A SEASON OF PROMISE FOR PENNSYLVANIA BLACK BEAR HUNTERS
Last year's black bear harvest was light, but weather permitting, the Pennsylvania Game Commission expects hunters to have good opportunities afield in the upcoming bear seasons.
"Pennsylvania's black bear population has numbered 14,000 to 15,000 for at least eight years now," said Carl G. Roe, Game Commission executive director. "Because our bear population now covers almost three-quarters of the state - and includes a number of world-class trophy bears - Pennsylvania has become one of the top states for bear hunters. Every bear hunter heads afield in Pennsylvania knowing he or she has a chance to see a bear and to possibly take a huge one that weighs 700 to 800 pounds."
Weather impacted the opening day of last year's traditional three-day November bear season, but hunters still took 2,360 bears by the time the state's slate of bear seasons closed. The opening day is almost always the best day of any season, because hunter participation is generally the highest.
The 2007 bear harvest compares with 3,122 in 2006, and 4,164 in 2005, the state's best bear kill. Already in this decade, which still is not completed, hunters have taken more black bears than in any other decade since the Game Commission began keeping bear harvest records in 1915.
To view the rest of this article, as well as five other articles about bear hunting, please visit the Pennsylvania Game Commission - State Wildlife Management Agency website:
http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/pgc/cwp/view.asp?a=11&Q=175437
