Bear hunts with dogs proposed for N GA WMAs

[lampern]

Chattahoochee and Chestatee WMAs

9 day quota hunts

https://georgiawildlife.com/sites/d...A-1 Board Package for March Board Meeting.pdf

 

[ddd-shooter]

Was just about to post this very thread. Love it.

 

[ddd-shooter]

Don’t think it’s a 9 day quota, but a 9 hunter quota. Page A-84 and below are mtn wmas.

 

[lampern]

One 9 day hunt for each WMA with a quota

I'm guessing the reason these WMAs were chosen was so the dog hunting and deer hunting (dogs illegal) would not overlap

 

[jbogg]

I am not a fan of this quota hunt occurring in the middle of bow season. When you combine this nine days with the September rifle hunt you have reduced bow season to three weeks. For anyone else opposed to this proposal there is still one more opportunity to let your voice be heard on April 15 in Gainesville. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. At the last Gainesville meeting there were 16 people that spoke in favor of bear hunting with dogs. As a result their request was granted. I would encourage anyone who does not want their bow season reduced to almost nothing to show up and speak out.

 

[jbogg]

As for you guys that hunt Cohutta, Blue Ridge, Coopers Creek... Don’t sit on the sidelines just because this does not affect you currently. My guess is that bear dog hunting will be expanded to other mountain WMAs in the near future. Please show up at the April 15 meeting and let your voices be heard.

 

[Mr Bya Lungshot]

Sounds good to me.
More bear options and stirring up what few deer are there for two seasons in a row to get the bear and deer herd back in check.
In two years you’ll have some studs.

 

[northgeorgiasportsman]

Before any Georgia hunter throws their support into a dog season, they ought to try hunting bears in western NC without dogs. As long as dogs are running bears, you won't see bears in the daytime unless they have a pack of dogs on them.

Poor JBogg won't stand a chance getting a bear with a bow if dogs are running them at the same time.

 

[whitetailfreak]

I come from 4 or 5 generations of bear doggers. Keep it in North Carolina and Tennessee. God, I'm glad my dad doesn't know how to turn on a computer and read what I just typed.

 

[Hillbilly stalker]

Quota hunts are usually the result of over population . If the still hunters can't keep them in check........well there you go. If you stand against one kind of hunting, don't cry when they come after your style. That goes for every state.

 

[jbogg]

Quota hunts are usually the result of over population . If the still hunters can't keep them in check........well there you go. If you stand against one kind of hunting, don't cry when they come after your style. That goes for every state.

Apparently the DNR did not propose this hunt due to overpopulation of bears. The justification section of their report states that the quota hunt will have minimal impact on North Georgia bear populations. My main point is there is no need to drop the dog hunt in the center of bow season. Push it back to December if necessary and everybody’s happy.

 

[NCMTNHunter]

Is there still a training season in GA? I know guys that used to take their dogs to GA to run before the season opened. Did/does that have an effect on daylight bear sightings?

 

[northgeorgiasportsman]

Make no mistake, I'm a hunter and I support other hunters methods. I grew up with a houndsman and I love to watch dogs work.

But, I fully oppose having a dog season during any other big game season. We're fortunate to have here on this forum, some experienced North Carolina hunters. I lived just over the state line in Clay county for about a dozen years. I've seen the trail camera evidence to back up those nocturnal claims. I've hunted those woods. Once the dogs hit the ground, everything else is over.

 

[goshenmountainman]

Needs to be in July or August and not just on WMA land. National forest and private land too. Those that don't want it, thats fine. I am sick and tired of the things, they already started tearing out the trash when people leave it out for the trash man to pick up, three times this week on my road alone. Also tore into my feed room and scattered feed everywhere, tore down one fish feeder and ruined it. I wish the population was back where it was in the early eighties, didn't have all these problems. Most of the people that are bucking against this don't live up here, they don't see or have bear problems. We need to catch every one we can and haul them to the suburbs of the cities and see how many of these people want them then. If your hunting in these mountains or the wma land in these mountains and haven't killed one , you need to examine how your going about it, its 10 times easier to get a bear than a deer nowadays!! Just a rant!! Now I am finished, just frustrated with these things, hands are tied, can't get rid of them, no matter how many are killed they just keep coming!!

 

[Hillbilly stalker]

^^^^ This is the other side of the coin, they are near as destructive as wild hog are, just less of them. Try to have honey bee's, cornfields or anything else and you will see quick. They have to be kept in check. DNR looks at a lot of things before they start a quota hunt, including residential complaints, they seldom start one over requests. People that try to make a living off the land and live in the same area, fully understand. Deer feeders are a favorite target also.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Needs to be in July or August and not just on WMA land. National forest and private land too. Those that don't want it, thats fine. I am sick and tired of the **** things, they already started tearing out the trash when people leave it out for the trash man to pick up, three times this week on my road alone. Also tore into my feed room and scattered feed everywhere, tore down one fish feeder and ruined it. I wish the population was back where it was in the early eighties, didn't have all these problems. Most of the people that are bucking against this don't live up here, they don't see or have bear problems. We need to catch every one we can and haul them to the suburbs of the cities and see how many of these people want them then. If your hunting in these mountains or the wma land in these mountains and haven't killed one , you need to examine how your going about it, its 10 times easier to get a bear than a deer nowadays!! Just a rant!! Now I am finished, just frustrated with these things, hands are tied, can't get rid of them, no matter how many are killed they just keep coming!!

The flip side is, when dogging starts, it will then become nearly impossible to kill a bear on public land without a pack of dogs.

I am not anti-hounds. I come from many, many generations of hound hunters. I used to have a pack of hounds, and I spent many enjoyable years hunting bears with them. So don't go there. I get it completely.

My gripe with NC is that there is no time that it is legal to kill a bear that it is not legal to hunt them with hounds.

In GA, y'all can kill bears in bow season and muzzleloader season. We can't here. I see bears on public I could easily kill every year in bow and ML season.

But-from daylight on opening day of bear season, you have a better chance of winning the lottery than seeing a bear in the daylight on public land. There are packs running everywhere, every day. The bears pretty much go completely nocturnal and almost completely unkillable without dogs for the whole bear season.

My compromise would be to open our deer archery and muzzleloader seasons to bear hunting with no dogs allowed, then the hound hunters still have the whole regular bear season to hunt like they do now.

Bears are getting really overpopulated in places here. The number killed by spot-and-stalk or treestand hunters would not pose any problems at all with the populations, I don't think.

 

[Buckman18]

I oppose the timing of the dog season. Makes no sense to ruin the archery season on these WMA’s. I agree with all the comments above. One that hasn’t been discussed is the problems that will occur with the hounds when a bear leads them onto private land.

I think a spring or summer season would be much more productive and would be more effective at lowering the population. If we MUST try a dog season, which will be a disaster, do it in December or January first.

 

[lampern]

What people are missing is that it’s 9 days only and only on 2 WMAs leaving thousands of acres of public land off limits to hunting bear with dogs.

It’s a trial hunt.

 

[Bowhunter77]

I’m not a fan of dog hunts during bow season. I’m an out of state guy that travels in to hunt WMA’s . I can sympathize with hound hunters, but you can hound hunt anytime of year , dogs can pick up scent in Late December just as good as September. If this goes into effect , I’m probably gonna try Virginia to hunt, as hounds will decrease my bow chances.

 

[j_seph]

On the other hand you have houndsman that do not have the opportunity to hunt their way so maybe they feel as well that they should give bow hunters 2 weeks to hunt and have more bear hunts with dogs. So maybe they have just been unhappy long enough with still hunters.