tallchris83
Member
There's plenty of gated roads. So I can't walk around and hunt behind it at all?
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North GA Mtn Hunting
- Thread starter Nga Lineman
- Start date
There's plenty of gated roads. So I can't walk around and hunt behind it at all?
livinoutdoors
Goatherding Non-socialist Bohemian Luddite
If it has a gate on the road, and the gate is closed so that a car could not drive on it, you can hunt that road. If the gate is open the 50 yards from said road applies.
ddd-shooter
Senior Member
Bingo. That's where that "unless" came from in my original post.
Dusty Roads
Senior Member
Bear-Fannin,Union
USFS-Hard Slate RD,Rock Creek Rd,Gaddistown RD,Angel Dr(USFS Rd-looks private),FS 58-cemetary,FS42 (Suches-Garritt Farm(Cooper Gap Rd lower) area,nearby woods of Amicalola State Park for sure
USFS-Hard Slate RD,Rock Creek Rd,Gaddistown RD,Angel Dr(USFS Rd-looks private),FS 58-cemetary,FS42 (Suches-Garritt Farm(Cooper Gap Rd lower) area,nearby woods of Amicalola State Park for sure
Killer Kyle
Senior Member
There are more bears and hogs on the mountain WMAs than deer. Wilson Shoals is a deer and turkey game only...no bears or hogs there (as of the current), some might wander that way eventually. Wilson Shoals is good for deer, I see deer pretty much every hunt there. Lake Russell is the diamond in the ruff for deer hunting in Region 2. I believe Chattahoochee and Swallow Creek tie for dead last in the state fkr overall deer harvest. Deer are there but fewer than in southern areas. Killing a buck in the mountain WMA's is a true, real trophy. Our turbine later in the mind so plan on the last week in Nov and all the way through Dec to be prime time for bucks. Bears are most easily killed before October. Once the acorns drop, the bears scatter, so find the white oaks dropping first and hunt them. Also, hunt flats and points of intersection where two ridges meet, where several leads converge, or hunt a funnel like a deep gap with lots of white oaks in it. Later in the season, usually by November or so, the white oaks play out. They are eaten and half spoiled, so you need to go back to hunting the red oaks. Learn what true white oaks are and don't confuse them with chestnut oaks. Chestnut oak acorns usually lay on the ground and rot unless there is an extremely lean year for the animals. Sometimes you can target hogs on the food plots planted with clover, peas, sorghum, millet, wheat, or rye. The prime time to do that is late winter during small game season. I carry a muzzle loader during small game dates for hogs. Early turkey season is a good time to hunt the food plots with clover because it greens up sooner than most other plants, and is the first, real desirable food source available in the early spring (our spring comes much later than the rest of the state...in late March it still looks practically like winter here with virtually no leaf growth). For turkeys, walk the Ridgeline, and call off into the coves along the side of the ridge. Turkeys like roosting in a flat cove or off the crest of the ridges. They don't like roosting in the wind if they can help it, so they'll move to shelter from the wind. If you hunt the mtns, you will start seeing bears consistently. I have been hog hunting four days this small game season with my ML, and I have seen eight different bears in those four hunts.one hunt I saw none, so I really saw eight bears in three days total. As for hogs, they are primarily nocturnal, and move a LOT. This past winter, I followed a single set of hog tracks for about a mile and a half that were made the night before. I tell people "hogs are where you find them". *Usually. Like I said, once in a while they'll hit a food plot or stand of acorns consistently for two or three days before going along. I hunt a place on Swallow Creek where I have killed bear, turkey, hogs, and missed a big buck, and went back and saw him the next December. Most places in the NF and WMA's are like that. And remember, if you kill an animal in a place, you can usually kill another one there in later years. If a turkey likes a certain cove because the food is right, the vantage is right, the shelter is right, and he likes the bottom he can gobble down into, chances are the next yesr or the one after, another gobbler is going to like that place for the very same reasons and live there. Same for all other animals. If a buck likes a particular shelf because he can lay down a good rub line, there is decent cover nearby, he has good access to it, and the does like it because it has a nice stand of producing reds on it, chances are another buck will like it for the very same reasons next season, or the season after that. Certain places appeal to certain animals and usually are a total sum of their basic needs, and it will be used repeatedly throughout the yesrs. Be active on the forum and get to know these guys. This place is a goldmine of knowledge and experience, and is filled with the best teachers that are in the woods and on the water. Good luck, hike long, work hard, stay late, and be safe!
Killer Kyle
Senior Member
Also to clarify on an earlier post, you can kill hogs during any open season with the weapon and ammunition concurrent with that season. So for instance you can kill hogs with a shotgun during small game season, but you are required to use the shot size concurrent with small game regulations. You cannot use slugs or buckshot, and no buckshot is allowed on public lands period.
CornStalker
Senior Member
Kyle, have you been still ("stalking")hunting those hogs when you've seen those bears? And have they been on the ground or climbing in the tree tops?
We got into a mess of hogs last year on opening weekend. If you can get down wind on them, putting the Mohican sneak on them is a blast!
We got into a mess of hogs last year on opening weekend. If you can get down wind on them, putting the Mohican sneak on them is a blast!
whitetailfreak
Senior Member
Killed this one with a ml opening wk of small game on Cohutta a few years ago. I'll take my .50 over a .22 lr any day.
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Killer Kyle
Senior Member
Yep, stalking. No bears in the tree tops yet, but they will be soon. Very soon.
jbogg
Senior Member
Any idea how much that pig weighed? I unknowingly walked up on some hogs in a thicket a couple of months ago and when they broke from cover I was within 10 yds. That was the first time I had seen hogs in the wild, and it got my attention. The first one that ran looked huge, but not quite as big as the one in your photo. I was guessing 200 - 300 lbs, but it was moving fast so who knows.
Nga Lineman
Senior Member
Thanks for all the info, right now I have so many options and things I want to try and get done I am running in circles and losing time. I was riding Russell last night and got turned around in there couldn't get to the area I was trying to reach and came back out the wma somewhere completely different. The first initial entrance I tried to go in at was gated so I had to drive all the way through from the check station. Luckily wherever I came out was open or idk if I would have gotten back out haha. Didn't even get to get out of the truck and scout I did however see a monster copperhead crossing the road around the cemetery. Hoping to go back here within the next couple days and Wilson shoals too since it's so close to the house for me. Really wanting to make it up to chattahoochee before season opens as well but I'm not sure if I'm going to get the chance. If I do it might be week before season opens. With your comment of bears being killed earlier in the season, if I decided I really wanted to target my first bear, would it be better to do it in the first half or so of the season?
You'll stand a better chance at a bear early in the year with a bow or ML. Find the white oaks.........
Nga Lineman
Senior Member
I see, do you hunt them from climber like deer or off the ground? I know probably both ways can be done just was wondering what most did?
Killer Kyle
Senior Member
I hunt from the ground because I am too ADD to stay in one place for more than a few hours. It is a blessing, and a curse. Stand hunting is just as good, if not much more advantageous in many or most situations, but I ain't man enough to hump a minimum 22 lb climber up the mountain or ridge. The truth stated plainly. Haha. For me, I like slipping along.
tallchris83
Member
Kyle,
Thanks for that very informative long post. Here in Lumpkin/White we are scratching our heads trying to figure out where the hogs could be now. They are nocturnal and have been on the move. Best we can figure is to scout early in the morning after the rains are over (like now) and look for sign in many different likely spots. As many creek beds as you care to hike through.
Thanks for that very informative long post. Here in Lumpkin/White we are scratching our heads trying to figure out where the hogs could be now. They are nocturnal and have been on the move. Best we can figure is to scout early in the morning after the rains are over (like now) and look for sign in many different likely spots. As many creek beds as you care to hike through.
tree cutter 08
Senior Member
Most pig sign I've seen has been up high, 32 to 3800 ft. Water close by is a must this time of year.
Outdoorstherapy10
Member
I was born and raised in Cherokee county and always went campin and fishin in north ga. Over the years I have gotten more and more into huntin. I've been away from home for a while but I'm movin back the beginning of October. Can't wait to try and harvest a bear! I appreciate all the advice and insight y'all throw out there!!
Nga Lineman
Senior Member
I seem to usually get busted on the ground but that's always been deer hunting, if I was going afte hogs specifically I would definitely be walking and looking for them. Going back to scout some places tonight.
Killer Kyle
Senior Member
Yep, first half of season is prime time for a bear. They start to scatter pretty good in October, and can be increasingly difficult to find with each passing day. Very few are killed in November andbDecember compared to Sept and October. Whitetail freak on here killed a dandy last December and posted a thread about it. I think DanaYoung's grandson killed one in December too on Cooper's Creek if I remember correctly. As bear post dwindle in Nov and Dec, I really enjoy seeing when December bear kill posts pop up here.
Nga Lineman
Senior Member
Nice, well I got held up at work yesterday so my plans to go back out didn't work out. However since that happened I am going to get off early some the rest of the week. I have Russell, Wilson Shoals, and Chattahoochee to check out still. Been eying some spots on each map for weeks. So with me running out of time I will be putting some miles on the snake boots here within the next week or two. For those of you that have killed bears before what do you do with them? Full body mount, rugs? Also how do you cook them? Not many people I know have said anything about eating them. I feel like if I shoot something it is only right to eat it or donate it to someone that will.
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