slatebuilder
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2018
- Messages
- 621
I was able to stalk in on a nice bear within 35 yards but was not able to seal the deal with the bow. Maybe in rifle season.
PA bear season
- Thread starter Elkhunter24
- Start date
Howie
Well-known member
2nd day of Pa. Rifle bear....nix, nein, nada, nyet, nary a friggin thing! Nice tracking snow this mornin' but no tracks cut.
now that I have time, and I will try and get some photos up. Here is a quick write up on the hunt.
Hunting time has been very, very limited this year due to a few things, one of the toughest has been our newborn daughter being diagnosed with Trisomy-18. We were told to essentially take her home and let her die. Simply, that wasn't going to happen. My wife and I have spent countless travel hours driving to various hospitals, sleeping on couches in her hospital room, as well as raising our other two girls. The only blessing of COvid is that I have been working from home which has allowed me to be Parker's caretaker when she is home. Oepening weekend of Bear season was aslo my weekend to work. I figured that i had maybe 45 minutes to get out and hunt the late afternoon on Opening day. Arriving at our club land I was greeted with two trespassers target shooting on our land. after dealing with them ( names, addresses, Drivers license numbers and taking their photos, instructing them that this was their one get out of jail free card. next time they were getting charged with defiant trespass) I realized that sittng the stand i intended was pointless.
I started still hunting the edges of standing corn bordering some edge cover instead. I got to the end of one field and walked up a farm road to another field a few dozen yards away. upon getting to the knoll of that field I heard hof prints in the corn and started watching the end of the field to see if the deer were buck or doe ( at this point I hd prettey well resigned myself to scouting for deer more than hunting Bear) A few seconds later I turned to my left and down the edge of the Corn field in the Stubble was a Black Blob. at the shot the bear dissapeared from my scope and I felt very confident of a hit. It was getting dark fast now, and no sign of blood or hair. I called a few friends and we spent about an hour searching for blood, however none of us were going into the djacent swamp looknig for a wounded bear at night.
After a sleepless night with the shot and reaction constantly playing in my mind I was still sure of a hit. 2 friends and myself met at 6:00 AM the next morning. This thicket turns from hardwood to a swampy area igrown up with cattails and switch grass. the bear sign in that area was unreal, scat and bulldozed trails everywhere. I hadn't gone more than 20 feet when i heard movement in the cattails, half expecting a rabbit, half expecting a deer and not seeing either. Instead i caught a flash of a black head moving roughly 6 feet away from me. the three of us kept the bear moiving in the swamp until he finally got to an opening and I delivered the finishing shot. I had almost stepped on that wounded bear, and where I kicked him up from was less than 1o feet away from where guys were looking at the edge of the cattails the night before.
Hunting time has been very, very limited this year due to a few things, one of the toughest has been our newborn daughter being diagnosed with Trisomy-18. We were told to essentially take her home and let her die. Simply, that wasn't going to happen. My wife and I have spent countless travel hours driving to various hospitals, sleeping on couches in her hospital room, as well as raising our other two girls. The only blessing of COvid is that I have been working from home which has allowed me to be Parker's caretaker when she is home. Oepening weekend of Bear season was aslo my weekend to work. I figured that i had maybe 45 minutes to get out and hunt the late afternoon on Opening day. Arriving at our club land I was greeted with two trespassers target shooting on our land. after dealing with them ( names, addresses, Drivers license numbers and taking their photos, instructing them that this was their one get out of jail free card. next time they were getting charged with defiant trespass) I realized that sittng the stand i intended was pointless.
I started still hunting the edges of standing corn bordering some edge cover instead. I got to the end of one field and walked up a farm road to another field a few dozen yards away. upon getting to the knoll of that field I heard hof prints in the corn and started watching the end of the field to see if the deer were buck or doe ( at this point I hd prettey well resigned myself to scouting for deer more than hunting Bear) A few seconds later I turned to my left and down the edge of the Corn field in the Stubble was a Black Blob. at the shot the bear dissapeared from my scope and I felt very confident of a hit. It was getting dark fast now, and no sign of blood or hair. I called a few friends and we spent about an hour searching for blood, however none of us were going into the djacent swamp looknig for a wounded bear at night.
After a sleepless night with the shot and reaction constantly playing in my mind I was still sure of a hit. 2 friends and myself met at 6:00 AM the next morning. This thicket turns from hardwood to a swampy area igrown up with cattails and switch grass. the bear sign in that area was unreal, scat and bulldozed trails everywhere. I hadn't gone more than 20 feet when i heard movement in the cattails, half expecting a rabbit, half expecting a deer and not seeing either. Instead i caught a flash of a black head moving roughly 6 feet away from me. the three of us kept the bear moiving in the swamp until he finally got to an opening and I delivered the finishing shot. I had almost stepped on that wounded bear, and where I kicked him up from was less than 1o feet away from where guys were looking at the edge of the cattails the night before.
Last edited:
ChaosOneZero
Well-known member
Agreed on all of this. We treat bear like pork, in terms of getting the animal gutted, skinned, and meat processed. If it’s good and cold (freezing or below) you’ll be fine for a couple days, but I’ve found that bear meat spoils more quickly than venison. Also, for taste, it’s important to get as much fat off the meat as possible. Bear fat is good for certain uses, but most folks find taste off-putting. Likewise on dragging. Worst case, find or borrow a quad or go gutless and pack it out, esp if you want to go the rug route. Generally speaking, PA bears have excellent coats due to the timing of the season
