Blue Ridge WMA

[The Arrow Guru]

Going to plan a little back pack bear hunting excursion for next year. Has any of you guys ever spent any time in the Blue Ridge WMA? Now that you do not have to check in the entire bear, I will be able to quarter and pack one out. This makes a huge difference.

 

[gobbleinwoods]

Going to plan a little back pack bear hunting excursion for next year. Has any of you guys ever spent any time in the Blue Ridge WMA? Now that you do not have to check in the entire bear, I will be able to quarter and pack one out. This makes a huge difference.

You can quarter one however you have to have 75 pounds or bear or enough evidence to show that it met the minimum weight requirement.

 

[tree cutter 08]

You can quarter one however you have to have 75 pounds or bear or enough evidence to show that it met the minimum weight requirement.

I've had hide and head tagged on several over the years and never been asked to weigh the meat. Last 2 or 3 they haven't even asked what estimated weight to be. If you bring in a head that's the size of a grapefruit you might have trouble.

 

[The Arrow Guru]

So the question was has anyone bear hunted in the Blue Ridge WMA?

 

[Buckman18]

I have.

 

[ripplerider]

I killed my first one there. I got a scary lesson on ground shrinkage that morning. It was foggy and windy that Thanksgiving hunt, and he had a long coat that the wind was ruffling up to make him look much bigger than he really was. When I walked over and looked across the log he died beside, I thought "I'm getting a ticket for this one." I wasnt going to leave him there though so I brought him out and took him to the checking station where he weighed 78 lbs. I was sweating bullets. Ive passed up quite a few since then, some because I wasnt sure they were legal, and some because they were too big for me to possibly get them out by myself before they spoiled. I hunt alone 95% of the time. I have killed one more that dressed 100 lbs. The littler ones eat better anyway. I saw a bear long ago on Blue Ridge that was as big as some steers. It was on the muzzleloader hunt and bears werent legal at that time on that hunt so I had to watch him walk by at 60 yards. He had to be 400 lbs. I have seen several more over there that I didnt get a shot on. It's one of my favorite WMAs. I killed my first mounter over there back in '86. I missed the biggest buck I've ever had a chance at there. Both of these were on the muzzleloader hunt.

 

[strothershwacker]

Blue Ridge is the one that started it all. It's a good a place as any to start with!

 

[Raylander]

Been running that WMA my whole life. I've done more fishing than hunting. But, all your MTN critters are there.. 100% certain

 

[Killer Kyle]

Hey

I killed my first one there. I got a scary lesson on ground shrinkage that morning. It was foggy and windy that Thanksgiving hunt, and he had a long coat that the wind was ruffling up to make him look much bigger than he really was. When I walked over and looked across the log he died beside, I thought "I'm getting a ticket for this one." I wasnt going to leave him there though so I brought him out and took him to the checking station where he weighed 78 lbs. I was sweating bullets. Ive passed up quite a few since then, some because I wasnt sure they were legal, and some because they were too big for me to possibly get them out by myself before they spoiled. I hunt alone 95% of the time. I have killed one more that dressed 100 lbs. The littler ones eat better anyway. I saw a bear long ago on Blue Ridge that was as big as some steers. It was on the muzzleloader hunt and bears werent legal at that time on that hunt so I had to watch him walk by at 60 yards. He had to be 400 lbs. I have seen several more over there that I didnt get a shot on. It's one of my favorite WMAs. I killed my first mounter over there back in '86. I missed the biggest buck I've ever had a chance at there. Both of these were on the muzzleloader hunt.

Hey Ripple...better be careful talking about those days when we had hunts where you couldn't kill bears....
yer givin away yer age!! Heh!

 

[Timberman]

I’m no expert but I’ve seen more bear sign on Coopers Creek than Blue Ridge. It hunts bigger imo too. But they both have bears. YMMV

 

[ripplerider]

Hey

Hey Ripple...better be careful talking about those days when we had hunts where you couldn't kill bears....
yer givin away yer age!! Heh!

Age is just a number. If you never slow down, youll never grow old as Tom Petty said. They made it legal the next year to take bears on the muzzleloader hunt this was around '85 or so. I was 12 years old in '85. If you believe that I've got a bridge to sell you.

 

[The mtn man]

Age is just a number. If you never slow down, youll never grow old as Tom Petty said. They made it legal the next year to take bears on the muzzleloader hunt this was around '85 or so. I was 12 years old in '85. If you believe that I've got a bridge to sell you.

Well I was 10 in 85.