Bear season in play, deer next
Pennsylvania hunters taking part in the Keystone State’s current bear season should find a huge blackbear population on the move thanks to an abundance of fall foods. The four-day statewide firearms season for Pennsylvania bruins opened on Saturday, Nov. 18.
Penn’s Woods has been smothered by hard and soft mast this past summer and fall. Leaf-drop also was delayed by uncommonly warm weather into early November. Combined, these conditions have given bears reasons to stay out of dens, and plenty of cover to sneak about the Commonwealth.
With cooperative weather, particularly on the opening day, Pennsylvania is poised to take a run at topping the 2016 bear harvest of 3,529, which ranks as the state’s fifth best. Or maybe the harvest will be even higher.
“It’s an exciting time to be a Pennsylvania bear hunter,” noted Game Commission Executive Director Bryan Burhans. “The population is thriving and there are some real trophies on the loose.
“But all great bear seasons are supported by clear, cold weather, with a little snow if possible. It’s what really draws hunter participation and influences bear movements. Let’s keep our fingers crossed!”
Significant ice, fog, or rain, or a good dumping of snow during the season can hold the bear harvest down. Hunters have a harder time getting to or from their favorite hunting spots, the bears are harder to see, and overall participation gener- ally drops.
The number of hunters buying bear licenses is on pace to reach 170,000 to 175,000, which is where license sales have topped out the past two years. The record for bear license sales occurred in 2015, when 175,314 were sold. More bear hunters is always good for bear hunting because hunters afield will keep bears stirring about.
Sixty bears topped 500 pounds in the 2016 harvest. The largest was taken by Dusty Learn, of Home. He harvested his 740-pound bear at seven yards with bow-and-arrow. But Mark Ternent, Game Commission bear biologist, believes Penn’s Woods hold bigger bears, at least 800-pounders.
“Pennsylvania bear hunters have already taken a few 800-pounders, and since there’s been no decline in bear health or body weights in recent years, the odds remain good for it to happen again,” Ternent said.
However, it’s no small feat for a bear to reach that size when you consider it takes about nine years for a bear to reach 500 pounds.” But it’s not all about the weight. Pennsylvania is No. 2 among all states and Canadian provinces in number of black bear entries in Boone & Crockett Club records, which are based on skull size. Ten percent of those book bears were taken in Pennsylvania.
The Commonwealth’s international standing as a premier bear hunting destination annually draws hunters from throughout North America and beyond. A population of 20,000 bears will do that. But make no mistake, bears are a hard species to hunt. Their densities rarely exceed one bear per-square-mile, and bear hunter success rates typically fall between 2 and 3 percent, Ternent noted.
Bears were taken in 58 of the state’s 67 counties in 2016. The counties with the largest bear harvests were: Lycoming County, 243 bears; Clinton County, 220; Tioga, 169; Potter, 149; Warren, 131; and Somerset, 116.
The Game Commission estimates Pennsylvania’s bear population at around 20,000, a high-water mark the population has held for the past two seasons, despite substantial harvests. In 2015, hunters took 3,748 bears, the third-best harvest ever.
Pennsylvania’s all-time largest bear harvest occurred in 2011, when 4,350 bears were harvested. It was the first year the current four-day statewide firearms bear season format was used.
Pennsylvania’s statewide general firearms season on whitetail deer opened on Monday, Nov. 27, and runs through Dec. 9. In most areas, hunters may take only antlered deer during the season’s first five days, with the antlerless and antlered seasons then running concurrently from the first Saturday, Dec. 2, to the season’s close. In WMUs 2B, 5C and 5D, however, properly licensed hunters may take either antlered or antlerless deer at any time during the season. Look for more on deer season in next week’s column.
More than 89 percent of the hunters participating in Pennsylvania’s 2017 elk hunt have taken home a trophy.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission recently announced 104 elk were taken by hunters during the regular one-week elk season that ended Nov. 4. And for those licensed to hunt antlered elk, also known as bulls, the success rate was 100 percent.
The 2017 harvest included some large elk. Ten bulls each were estimated to weigh 700 pounds or more, with three of them going more than 800 pounds. The heaviest bull taken in this year’s hunt was estimated at 833 pounds. That bull, which sported an 8-by-7 rack, was taken Oct. 30 by Shawn Latshaw, of Franklin.
Meanwhile, an 832-pounder with an 8-by-9 rack was taken by Robert Cook, of Earlville, N.Y., and an 803-pounder with a 6-by-7 rack was taken by Alfred Hake, of Manchester. Not all of the bull elk taken in the hunt were measured and green-scored by rack size, but Cook’s bull had the highest green score at 431 6/8 inches, according to Boone & Crockett big-game scoring standards.
Official measurements of bulls taken in the hunt cannot be recorded until the antlers have air dried for at least 60 days after the animal was harvested.
There also were some large antlerless elk taken in the harvest. Nine of the 79 cows taken by hunters during the one-week season weighed over 500 pounds.
Fifty-nine elk – 12 bulls and 47 cows – were taken on the opening day of the elk season Oct. 30.
To participate in the elk hunt, hunters must submit an application, then must be selected through a random drawing and purchase a license. The drawing annually attracts more than 30,000 applicants.