Best state for black bear ?
 

What is your opinion on the best state in the U.S. for hunting black bear. I guess this could be broken into 2 categories. One for which state you would have the best chance of harvesting one and another for which state harvests the biggest. Of course I have to place my vote for PA as the best state to harvest a record book and possibly a world record. I was just curious as to what others thought?

RE: Best state for black bear ?
 

Well the largest bruin on record is from utah. I know that we also have a lot making the book every year. All in all Pennsylvania or alaska is probably best.

RE: Best state for black bear ?
 

Maine would have to be in the running.

RE: Best state for black bear ?
 

PA don't count! while they do have large bears, from what i have read, they harvest their fair share, they cheat when it comes to weighing in the bear. if you can get the animal to a check station, then you can weigh it in the way the rest of the country does their animals, completely gutted. while i live close to maine, i have read that the actual sleeper state for really big bears was n.c., i think it was. however, i have also heard that new brunswick, canada is also a good spot to go, once holding the record for bear.

RE: Best state for black bear ?
 

That's not true. I took my bear to the weigh station completely gutted. I have never seen a large bruin weighed in still in tact. Who the he!! want's to lug an extra 150 lbs out of the woods anyway. It was hard enough dragging 420 lbs out of the woods as it is I don't need any more. The only thing I could think of is that the game commission tells you an estimated live weight and that is what people may be using. I spoke with an officer last year who said they had tug 3 boars with live weights over 900lbs. Of course they wouldn't tell me where;)

RE: Best state for black bear ?
 

There are a few units in Idaho N of the Salmon River that allow two bears to be taken. There are some nice sized bears and many color phase bears.
Most of those same units allow two cougars to be taken.

Fish and game has to get rid of the bears and cougars because they are eating too many elk and they want the elk saved so the wolves can eat them.

RE: Best state for black bear ?
 

I took a 19" P&Y (skull) bear in the boundary waters of Minn. several years back. Saw lots of Bears & we were hunting on our own. fall Hunt & my bear was est. at over 500 pounds live. My rug is 6'4" nose to tail...
We always see Bears in this area & I had a friend take a 19" one a couple years ago also & another friend take a 17 1/2" Bear. Everyone saw several bears. good Luck.

RE: Best state for black bear ?
 

Mine scored 20 11/16. 420 live weight 6' foot nose to tail.

RE: Best state for black bear ?
 

vtbuckrulrss, I don't know where you're getting your info from, but it's absolutely false, like bearklr said! In most cases here in PA you kill a bear far from any roads where you can get easy access. I've been in on a dozen or so bear kills over the years and never helped take an animal out of the woods with the guts still in it! AND, I've never seen a large bear weighed at the check station (mandatory) with the entrails intact, except for a few cubs. Try again!
It's a well known fact that the largest bears in the country are roaming the woods of PA., and I've talked to a few wardens who told me that the next world record black bear could very well be taken from PA. They are there, but the hunters have yet to get to them!

RE: Best state for black bear ?
 

hey snoball, where i have been reading about the PA. bears has been in the northeast forum of this place, plus the PA. game commission website( 800 lbs bears?). i have no doubt PA has some big bears. bearkl, sounds like a great bear you got. i have had a couple of people tell me though that guts in were the way that PA did it. i don't know why they said that though.

RE: Best state for black bear ?
 

I thought the PA bears had big bodies but small skulls?

RE: Best state for black bear ?
 

very true about pennsylvania. and according to boone and crockette, p&y, and SCI it is the skull that matters. I still think that the largest bears on average are up in alaska eating salmon and getting very large.

RE: Best state for black bear ?
 

Bearhuntr, in fact the total opposite is true of alot of the bear here in pa. Just look at mine for example. He only weighed 420 live weight, however his skull measured almost 21". This is the average skull measurement of a boar in the 500 - 600 pound range. Every body that sees the skull guesses the bears live weight at almost 600 pounds, even the boone and crockett scorer. I'm not saying this is true of every bear in pa, but it's true of most of the ones that I have seen.

RE: Best state for black bear ?
 

vtbuckrulrss, the GC always seems to report LIVE weight on any big bear that is checked in , and for the life of me I can't figure out why! Like I said, nearly every bear that is checked is gutted, but the GC evidently has an over zealous press person upgrading the kills by adding in the weight of the innards, which weren't in the bear when it was checked! I wish they would just report the actual field dressed weight, and let whomever is interested add on the % for the guts. It would make things soooo much less complicated!

As far as skull measurements go, the largest bear ever killed in PA had a skull that was equal to a lot of bears killed in Alaska and Alberta, but those bears were only half as heavy! We do get some nice bear with record book skulls, but generally our bear are big and heavy with smallish skulls for their size.
Oh, and a little side note: Here in PA we only have a fall season so all of our bear are usually at their peak weight, or close to it when shot. A lot of the northwestern trophy bear are killed in the spring when they are at their lowest body weight for the year!