Clipper
Senior Member
A long time hunting buddy and I have been going to Cohutta bear hunting for the last 3 bow seasons. This week made year 4. I think the mountain hogs I saw the first year is what got me hooked. I really spend more time looking for hogs than I do bear, which was true this week too. We camp in a beautiful spot by a clear stream and go to sleep each night with the music of the water babbling over the rocks in our ears. This year there was a cub track in a mud hole by the trail to this camp. I fully expected us to get raided this year, but it didn't happen.
Last year I found a section of creek far off the road that was covered in hog sign and had been dying to get back there. I studied topo maps and thought I had found a closer way to get in there, this week I would give it a try. I got there Monday afternoon and headed out a faint trail that ran toward this spot, but spent most of the afternoon fighting my way thru Laurel thickets. Monday morning I decided to walk the ridges back there and finally made it after an hour and half walk.
After hitting the main creek and being delighted with the abundance of hog sign I turned south and had gone about 50 yards when I saw a set of black ears about the right height for a mature hog. I nocked an arrow and looked closer only to realize the black ears belonged to a bear cub. The cub had seen me by now and turned back down the trail. I looked beyond the cub and saw it's mother coming toward me. She looked to be about 150-175 lbs, maybe bigger - I haven't seen enough bears to be a good judge of size.
The sow was now about 30 yards from me and testing the wind for all she was worth. I guess she had never smelled sweaty hunter, deet, and skunk scent together (lol). I wished the camera in my pack was in a pocket instead, but also realized I needed to give them the trail and moved to my right about 50 yards uphill and stopped. I could no longer see them but heard what I first thought was brush and limbs breaking as they ran off. I was wearing hearing aids to help me hear better in the woods so the sound was very loud but also not very clear. I decided to circle their location just to be safe. Then I heard the same noise from the same location and realized they hadn't run off after all. As I continued my circle to get beyond them, she made the same sound 2 or 3 more times and I finally realized she was snapping her teeth as a warning the way I have read they will do when threatened. This was a very strange and unnerving sound. I continued my hunt up the creek and after crawling through far too many yards of Laurel thicket came out on the road.
I hunted the creek bottoms in that area until we left Thursday afternoon and saw heavy hog sign almost every where I went. My hunting buddy heard hogs one afternoon and went to them but they were over 2 hollows and were gone when he got there. I also got grunted at the next morning by a hog that I think was expressing his disdain at my foul body odor (it was very warm and I was soaked with sweat after the first 45 minutes of walking).
I really hate missing the Cooper's Creek hunt and thought about going over there this afternoon but in the end realized I was "hunted out". I spent most of 3 days walking creek bottoms covered in laurel as well as a few ridge tops to boot. Seeing the she bear and her cub made this one of my best Cohutta hunts. This is a beautiful WMA and just being up there is reward enough. I still want to get back up there and find the hogs that are making all that sign - there was nearly as much rooting as I saw at Chickasawhatchee.
Last year I found a section of creek far off the road that was covered in hog sign and had been dying to get back there. I studied topo maps and thought I had found a closer way to get in there, this week I would give it a try. I got there Monday afternoon and headed out a faint trail that ran toward this spot, but spent most of the afternoon fighting my way thru Laurel thickets. Monday morning I decided to walk the ridges back there and finally made it after an hour and half walk.
After hitting the main creek and being delighted with the abundance of hog sign I turned south and had gone about 50 yards when I saw a set of black ears about the right height for a mature hog. I nocked an arrow and looked closer only to realize the black ears belonged to a bear cub. The cub had seen me by now and turned back down the trail. I looked beyond the cub and saw it's mother coming toward me. She looked to be about 150-175 lbs, maybe bigger - I haven't seen enough bears to be a good judge of size.
The sow was now about 30 yards from me and testing the wind for all she was worth. I guess she had never smelled sweaty hunter, deet, and skunk scent together (lol). I wished the camera in my pack was in a pocket instead, but also realized I needed to give them the trail and moved to my right about 50 yards uphill and stopped. I could no longer see them but heard what I first thought was brush and limbs breaking as they ran off. I was wearing hearing aids to help me hear better in the woods so the sound was very loud but also not very clear. I decided to circle their location just to be safe. Then I heard the same noise from the same location and realized they hadn't run off after all. As I continued my circle to get beyond them, she made the same sound 2 or 3 more times and I finally realized she was snapping her teeth as a warning the way I have read they will do when threatened. This was a very strange and unnerving sound. I continued my hunt up the creek and after crawling through far too many yards of Laurel thicket came out on the road.
I hunted the creek bottoms in that area until we left Thursday afternoon and saw heavy hog sign almost every where I went. My hunting buddy heard hogs one afternoon and went to them but they were over 2 hollows and were gone when he got there. I also got grunted at the next morning by a hog that I think was expressing his disdain at my foul body odor (it was very warm and I was soaked with sweat after the first 45 minutes of walking).
I really hate missing the Cooper's Creek hunt and thought about going over there this afternoon but in the end realized I was "hunted out". I spent most of 3 days walking creek bottoms covered in laurel as well as a few ridge tops to boot. Seeing the she bear and her cub made this one of my best Cohutta hunts. This is a beautiful WMA and just being up there is reward enough. I still want to get back up there and find the hogs that are making all that sign - there was nearly as much rooting as I saw at Chickasawhatchee.
