jerry russell
Senior Member
With another bear season behind us, I thought I would post up some info that might be helpful should you find yourself in the situation of a wounded bear that can't be located.
I am a member of the blood dog network in Georgia and every year we talk to several hunters that have lost bears to wounding and never thought to call in a blood dog to assist. The truth is there is a pretty big shortage of blood dogs in the mountain counties as compared to Central and South Georgia. Some counties down there have 4 dogs listed in the tracking network. The trackers listed in the Northern areas of Georgia cover as many as 10 counties and I am one of those. We even get calls to track as far away Tennessee and Kentucky. The point being that a tracker may not be close and to compound the matter, many of thedeer tracking handlers wont allow their dogs to track bear and hogs. Some dogs simply will have no part in tracking a bear.
Our tracks for bears are most often for archery hunters but we do get a few for rifle hunters too. When we encounter hunters that didn't call we are often told that since the bears was tracked a 1/4-1/2 mile that it was not recoverable when this is just simply not the case. A bear is arguably one of the easiest big game animals to dispatch with a well placed shot but at the same time a poorly hit one can travel miles before dropping over dead. They often don't bleed well and this is often mistaken for a non lethal wound. A bear is extremely easy to track for a well trained dog- even when there is no blood. A good cold nosed dog can work 36+ hours post shot but obviously sooner is better.
I say all this to encourage everyone to look at the GON blood dog list and find a tracker far in advance of the bear season that is willing to track bears. Find a back up as well because during the deer rut we are often backed up by 3-5 calls per day.
Lastly, it is very difficult to know exactly where an arrow or bullet hits on a bear at times. Even in good lighting conditions that big black blob can seem to swallow an arrow making a great hit poor and a poor hit look great. I have multiple hunters report great hits on bears that turn out not so great and even a couple that thought they missed only to have the tracking dog find the bear very dead a short distance away. When in doubt, consider calling in a dog. Never ever give up on a bear that you know you hit well enough to kill it without calling in a dog. We have recovered several that were dead as far away as 3.2 miles and recoveries at 1/2 to 1 mile are common on gut shot bears that are pushed by the hunter. These are often still alive 20+ Hours.
Here a few pictures of a good blood dog at work on several bears that would never have been recovered without him. A great dog can really turn a bad day into a happy ending. There are several GREAT dogs available in Georgia to help you.
To find a tracker near you, you can search the GON list or go to unitedblooodtrackers.org and then click on "find a tracker" page.
Good luck in the coming bear season and I hope this information is helpful should you ever need the help.
I am a member of the blood dog network in Georgia and every year we talk to several hunters that have lost bears to wounding and never thought to call in a blood dog to assist. The truth is there is a pretty big shortage of blood dogs in the mountain counties as compared to Central and South Georgia. Some counties down there have 4 dogs listed in the tracking network. The trackers listed in the Northern areas of Georgia cover as many as 10 counties and I am one of those. We even get calls to track as far away Tennessee and Kentucky. The point being that a tracker may not be close and to compound the matter, many of thedeer tracking handlers wont allow their dogs to track bear and hogs. Some dogs simply will have no part in tracking a bear.
Our tracks for bears are most often for archery hunters but we do get a few for rifle hunters too. When we encounter hunters that didn't call we are often told that since the bears was tracked a 1/4-1/2 mile that it was not recoverable when this is just simply not the case. A bear is arguably one of the easiest big game animals to dispatch with a well placed shot but at the same time a poorly hit one can travel miles before dropping over dead. They often don't bleed well and this is often mistaken for a non lethal wound. A bear is extremely easy to track for a well trained dog- even when there is no blood. A good cold nosed dog can work 36+ hours post shot but obviously sooner is better.
I say all this to encourage everyone to look at the GON blood dog list and find a tracker far in advance of the bear season that is willing to track bears. Find a back up as well because during the deer rut we are often backed up by 3-5 calls per day.
Lastly, it is very difficult to know exactly where an arrow or bullet hits on a bear at times. Even in good lighting conditions that big black blob can seem to swallow an arrow making a great hit poor and a poor hit look great. I have multiple hunters report great hits on bears that turn out not so great and even a couple that thought they missed only to have the tracking dog find the bear very dead a short distance away. When in doubt, consider calling in a dog. Never ever give up on a bear that you know you hit well enough to kill it without calling in a dog. We have recovered several that were dead as far away as 3.2 miles and recoveries at 1/2 to 1 mile are common on gut shot bears that are pushed by the hunter. These are often still alive 20+ Hours.
Here a few pictures of a good blood dog at work on several bears that would never have been recovered without him. A great dog can really turn a bad day into a happy ending. There are several GREAT dogs available in Georgia to help you.
To find a tracker near you, you can search the GON list or go to unitedblooodtrackers.org and then click on "find a tracker" page.
Good luck in the coming bear season and I hope this information is helpful should you ever need the help.
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