North GA Mtn Hunting

Another one

The muscadine are coming down pretty good in the places I'm hunting. Found several piles of bear droppings with skins already. I watched a raccoon cross the path in front of me the other day and climb a poplar at the edge of the field. I watched him cut down grapes for probably 45 minutes until a bear stepped into the field. The raccoon saw the bear and went still as a knot on a log. I watched the bear for maybe another half hour before I decided to move along with my scouting and hunting and yet still, that raccoon never moved a muscle. I could and should have gotten on with my scouting earlier, but it was just nice to sit and watched the raccoon going to work on the grapes. It was something I had never seen before. It looked and sounded exactly like squirrels cutting down acorns. Neat sight.

Joe Brandon said:

Looking at all these trees, had a bear at camp take an office chair half way out of a box stand this week and just completely tear it to shreads. He did that chair like my dog does a pair of leather shoes lol.

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Also, be mindful of your stands. Bears have an affinity for climber seats!!

O-Country said:

Made a quick lap this morning,started at the corn field that the bears are smoking every night. Then up the mountain where they are starting to climb some trees for acorns. A lot of yellow jacket nest been dug up. Found a few white oaks dropping with deer feeding on them. Good bit of hog rotten and wallowing along the creek. One of the bears in the corn field has a track round as a horse. Dang it was HOT.......

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Glad to see they are climbing for chestnut oak acorns. I have seen more of those than whites.

Any more hogs spotted in the mountains? Killer Kyle?

Is anyone familiar with hunting Swallow Creek WMA? This will be my fifth year going and I still have not brought home a bear. Am I even hunting a good location for bears?

tallchris83 said:

Any more hogs spotted in the mountains? Killer Kyle?

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No luck to speak of. Randomly walked up on a sow with piglets the night before last. Never saw them, just heard the piglets squealing. Ridgetops with white pines and red oaks mostly.

Dudley1993 said:

Is anyone familiar with hunting Swallow Creek WMA? This will be my fifth year going and I still have not brought home a bear. Am I even hunting a good location for bears?

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Swallow Creek is the e exact same as Chattahoochee for bear, only 70% fewer hunters. What is your hunting strategy?

Killer Kyle said:

Swallow Creek is the e exact same as Chattahoochee for bear, only 70% fewer hunters. What is your hunting strategy?

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X10. Swallow Creek is the most under rated and under hunted bear factory in GA. And the fact that it has so many fewer hunters makes it that much sweeter. Me and Killer Kyle will just keep it to ourselves! Another great bear producer is the southern nantahala wilderness. Makes Cohutta look like the JV mountains. But the bears are stacked in there for sure.

Killer Kyle, the hunting strategy has changed over the course of the past years. When we first start traveling up there, I sat in the food plots because they were a food source and easy to get to. Last year, however we all ( I take this trip with a group of normally four friends) left camp with the basic needs gear and hiked the ridges as much as we could until finally finding a place to sit.

My favorite time to hunt bears in around the archery opener. If you can find a large stand of say, 15-20 or more solid white oaks that are situated somewhere like on a ridgetops, long lead, bench, gap, or mountaintop...any prominent terrain feature, and those whites are dropping acorns, chances are there will be feeding sign there, and that's where you need to be sitting. A bear might hit it at any time of the day. Last year during opening week I saw bears at all hours of the day coming up to hit a big stand of white oaks. Like always, morning and evening are probably your best bets, but I saw many bears at like 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m. Just keep at it and don't be afraid to hike deep in. You'll get one, just be patient!

Go to deer hunt instead of bear. That's when you will see a bear! Bumped into some guys with dogs on the ga/nc line a few weeks ago and said they seen more bear this year than ever this year. This would be in the southern nantahala woods. They are there in big numbers.

tree cutter 08 said:

Go to deer hunt instead of bear. That's when you will see a bear! Bumped into some guys with dogs on the ga/nc line a few weeks ago and said they seen more bear this year than ever this year. This would be in the southern nantahala woods. They are there in big numbers.

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Just left mom's house in Highlands NC, landscapers said they've seen more bear this year than any other.

As of last night, I have seen 32 bears this summer while scouting for the archery opener. I have been chasing bears specifically, and I have kept a detailed journal of each one to help me catalogue each one and where it was seen, feeding on, how long observed, where it was coming from or going. This helps in situations like say if you see a sow with a set of two year old cubs frequenting a ridge this year, next year she will probably be alone and fair game. Anyway, I have seen 32 throughout my summer scouting, and season hasn't opened yet. I've got my big bear's already located and I know generally where they are at now, and where they are most likely to be when the white oaks are dropping heavy. And this does not even include the places that I have seen loaded with sign, where I know bears are going, or where I have located big bear's and just have not laid eyes on them yet. The journal also does not include the bears I have spooked while walking but did not actually lay eyes on which would drive my numbers even higher. I was hoping to top 100 bear sightings by the end of the year, but I don't think that will happen. I am thinking something like 70 or so will be the total number of sightings by the end of the season. That said, I texted my friend Drew last night and told him ''I don't know if I will ever have a year like this again. The number of bears I have seen this year has been unreal". I dont know if their numbers are way up or what, but I have indeed seen a lot this year. I think I have only seen maybe six deer or so in that same time frame. I saw a bachelor group of four small bucks on Chattahoochee in the early summer, saw a couple does around a food plot a little later on, and saw a single either doe or small buck while scouting with a friend the week before last. Quite the disproportionate ratio if you ask me!!

Kyle, you inspire me. I started a hunting journal this year to track sightings and to help myself learn more about the animals (and the land). I've got a couple of those "Rite in the Rain" waterproof pads to keep in my pack. Looking forward to using them this season.

CornStalker said:

Kyle, you inspire me. I started a hunting journal this year to track sightings and to help myself learn more about the animals (and the land). I've got a couple of those "Rite in the Rain" waterproof pads to keep in my pack. Looking forward to using them this season.

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I think journaling is great so myself, friends, and family can look back on my experiences in later years, but I approach it from a pragmatic point of view mostly. Just a decent way to keep track of what beats I'm seeing where and why, where I think I should hunt them where when season opens, and what bears I want to hunt more than others. It just helps me keep my plans a little more organized I guess.

Buckman18 said:

X10. Swallow Creek is the most under rated and under hunted bear factory in GA. And the fact that it has so many fewer hunters makes it that much sweeter. Me and Killer Kyle will just keep it to ourselves! Another great bear producer is the southern nantahala wilderness. Makes Cohutta look like the JV mountains. But the bears are stacked in there for sure.

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I've been hunting Swallows creek the last few years only killed a spike there so far but I love the country. There are some seriously rough places there I've fished there all my life but seemed like there was always another WMA open that I liked better. Not anymore I'm going to hunt it several times every year from now on. Started digging ramps there about 5 years ago and got interested in the area. A couple of my old haunts on Coopers Creek started getting hunted pretty hard so I'm checking out new country which I love to do anyway.