Local girl just got attacked by a Black Bear while deer hunting in Central Pa.
01-04-2014, 04:37 AM
#91
Typical Buck
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Buffalo, WY
Posts: 992
I am not really a bear hunter (Have enough cholesterol problems), but I don't think it is illegal to shoot a sow with cubs in PA. I know for sure you can shoot a 50# cub and tag it. I think the Newspapers and the people involved are playing the story for all it is worth. It came out in another article that the Game Warden mentioned it was illegal to take a shot at the bear and the story started changing.
01-04-2014, 05:44 AM
#92
Typical Buck
Join Date: May 2010
Location: South East Pa.
Posts: 526
I saw it. I was at my brother-in-laws place over the mountain. A bunch of guys took out a good sized sow and two cubs. They brought the cubs out the R/R tracks in a little lawnmower wagon hooked on a 4 wheeler. You had to walk up to the wagon to even see them over the side. One guy shot one out of a tree and the other one wouldn't run away so they shot that one too. Sounds sick, but I doubt they would have made the winter anyway. The reason cubs became legal is they were getting shot and guys would leave them. The trees in a lot of good bear areas are not all that big. At a distance you have nothing to judge a bears size against except trees. The Game Commission figured cubs were getting shot by mistake anyway, so let them drag them out.
01-04-2014, 06:34 AM
#93
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Eastern PA
Posts: 12,747
I just saw this thread. I am from PA (Land of the BIG black bears) and if there is a confrontation between a bear and human there are usually uncommon circumstances. The bear in the article was under stress with cubs. We occasionally get a problem bear and it is almost always the result of human contact. Lots of city folk with cabins that insist on feeding them, sloppy campers, ect. I see a lot of bears during archery and it is true, they don't run like they used to, but they do move off. Just too many people around anymore. During the summer it is nothing for a bear to come down and take a dip in a pool or walk through town heading for the river. The locals are O.K. with that, but the newcomers just can't seem to leave them alone. I don't see them as a problem. I read the paper and in all the little towns around here the problem seems to be kidds attacked by dogs (And seriously hurt). Maybe we should run the dogs with bears.
As for cubs surviving, I talked to the PGC about that and was informed that yearling cubs can and do survive if their mother was killed during their first year.
In this case I see no reason for the sow to be killed unless it is wounded from the illegal shooting.
01-04-2014, 07:31 AM
#94
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Eastern wv
Posts: 3,650
pa bears aren't dogged, here in wv we train dogs all year, they aren't afraid like they use to be. use to a rifle shot on the mountain got every bear around up and running, now they'll lay in a culvert and let ya drive over them.
RR
RR
01-04-2014, 08:18 AM
#95
Typical Buck
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Buffalo, WY
Posts: 992
I saw it. I was at my brother-in-laws place over the mountain. A bunch of guys took out a good sized sow and two cubs. They brought the cubs out the R/R tracks in a little lawnmower wagon hooked on a 4 wheeler. You had to walk up to the wagon to even see them over the side. One guy shot one out of a tree and the other one wouldn't run away so they shot that one too. Sounds sick, but I doubt they would have made the winter anyway. The reason cubs became legal is they were getting shot and guys would leave them. The trees in a lot of good bear areas are not all that big. At a distance you have nothing to judge a bears size against except trees. The Game Commission figured cubs were getting shot by mistake anyway, so let them drag them out.
I have relatives in PA and have passed on numerous invitations to hunt there. That will continue in the future I'm sure.
01-04-2014, 09:23 AM
#96
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Eastern PA
Posts: 12,747
Normally I agree with you RR but I don't think the above statement you made means that these bear have lost their fear of humans. Seems to me that from the constant pressure the are receiving they are getting smarter. Heck deer have been using this same tactic for years to elude/avoid hunters. The woman in this case just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The sow perceived a threat to her and her cubs and reacted - pure and simple.
01-04-2014, 02:44 PM
#98
Typical Buck
Join Date: May 2010
Location: South East Pa.
Posts: 526
Bronko22000, Sometimes when bowhunting I would have a bear stand on a log with it's front feet or lean on a tree to look at me. I think because of the camo clothing and the wind being towards me, they might not have known what I was. I used to talk in a normal tone as if there was somebody with me and then they took off. No telling what they see when you are in camo. We had a pet fox and he was scared #$%&less if you walked toward him wearing camo. I live over in Jim Thorpe and hunt Schuylkill and Carbon counties mostly. They really thinned the bear out with that special 1st week of deer bear season. I don't know if they still have that or not.
01-04-2014, 09:52 PM
#99
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Eastern wv
Posts: 3,650
Normally I agree with you RR but I don't think the above statement you made means that these bear have lost their fear of humans. Seems to me that from the constant pressure the are receiving they are getting smarter. Heck deer have been using this same tactic for years to elude/avoid hunters. The woman in this case just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The sow perceived a threat to her and her cubs and reacted - pure and simple.
RR
Last edited by Ridge Runner; 01-04-2014 at 10:08 PM.
01-05-2014, 03:00 AM
#100
Typical Buck
Join Date: May 2010
Location: South East Pa.
Posts: 526
I deer hunt WV every year and camp out. I did find a den once while deer hunting, but I did not pack up and leave. I used to camp out in PA all the time too. I am not scared out of my wits by bears, but do have a healthy respect for what they can do. I have seen some huge flat rocks bears have flipped over looking for munchies. A few years back the WVDNR busted a couple of poachers with a bear. They KNEW there were no bears in WV that got that big and started checking. It was shot in PA. A guy totaled his Blazer coming down 309 on the Blue Mountain a few years back. According to the PA Game Commission quoted in the newspaper, "The bear weighed in excess of 800 pounds". We have plenty of bear problems here and they trap and move them all the time. The difference is: We know a nuisance bear from a dangerous trouble hunting bear.
