I have had some guys tell me that if you can find a bee nest in a log during archery season, it can be worth sitting over, but again, the WMA in TN you will be bear hunting in is 700,000 acres of big woods with some bear refuges throughout (You can hunt other game in the refuges, but not bear). From the time I've spent up there, hunting food sources seems like an absolute waste of time. There are simply too many available food sources, too much area and bear refuges for bears to escape pressure. 2014 was an absolutely INSANE mast year in the Smokies. It was literally like walking on marbles. This year was a mast failure year up there which likely contributed to the increased harvest. On an average year, though, there is an abundance of available mast. Also, that area has the lowest deer population densities in the entire state. It is really weird to go into those woods because there is just very little deer sign anywhere. If you live anywhere else in Tennessee, you can walk into literally any patch of woods and almost certainly find deer sign, most likely an abundance of it everywhere. Its really weird up there to walk around perfect hardwood funnels and out on benches and see no rubs, acorns on the ground with no deer droppings etc. If you do find a deer track, its usually only a single deer where you are accustomed to sign from herds. The deer density is less is 1-3 deer per sq mile while much of the rest of the state is 15-20+. Point being, there is far less competition for the mast up there. There are some hogs. Like bears, the best way to hunt them is with dogs (thankfully, baiting is not legal in TN), but if you see one, you can kill it. Like bears, they tend to hole up in the thickest nastiest thickets imaginable and are all but invisible once the pressure is applied.
Also, that can be some very tough terrain in those mountains. Sure, the altitude is only 2,000 feet and the elevation gains are often more like 400-600 feet differences rather than thousands, but it can be just as frustratingly steep as hunting out West and the thickets and undergrowth can be very difficult to negotiate. Mountain Laurel will become the bane of your existence. I've climbed mountainsides so steep that I was on all fours kicking footholds in the dirt for hundred of feet. Packing a bear out solo will be no joke. When the fog banks set in, visibility can be problematic -they don't call it the Smokies for nothin'
If you find yourself there during a dog season, there may be a lot of hounds running around. We tried to use the dogs to our advantage and went hightailing after them several times they started congregating and barking, though it never panned out. The houndsmen we talked to basically told us to feel free to shoot a bear or hog that there dogs are on. I can't say that every houndsmen is going to necessarily be ok with that, but most of these guys are all about working the dogs more than anything else. Killing a bear is just a lot of work. Since these guys turn their dogs loose and sit at trailheads tracking them, it could literally take them hours and hours to get to a bayed up bear. Honestly, we just kind of had fun with it. Some of the hounds slept in our camp each night (backcountry camping). Those dogs will often stay out there for 2-3 days at a time, sometimes longer, before they get rounded up. I don't feel like the presence of hounds hurt us one bit. Having them in the area likely presents a better chance of a bear being on its feet and/or getting ran out of a refuge. I'd have 0 problem shooting a bear that has been purused or bayed up by dogs. I would not be the least bit interested in hunting over bait, though. Anyone that think that that bear hounding is easy or lazy has no concept of what is involved with hunting bear in those mountains. I approach these hunts as mixed bag hunting: Bear, deer, & Hog. I've yet to see any of those 3 while hunting up there.
A legal bear is 75 pounds at check in. If your bear is a questionable weight, bring the gut pile out, too because that can count towards the weight. You also cannot kill a sow with cubs.
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