Bear Hunting in Pa

[alan_m]

Next year me and my buddy want to go bear hunting in Pa. I live in Ohio and I have never hunted in Pennsylvania before. I wanted to know if there is any good bear hunting on public land in western Pennsylvania.

[bob in pa]

Alan I live in the Allegheny National Forest which is all public hunting and there are bears here. If you mean good hunting in terms of baiting like Ontario, that is illegal here, also so are dogs. I have personally never killed a bear, and don't often hunt them, but I can tell you that those that consistently do the best are the ones that hunt in a large group,(25 is the limit) do their preseason scouting looking for food sources and bear sign, and run organized drives, especially in thicker cover. Good luck, Bob

[7VALLEYS]

Plenty of Bear on public land. Look at the past leading counties. Lycoming, Clinton, Potter are great couties to narrow your search.

[PHA]

bob in pa has some excellent advice. I live in Elk County, probably not all that far from bob. Elk County and the entire nc region is blessed with an abundance of public land and a healthy bear poplulation.

Another good county is Cameron. It is a very small county but if you calculate the bears killed per square mile it really shines.

Your best bet would be to assemble a group and do some drives. Hit the thickest cover you can - overgrown clearcuts, logged tree tops, rhody and laurel thickets are great spots.

Keep in mind that even though bear numbers are very high right now the odds are still low of seeing one in season.

Hope this helps.

[wireguy]

Alan,
As the others have stated there is generally good bear hunting on public land. But to go a little further, even know the North Central part of PA (PA Wilds, if you are into advertising) is all good habitat, some places are just a little better than others. The more research and planning you do, the greater the odds are for success. And that is a relatively long odds even then. But I do not want to discourage you. I actually have been fortunate to have harvested a very fine Bear, (Warren Co. '95), but I was hunting excellent territory, that had many years of noted bear activity. Do your homework and pick a spot that has produced in the past. Search the PA Game Commision site, I believe they keep some pretty good data. Then do some scouting. Do not be dejected if you are in a small group. If there are other parties driving an area, you still stand a chance at success. I have an associate which killed a bear at a few yards away,attempting to slip out the back of an organized drive.
Sorry this got so long winded, but I believe PA has some of the best bear hunting in the lower 48.(I'm biased I know) Do the leg work and be persistant it can happen.

Good Luck!

Dave