Huge Boar Bear captured and moved, Lancaster Co. PA
06-24-2017, 05:03 AM
#1
Boone & Crockett
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Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: south eastern PA
Posts: 15,436
Huge Boar Bear captured and moved, Lancaster Co. PA
Lancaster Newspapers
I wish I was able to copy the pictures of him, he was a monster.
Giant bear caught in Upper Leacock Twp.
WILDLIFE
550-pound-plus male tranquilized; taken to northern Dauphin County
AD CRABLE
[email protected]
The largest bear ever recorded in Lancaster County was captured Thursday afternoon in a rural area near Leola and is now — officials hope — happily roaming the mountains north of Harrisburg.
The male black bear, estimated by the Pennsylvania Game Commission to weigh more than 550 pounds, was tranquilized and captured in a backyard while three children visited their grandparents, Leon and Erma Frey, at 151 Hess Road, in Upper Leacock Township.
The couple’s daughter-in-law, Holly Frey, drove into the driveway about 11 a.m. and saw the bear coming across a cornfield, Erma Frey recalled Friday morning. From inside her car, Holly Frey called her mother-in-law and told her to keep everyone inside. Then she called East Lampeter Township police, who serve Upper Leacock Township.
“It was exciting and scary,” Erma Frey said.
For almost an hour, the cornered bear growled and huffed at the gathering crowd of relatives and neighbors, said Greg Graham, a Game Commission wildlife conservation officer who helped capture the wayward bear.
A 550-pound black bear stares down from his perch in a white pine tree in the backyard of a home near Leola.
JANET ZIMMERMAN | PENNSYLVANIA GAME COMMISSION
Bear: Moved to game lands
Had been trapped before
It turns out the bear had been trapped previously in northern Adams County, on May 20, after a spree in which it busted into buildings, eating rabbits and bird seed. It was then released in northern Perry County after an identification tag was placed in each ear.
A month and two days later, the bear had traveled about 70 miles to eastern Lancaster County. The Hess Road home, a short distance south of Route 23, is surrounded by cornfields and scattered farms. After being startled by arriving police, the bear scrambled up a white pine tree in the backyard.
When Graham arrived, he recalls thinking, “Are you serious? The head was like the steering wheel on a bus.
“The biggest bears we ever see in Lancaster County are usually yearling males of about 100 pounds.”
A fellow wildlife conservation officer, Dennis Warfel, shot the first tranquilizer dart into the bear, which showed no effects.
A second dart was fired into its body. The bear got more sluggish but did not pass out, as the officers hoped.
After a third dart, the bear appeared to pass out with its head resting on a branch. But it did not fall out of the tree, as the officers wanted.
A long wooden stick was found, and the bear was finally pushed out of the tree, snapping branches during its fall.
But when it hit the ground, the bear arose, looked around and began running.
“The next thing you know, he starts ambling about the yard like a drunken sailor, and the cops are scrambling out of the way like cockroaches,” Graham said.
Finally, the bear fell down between a shed and a wire fence and passed out.
It took eight straining men to load the bear onto a tarp and drag it to a bear cage.
There was no scale to record its weight, but the Game Commission uses a scale of estimated weight based on chest girth. A bear with a 56inch girth is estimated to weigh
502 pounds. The Leola bear had a girth of 60 inches.
Incredibly, the bear might put on up to 150 more pounds by this fall, Graham said, as it gorges itself in preparation for winter.
How did it get here?
The bear was released Thursday evening on remote State Game Lands 211 in an area known as the Stony Creek Valley, in Dauphin County.
Graham is flabbergasted the bear made it all the way to Leola without being seen by many people along the way.
A large bear had been seen by multiple people in late April in Conoy Township and the Elizabethtown area. A photo of it was captured on a field camera by a sportsman. But Game Commission officials said they don’t know if it was the same bear that turned up Thursday in Leola.
Wherever the bear wanders in the future, Game Commission officials hope it stays in the woods.
Are you serious? The head was like the steering wheel on a bus.
—Greg Graham, Game Commission wildlife conservation officer
Pennsylvania Game Commission officers prepare to load a tranquilized black bear into a transport cage. The 550-pound bear is the largest recorded in the county.
JANET ZIMMERMAN | PA. GAME COMMISSION
I wish I was able to copy the pictures of him, he was a monster.
Giant bear caught in Upper Leacock Twp.
WILDLIFE
550-pound-plus male tranquilized; taken to northern Dauphin County
AD CRABLE
[email protected]
The largest bear ever recorded in Lancaster County was captured Thursday afternoon in a rural area near Leola and is now — officials hope — happily roaming the mountains north of Harrisburg.
The male black bear, estimated by the Pennsylvania Game Commission to weigh more than 550 pounds, was tranquilized and captured in a backyard while three children visited their grandparents, Leon and Erma Frey, at 151 Hess Road, in Upper Leacock Township.
The couple’s daughter-in-law, Holly Frey, drove into the driveway about 11 a.m. and saw the bear coming across a cornfield, Erma Frey recalled Friday morning. From inside her car, Holly Frey called her mother-in-law and told her to keep everyone inside. Then she called East Lampeter Township police, who serve Upper Leacock Township.
“It was exciting and scary,” Erma Frey said.
For almost an hour, the cornered bear growled and huffed at the gathering crowd of relatives and neighbors, said Greg Graham, a Game Commission wildlife conservation officer who helped capture the wayward bear.
A 550-pound black bear stares down from his perch in a white pine tree in the backyard of a home near Leola.
JANET ZIMMERMAN | PENNSYLVANIA GAME COMMISSION
Bear: Moved to game lands
Had been trapped before
It turns out the bear had been trapped previously in northern Adams County, on May 20, after a spree in which it busted into buildings, eating rabbits and bird seed. It was then released in northern Perry County after an identification tag was placed in each ear.
A month and two days later, the bear had traveled about 70 miles to eastern Lancaster County. The Hess Road home, a short distance south of Route 23, is surrounded by cornfields and scattered farms. After being startled by arriving police, the bear scrambled up a white pine tree in the backyard.
When Graham arrived, he recalls thinking, “Are you serious? The head was like the steering wheel on a bus.
“The biggest bears we ever see in Lancaster County are usually yearling males of about 100 pounds.”
A fellow wildlife conservation officer, Dennis Warfel, shot the first tranquilizer dart into the bear, which showed no effects.
A second dart was fired into its body. The bear got more sluggish but did not pass out, as the officers hoped.
After a third dart, the bear appeared to pass out with its head resting on a branch. But it did not fall out of the tree, as the officers wanted.
A long wooden stick was found, and the bear was finally pushed out of the tree, snapping branches during its fall.
But when it hit the ground, the bear arose, looked around and began running.
“The next thing you know, he starts ambling about the yard like a drunken sailor, and the cops are scrambling out of the way like cockroaches,” Graham said.
Finally, the bear fell down between a shed and a wire fence and passed out.
It took eight straining men to load the bear onto a tarp and drag it to a bear cage.
There was no scale to record its weight, but the Game Commission uses a scale of estimated weight based on chest girth. A bear with a 56inch girth is estimated to weigh
502 pounds. The Leola bear had a girth of 60 inches.
Incredibly, the bear might put on up to 150 more pounds by this fall, Graham said, as it gorges itself in preparation for winter.
How did it get here?
The bear was released Thursday evening on remote State Game Lands 211 in an area known as the Stony Creek Valley, in Dauphin County.
Graham is flabbergasted the bear made it all the way to Leola without being seen by many people along the way.
A large bear had been seen by multiple people in late April in Conoy Township and the Elizabethtown area. A photo of it was captured on a field camera by a sportsman. But Game Commission officials said they don’t know if it was the same bear that turned up Thursday in Leola.
Wherever the bear wanders in the future, Game Commission officials hope it stays in the woods.
Are you serious? The head was like the steering wheel on a bus.
—Greg Graham, Game Commission wildlife conservation officer
Pennsylvania Game Commission officers prepare to load a tranquilized black bear into a transport cage. The 550-pound bear is the largest recorded in the county.
JANET ZIMMERMAN | PA. GAME COMMISSION
Last edited by Oldtimr; 06-24-2017 at 05:16 AM.
06-24-2017, 09:10 AM
#4
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 2,743
pa has some huge bears, I Know I get several here every yr that push 500+ lbs in the spring time and MAN they can BULK up before winter
as a fact, PA< has the heaviest black bears on the planet, they just get fat here faster than other places Haha!
as a fact, PA< has the heaviest black bears on the planet, they just get fat here faster than other places Haha!
06-25-2017, 08:22 AM
#7
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Colorado
Posts: 9,557
We get some too, but they're rare. The only thing I don't get about this kill is in Nov that bear was in his den. It's illegal to kill a bear in it's den in Colorado. I don't know why he wasn't charged for that?
http://www.craigdailypress.com/news/...-state-record/
http://www.craigdailypress.com/news/...-state-record/
Last edited by Muley Hunter; 06-25-2017 at 08:27 AM.
06-25-2017, 08:41 AM
#8
Boone & Crockett
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: south eastern PA
Posts: 15,436
It is illegal to kill or disturb a bear in his den in PA as well. I am with you, if that idiot was stupid enough to tell the press he killed that bear in its den he certainly should be arrested for being a violator and being stupid on top of it. Maybe you should call the Game department in case no one else did. Somtines everyone thinks someone else has made the call. At least you could find out why he wasn't prosecuted.
Last edited by Oldtimr; 06-25-2017 at 08:43 AM.
06-25-2017, 08:53 AM
#9
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Colorado
Posts: 9,557
In Colorado you have to show the DOW the bear hide and head for inspection. Part of that is you need to tell them where you killed the bear and how.
He either lied or the DOW didn't care. Confusing how he got out of it.
He either lied or the DOW didn't care. Confusing how he got out of it.
06-25-2017, 09:22 AM
#10
Boone & Crockett
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: south eastern PA
Posts: 15,436
All bars must be taken to a check station in PA as well and they want you to mark on a map where the bear was killed. I can't imagine them not caring that a bear like that was illegally killed, I suspect he lied but then why would he tell his story to a reporter. Strange!