why is it now legal to hunt bear in Franklin/Madison/Hart Counties?

[3pits]

I noticed this in the rule book and wonder why now.
I have heard of people seeing bear in Madison County, but have never seen them myself.

All I can think of is that:
A) there are enough to sustain a suitable population, and they need to be controlled

B) the DNR does not want bears to populate those counties (which I doubt)

or could it be another reason I am not thinking of?

Thanks

 

[3pits]

ok so nobody knows,, so I called the DNR, they said, there is bear in these counties an the population is growing.... the DNR guy said they are allowing it now before the bear population gets out of hand and needs DNR intervention... what ever that means...
I am in N Madison County and have heard rumors of bear but have never seen any, has anyone else?

 

[Flash]

I've heard of one near Bowman and another between Hartwell/Royston but never seen evidence (photo)

 

[gobbler10ga]

DNR doesnt want phone calls on nusiance bears!!!! Like they have better Things to do.

 

[xhunterx]

when they opened the counties around where i live, catoosa, walker, whitfield etc dnr told me that they knew there wasn't enough bears to actually go " bear hunting ". but the bears are moving out of the mountain wmas and they would rather it be legal for a person deer hunting to harvest a bear then get all the neighborhoods upset and have the news tracking it everywhere it went. a couple of years ago a sow and couple of cubs were near ringgold and they put the local schools on lockdown. i think its good to make em legal and someone get the chance to get one then let it roam until hit by a car.

 

[Inthegarge]

Had a 338 lb bear killed on Lookout Mtn about a month ago.. Where there is one there is more. They are reculsive but leave a lot of sign.... RW

 

[mjfortner]

bear population i growing. I live in jckson county and a neighbor had a cow killed last year by a bear. This was confirmed by the dnr. also had one hit on I 85 at jefferson, the dnr was called but someone picked it up before they got to it.

 

[davidf]

they need to take a look at middle ga (twiggs county) we are loaded with bears and season.

 

[shadow2]

the over all population of bears is growing in ga from three different locations. The number of counties will only continue to grow along with the population