DNR Black Bear Mgmt Plan - Public Meetings

CornStalker

Senior Member
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!
 

ddd-shooter

Senior Member
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!
 

northgeorgiasportsman

Moderator
Staff member
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.
 

goshenmountainman

Senior Member
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.
 

FMBear

Senior Member
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.
 

greg_n_clayton

Senior Member
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 !!
 

tree cutter 08

Senior Member
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.
 

goshenmountainman

Senior Member
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.
 

Buckman18

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

Buckman18

Senior Member
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.
 

Rabun

Senior Member
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.
 

fiddlinduke

Member
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.
 

tree cutter 08

Senior Member
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.
 

tree cutter 08

Senior Member
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.
 

Dana Young

Senior Member
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
 

Rabun

Senior Member
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?
 

Raylander

I’m Billy’s Useles Uncle.
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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