PINE GROVE
Year after year, Pennsylvania Game Commission black bear biologist Mark Ternent says the agency continues to learn just how much Pennsylvania hunters enjoy hunting black bears.
A record was set last year when hunters purchased 173,523 bear licenses, which are required in addition to a general hunting license. Those license sales broke one of the shortest-lasting records on the books of 167,438 bear licenses sold in 2013.
Pennsylvania’s statewide four-day general bear season ended Wednesday, Nov. 25, but one of the things that increased the popularity of bear hunting is the extended seasons that begin with Monday’s opening of the statewide firearms deer season. For hunters who have already filled their deer tags, bear hunting in the extended areas represents the opportunity to be afield with friends. For those still trying to fill a deer tag, bear hunting in the extended areas adds to the excitement of the hunt.
Extended bear seasons were created to deal with conflicts that might arise from bear populations expanding into more inhabited parts of the state. Locally, in Wildlife Management Units 5C and 5D, bear season is open during the entire firearms deer season, Nov. 30 to Dec. 12, as it is in WMUs 2B and 5B.
For those who hunt deer in the Northern Tier and Pocono Region, the extended bear season is open in WMUs 3A, 3B, 3C and 3D the first week of the firearms deer season, Nov. 30 to Dec. 5. A four-day bear season is open in WMUs 2C, 4B, 4C, 4D and 4E, Dec. 2-5.
Bear license sales may well approach 175,000 this year because of licenses that will be sold for use this week. Yes, the PGC has finally followed the lead of many other states and will sell bear licenses up until the final day of the extended seasons Saturday, Dec. 5.
Previously, hunters were required to purchase their bear licenses before opening day of the statewide general and extended seasons. This prevented those who had filled their deer tags the opportunity to bear hunt in the extended seasons with their friends who were deer hunting.
Ostensibly, this regulation was to prevent a dishonest person from killing a bear and then buying a license, but as we’ve learned far too many times, slob hunters will always find a way to break the law, so all this did was deny the PGC license revenue and prevent hunting opportunity. Hopefully, the deadline on buying a second spring gobbler tag before the opening of the season will also be eliminated, similar to the policy in New York where spring gobbler tags can be purchased during the season.
Last year Pennsylvania hunters took 3,366 bears, which ranks No. 7 all-time since the PGC began keeping records. The extended seasons accounted for 740 bears, and 170 were taken during the five-day statewide archery bear season. Holding to form, the Northcentral Region produced the most bears with 1,382, and once again Lycoming County ranked No. 1 with 286 bears.
Not to be overlooked, however, is the large population of bears in the Southeast Region, and last year 39 of the 95 bears taken in the region were in Schuylkill County. Ternent believes there is the potential for a larger number of bears taken in the region and county if there was more hunter pressure.
“I didn’t do any trapping in the area this year, but the reports from our WCOs (wildlife conservation officers) indicate there is a large population present,” Ternent said. “And, those bears have been very active, which makes me believe bear hunters could be very successful during the extended season if there is pressure from deer hunters.”
For WCOs Kevin Clouser and Joel Gibble, it has been a very busy year, beginning in the spring, dealing with nuisance bears. One of their more unusual cases was dealing with a sow and her two cubs in the Tower City area.
After responding to a complaint, they were able to sedate the sow in a bear trap, but the cubs had climbed a tall pine tree and were not coming down. In order to rescue the cubs, Clouser called upon the assistance of the North End Fire Company in Pine Grove, which arrived on the scene with its ladder truck.
“Although the cubs were only the size of a raccoon, they could have done some damage, so I pulled them out of the tree one at a time and put them in a pet carrier Joel had brought,” Clouser said. “Believe me, those were very healthy bears and after we got them down, we put them in the portable bear trap with the sow and released them in Schuylkill County.
“Had it not been for the assistance of the fire company, I’m really not sure how we would have gotten those cubs out of the tree. What I do know is there was no way I was climbing that tree.”
(Dietz is outdoors editor)