Been doing a lot of research about archery bear hunting/camping the Chattahoochee Nat Forest, seems there's a fair amount of people on here like me that don't live close to it and have to pick a destination as best they can from online scouting. I'd rather stay out of the wmas and just find a pull off/old logging road etc to camp out of my truck. I've noticed a lot of the areas like that usually have a hiking trail close by. How do yall get a feel for how much traffic an area gets without being able to do a drive by? Anyway to assess logging roads remotely? Last thing I want to do is plan a trip to an area, drive 3.5hrs with my buddies only to find the area is crawling with hikers, college kids camping, or my truck can only go down the logging road 4 miles instead of the 8 I planned on. I also realize the amount of luck involved in this kind of hunting plan, so its more of a fun camp trip with a hunting bonus.
Welcome Guest!
Online Scouting
- Thread starter MAaDiNESS
- Start date
ChidJ
Senior Member
Just looking at imagery or maps has, in my experience, proved to be unreliable. It's probably not the answer you are looking for but you have to drive it to know for sure. I just make it a fun day trip with the kids in the offseason and drive around the woods for a bit to confirm paths exist and that it is indeed public land. I've also had WMA maps and google maps that were flat out wrong about paths existing or being navigable. Another issue I ran into was some flooding that washed out a road I drove last year which made it impassable. But I suppose, getting to that sweet, remote spot is part of the fun and challenge of hunting
chrislibby88
Senior Member
Pick multiple spots, if the first spot falls through, go to the next. Avoid popular hiking trail heads, if it has a parking lot, is close to a waterfall then avoid it, and make sure your area doesn’t have a major trail running through it. Also, there is really no way to know the condition of a road until you drive it, trees fall all the time, roads wash out with heavy rain, creek crossings flood, they close them when they catch them, and open them once they fix or repair the cause. Also, you don’t have to go 8 miles back just for the sake of going deep. Some really good hunting can be found in little corners of nat forest that butt up to private pastures and ag fields.
Plan on failing. Your first trip or two to a new area is really a learning experience, get up there, see what works, what doesn’t, and scout and learn the area. Your goal should be doing it better next time.
Plan on failing. Your first trip or two to a new area is really a learning experience, get up there, see what works, what doesn’t, and scout and learn the area. Your goal should be doing it better next time.
splatek
UAEC
this might be some of the best advice I've heard - "plan to fail and prepare to do better next time"
i went up a few times, maybe 2-3 last season and failed. Miserably. This year I spent most of the off season scouting and because what I was scouting for - white oaks - don't seem to have had a good year - I am planning to fail again. If the ONLY way you scout is via an online mechanism, then I would say cross-ref as many possible sources and maps as possible. The old WMA maps are just that OLD. Very good maps, but printed a decade or more ago, before tornadoes, floods, changes in property boundaries... the list goes on. Google maps/earth is usually pretty good, emphasis on usually. OnX, Gaia, HuntStand, etc just go off other sources, but by using multiple sources you oughtta be able to figure a few good spots out.
Now, take all that with a grain of salt, because remember I failed miserably and plan to do so again. Good luck! Hope for some beginners luck!
Joe Brandon
Senior Member
I scout online 100% of the time. I killed my first mountain buck last year walking in blind and my first bear year before walking in blind. I look at topos and access points. In my experience you can walk all day but if you don't know where your at elevation wise you don't know where the food is. Im also fat so you won't catch me walking far. Im not about to pack an animal out more than a mile and much less preferably. That's just the way it is. Thank God for the internet. It will be no different this year. Monday afternoon I will be heading to a spot I've never stepped foot on. Just gather all the info you can about crop production, eleavation, and look for easy access off of primary roads.
chrislibby88
Senior Member
Your blind luck will run out eventually. Haha. It’s nice when it works out that way though. I always try to have multiple spots, ridges or runs picked out and start going down the list until I hit a spot with enough sign to make me set up.
Sweet. Wanna sell me a play book for Chestatee?
chrislibby88
Senior Member
You don’t wanna hunt Chestatee, it sucks. No deer, ugly bears, steep dumb hills, rains all the time. It’s bad. Noooo good.
Tadpole23
Senior Member
You got that dang straight. Everytime I been up there it has rained. I dont see why anybody would want to hunt there. Lol
chrislibby88
Senior Member
Man I had one year with snow during hunt in 2017, and it was dope. 2018 rained the entire time, and last year was half rainy. These were all Dec hunts. I’ve got good rain gear now.
livinoutdoors
Goatherding Non-socialist Bohemian Luddite
Pick four or five spots on the map, the first one you drive up on that looks like a good spot to setup camp, then set up. Then go scout the area. Youll have fun. Go home and tell your buddies about the hippy commune you ran up on thinking you were deep in the wilderness. Come back next year and have more fun! Good luck!
Joe Brandon
Senior Member
Etoncathunter
Senior Member
Yup that's the mountains for ya. I was up on Grassy today taking my scouts fishing at Conasauga lake. In the 4 hours we were there the weather went from cool and breezy, to fogged/ clouded in, to a steady drizzle, and then to bright sunny. All in a day for Cohutta.
Joe Brandon
Senior Member
Yes sir I wasnt too far from you than as the crow flys over on the watson gap side.
Similar threads
