2023 Goals

[ddd-shooter]

I was thinning about the collar data being the best bet. But they aren’t going to give that out to a hunter. It would be like a targeted strike.
You likely could get averages from DNR.

I’m not sure, but would like to see what you find, about bears being different.
My hypothesis would be they act different, therefore appear different due to local ecological niche variation

Like the southern app Brook trout, except bc trouts are water locked and separated by Known glaciation events they can’t just swim to the next state.
Bears on the other hand could, if motivated, walk from Georgia to Maine right along the app trail. Usually you’ll observe repeatable heritable difference in populations due to genetic drift associated with various physical obstacles, occasionally due to ring selection.
It’ll be interesting to see what you observe.

I am slightly skeptical of the visual analysis because their coats change across time. Not trying to be a naysayer I create experiments for a living.

A lot of deer labs (psu and msu) share their tracking collar info to the public. Granted, it’s not every deer, but we also don’t need every deer/bear. The note worthy examples can be extremely cool to see. A bear that only stays in a small place vs a bear that goes twenty miles, etc
ETA: @Shootthehooch I also think you’ll have to have some clear tracking info if you want to be taken seriously by the science community. If you’re ok doing it for yourself, that’s one thing. But to actually do a “study” hard data is the only thing that will pass muster-“this bear looks like this” and I saw him ten times isn’t scientific.

 

[chrislibby88]

I was thinning about the collar data being the best bet. But they aren’t going to give that out to a hunter. It would be like a targeted strike.
You likely could get averages from DNR.

I’m not sure, but would like to see what you find, about bears being different.
My hypothesis would be they act different, therefore appear different due to local ecological niche variation

Like the southern app Brook trout, except bc trouts are water locked and separated by Known glaciation events they can’t just swim to the next state.
Bears on the other hand could, if motivated, walk from Georgia to Maine right along the app trail. Usually you’ll observe repeatable heritable difference in populations due to genetic drift associated with various physical obstacles, occasionally due to ring selection.
It’ll be interesting to see what you observe.

I am slightly skeptical of the visual analysis because their coats change across time. Not trying to be a naysayer I create experiments for a living.

Oh they have to give us the data once it’s completed, doesn’t matter if they want to or not. The good news is that there’s a delay from the field to compiling everything and you won’t get real time data that could be used to track a specific bear, but they can’t withhold data just cause they are worried about giving hunters an unfair advantage.

 

[chrislibby88]

A lot of deer labs (psu and msu) share their tracking collar info to the public. Granted, it’s not every deer, but we also don’t need every deer/bear. The note worthy examples can be extremely cool to see. A bear that only stays in a small place vs a bear that goes twenty miles, etc
ETA: @Shootthehooch I also think you’ll have to have some clear tracking info if you want to be taken seriously by the science community. If you’re ok doing it for yourself, that’s one thing. But to actually do a “study” hard data is the only thing that will pass muster-“this bear looks like this” and I saw him ten times isn’t scientific.

Yea the trail cam only data isn’t gonna be taken seriously for tracking specific bears. Not that it won’t be useful in other ways, but Im having a hard time figuring out how trail cams can be used to produce reliable range size data. You can get lucky on a few bears with unique visual features, but you still need the camera angle and resolution to identify those features. You’ll realistically need serialized tags or collars, which require capturing the animals. Good luck with that venture without the DNR backing you.

@Shootthehooch you might could come up with another use for the trail cam data? Not sure if you’ve heard of Shane Parker, but he is doing some massive trail cam surveys for deer, and mainly focuses on how they use terrain, and what conditions prompt certain movements. I’m pretty sure he works in conjunction with a university/dnr study but I think he started it all on his own. Approaching the DNR with this might help point you in a useful direction, or they may already have a project in the works that accomplishes your goals that you could assist with?

 

[splatek]

Oh they have to give us the data once it’s completed, doesn’t matter if they want to or not. The good news is that there’s a delay from the field to compiling everything and you won’t get real time data that could be used to track a specific bear, but they can’t withhold data just cause they are worried about giving hunters an unfair advantage.

I’m not sure they have to give us the data. Especially on individual bears. They can give us a report on average but raw data I’m not sure they have to do that.
I’ll probably Wrong

 

[Swampdogg]

I’ve asked about the data but no response, I’m guessing its not complete yet .

 

[splatek]

I’m guessing like in most science they’ll share summaries of the data not the raw data without a legit scientifically request from a scientist at a university or research center

 

[trad bow]

Most likely a no go.

 

[KentuckyHeadhunter]

@Shootthehooch isn't looking for any scientific recognition. He's just trying to test some of his own theories. He's very humble and striving to learn more and to help other hunters. I would dare say he puts in more physical homework than any biologist in those mountains.

 

[antharper]

@BBond may could offer some info for a study . I know he’s offered info on collared bears in south ga on here before .

 

[antharper]

@BBond may could offer some info for a study . I know he’s offered info on collared bears in south ga on here before .

Not long ago someone had a trail cam pic of a collard bear and he knew all about it just from photos . Said it was collard at Ocmulgee wma and in 7 days traveled to lumber city , about 1 1/2 - 2 hr drive . And a year later was back where he was originally collared

 

[BBond]

I deal with just the Central GA bears and thus why I knew about the Lumber City bear.

Adam Hammond is the statewide bear biologist.

One data lag we do have with bears is age.
All teeth have to be mailed to a specialized lab in MT and it takes months before we have the ages back.

 

[jbogg]

I cut it close this month, but the 12 night challenge is still intact. I had planned to go up earlier this month with a couple of buddies, but life happens and plans changed. Before I knew it the month was almost over and the weather has not been great. Made the last-minute call to throw all my gear in my pack yesterday afternoon and sprinted up to the mountains. Woke up this morning in a cloud of drizzle, but still made time for my morning cup of coffee before hiking out.

 

[jbogg]

The hog rooting was the worst I’ve ever seen. The lower photo is 1 foot off the side of the Appalachian Trail, and parts of the Trail are getting destroyed.

 

[ddd-shooter]

I’m up for bacon!

 

[jbogg]

The March edition of the 12 night challenge is now in the books. Reconnected with a couple of old High School buddies for plenty of laughs around the campfire. It was just under 20 degrees this morning, but my cold weather sleep system worked great.

 

[jbogg]

Keeping it going. The April challenge is in the books. My wife had to go care for her elderly mother this weekend, which gave me the rare opportunity to hunt on Easter. I did not hunt on Saturday on National Forest since I could not find my snorkel, but I did throw all my gear in my truck late Saturday afternoon and arrived to my spot about an hour and a half before dark. I hiked in about a mile, set up camp and fell asleep listening to the raindrops on the tent. Woke up a few hours later to a beautiful full moon, and clearing skies. Could not have been a prettier Easter morning, even though the birds did not cooperate.

 

[Professor]

Keeping it going. The April challenge is in the books. My wife had to go care for her elderly mother this weekend, which gave me the rare opportunity to hunt on Easter. I did not hunt on Saturday on National Forest since I could not find my snorkel, but I did throw all my gear in my truck late Saturday afternoon and arrived to my spot about an hour and a half before dark. I hiked in about a mile, set up camp and fell asleep listening to the raindrops on the tent. Woke up a few hours later to a beautiful full moon, and clearing skies. Could not have been a prettier Easter morning, even though the birds did not cooperate.
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I hunted Saturday. Could not hear anything. I did see a big sounder of pigs with around 30 piglets.

 

[jbogg]

Cut it close again, but the June edition of the 12 night challenge is complete. What I thought would be a bunch of solo outings has morphed into some memorable times with some of my oldest buds who I have known for almost 50 years.

We drove up yesterday morning to claim an unofficial campsite on NF. By midafternoon everyone had arrived and we had just sat down to enjoy our first adult beverage after setting up camp when a weary traveler strolled into camp. Turns out this fella had slid his 2WD pickup in a ditch about a half a mile down a pig trail and was looking for help. We piled into my truck with a tow rope to see if we could help.

After towing him about 1/3 of a mile back up the mountain out of the slick, red clay washout, we pulled back into camp, only to find a sow with a good size boar happily tearing apart the cooler that one of my buddies had inadvertently left sitting on the tailgate of his truck. Note to self, no matter how brief a time you think you’ll be away from camp it is critical to store all food.

It took some effort to try and run them off. Clearly, these bears had raided campsites before. The sow returned three times within 20 minutes, completely ignoring us as she walked within 15 yards and attempted to enter one of the tents. A small rock to the rump sent her scurrying into the woods, only for her to return 10 minutes later for a fourth time. At that point, I realized since they had already received a food reward, there was no dissuading them and it would be a long sleepless night if we stayed. We ended up breaking camp and dashing about 15 miles away to another little spot I knew of to get camp set up again just before dark.

None of my high school buddies are hunters, and had never seen a bear in the wild, much less up close and personal. You could say the excitement level was high for a while.

 

[KentuckyHeadhunter]

Cut it close again, but the June edition of the 12 night challenge is complete. What I thought would be a bunch of solo outings has morphed into some memorable times with some of my oldest buds who I have known for almost 50 years.

We drove up yesterday morning to claim an unofficial campsite on NF. By midafternoon everyone had arrived and we had just sat down to enjoy our first adult beverage after setting up camp when a weary traveler strolled into camp. Turns out this fella had slid his 2WD pickup in a ditch about a half a mile down a pig trail and was looking for help. We piled into my truck with a tow rope to see if we could help.

After towing him about 1/3 of a mile back up the mountain out of the slick, red clay washout, we pulled back into camp, only to find a sow with a good size boar happily tearing apart the cooler that one of my buddies had inadvertently left sitting on the tailgate of his truck. Note to self, no matter how brief a time you think you’ll be away from camp it is critical to store all food.

It took some effort to try and run them off. Clearly, these bears had raided campsites before. The sow returned three times within 20 minutes, completely ignoring us as she walked within 15 yards and attempted to enter one of the tents. A small rock to the rump sent her scurrying into the woods, only for her to return 10 minutes later for a fourth time. At that point, I realized since they had already received a food reward, there was no dissuading them and it would be a long sleepless night if we stayed. We ended up breaking camp and dashing about 15 miles away to another little spot I knew of to get camp set up again just before dark.

None of my high school buddies are hunters, and had never seen a bear in the wild, much less up close and personal. You could say the excitement level was high for a while.
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Your buddies probably wanted to sleep in YOUR tent with you after that. That experience had to be way more fun than golf to those guys!

 

[Swampdogg]

Cut it close again, but the June edition of the 12 night challenge is complete. What I thought would be a bunch of solo outings has morphed into some memorable times with some of my oldest buds who I have known for almost 50 years.

We drove up yesterday morning to claim an unofficial campsite on NF. By midafternoon everyone had arrived and we had just sat down to enjoy our first adult beverage after setting up camp when a weary traveler strolled into camp. Turns out this fella had slid his 2WD pickup in a ditch about a half a mile down a pig trail and was looking for help. We piled into my truck with a tow rope to see if we could help.

After towing him about 1/3 of a mile back up the mountain out of the slick, red clay washout, we pulled back into camp, only to find a sow with a good size boar happily tearing apart the cooler that one of my buddies had inadvertently left sitting on the tailgate of his truck. Note to self, no matter how brief a time you think you’ll be away from camp it is critical to store all food.

It took some effort to try and run them off. Clearly, these bears had raided campsites before. The sow returned three times within 20 minutes, completely ignoring us as she walked within 15 yards and attempted to enter one of the tents. A small rock to the rump sent her scurrying into the woods, only for her to return 10 minutes later for a fourth time. At that point, I realized since they had already received a food reward, there was no dissuading them and it would be a long sleepless night if we stayed. We ended up breaking camp and dashing about 15 miles away to another little spot I knew of to get camp set up again just before dark.

None of my high school buddies are hunters, and had never seen a bear in the wild, much less up close and personal. You could say the excitement level was high for a while.
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That’s how memories are made , bet y’all never forget that trip.