal acorn crop?....sign will be easier to find since the bears are moving a lot from tree to tree, and scattered about a bit more.

If we have a drought?...and all the acorns fall just before the season?....then I don't commit to any trees or groves, I walk and walk and walk, cause the bears will not have to move for food, you will have to find them.  Walk travel routes like mentioned before, but try to walk those with known running water near by, since water will be scarce during a drought as well.

Afternoons are better than mornings, but that don't keep me from hunting mornings.  I've seen them as late as 10 am.

While walking in, pay attention to 'loud squirrels' in the trees...they may be a bear.  If so, stalk the tree from down wind, and wait for the bear to climb down.  Now, pay attention to the tree, you may need to get cross wind.  If the tree is straight with no obstructions, there's no telling where he'll climb down.  But, if the tree is leaning, or on the side of a steep ridge, or has some obstruction to one side, the bear will take the easy route down at the base.....clear from obstruction, up hill side, or least steep side if the tree is leaning. So, set up accordingly the best you can with the wind still in your favor.

The early season seems to congregate bears in higher eleveations, and they work there way down in elevation, since the acorns will mature earlier up hi.  Now bear in mind, that some times there is a late freeze in the spring, so those higher elevations will be void of sign due to the buds getting nipped.  If that is the case, then move down the mountian a 1/3 of the way, and scout your way down.  However, I have seen bears low the 1st part of the season, so the higher elevation is a guideline, not written in stone.

Two weeks before the season will be the tailing end of the last 'patten' before the acorn feed, and might be tempting, but don't fall for it.  If you scout early, you will possibly find sign in berry patches, around wild cherry trees, and in dead pine groves the pine beetles devoured because of the grubs in the rotting pines. Unless you are in the highest elevations in GA, this should be what you will find.  If you are in the highest elevations, then you should find them already on the acorns unless of course there was a late freeze in that area.

Be ready to not only see bears, but deer and hogs as well.  When bear hunting, I've seen more bears and hogs than deer in the GA mountains.  And don't let anyone kid you, there are 200 pound plus boar hogs roaming the mountains.

The TBG hunt will be in the Cohuttas the 2nd weekend of bow season.....hope to see you there.

[Dirteater]

Terry, thanks for taking the time to write out all of the GA bear hunting tips.  It's obvious that your quite passionate about Georgia bear hunting.

And you're not joking about the BIG pigs in the Cohutta.  I saw a monster black shaggy hog that had been chowing down on the 17-year locust hatch a few weeks ago on my way to fish the Conasauga. He was so big that it took me a second to figure out what he was. I'm glad he ran the other way.

Chip

[The Gray Fox]

Terry:

I second Dirteater's thanks.  Your advice will save me a lot of early season hoofing it, although I'll need to be doing a lot of it to help get my body in shape for serious hunting on the mountain tops you described.  I look forward to seeing you at the TBG Cohutta bear hunt if I don't run into you sooner.
The Gray Fox

[Dirteater]

Hey fellas, here's a link to a Georgia Sportsman article from 2003 that has some good North GA bear hunting info.  http://www.georgiasportsmanmag.com/ga_aa101203a/

[Dirteater]

By the way, it may take a little while for the page to load but it's worth it.

[Terry Green]

Thanks for the link Chip.  

Scanning the article, I need to add that I hunt wilderness bears, so I don't know much about the food plot 'source'.

[Curry Plantation]

Thats true there are Bears that go over 200 pounds in N.Ga.I saw one near Hiawassee that was a pure Monster.Only he was busting up a trash can in a neighborhood.

[Dave T]

I’ve been waiting all year for the bear posts to start!

Last year was my first year chasing bears in North Georgia and needless to say it has completely obsessed my hunting buddies (my brother & dad) and myself to the point where we now refer to the GA Archery opener as “Bear Season”. One warning to anyone considering taking up this pursuit…it will completely consume you archery deer season. We didn’t really even start deer hunting until Nov 1st last year and even then I was thinking about bears!  

I agree with Terry's post. The wilderness hunting is very tough but for those that really like a challenge it is very rewarding. I am still very much a Bear rookie but we learned a few lessons that were mentioned in Terry’s post earlier but I'll say again:

1)   Be prepared to walk allot! This means get in shape. It will make it much more fun and will really make your scouting more productive. We had several scouting days last year where we covered 10+ miles (up and down). I agree with starting to look high and work you way down. We seemed to have the best luck finding sign last year hunting the big leads that connected major ridge lines with major drains. Also look for saddles. You can eliminate allot of areas on the map before starting if you look for these types of areas.
2)   Narrow down and pick your area now and start map scouting. You can also start walking/scouting to familiarize yourself with an area but any sign you find now won’t be anything to get excited about yet.
3)   If hunting the WMA’s or national forests get off the main roads and trails. If you will do this you will pretty much have any of the large WMA’s to yourself.
4)   Don't hunt any sign unless it is "still steaming". We like to find evidence that a bear has been working an area for period of time. Varying ages of scat, broken limbs, etc… Seems like that once they are on a food source they will stay with it until gone.
5)   Don’t leave good treestands at the base of trees. My brother had a bear eat the seat out of his Summit climber. Better stick with the cheap loc ons or carry the good ones out each time.
6)   Study the Black Bear anatomy: Jeff and I hunted this one area 200 yards apart all season and kept missing the bear we were hunting. It even had the gall to place “a pile” in my shooting lane one morning while we hunted another area. Finally I saw it towards the end of the season in the afternoon. A really nice boar bear about 200+ lbs. It was truly one of the neatest experiences I have ever had and I watched him for about 10 minutes. He got as close as 24 yards but never gave me the shot I was comfortable with. He finally headed down the ridge to Jeff. Long story short …Jeff shoots and hits the bear square in the shoulder. Arrows gets about 3 inches of penetration and the bear was gone. One drop of blood and 2 hours later we decided that blood trailing in a hemlock thicket on our hands and knees after a wounded bear should probably wait til morning. Never found the bear and basically determined that he is OK despite a slight limp. The shoulder bone comes way back on a bear and a traditional height from a treestand seems to magnify the problem. Make sure to study the anatomy charts and keep off the shoulder. I am going to try to wait for a quartering away shot if possible.

Hope this is some help and glad to see that I’m not the only one thinking about this already!

[Frank]

Thanks Terry.  I have already copied and will be printing it out tommorrow.  

Frank

[Terry Green]

Originally posted by Dave T:
 One warning to anyone considering taking up this pursuit…it will completely consume your archery deer season.

I agree.....cept for those after work dive in deer evenings, and a few scattered AM quickies.

[Badfoot]

my wife had a bear on her car the other night as witnessed by the paw prints he left in the pollen. He was probably after a Macdonalds bag on the floorboard! We live right on the Wayah Bear preserve in the Western nc mountains. I have 14 acres between my house and the preserve boundry line and am waiting for the season. Badfoot

[Terry Green]

Another thing to look for is saddle ridges between two tops....or connecting leads.  The right ones will have a trail suddenly appear as the knoll narrows thought the saddle, and then it will dissapear just as quick as it nears the next knoll or lead.

Seems the bears pilfer around these ridge tops, and use the 'spines' to travel to the next 'pilfering' area.

These trails can be 100 yards long, or 1000, but the trails will be packed down, not 'crunched' up like deer trails....and, most likely, it will meander by every mature white oak along the way.

[Dirteater]

Thanks for the tip Terry.     Have you got your bear spots picked out or is it a bit early yet?

Chip

[Terry Green]

Lord no...I aint got any spots picked out yet...got some areas that I checked last weekend for fun.

I really need to get some hog pics posted on the site....so folks can see the size of real Mt Boars.

[Roughcountry]

Pretty intresting stuff. Always wonder how folks would hunt eastern bear with out dogs. Out west here the number onr thing to remember with bear no matter how you hunt them is, They are a slave to thier stomach. Thats why baiting works so well. This is a critter that can smell as well as my best hound and lives to eat. I know how and where they travel out here but wouldn't have a clue for you guys. The key is the grub. They are were they eat, what ever that may be at the time you have to hunt. When they find a high quality sorce of grub they leave plenty of sign close by. Have fun, they are one of our best big game animals.

[Terry Green]

One more thing.....

If you do decide to hunt in the Morning....and you have a REALY hot spot....don't go 'into' it while its still dark.

Lay back a little distance till dawn, and ease in there.....that way you wont' blow em out...and you will have the added thrill of an early morning stalk.

Good luck to all you guys out there...I'm gonna miss the opening weekend....in GA that is....but I'll be up there the 2nd weekend.

[JC]

Good luck on the elk hunt Terry. We'll save a few critters for ya.

Joe