Outlaw, I live in Greensboro, but belong to a club in Beaufort Co, half way between Washington and Plymouth NC, off of NC Hwy 32. That is were I have taken all 3 of my bear. They were all taken within a 400-500 yard radius, by still hunting. Believe me, I've been still hunting for bear in this area for atleast 12 years now, and only have taken 3, the odds are definately in the bear's favor. they have lots of bear in that part of the state, as I have seen as high as 31 during the week of eastern muzzleloading season alone. These were 31 different bear, as I hunted a dozen or so different stands that week.

They run bear a lot with dogs down there, but I never really cared for that style of bear hunting, as the biggest challenge is keeping up with the dogs, not the hunt itself. One guy I know well, that runs bear with dogs, nice fellow, uses a Winchester pump .22 magnum rifle to bear hunt with. Once the dogs tree them or corner them, it's just a matter of shooting them in the ear or eye, for the kill. They have a new peice of game land, about 10 miles from our club, that has only been open for a couple years now. On this particular 5,000 acre peice of game land, a bunch guys came down from the mountains with their dogs last year and took 32 bear off that game land. They basically wipe them out on that piece of game land, I mean they shot every danged thing they could, size did not matter. This is why I don't have a lot of respect for dog bear hunters. The state has closed that peice of game land for bear hunting this year and will most likely be closed for the next 2-3 years as well, becuase of these jerks.