Bocajnala

It's a little early, but I'll be hunting bear in PA this year and can't wait to start planning. I got out a little bit last year on private land in Indiana County and didn't see anything. Wondering if anyone has any good public land suggestions for bear. Areas in 2G, 4D, 2C would be preferred. Looking for a large chunk of public land where I can get in deep if possible. I looked on the PGC website but for some reason I am not able to pull up the maps.
Thanks!
-Jake

bronko22000

Jake - The Sproul state forest in WMU 2G around the Hyner run area is pretty good. We have a cabin up there and are there every year. If you have a camper or camping trailer, Hyner Run state park is open for camping. You can pretty much start hunitng right from outside the park area.

Bocajnala

Thanks for that info, I do have a camper. Does the camp area fill up for bear season, or is it pretty reasonable to find a spot?
Also, How would you recommend two people hunt this area? This past year I pretty much still hunted or just sat still watching. With only two guys we wont really be able to drive anything. I'm basically figuring on just splitting up and spending time in the woods and hoping for the best! haha
Thanks for the info so far.
-Jake

bronko22000

The park has few hunters so finding a site would be no problem. As for hunting the area still hunting would probably be best or finding an area where you can view a lot of ground. The south facing slopes IMO seem to be more productive. Bear are normally pretty lazy and like to lay in the sun and are not very early risers. I've taken 3 bear in that area over the past 12 years and not one was taken before 10:00 am. Other hunters in our camp experienced the same thing.
This past year this area - like most of the area I hunted had a horrible mast crop. There were no acorns to be found anywhere. This resulted in a lot of game 'migrating' to agriculture areas or areas with another food source. You may want to scout ahead and see what the area looks like. If you go in the summer, watch the rattlers. There are some pretty big ones in those mtns.

Bocajnala

Bronko,

Perfect. I'm getting my rattler tag this year. Sounds like a good excuse to do some scouting! I'll plan on making a couple trips this summer up there. I'm not dead set on "having" to get a bear, I just want to get out and hunt them. And it sounds like this area will give me as good of an opportunity as any! thanks for the help.
-Jake

BarnesX.308

Check out SGL 13. Further east than the other places mentioned, but thousands of acres of swamp and blueberry thickets. I took my PA bear on 13.

Bocajnala

How do you hunt these areas Barnes? Do you scout, find sign and then sit? Still hunt? Set up where you can see as much as possible? How do you go about it?
I'll look into sgl13
-Jake

bronko22000

Best thing is to do some preseason scouting no matter where you go. If there is no food, there will be no game. Good luck. And if you do decide on hunting near Hyner, you're welcome to come visit us at our camp. It is located right the bottom of Johnson's hollow.

Bocajnala

I probably won't be able to get up there any time when there's a snow cover. But I'll do what scouting I can this summer. Then hope for the best! Thanks for the help everyone. I'll continue to use this thread as questions pop into my head.
-Jake

BarnesX.308

We hunt the edge of a steep mountain side. Bears travel the benches. We also do drives when we have the man-power, but that is rare. Not many bear hunters in our group.

Some guys bump into bears while still hunting the swamps but it's rare. It's so thick, that they bust you before you get a shot.

PA bear hunting is tough.