# Educate me on Cohutta WMA



## charliethetuna3 (Jul 4, 2010)

A buddy and I are thinking of making a backpacking/primitive camping trip into Cohutta, and we're wondering the best way to go about it. We are looking to do a little trout fishing, and also scout for the upcoming bear archery season (It is likely that we will follow this trip up with atleast a couple more before season.) Ideas on the best areas to enter would be greatly appreciated, as well as road directions/addresses/gps coordinates to get there. Also, this will be my first experience with a WMA, as our family owns enough private land that I have never felt the need to go elsewhere for deer hunting, therefore I'm a little out of the loop. Is it required that we camp in the designated campgrounds? Moderatly long hikes are fine if they will yield better results, we are both young and atleast think we are in decent shape Anyways, the main purpose is scout good area for bear and decent fishing. I will be fishing with fly tackle and he will most likely be using spinning gear. Thanks in advance for the info!


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## trckdrvr (Jul 5, 2010)

Send a message to member McBuck,he knows Cohutta well and lives near it in Chatsworth.


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## ted_BSR (Jul 5, 2010)

I go in on Big Frog Loop and hike in on Beech Bottom Trail to Jack's River Falls.  It is an easy hike, maybe 4 miles? Last I heard you couldn't camp within a mile upstream or downstream of the falls due to people trashin it, but there are plenty of places to set up in either direction.  You should be able to get a map at a nearby gas station.


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## deadend (Jul 5, 2010)

You need to consider how far you are willing to pack an animal out uphill and on your back.  Cohutta is steep, thick, and remote and packing an animal out several miles will test your will to hunt.  Also, prepare for bad weather.  If it is raining 1/2" and 65 degrees in Ellijay it will rain 4" in Cohutta and be freezing.  I've had some real weather issues there over the years and have come to expect it.  That place is either beautiful or downright miserable during the winter with not much in between.  With all that being said it is my favorite place and I can't wait until this season.


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## earl (Jul 6, 2010)

The national forest office in Gainesville has the best maps.


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## ted_BSR (Jul 13, 2010)

deadend said:


> You need to consider how far you are willing to pack an animal out uphill and on your back.  Cohutta is steep, thick, and remote and packing an animal out several miles will test your will to hunt.  Also, prepare for bad weather.  If it is raining 1/2" and 65 degrees in Ellijay it will rain 4" in Cohutta and be freezing.  I've had some real weather issues there over the years and have come to expect it.  That place is either beautiful or downright miserable during the winter with not much in between.  With all that being said it is my favorite place and I can't wait until this season.



Very good point, and no wheeled carts allowed.


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## Wes (Jul 16, 2010)

I second charlie the tuna - its wicked steep there.

Fishing is naturals and they are small. me and a buddy fished the 'sauga ( or maybe it was the jack) a few years back and we caught some small trout. You have to sneak up on the river. We were using very small light, spinning tackle. 

there are also Hogs in the Cohutta so dont limit yourself to bear. kill all the hogs you want.


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## olcowman (Jul 17, 2010)

Look up "tear britches trail" amd pack your tail up in there as far as you can stand it. Now that's where the big uns' are, especially when they are pressured a little bit when the hunting starts. 

(disclaimer: when you get there you'll be mad at yourself for letting some idiot off an internet forum talk you into going.... if you kill something you'll hate yourself after realizing you gotta drag this thing's carcass back across one of the nastiest pieces of real estate in the southeast.... if you don't kill nothing you will about hate the world and may experience thoughts of doing harm to folks who would send you on such a trek in the first place...)

But when it is all over with and you finally get home and realize what you have just conquered and consider the adventure you just had in the great outdoors..... you'll be too tired and sore to appreciate any of it and sleep right up until time to go back to work.

Seriously I have been up there 10+ times over the years and everytime was my last one. (which with age and health it may have actually come to fruition) I can say the biggest bears and oldest, grayest, raw boned ol' bucks i have ever seen in this state haunt the ridges and hollows up that trail. I saw a ten pointer up there one winter in the 80's that I still dream about on occasion, he wasn't no regular deer........


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