What did you do mountain related today?

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BigBeaver

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I got in the mountains for my first bear hunt yesterday. I had no luck, but a bunch of fun. I found some old sign and came across a white oak that been climbed and fed on, since I was there 2 weeks ago. I would bet that it had been at least 4 or 5 days since the bear had been there due to how the leaves looked. I covered maybe 4 miles in a little over 6 hours of still hunting and only found old sign. It will probably be a couple of weeks before I can go back and I'm wondering if I should go back to the same spots. There are obviously bears moving through the area, so should I just hope that my timing is better and keep hunting these spots?
 

chrislibby88

Senior Member
I got in the mountains for my first bear hunt yesterday. I had no luck, but a bunch of fun. I found some old sign and came across a white oak that been climbed and fed on, since I was there 2 weeks ago. I would bet that it had been at least 4 or 5 days since the bear had been there due to how the leaves looked. I covered maybe 4 miles in a little over 6 hours of still hunting and only found old sign. It will probably be a couple of weeks before I can go back and I'm wondering if I should go back to the same spots. There are obviously bears moving through the area, so should I just hope that my timing is better and keep hunting these spots?
You can check them, I would be prepared to scout some new areas too. I can’t imagine planning only one day to hunt bears. From what I’ve seen over the past few years deer hunting and observing bear sign is that every season is different, and one year a particular ridge that is covered in sign my not have any the next and the same holds true week to week. It takes a lot of walking to find where the bears are and eliminating the areas that the bears were last week or a few days prior. Sometimes they only spend a day or so in a particular spot, leave some sign, then move somewhere else and you can’t really figure this out with a single day of hunting, at least I can’t.
 
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BigBeaver

Member
You can check them, I would be prepared to scout some new areas too. I can’t imagine planning only one day to hunt bears. From what I’ve seen over the past few years deer hunting and observing bear sign is that every season is different, and one year a particular ridge that is covered in sign my not have any the next and the same holds true week to week. It takes a lot of walking to find where the bears are and eliminating the areas that the bears were last week or a few days prior. Sometimes they only spend a day or so in a particular spot, leave some sign, then move somewhere else and you can’t really figure this out with a single day of hunting, at least I can’t.
I figured as much, but that's all I've got to work with so I am trying to make the best of it. I have a couple of other spots that I have scouted during the summer. Thanks for the help.
 

KentuckyHeadhunter

Senior Member
Saw three today guiding a bowhunter from Utah. A sow and two cubs. Go figure. He's no imposter, he's killed grizz and blacks in Canada and five US states including Alaska. He was really excited about the pig sign and possibility of killing one. Didn't act like he cared about bears once he saw that. My perspective changed from that point on. Wild hogs are magical to these guys. To us they are just a nuisance. Weird.
 

chrislibby88

Senior Member
Finally found a pounded out bear trail where you could see the steps. It’s on the leeward lip of a thick saddle. Not much other sign up there, super fresh dig up yellow jacket nest with confused yellow jackets flying around, some freshly shredded huckleberries, no climbing sign, no fresh scat that I saw.
 

1eyefishing

...just joking, seriously.
Finally found a pounded out bear trail where you could see the steps. It’s on the leeward lip of a thick saddle. Not much other sign up there, super fresh dig up yellow jacket nest with confused yellow jackets flying around, some freshly shredded huckleberries, no climbing sign, no fresh scat that I saw.
Sounds as good a place as any... I've been sitting on fresh sign but haven't seen anything. Wears me out hunting on the move. But that is as good a tactic as any I guess.
 

chrislibby88

Senior Member
Sounds as good a place as any... I've been sitting on fresh sign but haven't seen anything. Wears me out hunting on the move. But that is as good a tactic as any I guess.
My brother found some really hot sign on the next step up the ridge we found good sign in yesterday afternoon. We are on the way up with climbers now. 40lb packs up 900ft of elevation ain’t fun. I don’t even know if I want a bear this bad.
 

1eyefishing

...just joking, seriously.
I dint like what I saw at my first stop at Chestatee. I walked past someone's camera.
Checked a new spot and found the edge of this fresh cut plot LOADED with white and mountain oak acorns. I hope I'm not the only one that knows about them... :bounce:
I've humped it as far as I can hump it today so this is my view for the evening if the skeeters don't carry me away...


20210918_170457.jpg
 

chrislibby88

Senior Member
Shot a nice small sow this evening before right before the thunderstorm hit at 6:45. We found the Mecca of bear ridges, white oaks with old and fresh climbing, mixed age scat everywhere, grassy meadows and huckleberries everywhere. We were getting down a tad early cause we heard thunder and dark clouds rolling in and while I was packing up on the ground I heard a woof and some teeth clack, so I grabbed my empty rifle, quietly put a round back in it and huffed and chomped back, and caught a little glimpse of her down on the and white oaks I was originally watching from the stand about 30 yards away. She kept poking her head up trying to see what I was through the brush. She finally moved up to where I could see her head and chest so I sent one through the brush, she bolted, straight down the rocky bluff. I heard crashing, then the death moan. Texted my brother, who was about 500 yards away, and went and started prepping my kill kit, my bro her arrived a few minutes later, the rain hit. Trying to clean a bear, in the rain, on a 45 degree rock slope with a dirt back that washed off is aweful. There wasn’t much we could do to keep the meat as clean as I wanted, the hide was wet and grabbed dirt like crazy, and then my headlamp started dying halfway into it, and I unfortunately lost my other one walking in this morning. Luckily my brother had a nice bright light. We finally got her quartered and caped, and loaded up just a few minutes before 10pm and started stumbling down the mountain. Man bear hunting sucks.
 

Professor

Senior Member
Shot a nice small sow this evening before right before the thunderstorm hit at 6:45. We found the Mecca of bear ridges, white oaks with old and fresh climbing, mixed age scat everywhere, grassy meadows and huckleberries everywhere. We were getting down a tad early cause we heard thunder and dark clouds rolling in and while I was packing up on the ground I heard a woof and some teeth clack, so I grabbed my empty rifle, quietly put a round back in it and huffed and chomped back, and caught a little glimpse of her down on the and white oaks I was originally watching from the stand about 30 yards away. She kept poking her head up trying to see what I was through the brush. She finally moved up to where I could see her head and chest so I sent one through the brush, she bolted, straight down the rocky bluff. I heard crashing, then the death moan. Texted my brother, who was about 500 yards away, and went and started prepping my kill kit, my bro her arrived a few minutes later, the rain hit. Trying to clean a bear, in the rain, on a 45 degree rock slope with a dirt back that washed off is aweful. There wasn’t much we could do to keep the meat as clean as I wanted, the hide was wet and grabbed dirt like crazy, and then my headlamp started dying halfway into it, and I unfortunately lost my other one walking in this morning. Luckily my brother had a nice bright light. We finally got her quartered and caped, and loaded up just a few minutes before 10pm and started stumbling down the mountain. Man bear hunting sucks.
congratulations. pics in the morning, please.
 
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