# Bear kill



## JWarren (Oct 20, 2016)

My friend killed this bear the second weekend of bear season in Clinch county.


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## JWarren (Oct 21, 2016)

Funny to see how one-sided this forum is...if a bear ain't killed in the mountains...it don't count.

However, in Ga, if ya don't want to kill a cub sized bear...ya got to come south.

They ain't no 3 or 4yr old sows down here that weight 175lbs.

Y'all want to make out like it is easy hunting...like the mountains are the only tough place to get a bear out of. Tell ya what...come down here and drag one of these BIG bears a mile out this waist deep swamp, that you have to crawl through...and then talk about how easy the hunting is.

Have good day...


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## ripplerider (Oct 21, 2016)

Man thats a nice bear! Dont get hurt cause nobody commented on it yet this forum doesnt get a whole lot of traffic like some of the others. They'll be along to brag on in a bit if you didnt make them mad with your rant. By the way, we have big bears in the mtns. too. And we dont have dogs to lead us to them.


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## ripplerider (Oct 21, 2016)

Look back at the history of the bear forum. How many new threads do you see started by South Ga. bear hunters? If you never participate in this forum why would you get hurt when no-one replies to your post in less than 8 hrs.? I would personally love to hear more from yall. But attacking the size of our bears and down-playing the difficulties involved in getting them out before they spoil is not the way to get the mtn. hunters to acknowledge your post. Your friend looks pretty clean to have just struggled with a very nice bear through a mile of swamp. Why dont yall post some hunting stories about your hunts? I'd personally love to hear them. Also just the other day someone posted on here asking about hunting opportunities in South Ga. I dont remember anyone from down your way speaking up and giving any advice. That is a truly nice bear though. Tell your friend congratulations from me at least. Heading out to hunt now.


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## Killer Kyle (Oct 21, 2016)

I am one of the more active users of this forum, but am just now seeing the post. Can't spend all day playing in the internet because things have to sometimes, you know, get done. Drug a 530 lber through a mile of waist deep swamp mud and came out slick as a whistle! That ol' boy must be good!!
I think it's a dandy bear. It's a hoss! Hope it eats good!!


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## Duff (Oct 21, 2016)

Lol!

That's a big en


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## Hammer Spank (Oct 21, 2016)

I dont know why I keep asking this question, but why on earth are you dragging an animal of any size 1 mile through a swamp. You could turn a 530lb bear into about five pack loads. Dog hunters are always in a group. One pack per man and you can do it without even taking a break.


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## jgqhall (Oct 21, 2016)

Nice!!!!


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## deermaster13 (Oct 21, 2016)

Yes sir that is a full grown one. Congrats


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## livinoutdoors (Oct 21, 2016)

Great bear! I think most people are out hunting right now, no bias against south ga!


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## FOLES55 (Oct 21, 2016)

Just another observation, but that bear appears to very clean after a mile drag also. Great bear anyways and congrats to the hunter!


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## Hammer Spank (Oct 21, 2016)

Is the bear already gutted in these pictures?  A 500 lb black bear looks like a volkswagon.


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## Hammer Spank (Oct 21, 2016)

Maybe theyre more dense down in da swamp


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## jbogg (Oct 22, 2016)

JWarren said:


> Funny to see how one-sided this forum is...if a bear ain't killed in the mountains...it don't count.
> 
> However, in Ga, if ya don't want to kill a cub sized bear...ya got to come south.
> 
> ...



So much wrong with this post and totally unnecessary.  Nice bear though.


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## Hammer Spank (Oct 22, 2016)

I keep reading this thread and I laugh a little more every time.


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## Hammer Spank (Oct 22, 2016)

Come on up here and see if that cat with the removed sleeves can find one without a pack of hounds and someone pointing where to shoot. Lol


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## flatheadfisherman (Oct 23, 2016)

That is a nice bear. Congrats.


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## twincedargap (Oct 23, 2016)

Nice bear. I'll pass on the rant due to the obvious.


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## GA Cracker (Oct 25, 2016)

Hammer Spank said:


> Come on up here and see if that cat with the removed sleeves can find one without a pack of hounds and someone pointing where to shoot. Lol



It is unfortunate that hunters and other people pass judgment without knowing the facts and by making assumptions.
In JWarren's post he was talking about swamp hunting in general and not talking about this particular.
I am the "clean" man in the picture and on the day the bear was killed you wouldn't catch me in the swamp. The previous day I could barely walk and had x-rays and a MRI due to a hip injury at the gym.
I have bear hunted since 2001 with dogs. I have been to many bear treed and bayed on the ground. Many times when pulling back dogs to have the bear come down right beside me as any mountain and swamp dog hunter has experienced. Prior to bear hunting I guided pay hunters catching wild hogs with dogs. Many times with my dogs I caught and tied boar hogs bringing them out alive right by myself.
Many times bear bayed on the ground would not be 10 or 15 feet away and we part the bushes for the shooter to kill the animal. 
We don't politicize our hunts and big bear because in the past that has cost us our lease.
As to being a north GA ridge runner I want no part of that after squirrel hunting N GA with my fiest squirrel dogs.
Now to clear a few facts up I saw two other 500 pounders the same day I shot the 536 pound bear. I was within 15 feet of the 2007 570 lb state record for one day when our club beat that record with a 574 lb bear the next day and I was within 30 yards of the 574 lb bear at one point.  I have seen many 500 lb bear and the three I saw including mine all fit in the back of side by side ATV. Our next state record was 598. I have probably seen at least 25 bear weighing 500 or more and none were Volkswagen size. I am 6'1" barefoot and weigh 275. I was touching the bear side by side to get a true picture. I go to the gym and I don't have a lot of fat on me. My arm is extended so estimate how long the bear is. All of our bear weights are certified when we check them in with the DNR including the picture of mine showing 536.
I shot my first bear in 2001 that weighed 350. I will leave out all of the particulars but a few. On this particular bear I had left my truck parked and I was walking along with a young lady trying to "point out where she was to shoot the bear" with my 45-70 if she got the chance. The bear was in the thicket but would not break cover. I positioned this lady and myself directly in front of the bear at about 20 yards. We were positioned on a perimeter road with federal land behind us. I always said I wanted a bear coming straight at me and I didn't want a small bear. I got my wish when this bear broke cover coming straight at the two of us from about 20 yards running directly at me. I have two Marlins with action jobs including trigger, hammer, and short throw. There was no time for me to direct her where to shoot cause it was time to go to work and that is just what I did. Dog hunting is a group activity and the group deserves the credit. This year our club killed 25 bear with several over 500 ponds. Several years we harvested 20 bear. 
I have also had my true hunting stories published in two different magazines. I am not a wet behind the ears rookie.
While you are laughing the more you read the post I want you to consider this. I have never said or bragged about this publically before because I didn't want to do anything to bring attention to a fine DNR officer I highly respect. During the 2007 bear season I asked a DNR officer if I could kill a bear with my Cold Steel Boar Spear. The officer didn't think I was serious and said I could stick a bear with my spear. Oct 11, 2007 we treed a bear on the last day of the season. We pulled the dogs back and messed with bear until it came down the tree. All of the other hunters ran back except for two men I trusted. Billy was backing me up with a rifle and William was videoing the hunt. When the bear came down the tree I stood on the ground and stabbed the bear with my Cold Steel Boar Spear. I stabbed through the bear and the spear jerked me forward as it came out of the bear. As the bear moved away to another tree I could see blood spurting and internals pushing out. The bear slid back twice as it was climbing another tree and went pretty high before it fell out on it's back fighting at the dogs and trying to pull the dogs in. I went to the bear and stabbed the bear twice more on the ground. The bear caught hold of my spear handle with it's teeth and I tried to pin the bear's head to the ground with my spear handle. I did that because bears do the most damage to dogs by pulling them in and chewing on them. 
Before you start saying this isn't true I have it on video. I also have a letter from the DNR apologizing for any inconvenience this may have caused me and letting me know over and over again that I couldn't stab a bear legally but that I had asked as I should have done. It caused a stink because another officer I had gotten in trouble was trying to prosecute me for taking a bear illegally. 
If you still want to call foul put together any amount of money you want to wager and come down south and I will show you the video. Or maybe stand beside and "point out" where I should stick the bear with my spear. In fact when season comes in next year contact me through the forum and you can hunt with me free as my guest and I guarantee you we can put you just as close as you want to be to a bear. I didn't say you could shoot one but that could possibly happen then you have to buy a membership. Come crawl through thickets and some you have to chop through and see if you want to go back in on the next bay or tree.
Now to clear the record I am 56 years old and stopped back and to mealy mouth stuff when I was a child so I won't post back and to. I have nothing to prove. I read the forum rules and I saw some rules about criticizing individuals and it seems like some need to read the rules.
I look forward to being a member of this forum and I will respond to genuine posts.
We as hunters need to bond together and work together for all of our hunting sports. Nothing thrills me about sitting safely up a tree to shoot a bear. The bear I attacked could have attacked me. I was on his terms face to face. I did have my Ruger 45Colt on my belt and a bowie knife. You may not like dog hunting but to each his own. I have nothing but respect for N GA bear dog hunters. 
Learn to work together and don't go throwing criticism out there when you have no idea what you are talking about like you stayed at a Holiday Inn Express the night before.


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## GAbullHunter (Oct 25, 2016)

just throwing this out there.. with the south being warmer the bear less hunted they have time to grow not just fatten up for the winter which really in my opion is crazy it can never make its mind up it could be in the 80's in dec what does the bears need the fat for if the aren't sleeping haha. but i think they carry more muscle in the south ga area then the north ga area, but i'm not a bear speacialist I just love to hunt an teaching the kids the ropes. South North who cares its GA, great bears glad to have in both loacations with some inbetween even though unhuntable due to population of them in the area. Congrats to any responsible hunter on their kills. good luck in the season. hoping my season goes by with atleast one good kill for the album.


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## JWarren (Oct 25, 2016)




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## antharper (Oct 26, 2016)

Congrats on a nice bear , and enjoyed your story!! And welcome to the forum, a lot of great info and people on here ! And I think I've turkey hunted on your lease as a guest with a guy from Coffee co. Any members from there ?


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## GA Cracker (Oct 26, 2016)

One member from Coffee county but we have bear rights only so probably another club.
Thanks for the compliment and man that is a nice buck.


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## jbogg (Oct 26, 2016)

This thread started off on the wrong foot.  I appreciate you trying to get it back on track.  Peter Capstick wrote "Death in Silent Places".  Much of the book was about an Indian in South America who would hunt Jaguars with nothing but a few hounds and a spear.  Your account of killing a bear with a spear was very similar.  To close for me, but cool story.


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## NCHillbilly (Oct 26, 2016)

That is a big, fat bear for sure. What kind of hounds y'all run down there?


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## ddd-shooter (Oct 26, 2016)

I must be a terrible judge of bear weights after killed, because there's no way I would have said that bear weighs twice what the man in the pic weighs. 
Good kill and good story-aside from the rant. Lol


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## tree cutter 08 (Oct 26, 2016)

That's pretty wild! Never hunted bear with dogs but would like to one day. Congrats on the bear!


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## GA Cracker (Oct 26, 2016)

Yes that is a fat bear. One member likes mainly walkers and won't have anything else. Most have some combination of plott, bluetick, redtick, and a few crossed hounds and cur dogs here and there. I like them all as long as they are honest and will stick and not ill at the tree.  A couple of members have mostly bluetick or redtick in their box. Of course there is the good natured banter back and to on which is best. We have a lot of women and kids hunting and it is all family oriented.


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## NCHillbilly (Oct 27, 2016)

GA Cracker said:


> Yes that is a fat bear. One member likes mainly walkers and won't have anything else. Most have some combination of plott, bluetick, redtick, and a few crossed hounds and cur dogs here and there. I like them all as long as they are honest and will stick and not ill at the tree.  A couple of members have mostly bluetick or redtick in their box. Of course there is the good natured banter back and to on which is best. We have a lot of women and kids hunting and it is all family oriented.



I'm kind of partial to Plotts, as I'm from Haywood Co, NC, where they originated.  My dad hunted some with Von Plott back in the day. We used to have some good Plott/bluetick cross hounds, and I hunted with one guy who had some good redbone bear dogs. I had one blue English that was probably the best all-around bear hound I ever owned, though. I just never could get into the overgrown beagles.  Haven't followed a pack of bear hounds in a couple decades, but I used to love it.


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## The mtn man (Oct 27, 2016)

Hey, that's a nice bear. I don't believe any of the mtn hunters would disagree with that. I know that in NC bears are typically larger around the coastal plains region than in the mtns. I'm not sure why that is. I don't imagine Ga would be any different, even though the Ga mtns and NC mtns produce some big bruins every year. As for dog hunting, I grew up hunting with dogs, I was kind of partial to mixed breeds. We would come up with some crazy crosses that made good bear dogs, Like crossing a plot with a cur, then crossing a walker with a bird dog, then crossing those offspring, then crossing some bulldog with that. Sometimes even throwing in some pointer. But we always used either plots, walkers, redbones, or blueticks for strike and trail dogs. The other breeds were used to pack behind the hounds to make the bear tree quicker. Speaking of killing the bear with a spear, I knew a guy in the NC mtns that killed many bears with his knife, folks can laugh if they want, but it's true. He was typically a hog hunter, sometimes during bear season his hog dogs would get on a bear and catch it on the ground, catching some pretty big bears, while the dogs had the bear caught he would get in there and cut it open. It's hard for a bear to get you when it's got it's head , feet, and rear end caught in a vice.  Congratulations on your big coastal region bear!!!


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## NCHillbilly (Oct 27, 2016)

The mtn man said:


> Hey, that's a nice bear. I don't believe any of the mtn hunters would disagree with that. I know that in NC bears are typically larger around the coastal plains region than in the mtns. I'm not sure why that is. I don't imagine Ga would be any different, even though the Ga mtns and NC mtns produce some big bruins every year. As for dog hunting, I grew up hunting with dogs, I was kind of partial to mixed breeds. We would come up with some crazy crosses that made good bear dogs, Like crossing a plot with a cur, then crossing a walker with a bird dog, then crossing those offspring, then crossing some bulldog with that. Sometimes even throwing in some pointer. But we always used either plots, walkers, redbones, or blueticks for strike and trail dogs. The other breeds were used to pack behind the hounds to make the bear tree quicker. Speaking of killing the bear with a spear, I knew a guy in the NC mtns that killed many bears with his knife, folks can laugh if they want, but it's true. He was typically a hog hunter, sometimes during bear season his hog dogs would get on a bear and catch it on the ground, catching some pretty big bears, while the dogs had the bear caught he would get in there and cut it open. It's hard for a bear to get you when it's got it's head , feet, and rear end caught in a vice.  Congratulations on your big coastal region bear!!!



One old guy I used to hunt with killed one with a rock. It had one of his favorite dogs snatched up holding and biting it so he couldn't get a shot, so he got mad and waded in and beat it in the head with a big grayback until it died. He said he never really thought about it while he was doing it, but it scared him to death after it was over and he said he stood there and shook like a dog passing a peach pit for ten minutes.


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## The mtn man (Oct 27, 2016)

NCHillbilly said:


> One old guy I used to hunt with killed one with a rock. It had one of his favorite dogs snatched up holding and biting it so he couldn't get a shot, so he got mad and waded in and beat it in the head with a big grayback until it died. He said he never really thought about it while he was doing it, but it scared him to death after it was over and he said he stood there and shook like a dog passing a peach pit for ten minutes.



Hahaa!!!! I once seen a win. 94 .338 broken over a bears head while it had a dog in its clutches. I'll just say it wasn't me or my rifle, It wasn't my dog either, haha.


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## Red dirt clod (Oct 27, 2016)

*Great read*

Congrats on a huge bear, your more of a man than I am.


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## GA Cracker (Oct 27, 2016)

A friend of mine from FL named Cornwell that is now deceased killed a bear with his lockback Old Timer in the 90's. Cornwell pulled his favorite blond Plott dog back from the bear twice before as he said "I outs with my Ole Timer and jugged the bear twice and the second stick must have got the heart cause the bear died pretty quick" grinning from ear to ear. After Cornwell did it another friend had to do it but the bear was stretched by the pack as previously described. It is much more dangerous when a bear is not stretched and I am sure a lot of hunters have done something similar.


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## Hammer Spank (Oct 28, 2016)

This thread got started off because someoe got their feelings hurt that there werent 1000 congratulations posts in ten minutes and us north ga mtn hunters got attacked.  Im sorry I mentioned you in my post. I have no issue with people hunting with hounds. Ive hunted raccoons and lions behind hounds and I have owned three walkers. Still own one actually. In fact, I think nchillbilly's opinion about walkers must be the only lack of knowledge Ive ever seen him display. 

Congratulations on a fine bear. Hound hunting black bears in particular is not something I ever want to participate in, but I fully support your right to do it. Ive hunted em over bait 16 times.


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## deadend (Nov 5, 2016)

Disregarding the original poster, I just now saw this thread and wanna say congrats to the hunter. That's a heckuva bear and some good stories. I foremost love hunting the mountains but truth be told I like hunting the swamp almost as good. Keep the stories coming, they're why I'm here.


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## 308 (May 17, 2017)

As one who has hunted Coastal Georgia for about 40%, middle Georgia for 15% and the mountains for 55% of my 55 year hunting life... I prefer the mountains so far... for getting critters back to the truck... 

I also miss hearing a pack of hounds running... 

I don't doubt the size of bears in the South... nor of those in the Mountains... 

I'm keeping up with one mountain boar that will tempt the record books... 

It's a long way to hunting season though... however, mama bear will keep him coming around the cameras for a few months... 

This is a good bear... congrats... 

Oh... as for being clean... I have dragged many bucks out of the South Georgia woods... and don't remember many being dirty afterwards, other than the sand from the road, before putting it in the truck... wet? yes... dirty? not really...


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