For those who are new to the sport, here is how the hunt generally proceeds. Oconee County hunter Tony Cantrell said that every party might hunt a little differently.

"We start by putting a dog down on a track (the track dog), and see if he can go with it. We keep up with the dog along roads and ridgetops, and when the trailing voice begins to get better, we begin to put other dogs in with it. We don't pack too many in until the bear jumps and then we send the rest in.

"The length of the race depends on several things. I have seen some end as quick as 30 minutes and I have seen some last until dark. Then you just have to catch your dogs off the track, and hope that you can start the track again in the morning, or maybe find another track. If you have a good, fast pack and they work together, the bear may tree fairly quickly. If the bear gets a big head start, or maybe it is a big, mean bear, then it may become what we call a walking bear. The dogs will walk it and the bear will take its time and stay in the roughs, and you may have a hard time harvesting that particular bear."

BEARCAST 2005
Skip Still is the DNR's designated bear biologist and he sees good things ahead for bear hunters. Even though the harvest for the previous year, 2004, was down somewhat from the record harvest of 55 bears in 2003, Still keeps his finger on the pulse of bears and bear hunting in all the Southeastern states, and he said the trend is toward increasing bear populations.

"All states reported healthy and abundant bear populations in the Southern Appalachians," Still said. "A total of 792 bears were harvested in the four-state region of the Southern Appalachian Mountains (Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia). This is down 48 percent from last year's harvest of 1,262," Still said.

Still explained that since 1981 the four-state bear harvest has increased by a factor of five. So last year's drop in the harvest may simply be a mere blip on the radar screen.

Sure enough, the bear harvest in any given year will always vary with the vagaries of nature during that season. Bad weather, such as rainy days, variability in the acorn crop, heat, humidity and hunter fatigue, along with other factors, all affect the harvest rate.

Bear hunters know for a fact that the single biggest factor accounting for the record harvest in 2003 was the near total failure of the acorn crop. The bears had to travel more to get to the limited food supplies, and in many cases, multiple bears were concentrated around the few acorn and hickory nuts that were available. Bear hunters should really pay attention to this fact: It is not always the case that a good acorn crop always means good bear hunting. As a matter of fact, exactly the opposite was true in 2003. A near total failure of the acorn crop resulted in the largest bear harvest in recent history.

"We harvested 29 bears last year -- 16 in Pickens County, 10 in Oconee County and three in Greenville County," Still said. "Seven were harvested on the still-hunts and 22 during the dog hunts. There were 14 males and 15 females. Our surveys indicate that more folks hunt in Oconee County, but they are more successful in Pickens County."

After looking at long-term harvest trends, the need to manage an increasing number of hunters concentrating in certain areas, and some problems that developed during last season, the DNR and bear hunters have begun to look at implementing some changes in bear seasons and the rules and regulations.

Still put it this way, "I see no change in bear regulations for the 2005 season, but we are working with the Upstate Bearhunters and Houndsmen Association, and the local legislative delegation, to look at the possibility of an expanded bear season in 2006."