# Rookie success



## gbscott4 (Oct 17, 2016)

So, after talking about hunting bear for 4 years and about as many years stalking this forum, I went on my first bear hunt with another newbie. We were in the Chattahoochee national forest and immediately got on a lot of sign, My buddy set up on a ridge with good acorns at 3150, and I set up above a cliff about ¾ mile away at the same elevation with a good trail running through and 3 fresh scat piles. Long story short, my buddy arrowed and recovered a sow within 3 hours, and I had a bear skirt my stand at 70ish yards and then spent the next 45 minutes munching in the acorns 100 yds away. The second afternoon, I went back to roughly the same spot hoping to catch the bear that had come through the night before, with no luck or sightings. So since this section of the forum is filled with newbie questions, I wanted to post what I learned and what led to our success and see what some of the veterans think.

1.	Everything I knew before this trip is from this forum, we scouted ridges and topo features between 2900-3300 and targeted good white oak acorns and scat piles.  

2.	This will be an unpopular one, You don’t HAVE to be in great shape. I hiked in close to a mile through thick mountain laurel, a tree stand on my back, backpack on my front, bow in hand and sweated through my t shirt and pants. I had a good encounter. My buddy hunted a hundred yards off the road on a ridge and old scat and he got the job done. 

3.	Bears aren’t patternable like deer. The new sign and the previous day’s encounter didn’t lead to an encounter the next day, but the old sign led to a kill.  

4.	Treestands are overrated, my buddy did shoot his bear from a stand, but where I was hunting, I never climbed more than 8 feet, and in neither tree did I have a shot in any lane more than 25 yds, maybe someone can speak to the pros of a treestand? 

5.	Lastly, being in the mountains hiking and scouting and being able to walk around and see all the wild terrain without worrying about spooking everything was so refreshing compared to deer hunting. I’ve already got my next hunt planned, and hope to quit being such a lurker on this forum.


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## Hammer Spank (Oct 18, 2016)

You dont always have to be 2 miles in to kill a bear, but anybody who is overweight or used to flatfooting around the piedmont is going to be at a huge disadvantage up there. 

The best years are when there is an extremely spotty acorn crop. In those years, it might take 100 miles of boot leather just to find some mast bearing trees


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## twincedargap (Oct 19, 2016)

I scouted & hunted all last week.  I would be so wet with sweat after hiking 1-2 miles in, that I started carrying a dry shirt in with me to change into once I got to my spot & cooled down.  

I did carry my climber in for two hunts about 1.5 miles from vehicle and felt for the spot, it was worth the additional visibility.   True though, I couldn't climb my usual 30' up, and ended up being closer to 12-15' off the ground, w/ch again, I still felt was worth the view & scent control.  I did have two does right under me for awhile and they never scented me.   I will say that I am investing in some more confortable shoulder straps as the narrow webbing on my API was pretty uncofortable when I added the weight of the backpack to the stand on the walk in & out.


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