I've seen a Sow and two cubs shot before and both cubs went 110! You also have to take into consideration that we get 700 and 800 pound adult bear in this state every year.

I think bears are given to much credit. How majestic is an overgrown coon eating out of a dumpster? Thank you Disney......

Why not let those cubs go? If they weigh 110 now, why not let them grow up and get bigger? 110 lbs cubs would do just fine on their own. We do get 700-800 lbs bear, but you make it sound as if they are all that big. Only a handful of bear taken each year are that big.

The reason that Pa rescinded the law against shooting cubs was to prevent making violators out of honest sportsman.... Unless you are very famliar with bears, it IS often difficult to judge the size of them under hunting conditions...A lot of guys were shooting bears that they thought were legal, only to discover they had shot a cub..

When combined with the methods often used in Pa, such as organized drives, the critters are traveling fast and it becomes even tougher judging size...

I'm not going to even attempt to argue the pros and cons of baiting, but one advantage of baiting , which is legal in many states for bears, is that it gives the hunters more time to evaluate the size of the bear and to determine if a large bear has cubs with it..

1- Hunting season is in late November. Most years, females are denned up already.
2 - Hunting season is in late November so "cubs" aren't exactly nursing newborns.
3 - Like said before, it is very hard to judge the size of a bear in the woods.

The size of ALL bears is over-estimated.

The bear success rate in PA is about 3%. Most guys hunt a lifetime and never see a bear in the woods. When they see a bear moving through the woods, they look big to most guys. It's not like there's a herd of bears and these guys shoot the smallest one.

We don't hunt spring bears over bait so there's no looking over a bear and judging size. We're putting miles on our boots in the big woods, swamps, laurels and overgrown clearcuts. When we actually ever see a bear, we need to make a snap judgement. Sometimes the bear is bigger than we first thought. So what? It's still a PA bear and quite an achievement.

You're dreaming. I didn't make it sound like anything.

Good post.

Thanks. Actually, I meant to say "Sometimes the bear is SMALLER than we first thought."

Up at our camp we see dozens of bears a year. You would think we'd be experts at judging the size of bears. I shot one bear in my PA career and guess what - it was smaller than I thought. I saw it walking on the bottom of the hollow and I was on the top. The first thoughts to go through my head were:
1- holy !@*#, a bear!!!
2- and it's bear season
3- I have a bear license
4- Am I dreaming????
5- I better shoot before it's gone!!!

How big did I think it was? I don't remember. It looked like a big, black, hairy bear. There was nothing to judge it against except trees. It was moving and about 75 yards away. It was going to be out of sight in about 5 seconds.

It ended up only weighing about 150lbs on the hoof. It was a 1.5yo old male. I thought it was much bigger. Especially when I was dragging him up the mountain. :D

Here's his picture. Pretty small for a bear, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Even a 500lb bear that I shot over bait in Canada in the spring when they're hungry and desparate. :D

although i dont think killing a cub would be the right thing to do,,one mans trophy is another mans no shoot, if a young kid kills a cub his first ever bear ,,i would praise him till the end of days,,,its not the size that matters its the fact of getting them out there,,given they understand that next time they would have to try to do better,,getting larger game,,,i wouldnt shoot a baby bear either but like i say it isnt always a grown up doing the shooting

my pal walt killed his first bear with a bow a couple years ago,,,it weighed around 110 lbs and it was like 2 years old so the warrden told him ,,it wasnt a monster but it was the first thig he ever got in 32 years of hunting ...if you think i would berate him for killing a small bear your nuts,,,hes my pal,,,and 32 years is a long dry spell..ive gotten many deer and one bear mine was small around 130 lbs and it looked to me like a grizzley,,so son befor you judge others think first...