# Cedar Joke



## Scrub Buck (Nov 28, 2010)

What a disappointment.  Went to a spot I have stayed away from for three years because of people camping on the cul-de-sac of a road behind a Forestry Service gate (Thought they owned it.).  Decided to go today and to my surprise someone was camped there.  Has not been allowed for the last couple of years.  Just shook my head and went into the woods.  Saw a few does and to my surprise 10 people riding horses along the creek.  Since when has riding horses on Cedar Creek or the Oconee National Forest within Cedar Creek been allowed?  I've seen them on and off through various deer and turkey seasons and kept my mouth shut.  When I came out of the woods I tried let the people know that were camped there that it wasn't allowed.  They told me I had a bad attitude and sped off in their truck.  Well, needless to say, it's about time for all of this to stop.  Between the illegal camping and horseback riding this WMA has turned into a JOKE.  CKILLMASTER if you could send me a pm and let me know who to get ahold of to get this fixed I'd appreciate it.


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## craig barnett (Nov 29, 2010)

I wish we could get enough people together to go to dnr and put a stop to all this hiking,horse riding crap. After all we pay for the land they dont.


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## C.Killmaster (Nov 29, 2010)

Scrub Buck said:


> What a disappointment.  Went to a spot I have stayed away from for three years because of people camping on the cul-de-sac of a road behind a Forestry Service gate (Thought they owned it.).  Decided to go today and to my surprise someone was camped there.  Has not been allowed for the last couple of years.  Just shook my head and went into the woods.  Saw a few does and to my surprise 10 people riding horses along the creek.  Since when has riding horses on Cedar Creek or the Oconee National Forest within Cedar Creek been allowed?  I've seen them on and off through various deer and turkey seasons and kept my mouth shut.  When I came out of the woods I tried let the people know that were camped there that it wasn't allowed.  They told me I had a bad attitude and sped off in their truck.  Well, needless to say, it's about time for all of this to stop.  Between the illegal camping and horseback riding this WMA has turned into a JOKE.  CKILLMASTER if you could send me a pm and let me know who to get ahold of to get this fixed I'd appreciate it.



You need to contact either the Forest Service Office in Eatonton or the Game Management Office in Fort Valley.  If it's outside business hours, call the TIP line 1-800-241-4113 and let them know what WMA you're on and what the problem is.  They will page the area manager for the WMA.  Keep that number with you, because there's not much they can do after the fact.


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## deadend (Nov 29, 2010)

Get ready for a ton more of this if all users start pay fees.


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## Jeff Phillips (Nov 29, 2010)

deadend said:


> Get ready for a ton more of this if all users start pay fees.



Yep! As WRD moves away from wildlife and begins to convert our WMA's into parks this will become the norm.

When others start to pay, they get a vote on usage and they will soon outnumber us.


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## C.Killmaster (Nov 29, 2010)

craig barnett said:


> I wish we could get enough people together to go to dnr and put a stop to all this hiking,horse riding crap. After all we pay for the land they dont.



While we do have to purchase a WMA license to hunt WMAs on National Forests (as well as all WMAs), all taxpayers funded the purchase of National Forest Lands and also fund most of their maintenance.  Legal, non-hunting use of those lands is supported by everyone and is encouraged.  On National Forests, hunting is not meant to be the first and foremost recreational opportunity like it is on state-owned and leased WMAs.  Just wanted to make sure you had to whole picture of funding sources for various areas.


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## dgr416 (Nov 29, 2010)

*Cedar joke*

The dnr puts hunters last on their list.The horse riders,bikers and campers have at will at what we paid for many years.They even quit planting food plots on such awesome wmas as BF Grant because of budget cuts.You should see it how bad it is in the mountains.Its a joke to try to hunt up here any more on the wmas.There were so many campers and fisherman on the Blueridge PW hunt there were no places for the hunters to camp.Out of 200 hunter there were 4 deer killed.Chesatee WMA is even worse .Its ruined as far as hunting goes .I see dnr as a parks and rec group that cares nothing for hunters except taking their money.The tag money for those wildlife tags also goes to the general fund nothing for hunting.Its a big joke.In 10 years I see hunters totally pushed out of the WMAs we bought and payed for!!!!!!


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## Wes (Nov 29, 2010)

*it gets worse*

I hunted last week at a check in hunt near Toccoa and a ranger told me that I could expect the law enforcement component of the rangers job to be phased out in the next 10 years and the personnel working the WMA's would be essentially farmers (except that they won't have enough funds to plant any food plots by then). You can expect the illegal camping and poaching to increase exponentially. Meth lab anyone?

If you want to complain about the current state of affairs this is the man to contact
dan.forster@dnr.state.ga.us

Also- I saw two trailers worth of horse back riders during the hunt. I can't believe its too much to ask that they be restricted from the WMA during check in rifle hunts.


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## Bowie (Nov 29, 2010)

Just fire off a few rounds into the air when they pass by.  And watch them horses high tail it out of there.


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## ON_ROPE (Nov 29, 2010)

*Joke's on you*

In Georgia there are about ten million people, there are about 300 thousand hunters. That means hunters are THREE percent of the population of this state. Currently the income from WMA stamps each year does not even cover the cost of leases much less the aquisition of any land. However if you took all the WMA stamp money for a state owned WMA and used it to purchase the area it would take over five thousand years to be able to say "we paid for it, so we should get exclusive use" Grow up, share the sandbox or get kicked out of it.


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## NEGA Hog Hunter (Nov 29, 2010)

ON_ROPE said:


> In Georgia there are about ten million people, there are about 300 thousand hunters. That means hunters are THREE percent of the population of this state. Currently the income from WMA stamps each year does not even cover the cost of leases much less the aquisition of any land. However if you took all the WMA stamp money for a state owned WMA and used it to purchase the area it would take over five thousand years to be able to say "we paid for it, so we should get exclusive use" Grow up, share the sandbox or get kicked out of it.


I wish you were right,but its not avalible to all hunters. i hog hunt with dogs,why can you hunt birds,squirrels,coons,rabbits but you cant hunt hogs? only thing i can figure is that maybe thier wma stamp cost more than mine.


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## DEERFU (Nov 30, 2010)

Cedar Creek is a big place, I know it's a pain but it may be time to find another honey hole! I had a bad experience this year at BF Grant but had the spot all to my self last year. People are going to keep camping in the culdesacs and the rangers are understaffed. It's a big place and I can assure you there are deer all over it. You might even get lucky and find a better spot(it happens to me occassionally). The horse riders may have been inconsiderate or just ignorant of the situation but they are going to be a permanent fixture on the wmas and nf. It's a good easy place for them to enjoy their sport too. I'm not into horses but if they came up on me I'd let them pass. I've had less disturbance on the wmas than on the hunting clubs I've been a part of over the past 25 years.


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## Jighead (Nov 30, 2010)

I really don't have an issue with the horse riders on the wmas except for the limited hunts usually last 4 days, them 4 days should be for hunting only, then everyone else has it the rest of the year. Not a whole lot to ask.


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## ABBYS DAD (Nov 30, 2010)

I've never seen horse riders at Cedar Creek and have never had a problem there. Anyone who obeys the law and regulations of WMA's have every right to be there. Individuals should know these laws and regulations before entry and respect other peoples rights to use public land. To make your point stick, (which I support you 100%) the DNR board should enforce new regulations during hunting season to prohibit the use of "non-hunters" from being on WMA property during sanctioned hunts. I encourage you to visit Pine Log WMA to see how good you have it at Cedar Creek! Be blessed to still be able to hunt Cedar Creek. It is a wonderful place to hunt and the folks who manage the area do a fantastic job.


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## Chattooga River Hunter (Nov 30, 2010)

Bowie said:


> Just fire off a few rounds into the air when they pass by.  And watch them horses high tail it out of there.



Doing that will not help the hunters.


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## GA DAWG (Nov 30, 2010)

Jeff Phillips said:


> Yep! As WRD moves away from wildlife and begins to convert our WMA's into parks this will become the norm.
> 
> When others start to pay, they get a vote on usage and they will soon outnumber us.


Thats right in line with my thinking also!!!!!!! Atleast when these non hunters get them..Maybe they can get the dern gates open at Dawson Forest so I can coon hunt


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## Scrub Buck (Nov 30, 2010)

I would like to thank everyone for reading and replying to my post.  I hope I can explain this so everyone understands.  Horseback riding is not allowed in the area unless it is done on the road surface.  The people who are doing this have trails throughout the WMA up and down Cedar Creek, Marshall Creek, and Glady's Creek.  The trails have in the past been marked with orange flags.  No longer needed they have GPSs.  I'm sure some of you have seen or walked on the trails.  One of the the most used trail crosses the road just below forest road 1071.  They also ride on all the fire breaks then cut into the woods and go onto the trails they have made.  These people owe each and everyoneone of us for what they have done to the ecosystem by their illegal activety.  CKILLMASTER thanks for the information.


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## Bone Collector (Dec 4, 2010)

Scrub Buck said:


> I would like to thank everyone for reading and replying to my post.  I hope I can explain this so everyone understands.  Horseback riding is not allowed in the area unless it is done on the road surface.  The people who are doing this have trails throughout the WMA up and down Cedar Creek, Marshall Creek, and Glady's Creek.  The trails have in the past been marked with orange flags.  No longer needed they have GPSs.  I'm sure some of you have seen or walked on the trails.  One of the the most used trail crosses the road just below forest road 1071.  They also ride on all the fire breaks then cut into the woods and go onto the trails they have made.  These people owe each and everyoneone of us for what they have done to the ecosystem by their illegal activety.  CKILLMASTER thanks for the information.



According to the regs, horseback riding is allowed on designated trails and designated areas.  Are these areas where they typically ride "designated?"  There is no times restriction for riding on national forest land.  I believe it should be restricted to at least after 10am and before 3pm.  Five hours is plenty of time for them to ride horses.

Some horse riders are like poachers.  They don't care about trespassing.  I used to hunt a friend's private property and had people riding horses through the area while I was hunting.  It was obvious that they were riding through when I wasn't hunting too because there was plenty of horse pellets on the area.

BC


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## Scrub Buck (Dec 4, 2010)

No, there are no designated trails or areas anywhere within the confines of Cedar Creek WMA.  The only area on all of the Oconee National forest that it is alowed is Ocumulgee Bluff.  No where near Cedar Creek. You are not allowed to ride horses on this WMA unless it is on the road not through the woods like these people do.


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## Cypress94 (Dec 5, 2010)

C.Killmaster said:


> While we do have to purchase a WMA license to hunt WMAs on National Forests (as well as all WMAs), all taxpayers funded the purchase of National Forest Lands and also fund most of their maintenance.  Legal, non-hunting use of those lands is supported by everyone and is encouraged.  On National Forests, hunting is not meant to be the first and foremost recreational opportunity like it is on state-owned and leased WMAs.  Just wanted to make sure you had to whole picture of funding sources for various areas.



I totally agree, Killmaster, but I have a problem with it when the area that I hunt WAS NF land 3 years ago, and with no input at all, WRD decided to incorporate the area that I hunt into the WMA.  If horseback riders want to ride the Oconee NF, theres plenty of unincorporated areas to ride during deer season...have at it.  But there is NO reason that they should be allowed on Cedar Creek during a managed deer hunt, especially considering that I paid to have access to the land through the purchase of my WMA stamp, and they haven't paid anything else, over and above taxes.

Of course, we can pass all the laws we want to, but if there is nobody to enforce them, then it's no good, anyway.


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## 7Mag Hunter (Dec 5, 2010)

DEERFU39 said:


> Cedar Creek is a big place, I know it's a pain but it may be time to find another honey hole!
> 
> My thoughts exactly...If you hunt public land and park at
> gated roads with foot travel trails you ARE going to run
> ...


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## Scrub Buck (Dec 5, 2010)

This has nothing to do with a honeyhole!  Read my first post, I have not gone there in three years.  Decided to go, because camping has not been allowed in at least two years.  This has to do with illegal activities.   Also this gated road gives you access to the one of the biggest tracts of land on Cedar Creek.  I have no problem with walking.  I doubt many can keep up.  I never said I have seen people in the woods while hunting (just illegal horse riders late in the day).  Just tired of having to deal with people who think they own the place just because they have camped there.  There is always a confrontation.  I'm tired of dealing with the nonsense when I am not the one who has done wrong.


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## Etter2 (Dec 5, 2010)

The TIPS line is worthless.  I've called it twice in the last five years and left messages and never even got a call returned.  Dont waste your time.  Get the number of the local warden and keep it in your cell.


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