my buddy shot one today. est. live weight was 200lb female.
sorry about the pic but at night w/ my cell phone about the best its going to get.

Nice bear!! Congrats to your buddy!

where did he shoot it? near altoona? My girlfriends family lives out near ashville....let me know...

he shot it up near the Snowshoe area.

I'm with Mossy on this one. He was up at my camp and this had to be the worst year for us on record. We ALWAYS get at least one bear and most times around three bear. We also hear a lot of shots on opening day and know what camps usually have bear hanging. Well, I didn't even see a single bear hanging at any of the local "bear camps". They had bear traps set up all year long up and down the valley. I'm beginning to wonder if they're trapping them out. Something was definitely different this year.

There were a lot of bears around this area all summer and fall but the hunters didn’t find or harvest as many bears this year as what they did last year.

I think the biggest difference is that last year we had a good mast crop that kept the bears from being denned early. This year we had almost no mast and I feel confident more then the normal number of the bears are already denned.

Dick Bodenhorn

I'm sorry, but people who shoot cubs sicken me. I just don't understand how someone can mistaken a cub for an adult. Spend enough time in the woods and see bear and you'll know the difference. The gait when they walk or if its running, watch it, it sure don't resemble a full sized bear going through the woods. The is the reason why I'm an advocate of allowing baiting and making it illegal to shoot cubs.

On a lighter note, our camp didn't see a bear all week. Lots of deer and turkeys, thats about it.

I guess there was a 693 pounder shot in Potter County on Monday. Dont know any more details

Muzzy I agree with you. Why kill cubs? Anyway it looks like the 2 day harvest numbers are about 690 bears fewer this year than last. The PGC has not yet posted day 3 or the Archery numbers, but I think they'll be way down.

We hunted two days out of our camp in northern Clearfield Co., and none of us (six hunters) saw a bear. I've seen them around camp all summer, but no luck Mon. or Tues. Several of our guys hunted around the tornado area off Shaggers Inn Rd. That place was a real hotspot for several years, but has beenmgetting poorer as time goes on. One of our guys talked to another hunter there, and he saw one, but never got a shot. He said it was a nice-sized one. The mast crop was pretty good at camp and over by the tornado area this year, but has been spotty other places. The chestnut oaks on my property at home never bore this year, but the red oaks right beside them had a nice crop. Go figure. Lots of beechnuts too. Tues. late P.M. I took a ride over to the check station at S.B. Elliott State Park, and they had 77 bear in there Mon. The biggest I saw logged in was one at 469 or 489 lbs. live weight. Must have been some groanin' going on getting that one out of the woods. The shooting was about normal, but I think the coyotes are getting whacked at too. Sure couldn't complain about the weather............