Pennsylvania Game News - March 2011 - 28

I asked Ted to show me where he was hunting. He took me up the road a short distance to a trail that had all the leaves swept from the ground. I asked Ted why he had swept away the leaves, and he told me he had cleaned the trail the day before, so he wouldn’t make any noise when he went to his treestand the next morning. The leaffree trail led to a climbing treestand that was still attached to the tree. Ted explained that he was up in the tree and saw the bear running through the woods and ﬁred one shot. I looked on the ground and found his empty .45-70 case. Ted mentioned that he had seen the corn, but thought he was far enough away from it (he was still within sight of the camp). The third hunter, Bill, took me to a treestand that was situated between Fred and Ted. Although he had a firearm, for some reason he didn’t shoot at the bear. When asked about the bait, Bill just stared at the ground and said nothing. Chuck, the fourth hunter and camp owner, stated he was hunting on foot when all this transpired. I asked him where he was hunting and he took me to a location that was 150
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yards from the camp. Chuck was, by his account, the person who was the farthest away from the bait piles. Chuck told me he placed some corn out several weeks before the season and then, when they came to camp on Sunday, he placed more out. He explained that he didn’t think it would be a problem as long as they were not standing over the piles of corn. I informed all the hunters that there is no set distance a person can be from bait to be legal. I further explained that putting out corn or other bait is not fair to all the other hunters who were out that day. I told them they would be cited for hunting through the use of bait and the unlawful taking of a bear. I asked them if they had a name for the camp so I could place it on the citations. Chuck replied, “Just call it the Clairmont Camp.” Measurements from the bait piles at camp to the various locations of the hunters and where the bear fell indicated that everything happened within 80 yards or less of the bait piles. It was determined that Fred ﬁrst shot the bear a mere 59 yards from coming out of the camp door. Based on the evidence collected and the fresh piles of dung around camp, the bear was most likely walking around camp all night and was lying in the laurel near the bait just after ﬁrst light. The bear weighted 595 pounds. It was one of the largest killed in the region that year. The bear’s stomach, we found, was full of nothing but shelled corn, and with no cornﬁeld anywhere around, that meant it had been feeding on the corn piles put out by the group of hunters. All four hunters were charged with hunting through the use of bait. Fred and Ted were also charged with the unlawful taking of a bear. All in the group pled guilty or were found guilty of all charges and the ﬁnes and restitution totaled $4,600. Fred and Ted also lost the privilege to hunt in Pennsylvania for three years.
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Pennsylvania Game News - March 2011

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