Cohutta Confussion

[Professor]

A little help please. My son and I are hoping to hunt the Cohutta Wilderness. We hunted bear in Idaho this spring. We learned a lot and now want to test our new gear, and ourselves in some rough country and in some harsh weather. Pack in and hopefully pack an animal out. Ideally this would be 4-5 days. The complexity of the regulations however have me ready to pull my hair out. We have National Forest. Inside the national forest - and perhaps outside as well - we have wildlife management areas. Inside the WMAs there are Wilderness areas. Apparently there are special hunt dates inside the wilderness areas, except that I am regularly reading about people hunting on days that are not special hunting days. What gives? How the **** is somebody supposed to know when and where to hunt? Planning a hunt in Idaho was easier than this.

 

[Mr Bya Lungshot]

Pick a spot for the days you wanna hunt in the regulation booklet and then go find your bear in that spot.
Pretty simple. The confussion is probably private land.?

 

[rigderunner]

There is some national Forrest land that connects to the wma you can hunt anytime. I use the ONX app to watch boundary lines

 

[whitetailfreak]

The next firearms hunt on Cohutta starts Dec 4th. The wilderness area lays within Cohutta and the dates are the same but there are a few additional regulations such as no wheeled carts etc. There are usually a few bears killed on this hunt but nothing compared to our October hunt. Good luck to you.

 

[Semi-Pro]

I cant help with the details, but i have been on a few hunts, a hike , and a fishing trip up there. And you have a good chance of testing out your endurance, gear, and wits depending on how far u take it

 

[Professor]

Thank you. That helps. The "no wheels" regulation is what I am looking for. A bear would be great but a hog would as well. We mainly want a good test of our gear in the cold and possibly wet mountains.

 

[whitetailfreak]

Don't forget about the other 70k acres. There's plenty of ground outside of the wilderness area to do what you're wanting to do.

 

[strothershwacker]

Lots of National Forest across North Georgia that's not WMA. We have a very lengthy season. Find a map. Find a trailhead and enjoy your hunt! Why limit yourself to cohutta?

 

[Professor]

Lots of National Forest across North Georgia that's not WMA. We have a very lengthy season. Find a map. Find a trailhead and enjoy your hunt! Why limit yourself to cohutta?

Well the wilderness aspect of cohutta is appealing. But, I am also unfamiliar with the NF of N.GA. It is all a mystery to me so cohutta is as good a place to start as any.

 

[twincedargap]

Well the wilderness aspect of cohutta is appealing. But, I am also unfamiliar with the NF of N.GA. It is all a mystery to me so cohutta is as good a place to start as any.

the designated wilderness areas also exist on nat forest outside cohutta. Plenty of opportunity and your not limited by the meager hunt dates allowed on a wma.

Crazy how “improved quality” provided my wma’s translates into significantly reduced hunting days. I’d rather it all be nat forest and let people hunt when they can not just five days here and there.

 

[NGA44]

the designated wilderness areas also exist on nat forest outside cohutta. Plenty of opportunity and your not limited by the meager hunt dates allowed on a wma.

Crazy how “improved quality” provided my wma’s translates into significantly reduced hunting days. I’d rather it all be nat forest and let people hunt when they can not just five days here and there.

I prefer WMAs due to less pressure. I’m speaking of deer though. I notice a huge difference in daytime deer activity on WMAs vs NF land. The vast majority of hunters don’t care about bears and would object to your opinion due to the deer hunting factor. Deer act more like deer on WMAs in my experience due to not being pressured for 6 months straight.

 

[twincedargap]

I prefer WMAs due to less pressure. I’m speaking of deer though. I notice a huge difference in daytime deer activity on WMAs vs NF land. The vast majority of hunters don’t care about bears and would object to your opinion due to the deer hunting factor. Deer act more like deer on WMAs in my experience due to not being pressured for 6 months straight.

There’s also Oconee NF so don’t limit my experience just to CNF. My n=1 is less pressure on deer in NF vs WMA. Sheer number of acres of NF outside of WMA’s versus managed as WMA would likely support my assumption as well. I was attempting to frame my assertion as NF lands managed as wma’s vs not managed.

 

[NGA44]

There’s also Oconee NF so don’t limit my experience just to CNF. My n=1 is less pressure on deer in NF vs WMA. Sheer number of acres of NF outside of WMA’s versus managed as WMA would likely support my assumption as well. I was attempting to frame my assertion as NF lands managed as wma’s vs not managed.

My main point is that I dislike the extremely long length of deer season in GA and I’m grateful we still have WMAs where my quality of hunting experience is higher because of fewer hunting days. Acreage is irrelevant because you have significantly more hunters using NF lands vs WMAs due to the crazy long season. They may be more dispersed but they are pressured over a longer period of time.
If you and other hunters bump/get winded/spook a deer or bear a few days over a period of a week or two they will either: A) leave the country or B) turn nocturnal
This isn’t a factor on WMAs because the pressure is only sustained for days, not weeks. The spooked animal will have several weeks between 3-4 day pressuring events (hunts) to start acting normal again.
In my experience short term (3-4 day) higher pressure hunts (like our WMAs receive) get the game on their feet and moving therefore increasing success. They then have several weeks of ZERO pressure between hunts to resume normal behavior and feel safe again.

Long term pressure (weeks and months) even at lower intensity (FS lands) negatively affects game movement.

 

[tree cutter 08]

I prefer WMAs due to less pressure. I’m speaking of deer though. I notice a huge difference in daytime deer activity on WMAs vs NF land. The vast majority of hunters don’t care about bears and would object to your opinion due to the deer hunting factor. Deer act more like deer on WMAs in my experience due to not being pressured for 6 months straight.

exactly why I hope the wmas remain wmas. You can actually go find sign and kill the deer in a few hunts.

 

[NGA44]

exactly why I hope the wmas remain wmas. You can actually go find sign and kill the deer in a few hunts.

They also get some age and size because you can’t hunt the crap out of them for months and months. Nothing wrong with giving it your best those few days and not killing one because next year they’ll be bigger and better.

 

[twincedargap]

I also don’t care for the stab you made at the folks who manage the WMAs. I watched a DNR guy from Rabun County pack bears out for hunters for a week straight a few weeks ago. I asked him why he would do that and he said “Because I work for the mountain WMA hunters and want to help in any way I can.” Toting a 100lb pack around in these mountains for a week straight is some serious dedication.

Good lock finding a Forest Service goofball to do anything like that on NF lands. If you do away with the WMAs you’re also doing away with guys like him. He really changed my perspective on the DNR guys that work around here.

My stab is at the DNR management reducing access to public land. I only have the utmost respect for the work ethic and dedication of the men that actually maintain the lands. Ive seen them, met them, can’t imagine their frustration with the public constantly purposely or without a care, destroying and defacing what they try to establish and maintain for us.

Not sure what your beef with me is, but I’m not stabbing anyone. I just want to hunt the lands I pay for, for than maybe 18 of days out of a season that’s >90 days.

 

[tree cutter 08]

My stab is at the DNR management reducing access to public land. I only have the utmost respect for the work ethic and dedication of the men that actually maintain the lands. Ive seen them, met them, can’t imagine their frustration with the public constantly destroying and defacing what they try to establish and maintain for us.

Not sure what your beef with me is, but I’m not stabbing anyone. I just want to hunt the lands I pay for. Why can’t I hunt pigs on NF Or wma’s all year like private land? Sure I can’t understand a few area restrictions if their trapping etc, but wholesale closure? Just one example of Govt needlessly restricting public land access.

I agree no reason why you can't hunt pigs year round.

 

[livinoutdoors]

I agree no reason why you can't hunt pigs year round.

This right here! Im not much of a hunter yet, but this is what i do to have loooooong seasons. I hunt deer in the piedmont in the early season to try to get a start on the freezer, then for later season i start scoutin mountain wmas for check in hunts, in the inbetween that i hunt for hogs on n.f. and wmas. You can hunt big game from aug 15 till now late may on public land!