|
Post by klsm54 on Nov 28, 2008 19:05:27 GMT -5
Pennsylvania's 3 day bear season was on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. We had snow cover so it seems to be a good harvest. There were some really big ones, as usual. All PA bears must be taken to a check station where they are weighed, so the weights are accurate, not guesses. T?he largest on day one was 691 lbs. They took a 680 pounder a few miles east of where I live. 2 more weighed in at 650 and 651. Day 2 saw a 716 ponder checked. 10 bears over 600 were checked in the first two days. Here is a 656 lb. bear that was hit by a car.........
|
|
|
Post by jimh on Nov 28, 2008 20:37:52 GMT -5
700 lb + black bear is a big bear from what i've heard. do they get much bigger (black bears not grizzlys) than that or is that a real trophey?
|
|
bounce
Royal Member
Posts: 5,727
|
Post by bounce on Nov 28, 2008 20:45:37 GMT -5
Not the easest thing to load I could emagin with out a hoist? Even that car carryer would need 1/2 the base ball team. I think on your own would take some planing? Or are all bear hunts with guide serveices?
|
|
|
Post by klsm54 on Nov 28, 2008 23:40:53 GMT -5
No guides, or very few anyway. Most are shot on drives. An awful lot are killed on public ground and it is usually pretty easy to get help, even if you're hunting alone.
700 lbs is a really big black bear, anywhere. The largest ever recorded was 881 lbs, in North Carolina. The biggest recorded in Pennsylvania was 864 lb, it was taken in 2003. 500 is a darn nice bear, and anything over 600 is a real trophy.
Black Bears, in Pennsylvania, are one of those great conservation stories. Bear numbers got down to just a couple thousand in the state back in the '70s. The harvest got down to around 200 a year and they finally closed the season for a couple years. They hired a biologist to study the bears and start a plan to increase the population, and eventually the harvest. To make a long story short, the population is now estimated at about 15,000 animals and hunters harvest between 3,000 to 4,000 bears each year.
|
|
|
Post by srwshooter on Nov 29, 2008 8:01:40 GMT -5
there have been alot of nice bear killed in the past week here in va. the biggest i've seen in years past was a 702lbs. this week i've seen a 180lb,220lb,280lb,468lb,480lb and a 600lber all killed by friends within 3miles of my house. bear season just started last saturday so,i'm sure there will be more to come.
|
|
|
Post by jimiowa on Nov 29, 2008 14:19:18 GMT -5
Well it's always been debateable that we even had bear in Iowa. A few yrs ago I heard one had been sighted near Marengo about 60 miles east of here. This summer there were official reports of 3 in SW Iowa.(coming up along the bluffs along the Missouri?) One shot by a DNR officer when it got agressive when he put out his trash. Theory is they are coming out of Missouri as yearlings are turned out of the nest. Funny, since I understood the bear in Missouri were in the Ozarks?? My understanding was they were around 200 lbs.
|
|
|
Post by klsm54 on Nov 29, 2008 16:58:58 GMT -5
These guys were hunting in a party of 12, they killed 8 bear on their first drive on the first day... Bears ranged from 90# to 300#. They had 6 drivers and 6 standers, all 6 drivers connected and 2 standers. This is highly unusual, a success rate that high.
|
|
bounce
Royal Member
Posts: 5,727
|
Post by bounce on Nov 29, 2008 22:27:55 GMT -5
Looks like a lot of bear stue comeing up soon. Did I see mothers milk on the faces of a couple of them little ones lol. A guy from around hear went and shot a little one some years back and is still haveing a hard time liveing it down when anyone see's his bear rug. As it's closer to a tuepaye!!
|
|