"Speed" scouting

[whitetailfreak]

I separate bear scouting trips from bear hunting trips and tend to cover ground fast while scouting. Once I find the sign I'm looking for I sit on it until I kill the bear or booger him into the next county.

With that being said, many of my scouting trips are several hours at a time before I go to work and I wouldn't fool with killing a bear then anyway. For those of you who don't have a mountain wma in your back yard I understand that quick trips aren't always doable.

 

[ddd-shooter]

I’m the oddball. I just don’t scout much.
But I will say, sign in the mountains is like fish in rivers.
If you don’t know what you’re looking at, you’ll waste a lot of time in unproductive areas. Some of you trout guys will get that. We’ve all seen the guy who can’t ”read the water” and casts in some pretty strange places. Same with scouting. Learn to read the mountain. It’ll speed you up without rushing you.

 

[tree cutter 08]

Whitetail said it right. You better scout until find what your after. DDD made a good point to. Learn to read the terrain and that will save you a ton of walking. I've hunted about the least I've ever hunted So far this year. Just haven't found what I thought would pan out so I keep looking.

 

[Professor]

A map is definitely a good starting point, but it’s no substitute for boots on the ground. The maps won’t tell you if there are food sources present and producing, good cover close by, is there still water in that little blue line, or has it dried up from the drought… To be consistent in the mountains definitely requires burning a fair amount of boot leather.

I think you will get plenty of hiking in after using the maps. It might save hundreds of miles, but you will still hike hundreds of miles.

 

[Professor]

I move fast scouting. I tend to separate scouting from hunting. If I find THE place, I will sit down, but usually I will back out and then plan the hunt. I covered about 8 miles today, and it was some of the most inviting ground I have ever walked. Unfortunatly there was little recent sign. If I tip toed through that area it would have taken me 3 or 4 days to realize it.

 

[EyesUp83]

@HardlyHangin I'm with you. Its been a dilema for me so this year I'm planning to go the route of "cover more ground". The last few years I would get camp set up then hike up to 1/2 mile away in search of place that looked "good". I was basically deer hunting for bear I guess. Flatlander problems + a slow learning curve, lol.
This years gameplan is for a buddy and I to set a spike camp about 2 miles deep and then go our separate ways all day to find the SUPER FRESH sign and hunt that. I guess its similar to what @jbogg described in his first post on the thread. I'm not sure if moving faster will have good results, but my lack of results from moving super slow the last couple years have me fed up. I hope you get one!

 

[Professor]

I was referring to any kind of scouting, bear included, though I am NOT super knowledgeable about bears. Your advice sounds great, move quick through the useless stuff until you find fresh sign.
I will counter your advice with this, in Sept I was scouting a ridge I thought would hold bears based on last years sign. There were a ton of red and mountain oak acorns, persimmons on the ground, muscadines, etc, but NO bear sign, or deer sign for that matter, there were persimmons rotting on the ground from not being eaten. I was moving slowish, but still covering ground- the lack of feeding sign sped me up some- and I walked into a bear in a shallow saddle. It was a very quick encounter, the bear and I saw each other at the same time, he started moving, not running, but walking briskly. I tried a snap shot as he was dropping over the roll on the hill but missed. I wasn’t moving fast, but I could have gone much slower, and may have had some bear meat in my pack. There’s no right or wrong way, but I feel like slowing down has a lot more benifit than speeding up.

Chris, if I found persimmons on the ground I would surely slow to a crawl.

 

[chrislibby88]

Chris, if I found persimmons on the ground I would surely slow to a crawl.

I did, and spent several minutes picking through the immediate area. No feed sign, scat, tracks, and the high amount of rotten persimmons lead me to believe nothing was using the area recently. Heavily used feed trees will look like someone flailed the ground with a rake. Pretty sure they will climb and top out persimmon trees like oaks too. Everything my simple mind gathered lead me to believe that I could pick up the pace and keep pushing down the ridge towards some oaks that were tore up last year. I won’t make that mistake next year. There was another smaller persimmon tree dropping about 10 yards from where I missed the bear, I didn’t know this until I was looking for signs of a hit/miss. I believe the bear had just arrived the same time I did and was about to start cleaning house. I definitely wasn’t moving fast when I encountered the bear, but I could have been moving way slower.

 

[ddd-shooter]

I will say this too.
Don't make the mistake of hunting for sign rather than hunting for animals. There is a difference.

 

[splatek]

I will say this too.
Don't make the mistake of hunting for sign rather than hunting for animals. There is a difference.

I think that's particularly true for deer, but what I've always been told for bears is find the freshest, red hot sign you can... feeding sign that is.

 

[Doug B.]

Pretty sure they will climb and top out persimmon trees like oaks too.

I have seen coons climb persimmon trees and eat them but I've never seen where a bear has. Most persimmon trees get pretty small in the top and out on the limbs. I doubt it could hold the weight. Also the smaller diameter of most persimmon trees would make it hard for a bear to climb.

 

[chrislibby88]

I have seen coons climb persimmon trees and eat them but I've never seen where a bear has. Most persimmon trees get pretty small in the top and out on the limbs. I doubt it could hold the weight. Also the smaller diameter of most persimmon trees would make it hard for a bear to climb.

They don’t climb them like oaks, they will run up as far as they can, or reach up the truck and drag the tree over with their weight.

 

[Professor]

I have seen coons climb persimmon trees and eat them but I've never seen where a bear has. Most persimmon trees get pretty small in the top and out on the limbs. I doubt it could hold the weight. Also the smaller diameter of most persimmon trees would make it hard for a bear to climb.

I have seen some big persimmon trees that a bear could climb but not in the mountains. The limbs are low anyway, and they don't want the fruit till it is ripe anyway, and that is when it falls to the ground.

 

[Doug B.]

They don’t climb them like oaks, they will run up as far as they can, or reach up the truck and drag the tree over with their weight.

They may do that, but I've never seen any sign of it.

 

[chrislibby88]

They may do that, but I've never seen any sign of it.

I haven’t seen it in the mountains either, they do fold small trees in middle GA though. I would assume they would do it anywhere.

 

[Doug B.]

I have seen where they break sassafras down for the berries early in the season. I have also seen where they break down poke stalks and eat the berries off of them. I have seen them break apple trees, autumn olives, and wild cherries. But never persimmons.

 

[chrislibby88]

I have seen some big persimmon trees that a bear could climb but not in the mountains. The limbs are low anyway, and they don't want the fruit till it is ripe anyway, and that is when it falls to the ground.

I have seen where they break sassafras down for the berries early in the season. I have also seen where they break down poke stalks and eat the berries off of them. I have seen them break apple trees, autumn olives, and wild cherries. But never persimmons.

I stand corrected. I assumed since they did it with other food bearing trees they would do it in smaller persimmons. Guess they ain’t gotta, if the food isn’t worth eating until it hits the ground. Man I love this forum.