Para Bellum
Mouth For War
Mountain oaks are dropping pretty good.
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What did you do mountain related today?
- Thread starter Whit90
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By the millions.
Whit90
Senior Member
Was able to get out this morning. Put some miles in at a new area. Not much bear sign, but good deer sign.
KentuckyHeadhunter
Senior Member
Are you guys referring to just any generic mountain oak trees or specifically mountain chestnut oaks? If its the latter I've seen deer and bear walk right passed them to find better varieties of acorns and mast.
Correct.
splatek
UAEC
How can you tell the difference between deer feeding and bear feeding sign? I’m trying to learn.
chrislibby88
Senior Member
Found a large bed like that on the highest mini peak of a ridge. Will you find hair in them like freshly used deer beds? I looked in the one I found but couldn’t find any.
chrislibby88
Senior Member
Bear poop instead of deer poop? Not sure you could tell a difference other than tracks and scat if they leave any behind. I know you can look at hickory hulls, bear will leave fractures and teeth marks that are usually distinguishable from squirrel teeth marks. When they inhale acorns whole I guess there isn’t much you can do. Deer will usually spit the acorn cap back out, and they may have molar marks/cracks or just leave pieces of the cap on the ground. I’m not sure if bears do the same.
WoodlandScout82
Senior Member
I went and checked the zeros on my guns for the upcoming gun hunts. I'm gonna give it another go with the crossbow next weekend, but I wanna really focus on the handgun this year.
WoodlandScout82
Senior Member
Which one? The Rifle is a Springfield Armory M1A SOCOM II, The handgun is a Ruger Super Blackhawk Hunter
HardlyHangin
Senior Member
I was looking at the M1 - I have a ruger mini-30 and it looked similar
Joe Brandon
Senior Member
I love that Ruger! I have the 4 in .357 and its a dern hard hitter, think its gp100 . Cant imagine how nice yours is!! Very nice set up.
ddd-shooter
Senior Member
Had a bear ruin my deer hunt Saturday evening. Came trotting by @ 25. Kinda small so wasn't really trying hard to get him to stop. He was really moving. Happened fast, but next time I'll try a bleat to get a better look, if possible. When bears are on a mission, it's hard to get them to change their minds.
SouthGa Fisher
Senior Member
Went out last Sunday to a lower elevation WMA to scout for rifle season. I've never really hunted the hills since moving up here, and it absolutely whooped me. I found so much hog sign down low in the creeks, I couldn't believe it.
Went back yesterday, planning to put more time in and looking more. Got up higher this time and found some whites and then some sign. There weren't a lot on the ground, but there were some concentrated areas. Beat down trails, lots of scat that wasn't very fresh, lots of yellow jacket nests dug up. There were also small trees that were torn up, but it didn't seem bear-related? Any ideas? I saw probably 15 of them like this scattered around.
Also, I bumped something right over the top of the ridge when coming up, but never saw it. My legs were fried, and it was difficult not to make noise. Whatever it was, was bedded up high, backed up to a tree and could see EVERYTHING below it. I came up right behind it. I got a picture of where it was bedded. In hindsight I should've looked for hair...
It was a workout but man it was nice to get back in the woods.
Went back yesterday, planning to put more time in and looking more. Got up higher this time and found some whites and then some sign. There weren't a lot on the ground, but there were some concentrated areas. Beat down trails, lots of scat that wasn't very fresh, lots of yellow jacket nests dug up. There were also small trees that were torn up, but it didn't seem bear-related? Any ideas? I saw probably 15 of them like this scattered around.
Also, I bumped something right over the top of the ridge when coming up, but never saw it. My legs were fried, and it was difficult not to make noise. Whatever it was, was bedded up high, backed up to a tree and could see EVERYTHING below it. I came up right behind it. I got a picture of where it was bedded. In hindsight I should've looked for hair...
It was a workout but man it was nice to get back in the woods.
Thunder Head
Gone but not forgotten
Pics 2 & 6 appear to be bear scat. The others are not,
Looks like deer bed to me
If all the tress are dead. Id say a wood pecker is tearing them up.
Looks like deer bed to me
If all the tress are dead. Id say a wood pecker is tearing them up.
SouthGa Fisher
Senior Member
Thanks for the clarification. Woodpecker was my guess on the trees, but I wasn't sure. They were not all dead.
The bed seemed like it was from a deer, but it also seemed larger than a deer would need/use. I've deer hunted my entire life and it just seemed bigger. But standing there, I imagined a deer laying there looking down the ridge vs a bear laying there. Maybe it's be one of them old ridge runners.
Also, the trails up there were beat down badly, I did not expect that at all.
KentuckyHeadhunter
Senior Member
I practiced shooting (just a pellet rifle on squirrels) using trekking poles as a bipod. Works really well but you can't set it up in a hurry. 
You can also slip your rifle through the wrist loop and just use one pole. Perhaps not as steady as 2, but much quicker.
KentuckyHeadhunter
Senior Member
Well dang. Great idea. I'm outta pellets now. But no more squirrels with wolves all over em. Wobbles, weebles, what have you.
jbogg
Senior Member
I’ve been hunting hard since the opener and have seen a few bears, but haven’t been able to make it happen. Went to one of my other spots yesterday afternoon for the first time since the season opened. Not long after I climbed my tree I saw the thick brush shaking about 30 yards out only to have a big black boar hog step out at 20 yards. I decided I was bear hunting and not pig hunting so he got a pass and at 6:45 PM this nice young Sow came up the ridge behind me and stopped long enough for a shot. I sent out a text to my group and was relieved to hear that I had help on the way. @Buckman18 and @FMBear showed up faster than the cavalry with knives and meat packs and we made fairly short work of her as we tried our best not to slide down the mountain while working. After so many close calls it felt good for it to finally all come together. I owe Buckman and FMBear big time. It would have been a long night without them.
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