Pennsylvania Game News - November 2013 - 23

role in the success of hunters in any
bear season, because bears time their
hibernation off the availability of fall
foods. When autumn's bounty begins to
dry up, bears begin to hole up to hang
on to their stored energy to fuel their
hibernation through winter.
"When fall food supplies are abundant," Ternent said, "black bears tend
to enter hibernation later, and vice
versa when food supplies are poor.
They also travel less in years when
food is abundant because
traveling costs energy.
That's why scouting
is so important to
help pattern bear
movements and
activity centers
before the season
begins. As a rule,
hunter success increases during good food years because more bears tend to be available
during the season than in poor food
years."
Hunter pressure also is an important
factor in any area you hunt. Organized
hunter pressure in areas with abundant
fall foods and thick cover - laurel
thickets, chop-offs, etc. - usually leads
to increased bear encounters. The key
is being on location. But don't feel like
you need to head to the state's northern tier counties to get closer to more
hunters, or bears.
"Nowadays it is getting harder to
identify our so-called best bear hunting counties, because opportunities
are becoming increasingly better over
much of the state," Ternent said. "We
now routinely harvest bears from 50 of
Pennsylvania's 67 counties, something
that was not possible 30 years ago. The
three core areas where harvest is tradi-

tionally highest include WMU 2C in
the southwest, WMUs 2F, 2G, 2H, 3A
and 3B in the northcentral and northern tier, and WMUs 3C and 3D in the
northeast. These areas all have strong
bear populations, large expanses of forest and, in several of these areas, large
amounts of public land for bear hunting. However, a hunter does not need
to travel to these areas to find huntable bear populations, and we strongly
encourage people who may be less
familiar with these traditional areas to not
overlook hunting opportunities
closer to home.
The same advice
goes for people
living in the core
areas - don't overlook
smaller hunting opportunities
in your rush to get in the big woods."
Pennsylvania's bear population is
estimated to number 16,000 to 18,000
for the upcoming seasons, which places
it at near-record numbers, despite
expanding hunting opportunities - regionally and statewide - since 2002.
It's quite a departure from Pennsylvania's past, when as recently as the
1970s bear hunting was closed for
three seasons to protect a beleaguered
population - then estimated at 3,000
to 4,000. Pressure on the resource was
greater then, an estimated quarter million bear hunters, who weren't required
to buy a bear license. The creation of a
bear license in 1981 helped stem numbers, but not that generations-spanning
love among Pennsylvanians to hunt
bears.
"Pennsylvania has more bear hunters than almost any other state, largely
because there has always been a strong

2013 Bear

Season Preview

NOVEMBER 2013

23
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - November 2013
