# Pennsylvania 4-Day Bear Firearms Season Preliminary Results, Nov. 2014



## BornToHuntAndFish (Dec 3, 2014)

In case you have not seen this . . . 



http://www.theoutdoorwire.com/story/14175541271n6cvejuugu

*PA Bear Harvest During Statewide Season Close To Last Year's Pace*

Wednesday, December 3, 2014


"wintry weather that enveloped much of *Pennsylvania on Nov. 26, the final day of the statewide firearms bear season*, hunters harvested 100 bears" 

"That final-day total pushed the *harvest during the four-day 2014 season to 2,444*, down slightly compared to the 2,473 bears taken during the statewide season in 2013."

"largest harvest - 4,350 bears - happened in 2011"  

"*top 10 bears* processed at check stations during the statewide season were either estimated or confirmed to have *live weights of 557 pounds or more*" 

"*largest *of those bears - a male *estimated at 677 pounds* - was taken in Pittsfield Township, Warren County " 

"*623-pound* male taken in West Buffalo Township, Union County"


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## Day in the woods (Dec 3, 2014)

Is there anywhere to see similar harvest information for Georgia for this year?  Or last year?


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## oldfella1962 (Dec 3, 2014)

What are those bears eating? Are they sneaking into all you can eat buffet restaurants?


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## Resica (Dec 4, 2014)

Thanks for posting. Hadn't seen it yet. Some WMU's have extended bear season going on now, concurrent with our rifle season for deer, so the numbers will go up. They haven't included our earlier archery bear numbers either. No really big ones yet this year, I see.


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## Ramblin Wreck Red Neck (Dec 11, 2014)

Pennsylvania bear season is on my bucket list.  One of these days....


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## Old Crusty (Jan 23, 2015)

I've archery hunted those mountains a lot, and seen lots of bear. Its getting to the point that your odds of a bear are almost better than a buck.


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## Resica (Jan 29, 2015)

Old Crusty said:


> I've archery hunted those mountains a lot, and seen lots of bear. Its getting to the point that your odds of a bear are almost better than a buck.



Don't know if I'd go that far but we do have lot's of bears!!


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## Resica (Feb 11, 2015)

PENNSYLVANIA BEAR HARVEST IMPRESSIVE AGAIN IN 2014

With the totals now official, the top seven harvests in state history all have occurred in the past decade. 



It’s official: The trend of recent bear seasons taking their place in the Pennsylvania record books continues.

Pennsylvania hunters harvested a total of 3,366 bears in 2014, the seventh-highest tally in state history, the Pennsylvania Game Commission reported today.

With 2014 totals now official, the seven largest bear harvests all have occurred in the past decade.

The all-time high was recorded in 2011, when 4,350 bears were harvested. Hunters harvested 3,510 bears in 2013 – the third-largest harvest on record.

Hunters in 2014 harvested bears in 56 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, an increase compared to 2013, when bears were taken in 53 counties. Likewise, bears were taken in 21 of the state’s 23 Wildlife Management Units (WMUs), which also is an increase compared to 2013, when bears were taken in 20 WMUs.

Forty-one bears harvested by hunters in 2014 weighed 500 pounds or more.

The heaviest bear in the harvest, taken in Pittsfield Township, Warren County, by James M. Hultberg, of Pittsfield, weighed an estimated 677 pounds. 

Two other bears topped the 600-pound mark.

Leon J. Graham, of Morris, harvested a 630-pounder in Pine Township, Lycoming County during the bear archery season, and Fred F. Stoltzfus, of Lewisburg, took a 623-pound bear in West Buffalo Township, Union County, while hunting in the general season.

The remaining bears on the list of the 10 heaviest from 2014 include: a 598-pounder harvested in Muddy Creek Township , Butler County, by Jeffrey McClymonds, of Slippery Rock, during the general season; a 597-pounder taken in Delmar Township, Tioga County by John L. Thrush, of Boiling Springs, during the general season; a 596-pounder harvested in Forks Township, Sullivan County, by Gary L. Heinsey, of Denver, during the extended season; a 584-pounder taken in Washington Township, Jefferson County, by Daniel J. Whaling, of Falls Creek, during the bear archery season; a 579-pounder taken in Armstrong Township, Indiana County by Gabriel J. Heckman, of Shelocta, during the general season; a 574-pounder harvested in Tyrone Township, Blair County, by Ray E. Golden Jr., of Tyrone, during the general season; and a 561-pounder taken in Sugarcreek Township, Venango County, by Heath M. Bromley, of Oil City, during the bear archery season. 

Lycoming County, perennially among the top counties for bear harvests again led the way with 286 harvests in 2014, up from 234 the previous year. Among other top counties for bear harvests in 2014 were: Tioga, 274 (286 in 2013); Clinton, 179 (133); Potter 157 (196); and Centre, 117 (96).

The four-day general season again set the pace for the overall harvest, with 2,447 bears being taken during that season. But the extended seasons and the archery bear season also contributed to the totals. 

Statewide, 740 bears were harvested in extended seasons while 170 were taken during the archery bear season. 

Tioga County claimed the highest harvest in extended seasons, with 71 bears taken after the close of the general statewide bear season. Other top counties, and their harvest totals during the extended seasons, were: Lycoming, 59; Wayne, 52; Bradford, 49; and Potter, 46. 

Final county harvests by region (with 2013 figures in parentheses) are:

Northwest – 394: Warren, 100 (148); Venango, 71 (70); Jefferson, 56 (70); Clarion, 54 (59); Forest, 41 (50); Butler, 28 (24); Crawford, 26 (36); Erie, 13 (6); and Mercer, 5 (3). 

Southwest – 311: Somerset, 108 (106); Fayette, 103 (67); Armstrong, 35 (43); Westmoreland, 29 (41); Indiana, 19 (49); Cambria, 15 (26); and Allegheny, 2 (3). 

Northcentral – 1,382: Lycoming, 286 (234); Tioga, 274 (286); Clinton, 179 (133); Potter 157 (196); Centre, 117 (96); McKean, 100 (108); Elk, 79 (103); Cameron, 76 (108); Clearfield, 72 (125); and Union, 42 (41).

Southcentral – 390: Huntingdon, 88 (67); Bedford, 70 (55); Perry, 55 (16); Mifflin, 42 (31); Blair, 41 (29); Fulton, 28 (19); Juniata, 28 (28); Franklin, 19 (9); Snyder, 14 (18); Cumberland, 4 (1); and Adams, 1 (0). 

Northeast – 794: Pike, 111 (150); Bradford, 108 (96); Wayne, 87 (127); Monroe, 79 (79); Sullivan, 76 (105); Luzerne, 74 (98); Susquehanna, 74 (56); Wyoming, 55 (66); Lackawanna, 51 (48); Carbon, 47 (57); Columbia, 23 (24); Northumberland, 8 (14); and Montour, 1 (0). 

Southeast – 95: Schuylkill, 39 (35); Dauphin, 35 (23); Northampton, 9 (18); Berks, 6 (4); Lehigh 4 (0); and Lebanon, 2 (7).

The final bear harvests by Wildlife Management Unit (with final 2013 figures in parentheses) were: WMU 1A, 12 (16); WMU 1B, 90 (94); WMU 2A, 1 (0) WMU 2B, 3 (4); WMU 2C, 290 (247); WMU 2D, 148 (171); WMU 2E, 48 (93); WMU 2F, 262 (309); WMU 2G, 622 (575); WMU 2H, 68 (87); WMU 3A, 286 (362); WMU 3B, 366 (364); WMU 3C, 168 (196); WMU 3D, 296 (393); WMU 4A, 106 (80); WMU 4B, 141 (67); WMU 4C, 120 (93); WMU 4D, 260 (275); WMU 4E, 63 (68); WMU 5A, 4 (0); WMU 5B, 0 (1); and WMU 5C, 12 (16).

Impressive as the 2014 bear harvest is, it’s worth noting the potential for an even bigger harvest certainly was. 

A record number of hunters – 173,523 – bought Pennsylvania bear licenses in 2014. The previous record – 167,438 – was set in 2013. It also was a bumper year for mast crops throughout much of the state’s core bear-hunting area. 

When little food is available, bears tend to enter dens early. But in years when food is abundant, they remain more active during hunting seasons. 

But the weather was less than ideal through portions of the bear seasons. The archery season was much colder, and wetter, than it had been in years. Still, 170 bears were taken during the statewide archery season, but the total was down slightly from 2013 when 197 were harvested.

The 2014 general season began on a high note, with the opening day harvest up 21 percent compared to 2013. And that increase came despite an ice storm that affected hunters throughout northcentral Pennsylvania during the afternoon of the opening day. 

The weather would continue to have an impact on the general season, and the Monday harvest was down 40 percent compared to 2013. 

Still, it’s difficult to consider the seventh-largest harvest on record anything but a success. 

And the prospects for the trend to continue again next year already are good, said Mark Ternent, the Game Commission’s bear biologist. 

The statewide bear population has remained stable over the past seven years now, with the population estimated most recently at 18,100 bears, Ternent said. Interest in bear hunting has remained high, as verified by license sales. And the opportunities to hunt bears are as plentiful as ever.

“It’s always difficult to predict exactly how good bear hunting will be in a given year,” Ternent said. “But it clear we’ve had several banner years in the past decade, and there’s nothing to indicate fantastic bear hunting won’t continue in 2015 and beyond.” 



# # #



What a decade for bear hunting



The 2014 Pennsylvania bear harvest, the seventh-largest in state history, joined other recent seasons near the top of the record books. With the totals now official, the seven top harvests all have occurred in the last decade. Here’s a look:



Top Pennsylvania bear harvests 



1. 4,350 – 2011

2. 4,164 – 2005

3. 3,623 – 2012 

4. 3,512 – 2009 

5. 3,510 – 2013 

6. 3,458 – 2008

7. 3,366 – 2014


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## BornToHuntAndFish (Feb 12, 2015)

Resica said:


> http://www.portal.state.pa.us/porta...ses/newsrelease/articles/release__008_15.html
> 
> February 10, 2015
> 
> ...



Yep, very impressive season. 

Appreciate the official total season update.  

The last 4-years in PA appears to be exceptional.  Would've at least expected the total harvest to alternate more up & down in back to back years.  Ya'll sound like you're covered up in bears & sure do grow 'em big up there.  Hope you have lots of bears in the areas you hunt.


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## Resica (Feb 12, 2015)

BornToHuntAndFish said:


> Yep, very impressive season.
> 
> Appreciate the official total season update.
> 
> The last 4-years in PA appears to be exceptional.  Would've at least expected the total harvest to alternate more up & down in back to back years.  Ya'll sound like you're covered up in bears & sure do grow 'em big up there.  Hope you have lots of bears in the areas you hunt.



Thanks for all you post Born. You spend a lot of your time to post hunting information from everywhere. We appreciate it.


   Did you see how many Pa. bear licenses were sold this past season.? That's a high number, 173,523. When they used to limit the permits at 100,000 they would never sell that many. With the hunter decline across the country and here, it amazes me they could sell so many.


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## Resica (Feb 12, 2015)

We're thick with bears at camp but we've only had a crack at one a few years back. In the fall I get them on the cam all the time in the yard.


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## Resica (Feb 12, 2015)

Here's one in the yard before the season. He's pretty decent.


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## BornToHuntAndFish (Feb 12, 2015)

Resica said:


> Thanks for all you post Born. You spend a lot of your time to post hunting information from everywhere. We appreciate it.
> 
> Did you see how many Pa. bear licenses were sold this past season.? That's a high number, 173,523. When they used to limit the permits at 100,000 they would never sell that many. With the hunter decline across the country and here, it amazes me they could sell so many.



Thank you for your kind encouraging words, Sir.  Sure are lots of interesting hunting adventures being reported in lots of other states, too, besides our own down here. It's great when we get a chance to hear about 'em down here.  

Good point drawing our attention to the record numbers of PA bear licenses in 2014 & previous record in 2013 with 167,438 which I had missed among all the numbers being reported in that press release.  Thanks for the history lesson since I was not aware of the previous limit of 100,000 permits.  I remember ya'll have exceptionally high numbers of deer hunters, too, approx. 2.5 times the deer hunters in Georgia.





Resica said:


> We're thick with bears at camp but we've only had a crack at one a few years back. In the fall I get them on the cam all the time in the yard.



Sounds like you may have more bears hanging out in your yard than camp.  Sorry to hear even with your thick bear population at camp that it's still tough to catch up to them.  Pennsylvania has a long good reputation for producing big game.  





Resica said:


> Here's one in the yard before the season. He's pretty decent.



Whoa, that's a good sized yard bear lurking in your yard after dark. Be careful up there. 

A while back one of our associate church pastors took his 1st Sr. pastor position to lead a church up in western NC in the mtns.  He came back for a visit & told us a story about right after his move up there, a group of bears came by late one night making noises & trying to get into their home.  When he opened his front door to see what was going on, he was confronted with a bear on the front porch & 3 more out in the driveway.  He said nobody told their family that that home was built on a major bear trail with lots of visiting bears.


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## Resica (Feb 13, 2015)

We used to have around a million deer hunters Born, I think it's down to 750,000 or so, still a lot of us.

  I meant the bear pic was from the yard at camp. I have to drive an hour from home with any chance of seeing a bear, they are all over at the cabin.


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## BornToHuntAndFish (Feb 13, 2015)

Wow, did not realize PA's deer hunters were decreasing so much since I remember coming across reports in the past around 1-Million in PA like you mentioned.  I haven't seen any totals for the 2014 season but the 2013 PA season sold over 830,000 deer hunting licenses.  Sorry about Pennsylvania having the highest deer hunter density average of over 20 hunters per square mile as QDMA reports. 

Nice having bears in your cabin yard a ways from home.  We have quite a drive to our hunting lease an hour & a half from home, too. 

That's cool how PA offers their hunting forecasts before the season . . . 



http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=1644183&mode=2

*2014-15 Season Forecasts

Bear Season Forecast*

PAGameCommission

Published on Sept 5, 2014





http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=596054&mode=2

Hunting License Sales Report

2013 

Resident *Bear* *161,764*

Nonresident *Bear* *5,674*

Resident Antlerless *Deer* *813,893*(**)

Nonresident Antlerless *Deer* *19,648*(***) 



http://cumberlink.com/hunting-guide...cle_97aa3614-70d1-11e4-95ec-8f61cff90876.html

Hunting Guide: Pa. deer harvest predictions look good

November 20, 2014

“But the population seems to be doing very well.”

"About *950,000 deer hunters in Pennsylvania* are counting on it."



http://www.outdoornews.com/August-2012/Pennsylvania-lags-in-sales-of-hunting-licenses/

"Pennsylvania, which once counted more than 1 million hunters, has seen license sales *drop from 945,892 in 2006 to 933,208 in 2011* – a decline that Aiken said “amazed” him, given the state’s strong hunting tradition." 



http://www.huntingpa.com/Deer stats.html

How many PA Hunters?  Now you know.

LEADING DEER HUNTING STATES
(Licensed Resident Deer Hunters)

*Pennsylvania 1,299,372*

Michigan 1,005,000
Wisconsin 894,543
New York 812,446
Texas 645,000

Published in Deer Hunters' 1998 Almanac by Deer & Deer Hunting Magazine



http://www.qdma.com/articles/hunter-density-across-the-u.s

Hunter Density Across the U.S.

January 14, 2013

"Pennsylvania leads the country with an average of over 20 hunters per square mile (PSM)!"


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## Resica (Feb 13, 2015)

Guess I was a little low on the deer hunters. Funny, I don't run into many hunters at all in the first few days of the season. It is an orange army though.


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## BornToHuntAndFish (Feb 13, 2015)

You still may be right & may not be a little low so let's wait for official numbers to be posted. 

This PA video says 2nd week of the season during the middle of the week to encounter low hunter numbers, too. 



http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=1644183&mode=2

2014-15 Season Forecasts

Deer Season Forecast

PAGameCommission

Published on Aug 12, 2014

"Dr. Christopher Rosenberry discusses what hunters can expect for the 2014 deer season, and also gives helpful hints in dealing with specific questions hunters may have this year." 





Here's a couple recent video posts on an interesting helpful Pennsylvania hunting app . . . 



Introducing the GoHuntPA ToolKit App

PAGameCommission 

Time = 45-sec

Published on Feb 6, 2015

The Pennsylvania Game Commission is pleased to introduce GoHuntPA ToolKit App – a new App for hunters, by hunters. Available at both the App Store and Google Play.




AND


GoHuntPA Toolkit App Demo

PAGameCommission

Published on Feb 6, 2015

The Pennsylvania Game Commission is pleased to introduce GoHuntPA ToolKit App – a new App for hunters, by hunters. This video walks the user through each feature .
Available at both the App Store and Google Play.

Time = 4:45


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