Bear Scouting Pics

[Etter1]

#5284

How about a few?

[Etter1]

#39055

I’ve been strapping on the boot leather a lot this year and it’s looking good for us. The white oaks are incredibly spotty, which might make it tough or spectacular. I’m having a hard time spotting them with binocular but I’m having no problem finding bear sign. Luckily, the DNR planted a few food plot where we hunt and the bears and pigs have been wearing them out. Today, I stalked to within five yards of a 2nd year cub and watched him for about five minutes. It was awesome. I’ve seen 10 in 4 trips so far. Gonna go back up one more time next weekend and then leave our area alone until the season opens. Hope you like the pics.

BTW these are GA bears.

[Etter1]

#39062

awesome bear trail

[Etter1]

#39063

more

[Etter1]

#39065

and

[Etter1]

#39070

and

[William Warren]

#39076

Hey Etter,

Those are some awesome pics. The bear trail pic in particular, could that be an ancient game trail?

Native pathways were often started by bears, buffalo and other large animals. Many Colonial roadways took these pathways over. I don’t know but the lay of the land there has an ancient look to it. Cool.

Edit: Maybe and old skidder trail the loggers made.

Duncan

[Etter1]

#39081

The trails in the mtns are all made by bear, deer, and hogs and they’ve been there for generations.

The food plots will be useless as soon as the acorns mature, but we’ve been planning on that. Can’t wait til Sept 14!

[tailfeather]

#39113

Fantastic photos, pal. They’ll be in the oaks very soon and I can’t wait.

[James Harvey]

#39117

Great photos!

[shaneharley]

#39184

Cool pictures. Thanks for sharing.

[paleoman]

#39231

etter1 wrote: The trails in the mtns are all made by bear, deer, and hogs and they’ve been there for generations.

The food plots will be useless as soon as the acorns mature, but we’ve been planning on that. Can’t wait til Sept 14!

Do you ever get distracted by a big fat pig? I’m guessing pigs are legal all year?

[Etter1]

#39275

paleoman wrote: [quote=etter1]The trails in the mtns are all made by bear, deer, and hogs and they’ve been there for generations.

The food plots will be useless as soon as the acorns mature, but we’ve been planning on that. Can’t wait til Sept 14!

Do you ever get distracted by a big fat pig? I’m guessing pigs are legal all year?

I killed one on opening day last year. I saw a ton of pig sign today and jumped one in a clearcut. There are plenty of big ones up there but it’s a lot of work to kill one in deep and get it out.

[Etter1]

#39278

Pigs are legal to kill during any open season. Small game opened aug 15 so they’re legal again.

That’s only on wmas and national forest though. On private land you can kill them by any means necessary.

[Ptaylor]

#39453

Man you’re doing better than me! Today was opening day here. I did a 4 hour sit over an old orchard for sunrise, then 3 hours over blackberry bushes for the sunset. Didn’t see any bears! Oh well, back at tomorrow!

[Rupe]

#39496

Very cool pics. Thanks for sharing!

Rupe

[Etter1]

#40208

Ptaylor wrote: Man you’re doing better than me! Today was opening day here. I did a 4 hour sit over an old orchard for sunrise, then 3 hours over blackberry bushes for the sunset. Didn’t see any bears! Oh well, back at tomorrow!

Keep us posted! I love hearing about bear hunts. Especially somewhere so different from the Appalachians. Good luck!

Apple orchards sound like a magnet!

[David Petersen]

#40248

My hat is off to Etter and others who hunt bears fair chase. There was an article in TBM a few years ago about fair chase methods for hunting bears that might be of use, as it’s based on tips from top bear experts from East and West. It’s also in a certain unmentionable book, though I forget the title and author. If it’s still hot and water is scarce, remote water midday is high odds, or at least it sure is here in the West where they hit it most every day. But there’s probably too many sources there in the SE. Best luck.

[Etter1]

#40349

Dave,

I hunt them over bait in Canada as well but I’ve really come to love hunting them this way. It’s mostly still-hunting on high ridges way off the roads. In the early season, you sneak and listen for them in the trees and then pull a stalk. It’s pretty amazing stuff.

And you’re right about water. The mountains never go dry here. Even in the extreme droughts that we sometimes get, there is flowing water everywhere.

It’s pretty obvious, just from noticing the trails, that bears are not like deer. They cannot absorb as much water from vegetation as deer do. You can find any major food source in the area, and nearby there will be a major trail going directly downhill to a stream.

This time of year, I think the deer are getting all of their moisture from vegetation and dew.

The more I go up there, the more convinced I am that I’ve been missing out focusing so much of my efforts hunting middle and south ga. (way more deer, almost none left in the mountains due to the bear pop.)

I can’t wait to get back up next week and check out a few new areas.

[tailfeather]

#40361

Funny you mention that, Dave. I just finished reading that chapter, and thought it timely. Also the chapter on human/bear conflicts….

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#40469

Found on today’s hike, at a rapidly drying up spring:

[Ptaylor]

#40678

Its pretty magical looking for bears here in northwestern CA. They are probably my favorite animal to look for throughout the year hunting or not. Right now there are blackberries, huckleberries, salal, currants, gooseberries, and more are ripening. There are 5 types of oak trees that ripen in succession, so that they will be eating white oak acorns and deer oak in september and in December there will still be tan oak acorns green on the tree. When the salmon run they’ll be down in the creeks feeding. And then there are all the pine nuts. I’m not sure what the numbers are for this location, but it seems like the density is really high. I’ve never lived somewhere like this, and seen so many bears.

Like you said, Etter, I often hear them first then try and stalk. Its pretty thick here and you can’t see too far usually. Sometimes I sit near feeding locations and wait for them to show up and then stalk. There really fun to stalk, cause I’m terrible at stalking and deer always pick up on me, but bears I have a fair chance so long as I’m down wind.

I’ll hopefully have some stories to tell soon. And I’d love to hear others adventures as the fall progresses!

[Bunyan Morris]

#42653

Great pictures Etter. They look much better here than on my phone. I’m really looking forward to our hunt.

[Etter1]

#45059

Scouting trip number 6 today and possibly my last one before the friday before the opener.

I did an 11 mile round trip hike with a 1000 foot climb and it was very very worth it. I saw my 11th bear of the summer, as well as 12 nasty pigs. Found a loooong ridge with about 1000 white oaks on it. It’s going to be a great opener. It’s still raining here daily but hopefully it will slow down by then.

[BuckyT]

#50390

Great Pics Etter! As you know, my scouting trip this past weekend rendered nothing but deer sign on the ridges I investigated.

I go out looking for bear sign and all I find is deer sign………. For the first time in my life, I was completely uninterested in the deer sign..:lol: It was pretty cool walking up on the 8pt and 10pt feeding in a food plot 30yds away. Wish they would have let me get a good pic of them before they decided to leave…:D

It was a very good hike and very enjoyable. Looking forward to the opener!!!

[Etter1]

#50812

A late freeze in May has possibly killed a lot of the acorns in the areas that we hunt. I’m going back on thursday to check the higher generations that hadn’t bloomed out yet. 3400′ and higher seems to be the ticket. Most of our areas are 2600-3000′ Guess we’ll see if the higher ground is the ticket.

[Goraidh]

#50828

Looks like you have a few bears around ya. Good luck this season.

[jmsmithy]

#54283

Good Luck to all:!::D

Just turning in now as getting up at 430 tomorrow am for 12 hour Maine run to chase blueberry munchin’ bruins 8)

Be a great jump start to our early Adirondack season that opens in 2 more weeks! ( plus Jersey archery deer in a little over a week!!!)

God certainly heaped the blessings on this time of year 😆

[grumpy]

#56375

Thanks for sharing everyone!!:D

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#56389

Jmsmithy wrote: Good Luck to all:!::D

Just turning in now as getting up at 430 tomorrow am for 12 hour Maine run to chase blueberry munchin’ bruins 8)

Good luck out there – let us know how it goes!!

[Author]

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