Eastern North Carolina public bear

[AssawomanGunsmith]

Has anyone hunted eastern NC for bear? its only 4-5hrs from me and is about the closet I can get to to to hunt black bear. Any info would be great. Thanks!

 

[np307]

What kind of hunt are you looking for? Dogs, guided, diy?

edited after I realized you want a public land hunt

 

[Labman]

Yep, done it in the Havelock, NC area. Tough. The dog guys are everywhere and where the bears live it is thick and nasty. You might find a rare powerline that you can look down but you would need to be a quick shot if the opportunity presented itself. Your only real chance is with dogs. Without them you are stuck in a tree stand hoping to get really lucky.

 

[nhn2a]

Yes, I'd look at permit hunt opportunities. Most of the non permit public land is overhunted. I hunted Dare Game Land and Texas Plantation permits and had a great time. Only complaint about permits hunts is they are short. Each was only two days.

 

[genesis273]

I have a few times. Public land will be tough, which is an understatement. Like said above, it is thick and nasty.

 

[AssawomanGunsmith]

I was thinking DIY without dogs, and everything I've read is what you guys are saying-thick and almost impossible without dogs. Ive been tempted on going through and outfitter but my cheapness keeps holding me back.

 

[DRS]

Pretty limited public DIY opportunities in this part of NC. I just got out of a club in Washington Co. (one of the better eastern NC counties for bear) where I never saw a bear while stand hunting timber company land in 5 seasons. The adjoining dog hunting club normally killed 10-15 a season.

 

[Gunner46]

I lived in & hunted Eastern NC for almost 40 yrs and saw exactly 1 bear, during turkey season. OHHH, they're there no doubt, but the area is thick with deer, which get hunted Hard starting well before Bear season. The bears don't just saunter out into a open field. You really need to get into the nasty, thick, swampy areas to even stand a chance of even seeing one.

Go with a dedicated dog hunt. Ka-Ching.

All that aside, Eastern NC has some truly MONSTER sized bears. I believe it was Dolly Parton's cousin that tagged one at over 800#s just north of New Bern, a few years back.

Here's a video to show you what we mean by THICK.

Good luck, which ever route you take.

 

[buck23]

I deer and duck hunted down east quite a bit years ago and everybody is right get some dogs or go with outfitter. I know there are places that literally a human being could not walk upright for more than a few yards anywhere!

 

[JTHOMP]

If you want DIY I'd suggest driving farther and going to a state where you don't have to compete with dog hunters. And someplace where the terrain doesn't make it almost impossible except with dogs or over bait. This is still possible in some eastern states.

 

[AssawomanGunsmith]

JTHOMP I could drive about the same time and get to areas in VA that have bear just have always heard about the great bears of eastern NC

 

[jbogg]

North GA has some great public land bear hunting if that is within driving distance for you. As soon as you cross the state line from NC you are in almost a million acres of Chattahoochee National Forest. Bow season starts in early September just as the White Oak acorns are ripening. For the first couple of weeks you can stalk the bears up in the trees as they will climb the white oaks to strip the acorns off of the branches before they begin falling. Many times you can hear them breaking branches from quite a distance and then slowly stalk within bow range. Otherwise you can find a nice saddle or lead where they are feeding and just hunt them like you would a deer. I have only been hunting them for the last three years, and I have had several shot opportunities. I ended up shooting a nice sow during one of the rifle hunts on one of the mountain WMAs on the National Forest.