# Central GA Bear season today



## HughW2 (Dec 18, 2021)

Good luck to central GA Bear hunters today.  Please post pics if you bag one.
How many are hunting for Bear today in Central zone?


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## IIICrkRepr (Dec 18, 2021)

It’s way too hot compared to last year, I should be out here in shorts and flip flops. We have heard a lot of shots around us but nothing seen yet.


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## chrislibby88 (Dec 18, 2021)

I was invited to go on a friends club, but I tagged out last week. I’m not sure if he went or not, need to check with him. The middle GA one day season is almost a slap in the face really.


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## tomcat58 (Dec 18, 2021)

dnr knows what they want and are doing


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## HughW2 (Dec 18, 2021)

Amen Chris,
The biologists that determine the middle GA Bear population and quotas need some help with their jobs.  The bear population is growing exponentially in Twiggs and Bleckley.  If you scout any property down there that has / is growing peanuts has bears (probably multiple) from October to December each year.  Bear and vehicle incidents have increased in last three years.


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## chrislibby88 (Dec 18, 2021)

tomcat58 said:


> dnr knows what they want and are doing





HughW2 said:


> Amen Chris,
> The biologists that determine the middle GA Bear population and quotas need some help with their jobs.  The bear population is growing in Twiggs and Bleckley exponentially.  If you scout any property down there that has / is growing peanuts has bears (probably multiple) from October to December each year.  Bear and vehicle incidents have increased in last three years.


Oh I trust the DNR. They know what they are doing, they are setting up a super limited season with a goal of very low harvest numbers. If they don’t have the population to support a real hunt then don’t do one. The single day this late in the year, on private land only, just isn’t enough to do anything more than get lucky. If you can pattern a bear it’s gonna be on corn, which is another complication, can’t bait bears, which is fine, except everyone is running corn for deer. I would rather see the season be longer, and they do a super limited quota draw for tags. Open it to public land too, so the baiting is out of the equation.


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## tree cutter 08 (Dec 19, 2021)

They won't listen to yall hunters about the bear population.  They let it grow here about 10 years to long before they decided to try to knock it back. Complaining and dealing with problem bears all year didn't seem to be a problem until a few years ago. Yall better speak out about getting a longer season!


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## chrislibby88 (Dec 19, 2021)

tree cutter 08 said:


> They won't listen to yall hunters about the bear population.  They let it grow here about 10 years to long before they decided to try to knock it back. Complaining and dealing with problem bears all year didn't seem to be a problem until a few years ago. Yall better speak out about getting a longer season!


Yea might be worth going to the next meeting and making a suggestion.


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## Christian hughey (Dec 19, 2021)

chrislibby88 said:


> Oh I trust the DNR. They know what they are doing, they are setting up a super limited season with a goal of very low harvest numbers. If they don’t have the population to support a real hunt then don’t do one. The single day this late in the year, on private land only, just isn’t enough to do anything more than get lucky. If you can pattern a bear it’s gonna be on corn, which is another complication, can’t bait bears, which is fine, except everyone is running corn for deer. I would rather see the season be longer, and they do a super limited quota draw for tags. Open it to public land too, so the baiting is out of the equation.


I don't like this! Dnr knows this isn't right and has done anything about it. Either open up baiting across the board or shut it down all together. No sense in having this Grey area that no one knows how to approach! The numbers of deer in north ga are on decline and bear numbers are up, makes no sense to me why you can shoot a deer over a pile of corn but not a bear, one of the major causes of the deer decline. I think dnr needs to do some rethinking ? on that one! Imo it would allow hunters more time to judge size, sex and see if any cubs are nearby. Your granted only 2 tags reguardless and public land is still bait free so I think they need to allow it on private land if they are going to continue to allow it for deer


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## ddd-shooter (Dec 20, 2021)

Christian hughey said:


> I don't like this! Dnr knows this isn't right and has done anything about it. Either open up baiting across the board or shut it down all together. No sense in having this Grey area that no one knows how to approach! The numbers of deer in north ga are on decline and bear numbers are up, makes no sense to me why you can shoot a deer over a pile of corn but not a bear, one of the major causes of the deer decline. I think dnr needs to do some rethinking ? on that one! Imo it would allow hunters more time to judge size, sex and see if any cubs are nearby. Your granted only 2 tags reguardless and public land is still bait free so I think they need to allow it on private land if they are going to continue to allow it for deer


Disagree completely.


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## Heath (Dec 20, 2021)

ddd-shooter said:


> Disagree completely.


Amen


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## HughW2 (Dec 20, 2021)

DNR Needs to:
Provide an accurate population count of the middle GA Bear population.
The current population Is significantly underestimated.
If they did this they would find they could provide more than a ridiculous one day season.  Bear should be legal during season on either public or private land.  Bait would of course not be legal on public land. They should also realize that since baiting is legal for deer that it is inevitable that some bait may be found in the area on private  land.  Another point I would like to make is DNR has been known to harass hunters that are lucky enough to bag a bear by having investigative teams come a tear up your property looking for any possible baiting. 

The middle GA Bear season is ridiculous and needs a thorough over haul.  Vehicle and Bear collisions will increase and bears are already impacting farmers crop yields.  Have  four or five bears take up residence on your peanut field as soon as you dig up for harvest and see how you feel.


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## HughW2 (Dec 20, 2021)

Baby bear that sat there munching peanuts as I drove my truck up to within 50 yards. Momma was at least smart enough to ease back into the woods.


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## Christian hughey (Dec 20, 2021)

ddd-shooter said:


> Disagree completely.


You can say you disagree but what is your view on this for disagreement. I feel they need to make changes to the baiting laws one way or another. I'm not opposed to either. I am somewhat opposed to what's going on now. Basically if you plan on hunting bear on your property you best not be baiting deer or it gives officers discretion to prosecute. There is a Grey area I personally don't like!


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## HughW2 (Dec 20, 2021)




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## chrislibby88 (Dec 20, 2021)

HughW2 said:


> DNR Needs to:
> Provide an accurate population count of the middle GA Bear population.
> The current population Is significantly underestimated.
> If they did this they would find they could provide more than a ridiculous one day season.  Bear should be legal during season on either public or private land.  Bait would of course not be legal on public land. They should also realize that since baiting is legal for deer that it is inevitable that some bait may be found in the area on private  land.  Another point I would like to make is DNR has been known to harass hunters that are lucky enough to bag a bear by having investigative teams come a tear up your property looking for any possible baiting.
> ...


They look into them down here because there’s ALOT of good ole boys that are scared of bears and will shoot every one they see, season or not. And 99% of hunters are running corn, and hunting bears on that one day hunt over corn, or some kinda bait/lure. I would bet money that at least half the guys hunting them here are doing some sketchy stuff.


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## Professor (Dec 20, 2021)

Get rid of all the bait. Either learn how to hunt or stay on the couch.


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## dhsnke (Dec 20, 2021)

Professor said:


> Get rid of all the bait. Either learn how to hunt or stay on the couch.


Heck ya, I can't agree more.


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## Christian hughey (Dec 20, 2021)

Professor said:


> Get rid of all the bait. Either learn how to hunt or stay on the couch.


My thoughts, but that's just my opinion. That's one of the main reasons I enjoy hunting public and it would be nice if they would ban it all together again to level the playing field but it ain't gonna happen so either allow it for both or ban it for both.


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## Professor (Dec 22, 2021)

Christian hughey said:


> My thoughts, but that's just my opinion. That's one of the main reasons I enjoy hunting public and it would be nice if they would ban it all together again to level the playing field but it ain't gonna happen so either allow it for both or ban it for both.


I seriously do not want them to allow baiting for any animal on public lands.


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## ddd-shooter (Dec 22, 2021)

Christian hughey said:


> You can say you disagree but what is your view on this for disagreement. I feel they need to make changes to the baiting laws one way or another. I'm not opposed to either. I am somewhat opposed to what's going on now. Basically if you plan on hunting bear on your property you best not be baiting deer or it gives officers discretion to prosecute. There is a Grey area I personally don't like!


Baiting and bears just provides an easy target for antis. I'm glad we snuck in hound hunting, so who knows. But it's not a risk we can afford, kinda like spring season. I despise bait on public, especially after having seen it multiple times this year (had to report). 

We've raised a whole generation that doesn't know what to do without a bag of corn. It's ridiculous.


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## 27metalman (Dec 23, 2021)

The season and regulations needs changing.  You can't bait, but you can sit in a peanut field or in a corn field and that's legal I think. ???  I have access to a small tract that is nowhere near bait or a field.  One day does not get me much of a chance even though bears frequent it.  A lottery or something like the alligator season would be better... but, it too has flaws in my opinion.


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## Christian hughey (Dec 25, 2021)

Professor said:


> I seriously do not want them to allow baiting for any animal on public lands.


It will never fly public land and if we see a trend in any direction I hope to see it go back to the way it used to be. But that's to be said with most things these days!


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## Christian hughey (Dec 25, 2021)

ddd-shooter said:


> Baiting and bears just provides an easy target for antis. I'm glad we snuck in hound hunting, so who knows. But it's not a risk we can afford, kinda like spring season. I despise bait on public, especially after having seen it multiple times this year (had to report).
> 
> We've raised a whole generation that doesn't know what to do without a bag of corn. It's ridiculous.


Very true, if they were to do away with baiting alot of so called hunters would likely hang it up. I'm speaking more on the private lands surrounding where we hunt that bait for deer. It creates an unnecessary risk for us when we hunt near property lines and don't necessarily know what's beyond that boundary. My point is they are gonna bait reguardless for deer and I don't want to get in a shady situation because of someone else's bait too close to the boundary or whatever. Hopefully dnr would atleast be understanding in a situation where the bait was on the private land within the 200 yard restriction and I had no way of knowing it was over there. ? and that sucks to find bait in your spot. Not only is that spot ruined for the year but at that point until you report it you are at risk of being charged for hunting over it because they have no way of knowing you didn't put it out. They just know your at the scene of the crime ?


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## C.Killmaster (Dec 25, 2021)

Christian hughey said:


> Very true, if they were to do away with baiting alot of so called hunters would likely hang it up. I'm speaking more on the private lands surrounding where we hunt that bait for deer. It creates an unnecessary risk for us when we hunt near property lines and don't necessarily know what's beyond that boundary. My point is they are gonna bait reguardless for deer and I don't want to get in a shady situation because of someone else's bait too close to the boundary or whatever. Hopefully dnr would atleast be understanding in a situation where the bait was on the private land within the 200 yard restriction and I had no way of knowing it was over there. ? and that sucks to find bait in your spot. Not only is that spot ruined for the year but at that point until you report it you are at risk of being charged for hunting over it because they have no way of knowing you didn't put it out. They just know your at the scene of the crime ?



They actually made it unlawful to place bait in a manner that would make hunting on an adjacent property illegal.


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## ddd-shooter (Dec 25, 2021)

Christian hughey said:


> Very true, if they were to do away with baiting alot of so called hunters would likely hang it up. I'm speaking more on the private lands surrounding where we hunt that bait for deer. It creates an unnecessary risk for us when we hunt near property lines and don't necessarily know what's beyond that boundary. My point is they are gonna bait reguardless for deer and I don't want to get in a shady situation because of someone else's bait too close to the boundary or whatever. Hopefully dnr would atleast be understanding in a situation where the bait was on the private land within the 200 yard restriction and I had no way of knowing it was over there. ? and that sucks to find bait in your spot. Not only is that spot ruined for the year but at that point until you report it you are at risk of being charged for hunting over it because they have no way of knowing you didn't put it out. They just know your at the scene of the crime ?


I called from the woods as soon as I found it... Lol


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## C.Killmaster (Dec 25, 2021)

Christian hughey said:


> It will never fly public land and if we see a trend in any direction I hope to see it go back to the way it used to be. But that's to be said with most things these days!



I seriously doubt you will ever see bait legalized on public land.  I have seen zero sentiment to doing that internally through regulation or through law.  No one is pushing for it that I've ever heard of and I would be a likely one to catch wind of it.


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## 35 Whelen (Dec 25, 2021)

C.Killmaster said:


> I seriously doubt you will ever see bait legalized on public land.  I have seen zero sentiment to doing that internally through regulation or through law.  No one is pushing for it that I've ever heard of and I would be a likely one to catch wind of it.



Good to hear.  It's a shame that it got started in the first place.


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## Professor (Dec 25, 2021)

C.Killmaster said:


> I seriously doubt you will ever see bait legalized on public land.  I have seen zero sentiment to doing that internally through regulation or through law.  No one is pushing for it that I've ever heard of and I would be a likely one to catch wind of it.


I hope not, but, as baiting on private land becomes more entrenched, a newer generation of hunters will think baiting is hunting. It will be the norm, and they will feel entitled to bait wherever they hunt. The idea of baiting on public land won’t simply have support. We will have at least a sizable minority of hunters demanding it. Why wouldn’t they demanded it. The logic is too strong to argue against. If baiting was wrong, unethical, or in any way negative, they would not allow it on private land.


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## C.Killmaster (Dec 26, 2021)

Professor said:


> I hope not, but, as baiting on private land becomes more entrenched, a newer generation of hunters will think baiting is hunting. It will be the norm, and they will feel entitled to bait wherever they hunt. The idea of baiting on public land won’t simply have support. We will have at least a sizable minority of hunters demanding it. Why wouldn’t they demanded it. The logic is too strong to argue against. If baiting was wrong, unethical, or in any way negative, they would not allow it on private land.



Most states where hunting over bait has always been legal still prohibit it on public land.  I understand your logic, but it hasn't shaken out that way in several other instances.  Also keep in mind that any WMAs on federal land have a federal rule against feeding wildlife on top of state law.


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## Christian hughey (Dec 26, 2021)

C.Killmaster said:


> They actually made it unlawful to place bait in a manner that would make hunting on an adjacent property illegal.


I was aware of this and hopefully repercussions would be taken on the land owner and not the hunter that walked miles and thought he was doing everything right. I enjoy hunting bear but the last thing I want is to be in trouble over something that I could not control. Thank you for your input guess it's best just to stay 200 yards into the wma to be safe ?


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## C.Killmaster (Dec 26, 2021)

Christian hughey said:


> I was aware of this and hopefully repercussions would be taken on the land owner and not the hunter that walked miles and thought he was doing everything right. I enjoy hunting bear but the last thing I want is to be in trouble over something that I could not control. Thank you for your input guess it's best just to stay 200 yards into the wma to be safe ?



You may want to check with the local game warden, but I don't see anyone getting a ticket on a WMA for some bait that's on private land next door.  You shouldn't have to avoid a 200 yard wide swath of public land for something a private land neighbor might do.


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## Christian hughey (Dec 26, 2021)

C.Killmaster said:


> You may want to check with the local game warden, but I don't see anyone getting a ticket on a WMA for some bait that's on private land next door.  You shouldn't have to avoid a 200 yard wide swath of public land for something a private land neighbor might do.


agreed, I'm glad you see it that way and most of the other wardens I have run across have been real cool and I'm sure are understanding to different situations.  I also wasn't doing anything wrong, that helps for a good positive relationship with law enforcement ? I have harvested 2 bear now and havnt been asked for anything out of the way so I guess there would need to be a good reason to suspect this anyway..  Good luck out there!


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## Professor (Dec 26, 2021)

C.Killmaster said:


> Most states where hunting over bait has always been legal still prohibit it on public land.  I understand your logic, but it hasn't shaken out that way in several other instances.  Also keep in mind that any WMAs on federal land have a federal rule against feeding wildlife on top of state law.


It is legal to hunt bear over bait on federal lands.


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## northgeorgiasportsman (Dec 26, 2021)

Professor said:


> It is legal to hunt bear over bait on federal lands.


Where?


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## Professor (Dec 26, 2021)

northgeorgiasportsman said:


> Where?


Federal law does not prohibit it, in fact Fish and Wildlife recently opposed an environmental group’s attempt to force a ban in Federal Court, arguing that game biologists in each state are more capable of managing game and should be left to do it. I have not looked into this in several years, so the states allowing baiting on public land may have changed. As I recall though, these are the states: Maine, Michigan, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Idaho, Wyoming, Alaska, Minnesota, and Utah.


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## northgeorgiasportsman (Dec 26, 2021)

Professor said:


> Federal law does not prohibit it, in fact Fish and Wildlife recently opposed an environmental group’s attempt to force a ban in Federal Court, arguing that game biologists in each state are more capable of managing game and should be left to do it. I have not looked into this in several years, so the states allowing baiting on public land may have changed. As I recall though, these are the states: Maine, Michigan, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Idaho, Wyoming, Alaska, Minnesota, and Utah.


But in Georgia, you cannot bait on USFS. Correct?


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## Professor (Dec 26, 2021)

northgeorgiasportsman said:


> But in Georgia, you cannot bait on USFS. Correct?


Correct. My point is that federal law does prohibit baiting for deer on federal lands, but not for bears. Most states do ban it.


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## C.Killmaster (Dec 26, 2021)

Professor said:


> Correct. My point is that federal law does prohibit baiting for deer on federal lands, but not for bears. Most states do ban it.



I'm not as familiar with Federal rules, but here is the language in the special regulations for Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests:

"Placing, leaving, or depositing any food, bait, or garbage in a manner likely to attract or concentrate any wildlife, whether for purposes of hunting or viewing animals, is prohibited. Failure to properly store food or garbage so as to prevent access by wildlife is prohibited. Baiting is prohibited."


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## splatek (Jan 5, 2022)

Read today 6 were killed in middle ga


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## Christian hughey (Jan 10, 2022)

splatek said:


> Read today 6 were killed in middle ga


Better than previous years. Warm soggy weather had them moving !


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