Bow Bear Taken In Rabun County May Have Been New State Record

A giant bear has been killed in Rabun County!

In fact, had the north Georgia bear been weighed prior to field-dressing, it would have been knocking on the door of becoming a new state-record bear.

Brent Baker, of Clarkesville, was interested in shooting a deer on some private property in Rabun County during the weekend of Sept. 26-27. Brent’s boss had extended an invitation for him to hunt on the land that weekend, but Brent said he didn’t even see a squirrel on the first day.

Brent Baker, of Clarkesville, killed a giant 523-lb. field-dressed bear on Sept. 27 in Rabun County.

After having to work Sunday morning, Brent returned to the stand that evening to take another shot at getting a deer. Patiently waiting, he finally started to hear and see movement in the woods.

“A doe came in, but she was acting very strange. She didn’t stick around for long before she was gone,” said Brent.

Within 10 minutes, the monster bear appeared.

“It came in at about 45 yards and slowly got closer to me,” said Brent. “It finally got within 15 to 20 yards, so I decided to take a shot.”

Brent waited for what seemed like an eternity before finally getting out of his stand. After he got down and started looking for the bear, Brent realized his phone was almost dead. He knew that if he found the bear, he would need help.

“I finally got my phone to come on long enough to call my boss,” said Brent.

Brent started tracking the bear on his own while waiting for his boss to arrive. Forty five minutes later, the bear was found, but it was still alive.

“Every time we would get close, it would get up and run a little ways,” Brent said.

Brent found his arrow covered in blood earlier during his trek, so he was confident he stuck the bear with a fatal shot. By dark, Brent said they were forced to wait until daylight to continue the search for the bear. He had marked the last spot of blood, so he could quickly return to search the next morning.

“The next morning we found the bear. He had made his way back to the area I was originally hunting in,” said Brent.

Brent said it was only an 80-yard drag to the truck. Brent, his boss and one other was there to help drag the beast. It took about an hour to get the bear to the truck.

The bear was finally weighed at a local processor, but it had already been field-dressed. However, the giant bear still weighed a whooping 523 pounds. Georgia’s state-record bear weighs 600 pounds and was taken in Clinch County in 2011.

Had Brent weighed the bear before dressing it, it would have been interesting to see how close it would have been to a new state record.

“It was definitely exciting, I’d never shot a bear before, or anything that big,” said Brent.