# DNR Black Bear Mgmt Plan - Public Meetings



## CornStalker (Oct 3, 2018)

Hey folks, I got this email notification earlier today, and I wanted to pass it along. The Wildlife Resources Division of the DNR are holding three public meetings to get comments and input on their 2018-2027 Bear Management Plan Draft. The north Georgia meeting is on October 17th in Young Harris. You can also provide input via emails:
https://georgiawildlife.com/public-...medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term=

Here is the link to the management plan draft:
https://georgiawildlife.com/sites/d...medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term=

It's a long read, but I would encourage y'all to read through it. For one, it's a lot of good information and really interesting to see what research has been done. Secondly, this is an opportunity for us (hunters and conservationists) to play a vital role. We are losing ground as bear hunters nationally, and there will come a day when we will have to defend the tradition and right to hunt bears (Just look around the rest of the states and see the battles that are being waged). 

We have an opportunity to not only support hunting, but also promoting the bear as a valuable part of our forest. If hunters become the voice for conservation and habitat protection, we will help preserve our rights to be able to also hunt. Let's live up to our claim that we our the greatest conservationists!

Go give your input and support the DNR---those guys are fighting for wildlife and our hunting heritage more than you know!


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## ddd-shooter (Oct 3, 2018)

I was about to post the same thing! I hope many come to the Young Harris meeting and express their support for hunting and maybe even a early season for bears!


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## northgeorgiasportsman (Oct 3, 2018)

They are saying the bear population has remained at about 3000 bears here in north Georgia.  Based on no scientific evidence other than my own encounters and reports of others, I believe our population is higher than it has ever been.  They are being seen more frequently in more places than ever.


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## goshenmountainman (Oct 3, 2018)

Since bow season opened I have seen ten bears, saw a big fat sow yesterday with four cubs. I wish it was at the population of the early eighties, sure would help the fawn crop every year.


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## FMBear (Oct 3, 2018)

northgeorgiasportsman said:


> They are saying the bear population has remained at about 3000 bears here in north Georgia.  Based on no scientific evidence other than my own encounters and reports of others, I believe our population is higher than it has ever been.  They are being seen more frequently in more places than ever.



I concur.  I have seen an increase every year, for the last nine years, in bear sign and trail camera captures.  Plus, how many of us have seen 3 to 4 cubs with a sow over the last several years.  I think their population continues to grown well above 3,000.

I hope to make it to the Blue Ridge meeting and meet some of you in person.


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## greg_n_clayton (Oct 3, 2018)

I think it is all ** !! There are more bears in the Southern zone !! That is why they allow dog hunting down there !! NOW....what yall think about that ?? My thought is they should do like SC...have a 1 week dog hunt !!


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## tree cutter 08 (Oct 3, 2018)

I hope to go to the young Harris one. I went ahead went in my 2 cents worth anyway. Wish I could have copied and pasted it here but I'm doing good to just be able to log in. Basically I just voiced the change I've seen in the last 20 years of spending more time than I should in the woods. I've lost count but seen either 19 or 20 since bow opener on 6 or 7 actual bear hunts along with hundreds of trail cam pics of bears. Also voiced concern for the lack of deer they seem to not care about. 20 years from now and you won't be able to find a deer in the high country of North ga. There already far and few between. Hunters get 1/4th and bears get 3/4th.


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## goshenmountainman (Oct 4, 2018)

I think this information is mostly from years ago, I have put up a deer feeder for the deer and it was torn down about 6-8 times, in one month. I have had eight cameras on game trails in different places since July, I got almost 2500 pics on those eight cameras. Here is the best part, there were only four deer, about twenty hogs, two different yotes and the rest were bear.  I haven't got to hunt but five times since bow opener, I had two kidney surgeries that has kept me from hunting and I haven't seen a single deer on those hunts, only bear. Sounds like the population is a little one sided, don't it. I already expressed my opinion on giving the dog hunters a week to help control these bear and the DNR didn't want to hear of it. It was at a meeting in Clayton, I expressed my opinion on the deer population being affected by the bear, I think there should be a week or two in August " thats when the most bears cause problems" where dog hunters got a season to help us out with this problem. I don't think the deer population can take many more years of these apex fawn predators.


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## Buckman18 (Oct 4, 2018)

A spring season would be fun, and effective. As an experiment. Let it open when turkey closes.


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## Buckman18 (Oct 4, 2018)

My family is from clay county, nc, and I grew up running bears with dogs. While it is very fun, and very effective, my concern for Georgia would be problems with the transplants. Up here we have been inundated with folks from Florida and Atlanta who would do nothing but cause a problem if a dog run through their one acre piece of dirt. Coon hunting up here has greatly diminished over the last 20 years as a result.


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## 35 Whelen (Oct 4, 2018)

Eliminate the 75 pound weight restriction!


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## Rabun (Oct 4, 2018)

Received the information yesterday as well....thanks for posting!  I plan on being in the woods that week trying to decrease the bear population with the ML so I may not make it.  I will however submit my comments to the provided email.  I do believe this year's harvest will put a dent in the bear population as many are hitting the ground.  If additional reduction in numbers is recommended, I would be more in favor of an early Fall rifle hunt or spring rifle hunt for bears and hogs vs. implementing dog hunting....I am not passing any kind of judgement on dog hunting so don't get me wrong there.  I absolutely believe that the bear numbers are too high and are having a negative impact on the deer population.  I am speaking of the NGA region as I have no insight on the other two regions.  I found a lot of interesting data in the report...especially the correlation between poor mast production (acorns) years that result in higher harvest numbers....makes perfect sense to me and we are experiencing one of those cycles now.  I don't necessarily agree that the bear population has remained steady since 2010...I think it has been growing considerably since then and is at an all time high right now.  The last three years I have seen more bears than I ever have....and less deer than I ever have.


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## fiddlinduke (Oct 4, 2018)

Having a big game meeting during deer season limits the availability of a lot of us to attend. Fortunately there is an online option. Opening more WMA/National forest to bear and hog hunting would be my opinion. Spring hunts would be a nice option right after turkey season ends.


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## C.Killmaster (Oct 4, 2018)

tree cutter 08 said:


> Also voiced concern for the lack of deer they seem to not care about.



What gave you the impression they don't care about the lack of deer?


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## tree cutter 08 (Oct 4, 2018)

Because the deer are almost gone in the mountains. The rest of the state is fine but they are just about gone in bear country. I appreciate all the dnr does and I'm not bashing them but the bear population is to high and has been for about 15 years. Glad doe days are cut on the nf land wmas but that was a day late and a dollar short. The deer herd is in the predator pit now will not recover unless something is done.


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## tree cutter 08 (Oct 4, 2018)

Take the deer study going on now in the mountains for example. I'm glad it's happening but it should have been noticed 10 years ago. All I'm saying is you can look at the upward trend of the bear population and you can see the decline of the deer herd the same time. To me it's not hard to see and feel like the state doesn't care. Especially when the goal is to maintain the current bear population. Most folks i know that has trouble with them destroying gardens and corn fields don't complain to the dnr. When you have 7 or 8 bears coming to a small half acre corn field at night what's a man to do? You can't catch them all and move them. That's just putting a bandaid on the problem.


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## Dana Young (Oct 4, 2018)

tree cutter 08 said:


> Take the deer study going on now in the mountains for example. I'm glad it's happening but it should have been noticed 10 years ago. All I'm saying is you can look at the upward trend of the bear population and you can see the decline of the deer herd the same time. To me it's not hard to see and feel like the state doesn't care. Especially when the goal is to maintain the current bear population. Most folks i know that has trouble with them destroying gardens and corn fields don't complain to the dnr. When you have 7 or 8 bears coming to a small half acre corn field at night what's a man to do? You can't catch them all and move them. That's just putting a bandaid on the problem.


exactly


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## Dana Young (Oct 4, 2018)

I don't want a bear but I plan on going with my grandson to coopers creek tomorrow and if I see 2 I will kill 2 just to get rid of them


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## Rabun (Oct 4, 2018)

Dana Young said:


> I don't want a bear but I plan on going with my grandson to coopers creek tomorrow and if I see 2 I will kill 2 just to get rid of them



That's kinda where I am...would much rather have a crack at a deer of two, but understand that the bears need some thinning out.  the high bear population has been getting a lot of exposure and I think there are many more hunters getting after them so hopefully a dent will be made. Will be interested in seeing the overall kill count following this season. Does anyone have it from 2016/2017 season that they could share?


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## Raylander (Oct 4, 2018)

Since this is a state meeting, they are only able to manage wildlife? Correct? I'm no biologist but IMO the best way to grow the deer population would be to cut trees!! It seems that Bears thrive in the mature forest and deer thrive in the growing forest.. Just my opinion based on observations over my lifetime (only 32 years). My grandpa tells me stories of different mountain land than I'm accustomed too..


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## tree cutter 08 (Oct 4, 2018)

One more thing, it was talked about a while back about transporting deer from overpopulated areas to under populated areas. That was met with the cost is to high and isn't practical. Well, I'm curious as to how many problem bears are relocated every year. I've heard it's tough for the wildlife tech's to perform there job duties during the summer because of having to deal with problem bears. I read about possibly relocating bears to the central can area. It just seems that the state is willing to do more for the bears than deer. I understand keeping a huntable population is the main goal and I'm good with that. I like bear meat better than most and enjoy hunting them but we just have to many.


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## Rabun (Oct 4, 2018)

worleyburd86 said:


> I'm no biologist but IMO the best way to grow the deer population would be to cut trees!! It seems that Bears thrive in the mature forest and deer thrive in the growing forest.. Just my opinion based on observations over my lifetime (only 32 years). My grandpa tells me stories of different mountain land than I'm accustomed too..




^^^been saying that for years...couldn't agree more!  Unfortunately I do not believe the state has any authority over national forest lands, but I do believe they do on lands they manage that reside in NF...like WMA's....with respect to timbering.  Isn't that correct?  I would love to see some timbering going on in the CNF.  Edge environment is a good thing for wildlife.


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## CornStalker (Oct 4, 2018)

Worleyburd, you are right with that assessment.

It seems like everyone here is really concerned about the population of the bears in relation to the population of the deer. While there's plenty of proof to show that bear kill fawns, this is much more related to habitat. There isn't much timber harvesting (management) going on in the national forest. Deer need forest disturbance and succession to provide good browse. If you look at the Talladega National Forest in Alabama (similar terrain to north Georgia), the deer numbers are really low.  There isn't a breeding population of bears there, so they can't be blamed. They don't harvest timber. So unless a tornado or wildfire comes through, there's no way to get sunlight to the ground. No sunlight, no understory browse. No browse, no food. Also, there's very little cover for fawns. Good luck trying to hide in a grove oak trees...

I would also add that the DNR catches a lot of flak from hunters and anti-hunters. Go figure that?...The hunters claim they don't know what they're talking about. The anti-hunters claim they fudge the numbers so they can hunt the species. They put a ton of time and money into researching these species. My observations in the woods, no matter how long or often, are going to produce answers that are mainly anecdotal.  SO I'm in the mindset of giving them (DNR) the benefit of the doubt. I've seen them go to bat for hunters over and over again, so I don't think they are trying to ruin deer hunting for anyone.

I would like to see that 75lb limit eliminated, though. It's probably not great for public perception, but there a plenty of solo bears that are 75-90lb range. Better eating too.


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## ddd-shooter (Oct 4, 2018)

I think one of the frustrations we feel most as mountain hunters is the lack of habitat. We (mountain hunters) have been screaming about this for 20 years. This comes across (to many) as a lack of care for the animals by the state-whether their hands are tied by the feds or not. Often, so called environmental groups show up at meetings and adamantly oppose timber harvest of any kind and, in my opinion, have received too much input over sound biological facts. All these people want are big trees to look at while they hike the mountains or drive up in their cars in the fall. Going with good habitat seems to have gotten better in recent years, but again, because it is the government, it is always behind the curve rather than in front of it and compromise is the rule rather than sound biology. 
For instance, why in the crap is this bear management plan nearly 20 years long? 
Who the crap can predict anything for 20 years? Why not smaller cycles to enable the DNR to be more proactive regarding trends? I understand not wanting to change for the sake of change but 20 years seems ridiculous. 
I have no idea who (that has actually put boots on the ground) believes the bear population has remained steady. The DNR-cited research even points to the fact that its hard to gauge populations in booming mast years-the past three years.
Spring/summer bear would help tremendously. 
Dog hunting probably won't happen due to the risk of public perception and the risk of losing all for a few dog guys. Baiting for the same reason-although I suspect many bears will be killed over bait this year and nothing will happen. 
Speaking of bait, now that its legal for deer any deer near private lands won't take long to migrate down in the lean mast years. We'll see if they come back.


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## Rabun (Oct 4, 2018)

DNR did increase the bag limit to two bears a few years ago so that does tell me they reacted to increased bear population.  I honestly just don't think that many people have been out hunting them in the past.  If there is an increase in bear hunter numbers and a concerted effort by them to kill bears, I do believe the numbers can be brought back to a more practical level.  Interim "bonus hunts" should be considered as a shot term tool, but if DNR thinks the bear population is remaining constant, then why do that.  I think that is one of the points of the meetings...feedback from those of us that are on the ground.  There seems to be a lot more folks out hunting the bears this year than in the past, so that's good.  I agree 100% that old growth forest does not promote a thriving deer heard.  There has never been a large population of deer in NE Ga since I've been hunting it...25+ years.  But it does seem that deer numbers are down while bear numbers are up.

Regarding Talledega NF...how's the coyote population and hunting pressure there?  Personally, I have never heard or seen a coyote where I hunt the in the CNF in Rabun Co...I'm sure there are some there, but personally I think the bears run them off.  I would not consider the CNF as heavily hunted given the tremendous area it encompasses and difficult terrain.

Bottom line...like most things...it takes a multi prong approach.  Decreasing the bear population will not hurt a bit and can do nothing but help the deer population.  Doing some timbering would help tremendously for all game species.  As noted in the report, they did determine that bears are very adaptable...I have no doubt they could adapt well to some timbered terrain.  I do wish forestry and game management decisions were made based on science and not politics.  I also believe that politics has far less influence at the state level than national...again with respect to management of our game and forest lands.

I would never bash our DNR...I think they do a tremendous job and I thank them!  They are probably some of the most dedicated men and women and have a true passion for what they do.

So me personally...my take away's from this discussion is to 1) provide my opinions regarding the bear management plan as outlined, 2) write the USFS and Department of Agriculture and lobby for some CNF timbering and 3) hunt for and kill a bear and hopefully two.

my head hurts


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## Rabun (Oct 4, 2018)

found only the 2016 bear harvest data...cannot find the 2017 information or anything previous to 2016.  Is it available does anyone know.  Just curious about the numbers.

So according to the bear survey, 23% total mortality will keep a stable population of bears in NGA.  That equals 690 total mortality for a population of 3000 bears.  2016 only 265 (about 9% total mortality) bears were killed in total so i would expect the population to grow over that one year rather significantly. And if this low kill percentage was consistent over several years, the population would be expected to grow...and grow...and grow.  Bottom line is we are not killing enough bears to even maintain the population according to their own numbers...don't think that is news to anyone.


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## 35 Whelen (Oct 4, 2018)

Google Southern Environmental Law Center and Georgia Forest Watch and you will see what the US Forest Service is up against.


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## jbogg (Oct 4, 2018)

This is completely anecdotal, but in my short time hunting the north Georgia mountains I’m guessing that I probably see 10 bear for every deer.  I have no idea if the ratio of beer to deer is really that lopsided, but if so the 3000 number used for bear would seem to indicate that there are only about 300 deer in the mountains.  While the deer numbers are clearly very low in the mountains, I feel that most would agree that there are many more than only 300 deer  up there.   With all that said, it would seem to me that the bear population could easily be 3 to 5 times what the published number is.


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## Rabun (Oct 4, 2018)

I'll check those out. Thanks!


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## Buckman18 (Oct 4, 2018)

I think start out with a 2-3 week spring season, and gradually increase, decrease, or eliminate as needed. Start it the Saturday after turkey closes. That’d be a blast!


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## GAbullHunter (Oct 5, 2018)

Rabun said:


> That's kinda where I am...would much rather have a crack at a deer of two, but understand that the bears need some thinning out.  the high bear population has been getting a lot of exposure and I think there are many more hunters getting after them so hopefully a dent will be made. Will be interested in seeing the overall kill count following this season. Does anyone have it from 2016/2017 season that they could share?


See if I can get this thing attached. This what you looking for??..


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## GAbullHunter (Oct 5, 2018)

Yea no luck in finding a 2017 report yet...?


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## The mtn man (Oct 5, 2018)

Rabun said:


> ^^^been saying that for years...couldn't agree more!  Unfortunately I do not believe the state has any authority over national forest lands, but I do believe they do on lands they manage that reside in NF...like WMA's....with respect to timbering.  Isn't that correct?  I would love to see some timbering going on in the CNF.  Edge environment is a good thing for wildlife.


That is all relevant to the way the land is categorized,  if it's just NF land, they can have more control over habitat improvement, if the land is considered wilderness, they can't touch it.


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## twincedargap (Oct 6, 2018)

For y’all pointing out lack of diversity and poor deer numbers, the report does mention the issue and tree cutting as a possible remedy.


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## Rabun (Oct 6, 2018)

twincedargap said:


> For y’all pointing out lack of diversity and poor deer numbers, the report does mention the issue and tree cutting as a possible remedy.



Thanks Twinceader...I did not pick up on that. I read through primarily the preliminary and NGA sections. If it was in there I missed it. I'll review the entire doc. Glad to hear cutting may be A consideration


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## Rabun (Oct 6, 2018)

The mtn man said:


> That is all relevant to the way the land is categorized,  if it's just NF land, they can have more control over habitat improvement, if the land is considered wilderness, they can't touch it.


 That makes sense...I do agree some areas should remain untouched from human impact. And when I suggest timbering I'm not talking about clear cutting large swaths of forest. More of a select harvest approach. Good info mtn man!


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## The mtn man (Oct 6, 2018)

Rabun said:


> That makes sense...I do agree some areas should remain untouched from human impact. And when I suggest timbering I'm not talking about clear cutting large swaths of forest. More of a select harvest approach. Good info mtn man!


The problem we have now with cutting timber is the market, I know a mill owner, he says hardwood is bringing nothing. Even if the usfs agreed to sale timber, who would buy it? Who would be willing to go in the hole logging mountain timber just for wildlife habitat improvement? It's a real bad delima for us mountain hunters, we know nothing is going to be done at least until maybe I'm too old to see the benefits. That's why my ace in the hole is a hunting lease in middle ga. There is always a market for southern yellow and loblolly pine. Loggers don't have as much trouble thinning it or getting it out of the woods either, sometimes they just cut it, stack it, and leave it to rot, but at least it gets rotated every 30 years or so.


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## livinoutdoors (Oct 6, 2018)

Buckman18 said:


> I think start out with a 2-3 week spring season, and gradually increase, decrease, or eliminate as needed. Start it the Saturday after turkey closes. That’d be a blast!


This could be added to new spring feral hog hunts they had on wmas this year and expanded to national forest n private land.


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## The mtn man (Oct 6, 2018)

Spring bear season ain't gonna happen. I promise.


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## 270 shooter (Oct 6, 2018)

35 Whelen said:


> Eliminate the 75 pound weight restriction!



This!


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## ripplerider (Oct 7, 2018)

The mtn man said:


> The problem we have now with cutting timber is the market, I know a mill owner, he says hardwood is bringing nothing. Even if the usfs agreed to sale timber, who would buy it? Who would be willing to go in the hole logging mountain timber just for wildlife habitat improvement? It's a real bad delima for us mountain hunters, we know nothing is going to be done at least until maybe I'm too old to see the benefits. That's why my ace in the hole is a hunting lease in middle ga. There is always a market for southern yellow and loblolly pine. Loggers don't have as much trouble thinning it or getting it out of the woods either, sometimes they just cut it, stack it, and leave it to rot, but at least it gets rotated every 30 years or so.



Exactly. The Forest Service cant control timber prices even if it was willing to defy the tree-huggers and mis-guided armchair preservationists and actually cut some timber. Controlled burns and similar stop-gap measures are about the best we can hope for until prices rise but there should be a plan in place for when they do. Until then, we need to kill the fool out of some bears. And hogs. I believe they get their share of fawns too. Removing the 75 lb. limit would definitely help. Getting the word out to folks who dont get on here would help.


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## lampern (Oct 7, 2018)

> . Make feeding bears illegal



How is that going to work with all the deer and hog bait in the woods?


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## Tio Hey Seuss (Oct 8, 2018)

lampern said:


> How is that going to work with all the deer and hog bait in the woods?


Been wondering the same thing. It's funny seeing guys put out bait then complain about seeing too many bears where they want to hunt deer.


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## Tio Hey Seuss (Oct 8, 2018)

ripplerider said:


> Exactly. The Forest Service cant control timber prices even if it was willing to defy the tree-huggers and mis-guided armchair preservationists and actually cut some timber. Controlled burns and similar stop-gap measures are about the best we can hope for until prices rise but there should be a plan in place for when they do. Until then, we need to kill the fool out of some bears. And hogs. I believe they get their share of fawns too. Removing the 75 lb. limit would definitely help. Getting the word out to folks who dont get on here would help.


I really don't think marker conditions are the problem. It's "environmental" groups opposed to science based management. Lumber prices were the highest they have ever been since anyone kept track in May 2018. https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/lumber

Also, I think removing or reducing the weight limit would be a huge mistake. We have to keep public perception in mind if we want to keep doing what we love. Any time I talk to a non hunter about bear hunting the first question they ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ask is "can you shoot any bear you see?" At which point I explain the 75lb rule and and about not shooting sows with cubs. The person is usually relieved, nods approvingly and wishes me luck. Now imagine if my response was, "heck yea! If it's black I'll take a crack! Gotta thin them varmints out."


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## lampern (Oct 8, 2018)

All you have to do is protect sows with cubs.

All other bears can be fair game


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## Tio Hey Seuss (Oct 8, 2018)

All I'm saying is that if someone killed a tiny little bear and pictures got out it could be used against us very easily. The 75lb limit doesn't really exclude many bears but it sounds like a reasonable limit to most folks. I've only seen one bear on it's own that was for sure less than 75 and I've seen my fair share of bears.


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## lampern (Oct 8, 2018)

Not if you want to slow the spread of bears into the Atlanta metro.

Big cities and bears don’t mix.

Bears up in the mountains proper should not be managed the same as bears down towards I-85.


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## CornStalker (Oct 8, 2018)

Tio Hey Seuss said:


> All I'm saying is that if someone killed a tiny little bear and pictures got out it could be used against us very easily. The 75lb limit doesn't really exclude many bears but it sounds like a reasonable limit to most folks. I've only seen one bear on it's own that was for sure less than 75 and I've seen my fair share of bears.



Tio, you make a good point.  While I have seen a lot of bears around 60-85 lbs that were not cubs with mothers, I worry a lot about public perception of taking a little 50lb bear. Unfair as it may be, people see bear differently than deer. I don't worry about the anti-hunters (relative minority). I worry about the non-hunting public that will be easily and emotionally swayed by the anti-hunting propaganda. Those are the people we need to be continually winning over.

Good conversation and input from everyone. We will need a more unified voice in the years to come...


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## tree cutter 08 (Oct 8, 2018)

I think by removing the 75 lb limit, there will be a lot of 80 to 100 lb bears taken that folks would be hesitant to shoot with the 75 lb minimum rule in place.


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## Unicoidawg (Oct 8, 2018)

Maybe lower it to 50lbs?


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## DC-08 (Oct 8, 2018)

Make baiting legal on private land.


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## strothershwacker (Oct 8, 2018)

Just up the limit. We can kill 12 deer but only 2 bear?  Will an All state, State Farm, Progressive, or Geico representative be at the meeting? I think that's who we need to be talking to.


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## lampern (Oct 8, 2018)

Only in N Ga can you kill 2 bears


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## CornStalker (Oct 9, 2018)

Unicoidawg said:


> Maybe lower it to 50lbs?



I think this could be a good solution. This would allow harvest of small bears and still protect cubs.


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## goshenmountainman (Oct 9, 2018)

lampern said:


> Not if you want to slow the spread of bears into the Atlanta metro.
> 
> Big cities and bears don’t mix.
> 
> Bears up in the mountains proper should not be managed the same as bears down towards I-85.


I would be willing to build a trap and catch them and transport them to Atlanta, if DNR would allow me. I believe I could stock the city pretty well in one summer.


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## The mtn man (Oct 12, 2018)

Tio Hey Seuss said:


> I really don't think marker conditions are the problem. It's "environmental" groups opposed to science based management. Lumber prices were the highest they have ever been since anyone kept track in May 2018. https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/lumber
> 
> Also, I think removing or reducing the weight limit would be a huge mistake. We have to keep public perception in mind if we want to keep doing what we love. Any time I talk to a non hunter about bear hunting the first question they ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ask is "can you shoot any bear you see?" At which point I explain the 75lb rule and and about not shooting sows with cubs. The person is usually relieved, nods approvingly and wishes me luck. Now imagine if my response was, "heck yea! If it's black I'll take a crack! Gotta thin them varmints out."


You are incorrect about lumber prices, that link doesn't tell the whole story, hardwood timber is not bringing anything in the north ga mtns. Trust me. No one will buy a stand of hardwoods only to lose their rear ends. There's a difference in spruce/pine timber and North ga. Hardwood timber, there's just no market for it right now.


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## 308 (Oct 26, 2018)

Last season, we had two sows with 4 cubs and two with 3 cubs... and no cubs this year... but lots of single bear videos... 

We’re hoping the neighbors put out corn for the deer, which attracts bears... and when the bears find corn the deer move off... which could put more deer on us...

We’ve got few acorns this year... and bears on almost every camera, every week...  they all appear fat, but they’re not able to sit in white oak trees and eat a belly full..


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## Back40hunter (Nov 15, 2018)

tree cutter 08 said:


> Take the deer study going on now in the mountains for example. I'm glad it's happening but it should have been noticed 10 years ago. All I'm saying is you can look at the upward trend of the bear population and you can see the decline of the deer herd the same time. To me it's not hard to see and feel like the state doesn't care. Especially when the goal is to maintain the current bear population. Most folks i know that has trouble with them destroying gardens and corn fields don't complain to the dnr. When you have 7 or 8 bears coming to a small half acre corn field at night what's a man to do? You can't catch them all and move them. That's just putting a bandaid on the problem.


I don’t know if it’s true or not but I’ve heard there was a radio telemetry study on fawns this past spring. Of the fawns that we’re collered something like 75% we caught and killed by bears. Can’t have any fawn recruitment with that going on in the mountains.


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## bighits4421 (Nov 17, 2018)

I don’t know where y’all are seeing all these bear. I’m on CNF. I see 5 deer to every 1 bear. I don’t like deer hunting up in mountains cause it’s a longgg drag to truck. I deer hunt further south. I’m after a bear. I get them every
Now and again on camera. I’m near amicalola waterfalls. I need to make a trade with one of you all in public land spots


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## tree cutter 08 (Nov 17, 2018)

bighits4421 said:


> I don’t know where y’all are seeing all these bear. I’m on CNF. I see 5 deer to every 1 bear. I don’t like deer hunting up in mountains cause it’s a longgg drag to truck. I deer hunt further south. I’m after a bear. I get them every
> Now and again on camera. I’m near amicalola waterfalls. I need to make a trade with one of you all in public land spots


Move on up a county. Bears are starting to disappear this time of year but no shortage of them.


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## Hookedonhunting (Dec 10, 2018)

Tio Hey Seuss said:


> All I'm saying is that if someone killed a tiny little bear and pictures got out it could be used against us very easily. The 75lb limit doesn't really exclude many bears but it sounds like a reasonable limit to most folks. I've only seen one bear on it's own that was for sure less than 75 and I've seen my fair share of bears.


I second this. I shot a 140# cinnamon phase bear in Colorado this past season. I've had quite a lot of people fuss at me about killing a cuddly little baby bear.......... At which point I have to make myself not roll my eyes and nicely explain why it's legal and all that good stuff. People see baby BooBoo on social media or in the back of a truck and they will loose their crap. I wish it was legal to bait them so we as sportsmen could effectively harvest the big ones. I want a GA black bear really badly. Just have never put in the time to get up in the hills. But since you folks say they need to be hunted and the numbers/chances of harvest are fairly high I will assure you I will be after one soon!  I'm not looking for your special spots but if you guys feel like pointing me towards a trophy bear, me and a buddy will gladly come get em!


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## bfriendly (Dec 12, 2018)

Just joined the conversation and I see a bunch of folks asking for a spring season after turkey ends. We could simply change the hog yote season, which is exactly when y’all suggested,to a bear season. Hogs and yotes are incidental take anywho........just make electronic calls legal.
I need to get up there and do some predator hunting too!


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