# Hoping for Spring bear season in Ga



## dgr416 (Jan 9, 2015)

I just attended fish and game meeting for 2016-2017 hunting regs .There were a decent amount of people there and all of them told fish and game there are very few deer in the mountains now especially on wmas and national forrrest .No trees cutting is one reason but coyotes and bears eating almost all the fawns is the main reason for the rapid decline of deer up here .The Dnr finally admitted bears and coyotes are eating deer fawns and adult deer at a rapid rate .The deer population is at a low that has not been like this scence the 1960s .I told them a spring bear season in April with baiting is the only way to reduce the bears .They want dog hunting here which will chase off the few deer left and unless you have dogs you wont be getting a bear any more .The deadline for submitting a April bear season is Jan 15 next Thursday .This is a unique opportunity to increase your chance at getting a new bear only season that would greatly increase your chance at a bear .There are nine states that have spring bear hunts with baiting .You.need to call fish and game to tell them you want this hunt !


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## whitetailfreak (Jan 9, 2015)

Nearly 3 months of Fall bear season in North GA offers plenty of opportunity for anyone interested in killing a bear. Just my .02


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## GA DAWG (Jan 9, 2015)

Im all for the dog hunting and it don't chase deer off. Im all for a springbseason to.


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## Hammer Spank (Jan 9, 2015)

I am 100% against both. I have hunted bears over bait 15 times. In canada it is the only way you can really hunt them. In ga, its pretty darn simple to get in range of a bear if you want to. 

I feel for the people who live in NE Ga as their deer population has decreased dramatically but I love having a thriving bear population to hunt each season. 

Who should I write to to oppose these propositions?  Also, which DNR employee said that bears or coyotes were killing adult deer?  Id like to ask that their credentials be checked.


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## dgr416 (Jan 10, 2015)

Sorry I wrote on here will not be doing it again .


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## The mtn man (Jan 10, 2015)

Dog hunters killing deer use to be a problem here, but seems to have subsided, dog hunters come here by the hundreds every fall, and there are a few that cause problems, but overall they act much more civil now, I believe dog hunting in NGA will be a reality, as far as baiting that would be good if allowed on private land, why not allow guided bait hunts on private land for some of the locals to gain a little extra income. I would be all for it where I live, but the sentiment seems to be more don't want baiting than do, same for the dog hunting. If ga allows dog hunting, it should have some stipulations, like only a certain number if dogs per party, the problem we have here is groups packing upwards of 50-75 dogs on a bear track, what happens is a few of the dogs stay with the bear, the rest lose interest and start chasing non targeted game, which causes much animosity.


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## Joe Brandon (Jan 10, 2015)

cklem said:


> Dog hunters killing deer use to be a problem here, but seems to have subsided, dog hunters come here by the hundreds every fall, and there are a few that cause problems, but overall they act much more civil now, I believe dog hunting in NGA will be a reality, as far as baiting that would be good if allowed on private land, why not allow guided bait hunts on private land for some of the locals to gain a little extra income. I would be all for it where I live, but the sentiment seems to be more don't want baiting than do, same for the dog hunting. If ga allows dog hunting, it should have some stipulations, like only a certain number if dogs per party, the problem we have here is groups packing upwards of 50-75 dogs on a bear track, what happens is a few of the dogs stay with the bear, the rest lose interest and start chasing non targeted game, which causes much animosity.


CK just out of curiosity how does the hound hunting work? Are they allowed on all NF land? Do y'all have WMAs and if so are they allowed there as well? Thanks!


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## GA DAWG (Jan 10, 2015)

Where do you think those NC hound hunters already come to train and run bear dogs at? Yep you guessed it. North Ga national forest land. I dont wantrm all killed and they want be. The population is prolly 50 times higher than dnr claims it to be.


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## The mtn man (Jan 10, 2015)

Joe Brandon said:


> CK just out of curiosity how does the hound hunting work? Are they allowed on all NF land? Do y'all have WMAs and if so are they allowed there as well? Thanks!



We don't have WMAs , so they are allowed on any public land, or private land with permission of course, we to have a couple of bear sanctuaries, around 30 k acres, they can't hunt in them, but can retrieve their dogs unarmed. Same for private property, nc has right to retrieve law, they can get their dogs unarmed without permission from property owner.


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## The mtn man (Jan 10, 2015)

GA DAWG said:


> Where do you think those NC hound hunters already come to train and run bear dogs at? Yep you guessed it. North Ga national forest land. I dont wantrm all killed and they want be. The population is prolly 50 times higher than dnr claims it to be.



Yea a lot of guys take advantage of ga training season, bears are much easier to find they say in ga, they kill a lot of bears over here, I can see ga from my house


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## GA DAWG (Jan 10, 2015)

cklem said:


> Yea a lot of guys take advantage of ga training season, bears are much easier to find they say in ga, they kill a lot of bears over here, I can see ga from my house


 Yet yall are supposed to have more bear lol. Ask any of them who has the most bear.


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## The mtn man (Jan 10, 2015)

I don't do much bear hunting these days, but as far as the mtn region , north ga and WNC are pretty much the same in this region, and your right, my experience is towns, union, and Rabun counties and the nc counties that border them, I would say due to dog hunting on the nc side that from early fall through winter, there could be more bears in ga, the problem with the nc bears are they get run by dogs and are really scattered, even literally moving to a different state, ga. The ga bears are not pressured quite as much , so for the few  diggers that run over there, they are easier to find, and don't run as far, if you guys think you have a lot of bear diggers , then you should come up here, there are litteraly thousands of hounds in the mtns from mid august, until last day of March. As far as statewide population, the nc coastal region has a lot more bears than the mtns do, and look how big the nc mtn region is. From ga- sc, bordered west by the smokeys and Tennessee, all the way up to virginia, it's a big area, with a healthy population, for my area, if. Wanted to find a bear without dogs, I would place my bet on the extreme NGA counties though.


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## GA DAWG (Jan 10, 2015)

Takes a special kinda man to follow bear dogs through the wilderness. I aint one of em. Id like to hear them though.


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## The mtn man (Jan 10, 2015)

GA DAWG said:


> Takes a special kinda man to follow bear dogs through the wilderness. I aint one of em. Id like to hear them though.



Yea, I like hearing the race for sure, I once lost 17 pounds in 2 weeks following bear dogs, I wouldn't have hurt me to lose a few, but my wife made me put a few back on after that deal lol, another point I might make, if  ga allows baiting and dogging, the baiters will get upset, because dogging tends to make them more nocturnal.


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## Resica (Jan 10, 2015)

dgr416 said:


> Sorry I wrote on here will not be doing it again .


Don't give up so easy.


GA DAWG said:


> Where do you think those NC hound hunters already come to train and run bear dogs at? Yep you guessed it. North Ga national forest land. I dont wantrm all killed and they want be. The population is prolly 50 times higher than dnr claims it to be.


Have a little faith in them.


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## Benjamin1977 (Jan 10, 2015)

I'm for baiting and dogs.


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## Joe Brandon (Jan 10, 2015)

cklem said:


> We don't have WMAs , so they are allowed on any public land, or private land with permission of course, we to have a couple of bear sanctuaries, around 30 k acres, they can't hunt in them, but can retrieve their dogs unarmed. Same for private property, nc has right to retrieve law, they can get their dogs unarmed without permission from property owner.


Thanks for the info. Being that I'm from Ga its foreign to me so it intrest me a lot. Have a good one!


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## Joe Brandon (Jan 10, 2015)

dgr416 said:


> Sorry I wrote on here will not be doing it again .



If your gonna write your opinion on here especially anything concerning regs, expect feed back and the opinon of others. Not everyone shares the same views and thats why I love this forum. No one was being ugly just sharing how they felt just as you did.


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## whitetailfreak (Jan 10, 2015)

Correct me if I am wrong, but in Western NC deer and bear season do not coincide as it does here in GA. So that there are no deer hunter/bear dogger conflicts, deer hunters would have to concede some time. That will be a tough sell and I am against it.


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## GA DAWG (Jan 10, 2015)

whitetailfreak said:


> Correct me if I am wrong, but in Western NC deer and bear season do not coincide as it does here in GA. So that there are no deer hunter/bear dogger conflicts, deer hunters would have to concede some time. That will be a tough sell and I am against it.


 south Ga has a season with dogs. DURING deer season. North Ga could to.


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## whitetailfreak (Jan 10, 2015)

GA DAWG said:


> south Ga has a season with dogs. DURING deer season. North Ga could to.



South GA bear dogging takes place on private property where one chooses to be a part of it. We are talking about allowing bear dogging on public land here in N GA where it affects us all. We'll agree to disagree on this one


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## The mtn man (Jan 10, 2015)

whitetailfreak said:


> Correct me if I am wrong, but in Western NC deer and bear season do not coincide as it does here in GA. So that there are no deer hunter/bear dogger conflicts, deer hunters would have to concede some time. That will be a tough sell and I am against it.


.   
You are partly correct, deer archery opens when your does, then closes 1st 2 weeks of October, for a 2 week muzzle loader season, after  muzzle loader closes archery opens back and so does bear season, bear season stays open until thanksgiving week where there is a 3 week break for firearms deer season, after 3 week deer season ,( buck only) had to say it,    Bear opens back until jan. 1st.another fact, bear training season opens August 15 th, and stays open until March, 31st, I'm not sure if training is closed for 3 week deer season.


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## The mtn man (Jan 10, 2015)

whitetailfreak said:


> South GA bear dogging takes place on private property where one chooses to be a part of it. We are talking about allowing bear dogging on public land here in N GA where it affects us all. We'll agree to disagree on this one



That would be a recipe for disaster, talk about conflict for sure!!


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## whitetailfreak (Jan 10, 2015)

cklem said:


> That would be a recipe for disaster, talk about conflict for sure!!



My family lives in Graham County on the s shore of Fontana lake. I come from a long line of doggers and also enjoy hearing the dogs run. I just want to keep it on your side of the state line


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## GA DAWG (Jan 10, 2015)

I think some quota type dog bear hunts would work dont yall? Pretty sure baiting want go over.


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## The mtn man (Jan 10, 2015)

whitetailfreak said:


> My family lives in Graham County on the s shore of Fontana lake. I come from a long line of doggers and also enjoy hearing the dogs run. I just want to keep it on your side of the state line



I think most would , you are one of the few north ga folks that have probably seen some of the conflict it causes, there are not enough big tracts of private land in north ga mtns to keep dogs on private, besides, the bears on in the NF anyway, I've heard a lot of  chatter about a north ga dog season for a few years now, it could be controled with minimal conflict with the right recourses, but sadly, ga , like NC does not have enough GW , to keep it under control, we have learned to accept it here, we deer hunters don't even get to hunt the peak rut here, so the bear hunters can have a few more weeks, but I won't get into that, this is not a bashing thread.


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## The mtn man (Jan 10, 2015)

GA DAWG said:


> I think some quota type dog bear hunts would work dont yall? Pretty sure baiting want go over.



I believe baiting would be great on private land, for archery especially, could you imagine the fiasco if baiting were allowed on public land?


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## The mtn man (Jan 10, 2015)

GA DAWG said:


> I think some quota type dog bear hunts would work dont yall? Pretty sure baiting want go over.



That sounds like could be the only way to pacify poth sides, could do like a 2 day hunt on swallows creek, then do a quota on Cahutta, so on and so on, that way they could shuffle GWs to manage the situation, though most will be against the dogs, it is a great experience. I'm sort of neutral to the whole dog hunting thing, and to the op there will never be a spring season in the SE states.


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## Hammer Spank (Jan 11, 2015)

If there was a spring season, you wouldn't even need bait.  You could kill one just on marking trees alone.  I had a 500 pounder on cam three times a day during the rut.  Just marking his tree.


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## Bkeepr (Jan 12, 2015)

Guess what the north Georgia farmers do when the bears become a problem?  Gutshoot them so they go off in the woods and die where the GW won't find them!


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## Bkeepr (Jan 12, 2015)

Hey we could go bear dogging in NC... after paying $715 including "special" out of state fee for GA residents and additional $225 bear fee!  That seems rather lop sided.  Look at this link and click on out of state application.http://www.ncwildlife.org/Licensing/HuntingFishingTrappingLicenses/BearManagementEStamp.aspx


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## The mtn man (Jan 12, 2015)

http://www.ncwildlife.org/Licensing/PrivilegeLicenses.aspx.


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## pinky88 (Jan 12, 2015)

I live in Lumpkin county and our NF lands here have been void of deer ever since the bag limit went to 10 does. I deer hunt and love to dog hunt but it's hard enough finding a way to avoid a conflict with the horse back and bicycle riders as it is. A spring bear season here will only cause more conflict. They have been really good as a whole but we better not ruffle them. They out number all of us hunters a lot and they have a really loud voice with the NF


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## ripplerider (Jan 13, 2015)

No doubt the deer population has crashed in the mtns. but I dont really see how the 10 doe limit has really affected this too much with only 3 doe days on National Forest land. Anyone who can kill 10 does in 3 days on National forest land up here is a far better hunter than me or anyone else I know. Its usually bad weather for 2 of those 3 at least where I hunt. I think its more a "perfect storm" of over-mature forests with little browse, an explosion of bear numbers, and coyotes spreading into the area. The introduction of hogs hurt them bad too. I believe hogs get as many fawns as anything else not to mention the competition for food.


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## The mtn man (Jan 13, 2015)

ripplerider said:


> No doubt the deer population has crashed in the mtns. but I dont really see how the 10 doe limit has really affected this too much with only 3 doe days on National Forest land. Anyone who can kill 10 does in 3 days on National forest land up here is a far better hunter than me or anyone else I know. Its usually bad weather for 2 of those 3 at least where I hunt. I think its more a "perfect storm" of over-mature forests with little browse, an explosion of bear numbers, and coyotes spreading into the area. The introduction of hogs hurt them bad too. I believe hogs get as many fawns as anything else not to mention the competition for food.


I like the way you think.


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## j_seph (Jan 13, 2015)

Joe Brandon said:


> If your gonna write your opinion on here especially anything concerning regs, expect feed back and the opinon of others. Not everyone shares the same views and thats why I love this forum. No one was being ugly just sharing how they felt just as you did.


I see you have only been here a little over a year Guess you didn't read the sticky that states "Anytime someone puts up their opinion, each member whom replies to it must: 
A) Say something nice
B) Be in 100% agreement with it
C) Never question it
D) Always be supportive
E) Never state their own opinion


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## carver (Jan 13, 2015)

I have a house in Fannin county,Ga. that backs up to 30 thousand acs. of National Forest land,I'd be opposed to a spring bear hunt,mainly cause I sure the woods will be full of baby bears with no mommys.


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## tree cutter 08 (Jan 13, 2015)

I'm not against a spring bear season. Fewer bears is a good thing. I may focus on one in the spring instead of fall. Tired of getting stands tore up to. Hog season should be open year round on nf land also. They would be easier to target in the late spring and summer to. We won't never have deer in the mountains again in numbers unless both these critters are thinned out more. Go try to call a bear up in June and July with a fawn bleat and see what happens. You'll call more bears than yotes.


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## Marlin_444 (Jan 13, 2015)

I like the idea of a spring bear hunt... I am in!!!


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## ripplerider (Jan 13, 2015)

I dont have a problem particularly with a spring bear season its the use of bait I wouldnt like. It just doesnt seem too sporting to me. Thats just a personal opinion. I dont see it ever passing here where theres no long tradition of baiting, seems like something PETA would jump on. Id like to try calling them up with a predator call in the spring though, never had any luck calling in the fall.


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## The mtn man (Jan 13, 2015)

ripplerider said:


> I dont have a problem particularly with a spring bear season its the use of bait I wouldnt like. It just doesnt seem too sporting to me. Thats just a personal opinion. I dont see it ever passing here where theres no long tradition of baiting, seems like something PETA would jump on. Id like to try calling them up with a predator call in the spring though, never had any luck calling in the fall.



I doubt it will ever happen, but if DNR is wanting more bears taken out, they might have to do something different than traditional NGA early fall hunting over acorns, or target of oportunity killing by deer hunters.


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## pinky88 (Jan 13, 2015)

ripplerider said:


> No doubt the deer population has crashed in the mtns. but I dont really see how the 10 doe limit has really affected this too much with only 3 doe days on National Forest land. Anyone who can kill 10 does in 3 days on National forest land up here is a far better hunter than me or anyone else I know. Its usually bad weather for 2 of those 3 at least where I hunt. I think its more a "perfect storm" of over-mature forests with little browse, an explosion of bear numbers, and coyotes spreading into the area. The introduction of hogs hurt them bad too. I believe hogs get as many fawns as anything else not to mention the competition for food


 Maybe I'm wrong but I can't help but think that a lot of does get killed all season up here. When the area I'm talking about was managed as blue ridge the deer population was much better and the bears was always there. This over mature forest must be doing really good. The over population of bears in this area is fat on something and I doubt that is venison. If it can feed all these bears and hogs I'm sure the deer would have plenty to eat also if they hadn't got lead poison. I'm not against a spring bear season but we need to be careful or the bears will meet the same fate as the deer. Then will we blame hogs or maybe the squirrels for the competition of food


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## Hammer Spank (Jan 13, 2015)

Don't let anybody tell you that hogs or a mature forest have anything to do with deer numbers based on food.  Deer can survive and reproduce on buds and bark when they have to.  PA used to have 100 deer psm in the serious mountains, in a mature forest where you could shoot a rifle 200-300 yards.  They had tough winters too, not like these down here.  

The lack of deer in the mtns is certainly related to bear predation and poaching.  More cutting might make better fawning habitat but even in the super thick woods of minnesota and michigan, bears are regularly documented killing 3 and more fawns per day.  

I, personally, love bears.  They are my favorite animal and definitely the most intelligent creature in North America, but I understand why a lot of people living in NE GA hate them.  I see both sides.  I'm certainly glad to have better places to deer hunt in other parts of the state.


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## ripplerider (Jan 14, 2015)

Although I usually agree with what you put on here Im gonna have to call you on this one. I just spent 30 minutes researching Pennsylvanias deer herd and the most productive land, which was young clear cuts, only held 50 deer psm. Mature forests were assessed at 20 deer psm. This article was from 97. A more recent article gave the figure as 10 deer psm in heavily forested areas, while admitting thier figures could be off by 10 to 50%. Youre going to have to show me some links before I accept your 100 deer psm figure. The very nature of a mature forest is going to keep most buds out of reach, and Ive never seen evidence of a deer eating bark. Also, poaching is not exactly a new thing up here, been going on for generations. I heard much more about it in the deer-rich days of the 80s and early 90s (when clear-cutting was going on) than I do today. I think most poachers are fundamentally lazy, and there arent enough easy deer to be had on the N.F. anymore. But I could be wrong.


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## The mtn man (Jan 14, 2015)

ripplerider said:


> Although I usually agree with what you put on here Im gonna have to call you on this one. I just spent 30 minutes researching Pennsylvanias deer herd and the most productive land, which was young clear cuts, only held 50 deer psm. Mature forests were assessed at 20 deer psm. This article was from 97. A more recent article gave the figure as 10 deer psm in heavily forested areas, while admitting thier figures could be off by 10 to 50%. Youre going to have to show me some links before I accept your 100 deer psm figure. The very nature of a mature forest is going to keep most buds out of reach, and Ive never seen evidence of a deer eating bark. Also, poaching is not exactly a new thing up here, been going on for generations. I heard much more about it in the deer-rich days of the 80s and early 90s (when clear-cutting was going on) than I do today. I think most poachers are fundamentally lazy, and there arent enough easy deer to be had on the N.F. anymore. But I could be wrong.



I'm with you, last year was a good example, no hard mast put a hurt on the deer in the mtns, sure they probably didn't starve to death because they moved, i seen deer last year in places I never seen deer before, they migrated out of the big mtns down into the valleys to graze out of cow pastures, this year with the bumper crop of acorns places that had a few deer 2 years ago were void of any deer tracks or feeding sign. They will probably go back , or some will, if the deer had young growth to browse in the mtns last year they probably would have survived and stayed just fine, I seen browse lines head high in laurels last year, if deer are browsing laurels, no matter how you look at it their starving. Now how does this effect reproduction, how does it effect them moving into areas they are not familiar with too. There are all kinds of variables, no browse, bears catching fawns, coyotes, poaching , these all play their part, I believe with proper habitat, they will thrive. The disappearance of our grouse should explain all you need to know about habitat in our mtns.


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## Marlin_444 (Jan 14, 2015)

So... My opinion... Baiting is not legal so I don't do it... If it were I would... But alas, it's not...

So, if a Spring Bear season were legal; I'd be all over it like a cheap suit... 

Maybe a spring bear season limiting to bow, black powder or even a slugged shotgun might be a twist... 

Maybe run it during the Turkey Season (oops I've prolly PO'd some Turkey Hunters)... 

Let's put baiting aside as it's a non-starter (gain my opinion)... 

As DNR folk, I am sure review these... How about a "Spring Bear Hunt Tag"... We all know it's about the Benjamins... I'd support that...

Again, my opinion; I am all for it. 

See you in the woods!!!


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## ripplerider (Jan 14, 2015)

I miss our grouse only killed 2 in my life never had a bird dog just walked em up. One of the coolest things I ever saw in the woods was a mother grouse pretending to have a broken wing,trying to lead me away from her brood. I started to rock her and put her out of her misery, decided it wasnt right to do, went back to speck fishing only to see her leading  her babies away, she was perfectly o.k. I havent seen a grouse in several yrs. now. We need some thoughtful clearcutting up here.


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## Marlin_444 (Jan 14, 2015)

ripplerider said:


> I miss our grouse only killed 2 in my life never had a bird dog just walked em up. One of the coolest things I ever saw in the woods was a mother grouse pretending to have a broken wing,trying to lead me away from her brood. I started to rock her and put her out of her misery, decided it wasnt right to do, went back to speck fishing only to see her leading  her babies away, she was perfectly o.k. I havent seen a grouse in several yrs. now. We need some thoughtful clearcutting up here.



I've seen a number of them whilest- pulling some of the hills around CNF Jeff...

The things we do for our children, i'd give my life for my children also; great story!!!


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## The mtn man (Jan 14, 2015)

There has been so much pressure brought down on FS in WNC, they are finally taking notice, cutting has been going on, I was emailed a cutting map of my county a while back, they are planning to do some serious timber cutting, but no clear cuts, they are opening up old logging roads and cutting about 100 yards on either side in strips, also they have plans for controlled burning, I'm excited about it, I just hope it pans out, the Sierra club is already in an uproar over it, let's hope politics will be put aside and the plan continues to better wildlife habitat in WNC, I received the email because I was invited in by those who were applying the pressure, I sent emails to our representatives and us and state FS officials every day complaining, so did many others, they finally heard us. You fellers in NGA mtns need to find someone to head this up. The ruffed grouse organizations were very helpful , any whitetailed deer biologist will tell you that to have a thriving healthy deer herd, you need edge habitat, mtns here just no longer have that, I know this is off topic , and I appologize but I am very passionate about this subject. As for bear baiting on private land with an archery season, as others said, sows can have small cubs in the spring that may not be right by her if she comes to bait, that could cause orphaned cubs. But I'm not against it either.


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## Joe Brandon (Jan 14, 2015)

ripplerider said:


> I miss our grouse only killed 2 in my life never had a bird dog just walked em up. One of the coolest things I ever saw in the woods was a mother grouse pretending to have a broken wing,trying to lead me away from her brood. I started to rock her and put her out of her misery, decided it wasnt right to do, went back to speck fishing only to see her leading  her babies away, she was perfectly o.k. I havent seen a grouse in several yrs. now. We need some thoughtful clearcutting up here.


Man speaking of grouse I saw one in the Chatt WMA this year just walking along and crossing the gravel road. I had never seen one before. It was by far the prettiest bird I have ever seen in the wild. It was the weekend of opening bow season when I was leaving out.


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## robert carter (Jan 14, 2015)

I live in south Ga. and can tell you the people with dogs have a blast hunting with them...the people that don`t sit in the tree mad as the dogs come through the public land next to the dog hunting club. dogs can`t read you know.RC


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## redneck_billcollector (Jan 15, 2015)

GA DAWG said:


> south Ga has a season with dogs. DURING deer season. North Ga could to.



Those same counties also have dogging for deer.  I am pro-hound but just pointing that out. I would imagine the lack of roads in the mountains as opposed to those in south GA would make it interesting to say the least.


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## redneck_billcollector (Jan 15, 2015)

pinky88 said:


> Maybe I'm wrong but I can't help but think that a lot of does get killed all season up here. When the area I'm talking about was managed as blue ridge the deer population was much better and the bears was always there. This over mature forest must be doing really good. The over population of bears in this area is fat on something and I doubt that is venison. If it can feed all these bears and hogs I'm sure the deer would have plenty to eat also if they hadn't got lead poison. I'm not against a spring bear season but we need to be careful or the bears will meet the same fate as the deer. Then will we blame hogs or maybe the squirrels for the competition of food



Deer are creatures of edge ecosystems.  They are browsers and require sunlit areas which encourage new growth.  Mature forests are not good deer habitat, they do not have much food and rely on mast crops heavily and in years of bad mast their populations drop drastically, does are less fertile plus many do not make it through the winter along with disease resistance being lowered when they are suffering from malnutrition.  If the american chestnut ever makes it back to the mountains of NGA the situation might change, but with the sporadic acorn crops, lack of winter browse and heavy loss of fawns to bears and coyotes the situation for deer in the mountains is going to remain bleak.


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## ripplerider (Jan 16, 2015)

cklem said:


> There has been so much pressure brought down on FS in WNC, they are finally taking notice, cutting has been going on, I was emailed a cutting map of my county a while back, they are planning to do some serious timber cutting, but no clear cuts, they are opening up old logging roads and cutting about 100 yards on either side in strips, also they have plans for controlled burning, I'm excited about it, I just hope it pans out, the Sierra club is already in an uproar over it, let's hope politics will be put aside and the plan continues to better wildlife habitat in WNC, I received the email because I was invited in by those who were applying the pressure, I sent emails to our representatives and us and state FS officials every day complaining, so did many others, they finally heard us. You fellers in NGA mtns need to find someone to head this up. The ruffed grouse organizations were very helpful , any whitetailed deer biologist will tell you that to have a thriving healthy deer herd, you need edge habitat, mtns here just no longer have that, I know this is off topic , and I appologize but I am very passionate about this subject. As for bear baiting on private land with an archery season, as others said, sows can have small cubs in the spring that may not be right by her if she comes to bait, that could cause orphaned cubs. But I'm not against it either.



I would love to get involved with something like this in Ga. but dont really know how to get started. Maybe I need to contact the Ruffed Grouse Society. Can you recommend any other resources that could steer me in the right direction? I guess contacting our representatives would be a start. I read a short article about the N.C. timber cutting in Blue Ridge Outdoors which is a free magazine you find in some hiking and biking stores. It was very one-sided against cutting, basically a Sierra Club mouthpiece.


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## The mtn man (Jan 16, 2015)

ripplerider said:


> I would love to get involved with something like this in Ga. but dont really know how to get started. Maybe I need to contact the Ruffed Grouse Society. Can you recommend any other resources that could steer me in the right direction? I guess contacting our representatives would be a start. I read a short article about the N.C. timber cutting in Blue Ridge Outdoors which is a free magazine you find in some hiking and biking stores. It was very one-sided against cutting, basically a Sierra Club mouthpiece.



Yea the siera club is having a fit, because their idiots, when I get time, I will email my contact, he is actually in the pisgah NF area, I'm in the nantahala NF area, I will see if he can give some advice to pass along to you. You gotta have someone with a lot of spare time that has a lot of grit and friends in high places to head it up.


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## rivercritter (Jan 19, 2015)

Just dogs no bait. Even if they allowed bait i wouldnt use it. I dont like spring either i like to turkey hunt and i wouldnt want a gang of dogs ruining my hunt. It should work around other seasons


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