Pennsylvania brags about it and Wisconsin accounting for most Black Bear kills in the USA over the past 5 years................Since no one is eating bear meat,,,,,,,,,,,,or wearing bear winter coats, we again question the need for 170,000 Keystone State hunters to be blasting away at the estimated 18,000 Bear population.....Some 24 to 26 % of the Bears(approx. 44400) will be killed over a couple of weeks............The Bears have always coexisted with the deer in the state........Along with Eastern Coyotes eating fawns in the Spring, the Bears (doing the same thing) and hunter kills in the Fall barely dent the overbrowsing deer..............The woods are not regenerating well as the deer denude the foilage..........Why then(other than license tag money), kill the bears who eat some of the deer?.............We need another form of monetizing the state Game Commission so that carnivore hunting becomes a relic of another era

Numbers indicate state could be in for record numbers in bear season

Numbers indicate state could be in for record numbers in bear season

submitted

Exceptionally large bears, like this 529-pound animal harvested in
 northcentral Pennsylvania a few years ago, are more common
 than might be expected. The state produces dozens weighing
 in excess of 500 pounds every hunting season.

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Top Sports Pics - Nov. 15, 2014

By Bob Frye

Saturday, Nov. 15, 2014, 9:18 p.m.Updated 3 hours ago

Better get those scales ready.

Pennsylvania's statewide general bear season opens Saturday and continues Monday through Wednesday of next week.

Big things are expected.

Four factors typically influence the size of the harvest: bear
 numbers, hunter numbers, and availability of food and
weather, said Mark Ternent, the Pennsylvania Game
Commission's bear biologist.

Going into this season, three of those are looking good.

The bear population is at an all-time high of about
18,000, the number of bear hunters is expected to
 hit a record 170,000 or so by opening day, and a
 “bumper” crop of acorns will have bears out and
 about throughout the season.

All that, plus the fact hunting will extend into the
 first week of deer season in some new wildlife
 management units this fall, means the record
 harvest of 4,350 set in 2011 could be toppled.

“The pieces are all in place for yet another
 banner year of bear hunting in Pennsylvania,
” commission executive director Matt Hough said.

“Only time will tell if a record number of hunters
 will bring about a record harvest.”

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