Whether a summer camping trip or a stay at a cozy cabin in the woods, there’s always a possibility for a black bear sighting or encounter in North Georgia. With more than 75 established campgrounds and an estimated 1,200 - 1,500 black bears in North Georgia, campers should always be aware and prepared for a black bear encounter. The key to preventing an unfavorable experience is to properly store food and garbage.

  "Bears can become habituated to people when they are fed – whether intentional or not. When a bear knows it can get a 'free meal,'’ it will return again and again until eventually it loses its natural fear of humans. This is when the majority of human-bear conflicts occur and the bear is regarded a nuisance,"” explains Adam Hammond, wildlife biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division.

  Proper food storage while camping means that no food, drinks, coolers or garbage should be left out in the open and available to bears or other wildlife. Even non-food items with strong odors, such as toothpaste, deodorant and soap should be secured.

  All food and scented items should be secured either inside a vehicle, or if backcountry camping, inside a knapsack and hoisted out of reach of bears and other wildlife.

  Black bears commonly are found in three areas of the state - the north Georgia mountains, the Ocmulgee River drainage system in central Georgia and the Okefenokee Swamp in the southeastern part of the state. However, black bears can and do range over larger areas; especially in early spring and late summer, when natural food sources are scarce. Young male bears are also known to disperse in an effort to establish their own territory.

  In urban and suburban areas, garbage, birdseed, and pet food are the most common bear attractants. In addition to properly storing food and garbage, homeowners in known bear areas are advised to bring pet food indoors and to remove bird feeders during the spring and late summer.

  "The best and most effective way to resolve human-bear conflicts is to remove the attractant," says Hammond. "In most cases, that simply means making garbage, birdseed, pet food and other non-natural food items inaccessible."

  Though the American black bear (Ursus americanus) is now considered the most common bear in North America and the only native bear found in Georgia, at one point the species was nearly eradicated from the state due to poaching and habitat loss. Yet, because of sound wildlife management practices Georgia’s current black bear population is healthy and estimated between 2,300 and 2,500 bears statewide.

  For more information regarding black bears or the great outdoor adventures in waiting for you in Georgia, visit www.georgiawildlife.com , contact a WRD Game Management office, or call (770) 918-6416. If you live in Georgia visit your local library to check out a copy of an informational DVD entitled, “Where Bears Belong: Black Bears in Georgia.”

  Those of you that have read some of my outdoor stories have read about Tippy and how she and I became a hunting team without equal. She was one of my best friends and some of you have been lucky enough to have a canine friendship that was similar to mine and Tippy’s. I can only say that we were lucky that God blessed us that way.

  We sit there on the sloping bank of the pond watching the orange bobber in the water. Boy and dog were enjoying the warmth of the sun on their backs as we fished Grandpa’s pond at the back of his house. I had a grasshopper on the hook and I was watching it as it floated up toward a fallen willow that lay half submerged across that end of the pond. I already had two big bluegill on my stringer and wanted a couple more.

  The .22 rifle lying beside me was a constant, though I was carrying it for snakes. We weren’t allowed to shoot turtles on the pond because it was at an angle that would cause too many ricochets and Grandpa didn’t tolerate any unsafe acts with a gun.

  Not that I didn’t turtle hunt the pond, but when I did I used a shotgun because the small pellets lost their velocity quickly and ricochets were not a long distance danger like the .22 would be. The green headed turtles will take over a pond if you let them, but during the summer Tippy and I did our best to work them over at least once a week with a surprise ambush and a 20 gauge shotgun.

  I saw the bobber start to arc toward the willow and knew a big bluegill had that grasshopper in its mouth. As the bobber started down, I jerked, setting the hook and got the immediately heavy fight of a big bluegill. The old 33 reel had no problems bringing him in and I added him to the stringer as Tippy watched, more or less bored with fishing. She got up and circled the pond, looking for a snake.

  We were big time snake fighters. Tippy was what grandpa called a fice, a mixed breed tan dog with one floppy ear that would give her a comical expression when she would cock her head to one side. She would do this when she was trying to figure out what she was looking at or if I was about to do something stupid, like jump the creek in full flood stage. I knew the look. It didn’t always help me from getting my butt wet at first, but I started following her advice as I got older.

  The original spelling of fice was feist for the small mixed breed hunting dogs that held an indeterminate lineage and a heart for the hunt. They were known for hunting anything that had four legs and as you might expect she was a deadly hunter. We kept the squirrel and rabbit populations to a manageable level around grandpa’s woods through my junior high and high school years.

  I watched her nose around the pond, ready to grab my rifle to go into battle if she started the jumping, head jerking dance I knew so well when she found a snake and was trying to keep it in place until I could get there to kill it. The bad thing was sometimes she would want to try to kill it herself and I was always worried she would get her little fool self bit. Tippy was fast and I mean so fast no snake really even got close to biting her even when she got older and slower.

  This was the third time she had went around the pond and just like the other two times she came back and lay down at my side with a sigh. I rubbed her head and she rolled to her back for the obligatory belly scratching.

  Rolling back to her belly, she made a little sound that sounded like "Aarrpp" and meant she had about enough of this fishing crap.

  I pulled my line in and put a small broke-back lure on the line and tossed it toward the willow and just wiggled it. I would take up the slack and wiggle it.

  The water rolled and the lure disappeared and I set the treble hooks and brought in another bluegill. The problem with fishing this way was the most I had ever caught at one time was three and then they would not take it again. I managed to catch one more and a 14 inch bass that I added to the stringer.

  I know some bass fishermen just rolled over with heart pains then, but catch and release was a fable that rich men did off in some far away land. In southeastern Oklahoma around 1979 we practiced catch and eat.

  Picking up my stringer of six fish, I wrapped it around my right hand, a move that would prove to be a mistake. I took my rifle in my left hand and we dropped off the back of the pond and headed for the house. We had just hit the high grass between the pond and the little creek at the back of the pond when I seen the white flashing mouth of a cotton-mouth coming back to strike. The high pitched girlish scream was purely to disorient the snake, but the high jump straight up in the air was Olympic class. The snake barely missed me and then Tippy was all over it as I tried to get that damn stringer off my hand!

  The snake had opted to make a run for it and Tippy grabbed it and jerked her head before jumping straight back as the snake came around. About that time is when the stringer cleared my hand and the Nylon 66 .22 hit my shoulder. It held 14 rounds in the tube, but I would load one in the chamber and refill the tube so there were 15 shots in the gun.

  I gave that big cottonmouth ten rounds through the head and body to make sure he was dead and then the other five just in case he thought about coming back to life. The snake’s body would move S-like as it died and I hated the way it took snakes forever to quit moving after you killed one. Finding a long stick, I picked up the snake and tossed him in the pond for the turtles to eat.

  Looking at Tippy, her ears are up and she is standing there speaking volumes with her body language. Right then my dog was saying, "Yeah!!! That beat the hell out of fishing boy!!" I got my fish and we headed home, only this time she went right in front of me until we hit the road back to the house.

  "Go check the garden,"” I said as she threw her head up and headed for the corn and squash. She made a quick circle as I walked past the garden. Ol' Tippy was my best friend and right then the only fault I could find with her is she didn’t clean fish.

  I can't help but feel a certain amount of awe, fear, and pity whenever I hear someone announce, "I got chiggers!" Chigger bites are about as irritating as poison ivy, except chiggers target those sensitive, private areas, whereas poison ivy usually affects exposed areas. It's particularly annoying that they choose to feast under the elastic of undergarments. Socks are easy to leave off in summer, but going commando's a different story. And so, the maddening itch of the bites combined with the moisture that accumulates under elastic bands on clothing makes for rather distracted work days!

  Believe it or not, chiggers are actually larvae of the harvest mite, Trombicula Alfreddugesi, and are related to ticks and spiders. The adults have eight legs, are bright red, and may be seen crawling over the soil surface when spading the garden on warm spring days. They appear as small velvety red spiders and smear red when crushed. They feed on insect eggs, small insects and other organisms found on or near decaying wood. Although the adults are not a threat to us, they lay as many as 400 eggs in a single group in moist, well-drained areas. Upon hatching, the flesh-hungry larvae crawl onto nearby vegetation to await passing prey. Although some believe a single chigger will bite multiple times, the numerous bites are actually caused by the vast number of chiggers from one hatching that were lying in wait on the same leaf.

  Chiggers are active from spring to late fall and are most abundant in shaded niches near the tips of grass leaves, weeds, sticks and other objects close to the ground. They can detect movement and sense the approach of prey. Upon contact, they quickly crawl aboard and begin searching for a preferred feeding site. They prefer the safety of confining spaces such as under socks, belts, and elastic bands of underwear, but have been known to feed behind the knees and in the armpits. Since they may search several hours for a feeding site, you may want to consider showering immediately after possible exposure to eliminate or reduce the presence of these little parasites before they can feed. Wash all clothing as soon as possible to kill any chiggers that have not begun to feed.

  Another common belief is that the chigger burrows into our flesh. The chigger feeds on the surface by piercing our skin, usually around a hair follicle or pore, and injecting digestive fluid that liquifies our skin cells. Our body reacts to this intrusion by swelling around the bite. You'll notice a characteristic red welt with a white, hard central area. Sometimes you can see the tiny red chigger in the center, but usually it is camouflaged by the swelling of the surrounding cells. Although swelling starts immediately, there is little itching at first. This delayed effect allows the chigger time to feed undisturbed and also gives other intruding larvae time to begin their feeding.

  The larvae gorge themselves on our liquefied flesh. This may take hours to several days. When feeding is complete, they drop off, burrow into the ground, and develop to the nymph stage. Like adult mites, nymphs do not feed on animal flesh, but on other insects and organic material.

  The itch of a chigger bite seems to develop only after the chigger drops off. Perhaps these little parasites add a chemical to prevent the itch until they are done feeding and have escaped to safety. Since many people don't notice the bites until the itch begins and the chigger has dropped off, it is unnecessary to attempt to kill a chigger then. However, if you do find the bites early and want to try to interrupt the feeding, here are some methods you may use to try to kill the larvae.

  The most popular methods involve asphyxiation or smothering the chigger. A dot of clear nail polish applied to the center of the welt is one of the most popular means; however this may be irritating to already inflamed skin. Mineral oil or Vaseline applied to the welt can also block the airway without causing irritation. Some use a drop of antiseptic to kill the chigger.

  Once the itch hits you'll probably need some relief depending on the number of bites you have. Warm, soaking baths followed by applications of over-the-counter itch cream can provide some relief. In severe cases, Benadryl or its generic, Diphenhydramine, may be taken orally to help relieve the maddening itch and promote rest. This is also available over-the-counter and should be taken according to package directions.

  A severe case of chigger bites may last 2-3 weeks. So, as usual, prevention is the best medicine. Consider using an appropriate insect repellent, especially around your feet and ankles. Walk in the middle of paths to prevent brushing up against foliage. Consider wearing light clothes as chiggers are attracted to dark colors. Choose a sitting spot carefully. A dry, sunny spot will be less likely to have chiggers than a shaded area. Swim, spray off, or shower as soon as possible after potential exposure to wash off any roaming larvae. Bag up potentially infested clothes and wash as soon as possible. Inspect your skin carefully, checking for welts (while you check for ticks), since itching does not occur immediately. The sooner you find the bites, the quicker you can intervene and thus minimize the effects of the attack.

  Chiggers may be pesky, but by planning ahead and intervening early we can minimize the amount of aggravation they inflict on us. They are just one more thing to deal with as we continue to enjoy the outdoors. Until next time...Maggie B.

Answer To Bonus Question: A gallon is larger than a gill. After we first ran this, someone wrote back and told us what a gill equals. We can’t remember what it is so you’re on your own.