Opening Morning Pennsylvania Bear

Matthews · Nov 22, 2016

Haven't been on in a while and thought I would share our groups success on the opening morning of PA's rifle bear season which was 11/19. A long time friend was the one that managed to fill his tag on it but it was a great hunt to be part of none the less.

For those that don't know most Pennsylvania bears are typically killed by drives. This one however was killed on stand after having an idea what its pattern was like after multiple encounters during the archery deer season.

Due to this knowledge and an awesome cold front hitting mid day my friend was able to get an 80 yard shot on this hammer of a PA black bear.

Bear was weighed at check station. Weight was 448 field dressed and estimated live weight was 529.

JohnCushman · Nov 22, 2016

Excellent!!

PAGOAT · Nov 22, 2016

Very nice, congratulations guys. All that we saw were deer.

Goat

dcopas78 · Nov 22, 2016

Nice bear! I have friends up around Clearfield that have been trying to get me to come up bear hunting for years. I'm going to have to take them up on it sometime

LCH · Nov 22, 2016

What a hoss! I bet those drives get exciting.

Elkhunter24 · Nov 25, 2016

Congrats what county did he kill it in?

Kiwi · Nov 25, 2016

Great looking bear. My dream hunt at the moment.

Matthews · Nov 26, 2016

Elkhunter it was killed in Huntingdon County

35cal · Nov 26, 2016

great bear! congratulations!

Trigger50 · Nov 26, 2016

That's a toad

prhunter · Nov 27, 2016

Congrats on your harvest. I hope to go bear hunting someday.

sbhooper · Nov 27, 2016

That is a pretty bear!!

rjlefty3 · Nov 27, 2016

That's a good bear too! Congrats!

kenwparker · Nov 28, 2016

Nice looking bear.

ron-ream · Dec 5, 2016

Awesome. I was born in Lewistown but left there when I was about 9 or 10 and grew up in TX. I remember going out with my dad and back then the season was a week long, then years later they closed it totally for a few years. That is awesome. We have a spring season in MT and a fall, usually spring is more successful than fall but sometimes hunters get em in fall here too. Good luck.

old man · Dec 18, 2016

Nice bear, congratulations. I know Pency has some big bears. maybe some day i will have time to hunt there but looking for another color phase first.

efw · Jan 8, 2017

Dewd what a friggin BRUTE!

Impressive that you could shootthat guy in a state where they do about everything they can to tip the scales in the bear's favor. Excellent work congrats on a great trophy!

MJE2083 · Jan 8, 2017

efw said:
Dewd what a friggin BRUTE!

Impressive that you could shootthat guy in a state where they do about everything they can to tip the scales in the bear's favor. Excellent work congrats on a great trophy!

What do you mean by "tip the scales in the bear's favor"?

efw · Jan 8, 2017

I mean that Pennsylvania does not allow baiting or dogs.

Out West spot and stalk is doable because of the seasons and the terrain but back East disallowing those two methods makes a bear hunt very difficult.

In other states where there are such restrictions bear season is run at the same time as deer, allowing them to be taken as targets of opportunity. But again, that isn't the case in Pa.

All that having been said just to be clear I am not making a judgment positive or negative on Pa's rules. I am simply pointing out that shooting a big old bear like this one is an even bigger accomplishment due to the restrictions they have in place there.

MJE2083 · Jan 8, 2017

efw said:
I mean that Pennsylvania does not allow baiting or dogs.

Out West spot and stalk is doable because of the seasons and the terrain but back East disallowing those two methods makes a bear hunt very difficult.

In other states where there are such restrictions bear season is run at the same time as deer, allowing them to be taken as targets of opportunity. But again, that isn't the case in Pa.

All that having been said just to be clear I am not making a judgment positive or negative on Pa's rules. I am simply pointing out that shooting a big old bear like this one is an even bigger accomplishment due to the restrictions they have in place there.

I see what you're saying. I don't know the regs in most other eastern states and was just curious as to what you meant. I've only hunted bear in PA 1 time before, but I plan on doing it more in the future as I have recently moved to the Mtns. I don't mind the regs here, i'm not really a big fan of dogs or bait but I can certainly see how those are preferred methods in other places. I don't know about bear but I believe that some other states have prohibitions on conducting organized drives, which is legal here(and according to many-the preferred method).

It is my understanding that the PA bear population is currently the highest that it has ever been. There is some area's now where you are allowed to kill a bear during a few days during dear season and they are really extending the seasons to keep bears away from the Pittsburgh/Philly areas.

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