Bear hunts with dogs proposed for N GA WMAs

whitetailfreak

Senior Member
What people are really missing is that on any given moment in time those WMA's only hold a couple bears. The odds of treeing one on the WMA is like hitting the lottery. More than likely they will be off of the WMA in a few minutes. lol I like that they are proposing a season but I know how that type of hunting works. It will be a complete joke. They need to do it across the entire CNF. Close down deer in archery for 1 week and allow the guys to hunt bears with dogs there.

I've never read a more incorrect post.
 

j_seph

Senior Member
You can bet those bear doggers will be back at the next meeting. They were a dedicated group of guys.
It is a shame that we all from small game to turkey to bow to rifle to muzzleloader to houndsman cannot be a dedicated group as a whole. That is what could end up costing hunting opportunities. You cannot take out an army easily, separate them into small squadrons and you can take out one squadron at a time or have each one caught in the others cross fire.
 

goshenmountainman

Senior Member
What people are really missing is that on any given moment in time those WMA's only hold a couple bears. The odds of treeing one on the WMA is like hitting the lottery. More than likely they will be off of the WMA in a few minutes. lol I like that they are proposing a season but I know how that type of hunting works. It will be a complete joke. They need to do it across the entire CNF. Close down deer in archery for 1 week and allow the guys to hunt bears with dogs there.
I DO NOT SUPPORT closing any of archery season at all, for any reason...There is no reason to take any of the existing season when there is plenty of other time throughout the year..
 

NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
Whitetailfreak,

Clearly you have not hunted bears with dogs.
Let me tell you something, Mallards. Clearly, you have no clue. That man you are talking about is from one of the most well-known and respected hound hunting families in the southern Appalachians. Several generations of his family and my family have bear hunted with hounds together going back to the early 1900s. The real deal type of hound hunting. Mention his family name to anybody in western NC, and one of the first things they'll think of is hounds and bears. The man is a true woodsman, and has likely already forgotton more about bear hunting than you will ever know.
 
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Christian hughey

Senior Member
I am not a fan of this quota hunt occurring in the middle of bow season. When you combine this nine days with the September rifle hunt you have reduced bow season to three weeks. For anyone else opposed to this proposal there is still one more opportunity to let your voice be heard on April 15 in Gainesville. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. At the last Gainesville meeting there were 16 people that spoke in favor of bear hunting with dogs. As a result their request was granted. I would encourage anyone who does not want their bow season reduced to almost nothing to show up and speak out. View attachment 963571
I agree, I always like the opportunity to break out my bow, I don't really care for the early gun hunt but I understand why they do it.
 

Joe Brandon

Senior Member
What people are really missing is that on any given moment in time those WMA's only hold a couple bears. The odds of treeing one on the WMA is like hitting the lottery. More than likely they will be off of the WMA in a few minutes. lol I like that they are proposing a season but I know how that type of hunting works. It will be a complete joke. They need to do it across the entire CNF. Close down deer in archery for 1 week and allow the guys to hunt bears with dogs there.
Buddy the Chatt WMA alone is 25k acres. Do you know how big that is? I've seen 3 bears in one place dead in the middle of the WMA all within 1 1/2 hour still hunting. You put a dog on one and it's better than dead 20 miles any direction without crossing any kind of line. I am pretty convinced there could be a couple of bears every square mile of either WMA at any given time.
 
I didn't realize it was that big. I had misread that it was only 2500 acres not 25,000 acres.

What I am really advocating and driving at is that I feel they should open up the ENTIRE Chattahoochee to hunting bears with hounds.
 

whitetailfreak

Senior Member
I didn't realize it was that big. I had misread that it was only 2500 acres not 25,000 acres.

What I am really advocating and driving at is that I feel they should open up the ENTIRE Chattahoochee to hunting bears with hounds.

10/4 Mallards, these are some big areas with lots of bears. If implemented, the dog hunters will do well:cheers:
 

NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
And to clarify, I am definitely not against bear hunting with dogs. I've done my share of it and love it. It is an old, fine, and noble tradition that is in my DNA. My only gripe is that here in NC, even though we have a huge bear population on public land, there is basically no legitimate bear hunting on public land without dogs, because there is no part of the bear season that you can't run them with dogs. The bears hit the thickets in daylight hours the first day of bear season and don't come out again until it's over. I would like to see deer archery and muzzleloader seasons opened to still-hunting for bears, then let the hound hunters have the whole regular bear season.
 

Rabun

Senior Member
I didn't realize it was that big. I had misread that it was only 2500 acres not 25,000 acres.

What I am really advocating and driving at is that I feel they should open up the ENTIRE Chattahoochee to hunting bears with hounds.[/QUOTE ]

Would rather see the forest lands properly managed with burns and logging as a primary strategy. If hound hunting is approved it should be outside of the normal established hunting seasons and tightly managed
 
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