# 1st time Bear Hunting



## vinyardg (Sep 19, 2020)

Louisiana boy going to the Cohutta hill 1st week of October on my 1st ever bear hunt.  Hopefully I can manage those hills for 5 days.  Any suggestions on where I should camp?  Thinking of camping at Jack's river camp site but would like something a little closer to the the WMA.


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## Clipper (Sep 19, 2020)

This link will show you all the camp grounds in the wma and their location.  

https://naturalatlas.com/management-areas/cohutta-2118340/camping


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## vinyardg (Sep 20, 2020)

Thanks for the link.  This was helpful.


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## Mattval (Sep 26, 2020)

vinyardg said:


> Louisiana boy going to the Cohutta hill 1st week of October on my 1st ever bear hunt.  Hopefully I can manage those hills for 5 days.  Any suggestions on where I should camp?  Thinking of camping at Jack's river camp site but would like something a little closer to the the WMA.


Let us know how the hunt went Sir.


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## vinyardg (Nov 1, 2020)

I spent a week in Cohutta on my first ever bear hunt. Since I've only hunted flat lands this was an experience to hunt these mountains.  The first 3 days was spent walking, scouting and just tried to figure out what good sign looked like. I did find a good bit of fresh bear scat on two different ridges.  On the 4th day I hunted the ridge with the most sign and God blessed me with my first ever bear. I have to say that I really enjoyed walking those hills trying to figure out what fresh bear sign is and I'm looking forward to hunting there again.


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## vinyardg (Nov 1, 2020)

Picture


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## Thunder Head (Nov 1, 2020)

Congrats to you,
 Its been a tuff year. You did good.


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## Joe Brandon (Nov 1, 2020)

Man absolutely awesome way to go!!!


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## Professor (Nov 1, 2020)

well done, and well earned.


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## Doug B. (Nov 1, 2020)

Nice! Real nice!!!


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## splatek (Nov 1, 2020)

Congrats


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## jbogg (Nov 1, 2020)

Nice bear! Way to get it done in a difficult year.


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## fatback (Nov 1, 2020)

That is awesome. Congrats on a fine trophy.


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## antharper (Nov 1, 2020)

Congrats on a beautiful bear , from the results I’m hearing from the experienced  bear hunters you done good ! Thanks for sharing


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## EyesUp83 (Nov 3, 2020)

C


vinyardg said:


> I spent a week in Cohutta on my first ever bear hunt. Since I've only hunted flat lands this was an experience to hunt these mountains.  The first 3 days was spent walking, scouting and just tried to figure out what good sign looked like. I did find a good bit of fresh bear scat on two different ridges.  On the 4th day I hunted the ridge with the most sign and God blessed me with my first ever bear. I have to say that I really enjoyed walking those hills trying to figure out what fresh bear sign is and I'm looking forward to hunting there again.



Congrats on your bear!!  I'm heading up in December in hopes of my first bear as well. What did you find that you determined was the best sign to hunt over? Any other big lessons learned you can share with us/ me?


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## blood on the ground (Nov 3, 2020)

Knocked it over the fence on your first try!
Next time through bring some crawfish and pick me up... I'll go with you!


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## vinyardg (Nov 3, 2020)

EyesUp83 said:


> C
> 
> 
> Congrats on your bear!!  I'm heading up in December in hopes of my first bear as well. What did you find that you determined was the best sign to hunt over? Any other big lessons learned you can share with us/ me?



I did a lot of walking and scouting for 3 days just looking for sign.  I was hoping to find a white oak tree that they were feeding on but I could not find any white oaks with acorns.  The freshest sign that i found was bear scat along two different ridges. The ridges also had several trees that had been scared up.   The ridge I killed the bear on had muscadines that looked like they were feeding on.  The main reason I hunted this ridge was because of the amount of fresh bear scat on the trail.   I'm sure I had beginners luck on my side but I really enjoyed scouting and trying to figure them out.

I also did a lot of reading on this site looking for any advise that I could find.


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## vinyardg (Nov 3, 2020)

blood on the ground said:


> Knocked it over the fence on your first try!
> Next time through bring some crawfish and pick me up... I'll go with you!


Sounds like a plan.


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## Rabun (Nov 5, 2020)

That's outstanding!! Congratulations indeed!


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## chrislibby88 (Nov 7, 2020)

EyesUp83 said:


> C
> 
> 
> Congrats on your bear!!  I'm heading up in December in hopes of my first bear as well. What did you find that you determined was the best sign to hunt over? Any other big lessons learned you can share with us/ me?


Some of the more experienced bear hunters can probably weigh in, but my understanding is that after late Oct/mid Nov the hunting gets tough. They start to den up, lay around a few days, then get up and feed sporadically, but they don’t cover ground like they do early season. You still have a chance of getting one though, but the sign is going to be very sparse, guess if you find fresh sign late season there will probably be a bear nearby. I would expect them to be more active later into the season this year with all the reds and mountain oaks, so it could be a good year for late season bears. The good news is the bucks should be moving good in December. They have a later rut up there, so if you can’t find a bear maybe a good buck will give you a shot. Be ready for anything, the action happens fast in the hills and sometimes you only have a few seconds to see game, and get a shot off before the topography or tricky winds end your hunt.


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## Sautee Ridgerunner (Nov 7, 2020)

I have yet to kill one late in the season. I rarely try much but I have cameras up year round. I tend to get many more pictures later in the season during the more midday hours. Like 10-3.  Theyre definitely going to stay much more active this year well through December. 

Im going to try hard to kill a december mtn buck with a recurve so hoping a bear wanders by too.


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## Professor (Nov 8, 2020)

I am hoping that the warm weather and abundance of red oak acorns will keep them actively feeding through the season.


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## EyesUp83 (Nov 8, 2020)

chrislibby88 said:


> Some of the more experienced bear hunters can probably weigh in, but my understanding is that after late Oct/mid Nov the hunting gets tough. They start to den up, lay around a few days, then get up and feed sporadically, but they don’t cover ground like they do early season. You still have a chance of getting one though, but the sign is going to be very sparse, guess if you find fresh sign late season there will probably be a bear nearby. I would expect them to be more active later into the season this year with all the reds and mountain oaks, so it could be a good year for late season bears. The good news is the bucks should be moving good in December. They have a later rut up there, so if you can’t find a bear maybe a good buck will give you a shot. Be ready for anything, the action happens fast in the hills and sometimes you only have a few seconds to see game, and get a shot off before the topography or tricky winds end your hunt.


Thanks for the tips... We are hoping for that late season activity!! Good Bucks and Bears are what we wanna pack out!  Thanks again


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## tree cutter 08 (Nov 9, 2020)

Been getting several bear pics lately. Mainly midday. They won't leave my mock scrapes alone. Had 7 different bears hit one  in last 4 days. 2 was over 400lb


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