# Bears in Middle Georgia?????



## HT2 (Sep 14, 2004)

I'm curious to how "common" it is for Black Bears to be in the Middle Georgia Region????

I read in the "Regulation" manual this year that it is estimated that there are only 200-300 bears within' the middle georgia region.....

JT had posted a picture that we got of a black bear on our lease in Hancock County......Well, we got some more pictures developed this past weekend and we've got another picture of a black bear and this one seems to be a little larger.....But, it is hard to tell of the size.......But there's "NO DOUBT" it is a black bear.....

Just curious....

Any responses would be great.....


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## dbodkin (Sep 14, 2004)

Etter... you got any idea?


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## Tom Borck (Sep 14, 2004)

I know several people who have seen them in Washington County.  Several people have also claimed to have seen them in Screven County, this might explain the Black Panther sightings??


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## HT2 (Sep 14, 2004)

*Tboink.....*

Yeah, were the next county north of Washington County...........

Hancock is just North of there.......

I'd love to see one while hunting........Just to watch them and see how they act.....


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## leadoff (Sep 14, 2004)

I saw one crossing Moody Road (almost at the intersection of Moody and Hwy 96) just outide of Warner Robins a few years back.  I believe bears are fairly common around that area, though.  The Ocmulgee isn't too far down the road on Hwy 96 past Moody.


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## TurkeyCreek (Sep 14, 2004)

HT2 said:
			
		

> I'd love to see one while hunting........Just to watch them and see how they act.....


Tim...how about early one morning as you are walkin to your stand??? :speechles


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## HT2 (Sep 14, 2004)

*Mike......*

Well the first picture we got, we didn't have the "TIME" engaged......We had the date.....

Then the second picture we made the change, and had the time on ......

It was 7:45 a.m........

It was taken at my food plot on the edge of planted pines......So, I would have been there already if it came thru while I was there........I'm not huntin' that area all that much right now, because that's where I got pictures of that good buck, and don't want to mess with it much until Muzzleloader Season.......

I'd sure like to see that bear come back when I'm up in my Tower stand........


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## Jim Thompson (Sep 14, 2004)

maddog said:
			
		

> Tim...how about early one morning as you are walkin to your stand??? :speechles



Yep Timmer could see one up close and personal....Wonder if he would use that crossbow as a club  

Jim


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## HT2 (Sep 14, 2004)

*Jt.....*

I wouldn't have to worry about the crossbow........

I'd drop that thang and be "GONE"!!!!!!!!!

I just don't think I could take a bear!!!!!!!!!   

It's got a distinct "reach" advantage......


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## LKennamer (Sep 14, 2004)

*Check your back issues of GON*

Yep, there's a few there, a few months back there was a story in GON about the current DNR research project on the Middle GA bear popn.  I don't know current numbers and status, but last spring and summer (2003), they trapped and released 29, mostly in and around Oaky Woods and Ocmulgee WMAs.


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## quackman (Sep 14, 2004)

48 tagged and released as of this date,will continue for 3 more years on this project


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## Etter1 (Sep 14, 2004)

Sorry, I've got no info on the subject but it definitely appears as if their populations are increasing.  Maybe they'll open hunting seasons here in the next few years.  As far as walking up on them, I wouldn't worry about it.  I bet a good many of us outweigh the average middle georgia blackie anyway.


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## Hunterrs (Sep 14, 2004)

didn't someone run over one on 285 or 400 last year?  I cant remember if it was a bear or black panther


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## goldentrout (Sep 14, 2004)

I know that the guys around Veasy talk about seeing a female with her cups.  Which tells me daddy is some where!!


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## Hal (Sep 14, 2004)

I was in a club in Twiggs co. surrounded by Ocmulgee WMA land and I saw 3 during my time there. 1 of them I was bowhunting walking next to a dry creek bed and saw something black moving through the palmettos. I'm thinking hawg but then I see that this isn't a pig but a bear  :speechles , not a great big'un but not a little teddy bear either. And he looked hungry, but I guess any bear that you see on the ground and all you have is a bow, would look hungry. That bear never even looked my way, he just kept on moving like he had somewhere he had to be  .


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## short stop (Sep 14, 2004)

ive never seen 1 around MADISON  .  Be neat to see 1 though .


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## DKG (Sep 15, 2004)

*Middle GA Black Bears*

I moved to middle GA in 1977 as the wildlife biologist over 10 counties.  We had begun to have more and more bears hit by cars in the area of Houston and Twiggs county.  DNR had just finished a 10 year population study of black bears in N GA and opened a bear season.  We felt like it would not be long before a bear season was requested in the counties along the Ocmulgee river.  We had no data on the black bears in middle GA so I started a 4-year research project to obtain baseline information on this population.  It was already know that GA had three disjunct black bear population, N GA, Middle GA just below Macon, and S GA around the Okefenokee.  After 4 years of trapping and tagging, we determined that the middle GA population along the Ocmulgee river was about 1 bear per 860 acres (1.2 sq. miles).  The N GA population was estimated at 1 bear per 640 acres (1 sq. mile).  It took us 20 years to find the funding for additional work on the middle GA population.  In January of 2003, DNR began a 6 year study on this population under the direction of Sr. Wildlife Biologist Scott McDonald.  Advances in technology have been well worth the wait.  Scott and his crew are catching many more bears than we did and placing radios on them to determine movement patterns, denning sites, home range sizes, and many other information.  While the rough estimates are 200-300 bears, preliminary data indicates that these estimates may be low.  At the conclusion of this project, DNR will have extremely valuable data on the black bear population in middle GA.


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## broadhead (Sep 17, 2004)

In the late seventies, I watched a black bear run along the dam of a lake in front of my parents home. It happened in the middle of the afternoon in southern Bibb county.


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## Al White (Sep 17, 2004)

*Twiggs, Houston bear population*

I got to meet the two ladies that were conducting the bear study in Twiggs and Houston Counties.  They told me that they  had 29 bears with radio collers on within about 20 square miles.  It is not uncommon at all to see bears on our place.  I saw a sow and three cubs about a week ago.


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## Jeff Phillips (Sep 17, 2004)

Tim - Those ain't bears! They are fat black panthers  

I'd love to see 1 from my stand just to watch it


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## HT2 (Sep 17, 2004)

*Jeffrey.....*

Naw brother.....

THEM IS BEARS!!!!!!!!!!!   

I'm with you....

I'd love to just sit up in the tree and watch one.......With a gun of course.....Just in case.....


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## Timberman (Sep 17, 2004)

Bears are kewl...hope the population increases.  I'd be more afraid of the local dope grower or meth cooker than a bear in the middle Georgia woods...  

The last week of October for me = bear camp in Oconee County SC...I CAN'T wait! Friends, Plott hounds, bears, and fun...


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## DanSmith (Sep 17, 2004)

*dbone?*

seen ant bears?


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