# Live from the mountain 9/19/20...



## 1eyefishing (Sep 19, 2020)

Good luck to all the bear hunters out there today. 
I'm fixin to be way up a ridge and in-and-out of cell service…


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## antharper (Sep 19, 2020)

Good luck to you , I’m ready to see a dead bear on here !


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## 1eyefishing (Sep 19, 2020)

Bear hunters don't have the tree stand time to spend on the phone/forum like deardeer hunters do...
I'm having trouble finding concentratef feeding sign in the oaks, so jusT frelancing this morning. 
I found some scat, mtn oak acorns on the ground, and this within 50 yds of each other so I'm posting up for a while...

No pics alowed off the mtn right now...


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## strothershwacker (Sep 19, 2020)

Covered 7-8 miles yesterday. Daylight to dark. Found nothing to write home about. Only one small bear all day.


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## StikEm (Sep 19, 2020)

Up on a ridge. Wind blowing like crazy. No signs or nothing. Haven’t even seen a squirrel yet


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## Buckman18 (Sep 19, 2020)

Nothing so far this morning for me or my brother. It is nice and cool though.

Some clown walked up on my brother. Came up the same lead my truck is parked on.


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## CornStalker (Sep 19, 2020)

Been hunting hard for two days straight. Have not found any fresh sign. Stuck a 40lb pig that was coming towards me on the trail, so didn’t get completely skunked. But so far, this has been my hardest hunt in ten years...


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## tree cutter 08 (Sep 19, 2020)

Let a big one walk early this morning.  Feeding on mtn oaks. Waiting on ol mossy horns and got busted about hour later. Winds swirling pretty bad and out of the east again. I'll be glad when it switches back to the west.


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## northgeorgiasportsman (Sep 19, 2020)

Got to my stand at 6:30.  I could hear limbs popping up the mountain from me as I climbed.  Got settled into the stand and could hear one lapping a tree.  Too dark to see.  After daylight, I could see a bear bedded 125 yards up the mountain from me.   Winds swirling bad so I decided not to stalk.  I can't see the bear anymore.  It may have winded me.  Red oaks dropping good here.


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## GAbullHunter (Sep 19, 2020)

Tree rats an hog signs every on plot. Wind is fine on top. Weather is nice. Few dog hunters scouting area. Caught wind of one never seen it. In woods little after 6 settled about 630 seen nothing still.


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## Thunder Head (Sep 19, 2020)

Forest service temporarily closed my road.
 So i sat down low. Hunted big grape vine with persimmons not far away. Nothing.


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## WoodlandScout82 (Sep 19, 2020)

I hunted a creek bottom until noon with lots of tore up logs and a few white oak acorns dropping. Lots of scat around and squirrels aplenty. No deer or bears today.


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## splatek (Sep 19, 2020)

Thunder Head said:


> Forest service temporarily closed my road.
> So i sat down low. Hunted big grape vine with persimmons not far away. Nothing.



What road did they close on you ?


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## 1eyefishing (Sep 19, 2020)

I came out early for lunch with my wife at camp and then  Told her I'd hut close to the camp so I could be in earlier for steak dinner tonight. Then wore my tailbone to a nub lookin at new spots to hunt this afternoon. Couldn't find anything Iiked so I'm in camp early.  I'll be shot in the morning so I'll probably get a later start and hunt till dark tomorrow because she'll be headed back to the house.


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## 1eyefishing (Sep 19, 2020)

...ran into @jbogg this afternoon pokin around...


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## CornStalker (Sep 19, 2020)

1eyefishing said:


> I came out early for lunch with my wife at camp and then  Told her I'd hut close to the camp so I could be in earlier for steak dinner tonight. Then wore my tailbone to a nub lookin at new spots to hunt this afternoon. Couldn't find anything Iiked so I'm in camp early.  I'll be shot in the morning so I'll probably get a later start and hunt till dark tomorrow because she'll be headed back to the house.



You must be hunting close to me, because there is absolutely nothing worth hunting around here......Bunch it loud, obnoxious campers in the Hooch today. Never understood why people go to the woods and then proceed to play a radio all day long. Okay, ol man rant over.


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## northgeorgiasportsman (Sep 19, 2020)

northgeorgiasportsman said:


> Got to my stand at 6:30.  I could hear limbs popping up the mountain from me as I climbed.  Got settled into the stand and could hear one lapping a tree.  Too dark to see.  After daylight, I could see a bear bedded 125 yards up the mountain from me.   Winds swirling bad so I decided not to stalk.  I can't see the bear anymore.  It may have winded me.  Red oaks dropping good here.




So after not seeing anything by noon, I got down and slipped up towards the saddle where I saw the bear.  He had been up a chestnut oak and had tore off limbs that were scattered around the trunk.  It's a real head scratcher.  There was good deer sign where they had been feeding on red oak acorns that are dropping right now.  I'm surprised this bear was lapping chestnut oaks when there were so many reds on the ground.


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## chrislibby88 (Sep 19, 2020)

Made it to the woods around 3pm. So far I found two white oaks at about 2700ft on a ridge side they were topping out, probably last week. All the scat is from before the rain. There were a few edible acorns on the ground, guess they ate their fill and moved on? There were literally tons of reds and chestnuts on the ridge too but the only feed sign I noticed looked to be from squirrels. Gonna check some new spots tomorrow and see if I can find anything fresher.


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## Para Bellum (Sep 19, 2020)

No bear today.  Sat all day.  A decent 8 pointer, a 6 pointer in full velvet, a spike, 9 does a hen turkey and 2 trash pandas.


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## 35 Whelen (Sep 20, 2020)

Metro Trout said:


> No bear today.  Sat all day.  A decent 8 pointer, a 6 pointer in full velvet, a spike, 9 does a hen turkey and 2 trash pandas.



...and a partridge in a pear tree.


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## tree cutter 08 (Sep 20, 2020)

Metro Trout said:


> No bear today.  Sat all day.  A decent 8 pointer, a 6 pointer in full velvet, a spike, 9 does a hen turkey and 2 trash pandas.


dang you was on a deer hwy! I haven't seen that many deer in one day on public ground in several years!


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## chrislibby88 (Sep 20, 2020)

Missed a small one today! Dang bear was probably 30-40 yards, I was walking down a firebreak, I saw him, he looked up saw me, and continued walking, slightly faster moving through some thick sapplings. I shouldn’t have tried the shot, there weren’t any holes to shoot through. Looked for blood for about 20 minutes, none. Gave up and say for a while, then looked again. 
Found some very fresh sign this morning  on a different ridge, but there just wasn’t much, and it was spread over a 3 acre knoll. Strangely I’ve found some straggler white oaks that are dropping a handful of healthy acorns but it seems the bears haven’t found them yet, or don’t care.


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## fatback (Sep 20, 2020)

chrislibby88 said:


> Missed a small one today! Dang bear was probably 30-40 yards, I was walking down a firebreak, I saw him, he looked up saw me, and continued walking, slightly faster moving through some thick sapplings. I shouldn’t have tried the shot, there weren’t any holes to shoot through. Looked for blood for about 20 minutes, none. Gave up and say for a while, then looked again.
> Found some very fresh sign this morning  on a different ridge, but there just wasn’t much, and it was spread over a 3 acre knoll. Strangely I’ve found some straggler white oaks that are dropping a handful of healthy acorns but it seems the bears haven’t found them yet, or don’t care.


Dang man, hate you missed one. At least you saw one though so that is an exciting start. Good luck the rest of your hunt.


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## splatek (Sep 20, 2020)

@chrislibby88  dang brother. as for the white oaks, I found a couple that were rotten. Cut one that’s on the ground to check it out. Or taste it like @jbogg  does...


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## chrislibby88 (Sep 20, 2020)

splatek said:


> @chrislibby88  dang brother. as for the white oaks, I found a couple that were rotten. Cut one that’s on the ground to check it out. Or taste it like @jbogg  does...


Yea there are a lot with a pinch of rot under the cap, some that aren’t rotten too.


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## chrislibby88 (Sep 20, 2020)

Found some persimmons very close to where I saw the bear. Doesn’t look like anything has been eating them though with all the purple/black rotted ones. Last December there was scat full of persimmon seeds all up and down this ridge, this year none. No scat, no rolled logs, no feeding sign.


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## chrislibby88 (Sep 20, 2020)

fatback said:


> Dang man, hate you missed one. At least you saw one though so that is an exciting start. Good luck the rest of your hunt.


I’ve covered just short of 10 miles the last two days. 1 bear per 10 miles is a bad ratio in my book. Got one more spot to scout in the morning, then I’m gonna pick the best and sit it for the rest of the hunt.


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## chrislibby88 (Sep 21, 2020)

Man it’s windy today. Anyone seeing anything? I checked a different area this morning much lower than I’ve been hunting. Seems like most of the sign is 2600+   I’m gonna hit the only super fresh sign I’ve found this evening.


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## StikEm (Sep 21, 2020)

Haven’t seen anything! spent the past two weekends hunting hard. Yet, the weekend before season started I almost hit a bear on the four wheeler leaving my stand


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## CornStalker (Sep 21, 2020)

I hunted hard at multiple locations ranging from 2000 to 4000 around the Hooch and surrounding NF. I found two fresh piles of scat, but neither were at a feed tree. What’s crazy is that I didn’t even find much old sign—-just 3-4 trees that had been hit weeks ago. Two were chestnut oaks. I am going to be very interested to see what the dog hunters kick up this year.... Any bets that they don’t kill 60 bears again??


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## ScarFoot (Sep 21, 2020)

CornStalker said:


> I hunted hard at multiple locations ranging from 2000 to 4000 around the Hooch and surrounding NF. I found two fresh piles of scat, but neither were at a feed tree. What’s crazy is that I didn’t even find much old sign—-just 3-4 trees that had been hit weeks ago. Two were chestnut oaks. I am going to be very interested to see what the dog hunters kick up this year.... Any bets that they don’t kill 60 bears again??


They couldn't legally kill sixty bears again, if I read it correctly, Each individual in the hunting party can only kill there two bear limit. Not an unlimited number like last year. State wide harvest was down 150+ bears in 2019, from 2018. I seriously doubt the population was impacted by the dog hunt. Conditions just aren't great for killing them at this point this year.


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## splatek (Sep 21, 2020)

ScarFoot said:


> They couldn't legally kill sixty bears again, if I read it correctly, Each individual in the hunting party can only kill there two bear limit. Not an unlimited number like last year. State wide harvest was down 150+ bears in 2019, from 2018. I seriously doubt the population was impacted by the dog hunt. Conditions just aren't great for killing them at this point this year.



The way I read the regs, because a buddy of mine applied, was that 15 parties would be drawn. Up to 10 hunters in each party. Each of those ten hunters could take the statewide bag limit = possibly 300 bears? The likelihood of 300 bears being killed is obviously slim to none, but 60, I think that's doable. And, parties can hunt either WMA regardless of which one they are drawn for; so if the parties communicate they can let each other know where the action is. My understanding is that dog-bear guys are pretty cool and friendly to one another. They have a mutual respect for the training, working, and running of the dogs. I could be wrong.


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## tree cutter 08 (Sep 21, 2020)

I've done found more hog sign this year that I've seen in 3 years put together. Ground is completely  covered in acrons and hickory nuts in most places ive been in last 3 days. Ill likely not hunt much more till muzzleloader. Lots of acorns in the ivy thickets so thats likely where alot of the bears are.


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## jbogg (Sep 21, 2020)

tree cutter 08 said:


> I've done found more hog sign this year that I've seen in 3 years put together. Ground is completely  covered in acrons and hickory nuts in most places ive been in last 3 days. Ill likely not hunt much more till muzzleloader. Lots of acorns in the ivy thickets so thats likely where alot of the bears are.



Yep. Went to one of my NF spots On Saturday that I have hunted for the last three years and have never seen any hog sign in all that time.  Well, that didn’t last.  Found some tracks from a big ole boar beside a creek.


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## 1eyefishing (Sep 21, 2020)

jbogg said:


> Yep. Went to one of my NF spots On Saturday that I have hunted for the last three years and have never seen any hog sign in all that time.  Well, that didn’t last.  Found some tracks from a big ole boar beside a creek.



Ya ruirnt muh knees pointin me around them hills...couldn't hang in there! Back at my deer lease in Upson Co.
Good luck all! Send pics...


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## 1eyefishing (Sep 21, 2020)

* Bee Tree Ridge broke me.*


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## goshenmountainman (Sep 21, 2020)

Killed 6 hogs in the last month, and two were big boars.. Some shot in the daylight and two at night with night vision scope out of our hay field. I shoot every one I see, have to, to keep up with the rooting suckers. Saw another big boar last evening on the pond dam and didn't have a rifle with me, that won't happen again!


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## StikEm (Sep 22, 2020)

tree cutter 08 said:


> I've done found more hog sign this year that I've seen in 3 years put together. Ground is completely  covered in acrons and hickory nuts in most places ive been in last 3 days. Ill likely not hunt much more till muzzleloader. Lots of acorns in the ivy thickets so thats likely where alot of the bears are.



Why are you thinking about taking a break? Too scattered, hard to pattern?


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## Rabun (Sep 22, 2020)

I've been enjoying this thread...with the exception of the lack of action and kills for you guy's.  Not from lack of effort that's for sure!  Really enjoying your descriptions of the hunts, terrain, sign,etc.  THOSE mountains are rough....especially on my 63 yr old body.  I have to choose my hunts to allow time to recover. Planning on hitting it hard PW week then go from there.  Good luck and safe hunting!


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## tree cutter 08 (Sep 22, 2020)

StikEm said:


> Why are you thinking about taking a break? Too scattered, hard to pattern?


Been down this road before. Seems like so much food they aint moving much and acorns are scattered everywhere.  Being Persistent will be what it takes this year.


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## splatek (Sep 22, 2020)

Sitting on a travel corridor near a watering hole. Just had a large bear skirt me at fifty yards. He was coming in so loud I almost whistles to alert the “other hunter” then I saw the tree shaking and his black ears pop over the hill
Hoping he’ll come back thru. I’m sort of at a loss for what to do. Two close (ish) encounters... I can’t chase. Too noisy
Ugh...


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## chrislibby88 (Sep 22, 2020)

splatek said:


> Sitting on a travel corridor near a watering hole. Just had a large bear skirt me at fifty yards. He was coming in so loud I almost whistles to alert the “other hunter” then I saw the tree shaking and his black ears pop over the hill
> Hoping he’ll come back thru. I’m sort of at a loss for what to do. Two close (ish) encounters... I can’t chase. Too noisy
> Ugh...


“Other hunter” I’m confused??


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## splatek (Sep 22, 2020)

chrislibby88 said:


> “Other hunter” I’m confused??



He was so loud I thought it was another hunter rolling up on me. branches Breaking etc.  Then I saw his fur 
That was my feeble attempt at humor.  Ugh.


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## chrislibby88 (Sep 22, 2020)

splatek said:


> He was so loud I thought it was another hunter rolling up on me. branches Breaking etc.  Then I saw his fur
> That was my feeble attempt at humor.  Ugh.


Oh I gotcha. Now I get it. Man sounds like you’ve got it figured out!  I’ve been getting my butt kicked. I did see a bear while walking a fire break, but there was NO sign on it, a lot of unused food sources, literally persimmons rotting on the ground, so I think it was just blind luck that he and I were crossing the saddle at the same time. I had another spot with super fresh sign on it, but I think I was a half a day late hunting it. I’ve got one more morning to hunt, but I’m so beat at this point that I’m not even sure I’m gonna climb 800-1000ft up just to hunt old sign again in the morning.


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## StikEm (Sep 23, 2020)

chrislibby88 said:


> Oh I gotcha. Now I get it. Man sounds like you’ve got it figured out!  I’ve been getting my butt kicked. I did see a bear while walking a fire break, but there was NO sign on it, a lot of unused food sources, literally persimmons rotting on the ground, so I think it was just blind luck that he and I were crossing the saddle at the same time. I had another spot with super fresh sign on it, but I think I was a half a day late hunting it. I’ve got one more morning to hunt, but I’m so beat at this point that I’m not even sure I’m gonna climb 800-1000ft up just to hunt old sign again in the morning.


Unfortunately, I know exactly how your feeling and thinking. Like Treecutter said its gonna be more about persistence and staying in the woods than anything else. Good Luck, keep us posted.


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## splatek (Sep 23, 2020)

Bumped one off a yellow jacket nest on the way out. Sounded like a chainsaw so I took the long way out. 
And yeah a lot of hiking. I’m going with my gut sometimes with a place that just looks like it has had a lot of action. The huckleberries were stripped to the stem for an area thirty square yards. But there was some fresh ones on the edge. Looked like how they Eat clover in the fields. I set up too far from the fresh stuff. Still a good day in the woods
Two bears, two turkeys, one small deer. not as good a day as if I killed something but for a newbie I’m feeling ok and I love being in them hills
@chrislibby88 i an not even close to having it figured out lol


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## chrislibby88 (Sep 23, 2020)

splatek said:


> Bumped one off a yellow jacket nest on the way out. Sounded like a chainsaw so I took the long way out.
> And yeah a lot of hiking. I’m going with my gut sometimes with a place that just looks like it has had a lot of action. The huckleberries were stripped to the stem for an area thirty square yards. But there was some fresh ones on the edge. Looked like how they Eat clover in the fields. I set up too far from the fresh stuff. Still a good day in the woods
> Two bears, two turkeys, one small deer. not as good a day as if I killed something but for a newbie I’m feeling ok and I love being in them hills
> @chrislibby88 i an not even close to having it figured out lol


Well you’ve been on more bears than anyone else I’ve heard from. Hunted Chestatee hard Sat-Tues and only saw the one small one I missed. Hunted with and heard from a few GON fellas and two other random hunters we bumped into and we all got our butts kicked. Everyone was chasing sign left the day before but none of us could pattern them or seem to get in a spot until they moved out. I learned a ton though, and feel like I’m gonna come into the next early season a little sharper. We won’t have to deal with all the loaded red oaks next year, so that’s a big plus I think. Maybe I can catch one in the December hunt, doubt I will be back before then.


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## ErnestBear (Sep 23, 2020)

I hunted Monday and Tuesday on Chattahoochee wma and Forrest and i couldn’t get on anything. Im new to bear hunting, and this is only my second year, so I don’t have much experience at all. But I hit the ridges closer to camp the first day and put in probably close to ten miles. I found a little bit of scat around 3000 but very very little sign. Much more pig sign than anything. A boat load of it. But One or two chestnut trees were tore up, but over all that walking, I found no bear in the trees. I looked and looked and looked. So maybe I just haven’t got my skills dialed in as much compared to you fellas, but it was hard hunting. I guess it’ll be something I try again one more time in October, then save it for next year


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## splatek (Sep 23, 2020)

chrislibby88 said:


> Well you’ve been on more bears than anyone else I’ve heard from. Hunted Chestatee hard Sat-Tues and only saw the one small one I missed. Hunted with and heard from a few GON fellas and two other random hunters we bumped into and we all got our butts kicked. Everyone was chasing sign left the day before but none of us could pattern them or seem to get in a spot until they moved out. I learned a ton though, and feel like I’m gonna come into the next early season a little sharper. We won’t have to deal with all the loaded red oaks next year, so that’s a big plus I think. Maybe I can catch one in the December hunt, doubt I will be back before then.



I am just the newb posting about it. And I am almost certain it was dumb luck. Since I couldn't get on any fresh sign I went with a gut feeling. I tried to find an area that looked like an animal would move from point A-B, water to food, food to bed, or whatever. No rhyme or reason. I also put cams out way in advance, cell cams, and had bears on cam several days. One cam must've been a travel corridor, because I had no less than 5 different bears traveling through to that watering hole (I think). In fact, between the day of my last hunt and when I first put that cam out in August, I think I was 50% on bears per day on that cam. 
I tried to have cams high and low on white oaks and topographical features. It was simply beginners luck that I saw them bears.


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## chrislibby88 (Sep 23, 2020)

ErnestBear said:


> I hunted Monday and Tuesday on Chattahoochee wma and Forrest and i couldn’t get on anything. Im new to bear hunting, and this is only my second year, so I don’t have much experience at all. But I hit the ridges closer to camp the first day and put in probably close to ten miles. I found a little bit of scat around 3000 but very very little sign. Much more pig sign than anything. A boat load of it. But One or two chestnut trees were tore up, but over all that walking, I found no bear in the trees. I looked and looked and looked. So maybe I just haven’t got my skills dialed in as much compared to you fellas, but it was hard hunting. I guess it’ll be something I try again one more time in October, then save it for next year


Man it’s easy to miss sign with the woods thick. Everything fresh I found was 2600 and up. I’m working on trying to slow down and be a bit more thorough once I find one piece of sign. I’m anything but dialed. There’s no telling how much sign I missed. I felt fairly confident coming into the trip but I got my butt humbled by the end of it. My goal, aside from actually getting a bear, was to cover as much ground as possible and build on my knowledge for future seasons, and I think I achieved that.


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## StikEm (Sep 24, 2020)

I was feeling extremely confident coming into opening weekend, man do I look and feel foolish. I made sure everything was prepped and laid out ready to go at the cabin, only to come home and put it all away lol. There too spread out with this kind of crop, where Im at you cant go more than 10 yards before you're into another set of acorns, all different types. I'm sure there is corn piles and bird feeders and food plots etc that they are feasting on as well. Prior to season, I was seeing them all over, literally 50ft from the front porch on trails on cams everywhere. Since then, occasionally at night on the cam. We gotta just keep pushing and stay on their trail someone is bound to hit pay dirt!


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## Cwb19 (Sep 27, 2020)

Well last day on the mountain hunting nf had a nice 200+ bear at 25 yards wen evening just never presented a clean shot It was feeding on chestnut acorns. Didnt see any other sign


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