# Interesting Week in the North Florida Woods!



## rocky1 (Jan 5, 2019)

Not sure what's up the last week, bear have been moving everywhere. This sorta little one showed up last week for a night, then moved up the road a mile where the brother-in-law has camera set up, and we have a beeyard. Hasn't really messed with the bees at all, but he has shown a taste for the pollen substitute we put out for the bees, tipping over the box we feed that in several times.






Then New Years Eve this sow and cub showed up here at the house. Came in 10:15, was on camera for 20 minutes or so, back 45 minutes later and scratched around on the corn pile for an hour. Then showed back up at 7:15 the next morning.






Two nights later this big SOB showed up in the backyard, following a boar hog of equal proportions. Hog arrived 10:15 was on the corn pile 10 - 15 minutes, he disappeared and 15 minutes later the bear shows up.









Hogs have been nuts... Set in the stand until well after dark 3 nights waiting on them, 8 pm or later every night, nothing but deer showed up. First night I didn't sit in the stand, they show up at 7:32. Back again last night 8 pm, while I was occupied with other things.





Haven't seen but 1 buck during daylight hours since season started, that was the second day of season clear back mid November. New Years Day had a little 4 pt. come in and tease me, but the wife had taken steaks out of the freezer just before I walked out to the stand, and I decided to let him grow.





Last night I was sitting there half asleep, chased 2 deer out when I walked in. Nothing for almost an hour! I opened one eye and noticed a deer coming in from back of feed plot, sat up to grab my binoculars and there's a worthless little spike on the corn pile in front of me. I say worthless on this one, because he's obviously an older buck that isn't ever going to be anything but a spike.

I look at the one coming across the feed plot and he's in full fight mode. Coming across the feed plot sideways, head down. Him and the spike butted heads for a few seconds and went to munching corn. Was seriously considering popping one of these two; Spike because he needs to be culled from the herd, the other was a 5 pt., nice body just not a lot of rack, and he'd have been tasty. They started acting goofy, like something was coming in from the north, which is literally the fishponds in the backyard at the house 100 yards away. Spun around to glass that area, and they walked off a few yards, locked up, and started looking to the south.

I spun back around, glassing the field to the south, when I saw legs under the canopy on the nearby live oak. Thought that one was a doe; appears looking at pictures it was a littler spike. Watching it come in when I see another under the canopy of the tree. That one was a rather tall narrow 8 pt., younger buck, not a bad rack, just not special.

I was running out of daylight so I turned to grab my gun as he passed behind the big oak immediately in front of my stand. As I turned back, I caught a glimpse of more legs under the canopy of the oak, so I laid the gun across my lap and waited. Didn't wait long though because this old guy walked straight out to feed in front of me.





5 years I've been after him! During hunting season he's always eluded me. Climbed out of my stand one time at 6:15, because the mosquitoes were eating me alive and I hadn't seen anything, he was on camera at 6:18, meaning I wasn't even in the house when he walked in.

Get daylight pictures all the time during the summer, during hunting season, never see him, until the pictures I posted earlier, 2 days after I put the camera up in the hole on the neighbor's property. His condition had improved, he didn't look like he was starving any more. Actually had a decent amount of fat on his old bones.

Decided to do a Euro mount on him and was skinning the head out, and found a mass of Nose Bot Larvae in the nasal passage at the back of his throat, so that may have been contributing to his condition earlier don't know.

At any rate, I finished skinning, cutting up, skinning the head out, and putting things away, a little before 11. Loaded the gut bucket up and hauled it around to the spot I dump guts for the buzzards and coyotes, came back and put the mule away and walked in the house 11 :15. I go out today to put corn out, and see bear tracks on the ground around the corn pile, think "Hmmmmm... This is interesting!" Went to check gut pile, stomach intestines, hide, and 3 legs are drug off in the swamp... Heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, 1 leg, all of the back bone and rib cage are gone. Yotes will eat the stomach and intestines, and they drag everything out in the field, in the open. Come back and check pictures and...






One hour and 12 minutes after I walked in the house, this big ole bear was back on the corn pile 150 yards from where I was skinning my deer earlier!!

Going back tonight so see if the pigs will come back. Last night 20 minutes after I carted the deer off, I had deer back in the feed plot. Hour and 15 minutes after I carted him off, I had pigs in the feed plot. So it's hard saying what might show up!!

Sure wish this bunch of liberal SOBs we have on the game commission down here understood the bear situation better, and we had a season on them. 3 of us have pictures of at least 8, possibly 9, bear within a mile radius of my house, and I know we don't have pictures of all of them!!
https://woodbarter.com/posts/513103/edit

Reactions: Like 3 | Great Post 1 | Way Cool 2


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## Ray D (Jan 5, 2019)

Very nice buck...congratulations. Cool seeing the bear.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## rocky1 (Jan 5, 2019)

Cool to an extent... Having to consider walking up on a sow with cub(s) 150 yards from the house, or 350 lbs. of bear winding you while skinning a deer/hog in your backyard 20 yards from the house, and thinking it might be worth trying you, tends to make one a little uneasy. It's one thing when they move through, and don't return for a month or more; this having them in your backyard every night while you're wandering around in the dark is a different story.


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## Ray D (Jan 5, 2019)

rocky1 said:


> Cool to an extent... Having to consider walking up on a sow with cub(s) 150 yards from the house, or 350 lbs. of bear winding you while skinning a deer/hog in your backyard 20 yards from the house, and thinking it might be worth trying you, tends to make one a little uneasy. It's one thing when they move through, and don't return for a month or more; this having them in your backyard every night while you're wandering around in the dark is a different story.


Very true. Hopefully we’ll get a bear season again.


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## rocky1 (Jan 5, 2019)

Their logic, and argument surrounding it is so flawed it isn't even funny! Attended one meeting on the Black Bear Management plan back 2012. There management plan stated there were only 200 bear in the state in 1990 survey, in 2000 they surveyed again and results of that survey completed 2001 indicated there were approximately 2000 bear in the state. They claimed this a miraculous recovery. Then in 2012 during their meetings, they suggested there were only about 3500 black bear in the state.

Now I'm not a Game Biologist, nor am I a rocket scientist, but how do you go from 200 bear in 1990, to 2000 bear in 2000, a 1000% increase in population in ten years. Then piously sit there and claim there was only a 75% increase in bear numbers over the next 10 years. How does this make any sense what so ever??

Further insulting everyone's intelligence, FWC cited a study on reproduction to adulthood, done in Pennsylvania in the FWC Black Bear Management Plan, and using the numbers provided in that study, there should have been 12,000+ bear in the state of Florida in 2012.

So I called their asses on this, contacted FWC and questioned all of it. They referred me to one of their bear biologists who when confronted with the facts they had provided, could only reply... "Well we just don't feel they reproduce that fast. And, we feel we have a firm understanding of the population."

In the meantime, they were finishing up a reproduction to adulthood study in the Ocala National Forest, to determine what the reproductive rate in the state of Florida was, and lo and behold, they determined they reproduce and reach adulthood at a rate twice that found in the Pennsylvania study. Meaning there should have been somewhere in the neighborhood of 24,000 to 30,000 bear in the state, based on their study numbers, which by this point I was certainly doubting. (_Not that I wasn't doubting them from the onset._)

Then we fast forward to 2015 when they opened the season, slated for 2 weeks, 4 management units, 300 and whatever bears to be taken, and them assuming not all would be killed on top of that. One unit filled first day, second unit all but filled the first day and more than doubled quota second day. And, only 3 bear were checked in the other two units. The only intelligent remark I heard out of that entire scenario was FWC statement that, "Maybe we underestimated the bear population." Ya flippin think???

One of those two units not checking a large number of bear, the one I'm in, which ran from I-75 to the Atlantic Ocean, from the Georgia line to Gainsvilleish across to Daytona. This unit includes the last 2 counties in the state to allow a bear season previously, because they held a sustainable population, because bear are migrating out of the Okefenokee Swamp down through Sandlin Bay and Pinhook Swamp and along the Suwanee River into Columbia and Baker county. Only 2 bear were checked in here... Neighbor down the road had 8 in his feed plot at one time the previous year. Another had pictures of 13 different bear in his backyard that year. This was directly attributable to fires in the Okefenokee pushing Georgia bear down here. I have 9 within a mile of my house that we know of, now...

And, the morons on the commission deferred to the special interest groups and denied us a season until 2021, maybe, because "while the science does support a bear season, and there is interest in a bear season, there's not as much interest in bear hunting as there is in the general hunting season, so we don't feel it warranted at this time." Maybe if the bear hunting license was the same price as the general game license, rather than 10 times as much, there would be as much interest.

Reactions: Informative 1


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## Lou Currier (Jan 5, 2019)



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## Eric Rorabaugh (Jan 5, 2019)

Rocky, I feel ya. We have WAY too many here but we do have a season. Out of state licenses are HIGH. A lot of bear hunters won't kill one unless its 400 lb.+. They just want to "run their dogs" is what I hear all the time. But they get mad when we issue a kill permit due to crop damage. If no one has seen what a bear can do to a cornfield in a matter of nights, it's amazing. Farmer's don't care if it's 100 lb. or 500 lb. If it's in the field, it's getting shot.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Tony (Jan 5, 2019)

Nice buck Rock, stay away from that bear my man!

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## gman2431 (Jan 5, 2019)

So your bears never hibernate?


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## Lou Currier (Jan 5, 2019)

Tony said:


> Nice buck Rock, stay away from that bear my man!



It’s nothing but a teddy bear

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## Lou Currier (Jan 5, 2019)



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## rocky1 (Jan 5, 2019)

gman2431 said:


> So your bears never hibernate?



Technically no Cody. They go into a period of dormancy here where they are less than active, typically from February through early April. Right now, they're feeding up for that. (And, since everything is beyond wet here at the moment, and the deer haven't cooperated this season, a lot of guys have given up on hunting, and few of us are still feeding. SO... they're hunting corn piles right now! This would also play into the little one hitting the pollen boxes, because the stuff is soy flour, some powdered sugar, vitamins, minerals, and electrolytes. So, basically a high fat/high protein supplement.)

The period of dormancy here coincides with birthing season for the sows, and they believe that related. That doesn't explain the boars becoming less than active, however. Another factor I believe contributes to this, is that this is also a time with little available natural food. There are very few native berries left by this time of year, what the birds and wildlife haven't eaten, are typically rotting and have no food value, or the plant is shedding them with new growth for the forthcoming season. February is not at all uncommon, a cold month; and bee and wasp colonies go into a winter dearth as days get shorter, and are only now beginning to tick back up. Typical winter stores would be depleted by this point without man's intervention, so that isn't viable source of feed either, and if cold persists through February which I have seen it do many many times, they won't build a lot until mid-March early April. I saw it snow in Tampa one year at the State Fair, mid-February; about froze to death in the grand stands at the races. 

About mid-April it's warmed up nicely, they need more water, have to move to find that, other wildlife starts dropping it's young, a lot of plants and grasses are sprouting young succulent growth, so they have something substantial to feed on. Cubs are by that time big enough they can move around as well. It's all a nature thing!

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## gman2431 (Jan 5, 2019)

I know what a pollen patty is! Wife is into bees big time over the last year. Ours were out yesterday when it warmed up to 45. 

Basically sounds like a shorter version of what our bears do here but the same reasons. Food vanishes and so forth.

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## rocky1 (Jan 5, 2019)

Eric Rorabaugh said:


> Rocky, I feel ya. We have WAY too many here but we do have a season. Out of state licenses are HIGH. A lot of bear hunters won't kill one unless its 400 lb.+. They just want to "run their dogs" is what I hear all the time. But they get mad when we issue a kill permit due to crop damage. If no one has seen what a bear can do to a cornfield in a matter of nights, it's amazing. Farmer's don't care if it's 100 lb. or 500 lb. If it's in the field, it's getting shot.



Bear are one of the most destructive creatures in nature. When they want something they will find a way to get it. In our business the bunny huggers all say, "well put an electric fence around your bee yards and you won't have any problems." Hell they're even kind enough that they will buy the fence chargers for you, in many cases. What they don't understand is, fences do NOT stop all of them. Yes, it will prevent a lot of trouble, but... you can't mow around bee yards every other day and during the rainy season here that's what it would take to prevent any grass or plants from growing under the fence. Paper companies can herbicide tens of thousands of acres of forest land, do it all the time, but our contract states we can't use herbicides in our bee yards. So as soon as the grass grows up into the fence and it rains, the battery is dead, and the fence doesn't work. 

This is not to mention a persistent bear will find any number of ways to get inside the fence. They are not dumb animals; they are in fact very intelligent; very capable of problem solving, they have a high degree of acuity in thought, and memory. We had one that was caught by a biologist with the Department of the Interior during a study, 30 or so years ago, multiple times. After the first time he tranquilized him with bait, he wouldn't take a bait outside the bee yard. He'd pick it up, walk upright and carry it 50 or more yards and sit it down, then go back and tear the bee yard up. He was caught in a snare, one time... Never managed to catch him in a snare again. He was caught in a culvert trap one time... Never got him in it again. Attempted sitting up there and shooting his ass more than once... After the first time, he'd circle the bee yard before he went in, and when he winded you, he'd go down the road to the next bee yard and leave you there fighting mosquitoes. He'd climb a tree outside the bee yard and jump in, climb a tree inside the yard and jumped out, or drag a bee hive to the fence and shove it through to tear the fence down. After I fenced around all the trees outside the yards in his territory, he started digging under the fences. Which is impossible to stop when the water table is inches below the surface in the woods hereabouts. 

I came back from North Dakota one year, went to the woods to mow bee yards to put the bees in when they came back, and he'd dug under the fence on 3 of 6 yards he terrorized regularly, and walked around in the yards where the bees sat in each, just a day or two before I went to mow them. He knew when the bees were supposed to be back, there was no old sign of him having dug in. The other 3 yards, he walked around the fences and checked without digging in. There was no charger on the fence, hadn't been a bee hive in the yard for 4 months, but he knew where each yard was, remembered where he had dug in previously in each yard, and knew where the bees had sat in the yard. Still had cows in the woods back in those days, and the local cattleman said, when our bees went north for the summer, his diet turned to beef. Tried numerous times to catch him over a previous night's kill, and never had any luck. So he obviously wasn't starving. 

I've seen them back up and run through the fence; I've seen others that simply gritted their teeth and walked through it. Had one I put a 900 amp Deep Cell battery on, a 25 mile 12 volt charger AND a 5 mile 12 volt charger. It wasn't doing the usual, click.................................... click......................................... click.................................... click.................................... It was going click............ click............ click.... click.... click............ click............ click.... click.... and throwing a spark a quarter inch every time it clicked. He quit dragging bee hives back outside the fence to eat them, but he didn't quit going through the fence to eat them. 

I've seen them break fence posts off, I've seen them drag chargers out through the fence and wreck them, I've even seen teeth marks in the gate post where they tried to undo the wire loop holding the gate shut. I've seen them reach under the fence and grab pallets sitting too close to the fence and drag them into the fence and short it out, I've seen them lean over the fence fall on top of the beehive and tip it back into the fence when they're to close to the fence. 

The one thing a bear can't do, is jump. Our fences are about 28 inches high, 3 strand fence, top and bottom wire are hot, ground in the middle. Staple a ground wire to the bottom of a corner post and tie it to the ground on the fence. If a fence is going to stop them, that will stop them. If you really want to fry one's ass, hook a 6 volt charger up to a 12 volt battery! Just don't do it in dry woods, because it will burn any vegetation that comes in contact with it off. It's kinda like grabbing a spark plug wire on an electronic ignition. It will get your attention!! 

Never assume they don't know where the next bee yard down the road is, even if they have never been in it. Every bee yard within 2 - 3 miles of wherever you're having a problem is tattooed in that critter's brain. If he's intent on getting in and you manage to stop him in one yard, he'll move to the next and test every weakness in that fence. 

They are a pain in the ass, and there is NO shortage of them in Sunshine State, regardless of what you may read elsewhere.


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## rocky1 (Jan 5, 2019)

And, sitting here thinking about all this, the little light bulb just went on and I figured out where all the damn bear are coming from all of a sudden.

Torrential rains over much of south Georgia flooded the Okefenokee Swamp a couple weeks before Christmas. Half million acres of bear habitat flooded there. That pushed all the bear south, down the Suwanee River, and down through Sandlin Bay and Pinhook Swamp.

The river here began to rise, as the Okefenokee drains down the Suwanee. A week later we got 5 inches of rain here and over the swamp, adding to the flooding problem, and sending the river here out of its banks. All the bear out of the river swamp, were pushed out on the hill.

Sandlin Bay and Pinhook filled somewhat, but weren't quite full after that, just like my fish ponds. But, then we had another couple inches of rain, which sent the ponds into overflow, completely saturated the ground, and now every time it rains, I have water standing all over the field for days. Literally having to wade into the deer stand, ankle deep is best case scenario from any direction presently, has been for several days now, and it hadn't been dry but a day or two from the previous rain a week prior. Same thing has happened in the swamps, they've filled up now, and it's pushing all the bear in the swamps out on the hill, with all the bear out of the river swamp.

And, that is why we have an unusually high number of bear sightings just all of a sudden! Last time we saw bear numbers like this suddenly, was following fires in the Okefenokee, 20011 and 2013 or 14 as best I recall, destroying their habitat and pushing them all south on top of us.

Of course FWC spent a half million dollars doing DNA studies to determine if Georgia bears migrated down here... HELLO!!! It ain't Rocket Science. And, whether Ocala Bears migrated up the St Johns River swamp to Camp Blanding. (_Never mind they hauled their nuisance bears out of Ocala to Blanding for years, and they might share the same DNA. Uhmmm... Yeah, they drew the obvious conclusion on those two counts, and wasted a half million dollars in the process._)

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## Lou Currier (Jan 6, 2019)



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