North GA Mtn Hunting

[Nga Lineman]

Hello friends! I have just recently gotten married and my wife and I have moved to North GA from Athens where we met in school. I will be about ten minutes from Wilson Shoals WMA, and also about 30 minutes from Lake Russell WMA and Chattahoochee WMA. I am new to the mountain hunting although I hunted public land a lot while in school down in Athens. I was messing around on GON and came through this Bear Hunting section and have been reading through all the threads and needless to say it has me fired up for opening day Sep 10. I have never in my life seen a bear or a hog in person. So already being a deer and turkey hunter I think it would be cool to maybe get a chance at a bear or hog too. I love being in the woods and hunting anything. I guess what I am asking is are these new areas I will have convenient access to good places for all 4 species? Deer, Bear, Turkey, and Hogs? I will be scouting these areas in the coming weekends as much as I can and was just interested to see what info/stories any of y'all had on these areas for any of the 4 species?

 

[livinoutdoors]

Your best bet for bear or hog is national forest or the mountain wmas. I dont think there are any hogs on wilson shoals . Not sure about bears either. Time to get hiking, pig sign is easy to find, the pig that made it is another story. Ask me how i know haha.

 

[Nga Lineman]

I can't figure out how to go about hunting national forest seems like there is too much of it to choose from I would not know where to start. Are hogs mostly nocturnal or something? That why it is hard to find the hogs that made the sign? Or are they always moving? How about the deer and turkeys on those WMAs and national forest?

 

[livinoutdoors]

Hogs go nocturnal and they like to travel. So they can be a challenge, the wmas you listed have both deer and turkey. As for hunting the national forest get a map and pick a spot. Learn that spot. If that one sucks you got a bunch more to choose from. It helps if you like hiking as much as hunting! Good luck

 

[Nga Lineman]

When I pull up national forest map online I see light green and dark green shaded areas what do these boundaries mean?

 

[mtridgerunner]

start scouting about two weeks before .look for white oaks, lookup near the top. bears will climb up and tear small braches off ,getting acorn. blue ridge wma did have both hogs and bears

 

[Joe Brandon]

Man you just stay up on the forum and keep asking questions. There are some really great guys on here that will reach out to you and share information with you. That has been my experience. I have a couple of guys now that a feel very comfortable with shooting pms too and asking questions as they arise.

 

[tree cutter 08]

That's a good start. The map you pulled up looks to be pretty accurate. Dark green is gov and light green is private.I see a few spots that are Wrong but you will have to check it out in person. All gov land boundaries are marked with red paint and have signs posted.

 

[Nga Lineman]

That's a good start. The map you pulled up looks to be pretty accurate. Dark green is gov and light green is private.I see a few spots that are Wrong but you will have to check it out in person. All gov land boundaries are marked with red paint and have signs posted.

Great thanks treecutter I figured it was public and private just did not know which was which as there was no key on the map.

 

[Nga Lineman]

Man you just stay up on the forum and keep asking questions. There are some really great guys on here that will reach out to you and share information with you. That has been my experience. I have a couple of guys now that a feel very comfortable with shooting pms too and asking questions as they arise.

I am hoping to get some help I love it up here in the mountains just not used to such steep terrain and how the game I'll be after uses it but am excited to start trying to learn and figure it out. I also really enjoy the challenge of public land.

 

[Unicoidawg]

I have hunted Wilson Shoals a good bit and never seen any hog or bear sign. Lake Russell has hogs, deer, turkey and an occasional bear . If you want a bear your chances are better up in the mountains on NF or WMA's. Check the ridgetops, hunt terrain features. IE.... saddles, benches and edges. For bear you find the food and you will see bears. Concentrate on finding the white oaks and you will find bears. I have always seen more bears in the evenings. As for deer, they are up here in the mtns, but the numbers are a lot lower than what your used to down around Athens. Turkeys...... your on your own. First rule of turkey hunting is to not talk about turkey hunting spots.

 

[Nga Lineman]

Thanks Unicoi Dawg what exactly is a bench? I know what a saddle is, would a bench be like a flat or a flatter area of land on a steep ridge? How about creek bottoms are they not as used up here in the mountains?

 

[Tio Hey Seuss]

You're spot on about the bench dude. Any flatter area on a steep slope. Bears do use creek bottoms, especially when it's hot they will wallow like a hog... but it's no fun dragging one uphill out of said creek bottom. Sometimes you'll find bigger ones down in the bottoms since they aren't as concerned with having trees to climb up since they don't have anything to fear. Wildlife resources has been trapping hogs at Lake Russell last I heard (about a month ago). Hogs aren't as much nocturnal up here as they are in south ga but they're highly nomadic. My advice would be to hunt bear and eventually you'll bump into hogs. As far as deer go on chattahoochee and national forest outside wma's they are few and far between. Definitely more difficult to find than hogs bear or turkey.

 

[Nga Lineman]

You're spot on about the bench dude. Any flatter area on a steep slope. Bears do use creek bottoms, especially when it's hot they will wallow like a hog... but it's no fun dragging one uphill out of said creek bottom. Sometimes you'll find bigger ones down in the bottoms since they aren't as concerned with having trees to climb up since they don't have anything to fear. Wildlife resources has been trapping hogs at Lake Russell last I heard (about a month ago). Hogs aren't as much nocturnal up here as they are in south ga but they're highly nomadic. My advice would be to hunt bear and eventually you'll bump into hogs. As far as deer go on chattahoochee and national forest outside wma's they are few and far between. Definitely more difficult to find than hogs bear or turkey.

Yea I can see how getting a bear or any animal really back to the truck out of a steep creek bottom would be a task. Thanks for the advice Tio, and everyone else. How active are bear and hogs before daylight? I have heard that both of them can and will charge you. I would hate to have this happen unknowingly walking into the pitch black for a morning hunt.

 

[josh chatham]

Hey Buford, I would recommend that you pick an area or two and try to focus on those places. Try to know those areas like the back of your hand. And, the biggest thing you must have with you is patience. You very well may go days without seeing an animal. Find sign, sit on it, and wait. As far as your last post, I have hunted around bear my whole life and have never had one charge me. Had one I thought was going to at one time but he walked off... after firing 2 times over his head with a shotgun loaded with rabbit shot... anyway, find you a couple of spots and KNOW them!

 

[Nga Lineman]

Hey Buford, I would recommend that you pick an area or two and try to focus on those places. Try to know those areas like the back of your hand. And, the biggest thing you must have with you is patience. You very well may go days without seeing an animal. Find sign, sit on it, and wait. As far as your last post, I have hunted around bear my whole life and have never had one charge me. Had one I thought was going to at one time but he walked off... after firing 2 times over his head with a shotgun loaded with rabbit shot... anyway, find you a couple of spots and KNOW them!

Ok thanks I have some spots on the map I have picked out to go look at. I realize I am not going to be able to cover a whole WMA or forest in one season. And patience is not a problem as well I have had to learn to hunt on my own as I was the only hunter in my family. I could not even begin to guess how many times I went without seeing anything learning to hunt, but it only fuels the fire.

 

[pnome]

When I pull up national forest map online I see light green and dark green shaded areas what do these boundaries mean?

Check out my responses in this thread for help with figuring out the available maps and such:

http://forum.gon.com/showthread.php?t=770140

 

[j_seph]

Hog from lake Russell 2/14/15, field dressed 200 pounds around 10 a.m.

 

[Dana Young]

There are bear on all the wma's you mentioned although there are more on the chestatee and Chattahoochee. Ther are hogs on all of these wma's as well although I have seen very little sign on Wilson shoals. as for Deer Lake Russell and Wilson shoals would be your best bet. Turkeys are abundant on all the WMA's you mentioned. The Best area is Wilson shoals wma for turkey but you need to put in for the Quota hunt as it is a small wma.
If I can help you just pm me. I know where there is one bear that would make a new state record. and I can point you in the right direction on all of these wmas.
Good luck
Dana

 

[Nga Lineman]

Nice J Seph that is a big pig!