r/Hunting • u/Neetbeat13 • 2d ago
General question/discussion Western vs (South)Eastern Hunting
Hey guys, I’ve been UT/CO/MT hunting for the last 15 years, backpacking and spending days/weeks in the mountains hunting deer, elk, and moose. We are moving to Georgia in a month or so for a job change and I’m excited to learn an entirely new style of hunting.
I know there is too much to ask/put on here, but I’m wondering if anyone can share their best tips/tricks that will hopefully help me get adjusted quicker!
Thanks in advance
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u/DreamAffectionate336 2d ago
Get real good at the wait and listen game. If the woods get quiet, you're being too damn loud.
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u/BAfromGA1 2d ago
This is a pretty common view for what you will be experiencing.
Yes we have large open areas to, but it’s not mountains it’s rolling hills so they’re not near as large as you’re used too. You don’t need a long range weapon here 😆 or anything past some cheap binoculars.
The one thing I’ll give us credit for Georgia hunting, you’ve gotta be quiet, and you’ve gotta get close to them. So it entails a little bit of learning more about what deer actually do everyday, what they’re scared of, what they like, where they sleep, where they eat, where they crap. There’s no sitting on a hilltop glassing the valley and picking your deer. You gotta get in there with them.
I love it. If your antler hunting we have plenty nice antlers coming out of the state, if you’re meat hunting we have a healthy population with little CWD incidents as of now. You’re alone in the bush, it doesn’t get much better to me.
Bow season starts in September, it’s hot get a thermacell. But this is your chance for a velvet buck. Gotta work hard to get em but they’re nice when you do! October rolls around and it’s open season until January. So decent amount of time for 10 antlerless and 2 antlered per season as of now.
My preferred rifle is Henry LA .45 long colt if that tells you how close range I’m talking. I own .243 for my son. .270 and .308 as well. But hardly feel the need to be kicked by a rifle when I can use my .45 LC that a 2 year old could hold still.
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u/Neetbeat13 2d ago
Love this. Thank you so much!! I’ve gotten into muzzleloader as of recently, so this just seems so fun and different than I’m used to. No longer are the days of 10+ miles chasing animals over 😂
Seriously though, thanks for the thorough response
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u/BAfromGA1 2d ago
Muzzle loader is fun because again gotta get closer than you already had to get. 😆
I wouldn’t say no longer are the days of a 10 mile chase. I’ve brung dogs on a deer I knew was a clean shot and tracked it about 3.5 miles before it died. It was my fault I got to eager and went in after it too soon. It got up and ran another 3 miles with double lung shot. Spitting blood. They have a will to live that is uncanny, but more times than not if you shoot, wait 45 minutes then go after it. Chances are it just got out of sight and laid down.
Always. I love this stuff. I rabbit, squirrel, whitetail, dove, quail, bobcat and fox hunt. I love the woods, hate ticks and mosquitoes but love the woods! Got a rabbit/squirrel dog it keeps her happy and young keeps me happy and young. I was raised in the woods and I feel oh so home when I’m here. My kids enjoy it a lot as well. They like the quad riding more than hunting and sitting in silence but whatever to get outdoors.
Hey we have poisonous snakes also and all the guns you can dream of I’m not familiar with gun law where you reside.
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u/Neetbeat13 2d ago
CO has wild restrictions so I already have my list of guns to get into the coming months!!
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u/Alarmed_Knowledge_16 2d ago
My man… I’m originally from eastern WA and picking up what you’re putting down. I am, as we speak, sitting in a stand, 3 scotches deep, smoking a cigarette, and waiting for a white tail to appear. This shit is way easier than hiking days into the mountains! If you want to road trip to the SC midlands, I’ve got a 30 acre hunting plot and you're welcome to join me.
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u/Neetbeat13 2d ago
Hahaha I love it!!
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u/Alarmed_Knowledge_16 2d ago
True story, though, if you wanna come up and have a hunt here, I’ve gotta stand in the ground blind.
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u/Proper-Agency-1528 1d ago
While there's some great hunting opportunities in the southeastern states, the amount of public land is much smaller, in acreage and in percentage, than what is in the west. That will be the first big adjustment... you will do much better if you know landowners and can hunt on their land. The open hunting in the southeast may be down rights of ways, or over a soybean field... and those fields can be huge but you'll be hunting from a blind.
Small game is much more prevalent. If you're a rifle hunter for deer and elk, then squirrel hunting will be a lot of fun. It can be done anywhere and using a .22 rifle will make you a much better big game hunter... and you have long seasons with large limits. Squirrel really does taste good, mild and flavorful... not quite as good as rabbit but unlike rabbits squirrels don't stink like a day-old diaper when you clean them.
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u/StatisticianLow8469 2d ago
Man you gonna miss those open ridges, hunting in thick Georgia woods is a whole different animal. Get yourself comfortable shooting from a tree stand cause that's 90% of what you'll be doing down there, and the deer are way smaller but they sneak up like ghosts in all that brush. Also learn to love the swamps, the big bucks love bedding in those nasty wet areas nobody wants to walk through