Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting N. Georgia ML Deer hunt comin' up!

Oh yeah... my long awaited Smokey Mountain adventure is about to begin...

I catch a 5:49 flight out of Flint this morning, meet my hunting partner in Atlanta and hit the mountain late Sunday morning and hunt through Thursday morning, when I have to return home. Opener is tomorrow and the ML season runs through Friday.

We'll be camped at the trail head that provides exclusive access to a remote mountain in about 20,000 acres of Nat'l Forest land. My tag allows me to shoot 2 bucks and a dozen antlerless deer, as well as feral pigs which are prevalent there as well.

Tom and I started planning this in Feb of '08 while we were in a box blind in Texas "hunting" feral pigs (over a feeder), so it has been in the works for a while.

I picked up a .50 cal CVA Kodiak from a member of the 'fire with this hunt in mind and have her all sighted for 75 yards w/ 295 gr power belts.

I'm geeked and am going to have a tough time getting rest before leaving my house at around 2 am to catch my flight.

Wish me luck and thanks a lot for all the shared wisdom y'all,

efw

Whack 'em and stack 'em...

And take pics of them!!!

Have a ball!

Ingwe

There's alot of bear getting killed up in N.GA. this year maybe you'll get them.We got a good acorn crop this year too so the hunting ought to be pretty good for ya.Oh i don't live but thirty minutes from there.Good Luck!!!

Thanks guys.

I'm in Gainesville getting ready to leave my hunting partner's place today. Weather, as you know Burruss, is pretty warm but still cooler than it was yesterday.

Checked zero yesterday afternoon and have my camera strapped to my belt. Should be up in God's Country within a couple of hours!

Thanks for the well wishes; already having a blast,

efw

where are ou going blue ridge WMA? I will be on Vacation from Afghanista in a couple weeks and hope to wack the bear that's been eatin gmy parents peach and apple trees and there bird feeders off the porch. I'll be whaccking a couple deer too of course. It's all the hunting I'll get this year.

We were right up near Frank Merrill Ranger Camp. It was GORGEOUS, and we scored a black bear Sunday night. From what we saw the BB numbers are great; you should have a good chance at a good specimen, if not a trophy.

We had a wonderful time and I got a lot of pictures, but only saw one deer that I wasn't able to get a shot at. I had a three day tag that went Monday through Wednesday, and Monday and Wednesday it rained like CRAZY!

I can honstly say that I've never seen rain like we had Monday morning on our way to our spot. It was just a hair short of God dropping a bucket of water on our heads, and in spite of good rain gear I was soaked early on.

One side note; I'd "borrowed" a Bushnell Trophy 3-9x40mm purchased last year for a friend and mounted it on my ML. That thing fogged like nobody's business... my hunting partner's Simmons Pro-Hunter 3-9x40mm held up well, while Ricky's fire sights... well you know how well they hold up. I'm going to send that Trophy back as I know it isn't what to expect out of that scope even as cheap as it is, and I'm going to pick up a Nikon 4x fixed through Natchez for $100, a set of Warne QD rings, and Williams fire sights and I'll be all good for whatever happens.

We had three people in our party, and one of us saw a deer Sunday night just before the other shot the bear. The same guy who shot the bear nearly got a couple of hogs Tuesday night, but they were about their business faster than he could close the distance to the wallow they were in.

It was an absolutely incredible time. Those mountains are absolutely gorgeous, the fellowship was just as good. My long time hunting partner Tom has hunted up there for a good long time, and had warned me that there are not high deer densities up there but a TON of acreage, making things tough. I never dreamed that we'd shoot a bear though. Just being a part of that made it worth the whole effort.

I'll post pics when I get home. I'm headed to the Atlanta airport right now to head home.

Take care y'all,

efw

Awesome hunt. I worked at CFM before I reenlisted to move to AK. and I grew up right around the area in Gilme county. The TVD road up there will carry you from where you guys were to within 3 miles of my parents place. Glad the bear numbers are up, that's what I really want again this year, though of course I need a couple whitetails. You should see the pictures my folks have been sending me, it's been absolutely crazy this fall as far as rain goes, legendary flooding. Anyway, I'll be down tere in about a weeka and half and can't wait!! Glad you got to enjoy a great hunt in my old stomping grounds!!

The CO who checked the bear said she was in great health and that the number of bears he was checking this year were very high. He said this one had the best appearance of any he'd checked, low weight (168 lbs) notwithstanding.

Here is a pic of me, my friend Tom, and our friend Ricky w/ his bear:



The CO who checked the bear said she was in great health and that the number of bears he was checking this year were very high. He said this one had the best appearance of any he'd checked, low weight (168 lbs) notwithstanding.

Here is the laurel-choked wallow he was overlooking; he wanted pigs, and saw a couple several nights later but didn't get a shot:



We had a several-hour long downpour Monday morning, and similar though not as severe weather Wednesday:



But it made for some amazing pictures up at Low Gap afterward:



and we had a wonderfully comfortable camp just beneath Low Gap on the seasonal mountain road above Gadistown Rd.:



We had an incredible time and I'm already planning out when I can get back down there. It was truly amazing!

Oh... forgot to post a pic of the scope... in a sense, I'm pretty glad not to have seen some monster buck cuz I doubt I'd have been able to get a good shot on him w/ this:

Don't Bushnell's have "rainguard"?

Elite 3200 and up yes, but this is a "Trophy"...