DNR Black Bear Mgmt Plan - Public Meetings

[ripplerider]

The problem we have now with cutting timber is the market, I know a mill owner, he says hardwood is bringing nothing. Even if the usfs agreed to sale timber, who would buy it? Who would be willing to go in the hole logging mountain timber just for wildlife habitat improvement? It's a real bad delima for us mountain hunters, we know nothing is going to be done at least until maybe I'm too old to see the benefits. That's why my ace in the hole is a hunting lease in middle ga. There is always a market for southern yellow and loblolly pine. Loggers don't have as much trouble thinning it or getting it out of the woods either, sometimes they just cut it, stack it, and leave it to rot, but at least it gets rotated every 30 years or so.

Exactly. The Forest Service cant control timber prices even if it was willing to defy the tree-huggers and mis-guided armchair preservationists and actually cut some timber. Controlled burns and similar stop-gap measures are about the best we can hope for until prices rise but there should be a plan in place for when they do. Until then, we need to kill the fool out of some bears. And hogs. I believe they get their share of fawns too. Removing the 75 lb. limit would definitely help. Getting the word out to folks who dont get on here would help.

 

[lampern]

. Make feeding bears illegal

How is that going to work with all the deer and hog bait in the woods?

 

[Tio Hey Seuss]

How is that going to work with all the deer and hog bait in the woods?

Been wondering the same thing. It's funny seeing guys put out bait then complain about seeing too many bears where they want to hunt deer.

 

[Tio Hey Seuss]

Exactly. The Forest Service cant control timber prices even if it was willing to defy the tree-huggers and mis-guided armchair preservationists and actually cut some timber. Controlled burns and similar stop-gap measures are about the best we can hope for until prices rise but there should be a plan in place for when they do. Until then, we need to kill the fool out of some bears. And hogs. I believe they get their share of fawns too. Removing the 75 lb. limit would definitely help. Getting the word out to folks who dont get on here would help.

I really don't think marker conditions are the problem. It's "environmental" groups opposed to science based management. Lumber prices were the highest they have ever been since anyone kept track in May 2018. https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/lumber

Also, I think removing or reducing the weight limit would be a huge mistake. We have to keep public perception in mind if we want to keep doing what we love. Any time I talk to a non hunter about bear hunting the first question they ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ask is "can you shoot any bear you see?" At which point I explain the 75lb rule and and about not shooting sows with cubs. The person is usually relieved, nods approvingly and wishes me luck. Now imagine if my response was, "heck yea! If it's black I'll take a crack! Gotta thin them varmints out."

 

[lampern]

All you have to do is protect sows with cubs.

All other bears can be fair game

 

[Tio Hey Seuss]

All I'm saying is that if someone killed a tiny little bear and pictures got out it could be used against us very easily. The 75lb limit doesn't really exclude many bears but it sounds like a reasonable limit to most folks. I've only seen one bear on it's own that was for sure less than 75 and I've seen my fair share of bears.

 

[lampern]

Not if you want to slow the spread of bears into the Atlanta metro.

Big cities and bears don’t mix.

Bears up in the mountains proper should not be managed the same as bears down towards I-85.

 

[CornStalker]

All I'm saying is that if someone killed a tiny little bear and pictures got out it could be used against us very easily. The 75lb limit doesn't really exclude many bears but it sounds like a reasonable limit to most folks. I've only seen one bear on it's own that was for sure less than 75 and I've seen my fair share of bears.

Tio, you make a good point. While I have seen a lot of bears around 60-85 lbs that were not cubs with mothers, I worry a lot about public perception of taking a little 50lb bear. Unfair as it may be, people see bear differently than deer. I don't worry about the anti-hunters (relative minority). I worry about the non-hunting public that will be easily and emotionally swayed by the anti-hunting propaganda. Those are the people we need to be continually winning over.

Good conversation and input from everyone. We will need a more unified voice in the years to come...

 

[tree cutter 08]

I think by removing the 75 lb limit, there will be a lot of 80 to 100 lb bears taken that folks would be hesitant to shoot with the 75 lb minimum rule in place.

 

[Unicoidawg]

Maybe lower it to 50lbs?

 

[DC-08]

Make baiting legal on private land.

 

[strothershwacker]

Just up the limit. We can kill 12 deer but only 2 bear? Will an All state, State Farm, Progressive, or Geico representative be at the meeting? I think that's who we need to be talking to.

 

[lampern]

Only in N Ga can you kill 2 bears

 

[CornStalker]

Maybe lower it to 50lbs?

I think this could be a good solution. This would allow harvest of small bears and still protect cubs.

 

[goshenmountainman]

Not if you want to slow the spread of bears into the Atlanta metro.

Big cities and bears don’t mix.

Bears up in the mountains proper should not be managed the same as bears down towards I-85.

I would be willing to build a trap and catch them and transport them to Atlanta, if DNR would allow me. I believe I could stock the city pretty well in one summer.

 

[The mtn man]

I really don't think marker conditions are the problem. It's "environmental" groups opposed to science based management. Lumber prices were the highest they have ever been since anyone kept track in May 2018. https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/lumber

Also, I think removing or reducing the weight limit would be a huge mistake. We have to keep public perception in mind if we want to keep doing what we love. Any time I talk to a non hunter about bear hunting the first question they ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ask is "can you shoot any bear you see?" At which point I explain the 75lb rule and and about not shooting sows with cubs. The person is usually relieved, nods approvingly and wishes me luck. Now imagine if my response was, "heck yea! If it's black I'll take a crack! Gotta thin them varmints out."

You are incorrect about lumber prices, that link doesn't tell the whole story, hardwood timber is not bringing anything in the north ga mtns. Trust me. No one will buy a stand of hardwoods only to lose their rear ends. There's a difference in spruce/pine timber and North ga. Hardwood timber, there's just no market for it right now.

 

[308]

Last season, we had two sows with 4 cubs and two with 3 cubs... and no cubs this year... but lots of single bear videos...

We’re hoping the neighbors put out corn for the deer, which attracts bears... and when the bears find corn the deer move off... which could put more deer on us...

We’ve got few acorns this year... and bears on almost every camera, every week... they all appear fat, but they’re not able to sit in white oak trees and eat a belly full..

 

[Back40hunter]

Take the deer study going on now in the mountains for example. I'm glad it's happening but it should have been noticed 10 years ago. All I'm saying is you can look at the upward trend of the bear population and you can see the decline of the deer herd the same time. To me it's not hard to see and feel like the state doesn't care. Especially when the goal is to maintain the current bear population. Most folks i know that has trouble with them destroying gardens and corn fields don't complain to the dnr. When you have 7 or 8 bears coming to a small half acre corn field at night what's a man to do? You can't catch them all and move them. That's just putting a bandaid on the problem.

I don’t know if it’s true or not but I’ve heard there was a radio telemetry study on fawns this past spring. Of the fawns that we’re collered something like 75% we caught and killed by bears. Can’t have any fawn recruitment with that going on in the mountains.

 

[bighits4421]

I don’t know where y’all are seeing all these bear. I’m on CNF. I see 5 deer to every 1 bear. I don’t like deer hunting up in mountains cause it’s a longgg drag to truck. I deer hunt further south. I’m after a bear. I get them every
Now and again on camera. I’m near amicalola waterfalls. I need to make a trade with one of you all in public land spots

 

[tree cutter 08]

I don’t know where y’all are seeing all these bear. I’m on CNF. I see 5 deer to every 1 bear. I don’t like deer hunting up in mountains cause it’s a longgg drag to truck. I deer hunt further south. I’m after a bear. I get them every
Now and again on camera. I’m near amicalola waterfalls. I need to make a trade with one of you all in public land spots

Move on up a county. Bears are starting to disappear this time of year but no shortage of them.